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 Chapter 1: Hangmanéˆ¥æªš Noose; a knot that kills

    The office in question was paneled with exquisite mahogany, fine furnishings, and no windows. It was well suited to the man who occupied it, given the town rumors. A man who was well-suited himself.

    It was often said he had no soul. But that was silly, after all, he who is so talented at catering to the wants of others must surely know what it is like to yearn for something. How could he understand the needs of others so clearly, if he was not intimately familiar with the feeling? But if Coal longed for something there was not a soul alive who knew what it was. And so the rumors persisted, and the townsfolk wondered at what mysteries lay beneath those windowless icy blue eyes?

    Whether or not the stories were true however, was of little interest to the man who wanted.

    The man who wanted was also well-suited. He might have been mistaken for Coal¡¯s reflection, if not for the fairness of his hair, the gaunt cheeks, and the shadows under his eyes. He must have had a pretty face once, but sleepless nights had stolen it away. He hung in limbo, on the threshold of the doorway to the office, reluctant to make his request just yet, but also too desperate to flee back out the way he had come, like any sensible man would have.

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    Across the room Coal sat comfortably in a leather chair and studied his new guest. Hesitation wasn¡¯t uncommon among the people Coal entertained.

    Yet, despite the guest¡¯s obvious discomfort he stood straight and firm. He did not wring his hands like some, but kept them clenched at his side in gentle fists. He was probably rich, stubborn, and used to getting what he wanted.

    Coal did not like stubborn people, but in return for a small fee, he was very good at giving people what they wanted, and he didn¡¯t have to like the man to enjoy the good old game of negotiation.

    The man stopped between the two chairs in front of Coal¡¯s desk but he did not sit.

    Coal laced his fingers together and leaned forward. Unperturbed by the hesitation he smiled at the man. ¡°What can I do for you?¡±

 Chapter 2: Cleat Hitch; a knot that binds a vessel

    Amanda stared out the window of the white van, watching the passing landscape for any signs of life. They had been traveling for almost six hours, and yet the scenery never changed. It was just desert for miles around. She ran one hand through her messy red hair and turned to look at her husband, Sirius, who was driving the van.

    ¡°How much longer?¡± she asked.

    The seats in the van had very little movement in them, and Sirius¡¯s large frame was scrunched up tight over the steering wheel. He took his eyes off the road for a second to glance at his much smaller wife.

    ¡°Don¡¯t know. We should be there soon.¡±

    ¡°Thank the Gods,¡± his sister Cat, complained loudly from the seat behind. ¡°Doesn¡¯t this piece of junk go any faster?¡± She had her boots pressed against the seat in front of her, and she longed to stretch her legs out.

    ¡°No,¡± Sirius replied gruffly, somehow managing to hunch himself over the steering wheel even more.

    Cat¡¯s ex, Zephyr, slouched lazily against the window in the seat next to her. ¡°Well you¡¯re welcome to find a faster vehicle that fits eight people.¡±

    Cat gave him an indignant glare. ¡°I¡¯ve no doubt I could have, but I was, up until this morning, under the impression we were going to be taking more than one.¡±

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    ¡°They told us we had to take this one,¡± Amanda said absently. Her gaze remained fixed out the window. None of them were particularly in the mood to deal with Cat.

    ¡°Well it¡¯s a piece of shit. I could¡¯ve found something better in the junk heap out the back of my garage.¡±

    ¡°At an added expense no doubt,¡± a voice quipped from the back. It came from Falco, the team''s resident marine. He''d been brought up to be polite, but always found Cat¡¯s outbursts a little annoying.

    ¡°What do you care? You¡¯ve got money to spare¡± Cat replied. ¡°So does Coal who, might I remind you, is paying for all this.¡±

    Either Falco knew better than try to bait Cat further or he just couldn¡¯t think of a comeback. Whatever the reason he wisely kept his mouth shut. His wife Indi, forever the friendly optimist, spoke perkily from the seat next to him, as she pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.

    ¡°At least this way you don¡¯t have to worry about getting sand in the car. Plus,¡± she added more hesitantly, partly because it was less optimistic, but also because she cared for accuracy, ¡°Technically, Coal¡¯s just paying a lump sum. Not that I mind splurging for a bit more comfort...¡± She trailed off then as she took a second thoughtful look at the carpet-less, rickety, deafening, contraption they were currently all squeezed into.

    Stuck in the middle of this back-and-forth was Wolf. Seventh member of the crew, and full-blooded werewolf. You''d never guess it if not for the name. Then again it wasn''t a name most werewolves would have chosen. Without much enthusiasm he added, ¡°Technically, we also still have to take good care of it.¡±

    Cat sighed mildly exasperated. Nobody said anything more.

    Kass, the slim, nicely dressed, strawberry-haired, eighth member of the gang, who Cat teasingly sometimes called ¡®mouse¡¯, kept her gaze fixed on their passing surroundings. She contributed nothing to the conversation, not even a glance. This was not unusual.

 Chapter 3: Thief Knot; a knot thatéˆ¥æªš easily mistaken for another

    Previous day...

    ¡°Kasssss.¡±

    The voice trickled through the walls. Kass spun. Echoes travelled like the wind through this house. Echoes that shouldn¡¯t exist.

    Kass shook her head and reminded herself to focus.

    ¡°So who did you say owned this place?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Used to own,¡± Tony replied, then added, ¡°Some old lady. Her sons inherited it. And now they¡¯re fighting over it.¡±

    They walked around another corner. This house had so many.

    ¡°None of them want it,¡± he added as they wound their way further into the house.

    ¡°And we¡¯re here because?¡±

    ¡°Michael, the realtor, wanted the place checked out. Get a few pictures taken. He¡¯s told the sons he reckons he can sell it. Which would make things easier. It would solve the small issue of the missing will. There¡¯s supposed to be a copy here somewhere but I don¡¯t like our chances of finding it. Figured I¡¯d make a show of looking though, take the pictures while we¡¯re here and then we can put both on their tab as separate items.¡± He flashed her a quick grin before taking a moment to brush a speck of dust off the front of his suit.

    ¡°So what do you need me for?¡±

    Another cheesy smile followed by a wink. ¡°Thought it would brighten up the view.¡±

    Kass shifted uncomfortably then quickly rolled her eyes as if she wasn¡¯t bothered at all. But Tony had already turned back around as he continued to walk down the corridor. ¡°Plus we can charge them for the extra hands.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t specialise in probate law Tony. I have my own work to do.¡± Which she would be doing, if only her boss hadn¡¯t caved to Tony¡¯s request that she accompany him. Alas, there was more money in the dearly departed than there was in the common criminal, and so Kass¡¯s case files would have to wait.

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    ¡°Relax¡± Tony replied in that peacockish tone of his. ¡°I figured it might also be useful to have a second pair of eyes. Not that I¡¯m superstitious or anything but it¡¯s rumoured some really messed up stuff happened in this place. And places like this tend to attract all sorts of crazy people. Given the size of this house I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if we came across some squatters. The especially nutty kind. If anyone jumps out at us not only do we have two professionals with good standing in the community to report what happened we¡¯ve got two telekinetics to fight them off as well.¡± He gave the empty air what for with two rapid haymakers. Then he straightened up and smoothed out his suit again. With his back to her he added, ¡°Besides no one specialises in a town this small. You want to practice case law, move to the city.¡±

    Before Kass could say anything her cellphone rang.

    ¡°I¡¯ll just take this,¡± Kass said as she pushed open one of the glass doors along the hall.

    ¡°Uh huh,¡± Tony nodded absently, and continued down the hall peering into rooms.

    Kass stepped outside into the garden. It was a beautiful day. The overgrown lawn gleamed dark green in the hot sun. A gentle breeze hinted at the cooler months to come. A topiary squirrel, in bad need of a haircut, watched her from beside a stand of fir trees.

    ¡°Hello,¡± Kass answered.

    ¡°Hey Kass,¡± Amanda¡¯s voice echoed down the line. ¡°Got any plans this weekend? Coal has a job.¡±

    ¡°No, sounds great.¡± She figured she could use a weekend out of town anyway. Take a proper break, even if it was doing a different kind of work. At least it would likely be out of reach of any calls from the office, or if it wasn¡¯t she could pretend it was.

    ¡°Great. We¡¯ll pick you up tomorrow morning, around 8:15.¡±

    ¡°Kay.¡± Kass nodded even though Amanda couldn¡¯t see her.

    ¡°See you then,¡± Amanda said, and hung up.

    Kass put her phone back in her pocket, noting how late in the day it was. She walked back towards the house, stepped back through the white wood-rimmed glass door, and looked down the hall for Tony.

    ¡°Tony?¡± she called walking a few steps in the direction he had gone. No answer. ¡°Tony?¡± she called louder. She sighed. Maybe he had gone home already. She wandered back through the house only taking a wrong turn a couple of times. This house was like a maze. There were several staircases that didn¡¯t go anywhere. It was as if the designer just couldn¡¯t stop building.

    Eventually she found her way back to the front entrance. Tony¡¯s car was still in the driveway. Well it was late, and the house was huge. Tony could find his own way out. A bit relieved to be done for the day, and to not have to deal with Tony for at least a couple more, Kass got into her own car and turned on the radio. Easy-listening music played softly out of the speakers. With one last glance up at the big house she took her foot off the brake, and pulled out, wheels spinning on the chalky gravel.

 Chapter 4: Granny Knot; a knot a thief ties

    Present day...

    For twenty more minutes, or was it longer? They travelled in complete silence. Then Sirius took a side road that looked suspiciously like more desert. Another ten minutes and they pulled up in front of a high metal gate with a small shack to the side. The fence continued endlessly in either direction.

    ¡°We¡¯re here,¡± Sirius said, then added, ¡°I think,¡± as an afterthought. He raised his eyebrows in question at Amanda.

    She nodded but didn¡¯t reply.

    Cat looked out the window at the mounds of sand that carried on and on beyond the gate.

    ¡°Where? The middle of nowhere?¡± She asked sarcastically.

    ¡°Your drop off point,¡± Zephyr replied with an eye roll and a twisted smile.

    Cat shot him a dark look.

    Amanda rolled down the window. ¡°Hello?¡± she yelled out.

    For a few seconds nothing happened, then the door of the shack opened and a small head popped out. After a moment¡¯s hesitation a tiny sandy-haired man stepped out with a big silly grin plastered all over his face.

    ¡°Hello!¡± He spoke like he¡¯d consumed a lot more than his recommended dose of caffeine. ¡°I¡¯ve been expecting you. I¡¯ll just open the gate.¡±

    ¡°Probably the most excitement he gets all week,¡± Cat murmured under her breath.

    He dashed back inside his little shack and a few minutes later the gate swung open. A single-story square concrete building materialised in front of them.

    ¡°They must have some kind of camouflage spell on the surrounding gate,¡± Kass commented softly.

    ¡°All the way out here?¡± Cat raised an eyebrow skeptically ¡°Why bother?¡±

    ¡°Planes, satellites, ... UFOs?¡± Falco shrugged ¡°Maybe they don¡¯t want to be seen.¡±

    ¡°No planes fly over this end of the continent, besides they¡¯re a scientific facility not a military agency,¡± Cat replied, eyes narrowed.

    ¡°As far as we know¡±, Indi tried to inject as much spookiness into her voice as possible.

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    Cat rolled her eyes and resigned herself to looking out the window.

    Sirius drove the van forward through the gate. When the van stopped Wolf reached over and opened the door. As everyone piled out of the van, an old man with glasses almost as round as himself walked towards them from the concrete building.

    ¡°Welcome,¡± he gave them a pleasant smile.

    He gestured for them to accompany him into the building ¡°Please, follow me. We¡¯ll send someone to get your bags for you.¡±

    Once they were all inside he turned to them and said ¡°Please excuse me for a moment and make yourselves comfortable. I will be back shortly.¡± He disappeared through a door in the back wall and they were left alone standing in what seemed to be some sort of waiting area.

    Cat flopped herself down on one of the couches and swung her feet up so the heels of her calf-hugging black leather boots were just hanging over the edge of the armrest. Zephyr gently pushed her legs out of the way, then sat himself down on the other end of the couch. Cat raised an eyebrow in warning but didn¡¯t say anything, she just readjusted her position, crossed one leg over the other, leaned backwards into the chair, and ran her gaze around the room.

    Amanda, meanwhile, had wandered across the room and was casually perusing an array of books on a small shelf. She pulled one out and flicked through the pages curiously. Falco and Sirius made themselves comfortable on the other couch. A mirror spanned wide across the wall directly opposite them, just another item to distract guests from their wait. Indi perched herself on one of the armrests and couldn¡¯t help checking out her own reflection.

    Unlike the vampires from stories, Indi could see her reflection quite well. As long as she was wearing her glasses. Falco often joked that she really was as blind as a bat, another allusion to the old legends. Turning into bats was not a vampire thing at all, and all vampires had exceptionally good vision, although sensitivity to bright light was common. Indi¡¯s poor eyesight however, had been inherited from her father, who wasn¡¯t a vampire at all, but a witch like most of her companions on this adventure. The violet colour, light sensitivity, and other vampiric features she had inherited from her mother. Indi could see a little better in low light but she was still terrible at the details.

    Her eyes jumped from her own reflection to each of the other women in the room and back again. She envied Cat¡¯s well-earned physique, Kass¡¯s natural pretty pixie features, and Amanda¡¯s sun-kissed skin. Indi loved to lie in the sun. The entire sea-facing side of her house was nothing but windows. However, once again her genetics betrayed her. Being part vampire meant not only could Indi never tan but that if she spent even more than a few minutes in the sun without her special sunscreen she¡¯d burn very quickly and very severely. At least part of being a vampire also meant having an efficient metabolism. Indi probably could have had Cat¡¯s physique if she¡¯d wanted, but that would have meant exercise of some sort and the only place Indi liked to break a sweat was in a sauna. So, while she was pretty far from fit she would likely never find herself getting too pudgy, even though she did like to try.

    She glanced back out the window. It faced roughly east, and at this time of day the sun was hidden overhead and more to the other side of the building. She wished she¡¯d taken one more moment to appreciate its¡¯ rays on the way into the building. Any other vampire might be looking forward to a few days in an underground bunker, but Indi already missed the light.

 Chapter 5: Boa Knot; a decorative and practical knot

    Previous day...

    There¡¯s something about the early morning, the crisp coffee hour. When the birds are singing and new plans are being formed. They are the hours when things get done. That is if you are awake for them.

    9:50 am. Indi reached blindly for her alarm again. Twice she missed it and ended up flailing at empty space. Third time was the charm. She rolled over and drifted back to sleep. Another 30 minutes and two more alarms later she stumbled out of bed and made her way sleepy eyed to the kitchen where her beloved coffee machine sat ready.

    Just the smell of beans livened her senses. Two and a half cups and few hours later Indi typed furiously at the keyboard. She stopped briefly every now and again to think, and to add some paint to a nearby canvas.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how you manage to type and paint at the same time¡± Falco asked as he walked in the door.

    Indi gave him a glance and a grin. ¡°Practice . . . and lots of caffeine.¡±

    Falco walked over to look at what¡¯s on her screen. Nothing but lines of code he didn¡¯t understand. Even her painting he wasn¡¯t sure about, it looked sort of like an owl. He cocked his head sideways and tried to make it out.

    Indi frowned. ¡°You¡¯re home early?¡±

    Falco nodded. ¡°Released from duty early. Bit of a surprise, didn¡¯t ask details but most of the crew¡¯s got the long weekend off. Don¡¯t have to be back until Tuesday.¡±

    He perched on the armrest of the nearby couch, and gave her a grin and a sexy wink. ¡°How bout we take a trip?¡±

    Indi looked up from her work and poked her tongue between her teeth in a playful smile then held up one finger. ¡°I just have to finish this bit of code then I¡¯m free. Give me a couple of hours?¡±

    Falco nodded then wandered off towards the back of the house.

    ¡°Done.¡± Indi sat back from the computer with a smile. Out of habit she picked up her paint brush and stuck the clean end in her mouth. Then, realising the paint was in danger of dripping off the other end she took it out of her mouth and added a few more strokes to her painting. Unsatisfied with leaving the painting as it was she then dipped her brush in some more paint. It was almost an hour later before she realised how caught up in painting she had gotten. It was also at that moment that Falco happened to walk through the door.

    ¡°You done yet?¡± he asked light-heartedly, knowing how distracted she could get.

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    Indi smiled. ¡°I was just finishing off a bit more of the painting.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s it for?¡± he asked.

    ¡°The painting?¡± Indi replied ¡°Fun. It also helps me think when I¡¯m stuck on something else.¡±

    Falco gave a nod as if he understood. He didn¡¯t have the patience for painting and did not comprehend for the life of him how anyone could find it relaxing, or how anyone could possibly focus on those two very different tasks at once, but it seemed to work for Indi. She was much smarter than he was anyway.

    ¡°Shall we pack?¡± he asked in a barely concealed excited tone.

    Indi finished tidying up her things.

    ¡°Where are we going?¡± she asked walking to where he stood.

    He stepped towards her and put his arms around her, pulling her close, then waggled his eyebrows in a tease. ¡°Wherever we want.¡±

    Indi grinned. Falco leaned down to kiss her. The phone rang. Indi sighed, rolled her eyes, broke away from Falco and picked the phone up on its third ring.

    ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°Hey Indi,¡± Amanda said. ¡°Busy this weekend?¡±

    Drat! Indi made a face. ¡°Depends, why?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°Coal has a job for us,¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡®What?¡¯ Falco, who had been watching, mouthed to Indi. Indi mouthed back what Amanda had said.

    Falco pondered it for a while. ¡°Could be an adventure,¡± he shrugged with a glint in his eye.

    Indi smiled back. ¡°Sure,¡± she said to Amanda. Then, a few minutes later, she groaned ¡°8 am!¡±

    Falco stifled a laugh.

    ¡°Sure I guess that¡¯s okay¡± she replied then hung up. She poked her tongue out at Falco. He grinned and walked back over to her. ¡°Where were we?¡±

    At that moment the door opened and in walked their 10-year old daughter, Jewel.

    Jewel saw them about to kiss and quickly remarked ¡°gross!¡±

    They pulled apart reluctantly. ¡°How was school? Falco inquired.

    ¡°Oh it was great!¡± Jewel exclaimed ¡°Joey got into a fight with Damien and it took three teachers to get them apart.

    Falco frowned. ¡°Sounds great¡± he said rather unenthusiastically.

    ¡°What were they fighting about?¡± Indi asked.

    Jewel shrugged. ¡°Some trading card game. Can we order pizza and noodles for the sleepover tonight? Annie¡¯s parents always let her get several options at her sleepovers.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Indi replied. ¡°We can even have smores, and I was going to bake some cookies.¡±

    ¡°Sleepover?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°Great!¡± Jewel replied. ¡°And I was thinking we could all make friendship bracelets¡±. She rushed off to her room.

    ¡°What sleepover?¡± Falco repeated.

    ¡°You remember¡± Indi said, in the process of pulling out various mixing bowls and ingredients. ¡°Last month Jewel was talking about Stephanie¡¯s sleepover party and how all the kids loved it and you said she could have one here.¡±

    ¡°I did?¡±

    Indi nodded. ¡°Relax, we can get my brother to come by tomorrow morning to babysit for the weekend. I¡¯m sure he won¡¯t mind watching a few extra kids in the morning.¡±

    Falco nodded then stepped into the kitchen behind Indi to pick up where they¡¯d left off earlier. She laughed. ¡°Falco I need to bake cookies. And you need to call my brother, and then start packing.¡± She handed him the phone. He gave her a pouty look and begrudgingly took it.

    Indi was already mixing dough when Falco got off the phone.

    ¡°Bad news, Sly is out of town this weekend and Sara has a conference of some sort. They were hoping we could keep Bree until Monday.¡±

    Indi frowned. ¡°He said he was free when I talked to him yesterday. Try my parents.¡±

    Falco nodded and started dialing.

    "They''re happy to help. Also Kass just phoned, wanted to know if Jesse could stay with whomever Jewel is staying with. I said that was fine."

    Indi nodded.

    Falco took a seat on a bar stool. "What do you think the job is?"

    Indi shrugged. "I dunno. I guess we''ll find out." She thought for a moment, then she smiled playfully, reached out and slapped his butt with a wooden spoon. "Go pack." she laughed.

 Chapter 6: Tom Fooléˆ¥æªš Knot; A knot to hobble

    Present day...

    The door at the back of the room opened and the old man rolled in.

    ¡°If you could please follow me.¡±

    They followed the old man into a short hallway that initially looked to have no exits. A screen had been mounted into the wall at the far end. He placed his hand on it and a few moments later a portion of the hallway slid away to reveal a large elevator. Once they were all piled inside he pushed a button and nothing happened. But in the background they eventually began to make out the soft whir of a motor. The elevator moved so smoothly that none of them had felt it shift.

    Just as the quiet was starting to encroach a little too much, Cat butted in, redirecting their focus away from the uncanny subtle reduction in gravity. ¡°Hey old guy, I got a question for you, why¡¯d we have to bring one car?¡±

    The old man chuckled. ¡°We very much value our privacy out here, as you can imagine given the nature of your task. One vehicle is simply less noticeable¡±

    ¡°Especially given the type of car Cat would bring,¡± Falco quipped.

    ¡°Just because I have quality taste in cars doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t know how to be stealthy. Besides an unmarked white van, not exactly stealth mode. A pair of range rovers, on the other hand, and people just think you¡¯re out exploring the dessert, maybe doing some caving.¡±

    Before Falco or anyone could respond the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

    A short hospital style white corridor lay in front of them. At the end was a pair of frosted swing glass doors. A couple of wooden benches, also painted white, lined either side of the corridor. Despite the matching colour scheme their rough texture looked out of place next to the cleanliness of the rest of the corridor. The old man once again told them to wait there until he came back. As the door swung shut behind him, the lights above flickered.

    Indi found she suddenly felt dizzy. The flickering lights were making her head spin. She sat down on one of the benches and put her head in her hands in an attempt to quell the sick feeling rising in her stomach. After a few seconds the feeling went away almost as suddenly as it had come on. When she lifted her head up Falco was crouched down in front of her. He was looking at her with concerned eyes.

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    ¡°You alright?¡±

    ¡°Yeah I¡¯m fine.¡± she quickly straightened up. ¡°Just feeling a little tired.¡± She gave him a smile. ¡°I hate early starts.¡±

    Falco eyed her carefully for a moment before sitting down beside her. Indi felt the eyes of everyone else watching but she didn¡¯t look at them, instead she fiddled with the sleeves of her purple jersey. After what felt like ages to Indi, but was probably only a second or two, people stopped paying attention to her. They sat on benches or leaned against the wall to wait. All except Wolf who paced up and down the corridor.

    Alex awoke to the sound of folders being thrown on her desk right next to her face. She sat up quickly to find her co-soldier Mark standing in front of her.

    ¡°Sleeping on the job?¡± he chided. ¡°You¡¯re lucky it¡¯s not the boss walking in.¡±

    ¡°I was just resting my eyes.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh. Well enough resting, they¡¯re here.¡±

    Alex sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can do this anymore. It¡¯s been almost 2 months. I think I¡¯ve forgotten what the sun looks like.¡±

    ¡°Cheer up, one more then we¡¯re done. Besides you¡¯re not supposed to look directly at the sun.¡±

    ¡°Ha ha,¡± Alex replied dryly as she reached for the folders she''d fallen asleep on. The ones that contained the information on their new guests.

    A few minutes later, Alex stood next to Mark as they waited for their boss to bring the guests through. She leaned closer to Mark and whispered ¡°Is there really any point disarming these people? The files said one of them is a firestarter, and not just the lighting candles sort.¡±

    Mark shrugged. ¡°They probably just want to minimise the risk. One¡¯s a dreamwalker too, but not a paticularly powerful one. As for the firestarter, well...¡± he shrugged, ¡°hey, at least there¡¯s no mindwalkers.¡±

    ¡°Well that would make our job hard wouldn¡¯t it.¡±

    ¡°Look, I know you don¡¯t like what we¡¯re doing here but it¡¯s for a good reason. You did read their files?¡±

    ¡°I scanned their files, and I doubt ours would look any different.¡±

    ¡°Well maybe one day we¡¯ll get ours, in the meantime let¡¯s just do our job.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re gonna take our weapons off us?¡± Cat asked after the old man had explained the entry process. She didn¡¯t look happy about it.

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯ll get them back when you leave¡± the old man replied.

    ¡°Why can¡¯t we keep them?¡± Cat inquired.

    ¡°Security reasons.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous, we...¡± Cat started to argue.

    ¡°Cat,¡± Amanda interrupted. ¡°If they want our weapons they can have them. It makes no difference.¡±

    ¡°Maybe not to you.¡± Cat bristled. Witches were born with only one innate power and while Cat would never outright say it, no one would argue that Amanda far exceeded her in magical ability. It was for this reason that Cat placed much more reliance on weaponry and physical prowess. Amanda¡¯s powers would be sufficient protection for the group but Cat hated to rely on others, least of all her short stubborn sister-in-law. For a moment the two women were locked in a staring competition.

    ¡°Fine!¡± Cat stepped back, arms crossed, conceding the argument but also indicating that she wasn¡¯t going to be the first to hand over her weapons, nor was she going to make it a particularly pleasant process for them.

    ¡°Okay good." The old man acted like there had been no altercation at all. "Who¡¯s first?¡±

    Amanda stepped forward.

 Chapter 7: Overhand Knot; a simple but strong knot

    Previous day...

    Amanda pulled the saddle off the back of the chestnut filly and placed it over the fence which surrounded the corral. She gave Clover a gentle pat on the nose and then took her for a slow walk around ring to cool her down.

    As she was brushing Clover she heard the phone inside the house start ringing. After a couple of rings it seemed like nobody was answering it so she fastened the lead rope of Clover¡¯s halter to the fence with a swiftly tied clove hitch and climbed over.

    Her youngest son seated at the family computer in the large entrance hall of their three-story well-aged farmhouse.

    ¡°You couldn¡¯t answer the phone?¡± She remarked to him as she headed left towards the kitchen.

    ¡°In a game,¡± he murmured, not even glancing up from the screen.

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    Amanda had been on the phone a few minutes when her husband came down the stairs in a rush to leave.

    ¡°Sirius!¡± Amanda called, still on the phone. She held up her hand indicating for him to wait a moment. Sirius did as he was told but raised his eyebrows in a look of impatience.

    ¡°Coal¡¯s got a job for us this weekend,¡± Amanda told him once she¡¯d hung up the phone.

    Sirius sighed. ¡°I¡¯ve got a delivery to make, can¡¯t really delay this one.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you get someone else to do it? It¡¯s a lot of money and he said he needs all of us.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have a mutiny on my hands if I keep putting the other men in charge, not to mention lost business to the other ships if I don¡¯t keep schedules.¡±

    ¡°This is the last time,¡± Amanda promised. ¡°And it is good money.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you said about the last one,¡± Sirius grunted.

    ¡°Maybe some more consistent delegation would be good for the business. That¡¯s how Cat runs hers.¡±

    Sirius frowned at the comparison to his sister. He scratched the dark stubble on his chin which reminded him that he needed to shave. He grumbled that ¡®it wasn¡¯t the same¡¯ but he gave a resigned nod. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± And he headed towards the door.

    After Sirius left, Amanda wandered into the kitchen, glanced at the pile of bills sitting on the table. She sat down and poured herself a small glass of whiskey. She sipped it while sorting through the papers, ordering them by payment deadline. A few minutes and another glass later she headed back outside to take care of the rest of the horses. She¡¯d phone the others later today.

 Chapter 8: Constrictor Knot; a knot for everything

    Present day...

    ¡°This way,¡± Alex gestured for Amanda to walk through the next set of doors.

    In the following room there was a metallic table. Laid out on it were some hand-held scanners.

    Alex gestured to the table. ¡°Your weapons please, knives as well.¡±

    Amanda took a knife from a strap at her ankle, and a revolver from the holster around her hips. She placed them both on the table.

    Alex studied her. So this was the firestarter. The woman was shorter than Alex had expected, about 5¡¯1 ¨C 5¡¯2 tops even in her low-heeled paddock boots. The hair colour was unmistakable though. It was that vibrant copper that was common among powerful witches, especially firestarters.

    Once Amanda had unloaded her weapons, Alex took the metal scanner and ran it all over her. It beeped when it got to her left ankle. Alex lifted the leg of Amanda¡¯s jeans to reveal a metal flask.

    ¡°I can¡¯t keep that?¡± Amanda asked ¡°It¡¯s not a weapon.¡±

    ¡°Sorry¡± Alex shook her head. "No liquids that aren¡¯t in a sealed and approved container."

    Once Alex had finished with the metal scanner she commenced with a through pat down. She didn¡¯t find anything else.

    ¡°She¡¯s clean¡± Alex told the old man.

    He nodded. ¡°Right, just a few questions to check your identity.¡±

    The old man asked her about her full name, her powers, her birth date, how many siblings she had, her mother¡¯s maiden name, and a few other things that would have required a thorough background check to be familiar with. Nothing that would have been impossible to use to impersonate her but enough that it would have required some effort. Once he was done he sent her through to the next room to wait for the others to be processed.

    Alex walked back into the first room. ¡°Who¡¯s next?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go¡± Indi stepped forward.

    Alex smiled. They walked into the second room. Alex searched her same as she had Amanda but didn¡¯t find anything. Then the old man stepped forward to ask his questions.

    ¡°What¡¯s your full legal name?¡±

    ¡°Indigo Adams.¡±

    ¡°No middle name?¡±

    Indi shook her head.

    ¡°Power?¡±

    ¡°Shield.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re half vampire?¡± he asked peering at her closely.

    Indi nodded.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t bring a blood supply?¡±

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    ¡°I don¡¯t drink blood, I mostly stick to rare steak.¡±

    ¡°Your brother does though?¡±

    Indi nodded uncomfortable with direction of questioning.

    ¡°Are you married?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°How long have you been married?¡±

    ¡°A little over ten years¡± Indi smiled softly as she glanced back at the doors where Falco and the others waited their turn.

    ¡°Have you ever killed anybody?¡±

    ¡°What!?¡± Indi¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just routine questions.¡± he assured her, then added ¡°Thank you¡± and gestured her towards the next door.

    Falco volunteered to go next. He placed his gun on the table then waited patiently.

    This time Alex watched while Mark conducted the search. She tried to remember what it had said about this one in the file. He was a marine, that much she could remember. He certainly looked built for it, with a height of about 6¡¯2 and a large muscular chest. His blonde hair was shaved right to the scalp in a neat buzz cut. His posture was tense too, as if he was prepared for anything. He was quite the contrast to the woman they¡¯d just processed.

    ¡°Looks like you forgot something¡± Mark said holding up a short hunting knife he¡¯d just pulled off Falco. It had been strapped to his calf.

    Mark placed it on the table with the other weapons.

    ¡°That knife was a gift from my brother, you¡¯d better not lose it¡± Falco warned him.

    Mark ignored him and continued searching.

    ¡°Anything else?¡± the old man asked.

    Mark shook his head and the questioning began.

    ¡°What¡¯s your brother¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°Luka.¡±

    ¡°Are you married?¡±

    Falco nodded ¡°to the woman whom you just talked to¡±. His eyebrows knitted together in wonder at the question.

    ¡°Do you have children?¡±

    Falco raised an eyebrow ¡°If you just interviewed my wife and you asked her these questions wouldn¡¯t my answer be the same as hers?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t ask everyone the same questions, and sometimes people remarry¡± the old man replied.

    Falco seemed to relax slightly ¡°I have one daughter.¡±

    ¡°Parents alive?¡±

    Falco narrowed his eyes again ¡°Last time I checked.¡±

    ¡°Good¡± the old man replied and he pointed Falco towards the next room.

    Sirius was next and Alex¡¯s eyes opened wide when she saw him. He was even bigger than the marine. His clothes added to the effect too. Falco had been clean-shaven and dressed in casual jeans and plain white t-shirt. This guy had shaggy unevenly cut black hair and was wearing a long dark overcoat.

    Sirius opened his coat to remove his weapons. Alex¡¯s mouth wasn¡¯t the only one to drop. Lining the inside of the coat was enough fire power to take over a small country, not to mention the pocketfuls of enchanted items, and tiny bottles of who knew what.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to need a bigger table¡± Alex murmured once she¡¯d gotten over the initial surprise. What had the file said about this guy? That he ran a transport business. The authorities had him figured for some kind of smuggler? Low volume though, not worth pursuing. Well, smuggling would explain the firepower.

    ¡°Ookay... perhaps you could just give us the coat.¡± Mark suggested.

    ¡°I¡¯d prefer to keep it if you don¡¯t mind, it can come in handy.¡±

    By the time Sirius had finished emptying his overcoat and Mark had thoroughly examined its countless hidden pockets to ensure nothing had been missed, the old man had become quite impatient. Eventually Mark was 88% sure he¡¯d found everything. He''d double checked and found some extra pockets already, but the old man had started tapping his foot impatiently so Mark decided to call it. If the coat was charmed and it turned out there was more stuff in there, well, they should''ve hired someone more equipped to do this, that or pay him a better wage. He gave a nod at the old man who finally got to run through his questions, and which he did rapidly.

    Kass volunteered to go next. She stepped into the room and handed over two guns. Alex recognised her easily. This was the Telekinetic. Red hair again, only not as bright and coppery as the firestarter. This one was more of a strawberry blonde and she had her hair cut quite short, only a few inches in length. She was taller and thinner than Amanda with a younger looking face. She was dressed in a white blouse, pencil skirt and heels. She didn¡¯t look threatening at all, but Alex had read her file. This one had history, more so than any of the others. Even worse, there were several years where they had nothing on her.

    Tucked up Kass''s skirt against her left thigh Alex located another gun. A flick-knife was found loosely sewed to the front center of her bra so that it could be easily ripped in cases of emergency.

    Kass hesitated briefly when the old man asked about children, but otherwise she answered clearly and simply, giving no more detail than what he asked for.

    The old man sighed and looked tiredly at the doors. ¡°Three left.¡± he mumbled.

 Chapter 9: Clove Hitch; a reliable knot in rough weather

    Previous day...

    ¡°Shit!¡± Wolf made a wild grab for the potion. He missed. Translucent green liquid trickled through the floorboards. The door opened. A man stepped hesitantly inside Wolf¡¯s cabin. Wolf looked up.

    ¡°Can I help you?¡±

    ¡°I hear you¡¯re good at finding people.¡±

    Wolf stood up straighter. Confident. ¡°I am,¡± he affirmed.

    The man gave a nod and his shoulders visibly relaxed. ¡°My daughter.¡± Pause. ¡°¡­stepdaughter is missing. She¡¯s only 7.¡±

    ¡°I charge by the hour.¡± Wolf handed him a sheet containing a list of information and prices. ¡°Where did you last see her?¡±

    ¡°At home,¡± the man replied.

    ¡°We¡¯ll start there.¡± Wolf grabbed his jacket and headed out the door with the man. The spilt potion lay on the floor completely forgotten.

    It took Wolf less than an hour to track the girl down. When he found her she was huddled beneath a tree and she did not want to go back.

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    ¡°Come on,¡± Wolf said as softly as he could but it came out as more of a command. ¡°Your family misses you.¡±

    She shook her head and clung harder to the stuffed dog pressed between her chest and her arms.

    ¡°You can walk or I¡¯ll carry you?¡± Wolf said.

    She looked up at him with big brown stubborn eyes.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Wolf said. He gently but firmly picked the child up and put her over his shoulder. She struggled initially but quickly gave up as Wolf ignored her.

    She hadn¡¯t been far into the forest behind her house. Children usually never did get very far.

    ¡°Thank you¡± said her stepfather as Wolf deposited the child at his feet. The girl wasn¡¯t nearly as enthusiastic. Indeed she shied away, inching closer to Wolf than to her stepfather. The stepfather reached to hug her anyway. Wolf frowned. Did the girl flinch? He must have imagined it.

    ¡°Now go inside,¡± the stepfather commanded.

    She didn¡¯t hesitate. ¡®Why did she seem so afraid?¡¯ The man handed Wolf a pouch of cash. ¡°I¡¯m so glad you found her. Her mother would have been very upset if she¡¯d come home to find her girl missing again.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s run away before?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°Little brat likes to make her daddy worry.¡±

    There was something about that statement that made Wolf¡¯s hairs stand on edge.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± the man told him. He turned to follow the girl inside.

    Wolf nodded, frowned, and turned to walk back to his car. Conflicted thoughts danced around his head. His job was finding people, even those who did not want to be found, and sometimes maybe those that shouldn¡¯t.

    He walked slowly. He considered his limited options here. His cell phone rang, interrupting his thoughts. He answered it as he got into his car, and in the process, without intending to, he completely forgot about the little girl with the big brown eyes.

 Chapter 10: Palomar Knot; a knot to catch the biggest fish

    Present day...

    Alex eyed the next entry, the apothecary Werewolf with the weird name. He was shorter than the other men at approximately 5¡¯6, which was about the same height as Indi. He was plain looking with brown hair and brown eyes.

    ¡°Your name is Wolf?¡± the old man asked as he entered.

    Wolf nodded.

    The old man studied him for a second before turning him over to Mark.

    Wolf handed over one gun and one knife. Mark searched him and found nothing more than what Wolf had given him.

    The old man followed up with a few more questions although there were less than there had been for the others. He seemed to be getting tired of asking them, and Wolf just didn¡¯t seem to interest him as much. Before the door had shut behind him, Wolf had already been forgotten.

    After Wolf had gone, the old man paused and frowned at the other door. ¡°Let¡¯s do the woman next; I don¡¯t like the look of her so I¡¯d rather not leave her for last.¡±

    Alex understood what the old man had meant when Cat entered. The expression she gave was downright hostile. She had long dark hair, sharp features, and narrow green eyes. She was also tall and muscular. She looked like she could give the marine a fair fight. She stared the old man down like it was a challenge. Alex couldn¡¯t remember anything from this woman¡¯s file. She should have saved her nap for later instead of dozing off this morning. Then she might have been more prepared.

    Cat placed a gun on the table then fixed Alex with the same challenging look. It was a little intimidating but it didn¡¯t deter Alex from conducting a thorough search. She managed to find a total of 3 knives and 2 guns on Cat. She had to admit, she was a little impressed. From the look of Cat¡¯s clothing she wouldn¡¯t have expected she could hide so much. Her jacket was leather but short and well-fitted. Someone had tailored it to fit Cat¡¯s form while also leaving just enough room at the back to sew holsters into the jacket so they weren¡¯t obvious from the outside. Initially Alex had though Cat was wearing high-waisted skinny jeans but once she started her pat down Alex recognised the material for something different, Kevlar, the type a lot of motorcyclists wore. A knife had been lightly sewn into the material at each hip and could have been easily mistaken for part of the pattern of the pants. As flat as those knifes were however, Cat was never getting them past a proper pat down.

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    ¡°Are we done?¡± Cat asked impatiently.

    ¡°Just a few questions.¡± the old man told her. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Cat.¡±

    ¡°That short for Cathryn?¡±

    Cat didn¡¯t reply. The old man moved on. ¡°What¡¯s your last name?¡±

    ¡°James.¡±

    ¡°Your Power?¡±

    ¡°Dreamwalker.¡±

    ¡°Are you married?¡±

    Cat held up both hands and wiggled her fingers. ¡°Do I look like I¡¯m married?¡±

    ¡°Do you have children?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Siblings?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    The old man sighed ¡°Didn¡¯t we just process your brother?¡±

    ¡°Did you?¡± Cat replied, eyebrow rising in mock surprise.

    The old man¡¯s eyebrows knotted together. He looked quite tense. ¡°Please don¡¯t make my job harder than it has to be Ms James.¡±

    Cat just stared at him with an almost satisfied look on her face like this was all just some kind of test.

    ¡°Are your Parents alive?¡±

    She didn¡¯t seem to like that question as much. Alex noted that her face darkened ever so slightly, and her features tightened even more so.

    ¡°No. Are we done?¡± Cat started to walk towards the exit.

    The old man sighed and waved Cat through. He then walked to the other door and motioned for Zephyr to step into the inspection room.

    ¡°Lucky last¡± Zephyr quipped. If anyone heard him they didn¡¯t show it. Zephyr shrugged and handed over two handguns. He flashed Alex a friendly smile. It could have been a subtle attempt at flirting, especially since Zephyr didn¡¯t give Mark one, but Alex couldn¡¯t be quite sure. Zephyr was skinnier than the others and he seemed more energetic, maybe even nervous. His eyes jumped around a lot as if he wasn¡¯t sure what he should be looking at. Alex¡¯s memories were fuzzy on this guy¡¯s file too. Maybe there just hadn¡¯t been much in the files of these last two?

    Mark turned up not one, not two, but three knives.

    ¡°Can¡¯t I even just keep one of them?¡± Zephyr inquired.

    The old man¡¯s face darkened. His patience was growing thin. ¡°You know the answer to that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I have a bad memor...¡± Zephyr¡¯s light-hearted tone trailed off as he caught the look the old man was giving him. He really didn¡¯t seem to have meant any harm. Alex almost felt sorry for him.

    ¡°What¡¯s your first and last name?¡± The old man asked with as much enthusiasm as a clam.

    ¡°Zephyr Kelly¡± he replied.

    ¡°Power?¡±

    ¡°Quickfoot.¡±

    ¡°Occupation?¡±

    ¡°Psychologist.¡±

    The old man continued on with a few more questions, then shuffled Zephyr through to the next room where the rest of the group waited.

 Chapter 11: Sheepshank; a knot which is useful for taking strain off other parts of the rope

    Previous day...

    ¡°And then do you know what he did?

    Zephyr shook his head. ¡°What did he do?¡± he asked feigning as much interest as he could.

    ¡°Well he had the audacity to deny the whole entire thing,¡± Margot sniffed and pulled another tissue out of the box on her lap.

    ¡°That must have been very difficult¡± Zephyr said comfortingly.

    ¡°Oh you have no idea¡± Margot exclaimed, and then continued on another spiel about her husband¡¯s faults.

    Zephyr threw out comments and questions where appropriate, never faulting in his ability to appear alert and interested. In a way, he was to some extent. Perhaps not in the details of their lives but in making them feel better. It was part of why he¡¯d chosen this line of work. If listening to a patient for an hour made their lives easier then he always came away feeling like he¡¯d contributed to the world in some way, made it a slightly better place. The worst days were the ones where you knew you could not help. When no matter what you said the patient would leave feeling no different.

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    Margot was one of his better patients. She was so easily comforted that Zephyr sometimes even enjoyed her sessions.

    The clock chimed. Margot stopped mid-sentence and blinked. ¡°Oh time already! I swear time always goes so fast during our sessions.¡± She smiled then checked her watch. ¡°Oh and Gertrude is coming over at three for afternoon tea.¡±

    Zephyr gave a polite nod.

    Margot stood up doing an amazing job of composing herself. ¡°Thank you so much Dr.¡±

    Zephyr nodded politely again. ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯ll see you again same time next week.¡± She chirped ¡°Oh actually can I change my appointment to Wednesday morning? Just for next week, Bonnie¡¯s niece is having a baby shower on Friday and I simply can¡¯t miss it for the world.¡±

    ¡°Let me check my schedule¡± Zephyr replied as he reached for a large grey folder sitting on a nearby cabinet. He flicked through a couple of pages until he found the right date. ¡°Yes that should be fine, I had a cancellation at eight on Wednesday morning. That¡¯s not too early is it?¡±

    ¡°Oh no, that should be fine¡± Margot replied with a big smile. ¡°I¡¯ll see you then.¡± She waved behind her as she headed towards the door.

    Zephyr smiled softly as she left. He walked from the office sofa back to his desk and started to tidy through some files. The comfy office was just a room in his house. Just by chance he decided to check his personal phone. Normally he kept it turned off during the day. His clients would contact him on his work phone. But he had an hour free before the last client of the day. He noticed a missed call from Amanda. He sighed and looked at the mess of papers spread across his desk. He really didn¡¯t feel like sorting through them right now. He dialed Amanda¡¯s number and put the phone to his ear.

 Chapter 12: Blood Loop Dropper Knot; A knot to set the bait

    Present day...

    On the other side of the doors the corridor continued roughly the same as before only this time instead of white lino on the floor there was a soft blue carpet. Identical plain-looking office style doors lined the walls every several metres. At the end of the corridor stood one white door. The old man led the way. The group followed with Alex and Mark bringing up the rear. Amanda noticed Cat sidle up next to her.

    ¡°If he¡¯d done any research about who we were he wouldn¡¯t have to ask us those questions. And why take our weapons but not bind our powers?¡± Cat hissed at Amanda.

    ¡°Power binding is much harder,¡± Amanda whispered back but silently she agreed. The questions they had been asked were weird and taking the weapons was not very useful when she still had her powers. It wasn¡¯t unusual for security checks to involve questions about family, but it was the way they¡¯d asked that was unusual. It was like some manager had gotten a little overzealous in their need for some procedure, any procedure. Maybe they just wanted to check with the information they already had? It also annoyed her that the old man still hadn¡¯t introduced himself.

    They entered the next room which looked much like an ordinary office except all the desks were stacked in one corner. It looked like they used it more as extra storage. Along the walls were more brown doors. On the other side of the room in the corner was once again one white door. There was nobody else in the room.

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    ¡°What¡¯s with the mix of brown and white doors?¡± Cat asked, not expecting him to give an answer.

    But he did. ¡°They¡¯re to rooms, the white doors are the main ones.¡±

    Cat raised an eyebrow. A part of her was tempted to quip back ¡®in case you can¡¯t remember which way to go?¡¯, but she was afraid he would answer again, and she didn¡¯t really want to know.

    ¡°So what are we here for?¡± Sirius asked, ever the pragmatist.

    ¡°Err¡­¡± the old man began but was interrupted.

    ¡°Bradley¡± another old man called out, having just come through the opposite white door. He could have been Bradley¡¯s twin, apart from the darker thinning hair. He walked toward them then stopped facing Bradley.

    ¡°I can take it from here¡± he said in a tone which suggested Bradley need not stay. Indeed it implied he should leave.

    Their new guide turned to them. ¡°Good Afternoon! I¡¯m Fredrick but you can call me Fred.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to tell us why we are here? Give us a briefing of sorts¡± Amanda asked before he could say anything else. ¡°And there¡¯s the little matter of payment.¡±

    ¡°Oh I assure you you¡¯ll be paid quite a healthy sum.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I mea¡­¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve sorted that out with your boss and as for the job itself well you¡¯re not the first we¡¯ve called¡­¡±

    ¡°What is it and how do we kill it?¡± Cat interrupted.

    Amanda groaned inwardly. Cat was always way too impatient. Then again, they only had a few days.

    Fred looked serious. ¡°We¡¯re not sure.¡±

    ¡°What happened to the others?¡± Falco asked.

    But once again Cat interrupted before Fred could answer. ¡°Wait, you¡¯re not sure what it is or you¡¯re not sure how to kill it?¡±

    ¡°Um, both actually¡± Fred replied.

    ¡°Better get started then¡± Amanda said.

    ¡°Good. Follow me.¡±

 Chapter 13: Reef Knot; a knot which is less useful when wet

    Previous day...

    Lappy rolled his Dodge into the garage and cut the engine. As he got out of the car a teenage girl with waist-length blonde pigtails walked towards him.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± she asked stopping a few feet from him.

    ¡°Cat around?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s out back. I¡¯ll go grab her.¡± The girl headed back into the garage.

    Lappy leaned against his car. He was tempted for a smoke but Cat didn¡¯t like people smoking at her garage.

    A few minutes later a tall dark-haired woman walked through the door. She ran her green eyes over the front left of his car and raised one eyebrow.

    She sucked in a breath, pursed her lips, then spoke in a rough voice. ¡°That looks nasty. What¡¯ve you done to her Lappy?¡±

    ¡°Hit the curb, side on¡± Lappy replies while grazing his eyes over Cat. One hand fidgeted with the pack of cigarettes in his front jeans pocket. It was late summer; just warm enough for Cat to still be wearing a plain black singlet and just cold enough for her to have thrown on a pair of tight dark blue jeans. She wore low-heeled black boots all year round.

    Cat did a loop around the car. Lappy didn¡¯t take his eyes off her for a second.

    ¡°You¡¯re definitely gonna need some new rims. Drive her round back and I¡¯ll take a closer look,¡± Cat told him, and then with glance at the badly damaged front wheel, she gave a half smirk, and added ¡°if you can.¡±

    Lappy gave a grunt and jumped back in the car. Qualified mechanic or not, Cat James was the best. That¡¯s why he came here. She knew what she was doing. She charged accordingly but it didn¡¯t matter, Lappy had spare money and besides she was damned nice to look at.

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    Joanie, the blonde pig-tailed teenage girl, was sitting out back on an oil drum smacking her gum and working on some math homework when Cat walked through the door.

    ¡°I don¡¯t pay you to sit around and do your homework.¡±

    ¡°I finished my other job,¡± Joanie complained. ¡°Jimmy¡¯s car is ready to be picked up and the afternoon¡¯s been real quiet.¡±

    ¡°It has been quiet,¡± Cat mused. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go home early then¡± she added, more relaxed ¡°It¡¯s only half an hour off closing time anyway. I¡¯ll finish up.¡±

    ¡°Awesome! Thanks¡± Joanie hurriedly started packing up her things.

    The 17-year old dashed out through the door. Cat watched her go, then turned as Lappy drove up under the car port.

    Lappy watched as Cat inspected the damage to his car, his eyes taking in her every move.

    ¡°Keep staring and I¡¯ll charge you for it¡± Cat warned him. ¡°You got somewhere else to be?¡± she asked, ¡°This¡¯ll take at least till tomorrow... unless you feel like paying a bit extra?¡± she raised one dark eyebrow in question. Sometimes being attractive could be useful and she¡¯d certainly abused the privilege on more than one occasion but usually Cat preferred to work without the customers ogling her.

    Lappy knew better than to mess with Cat. Besides he was dying for a smoke.

    ¡°I¡¯ll pick it up Monday¡± he replied curtly as he made to leave.

    ¡°Half up front, sort it out with Bongo in the front room¡± Cat called after him.

    Lappy waved a hand in acknowledgement already reaching for his cigarettes with the other.

    Cat didn¡¯t stay too much longer. Lappy¡¯s car could wait for tomorrow. She might even get one of the other mechanics to handle it, depending what else came in, Saturday morning¡¯s were sometimes busy. She was eager to get home and wash the grease off, plus she had the night off, no extra jobs this evening. It was the sort of evening one might pour themselves a glass of red wine and slide into a warm bubble bath but Cat was partial to neither. Instead she¡¯d wash the grease and oil off with a wet cloth, then she¡¯d relax on the couch with a book, or perhaps clean her weapons. How long had it been since she¡¯d last cleaned them?

    Cat ignored the phone when it first rang. She was sitting on the floor of the bathroom running a razor blade up her long legs. Her towel dried ebony hair snaked down her back and across her shoulders almost reaching her hips. A few more rings and she sighed. She wiped her soapy legs with a cloth and wrapped herself in a towel. She grabbed her pistol, which she always kept nearby, and stalked down the hall to answer the phone.

 Chapter 14: No Time to Uncoil

    Present day...

    Fred led them across the strange office room and out the other white door. They found themselves in another white hallway. More brown doors were set into the walls.

    They walked through another office room. Another hallway. Then another office. There didn¡¯t appear to be any one else around. In one final hallway, he stopped next to what appeared to be just a blank portion of wall. He looked around as if to check no one was watching and put his hand on it. After a moment the wall disappeared into thin air. This time they found themselves staring into a grey hall, fully metal. Fred started walking along it. His footsteps echoed loudly. Once more they followed him. At the end of this hallway a set of electronic doors barred their way. Behind them, the wall had reappeared, blocking them from the view of anyone who might happen to pass along the hallway.

    Cat turned so her voice would reach the group and not Fred. ¡°You know, if it weren¡¯t for all the obvious white doors I¡¯d think they were deliberately trying to make it hard to find the way in.¡±

    ¡°Security through obscurity is not security.¡± Indi remarked.

    ¡°What?¡± Cat asked.

    Indi shook her head. ¡°Programmer¡¯s saying.¡±

    ¡°Seems like a bit of a fire risk.¡± Falco remarked. He couldn¡¯t help himself from glancing at Amanda.

    Amanda pretended not to notice.

    Fred put his hand in a hole next to the door. He winced as a machine pricked his palm and took a small sample of blood. Moments later the doors slid open. They walked out onto what appeared to be a large underground balcony of sorts, a balcony which curved around to both the left and the right. On the other side of the railing lay a deep hole. They stepped forward and stared into the dark abyss. The hole was quite possibly one hundred meters wide. As for its depth, who knew? The bottom was not visible.

    ¡°It¡¯s a Splice?¡± Wolf asked.

    Fred seemed surprised that he knew what it was. ¡°Indeed. Its unique properties are useful for conducting certain scientific experiments but mind you this information does not leave this facility.¡±

    ¡°Illegal experiments?¡± Cat asked.

    Fred gave her a warning look. ¡°The nature of the experiments is privileged information. It is outside what you need to know.¡±

    ¡®Of course it is,¡¯ Cat thought, her internal sarcasm meter turned up to eleven.

    Fred led them along the edge of the Splice Hole and through a door which led to another hall. This one was shorter than the previous ones and with four brown doors, two on either side of the hall. A fleet of stairs lay at the end of the hall. To the right of the stairs was an elevator.

    ¡°I would thank you very much not to go wandering around, and to stay on this floor unless escorted,¡± Fred told them. He pointed to the brown doors. ¡°These are your rooms. Your bags should be along shortly.¡± He turned to leave. ¡°Oh and don¡¯t worry about the rats. There are a couple of them around here.¡± He spoke over his shoulder. ¡°We¡¯ve tried putting down traps but the buggers are experts at avoiding them.¡±

    Kass glanced around nervously.

    ¡°What if it¡¯s an emergency?¡± Cat asked.

    He sighed and turned back to face them. ¡°In the event of an emergency, personnel will find you and escort you to a safe location. Under no circumstances are you to leave this floor unescorted.¡±

    Just then the doors behind him opened and two men dressed all in black entered, carrying 4 duffel bags each.

    ¡°Ah, here is your stuff¡± Fred smiled. ¡°Now unless there are any more questions I will leave you to get comfortable.¡± He was half-turned toward the door before he had even finished his sentence.

    ¡°When¡¯s lunch?¡± Indi blurted out.

    Fred turned back again with a strained smile plastered across his face.

    ¡°Also when are we getting briefed?¡±

    ¡°You will be fully briefed at 1900 hours. Dinner will be served at half an hour prior to that. Somebody will come to fetch you then¡±. He turned to leave again.

    ¡°Dinner?¡± Indi repeated to the others, frowning as she turned her wrist over to check the time. It was just after 1:30pm.

    ¡°No lunch,¡± Amanda observed.

    Indi pouted. ¡°Good thing I brought snacks.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t seem in too much of a hurry¡± Amanda commented.

    ¡°The whole thing seems weird. Where are all the people?¡± Cat added.

    ¡°At lunch?¡± Falco suggested.

    Indi frowned and put her hands on her hips. ¡°That can¡¯t be right. Amanda, you said food was included.¡±

    Zephyr shrugged. ¡°Maybe they¡¯re just finishing lunch. It is more near the end of lunch time. They might have assumed we ate on the way. And maybe they¡¯re in no rush because it¡¯s an easy job and we really will be done in two days this time.¡±

    Cat snorted. ¡°Sure, because we get called in for easy jobs. When have any of Coal¡¯s jobs run on time when it¡¯s all of us?¡±

    ¡°Are you blaming the rest of us for that?¡± Falco asked in mock indignation.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Cat replied with a nod and a smug smile. ¡°My jobs always run on time.¡±

    ¡°But your jobs are what? Breaking and entering? Simple theft? Life¡¯s much easier when you¡¯re on the other side of the law.¡±

    ¡°Technically we¡¯re not on the right side of the law here,¡± Kass corrected. ¡°This sort of stuff really should be going to law enforcement or the army but they don¡¯t want anyone knowing what they do here and so they call us.¡±

    Falco shrugged. ¡°We¡¯re saving lives, not helping them do whatever it is they are doing. It¡¯s different from simple theft.¡±

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Cat snorted. Before she could add anything Zephyr interrupted.

    ¡°At least Monday¡¯s a holiday.¡±

    ¡°Not for everyone,¡± Amanda commented.

    Zephyr shrugged. ¡°Who¡¯s looking after your horses?¡±

    ¡°The Kids, Bobby specifically. Gemma would but as you know she¡¯s pregnant and I don¡¯t want her risking the baby. My parents are helping out as well, stopping by occasionally, making sure they don¡¯t burn the house down.¡±

    ¡°Literally¡± Sirius said softly with the hint of a teasing smile. It earned him a gentle warning glance from Amanda. Their oldest daughter was a Firestarter as well, just not quite as controlled with it as her mother, and pregnancy often made one¡¯s powers a little more unpredictable.

    ¡°What about the rest of you?¡± Zephyr asked looking at Indi, Falco, Kass, and Wolf.

    ¡°My parents are looking after Jewel.¡± Indi replied. ¡°And Jesse,¡± she added with a glance in Kass¡¯s direction.

    ¡°They¡¯re at the ex¡¯s¡± Wolf said, short and simple. He knew they probably weren¡¯t, but his three high-schoolers were old enough that they tended to stray where they wanted when they wanted. They freely divided their time up between each parent¡¯s house and friend¡¯s places. That and the local area was great for camping, which much of the youth spent doing.

    Zephyr nodded.

    ¡°Guess we should check out our rooms.¡± Falco bent down to pick up a couple of duffel bags, one which was his, and two which belonged to Indi.

    There was a murmur of agreement, and everyone shifted to picking up their bags.

    Sirius and Amanda took one bag and one room.

    Zephyr looked at Cat. ¡°You and I?¡±

    Cat replied with a nonchalant look and a flippant ¡°whatever.¡±

    ¡°Looks like you two get to share,¡± Indi said to Kass and Wolf as she followed Falco into their room.

    ¡°Mmm,¡± Wolf murmured as if he couldn¡¯t really care less either. Kass picked up her bag and handed Wolf his.

    Inside Falco and Indi¡¯s room there were two single beds, a double dresser with six drawers and a small mirror placed atop the dresser.

    Indi studied the beds. ¡°Let¡¯s push them together.¡±

    Falco gave a nod, dropped the bags he was carrying, and started to push. Indi smiled amused. She hadn¡¯t meant for him to start straight away. She briefly admired the muscular shape of his butt and the size of his strong arms. Then she went over to the drawers to inspect their contents, or lack thereof as it turned out. She turned to the mirror to check herself out briefly, before her gaze found Falco again. He looked up and gave her a mischievous smile.

    Next door, Amanda and Sirius had also pushed their beds together. Since Sirius was a Strongarm he could do it with a single push of one hand. Their room was pretty much a reflected version of Indi and Falcos¡¯. Amanda sat cross legged on the bed and shuffled through the bag. Sirius stood next to the bed watching her with a somewhat puzzled look across his face.

    ¡°What are you looking for?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Nothing, I¡¯m just checking if¡­¡± she trailed off.

    ¡°If what?¡±

    ¡°If they searched our bags before they brought them down,¡± Amanda said.

    ¡°Well they searched us didn¡¯t they?¡±

    Amanda triumphantly pulled out a bottle of bubbly. ¡°Yeah, well apparently their search policy doesn¡¯t extend to the bags.¡± She grinned.

    ¡°They were probably just looking for weapons,¡± Sirius replied. ¡°What did you bring that for?¡±

    ¡°Celebration¡± Amanda shrugged. She didn¡¯t mention the flask they¡¯d taken off her. Maybe it was just harder for them to check the contents. A bottle of bubbly was after all more likely to actually contain what it said it did.

    ¡°What if we fail in our mission?¡± Sirius teased.

    ¡°Well you know what they say about how there are two occasions for drinking Champagne?¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that bottle say Prosecco?¡±

    Amanda shrugged, ¡°Close enough.¡±

    Sirius gave a chuckle. He paused then frowned.

    ¡°What?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°Does this place seem quite right to you?¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°They¡¯re a bit strange.¡±

    ¡°Their protocols are inconsistent. Their questions are¡­ they probably already know all that stuff they asked us. And asking about our parents¡­¡± Sirius sat on the edge of the bed.

    ¡°Checking if we¡¯re who we said we were or against their own research about us? Getting us to talk long enough to do voice recognition? I don¡¯t know,¡± Amanda shrugged.

    ¡°Perhaps.¡±

    Across the hall Cat was lounged on her bed taking, as she put it, a cat nap. Her bag lay, where she had left it discarded on the floor. Beside the dresser, Zephyr was putting some of his things in draws.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to unpack?¡± Zephyr asked her.

    ¡°What¡¯s the point? We¡¯re only here for a weekend.¡± She replied.

    ¡°That¡¯s what they said on our last mission too¡± Zephyr replied ¡°and then we ended up staying for a week. I¡¯m getting comfortable.¡±

    ¡°Makes for a faster escape if we have to leave in a hurry,¡± Cat added opening one eye to peer at Zephyr.

    ¡°Yeah, I guess¡± Zephyr sighed and chucked his bag in one corner.

    ¡°Hey wanna push the beds together?¡± he said with a wink.

    ¡°In your dreams¡± Cat replied with a smile then closed her eyes again.

    Cat had slept with Zephyr on several occasions, all of them at least a few months back. It had been predominately casual, as most of Cat¡¯s relationships tended to be. However, she¡¯d been cooling things with him down. Drag them out too long and people tended to start wanting things. Zephyr was smart enough to understand and wise enough to never ask for more but she also knew he was type of guy who would prefer a relationship. Just knowing that was enough. There was only one lover Cat had kept around long-term and it was precisely because he didn¡¯t want something long-term that she kept returning to him.

    A moment later she heard the door open and glanced up to see Zephyr leaving through it. ¡°Where you going?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Exploring¡± Zephyr shrugged.

    ¡°Right¡± Cat mumbled and closed her eyes again. ¡°Wake me if anybody dies.¡±

    Zephyr stepped out into the hallway and looked up and down. There was nobody around. He wandered towards the elevator and stopped outside its doors. He pressed the button and to his surprise the doors opened. He poked his head inside, curious how many floors there were.

    ¡°Hey¡± said a voice behind him.

    Zephyr jumped nearly a foot in the air. ¡°Shit!¡± he tuned to see Indi standing there a large grin plastered over her face. Her cheeks were flushed, like she¡¯d been for a run, even though Zephyr knew Indi hardly ever ran.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± she laughed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t do that¡± he replied.

    ¡°Do what?¡± she asked still smiling.

    ¡°Sneak up on people like that.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t. You just didn¡¯t notice me because you were too busy doing¡­ what were you doing?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I was just seeing how many floors the elevator went to,¡± he replied innocently.

    ¡°Well did you find out?¡± Indi asked. Sometimes Zephyr couldn¡¯t tell when Indi was being serious but in this case, by her luck, it was a legitimate question.

    ¡°Not exactly¡­¡±

    ¡°Let me see¡± Indi stepped into the elevator.

    ¡°Huh¡± she tilted her head slightly to the side ¡°that¡¯s interesting.¡± On the wall of the elevator were buttons with letters as well as numbers. ¡°Well I guess the best way to find out is to test it. You wanna see where it goes?¡± she asked excitedly.

    Zephyr shook his head and took a step backwards. ¡°Not really.¡±

    ¡°Oh come on,¡± Indi replied ¡°It¡¯ll be fun. We can try a few and see if we can figure it out. Maybe they¡¯re not floor numbers and it¡¯s a code.¡±

    Zephyr hesitated. ¡°Fred told us to stay on this floor.¡±

    ¡°Fred said ¡°I would thank you very much not to go wandering around, and to stay on this floor unless escorted¡± Indi replied word for word in what was a rather accurate impression of Fred.

    ¡°Exactly¡± Zephyr said.

    ¡°No, weren¡¯t you listening? He said he¡¯d thank us if we did, it¡¯s a preferential term, not an order¡± Indi replied. ¡°And technically if we go together then we are escorting each other.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know what¡¯s down there.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh and I¡¯m dying to find out. Anyway I¡¯ll just escort myself otherwise.¡±

    ¡®Poor choice of words¡¯ Zephyr thought then replied ¡°You¡¯re a shield, you¡¯ll probably be fine.¡± But he was already thinking of what the others would say if he left Indi to wander off alone. She had a habit of finding trouble. Or was it that trouble found her?

    ¡°Fine but we stay in the elevator,¡± Zephyr said, stepping forward. As he did the door to the hall opened. He glanced up. ¡°Quick! Get out! Fred¡¯s back.¡±

    Indi did as she was told. Lucky for them Fred didn¡¯t see them getting out of the elevator.

    ¡°Hello¡± Fred said as he approached them. ¡°I was going to come back later but something has happened that needs your attention.¡±

    As he finished speaking the door on his right opened and Kass walked out.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°Fred needs us to see something,¡± Zephyr told her.

    ¡°All of us?¡±

    ¡°We were just about to get everybody,¡± Fred confirmed.

    ¡°What do you need us to see?¡± Kass asked Fred.

    ¡°It¡¯s best if we get everyone out here and then I can show you all.¡±

    Kass nodded. Indi was already half way to her and Falco¡¯s room. Zephyr went to wake Cat.

    ¡°Somebody die?¡± Cat asked Zephyr as he stepped back into their room.

    ¡°Maybe.¡±

    Cat sat up. She studied his face. ¡°Alright.¡± She got up and followed him out the door.

 Chapter 15: Sensing A Little Tension

    A few minutes later they all stood gathered in the hallway. Fred led them towards the elevator. Indi gave Zephyr an excited look. He returned a polite smile. Indi was far too enthusiastic about everything, even for him.

    Somehow they all managed to fit into the elevator. Just. Wolf accidentally elbowed Cat and she gave him a dark look. He ignored her. Cat was always giving everyone dark looks.

    Fred pushed a variety of buttons. Indi watched closely, trying to catch which ones he pressed. This elevator was less smooth than the last one and she estimated they moved about two levels in a downward direction.

    The doors opened and they stepped out into a hallway made completely of concrete. At one end, a flight of stairs wound their way upward. At the other end, was a grey door. In front of it the hallway turned sharply to the left. About half way back along the hallway three soldiers were gathered around something on the floor. As the group moved closer, the soldiers departed, giving them a nod of acknowledgement as they passed.

    A mound of flesh lay before them. Bones, jutted out of the pile at unnatural angles. It was too fresh to smell like anything bad yet. There was just a light note of metallic iron in the air. Indi hesitated briefly, until Falco put a gentle hand on the small of her back. It wasn¡¯t the body that got to her so much as the smell of the blood. She and Wolf both had a stronger sense of smell than the others, but for a vampire the smell of blood wasn¡¯t just stronger, it had an entirely different flavor to it. A sweetness, a savoriness, a complexity that drew one in. Like sniffing a fine wine. Indi knew this had been a person, and that something or someone had killed them, but it had also been ages since she¡¯d eaten. So she was hit most suddenly with a horrible mixture of hunger and guilt, and just the tiniest drop of curiosity. What had happened here?

    Kass, meanwhile, was struggling with flashbacks of her own. The mess of the body reminded her of some of the things she¡¯d seen several years back during the peak of the Vampire wars. Back when she¡¯d lived in the remote permanently snow-covered territories of the very far north. Making new vampires through transfusion had been, and still was in many places, an illegal, painful, and gruesome process. It happened occasionally, even now. Being a vampire allowed for enhanced skills and the condition wasn¡¯t mutually exclusive with being a Witch. However during the Northern Vampire wars the process had become dangerously common as the local vampires had sought to increase their numbers in an attempt to push back against the persecution of their kind.

    Newly created adult vampires often lacked the self control of their natural born counterparts. Normally, a vampire might simply leave their victim unconscious but alive with temporary neck bruising or as was more common these days, they would skip the interaction with the person entirely and legally purchase their blood from local blood bank. Some vampires preferred the personal touch and took their blood directly from consenting volunteers or licensed sellers. A few, like Indi, chose to forgo it entirely, sticking to animal meat cooked rare. For Indi, it was less of an issue since she was half Witch by birth, although she still felt some of the withdrawal effects. A full vampire who chose to survive on animal blood alone would often suffer from extreme lethargy. The less intelligent the blood donor, the less effective the blood was at enhancing a vampires abilities, or for most vampires even reaching baseline functionality. However, the less blood a vampire consumed the less addicted they were and the better they fared when supplies were low. It was a delicate balancing act.

    Frenzy was a risk for newly made vampires and for vampires who were in withdrawal. In its extreme a vampire experiencing Frenzy would not simply suck the blood. They would go beyond and tear into the flesh. They could rip their victims apart, and leave flesh hanging off the bone. Sometimes in their rush, they wouldn¡¯t even drain the corpse fully. It wasn¡¯t the usual way a vampire would leave their prey. It had been something common to those Northern vampires though, just due to the sheer number of new vampires they had created and the speed at which they had done it. In times of war sometimes desperate measure were sought.

    Kass knew that better than anyone. Playing both sides at various times, and armed with a sniper rifle she¡¯d hunted specific high profile targets in an attempt to bring the fighting to a halt. But nothing is ever that simple and in the process she¡¯d found herself taking out innocent targets both in self-defense and in order to prevent further bloodshed elsewhere. War was dirty, no one came away clean. Some didn¡¯t come away at all, including Kass¡¯s husband and one of her children. She forced the memories back and tried to focus on the moment at hand. ¡®What sort of animal could have done this? Dare she voice her theory with Indi standing right next to her?¡¯

    Cat¡¯s face was unreadable. She appeared unaffected. Indeed, she had seen worse before, and her thoughts strayed not to vampires, but to creatures of a darker nature, creatures that haunted dreams and only rarely ventured into the physical realm. She frowned. There was one thing that bothered her though.

    ¡°It looks like they¡¯ve been through a meat grinder and then spat back out.¡± She commented. The remains had been chewed but not swallowed. Whatever had done this either didn¡¯t like the taste of this particular person or it killed simply for sport.

    Indi must have caught on to what Cat was thinking as she said ¡°I guess this creature isn¡¯t big on eating meat.¡±

    Amanda frowned ¡°There¡¯s chewed up body right in front of us.¡±

    ¡°Exactly¡± Indi replied.

    Amanda didn¡¯t look any more enlightened.

    ¡°Well it killed them, it chewed them, and then it spat them back out¡± Cat explained ¡°that¡¯s not exactly eating.¡±

    ¡°Like there¡¯s a difference,¡± Zephyr stated.

    ¡°There¡¯s a big difference,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°Why do you think it killed them?¡± Wolf explained to Zephyr. ¡°Not for food obviously so it was probably for sport.¡±

    ¡°Or it felt threatened¡± Sirius suggested.

    ¡°Maybe¡± Indi shrugged.

    ¡°I see you¡¯ve all come to the same conclusion that we did¡± Fred said. ¡°That this was not done by a person.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s necessarily a foregone ...¡± Amanda started to say softly.

    ¡°What do you think did it?¡± Cat asked Fred, interrupting Amanda as she spoke.

    ¡°We don¡¯t know. That¡¯s your job here this weekend. Find out what did this and if possible stop it from happening again.¡±

    Indi took a step forward to study the body. Her movement startled a small furry blood-soaked rat which darted out from beneath the body and ran off down the hallway. Indi stepped back briefly startled ¡°oh!¡±

    Kass gave a squeal as the rat ran past her. She leaped sideways, practically into Sirius¡¯s arms.

    During the Northern Vampire wars, torturing captured spies for information had been common practice. Something else that the North had in abundance was the rats. Kass had never personally experienced the creative kind of torture that had emerged from the combination of those two things but she had seen it done to others and she shivered at the memory.

    Indi recovered almost immediately and went back to studying the body ignoring the rest of the commotion that the rat had caused.

    Kass, now blushing bright red, and still wary in case there were more rats, untangled herself from Sirius¡¯s arms.

    A jovial laugh echoed from behind them. Mark had been stepping out of the elevator when the rat had appeared. As he walked towards them he spoke out to Kass.

    ¡°How are you going to get rid of some monster,¡± he gestured toward the pile of remains on the floor ¡°if you can¡¯t even handle a little rat?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve never seen a rat eat its way through live human flesh¡± Kass replied as she smoothed her shirt down in an attempt to regain her composure. ¡°They do, you know, if they¡¯re desperate enough.¡±

    Mark expressed a look of curiosity. Then his face took on a darker tone. ¡°There are lots of rats around this place. They¡¯re probably the most harmless thing down here.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re still creepy.¡± Kass replied.

    Mark nodded. He leaned against the wall, and studied the group for a second. ¡°So you guys all friends or just work mates?¡±

    ¡°Friends, more or less¡± Amanda replied with a wary glance at Kass. Her eyes found Cat and she added ¡°And relatives.¡±

    Cat didn¡¯t miss much, least of all an opportunity to test people. ¡°and enemies.¡± she added with a smirk in Amanda¡¯s direction.

    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± Amanda asked, recognising a bait but unable to resist it.

    Cat shrugged. ¡°Just the expression on your face when Kass jumped into Sirius¡¯s arms. It didn¡¯t look very friendly.¡±

    Amanda stared daggers. Cat, who also knew better than to mess with Amanda, ignored all warnings and decided to push her just a little bit further.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Sirius , on the other hand, didn¡¯t seem to have a problem with it at all¡± she added ¡°Neither did Kass.¡±

    Cat was excellent at picking out the things that bothered a person, taking them, folding them, and throwing them back like an origami plane. She made an art form out of it. Kass¡¯s friendly relationship with Sirius bothered Amanda, and Cat was getting her claws into it.

    But Amanda seemed to have regained some self-restraint and replied in a clear, and firm tone ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡±

    Cat wasn¡¯t even halfway done however, so she turned her attention on the weaker target instead. ¡°Is that enough for you Kass? You having fun?¡±

    Kass bit her lips and, blushing a light pink, refused to meet Cat¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Cat¡± Sirius warned.

    ¡°Leave her alone Cat¡± Amanda sighed as if she¡¯d lost the energy to argue.

    Cat was silent only for a moment before her sharp mind thought up another snarky retort. ¡°Didn¡¯t exactly jump to your defense did he?¡± Her eyes jumped from Amanda to Sirius and back again.

    Amanda opened her mouth to respond.

    ¡°Amanda¡± Sirius warned.

    Amanda looked at Sirius and frowned. ¡°You¡¯re warning me?¡± she asked, with a hint of anger.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to respond¡± he replied.

    ¡°Why not? She is right isn¡¯t she?¡±

    Cat¡¯s green eyes widened. She hadn¡¯t actually expected Amanda to say that out loud. Suddenly the game didn¡¯t seem quite so fun. She had meant it as a game hadn¡¯t she?

    ¡°Look guys, perhaps you could continue this later.¡± Mark interjected. While they had been arguing he had been speaking quietly to Fred. ¡°Fred has some other work he needs to do so I¡¯m going to take over for him and show you to the guest kitchen while we get some people take this body up to the morgue.¡±

    ¡®Up to the morgue. There was a phrase you didn¡¯t hear every day.¡¯ Zephyr thought.

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we study it a bit more here first?¡± Indi asked, still crouched by the body. ¡°Or get some pictures, we might miss or disturb something if we move it.¡±

    ¡°The soldiers can take some pictures, but we should get moving.¡± Mark¡¯s eyes starred off towards the end of the hallway for a second seeing something no one else could. ¡°This isn¡¯t exactly the safest place to be hanging around at the moment. Fred just wanted you to see what you¡¯re up against.¡±

    A chill went through the group and they quickly followed Mark back to the elevator as Fred walked the other direction.

    ¡°What¡¯s on the floor above us?¡± Indi asked as they all piled back into the elevator.

    ¡°Bathrooms, swimming pool, gym, some more guest rooms, things like that.¡±

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t we staying on that floor?¡± Falco asked just as Indi exclaimed ¡°swimming pool?!¡±

    ¡°I doubt we will have time to swim Indi¡± Falco told her before Mark could reply.

    ¡°Why not?¡± she inquired.

    Mark gave a snort. ¡°No one else has survived long enough to.¡±

    ¡°Well I¡¯m an optimist.¡±

    Mark gave a laugh. The kind one gives the average child when they declare their career goal to be creating world peace. ¡°To answer the other question¡± Mark continued ¡°you¡¯re not on that floor because the higher floors are safer at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Did you even bring a swimming suit?¡± Amanda asked Indi.

    ¡°Yup,¡± she responded with a smile.

    ¡°Indi bought her whole wardrobe¡± Falco said. The he directed his attention back to Mark ¡°What do you mean the higher floors are safer?¡±

    ¡°I did not bring my whole wardrobe!!¡± Indi insisted ¡°it wouldn¡¯t fit.¡±

    Falco gaffed ¡°you got that right. It probably wouldn¡¯t fit if we had a moving truck.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not true.¡± Indi tried to put her hands on her hips but there wasn¡¯t room so she settled for crossing her arms instead and attempted to portray her best angry expression. It wasn¡¯t something she was very good at and it merely had the effect of sending Falco into a fit of suppressed giggles which in return made it even harder for Indi to maintain a serious expression.

    Mark waited patiently until they were quiet before he continued.

    ¡°We¡¯ve had less¡­ incidences on the upper floors. None, in fact, above the one we were just on. However they have been moving upwards. You should be fine on this floor but just in case I suggest you keep mostly to your rooms.¡±

    The elevator doors opened and Mark led them out. They were now a floor above where the body had been found.

    ¡°I thought we were here to kill it?¡± Cat inquired.

    ¡°Yes but you don¡¯t need to take any more risk than needed¡± Mark replied.

    They all spilled out into another concrete hallway. Opposite the elevator were two doors, which from the sign on the front were obviously bathrooms.

    Despite the good signage Mark pointed them out anyway. ¡°¡­ and that way,¡± he indicated to his left, ¡°is the guest kitchen and a small lounge.¡± He began walking swiftly to the right. ¡°We have one stop to make before I show you to the kitchen.¡±

    They followed behind passing by a metal door, slightly ajar. A glance inside revealed it to be the pool and gym. Further along the hall Mark stopped outside a double silver door with a keypad. He glanced at them, covered the keypad so they couldn¡¯t see and keyed in a string of 6 numbers. Indi tried not to smile again. The keys on the security pad played different tones. Combined with the movement she could see it was easy to tell which keys he had pressed. She committed them to memory.

    The door slid apart to the sides. Cat raised an eyebrow. Inside the room the walls were lined with weapons. Shelves and shelves full of them. Anything you could imagine from handguns that would fit in a purse to rocket launchers you wouldn¡¯t want to stand near, let alone hold when they were fired. Cat, who made a hobby of fixing and improving guns to the point that some people paid her for it, was undoubtedly impressed.

    ¡°This is our weapons room,¡± Mark said simply.

    ¡°You guys get all these, what do you need ours for?¡± Cat exclaimed.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a safety precaution¡± Mark replied ¡°We like to control what you have. We¡¯re going to issue you with something you can use that doesn¡¯t bother our head of security.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Cat raised an eyebrow. She didn¡¯t seem convinced that he meant it.

    ¡°I¡¯d feel a lot safer with my own gun back¡± Zephyr mumbled.

    Mark ignored him, opened a nearby drawer and pulled out a handful of¡­

    ¡°Stun guns!¡± Cat frowned and rolled her eyes. ¡°Like that¡¯s going to do a lot of good.¡±

    Mark sighed. ¡°As far as we can tell normal weapons don¡¯t seem to affect the creatures anyway. These stun guns have a wider range. We thought you could try them out for us.¡±

    ¡°Or your guys just have really bad aim,¡± Kass mumbled under her breath so Mark wouldn¡¯t hear her.

    ¡°You haven¡¯t tested them?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got your magic worst case¡± Mark replied ¡°be thankful we left you with that, and only because it¡¯s hard to effectively and safely limit that. Security nearly had a field day us wanting to let a Firestarter into the complex¡±

    ¡°Why did they?¡± Sirius inquired.

    Mark glanced to the side as if he wasn¡¯t supposed to reveal that much information ¡°It seems the creatures do not like light.¡±

    ¡°Light?¡± Cat repeated.

    Mark continued ¡°they seem to have a habit of turning them off¡­ without touching any light switches¡±.

    ¡°Great¡± Cat drawled sarcastically.

    ¡°Anyway there¡¯s not much point asking me, I¡¯m not the one who makes the rules.¡± He handed them each a stun gun.

    ¡°So we¡¯re supposed to kill some creature that nobody¡¯s ever seen, with nothing but a simple electric shock?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Did you say people have taken shots at it, meaning they saw it?¡± Amanda asked.

    Mark shook his head. ¡°They took shots at something in the dark, but nobody saw it.¡±

    ¡°What about the guy downstairs?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°What guy?¡± Mark looked at her confused.

    ¡°No,¡± Indi replied guessing what Amanda was getting at. ¡°He was probably in the dark too and it wouldn¡¯t work anyway.¡±

    ¡°But he felt it.¡± Amanda replied.

    Indi looked worried. ¡°How would that make it any better for him?¡±

    ¡°What wouldn¡¯t work?¡± Cat asked confused. She wasn¡¯t the only one. There were uncertain looks all around.

    ¡°Raising the dead¡± Indi replied. ¡°It¡¯s cruel and chances are he didn¡¯t even see anything.¡±

    ¡°You mean the corpse we just saw?¡± Cat asked.

    Indi nodded and Amanda shrugged.

    ¡°From the state it was in?¡± Cat asked looking at Amanda ¡°Could you even do that?¡±

    ¡°Not humanely.¡± Indi argued.

    Amanda looked at Wolf questioningly.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡± Wolf replied ¡°but even if I had the tools I agree with Indi. It would not be nice to bring something that far gone back to life, even temporarily. It¡¯s also a risky operation requiring great sacrifice.¡±

    ¡°Not so great if it¡¯s just short term.¡±

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not certain I could do that with spells, we¡¯d need a Necromancer and several animals and even then, you¡¯d be lucky getting something coherent and safe resurrected. It¡¯s not worth trying.¡±

    ¡°Well anybody got any better suggestions?¡± Amanda asked.

    Cat glanced up at the weapons that surrounded them. With a devilish grin she said ¡°I think we should load up on ammo and hunt this creature down.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t.¡± Mark said ¡°I told you, bullets don¡¯t work and we¡¯re not allowed to issue you with anything more than a stun gun.¡±

    ¡°Or the people who have tried so far can¡¯t shoot straight. You did say they were shooting in the dark.¡± Cat replied voicing Kass¡¯s thoughts.

    ¡°Maybe we should try to figure out what it is first?¡± Wolf suggested.

    ¡°Or send the Firestarter after it¡± Cat grumbled. ¡°We don¡¯t need to know what it is. We just need to kill it and since it doesn¡¯t like lights...¡±

    ¡°Without knowing what it is we¡¯d just be risking injury, or worse¡± Wolf told her.

    ¡°We have tried setting traps. Traps where it could not have possibly have avoided being hit,¡± Mark added, interrupting Wolf and Cat¡¯s debate. Cat looked at him, waiting for him to elaborate more.

    ¡°And?¡± she asked when he didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°And nothing. They didn¡¯t work. We¡¯re pretty sure it could not have escaped uninjured but we¡¯ve seen no sign of injury. Unless it walks through walls¡­¡± he trailed off.

    ¡°Maybe you missed something¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°We didn¡¯t miss anything.¡±

    ¡°Well I¡¯m going hunting¡± Cat said simply and walked around the room selecting her choice of weapon. ¡°Where do you keep the ammo?¡± Cat asked Mark.

    ¡°You can¡¯t leave here with those¡± Mark replied standing in the doorway. His eyes however gave him away, flicking to a particular draw. Cat smiled and pulled at it only to find it was locked.

    ¡°Where are the keys?¡± she asked.

    Mark shook his head. To his credit he stopped his fingers before they flew to a set of keys on his belt. But sharp eyed Cat saw them shimmer reflectively and that was enough. She pointed her stun gun at Mark and fired. While he writhed in pain on the floor she bent down and extracted the set of keys. It took her only a few seconds to get what she wanted form the drawer.

    ¡°Cat¡± Sirius warned. But Cat stepped over Mark, out the door, and headed off down the hallway.

    Amanda knelt down to help Mark. ¡°You alright?¡± she asked as he recovered.

    ¡°You better find her before security does,¡± Mark replied sitting up.

    Sirius gave a nod and left to chase after Cat.

    He caught up to her outside the elevator.

    ¡°Cat¡± he called as he walked to ward her. ¡°What are you doing? You think they¡¯re going to let us leave here if we accomplish the job through injuring one of their men. What¡¯s gotten into you?¡±

    Cat sent him a leveled look. ¡°I got tired of them playing games.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to get yourself killed¡±

    ¡°So? How is that your problem?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m your brother¡±

    ¡°Really, now you want to play big brother? Well you lost that chance the day you walked out.¡±

    Sirius looked hurt. He still hadn¡¯t completely forgiven himself for fleeing home when he was 16 and leaving Cat with their ill-tempered father, so of course how could he expect Cat to? Still they had discussed it at length over the last several years, ever since Cat had driven into town over half a decade ago. He thought she was at least done giving him grief about it. After all, she hadn¡¯t mentioned it in some time now. She was normally testy but not this testy, and it wasn¡¯t just today. The whole past week she¡¯d seemed moodier than usual.

    His face softened. ¡°Cat what¡¯s up?¡±

    She shrugged and shook her head as if she didn¡¯t know herself. ¡°Nothing.¡± Waiting for the elevator had calmed her down a bit at least.

    ¡°How about we go back to the others. Head to the lounge. Have that briefing and maybe eat some food. Then we can come up with some ideas.¡±

    She sighed. ¡°Takes too long.¡±

    ¡°I promise you it won¡¯t. Chances are with some food and a good plan it may actually be faster, not to mention easier, and safer.¡±

    They eyed each other for a bit.

    ¡°Alright fine¡± she replied finally ¡°but on one condition.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I get to keep my gun.¡±

    Sirius exhaled ¡°I¡¯m not sure Mark is going to like that, but maybe we can convince him, politely. Come on.¡±

    Without another word to one another they walked back to the others.

 Chapter 16: A big ball of yarn

    Mark conceded and let Cat keep the gun but made her swear that she would not mention it to any of the other personnel in the building. Cat agreed. They now gathered in guest lounge which consisted of a small kitchen and several couches around a coffee table. The lounge walls and floors were all concrete so it wasn¡¯t a particularly comfortable looking lounge but at least there was soft seating.

    ¡±So as you all know,¡± Mark started the briefing, ¡°our facility has a creature of some sort on the loose. To date several lives have been lost, and all were found in similar states to that of the one you saw today. We¡¯ve also had a few disappearances. We know very little about this creature. We know that it affects the lighting somehow. Flickering lights are an indication that it is nearby, or will be soon. So if you notice these then it is best to leave the area, unless of course you¡¯re trying to entice it into a trap. Basically, we don¡¯t know much more than you do.¡± He handed Amanda a manila folder. ¡°This is a compilation of everything we have tried to date in as much detail as you should need. I¡¯ll leave you to discuss your plans for the evening and we will reconvene tomorrow at 0700 hours.¡±

    Indi screwed up her face in such a way that no one could have mistaken her for a lover of early mornings.

    Amanda flipped briefly through the contents of the manila folder, frowning as she noted the distinct lack of information.

    ¡°Any questions?¡± Mark asked.

    Kass raised a hand. ¡°When¡¯s dinner?¡±

    Indi nodded enthusiastically.

    ¡°Ah, right, there¡¯s food in the fridge. I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll have to cook it yourselves but we¡¯ve left plenty there.¡± Mark waited a few seconds in case there were any more questions, then nodded at them, got up, and left.

    There was silence for a few moments before Zephyr said, ¡°well I¡¯m starved, let¡¯s get some food.¡±

    There was a murmur of agreement and an enthusiastic ¡°Yes!¡± from Indi.

    The group converged on the kitchen to see what was available, except for Amanda who perched herself on the arm of a nearby couch. Sirius also remained where he had been standing. He raised his eyebrows at her in question. She handed him the folder. He flipped through it, a similar frown appearing on his face.

    ¡°There¡¯s not much there.¡±

    ¡°Mmm.¡± Sirius gave a nod of agreement.

    ¡°It concerns me that Coal thinks we¡¯ll be done with this job and back by Tuesday.¡±

    ¡°Mmm, he hasn¡¯t always been the best at time estimates.¡± Sirius handed the folder back to her.

    Amanda took it and put it on the coffee table then shook her head. ¡°This feels different. I mean a few days off on an estimate for a week long job, sure, but this seems like a much bigger job. It just feels like he¡¯s hiding something.¡±

    Cat, who had found the kitchen too crowded and had decided to eavesdrop on their conversation instead, now decided to throw herself right into it. ¡°Coal¡¯s always hiding something, but he also knows what he¡¯s doing. He wouldn¡¯t give us a job we couldn¡¯t handle.¡±

    ¡°Well I¡¯m glad you trust him.¡± Amanda replied unconvinced.

    Cat shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t trust anyone, least of all Coal, but he is smart, and we¡¯re worth far more to him alive. He wouldn¡¯t risk an asset like that, not for short term gain.¡±

    ¡°That assumes he doesn¡¯t just have other assets waiting to replace us.¡±

    Cat raised her chin as if she wanted to argue but her confidence in Coal wasn¡¯t quite high enough to counter Amanda¡¯s point. Yes, Coal had other contacts that did jobs for him, ones that she had never met. It was unlikely they rivaled the collective power of this group, or more specifically, Amanda, legendary firestarter, and Coal¡¯s favorite chess piece, but Cat couldn¡¯t be sure, and so some doubt remained. Cat wasn¡¯t one to say nothing though and she had started this.

    She shrugged. ¡°So he says Tuesday, we¡¯ll probably be back by Thursday. You should be in the habit of adding days to Coal¡¯s estimates. All we need to do is trap and kill a creature. Theoretically he¡¯s not wrong with the timing.¡±

    Amanda gave a snort and a smile which didn¡¯t quite reach her brown eyes. ¡°Theoretically,¡± she repeated, her words laced with doubt.

    Wolf, who had also decided that the kitchen had too many chefs, took a seat on the other couch. ¡°Maybe we should get started then? While the others cook.¡± He reached for the folder on the table. ¡°You mind?¡± he asked Amanda.

    She shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s for all of us. It won¡¯t help you much though.¡±

    ¡°You guys want something to eat?¡± Falco yelled from the kitchen.

    ¡°Are you offering to cook?¡± Amanda asked with a grin.

    ¡°Sure.¡± Falco shrugged.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably easier if we just have a couple of people doing the cooking.¡± Kass agreed.

    ¡°Not it!¡± Indi exclaimed and dashed to one of the couches around the coffee table.

    ¡°I thought you liked cooking.¡± Falco challenged.

    Indi shrugged and smiled but remained seated. ¡°Sometimes.¡±

    Falco started leafing through the contents of the fridge and freezer.

    ¡°I guess I¡¯ll help,¡± Zephyr offered. He began hunting down utensils.

    ¡°What do you guys want for dinner?¡± Falco called.

    ¡°Whatever¡¯s there¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°I can¡¯t see any veges,¡± Kass complained as she looked past Falco at the contents of the fridge.

    Indi leaned back in the couch and stretched her hands out above her. ¡°I don¡¯t think veges are a necessity.¡±

    Cat rolled her eyes and got up to help Kass look.

    ¡°Found them.¡± Kass said, before Cat could get there, as she opened the cupboard next to the fridge.

    Cat returned to her seat on the couch next to her brother.

    ¡°I found some sausages.¡± Falco held up a bag of the precooked type from out of the freezer.

    Kass made a face.

    ¡°You¡¯re not vegetarian right?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°No but ...¡± Kass trailed off eyeing the precooked sausages warily.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you like sausage Kass?¡± Cat teased in a tone that suggested she wasn¡¯t talking about the food. Even though personally she agreed with Kass¡¯s feelings about the quality of precooked sausages it would be a shame to waste this type of opportunity.

    Her comment elicited nothing but eye rolls and groans, and she was otherwise largely ignored.

    Amanda turned in her seat to look at the kitchen. ¡°Maybe something with a little more sustenance.¡± she suggested.

    ¡°I found a box of potato mix¡± Zephyr said as he pulled a box out of another cupboard. ¡°How about sausages, potato, and whatever veges you found?¡± he glanced at Kass.

    ¡°Sounds good,¡± Amanda agreed.

    Kass gave a polite nod and an unconvincing smile.

    ¡°Now what?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°Maybe a bit of research, make a shortlist of what we think we could be dealing with, dinner, a couple rounds of cards, and then bed?¡± Amanda suggested to the group.

    Wolf nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll grab my books.¡±

    They came up with two lists. One for creatures they could rule out and another for the more likely possibilities, including the possibility that there was some deranged murderer at the facility. Probably unlikely but it wouldn¡¯t be the first time that what they thought was a monster turned out to be psychopath instead.

    Dinner didn¡¯t take long to cook so Amanda suggested that they continue their research for a while after eating before taking a break.

    ¡°They really haven¡¯t given us much information¡± Kass complained as she flicked through the manila folder. ¡°What happens if we can¡¯t get the job done before Tuesday?¡±

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°Technically we don¡¯t have to stay past Monday night¡± Amanda replied ¡°but that¡¯s quite the pay cut. There¡¯s the fee for the time and then there¡¯s the fee for completion...¡± she trailed off. The others knew the details.

    ¡°We have done it before?¡± Kass asked, not quite sure.

    Amanda nodded.

    Cat gave a laugh remembering. ¡°Coal was pissed off for weeks.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really care what Coal thinks,¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°Sure you do,¡± Cat challenged.

    Amanda didn¡¯t reply. Sure, Coal hated incomplete jobs but that was understandable. He had a reputation to protect. She really didn¡¯t have a problem calling a job off if safety was an issue. She could deal with him no worries. She doubted Cat had any issue with that either. Cat would be more concerned with her own reputation. The main issue was completing a job meant only taking money for the time spent on it, and that wage wasn¡¯t much more than Amanda would make on a normal work day. As it was, her business didn¡¯t make a huge surplus. Her income was high but so were her expenses to the point that there were years where she operated at a loss, made up for by good seasons. The money that Coal paid for completed jobs was by comparison very desirable. To call off a job early simply because it ran over time just wasn¡¯t worth it.

    Kass was probably in the same boat. Even though she was a lawyer the practice she worked for was small and basically run by a local charity. Small town lawyers just couldn¡¯t charge as much as the big city ones. Little Rock, the town they were from, basically only existed because of its port. Lawyers weren¡¯t often needed by the people who lived there, at least not people with money. Those with money who did require the services of a lawyer generally preferred to go a little further afar, most often south to the Emerald City.

    Zephyr, on the other hand had actually managed to accrue some wealthy clients, some who were happy to travel in from out of town, such as the more affluent nearby town of Marblewood. Zephyr didn¡¯t need the extra income that doing jobs for Coal provided. What Zephyr liked about this work, Amanda was pretty sure, was simply the company. That, and he liked being helpful. Sure being around Cat was probably a bonus for him but he seemed to enjoy the more general friendships that the group provided as well. Even if whatever ¡®relationship¡¯ Cat and he had went south it was likely he¡¯d still stick around.

    Indi set her own hours and had done well enough in her work that she probably could have retired and spent every day with a cocktail on the beach if she wanted to. Indi wasn¡¯t one to sit still though. Coming from a comfortable life, what appealed to her most was adventure. As for Falco, he simply went wherever Indi went.

    Cat and Wolf also chose their own hours and Cat made enough to be selective about jobs but she always finished what she started. Wolf, Amanda wasn¡¯t so sure about financially but he was loyal and he would stay if they all did.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s time for a break.¡± Falco suggested.

    Amanda nodded and pulled out a pack of cards out. She threw it casually onto the table. ¡°Who¡¯s for a game of cards?¡±

    ¡°Yay.¡± Indi clapped her hands.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Cat said as if she didn¡¯t care either way.

    ¡°I¡¯m in,¡± Falco said.

    Sirius shrugged.

    ¡°I¡¯ll play,¡± Zephyr said with a grin ¡°as long as Amanda gets a handicap.¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t make a difference,¡± Amanda replied as she started shuffling the cards.

    ¡°You guys going to play?¡± she asked Kass and Wolf.

    Wolf shrugged. ¡°Why not?¡±

    Kass nodded.

    ¡°Oi!¡± Indi cried as she caught Zephyr trying to sneak a glance at her cards.

    They used ripped up pieces of paper for chips and it wasn¡¯t long before Amanda had acquired most of them, despite agreeing to Zephyr¡¯s suggested handicap.

    Indi knew the odds of every hand by heart. Her photographic memory and quick computational ability meant she could clean out a blackjack table in a cinch. Unfortunately, unlike blackjack, poker was more of a social game and Indi just couldn¡¯t hide her emotions. Nor was she particularly good at spotting a bluff.

    Amanda had been playing poker since she was old enough to walk. She didn¡¯t need to know the odds, she¡¯d simply played enough games to have a feel for them, and control might as well have been her middle name. Not even Cat could read her face. Indeed Cat spent more time watching Indi to try to estimate what Amanda had. If Indi was happy enough to have an ace then it was less likely that Amanda had one. Cat was actually pretty decent at bluffing herself. She might have even been good at poker if only she had Amanda¡¯s patience. Unfortunately Cat tended towards recklessness and never folded when she should have. Her table talk worked well at undermining and distracting some of the others but not Amanda, who simply found her routine predictable.

    Amanda had been born the first of two girls on a horse farm North of Little Rock. She had been taught to ride, shoot, fight, and play poker by her father the moment she was able to. Her mother, who believed in slightly more traditional gender roles, had greatly disapproved of a lot of it.

    Amanda¡¯s Father had simply retorted that, ¡°Everyone should know how to defend themselves.¡±

    She had always been more her father¡¯s kid, and Lizzy, her sister, had always been closer to their mother. Despite some of her mother¡¯s more reasonable objections, her father had often snuck his eldest daughter into the back of the local bar with him to play cards. The first time Jake¡¯s 6-year old won a game against grown men they had laughed and thought it was a trick. Eventually she became a source of entertainment as well as a money trap for naive travelers. The little redhead who could outplay people four times her size proved quite good for business. She drew paying patrons in and so the barman turned a blind eye to her age and offered her a deal. In return for attending a few regularly scheduled games she could drink whatever she wanted on the house.

    ¡°How about a game of strip poker¡± Zephyr suggested, nearly out of chips and bored of normal poker.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem particularly wise from where you¡¯re sitting.¡± Cat observed with a raised eyebrow.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Zephyr glanced down at his pile and seemed to be rethinking things. ¡°Or, you know, we could play hearts or something.¡±

    ¡°Strip hearts?¡± Cat teased even though she had no idea how to play hearts.

    ¡°I¡¯ll play if you play¡± Zephyr challenged with a grin.

    ¡°You know what might be a good idea?¡± Falco said. ¡°Going to bed early so we can get up early tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only quarter to nine!¡± Indi exclaimed.

    ¡°And we¡¯re supposed to be up and ready before 7am tomorrow,¡± Falco replied.

    ¡°Eugh,¡± Indi groaned ¡°I¡¯m not getting out of bed before 9am. You can¡¯t make me¡± she threw her arms back in mock drama. ¡°I can¡¯t sleep now, I¡¯m not even tired.¡±

    ¡°You can stay up late if you want but tomorrow I¡¯m getting you up early even if I have to drag you out of bed.¡± Falco told her.

    Indi gave him a dirty look and poked out her tongue.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad this team shows so much maturity,¡± Cat quipped from the couch.

    ¡°Surely I can just get out of bed at 7?¡± Indi suggested to Falco, ignoring Cat.

    ¡°Not if you want breakfast.¡±

    ¡°Mmm.¡± Indi would hate to miss breakfast. It was her favourite meal of the day. Well actually that was brunch but same thing basically, just at more respectable time.

    ¡°Nothing like getting yer arse kicked by a girl aye Zeph,¡± Cat teased as they walked back to their rooms.

    Zephyr tried to ignore her. It was only because when they¡¯d first met Zephyr had told Cat that he considered himself quite the poker player. Indeed, in a one versus one he could usually outplay Cat, but Amanda beat everyone. Zephyr had made the mistake of saying that no woman could beat him though. He had just been teasing but Cat had not let that one go. Sometimes he hated her almost as much as he liked her. If he liked her. Did he? Sometimes, when she was nice. When she dropped her guard, when she wasn¡¯t trying to act as if she didn¡¯t care, when she took off her mask, he liked her then. Ever since that night when they¡¯d met.

    His thoughts shifted to the memory of her bright green eyes staring into his and her naked skin in the moonlight. That had lasted a month or so, and then she had become distant, as if she had lost interest. It had been at least a month now and Zephyr doubted he could get it back.

    Maybe he should chase Kass instead? They had gone on a date once, before he¡¯d met Cat. They¡¯d never slept together though. They¡¯d gone to lunch after a court case where Zephyr had been called as an expert witness. Then Kass had introduced him to the others and Cat had pounced on him before either had gotten around to suggesting a second date, that is if Kass had ever seen it as a date. He was certain she had, even though when he¡¯d asked he¡¯d simply suggested ¡®lunch¡¯ rather than name it as a date.

    Kass was younger and smaller than Cat, less of a tomboy apart from the hair. Some would say prettier too, pretty in a more classical way. Cat was attractive but no one would call her pretty. It was the wrong word. She was more of a rough beauty, like a rugged landscape, scars and everything. Kass was softer, in her looks and her mannerisms. The only exception was her eyes. He¡¯d seen glimpses of warmth and vulnerability in Cat¡¯s green eyes, as well as anger and mistrust and all of the different emotions one could feel. But Kass¡¯s eyes were so often an unreadable cold pale blue. She was as conservative as Cat was reckless and open.

    Cat could put on a mask and hide her feelings but it was thin and temporary, like a veil, whereas Kass had somehow become her mask. Perhaps there was something there and he just didn¡¯t know Kass well enough yet. Cat was exciting and interesting but he knew she had other men. She¡¯d been upfront about that from the start. At the time he hadn¡¯t cared. To be fair he¡¯d been a little distracted. It wasn¡¯t that he¡¯d liked Kass less. She was an interesting mystery in her own right. It was simply that Cat had been more forward.

    Much like Zephyr himself, Cat and Kass had both had rough childhoods, just all in markedly different ways. Cat had always been quite open about her shitty father, unlike her brother who preferred not to talk about it much. In fact making light of the situation seemed to be how Cat coped. Cat, at least had escaped tragedy as she¡¯d escaped childhood. Kass, on the other hand seemed to be chased by it wherever she went. Zephyr was familiar with some of Kass¡¯s history but knowing someone¡¯s history didn¡¯t equate to knowing the person, and there was a lot he was sure she still kept secret.

    Kass had been born into privilege, the middle child to two very famous, successful, but extremely busy singers. She¡¯d been given everything and she had wanted for nothing, except the affections of those who had brought her into this world, and some distance from the strangers that watched her family¡¯s every move with frenzy. Of the family¡¯s three children, Kass alone survived childhood, only to later lose both a husband and two of her own children.

    A few years back Kass had fled to Little Rock with her one remaining son, looking for a new start. She¡¯d been on the brink of throwing it all away when a chance encounter had resulted in Kass saving Indi¡¯s life, and once Indi decided you were her friend there really wasn¡¯t any other say in the matter.

    Kass had told Zephyr some of this. Cat had told him other bits, not with the intent to undermine Kass, but more to explain things Zephyr hadn¡¯t understood. Things he¡¯d been wondering about. Cat wasn¡¯t one to gossip, but she did consider it better when things were out in the open. Secrets were for squirrels, not people. Zephyr didn¡¯t quite agree, but he did believe she meant well. Despite Cat¡¯s often outward antagonism toward Kass, the two did seem to have developed a sort of mutual respect for each other.

    Zephyr got into his bed and glanced over at where Cat lay in hers. He thought back over the last week. Had she been more antagonistic than usual lately?

    He plugged in his portable night light and switched it on before turning off the main light. Cat wouldn¡¯t mind, she could sleep anywhere, and she¡¯d long since stopped teasing him about it. No one else knew. It was part of the reason he¡¯d suggested bunking with Cat, so the others wouldn¡¯t question him about it.

    As he tried to fall asleep beneath the soft blue glow he pondered on his companions and the events of the day. Cat could be difficult to read if she wanted to, but Sirius was so much more so. The man was like a rock and getting any unwanted information out of him was akin to trying to squeeze water from a stone. He confided in Amanda though, Zephyr knew that, but lately Sirius had been seen talking to Kass more than was usual, perhaps because they were so much alike. It was something which understandably made Amanda a little wary. Zephyr wondered if trouble was brewing. Amanda and Sirius had had their fair share of issues in the past but they¡¯d always come through stronger for it. This would be no different, Zephyr was certain.

 Chapter 17: Frayed Ends

    It was 5:30am when Indi awoke. She stumbled out of bed, and wandered off to find the bathroom. The colouring of the bathrooms pleased her. Even the showers at the end of the short row of stalls had pink shower curtains. It was nice to see a little splash of colour buried within the otherwise dull grey facility. Indi walked past the row of sinks and entered one of the stalls. A few minutes later the main bathroom door swung open and footsteps pounded across the tiles. Someone entered one of the other stalls and vomited into the toilet.

    Indi emerged from her stall and took her time washing her hands. Whomever had come in was still in their stall. They were quieter now though. She hesitated. Should she wait? Ask if they¡¯re okay? Some people didn¡¯t like others around when they were sick, especially not a stranger. But what if it wasn¡¯t someone else from the facility? What if it was Amanda, Cat, or Kass? Even if it wasn¡¯t she should probably wait in case they needed help? If they didn¡¯t then maybe they¡¯d walk with her at least part of the way back upstairs. The facility may be hidden away from the sun but she still knew it was night. Places like this were creepy at night, undeniably so, even without a murderous creature running about. Indi waited.

    A few minutes later, and an incredibly pale Cat emerged from the bathroom stall. She eyed Indi warily then bent over the sink to wash out her mouth and her hands.

    ¡°You alright?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°Fine¡± Cat grumbled. She turned to walk out the door.

    Indi scrambled after her. Neither of them talked as they walked back towards the elevator. Once inside they stood in silence as the elevator began its journey upwards. Indi snuck worried glances at Cat, but Cat ignored her, didn¡¯t even look at her.

    Beyond the silence that lay between them, and the background noise of elevator motor, Indi could hear something else.

    Was that banging? She cocked her head slightly trying to listen. The whirring sound of the elevator almost drowned any other sound out but she could definitely hear something. There was a distant clanging sound coming from somewhere deep below her feet. The longer she listened the better she could hear it. It took her a few seconds to realize it wasn¡¯t just her imagining things, that the sound was actually getting closer. She glanced at Cat who didn¡¯t appear to have noticed.

    But before Indi could ask Cat frowned and looked towards Indi. ¡°You hear that?¡±

    Indi nodded afraid to move otherwise.

    The banging got louder. It was much more obvious now. Whatever it was, it was working its way up the elevator shaft. Cat tensed, her hand moved to the weapon at her side. Despite the fact that she must have been feeling sick she''d obviously found the spare the time to put on some clothes: a black singlet that could have been pajamas or day wear given she was wearing no bra, her Kevlar pants, and her holster. Meanwhile, Indi had just thrown an oversized t-shirt over nothing but a pair of panties and some socks.

    Indi took a step closer to Cat. She tried to breathe and suddenly found that she couldn¡¯t get any air in. The lights went out. Deafening clangs surrounded the outside of the elevator. Something was trying to get in? The elevator came to a sudden and screeching halt. The sound stopped almost as quickly. Blue emergency lights blinked on. Indi tried to breathe and managed to gasp in some air but it was shallow and not enough.

    Cat was focused on the elevator buttons. She tried pushing a bunch. Nothing happened. Indi wanted to step back against the wall but feared whatever was on the outside at the same time. She stood where she was, just struggling to suck the air into her lungs. She grabbed at Cat, who was still stabbing at the buttons. Cat spun. Indi tried to talk, to tell her what was wrong, but she was having trouble talking fast enough. She¡¯d barely gotten a word out when Cat saw the motions her hands were making and figured it out.

    ¡°Where¡¯s your inhaler?¡±

    Indi pointed up and managed to say ¡°room¡± in a gasping voice.

    Cat swore. She looked around, trying to think of something. She looked up and froze. Indi followed her glace and barely registered the maintenance hatch in the top of the elevator. Cat reached up. Had she been any shorter she might have needed a ladder.

    Indi half wanted to stop her. She was afraid of whatever was out there. She could hear something screaming. But she was also getting light headed.

    Just as Cat started to push against the maintenance hatch the lights flicked back on. With a groan the elevator started moving again. Indi took a half step, almost a fall backward, leaning most of her weight against the wall. She started to slide down. Cat grabbed her and pulled her upright just as the doors opened. Cat threw Indi¡¯s arm around her shoulder and half carried, half dragged, her out of the elevator and down the hall towards Indi¡¯s room. It took her no more than a few seconds. Cat was strong enough to bench press her own weight and Indi weighed about 5 kg less than she did. Cat didn¡¯t knock. She turned the handle and kicked the door open with one foot. She turned the lights on but didn¡¯t bother shutting the door behind her.

    ¡°What?¡± Falco said, as he was suddenly dragged from a dream, and didn¡¯t quite yet comprehend the urgency of the situation. It took him only a few seconds to register Cat in his room with Indi. By that time Cat had sat Indi down on the edge of the bed and had started over to where their bags lay and was throwing clothes everywhere.

    ¡°Where¡¯s her inhaler?¡± she snapped at Falco.

    Falco shot out of bed, reached quickly into one of the bags then handed the inhaler Indi who had been struggling to talk between gasping breaths but was still aware enough to use it herself. From experience Falco knew the talking was a good sign. Things weren¡¯t as bad as they probably felt to Indi. While Indi took a few puffs on it Cat lent with arms crossed against the wall. Falco sat beside Indi, one hand placed gently at her back, stroking softly. Cat waited until Indi was breathing normally again then she left, closing the door behind her.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Falco asked wrapping his arms around Indi.

    Indi took a deep, glorious, breath. ¡°I got up to go to the bathroom,¡± she paused. She breathed in and then out. Just making sure she still could.

    ¡°Ran into Cat.¡± Another breath.

    ¡°On the way back¡­ there was something outside the elevator. I don¡¯t know what, or how, but it stopped the elevator. I thought it was the creature come to eat us.¡±

    Falco gave her a squeeze. ¡°It¡¯s alright. You¡¯re fine now.¡±

    Indi nodded and rested her head on his shoulder.

    They stayed like that for a moment and then he helped her into bed and snuggled down beside her, wrapping her in a cocoon of arms.

    Cat managed to sneak back into her own room without waking Zephyr. She lay awake for a while longer. Staring at the ceiling. Thinking. She managed to fall asleep not long before Amanda got up and patted down the hallway towards the showers.

    6:30am. A showered and fully dressed Amanda banged on the door.

    ¡°Come on, meeting in half an hour. Get yer arses outta bed.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir¡± Falco saluted at the door. He was already up, searching through his bag for a pair of jeans. He¡¯d found his other white t-shirt already but Cat¡¯s attempt at hunting for the inhaler had made a bit of a mess. Ah, there they were, now where did his belt get to? He fumbled about a bit longer before he found it buried beneath one of Indi¡¯s brightly coloured jerseys.

    Indi groaned and tried to bury her head under the pillow. She pulled her head out momentarily and marginally opened one eye to watch Falco searching. However, she found the light blinding and soon had her head back under the pillow.

    ¡°Come on Indi¡± Falco, sat down on the bed next to her. ¡°You gotta get up now if you want a shower.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Indi pulled the pillow down tighter.

    ¡°Come on¡± he gently rubbed her shoulder then lent down to nip playfully at her ear. ¡°You can sneak into my shower.¡±

    ¡°Mmm,¡± Indi murmured taking the pillow off her face and opening one eye. ¡°Alright,¡± she said as she struggled to sit up and rub the sleep from her eyes. Falco handed her her glasses. She put them on and gave him a mischievous smile, then followed him down to the men¡¯s showers.

    ¡°Cat! Zeph! Outta bed¡±

    ¡°Alright, alright, I¡¯m getting there,¡± Zephyr mumble shouted as he swung his feet over the edge.

    Cat had already gathered up her things and opened the door before Amanda could finish knocking.

    ¡°Jeez Cat you look awful, you sleep alright?¡± Amanda commented as Cat walked out the door. Cat didn¡¯t reply, just brushed past her and stalked off down the hall. She passed Kass who had just stepped out of the elevator in time to hear Amanda¡¯s comment. Kass glanced up at Cat¡¯s face and silently made the same observation. Cat¡¯s face was a clammy looking white.

    Kass dumped her shower things back in her room then headed back downstairs towards the lounge.

    When she got there she found Sirius sitting on one of the couches alone, tea in hand, reading a newspaper.

    ¡°Morning¡± she said.

    ¡°Hey,¡± he replied with a smile.

    ¡°Where did you get the newspaper?¡± Kass asked.

    ¡°Found it on the table.¡±

    Kass made herself a tea then sat down in on the sofa next to Sirius. For a second she wasn¡¯t sure if she should say anything to him but he took the pressure off, handing her half the newspaper to read.

    She smiled softly and murmured a small ¡°Thanks.¡±

    Sirius gave a nod and smile in reply then returned to reading.

    Kass started reading her half.

    Sirius glanced over at her. He¡¯d already read most of the more interesting news stories. He wasn¡¯t good at starting conversations though and what if Kass just wanted to read in peace?

    She noticed his glance. ¡°Anything interesting happen in the news?¡±

    ¡°Just the usual.¡± he replied momentarily distracted by her smile. ¡°Malcolm Corradi wants to implement a curfew in the Emerald City, separate the vampires from everyone else.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s been wanting to do that for years. Most people think he¡¯s a crackpot. The media likes him though.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Sirius paused, not sure where to take the conversation. Malcolm Corradi was popular with the papers and so he was often the first thing that came to mind if one was asked about the news. Malcolm and his views didn¡¯t really hold up to a pleasant conversation though.

    ¡°I hear they¡¯re looking at implementing a tax on any ship entering the Emerald harbour, does that affect your ships?¡± Kass asked shifting the topic.

    Sirius shook his head. ¡°We don¡¯t usually stop by the Emerald port. Most of the places we stop at are small towns like Little Rock. It might bring more ships into Little Rock though.¡±

    ¡°Why is that? I would have thought it would be easier to hide in a big city, blend in amongst the other ships.¡±

    Sirius shrugged. ¡°Yeah but the politicians care less about what happens in the small towns and Little Rock probably gets more deliveries by ship than the Emerald City. Most of the sea traffic they get is cruise ships.¡±

    ¡°How does one smuggle something into the city then?¡±

    ¡°Well they don¡¯t in large shipments. Anyone who wants something illegal would likely get it from Little Rock.¡± He paused. ¡°But I don¡¯t really know. It depends on what you¡¯re shipping.¡±

    ¡°Do you always know what your clients want shipped?¡±

    Sirius started to shake his head then gave a half shrug. ¡°I don¡¯t do live shipments and I like to have a rough idea of what¡¯s on board, but for a price I don¡¯t ask details.¡±

    Kass nodded.

    It was at that moment that Wolf entered the room. He said good morning and then went about making himself a tea.

    ¡°Do you guys want some tea?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No thanks, we¡¯re good.¡± Kass replied. Sirius just shook his head.

    ¡°Can I grab a section?¡± Wolf asked as he sat down on a couch.

    ¡°You can have my half¡± Kass said ¡°I was just about to make some toast anyway. You guys want some?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Sirius replied.

    She walked into the kitchen and opened the cupboard. The plates were on the top shelf. Too high for her to reach. She hesitated for a second, contemplated pulling over a couch. It was that or climb up on the counter which felt just a little undignified, especially given she was wearing a skirt. She could use her magic but that was equally as likely to send a plate flying into the other wall. Her telekinesis was powerful but not very well controlled.

    Sirius looked up at noticed her problem. ¡°Do you want some help?¡± he offered.

    ¡°Yes please.¡± she replied, relieved she hadn¡¯t had to ask.

    He put his newspaper down on the table and walked into the kitchen to help her. The top shelf was well within Sirius¡¯s reach. Kass was still impressed by his sheer size.

    She was still busy admiring the size of his arms when he handed Kass the plate. He released his grip on it a moment before Kass realised she needed to grab it. The plate slid beneath their fingers. It shattered with a loud crash on the floor.

    ¡°Dammit,¡± he growled to himself.

    Kass gave a small gasp ¡°Shit! I¡¯m sorry. That was my fault.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright,¡± Sirius reassured her as he bent down to pick up the pieces. Kass had the same idea and they almost bumped into each other in the process. Sirius glanced at Kass as she fumbled about picking up the larger pieces of plate. He tore his eyes away again as he realised he could see right down the front of her blouse. Oops. He stood up and looked around the bench for some paper towels to put the smaller pieces of ceramic into.

    Wolf had glanced up at the initial crash but upon seeing everything under control he¡¯d returned to reading his paper.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Sirius found some paper towels and they¡¯d almost finished clearing up the last of the broken plate when the door opened. Indi stepped into the lounge wearing her favourite purple jersey, fitted dark jeans and small-heeled boots.

    ¡°Hey guys¡± she smiled. She opened her mouth and eyes wide in surprise when she saw them picking up bits of ceramic from the floor. ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°Dropped a plate,¡± Sirius replied.

    ¡°Watch your feet,¡± Kass said as she tipped the last of the pieces she could find into the nearby bin.

    Indi gave a nod, stretched her arms in the air, and then asked ¡°What¡¯s for breakfast?¡±

    ¡°I was just going to make some toast.¡± Kass replied. ¡°Would you like some?¡±

    Indi pondered the idea for a moment. ¡°Hmm. I might see what¡¯s in the freezer.¡± She soon found some things more to her liking than toast and went about cooking up a storm.

    Falco wandered in a few minutes later. He come up behind Indi and wrapped his arms around her ¡°Mmm smells good. What ya cooking?¡±

    Indi turned and gave him a quick kiss ¡°Bacon.¡±

    ¡°Mmm.¡± Falco licked his lips. ¡°I hope there¡¯s some for me?¡±

    ¡°Sure thing, just give me a moment.¡± She put several slices on a plate and handed it to him.

    ¡°You¡¯re the best.¡± Falco gave her a wink as he took the plate.

    Indi piled the rest onto a large plate and turned around to find Wolf standing beside the kitchen counter looking longingly at the bacon.

    ¡°There¡¯s enough for you too if you want some¡± She told him. ¡°I also cooked some eggs.¡± She then stood on tip toes to fetch another couple of plates so people could help themselves.

    Wolf gave a grin ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°Right! Next up, coffee! Coffee! Coffee!¡± She turned on the hot water jug and found some coffee in the cupboard. While she waited for the jug to boil she piled bacon and eggs on her own plate. Atop the bacon she poured maple syrup and¡­

    ¡°Cream!¡± Kass exclaimed as she returned to the kitchen for a piece of bacon and caught a glance at what Indi was putting on her plate.

    ¡°It was in fridge,¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°How can you eat that?¡±

    ¡°Easy, like this¡± and Indi picked up a piece of bacon topped in golden syrup and cream and stuffed the whole thing in her mouth.

    Kass gave her a look of disgust. Wolf had a similar look. Sirius just laughed.

    ¡°Imagine if you actually ate healthy, you could be skinnier than Kass,¡± Sirius teased Indi, giving Kass a gentle poke at the same time. Human contact was rare for him and it made Kass¡¯s heart jump into her throat in surprise. She managed to maintain her composure other than the slight blush she could feel in her cheeks. Hopefully no one noticed that.

    ¡°I¡¯d die without sugar,¡± Indi replied, ¡°and nobody could be skinnier than Kass, not without being invisible.¡±

    ¡°Mmm hilarious,¡± Kass deadpanned. She knew Indi and Sirius didn¡¯t mean any harm but she was still never quite sure how to handle teasing. She could feel the blush creeping up her cheeks.

    ¡°I¡¯m just kidding. You¡¯re totally fine.¡± Indi widened her eyes and managed to look genuinely incredibly apologetic. She was like a naughty puppy no one could stay mad at.

    ¡°I thought it was just blood you vampires needed to survive?¡± Wolf quipped with a grin that said he knew better.

    ¡°We don¡¯t need blood to survive,¡± Indi replied ¡°It just makes us really really really tired if we don¡¯t, and a high meat diet tends to be good enough for us halfs anyway.¡± She leaned back her head and dropped and entire strip of bacon into her mouth.

    Wolf grinned. He didn¡¯t correct her knowledge of vampirsm. She wouldn¡¯t have liked it. She was half right, right about the halfs that is, but a full-blooded vampire, well it depended on the vampire. He had known of some that had danced with death when they¡¯d lost access to their supply. It was more complicated than Indi might lead one to believe.

    ¡°It¡¯d just be like not having coffee, for me anyway.¡± she added once she was done chewing and as she reached for her cup. She gave the coffee a deep sniff. ¡°Actually not having coffee would be way worse.¡± She shuddered at the thought. Wolf chuckled along agreeably.

    ¡°Where¡¯s our great all-knowing leader this morning?¡± Falco asked Sirius. ¡°She reminded me of one of my old drill sergeants when she came banging on our doors this morning.¡±

    ¡°Did I?¡± Amanda asked as she walked in through the doors, carrying a pile of Wolf¡¯s books. She sat them on the kitchen counter then spied the bacon.

    ¡°Speak of the devil,¡± Falco quipped with a grin. ¡°That¡¯s some spooky timing. You know, I had an old instructor that used to do that too.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve just been waiting outside the door for the right moment,¡± she replied with a wink. ¡°I thought you¡¯d be used to getting up early in the Navy?¡± she added as she grabbed a piece of bacon off Wolf¡¯s plate.

    Wolf gave a yelp. ¡°Hey get your own.¡±

    Indi laughed. ¡°I can make some more.¡±

    ¡°Yes please.¡±Amanda looked up hopefully.

    ¡°Give me a few seconds,¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright I can do it,¡± Amanda said.

    ¡°Oh no, it¡¯s no trouble. Go sit down.¡±

    Amanda gave a nod and a ¡°thanks,¡± and headed for the couches, taking the books with her.

    She had barely sat down when the door to the lounge opened again and Cat entered the room followed closely by Zephyr.

    ¡°I ran into Mark in the hall,¡± Amanda spoke to the whole group. ¡°He said he¡¯d be down to speak to us shortly. You might want to eat quickly,¡± she said to Cat and Zephyr.

    ¡°Whatever.¡± Cat replied flopping down on one of the couches. She made no move to get food.

    Amanda frowned. Cat never skipped breakfast as far as she knew. She was looking less pale than earlier, but still...

    ¡°Is that bacon?¡± Zephyr asked sniffing the air.

    ¡°Down boy,¡± Amanda teased.

    Indi laughed. ¡°Yeah, come have some.¡± She handed him a plate a few minutes later. ¡°Take some to Amanda as well.¡±

    They were half tucked into the bacon when the lounge door opened once more and Mark walked through.

    ¡°Morning guys¡± he said.

    A few people returned his greeting. Others, like Cat, simply scowled. Okay, that was pretty much just Cat.

    ¡°Hello.¡± Indi held out a plate. ¡°You want some bacon?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, sure, thanks.¡± Mark got over his surprise quickly and grabbed a few slices. ¡°Mmm, this stuff¡¯s good.¡± he said after taking a few bites.

    ¡°You could cook for a living¡± Falco said.

    ¡°It¡¯s just bacon,¡± Indi replied taking a seat.

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°Best bacon I¡¯ve ever tasted.¡±

    Indi gave a laugh.

    ¡°No, really. I¡¯m making you official chef.¡±

    Falco nodded in agreement. ¡°Uh huh.¡±

    ¡°Only if you guys do all the washing up,¡± Indi replied.

    Wolf nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve tasted some of your other cooking, I¡¯d say that¡¯s a good deal for us.¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t seen the state she can leave the kitchen in,¡± Falco chuckled.

    ¡±For her food, I¡¯ll clean it with my tongue¡± Wolf added. Indi grinned broadly. Cat raised an eyebrow sensing an opportunity but was too tired to think of anything witty to say.

    Amanda opened her mouth as if to say something clever as well but then thought better of it. ¡°How about we get down to business¡± She said instead.

    Mark gave a nod. ¡°Right, I have something to show you. Follow me.¡± He turned and walked towards the door.

    As they got up to follow him Indi turned to Cat. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to have anything to eat?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not hungry¡± Cat replied and gave Indi a look that discouraged Indi from pushing any further.

    Amanda, who was in hearing distance, glanced back with narrowed eyes. Indi frowned and was about to say something before she remembered how Cat had been throwing up earlier that morning. Maybe she wasn¡¯t feeling well. Surely food would help. Cat could be stubborn though so Indi grabbed an apple from the fridge on her way out. She placed it in the small black leather backpack she carried with her. Cat might want it later.

    Mark led them to the elevator. Once they were all inside he pushed a few buttons. Indi watched closely. She wanted to know the code for each floor. She almost had it figured out. The elevator started to move up a floor.

    ¡°Where are we going?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°Top floor, to the morgue,¡± Mark replied.

    ¡°Why do you keep the morgue on the top floor?¡± Zephyr asked.

    Mark shrugged.

    ¡°We¡¯re sleeping under dead people,¡± Zephyr emphasized.

    Mark shrugged again. ¡°Yeah, I guess so.¡± He gave an amused smile. Falco was chuckling in the background. Even the corners of Cat¡¯s mouth curled upwards and she rose one eyebrow in amusement at the interaction.

    The elevator stopped and they all stepped out. This hall was small. There was only one door centered between them and the end of the hall. Presumably that was the morgue. Stairs at the end of the hall curved downwards. The hall was entirely hospital white, including the floor and door. It pretty much had the same interior design as the rest of the place. Mark led them through to the morgue and they found themselves in a brightly lit room. Benches and cupboard¡¯s surrounded them, all piled high with various vials, tubes, and containers. Two regular sized-fridges stood in one corner. Against another wall was a large heavy-set door, the kind that usually led to a walk-in freezer. Further along the wall there was a smaller door, much like the one they had entered through. In the center of the room lay three gurneys, each with something on them covered by a white sheet.

    As they walked further into the room the other smaller door opened and an older man walked in. He was tall, wearing glasses, and had some of the most chalk-white yet full-headed hair they had ever seen.

    ¡°You think he keeps guinea pigs up there?¡± Zephyr whispered to Indi. She stifled a giggle.

    ¡°Ah good morning.¡± he said as he pushed his glasses further up his long nose. ¡°I¡¯ve summoned you all here to show you¡­ err,¡± he hesitated then started again. ¡°There were a few more instances in the night and well¡­¡± he hesitated again.

    Mark took the opportunity to introduce him. ¡°This is Professor Nickson.¡±

    Professor Nickson gave a small nod of his head. ¡°Yes. Maybe it¡¯s easiest if I just show you.¡±

    He pulled the sheet off the first object. Probably a witch. Much like yesterday¡¯s body there was not much left. The Professor, with Mark interjecting every now and again, talked about what had happened and his theories on the whole ordeal. Basically he didn¡¯t have much more of an idea than they did currently. His medical knowledge was good, not that anyone here was qualified enough to check that. But he lacked a grasp on magical creatures. Wolf found he could already rule out several of the man¡¯s suggestions. They walked around and had a closer look at the three bodies and then started to argue about what the next plan was.

    Indi stopped paying attention half way through. She had started to feel light-headed and then quite dizzy. It wasn¡¯t so different to how she had been feeling when they had first arrived yesterday, and even though the room was cold the bodies had definitely started to decay a little. It wasn¡¯t normally something that would bother her, but today, the cold and the decay, combined with a layer of antiseptical pungence, just made her light-headedness all the worse.

    Wolf had just finished explaining that he thought they should hit the books and go through the list of creatures in more detail. Cat wanted an armed splinter group to go downstairs and look around. Wolf considered it too dangerous without proper research first. Amanda agreed with Wolf.

    Indi wasn¡¯t listening. She was focused on not passing out. She blinked a couple of times trying to clear the spots invading her vision.

    Wolf was listening to Amanda explain to Cat why they couldn¡¯t or at least shouldn¡¯t go barging about the place with guns when he caught a look at Indi. Noting how pale she was, even for Indi, he bent forwards and whispered, ¡°You okay?¡±

    She nodded and forced a small smile. Wolf frowned but then turned back to the others to add his bit to the conversation again. Indi placed a hand on the bench beside her to brace herself upright. A moment later her vision went black.

    Indi awoke to find herself on the floor surrounded by concerned faces. No one was arguing anymore. Falco and Amanda were kneeling by her left side. Wolf stood beside Amanda, frowning.

    Indi sat up slowly.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Amanda asked.

    She gave a small nod in reply then added weakly, ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°You look pale even for you,¡± Zephyr commented from the back.

    ¡°He¡¯s got a point,¡± Indi heard Amanda say almost as if from a distance, as she closed her eyes for a moment. She felt Falco put his arm around her to stop her falling backwards again.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Indi insisted opening her eyes again. The room moved slightly in ways it shouldn¡¯t. She didn¡¯t want to stay on the floor with everyone still looking at her though. She shifted her legs underneath her and tried to push herself up. She wobbled slightly and Falco grabbed her to steady her.

    ¡°How about you just sit for a while,¡± he suggested.

    Indi did as she was told.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably better if you stay lying down for a bit,¡± Amanda added and then turned to Mark. ¡°Is there somewhere nearby she could rest for bit?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve got a doctor, just down the hall¡± Mark replied. ¡°I¡¯ll go and get them.¡±

    Indi stayed sitting. She didn¡¯t want to lie down. It was embarrassing enough just sitting on the floor with everyone watching.

    Amanda sat down next to Indi. She drummed her fingers absently along the floor in thought.

    ¡°You were feeling dizzy yesterday?¡± she asked Indi.

    ¡°Um.¡±

    ¡°By the elevators? When we first got here?¡±

    Indi nodded.

    ¡°Anytime else?¡±

    Indi shook her head.

    ¡°What about last night?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°Last night?¡± Amanda looked up.

    Falco nodded. ¡°Cat brought her back into my room in the midst of an asthma attack. Something tried to attack them in the elevator.¡±

    Amanda turned to Cat who gave a shrug. ¡°Maintenance issues probably, the elevator was making noises, power cut out for a while, it spooked Indi.¡±

    Amanda turned back to Indi to confirm.

    Indi shrugged then turned to Falco. ¡°That was different¡­ I think.¡± She hesitated, frowning, then looked up at Cat. ¡°I heard screaming.¡±

    No one said anything for a little bit.

    Cat raised an eyebrow, ¡°Maybe you do need your head checked.¡±

    Amanda shot her a warning glance but then her expression shifted into one of concern.

    Mark returned with a woman they hadn¡¯t met in tow. She was medium height with light brown, almost blonde hair, the sort that had probably been much lighter in colour when she was younger.

    ¡°This is our resident doctor, Tanya.¡± Mark introduced her.

    ¡°Hello,¡± Tanya said giving the warmest smile.

    She crouched down in front of Indi.

    ¡°How are you doing?¡± she asked softly.

    ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°Are you feeling dizzy still?¡±

    ¡°Not anymore.¡± Indi paused. ¡°I feel fine now,¡± she insisted more earnestly. She looked up at the others cautiously. She didn¡¯t want them to worry. Anyway she did feel fine now, mostly. The antispetic smell still bothered her a bit.

    ¡°Do guys mind backing up a bit?¡± Tanya requested the group. ¡°Just to give her some space.¡± Everyone shuffled back except Amanda and Falco who stayed either side of Indi.

    Tanya studied Indi¡¯s face for a few moments. ¡°Well you look alright. Is she usually this pale?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s half Vampire¡± Falco replied. Much of Indi¡¯s normal colour had started to return.

    Tanya gave a nod. ¡°I¡¯d like to perform a couple of tests anyway. Just take some blood samples if that¡¯s alright? We can do it here or we can go to my office if you feel you¡¯re up to travelling a short distance with a bit of help? I don¡¯t want to get you standing too fast though.¡±

    ¡°I can carry her,¡± Falco said.

    Tanya gave a nod.

    ¡°I can walk,¡± Indi protested.

    Falco shook his head. ¡°No way.¡± He reached one arm under her arm and behind her back. The other under her knees. Indi didn¡¯t complain further but she frowned and her cheeks heated up. Falco carried Indi out of the room, following Tanya.

    ¡°The rest of you are alright to continue?¡± Mark asked. ¡°We are short on time.¡±

    Amanda nodded. She turned back towards the rest of the group, giving a passing glance to the bodies on the slab.

    ¡°So what now gang?¡± she asked.

    But before anyone could reply she turned to Mark. ¡°Do you have a necromancer on your crew?¡±

    Mark gave a snort. The nearest to a laugh they had heard from him.

    ¡°No.¡± He shook his head. ¡°Even if they weren¡¯t rare as hell I doubt we could afford one.¡±

    Cat raised an eyebrow. ¡°You can afford us,¡± she stated.

    ¡°As a permanent staff member,¡± he added. ¡°We¡¯ve had necromancers in. None of them good enough.¡± His eyes glanced at the bodies on the slabs then danced away again as if he didn¡¯t want to look too long, as if there was something he was holding back.

    ¡°Err, maybe I¡¯m wrong but doesn¡¯t necromancy require a sacrifice?¡± Kass inquired.

    Wolf and Sirius nodded silently while Amanda explained. ¡°Temporary resurrections of the recently deceased can be done with limited bloodshed.¡±

    ¡°Limited bloodshed?¡± Zephyr asked, eyes wide. ¡°What exactly do you mean by limited bloodshed.¡±

    ¡°A pint or two,¡± Amanda replied. ¡°No need for slaughter.¡±

    Wolf snorted. ¡°You¡¯d need more than a pint. Even for a good necromancer to get something out of that.¡± He nodded at the slabs.

    ¡°Think we could do it with a spell?¡± Amanda asked.

    Wolf laughed. ¡°No. And not with limited bloodshed. Think of how they¡¯d feel anyway. Half-arsed resurrections aren¡¯t particularly nice on the subject.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± Sirius added.

    ¡°Okay, well any other suggestions?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°Go in guns blazing,¡± Cat suggested with a smile.

    Amanda sighed. ¡°We¡¯re not doing that Cat.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°We need some more information first. We could go back to the books for a bit.¡±

    ¡°I feel like we¡¯ve limited the list down as much as we can.¡± Zephyr replied hesitantly. He didn¡¯t exactly want to endorse Cat¡¯s method.

    Cat pouted, leant back against the bench, and crossed her arms. A moment later however she straightened up and her face took on a much more serious look.

    ¡°How about a trap?¡± she suggested.

    Amanda¡¯s eyebrows raised, interested. ¡°What kind of trap?¡±

    ¡°A bait trap. We send someone down as bait for the creature, entice it to us, set a trap for it.¡±

    Amanda pursed her lips, more hesitant.

    ¡°Actually that¡¯s not a bad idea¡± Sirius offered his opinion.

    Amanda glanced at him. He shrugged.

    ¡°Who would we send?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°Indi would really be best with her shield magic,¡± Cat replied but her voice wavered. ¡°Or I could go?¡± She offered sounding more sure. She opened her mouth to say more.

    ¡°How would we trap it?¡± Wolf interjected. ¡°We don¡¯t know anything about it. We set the wrong trap and it gets out we could lose our chance or worse get someone hurt. We need to come up with some details, and some backup plans.¡±

    Amanda was silent, thinking. She liked the idea of the trap but Wolf was right they did need more information.

    ¡°We could create a shield spell,¡± Cat suggested. ¡°All we need is an exit plan. Get a sighting of it and then we¡¯ve got our information.¡±

    ¡°We could have a look around?¡± Kass suggested ¡°Stay in groups.¡±

    Sirius nodded.

    Cat sent her a glare. She disliked Kass agreeing with her, even if, or possibly because, Amanda actually looked more convinced now.

    ¡°It rarely attacks people in groups of three or more,¡± Mark, who had been silently listening to the whole conversation, stated.

    ¡°Rarely?¡± Zephyr repeated ¡°implying sometimes it does?¡±

    But everyone ignored him.

    The group seemed to share a look of agreement. Even Cat had a look of resignation on her face.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± Amanda asked them.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sirius repeated.

    There was a mixture of nodding and agreements. No one objected.

    Just then Falco walked through the door.

    ¡°Hey guys, what¡¯s the plan?¡±

    ¡°Split up into two groups and have a look around¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t splitting up how most horror movies start?¡± Zephyr stated.

    ¡°How¡¯s Indi?¡± Amanda asked Falco.

    ¡°She¡¯s alright. Doc suggested she have a bit of a rest for a while.¡±

    Amanda nodded.

    ¡°You guys have surveillance right?¡± Zephyr asked Mark.

    ¡°Yeah, most of the halls,¡± Mark replied ¡°but it¡¯s not much use anyway, we always lose power to the cameras when the creatures attack so we haven¡¯t managed to get any visuals of them so far.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Zephyr shook his head. ¡°I was thinking, since we have Falco now, maybe one of us should stay behind and observe the others on the cameras, and maybe do some research at the same time. If the cameras cut out we¡¯ll see it straight away and then we can alert the others and send in help.¡±

    Mark hesitated then nodded. ¡°Fred did say you were to be escorted everywhere other than the living quaters but he¡¯s a stickler for order. Anything important is locked up anyway and you won¡¯t be able to access the labs. I can show you to a computer where we can bring up the surveillance and keep watch from there.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have someone doing that full time?¡± Amanda asked.

    Mark shook his head. ¡°Only occasionally.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you go with him?¡± Sirius said to Amanda.

    ¡°I can do it,¡± Zephyr offered.

    ¡°Amanda¡¯s better with computers,¡± Sirius replied.

    Zephyr frowned but didn¡¯t argue. There had been an extra layer of tone to Sirius¡¯s statement.

    Amanda peered at Sirius trying to figure out his game. Did he think she could find some useful information on their computer systems? Amanda understood computers a lot better than Sirius did. Anything interesting was likely to be password protected, if there was even anything interesting. Getting to protected files was probably beyond her abilities, at least not without a couple of weeks with the device. Indi was better at this sort of thing, although Amanda doubted even she was that good on the spot. Worth a look anyway. Sometimes people left things around unsecured.

    ¡°Okay¡± Amanda nodded.

    ¡°I trust the rest of you can find your way around?¡± Mark asked. He seemed confident that they wouldn¡¯t be able to get anywhere that they shouldn¡¯t.

    A few nods was all he got in reply.

    ¡°Okay then¡± he turned to Amanda. ¡±This way.¡±

    She followed him out the door leaving the rest of the gang on their own.

 Chapter 18: Just Enough to Hang Yourself

    They walked as one group until they reached floor where the most recent body had been found.

    ¡°So, groups?¡± Falco started. ¡°Shall we have one girl in each team? Cat, Zeph, Sirius, you guys form one group. Kass, Wolf, you guys come with me.¡±

    ¡°Why? You think girls are weaker?¡± Cat objected.

    ¡°I just...¡± but Falco couldn¡¯t think of a response Cat would accept.

    Kass just rolled her eyes. Luckily she was standing behind Cat or she might have had a smart comment thrown her way.

    ¡°Kass can go with Sirius and Zeph,¡± Cat stated. ¡°Falco, Wolf, you follow me¡±. Before anyone could suggest an alternative arrangement or make a point that there was still one girl per team Cat had stalked off down the corridor. Wolf and Falco had no choice but to follow.

    ¡°Well, why don¡¯t we check out these doors?¡± Sirius gestured to a nearby door, as the others disappeared around the corner. ¡°See if any are unlocked.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Kass shrugged.

    Zephyr gave a nod.

    They followed Sirius to the grey door.

    Zephyr reached for the handle first.¡°It¡¯s locked. Maybe I should run back upstairs and get Mark to come down and open it.¡±

    ¡°Mmm, maybe not¡± Sirius said. ¡°It¡¯s probably locked to keep us out and we shouldn¡¯t split up any more than we already are.¡±

    Zephyr nodded remembering the reasoning for the group sizes.

    ¡°Or to keep something in,¡± Kass said so quietly that Zephyr wasn¡¯t quite sure he heard her right.

    ¡°What?¡± he asked.

    Kass shrugged. ¡°Just a thought.¡± She gave a reassuring smile. But what she had said gave Zephyr the chills.

    ¡°Maybe we should try downstairs¡± Sirius suggested.

    ¡°Downstairs?¡± Kass and Zephyr repeated simultaneously.

    Sirius gave a nod to confirm, missing their shared tone of alarm. ¡°And let the others search this floor.¡±

    Kass thought for a moment. ¡°I guess.¡±

    ¡°Okay sure, but aren¡¯t there more likely to be creatures down there?¡± Zephyr asked not quite sure about venturing too far down.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that what we¡¯re looking for?¡± Sirius asked in what might have been a teasing tone, but it was hard to tell with him.

    Kass gave a smile. ¡°Maybe we were hoping the others would stumble across them first.¡±

    Sirius returned her smile and shrugged. ¡°Mark said we¡¯d be fine in groups of three and it¡¯s probably better we encounter them first rather than the others, just given the power distribution. I shouldn¡¯t have let Cat pick the groups.¡±

    ¡°He said mostly,¡± Zephyr replied but they were already headed towards the elevator.

    ¡°I would think any monster would be too afraid to pick a fight with Cat.¡± Kass remarked with a smile.

    Sirius returned her smile then added, ¡°Yeah but we¡¯ve got a strongarm, a telekinetic, and a quickfoot. They¡¯ve got a dreamwalker, a flyer who¡¯s afraid of heights, and well a werewolf¡¯s not too bad...¡±

    ¡°At least they can all fight,¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°We can fight,¡± Sirius replied with a frown, then he realised who she was talking about and he added, ¡°or run¡± with a grin at Zephyr. Sirius never liked to tease too much though so he didn¡¯t leave it there. More seriously, he added, ¡°Running for help fast is actually pretty useful.¡± Then he glanced nervously at Kass. He knew she could fight. He''d seen her and Cat practicing, still though, he''d never seen her fight anyone much bigger than herself. It was hard to believe she''d stand a fair chance. If Amanda had taught him anything over they years though, it was that small didn''t equal weak, especially when magic came into play.

    Kass might look small and dress like, well pretty much like you¡¯d expect a lawyer to dress, but she was fast and she knew how to use someone¡¯s weight against them. Sure, Cat, Falco, Wolf, and Sirius were all better fighters but Kass could hold her own. More so if magic was involved. She just needed to stop being so afraid of using it.

    Zephyr raised both eyebrows in acknowledgement and gave a nod. He had no misunderstandings about his abilities and role. He was perfectly fine with being the one who would run for help. He would fight if he had to but sometimes getting help was just as important as standing one¡¯s ground. Others could fight better and he was fast so that was what he did when it was needed.

    Meanwhile Cat, Falco, and Wolf were walking along the corridor. It was extremely long and had multiple doors distributed along either wall. All of these doors were brown and all of them were locked.

    ¡°Why are they all locked?¡± Cat asked to no one in particular.

    ¡°Probably because they don¡¯t want us seeing what¡¯s inside them,¡± Falco suggested.

    ¡°Thank you captain obvious,¡± Cat replied. She sauntered along the corridor then added under her breath ¡°This is a waste of time.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just see where this corridor leads and forget about the doors,¡± Falco said ignoring Cat¡¯s sarcasm.

    Cat gave a nod.

    Wolf tried a couple more doors before following Cat and Falco further down the corridor.

    Sirius, Kass, and Zephyr piled into the elevator. Before anyone could push the sequence of buttons to take them to the lower floor the elevator shuddered and started to move on its own accord. Kass took a half step backwards and glanced around wide eyed. Zephyr froze and met her eyes with a similar worried look. No one could tell what Sirius was thinking. When the elevator finally stopped they piled out.

    ¡°Weird¡± Kass mouthed to Zephyr. He nodded in agreement.

    They found themselves standing in a square concrete room. The room was completely empty. A large archway lay in front of them. Beyond the archway a few steps led down to the beginning of a short hallway. The hallway branched 90 degrees both left and right and there were no doors that they could see. The light was dim and gave an unnerving flicker.

    Without a word Sirius walked forward. Half reassured by Sirius¡¯s confidence, half not wanting to be left in a smaller group, Kass and Zephyr followed closely behind. Sirius reached the junction and for no particular reason he took the left corridor. A few metres on, their chosen corridor swung right. Several paces beyond that they reached another junction. Again Sirius took the left. They kept walking through three more junctions. Each time Sirius took the left. Eventually they came across a black door situated in the right hand wall of the corridor. Sirius absently tried the handle and was surprised to find it open.

    The door swung inward. A horrific smell hit them in the face. Kass covered her mouth and nose with both hands. Zephyr gagged and then pulled his shirt up over half his face. Sirius just furrowed his brow. He took a deep breath outside the room and then pushed forward into it. He reached out to the right and fumbled in the dark trying to find a light only half expecting to find one. He was surprised when his hand landed on a switch and a moment later the room lit up in blinking white light. They were met with a gruesome sight. The room was filled with cow carcasses, all dangling from meat hooks attached to the ceiling. They swung silently, front hooves pointing to the brown stained floor.

    For a moment no one moved. They all stood just a little stunned.

    ¡°What the hell?¡± Zephyr commented.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t it frozen?¡± Kass wondered out loud.

    ¡°That¡¯s your first question?¡± Zephyr asked.

    Against better judgement they walked a few steps into the room. Kass and Zephyr stopped a metre or two in. Sirius kept going.

    ¡°Sirius maybe we should...¡± Kass glanced back at the door. She wasn¡¯t as keen as he was to explore this particular room.

    Sirius didn¡¯t reply so Kass followed him. Zephyr, not wanting to be left behind also followed.

    They had gotten about half way across when something moved in the shadows. They all froze. Moments later a huge wolf-like creature barrelled past them off to the side. It was headed towards the open door. It didn¡¯t seem to notice them. It wasn¡¯t until it had fled out the door that Kass realised she¡¯d been holding her breath.

    ¡°That looked like a werewolf,¡± Sirius commented.

    Kass gave a sigh of relief. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here.¡±

    Then she noticed that Sirius was grinning like a fool.

    ¡°What are you so happy about?¡± she asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a werewolf¡± Sirius explained. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t be too hard to catch.¡±

    ¡°Just a werewolf!¡± Zephyr repeated looking at Sirius like he was crazy.

    Sirius nodded.

    ¡°Wait,¡± Kass frowned. ¡°You think that¡¯s the creature that¡¯s been killing everyone?¡±

    He frowned. ¡°Why not? You don¡¯t?¡±

    Kass shook her head. ¡°No. It¡¯s just, that body we saw. It looked like it had been though a blender. Werewolves don¡¯t usually spit their food out. Plus if it was just a werewolf don¡¯t you think they would have caught it by now?¡±

    Sirius looked thoughtful. ¡°That still doesn¡¯t explain what it was doing down here,¡± Sirius replied.

    ¡°Maybe that¡¯s what all the meat¡¯s for¡± Kass replied looking around the room. ¡°Explains why it¡¯s not cold in here.¡± She groaned, ¡°and we just let it out.¡±

    ¡°Well they did leave the door unlocked¡± Zephyr observed. ¡°This raises a couple of questions though, why would they be keeping a Werewolf here anyway? Assuming they were keeping a Werewolf in here why didn¡¯t it just go out the unlocked door? And isn¡¯t this a bit much meat for just one Werewolf?¡±

    ¡°Well it probably stayed for the meat and maybe the door locks from the inside,¡± Sirius replied.

    ¡°Maybe we should get out of here,¡± Kass suggested.

    Sirius nodded.

    Somehow they managed to find their way back to the elevator without getting lost or running into their new furry friend.

    Upstairs, Cat, Falco, and Wolf had reached a T-junction with two corridors branching left and right. Both ended abruptly with double doors. The ones to the left were made of a black metal. The ones to the right stood in stark contrast, finely constructed with opaque glass. They weren¡¯t surprised to find both doors locked. Cat stared at the glass doors intently as if she might conjure some magic that would bust them open. Eventually she seemed to give up. She turned around and started walking back down the corridor. Wolf ignored her and took a closer step towards the black door. There was something engraved on the wall.

    ¡°Hey Cat,¡± Wolf called. ¡°Come back here.¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    ¡°What?¡± she asked turning around but not taking any steps in either direction. She sounded a tad exasperated.

    ¡°There¡¯s some kind of inscription engraved into the wall here.¡±

    Cat approached the door. Her look of impatience replaced with a look of curiosity.

    ¡°Where?¡±

    ¡°Here.¡± Wolf pointed.

    Cat and Falco both peered at the words written on the wall.

    ¡°What does it say?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not certain . . .¡± Wolf replied ¡°but I think it says ¡®Beware All Who Enter the Hall of the Dead.¡¯¡±

    ¡°The Hall of the Dead?¡± Cat repeated.

    Wolf glanced back at them, ¡°Don¡¯t you know the legend?¡±

    Cat raised an eyebrow in question. Falco shook his head.

    ¡°Well, legend tells of a hallway, linked with the old world. It was built around a specific Splice hole... you know about Splice holes?¡±

    Falco and Cat nodded.

    Wolf continued, ¡°Like the one we saw yesterday, the one this place is built around. Well one of them was altered slightly, or so the legend goes. Some say the hallway connects to the world of the dead as well as the old world. That it essentially forms an in-between. That is what this one appears to be.¡±

    Cat snorted. Wolf just gave her a serious look.

    A moment later Cat frowned then a small smile tugged at her lips. ¡°You mean we could access the spirit world?¡±

    Wolf signed ¡°It¡¯s just a rumour.¡±

    ¡°Why would you want to go to Limbo? Assuming it''s even real?¡± Falco asked, using its more popular name. ¡°Why would anyone?¡±

    ¡°To see people they¡¯ve lost,¡± Wolf answered ¡°To bring them back, among other things.¡±

    ¡°It would make it easier to resurrect those bodies upstairs,¡± Cat mused.

    Wolf nodded. Then he added, ¡°I¡¯m not even sure this is it though. Like I said, it¡¯s just a legend.¡± He trailed off, thinking. A moment later he started talking again. ¡°The door looks new but the wall and the inscription, they look older, the whole end of the corridor does.¡±

    ¡°So it is it?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, a lot of people don¡¯t think Splice Holes are real. I thought this was just a legend. There¡¯s a lot less evidence about it and I¡¯m no archaeologist.¡± Wolf replied.

    ¡°Assuming it is how do you think they found it, buried so deep?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°There are old maps with suggested locations of Splice Holes. I¡¯ve got one in my library and I knew this was a possibility before we got here. That said, there are a bunch of fakes maps too. The giant fucking hole was more of a hint. Of course, we may all be wrong. It could just be a regular cave. And who knows, maybe the early settlers just left that engraving behind to fuck with us. A red herring of sorts. They didn¡¯t always do the sanest things. I mean, they did split a world into two and then largely vanished.¡±

    ¡°Not that insane.¡± Falco remarked. ¡°They made this world to protect witches from humans, and then they probably took a much needed retirement. Makes sense to me. And the Splice holes are supposed to let witch¡¯s born on the other side through.¡±

    ¡°That and so the worldjumpers can get us quality human movies,¡± Cat added sarcastically. Then before either of them could respond she added, ¡°What do you think these guys are doing in this place?¡±

    ¡°Studying it maybe, hopefully,¡± Wolf replied, ¡°but we should go find the others, tell them what we¡¯ve found. And you do know worldjumpers don¡¯t need Splice holes, they¡¯re for other types of witches.¡±

    ¡°Also what¡¯s wrong with the movies here?¡± Falco added.

    Cat shrugged at Wolf, raised one eyebrow at Falco, and started walking back down the hall again.

    Falco paused and looked around the corridor.

    ¡°What are you looking for?¡± Wolf asked him.

    ¡°The cameras,¡± Falco replied ¡°I haven¡¯t seen any.¡±

    Wolf pointed to the corner. The device was so small it took Falco a few seconds to see it, even with Wolf¡¯s direction.

    Falco gave a nod when he finally registered it. ¡°How did you notice that?¡± he asked Wolf.

    Wolf just gave a smile and followed Cat down the corridor.

    Falco gave the camera a salute, just in case Amanda was watching, and followed along after Wolf.

    Up in the computer room Amanda was cross-legged on an office chair in front of a large screen. One of Wolf¡¯s books on magical creatures lay open in her lap. She had the views from Falco¡¯s corridor up on her screen. There were, however no cameras on the lower levels that she could seem to find so she¡¯d lost sight of Sirius¡¯s group a while ago. She had been studying the enormous book and just glancing at the screen every minute or so until about 10 minutes ago when Mark had been called away. Ever since then she¡¯d been trying to search their system for information. She smiled when she saw Falco¡¯s salute but only let it distract her momentarily. She didn¡¯t know how long Mark would be gone and he¡¯d explicitly instructed her to stick to watching the cameras only. But so far she hadn¡¯t found anything except password protected files. She considered writing a quick program to brute force the system but she didn¡¯t really expect it would work. They likely limited how fast a new password could be tried. Maybe they didn¡¯t but in all honesty it had been years since Amanda had last written any decent code. Things had changed and she¡¯d forgotten most of the syntaxes. Sirius thought she was good at programming but that was only because he wasn¡¯t good with computers himself. Her 15 year old son probably knew more than her these days. Or Indi, who did it for a living. Indi would be useful to have right now.

    Behind her the door opened. Amanda¡¯s fingers dove for the alt tab keys. Not quite fast enough. She was lucky though, as it was Indi, and not Mark who entered through the door.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Indi said, her smile growing wider as she caught a glimpse of what Amanda had been doing. Indi shut the door behind her, grabbed the chair next to Amanda and sat down.

    ¡°Hey, how are you feeling?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m alright¡± Indi replied pushing her glasses further onto her nose. Her eyes looked a little tired though. She leaned forward. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Searching their system,¡± Amanda replied sheepishly. Indi was the real computer expert. ¡°I have no idea what I¡¯m doing,¡± she admitted.

    ¡°Mind if I try?¡± Indi offered eagerly.

    ¡°Go for it.¡± Amanda shifted out of the way. ¡°I wanted to see if they had any information on what they do in this place, see if it could shed some light on what creature they¡¯ve possibly got running around. Mark won¡¯t tell me what they do here. They really aren¡¯t very helpful.¡±

    ¡°They probably want to keep it a secret it in case we blab. Do you think Mark even knows?¡± Indi asked as she familiarised herself with their system.

    ¡°Maybe, maybe not¡± Amanda frowned, she hadn¡¯t considered the possibility that he might not know. ¡°Either way he¡¯s not talking.¡±

    Indi nodded then pulled a USB stick out of her pocket and plugged it into the port on the computer. ¡°I¡¯m surprised they didn¡¯t glue the ports.¡±

    Amanda laughed. ¡°They password protected the files, and there¡¯s no internet.¡±

    As a program started running on the screen Indi grinned and poked her tongue out between her teeth. ¡°Didn¡¯t disable autorun though.¡±

    Amanda smiled. ¡°I thought you might have a pre-ready program. I am surprised they didn¡¯t take it off you though.¡±

    ¡°Hid it in my shoe.¡± Indi replied still grinning ear from ear.

    They sat back in silence watching a purple rabbit wearing a white top hat digging a hole on the screen.

    Amanda nodded at the rabbit. ¡°Eating up some valuable processes there aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Indi shrugged. ¡°The animation makes it more fun. This would be better with my laptop though. Or an internet connection. Then I could send the files back to look at later.¡±

    ¡°If they have an internet connection out here it¡¯s probably really slow.¡± Amanda frowned. ¡°You brought your whole wardrobe and not your laptop?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t bring my whole wardrobe,¡± Indi replied in mock indignance, ¡°and of course I bought my laptop, I just didn¡¯t think they¡¯d take it off me.¡±

    Amanda snorted. ¡°Can you really blame them? I mean you¡¯re probably more dangerous with a computer than Cat is with a gun.¡±

    Indi grinned then added a few moments later with a laugh, ¡°or a taser. Poor Mark. And not really true. You don¡¯t need a hacker when you can just point a gun at someone and demand the password.¡±

    ¡°Mmm, but this is a little more subtle and less likely to get us escorted out.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe he let her keep that gun.¡±

    ¡°He probably thought it was safer than arguing with her,¡± Amanda replied. ¡°No one dare get between Cathryn and her guns,¡± she added putting on a posh voice.

    Indi giggled. ¡°Careful, you don¡¯t want to summon her.¡±

    Amanda snorted.

    Indi widened her eyes and made a spooky face ¡°Hey you never know.¡±

    ¡°Hah.¡± Amanda laughed.

    The door opened.

    ¡°Shit!¡± Indi swore softly as she yanked the USB out. She groaned when she saw it was only Falco followed by Cat and Wolf. ¡°Dammit now I have to start all over again.¡±

    ¡°Nice to see you too,¡± Falco replied light-heartedly.

    ¡°Sorry¡± Indi replied ¡°I was just in the middle of breaking into their system.¡±

    Falco nodded. ¡°How are you feeling?¡±

    ¡°Fine¡± Indi replied her smile drooping a bit. She didn¡¯t want to be reminded about her fainting spell.

    ¡°Did you find anything?¡± Cat asked.

    Indi shook her head. ¡°Not yet.¡±

    ¡°We did,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°Same here,¡± Kass said as she entered through the door behind them, followed by Sirius and Zephyr.

    Greetings were exchanged and then Amanda gestured that somebody should continue.

    ¡°We found a werewolf loose on one of the lower floors.¡± Zephyr stated.

    ¡°A werewolf?¡± Amanda repeated, her eyebrows raising in surprise.

    Zephyr nodded.

    ¡°Seriously?¡± Indi adjusted her glasses.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Zephyr replied while Kass and Sirius nodded in agreement.

    Cat had one eyebrow raised in thought.

    ¡°Which floor was this?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°I couldn¡¯t follow you on the cameras after you went into the elevator.¡±

    ¡°The bottom one, it was really weird. It was in some kind of meat room,¡± Sirius replied. ¡°I think we accidently let it out.¡±

    ¡°They shouldn¡¯t be keeping a Werewolf locked up here anyway.¡± Wolf growled.

    ¡°Maybe it was an out of control one.¡± Indi suggested.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter¡± Wolf replied.

    Amanda nodded. ¡°Well there¡¯s a reason they called us and not the army.¡±

    ¡°What else do you think they¡¯re hiding?¡± Wolf asked.

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°We weren¡¯t technically supposed to go in any rooms.¡± Falco observed.

    ¡°Like you guys didn¡¯t try any,¡± Amanda gave him a knowing look. She had been watching their floor at least.

    Falco shrugged. ¡°That was Cat and Wolf. I just think if they¡¯re hiring us to be discreet maybe we should respect their privacy a little.¡±

    ¡°Respect the guys who lock up a Werewolf?¡± Wolf grumbled.

    ¡°If they didn¡¯t want anyone looking they wouldn¡¯t make it so easy to get in.¡± Indi added with a glance to the computer screen where her program was running again.

    Falco narrowed his eyes at the screen and then at her.

    Indi grinned playfully back at him.

    ¡°Who¡¯s side are you on?¡± he teased.

    Indi poked her tongue out at him.

    ¡°You guys want to get a room?¡± Cat quipped.

    Falco opened his mouth to reply but Amanda spoke first. ¡°Come on, we¡¯ve got some work to do.¡±

    Falco sighed then stood up straight. ¡°Aye aye Captain!¡± he gave her his best salute.

    Amanda tried to remain serious but he looked so silly that she folded and had to glance away to keep from laughing.

    It was hard to be mad at Falco for too long. He was full of too much fun. He reminded Amanda of the sort of kid who would have snuck a frog into his teacher¡¯s desk. Indeed Falco had once let a frog loose in his English class much to the horror of his English teacher Mrs Bibbit. ¡®Bibbit¡¯ Falco had later joked ¡®ribbit ribbit¡¯. The incident had earned him a week¡¯s detention but Falco had told everyone it was worth it.

    ¡°Did you want to hear what we found?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± Amanda looked up.

    ¡°What¡¯d you find?¡± Indi chirped, her question directed more at Falco than Cat.

    It was Wolf however, who answered first. ¡°What we suspect is the entrance to the Hall of the Dead.¡±

    Amanda¡¯s eyebrows knotted in confusion. Sirius didn¡¯t blink. Everyone else started talking all at once.

    ¡°The entrance to what?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°The hall of the dead?¡± Kass repeated ¡°I thought that was just a legend.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Indi asked, excited at the possibility of new information.

    ¡°Okay hold on. Quiet!¡± Amanda held up a hand. Everyone stopped chatting. She directed her question at Wolf. ¡°What¡¯s the Hall of the Dead?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s basically a crossover point between here and the spirit world,¡± Wolf explained.

    ¡°Rumour or fact?¡±

    ¡°Rumour. It¡¯s supposed to be built around a Splice hole. Supposedly namons guard its gates.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t mention namons before,¡± Cat complained.

    Of all the creatures in the world, there were only really two that Cat feared. Namons, and her father. No one had ever seen a namon in the light. They were creatures of darkness, with more limbs than necessary and a giant body like a fluid. Descriptions of them were rare. Sightings of namons didn¡¯t usually result in survivors to relay that kind of information. Cat had caught a glimpse of one once as a child, or at least she thought she had, but it had slid back into the darkness so fast she couldn¡¯t really be sure what she had seen. It had been in her wanderings as a dreamwalker before she¡¯d realised how dangerous the dream world could be. She still dreamwalked but now she was careful. The night she¡¯d seen the namon she¡¯d been woken by her father dragging her out of bed, yelling at her for waking the whole house up with her screaming. He¡¯d dragged her out into the hallway, slammed her against the wall, and raised his hand. There he had stopped, one of the few times he¡¯d managed some self-restraint. He¡¯d left his daughter slumped on the wooden floors as he¡¯d returned to the master bedroom where his wife cowered in the doorway, wanting to, but too afraid to stand up to him. Once the coast was clear an 8 year old Cat had dashed into her brother¡¯s room and snuck in under the covers. He gave her his old bear to hold and there she drifted off to sleep, namon never quite forgotten.

    ¡°Well they shouldn¡¯t be too hard to kill¡± Cat stated with as much false bravado as she could muster and hopefully recovering fast enough that no one noticed her initial reaction.

    Zephyr eyed her closely. He hadn¡¯t missed that flash of fear in Cat¡¯s eyes and it was so out of place that it terrified him slightly.

    ¡°You think it¡¯s a namon leaving the corpses?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s not unlikely¡± Falco replied. ¡°They are known for causing electrical malfunctions.¡±

    ¡°And for being extremely territorial,¡± Kass added.

    ¡°They must have known about it,¡± Indi commented.

    ¡°Not necessarily,¡± Falco replied.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Cat said, getting impatient ¡°Our job is to kill it so let¡¯s do that. We know what it is now.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not curious about what they do here?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Cat replied, ¡°and if you are, maybe you shouldn¡¯t be in this line of work. That¡¯s the kind of thinking that gets you killed.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I thought the saying was curiosity killed the Cat,¡± Indi teased.

    Cat actually appeared impressed with the comeback and the corner of her mouth curled up in a half smile.

    ¡°How do we kill a namon?¡± Zephyr asked.

    Cat gave Amanda a knowing look. ¡°Fire,¡± she said then frowned as she noticed the computer screen change. ¡°What are you guys doing?¡±

    Indi spun around. ¡°Oh it¡¯s done. Just gathering data,¡± she replied to Cat with a smile.

    ¡°Did you save any files or just passwords? Can we go through that now?¡± Amanda asked Indi as she pulled the USB out. ¡°You don¡¯t have your laptop.¡±

    Indi¡¯s pursed her lips. She¡¯d almost forgotten about her laptop being confiscated. She moved to plug it back in but just at that moment the door to the room opened and Tanya walked in. Indi sat back up straight, hiding the USB before Tanya could see it.

    ¡°Have you guys seen Mark?¡± Tanya asked. ¡°Everyone seems to have vanished.¡±

    ¡°Literally vanished?¡± Falco asked, concern tainting his voice.

    ¡°Oh, no,¡± Tanya laughed. ¡°I just mean . . . I¡¯m sure they¡¯re off doing something.¡±

    Falco nodded.

    ¡°He just left before these guys got back. I guess that was a while ago now. I¡¯m not sure where he went,¡± Amanda replied. ¡°Is there a problem?¡±

    ¡°No, no it can wait,¡± she trailed off.

    The silence was interrupted by Cat¡¯s stomach growling.

    ¡°Lunchtime?¡± Cat suggested.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t eat breakfast.¡± Amanda reminded her.

    ¡°Oh I almost forgot¡± Indi handed her an apple.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Cat replied bemused.

    Zephyr checked his watch. ¡°It is quarter to midday.¡±

    ¡°Already?¡± Amanda seemed surprised. She shrugged. ¡°Alright, I guess lunch is not a bad idea.¡±

    ¡°You might as well take a break until I can find Mark,¡± Tanya suggested.

    ¡°Oh I¡¯m sure we can handle things without him,¡± Amanda replied, ¡°but lunch sounds good.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m starving,¡± Zephyr commented.

    ¡°Yeah I could use some more bacon,¡± Falco agreed.

    Tanya gave them a smile then stepped back to let them out of the room. There hadn¡¯t been much extra space with all of them inside.

    They all piled out past two strange men in suits who entered the computer room once they¡¯d left. Once in they closed the door.

    Amanda glanced at the men and then shot Sirius a questioning look. He shrugged and shook his head.

    ¡°You want to join us for lunch?¡± Amanda asked Tanya.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Tanya replied and they all headed back to the kitchen, Cat chewing on the apple as they went.

 Chapter 19: Loose Thread

    In the kitchen they found another man waiting for them. This one was tall, thin, and the dark fluff on his chin was quite possibly the worst attempt at growing a goatee that had ever been made. He looked up when they entered.

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry about me,¡± he reassured them. ¡°Have your lunch and then we¡¯ll talk.¡±

    Indi found a bunch more bacon. This time Falco took over the frying. Cat, who wasn¡¯t used to skipping breakfast, was by now famished and more than made up for her missed meal by managing to eat more than Falco. But no one could match Wolf at bacon eating. He consumed bacon like he hadn¡¯t eaten for several days, which wasn¡¯t uncommon for a Werewolf. Werewolves wasted a lot of energy in their transformations and as such tended to have ravenous appetites. This was also the reason why many would hunt in their wolf form. Taking down a whole deer was easier that way and provided more food than buying from the local market. Of course not all Werewolves just stuck to deer.

    Kass hunted around for something a bit healthier. She found some buns, lettuce, cheese, and ham. Enough for several sandwiches. Amanda managed to get the pan away from the eager eaters and redistribute the bacon more fairly so everyone could add some to their sandwiches.

    Goatee guy watched them while they ate. He gave Indi the willies and she felt a bit like a pig being fattened for eating. It completely ruined the appeal of the bacon.

    After about 20 minutes of eating a a bathroom break the group gathered around on the couches. They chatted softly amongst themselves and eyes the newcomer wearily. Evidently it wasn¡¯t just Indi who found him a bit creepy.

    ¡°Who do you think he is?¡± Indi asked Kass in a whisper.

    Kass shook her head softly but briefly. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Indi was always asking questions even when she knew no one knew the answer.

    Tanya hung around in the background. She was curious, and given her usual day was just hanging out in her office in case someone needed her which rarely ever seemed to happen, this seemed like a better way to spend her time. After all, if there was a medical emergency they could reach her on her phone. So almost all the medical emergencies this place had experienced had been well beyond her skill set by the time they reached her even when she was where she was supposed to be.

    The newcomer spoke bluntly with a clipped tone and no smile. ¡°Greetings. I am one of those in charge here and I¡¯ve come down and get an update on how everything¡¯s coming along. Are you any closer to catching the creature? What are your thoughts so far?¡± As he spoke he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up.

    ¡°Well, we think there¡¯s a possibility the creature may be a namon.¡± Amanda answered.

    ¡°Really?¡± he said blowing smoke out in their direction. Cat grimaced.

    ¡°We¡¯re not 100 % sure.¡± Amanda continued.

    Kass started drumming her fingers on the edge of the couch by her knees. She¡¯s given up smoking just over a decade ago but the cravings never really left, especially when someone was puffing away at one nearby.

    ¡°It would be easier if we knew a little more about what you do here.¡± Amanda pushed, figuring she might as well try her luck.

    Indi unintentionally coughed a few times then wrinkled her nose at the smoke.

    ¡°I see. Well, the thing you must understand...¡±

    ¡°I have a question¡± Cat interrupted.

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    The man looked surprised. ¡°Oh I apologise, I must have forgotten to mention it. The name is Trevor.¡± He walked over to Cat and extended his hand. She shook it and got a lungful of smoke at the same time. Her stomach did a 180. Smoke was usually something that would bother her so much but today it was making her feel queasy.

    ¡°I also have a question.¡± Wolf said speaking with barely concealed angry tremor to his tone.

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Cat breathed a sigh of relief as Trevor moved away from her but her stomach remained unsettled.

    ¡°Why is there a werewolf running around downstairs?¡±

    Once more the man appeared surprised. ¡°A Werewolf? I can assure you we have no Werewolves here.¡±

    Indi coughed a couple more times and then took in a shaky breath. Falco inched forward in his seat, looking like he was ready to get up and move to her side. Kass was digging her nails into her other hand, trying not to think about wanting a smoke.

    ¡°I have another question.¡± Cat interrupted again.

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Do you mind?¡±

    ¡°Sorry?¡± He asked innocently.

    ¡°Putting that thing out.¡±

    Before Cat could say anymore, Indi dashed from the room. Falco gave the others a glance and then followed after Indi.

    ¡°Well that was rude.¡± Trevor remarked at their fast exit. ¡°They could have said excuse me.¡±

    ¡°Excuse yourself!¡± Cat remarked ¡°She¡¯s asthmatic, asshole.¡± Cat stood up, grabbed the cigarette out of his hand, and crushed it beneath her boot before tailing after Falco and Indi. It was part an excuse to leave the room herself. She was afraid if she didn¡¯t she was going to vomit.

    Out in the hall Indi was sitting on the floor puffing on her inhaler. Falco crouched next to her. Cat took the opportunity to slide down the wall opposite them in an attempt to keep her lunch down. She must have looked a bit worse for wear though because a moment later when Indi had her breath back she gave Cat a concerned once over.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Indi asked.

    Cat just nodded, too afraid of being sick to speak.

    Falco, who had been watching Indi, now turned his attention to Cat. His eyes narrowed so Cat gave him her best attempt at a reassuring smile, all the while focusing on maintaining control of her lunch.

    Falco didn¡¯t seem completely convinced but just then the door opened. A cautious Kass peaked her head into the hallway, then seeing they were all okay stepped into the hall herself. Indi gave her a smile. Cat gave her a ¡®what do you want¡¯ kind of scowl but due to her current state it came out more like a grimace.

    ¡°I¡¯m so glad to be out of there.¡± Kass mumbled.

    ¡°Yeah that guy is a right dick.¡± Falco stated.

    ¡°He . . . err, he wants you to apologise.¡± Kass said wincing a little at having to deliver the message.

    ¡°Not likely. And I don¡¯t particularly feel like going back in there to listen to anything he has to say¡± Falco scoffed.

    ¡°Maybe when he puts the cigarette out.¡± Indi replied. There was no anger in her voice. She just sounded a little tired.

    ¡°Cat already did that for him.¡± Kass replied glancing at Cat.

    Cat wasn¡¯t paying attention anymore though. Her stomach had decided to go AWOL. She wanted to lie down on the cold floor. She couldn¡¯t though. Not with Falco there. If it were just Kass and Indi she could have made some excuse. They probably wouldn¡¯t have believed her but at least they¡¯d let her be. Falco wouldn¡¯t. Falco would tell someone. Someone like Amanda. And Amanda would worry. She would have her checked out by the doc and probably side-line her. Cat hated being side-lined and she hated being treated like something fragile.

    Without any explanation and with as much grace as she could muster Cat got to her feet and walked off down the hall to the bathrooms.

    ¡°Is she alright?¡± Kass asked watching her go.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Indi replied looking worried. ¡°She was up at 5:30 this morning throwing up in the bathrooms.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t mention that before,¡± Falco scolded.

    Indi shrugged ¡°I didn¡¯t think she¡¯d want me too.¡±

    ¡°Well you¡¯re probably right,¡± Falco replied, ¡°but if she¡¯s sick . . .¡± He paused. ¡°Somebody should go and check she¡¯s alright. That¡¯s the ladies room, so . . .¡±

    He glanced at Kass but Indi volunteered first. ¡°I¡¯ll go.¡±

    Falco gave her a concerned look. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Indi gave him a smile.

    ¡°Okay,¡± he replied, returning her smile briefly before remembering Cat and his concern for her too.

    ¡°Cat?¡± Indi called as she entered the bathroom.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Go away.¡±

    Indi hesitated. Then left the bathroom.

    Cat waited until it was quiet before she emerged from the stall and leaned over the sink.

    ¡°She okay?¡± Falco asked when Indi returned to the hallway.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. She told me to go away, she didn¡¯t sound great but she...¡± Indi bit her bottom lip. ¡°Hey, Falco I think she just wants to be left . . .¡± Indi¡¯s protests trailed off as Falco pushed his way into the ladies¡¯ bathroom.

    ¡°Cat!¡±

    She looked up from the sink as Falco entered the bathroom.

    ¡°This is the ladies room.¡±

    Falco didn¡¯t reply. He just waited.

    ¡°And I¡¯m fine,¡± Cat growled ¡°so piss off.¡±

    Falco studied her face, he wasn¡¯t convinced.

    Cat raised her chin, squared her shoulders, walked past him and out the bathroom door.

    Falco waited a second or two, thinking, then took a moment to glance around the ladies room. Apart from the colour it didn¡¯t look much different from the guy¡¯s bathroom.

    Falco followed Cat back into the hallway. ¡°If you are fine Cat, then why were you up vomiting at 5:30 in the morning?¡±

    Cat shot a glare in Indi¡¯s direction.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at her,¡± Falco warned. ¡°She should have told some one earlier, or you should have.¡±

    Indi was strategically avoiding Cat¡¯s gaze.

    Cat sighed and turned back to Falco but before she could say anything Trevor opened the door to the kitchen and stormed past them in a huff.

    Cat, Falco, Indi, and Kass stared after him in stunned silence.

    A moment later Wolf entered the hallway followed by Amanda.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°What was I supposed to do?¡± Amanda protested.

    Zephyr followed close behind them laughing. ¡°Did you see the look on his face.¡±

    Sirius was behind him with a look of, well, who could tell with Sirius. It was possibly something that resembled disapproval.

    Wolf and Tanya followed behind them.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°Amanda blew up his box of cigarettes¡± Sirius replied evenly.

    Zephyr burst into hysterics.

    ¡°Nice!¡± Cat quipped raising one of her neatly trimmed eyebrows, relieved that Falco¡¯s questioning had been interrupted but also a little worried he¡¯d bring it up again once the distraction was past.

    Amanda shrugged and shook her head. ¡°He lit up another one. I did ask nicely. He had it coming.¡±

    ¡°Where do you think he¡¯s gone?¡± Zephyr asked. ¡°You think we¡¯re in trouble?¡±

    ¡°Hah!¡± Amanda gave a laugh ¡±Not that much trouble.¡± Then added ¡°I doubt¡± as an afterthought. ¡°Let¡¯s just finish this job. You want to help?¡± she asked Tanya who was standing awkwardly next to the kitchen door.

    ¡°Well . . .¡± Tanya hesitated, wide-eyed.

    ¡°Unless you¡¯ve got something else to do?¡± Amanda gave her a friendly smile. ¡°We could probably use a nearby healer, or doctor..?¡± Amanda trailed off, realising the assumption she¡¯d made. It wasn¡¯t exactly polite to ask about powers when you first met someone, and while many doctors were healers, it wasn¡¯t always the case.

    But Tanya nodded. ¡°No, sure, this place is usually boring as. They can phone me if they need me. Plus given what you guys are doing you¡¯re much more likely to need a doctor. And your guess is right, I am a healer too.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what they do here?¡± Wolf asked her.

    Tanya shook her head. ¡°No, sorry, that¡¯s privileged information. Need to know, and, well,¡± she shrugged ¡°I¡¯m not. I only started work here three weeks ago anyway.¡±

    ¡°What happened to the last doctor?¡± Falco asked as they all made their way back into the lounge.

    Tanya shook her head again. ¡°I¡¯d don¡¯t know. I assumed they took a position elsewhere.¡±

    ¡°Or got eaten¡± Cat suggested. When everyone looked at her she simply smiled and shrugged.

    ¡°I get paid not to ask these kinds of questions,¡± Tanya replied. ¡°So far it¡¯s been safer than my last job. Plus they pay for my kids schooling, pretty decent private school. I wouldn¡¯t be able to afford it otherwise.¡±

    ¡°You have kids?¡± Wolf inquired, taking the conversation, if only for small reprieve, in a friendlier direction.

    Tanya smiled and nodded. ¡°Twin girls. Almost 12.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re not married?¡± Falco commented hesitantly, noting the absence of a wedding ring.

    Amanda shot him a warning glance, suggesting he should think better about asking such personal things.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m divorced¡± Tanya replied.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± Falco said.

    Tanya just shrugged. It must have happened a while ago as she didn¡¯t look sad. She looked simply as if she had come to accept it as one of those things.

    ¡°Are you dating anyone?¡± Indi asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

    ¡°Indi!¡± Amanda warned.

    Tanya laughed. ¡°No. I mostly live on the base anyway. There¡¯s not really the opportunity here. What is this anyway, an interview?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s important to get to know your team members,¡± Indi replied with a smile. ¡°You can ask us questions if you want.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a team member now am I?¡± Tanya asked with a laugh.

    ¡°For now¡± Amanda confirmed, sharing a smile as well. Indi was right, it was good to get a feel for a person before you worked with them, even if just temporarily. Tanya seemed nice enough so far.

    ¡°Do you have any children?¡± Tanya asked Indi.

    Indi nodded.

    ¡°How many?¡±

    ¡°One,¡± Indi replied. ¡°She¡¯s ten.¡±

    ¡°You know, they asked us that when we first got here,¡± Amanda commented thoughtfully. ¡°I thought it was a bit of a weird question.¡±

    Tanya nodded. ¡±Yeah, they asked me that too when I first applied for the job, I always figured they just wanted to know about next of kin, you know in case anything happens. Well that and who you might spill their secrets to, not that they tell us any. Or in case you have a family member that might pose a threat.¡±

    ¡°What else did they ask?¡± Amanda inquired.

    ¡°Oh, stuff, I can¡¯t remember now, I don¡¯t think it was too unusual, nosy but not unusual.¡± She paused trying to recall the questions they had asked.

    ¡°How did you find out about the job?¡± Falco butted in, interrupting her thoughts.

    ¡°Oh, they found me,¡± Tanya replied. ¡°I used to work for an infectious diseases investigation team. We¡¯d look into suspected outbreaks, especially for new diseases and we¡¯d try to figure out what they were, prevent any spread, and just generally contain the situation as much as we could. A lot of what we did was actually preventative but every now and again we¡¯d get called out to something serious, sometimes caused by individuals or groups with an agenda.¡± Tanya made it sound like it was a regular office job.

    Indi stared at her wide eyed. ¡°So you¡¯re not really a regular kind of doctor?¡±

    ¡°Not the kind most people think of, no. Although I have done emergency field work, including some emergency surgery but I¡¯m usually first port of call rather than best person for the job. Bit of an all rounder really.¡±

    ¡°Cool!¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°You ever been in a firefight?¡± Cat asked ¡°Working around terrorists and all.¡±

    Tanya was unfazed by her question. ¡°One or two,¡± she replied without elaboration. ¡°So what do you guys do for a living other than hunting deadly creatures? Or is this your full time job?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve all got other jobs¡± Indi replied. ¡°I¡¯m a computer programmer, security mostly, and some web stuff.¡±

    ¡°This is more of a one off thing.¡± Amanda added.

    Cat gave a laugh. ¡°Yeah the seventh one off thing we¡¯ve done this year.¡±

    ¡°So what do you do for a living?¡± Tanya asked Amanda, sparring Cat only the briefest of glances.

    ¡°I breed and train horses. Among other animals.¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°Like unicorns.¡± Indi butted in.

    Tanya raised an eyebrow. ¡°For races?¡±

    ¡°And for pets and other competitions.¡± Amanda answered.

    ¡°I used to have a horse when I was younger. I saved up for ages and convinced a nearby neighbour to let us use their paddock for free. Looking back I can¡¯t believe they did that. My foster mother made me share it with the other kids but it was worth it and they chipped in with food costs and things,¡± Tanya said reminiscing.

    ¡°You were in foster care?¡± Wolf asked. ¡°And had a horse?¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡± Tanya replied seeming slightly sad for a moment but then she smiled again. ¡°I was really lucky with that place. Stayed with them until I was eighteen and they were very nice people.¡±

    ¡°What happened to your parents?¡± Cat asked, ignoring or missing the warning glance from Amanda.

    ¡°Err,¡± Tanya tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. ¡±They died while they were on a work trip. I wasn¡¯t that young, about 16.¡± She paused.

    Cat didn¡¯t ask any more questions. She even felt a little guilty. She didn¡¯t always intend to be nosy, sometimes her curiosity just got the better of her, but she preferred honesty. She thought people should own their pasts and not shy away from them. She¡¯d never had much patience for tactful conversation.

    It was Indi who finally broke the silence. ¡°Who wants to go for a swim?¡± she asked in such a light and carefree tone that you might have thought she was on holiday.

    Amanda sighed. ¡°I think it¡¯s time we got back to work.¡±

    Indi pouted. ¡°A quick swim?¡± she pressed. ¡°Sometimes doing relaxing stuff helps me come up with ideas.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Amanda shook her head and her expression said that she couldn¡¯t believe Indi was actually suggesting a swim.

    ¡°Not even 10 minutes? You can time it¡± Indi pressed.

    ¡°Indi does seem to come up with some good ideas in weird ways,¡± Zephyr mused. ¡°The rest of us could research on the side of the pool.¡±

    Zephyr¡¯s argument was all Indi needed. ¡°Yess! Race you there.¡± she took off before Amanda could object.

    Amanda frowned. ¡°That wasn¡¯t a yes.¡± But Indi was already gone.

    Wolf shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ll bring the books, we can work while they swim. 10 Minutes won¡¯t hurt.¡±

    ¡°10 minutes.¡± Falco repeated with a grin, seemingly keen to also go for a quick swim.

    Amanda sighed.

    They met up with Indi outside the pool room.

    ¡°Indi, some of us have to be back by Monday, and we¡¯re not getting paid overtime. We take too long they might even decide we¡¯re not worth the food expense.¡± Amanda reminded her.

    ¡°Amanda,¡± Indi interrupted.¡°They have barely giving us any information, I don¡¯t have my laptop. I¡¯m no good at shooting or setting traps. A 10 minute swim won¡¯t kill us, touch wood. In fact it¡¯s just the break we need to come up with a genius plan.¡± She glanced around but couldn¡¯t find any wood.

    ¡°10 minutes, and I am timing.¡±

    Indi gave her widest grin yet.

    Pretty soon Indi, Falco, Zephyr, and even Wolf, were splashing about in the pool. Kass looked at the pool forlornly. She loved swimming but she wasn¡¯t as keen to swim in underwear like the guys were. Plus she prided herself on being sensible and there was work to do. So, she opted for helping Amanda do some research by the side of the pool. Sirius decided to help too, at least for a bit. He was a little tempted by the water but he also felt like it would be wasting time. Cat, much like her namesake, was terrified of water and so had no interest in joining them. She didn¡¯t really know how to swim anyway, not that she¡¯d ever let anyone become aware of that fact. Tanya had tagged along again and was also helping with the research. They sat on the floor in a semi-circle, several books lay in the middle. Cat sat almost as far as she could get from the edge of the pool without looking like she was avoiding it on purpose.

    ¡°Do you know where they would have put Indi¡¯s laptop?¡± Amanda asked Tanya.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± Tanya said shaking her head.

    ¡°I think we still need to eliminate a few creatures, I¡¯m not quite convinced that it is a namon.¡± Amanda added to the rest of the circle. ¡°Have a look through the books, note down anything else that may be a possibility.¡±

    Kass nodded and picked up a book.

    ¡°Indi¡± Amanda called out to her. Indi swam over to the edge of the pool.

    ¡°How do you feel about being bait?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°If your shield came in useful.¡±

    Indi paused, thinking. ¡°Sure,¡± she replied, but she sounded a little hesitant. ¡°Aren¡¯t namons also dreamwalkers?¡± she glanced at Cat. ¡°Maybe . . .¡± but she didn¡¯t get to finish.

    ¡°They¡¯re arguably more dangerous to mess with in the Dreamworld¡± Cat interjected, ¡°unless you¡¯re talking a very skilled dreamwalker. Amanda power level type dreamwalker. Even then, I wouldn¡¯t try it. It¡¯s better to draw it out. But...¡± Cat trailed off. She didn¡¯t exactly like the idea of Indi as bait either.

    ¡°Are we likely to though? If it is that?¡± Indi asked.

    Cat¡¯s frown deepened. She seemed unsure.

    Indi pondered it for a moment, but before she could think of another option, she felt something tug on her foot. It yanked her underwater. She surfaced a moment later and turned around to find Falco grinning like a mischievous school boy. She gave a laugh, glad it had just been him. Cat, who had come closer to talk to Indi, moved herself back away from the pool edge again.

    Falco dove under the water and came up underneath Indi so she was sitting on his shoulders. ¡°Get your feet on my shoulders,¡± Falco told her. ¡°I¡¯ll duck down and when I come up you leap off.¡± Indi did as she was told. Falco squatted down, going beneath the water and then with a great burst of power he rose. Indi leapt backwards off his shoulders with a shriek of laughter. Cat shuffled back further until she was pressed up against one of the concrete walls. Unfortunately for her there wasn¡¯t much space between the pool and the wall. She had only moved about half a metre in total and she had maintained a casual look the whole time. If anyone had noticed her inching away from the side of the pool they didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°Hey, Sirius, come jump in.¡± Falco yelled.

    Sirius glanced at Amanda.

    ¡°Oh go on.¡± She sighed and gave a roll of the eyes.

    He stood up, stripped down to his boxers and leapt of the edge of the pool, sending water droplets up to the ceiling. Indi laughed at the height of his splash. Cat tried to move further back but the wall was in her way.

    ¡°Wolf!¡± Amanda yelled out to him .¡°Thought you were going to come and help research?¡±

    ¡°It hasn¡¯t been 10 minutes yet.¡± he yelled back then dove under to grab Zephyr¡¯s ankle.

    They wrestled for a bit. Then Wolf decided he¡¯d had enough and got out of the pool to help. He did know the books better than anyone.

    Zephyr swam over to Falco ¡°Hey, I¡¯ve got an idea.¡±

    Sirius, curious about what they were doing swam over to join them.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to throw Cat in the pool¡± Falco told him. Falco started towards the edge of the pool but Sirius grabbed his arm and shook his head.

    ¡°She hates water.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯ll be funny.¡±

    ¡°No, I mean she really hates water,¡± Sirius warned, a worried look growing on his face, too subtle for Flaco to notice. ¡°Throw Amanda in instead. She won¡¯t mind so much.¡±

    Indi was swimming off by herself at this point but she stopped and looked over at their group curiously.

    ¡°What are you guys doing? She called over to them.

    ¡°Nothing,¡± Falco yelled back.

    Falco seemed thoughtful but after a moment he decided.¡°Alright, we¡¯ll chuck Amanda in.¡±

    Zephyr shrugged and they swam to the side of the pool.

    ¡°How¡¯s the research going?¡± Falco asked jumping out of the pool and walking up behind Amanda.

    ¡°It would be going better if you guys would help.¡± Amanda replied giving them a stern look.

    Zephyr sat down near her feet and pretended to look at the book she had been studying.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to get the books wet.¡± Kass warned.

    Zephyr glanced up at Falco. Falco gave him a nod and together they picked Amanda up and carried her to the pool. Falco grabbed her under her arms, Zephyr grabbed her feet.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Amanda complained.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you da . . .¡± she started to say as she saw where she was headed but she was cut off as they threw her out over the pool.

    They laughed and cheered as she emerged from underwater. She gasped then joined in with their laughter. ¡°Thanks guys,¡± she said her voice layered with sarcasm but an unmistakable smile on her face.

    ¡°So work now I guess?¡± Sirius asked, glad their prank had worked out okay.

    ¡°Mmm,¡± Amanda smiled. ¡°In a moment,¡± and she splashed Sirius in the face then dove back under the water, still fully clothed.

    Zephyr and Falco took a seat down by the books. They watched the others in the pool for bit. Zephyr glanced at Cat, who was leaned against the wall, with a book resting open on her lap. Zephyr glanced at Falco, then back at Cat. Falco grinned, nodded, and then made a move. Like they had done with Amanda, Zephyr grabbed the feet. Cat yelped and kicked as they carried her swiftly to the pool and threw her over the edge.

    ¡°Guy¡¯s, that¡¯s not funny.¡± Kass said looking up from her book, mildly worried they were going to throw her in next and that they were going to ruin the books.

    ¡°Falcon!¡± Amanda yelled angrily from across the pool.

    When she felt the water hit her Cat¡¯s reaction was to freeze up. She didn¡¯t move. She couldn¡¯t. Then she felt herself start to sink. Memories of her mother¡¯s corpse being sucked beneath the raging water of the river flashed though her head. She panicked. She kicked out, her feet hit the bottom of the pool, and she surfaced gasping for air. The water didn¡¯t feel right on her skin. It never did. It was like a million hands grabbing at her

    Cat had never liked water, even when she was little, before her mother died. Showers had been a mission, preferring a cloth bath if she had to bathe at all, and she had kicked and screamed if anyone ever tried to give her a bath. She still kept out of showers, instead preferring to use a wet cloth. For the most part it was something she¡¯d managed to keep a secret too. Not even Sirius and Amanda knew about the cloth baths.

    At least here she could touch the ground. She didn¡¯t look at anyone as she waded as fast as she could to the edge of the pool, her elbows and hands held scrunched by her chest and out of the water. Falco was still laughing. Zephyr hesitated, Cat¡¯s reaction wasn¡¯t quite what he¡¯d expected.

    She pulled her self out of the water and walked towards them. Falco happened to be standing closest and still seemed to think it a joke until Cat reached him and gave him a hard shove.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± she swore.

    ¡°Hey!¡± he exclaimed in surprise and grabbed her wrists before she could shove him again. ¡°It was just a joke.¡±

    She tried to pull her hands back.

    ¡°Back off!¡± Cat snapped at him.

    He released his grip and took a step back, surprised at how upset she was. Not just angry. She looked hurt. That wasn¡¯t what he had expected either.

    Cat walked away from him and out the door.

    ¡°Why¡¯s she so upset? We didn¡¯t hurt her. She¡¯s always teasing us¡± he asked puzzled.

    ¡°She hates water¡± Amanda answered as she got out of the pool.

    ¡°I told you that.¡± Sirius growled, staring daggers at them before hoisting himself out after Amanda.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t very nice,¡± Indi remarked as she swam up to the pools edge.

    ¡°I know but I didn¡¯t think she¡¯d be that upset,¡± Falco replied, feeling guilty.

    Zephyr nodded, looking sorry.

    ¡°I know.¡± Indi reached out and placed a reassuring hand on Falco¡¯s ankle. He bent down and helped her out of the pool.

    ¡°Come on,¡± Amanda said from the doorway. ¡°We need to go find her and get back to work.¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we just leave her alone?¡± Zephyr asked. ¡°Let her calm down a bit first.¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°No, Cat isn¡¯t exactly one to sit down when she¡¯s upset.¡±

 Chapter 20: All Tied Up

    Since she¡¯d left the pool room Cat had found her way back to the lower floor where they¡¯d found the last body. She hadn¡¯t really been thinking where she was going but this was as good as anything. Maybe she¡¯d draw the creature out, although she hoped Amanda was wrong and it wasn¡¯t a namon. She didn¡¯t think it was but she couldn¡¯t put her finger on why. Her gut just seemed to be telling her otherwise. She would find it, whatever it was, justify her reasoning later. Work would keep her mind off the things she didn¡¯t want to be reminded of.

    She was halfway down the long hallway that led to the ¡®Hall of the Dead¡¯ when a light behind her flickered out. She froze and spun around, one hand hovered over her sidearm. Something made the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Her gut was telling her to get out of there but she hesitated, wanting to be sure, wanting to see what was coming. Wanting something to fight. Another light flickered then went out. She reached for the nearest door and to her surprise found it unlocked. She slipped inside and shut it behind her. Turning around she found herself face to face with two men, dressed head to toe in black, armed and surprised.

    The bigger one started to reach for his gun. Cat was in no mood to talk. Reacting fast she rushed the bigger guy, kneeing him in the balls before he knew what was happening. He fell to the floor, unconscious from the pain. The second guy was more prepared but Cat was well trained. And lucky. This guy was about her size, making him an easier match. He ran at her. Cat dodged a few blows, and managed to almost pull him off balance. He¡¯d been trained well at some point. He knew how to fight but he obviously lacked the discipline to train regularly. His moves were rushed and forceful. Cat moved more like the water she so feared. Fluid, fast and relaxed. She used his strength against him. She waited for him to make a mistake then she landed a solid blow to his windpipe and down he went.

    She took a deep breath and turned back to the door. She stepped over one of the men and reached for the handle. She paused a second, listening, then pushed the door open an inch and peered out. The hallway was pitch black. She heard something moving in the darkness off to the left, back towards the elevator. A scratching sound. She quickly shut the door and noticing it had a bolt she locked it. She waited until she was sure nothing was coming then she turned back around to see where she was.

    It was a file room and but not a big one. Grey cabinets lined the walls and she could walk from side of the room to the other with only a few large steps. In one corner there was a printer and next to it a plain desk with a computer. A single bulb hanging from the ceiling was all that was needed to light the room. Cat hoped it wouldn¡¯t go out like the hall lights had. She briefly considered turning it off to make it less likely she¡¯d be noticed by whatever was outside the room but she wanted to keep an eye on the unconscious men. It would be no good if they woke up and she didn¡¯t notice. Besides there didn¡¯t appear to be a gap between the base of the door and the floor. It was likely no light would get out.

    Cat stepped over the unconscious men again. She checked their pulses. They were alive. They¡¯d probably have a headache when the woke up though. Oh well, they knew the risks of their job and one of them had pointed a gun at her. She spared little sympathy or thought to what she might have done in the same situation, instead focusing on her next move. Someone had left a pile of recently printed sheets on the printer. That was probably what they had been in the room for. She picked them up and frowned. The face at the top and centre of the page was one she recognised, Amanda. Below the photo was a bunch of details about her. Her name, age, address, and some observational notes and a list of dates with details about what Amanda had been doing that day. Cat flipped through a few pages. There was another one, the same, only this time the subject was Sirius. A few pages on Cat found notes about herself and a photo. She flipped through the whole stack. They were two or three sheets on each of them, Tanya as well, and two other men she didn¡¯t recognise. It wasn¡¯t unusual for someone who was hiring them to look into their history. Even the surveillance wasn¡¯t unheard of. Paranoid clients sometimes liked to be sure of who they were hiring. It unsettled Cat that she hadn¡¯t noticed it though. She though back trying to pick through the people she¡¯d encountered in the last few weeks and made a mental note to be more observant in future.

    Cat put the sheets down and decided to shift her attention to the computer. She moved the mouse. Nothing happened. Was it dead? Off? Should she push the button? While she was deliberating the screen suddenly flickered to life. She was presented with the same documents that had been printed. She minimized them all, checking to see if anything else was open. A USB folder was all that remained open on the screen. The folder she was in was titled ¡®surveillance.¡¯ In it were maybe a hundred or so files all labelled with the name of a person. They were ordered by date. Theirs were the most recent. She found one for Tanya a few rows down. She scrolled even further down and found a ¡®Fred¡¯ and a ¡®Bradley.¡¯ She looked for Trevor¡¯s name but couldn¡¯t find it. Cat frowned and clicked on a random file. She was prompted for a password. She sighed. Where was Indi when you needed her? She looked back at the door. Where were the others? She hoped they hadn¡¯t followed her down and gotten caught in the hallway with whatever was out there. Safety in numbers though. Perhaps? Maybe it was safe now?

    She walked over to the door. Stopped and listened. Hearing nothing she unlocked the bolt. As quietly as she could she turned the handle and pulled the door open a tiny gap. Movement was the first thing she saw. She slammed the door shut. Paused. There had been light though. She opened the door to see Falco standing in the brightly lit hallway. He looked at her in surprise. She stared back at him saying nothing then noticed another new feature in the corridor, a blood trail which led past the door and down the hallway.

    Falco finally seemed to get over his surprise ¡°Cat! We thought . . .¡± he glanced down at the blood trail, worry and guilt playing across his face. ¡°I am so sorry.¡±

    Cat glared at him ¡°Give me one good reason why I should care?¡±

    His eyes widened and he looked so at a loss and sorry that it took the energy out of some of Cat¡¯s anger.

    ¡°Cat . . . I,¡± Falco started to apologise again.

    ¡°Oh forget it. Just don¡¯t do it again,¡± Cat interrupted deciding she didn¡¯t really want to see him groveling. She¡¯d actually prefer to forget the whole ordeal, just pretend it never happened.

    Falco gave a weak nod.

    ¡°Falco!¡± Indi¡¯s voice yelled from further down the hall, and around a corner.

    Falco spared a quick glance at Cat before he headed off down the hallway to join Indi. Cat took a moment to close the door to the room then she followed closely behind Falco. Hopefully the unconscious men woke up with memory loss.

    When they reached Indi they finally got to see what had made the trail of blood. Another body, much like the one they had seen yesterday. It had been dragged for almost the entire length of the hallway. At some point along the way something had ripped it. Shreds and pieces of flesh lay scattered a few metres leading up to it. Despite the mess Cat was surprised there wasn¡¯t more blood. It was almost as if something had consumed most of it first, sucked it dry, and spat it back out. Indi was crouched over the remains staring at something intently. Wolf and Zephyr stood a little bit further back, watching her. Zephyr was glancing around nervously like he was worried the thing might come back.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Wolf appeared lost in thought. His look of concentration broke when he saw Cat walking up with Falco. He didn¡¯t say anything but his whole posture relaxed slightly.

    In contrast Zephyr appeared to tense up even more. The guilt on his face was obvious and he avoided looking at Cat directly.

    ¡°Cat!¡± Indi exclaimed happily.

    Cat stared at Zephyr intently for a moment, taking some pleasure in his discomfort, then turned her attention to Indi and the corpse.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± she asked.

    Indi pointed to something, a piece of bone, which type of bone, Cat couldn¡¯t tell.

    ¡°You see those marks?¡± Indi asked.

    Cat peered closer then nodded.

    ¡°They¡¯re bite marks,¡± Indi explained.

    ¡°Too sharp to be a person¡± Falco observed, leaning in to have a look as well.

    Cat laughed.¡°Was that ever a possibility?¡±

    Falco shrugged ¡°Everything¡¯s a possibility until you rule it out. And it still doesn¡¯t mean that a human didn¡¯t do this.¡±

    ¡°Well it¡¯s definitely not a vampire¡± Indi stated.

    Wolf snorted. ¡°What makes you say that?¡±

    ¡°Vampires don¡¯t make such a mess.¡± She frowned as a couple of blurry lights danced their way across her vision. She shook her head.

    ¡°There¡¯s always exceptions,¡± Wolf replied a little too defensively.

    Indi shook her head again. ¡°Unlikely, it¡¯s more likely it was a Werewolf.¡± She spoke in a matter-of-factually tone that tapered off at the end. Her head had started to hurt and she was afraid she might pass out right on top of the corpse, so she stood up and took a step back from it.

    ¡°Could it be a Werewolf?¡± Cat asked Wolf in serious tone.

    Wolf¡¯s brow knotted in irritation but then he relaxed and seemed to think for a moment. He sighed. ¡°It¡¯s possible but not likely. The teeth marks don¡¯t look right, too sharp, too close together, and then there¡¯s the lack of blood.¡±

    ¡°Lack of blood?¡± Zephyr¡¯s eyebrows shot up then knotted in confusion as he looked at their surroundings, but no one answered him.

    Wolf glanced sideways at Indi who was frowning. ¡°There¡¯s too many teeth marks for a vampire,¡± she argued.

    Wolf nodded in agreement. He wasn¡¯t going to argue. She didn¡¯t want it to be a Vampire any more than he wanted it to be a Werewolf, and she was right; there were too many sharp teeth marks for a Vampire. He shot her another glance. Was she swaying a little?

    ¡°What about a namon?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a namon,¡± Cat said before Wolf could answer.

    Wolf raised his eyebrows in question.

    ¡°Well I think, whatever it is there¡¯s more than one,¡± Indi said blinking a couple of times. She gave her head a shake, trying to clear her vision again and took wobbly step back.

    Falco narrowed his eyes at her. She looked paler than usual. ¡°How do you know?¡± he asked. He took a step towards her in case she was going to pass out again.

    ¡°There¡¯s different sized teeth marks,¡± Indi replied softly, as if not completely focused. She blinked again but the spots had taken over. A moment later she felt hands holding her up. Had she passed out? Fallen over? She wasn¡¯t sure. She must have stumbled a little. She shook her head and her vision cleared somewhat. Falco was standing next to her, his arm under hers, keeping her on her feet somewhat. She found her balance and managed to put more weight through her feet. Falco kept his arm around her. Her head felt sore and she was a little disorientated.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± she replied quietly and with little conviction.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you sit down,¡± Wolf suggested. ¡°Did Tanya have any idea why you fainted earlier?¡±

    Indi shook her head. ¡°No.¡± She stopped there unable to think of anything else to say that would turn the attention away from her. ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± she mumbled, not meeting anyone¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Maybe we should head back upstairs,¡± Falco suggested. ¡°Regroup with the others.¡±

    Indi winced as a sharp pain shot through her skull. Her head went from cold and clammy to on fire in an instant. She brought both her hands up to her head. ¡°Ow.¡±

    Falco grabbed hold of her better, keeping her from falling to the ground. Concern filled his face.

    Somewhere down the hall alight flickered. It drew Cat¡¯s attention immediately.

    ¡°We need to move!¡± Cat commanded.

    ¡°What?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°The lights. That¡¯s what happened before.¡± She threw a meaningful glance at the body on the floor.

    Wolf nodded then paused. The flickering lights were between them and the direction of the elevators. ¡°Where to?¡±

    ¡°This way,¡± Cat started to move down the corridor.

    ¡°Towards it?¡± Zephyr asked, his voice going up a notch.

    ¡°To the room I was in before. Just around the corner. It¡¯s unlocked. Quick!¡±

    Indi whimpered in pain. Falco scooped her up in his arms. They moved as fast as they could down the hallway. Cat led the way. Zephyr kept pace with Cat, not wanting to be at the front or at the back. Wolf jogged along behind everyone, making sure Falco and Indi didn¡¯t get left behind. They passed under a few lights that had gone out already. When they reached the door Cat pushed it open and they all piled inside. Cat bolted it behind them. The men who Cat had left in here before were now gone. They must have woken up. Thankfully in their rush to leave they had forgotten to lock the room again. Cat hadn¡¯t even considered that it might have been locked this time.

    Falco set Indi down and she curled into a ball on the floor, hands holding her head and moaning in pain. He sat down behind her and propped her up, so she was sitting between his legs and he could wrap his arms around her in a hug.

    Something ran past the door outside. Indi stopped moaning and Falco felt her slip into unconsciousness. He checked she was breathing and once confirmed he relaxed a little. He was glad she wasn¡¯t feeling any pain now at least. Even though she was out cold he rubbed her shoulders comfortingly. Her head rested against his chest.

    Cat stood, gun out, to one side of the door. Just in case. Something else ran past the door, paused the turned around. They could hear it moving just outside. Scuffling, sniffing, a low growl. No one dared breathe. Zephyr cowered as far away as he could get from the door. Wolf stood in the middle of the room, tensed and ready to face anything that came through the door. Eventually the thing ran off. They heard sounds every now and again, mostly far off footsteps, at one point a scream. Slowly the noises they heard came less frequently until several minutes later only silence remained. No one risked breaking it until eventually Indi stirred. Her eyelids fluttered. She shifted position slightly and grabbed at her head giving a small moan.

    Cat reached for the door handle.

    ¡°No¡± Indi cried. ¡°Don¡¯t. Don¡¯t open it.¡± She struggled to focus.

    ¡°We have to at some point,¡± Cat replied but she hesitated.

    ¡°It¡¯s still out there,¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°Maybe we should wait a bit longer,¡± Zephyr suggested.

    ¡°A namon could break through doors?¡± Cat frowned as she removed her hand from the door handle.

    ¡°So you were right, it¡¯s not a namon,¡± Wolf said.

    ¡°How do you know it¡¯s still out there?¡± Cat asked Indi.

    Indi shook her head and shrugged. She pressed against Falco, fearfully trying to make herself smaller.

    It was enough to send chills down Cat¡¯s spine, and so she waited.

    Falco could feel Indi shaking. He wrapped his arms around her and planted a gentle kiss on the side of head. After a while she seemed to calm down.

    ¡°I think, maybe, I think it¡¯s gone,¡± Indi said.

    ¡°You think?¡± Cat repeated.

    ¡°Open it¡± Wolf said. He was watching Indi with a curious look on his face.

    Cat hesitated then reached for the handle. She pulled the door open, only an inch and she did it quickly. The lights were on again. Cat walked out, still holding the gun. The hallway looked much the same as before, bloodstains and all. Wolf entered the hallway behind her.

    Inside the room Falco helped Indi to her feet. She¡¯d been crying and she wiped at her cheeks with the sleeves of her jersey. Still she stood up straight.

    ¡°You alright?¡± he asked.

    She nodded and raised her chin defiantly.

    Wolf was frowning.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Cat asked him sensing that he had a theory.

    He shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not sure yet. Probably nothing.¡±

    Cat rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here,¡± Zephyr suggested.

    ¡°Where are the others?¡± Cat asked

    Wolf¡¯s expression darkened and Cat felt that she wasn¡¯t going to like the answer.

    He hesitated then almost winced as he replied. ¡°Downstairs.¡±

    Cat snorted. Of course they were. Figured.

    ¡°We split up, to try and find you. Amanda thought that¡¯s where you might have gone,¡± he elaborated, somewhat regretting that plan.

    Cat clenched her jaw. ¡°Well I guess we better go find them before those things do.¡±

 Chapter 21: Theseuséˆ¥æªš Mistake

    ¡°It¡¯s like a labyrinth down here,¡± Tanya had commented as they walked along grey corridors. ¡°Go too far and you won¡¯t be able to find your way back, at least not without a map.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll just make sure we take the same path each time¡± Amanda replied, more focused on finding Cat.

    ¡°What is this place?¡± Sirius asked.

    ¡°Storage mostly, I think¡± Tanya replied. ¡°I don¡¯t really know to tell you the truth, I¡¯m not supposed to go down here.¡±

    ¡°Just make sure you keep close,¡± Amanda warned, not wanting anyone to get distracted and fall behind. Keeping the group together was important.

    They walked along at a reasonably swift pace, checking any unlocked rooms that they came across. Many were empty, some just contained old furniture. It seemed Tanya had been half right at least; they did use this floor for storage. Other rooms were more interesting. They came across one which had jars containing various liquids, arranged haphazardly and seemingly without order along several shelves. This was the room they were in now and Amanda wandered along a row trying to read the labels on the jars.

    ¡°We should keep moving,¡± Sirius suggested. He stood in the doorway, agitated and worried about what might have happened to Cat. But only Kass heard him. Amanda and Tanya explored further in, their attention captured by the strange contents of the room.

    Sirius glanced off down the hall and caught a glimpse of movement, something dashed around the corner. It was too fast to tell what it was. ¡°Guys!¡± he exclaimed but again he was too quiet for Amanda and Tanya to hear. He didn¡¯t want to lose whatever it was that had dashed around the corner so he chased off after it. Only Kass saw him go. She hesitated then followed after him, figuring she could bring him back before he got too far. But Sirius moved fast and soon they were several corners on. Eventually he stopped, realising it was a lost cause. He frowned as he realised he¡¯d gone further than he¡¯d intended.

    ¡°Sirius!¡± Kass called coming up behind him.

    He turned around surprised.

    ¡°Did the others follow you?¡± he asked.

    Kass shook her head. ¡°I tried to call after you but you were moving too fast. They¡¯re back in the room with the jars.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I saw something run around the corner. I didn¡¯t want it to get away.¡±

    Kass nodded.

    ¡°I guess we should head back then,¡± Sirius said.

    At least that shouldn¡¯t be too difficult. Whatever he had been chasing had stuck to one wall, taking the same fork at each intersection. All they would need to do to get back was the same thing but in reverse.

    Kass nodded again. At that moment something dashed past her feet. She screamed, leaped out of the way and once more found herself standing right in Sirius¡¯s arms.

    ¡°Whoa!¡± he said initially surprised but then added with a chuckle ¡°We¡¯ve got to stop meeting like this.¡±

    Kass shuddered as she watched the rat bounce along the floor and around the corner. Sirius laughed then sighed, ¡°That was probably what I saw earlier. You okay?¡±

    She turned to look up at him and Sirius was suddenly very aware of how close they stood and how blue her eyes were. It was like looking down at the sky. She gave a nod and a soft smile.

    ¡°Why are you so scared of them?¡± he asked. ¡°They¡¯re just fluffy little creatures going about their lives.¡±

    Her smile disappeared and Kass was quiet for awhile.

    ¡°They just creep me out.¡± she finally replied.

    ¡°Sirius?¡± she started.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± he replied. He¡¯d also never noticed before quite how naturally flushed her cheeks were, like early roses just bloomed among a late snow. Her features were so soft and innocent, that he found himself wanting to pick her up and carry her out of there. Protect her from the rats and whatever else roamed this place. He had trouble reconciling how she looked with what he knew of her past. He knew she¡¯d been a sniper, that she¡¯d killed on command. Sirius had killed before, when necessary to protect his own life. That was the nature of sailing the seas sometimes. But while he¡¯d been in many fights he prided himself on only ever using the minimal amount of force necessary to end a conflict. Sirius was like a giant Redwood. He might look capable of knocking down a house during a storm but he was really quite sturdy and harmless. But Kass, Kass really was a rose, hidden thorns and all. He stood still so mesmerized by the contrast that he almost missed her question.

    ¡°What are you afraid of?¡± she asked softly.

    Amanda had been studying a jar which contained what might have been a jellyfish of some sort except it didn¡¯t appear to have any tentacles. The liquid it was submerged in glowed with a faint blue hue. She wondered momentarily if her sister would know what it was. Lizzy had always been much better at identifying different plants and creatures. Amanda picked up the jar wanting to look at it more closely but as she tilted sideways slightly her grip slipped and the jar went crashing to the floor. She winced as the poor creature inside thrashed around on the floor before finally falling still. She looked at it for a while, feeling sorry for the damage she had done.

    ¡°Where¡¯d the others go?¡± Tanya asked. The crash of the jar had apparently jerked her back to reality.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Amanda glanced up realising that it was only her and Tanya in the room. The jars and their weird colours had been strangely mesmerizing. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Let¡¯s go find them.¡± She suddenly found the room and all its colours unnerving. She left in such a hurry that Tanya had to scramble after her lest she get left behind. She followed along at a brisk walk only just managing to keep sight of Amanda. They took every left branch as before. A few corners on Tanya spotted some strange scratches on the wall. They grabbed her attention for just long enough that when she looked up Amanda was gone. She cursed and kept moving.

    Sirius wasn¡¯t sure how to answer Kass¡¯s question. He could have said flying or airplanes and that would have been technically correct but he suspected that wasn¡¯t what she was asking. Before he could think of a better answer however Kass put her hands on the front of his shirt, pulled his head down and pressed her lips against his.

    Taken by surprise and not entirely in objection to it Sirius let her pull his head down. He didn¡¯t resist. He didn¡¯t push for more. It wasn¡¯t passionate. It was quick. It was stolen. It was beautiful and sweet. Like tasting honey with just the tip of your tongue or drinking a fine wine with nothing but your nose.

    It was reckless, and it was at that moment that Amanda walked around the corner.

    Sirius pulled back just in time to see her standing there, mouth agape, her face twisted in anguish.

    ¡°Amanda¡± he began, but she was gone. As fast as she had appeared she turned and fled, running through twisting corridors.

    Tears threatened to cloud her vision. She reached the previous junction and not wanting to run into Tanya, or anyone else right now, she took the other path. She just kept moving. She knew it was stupid but right now she didn¡¯t care. She ran on through hopelessly grey corridors, around so many corners, and through so many junctions until she was no longer certain she knew the way back. Finally she stopped, lent into a wall, and slid down with her back against it until she was sitting, sobbing, on the floor.

    Sirius took a step back from Kass, reeling from the full force of what he¡¯d just done.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± He stammered ¡°That was, that was a mistake. I shouldn¡¯t have done that.¡±

    Kass blinked. ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± she replied unevenly and with a hesitation that suggested she wasn¡¯t quite as sorry about it as he was. But as she studied his face her expression changed.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± she repeated, more genuinely this time and with a tone that suggested more of an acceptance. Acceptance at what she couldn¡¯t have and at what she done. She dropped her gaze to the floor.

    It cut him like a knife. She looked so sad and lost. Now he had hurt two people. He sighed, not sure what to say to make anything better.

    He was saved from having to say anything by Tanya walking around the corner.

    She stopped where she was and frowned. ¡°Where¡¯s Amanda?¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t see her?¡± Sirius asked, sure that Amanda had to have run into Tanya after she¡¯d fled. Where else could she have gone?

    Tanya shook her head. She walked off so fast after you guys, I couldn¡¯t keep up. Then I got distracted by some writing on the wall . . .¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± Sirius interrupted, not wanting anyone to panic, worried if they did that he might too. Right now they needed to remain calm. He needed to think.

    ¡°I just passed a junction back there. Maybe she went that way. I¡¯m not sure where else she could have gone.¡± Tanya said.

    Sirius hoped she hadn¡¯t gone too far. He hoped she would forgive him. What if he lost his sister and his wife in one day? Not wanting to dwell on it he started walking briskly back towards the junction. He needed to find them. ¡°Come on.¡±

    Tanya and Kass had to run to keep up.

    ¡°Sirius, slow down,¡± Kass warned as they reached the junction. ¡°We don¡¯t need anyone else getting lost.¡±

    He stopped, nodded, and waited for her and Tanya to catch up. He tried to calm himself down but his stomach was full of butterflies.

    ¡°Amanda¡¯s not stupid enough to get lost. She probably didn¡¯t go very far,¡± Kass reassured him once they caught up to him.

    He nodded but he wasn¡¯t completely convinced. That look of anguish that had been on her face kept flashing through his mind.

    Meanwhile, Cat and the others had arrived at the labyrinth entrance. They stopped at the first junction.

    ¡°Which way?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°There¡¯s more junctions,¡± Indi said. ¡°So most likely they either went all left or all right. It¡¯s the logical choice.¡±

    ¡°Wolf..?¡± Cat interrupted suddenly realising something.

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you good at tracking?¡± Cat looked at him perplexed, wondering why they hadn¡¯t found her that way.

    He sighed. ¡°Yeah, I had trouble when we hit the body, too much blood. Amanda was convinced you weren¡¯t on that floor.¡±

    ¡°And now?¡± Cat gestured at the two hallways in front of them.

    Wolf growled slightly under his breath. ¡°Turn around.¡±

    The others did as told and Wolf removed his clothes so he could shift into Wolf form.

    He sniffed part of the way down one corridor and then part of the way down the other.

    Just as he was shifting out of Wolf form they all heard a scream. The others spun.

    ¡°Oi!¡± Wolf growled at them, turning to face the wall so they couldn¡¯t see his front.

    Cat ignored him and walked a little way into the right hand corridor. ¡°That sounded like Kass.¡±

    Wolf shook his head as he pulled his pants back on but no one was looking at him. ¡°I couldn¡¯t smell them that way,¡± he said as he turned and pulled his t-shirt back over his head.

    ¡°That definitely sounded like Kass.¡± Cat replied.

    Wolf frowned. He¡¯d only been able to get a scent from the other corridor.

    ¡°Maybe they split up.¡± Indi suggested. ¡°Or the corridors wrap around and connect up again.¡±

    Wolf didn¡¯t reply. It was a possibility.

    Cat looked from one tunnel to the other then at the group.

    ¡°Bad idea,¡± Wolf said, guessing what she was thinking.

    ¡°You don¡¯t even know what I was going to say,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°That we should split up. We¡¯re already in too small a group.¡±

    ¡°Those creatures obviously don¡¯t care.¡±

    ¡°So you want to make it easier for them?¡±

    Cat was silent for a moment. ¡°It¡¯s the fastest way to find the others. If they come back and can¡¯t find us what do you think is going to happen? We need to wrap this up quickly. Regroup and then sort out a plan.¡± She hesitated. ¡°Maybe even leave, there¡¯s something not right about this place.¡±

    Everyone was silent. No one offered up a better plan so Cat made the decision. ¡°Indi with me.¡± She took a step towards the right hand junction then pointed to the left .¡°You three go the other way.¡±

    Falco started to protest but Cat interrupted.

    ¡°We¡¯ve got a shield and a gun.¡± She pointed to Indi and then held up her weapon. ¡°We¡¯re probably a lot safer than you guys. So you get numbers.¡± She gave them a smile and headed towards the right hand corridor.

    Indi, who was almost back to her usual perky self, gave Falco a smile. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡± With that she followed after Cat.

    Falco sighed. ¡°Alright,¡± he said as he watched them walk away. Once they were out of sight he turned to the left hand corridor.

    Falco, Wolf, and Zephyr made swift progress along the corridor and they¡¯d gone quite a distance in when Zephyr, who was walking at the back, noticed some writing on the wall.

    ¡°Hey guys,¡± he said as he lent down to inspect it. It wasn¡¯t in a language he recognized. He reached out to touch it and as he did the whole wall moved. It and the floor spun 180 degrees, so one moment Zephyr was on one side of the wall and the next moment he was on the other.

    Falco and Wolf had turned around just in time to see it happen.

    ¡°Zeph!¡± they cried in unison.

    Now on the other side Zephyr placed his hands on the wall again but it seemed the trap only worked one way. He sighed and turned around to see where he had ended up. It was a rather large room. Something in a jar gave off a faint yellow glow on a desk nearby. It was the only source of light in the room. Apart from the desk, the glowing jar, and a couple of tools lying next to it, the room was otherwise empty. There was a door approximately opposite where Zephyr crouched. Disliking being in such a dimly lit place, Zephyr stood up and walked over to the door. He hesitated only a second before he pulled it gently open. Outside he was relieved to find a more brightly lit corridor.

    ¡°Zeph!¡± Falco called from the other side of the wall.

    ¡°Yeah¡± Zeph yelled back, returning to the wall.

    ¡°You alright?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

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    ¡°Stay where you are, the trap will probably reset itself.¡±

    ¡°That could take ages,¡± Zephyr heard Wolf say in a muffled voice through the wall, ¡°if it even does reset.¡±

    ¡°Well aren¡¯t you just Mr Positivity.¡± Falco replied.

    ¡°Just being realistic.¡±

    ¡°Making up for Cat¡¯s absence?¡±

    Wolf didn¡¯t respond. No response really was the most effective argument against anyone likening him to Cat. She always had some type of comeback. Wolf liked to think of himself as not being that petty.

    Falco turned back to study the wall. He tried pressing against different stones to no avail.

    Wolf stood back and waited for Falco to figure out the obvious solution. It took only a few seconds.

    A moment later Falco yelled through the wall. ¡°Zeph, we¡¯re gonna keep looking for the others. If we can find Sirius we can get him to punch through the wall. Just hold tight and err. . . try not to attract any creatures.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± Zephyr mumbled then yelled back in what he hoped was a more optimistic voice, ¡°Okay, will do.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t go anywhere, we¡¯ll be back soon,¡± Falco said.

    Falco and Wolf continued walking down the corridor, taking note of where they had left Zephyr.

    Kass, Sirius, and Tanya had reached another junction. There they paused. They had no way to tell which path Amanda had taken and they didn¡¯t want to risk getting lost themselves. There was really only one other option.

    ¡°We need Wolf,¡± Sirius remarked. ¡°He can sniff her out.¡±

    ¡°That didn¡¯t exactly work well before¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°Why would she keep going this way?¡± Tanya asked, not aware of what had happened between Sirius, Kass, and Amanda.

    ¡°We . . . we had a fight,¡± Sirius said. ¡°She probably wasn¡¯t thinking.¡±

    Tanya waited for him to elaborate but he stopped there so she didn¡¯t push the subject any further.

    They turned around and started to head back to the labyrinth entrance.

    Somewhere in another part of the maze Cat and Indi¡¯s corridor had reached an archway. It opened up into a square room. Bones littered the floor. On the other side of the room the corridor started up again. They stood at the entrance looking in. Indi took a step forward into the room.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Cat, still standing outside the archway, grabbed her.

    Indi turned and gave Cat a reassuring smile. She looked around the room but nothing happened.

    Cat relaxed and made a choice she regretted almost instantly. She stepped into the room.

    Cat swore as stone walls came down across the exits. Indi and Cat were trapped.

    More sounds of stone grinding. Blocks sunk into the wall all around the room revealing holes which immediately started funnelling water into the room.

    Cat¡¯s heart beat faster at the sight of the water.

    ¡°Oops,¡± Indi murmured.

    Cat froze, her eyes wide with fear. How could this happen twice in one day? She tried not to look at the bones on the floor. A clear indication of what they would be if they didn¡¯t figure a way out quickly.

    Cat grabbed Indi¡¯s forearm.

    ¡°Ow!¡± Indi cried as Cat¡¯s nails inadvertently dug into her skin.

    ¡°We need to find a way out!¡± Cat commanded trying to keep the waver out of her voice.

    ¡°Okay,¡± Indi replied calmly. She didn¡¯t move but instead took a moment to observe their surroundings. ¡°So I don¡¯t know much about the Hall of the Dead, if that¡¯s where we are, but supposedly Splice Holes would have traps that were designed so whomever entered would have to solve a puzzle. One specifically catered to them, the idea being that if you were clever enough or kind enough or whatever they wanted to test you on...¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have time for a history lesson,¡± Cat interrupted sharply.

    ¡°Okay, okay well assuming this is one of those traps we just have to solve the puzzle.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so there¡¯s probably a loose stone somewhere?¡± Cat walked to one of the walls and tried pulling and pushing at the slabs.¡±

    Indi didn¡¯t move. She stayed in the centre of the room, exploring it with her eyes, looking for anything that looked like it didn¡¯t quite belong.

    ¡°Are you going to help¡± Cat asked, irritated that Indi wasn¡¯t moving, and panicked at the rising water.

    ¡°I am, I¡¯m looking,¡± Indi replied calmly.

    Cat frowned and tried to ignore the water lapping around her legs. It was almost at her knees. She tried not to think about the possibility that the stone they wanted was under the water.

    Indi studied every rock in the room, committing them to memory as she looked. She set herself a mental timer for working on this problem. She knew it was possible there wasn¡¯t a release trigger or that they might not be able to find it, in which case she¡¯d need to think of another solution. But she found what she was looking for. An odd, very small almost circular slab stuck out of the wall about half an inch in one of the upper corners. She walked calmly over. It was well about her height. She jumped for it. She missed, but not by much. She leapt again. Still not enough. She needed more height.

    ¡°Cat! Over here!¡±

    Cat turned, the fear in her eyes obvious. She waded briskly over to Indi. She saw immediately what Indi had found.

    ¡°Hit that!¡±

    Cat leapt for it and hit it with her first attempt.

    Something made a sharp grinding sound near them but the water kept rising. A string of symbols appeared on the wall. Below the writing five stones, each with a different symbol jutted out.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s a pattern,¡± Indi exclaimed.

    ¡°What? And we pick which one comes next?¡± Cat asked, her voice cracking slightly. She avoided looking down to where the rising water level was getting scarily close to hip height.

    Indi nodded. ¡°Gimme a sec.¡±

    Cat waited almost exactly that much. ¡°Indi?¡±

    ¡°Hang on.¡±

    Cat tried to be patient, she really did, but the water kept rising and Indi just seemed to be looking at the wall.

    ¡°What if we just pick a random one?¡± Cat asked.

    Indi eyed her. Cat¡¯s own eyes were wide and she was trembling slightly. Indi grabbed both her wrists and tried to look her in the eyes. It was hard because Indi was shorter than Cat and Cat really didn¡¯t want to look down at the water so she was trying to keep her eyes on the wall instead.

    ¡°Cat!¡± Indi repeated until Cat finally made eye contact. Indi spoke slowly ¡°Relax. We have plenty of time. I¡¯m a genius remember. I will figure it out but you have to relax and be quiet so I can think, okay?¡±

    Cat nodded.

    Satisfied, Indi turned back to the wall. She narrowed her eyes. She ran through all the possible options in her head then repeated it once more to double check. Finally certain she took a step forward and hit one of the symbols.

    The effect was almost instantaneous. The holes closed. The exits opened and water went spilling out into the hallways.

    Cat closed her eyes momentarily in relief. ¡°Let¡¯s go back. There¡¯s no way the others came this way.¡±

    Indi glanced at the wall were the patterns had been a moment ago. She was trying to decide if it could have been possible that the others had come this way and figured it out. It hadn¡¯t been that hard of a puzzle.

    ¡°Think about it, even if they did come this way, there¡¯s no way I could have. They would have known that.¡± Cat explained, guessing Indi¡¯s thoughts. ¡°They¡¯d have turned around.¡±

    Indi nodded convinced. There was no arguing that.

    They turned back.

    Zephyr had by now explored every inch of the room he was in. He hadn¡¯t found anything more than what he¡¯d initially observed though. He leant against the door frame, looking out at the corridor, waiting patiently for Falco and Wolf to return with Sirius. He tried to think of things to take his mind off this place. Things like which patients he was seeing next week, which vegetables he should plant in his garden next season. He was considering pumpkins when his thoughts were interrupted by the flickering of the lights in the corridor to his right. He straightened.

    Zephyr hated the dark. No, he was terrified of the dark. Even at this age he still slept with a nightlight on. He¡¯d been afraid of the dark ever since he was a child. When he was six years old his parents had died in a car accident and his mother¡¯s brother had assumed custody. Zephyr¡¯s uncle had often expressed how much he loved having young children in the house again. Few people had ever understood the true implications of that statement. Eventually Zephyr had grown too old for his uncle¡¯s affections, but the memory never completely left him. For the most part Zephyr rarely ever thought about his childhood. He told himself he¡¯d dealt with it but when the lights went out, Zephyr always felt like someone was sitting on his chest.

    Zephyr briefly considered backing into the room and shutting the door. He hadn¡¯t seen a lock though and the idea of cowering in the dark waiting to be eaten just didn¡¯t appeal.

    Something yowled from further down the darkened corridor. It reminded Zephyr of a house cat.

    If he moved the other way down the corridor, staying left or right, and keeping track of junctions, maybe he could find his way back here after it had gone. Or even better maybe he would meet up with the other corridor at some point. Although how would he know? He decided to risk it anyway. To him it was better than being trapped in that room. If he was going to die, he¡¯d die running.

    He heard the yowl again. Closer this time. Another light flickered out. Something moved in the darkness. Something about his size. Zephyr took off running. He ran at a faster pace than what a normal person could, tapping into his power, but not too fast. He didn¡¯t want to run into any walls. He went left at the next junction hoping it would take him back to the others and not into a dead end.

    He stopped running when he felt he¡¯d gotten far enough away, at least for now. He didn¡¯t want to make too much sound and attract the creature to him. The lights were all on here. At least he¡¯d get a warning when that thing was coming. He eyed the lights above him carefully, every now and again as he walked. It was so quiet. The sound of his own footsteps made his heart skip.

    Zephyr reached another junction. He¡¯d passed through a couple by now. Every time there were two hallways to choose from he took the left one. This time there were more options, a left, a right, both opposite him, and a third one which ran parallel to the one he had just come from, in the same direction, only a metre and a half to the right. Well he didn¡¯t want that one. He was about to select the left one in front of him when he heard a noise coming from the right hand one, a faint sobbing.

    He hesitated. Was someone else down here? It could be a trick? Both hallways were well lit. What the hell, if it started getting dark he¡¯d turn around. He could run fast. He might as well have a look. Maybe someone needed help. He took the right hand path and walked toward the sobbing. Zephyr didn¡¯t see it, but a moment later, a light back in the left hand corridor he¡¯d left behind, flickered out.

    Zephyr walked cautiously and quietly, following the sound of the sobbing. Eventually he came to a bend in the corridor. He was almost certain that whatever, or whoever, it was that was making the sobbing sounds, was around this next corner. He peaked around carefully, not wanting to alert them to his presence. He was so surprised by what he saw that he had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn¡¯t imagining things.

    Amanda, was sitting, against the wall, arms wrapped around her knees, head buried in them sobbing. Zephyr shook his head, still not sure it wasn¡¯t some trick.

    He walked around the bend and approached her. She didn¡¯t notice him until he spoke her name.

    ¡°Amanda?¡±

    She jerked her head up and moved her hands up as if to get ready to fight. She stared at Zephyr poised with her hands still up in case it wasn¡¯t really him. When he didn¡¯t come any closer she lowered her hands and then wiped her cheeks quickly with the back of her hands as if she had any chance of convincing him she hadn¡¯t just been crying. She glanced down and then back up her eyebrows knotted in confusion.

    ¡°How did you get here?¡± She eyed him warily obviously wondering if it was really him.

    ¡°Trap door, in the wall,¡± Zephyr replied. He moved slowly and sat down on the floor opposite her, then he stammered out a string of questions and answers, not sure what to start with. ¡°It¡¯s, uh, a long story. How did you get here? We found Cat by the way.¡± He paused. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    Amanda gave a laugh than a small sniff. She was a little overwhelmed. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°Where are the others?¡± Zephyr asked, worried something had happened to them.

    Amanda glanced down the way she had come from. ¡°Back that way, somewhere,¡± she replied.

    ¡°Are they alright?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I...¡± Amanda rubbed her face the shook her head. ¡±Sorry, they¡¯re fine. I¡¯m just, I¡¯m an idiot.¡± She ran her hands through her hair.

    Zephyr frowned. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Amanda sighed. She opened her mouth as if to say something then closed it again. She stared down at the ground.

    Zephyr just waited patiently.

    Eventually Amanda looked up again and explained.

    ¡°I saw Sirius kiss Kass, or Kass kiss Sirius, I don¡¯t know, I..¡± she trailed off and stared down the corridor.

    Zephyr got up and moved over to sit next to her. He put his arm around her and pulled her into a sideways hug. Amanda didn¡¯t resist, she just leaned her head on his shoulder. They sat like that, in silence, for a while.

    Eventually Amanda raised her head. ¡°How did you say you got here?¡±

    ¡°Booby trap,¡± Zephyr replied. ¡°I touched some writing on the wall and the wall spun around.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Amanda gave a short laugh of surprise.

    Zephyr removed his arm, glad to see her smiling again.

    ¡°Do you know the way back?¡± he asked

    She shook her head and looked more serious. ¡°I fucked that one up. You?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but I¡¯m pretty sure there¡¯s one of those creatures that way.¡±

    ¡°We could risk it.¡± She held out a hand and summoned a fireball. ¡°Maybe they don¡¯t like fire.¡±

    ¡°Or they feed off it.¡± he glanced up at the dangling light above them. ¡°Their theory could be wrong.¡±

    ¡°Hence the risk.¡± She noticed where his eyes were looking and added, ¡°I don¡¯t know of any creature that eats both fire and electricity though, at least not dangerous ones.¡±

    Zephyr nodded, but he wasn¡¯t sure he was ready to move just yet.

    She closed her hand putting the fireball out. ¡°Maybe we can wait a bit, give them some time to move away.¡±

    They sat in silence for a few minutes before Zephyr spoke.

    ¡°Are you sure you saw Sirius Kissing Kass?¡±

    Amanda didn¡¯t reply so Zephyr glanced at her to check he hadn¡¯t upset her but she just seemed to be thinking.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± she replied eventually.

    ¡°Well if he did he¡¯s an idiot.¡±

    Amanda¡¯s lips curved slightly in a smile but her eyes looked off to the side as if she didn¡¯t quite believe it.

    ¡°No, really. You¡¯re a beautiful, amazing woman, and he¡¯s lucky to have you.¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°I did the same to him once.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Zephyr frowned, not understanding.

    ¡°Kissed another guy. I was drunk and it didn¡¯t go any further than that but...¡±

    ¡°Does Sirius know?¡±

    Amanda nodded. ¡°It was years ago.¡±

    ¡°Well you said you weren¡¯t sure who kissed whom, so maybe Kass surprised him. Maybe he didn¡¯t mean to either.¡±

    Amanda nodded then mumbled ¡°Thanks Zeph.¡±

    He looked back down the hallway. ¡°Shall we head back then?¡±

    Amanda gave him a smile, slightly less sad this time. ¡°Yeah, alright.¡±

    But before they could get up the entire hallway was suddenly coated in darkness.

    Zeph flattened himself against the wall and grabbed sideways for Amanda. He tried to breathe but the air felt heavy.

    He felt Amanda grab his hand. He gripped it back, perhaps a little too tightly, he couldn¡¯t tell. He could only focus on the darkness, too afraid to shut his eyes.

    ¡°Zeph,¡± Amanda said. ¡°Zeph relax.¡±

    Something growled in the darkness.

    Amanda raised her free hand and created a fireball. She got up onto her knees and faced whatever it was. She pushed the fire out towards it, making it larger as she did. She caught a glimpse of something white and hairless which let out a shriek before turning and running. But it didn¡¯t go far. She could still hear movement in the darkness further down the corridor so she created a wall of fire between them and it. The thing was still there but it kept its distance. What were they waiting for? She got to her feet and dropped her hand, maintaining the wall of fire subconsciously, something that would have been impossible for average firestarter. She fixed it there in her mind. It would stay now, even if she turned away.

    ¡°Zeph? You okay? We need to move¡±

    He blinked a couple of times in the dim light and nodded.

    Amanda held out her hand to help Zephyr up. He accepted got to his feet slowly.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Amanda asked again.

    Zephyr nodded then shook his head. ¡°I hate the dark¡± he admitted. ¡°I . . . it makes me feel like I¡¯m suffocating.¡± He half waited for her to laugh but she didn¡¯t.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not surprised given what¡¯s out there,¡± she replied. ¡°Okay,¡± she raised a fist and a second later it was surrounded in a blinding white fire. It gave off much more light than her wall.

    ¡°Better?¡± she asked.

    Zephyr nodded, some of the weight lifting off his chest.

    ¡°I can¡¯t keep it this bright forever.¡± She said ¡°We need to keep moving.¡±

    Amanda removed the fire walls but the one in her hand was enough to keep the creatures at bay. They started their walk back to the trap wall.

    In another hallway Falco and Wolf rounded a corner to find Sirius, Kass, and Wolf walking towards them.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Falco called out a big smile forming on his face. Then he did a head count and his smile faded. His brows knotted together ¡°Where¡¯s Amanda?¡±

    ¡°We need your help to find her¡± Sirius replied guiltily.

    ¡°You lost her?¡± Wolf frowned.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the rest of your group?¡± Kass asked noticing they weren¡¯t the only ones short people.

    ¡°Did you find Cat?¡± Sirius asked.

    ¡°Yeah¡± Falco replied, ¡°Cat¡¯s with Indi. We need your help with Zeph, he triggered a trap and got stuck behind a wall.¡±

    Kass gave a laugh, ¡°Wait what?¡±

    ¡°How the hell did you lose Amanda?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Sirius growled.

    Wolf¡¯s eyes narrowed.

    ¡°How far back is Zeph?¡± Sirius asked.

    ¡°Not that far.¡± Falco replied.

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll get Zeph quickly and then we¡¯ll go after Amanda. I don¡¯t think we should separate anymore.¡±

    They all nodded.

    Wolf eyed Sirius suspiciously, wondering what he wasn¡¯t saying.

    Amanda and Zephyr had made it back to the trap wall in one piece. The lights above them were still out. The only light they had was the flame from Amanda¡¯s fist. Every now and again growls sounded from just beyond the edge of darkness. Whatever it was out there wouldn¡¯t come any closer. It seemed to be afraid of the light. Or rather, they. Judging by the growls there was more than one.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure we should stay here¡± Amanda said ¡°but I¡¯m not that keen on wandering around this labyrinth either and since you said Falco and Wolf are coming back this is probably our best option.¡±

    Every now and again she¡¯d throw a wall of fire into the darkness just to make sure the creatures stayed back.

    ¡°How long can you keep that fire going?¡± Zephyr asked, worried she was going to run out of energy.

    Amanda smiled ¡°Oh much longer than we should need it. A few days if I have to. But not this bright. I¡¯ll knock it down a notch if they take more than an hour.¡±

    ¡°So what you said before, about not being able to keep it going forever, that was . . ?¡±

    ¡°Technically true. A few days is worst case, or best case depending on how you look at it, a meditative stance and lot of focus. Like this, I can do a few hours pretty easily. More than several and it starts to become tiring or at least a lot less bright.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s still bloody long,¡± Zephyr replied. He wasn¡¯t sure he believed her but her confidence relaxed him at least. Most firestarters could not maintain a flame with nothing to burn but air for more than an hour, let alone several hours or a few days.

    ¡°Let¡¯s hope they don¡¯t take that long¡± Amanda said flashing him a reassuring smile.

    Cat and Indi had almost made their way back to the entrance of the labyrinth when the lights above them started to flicker. Cat pulled out her gun just in case. Indi took a step nearer to Cat and winced as a sharp pain shot through her skull. Then Indi stumbled. Cat grabbed her. Something growled behind them. Indi whimpered. Pain coursed through her head.

    Cat tried to aim her gun in the total darkness. She tried to listen over Indi¡¯s whimpering. She heard it take a few slow steps then the steps got faster.

    Cat pulled the trigger in the direction she thought it was then everything happened at once. Cat never found out if her aim had been good enough.

    As the creature leapt at them, the pain in Indi¡¯s head intensified. She slipped from Cat¡¯s grasp and fell to the floor coming to rest on all fours. In a desperate attempt to quiet the sounds in her head she created a shimmering force field around both her and Cat. The creature smashed into the force field, yelped, and then scampered away.

    Cat¡¯s bullet ricocheted off the inside of the force field. It thankfully missed both Cat and Indi and ended up embedding itself in the floor.

    The force field shimmered and the creature seemed reluctant to get too close. A white shape moved just beyond the light. It had four limbs and was smaller than a person. It could have been a hairless monkey but it was too dark to tell. One thing was for sure, it was out there, waiting for them.

    Cat didn¡¯t hesitate. She reached down and grabbed Indi under her arms. Cat hoisted her over her shoulders.

    Indi whimpered from the pain in her head. Her shield flickered and appeared to dim in brightness.

    ¡°Indi, don¡¯t you drop that shield.¡± Cat commanded.

    Outside of the shield the creature paced on four feet, lurking, waiting for its chance. Cat noticed a second white shape appear.

    ¡°I can¡¯t . . .¡± Indi murmured. She¡¯d never had good stamina for shielding even on the best of days. Her personal record was maybe half an hour and that had been exhausting.

    ¡°Indi, you drop that shield we die,¡± Cat warned. She moved as fast as she could with Indi on her shoulders, hoping she could get them back to safety before Indi ran out of energy.

    ¡°It hurts¡± Indi cried.

    ¡°Yeah, well just think about how much it will hurt if you drop that shield.¡±

    Indi whimpered but somehow managed to keep the shield up, at least for now. Cat didn¡¯t stop. They were almost there.

    Somewhere in another part of the facility...

    ¡°You were supposed to take them to the revival room.¡± the blue eyed man told Trevor.

    ¡°Well I¡¯ve been busy with the other ones and they are in a rather large group. Plus those damn creatures are messing with my rooms. Can¡¯t you do something about them?¡± Trevor replied. He sat in a comfortable leather chair in an almost completely dark room. It was empty except for the large mirrors in front of him and the woman who sat on the floor beside them. She held her hands to the mirrors. Instead of reflecting the room the mirrors showed images of a man and a woman walking down a stone corridor.

    ¡°You were supposed to take them all to the revival room.¡± The blue-eyed man repeated his statement.

    ¡°We agreed if I was to do this job then I get to do it my way and I get to have my fun first. We still have time. Did you see the water room? Oh, am I glad I had that one prepared.¡± Trevor didn¡¯t bother to spare the blue-eyed man a glance. He just kept watching the mirrors and chuckling to himself.

    ¡°Just make sure they¡¯re dead within the zone before the spell is finished.¡± the blue-eyed man replied, and he left the room.

 Chapter 22: One by One they Come Undone

    ¡°Hey Zeph?¡± Falco yelled though the wall ¡°You still there?¡±

    ¡°Somehow,¡± Zephyr yelled back, ¡°and you¡¯ll never guess who else. Did you find Sirius?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Falco replied. ¡°Who else have you got?¡±

    ¡°Amanda.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?! Hang on, I¡¯ll get Sirius to bust through. Stand back.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡± Zephyr yelled back. He shot a happy glance at Amanda then frowned. She didn¡¯t look quite as happy as he felt. In fact, she almost looked ready to bolt.

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯ll be alright,¡± he gave her a smile. She managed a weak one back and nodded. They both backed away from the wall.

    A pile of rocks went flying. The wall opened up. Sirius entered. He paused when he saw Amanda, his expression unreadable.

    ¡°Amanda!¡± Falco said cheerily, as he stepped into the room. ¡°Sirius said you¡¯d wandered off somewhere.¡± He frowned still not sure how that had happened.

    She shrugged. ¡°Found my way back.¡± She avoided Sirius¡¯s eyes.

    Wolf narrowed his eyes, his gaze shifted from one person to the other, observing them all closely.

    ¡°Well, glad we found you.¡± Falco replied. ¡°Lucky turn of events.¡±

    ¡°You have no idea.¡± Zephyr eyed the doorway behind them nervously.

    Amanda glanced towards Kass, She briefly imagined fireballing the woman but found herself unable to even hold Kass¡¯s gaze. It was one of the few staring competitions Kass would ever win against Amanda.

    ¡°Well let¡¯s go find Cat and Indi.¡± Falco began to walk back down the corridor. The others started to follow except for Sirius who waited until Amanda walked by him. He grabbed her wrist gently.

    ¡°Amanda?¡±

    Amanda jerked her wrist away. ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± she said loud enough that everyone else turned to see what was going on. She walked past them to the front of the group and didn¡¯t stop. A few metres on she briefly turned to look at them and asked ¡°are you coming?¡± before continuing on.

    The others looked questioningly at Sirius.

    Sirius shook his head then held up a hand. ¡°Just give me a moment to talk to her.¡± He walked after her leaving them all standing around looking confused.

    ¡°What was that about?¡± Wolf asked to no one in particular.

    Zephyr shook his head and nodded in the direction that Amanda and Sirius had gone. ¡°We need to stick together. Or at least within close range.¡±

    Falco gave a nod of agreement and led the way after them.

    Tanya and Wolf followed him. Kass hung back slightly. Zephyr took the opportunity to walk beside her and talk.

    ¡°Kass what are you doing?¡± he asked quiet enough that no one would hear.

    ¡°I . . .¡± Kass met his gaze then dropped her eyes.

    ¡°He¡¯s married,¡± Zephyr reminded her.

    Kass nodded and whispered back, ¡°I know,¡± in a voice that said she really was sorry.

    Zephyr didn¡¯t pursue the topic further.

    Cat had never been as thankful for her strict workout regime as she was now. She¡¯d managed to carry Indi all the way back to the entrance of the labyrinth without needing a rest. At some point the creatures had given up and slunk back into the darkness. Indi still had her shield up, although she seemed pretty worse for wear. Everything was going great until Cat reached the entrance and found herself face to face with nine armed soldiers.

    All of them wore full combat gear. Their faces were unreadable but she recognised the two she¡¯d knocked out earlier. Indi conveniently chose that moment to pass out completely, her shield disappearing as she did. Cat set her down on the floor gently, never taking her eyes off the men in front of her. She laid Indi just before the corner, against the wall. On the off chance there was going to be shooting she¡¯d at least make sure Indi wasn¡¯t going to get hit.

    ¡°Hello boys¡± she said in sultry cocky tone, even though one of the soldiers was a woman. They all carried pistols and she didn¡¯t like the way they were looking at her.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been instructed to request that you come with us,¡± one of the men told her.

    ¡°Instructed by whom?¡± Cat asked.

    He didn¡¯t reply.

    ¡°Where to?¡±

    ¡°Bring your friend,¡± was all he said with a nod in Indi¡¯s direction.

    ¡°What happens if I refuse? It is a requst no?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t come with us we¡¯ve been instructed to shoot you.¡± He spoke without emotion. She noted most of the soldiers were avoiding eye contact, except for one cheeky fucker on the end who looked just a little too gleeful at the prospect of bloodshed.

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve also been instructed to retrieve the weapon you are carrying.¡±

    ¡°This weapon?¡± She put her hand on it. They all eyed her cautiously. She noted a couple flinch. Nine soldiers. Five bullets. Too many to shoot. Not much of a choice.

    The light above started to flicker presenting Cat with one other option.

    Cat took note of where they all stood and their stances. She assessed who was likely to be the most threatening.

    ¡°Okay,¡± she said as if in agreement and moved her hand away from her gun.

    Some of the soldiers relaxed.

    The lights went out.

    Cat dropped down low. She fired three bullets in quick succession at where the most threatening soldiers had been standing. Moments later bullets flew over her head in return. She rolled to the side and found Indi in the dark.

    She heard a low growl from nearby and feet fast approaching her. She froze and braced for impact. It ran right by her. More creatures followed. All of them ignored her. A moment later screams erupted from the soldiers. The creatures were more fixated on the sound the soldiers were making, that or the movement. Cat decided her best chance was probably while the soldiers and creatures were focused on each other.

    Cat waited until it sounded like they¡¯d all gone by and then in one fluid and silent motion she hoisted Indi over her shoulder and stood up. She paused a second. Nothing came at her. She walked forward as quietly and as slowly as she dared, balancing Indi¡¯s weight carefully. The nearby shouts and screaming would have covered any noise she made anyway.

    Every now and again she¡¯d hear a shot fire. She got almost all the way across the room before a bullet came wizzing her way. She winced as it grazed her arm. She cursed inwardly at leaving her jacket upstairs. A moment later something bigger came flying at her from the side. It crashed into her knocking her over. Indi flew out of her hands, landing somewhere closer to the corridor they wanted to go.

    Cat gasped for air, momentarily winded but also acutely aware that it was on her! She rolled over fast and forceful, elbow out, knocking the thing off with a sharp crack. Managing to pull her gun, she fired right as the thing leapt at her again. Warm, wet, liquid covered her chest and she tossed the unmoving mass to the side. She lay still. No more came at her. The rest were busy with the soldiers. She could hear them.

    She moved over to where Indi lay. No time to check for injuries. She went to lift her up but cringed, silently, as hot pain spread through her left side. She settled for grabbing a hold of Indi¡¯s wrists and dragging her off down the left hand corridor. Something else grabbed Indi¡¯s feet and tugged. Cat dropped Indi¡¯s wrists. She stepped forward, toward the creature by her friend¡¯s feet, dropped low, and placed a roughly aimed kick to its face. It went flying backwards with a yelp. It growled at her, then turned and ran back to easier meat. Cat could no longer hear any screams from the soldiers. She was running out of time. She bent down and pushing through the pain in her side, as silent and a swift as she could, but with no sudden movements, she hoisted Indi over her shoulder and walked down the left hand corridor, one hand on the wall, guiding her way.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Eventually her hand felt a door but it was locked. She kept moving. Another door, also locked. Onward. More doors. Finally she found one that was unlocked. Cat pushed her way inside. She shut the door behind her, lay Indi on the floor, and collapsed with her back against the door.

    It was a moment or two before she noticed the smell. It was the unmistakable smell of cooked flesh and burnt hair. She got up and groped around in the darkness for a light switch. She found one and flicked it on. The room was lit up by a single bulb hanging from the ceiling. It was a perfectly square room and in the centre was a chair. Not your normal sit down for lunch chair. This one had restraints. A mirror spanned the entire length of the wall facing the chair. Apart from that the room was empty. Obvious bloodstains marred the concrete floor. They had entered what looked like an interrogation room.

    There was no one here and Cat was tired, so she sat back down against the door. There was no lock on the inside so hopefully nothing would try to get in. If it did at least she¡¯d be warned first. She wanted to sleep. She almost dozed off but her glance drifted over to Indi. She needed to check if the woman was okay first.

    The cuffs of Indi¡¯s jeans were shredded but other than that she seemed okay. Her pulse beat at what seemed to be a normal rhythm.

    Cat returned to her spot by the door and it¡¯s wasn¡¯t long before Indi groaned as she started to come to. Cat watched Indi struggle to sit up.

    ¡°Oh my Goodness!¡± Indi groaned and rubbed her eyes underneath her glasses. How those things had managed to stay on Cat didn¡¯t know. Indi frowned and squinted at Cat. ¡°Cat? Where are we?¡± She groaned again and clutched at her head. ¡°My head feels like someone set a sparkler bomb off inside it.¡± But even as she said it she seemed to be recovering.

    ¡°Look on the bright side at least you didn¡¯t get shot,¡± Cat replied as she gave her bullet wound the once over. It had taken off more skin than she had thought but nothing life-threatening.

    ¡°Shot?¡± Indi finally gave Cat a proper look. She blinked. Cat was covered in blood. Her eyes widened. ¡°Cat, what the hell! Are you okay?¡± Indi started to crawl over to her.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, it¡¯s just a graze, the bullet barely touched me¡± Cat replied.

    Indi stared at her in shock ¡°You got shot?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that what I just said? Oh the blood, that¡¯s not mine, well most of it¡¯s not.¡±

    Indi didn¡¯t look convinced.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine Indi.¡±

    Indi frowned but she seemed too tired to argue.

    ¡°That probably wasn¡¯t quite the best time to pass out, although it could have been worse.¡± Cat also sounded exhausted.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Indi replied now taking the time to look around the room. ¡°So what happened?¡±

    ¡°Bunch of soldiers wanted us to go with them. I didn¡¯t trust them. Things go a bit hairy. There was some shooting. Had a bit of help from those creatures actually.¡±

    ¡°Are we safe?¡± Indi asked eyeing the door.

    ¡°For now.¡±

    ¡°Should we go find the others?¡±

    ¡°In a moment.¡±

    ¡°Where are we?¡±

    Cat shrugged.

    Indi studied Cat. She looked pale underneath all that blood and her eyes were somewhat unfocused. Her knees were curled up and her hands clutched at her stomach.

    ¡°Cat?¡±

    Indi got to her feet and for a moment thought she was going to faint. Then the feeling passed.

    ¡°Careful¡± Cat warned, watching Indi wobble slightly.

    Indi walked over to Cat and knelt down next to her. ¡°Show me the bullet wound.¡±

    Cat twisted her arm so Indi could see, then shook her head. She winced slightly. ¡°That¡¯s not . . . that¡¯s not what hurts. It¡¯s . . .¡± Cat winced again and pulled her legs up to her chest. She felt better curled up. ¡°I got hit in the side, it¡¯s probably nothing. I just need a moment.¡±

    ¡°In the side?¡± Indi questioned, noting that Cat¡¯s hands were more across her lower belly.

    ¡°I¡¯m pregnant¡± Cat finally breathed the words out quickly, not missing Indi¡¯s questioning look, and wanting to get the questions over and done with. ¡°It hit me in the side though so...¡±

    ¡°Cat where does it hurt?¡±

    Cat grimaced. ¡°All over, but mostly in the side, I think, I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Indi wasn¡¯t sure what to do. ¡°Who¡¯s the father?¡± she asked.

    Cat laughed then groaned ¡°That¡¯s what you¡¯re asking. Does it matter?¡±

    ¡°I guess not.¡± She couldn¡¯t see anything outwardly wrong but that didn¡¯t mean Cat didn¡¯t have internal injuries. ¡°If it hit your side . . .¡±

    ¡°I probably just bruised the muscle,¡± Cat finished. She struggled up, pushing Indi off.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°We need to keep moving¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°Cat you don¡¯t look like you can walk. Maybe I should go get help.¡±

    Cat got to her feet as if to prove a point. She winced then reached for the door to open it. Feeling her vision start to waver she placed one hand on the door to balance herself but ended up leaning against it instead. She slid back down to the floor.

    ¡°Gimme a sec,¡± Cat breathed.

    Indi rolled her eyes. ¡°Shuffle that way a bit.¡±

    Cat did as she was told. Indi grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open an inch.

    ¡°Were the lights on before?¡¯ Indi asked.

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Well they¡¯re on now. We need to get a doctor. If we can just find the others. Tanya is down that hall somewhere.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I just need to rest a bit.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not fine Cat, and there doesn¡¯t seem to be anything out there now.¡±

    Cat nodded. ¡°Just give me a minute.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Indi replied. ¡°You need to wait here. Falco, Wolf and Sirius can¡¯t be far away. I¡¯ll go and get them and bring them back. Maybe they already found the others.¡±

    Cat shook her head ¡°No way. What happens if you pass out again?¡±

    Indi nervously adjusted her glasses and tucked a strand of dark hair behind one ear.

    ¡°Look,¡± Cat said. ¡±Give me a hand and we¡¯ll go together.¡±

    Indi helped Cat to her feet and Cat placed an arm around Indi¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Cat nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Indi asked.

    Cat nodded again ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°Amanda!¡± Sirius slowed to a walk as he caught pace with his wife.

    ¡°Amanda!¡± he grabbed her shoulder. She stopped walking. He gently turned her to face him. He glanced back down the corridor. The nearest corner wasn¡¯t far away but he couldn¡¯t hear anyone approaching yet. He turned back to her expecting to be met with angry eyes but instead she just looked tired.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°In the middle of a job?¡±

    ¡°I know . . . I don¡¯t know what I was thinking. That was a mistake. I love you.¡± he trailed off, not sure what else to say to make it all alright. To take the hurt out of her eyes.

    Amanda studied him. ¡°Did you . . . did you kiss her or did she kiss you?¡±

    Sirius opened his mouth to answer but approaching footsteps and voices cut their conversation short.

    The rest of the group rounded the corner. They stopped short when they saw Amanda and Sirius.

    ¡°Uh sorry you did say you wanted some privacy. We just didn¡¯t want anyone getting separated again. We can step back around the corner?¡± Falco started to turn back.

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°We¡¯re fine.¡±

    Sirius avoided looking at anyone.

    Wolf watched them both with interest. He¡¯d known them a long time. He¡¯d known Amanda longer, since high school to be exact, but he was good friends with both of them. It was obvious something was not right between the pair. Despite his concerns though, it wasn¡¯t his business to pry. If they wanted to talk then he¡¯d listen. Sometimes being patient meant people were more likely to open up to you.

    ¡°So back to the plan?¡± Falco asked his question mostly directed at Amanda.

    ¡°I¡¯d really like to get out of this place,¡± Zephyr chirped in from the back.

    Amanda nodded.

    ¡°Might want to reconsider that,¡± a raspy voice said from further down the corridor.

    They turned to see Cat walking towards them. During their brief walk Cat had seemed to get some of her strength back, at least enough to walk on her own. She still looked like the walking dead. Indi followed closely at her side.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t go that way if I were you.¡± Cat stated.

    ¡°What the hell happened to you?¡± Falco asked as he gave her the once over.

    ¡°A bit of a firefight¡± Cat replied. ¡°We¡¯ve been betrayed. I don¡¯t think they called us here to hunt a creature?¡±

    ¡°Based on what?¡± Wolf asked.

    Falco pushed forward and swept his wife up in his arms.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± he asked her.

    She returned his hug gladly then stepped back nodding.

    He gave her the once over before relaxing. Indi didn¡¯t look anywhere as near as bad as Cat did.

    ¡°Thanks to Cat¡± Indi added with a grateful smile in Cat¡¯s direction. Her smile faded quickly as she remembered Cat¡¯s pregnancy and present injuries. She wasn¡¯t sure if she should mention anything to the others. On the one hand Cat probably didn¡¯t want a fuss made. On the other hand she could be seriously hurt. Indi debated the decision for a moment. Given Cat was looking better than she had been 15 minutes ago Indi decided to keep her mouth shut for now. A little bit of doubt niggled at her though, Cat was unlikely to mention anything herself.

    ¡°Exactly what happened?¡± Amanda asked.

    Cat relayed the events to the group, everything from finding the papers detailing the surveillance on them right up to the present moment. She left out the smaller details, things she considered unnecessary, like her injuries.

    Amanda closed her eyes for a moment. Inwardly she cursed, kissing goodbye to the bulk of their pay check. When she opened them again she was more determined. ¡°All right, I guess it¡¯s time we got out of here.¡±

    Sirius gave a silent nod of agreement. Falco looked unsure. Zephyr looked puzzled.

    ¡°Which way?¡± Wolf asked.

    Amanda turned to Tanya ¡°Is there another way out?¡±

    Tanya, who had been so quiet most of the group had almost forgotten she was there, seemed taken aback. She was still processing how she had somehow ended up where she was when the day had started so normally.

    ¡°Err . . .¡± she hesitated, thinking ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯ve only been on this floor a few times before.¡±

    ¡°The corridors looked like they go for miles,¡± Falco cautioned.

    ¡°And if we go out the way we came in we¡¯ll likely get shot at,¡± Zephyr added.

    ¡°Or eaten,¡± Indi piped in.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think the creatures are going to be a problem,¡± Amanda replied ¡°and we have a shield for the bullets?¡± She gave Indi a questioning look.

    Indi dropped her smile and opened her mouth to respond but Cat interjected first.

    ¡°Not around those creatures. Can¡¯t you burn bullets?¡± she asked Amanda.

    Amanda shrugged and was about to say something when Wolf interrupted.

    ¡°The creatures cause Indi¡¯s headaches right?¡±

    Cat nodded. ¡°Seems so.¡±

    Cat raised an eyebrow at Wolf but he went silent seemingly in thought.

    ¡°Do you have any ammo left?¡± Amanda asked Cat.

    Cat snorted, ¡°one bullet.¡±

    Amanda nodded. ¡°Save it as long as you can. Let¡¯s go. They can¡¯t possibly stop all of us. We¡¯ll go find out what¡¯s really going on here. Maybe it¡¯s just a misunderstanding.¡±

    Cat rolled her eyes in disagreement but didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Wolf said. ¡°In the interest of saving time and possibly getting a step up on what we¡¯re about to run into maybe it¡¯d be best if one of us ran on ahead, just to scope it out.¡±

    Amanda turned back to face him. She glanced from to Wolf to Zephyr then back to Wolf.

    Zephyr¡¯s stomach knotted. As a quickfoot he was the fastest.

    ¡°Speed¡¯s a bit difficult with so many corners,¡± Zephyr said, grappling for an excuse.

    ¡°I meant me,¡± Wolf interrupted. ¡°I¡¯ll smell anyone before I see them. No one will even know I¡¯m there.¡±

    ¡°You seemed to be having trouble with that before and what about the creatures?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°I just got distracted by the body. But everything has its own scent. I should be able to pick them out.¡± Wolf replied. He turned to Cat, ¡°And I¡¯d like it noted, I had the right corridor before.¡±

    Cat rolled her eyes and mumbled ¡°Whatever.¡±

    Amanda nodded to Wolf.

    He walked to the front of the group and then waited.

    Amanda turned her back to him. The others followed suit.

    Once their backs were turned Wolf removed his clothes once more and started his transformation.

    Tanya was tempted to peak. She¡¯d only seen a werewolf shift once before and she¡¯d found it strangely fascinating. She kept her eyes down though, not even sneaking a glance.

    A moment later a brown coloured oversized wolf stood in the corridor. It turned and loped off at a much faster speed than any regular person could be capable of.

 Chapter 23: I Have Rope

    The world was different in wolf form. There were so many smells and sounds. It could be quite overwhelming for those not used to it. Indeed most new-borns, as the new but not necessarily always young wolves were called, often got lost in the wolf. Even many of the older ones would sometimes give in to their senses, letting the wolf take over entirely. Staying in command took a great deal of self-control and, as with most things, became easier with practice.

    Wolf longed to run. To feel the soft grass beneath his paws. To smell the sweet pine fragrance of the forest. The hard concrete floors and musty smell of these corridors would have to do though. For a second Wolf almost lost himself in the pure and simple joy of running, almost. He allowed himself that brief moment and then he was back on track, focused on the job.

    He was almost to the entrance when he smelt it. Another werewolf. He skidded to a halt. Hesitantly sniffed the air, trying to detect the direction and distance. He dropped his nose to the ground and followed the scent for several paces. Then a few paces more. Then, around a corner. He kept going further down the corridor. It grew stronger. There it was. He stopped. Several metres away stood another werewolf. This one had a dark black blueish tinged coat. Wolf held his ground. The other wolf did likewise. For a while they just looked at each other. Eventually the other wolf lowered his head, giving Wolf permission to approach.

    Wolf cautiously stepped forwards. Once face to face they sniffed each other. It¡¯s often said that wolves can smell fear. The truth is close enough. They might not be able to smell fear directly but there were certain scents that would indicate the likely presence of fear or other feelings. A liar¡¯s sweat. A thief¡¯s swift heartbeat. Wolf sensed nothing immediately dangerous from this new wolf. As far as he could tell this new wolf had been running and there was nothing there but exhaustion. In it Wolf sensed weakness, a prelude to death.

    Wolf backed up a few paces and adjusted his ears and body language to indicate that he was going to change into human form. The other wolf did the same.

    A moment later a dark-haired man stood facing Wolf. They were both completely naked but it wasn¡¯t something that either of them took note of.

    ¡°You alone?¡± The other werewolf looked down at Wolf with weary brown eyes. He was taller and skinnier than Wolf.

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Where is your pack?¡±

    ¡°Not a pack, friends. Down the hall. Back that way. I¡¯m Wolf.¡± He held out his hand.

    The other man ignored it and his eyes narrowed.One foot inched back slightly.

    ¡°Strange name.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a nickname.¡± Wolf dropped his hand.

    ¡°Given to you by your friends?¡± he asked suspiciously.

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°My real name¡¯s Wilfrid. There¡¯s not much else one can really do with name like that.¡±

    The man cocked his head sideways and seemed to think about it. He gave a nod of understanding.

    ¡°I¡¯m Roland. You shouldn¡¯t separate, the walls have a tendency to move in this place.¡± Roland glanced around.

    ¡°We¡¯ve noticed,¡± Wolf replied ¡°I was just on my way to check if the way out is clear.¡±

    Roland chuckled. ¡°Not likely. Like I said, things move. The exit¡¯s probably not even there anymore. Wasn¡¯t when I last checked.¡± He glanced upwards. ¡°They like to play games with us.¡±

    ¡°They?¡±

    Roland stared straight at him. ¡°The people who brought you here.¡±

    Wolf stared right back at him, processing what he¡¯d just been told.

    Roland glanced around, checking over his shoulder. ¡°I should get going. I have to find the rest of my pack.¡± Roland made a move to leave.

    ¡°Wait! What did they bring you here for? What did they tell you?¡±

    Roland paused. ¡°They told us something was killing their people. Offered us money to help them.¡± He gave a bitter laugh. ¡°I guess it¡¯s easier to get people with a half truth. I don¡¯t think they control the monsters.¡±

    ¡°Why did they really bring us here?¡±

    Roland half turned, ready to leave again. He shook his head. ¡°My best guess, we¡¯re some rich psychopath¡¯s form of entertainment. I should get going, before those things come back. It¡¯s not safe to stay in one place too long.¡±

    ¡°How long have you been here?¡±

    Roland stopped again. He blinked. A strange look came over his face. ¡°I don¡¯t know, could be days, could be weeks.¡±

    ¡°How do you eat?¡±

    ¡°We find it. Sometimes in strange rooms. Sometimes we hunt it, when we¡¯re desperate. We¡¯re not the only ones down here.¡± He spared Wolf a new look. One that raised the hairs on Wolf¡¯s back. Wolf stood his ground. Roland shook off whatever thought it was that had entered his head, and continued with some more information. ¡°The rooms move and sometimes there are traps. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s them or...¡±

    ¡°This place?¡± Wolf finished for him.

    Roland nodded and then paused waiting to see if Wolf would ask any more questions.

    ¡°How many of you are there?¡±

    ¡°My pack specifically?¡± he shook his head sadly. ¡°Not as many as there were. All up there are four of us left.¡± He paused then started speaking again ¡°but I couldn¡¯t¡¯ tell you exactly what happened to all of the others, it¡¯s possible some of them are in the maze somewhere. I should get going.¡± He made no move to leave however. He seemed lost in thought and very tired.

    Wolf looked down the corridor towards the exit. ¡°You could come with us¡± he offered.

    Roland glanced up and upon seeing the direction Wolf was looking he replied ¡°I told you, it won¡¯t be there anymore. You¡¯re trapped like we are.¡±

    ¡°I have to check.¡±

    ¡°Suit yourself.¡±

    Roland turned to leave. So did Wolf. Each headed opposite directions. Wolf stopped and turned back again. ¡°How far is your pack?¡± he called after Roland.

    ¡°Don¡¯t know, we got separated, I got chased, and then I smelt you. I¡¯ll find them, probably. I have to. Either way, like I said it¡¯s best to keep moving in this place. Good luck.¡±

    Wolf nodded. ¡°And you.¡±

    Roland turned and transformed back into a wolf. Wolf did the same. Roland bounded away with lopsided gait. The man was on his last legs. Wolf could see that but he could also see that offering help was pointless. Wolf focused his attention on what he could do. Despite Roland¡¯s conviction that the exit would be gone Wolf felt he had to see it for himself. He moved forward, more cautiously this time, but no less swiftly.

    He smelt the blood before he saw it. No scent of life so he kept moving. However, sometimes blood could have an overwhelming scent that meant it could mask other smells. Something which had been a problem when he¡¯d been searching for Cat earlier. Wolf used all his senses. He listened for sounds and heard nothing. He felt for vibrations. Still nothing. He poked his nuzzle cautiously around the corner, sniffing intently. Then his whole face. He found nothing. Not even any bodies. Just the red stains and blood soaked scent they had left behind. The only evidence they had ever been alive at all. Presumably they had been dragged away somewhere.

    Roland was right. It was just as he had said. The exit was gone. Where there had once been an archway there was now just a blank wall. Wolf walked up to it. He sniffed it, pawed it, and pushed his shoulder into it. He turned to leave and then, as if he could surprise it, he turned back and rammed the wall with his shoulder again. The wall remained, just that, a wall. Wolf shook himself, feeling silly now. This shouldn¡¯t be a problem for Sirius though. Not wanting to waste any more time he launched himself down the corridor. Back towards the others.

    While Wolf had been on his short mission the others had been bombarding Tanya with questions. Asking her everything they could think of that may help. Tanya was unfortunately not very helpful. She seemed to know very little about the organisation or the Hall of the Dead. It made Cat somewhat suspicious but then Cat was often suspicious of people.

    ¡°How many people work here?¡± Amanda asked.

    Tanya shrugged. ¡°About 50 or 60 but I don¡¯t really know for sure.¡±

    ¡°Has anyone else been here recently?¡±

    Tanya frowned. ¡°There was one group . . .¡±. Recollection flickered across her face. ¡°Or maybe more than one. Here for different things, and before the bodies. We had some guys here about the lights . . . some problem with the generator, and another group, quite dressed up. I¡¯m not sure what they were here for. None of them ever stayed very long and I don¡¯t think the lights ever got fixed.¡±

    ¡°The lights? You mean the flickering?¡± Amanda probed further.

    Tanya nodded. ¡°Sometimes they¡¯d cut out completely, for minutes at a time.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s the generator?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Err . . . I¡¯m not sure. One of the higher floors.¡±

    ¡°Is that the only power source?¡±

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m just the doctor.¡±

    ¡°Do may people get sick here.¡±

    ¡°Not really, just the usual injuries you might get at a military training base for example.¡±

    ¡°No scientists?¡±

    ¡°No, there are those too.¡±

    ¡°But lots of military types?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, more of those. And a couple of suits. Whether they¡¯re Magicians, Warlocks, Aristocrats, or just regular management, I couldn¡¯t tell you.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the usual? Injury I mean, or illness.¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°Oh you know, minor training injuries, coughs, colds, aches, pains, indigestion.¡±

    ¡°And deaths?¡±

    ¡°Not usually.¡±

    ¡°Nothing serious?¡±

    ¡°Not until recently.¡±

    ¡°How did they find you?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°There was an outbreak and it got a bit of media attention. They contacted me shortly after that so I assume that¡¯s how they found me.¡± She almost laughed. ¡°I figured a change of pace would be nice.¡±

    They kept asking poor Tanya questions until Wolf returned but they didn¡¯t learn much more that was useful.

    ¡°You want Sirius to punch through this wall?¡± Amanda asked incredulously as they reached the block at the entrance.

    Wolf nodded at her with a look that suggested he didn¡¯t think it should be a problem.

    It wasn¡¯t that Amanda thought Sirius wouldn¡¯t be able to do it. She¡¯d seen him knock down a wall only minutes before. It was just that, looking at this one, it was hard to tell how thick it was, and while he might be able to make a decent dent in it if it went too deep he was also likely to run out of energy. Not to mention the risk it collapsing on top of him if he had to go into the wall to get through.

    Magic wasn¡¯t limitless and witches weren¡¯t invulnerable. Individuals who were more adept at magic could be more efficient, but regardless of how talented a person was there was always a limit. Magic had three main measures to it; power, control, and efficiency.

    Power was pretty self-explanatory. It was a measure of how much one could do. For a firestarter it meant the difference between lighting a match three feet away by pointing at it, versus blowing up a building a block away without even looking at it, maybe even while barely thinking about it.

    Control was arguably the most important measure of magic. There wasn¡¯t much point being able to blow up a building by thinking about it if you accidentally took out the wrong building or worse, the entire neighbourhood, especially if blowing up a building wasn¡¯t even your intention in the first place. Likewise, being strong enough to lift a car wasn¡¯t very useful when it also meant you couldn¡¯t hold a lover¡¯s hand without accidentally crushing it.

    Individuals with great power were also often less efficient, meaning they used more energy and tired faster. Just getting tired wasn¡¯t the worst consequence of low efficiency either; long term energy depletion could result in dehydration, starvation, or hypothermia, ultimately ending in death. Coupled with insufficient control and one could easily overuse their magic, depleting significant energy reserves in a single instance. At best one might just simply pass out. At worst the body itself would implode, converting everything into pure energy in a messy explosion.

    Luckily for general society most high powered individuals without control had a tendency to implode before they reached adulthood. Puberty was the worst, but as a witch aged usually their skill at magic would improve.

    Sirius had sufficient control that he was very unlikely to ever implode. He¡¯d know long before he reached that point. Good control didn¡¯t guarantee good efficiency though and Sirius was not one to give up easily. He¡¯d keep going until he was well and truly tired. Given they had no water or food with them it was this that Amanda worried about.

    She considered attempting to blast through the wall herself. It was unusual for a firestarter to have a lot of control but Amanda was the exception to the norm. Her efficiency, likewise, was exceptional. Still, blasting her way through stone wasn¡¯t an easy task and if there was a chance they¡¯d need to fight their way out of this place maybe it was better to let Sirius take this one. Her powers would be more useful if they ran into soldiers, although she always hated the idea of having to use her powers on people. Plus exploding this wall would need quite a bit of precision, directional contained heat was tricky and she didn¡¯t want to bring the whole ceiling down on everyone.

    While she was thinking Sirius approached the wall. His fist slammed into the wall. Stone flew off the wall. Indi instinctively shielded, although it hadn¡¯t been necessary at all. Amanda watched Sirius closely, checking to see how much effort he was exerting.

    The initial punch had made a decent dent in the wall but he seemed far from bursting through. He got a few more inches in when Amanda told him to stop. She instructed everyone to step back. Indi held up her hands, ready to summon her shield again.

    Amanda rubbed her hands together. It wasn¡¯t something that would help, just a routine she¡¯d been picking up lately. She took a breath, then forced herself to stop and drop her hands to her sides. It wouldn¡¯t do to develop a habit like that. Once you acquired a crux for casting magic it made it harder to cast it in other ways. Witches who regularly used their hands to cast, or worse, a wand, could become physically bound and lose their ability to do their magic in any other way. If that happened then one become reliant on having their channeling object with them or their use of magic became predictable and thus less useful in a fight. Good control meant constant practice. Likewise, Amanda often liked to practice without looking at her target. This was important to get right though so this time she focused her eyes on the wall.

    She imagined a fireball being created beyond the surface, hopefully in the centre of the wall. She kept it small at first but increased the heat, until, when she thought she had it right, then she released it outwards. The wall exploded. The dust settled and revealed a distinct hole.

    Amanda started to smile but as she did the wall moved in front of her. Rock flew back into place. While they all watched the wall repaired itself until it looked no different than it had before Sirius had thrown his first punch.

    Amanda¡¯s hands curled into fists but she kept her cool, releasing them a moment later with a sigh.

    Somewhere upstairs in that darkened room Trevor observed his victims. To his left stood two men and one woman. His companion on the floor, still sat with her mirrors.

    Travis, the bodyguard stationed at the inside of the room¡¯s entrance itched to ask a question. Travis was not a complicated man. He liked the simple pleasures but he had always had far too big a mouth on him. It got him in trouble, often, making life less simple than he¡¯d desire. He was young, barely 19. Initially he had wanted to become a police officer and he had joined up right out of high school. He¡¯d almost completed his training when another offer had come along. The chance to work as a personal bodyguard. They¡¯d offered him almost double what he would have made as a police officer. Something that happened in this chaotic world far too often. He¡¯d leapt at the chance, as most would, at least that¡¯s what he¡¯d told everybody. Truth was he¡¯d been thinking about dropping out of the police force and reconsidering his career completely. Maybe retrain as a chef. His big mouth had gotten him in plenty of trouble during training and by the time he got the job offer he was pretty sure his trainer was out to get him, if not a few of his classmates as well. His father would have been disappointed in his leaving, more so in his new ¡°sissy¡± career choice. Body guarding was somewhat of a compromise. This was better than police work at least, and better pay. Plus it kept his parents happy, for now. It also meant faster savings so eventually, once he¡¯d saved enough to move out of home he could look into those cooking courses again, maybe even start his own small restaurant. Body guarding might sound interesting but most of the hours were frightfully boring.

    ¡°So,¡± he began, curiosity finally overcoming him. ¡°How are they going?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ll head towards the center soon enough. They can¡¯t get past my wall.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good right, for the ritual?¡±

    Trevor pulled his eyes from the screen and looked at his most recent body guard. They never lasted very long, and he was beginning to feel that this one would be no exception. Before he could respond however, the door to the room flew open, and his own employer entered.

    ¡°We¡¯re running out of time.¡±

    ¡°Relax.¡± Trevor turned back towards his mirror screens. Trevor didn¡¯t meet the aristocrat¡¯s eyes. He did it on purpose because he knew the man hated it. ¡°We have plenty of time.¡±

    Trevor suddenly felt the cold steel of a muzzle pressed up against his head.

    ¡°I want that firestarter dead before the ritual is done. I need her magic in it. The others that are down there too. All of them. If it¡¯s not done in time, it will be your blood being sacrificed. Got it?¡±

    The gun was removed from the back of Trevor¡¯s skull, and when he turned to look the aristocrat was gone. Trevor turned to his three body guards. Some use they had been. He raised one hand and quickly brought his fingers together in a fist. Their bones crunched inwards. Their eyes exploded outwards. His mirror controlling companion kept her eyes down. They would be no use to him now, they feared the aristocrat too much, although he cursed at having to find new ones later. He had no doubt that the aristocrat intended to include him among the sacrifices once he¡¯d served his original purpose, but Trevor like to walk the edge of risk, and he was enjoying his games a little to much to leave just yet. He still had time.

    ¡°So,¡± Falco started, ¡°do we just take our chances in this maze?¡±

    ¡°If so I¡¯d suggest that we mark the walls,¡± Amanda suggested. ¡°Even if it doesn¡¯t make much of a difference. At the very least we do need to stick together.¡±

    There were a few nods of agreement but otherwise everyone was silent, contemplating their situation.

    Indi spoke up first. ¡°There was that big hole in the center of the compound. We could try head for that.¡±

    ¡°And when we get there?¡± Cat inquired.

    ¡°Falco could fly up and fetch some rope,¡± Indi replied matter of factly.

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea,¡± Zephyr commented.

    ¡°Except for the security cameras and the little matter of where to get rope,¡± Cat interjected as she lent back against the wall, either in rest or because she thought they were going to be here a while.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think they watch them all the time and we can just move fast,¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°And the rope?¡± Cat didn¡¯t bother to mention that several people, one of which was Indi, could not possibly move that fast up a single rope, even if someone strong was pulling.

    ¡°I have rope,¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°You have rope?¡± Cat repeated incredulously, forgetting all her other concerns.

    ¡°There¡¯s also rope in the equipment room,¡± Tanya added.

    ¡°Now that¡¯s something you could have mentioned before,¡± Cat told Tanya before turning to Amanda. ¡°Why do you have rope?¡±

    ¡°I always bring rope.¡±

    Cat frowned, then shrugged.

    ¡°How are we going to find the hole?¡± Zephyr asked.

    Amanda¡¯s gaze landed on Wolf.

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°We¡¯re underground so unless you have a compass? Even sniffing it out would be problematic, I¡¯m not even sure what scent I¡¯d be looking for, and it¡¯s quite some distance from here. It¡¯s not like following the trail of a person.¡±

    ¡°Well do we know which way we¡¯re facing now? Maybe we could measure the angles of the hallways as we walk,¡± Indi suggested.

    Falco tried not to laugh. ¡°Trust you,¡± he chuckled.

    Zephyr also grinned.

    Cat just rolled her eyes and asked, ¡°with what?¡±

    Amanda also shook her head. ¡°We¡¯re not going to notice subtle changes in direction.¡±

    As the last of her words left her mouth a sound drew their attention back to the wall. A small crack was forming, inching it¡¯s way up and out along the floor. Suddenly it stopped, as quickly as it had started and then it sealed itself over again.

    Falco walked over to inspect the disappearing crack and the wall that trapped them. He frowned. It just looked like a normal wall again now.

    The ever-wary Zephyr hung back. As did Kass. She seemed to be keeping out of everyone¡¯s way.

    Cat lent up against he own wall, feigning boredom in an attempt to give herself a bit of a rest. She tried to pretend that she didn¡¯t notice Indi¡¯s worried eyes glancing her way every now and again.

    But Indi never could stay focused. She started to take a step past Cat and Tanya, towards the wall Falco was inspecting, only to be stopped by Wolf who held out his arm in front of her. His look told her to stay back and wait.

    It was an act that Cat might have smirked at if she¡¯d had the energy. Classic chauvinistic Wolf wanting to protect the women. He¡¯d long since learnt not to treat Cat or Amanda that way, although it still took some self-restraint on his part. Indi probably wasn¡¯t going to be able to get around it. There was an innocence about her that seemed to demand protection. She was so very smart. She had an eidetic memory. A genius, and yet there was a nativity to her. Maybe it was just her childlike optimism. Even Cat, who typically did not tolerate ¡®babysitting¡¯ or being around anyone who was not fully self-sufficient, in other words everybody by Cat¡¯s standard, still went out of her way to protect Indi. Indi pouted in response to Wolf¡¯s gesture but waited just long enough for Wolf turn and take a step towards the wall himself before she started to follow. She never made it that far however.

    With a loud rumble the entire floor of the hallway collapsed taking Kass, Tanya, Cat, and Indi with it. Zephyr made a leap for the hallway behind him. Without his magic he might have fallen with the others but as luck would have it his super speed let him make the jump almost flawlessly. Almost. Being slightly below floor level when he started his jump meant he managed to clear the edge of the floor with ease, however, this meant he found his feet slightly behind him after doing so. Thus he crashed forearms first onto the floor.

    The others turned just in time to see Indi make a desperate grab at the edge of the floor. They watched as her fingers gripped the edge then slipped away again as she failed to hold on.

 Chapter 24: An Unravelling Mess

    ¡°Indi!¡± Falco yelled, as he ran to reach the ledge. He peered over to see Indi staring up at him from three floors below, surrounded by rubble. For a second he thought she was dead. Then he saw her blink.

    At first Indi wasn¡¯t sure what had happened. She remembered falling. She remembered shielding. She¡¯d never used her powers to stop a fall before. She wasn¡¯t sure it was supposed to work like that. Things that hit her shield at high speed always rebounded backwards. To stop an impact when she was falling, did that mean she had moved the Earth? Or had the shield simply absorbed the impact and dissipated it elsewhere? Surely the building wouldn¡¯t have held up though if the Earth had moved, but then, she had gone through two floors. No, not just her. Suddenly she remembered that she wasn¡¯t the only one who had fallen through the floor.

    ¡°I¡¯m okay¡± she yelled up to Falco. She pulled herself up and started to scramble over the rubble to her right where Cat was struggling to sit up.

    ¡°Cat are you okay?¡±

    Cat groaned. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine.¡± She sat up slightly dazed and surveyed her surroundings.

    Indi, satisfied that Cat was okay, at least for now, scrambled over to where Kass should be. Tanya was already getting to her feet not too far from where Kass lay. Indi stumbled past her, half climbing, half stumbling, over the rubble. Kass lay unconscious a few feet away.

    ¡°Kass?¡± Indi hesitated for a second before reaching down and placing two fingers on Kass¡¯s neck. She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt a faint pulse. She sat back unsure of what to do next. Tanya came up behind her and knelt down to inspect Kass.

    ¡°She¡¯s breathing.¡± Tanya said. ¡°May be concussed though. Give me a sec.¡± Tanya placed her hands on Kass¡¯s skin. She closed her eyes, focusing, using her magic to detect injuries.

    ¡°Everyone alright down there?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°Kass is unconscious,¡± Indi called back. ¡°Everyone else seems fine.¡± But she shot another worried look at Cat. Cat didn¡¯t miss it. She shook her head and gave a nod at Kass. An obvious ¡®that¡¯s who you should be worried about.¡¯

    From up above the others struggled to see down. There was no light on the lower floor, only what shone down from the higher floors.

    ¡°Is she breathing?¡± Falco yelled. He was on his hands and knees peering over the edge, straining to hear what she yelled up. Zephyr sat on the floor nearby, still not quite recovered from his near fall. Falco was relaying Indi¡¯s information back to the others as she yelled it up.

    ¡°What?¡± he yelled down, not quite catching the last thing she said.

    ¡°Yes, I said yes.¡±

    Falco nodded, even though Indi couldn¡¯t see him do it. The rest of the group noticed it though and a sigh of relief went through them.

    ¡°Can you find a rope?¡± Tanya yelled.

    ¡°A rope. They want a rope,¡± Falco repeated aloud so the others behind him could hear.

    Amanda gave him a questioning look but he was too busy looking down to notice. After a moment she said ¡°Falco you¡¯re a flyer, surely between you and Kass, if she wakes up, you can lift them all up?¡±

    Zephyr had now scrambled his way over to the edge and was looking down.

    ¡°Oh, err . . . it¡¯s just that,¡± Falco struggled to find the words. ¡°It¡¯s a bit high.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a bit high? Your wife just fell down there.¡± Amanda replied.

    Falco sat back obviously conflicted ¡°Mmm.¡±

    Down below Tanya had finished her inspection of Kass. She wiped some sweat from her brow. Using her powers to assess unknown injuries was a high energy task. She checked for anything major from the neck to the thighs but Kass seemed fine in that regard. Brain injuries were harder for her to detect and anything else she could assess normally once Kass woke up.

    ¡°Do you have a knife?¡± she asked Indi.

    Indi¡¯s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open slightly.

    ¡°I just want to check if she responds to pain. It might help bring her around.¡± Tanya explained.

    Indi shook her head. ¡°Cat might have one?¡± She glanced questioningly at Cat as she spoke.

    It took Cat a moment to respond. ¡°Huh? No¡± she shook her head. ¡°Got a gun, no knives.¡±

    ¡°Do any of you guys have a knife?¡± Tanya called up to the others.

    ¡°You can¡¯t just pinch her?¡± Cat asked.

    Indi watched Cat with some concern. The question was fair but her speech seemed sluggish and tired. It lacked it¡¯s usual snap.

    Kass stirred.

    ¡°A knife? What for?¡± Falco called back, relieved not to have to respond to Amanda.

    ¡°Never mind,¡± came the response a moment later.

    ¡°How good is Indi¡¯s shield?¡± Wolf asked. ¡°Could we land on it?¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°Not sure. That would possibly require more control than she has anyway.¡±

    ¡°She might have used it to soften their landing,¡± Wolf mused.

    ¡°Mmm, but can she repeat it and is it as soft from the outside?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t really want to go down there anyway,¡± Sirius added. ¡°We want to get them up here.¡±

    There was silence again while they all thought. Falco studied the darkness below him. Maybe he could do it.

    A disorientated Kass struggled to sit up.

    ¡°Lie down for a bit,¡± Tanya said. ¡°No need to rush.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Kass replied blinking. ¡°We fell through the floors right?¡± She seemed to be having a hard time believing it.

    Tanya nodded. Indi looked up at the broken floors above again. Kass slowly checked herself for anything broken. To her surprise she found that she was mostly fine with the exception of an incredibly sore ankle. Twisted maybe? It didn¡¯t feel broken.

    ¡°How do you feel?¡± Tanya inquired. ¡°Does anything hurt? I didn¡¯t do a full scan, just the major stuff.¡± She studied Kass closely.

    ¡°My ankle hurts, but otherwise I¡¯m fine, amazingly.¡± Kass turned to Indi ¡°Did you shield us?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Indi tore her eyes away from the building damage above her. ¡°Maybe, I don¡¯t know.¡± She looked slightly scared.

    Cat stared up at the gaps in the floor above them. ¡°Hey Falcon, you gonna come and fly us out of here?¡± she yelled upwards.

    Indi froze. Falco wouldn¡¯t, he couldn¡¯t. It was too high. But what if he did? She peered upwards, hopeful and a little scared.

    Falco¡¯s stomach felt like it was already falling. The ground was so far away. He took a deep breath then his features solidified. His face became determined.

    ¡°Hang on,¡± he yelled back. He swung his feet around so he was sitting with his legs hanging over the edge.

    ¡°You sure?¡± Amanda asked. Even though she had suggested it, his lack of confidence had given her pause. Could he maintain enough control over his flight? Did he have enough power to carry another person back up?

    ¡°Just give me a second,¡± he replied still perched on the edge.

    He seemed to sit there forever.

    Eventually Amanda said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, we¡¯ll find another way to get them up. Maybe Kass can try.¡±

    ¡°And throw someone into the ceiling?¡± Wolf remarked. Whilst very powerful, Kass didn¡¯t have great control over her powers, and all of them knew it. Falco was a better shot.

    Falco shook his head. He thought of Indi, waiting in the darkness below. With a shove he pushed himself out above the hole in the floor.

    He was relieved to find himself floating in the air a moment later.

    ¡°Did you really need to throw yourself off like that?¡± a concerned Amanda asked from the side.

    Falco shrugged. ¡°Experimentally, I¡¯ve found it to work better that way.¡± Then because he wasn¡¯t sure how long he could stay floating he started to descend. He hadn¡¯t gone more than a few feet when a large rumbling sound started. The floor was reforming, closing up the hole. And he was in the middle of it!

    ¡°Fly up!¡± Amanda ordered from the side.

    Falco flew upwards just in time to avoid being seared in half.

    A few floors down darkness encased everything.

    Cat groaned in exasperation and lay back on the pile momentarily. ¡°Anyone got a light?¡± she asked.

    Indi froze. Her heart beat in her chest. ¡°No,¡± she whispered, suddenly conscious that a louder sound might bring unwelcome company.

    ¡°Err, hang on.¡± Tanya felt around in her pockets. A moment later a small keychain torch lit up what little it could of their surroundings.

    ¡°We should get moving,¡± Cat instructed as she got to her feet. ¡°How long does that light last?¡±

    ¡°As long as I hold down the button. I¡¯m not sure how much battery it has.¡±

    ¡°But Sirius might be able to bust through the floor,¡± Indi said ¡°Maybe we should wait. It¡¯s what you¡¯re supposed to do if you get lost in a forest.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not in a forest Indi,¡± Cat replied. She then turned her attention back to Tanya. ¡°Turn it off. We¡¯ll only use it when we need it.¡± Tanya did as she was told.

    ¡°How are we planning on moving around without light?¡± Kass asked.

    ¡°We can feel our way along the walls. We¡¯ll use the light at the intersections, and try to keep your voices down, we don¡¯t want to draw any attention.¡± Cat stumbled her way down the pile. ¡°Where are you guys?¡±

    They groped about in the dark until they all managed to find each other. Tanya helped Kass to her feet.

    Kass winched ¡°I¡¯m not sure I can walk very well on this foot.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll be fine,¡± Cat said matter-of-factly.

    Kass tested her foot. Maybe. It was painful but with a bit of help she could probably move about okay.

    ¡°I can try healing it,¡± Tanya said. ¡°If it¡¯s not broken then I can probably have it feeling back to normal in a about an hour or two, a day or more if it¡¯s broken, and that may take a bit more energy then, but either way it¡¯ll be an improvement.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s broken,¡± Kass replied. ¡°Sure give it a go.¡±

    Kass leant her weight back against the wall. Tanya bent down and wrapped her hands around Kass¡¯s ankle. A cold chill ran through Kass¡¯s foot, like there were a million little streams flowing beneath the skin. Almost immediately she noticed an reduction in the pain. A dull throbbing remained. It wasn¡¯t as bad as it had been though. There was no sharp piercing pain when she tried to put weight on it any more.

    ¡°Seems it was just sprained, the pain should be gone completely in a few hours.¡± Tanya told Kass.

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°Good to go?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Which way?¡± Tanya asked.

    ¡°Where exactly are we going to go?¡± Kass asked ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better if we waited here? See if the others can get through. Indi kind of has a point.¡±

    ¡°We wait here we get eaten,¡± Cat replied. She hesitated a bit then said, ¡°the others were headed towards the centre, to the Splice, so that¡¯s probably where we should be going.¡±

    ¡°If we walk that way,¡± Indi pointed down one corridor, forgetting that it was dark and no one could see where she was pointing, ¡°then we should be heading in the direction of the centre.¡±

    ¡°We might be more likely to find stairs closer to the main complex, or an elevator¡± Kass said, guessing correctly that Indi had been pointing in the opposite direction.

    ¡°Not likely,¡± Cat replied. ¡°Someone is toying with us and they seem to prefer that we go deeper into this maze. I think for now we play along.¡±

    ¡°You really think it¡¯s best to give them what they want?¡± Kass asked.

    ¡°If they wanted us dead they¡¯d have done it by now.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like they haven¡¯t been trying,¡± Indi countered.

    ¡°Not hard enough,¡± Cat replied. ¡°If they can move a wall then why not just close them in on us.¡±

    ¡°Maybe their powers are limited?¡± Kass suggested.

    ¡°I think they¡¯re herding us somewhere.¡±

    ¡°Why not just teleport us then?¡± Kass asked

    ¡°It¡¯s not as fun.¡±

    ¡°You think some one¡¯s actually getting off on this?¡± Indi asked. ¡°It seems like a lot of work to go through just for entertainment.¡±

    ¡°Maybe they need us for something and the entertainment is just a bonus. Like that other Werewolf suggested to Wolf,¡± Cat replied. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s an experiment, or a sacrifice. There some spells that require voluntary sacrifice which means we¡¯d have to walk into it. That or an extravagant revenge plan.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think herding us would count as volunteering,¡± Indi said.

    They were all silent for a moment.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get moving,¡± Cat insisted again.

    ¡°You alright to walk?¡± Tanya asked Kass.

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡°Seems fine,¡± Kass replied. Her foot still throbbed slightly but even in the short time they had been talking the pain had decreased further.

    ¡°We should probably hold hands so we don¡¯t lose each other,¡± Cat suggested with an edge of reservation. Kass and Indi could practically hear her rolling her eyes.

    Tanya grabbed Kass¡¯s right hand and put her own right hand out against the wall. Indi grabbed Kass¡¯s free hand and Cat grabbed Indi¡¯s. Slowly they started walking down the corridor. Cat kept one hand on the left wall. Tanya felt the right.

    Upstairs Falco was sitting down on the newly formed corridor floor. He pushed at it sadly. It was as if the hole had never been there at all. He blinked in disbelief.

    ¡°Somebody doesn¡¯t want the group together,¡± Wolf commented.

    Zephyr quickly crossed the repaired floor and went to stand next to Amanda. If someone was trying to split the group he was sticking with their strongest magic user.

    ¡°You think some one¡¯s doing this on purpose?¡± Amanda asked.

    Wolf shrugged. ¡°Awful lot of coincidences otherwise.¡±

    ¡°Can you break through?¡± Falco turned to Sirius. ¡°Or you?¡± he asked Amanda.

    Sirius studied the floor with a frown.

    ¡°Stand back,¡± he commanded.

    Falco did as he was told, moving further up the corridor. Amanda frowned and turned the other way, to look at what had once been their exit. Truthfully she didn¡¯t think this was going to work, Wolf was probably right, but it was worth a shot. Sirius stamped with all his magical strength. The floor didn¡¯t budge. Sirius stood still for a second and stared at the floor. No one spoke. He turned sideways to a nearby wall. Then he punched. Hard. Concrete flew everywhere.

    ¡°Was that necessary?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°I wanted to test something¡± Sirius replied. He sighed and walked back into the corridor. This time he knelt on the floor and aimed a forceful punch downwards. Once again nothing happened.

    ¡°You still think someone¡¯s not playing puppet master?¡± Wolf asked Amanda.

    Amanda eyed Sirius and Falco standing further along the hall.

    ¡°Maybe you two should come back here,¡± she suggested. But no sooner were the words out of her mouth than a grinding sound echoed around them. The wall Sirius had busted though started to mend itself, only it didn¡¯t stick to just repairing itself, it moved out into the hallway cutting them off from one another.

    Amanda saw Sirius turn and start to move towards her but it was too late. The walls were too quick. Right before their eyes the group became separated once more. Amanda heard a thud on the other side of the wall as Sirius tried to break through. But it was no use. Shit. Amanda stared at the wall in front of her. Several options ran through her mind but she immediately discounted most of them. Could he break through a different part of the wall? Probably not. Whoever was running this show would likely just prevent it. They¡¯d already demonstrated that they had that ability. Wolf was right. Someone was toying with them.

    She turned and walked a few paces back towards the entrance. Maybe if she could blast through it fast enough she could find whoever it was. ¡°Boys over here. Stay behind me.¡± she ordered at Wolf and Zephyr. She watched as realisation dawned on their faces that the closer they all stood the less likely they were to be separated.

    Sirius tried the floor further along the corridor as well. Like earlier it did not budge. In anger and desperation, he threw a fist at another wall. It shattered like glass. He stared down at the pieces of shattered concrete feeling defeated.

    ¡°We need to stick together,¡± Amanda said as Wolf and Zephyr scurried over to her.

    ¡°Sirius, wait there,¡± she yelled though the wall at Sirius. ¡°We¡¯ll figure this out.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± he yelled back, not sounding at all thrilled with the idea.

    Amanda turned to Wolf. ¡°How are they doing it?¡±

    ¡°The impenetrable wall?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Wolf shrugged ¡°Could be a shielder like Indi, a very powerful one. Or a summoner, bringing back the stone very quickly, but again I don¡¯t even think Coal could pull something like this off and he¡¯s pretty powerful as far as summoners go and summoning tends to be very directional. A shielder is more likely maybe in cohorts with an illusionist. Could be a spell.¡± he trailed off thinking.

    ¡°They made the floor collapse as well.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s less difficult. Could just be separate person, a destroyer or a quaker. A destroyer could easily weaken the floor from a distance without too much effort. Could be we¡¯re all asleep.¡± Wolf glanced around the room.

    Amanda shook her head ¡°Cat would know, wouldn¡¯t she?¡±

    Wolf shrugged ¡°Maybe, I¡¯ve met better dreamwalkers though.¡± He paused. ¡°With a facility this size I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if there¡¯s more than one person controlling this place. Maybe also an illusionist while we¡¯re at it. Could be preset traps on the other hand. It¡¯s a bloody strong summoner if one of them is involved. Shielding less so, but harder to maintain, and most sheilders require some proximity. ¡±

    Amanda studied the wall.

    ¡°Want us to stand back?¡± Wolf asked guessing what she was thinking.

    Amanda looked at him and shook her head. ¡°Just stand behind me.¡±

    He nodded, remembering the increased separation risk in standing too far apart. Zephyr inched closer to the two of them.

    Amanda turned her back to them and faced the wall. She focused on the stones, imagined them getting hotter. After a few minutes of warming up the wall she flicked her fingers slightly and pushed with her mind. The wall fractured but kept standing.

    ¡°Well I¡¯d say that¡¯s definitely a shielder, working with someone else by the looks of it,¡± Wolf remarked. He paused. ¡°Or maybe a materiokinetic, like Indi¡¯s kid. I didn¡¯t even think of them before. They¡¯re pretty rare though, and maintaining a wall like that, they¡¯d have to be very good. It would explain the ability to construct and deconstruct though. But I doubt even a good materiokinetic could stand up to your firepower. We¡¯d be talking exceptional at that point. A shielder though, a decent one could do it. My money¡¯s on more than one person.¡±

    ¡°One more time,¡± Amanda said.

    This time she curled her hands into fists, as if trapping energy within them. She took a deep breath and flung her hands forward releasing all the power she could into the wall. Once more the wall shook and another hairline fracture appeared but as before the wall remained standing.

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°You might be able to break through it but it¡¯ll take all day and they may just reform it.¡±

    ¡°That assumes they can keep going all day.¡±

    ¡°Do you really want to test it? What if you get tired first? What if it is multiple people? And even if it is only one person they actually might find it harder with us all split up.¡±

    Amanda didn¡¯t reply. She just stared at the wall.

    Wolf studied her face. ¡°You¡¯re not even tired are you?¡±

    Amanda looked at him and shook her head.

    ¡°Well maybe they aren¡¯t either. Come on. Let¡¯s see where they want us to go. Maybe finding out some more information might help. They haven¡¯t killed us yet so they want something.¡± Wolf started to walk towards the other corridor. Left with little choice Amanda and Zephyr followed closely behind.

    ¡°You know I¡¯m all for taking our time and gathering information but don¡¯t you think we¡¯re a little past that now?¡± Amanda said to Wolf as they walked.

    ¡°I think we¡¯re wasting time trying to blast through a wall that you can barely make a dent in.¡±

    ¡°Splitting up¡¯s always what gets people killed in the movies.¡± Zephyr argued.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t really intentional.¡± Amanda replied to Zephyr even though he was basically agreeing with her.

    Wolf stopped walking and turned to look at Amanda. ¡°Do you think Cat will just sit around where she is?¡±

    Amanda opened her mouth to argue that Indi might stay put but then thought better of it. Staying put might be the smart thing to do but with intelligence came curiosity. It wouldn¡¯t take much for Cat to convince Indi and the others to keep moving. ¡°Sirius and Falco might,¡± she replied finally and with a worried glance back behind them.

    ¡°Really?¡± Wolf asked.

    Amanda considered it. Wolf seemed to be sincerely asking if she thought so. She could persuade him to turn around, she was sure of that. Hell, she could probably turn and walk back to the wall and they¡¯d both follow. The problem was she wasn¡¯t entirely sure that was the right decision. Would Sirius and Falco stay put? Even if they did would it just be wasting time throwing fireballs at the wall?

    As she opened her mouth to reply the walls ahead and behind them came together in a loud crash and a new opening appeared next to them.

    Zephyr gave a high pitched scream.

    Amanda sighed.

    Wolf looked expectantly at her.

    ¡°Well I guess the fastest way out of this is to find out what they want.¡± she said.

    After a while, the passage they were walking in started to slant ever so gently downwards. The walls became slicker and some strange type of almost fluorescent green mold grew all over them. The corridor began to look less man-made. It was almost like a natural tunnel in the rock. Every now and again a light hung above them, connected to the previous ones by a thin cable running along the ceiling. Occasionally the cable would disappear into the rocky ceiling and they¡¯d have brief periods of almost no light. These brief periods were getting closer and closer together though. The whole place had an eerie feel to it. The tunnel started to bend slightly to the right. This was a promising as it meant they were getting closer to the centre of the maze and the Splice.

    In another part corridor Cat, Indi, Kass, and Tanya had reached an intersection. It was Y-shaped with one corridor branching off to the left and the other corridor branching off to the right.

    ¡°Right,¡± Cat commanded.

    They started to swing to the right. Cat¡¯s hand brushed through empty air. Mid swing she stopped. Footsteps echoed down the left hand corridor.

    ¡°Wh...?¡± Indi said startled at Cat¡¯s sudden lack in movement but then she heard them too.

    Cat dropped Indi¡¯s hand and turned to face the oncoming sound.

    ¡°Cat?¡± Indi whispered.

    ¡°Get back,¡± Cat replied, pushing Indi back into the corridor they had just come from. Tanya and Kass also instinctively backed into the corridor.

    ¡°Tanya, give me the light. Don¡¯t turn it on,¡± Cat commanded as quietly as she could.

    Tanya did as she was told.

    ¡°Back against the wall,¡± Cat ordered in a whisper.

    ¡°Eww,¡± Indi whispered as her hand felt the slime covered wall behind her. She backed up against it never-the-less, too afraid to make another sound.

    The footsteps got closer. Cat listened intently. The footsteps did not sound heavy. She waited patiently. The speed of the approaching footsteps were constant. Whatever it was did not seem to have noticed them yet. She waited a few seconds more. It was almost upon them. Cat estimated that whatever it was stood about their height, shorter than herself but taller than Indi. She stuck out her foot as it attempted to pass.

    ¡°Arrgh!¡± The creature lurched forward, landing front first on the floor. Cat immediately shone the light at it. It was human shaped and fully dressed. It groaned and rolled over. An ebony haired man stared up at Cat, momentarily blinded by the light in her hand.

    ¡°No, please!¡± he begged.

    Suddenly a hissing sound started coming from Cat¡¯s left. She spun, and there in the corridor stood an equally ebony haired woman, much paler than the man. Both of them were extremely skinny. Two small fangs stood out from the rest of her teeth. She was a vampire.

    ¡°Touch him and you die!¡± The woman hissed.

    Before Cat could reply the man on the ground spoke.

    ¡°Please we¡¯ve had enough, just let us go, we¡¯ll do anything.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not in charge of this place,¡± Kass replied.

    The man frowned and squinted against Cat¡¯s light.

    ¡°Then you must be trapped also.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t trust them,¡± the woman told him in an unusual accent.

    ¡°We won¡¯t hurt you,¡± Indi said.

    ¡°The people upstairs said they wouldn¡¯t hurt us either. They said they¡¯d pay us to get rid of their monster. Then they trapped us in here,¡± the woman said.

    ¡°They said the same thing to us,¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°They have said that to a lot of people it seems.¡± The woman seemed to relax slightly or perhaps she was just tired. Her shoulders slumped but her eyes remained cautious and alert.

    ¡°Can I get up now?¡± the man on the floor asked.

    Cat took a step back from the man indicating that it was fine if he stood. The man climbed to his feet. Cat had estimated his height to be shorter than it was. He was easily taller than her although his body was lithe and he must have lost a bit of weight lately as his clothes hung loosely on him. His companion was also in a similar physical condition. They must not have had much luck finding food to eat. The thought made Cat wary. A hungry vampire wasn¡¯t something to mess with.

    ¡°You can turn off your light.¡± The woman spoke.

    ¡°That puts us at quite a bit of a disadvantage,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°You needn¡¯t fear. I haven¡¯t fed in quite some time. My night vision is very limited at the moment.¡±

    Cat removed her finger from the light. She listened carefully for any movement.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been down here for days,¡± the man added.

    ¡°Days?¡± Tanya repeated, stunned. She still hadn¡¯t wrapped her head around how this could all be happening. How could she have not known?

    ¡°You lot are new huh?¡± The woman almost seemed to laugh.

    ¡°How do we get out?¡± Cat asked

    ¡°You don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°How did you get in?¡± Kass inquired.

    The man answered her. ¡°Same as you probably. Down the elevator. We thought we¡¯d find the creature down here but we found so much worse, and then when we tried to go back up they wouldn¡¯t let us leave. We¡¯ve been trying to find another way out ever since. I¡¯m Josiah by the way, and this is Angelic.¡±

    The group introduced themselves in return.

    ¡°Do you have any food?¡± Josiah asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°That¡¯s too bad.¡± He sounded defeated.

    ¡°Perhaps we stick with you for a while, if is alright?¡± Angelic said.

    Cat felt a shiver go down her spine at the thought of traveling with a hungry vampire but she pushed down her fear for now. Greater numbers might be useful. ¡°Sure,¡± she said. ¡°So you can¡¯t see anything in this light? You seemed to be moving quite quickly.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t,¡± Josiah replied. He held out a small black box with a sensor on the front. ¡°I have an echo-locator, it tells me where the walls are.¡±

    ¡°I listen to his movement,¡± Angelic explained, ¡°and follow.¡±

    ¡°Then you can lead us?¡± Cat asked, not wanting either of them at the back where they could attack.

    ¡°I can but it won¡¯t do you any good. We don¡¯t know the way out.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re trying to get to the centre, towards the Splice,¡± Cat replied. ¡°We think we know roughly the direction. Just let us know when there¡¯s an intersection or a bend, or anything else.¡±

    ¡°I suppose going somewhere is better than nowhere. We will do this.¡±

    ¡°Everyone else keep your ears open for anything that might be approaching.¡±

    Cat took their silence as agreement. The group started off down the corridor again, single file this time. Each person walked with one hand on the mossy wall.

    Once the sounds on the other side of the wall had quietened down it hadn¡¯t taken Sirius and Falco long to decide to keep moving. They hadn¡¯t gotten very far before the corridors had shifted again presenting them with an entirely new path. They¡¯d looked at each other, both shrugged, and kept moving. They continued along their corridor until they reached a portion of the tunnel that opened out into a huge room. They stood at the edge of the room. On the other side of the room the corridor started up again. Sirius waited no more than a second before stepping into the room and walking across the floor towards the other side.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Falco began but before he could finish a grumbling, grating sound echoed around them. The floor beneath the doorways slowly began to rise. Falco had just enough time to make a decision. In or out? Better not to get split again he decided and darted forward, following after Sirius just in time to watch the stone slide up and close of their only means of escape, trapping them both.

    Sirius stopped and stood still. ¡°Trap?¡± he asked, guessing what Falco had been about to warn him about.

    ¡°Afraid so,¡± Falco said looking around the room. It was a plain looking room. It was all grayish stone, stained with coppery brown in places. In the far wall there was a rectangular box-shaped hole. It appeared to contain something. Falco started to walk towards it to investigate. He¡¯d taken two steps when the room started to shake and the rumbling began again. To his horror the walls to their right and left began to move towards one another. Slowly and consistently grinding their way. It was then that Falco was certain he knew what the coppery stains on the wall were.

    ¡°It¡¯s blood! Dried blood on the walls!¡± he exclaimed.

    Sirius gave a grunt of acknowledgement. He seemed to be thinking. Falco continued towards the hole in the wall. Maybe there was something there that could help. Inside the shelf he found five small boxes of different coloured stones. Next to the boxes were two five by ten grids. One had holes and one had transparent stones. He frowned. It was strangely familiar. It reminded him of a game he¡¯d played once. What was it called? He picked up a blue stone and dropped it into the first hole. It sat there, nothing happened. He picked up more stones, different colours, and placed them into the remaining slots. The clear stones glowed then some changed colour. Two turned black. One became an opaque milky white. He remembered now. Mastermind, that was what the game was called. You had to guess the right pattern. The black and white gems must tell the player which stones were correct and which ones were the right colour but in the wrong place. He looked up at the wall to his left and his frown returned. The walls were moving at a slow pace but time seemed to be passing a little too quickly. Did he have time to solve the puzzle? Would it let them out if he did? What happened if he filled up the grid before he had solved it? Indi probably could have solved it easily. She was good at these things, much better than he was. He wondered where she was and if she was okay. He hoped so.

    He stared at the grid. So the black coloured gems meant a stone was in the correct place? Or did it mean it was the right colour and in the wrong place? There were two black gems and based on which stones he¡¯d put in he was more likely to have gotten the placing right . . .wasn¡¯t he? Or maybe . . .

    CRASH!

    Falco jumped as something exploded behind him. He turned to see Sirius fist buried up to mid-forearm into the right hand wall. Stone remnants lay on the floor around him. He pulled his arm back and swung again.

    CRASH!

    He¡¯d probably knocked away enough of the wall to give them room to stand now.

    ¡°Well that¡¯s one way to do it,¡± Falco remarked.

    ¡°A couple more and I should be able to break through?¡±

    ¡°How about trying it on the door?¡± Falco suggested.

    Sirius paused. He looked at the door then back at the wall. Once more at the door. He gave a nod. ¡°That would make more sense.¡±

    Sirius strode over to the door. Once more he pulled a fist back and then slammed it forward. The door shattered. Sirius¡¯ shoulders slumped and he exhaled. He wiped his brow feeling somewhat tired. Part of him had worried that the door would not give way. Another part of him felt mildly foolish for not thinking of trying to break through the door rather than the walls in the first place.

    Falco gave him a slap on the back ¡°Let¡¯s go before they change their mind.¡±

    Amanda held her hands in front of her, palm up. A bright flame sat perched on her open hands. It burnt nothing but the air. The lights had long since run out and now Amanda guided the way with her magical flame. Shadows danced on the walls giving the whole place an eerie glow. Water dripped from somewhere and every now and again they could swear something moved in the darkness further down the corridor. Whatever it was, if it was anything, it seemed to keep away. Every time the corridor split they took the right hand route. There were no rooms to enter down here. The intersections were getting further and further apart. Their options slowly reduced. It had been quite a while before they had last encountered an intersection and now the corridor curved to the left. Amanda frowned. It straightened out again eventually but now they were headed in the wrong direction. Or were they? Maybe they had gone too far right already anyway. It was hard to tell down here.

    Amanda froze so suddenly that Zephyr almost ran into her. A distinct click had sounded nearby.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Wolf asked.

    Amanda shook her head ¡°I don¡¯t kno . . .¡±

    Before she could finish speaking the entire floor moved. It jerked upwards suddenly and then continued moving upwards at a steady pace. The ceiling however remained where it was. Once they had regained their footing a glance around showed them that the whole corridor floor from approximately 25 m behind them to approximately the same distance in front of them was intent on meeting with the ceiling at some point in the not so distant future, and they were right in the middle.

    ¡°Run!¡± Wolf growled.

    ¡°Which way?¡± Zephyr asked in a default response, but he didn¡¯t wait for an answer. Instead he tapped into his super speed and disappeared off in the same direction they had been heading. The other two followed as quickly as they could. At some point Zephyr found no floor beneath him and he dropped into a regular sized hallway.

    As the floor got higher Wolf and Amanda were forced to run bent over. It quickly became impossible to run upright. Wolf transformed. He didn¡¯t take the time to undress. He would have been a pancake if he had. He changed as he moved. It was difficult and he almost stumbled once or twice but he did the best he could and moment later he leapt forward, his clothes flying behind him. He ran on four legs. Being in wolf form brought him closer to the ground and greatly increased his speed. He could also hear Zephyr breathing quickly, but no longer running, not far up ahead. It gave him a good estimate of the short distance to go.

    Soon Amanda was the only one still trying to move along the rapidly rising floor, a small flame burnt a trail in the air ahead of her, giving her some dim light to follow. She had been forced to drop to her hands and knees. She crawled as fast as she could, with only metres left to go.

    ¡°Amanda!¡± A naked Wolf, now back in the form of a man, yelled from the end of the corridor.

    He tried to climb back in to help Amanda out. Zephyr pulled him back. ¡°You¡¯ll just get in her way.¡±

    Amanda crawled forward. The ceiling was too close for her to move swiftly now. She stopped trying to move forward. She wasn¡¯t going to make it. She looked down at her hands, placed them palms down on the rising floor as the ceiling touched the back of her head. She focused on the rock beneath her palms and pushed all her energy into it. An explosion rocked the hallway moments before the floor met the ceiling. Darkness engulfed them all.

 Chapter 25: Candle Wipped

    ¡°Amanda!¡± Wolf yelled again. He pounded on the stone.

    Wolf and Zephyr had both been thrown by the blast but Wolf had quickly found his feet and was now confronted but a pile of rubble where Amanda had been.

    Zephyr slumped against the side wall in shock. He jerked upright again as a growl sounded from nearby. Wolf spun to face whatever it was. Neither could see. Without Amanda their only light was gone.

    More growls. Closer this time.

    ¡°What do we do?¡± Zephyr whispered as he backed himself against the wall as much as he could.

    ¡°Pray?¡± Wolf suggested without conviction. ¡°Fight,¡± he added beneath a breath, determined. What else could they do?

    ¡°Pray to whom?¡± Zephyr felt light headed. The darkness was everywhere. It was suffocating him, sucking the air out of him, pressing against him until it threatened to replace him. And the growls moved in like something out of a childhood nightmare. So this was it then.

    ¡°Come on!¡± Wolf roared at the darkness. A challenge. He was a predator himself. He knew how they thought. Don¡¯t show weakness.

    There was an energy to Wolf¡¯s voice that Zephyr just didn¡¯t feel. His heart beat far too quickly. He slid down to the floor and tried to take up as little space in his corner that he could. He pulled his legs up in front of him, covered his face with his hands and closed his eyes. How he wished for spines. Something to surround and protect him. For this nightmare to end.

    He heard another growl. A different one.

    Wolf had transformed. He was ready to fight.

    There was movement nearby and the next thing Zephyr knew, he was falling backwards. He sucked in a breath, startled to find it wasn¡¯t a dream. The wall behind him had vanished, turned to warm rubble and dust. A bright orange light filled the corridor. Was he dead?

    The light was so bright it lit up the entire corridor and all the creatures in it. A pack of hairless chalk white monsters stood before them. They almost looked like a cross between a monkey and a human. Their white eyes stared unseeing. Their fangs stuck out like tooth picks, not two, but several rows of sharp meat shredders. The one that had leaped forward landed right in front of Wolf and quickly scampered backwards.

    As Zephyr fell someone stepped past him. Amanda! Fireballs glowed in each hand. She focused on the creatures. She burned them all before they had time to turn tail and run. They emitted high-pitched wails. So human-like that Zephyr was sure it something he would never forget.

    ¡°Miss me?¡± Amanda asked once the creatures were all dead and she had lowered the brightness of the flame.

    Wolf gave an uncharacteristic yelp and wagged his tail.

    Zephyr just gave a soft smile and breathed in some precious air. He lay back on the rubble momentarily to get his bearings. He was too drained to speak.

    Wolf changed back. Still naked. His clothes would be buried among the rubble somewhere.

    Amanda shot him a curious glance, then remembering herself politely turned her eyes away.

    ¡°They¡¯re Mimics¡± Wolf breathed. He didn¡¯t seem to pay any mind as to the current state of his dress. To werewolves nudity was as natural as the Earth itself.

    ¡°Mimics?¡± Amanda repeated her eyes meeting his.

    Wolf gave a nod. ¡°They¡¯re supposed to be related to vampires, a distant ancestor or something like that.¡±

    ¡°Like vampire monkeys?¡± Amanda asked.

    Wolf gave a chuckle ¡°Sort of. They feed like vampires do, only they tend not to leave so much behind. Like you might eat an orange. They suck everything dry. And they mostly feed on vampires, witches and humans too but their preference is vampires.¡± Realisation dawned on his face. He rubbed his forehead. ¡°It makes sense now.¡±

    ¡°What does?¡±

    ¡°Indi, and her headaches, her light-headedness. Mimics are capable of emitting a high frequency sound which can render a vampire unconscious. It can be countered and tuned out, maybe even more easily given Indi¡¯s a half and a shielder. It takes a bit of practice and reasonable amount of control, and of course you would have to know that they Mimics were doing it in the first place.¡±

    Zephyr pushed back upright. ¡°Why are they called Mimics?¡±

    ¡°Because of the sounds they make. Did you hear the screams? They are capable of precisely mimicking or imitating almost any sound you can think of. They¡¯re known to live in caves and make the sounds of wounded young crying for help in an attempt to entice the adults in.¡±

    ¡°Why haven¡¯t they been doing it to us?¡± Amanda asked.

    Wolf shrugged. ¡°Probably because we¡¯re already in their territory. I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Why do they prefer vampires?¡± Zephyr asked as he climbed to his feet.

    ¡°They like the blood.¡± Wolf shrugged again. ¡°The way it¡¯s processed? If you keep them in captivity or as a pet, you often feed them leeches. Don¡¯t tell Indi I said that.¡±

    ¡°Who the hell keeps those things as pets?¡± Zephyr exclaimed. The near miss they just experienced had finally sunken in and he was feeling almost euphoric at simply being alive.

    Wolf shrugged. ¡°Some people do.¡±

    ¡°In cages right?¡±

    Wolf didn¡¯t reply.

    Zephyr turned and looked back at the rubble. ¡°How did you do that?¡± he asked Amanda.

    ¡°I focused the direction of the blast away from me but in on itself, enclosed it so it wouldn¡¯t hit you guys or me. Might have overdone it just a tad, didn¡¯t mean to blow out quite so much rock. Given the earlier impenetrable wall I figured it was better to err slightly that way. Sorry.¡±

    Wolf shrugged. ¡°We¡¯re fine.¡±

    ¡°Impressive,¡± was all Zephyr could think of to say. He wasn¡¯t sure it even came close to describing it.

    Elsewhere...

    Josiah stopped. He¡¯d completely forgotten that apart from Angelic, none of the others could hear his footsteps. Therefore, Cat crashed right into the back of him and Angelic.

    ¡°What?¡± Cat hissed.

    ¡°It¡¯s a room.¡±

    Cat pulled out Tanya¡¯s key chain light and shone it into the darkness. At first she thought that the floor was gone but then she realised that it was only because in this particular room the floor, and the walls were made of a dark black marble.

    ¡°Who wants to go first?¡± Cat dared.

    ¡°Not us,¡± Angelic replied. ¡°We¡¯ve done enough of these ourselves. It¡¯s usually alright until you enter the room. There¡¯s usually a puzzle or sometimes a test of skill.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve passed them all so far?¡± Cat asked. ¡°You haven¡¯t lost anyone?¡±

    ¡°So far,¡± Angelic replied.

    ¡°It¡¯s just us¡± Josiah added, and then more hesitantly ¡°although we did run into some who had. We stayed with them . . . for awhile¡±

    ¡°Until?¡±

    ¡°Until the traps and the mimics got them,¡± Angelic replied.

    ¡°The what?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°The mimics. Surely you know. You¡¯re a vampire too after all. I can smell it on you.¡±

    Indi shifted uncomfortably. ¡°I¡¯m half.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t they affect you?¡± Angelic inquired.

    Indi hesitated.

    Cat answered for her. ¡°She gets lightheaded when they¡¯re nearby. Is that what you mean?¡±

    ¡°Yes. There¡¯s a way to counter it. It requires some focus. Perhaps I can teach you. Perhaps you learn. Perhaps not. It requires a lot of energy though.¡±

    ¡°How do I do it?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°You have to send out sounds. Silent, high pitched, ones that counter theirs. You must focus. It¡¯s a bit like using the echo locator but in your head.¡±

    ¡°Umm. . .¡± Indi stammered and rubbed her head. She wasn¡¯t sure how to do what Angelic suggested.

    Angelic picked up on her hesitation and added ¡°Or you could try another way. Hmm, you say you are half. Do you have a power?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a shielder,¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°Ah well, try that then. Just focus on what you want to keep out.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Indi replied but she still wasn¡¯t sure. She¡¯d never even thought about trying to shield sound. Mostly she focused on keeping physical things out. She wasn¡¯t even sure it was possible but then given she¡¯d never tried it maybe it was. There was no way to really test it or practice until those things showed up again though. She shivered. Hopefully she wouldn¡¯t get a chance to practice it before they were out of this place.

    ¡°Okay, follow closely,¡± Cat said. She waited a moment for them to process and then continued forwards into the marble room. She didn¡¯t want anyone getting left behind. She needn¡¯t have worried. There was little hesitation among the group. No one wanted to get shut out in the corridor by themselves. As they gathered just inside the doorway of the room Cat shone they light around. She lit up as much as she could without straying too far from the rest of the group.

    The room was large. Much larger than any they had been in so far. Cat couldn¡¯t even see the corners or the other side of the room. Once every one had caught up she started to move forward once again.

    ¡°Maybe we should stick to the walls,¡± Indi suggested. ¡°In case the light runs out.¡±

    Cat paused. She considered the idea for a second then gave a nod of agreement. They walked back to where they door should be only to find that it had disappeared. That wasn¡¯t unexpected. It was characteristic of this place. Where the door had been now there was only wall.

    Left or right Cat pondered. She decided it was probably easiest if they stayed as close as they could to the Splice. They walked single file along the outer wall. Cat kept the key ring light on for a while, internally debating if it was worth it. A minute or two passed and she decided to turn it off, letting Josiah take the lead again.

    Time got lost in the darkness. The speed at which they were forced to go made things pass slowly and the distance appear much further than it really was. It was probably only a few minutes but it seemed like hours before Josiah told them to stop. Cat turned on the light. At Josiah¡¯s feet lay a shallow channel of clear liquid. It was too wide to jump across but looked only a foot or two deep.

    ¡°We could wade across,¡± Indi mused.

    ¡°What makes you think it¡¯s water?¡± Cat replied.

    Indi didn¡¯t answer. The thought had crossed her mind almost immediately after the suggestion had left her own mouth.

    ¡°We should test it¡± Kass suggested.

    ¡°With what?¡± Cat asked.

    Kass shrugged. ¡°A piece of clothing.¡±

    Cat waited, not wanting to offer up her own too quickly.

    With a loud rip Josiah tore off a piece of his shirt and dropped it into the liquid. They watched it sink. A moment later it lay on the bottom, seemingly undamaged.

    ¡°Seems fine,¡± Angelic said as she bent down to retrieve the cloth. She dipped her hand into the liquid.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Cat said a second too slow. She threw out a hand in front of Indi to stop her following Angelic¡¯s lead.

    At first nothing happened. Angelic pulled the cloth out of the channel and all was well. She smiled up at the group.

    But a moment later she gave a gasp of pain as her hand started to burn and melt. The strange acid started to eat it¡¯s way slowly up her arm. Her eyes widened and a bloodcurdling scream burst out of her mouth.

    ¡°Angelic!¡± Josiah cried, as he reached for her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch her!¡± Cat warned. This time she was fast enough, but he didn¡¯t listen.

    Angelic fell into his arms. Her own arm dripped into a bloody pool at her feet. Some of it dripped onto her pant leg. As she fell to the floor among Josiah¡¯s arms she reached for the cuff of one of her pant legs and pulled it up. The acid had passed through leaving her pants untouched. It was now eating away at the flesh on her leg. White bone could be seen though the bubbling bloody mess. Indi hid her face not wanting to see anymore. The others found that they could not look away.

    The worst was yet to come. As the acid reached her face and neck Angelic¡¯s screaming became a gurgle. She started to choke on the blood. Only seconds had passed and already Angelic¡¯s face became nothing but a screaming flesh dripping skull. Suddenly Josiah took a step backwards. The skin on his arm was starting to bubble. He raised his wide-eyed head to look at them. His eyes pleaded.

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    ¡°Help me!¡± he gasped.

    What remained of Angelic¡¯s body lay on the floor, a bloody, bubbling, pile of nothing but bones and clothes.

    Cat raised her gun and pointed it at Josiah. ¡°Don¡¯t come any closer¡± she warned. They didn¡¯t need the acid getting on anyone else. They stared each other down for what must have felt like an eternity to Josiah. In reality it was maybe half a second before Tanya took a step forward, hesitant.

    ¡°If you stay very still I can try to heal you¡± she told Josiah.

    She waited another half a second for his trembling nod of agreement before she stepped closer to him.

    Cat kept her weapon trained on him. ¡°Get back¡± she whispered to Kass and Indi but they were too transfixed to move away.

    Acid was already at his hands and inching it¡¯s way up towards his shoulder. Tanya worked quickly. She held her hands inches above his arm, careful not to touch him. She focused. New skin started to form in places but the acid was fast. For every patch that Tanya healed a new patch would melt and fizz away. She was struggling to keep up. Josiah was sweating, his face contorted in an expression of pain and whimpers escaped his mouth, but as promised he held very very still.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to have to kick it up a notch,¡± Cat told Tanya. She still held both the weapon and the key ring light on Josiah.

    Tanya took a deep breath and concentrated as hard as she could. She visualised what she wanted to happen, seeing in her mind the skin reforming and reconnecting. It worked. Slowly her healing overtook the rate of the acid. Beads of sweat formed on her brow. Rarely did a healing take so long. She wasn¡¯t sure she had the energy to finish the job but the alternative was letting Josiah die. To Tanya that was as bad as killing him herself.

    Cat wouldn¡¯t have minded. Throughout the whole ordeal she never removed her weapon¡¯s firing line away from Josiah. She was ready to shoot him the moment he endangered anyone else.

    Black spots and white stars started to form across Tanya¡¯s vision. She was almost done though. It felt like an eternity but eventually his skin reformed. She could barely see it, her vision was so blurry and out of focus by this point. She wanted to be sure the acid didn¡¯t start eating away at him again once she stopped so she held out as long as she could. Kept going, just to be sure. When she did finally stop she stumbled backwards, exhausted. She would have fallen if not for Cat who quickly dropped and holstered her weapon then grabbed Tanya and held her steady.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Tanya gasped as she started to feel less light-headed, although still completely wiped out.

    Cat eyed Josiah wearily. He seemed physically fine. Now that he was safe his attention returned to Angelic, or what remained of her, bones, clothes, and a puddle. He starred in shock.

    ¡°We should keep moving¡± Kass said quietly. Cat gave a nod of agreement but made no attempt to do so just yet. She kept watching Josiah.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry,¡± Indi whispered to Josiah.

    Tanya bit her lip. If only she¡¯d been faster to react.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go¡± Cat said.

    ¡°Cat he just lost . . . ¡° Indi began to protest.

    Cat gave her a stern but soft look. Indi didn¡¯t say any more. She understood. Cat was right. Even if it was hard for Josiah.

    Kass and Cat both started to walk along the edge of the acid river. They went a few metres then turned and looked expectantly at the others.

    Tanya and Indi hesitated. Tanya took a cautious step towards Cat and Kass.

    Indi wanted to make sure Josiah was okay. He looked up suddenly. He blinked. ¡°Wait . . .¡± He trailed off his eyes returning to the remains of Angelic¡¯s body. Indi looked at the others, her compassionate eyes pleading behind glasses for them to wait just a few more seconds. Cat cocked her head and raised her eyebrows. A warning. They needed to keep moving. The light from the key ring would run out eventually. Indi sighed. She reached for Josiah and gently touched his arm.

    ¡°We have to keep moving,¡± she whispered.

    He grabbed her arm with his other hand. Hard. Indi instinctively pulled back slightly. He didn¡¯t let go. For a second he stared at her unblinking without really seeing her.

    A deep rumble started up somewhere beneath them. The ground began to shake. Cracks started to appear under Josiah and Indi¡¯s feet.

    ¡°Let¡¯s move!¡± Cat barked.

    Josiah didn¡¯t seem to notice. Still gripping on to Indi¡¯s arm his eyes returned once more to the remains of Angelic.

    The rumbling got louder. The cracks in the floor widened. More cracks formed. The spread out like spider¡¯s webs. One large crack snaked its way out toward where Cat and Kass stood. They instinctively each took a step backward. Tanya backed up so she stood about half way between them and Josiah and Indi.

    ¡°Let her go!¡± Cat commanded of Josiah. She brought her hand to her weapon, just in case.

    The cracks widened. She raised the gun. Before she could speak again the ground opened up. Cat leapt to the side out of the way. She narrowly missed falling down the crevasses that opened up. Indi and Josiah were not so lucky. Indi fell forward and managed to grab the edge of the crevasse. Josiah grabbed Indi.

    Indi struggled to pull herself up but Josiah¡¯s weight kept pulling her down. Josiah looked down and realising where he was started to scream and thrash, further pulling Indi towards the dark void. On the other side of the crevasse acid ran down the wall.

    ¡°Stop thrashing,¡± Tanya yelled from up above them. She¡¯d ran to the edge of the crevasse shortly after they had fallen and now knelt there with some difficulty due to the continued shaking. Indi looked up wide-eyed, struggling to keep a hold on the edge. Tanya reached out a hand down to Josiah.

    ¡°Climb up gently. I¡¯ll help you out¡± she called to him.

    He just kept thrashing. The terror and grief had overwhelmed him.

    ¡°Come on. I can help you¡± Tanya said stretching out her hand.

    Cat handed Kass the key ring light. ¡°Keep the light on us.¡± She ran over and grabbed a hold of one of Indi¡¯s arms with both of hers. She gripped firmly beneath Indi¡¯s upper arm then she turned to Tanya. ¡°Grab her other arm. We can try to pull them both up. Tanya nodded and did as she was told.

    Together they struggled to pull Josiah and Indi up. For a while they made some progress but for every inch they pulled Indi up, Josiah¡¯s incessant thrashing would just pull them down.

    ¡°Help us!¡± Cat barked at Kass.

    Kass was there in an instant, light on in one hand, trying to help pull Indi up with the other, but it did no good. They were too much weight.

    ¡°Use your powers!¡± Cat barked at Kass.

    Kass shook her head. She wasn¡¯t sure she had the control for it.

    The ground shook again. Kass almost toppled forwards into the crevasse but Cat grabbed the back of her shirt with one hand and pulled her back. Kass fell over backwards.

    Josiah and Indi almost dropped into the dark depths of the crevasse. Cat cursed and grouped in the darkness for the light Kass had dropped when she had fallen over backwards. Her fingers found it and she shoved it in her mouth, teeth holding the button down.

    Without hesitation Cat pulled out her weapon and aimed it at Josiah¡¯s head. She pulled the trigger. The sound echoed through the dark room. Josiah stared at her through dead eyes. His grip loosened and he dropped away into the dark abyss. Kass scrambled forward and with Tanya and Cat¡¯s help managed to hoist Indi up and out of the crevasse. Cat put her gun away. Not that it was much use anymore. That had been her last bullet. She hoped she wouldn¡¯t regret the use of it later.

    Indi sat for a second trying to get her breath back, despite the room still shaking. She would have stayed sitting there for longer but Cat was already standing next to her and trying to pull her to her feet. Indi let herself be tugged up. In mere seconds the group was on the move. Running was too difficult with the ground moving like a bowl of jelly every few minutes and with their light so limited. At least the shaking seemed to be decreasing in frequency. They half-walked, half-stumbled, making sure to keep a good distance from the edge of the acid canals. They reached a bridge which crossed over the canal. On the other side they could just make out the path branching out to the left and the right. More acid channels lay beyond the bridge.

    ¡®It¡¯s a maze,¡¯ Indi realised. A maze within a maze. The thought pushed her into puzzle solving mode.

    ¡°We have to cross,¡± Kass breathed as she looked around.

    Cat didn¡¯t reply. She just squared her jaw and starred fixatedly at the bridge.

    ¡°There¡¯s no other way,¡± Kass insisted.

    An extra strong jolt almost knocked them off their feet.

    ¡°Okay,¡± Cat nodded.

    Indi started to walk forward. Cat threw out an arm to stop her then immediately pulled it back. If she stopped Indi she would have to go first herself. There was something about the acid channels that gave the usually fearless Cat hesitation. Maybe it was the bridge? She didn¡¯t see any logical danger other than the obvious though so she didn¡¯t see any reason not to cross. She was just scared? Indi had managed to make it halfway across by the time Cat finally worked up the nerve to follow. She glanced down at the liquid and immediately wished she hadn¡¯t. The shimmering surface so resembled a river. A flood of memories resurfaced and she almost stopped right there on the bridge. She didn¡¯t though. She forced herself forward and didn¡¯t look down again. Kass and Tanya followed close behind. Much to her relief Cat soon found herself standing on the other side, next to Indi, who was looking around with some crazy look of fascination.

    Cat gave her a bewildered look and was about to comment when a loud crack came from the bridge. She turned and watched in horror as the bridge started to collapse. Tanya and Kass stood in the middle of it all, about two-thirds of the way across. Kass jumped forwards as the section she had been standing on fell into the canal. Tanya, further ahead of Kass, almost lost her footing. She stumbled but kept going. Seconds later she stood, breathing heavily by Cat¡¯s side. She was tempted to sit down on the floor, she was so exhausted. She remained standing however and turned to watch Kass.

    Kass slid right to their feet, as the last of the bridge fell away. As suddenly as the shaking had started, it stopped. Completely. They waited several moments. Everything was quiet except for the exhausted panting coming from Kass and Tanya. A glance back across the bridge showed the extent of the devastation. It wasn¡¯t just the bridge that had collapsed but the entire floor on the other side. It was all gone. Not a stone was left. Nothing but blackness remained. They had no choice but to continue forward.

    ¡°It wanted us in the maze,¡± Indi commented, breaking the silence.

    ¡°It?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a maze¡± Indi said gesturing around. ¡°A maze within a maze.¡± There was a hint of awe in her voice.

    Cat narrowed her eyes.

    ¡°What do you mean by ¡®It?¡¯¡± Kass asked.

    Indi shrugged. ¡°The room, the maze, whoever is controlling it, fate?¡±

    Cat rolled her eyes then looked around more closely at everything, studying their surroundings.

    ¡°I can get us out we just have to follow the wall,¡± Indi said.

    Cat gave her a frown. Indi had gone loopy. She was sure of it.

    ¡°It¡¯s a common maze solving technique,¡± Indi elaborated. ¡°You stick one hand on the wall when you enter a maze and you don¡¯t take it off. Eventually you¡¯ll come out the exit. It¡¯s not the most efficient method but . . .¡±

    ¡°There aren¡¯t any walls,¡± Cat interrupted.

    ¡°The edge. Trust me¡± Indi gave a reassuring smile.

    Cat hesitated. Maybe she wasn¡¯t crazy. Or maybe they all were. ¡°Alright.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t work for islands,¡± Kass commented.

    ¡°Well it¡¯s unlikely the exit is an island,¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°And if it is?¡± Cat asked.

    Indi was silent for a moment. She shrugged ¡°We¡¯ll take our chances. This is a puzzle, like the others, that means there¡¯s a solution.¡±

    Well, Kass seemed to know what Indi was on about. Cat gave a nod.

    Somewhere in another part of the compound Falco and Sirius made their way along the darkened hallways, heading for what they hoped was the centre of this goddessforsaken place. They had taken to avoiding rooms where they could, sometimes even doubling back, in an attempt to avoid encountering any more traps. Eventually they reached a point where doubling back would take them too far off course. They remained faced with a choice of two rooms. The only distinguishing feature was some words engraved into the wall outside one of the rooms.

    ¡°Might be Latin,¡± Sirius theorised.

    ¡°Can you read it?¡± Falco asked.

    Sirius shook his head.

    ¡°If Indi was here I bet she could. Maybe. It¡¯s the sort of random stuff she¡¯d know,¡± Falco said with a tinge of longing.

    ¡°Or Kass,¡± Sirius added. ¡°I think she¡¯s fluent in it.¡±

    Falco gave him a thoughtful look. ¡°What¡¯s with you and her anyway?¡±

    Sirius frowned. ¡°Nothing.¡± He nodded towards the door in front of them. ¡°Let¡¯s just pick one.¡±

    ¡°Not a bad suggestion¡± Falco replied, although his tone implied he wasn¡¯t just referring to the doors.

    ¡°This one,¡± Sirius said, walking towards the one in front of them, the one with the writing.

    Falco hesitated. ¡°Maybe we should think about this a bit first. Try punching through the wall again?¡±

    ¡°Waste of energy,¡± Sirius replied as he walked through the doorway leaving Falco no choice but to follow.

    Falco didn¡¯t let him escape the other issue that easily though.

    ¡°You mess around with Kass you put this team in danger you know. You put Indi in danger. You want to mess up your marriage you do it on your own time,¡± Falco told him.

    Sirius spun, growling. ¡°I didn¡¯t . . . ¡° but he trailed off feeling guilty.

    The conversation ended there. Neither said another word. They turned their attention to the room they were in. It wasn¡¯t much wider than the corridor they had just come from. A few metres in the floor was gone. It just ended and a dark pit lay ahead. Fifteen or twenty metres beyond that the pit ended and the floor resumed again. Another door lay a few metres on from that. Several square platforms stuck out from both the left and the right walls, creating two paths across to the other side. A mechanical joint connected each of the platforms to the wall. It looked like they could either stick out like they were or fold down. Each platform was far enough apart that one would have to jump between them.

    ¡°I guess we have two choices again,¡± Falco observed.

    Sirius gave a nod.

    Falco walked to the edge of the pit and stared down in to the darkness.

    ¡°What do you suppose is down there?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Whatever it is we don¡¯t want to find out.¡±

    It was Falco¡¯s turn to nod. He walked over to the start of the left hand path and stood looking out at the first platform.

    ¡°Should we just pick one?¡± he asked.

    ¡°You¡¯re the Flyer.¡±

    Falco gave a laugh. Right, how could he forget? He took a moment to strengthen his resolve. Then he leapt. Despite his ability to levitate he still felt his stomach jump as the platform gave way beneath him as his feet touched down. He always half expected his powers not to work. Most of the time they did though, and this time proved no different. Moving about was always the hardest part. It was effectively like being weightless. It had taken him years to learn how to avoid the spinning.

    He managed to manoeuvre himself for the second time today back to solid ground. This was becoming way too common. Once landed he glanced up to find Sirius standing at the starting edge of the right hand path.

    ¡°Careful, they could both be rigged,¡± Falco warned.

    Sirius nodded but then replied, ¡°It didn¡¯t fall so fast. I think I could make the whole thing, if I run fast enough.¡±

    Falco gritted his teeth together, apprehensive., but he didn¡¯t say anything. Sirius looked far too focused. Ready to move. He didn¡¯t want to distract him, besides he couldn¡¯t think of a better way to get them both across anyway. There was no way he could lift Sirius.

    Sirius leapt forward with a force of strength.

    The platform dropped. Sirius was already in the air, leaping for the next one. He landed with thud and immediately pushed off again. He was cutting it close. Falco watched with horror. One mistake and Sirius would fall into the darkness. Sirius was surefooted, however, and soon he stood grinning at Falco from the other side. Falco breathed a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Coming?¡± Sirius asked him.

    God dammit. Falco wasn¡¯t looking forward to leaping out into the abyss again. He knew the dangers of being separated from Sirius too long though so without giving himself time to consider it he ran forwards and leapt into the air. He soared smoothly across, not looking down even once. Eventually his feet touched down on the other side.

    ¡°I guess we were both supposed to run across,¡± Falco observed.

    ¡°And if there¡¯d been more of us?¡±

    Falco shook his head.

    They exited the room through the wall again. For some reason the door hadn¡¯t opened and wouldn¡¯t unlock so Sirius punched a hole through the nearest wall. Falco wondered if it had even been worth it to cross the pit. The flying probably took as much energy as it cost Sirius to punch their way out. Either way they kept moving. They seemed to be in a different part of the place now. The walls looked older and the corridors weren¡¯t all the same sizes. Sometimes the stone walls were closer together and sometimes they were further apart as if they had naturally formed like that instead of being made. They seemed to be losing their light somewhat as well. The bulbs were becoming sparser.

    ¡°What do we do when we run out of light?¡± Falco asked.

    Sirius glanced up. He wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°We use a torch I guess.¡±

    ¡°Do you have a torch?¡±

    Sirius didn¡¯t answer.

    They weaved their way onward. The corners of the halls were smoother now and moist with water and slime. The light flickered above them. It blinked out then back on. They didn¡¯t notice, not at first. Then the blinking increased and eventually the lights just went out. They stopped. Without the sound of their footsteps they could now hear the sound they had been missing. Distant growling and several footsteps. They were coming from somewhere behind them and they were approaching, fast.

    ¡°Run!¡± Sirius ordered.

    Surrounded by the darkness it was difficult. They ran hands on the wall but the floor was slippery. They couldn¡¯t be sure if they were making any headway. They came speeding around a corner and Sirius¡¯ foot landed on a patch of slime that had been growing across the ground. His feet suddenly sped out from underneath him. Falco kept running at first not having noticed. Realising Sirius was gone he stopped and hesitated. Did he wait? Turn back? Keep running? He decided he couldn¡¯t leave Sirius so he turned around to go back, even if it meant certain doom.

    Sirius lay on the ground. He started to get up but froze when he heard the growls, only metres away. He sat still, bracing for the impact. It never came. Falco arrived on Sirius¡¯ other side just as the floor rose either side of Sirius, locking Sirius in.

    Somewhere up above Trevor leaned over a monitor, watching.

    ¡°I like the entertainment value of this one,¡± he justified to no one in particular. The room was empty, apart from his seer on the floor. ¡°I should see if we can join him up with the redhead again, and then kill one of them off. Wouldn¡¯t that be fun? I didn¡¯t actually expect her to get out of that last trap.¡± He sat back, hands clasped, enjoying his show. The door to the room opened.

    ¡°He wants you to finish the job,¡± the newcomer stated.

    Trevor sighed. ¡°No, not yet. He promised me some fun. I¡¯ll get his job done but he must be patient. We¡¯re almost there. He¡¯s waited for how long? A few more hours won¡¯t kill him. Let me enjoy this. Just twenty more to go.¡± He leaned forward to get a better look at one of the images in his mirrors. ¡°Oh oops, nineteen now.¡± he laughed.

    "The ritual is almost complete," the newcomer insisted, but at Trevor''s glare he quickly backed out of the room.

    Trevor smiled, happy to have his peace back.

    Falco ran right into the wall. ¡°Ow,¡± he yelped. He felt around it. Yup, the hallway had just sealed itself up again. He took a few steps back and leaned against the side wall thinking about what to do now.

    Sirius found himself inside a stone box. It was chillingly like a vertical coffin. He punched at the wall. It did not work the way he wanted to go. He didn¡¯t dare attempt it back towards the creatures. The only way left to try was sideways. He took a deep breath and thrust his fist out. Nothing. The other wall? Also nothing. The walls didn¡¯t budge. Hi knuckles stung. He sighed and sat back down on the floor to think. The floor! That was it, maybe. He crossed his fingers and prayed to whatever demons there were in this world with that kind of power. He punched down. The floor cracked and a moment later he fell though.

 Chapter 26: Note Your Knots

    Cat, Kass, Indi, and Tanya were working their way through the acid maze. There had been no recent shakes thankfully. They moved as fast as they could, conscious that the key ring light would not last forever. Eventually they made it to the other side. To their relief an open door lay ahead of them.

    They walked through it into yet another corridor. This one looked different somehow. The stone was older and coated in a thick layer of something green and moving. Cat poked it first with one of Tanya¡¯s keys and then with a hesitant finger. It didn¡¯t seem harmful. Cat switched off the key ring and led the way down the corridor, one hand on the wall. Kass followed immediately behind her, her hand in Cat¡¯s. The others followed similarly.

    Cat tried not to think about the fact that the moss on the walls seemed to be breathing. It moved in and out as her hand ran over it. She pushed onward, almost dragging the others behind her. Kass was so reluctant to move fast. Or maybe it was the others holding Kass back. Cat cursed the darkness and their enemies. They would be out there somewhere, enjoying this, maybe even watching. When she found them she¡¯d . . .

    Her hand grasped open air. Another room. Her stomach dropped. How far had they travelled? Why was it the darkness could make time flow so differently? Kass almost bumped into her.

    ¡°Room.¡± Cat whispered to them.

    ¡°Light?¡± Tanya asked

    Cat shone the light forward into the room. The moss was everywhere. It even covered the floor. It made her feel a little unsettled.

    Shuffling sounds came from across the room and suddenly another light was pointing at them. They were momentarily blinded. Then someone mumbled, ¡°sorry¡± and the light across the room flicked out.

    Elsewhere...

    Amanda threw another blast of fire at the creatures that hid in the edge of the shadows. They scampered away with dog-like yelps, and occasionally a human scream. It never lasted long though. They¡¯d be back again soon, growling at them but keeping out of the light.

    ¡°How long can you keep that up?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°A few days.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so glad we¡¯re with you.¡± Zephyr breathed a sigh, then added worryingly, ¡°the others don¡¯t have lights.¡±

    There was silence a moment, then Amanda replied, ¡°Indi has her shield, Tanya¡¯s a healer, I swear Cat actually has nine lives sometimes, and worst case Kass can probably do a good job of keeping the creatures away from them. I¡¯m more worried about Sirius and Falco. Falco can levitate but there¡¯s not far he can go and Sirius can only fight off so many. I hope they¡¯ve just barricaded themselves in. Still, I¡¯d like to find them first if we can. You think you could sniff them out if you had to, assuming we could even reach them from another direction. Them or the Splice?¡± Amanda avoided glancing directly at Wolf, given he was still naked.

    ¡°I could try.¡± Wolf stopped walking and began to transform. A moment later a large brown wolf padded along beside them. He walked with them for a while, sniffing the ground at various points as he went.

    Amanda wasn¡¯t sure how much it helped. She¡¯d seen Wolf hunt down all sorts of things in stunningly short amount of time, but only ever in the forest. She wasn¡¯t sure how he¡¯d handle this place. She wasn¡¯t even sure what they should be looking for, apart from the rest of the group or the Splice. Wolf seemed to know where he was going though so she didn¡¯t question him. He¡¯d pause at the occasional junction and just go straight through at others. She wasn¡¯t even sure what direction they were travelling anymore. She wished for Sirius. He¡¯d always been good at directions. You could spin him in a circle blindfolded and he¡¯d still be able to tell you which way he was facing and what star constellation lay in that direction on that night. She¡¯d spent hours lying next to him and listening to him talk about the stars. As they walked her anger at his earlier behaviour morphed into a determination to find him and tell him she was sorry for running off earlier. She¡¯d probably be mad again once she found him but for now she just missed him.

    Eventually the three of them came across a strange circular room, with a floor which slanted gently towards the centre. In the centre a spoked wheel stood raised slightly above the ground, the spokes pointing horizontally outwards. The three of them approached with caution. Engraved on the floor beneath the wheel were 12 symbols. 12 new symbols were also carved into the spokes of the wooden wheel. To Zephyr it looked like a ship''s wheel except there was something not quote right about it. It wasn''t until Amanda spoke that he realised what it was.

    ¡°That''s strange. It''s got too many spokes.¡± She reached out to touch it.

    A loud growl stopped her. It had come from Wolf. Amanda pulled her hand back. She waited while Wolf turned back into human form.

    ¡°Don''t touch it,¡± he warned.

    ¡°Do you think it''s a puzzle?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Undoubtedly.¡±

    Zephyr glanced back towards the door. It was the only one in the room and for now it remained open. ¡°We could just leave.¡±

    Amanda shook her head. She never removed her eyes from the wheel. ¡°I think we should go this way. Call it a gut instinct.¡±

    They stood silent for a moment pondering the puzzle.

    ¡°You think we just have to line the symbols up?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°Seems too simple for that,¡± Amanda mumbled, her brow furrowed in concentration.

    ¡°A good puzzle is simple.¡± Zephyr replied, ¡°at least once you know it.¡±

    ¡°If we get it wrong we¡¯re screwed though, probably. I think we should go back.¡± Wolf replied.

    Amanda looked closer at the carvings. ¡°These look like knots.¡±

    Wolf walked closer to get a better look.

    ¡°That looks like a bowline.¡± Amanda pointed at the figures, ¡°and that looks like a figure eight yeah?¡± She glanced at Wolf to see if he was following then pointed to another. ¡°Munter¡¯s mule?¡±

    Wolf rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

    Zephyr stepped closer to the wheel and pointed to another carving, ¡°and that¡¯s a reef knot. I see what you¡¯re saying.¡±

    ¡°How does that help us?¡± Wolf asked. ¡°None of the outside symbols look like knots.¡±

    ¡°Do you think they placed these traps here or someone else?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°Does it matter?¡± Wolf rubbed the brown bristle on his chin.

    Amanda just looked at him expectantly, both eyebrows raised.

    He shrugged. ¡°The Guardians most likely, if you believe such a thing. There were rumours they set traps at the entrances to the Splice to deter unwelcome travellers.¡±

    ¡°Are we unwelcome?¡± Zephyr wondered aloud.

    Wolf shrugged again and gave a small smile. ¡°Most people are. They weren¡¯t a fan of people crossing over. It was a necessity that had to be implemented.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Zephyr asked, the lore of the Guardians was not something he¡¯d ever taken much of an interest in and they weren¡¯t typically talked about. Only a few obsessed historians, like Wolf took an interest in such things. To most people the Guardians were just a folktale, albeit one which tended to unsettle people for reasons that no one could ever quite agree on.

    ¡°In case magical beings ever arose in the other world again.¡±

    ¡°Rumours though right?¡±

    Wolf shrugged.

    ¡°If the guardians placed these,¡± Amanda interrupted, not sounding very convinced in the option ¡°then we might expect a different type of puzzle than the ones made by whoever is keeping us here.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s quite possible all the traps were already here. It¡¯s just the moving walls I¡¯m not so sure about...¡± Wolf trailed off.

    ¡°None of those other symbols look like knots I recognise,¡± Zephyr remarked ¡°but then I don¡¯t know that many knots.¡±

    ¡°I say we move it and see what happens,¡± Amanda suggested.

    ¡°That¡¯s a very Cat option. You could blow it up. From the doorway.¡± Wolf countered.

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we come up with a few plans first, in case things don¡¯t work?¡± Zephyr added.

    ¡°Okay, fine, you¡¯re both right.¡± Amanda nodded.

    The three of them stood in silence pondering the puzzle.

    ¡°They still look like knots to me, except that one,¡± she pointed at one which was nothing more than a circle, ¡°and that one.¡± The second symbol which she pointed at looked like a complicated drawing of the end of a rope.

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°That one could be a splice which makes sense given where were we are if you know the lore. The circle, I don¡¯t know. Could be zero, making this a combination lock?¡±

    Amanda took a walk around the wheel. She paused about three quarters of the way around. ¡°I think the outer symbols are stars.¡± She continued to walk around, naming each as she did.

    Wolf shook his head again. ¡°I don¡¯t know. What do knots have to do with the stars?¡±

    ¡°It is a ship¡¯s wheel, sort of¡±

    Wolf grumbled, unconvinced.

    Amanda signed. ¡°This makes no sense.¡±

    She reached forward, grabbed the wheel and turned.

    Nothing happened.

    Wolf breathed out the air he¡¯d sucked in as she¡¯d grabbed the wheel.

    Zephyr almost looked disappointed.

    Amanda gave them a smile, took the wheel again, and spun it three times clockwise.

    At some point during the 3rd turn a click sounded and the wheel sunk slightly into the floor. Amanda jumped back. The ceiling began to lower very rapidly. Wolf groaned. A panel in the middle of the wheel flipped over revealing some words. Amanda leant forward and read them allowed.

    ¡°When nothing is half knotted in time,

    Sail south and you¡¯ll find,

    This new three becomes nine,

    Three clicks, now a dog, to prime

    Finish on the unknotted rhyme.¡±

    ¡°Nothing? As in zero?¡± Wolf queried out loud.

    ¡°As in that¡¯s the knot which represents zero,¡± Amanda exclaimed.

    ¡°But what¡¯s half knotted?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°A figure eight, it could have another rope followed through. None of the others can,¡± Amanda furiously studied all the symbols making a note of the star system at the zero position. ¡°Sail south,¡± she mumbled, then bit the edge of one lip in thought. A moment later recognition lit in her eyes. ¡°Sail south, the southern cross.¡±

    ¡°You sure?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°No.¡± Amanda spun the wheel further clockwise until the figure eight lined up with the Southern Cross.

    A click sounded again. The wheel snuck further into the floor. The ceiling slowed but only slightly.

    ¡°This new three becomes nine?¡± Amanda read the next line.

    ¡°Rotated 180 degrees,¡± Wolf answered.

    Amanda spun the wheel two and a half turns anticlockwise.

    Once more a click sounded, the wheel dropped, and the ceiling slowed.

    ¡°Three clicks, now a dog, to prime?¡± Amanda looked up at them expectantly.

    Zephyr shook his head. Wolf frowned.

    ¡°A prime number, seven?¡± Zephyr suggested.

    ¡°Which one¡¯s seven?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°Zero was the figure eight¡± Amanda noted.

    ¡°But then three became nine? Do the numbers change?¡± Wolf asked.

    Amanda shook her head and opened her mouth to speak but before she could get a word out Zephyr interrupted.

    ¡°Look at the comma. I think the clicks are literal clicks, which we¡¯ve had. Now we do the dog one, then seven. Then...¡± he hesitated.

    ¡°Then we finish on zero,¡± Wolf finished for him. ¡°What¡¯s the dog?¡±

    ¡°Sirius,¡± Amanda mumbled softly. She shook her head as if to clear it. ¡°I mean Canis Major, the constellation with Sirius in it.¡±

    She spun the wheel once clockwise and continued until the figure eight was lined up with the Canis Major constellation. Another click, the wheel had almost reached the floor. The ceiling now moved at a snail¡¯s pace.

    ¡°I¡¯m so glad Sirius taught me these,¡± she gave a crooked smile. ¡°We started on Orion so seven is here.¡± She spun the dial anti-clockwise until it reached seven symbols from Orion. Once the wheel clicked she turned it clockwise until the figure eight lined up once more with Orion. The wheel rose back up. The ceiling, which had made it about half-way down the room, and had halted with the last click, started moving slowly again, increasing its¡¯ speed as it lowered.

    Amanda stepped back, eyes wide. ¡°That should have worked.¡±

    Wolf frowned. ¡°Unknot. Opposite of knot. Put it on the zero, the symbol zero.¡± He stepped forward and rotated the wheel back two spokes. Nothing changed. The ceiling crept closer.

    ¡°We have to start over.¡± Zephyr cried, stepping forward and grabbing the wheel. The height of ceiling now forced him to hunch over. Together they spun it clockwise 3 turns. Then Zephyr stepped back to let Wolf enter the combination. He paused, unsure, at the dog, but Amanda pointed him to the right one. Finally he reached the end, lining up the circle with Orion. The wheel dropped right down revealing a gap in the floor which they could climb through. Wolf clambered through first, dropping down into the dark hole. Amanda, and then Zephyr, followed immediately after.

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    They sat panting on the ground of yet another long, dark, mossy corridor. Wolf was the first to speak.

    ¡°That half knot could have been the clove hitch¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s two half hitches.¡±

    ¡°And the prime could have been two. We got lucky with most of those,¡± Wolf replied.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Amanda sighed.

    ¡°Hah!¡± Zephyr gave a laugh ¡°That wasn¡¯t luck, we solved it!¡±

    ¡°Amanda solved it.¡± Wolf replied sounding considerably less enthusiastic than Zephyr, ¡°and most of that was guessing.¡±

    ¡°I got some bits,¡± Zephyr objected.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter who solved what. We need to keep moving,¡± Amanda instructed.

    They got to their feet. Wolf transformed once more and led them down the corridor.

    ¡°How¡¯d you know all those things?¡± Zephyr asked Amanda as they walked.

    Amanda shrugged. ¡°Sirius taught me the stars.¡±

    ¡°All of them?¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°Enough. Wolf¡¯s right we got lucky...¡±

    Wolf glanced back at them, and gave a slight nod of his muzzle.

    ¡°...but the important thing is, we made a decision. Time is important, and we need to move through this place as fast as we can.¡±

    Wolf glanced back again and gave a soft growl.

    ¡°We¡¯ll die of dehydration or starvation if we don¡¯t,¡± she added.

    ¡°There¡¯s always cannibalism,¡± Zephyr joked.

    Amanda gave him an amused sideways glance, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t suggest that if I were you.¡± She nodded towards the burning flame in her hand. ¡°I can always cook my food, and Wolf doesn¡¯t need too.¡±

    She said it in a light-hearted tone so it was probably a joke but Zephyr couldn¡¯t be one hundred percent sure that there wasn¡¯t any truth to it so he changed the topic back to the symbols. ¡°What about the knots?¡±

    ¡°Wolf and I used to do some rock-climbing back in high school. You tend to use a few knots when you have a farm too.¡± She gave a smile. ¡°That and when you¡¯re married to a sailor.¡± Her smile turned slightly sad as she said the last word.

    ¡°We¡¯ll find him,¡± Zephyr reassured her.

    Amanda gave a nod like it was a promise, but there was a slight twinge of doubt hidden in her face as well.

    Elsewhere...

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± Cat called into the darkness. The light form the key ring didn¡¯t travel far enough to illuminate the other side of the room.

    A few hurried whispers carried through the air but no one replied loud enough to be understood.

    ¡°I said who¡¯s there?¡± Cat repeated impatiently.

    Someone coughed and a light on the other side of the room flicked on. A man walked forward, shining his torch up onto his own face in an unsettling manner. ¡°Who are you?¡± he asked.

    ¡°We¡¯re guests,¡± Indi replied ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°We used to work upstairs,¡± he replied stepping further forward and into Cat¡¯s light, revealing a soldier¡¯s uniform. He glanced back at his companions.

    ¡°How many of you are there?¡± Cat asked, wary.

    ¡°Three,¡± another answered stepping forward into the light. They were muscular and tall, not as big as Sirius, but they still all towered over Cat.

    ¡°Can you help us get out of here?¡± Indi asked optimistically.

    ¡°Why are you down here?¡± Tanya added, in an almost a cautious a tone, similar to the one Cat had used.

    ¡°They¡¯re as stuck as we are,¡± Cat remarked with a hint of irony tugging at the edge of her tone.

    One of the men gave a short laugh and with a sideways glance at his companions said, ¡°we know the way out. We can show you.¡±

    Cat ignored him. ¡°What is this place?¡±

    ¡°Did you hear me? We¡¯ll show you the way out,¡± the man repeated. He took a step closer. There was blood on his clothes, he was covered in it.

    ¡°We¡¯re fine on our own,¡± Cat replied. She didn¡¯t like his tone, or his posture, or the general feel of the room. Most of all she didn¡¯t like the look on his face or the blood on his clothes.

    ¡°But Cat,¡± Indi protested in a wisper, not realising the danger they were in.

    Cat ignored her as well. ¡°How long have you been down here?¡± She swapped the key ring to her left hand, made a show of spinning it around her finger so their eyes would be drawn to it. While their attention was occupied she pulled the gun out of her holster with her right hand. She did so quickly, and shifted it to her behind her back, held ready, but out of sight. It was useless at this point but they wouldn¡¯t know and the surpise had value in itself.

    ¡°Long enough.¡± He lunged forward. Cat pulled the gun out. He stopped, barrel at his face. A flicker of fear flashed into his eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s empty,¡± the man on the right growled confidently. ¡°Let¡¯s eat!¡±

    Cat sidestepped to the left as the centre man rushed her. She grabbed his shoulders as he passed, stuck her foot out, and helped him on his way, headfirst into the wall. There was a sickening crack as his head broke open and a shriek from Tanya as she leapt out of the way.

    Indi screamed as the man on the left grabbed her and lifted her off the ground. Cat was about attack the other man when an invisible force sent them all flying across the room. Only Kass remained upright, standing hands raised, in the doorway. Cat didn¡¯t hesitate. She scrambled to her feet as fast as she could and reached for the man she¡¯d been about to attack as he tried to get up. She jabbed him very quickly in the side of the neck. He blocked and finally managed to find his feet. Cat hit him again, this time she collected him in the side, hard.

    She kept at it, not giving him a chance to think. Based on his knowledge of the state of her gun it wasn¡¯t a bad guess that he had a mind-reading power. Mindwalkers were dangerous when they had time to think. They¡¯d get in your head. The really good ones could control your thoughts and even your actions. Cat wasn¡¯t sure what type he was and she didn¡¯t want to find out so she didn¡¯t waste time on thinking. She just went at him with a flurry of hands and feet, moving on instinct, searching for an opening. He dodged and threw back a few attacks of his own. Her speed seemed to work for now and his mind remained preoccupied. Cat didn¡¯t dare to glance across the room to check the others were okay. Hopefully between Kass¡¯s telekinesis and Indi¡¯s shield they could handle the other guy.

    The mindwalker managed to pull out a knife from his belt and Cat felt a sharp sting as he got her in the side with a swipe. No time to check how deep it was Cat danced around his swinging hands. She took half a fist to the side of her face just as she managed to hook a kick at his the back of his knee. It caused him to stumble. It was enough. It put him off balance. She ducked under his arm and jabbed an elbow up into his ribs. At the same time she reached for his groin with her other hand and squeezed. He doubled over forwards and she took the jab at his throat again. This time he went down, permanently. She took his knife once she was sure he was out.

    Stepping back in one fluid motion she turned to observe the rest of the room¡¯s occupants. Tanya sat on the floor at one end of the room, staring in horror. Kass stood a little in front of Tanya, hands raised out in front of her, facing the other wall. Cat grabbed the fallen torch from the first man, who lay near Tanya, and shone it across the rest of the room. In line with where Kass¡¯s hands faced, Indi and a giant black bear were pressed, half a metre apart and off the floor, up against the other wall. They were both awake. They were also stuck.

    ¡°Kass?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t let one down¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°Sure you can.¡±

    Kass shook her head.

    Cat frowned. She walked to where Kass stood, being careful to stay behind her, just in case. She eyed the bear. So he was a shapeshifter. She gripped the knife in her right hand and considered the distance to him.

    ¡°How good are your knife-throwing skills?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Not while I¡¯m using my powers.¡±

    Cat turned to Tanya. ¡°You?¡± Tanya shook her head.

    Cat gave a resigned nod. ¡°Come here and hold the torch,¡± she instructed Tanya.

    Tanya got to her feet and did as she was told.

    Cat focused on the target. ¡°You think you could drop them down half a metre or two?¡± Cat asked casually.

    Kass gave her a panicked look. ¡°Not unless you want them squashed into the floor.¡±

    Cat smiled and momentarily marvelled at the fact that Kass didn¡¯t even look tired from having held them against the wall so long. She did, however, look pretty distraught. If she¡¯d had Amanda¡¯s control she probably would have been quite powerful. Unfortunately without good control, efficiency and power meant very little.

    Cat placed her feet shoulder width apart and raised the knife throwing arm up over her head. She made a couple of practice swings then with a swift flick she released the knife. It flew across the room, hit the wall inches from the bear¡¯s nose before falling to the floor with a clang.

    Cat straightened and pursed her lips, thinking.

    Kass gave her a worried look.

    Cat¡¯s brow furrowed and she stepped one foot forward and leaned as if ready to run. ¡°On my count, drop them.¡±

    Kass shook her head, blue eyes wide. ¡°You can¡¯t fight a bear.¡±

    ¡°Just do it.¡±

    Kass sucked in a breath and gave a nod.

    ¡°Ready, set..¡± Cat focused her eyes on the knife. ¡°Now!¡±

    Kass dropped her hands.

    Cat dashed forward.

    Indi and the bear fell to the floor.

    The bear righted itself right as Cat flew past.

    It took a swipe at her.

    She dove towards the knife. The bear¡¯s claws slashed at the air catching nothing more than the ends of a few dark strands of Cat¡¯s hair.

    Cat grabbed the knife and thrust upwards into the belly of the bear. He roared and reared up. She didn¡¯t let go. She found her feet and pushed into him. She sliced through his skin as much as she could. The bear began to throw its¡¯ weight down again, attempting to squash her rather than get away.

    ¡°Do something,¡± Tanya hissed, now standing beside Kass.

    Kass had her hands slightly raised and curled into apprehensive fists. She shook her head. ¡°I might hurt Cat.¡±

    Indi had managed to crawl off to the side and was now watching the fight with wide eyes.

    As the bear began to fall Cat lost her footing and found herself in the unfortunate position of lying on the ground and looking up at half a tonne of quickly descending bear.

    Miraculously, the bear suddenly stopped in mid-air. It took Cat half a second to realise Indi had created a shield. It took the bear slightly longer. Once again Cat¡¯s quick reaction was what saved her. She managed to move out of the way just as the shield disappeared and the bear came crashing down.

    She lunged forward and pushed the knife deep into the bear¡¯s throat. She twisted it and pulled sharply downward. A moment later the bear was gone and a man lay in his place very obviously dead.

    Cat glanced down at herself and was weirdly surprised to see she was coated in blood. Mostly the bear¡¯s, she hoped. The world tilted. Her head felt lighter than usual, like she wasn¡¯t really there.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Indi scrambled to her feet.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Cat replied. But just as she said it the whole room twisted sideways. She put out a hand for balance, stumbled a few steps, and vaguely felt Indi¡¯s hands grab her to stop her from falling. A moment later the world righted itself. Cat rebalanced herself, blinked a few times to clear her vision, and took a deep breath.

    ¡°Maybe you should sit down¡± Indi suggested.

    As stubborn as Cat was, she knew Indi was right. She walked over to the nearest wall with Indi refusing to leave her side. She turned her back to it and slid down the wall into a sitting position. Tanya walked over to them and was now crouched in front of her.

    Kass remained a bit further way. She watched them for a second, then while the others checked on Cat, she made sure the men were dead and rifled through their pockets for anything useful.

    ¡°Can I?¡± Tanya asked, hands raised, indicating she wanted to use her powers to check if Cat was okay.

    Cat gave a tired nod.

    Tanya reached forward and placed her hand¡¯s on Cat¡¯s side where there was a knife-like rip in her shirt.

    ¡°This one¡¯s not so bad¡± Tanya commented.

    Cat felt warmth spreading through her side as Tanya sped up the healing process of the knife wound. Tanya then moved her hands slowly across Cat¡¯s toned belly towards her other side. She paused mid-way and glanced at Cat, a question poised on her lips. She seemed to think better of it and after a second she continued running her hands over other areas where Cat might be injured. After a while, however, she returned her hands to Cat¡¯s belly. Her look of puzzlement shifted to a frown. She raised her eyes to look at Cat¡¯s face again. Cat was staring absentmindedly at the rest of the room but she met Tanya¡¯s eyes when the woman next spoke.

    ¡°Did you know you¡¯re pregnant?¡±

    Cat waited a few seconds then gave a slight nod. Kass stopped and glanced up from her pocket searching.

    Tanya closed her eyes and turned her focus back to Cat¡¯s belly. ¡°Well she seems fine.¡±

    ¡°She?¡± Cat repeated.

    ¡°It¡¯s a girl?¡± Indi asked.

    Tanya gave a nod to Indi then a brief apologetic look at Cat. ¡°Sorry I didn¡¯t mean to reveal the sex.¡±

    Cat just shook her head, indicating she didn¡¯t mind. ¡°We should probably conserve the light.¡± Cat nodded at the key ring in Tanya¡¯s hand and torch in Kass¡¯s.

    Tanya nodded and released her hand. ¡°Let¡¯s just rest here for a while.¡± She sat down against the wall next to Cat. Indi sat cross-legged on the other side. Kass continued her search for a little while before switching off their newly acquired torce and sitting down next to Tanya.

    ¡°You find anything on the men?¡± Cat asked Kass.

    ¡°A couple of knives, not much else.¡±

    They sat in silence for a while until Indi eventually spoke. ¡°It¡¯s kind of cold.¡±

    Despite being the least dressed, in a black, now also blood-soaked singlet, Cat hadn¡¯t even noticed the temperature. Now that Indi pointed it out though it did seem a bit chilly. Even so, Cat reached out and took a piece of Indi¡¯s purple, thick, fluffy cotton jersey between two fingers.

    ¡°How the fuck are you cold wearing this?¡± she asked in a teasing tone.

    ¡°I have bad circulation.¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°We should get moving again maybe¡± Tanya suggested. She wore a white shirt, now also coated in blood, and some silly part of her pondered at the best methods to remove blood from clothing, as if this were just a normal day. It wasn¡¯t until they had stopped moving that she¡¯d noticed the temperature. While it wasn¡¯t cold enough to be much more than uncomfortable she still worried about them sitting here too long, if for no other reason than the longer they waited the creepier the place seemed to become.

    Kass nodded in agreement, forgetting once again they were in the darkness. Realising her mistake she murmured a quiet ¡®yes¡¯ instead.

    ¡°Are you alright to keep moving?¡± Tanya asked Cat.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Cat stretched parts of her body, testing how everything felt. The short rest seemed to have done its job. That and Tanya¡¯s magic skills.

    ¡°You sure? Because you seem like the type of person who would say . . .¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Cat confirmed as she got to her feet. The others scrambled up after her.

    ¡°Brrr,¡± Indi shivered rubbing her arms.

    ¡°Are you really cold?¡± Cat asked, reaching out to feel Indi¡¯s skin.

    Indi shrugged her off. ¡°No . . . yes, maybe a little. I¡¯ll be alright.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Cat fumbled in the dark. ¡°Where¡¯s the key ring or the torch? That thing seemed resonably bright¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Tanya replied, moving past her. ¡°I can lead for a bit.¡±

    ¡°Do you want a knife?¡± Kass asked from the back.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s alright¡± Tanya replied.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got four, each guy had one, one had two. There¡¯s exactly enough for each of us.¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°Where?¡± Cat asked holding out a hand. A moment later she felt Kass grab her hand and gently place cold metal into her open palm.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll take one¡± Tanya conceded. ¡°And maybe that torch, if you don¡¯t mind. It¡¯s a bit better than the keyrign.¡±

    ¡°Me too?¡± Indi asked hopeful, even though she had no idea how to fight with a knife.

    Kass handed the knives out and torch.

    ¡°Let¡¯s keep moving.¡± Cat instructed.

    They continued through the room and back into the long corridors of the maze.

    It wasn¡¯t long before they reached another room.

    ¡°Is that natural light?¡± Cat asked.

    Tanya turned off the torch. There was indeed a strange glow about this room. They walked forward spreading out, fascinated by the weirdness of it. The walls themselves seemed to glow. They gave off enough light to see without the torch.

    ¡°They¡¯re some type of bug,¡± Indi exclaimed peering closely at the wall.

    ¡°Eugh,¡± Kass made a disgusted face.

    ¡°They¡¯re all in the corridor too¡± Cat said indicating the exit in the opposite wall. A second exit lay, much darker along the left-hand wall.

    ¡°At least this room seems safe,¡± Tanya mused.

    Cat gave her a sharp glance before looking around the room as if searching for hidden cameras. ¡°Not that I¡¯m superstitious but it might be best not to say things like that.¡±

    ¡°Good point.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re kind of cute¡± Indi remarked, her face inches from one of fluorescent, caterpillar like creatures.

    Kass screwed up her nose and gave a soft laugh.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get so close,¡± Cat warned. ¡°You don''t know what those things are.¡±

    Indi backed off, if only a little. ¡°You ever seen anything like this? I¡¯ve heard of caterpillars that can glow. I¡¯ve never seen one before though.¡±

    ¡°They are pretty cool,¡± Tanya mused. She stopped to look at the one Indi was studying.

    Kass walked a few feet into the well-lit exit and peered around the corner to see where it went. She returned seconds later and stood waiting just beyond the threshold for the others. ¡°I think there are lights this way, proper torches on the walls further down.¡±

    Cat joined her and peered around the corner. She gave a nod then turned back to the others with an impatient look. ¡°Guys we need to keep moving.¡±

    ¡°Yeah alright.¡± Indi replied as she started to move slowly towards the exit, still fascinated by the fluorescent caterpillars.

    Tanya followed close behind.

    Satisfied the others were following, Kass and Cat continued onwards. Half way down the corridor they passed a T junction. Unable to see anything down the side corridor they walked past it and kept moving straight towards the light.

    Indi and Tanya had almost reached the junction when Indi felt a sharp pain in her head.

    ¡°Ow,¡± she placed her hands on her temples.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Tanya asked.

    ¡°Headache,¡± Indi replied

    At that moment Cat happened to glance back.

    ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± She asked, noticing they¡¯d stopped.

    Before they could answer, a shape stepped out from the side corridor blocking the way for Indi and Tanya. It was white like the moon and its¡¯ skin was like rubber or hairless flesh. It walked on all fours but its¡¯ legs weren¡¯t like any normal animal. They bent in the wrong places. It gave a low growl. It was looking at Indi and Tanya.

    ¡°Here kitty kitty!¡± Cat called, drawing its attention her way.

    ¡°Get ready to run.¡± she whispered to Kass, then yelled to Indi and Tanya. ¡°Back into the room, slowly.¡±

    Cat took a few steps backward, waving her arms as she did.

    The Mimic swung its head from group to group, trying to decide who to go for, sniffing the air and tilting it¡¯s hairless head. It took a few steps towards Kass and Cat. Then it¡¯s nose brought it back to Indi and Tanya. Cat stamped her foot on the ground and yelled at it some more. It started in her direction. Noisy targets were always more appealing.

    ¡°Run!¡± Cat commanded to Kass, then took off in a sprint away from the Mimic.

    Kass started to follow then stopped and turned back to face it. She held her hands up.

    ¡°Back into the room!¡± Kass repeated Cat¡¯s command at Indi and Tanya ¡°Now.¡±

    Indi still had her hands to her head. Tanya grabbed her by the shoulders and they moved at a consistent brisk pace back they way they had come.

    The creature turned to look at them. Its¡¯ whole body swayed from foot to foot like the tail of a cat. Then it turned its face back on Kass. She was close enough now that even in the dim light she could make out the whiteness of its eyes. It was blind. When it turned its head it was listening.

    It raised its nose to the air and sniffed, turning its head back the way Indi and Tanya had gone.

    ¡°Kass?¡± Cat yelled. She¡¯d stopped when she realised Kass wasn¡¯t following.

    ¡°Just stay back,¡± Kass ordered. ¡°I¡¯ve got this one.¡± Kass stomped her foot loudly on the floor a few times. That got its attention. It turned back towards her.

    She took a few loud steps toward it.

    ¡°Kass!¡± Cat warned.

    Kass ignored her and took another loud step.

    The Mimic gave a low growl and leapt toward her.

    Kass raised her hand and swiped sideways as if to slap it out of the air. The Mimic was still metres from her when it went flying sideways into the wall. It screamed like a human. The sound surprised Kass who dropped her arm. The Mimic recovered quickly and leapt towards her again. Kass raised her arm but her magic was inconsistent. She had little practice using it and no control. It took her a second try before she managed to throw the creature back again. That time had almost been too close. Then a second Mimic emerged from around the corner and another a moment later.

    Kass took a step backwards. More started to appear. Hopefully Indi and Tanya had managed to retreat far enough. Time to go. Find a safe place, then find the others. Maybe she could lead these ones away. She gave the horde that was pouring around the corner one last burst of energy to send them all flying out into the walls, before turning and running after Cat.

    ¡°Run,¡± she yelled at Cat but Cat didn¡¯t need to be told twice.

    They sprinted towards the light which seemed to be coming from a room. As Cat ran across the threshold a large stone block started to descend in the doorway.

    Cat stopped and turned around at the sound of grinding stone.

    Kass¡¯s eyes widened as she realised how fast it was coming down. It was going to be a close one. She sped up as much as she could, suddenly extremely glad for all those mornings she¡¯d spent swimming, and at how rapidly Tanya¡¯s magic had healed her ankle.

    The block was almost to the ground, barely enough space for one person. Kass slid feet first beneath it. Looking up she saw it coming down and for a moment it seemed to freeze in place just enough for her to make it under. She felt the air it pushed out on her face as it slammed down.

 Chapter 27: Look Ma, No Ropes

    ¡°Close one¡± Cat remarked.

    Kass sat up and took a moment to get her breath back. Once she could breathe again she looked around the room. It was maybe 10 metres wide by 20 metres across. There was an open doorway across the room and torches on the walls. Everything was made of stone, and ornate carvings lined the walls.

    ¡°Here kitty kitty?¡± Kass asked between a few welcome deep breaths.

    Cat shrugged. ¡°What? It worked.¡±

    ¡°They didn¡¯t put out the fire,¡± Kass noted.

    ¡°No,¡± Cat agreed ¡°Seems they only affect electricity. Well at least we know Amanda and whomever she¡¯s with are probably fine.¡±

    Cat stared at the door. ¡°How far back do you think they got?¡±

    Kass shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°We need to get to them. Indi¡¯s shield will be useless if they make her pass out. Tanya¡¯s healing won¡¯t be enough if the whole horde goes for her.¡± Cat ran a hand through her hair, thinking.

    ¡°Maybe Indi will be able to tune them out,¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°Maybe, let¡¯s hope she leans fast. That was a risky move you pulled back there, but a good one.¡±

    Kass nodded in acknowledgement. Compliments from Cat were rare.

    Cat watched her awhile then added, ¡°That said, we wouldn¡¯t be here if you hadn¡¯t been flirting with my brother.¡±

    Kass groaned and got to her feet. ¡°Cat, I . . .¡±

    Before she could finish Cat was up in her face. Kass instinctively took a step backwards. Cat followed and Kass quickly found herself backing into the wall. Cat put an arm out, palm against the wall so Kass couldn¡¯t move sideways.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Kass whispered.

    ¡°When we get out of here if you go near him, I will beat the crap out of you, got it.¡±

    Kass nodded.

    Cat seemed satisfied. She took a step back and looked around the room. ¡°Where do we go from here?¡±

    Sirius found himself in a corridor with a strange glow about it. Fluorescent green moss lined the walls. He looked up at the broken ceiling. It was too high to bash back up through. He¡¯d have to find Falco another way. Between some of the green moss were streaks of blue. Closer inspection revealed them to be caterpillars. Strange, but at least they gave off some light in the otherwise unlit corridor. He looked left then right and took a moment to listen. It was unusually quiet. He couldn¡¯t even hear any sounds from above. There was something else though. He could just make out a faint drip. Water? Maybe he could follow it out? He started walking towards the sound.

    ¡°Do you think they¡¯re following us?¡± Indi asked Tanya as they stopped at an intersection for a moment to catch their breath.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Better we don¡¯t stop for too long. Which way do we go?¡±

    ¡°We came from that way,¡± Indi pointed, ¡°but I don¡¯t know if we should completely backtrack or try a different way?¡±

    ¡°You remember the way we came?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I can remember it perfectly, photographic memory.¡±

    ¡°Then maybe we should go back to the start.¡±

    ¡°Past that cavern at the start of the acid maze?¡±

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s repaired itself.¡±

    ¡°Then what? We''d still be two floors down.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know but we need to make a decision.¡±

    ¡°Do you think the others got away?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Tanya took a hesitant step towards the corridor that led back to the acid maze. ¡°What Angelic said before, I¡¯ve heard other stories of vampires who can tune out the effect of the mimics so I think it is possible to do. I couldn¡¯t tell you how to do it exactly but I could try...¡±

    ¡°What you did before, when you grabbed my arm?¡± Indi asked ¡°For a bit I couldn¡¯t feel anything.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, to some extent I can mess with brain chemistry, but it¡¯s risky, I don¡¯t really know what I¡¯m doing and it doesn¡¯t last very long.¡±

    ¡°My brother can change how someone feels. Not so much physically, more emotionally, but he can reduce pain somewhat too or at least one¡¯s perception of it.¡±

    ¡°Well the physical and emotional are somewhat interlinked. Is he an empath?¡±

    Indi nodded then moved towards the other corridor. ¡°I don¡¯t think we should go that way. I think we should try something new.¡±

    Tanya sighed but started towards Indi¡¯s corridor anyway. ¡°This seems like a terrible idea.¡±

    ¡°Maybe¡± Indi agreed as she started walking. ¡°But on the bright side we might get to see cool new places before we get killed.¡±

    The corridor wound around until it seemed like they were going in circles. It must have had a slant to it but the floor was so uneven that it was hard to tell if they were going up or down. Large cracks lined the walls, almost big enough to crawl through.

    Indi ran her hands along the wall. It felt wet and mossy. Silence filled the corridor if it could even be called that anymore. The place felt more like a cave. Even the sound reminded Indi of somewhere more natural rather than man made. Somewhere in the distance a dripping sound echoed and she wasn¡¯t sure but it almost felt as if there was a slight breeze. She ended up so focused on the sounds and sense of the place that it would have been impossible for her to miss the new sound that suddenly seemed to fill the space in her head. A screech and sharp pain. Footsteps, hundreds of them. How close?

    ¡°Ow,¡± She grabbed at her head.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Tanya asked ¡°Are they coming?¡±

    Indi nodded and caught sight of a possible escape. ¡°Quick, in here!¡± she ordered as she struggled to fit into one of the large cracks which lined the walls.

    Tanya followed quickly behind. It was a squeeze but they managed to get far enough in that they wouldn¡¯t be obvious from the outside. Neither woman made a sound as the creatures approached.

    Indi¡¯s head burned hotter and hotter but she remained silent and tried to focus on the cool rocks beneath her hands. She must not scream. Eventually it was too much and she felt herself slip away into welcoming unconsciousness.

    Cat led the way, walking like some kind of angry warrior. Kass followed with quick small steps, eyes cast downwards half watching Cat¡¯s feet, half lost in thought. A little too lost in thought. When Cat stopped suddenly at yet another junction Kass almost walked into her. Cat shot her a dark glance but Kass missed it by refusing to meet Cat¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Listen!¡± Cat said.

    ¡°Is that a river? We should see if we can find it.¡±

    Cat frowned. Her mind filled with images of a dark underground torrent of destruction snaking its¡¯ way through gaps too tight to fit a person. But she knew Kass was right and Cat already felt thirsty. Still she hesitated. A river in this place would most likely be found deeper in, not the direction they wanted to go.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯ll lead us out,¡± Kass said hopeful.

    Cat frowned again. ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°All rivers lead to the sea.¡±

    ¡°Except there¡¯s no sea around here. It¡¯s desert for miles.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s better than nothing,¡± Kass said softly. ¡°There might be an opening.¡±

    ¡°Better than nothing is finding Amanda. We don¡¯t have a shit show without her.¡± Cat curled her hands into fists.

    ¡°People go caving out here remember. If we find an exit we can get help.¡± Kass fiddled with the cuffs of her shirt and wished she had a cigarette.

    Cat stood her ground still hesitant to walk towards the sound of water.

    ¡°It¡¯s just as likely to not lead out at all. Maybe if we had Indi she could tell us if there were any cave exits around here or Sirius, he knows his rivers, or Wolf, or... well probably not Zephyr..., Amanda¡¯s the one who caves anyway so she¡¯s still our best bet.¡±

    ¡°Is it Zeph¡¯s baby?¡± Kass interrupted.

    ¡°No.¡± Cat turned away to consider their options again.

    ¡°How do you know?¡±

    ¡°I just know. Timing. You know.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°For what?¡± Cat asked more resigned and in a softer tone than earlier.

    Kass leaned against the wall and looked back down the way they had come but didn¡¯t reply.

    Cat glanced at her but once again Kass didn¡¯t meet her eyes. They needed to keep moving.

    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    ¡°Are you afraid?¡± Kass asked after a bit of silence.

    Cat turned to look back at her again not sure if Kass was talking about the baby.

    ¡°Of the water?¡± This time Kass met her eyes. It was a simple and honest question but there was something else to it, something deeper, a challenge.

    ¡°No.¡± Cat turned back to face the corridor squared her jaw, took a step forward, and started walking again, towards the sound of water.

    Kass kicked off the wall and followed quietly behind.

    Falco wasn¡¯t sure how long he¡¯d been sitting against the wall. He¡¯d tried yelling for Sirius to no avail and he didn¡¯t want to keep at it for too long in case something other than Sirius heard him. What to do? He thought about a list of possible solutions. Given the size of the place and the way things randomly shifted about there didn¡¯t seem any more sense in staying put over moving about. If anything the best solution was most likely to be to focus on getting himself out of the place and finding help. He didn¡¯t like the idea of leaving Indi behind though. It probably didn¡¯t matter either way. He had as much chance of finding Indi as he did at getting out. Maybe if he kept moving he¡¯d find something useful. At the very least he¡¯d feel like he was doing something. He sighed and picked himself up. Just as he did a different wall up ahead opened up. He stood very still and listened carefully. Oh what the hell, he might as well check it out. It was better than waiting here. Eventually, he found the tunnel narrowing and becoming more like a natural cave. He kept pushing on regardless. Was that whispers he heard up ahead?

    Indi slowly came around and was surprised to find herself still in one piece. She reached out sideways and felt the cool dampness of the rock wall.

    ¡°Indi?¡± Tanya whispered.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°You alright?¡±

    ¡°What happened? Did they go?¡±

    ¡°They went right by us. They didn¡¯t even look in here.¡±

    ¡°What do we do now?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Just then they heard movement from further in the crack. Both of them stopped whispering and became completely silent until they heard a familiar voice speak.

    ¡°Indi, is that you?¡±

    ¡°Falco?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Wait, it could be a trap,¡± Tanya warned.

    ¡°If it¡¯s a trap we¡¯re already in it.¡± Indi explained tiredly.

    ¡°It¡¯s me I swear¡± Falco replied.

    ¡°But how do you know it¡¯s us?¡± Tanya asked.

    ¡°I could hear you, you¡¯re not as quiet as you think.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d you know we weren¡¯t Mimics.¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°Mimics?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s what the creatures are.¡± Tanya told him.

    ¡°They make sounds like people so they can lure you in. You know, Mimics¡± Indi added.

    ¡°Oh, well I didn¡¯t know that.¡±

    ¡°Well at least you know now.¡± Tanya replied.

    ¡°Where are you?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m trying to get though but it¡¯s a bit tight¡± Falco explained.

    Indi moved further in, reaching around in the darkness. Eventually she grabbed a hand. It was warm and larger than hers, and very familiar. ¡°Found you,¡± she whispered happily.

    ¡°Are you okay? Where are the others?¡± he asked.

    ¡°We got separated,¡± Tanya replied.

    ¡°Us too.¡± Falco tried to wriggle further in. ¡°It gets quite tight here, I¡¯m not sure I can fit though.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing this way anyway, it¡¯s probably better for us to come over to your side.¡± Indi replied still holding his hand across the tight portion of the tunnel.

    ¡°There¡¯s not much this way either.¡±

    ¡°Maybe we can go back to where we last saw Cat and Kass,¡± Tanya suggested.

    ¡°What about the creatures?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°Well they passed by us before and they don¡¯t seem to stay in one place so maybe where they¡¯ve just been isn¡¯t the worst place to go?¡±

    ¡°Sure, maybe.¡±

    ¡°Assuming I can get through here¡± Falco added.

    ¡°I can help.¡± Indi reached for his hand. ¡°I¡¯ll pull.¡±

    They struggled for a bit, Indi pulling, Falco pushing.

    ¡°Hold up,¡± Falco said. ¡°I think I just need to find the right angle.¡±

    Indi stopped pulling but she didn¡¯t let go. She was afraid if she did he¡¯d disappear or the wall would slam between them. Unfortunately her hand was now getting in his way.

    ¡°Indi . . .¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t . . .¡± she started.

    He sighed. ¡°I know.¡± He squeezed her hand tighter and tried to get though with one hand free. With a bit more pushing eventually he managed it. ¡°Pheww,¡± he breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Now where?¡±

    ¡°This way¡± Tanya inched slowly out from the crack, making sure to peer carefully down the corridor with the torch before emerging.

    ¡°You guys have a toch,¡± Falco commented.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°We won it in a fight,¡± Tanya said in a tone that made it impossible for Falco to tell if she was joking. ¡°Shall we?¡± she added.

    Indi nodded as she and then Falco stepped into the corridor.

    They set off back past the glow in the dark fungi, back towards where they had last seen Kass and Cat.

    ¡°Whoa, trippy,¡± Falco remarked as they passed through the glowing room ¡°What is this stuff?¡±

    ¡°I know it¡¯s cool right!¡± Indi paused, unable to help herself from stopping to take another look at the weird fungi.

    ¡°Yeah, weird,¡± Falco agreed, leaning in next to her to have a look.

    ¡°Guys!¡± Tanya prompted.

    ¡°Right¡± Falco agreed, straightening up and starting moving again. Seeing Indi was still fixated by the fungi he gently grabbed her. ¡°Come on Indi, let¡¯s keep moving.¡±

    She nodded and they followed Tanya around the corner.

    ¡°This stuff is everywhere,¡± Falco commented.

    ¡°Yeah, but something¡¯s different,¡± Tanya paused.

    ¡°The torches aren¡¯t there¡± Indi answered, but as they got closer she saw the real problem. ¡°The wall¡¯s still sealed off.

    ¡°That¡¯s the way they went? Cat and Kass?¡± Falco asked.

    Indi nodded.

    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Tanya asked.

    Indi looked back the way they had come. ¡°We try the other corridor.¡±

    ¡°The one the creatures came from?¡± Tanya¡¯s voice went up an octave.

    Indi nodded then paused. ¡°How do. . . how do you think the other vampires tune the mimics out?¡±

    ¡°Tune mimics out?¡± Falco asked.

    Indi nodded ¡°They emit a high pitched sound. It affects vampires. It gives me headaches.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re the cause of your headaches?¡±

    Indi nodded then turned to Tanya ¡°I know you said you didn¡¯t know, but if you had a theory about how it worked.¡±

    Tanya shook her head sadly. ¡°If I had a theory . . . well, I don¡¯t know, I guess, if I had to guess, it would be a bit like tuning out a mindwalker.¡±

    ¡°People can tune out mindwalkers?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°Sure, not often, it depends on the mindwalker and on the person. I mean I¡¯ve met mindwalkers who can only read what you¡¯re currently thinking about, and,¡± Tanya blushed, ¡°ones who can read a lot more, but I¡¯ve never been able to reduce what they could normally see, not that I¡¯m aware of it anyway. I did meet a guy once who could though. A mindwalker at the time confirmed it. He said it was like having doors in your mind and just deciding to close or open them.¡±

    ¡°Sly always said some people could fight back against emotional manipulation but I don¡¯t know how they did it.¡± Indi replied then added for Tanya¡¯s benefit, ¡°my brother I mean.¡±

    ¡°The empath?¡± Tanya confirmed.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Well hopefully you don¡¯t get the chance to practice with the mimics,¡± Falco said. ¡°Shall we keep moving?¡±

    The women nodded and all three of them entered the unknown corridor.

    ¡°That¡¯s a long way down,¡± Cat remarked.

    They had found the source of the water. A side door in the corridor they had been following entered into a silo. They now stood on a platform nearer the top of the room. Quite a way below them they could see water. Across the other side of the room, a little above the level of the water was another platform with a door leading out. To their left, and out of a hole in the side of the wall flowed a small stream of water.

    ¡°It¡¯s about ten or fifteen metres,¡± Kass replied. ¡°Not too high to jump.¡±

    Cat gave a short laugh. ¡°Because going deeper into this hellhole sounds like such a great idea.¡±

    ¡°It must go somewhere,¡± Kass replied. ¡°Someone built this.¡±

    ¡°Yeah and they¡¯re probably dead. Long ago. Let¡¯s keep going.¡±

    ¡°There are torches down there.¡±

    ¡°So? There were torches this way too. We go down there, there¡¯s no guarantee we¡¯ll be able to get back up. And you have no idea how deep that is.¡±

    Kass was quiet for a moment. After a few seconds she replied, ¡°Yeah I guess.¡±

    Cat nodded. She was glad not to have to leap down in to the void of murky wetness. However as she turned to head out the only door she found it blocked by one of the Mimics. ¡°Uh oh.¡±

    Kass¡¯s eyes widened. The creature tilted its head in an oddly jerky motion, like its neck was some kind of clock that kept getting stuck. It looked from one of them to the other, deciding. A moment later another appeared in the doorway behind it.

    ¡°Um, looks like it¡¯s down after all.¡± Kass took a wary step backwards, towards the edge.

    Cat froze.

    Kass inched herself closer to the edge and peered over cautiously. She kept one eye on the mimics.

    The mimics took a step towards them.

    ¡°Cat? We have to jump.¡±

    Cat¡¯s eyebrows knotted together in thought. Her eyes shifted around the room looking for another way out. Anything but jumping.

    ¡°Cat!¡±

    Cat didn¡¯t move her feet. Her hand itched by her side, searching for a weapon. The knife! She¡¯d put it in her back pocket. She could fight.

    ¡°Cat you can¡¯t fight them all.¡±

    Another mimic rounded the corner. Then another.

    Kass glanced back over the edge then back at the mimics. Cat stood between her and them. No way she could throw them about without hurting Cat. She looked back and forth between them one more time before making up her mind. She turned and leaped off the edge.

    Cat heard the splash. She pulled the knife from her back pocket, ready for a fight. The Mimics didn¡¯t attack just yet but they inched ever so much closer.

    A fifth mimic rounded the corner.

    Cat felt something hit her body. The force knocked the knife from her hand and over the edge she went. Cat fought. She scratched at it and pushed at it as much as she could mange as gravity pulled them down. But as they went under, Cat forgot all about the thing holding her. Her first instinct was to freeze up. Then when she found herself still underwater her focus shifted to struggling to get out. She tried to breathe but there was water in the way. She thrashed out in all directions. She tried to suck in a mouthful and choked. It seemed like an eternity. Everything was dark. She didn¡¯t know which way to even struggle. She felt hands pull or push her up, she wasn¡¯t sure, and then there was air. She took in a deep coughing breath. She needed to survive. She grabbed at anything and everything close as she slipped back under. Hands grabbed at her but they seemed to be having difficulty getting a hold.

    ¡°Cat, stop struggling!¡± she heard Kass yell from far away, as her head surfaced again.

    Panic had a hold of her. No, someone else. She was coughing and spluttering. She couldn¡¯t breathe. She needed to get out. Arms wrapped themselves around her. Tried to pull her down. Or was it up? She couldn¡¯t move. Water hit her face. Where were her arms?

    ¡°Cat I¡¯ve got you.¡±

    Sirius was there. Why was Sirius there? When? She breathed in a gulp of air and immediately coughed then realised she hadn¡¯t slipped under in a few seconds now. She still struggled in the water. She needed to stay up. She needed to get to shore. She needed these arms off her.

    ¡°Kass, lift us up.¡±

    Sirius again. The world came into focus a bit more and she realised it was Sirius holding her out of the water while he struggled to keep his own head up.

    ¡°I can¡¯t, I might throw you too high.¡±

    ¡°Just do ...¡± Sirius sank under the water briefly. Cat struggled and yelped as she too seemed to sink down with him. He resurfaced coughing. ¡°...it. Cat stop struggling. Kass it doesn¡¯t matter. Just lift us...(glug)... up and keep us up. Gently. Take your time. Focus. Cat stop!¡±

    Cat couldn¡¯t help moving. She was afraid if she stopped she¡¯d sink back down. She was afraid if she stopped kicking something would grab her and drag her down. She just wanted him to release her. Even with her head above the water Cat was running out of air.

    The water level dropped. Sirius kept his grip on Cat as they were lifted. He was glad she was only half focused. A focused Cat would have planned her hits better and might have done some real damage but this Cat just threw her arms around aimlessly. She was still a handful but Sirius was much stronger.

    ¡°Nice work Kass, keep going, you can do this.¡± He encouraged her in the hopes that a bit of belief might help her maintain this level of control.

    Kass used her powers to raise them up very slowly and then move them towards dry ground. The sooner they got up on land the better.

    Sirius could feel Cat breathing way too fast but he didn¡¯t want to rush Kass. As soon as they were fully out of the water Cat relaxed and stopped fighting him and went almost limp like she was out of energy. If not for her rapid breathing Sirius might have assumed she¡¯d passed out.

    ¡°Nice, just drop us here¡± Sirius said once Kass had them over dry land about a metre up.

    ¡°Just..?¡±

    ¡°Just drop us.¡± Sirius nodded.

    Kass released her powers. Sirius was ready. He landed on his feet, still holding Cat up. He lowered her gently to the ground once he had his footing. She flopped down, her knees curled under her, her arms splayed out, her elbows propped her up, her head hung inches from the wet rock. She breathed in deeply. Her whole body shook.

    ¡°Cat?¡±

    She didn¡¯t reply.

    ¡°Maybe give her some space?¡± Kass suggested. She twisted her hands together and shifted slowly in place.

    ¡°Cat? Are you okay?¡± Sirius got as close as he thought he should given that Kass was probably right and Cat likely didn¡¯t want to feel any more suffocated right now. To his relief Cat nodded. For a couple of minutes they sat there in silence.

    Cat finally spoke. ¡°Where did you come from?¡±

    Sirius smiled. ¡°From above. You didn¡¯t look up when you came in, there was a hole just above the door. I arrived just as the mimics did.¡±

    Cat nodded. ¡°Well I can¡¯t fault the timing but you could have warned be before you threw me off a cliff.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t really have time.¡±

    Cat gave a half laugh half cough.

    Sirius breathed a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Should we get out of here?¡± Kass asked. She was looking back up at the ledge they had jumped from. The mimics were crowded around the edge. One had fallen down into the water but had had trouble getting out and had long since disappeared beneath the surface.

    Cat nodded.

    ¡°They didn¡¯t cause the lights to go out.¡± Sirius wondered aloud.

    ¡°They don¡¯t affect fire¡± Kass replied.

    The change in Sirius¡¯s posture was instantaneous, as if he¡¯d been carrying a weight around and all of a sudden it had been lifted off him.

    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s get moving¡± he said with more hope in his voice.

 Chapter 28: Knot Your Notes

    ¡°Another trap room?¡± Wolf asked.

    He¡¯d transformed back into human form when they¡¯d reached another obvious doorway marking the entrance to a long narrow room.

    ¡°Looks like it.¡± Amanda nodded.

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s safe to go in?¡±

    Amanda shrugged. ¡°See those holes along the walls?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Stay behind me, both of you, single file.¡±

    Wolf nodded.

    Zephyr pulled himself off the wall where he¡¯d been briefly resting and fell in line behind the others.

    Amanda gave a firm nod and walked forward into the room.

    Once they were all inside the rock wall ground shut behind them, slamming into the other wall side with a mighty crash. Even though he knew it was coming Zephyr still jumped. He glanced back towards it with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

    Amanda kept walking forward undeterred. She held up her hands.

    Small darts shot out of one of the holes which lined the walls either side of them. Flames erupted up along the walls, burning up the darts before they could reach them.

    They remained untouched in the centre of the room. Zephyr could feel the heat, but the way it burned and the rate at which the darts got eaten by the fire the second they touched it, made Zephyr think that the flames should have felt much much hotter.

    Eventually they made it to the other side of the room. The doorway there was open. They passed though it without anymore trouble.

    ¡°We¡¯re done mucking around,¡± Amanda said firmly.

    ¡°Is that what we were doing before?¡± Wolf asked slyly, eyebrow cocked. ¡°Mucking around?¡±

    Amanda pushed her lips together. ¡°Let¡¯s just find the others.¡±

    Wolf nodded and changed back into his wolf form.

    Cat habitually wrung out her hair as they walked. She hated when it was wet. If it wasn¡¯t for social standards regarding cleanliness she would never wash it at all. Well, that and all the damn car grease that always ended up in it at the end of a regular work day, although lately she¡¯d found this great shampoo that didn¡¯t need water at all. Unfortunately it didn¡¯t always work on every substance that somehow managed to find its way into her hair but she¡¯d managed to cut down on needing to get her hair wet considerably.

    Sirius led the way. Kass followed behind with quick short steps. Cat took up the back. Kass glanced back every now and again, just quick short, but curious glances. ¡®Shit,¡¯ Cat thought, Kass was worrying almost as much as Indi usually did.

    They reached a 3-way intersection. Sirius stopped. ¡°Which way?¡±

    ¡°Up?¡± Kass suggested with a hint of delirium and a soft laugh.

    ¡°Oh now you want to go up¡± Cat snarked from the back and was surprised when Kass actually gave her a gentle smile.

    ¡°Well up¡¯s not really an option,¡± Sirius replied, giving a half tired smile.

    ¡°There¡¯s not really any difference between these options,¡± Cat added more serious this time.

    ¡°Split up?¡± Kass suggested. Another smile.

    That was a second joke from Kass. It was so unusual that both Cat and Sirius turned to stare at her for a moment. Kass blushed, but Sirius just burst into laughter and Cat smiled. Not that half smirk she often did but a whole genuine smile. Kass¡¯s blush just got deeper.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go right,¡± Cat said deciding just to pick one.

    Sirius shook his head. ¡±Straight.¡±

    Cat frowned. ¡°Are you just being difficult?¡±

    Sirius shook his head. ¡°I got a good feeling.¡±

    ¡°Right¡¯s back towards the start.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    Cat hesitated.

    ¡°How about left?¡± Kass suggested, daring to make another deadpan quip.

    Cat snorted.

    ¡°Rock, paper, scissors?¡± Sirius suggested.

    Cat held out a fist. So did Kass. Sirius won. They went straight.

    A circular room awaited them. In the middle, a grand piano. It was old, and covered in dust and cobwebs.

    As usual the second they were all in the room the entrance slid closed trapping them inside. They waited but nothing else happened. Sirius walked over to the piano and inspected it closely being careful not to touch it.

    Cat did the same, even checking under the thing.

    Kass stood still in front of the piano. ¡°There¡¯s a sheet of music.¡±

    Cat and Sirius stopped their investigating and returned to the front of the piano.

    ¡°Do you think we have to play it?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Kass took a seat in front of the piano. She looked back up at Sirius. Sirius nodded encouragingly.

    She placed her hands softly above the keys. She took a deep breath and skimmed over the notes with her eyes. When she was ready she pressed the first key and immediately pulled her hand back as if snake bit.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Sirius asked.

    ¡°The note¡¯s wrong.¡± Kass replied unsure.

    A click sounded somewhere up above them, and the ceiling dropped. It was only a few inches and it stopped after doing so, but it was a visible movement. Nobody moved for at least several seconds.

    ¡°Wait¡± Cat said noticing something. She walked over to the wall. Lines were cut into the stone. ¡°Press another note.¡±

    ¡°Press another one?¡± Kass repeated. She looked at Sirius for confirmation.

    Sirius shrugged and nodded.

    Kass paused, staring at the keys, giving it some thought. Finally she picked a note.

    ¡°Nothing happened.¡± Cat observed.

    ¡°Because that was the right note.¡± Kass replied. She paused a second and then pressed a different one.

    A click sounded, and the ceiling fell.

    ¡°It falls exactly one mark each time.¡± Cat observed sounding pleased.

    Sirius frowned. ¡°One mark for every incorrect note. Do you know which are the right ones?¡± he asked Kass.

    Kass nodded. ¡°I think the notes are all just shifted.¡±

    ¡°Can you play the whole thing?¡± Cat asked.

    Kass nodded but she didn¡¯t immediately start playing.

    ¡°What are you waiting for?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Quiet. I¡¯m thinking¡± Kass ordered, in that naturally soft voice of hers.

    And so they were quiet, much to Cat¡¯s impatience.

    Eventually Kass hovered her hand over the keys and started playing.

    She made one mistake about two thirds of the way through and cursed under her breath in response but continued playing. The ceiling dropped in response but Kass kept on, finishing the rest of the piece flawlessly.

    Nothing happened.

    ¡°It didn¡¯t work? Because of the mistake?¡± Sirius asked.

    Kass shook her head. ¡°It would have dropped more. I wasn¡¯t sure... I wasn¡¯t sure if I should have started over but it seems like it still worked. It just...¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s on the next page?¡± Cat asked, eyes narrowed.

    Kass turned the page. Another piece, this one looked more complex.

    ¡°Can you play it?¡± Cat asked.

    Kass nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I should redo the last one?¡±

    Cat eyed the ceiling then looked at Kass studying the music. ¡°Just play the next one.¡±

    This time she played she made two mistakes, and the ceiling dropped two more clicks, and nothing else happened. Sirius reached a hesitant hand up where he could now touch the ceiling.

    ¡°There¡¯s one more page,¡± Kass said, reaching to turn it.

    Her face fell. ¡°This one takes two people.¡±

    ¡°Does it matter how fast we play it?¡± Cat asked already guessing the answer, with a nervous glance up at the ceiling that was now in reach if she outstretched her hand.

    Kass nodded. ¡°That last click, it wasn¡¯t a wrong note, I was rushing. But, maybe if we play it slow... I don¡¯t know. It didn¡¯t drop before for the very second note we played, but maybe that was just for the easier song.¡±

    ¡°How hard is it?¡± Sirius asked. Neither he nor Cat could play much beyond ¡®Mary had a little lamb.¡¯

    Amanda had shown Sirius how to play once, just once though, drums and guitar were more her usual instruments of choice.

    Cat¡¯s curiosity had gotten the better of her one day while she was waiting at Coal¡¯s place for him to return and she¡¯d touched a few notes on is piano. It was conveniently at that moment that he¡¯d walked in the door. She had thought he would be mad but instead he¡¯d offered her a lesson.

    Kass gave a sad smile. ¡°If you two sit on the seat and take the left hand side. I¡¯ll stand and play the right hand side. You can each play one hand.¡±

    Cat groaned. Sirius nodded. Kass shifted the stool so they could sit down. She studied the notes, then showed them what to play. They practised with their fingers hovering above the keyboard.

    ¡°I thought that note was G?¡± Cat asked as they were half way through.

    ¡°I told you, they¡¯ve shifted everything on this one,¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure we can do this,¡± Sirius said.

    ¡°Speak for yourself,¡± Cat quipped but she looked equally discouraged.

    ¡°Sure you can. You¡¯ll do fine. Either way I can¡¯t play it by myself.¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°Well you could.¡± Cat remarked wiggling her fingers in the air in reference to Kass¡¯s telekinesis.

    Kass looked mortified at the idea. She shook her head and replied firmly, ¡°No I couldn¡¯t.¡±

    Sirius frowned then stood up. He walked over to where the exit should be, thought for a moment then punched the wall. Bits of stone flew everywhere. He stepped through the hole and out into the hallway. He turned around to smile at the shocked faces of Cat and Kass, and then the ceiling fell in.

    Amanda, Zephyr, and Wolf burned through yet another trap room. Zephyr was almost starting to feel slightly invincible. Wolf led them by his nose, and for awhile Zephyr just assumed it was more for show and Wolf didn¡¯t really know where he was going.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    Then the air started to change. Even Zephyr could smell it. It reminded him of the pond near the school where he¡¯d grown up, all mossy and damp, and cold. The air had been almost warm in the tunnels. Not a comfortable warm but more tepid. As they moved further down the tunnel it changed and took on a fresher feel, almost breezy. Zephyr shivered and hoped the change in temperature was a good sign.

    Amanda seemed to notice it as well, as her face softened from an angry determined look to almost hopeful.

    Eventually they also noticed a change in light. It wasn¡¯t obvious at first, given Amanda¡¯s flame filled the corridor. Amanda noticed it first because in the middle of the corridor she suddenly stopped and cut her flame out. A faint white light cut into the darkness, coming from up ahead, just enough that they could tell it was there, enough that Zephyr could see the faint outline of a smile on Amanda¡¯s face.

    ¡°See that?¡± she whispered.

    Zephyr nodded. Wolf gave an almost pleasant growl.

    She didn¡¯t celebrate yet though. She summoned her flame again and continued on. ¡°Let¡¯s keep moving.¡±

    Kass found herself lying on her back, hands raised, nose only inches from the roof. Cat lay unconscious with her arm draped across Kass¡¯s stomach.

    ¡°Sirius!¡±

    ¡°Kass! You¡¯re alright?¡± Sirius yelled back.

    ¡°Come get Cat. I don¡¯t know how long I can hold this thing.¡± She heard Sirius moving under the ceiling and he must have grabbed Cat by her feet because a few moments later Cat was being dragged off Kass and towards the exit.

    ¡°Can you get out?¡± Sirius yelled back into Kass once he¡¯d gotten Cat out and presumably checked her for injury.

    ¡°Um.¡± Kass wasn¡¯t sure. She was afraid if she moved she might lose control of her magic and the ceiling would crush her but she had another idea which might work. ¡°I¡¯m gonna try something, just keep some distance.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Sirius called back.

    ¡°Okay,¡± Kass whispered to herself. ¡°Here goes nothing.¡±

    She pushed with her mind. The ceiling didn¡¯t budge at first and then it flew upwards at great speed lodging itself several metres above its¡¯ original starting point. Worried that it was about to come crashing back down again, Kass immediately aimed her palms at the air between the wall opposite the exit and herself. With another burst of focus, she pushed herself in the other direction. She half flew, half skidded towards the exit. She felt Sirius¡¯s hands grab at her and pull her out and upright.

    ¡°I got you,¡± he reassured her.

    ¡°You were supposed to stand back,¡± Kass replied breathless and still waiting for the ceiling to crash down. But the ceiling was stuck. Once she realised that, Kass relaxed and attempted to untangle herself from Sirius¡¯s arms.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m good,¡± she said as she made a useless attempt to brush the dirt from the front of her clothes and at the same time realised for the first time how see through her shirt had become after the earlier swim. She wrapped her arms around herself self-consciously.

    Sirius stepped away and dropped down close to where Cat lay unconscious, to recheck on her.

    ¡°Is she alright?¡± Kass asked.

    ¡°She¡¯s breathing.¡±

    Kass nodded and sat down next to the other wall. She pulled her knees up to her chest. ¡°Listen, . . . I wanted to apologise for . . .¡±

    But she was interrupted by a murmur from Cat who seemed to be regaining consciousness.

    Sirius placed one hand on Cat¡¯s shoulder to comfort her. He glanced up at Kass. ¡°I know,¡± he replied before returning his attention to Cat.

    Cat groggily pushed herself up to a sitting position. ¡°How long was I out?¡± she mumbled so incomprehensibly that Sirius asked her to repeat what she¡¯d said. It took her another moment before she managed to speak properly although she still sounded very tired.

    ¡°About a minute or two,¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°Just sit for a bit,¡± Sirius commanded softly.

    They rested for long enough that their clothes became almost completely dry. Whether it had been an hour or several or somewhere in between they couldn¡¯t be sure.

    Even when they stood up to get moving again Cat wobbled on her feet. It was just for a moment but it was enough that Sirius decided he should carry her, much to her dismay. She struggled briefly, enough to argue her point but really she was very tired.

    They walked for what must have been at least another hour.

    ¡°I think we¡¯re going in circles,¡± Kass remarked.

    ¡°We¡¯re not going in circles,¡± Sirius replied.

    ¡°Nah I¡¯m sure I recognised that bit of moss below that last torch.¡± Kass replied in a voice that was altogether far too light-hearted.

    ¡°I think she¡¯s lost it,¡± Cat commented to Sirius.

    Sirius stopped and put Cat down. She was much sturdier on her feet now. She still looked tired but at least this was some improvement.

    Sirius turned back to face Kass. ¡°You alright?¡± he asked.

    She nodded, a more solemn expression on her face now. ¡°I was just . . .¡± she shrugged.

    Sirius looked at her sympathetically.

    ¡°Trying to be the ever-happy Indi?¡± Cat asked, her voice laden with sarcasm, a good sign that she''d recovered from her knock at least.

    ¡°Do you think they¡¯re okay?¡± Kass asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯re fine,¡± Sirius replied, half to reassure himself.

    ¡°Well it¡¯s not like any of them can bust through walls,¡± Cat added with more sarcasm, ¡°so they should be fine.¡±

    Sirius''s face formed an expression of guilt. ¡°I . . .¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± a voice interrupted them from down the hallway.

    They all turned to see a young man in his 20s approaching. Cat reached for her knife, just in case. He didn¡¯t appear to be threatening though. He was dressed in casual shorts and a t-shirt.

    ¡°Oh man, I¡¯ve been lost for hours. Do you know where we are?¡± he asked. He was draped in caving equipment, including a harness, and a well used bag with a rope hanging out of the top.

    They just stared at him.

    ¡°Are you cavers?¡± he asked. He frowned and looked more hesitant as he noticed their clothing and lack of caving equipment.

    ¡°Where are you from?¡± Kass asked.

    ¡°Err, York, England,¡± he replied ¡°we¡¯re on holiday up here. But I seem to have lost my caving partner and my way...¡±

    ¡°Where?¡± Sirius asked.

    ¡°Old world place,¡± Kass whispered. The more loudly she asked the newcomer, ¡°how¡¯d you get here?¡±

    ¡°I was caving with a buddy and we got separated. I thought he was with me then I turned around and he was gone, and well the caves seemed kind of different here so I think I¡¯ve gotten turned around. Do you know the way out?¡±

    ¡°Well, we¡¯re . . .¡± Cat started to reply but just as she did the man vanished. One moment he was there, the next he was gone. ¡°You guys saw that right?¡± Cat asked, unsure if she¡¯d just hallucinated the whole thing.

    ¡°Saw what?¡± Sirius replied but he couldn¡¯t keep a straight face and a moment later a large grin spread across his face.

    Kass rolled her eyes. Cat narrowed hers, now wondering if the whole thing was a joke but with no idea how it had been done.

    Seeing she wasn¡¯t finding it funny Sirius decided to be serious again. ¡°Yeah I saw it. Where¡¯d he go?¡±

    ¡°I think he was a teleporter.¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Cat remarked ¡°Should have grabbed him while he was still here.¡±

    ¡°He wasn¡¯t from this world by the sounds of it. Seems like Wolf was right about the Splice hole. If he really was a porter he might not have known it, in which case it¡¯s probably best you didn¡¯t grab a hold of him. You know over half of porters die before they reach adulthood. Most from jumping into walls and things like that. If he¡¯s a newbie, he¡¯s probably already dead.¡± Kass explained.

    ¡°Pleasant¡± Cat remarked. ¡°What¡¯s the stats on dreamwalkers?¡±

    ¡°Dunno, lower I¡¯d expect, but still non zero.¡±

    Cat thought about it and then nodded. ¡°What¡¯s the stats on people who get their power in their 20s?¡±

    Kass shook her head. ¡°I expect he accidentally stumbled into the Splice and that triggered it. I dunno, ask Wolf when we find him.¡± She paused. ¡°You think Wolf could smell us out?¡±

    Sirius shrugged. ¡°Depends how big this place is.¡±

    ¡°That and we jumped though that pool.¡± Cat added, giving an involuntary shiver at the memory.

    ¡°You know that¡¯s a myth, that dogs lose your scent if you cross the water. They just smell it on the top.¡± Kass corrected.

    Cat narrowed her eyes then rolled them. ¡°More random facts? You really are trying to be like Indi. Well at least that makes me feel better about never using water to outrun dogs.¡±

    Kass smiled softly. ¡°Given how fond of Indi you are that hardly seems like much of an insult.¡±

    Cat shrugged.

    ¡°Technically you¡¯d still have a better chance in the water.¡± Sirius said thoughtfully.

    Cat and Kass looked at him puzzled.

    ¡°Well it¡¯s easier to hold a dog underwater,¡± Sirius explained then added ¡°probably not a werewolf though. I mean, if you had to fight one off.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯d probably be hunting in packs anyway.¡± Cat argued.

    ¡°Let¡¯s keep moving,¡± Kass suggested.

    Cat nodded in agreement.

    Amanda, Zephyr, and Wolf found the source of the light almost suddenly. They came around a bend and the whole left wall fall away.

    Wolf turned back into his human form and stuck his head out the wall. It was a large hole.

    ¡°This looks familiar,¡± Amanda commented.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Zephyr asked.

    Before anyone could reply a piercing scream filled the whole corridor.

    ¡°I¡¯m so tired. Do you think it¡¯s night time?¡± Indi asked. ¡°We¡¯ve been walking for ages. I¡¯m almost wishing for another one of those trap rooms, just to mix it up. Or some more bugs would be cool. Or . . .¡±

    ¡°Indi!¡± Falco warned, then he frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t you have a watch?¡± He glanced at his own.

    She held up her wrist, showing a smashed dial. ¡°Smashed it on the floor when I passed out the first time Cat and I ran into the mimics, although I¡¯m pretty sure it stopped working before that when Cat and I were in the water trap room.¡± She sighed sadly.

    ¡°I¡¯m amazed you haven¡¯t managed to destroy those glasses.¡± Falco observed.

    ¡°They¡¯re good glasses,¡± Indi replied simply. ¡°What time does your watch say?¡±

    ¡°8,¡± Falco replied.

    ¡°AM or PM?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an analog,¡± Falco gave a cheeky smirk then added more seriously ¡°but probably AM, we¡¯ve been here awhile.¡±

    Indi nodded. ¡°No wonder I¡¯m sleepy, it¡¯s morning. And hungry.¡±

    Falco gave a laugh.

    ¡°Man I¡¯d kill for some coffee,¡± Indi added, ¡°a delicious cappuccino with cream on top and those little rainbow sprinkles, and some pancakes, with blueberries, and bacon.¡±

    ¡°Oh stop,¡± Tanya complained, ¡°You¡¯re making me hungry.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m already hungry,¡± Indi replied. ¡°I see how those guys became cannibals.¡±

    Falco gave her a concerned look.

    ¡°Oh I¡¯m just joking, I could never eat you, not in that way anyway.¡± Indi poked her tongue out.

    ¡°What cannibals?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Just some guys that tried to attack us. We took care of them. You don¡¯t want to know the details,¡± Tanya told him.

    That did nothing to alleviate Falco¡¯s concerns. His eyebrows knotted even closer together. ¡°You were attacked?!¡±

    ¡°Yeah but Cat kicked their arses, and Kass too. They were both amazing...¡± Indi¡¯s face fell as she remembered more of the encounter with the three men, but it was important to remain positive so she tried to think of something else. ¡°Did you guys ever hear the story about those guys who crashed their plane in the Alishorn mountains?¡±

    ¡°No but I can remember a much nicer plane crash,¡± Falco replied. He seemed to notice that Indi didn¡¯t want to talk about their earlier encounter.

    ¡°A nice plane crash?¡± Tanya asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s how Indi and I met,¡± Falco replied. ¡°Sort of.¡±

    ¡°In a plane crash?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a bit of a long story¡± Indi added. ¡°We got stuck in the bush but Falco knows all about bush survival so we were fine.¡±

    ¡°No cannibalising necessary,¡° Falco added.

    ¡°Good to hear,¡± Tanya replied with a smile. ¡°What about . . . blood supply though? If you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡±

    ¡°Falco¡¯s a great trapper. I don¡¯t actually drink human blood, haven¡¯t since I was a kid, and I¡¯m half human so it doesn¡¯t make me as tired not to. My brother does. He gets it from the blood banks. He always makes sure it¡¯s the certified stuff, you know, voluntarily given. I just, I couldn¡¯t do it, but I do love a good steak. I¡¯m not sure there¡¯s really much of a difference if you eat enough meat and animal blood anyway. It¡¯s just a taste thing for a lot of vampires, although some people do seem to get more tired than others, so I don¡¯t know. I guess everyone¡¯s different.¡±

    Tanya nodded. ¡°Interesting, thanks for answering.¡±

    ¡°Hey! Is that a light up ahead?¡± Indi suddenly asked.

    ¡°Might be,¡± Falco replied.

    Tanya nodded and sped up her pace. ¡°It¡¯s one of those torches,¡± she said as they approached. ¡°And hey you got your wish for another trap room, possibly.¡±

    In front of them lay a circular stone room. An open door way just on the other side seemed so very close.

    ¡°I only said I almost wanted one.¡± But Indi did seem slightly curious.

    ¡°Should we go another way?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°The last junction was ages back,¡± Tanya complained.

    ¡°We¡¯ve solved the other ones so far,¡± Indi added optimistically, as she poked her head around the edge of the door.

    ¡°Sirius and I didn¡¯t really solve any of them, we¡¯ve just kinda brute forced them so far.¡± Falco replied.

    ¡°Well now you have me.¡± Indi gave an optimistic smile. ¡°We can take a more delicate approach.¡±

    ¡°Mmm,¡± Falco smiled but he didn¡¯t seem completely convinced.

    ¡°We could study it from here,¡± Tanya suggested. ¡°I can see some holes in the walls.¡±

    ¡°Well that¡¯s great but we don¡¯t know what comes out of them.¡± Falco replied.

    ¡°The one I did with Cat was pretty easy.¡± Indi said.

    ¡°There¡¯s no reason to assume this one has an escape.¡± Falco warned.

    ¡°The other one did.¡± Indi moved forward so her toes were over the edge of the threshold. She was almost in the room.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean this one will. Someone is definitely trying to kill us and . . .¡±

    ¡°But they haven¡¯t yet.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, and we don¡¯t know why that is. Doesn¡¯t that worry you?¡±

    ¡°That someone¡¯s not trying to kill us?¡±

    ¡°No, that . . .¡± Falco trailed off, thinking how to word it. ¡°Someone is obviously toying with us. What kind of person does that?¡±

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a test and they¡¯re not trying to kill us?¡±

    ¡°Who would want to test us?¡±

    Indi shrugged. ¡°Maybe Coal . . .¡±

    ¡°Indi, I love you babe, but I don¡¯t think so.¡±

    ¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t really matter does it, as long as they¡¯re giving us a chance we might as well take it? Plus maybe they¡¯re not controlling the traps, remember what Wolf said about the Splice?¡±

    ¡°Are you always this optimistic?¡± Tanya asked Indi.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Falco answered for her.

    Indi smiled. ¡°Well, shall we do this?¡±

    ¡°What if there¡¯s no way out?¡± Falco asked ¡°I don¡¯t want you getting hurt, and I don¡¯t have Sirius to punch through walls anymore.¡±

    ¡°My power¡¯s the best chance we got. Well I mean, Tanya¡¯s is probably pretty good too. But I can shield us if we need.¡±

    ¡°For how long?¡±

    ¡°As long as we need...¡± Indi hesitated, sounding less convinced this time. ¡°I have to believe that.¡±

    Falco sighed. ¡°Against crushing walls?¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Indi swallowed.

    Tanya peered into the room, her mind wandering, thinking of all the things they might find.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do this!¡± Indi said deciding if she didn¡¯t go now she might never, and she stepped forward over the threshold.

    Tanya and Falco, not wanting to be trapped outside of the room, quickly followed behind her. As usual the entrances became closed off once they were in the room. A small circular hole opened in the middle of the floor just big enough for one person. Above them something groaned. The ceiling was covered with long metal spikes and it was slowly lowering itself towards them.

    ¡°Crap.¡± Falco groaned.

    ¡°Quick, check the walls!¡± Indi said as she ran to one of the holes in the wall and peered inside.

    As soon as she put her face in front of the hole there was a click and something was fired into her face. Luckily for her, her first reaction was to summon her shield so the spray hit that first.

    ¡°Whoa!¡± she exclaimed as she stepped back quickly and lowered her shield.

    ¡°What was that? Falco asked

    ¡°It looked like dry ice.¡± Tanya replied incredulously.

    ¡°We have to check the other holes.¡± Indi said as she ran to the next one. She was met with nothing but a repeat of her first experience. She¡¯d been ready for it this time though so had brought her shield up in advance. ¡°Maybe the next one.¡± She ran form hole to hole but found nothing but more dry ice.

    ¡°Indi.¡± Falco called to her. But she was too focused on the puzzle. He glanced up and the ceiling. It was now half way down the room. He nodded to the hole in the floor. ¡°That fits one person.¡±

    Tanya shook her head. ¡°No way, you should take it, I¡¯m a healer, Indi can shield.¡±

    Falco shook his own head in reply. ¡°I¡¯m not leaving Indi up here. She can shield us both and if she can¡¯t well then she probably couldn¡¯t shield herself and I¡¯m not letting her do that alone so you get in.¡±

    Tanya started to object but Falco picked her up and placed her in the hole. ¡°Get down!¡± he ordered.

    Tanya did as she was told.

    ¡°Indi!¡± Falco called to his wife.

    She stepped back from the last hole, slightly crouched to avoid the spikes now. ¡°I can¡¯t find any way out and it keeps speeding up.¡±

    ¡°Come here.¡± he held out his arms. He was forced to his knees. The ceiling was too low.

    Indi ran, bent low, across the room to him and dropped to her knees in his arms. She looked up at him with worry.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to need to shield us both. Hopefully for long enough that the mechanism jams up. Wait until it gets a little closer then you can keep the shield smaller. You can do it.¡± Falco encouraged.

    Indi glanced up nervously. Then down at the hole where Tanya was now lying. ¡°Is there anything in the hole?¡± she asked.

    Tanya looked around but shook her head.

    The ceiling kept coming.

    ¡°Maybe if we lie down? Then we¡¯re facing it.¡± Falco suggested.

    Indi nodded. She lay down next to him and stared up at the ceiling. She gripped his hand tightly.

    Indi wanted to close her eyes but she needed to be ready to shield. The ceiling was so low now it was almost blocking out all the light from the torches which had been set back in crevasses in the walls. Of course! The torches! Maybe she¡¯d missed something there? Well it was too late now. She¡¯d underestimated the speed of the trap.

    The spikes were inches from Falco¡¯s chest. Close enough.

    Indi tried to shield but suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head. The mimics, they were outside. She had to focus.

    She tried again but the pain in her head was unbearable.

    Falco sucked his chest in. ¡°Indi?¡±

    He felt the tips of the spikes touch his skin.

    A slicing sound and scream filled the room.

    The ceiling lifted, returning to its starting position.

 Chapter 29: The Sharp Edge

    Falco sat up confused. He looked at his chest and stomach. He was completely unharmed. The spikes had only touched his skin and then the ceiling had lifted. But where had the scream come from? He looked to Indi. She was curled in a ball, hands to her head mumbling to herself.

    ¡°Must focus, must focus . . .¡±

    ¡°Indi?¡± Falco asked. She appeared otherwise unharmed.

    ¡°I¡¯ve almost got it,¡± she gasped.

    ¡°Got what?¡±

    ¡°I can almost tune out the sound. It hurts but I think I¡¯ve figured it out.¡±

    Falco stared at her not understanding.

    ¡°The mimics,¡± Indi replied. ¡°I can hear them. They¡¯re outside.¡±

    Falco glanced nervously to the doors. Then he looked in the pit and really wished he hadn¡¯t.

    The scream he had heard had been Tanya¡¯s. The box hadn¡¯t been safe after all. When the ceiling had come down and reached its¡¯ lowest point it had simply stopped, but in the box more spikes had appeared. Tanya¡¯s body was punctured from head to toe but somehow she was still moving.

    ¡°Tanya!¡± Falco cried.

    Indi sat up and crawled over to the box to have a look.

    ¡°No.¡± Falco tried to stop her but he was too slow.

    ¡°We have to get her out!¡±

    Falco shooke his head. ¡°She¡¯ll bleed out.¡±

    ¡°She can heal. We have to take her off the spikes.¡±

    Tanya mumbled something but it turned into a bloody cough.

    ¡°What?¡± Falco asked, leaning closer.

    ¡°One . . .¡± her breath rattled.

    ¡°One what?¡± Indi asked also leaning forwards.

    ¡°One . . . one spike¡± Tanya winched in pain. She tried to raise her head.

    Falco reached forward and held her head where she¡¯d raised it to but lifted it no further. Her hair was wet with blood but it didn¡¯t seem to be coming from her head and somehow the spike had missed her brain and gone straight through her cheek instead. He watched in amazement as the skin started to reform over the hole in her jaw.

    ¡°One . . . one at a time,¡± Tanya spluttered.

    ¡°One spike?¡± Falco replied realising what she meant. ¡°We have to move her off slowly, so she can heal without too much blood loss.¡± he told Indi.

    ¡°How slowly?¡±

    Falco just replied with a grimace and turned his attention back to Tanya. Still holding her head he asked, ¡°You ready?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± she rasped.

    Falco lowered his hands to her shoulders, while using his forearms to support her head. He lifted her up a few inches further.

    She winced in pain.

    He gave her a few seconds to heal the worst of it, just enough to stop herself bleeding to death.

    ¡°I might pass out,¡± she whispered.

    ¡°Keep focused. I¡¯ll hold you upright.¡± Falco encouraged her.

    ¡°You can do it!¡± Indi pushed herself on to her knees. ¡°I could help, I could . . .¡± Indi scrambled for words, trying to think of something she could do.

    Falco shook his head.

    Just then the doors to the room opened.

    The dull pain in Indi¡¯s head got immediately worse. She cried out drawing Falco¡¯s attention.

    He glanced at the doorway. ¡°Shit!¡± he mumbled, still holding Tanya up. He¡¯d managed to raise almost her entire upper body off the spikes but there was a lot more to go and the healing, if she could even pull it off would not be a quick process. Now, as if things weren¡¯t bad enough, a group of Mimics stood in the doorway. The good news was they seemed hesitant to enter. What had been a well lit hallway was now dark, but the room they were in still had its torches and the mimics seem reluctant to come further into the light. They waited just within the limits of the shadow.

    Indi stood up to face them. She¡¯d managed to shut the screaming out mostly now although her head still hurt. She raised her hands and summoned her shield. It covered the whole doorway. ¡°Focus on Tanya,¡± she ordered Falco.

    He nodded and returned to the slow process of lifting Tanya from the spikes.

    It took several minutes and Falco was starting to notice that some of the holes weren¡¯t healing as quickly, although she was also bleeding less than he¡¯d have expected. Tanya was drifting in and out of consciousness and whenever she was out the healing seemed to slow down even more, although it didn¡¯t stop completely.

    Eventually he managed to pull her out of the hole and lay her on the ground next to it. He shook his arms to ease the pain in his muscles and tried not to imagine how much worse Tanya felt. She¡¯d been out of consciousness for at least a minute now and several of her wounds were still bleeding slowly. He took his shirt off and starting tearing strips off to work as makeshift bandages.

    Meanwhile Indi was starting to lose focus. This was nearing the longest she¡¯d ever managed to hold a shield up and it was really sapping her energy. She wasn¡¯t sure how much longer she could hold out. Her shield flickered. So did the light in the room.

    One of the torches went out, then another. One by one they all flickered out until only one remained.

    ¡°Falco...¡± Indi called softly. She swayed on her feet. Her shield dropped.

    Falco dashed toward her and managed to catch her as she fell. The last light went out.

    Falco¡¯s first instinct was to freeze. He felt Indi, shifting in his arms. She wasn¡¯t completely out evidently, just energy sapped from using too much magic. ¡°Don¡¯t move,¡± he whispered.

    A soft growl filled the darkness. How was he going to get both Tanya and Indi out of here? Even if he managed to carry them both, the mimics would be on them in a second.

    His thoughts briefly turned darker. He could leave Tanya. She was bleeding and they probably smelt that. As long as he and Indi moved slowly they might make it out. But could he leave someone to that fate? Did he even really have a choice?

    Something brushed past his arm and he involuntary jerked it away. The mimic must have felt him move because out of the darkness something took a swipe at him. He dropped Indi to her hands and knees and pushed back at the mimic. Maybe he could fight them?

    Its sharp claws ripped at him but he was getting the upper hand. He pushed it to the floor and found its neck.

    A second mimic landed on his back. He twisted to try and shake it off. A third pushed its teeth into his side. He roared in pain. Another one joined it. He didn¡¯t know what had happened to Indi now.

    He still squeezed his hands around the neck of the mimic beneath him. He found he could just make out its white chimp like shape now. The room had gotten lighter in the last few seconds and seemed to be getting even more so. He didn¡¯t have time to wonder where it was coming form. It was so light he could stare into the creature¡¯s eyes. There was no colour to them, just white. It probably couldn¡¯t even see him. He kicked out at the ones at his side and rolled. They piled on top of him.

    Suddenly a dark shape leaped over him, collecting a couple of the mimics as it did.

    He lay on his back and barely had time to react as a mimic lunged down toward his face then burst into flames, then nothing but ash. As did another mimic, near his left shoulder. The rest fled in shrieks.

    He sat up, ready for the next one, but there were no more. Only one remained, locked in a fight with a large wolf. The wolf wouldn¡¯t let it go. It had the mimic between its jaws and it shook it like a little toy. Falco turned to check for Indi. She sat hunched not far away, peaking over bloody hands. Her forearms were scratched and bitten but she seemed otherwise okay. Tanya lay on the ground so coated in blood that Falco couldn¡¯t tell if she¡¯d been attacked by the mimics as hard as he had or if it was just the blood she¡¯d lost from the spiked trap. Her chest rose and fell in a slow beat so at least she was alive.

    Amanda crouched over Tanya with a concerned look on her face. Nearby, a beaten up Zephyr was climbing to his feet.

    ¡°Whoa! What a fight!¡± Zephyr breathed, glad to be alive.

    ¡°You two okay?¡± Amanda asked Falco and Indi.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    Falco nodded. He turned to see Indi nodding too, neither seemed to feel like speaking.

    ¡°You took your time getting here quickfoot.¡± Wolf chided Zephyr.

    Zephyr shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t have your strength and I didn¡¯t want to leave Amanda too far behind.¡±

    ¡°Would you two stop bickering and come and help,¡± Amanda ordered. ¡°Check Falco and Indi¡¯s wounds.¡±

    It was then that Falco realized what Amanda was doing. ¡°You¡¯re cauterizing her wounds? Won¡¯t that increase her risk of infection?¡± he asked. It was something he¡¯d always been warned about in training.

    ¡°Infection takes time to set in. Right now she¡¯d bleeding out. Hopefully she can heal an infection later?¡± Amanda¡¯s voice finished in a slight inflection, suggesting she wasn¡¯t completely sure.

    Tanya, who had come around again at least for now, gave a short nod and soft ¡°mmm.¡± She was too tired to answer properly.

    ¡°What about you?¡± Wolf asked Falco as he walked over to check him out.

    Falco finally gave himself the once over. Nothing was bleeding profusely. There was a nasty bite in his side. ¡°Why are you naked?¡± he asked Wolf.

    ¡°Long story,¡± Wolf replied.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Zephyr asked Indi.

    Indi nodded and leaned her head against the wall. ¡°You saved me,¡± she replied with a smile.

    ¡°You saved her?¡± Falco asked.

    Indi nodded again. ¡°He knocked the mimic off me.¡±

    Zephyr grinned proudly.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Falco gave him a nod of approval.

    Amanda had finished cauterizing Tanya¡¯s wounds so she moved on to investigate Falco.

    ¡°He¡¯s not as bad as he looks. Most of the blood seems to be Tanya¡¯s. There¡¯s just that bite.¡± Wolf observed.

    Amanda nodded and frowned. She was trying to decide if it was worth cauterizing. Falco was right, infection thrived on burnt skin so it was usually only worth cauterizing if blood loss was life threatening.

    ¡°I¡¯d just bandage it, it¡¯s not bleeding much.¡± Wolf added.

    Amanda nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Or leave it open,¡± Falco replied. ¡°The air will speed up the healing.¡±

    Amanda frowned, glanced at Tanya, then up at Wolf.

    Wolf shrugged and gave a short laugh. ¡°This place isn¡¯t exactly the cleanest.¡±

    Amanda nodded, eyeing the wound in Falco¡¯s side. ¡°I think you should bandage it.¡±

    Falco groaned but nodded and reached for the remains of his shirt which he¡¯d begun tearing up for Tanya earlier.

    Wolf frowned. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say that¡¯s exactly clean either.¡±

    ¡°Better than nothing,¡± Amanda replied then held her hand out for it. ¡°Give it here, I¡¯ve got an idea.¡±

    Falco handed her the t-shirt.

    She held it in her hands and focused. For a brief few seconds the strip of t-shirt was soaked in flames. She gave it a quick shake. A moment later it was back to its original state, only it did look cleaner. She handed it back to Falco.

    ¡°Nice!¡± he commented, amazed she had enough control to only burn away the dirt.

    Wolf looked impressed too.

    ¡°What happens if you get bitten by a mimic?¡± Zephyr asked.

    No one replied for a moment. Then Indi gave a soft laugh. ¡°You get bit.¡±

    ¡°But . . . if a vampire . . .¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a myth,¡± Indi replied, ¡°and those things aren¡¯t like us anyway.¡±

    ¡°It looks more like a wingless bat really,¡± Wolf observed, looking at the one he¡¯d killed.

    ¡°You need a blood transfusion to become a vampire,¡± Amanda told Zephyr. ¡°It can happen with bites, and saliva, but it¡¯s extremely rare.¡± She gave Indi an apologetic look. Indi didn¡¯t say anything, she just looked slightly sad.

    ¡°How¡¯d you find us?¡± Falco asked, changing the subject.

    ¡°We heard a scream,¡± Wolf explained.

    ¡°Probably Tanya¡¯s,¡± Falco replied, ¡°and you didn¡¯t think it was the mimics?¡±

    ¡°We considered it.¡± Amanda replied ¡°but they don¡¯t seem to pose much of a threat to us.¡± She held up her forearm and summoned a flame as a visual explanation.

    Falco nodded. ¡°Makes sense, now what?¡±

    ¡°Sleep?¡± Indi suggested.

    Amanda nodded. ¡°We should rest awhile. You okay Indi?¡±

    Indi nodded.

    ¡°She used a lot of magic trying to shield us,¡± Falco explained.

    Meanwhile, Wolf was studying the ceiling. ¡°Is this room safe?¡±

    Amanda followed his eyes upwards and grimaced. ¡°Maybe we should move to the hallway?¡±

    ¡°Nah,¡± Falco interrupted. ¡°It¡¯s fine, it doesn¡¯t come all the way down.

    Amanda didn¡¯t look so sure. ¡°All the same.¡± she jerked her head to the exit.

    ¡°We¡¯re going the way you guys came from?¡± Falco asked.

    Amanda nodded. ¡°We found something.¡±

    Falco got unsteadily to his feet with the help of Amanda and Wolf. He turned to see Indi pushing Zephyr¡¯s help away.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to move.¡±Indi complained ¡°Can¡¯t we just sit here for a bit?¡±

    Falco moved over to her. ¡°Let me do it,¡± he told Zephyr. He bent down and picked Indi up. He winced as a sharp pain pierced through his side.

    ¡°No, put me down. Don¡¯t hurt yourself.¡± Indi struggled.

    Wolf intervened, taking Indi from a reluctant Falco. Wolf was exactly the same height as Indi so he put her arm around his shoulder and lowered her feet to the floor then quite comfortably supported a decent portion of her weight.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I can walk,¡± Indi objected.

    Wolf nodded but didn¡¯t remove his support. Indi was too tired to fight him on it. They walked into the hallway and Wolf let her down just outside against the wall.

    Indi laid her head against the wall and closed her eyes. She missed her bed and oh god was she hungry.

    Falco sat down next to her a moment later and she leaned her head on his shoulder. He clutched his side where he¡¯d been bitten.

    Amanda and Zephyr carried Tanya and laid her down on the floor in the corridor. Then they sat down as well. Everyone was quiet.

    Amanda periodically checked Tanya was alive. Tanya seemed to come in and out of consciousness. Eventually she managed to move herself into a sitting position.

    The burns on her body didn¡¯t appear to have healed much but it was likely she¡¯d been busy focusing on the internal injuries.

    She gave a sheepish smile and studied some of the burns. ¡°These are going to take awhile.¡±

    ¡°Sorry.¡± Amanda apologised.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s alright, that was good thinking. Better than bleeding to death. I wasn¡¯t sure I could heal myself up fast enough to stop the bleeding.¡±

    Amanda smiled and studied Tanya¡¯s face, then narrowed her eyes. A small red mark was all that was left of the hole that had been in Tanya¡¯s cheek. ¡°No offence, but you probably shouldn¡¯t have healed the wound in your face before the other wounds.¡±

    ¡°Oh I know, but having a gaping hole in your face is really disconcerting and it was just the first thing I could focus on.¡± Tanya replied then sighed.¡± Your magic¡¯s kind of amazing.¡±

    Amanda gave a brief raise of the eyebrows and a shy smile, unusual for her, but her powers were a soft topic. ¡°Yeah.¡± she agreed softly.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a Firestarter who can control their flames, let alone to the extent that you could cauterize a wound with so little pain.¡±

    ¡°It didn¡¯t hurt?¡± Amanda sounded surprised, maybe even a little worried.

    ¡°Well yeah but not like what I¡¯d expect.¡±

    Amanda seemed to relax and nodded.

    ¡°Your injuries are healed?¡± Zephyr asked Tanya.

    Tanya nodded. ¡°Most of them. I should recover. I just need to rest, and some food would probably help.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately we don¡¯t have any food.¡± Amanda replied.

    Tanya nodded. ¡°I won¡¯t heal too much more. I don¡¯t want to risk overdoing it, in case I need some magic later. The human body is surprisingly resilient anyway.¡±

    ¡°Should we keep moving?¡± Falco asked. He glanced at Indi, who was napping on his shoulder. He wasn¡¯t sure how awake she was.

    Amanda noticed his gaze, briefly weighed up everyone¡¯s states and made a decision. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of this place.¡±

    ¡°Wait till you see what we found.¡± Wolf commented as he helped Tanya too her feet.

    ¡°You¡¯re naked,¡± she observed, surprised, only realising for the first time.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Wolf sighed.

    Tanya blushed and averted her eyes.

    Falco roused Indi and helped her to her feet.

    ¡°God I wish we had coffee,¡± Indi said as she stood up.

    Falco smiled at that. She couldn¡¯t be too bad if she was complaining about not having coffee.

    Amanda eyed Indi and considered something. ¡°You could . . .¡± she paused not sure if she should continue. ¡°You could . . . Indi, you¡¯re the only one of us who can get energy back without food, maybe you should consider . . .¡±

    Indi looked horrified. ¡°No way.¡±

    ¡°It might be worth . . .¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t drink blood. Besides that would just take energy from someone else.¡±

    ¡°Someone who¡¯s not as tired.¡± Amanda replied softly.

    Indi just shook her head.

    Amanda gave a nod and dropped the topic. ¡°Everyone ready?¡± she asked.

    They all gave a mix of nods and ¡®yes.¡¯

    As they walked Amanda wondered about the others. She hadn¡¯t missed that they were short a few people, most of all Sirius, and the groups had changed. She was afraid to ask though.

    They reached the hole they¡¯d discovered earlier. Amanda was relieved that it was still there. The walls hadn¡¯t reshifted. Maybe whoever had been doing it earlier wasn¡¯t paying attention any longer.

    ¡°Is that . . ?¡± Falco started.

    ¡°The Splice?¡± Indi finished for him.

    Wolf nodded.

    ¡°I believe so,¡± Amanda confirmed.

    ¡°We can get out?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°If we can get up.¡± Amanda hesitated not wanting to ask the next question. But given they were presented with a possible escape it needed to be asked. ¡°Were the others with you?¡±

    ¡°Cat and Kass got separated from us,¡± Indi replied ¡°but last I saw they were alive and they¡¯ve probably got a better shot than we do, although Cat did take a bit of a beating in a fight when we got attacked earlier...¡±

    Amanda nodded. ¡°And Sirius?¡±

    ¡°He was with me,¡± Falco started, ¡°but the wall came down, up, I don¡¯t know. There were mimics . . . I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Amanda felt like she¡¯d been punched in the gut. ¡°You saw them get him?¡±

    Falco shook his head. ¡°No. I couldn¡¯t get through the wall. But he was on the other side, with them.¡±

    Maybe, just maybe. Amanda stared out at the empty space over the Splice. Fluorescent lights lit the wall from a few floors up. Their way out. She looked back down the hallway they had come from. ¡°He was with you though? Back that way?¡±

    Falco nodded.

    ¡°And so were Cat and Kass?¡± Amanda asked Indi.

    ¡°Yeah¡± she replied.

    Amanda licked her lips thinking.

    Wolf frowned, guessing at her thoughts. He too glanced out at the Splice. Escape. But Sirius was his best friend. ¡°You¡¯re thinking I could sniff them out?¡±

    Amanda nodded.

    ¡°Go back into the maze?¡± Tanya asked.

    ¡°Not all of us¡± Amanda replied ¡°Just me and Wolf.¡±

    ¡°And leave us here?¡± Zephyr wasn¡¯t sure he liked the idea. But then didn¡¯t like the idea of going back into the maze either.

    ¡°What if the wall closes?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°I think I could blast through it, maybe. I don¡¯t know what happened earlier.¡±

    ¡°Someone¡¯s toying with us is what happened,¡± Falco replied. ¡°What if they¡¯re not done?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen much sign of them since then.¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°If we go up, we¡¯ve got a better chance of figuring out what¡¯s happening.¡± Indi argued.

    Amanda nodded. ¡°That¡¯s why you guys should go up while Wolf and I find the others. There¡¯s a good trail now. We can follow yours back and then find them.¡±

    ¡°And if you can¡¯t get through the walls?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll figure it out.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that.¡±

    ¡°What if we get attacked here?¡± Zephyr added.

    Amanda hesitated.

    ¡°Indi managed to shield before,¡± Wolf argued.

    ¡°She¡¯s too tired,¡± Falco objected.

    ¡°How are we going to get up?¡± Tanya interrupted their debate with the one question none of them had voiced yet. No one answered.

    ¡°We have a flyer,¡± Wolf answered eventually.

    Falco¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°No way.¡±

    ¡°A flyer afraid of heights.¡± Amanda pointed out then she turned to Falco. ¡°Granted you did manage it a bit before.¡±

    ¡°Well I¡¯m not sure I can fly all the way up there,¡± Falco objected. ¡°Let alone carry others.¡±

    ¡°I used my shield for longer than I ever have before,¡± Indi told Falco as she gazed softly up at him. ¡°I¡¯m sure you could fly up there if you really tried.

    Falco smiled endearingly down at her. ¡°I appreciate the faith, but even if I could, what about the rest of us. I can¡¯t fly us all.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to, at least not very far.¡± Amanda replied ¡°I have a rope in my bag. If you manage to get it, you could hang it off the side. It¡¯s not a long one, but enough to shorten the flight. You¡¯d have to get it from my room though.¡± She glanced back towards the hallway, obviously torn between wanting to make sure everyone was safe here and going and finding Sirius and the others.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Falco said hesitantly. He stepped closer to the Splice and looked upwards. It didn¡¯t look so far, but then he looked down. He couldn¡¯t even see the bottom.

    ¡°You can do it,¡± Amanda encouraged.

    Falco nodded. ¡°Maybe.¡± He took a deep breath, started to rise slightly off the floor, then fell back down and took a step away from the edge. He breathed in deeply. ¡°Just gimme a sec.¡±

    Amanda nodded, resisting the urge to hurry him along.

    ¡°You got this babe,¡± Indi encouraged softly.

    Falco reached over for her, pulled her close, and kissed her on the head. He turned to face the gaping hole and, without stopping to let himself feel the fear again, he ran and leaped out in to the air. He flew out to the middle in a gentle arch, then dropped, not so gently, straight down.

 Chapter 30: A Long Way Down

    ¡°Falco!¡± Indi yelled.

    The others peered desperately over the edge, except Tanya who sat against the corridor wall and didn¡¯t have the energy.

    ¡°Falco?¡± Wolf called down into the darkness then held up a hand at the others in a gesture to be quiet.

    Nobody said anything.

    Wolf stepped back a moment later. ¡°Did anyone hear anything?¡±

    There was nothing but shakes of the head.

    ¡°Falco?¡± Indi yelled again then she turned back to the others. ¡°Maybe he managed to stop before the bottom.¡±

    Amanda nodded a little too quickly. Her lips were pushed together.

    ¡°He has to be fine.¡± Indi said in a desperate attempt to convince herself.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure he is,¡± Wolf agreed with a nod that was also a little too quick.

    ¡°He fell at least 50 metres, there¡¯s no way . . .¡± Zephyr trailed off once he caught the look Wolf was giving him.

    ¡°He¡¯s a Flyer!¡± Indi turned on Zephyr angrily, but Wolf stepped forward between them and held out his hands to calm Indi down.

    ¡°He has to be fine . . . right?¡± she looked pleadingly at Wolf.

    Wolf nodded. ¡°Listen, I thought I heard a splash before. Maybe it¡¯s not that far down and he landed in the deep water.¡±

    ¡°You think so?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know but maybe.¡±

    Wolf glanced over Indi¡¯s shoulder at Amanda who seemed to be staring off into space. He frowned.

    ¡°What if he¡¯s unconscious?¡± Indi asked. ¡°We need to get down there.¡± Indi pulled herself out of Wolf¡¯s hands and moved towards the Splice hole as if to jump.

    The quick movement jerked Amanda out of her head. She blocked Indi¡¯s way. ¡°Whoa! What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a shield. I can jump.¡± Indi insisted.

    Amanda opened her mouth to object. ¡°No . . .¡±

    ¡°Please, he might be injured.¡±

    ¡°Hold on¡± Wolf reached for Indi¡¯s arm to keep her from jumping. ¡°Just think about it a second.¡±

    ¡°I was fine when the floor collapsed earlier.¡±

    ¡°No way. I¡¯m not letting you jump off there.¡± Amanda stood blocking her way. ¡°I let Falco jump and I shouldn¡¯t have. I¡¯m not letting you jump too.¡±

    ¡°Falco wanted to jump. This isn¡¯t your fault.¡±

    ¡°Yes it is. I suggested it. I encouraged him. We¡¯ll figure out something else.¡±

    ¡°No¡± Indi shook her head. ¡°He wanted to help, and he might be in trouble, he might be hurt. I encouraged him to too, and if someone doesn¡¯t get down there...¡±

    ¡°How will you get back up?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°I... I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°How will we even know you¡¯re okay?¡± Amanda asked

    ¡°I¡¯ll yell?¡±

    ¡°Could be very deep,¡± Wolf replied.¡±

    ¡°Assuming Falco¡¯s okay, maybe we can fly back up.¡±

    Amanda shook her head.

    ¡°Please Amanda.¡±

    ¡°I think, I just think we need a plan first. Okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a whistle on my key ring¡± Tanya offered from her spot on the floor.

    ¡°That¡¯ll work¡± Indi replied reaching for it. ¡°I¡¯ll try not to lose your keys.¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you throw a fireball down there and see how far it goes?¡± Wolf asked Amanda.

    ¡°Indi¡¯s eyes widened ¡°What if she hit Falco?¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s fine Wolf.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll let me jump?¡± Indi asked.

    Amanda pushed her lips together tightly. ¡°I¡¯m not sure about this.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my decision.¡±

    Amanda gave a nod and stepped to the side. ¡°Just be careful.¡±

    ¡°This is the stupidest plan ever,¡± Wolf added, but he didn¡¯t try to stop her.

    ¡°It¡¯s not stupid if it works.¡± Indi replied with a smile.

    ¡°Do you know Morse code?¡± Amanda asked.

    Indi nodded.

    ¡°Okay. Use the whistle if needed.¡±

    ¡°Or just one long blow once you¡¯re down and safe, two short ones if you want us to join you, somehow, and three short ones if Falco is okay.¡± Wolf added.

    ¡°Yeah, that works,¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°Got it,¡± Indi confirmed.

    ¡°You are jumping off a cliff into god knows what with . . . possibly without any way back up. Are you sure about this?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡± Indi gave a determined smile and stepped up to the edge of the ledge.

    ¡°Just . . .¡± Amanda began.

    ¡°I know, be careful.¡± Indi replied, and stepped forward off the ledge.

    ¡°I thought she was supposed to be the smart one?¡± Zephyr commented.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough Zeph,¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯s fine.¡± Zephyr added.

    Amanda didn¡¯t reply. She just sat down on the ledge and waited.

    Indi felt like the air form her lungs was trapped for the first brief moments as she plummeted through the air. She flailed her arms, as if it would make any difference, then realised it was so dark that she couldn¡¯t see if or what she was about to hit. So instead of looking she just shut her eyes and shielded. It was harder than usual. She¡¯d forgotten how much energy it took. Could she hold it for long enough? Just as she wondered that, she, with her shield fully intact splashed through the surface of water.

    She retracted her shield and immediately regretted it as the force of the water hit her from all sides. She felt her glasses get knocked off. That wasn¡¯t good, she was blind as a bat without them. She recreated her shield but now it was filled with water. It didn¡¯t matter, at least she knew her glasses were inside it, somewhere. She shrunk it carefully and as quickly as she dared. She felt out in the suffocating darkness and found their familiar shape, grabbed then, then collapsed the shield again. Now she just needed to find the surface.

    Hands grabbed at her ankles and pulled. She tried to yelp but she was underwater and just got a mouth full of it instead. It didn¡¯t taste like water, it had more of a spicy taste, like a strange soup, one that was familar somehow. The hands worked their way up her body, getting a better hold. She tried to shield again and found she couldn¡¯t. It was too much energy. Everything fell out of focus. The whole world faded away.

    The next thing Indi could remember was waking up on the hard stone floor then rolling over on her side and coughing up a large amount of red coloured water.

    ¡°The sleeper awakes,¡± a voice drawled from nearby.

    Confused, Indi pushed herself upright and looked around.

    The first thing she saw was Cat, sitting against a corridor wall, watching her. There wasn¡¯t much light in the corridor, just barely enough to see by. It seemed to be coming from further down the hall.

    ¡°Cat?¡± Indi asked. As she spoke she noticed Kass sitting just behind Cat.

    ¡°Hey nerd,¡± Cat replied.

    It took Indi a few more seconds to register the lump lying at Cat¡¯s feet. ¡°Falco!¡± she exclaimed as she scrambled over to him.

    Falco groaned. ¡°Indi?¡± he murmured softly.

    ¡°I¡¯m here,¡± she replied, reaching out to touch his shoulder gently.

    ¡°Take it easy,¡± Cat cautioned. ¡°You just woke up. Where¡¯s Tanya?¡±

    ¡°Is he okay?¡± Indi asked still worried about Falco.

    Another, deeper, voice spoke from behind Indi. ¡°I think he¡¯s got some broken ribs, and there¡¯s the bite on his side, but otherwise he seems okay.¡±

    Indi turned to see Sirius. ¡°Whoa, what happened to you?¡±

    Sirius was coated in blood from head to foot.

    ¡°Look at yourself,¡± he replied.

    Indi looked down and found she mirrored Sirius¡¯s bloody look.

    ¡°The water¡± he added ¡°it¡¯s not water.¡±

    ¡°Oh right, that explains the taste,¡± Indi made a face. She didn¡¯t mind the taste. In fact she kind of liked it, but she just couldn¡¯t get past the idea of it.

    Sirius nodded.

    Cat raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Wh . . . how did you guys find one another? How did you get here¡± Indi felt her head spin so she moved so she could lean against the wall. She rubbed her face with her hands.

    ¡°We could ask you the same thing.¡± Cat replied.

    Indi suddenly remembered ¡°oh the keys! I dropped them in the water . . . I mean blood. I was supposed to blow the whistle. How long have I been out?¡±

    ¡°Calm down.¡± Cat told her gruffly.

    ¡°A few minutes,¡± Sirius replied.

    ¡°I have to let them know I¡¯m okay. I have to let them know Falco¡¯s okay, and they¡¯ll be looking for you guys, Wolf and Amanda were gonna . . .¡±

    ¡°Amanda¡¯s up there?¡± Sirius asked.

    ¡°Yes, and they¡¯ll be worried, and I need the keys to . . .¡±

    ¡°Indi! Relax would you, you¡¯re giving me a headache,¡± Cat clutched one hand to her temple.

    ¡°Pretty sure Cat¡¯s got a concussion,¡± Kass explained.

    Cat just shot them all dirty looks.

    ¡°You need the keys?¡± Sirius asked for confirmation. He glanced back to the pool of liquid that he¡¯d pulled Indi and Falco out of.

    Indi nodded.

    Sirius gave a nod of understanding in return and started back towards the pool.

    ¡°Hold it!¡± Cat said

    Sirius stopped, pointed at the pool, and opened his mouth to explain. Cat interrupted him before he could say anything.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know how deep that pool is. They¡¯ve probably sunk already. You just need to whistle right?¡±

    Indi nodded.

    Sirius¡¯s eyebrows both raised in understanding and he took on a sheepish look.

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Cat replied seeing that he got it now, then seeing Indi¡¯s confused expression explained ¡°Sirius can whistle. So can I, but you¡¯re already over there.¡± She waved a hand in Sirius¡¯s direction.

    ¡°Right!¡± Indi exclaimed happily. ¡°I was supposed to give one long whistle if I was down, two short ones if I needed help, three short ones if Falco was fine.¡±

    Sirius nodded and turned back toward the pool.

    ¡°That¡¯s not going to sound the same,¡± Kass said. ¡°as the whistle you had. How will they be sure it¡¯s you and not a mimic?¡±

    Cat groaned and leaned her head back against the wall a little too fast. ¡°Ow!¡± She grabbed the back of her head and rubbed it as she replied to Kass. ¡°Why would a mimic imitate whistling? They usually do voices or crying.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying they might wonder why she¡¯s not using the whistle.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ll probably assume she dropped it, which is exactly what happened,¡± Cat shot back.

    ¡°Amanda suggested Morse code,¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°That¡¯ll work,¡± Sirius replied. He stepped out to the edge of the pool, placed two fingers in his mouth, and gave a string of short and long whistles.

    Dah, dit, dah, dit. dit, dah. dah.

    He waited a few seconds and then repeated the same message again.

    ¡°What¡¯d you say?¡± Cat asked.

    Sirius just gave her a smile and stared back up the hole, waiting.

    Amanda bolted up right. ¡°Did you hear that?¡±

    ¡°That didn¡¯t sound right¡± Zephyr observed.

    ¡°She didn¡¯t use the signal we agreed on,¡± Wolf observed.

    ¡°It is Morse code though,¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°What¡¯d it say?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t catch it,¡± Wolf replied.

    Amanda shook her head, and then put her finger to her lips as another string of whistles came up from the deep. This time she focused.

    ¡°What¡¯d it say?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°Mmm, N . . . something . . .¡± Wolf frowned ¡°I missed it again.¡±

    ¡°C¡± Amanda corrected.

    ¡°Yeah . . . I know,¡± Wolf sighed. ¡°I just need one more listen.¡±

    ¡°No¡± Amanda explained excitedly ¡°C, the letter was C, then A, then T, as in C A T for Cat. That¡¯s what it said.¡±

    ¡°Why would she spell . . .¡± Wolf started and stopped as he realised what it meant. ¡°No?¡±

    ¡°She found Cat,¡± Zephyr finished for him.

    ¡°Down there?¡± Wolf was sceptical.

    ¡°We should whistle back.¡± Amanda said.

    Wolf nodded. ¡°You know how?¡±

    ¡°Or howl back¡± Amanda suggested with a grin. ¡°but no, I can whistle, almost as well as Sirius can,¡± her smile faded bit.

    ¡°Howling might be a bit loud¡± Tanya replied. She nodded towards the roof. ¡°I¡¯m surprised no one¡¯s noticed the whistles¡±

    Amanda nodded, her expression shifting more serious. ¡°What message should I send back?¡±

    ¡°Something short,¡± Wolf suggested.

    ¡°Send an R¡± Tanya added.

    Amanda¡¯s smile returned and she nodded. She placed two fingers between her lips and whistled back dit dah dit.

    ¡°They heard us,¡± Indi smiled, getting to her feet and rushing out to the edge. ¡°That¡¯s an R.¡±

    ¡°R for received.¡± Sirius was grinning like a madman.

    ¡°Great,¡± Cat replied sarcastically ¡°Now what?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you be happy for just a moment? We¡¯re all together again.¡± Indi told Cat.

    ¡°All of us?¡± Kass asked.

    Indi nodded. ¡°Even Tanya.¡±

    ¡°And we¡¯ve got a way out, up this hole,¡± Sirius added.

    ¡°We do? Cause I don¡¯t see one. We¡¯re not really together if they¡¯re up there and we¡¯re down here with no way up,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°We¡¯ve got a flyer,¡± Indi said nodding to Falco who lay on the ground, conscious but trying not to do much, since any movement hurt like a bitch and made the world go fuzzy.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Some flying he did before, and it doesn¡¯t quite look like he¡¯s up for it now either,¡± Cat replied.

    Indi sat down next to Cat and wrapped her arms around Cat in a hug. ¡°We¡¯ll figure something out.¡±

    Cat scowled but her expression eventually softened.

    Indi got to her feet again. ¡°Okay, what are our options?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not too high to jump,¡± Sirius replied. ¡°If Tanya could come down,¡± he motioned at Falco ¡°Maybe she could heal him.¡±

    ¡°Tanya¡¯s injured herself, I don¡¯t know if she¡¯d have enough energy. How high is it anyway?¡±

    ¡°About 40 metres. Not exactly safe but . . .¡± Sirius trailed off thinking.

    Indi gave a smile. ¡°Zeph thought it was at least 50 metres.¡±

    Sirius shrugged. ¡°Well it¡¯s dark, it¡¯s hard to estimate. I couldn¡¯t even see the ledge until you jumped.¡±

    ¡°You saw me jump?¡±

    Sirius nodded. ¡°Right after I pulled Falco out.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I must have made that hard. Pulling me out.¡±

    Sirius shrugged. ¡°You didn¡¯t shield.¡±

    ¡°Well, I did,¡± Indi held her hands out and looked at them, remembering how hard that last shield had been. They were shaking. She hadn¡¯t noticed that before either. In fact her whole body was shaking. Feeling faint again she sat down.

    ¡°Well you weren¡¯t as hard as Cat to pull out,¡± Sirius replied.

    Indi looked at him in confusion. She tried not to think about how tired and ill she felt.

    Cat sent him a glare but turned her attention quickly back to Indi. ¡°You¡¯re shaking?¡± she observed.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m just tired. A lot of shielding,¡± she explained.

    Cat studied her with a concerned look.

    Indi turned her own attention back on Falco, resting her hand gently on him.

    ¡°So how are we going to get up there?¡± Kass asked.

    ¡°What did you send before?¡± Cat asked Sirius.

    ¡°I spelt your name.¡±

    ¡°What! Why?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s short, non-standard, and recognisable. Hey Kass, you think you could lift us up?¡±

    ¡°Are you kidding?¡± Kass looked terrified.

    ¡°You managed a whole ceiling before.¡±

    ¡°Amanda said she had a rope in her bag,¡± Indi told them.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sirius nodded. ¡°But not a very long one, 15 metres, and that¡¯s . . .¡± he peered up the Splice hole, ¡°about 20, 25 metres to top form the ledge, and 30 to 40 from us to them.¡±

    ¡°Maybe there¡¯s a map, on their computers¡± Cat suggested. ¡°If Kass lifts Indi with her shield that should be safe enough. Even if you fling her into the ceiling.¡±

    Indi wasn¡¯t sure she could shield anymore. Kass looked to be considering it though so Indi didn¡¯t mention that.

    Falco murmured something indecipherable.

    ¡°He speaks!¡± Cat exclaimed with a smile and dash of sarcasm. ¡°What¡¯s he saying?¡±

    Kass leaned nearer to Falco. ¡°What was that?¡± she asked him.

    Falco mumbled something again then closed his eyes, his brows were knitted together in pain.

    ¡°Sounded like ¡®no,¡¯¡± Kass said.

    Cat rolled her eyes. ¡°Any other ideas.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that one?¡± Sirius asked.

    Cat just shot Indi an expectant look, one eyebrow raised.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I can shield anymore.¡± Indi explained. ¡°But we could try it anyway. I¡¯m sure Kass can get me to the top safely. Shield or no shield, and if I really need it . . . maybe I¡¯ll be able to.¡±

    Kass looked worried again.

    ¡°We should at least send a message back up,¡± Cat said.

    Sirius nodded.

    ¡°They don¡¯t know you¡¯re down here.¡± Indi told Sirius. ¡°They might be waiting to hear back but they also might decide to go looking for you.¡±

    Sirius nodded, thought for a few seconds. ¡°I know what to send.¡± He stood at the edge of the blood water and whistled again.

    Dah dah dit dah. Dit dah dit. Dit dit dit dah.

    ¡°Q R V?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°Are you ready,¡± Sirius explained. ¡°It¡¯s Q code, amateur radio. Wolf and Amanda know a bit of it. I know they know that anyway.¡±

    A moment later the same string of whistles sounded down the hole.

    Sirius smiled. He whistled back.

    Dit dah dah dah, dit dit dah, dah dah, dit dah dah dit, dah dah dah dit dit, dah dah dah dit dit, dit dit dit.

    He turned around and motioned to Kass. ¡°Kass come here.¡±

    Kass started to move then stopped. ¡°What? Why?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re gonna slow them, as they jump.¡±

    Kass opened her mouth wide and shook her head.

    ¡°Come on,¡± Sirius encouraged. "No choice. I¡¯ve told them to jump.¡±

    Kass was still shaking her head with a terrified look on her face, but she moved over to where Sirius stood anyway.

    ¡°But Tanya¡¯s injured,¡± Indi protested. ¡°They won¡¯t jump with her.¡±

    ¡°They will,¡± Sirius replied.

    ¡°How can you be so sure?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°I can¡¯t do this,¡± Kass protested.

    ¡°Yes you can,¡± Sirius replied placing his hands on her shoulders. ¡°You did it earlier.¡±

    Kass shook her head but they both stared expectantly up at the ledge.

    Wolf and Amanda listened intently to the message.

    ¡°Was that 8 8 S? Wolf asked ¡°J U M P 8 8 S? Did I mess that last bit up?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Amanda shook her head. She was grinning like a mad thing. ¡°Remember radio code? It¡¯s short for ¡®love and kisses¡¯. 8 8 S, love and kisses , S. S for . . .¡± she trailed off, questioning if she was right, afraid to say it out loud.

    ¡°Sirius?¡± Wolf finished for her.

    Amanda nodded, but she still looked uncertain with a hesitant smile. ¡°What else could it be?¡±

    Wolf thought for a moment then shook his head.

    ¡°He said jump.¡± Amanda reminded him. ¡°Indi survived.¡±

    Wolf looked unsure.

    ¡°He wants us to jump off there?¡± Zephyr asked incredulously.

    Amanda nodded and made a decision. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll jump. You guys wait. If you hear a ¡®yes¡¯ once I¡¯m down then you follow, a ¡®no¡¯ then wait here.¡±

    ¡°And anything else in between?¡± Wolf asked, reminding her of the other possible outcomes.

    Amanda hesitated. ¡°Then you forget about me and you get out of here.¡±

    ¡°How long do we wait?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°Tanya won¡¯t be able to jump, even if there¡¯s water at the bottom,¡± Zephyr added, ¡°and that¡¯s not a short fall I can tell that much.¡±

    ¡°Short enough if he says jump.¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°If it¡¯s Sirius.¡± Wolf pointed out.

    ¡°What else would Indi mean, if it¡¯s not Sirius? I know my radio code, 88, it¡¯s love and kisses, at least I know that much. And it¡¯s not something a mimic would send.¡±

    ¡°Assuming we got it right. Even then, it could be someone else. Zephyr¡¯s right too though, Tanya can¡¯t make that jump.¡±

    ¡°Indi¡¯s down there. She survived.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think her shield would protect you from the impact if she was able to summon one. I¡¯ve never seen her do something like that. Maybe herself, but another person?¡±

    ¡°She protected them when they fell earlier.¡±

    ¡°You sure that was her?¡± Wolf asked.

    Amanda was quiet for a moment. ¡°And Kass is probably down there too, if Cat is,¡± she added.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that,¡± Tanya said.

    ¡°Could you try light up the walls?¡± Wolf asked. ¡°Not throw a fireball but just have it creep down the sides. It wouldn¡¯t hit anyone then, probably, and the whistle didn¡¯t sound that far down.¡±

    Amanda peered over the edge and nodded. ¡°Okay.¡± She focused on lighting the walls. It was much easier to fix fire to a thing than to have it burn in space. She could light up the air but it was much harder to control. She didn¡¯t like sending her flames too far away either. Maybe if it was small, not too hot? She pushed with her mind and the fire reached out into the middle of the well. It fell. It was hard to stop it. But it was small. If it hit anyone hopefully it would just be like being hit by an ember. It travelled several metres and then it went out. Was that a reflective surface? She couldn¡¯t be sure. It wasn¡¯t so far away though. Jumpable, maybe. She didn¡¯t want to light the whole thing up without knowing what was down there first, not with a large amount of fire anyway. Maybe a few more smaller embers.

    She created a couple dozen spread out across the hole. She made them just hot enough that they should burn out near the bottom. They fell and then faded. Not quite bright enough and just a little too far away. Had that been an outline of a person standing at the edge? Or just an outcrop of stone? She thought the floor seemed reflective, like a pool, but even if it was she couldn¡¯t tell how deep it was. The distance to it however had looked jumpable but the darkness made it hard to be sure. The whistle had to be Sirius though. She just had to trust him.

    ¡°I can¡¯t see anything. It might be water. I¡¯m gonna jump,¡± she told the others.

    Wolf looked worried but he didn¡¯t object. He glanced at Zephyr.

    Zephyr gave Amanda an encouraging smile. ¡°Break a leg!¡±

    Amanda returned the smile nervously then stood facing out towards the hole. She whistled back down.

    Dah dah dah, dah dit dah.

    She waited until she heard something back, the same string of sounds, and then she jumped. She jumped, feet together, and a slight bend, as if she were jumping into water. She estimated the height and length of fall but it was still hard to keep track midair. To better gauge the landing she encased her hands in bright fireballs.

    ¡°Ready?¡± Sirius asked Kass once he¡¯d sent the ¡®ok¡¯ back up. Seeing the flames creeping their way down the wall before spinning out and dropping like a leaf into the pool had raised his spirits considerably. Even if Kass couldn¡¯t do it, Amanda had jumped this height once before. She could do it again.

    ¡°No,¡± Kass replied but she readied herself anyway.

    A moment later a figure leaped out into the well.

    ¡°Focus!¡± Sirius instructed Kass. ¡°You can do it.¡±

    Kass tried to catch the figure with her mind but it moved too fast and she didn¡¯t want to overdo it and throw the figure upwards or sideways or twist them around.

    The figure fell, all the way, hitting the water with very little splash.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I couldn¡¯t, I . . .¡± Kass pulled away from Sirius. She buried her face in her hands, took a few steps back, and slid down against the other wall.

    Sirius watched the water, ready to leap out. He glanced upwards to check there wasn¡¯t anyone else. ¡°Keep an eye above.¡± he warned and then leaped over the edge into the pool.

    A figure surfaced just as he lept. He disappeared underwater then swam hard towards them.

    Moments later, he embraced a laughing Amanda.

    ¡°You¡¯re alright!¡± he exclaimed then looked up. ¡°Are the others coming?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ll wait for my signal,¡± Amanda replied still grinning.

    ¡°Good,¡± Sirius replied.

    They swam back to the platform and tunnel.

    Kass was sitting on the floor brushing away tears. Before anyone could say anything Amanda was almost knocked off her feet by Indi, who ran at her and hugged her tightly.

    ¡°Amanda!¡± Indi exclaimed in glee.

    ¡°Are the others coming?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°They¡¯re waiting,¡± Sirius answered before Amanda could.

    ¡°It¡¯s good to see you too Indi,¡± Amanda told her with a smile as she extracted herself from the hug.

    ¡°And everyone¡¯s okay,¡± Indi told her happily. She couldn¡¯t help herself from giving Amanda another quick hug, but let go before Amanda could complain. ¡°Well mostly,¡± Indi glanced back at Falco. He¡¯d briefly opened one eye to check what was going on. From the half strained smile on his face he seemed pretty aware.

    Amanda nodded with a smile then glanced down at Kass.

    ¡°You alright Kass?¡± she asked.

    Kass nodded solemnly ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Sirius wanted me to slow you down but I couldn¡¯t do it. I . . .¡±

    Amanda glanced at Sirius.

    ¡°I . . . I figured you could probably make the jump anyway. Kass managed to lift Cat and I out of a pool earlier. I just thought it would be a good backup.¡±

    ¡°I was just a backup?¡± Kass asked. ¡°You could have said that. I thought, I thought . . .¡±

    ¡°I thought if you thought it was all up to you that you¡¯d be more able to do it.¡± Sirius replied.

    Amanda gave Sirius a disapproving look. ¡°What about Indi¡¯s powers?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty out of energy and I wasn¡¯t sure that would protect you from the landing. When you¡¯re in the shield it¡¯s one thing but trying to make a shield around something else is a whole different story. I didn¡¯t want to risk giving you an even harder landing.¡± Indi explained.

    Amanda nodded. ¡°What was that? 30? 40 metres?¡± she asked Sirius.

    ¡°Yeah, about that. We did higher off the Shrapfall cliffs, remember?¡±

    Amanda laughed. ¡°Not by much.¡±

    ¡°Did you fireball the water before you landed?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Amanda answered almost reluctantly, knowing it would give him a better argument.

    Sirius didn¡¯t reply. He just gave her a smug look.

    Amanda gave him a disapproving one in return then knelt down next to Kass. ¡°It wasn¡¯t your fault. Sirius shouldn¡¯t have put you in that position.¡±

    Kass rubbed her face with her hands. She opened her mouth as if to say something then closed it again and just nodded.

    Amanda stood back up and surveyed the group. ¡°Right, how do we get out of here? How do we get Falco healed? I don¡¯t think we can get Tanya down here. I better give them a whistle back.¡±

    Sirius nodded. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with Tanya? Can we not figure out a way to get them all down?¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°Tanya¡¯s already at her healing limit I think, and that was a big jump even by my standards, Wolf might be able to do it but I don¡¯t trust the other two, least of all someone already injured to be able to make that leap without incurring more injuries.¡±

    ¡°So how do we get everyone back up then?¡± Cat asked. Normally she¡¯d have put a bit more effort into thinking of a plan but the whole world felt a bit out of focus since the knock to her head.

    Amanda didn¡¯t reply at first. Instead she stepped out to the edge of the water and gave a long whistle followed by a shorter one.

    From his place on the floor, Falco shifted, his face contorted into an expression of pure pain. ¡°I could, I could try, fly up to Tanya,¡± he offered.

    ¡°Then we¡¯re back where we were before.¡± Amanda replied. ¡°If you could manage to get up there, which is taking one hell of a risk. I shouldn¡¯t have encouraged you to jump before.¡±

    ¡°But if you hadn¡¯t we wouldn¡¯t have found one another,¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°I could try bash through the ceiling?¡± Sirius suggested.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s helpful,¡± Amanda replied.

    Sirius shrugged. He was out of ideas. The crazy ones were all he could think of.

    ¡°If Kass had control over her powers this wouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± Cat remarked.

    ¡°Lay off Cat,¡± Amanda warned.

    ¡°She¡¯s right though,¡± Kass agreed solemnly. ¡°We could solve this quite quickly if I could just . . .¡±

    Amanda frowned, thinking of a new idea. ¡°What about your powers Cat?¡±

    ¡°My powers?¡± Cat snorted ¡°How would they be useful?¡±

    ¡°Maybe there¡¯s someone asleep in here, close enough that we can get some information from. Maybe a map?¡±

    ¡°Well there¡¯s a shot in a million, not reaching at all.¡± Cat replied sarcastically.

    ¡°Worth a try,¡± Amanda said simply.

    Cat shrugged, then in an exhausted tone replied, ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°She does have a concussion,¡± Kass added.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine,¡± Cat replied. She closed her eyes and relaxed her mind until sleep took her. It wasn¡¯t the usual type of sleep. It was more like entering another plane, one which could, to some extent, be controlled.

    At first Cat stood in darkness. Then the world formed itself around her. She generally liked to keep things similar to the real world. It only worked for the parts she knew herself however, or for the parts that the person¡¯s whose mind she was in knew. First she needed to find a mind. The closer a person was the easier it was, and of course, they had to be asleep. She felt Falco¡¯s mind nearby. Not strongly but it was there. He must be out of it enough that pulling him into unconsciousness wouldn¡¯t be too hard. It wasn¡¯t his mind she wanted though. She kept searching. She walked across the pool. The surface below was no longer a well of blood. Instead she stood on concrete, as she preferred. Flying was easy in a dream. She moved upwards, all the way to the platform at the top. She searched the half the floor and found nothing. The place felt empty. Not unexpected if everyone was fully awake, yet, it seemed to be missing more than that, but she couldn¡¯t quite put her finger on what.

    She dropped back down the well. There was another path she could take and she was at no risk of getting lost in this form, not in the traditional way at least. She could also travel much faster, although she would only be able to go so far from her body. She didn¡¯t know the layout of the places she hadn¡¯t been so she just made it up. Mostly she repeated what she¡¯d seen already, more mossy hallways. She hadn¡¯t gone too far when she felt it, a mind. It was a young mind which was strange. She entered it slowly. Sometimes people would notice, other times they didn¡¯t. This one didn¡¯t seem to flinch. It was asleep but it seemed deeper than usual. She¡¯d once entered the dreams of a coma patient and it felt very similar to that. She let the person create their own world, and in doing so she released the hold on the one she¡¯d built. Some minds could trap a dreamwalker, especially those of another dreamwalker, but Cat could already tell that this wasn¡¯t one of those.

    The world shifted from cold stony corridors to a meadow. White birds soured and sang in an open sky. Fluffy clouds were spattered here and there. They formed distinctive and detailed shapes, like lakes, castles and crocodiles. The grass in the meadow was golden and came up to Cat¡¯s knees. Sitting right in the middle of it all was a young girl, about seven or eight years old, making flower chains out of buttercups.

    Cat walked closer. The girl wouldn¡¯t see her unless Cat let her. She was blonde and wore a pretty white dress like she¡¯d been at a party. Cat wasn¡¯t entirely sure what to do here. Dreamwalking wasn¡¯t like Mindwalking where you could just poke around wherever. Cat could alter what the girl saw and she could talk to her if she wanted. Dreamwalking was usually much more effective when you knew the person. If information was the goal then the dreamwalker could put them in a familiar place, make them think they¡¯re awake and that they were talking to someone they trusted. At the other end of the scale, dreamers weren¡¯t immune to harm. Torture in the dreamworld could be quite effective. One had to be careful of course, as injuries in the dreamworld could produce injuries in the real world, and it wasn¡¯t always a direct relationship. However, this was a child, and Cat was not about to hurt a child. She didn¡¯t want to scare her either. So Cat reinvented herself.

    She reshaped her entire figure, well not really her figure. Rather she changed what the child could see of her appearance. Instead of a tall, dark-haired woman, Cat appeared to the child like a little white rabbit. The girl looked up as the rabbit bounced over and smiled. The girl held out a hand hesitantly as if to let the rabbit sniff it. Instead the rabbit stopped and sat a few feet away.

    The girl giggled ¡°I won¡¯t hurt you, it¡¯s okay.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, that¡¯s very kind.¡± the rabbit replied.

    The girls¡¯ eyes widened. ¡°You talk?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m a dream rabbit.¡±

    The girl looked around curiously. ¡°This is a dream?¡±

    ¡°Yes, does it look like somewhere you know?¡±

    The girl frowned and shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t really remember.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? It¡¯s not somewhere you¡¯ve been before?¡±

    The girl looked confused. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t think so.¡±

    ¡°What do you last remember?¡±

    The girl seemed even more confused now. She rubbed her eyebrows with her hands. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I . . . where¡¯s my mummy and daddy?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re safe.¡± Cat, still in rabbit form, reassured the girl.

    Often but not always people dreamed of places they had been. Sometimes the memory of a dreamer could also be a bit fuzzy. The girl seemed more confused than that though and something about the feel of this place seemed off to Cat. It made her wonder if she should retreat out of this mind. She decided to push a little bit further on.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± she asked the girl.

    ¡°Lily,¡± the girl replied.

    ¡°Lilly, that¡¯s a very pretty name.¡±

    The girl nodded, she seemed unsure though.

    ¡°What¡¯s your last name?¡±

    ¡°Maltov.¡±

    ¡°Lily Maltov. Nice to meet you Lily.¡±

    Lily nodded, then after a moments thought asked, ¡°do rabbit shake hands?¡±

    The rabbit nodded. ¡°Sometimes we do.¡±

    Lily hesitantly held out her hand.

    The rabbit held out a paw. They shook hands gently. Lily smiled and took her hand back.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Lily asked.

    ¡°Rabbit,¡± Cat replied, unable to think up anything better.

    Lily laughed. That¡¯s a silly name. I think we should give you another name. Maybe . . . Charles.¡±

    ¡°Charles,¡± Cat repeated. ¡°Sure, I suppose that¡¯ll do. Do you know where you are? Where you are sleeping?¡±

    Lily shook her head.

    ¡°Can you remember anything?¡± Cat asked.

    Lily shook her head again.

    ¡°That¡¯s alright,¡± Cat comforted her. ¡°Look, it was nice to meet you but I must be going now.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Very important rabbit business.¡±

    ¡°Will you come back later, we could play together.¡±

    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll come back later.¡±

    Lily smiled. ¡°It was nice to meet you Mr Rabbit, I mean Charles.¡± She waved good bye.

    Cat¡¯s mind made the rabbit wave as well and then hop away out of sight. Cat, began to pull herself out of the dream. She was relieved to find she had no trouble doing so. She was out and about to return back to her own body when she felt another mind nearby.

    She decided to check it out. This mind was older. Maybe it would be more useful.

    Cat found herself standing in the middle of a wet road. A woman was walking away from her. It wasn¡¯t raining but the clouds were threatening. It must have rained recently though because everything had that glossy look to it and the pines that lined the road dripped small droplets of water.

    Cat had always considered one of the best things about dreams to be the ability to control the weather but she didn¡¯t want to alter things too much. She could keep it from raining at least. She followed the woman as she walked, keeping herself invisible. The woman had brown hair and a medium build. She was smaller than Cat, and dressed much more conservatively, like one of those soccer mums that volunteered on school boards, the kind with money. They walked a little way down the road but were soon met by a wall. Not a regular wall. Dreams may mirror the real world most of the time, especially when Cat had something to say about it, but they didn¡¯t have to and sometimes the human mind came up with some bizarre things.

    The wall in front of the woman ran the whole way across the road. It was several metres high and appeared to be made of children¡¯s play bricks, pink and purple and green plastic cubes and oblongs blocked their way. They also appeared to have been blown up really large, that or Cat and the mystery woman had shrunk. Cat decided it was time for a chat.

    She didn¡¯t disguise herself this time. She simply made herself visible and walked slowly up to the woman.

    ¡°Hello!¡± she called when she was what felt like non-threatening but not too far away distance. Cat could catch her if she had to. Hell, Cat could control the whole world if she had too, but a simple face to face conversation was more Cat¡¯s style.

    The woman turned. She looked confused. ¡°Hello?¡± she replied hesitantly. ¡°Can you tell me where I am? I think I¡¯m lost.¡±

    ¡°Where are you trying to go?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m trying to find my little girl. She was with me, in the car.¡±

    Cat hadn¡¯t seen a car but it didn¡¯t mean there hadn¡¯t been one earlier. She wondered if the woman was talking about the girl she¡¯d just met. Dreamcrossovers, where non-dreamwalkers shared the same dreams were rare, not non-existant, but close enough. Given neither of these two were dreamwalkers, as far as Cat could tell, she doubted that that was the case. More than likely the woman had just dreamed up another version of the girl.

    ¡°What¡¯s her name?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Lily, she¡¯s only seven, please you have to help me find her.¡±

    Cat nodded. ¡°I think I saw a small girl back that way, she was playing in a meadow.¡±

    Cat could have told her she was dreaming but adults didn¡¯t always handle that well, sometimes it was best just to play along.

    ¡°Show me?¡± the woman asked.

    Cat nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯m Marilyn. Mary for short.¡±

    ¡°Charlie¡± Cat replied. It probably wouldn¡¯t have mattered if she¡¯d used her real name but Cat wanted to play it safe.

    ¡°Where did you see her?¡±

    ¡°Back up the road, this way.¡± Cat started walking away from the brick wall. The woman didn¡¯t question her but then people in dreams often were a lot less questioning. Hence why she hadn¡¯t thought much of the giant wall made of a child¡¯s toys. The best thing to do was often just to nudge the person. ¡°You said you last saw her in the car?¡± Cat asked.

    Mary nodded. ¡°We were driving, but we stopped . . .¡± she frowned as if she was having trouble remembering.

    ¡°Where were you driving to?¡±

    Mary stopped walking. ¡°You know, it¡¯s funny.¡± she gave a short laugh that suggested it wasn¡¯t actually funny but she wasn¡¯t sure how else to react, ¡°but I don¡¯t remember. Is that strange?¡±

    ¡°Not at all,¡± Cat reassured her. ¡°Were you travelling with anyone else?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Mary answered and continued walking, seemingly placated by Cat¡¯s reassurance. Dreamers were often easy to manipulate. Well, not all of them, but it worked pretty well most of the time.

    ¡°Are you from around here?¡± Mary asked.

    ¡°Just passing through.¡±

    Mary nodded. ¡°We were going to visit my parents I think. My husband was coming though the next day. He was supposed to drive us but something came up at work. Normally I don¡¯t drive so late but I just wanted to get home you know?¡±

    Cat nodded, even though it wasn¡¯t a feeling she could recall ever having had. Not even in this hellhole. Although, she could think of one place she wouldn¡¯t have minded being in. It wasn¡¯t home though, not her home at least. Her home was just a room above her garage. It was mostly just a place she slept, read, ate, and worked out, a place of convenience rather than comfort.

    Mary continued. ¡°I was in a rush, I didn¡¯t want to get there too late because of Lily. I didn¡¯t want to have to wake her up when we got there but she was so tired.¡±

    The sky overhead darkened, night time. Cat glanced upwards and frowned but didn¡¯t alter it. As long as it wasn¡¯t raining. A full moon gave them enough light at least. Mary didn¡¯t notice the change of day. She continued speaking. ¡°I let her lay down in the back, I . . .oh god, I . . .¡±

    Mary stopped walking. ¡°There was a truck. I just, I closed my eyes for a second and then . . .¡± she wrapped her arms around herself.

    Cat was worried. This wasn¡¯t normal. People didn¡¯t usually dream of their own death. Well they dream that they¡¯re dead, and sometimes acts leading up to possible death, but never the actual act, not unless . . .

    ¡°It¡¯s fine Mary, you¡¯re fine, Lily is fine. I can take you to her.¡± Cat told her calmly. Cat wasn¡¯t sure that that was where it had been going, but she didn¡¯t want to risk it. Maybe the woman had been in a car accident and they¡¯d all survived and she was just remembering, or it was all some morbid fantasy. The woman and girl had to be alive at least, or Cat wouldn¡¯t be able to see inside their dreams and yet . . . there was something else. Cat had a feeling she should leave but she wanted to know more.

    ¡°Where¡¯s your husband?¡± she asked.

    The woman frowned. ¡°He . . . he wasn¡¯t with us. I, I don¡¯t remember any more.¡± she looked pleadingly at Cat. ¡°Where¡¯s my daughter? Where¡¯s Lily?¡±

    Cat opened her mouth to reply but Mary beat her to it.

    Mary spun herself around looking as if really seeing where she was for the first time. ¡°Where am I?¡± She then turned back to look at Cat and her eyes narrowed. ¡°Who are you?¡± She lunged forwards and took a hold of Cat¡¯s raised forearms. Mary shook them. ¡°Where¡¯s my daughter? Where is she? What have you done to her?¡±

    Time to go. Cat pulled herself out. The woman was left standing in the middle the road in her mind all alone.

 Chapter 31: The Snare in the Plan

    ¡°That¡¯s an ¡®N¡¯ right?¡± Zephyr asked once after Amanda sent her whistle back up to them.

    Wolf nodded. ¡°How¡¯d you know?¡±

    ¡°Figured ¡®N¡¯ would be shorter, ¡®Y¡¯s not a common letter. Am I right? Is it shorter?¡±

    Wolf nodded. ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°So she doesn¡¯t want us to jump?¡± Zephyr confirmed.

    Wolf nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°But she survived?¡±

    ¡°She probably doesn¡¯t think Tanya can make the jump. It probably means it¡¯s just straight into water.¡±

    ¡°How many metres do you think?¡±

    ¡°More than 15, hell even 15 metres is enough to cause injury.¡±

    ¡°I read a book on cliff divers, they can go up to almost 50 metres. You just gotta hit the water straight, legs together, slight banana shape.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a hell of a difference between reading about it and doing it.¡± Wolf replied. ¡°And do you think she could do it in that state?¡± he nodded at Tanya, who appeared to have dozed off. She lay slumped against the wall, head lolling to one side. ¡°You just wanna leave her here?¡±

    Zephyr sighed. ¡°So what do we do then?¡±

    Wolf stared intently down into the darkness of the Splice hole. ¡°We wait.¡±

    ¡°For how long?¡±

    Wolf shrugged. He turned to look at Zephyr. ¡°You might as well get some sleep. I¡¯ll keep watch. If shit goes to hell, and those mimics turn up we can always jump then.¡±

    Zephyr nodded then after a moment¡¯s pause added, ¡°Not sure I can sleep.¡±

    ¡°Fine, you keep watch. Wake me if anything changes or if you hear a whistle.¡±

    ¡°I think that would be considered a change,¡± Zephyr observed.

    Wolf ignored him, shifted into Wolf form and curled up on the floor. Moments later he was softly snoring.

    ¡°Cat?¡±

    Cat jerked awake to see Amanda kneeling down in front of her waiting to see what she had found out.

    As Cat opened her mouth to talk she was overcome by a wave of dizzying nausea. She turned to her side and vomited onto the floor.

    Someone lifted her hair and held it away from her face, probably Amanda.

    ¡°You alright?¡± Amanda asked after Cat had finished depositing her lunch onto the cold stone.

    Cat wiped her mouth and then glanced up at Amanda.

    Amanda was studying her intently but she seemed to relax a little once Cat met her eyes.

    ¡°You find anything?¡± Amanda asked.

    Cat nodded. Once she¡¯d taken a moment to get her bearings back she filled them in on what she¡¯d seen.

    ¡°Could they be other people trapped in this place like us?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°Possibly,¡± Cat agreed. ¡°They seemed very out of it though. If they¡¯re trapped like us, I doubt they¡¯ll last much longer.¡±

    ¡°And you didn¡¯t see anyone else?¡±

    ¡°No, but then if they¡¯re not asleep they¡¯re going to be very hard to find."

    Amanda nodded. ¡°Could you get a rough location on them? The woman and the child?¡±

    Cat shook her head then changed it to a rolling nod. She pointed towards the pool. ¡°That general direction, maybe 100 metres, but that doesn¡¯t mean there¡¯s a direct path to them.¡±

    Amanda nodded and thought about it for a bit.

    The others were quiet until Sirius spoke. ¡°There¡¯s some stairs that go around the inside of hole and up a little way. Looked like a hallway on the other side, but I couldn¡¯t be sure. It was pretty dark.¡±

    Amanda smiled and stood up. She rubbed her hands together. ¡°That¡¯s not a problem. Shall we check it out?¡±

    Indi nodded with a hesitant glance down at Falco, unsure what they were going to do about him. She tried not to think about it but worry tugged at the back of her mind.

    ¡°You alright?¡± Amanda asked Cat with a glance in her direction.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine.¡± she waved one hand at her head. ¡°Just a light concussion.¡±

    ¡°Take it easy,¡± Amanda told her.

    Indi gave Cat a worried look but didn¡¯t say anything about it. Instead she turned her attention back to her partner. ¡°What are we going to do about Falco?¡± she asked.

    Just as she¡¯d spoken, another voice yelled out to them from across the Splice hole. ¡°Hey you! Who goes there?¡±

    Sirius turned to see the dark figure of a man standing across the Splice hole, one level up. He¡¯d emerged from the hallway Sirius had just mentioned and on his shoulder he had slung the unmistakable silhouette of an assault rifle.

    The man stepped further forward and slightly more into what little light there was. He raised his rifle slightly. ¡°Who are you? What are you doing down here?¡±

    Sirius took a hesitant step back. ¡°We¡¯re trying to find the way out. We got a little lost. We¡¯re supposed to be doing a job.¡±

    The man leaned forward trying to get a better visual then stood upright and raised his weapon. ¡°You¡¯re not supposed to be alive.¡±

    He fired one round. It his Sirius in the right shoulder. The man shifted the rifle slightly to his own right and raised it. Then he erupted into flames. His screams rang out for only a second before his body fell to the floor, now a charred corpse.

    Sirius clutched at his shoulder and turned to see Amanda standing slightly behind him with her fist raised and an angry expression on her face.

    ¡°Man we really could have used you when we ran into the soldiers earlier,¡± Cat said as she stepped up behind the two of them.

    Amanda didn¡¯t say anything. Setting people alight was not her favourite pastime, even when absolutely necessary. She turned to Sirius and grabbed his arm to move it so she could check his wound. He grabbed her wrist gently.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± he told her. ¡°The jacket absorbed most of it.¡±

    Sirius had not a scratch on him. The jacket didn¡¯t even have a hole. The bullet had simply been deflected off it.

    Sirius had had the jacket a long time, well before he¡¯d met Amanda. It had probably been enchanted by a magic wielder known as an Infuser. Infusers could copy magic from a person and embed it in an object, like putting telekinesis into a stick so the user could use it to move other objects which were a short distance away. While infusers themselves weren¡¯t uncommon, the kind of ability it would have taken to make this jacket was. Most Infuser magic only lasted a few hours at most. Good infusers could make something last longer, months, maybe even a couple of years but they charged an arm and a leg. Sirius¡¯s jacket had lasted decades and it was completely bullet proof as well as fireproof, much to Amanda¡¯s fondness. What its limits were, Sirius wasn¡¯t sure. He hoped to never find out, and as he had received the coat from the previous captain of the ship along with his ship, when he had died, Sirius had no idea who the Infuser was that had originally enchanted it.

    He pulled Amanda into a tight hug. She ran her fingers over the part where the bullet had bounced off as if making sure it hadn¡¯t hit him.

    ¡°Well he came from somewhere.¡± Amanda said.

    Sirius met her eyes. ¡°Time to go and check it out?¡±

    She nodded.

    ¡°What about Falco?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°You guys wait here. Sirius and I will go and check it out.¡±

    ¡°Like hell.¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°You have a concussion, Falco has . . .¡±

    ¡°Broken ribs, probably.¡± Sirius filled in for her.

    Amanda continued. ¡°Indi looks exhausted, and Kass . . .¡± she glanced at Kass ¡°Can keep anything back long enough for us to get back here if you guys get into trouble.¡±

    Kass looked unsure.

    ¡°What if you get into trouble?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll light them on fire.¡± Amanda said. Her lips curled up in a smile as if it were child¡¯s play but her eyes remained deadly serious.

    Cat was too tired to argue so she just gave a nod.

    ¡°We won¡¯t go far,¡± Amanda added, then satisfied that everyone else was fine with the plan, she turned back to Sirius. ¡°Ready?¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°Wait . . .¡± Kass started ¡°I don¡¯t know... I don¡¯t know if I can . . .¡±

    Indi interrupted her. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I think I can still shield a little, as long as I rest between and don¡¯t have to hold it up for too long.¡± She gave Amanda a reassuring smile.

    Amanda gave her a nod in reply. Kass¡¯s shoulders and expression seemed to relax a little, although her hands still remained balled in little fists and she ran her thumbs back and forth over her fingers nervously. Even so, she nodded and sat back down on the floor to wait.

    Indi gave Amanda a genuine but tired smile. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine. Don¡¯t be gone too long.¡±

    Amanda nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t overdo it. Yell if you need us.¡±

    Indi returned her nod and sat down between Cat and Kass.

    ¡°How¡¯s your stomach?¡± Indi asked Cat once Amanda and Sirius were out of the corridor.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Cat replied in a voice that suggested she didn¡¯t want to talk about it.

    Indi got the message and instead of pursuing it further she moved to sit next to where Falco lay. ¡°How are you doing?¡± she asked him as she rubbed his shoulder.

    ¡°Mmm,¡± he murmured. He shifted a little bit then grimaced grabbed his sides. ¡°It hurts to move but I think I¡¯m getting used to it.¡±

    Indi nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll get out of here soon.¡± She kept one hand resting gently on his shoulder for comfort.

    Falco gave her a strained smile and a small nod before closing his eyes again.

    Amanda and Sirius made their way around the Splice hole. The floor of the stairs they climbed formed a grating so they could see right through down to the dark pool at the bottom of the hole. They stepped quietly and tried to keep an ear out for any more soldiers. Amanda kept a small flame burning so they could see their way once they reached the other hallway. They didn¡¯t have to travel too far inside before they found much more than they had expected.

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Is that . . ?¡± Amanda wasn¡¯t sure if she was hallucinating.

    ¡°An elevator.¡± Sirius finished

    ¡°You think it goes up?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s hope.¡± Amanda took a step forward to touch the button.

    ¡°Wait¡± Sirius said. ¡°What if it lets them know we¡¯re here?¡±

    ¡°They already know we¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°Yeah but I mean at this elevator. Maybe we should get the others first?¡±

    ¡°What if the enemy is waiting at the top?¡±

    ¡°We can still deal with them. Better to risk it with all of us together first I think.¡±

    Amanda raised her eyebrows at him.

    Sirius, understanding her message replied ¡°Yes I know you could probably deal with any opposition just fine but we also don¡¯t want the others getting cut off.¡±

    Amanda nodded. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go get them.¡±

    ¡°Listen, about before, earlier . . . with Kass and the . . .¡±

    Amanda held up a hand to silence him then grabbed his hand between her two and squeezed gently. ¡°We¡¯ll talk about it later.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re back!¡± Indi smiled with unconstrained glee once they returned.

    ¡°That was fast,¡± Kass observed, her voice shook slightly, unable to keep the worry out.

    ¡°What¡¯d you find?¡± Cat asked in a down to business tone.

    Amanda grinned. ¡°An elevator.¡±

    Indi¡¯s eyes widened and for a moment she seemed to have uncharacteristically lost her voice, but only for a moment. ¡°Really? Does it go to the top?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t check yet,¡± Amanda replied. ¡°Hopefully.¡±

    Cat¡¯s face fell. ¡°You didn¡¯t check. How do you know it¡¯s not just a trap?¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t want to risk letting them know where we were.¡± Sirius explained.

    ¡°Like they haven¡¯t been tracking us this entire time.¡± Cat replied dejectedly.

    ¡°I¡¯m not so sure they are still¡± Indi replied. ¡°I mean we¡¯ve found each other all again.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well maybe they¡¯re toying with us.¡±

    ¡°Well we¡¯ve nothing else to do,¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°You¡¯d rather sit here?¡± Amanda asked Cat.

    Cat sighed, shook her head and got to her feet. Then she nodded questioningly down at Falco.

    ¡°I¡¯ll carry him¡± Sirius stepped between them and knelt down next to Falco. ¡°Sorry mate, this might hurt a bit.¡± He pushed his hands under Falco¡¯s back and beneath his knees and lifted him up. Not a problem for Sirius. With his super strength it was like lifting a small child or a puppy. For Falco it was much worse. He winced as Sirius lifted him up but fell quiet again once Sirius held him steady.

    They all trouped across the stairs. Cat was glad once they were off the metal stairs. There had been no railing and even though the stairs were a regular width she didn¡¯t like the proximity to the giant pool of blood or the holes in the grating. She¡¯d done enough swimming today to last a lifetime.

    They quickly reached the elevator. For awhile no one moved. Then Indi, who had always had the least patience of anyone reached out and pushed the button. The doors opened. Indi stepped inside and peered around the door. She stood half in the door way and smiled at them. ¡°It looks like it goes all the way up.¡±

    Before the others could pile aboard, some sounds could be heard further down the hallway.

    ¡°That sounds like voices,¡± Sirius remarked.

    Amanda nodded. ¡°And a lot of them.¡± She took a step towards the sounds.

    ¡°Wrong way Amanda,¡± Cat remarked. ¡°We wanna go up remember.¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°You guys go up. I want to know what¡¯s going on in this place.¡±

    ¡°Are you insane?¡± Cat asked.

    Indi opened her mouth as if to object as well.

    ¡°Look, I¡¯ll be fine, I can deal with anything, but the rest of you should get upstairs, get Falco out of here, and rescue Wolf and the others. Use my rope.¡±

    ¡°Being a little arrogant aren¡¯t you?¡± Cat asked. ¡°You don¡¯t know what they¡¯ve got down there.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m coming with you,¡± Sirius told Amanda as he shifted Falco to a standing position and handed him off to Cat.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Cat objected but she grabbed Falco under the shoulder and helped him stand. He winced but didn¡¯t object.

    ¡°I promise, I¡¯ll be fine,¡± Amanda told them.

    ¡°I¡¯m coming back down once I get them up,¡± Cat told her.

    Amanda didn¡¯t reply. Cat got Falco in the elevator with the help of Indi.

    ¡°Get going before they get here,¡± Sirius told them. He turned to Kass who still stood outside the elevator.

    She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m coming with you guys.¡±

    Amanda nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be back,¡± Cat repeated as she pushed the button in the elevator.

    ¡°Promise you¡¯ll be careful,¡± Indi shouted just before the doors closed.

    Amanda nodded.

    The elevator was not a gentle ride. Falco grunted with every bump.

    ¡°We¡¯re almost there,¡± Indi reassured him. ¡°Where do we go when we get to the top?¡± she asked Cat.

    ¡°Amanda¡¯s room. We leave Falco there, we grab the rope . . .¡±

    ¡°And some food¡± Indi added. Food would give her more energy to shield.

    Cat nodded. ¡°And weapons. If we can find your computer you think you could get into their system and find a map of this place. Maybe even mess with their systems a little.¡±

    Indi nodded. ¡°Sure, no problem.¡±

    ¡°You get food. I¡¯ll get the weapons. We¡¯ll leave the computer for now. We¡¯ll meet in the hallway, then walk with Falco to the top of the Splice hole. Hopefully with some food, once we get Tanya up, she should be able to do some more healing. Maybe¡±

    Indi nodded.

    The doors opened.

    ¡°Ready?¡± Cat asked and braced herself in case there were people waiting for them. They were lucky. The whole place was empty.

    ¡°We¡¯re already on the Splice Hole top floor,¡± Indi observed once they¡¯d gotten out and found their bearings.

    ¡°Right, let¡¯s leave Falco up here then.¡±

    ¡°Leave him here?¡± Indi didn¡¯t sound convinced.

    Cat nodded. ¡°No point carrying him all the way down and back up.¡±

    ¡°What if someone finds him?¡±

    ¡°Well you can wait here with him if you want but it¡¯d be faster with two of us.¡±

    ¡°I think we walked past a kitchen that way,¡± Indi pointed.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll go get the rope and weapons. I¡¯ll meet you back here.¡±

    Indi nodded.

    Cat peered over the edge of railing and whistled. She didn¡¯t send Morse code or anything like that. She just gave one loud long whistle. Moments later a face peered back up at her from about 20 metres down. Wolf! She gave him a wave and then held up five fingers. He nodded and gave a thumbs up. She headed for the floor the living quarters were on.

    She was surprised not to run into anyone as she went. The whole place was deserted. Where had everybody gone? Something pretty weird sure was going on here.

    She made it to Amanda and Sirius¡¯s room and found their suitcase. She opened it up and rifled through it. She snorted at the bottle of wine. Not likely anyone was going to get a chance to drink that now but it was typical of Amanda to bring it. The rope was right at the bottom. Thank god they hadn¡¯t taken that. It was still too short though. Cat pulled the bedspread off the bed. That should add some length. She grabbed a few sheets just in case. She¡¯d have to come back for weapons; this was almost too much to carry as it was.

    She returned to the top floor to find a pile of fruit, a jug of milk, and a bag of bread, but no sign of Indi.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Indi?¡¯ Cat asked Falco.

    ¡°She went to go see if she could get into the computers,¡± he replied. He was looking a little better although obviously still in pain.

    Cat dumped the sheets and ropes on the floor. ¡°Right.¡± She peered over the edge again and whistled. This time she could see both Wolf and Zephyr as they stuck their faces out. She tied the rope to the railing and threw it over the edge. It was several metres too short. She pulled it back up and tied one of the thick bedspreads to it. Hopefully that would hold. Hopefully she had the knot right. She looked down and gave them the thumbs up.

    Wolf and Zephyr looked anxiously at each other.

    ¡°You first,¡± Zephyr offered.

    Wolf sighed. At least he knew how to fall properly, and if he shifted he¡¯d actually increase his odds of surviving the landing, or at least his wind resistance.

    He grabbed the sheet and swung out. He twisted the lower portion around his leg, which would also help stop a fall assuming the whole thing didn¡¯t come apart. He pulled himself up, hand over hand until he reached the top. It took a few minutes but eventually he pulled himself over the edge with no trouble.

    ¡°Hey Cat. Good to see you again.¡±

    ¡°Likewise,¡± she replied.

    ¡°Where¡¯s everyone else?¡±

    Cat sighed. ¡°Indi¡¯s up here somewhere doing computer stuff. The others are down below . . . ¡°

    ¡°Is Falco alright?¡± Wolf asked with a frown.

    ¡°He¡¯s got broken ribs from the fall. Hoping Tanya can heal them.¡±

    ¡°Mmm.¡± Wolf looked out over the edge and saw Zephyr about to start climbing. ¡°Zeph, hold up.¡±

    Zephyr stopped and looked up with wide eyes.

    Wolf turned to Cat. ¡°I don¡¯t think Tanya can climb this.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll tie her in then¡± Cat replied.

    Wolf nodded and yelled back down to Zephyr. ¡°Hey Zeph, we¡¯re going to add some more rope onto the end. Can you tie Tanya in and then we¡¯ll pull her up?¡±

    Zephyr nodded and gave the thumbs up. Cat and Wolf pulled the rope and sheets back up and started tying a sling in the end. Then Cat watched as Wolf rigged some kind of pulley system.

    As he was doing that Indi retuned carrying what looked like more food. ¡°Hi Wolf!¡±

    ¡°Hey Indi,¡± Wolf replied with a smile.

    ¡°I thought you were going to go do some computer stuff?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°I was,¡± Indi replied. ¡°But I got distracted. I got some more food instead.¡± She dropped an array of cheeses and some packets of crackers on the floor. Cat suddenly realised how hungry she was. She reached for a cracker.

    ¡°Hold up,¡± Wolf told her. ¡°Let¡¯s get these guys up first.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m starved,¡± Cat complained.

    ¡°We¡¯ll eat once they¡¯re up.¡±

    Cat nodded glumly and they both lowered the rope back down.

    ¡°We¡¯re might need your help Indi.¡±

    Indi got into place. ¡°You aren¡¯t going to do it in Wolf form?¡± she asked Wolf.

    Wolf nodded. ¡°I am. Just gimme a sec.¡± A moment later he had the rope in his mouth. Cat and Indi also held part of it.

    ¡°Shout when you¡¯re ready.¡± Cat yelled down at Zephyr.

    Zephyr took awhile to help Tanya get into the swing at the end of the rope. Once she was ready he yelled back up and they began pulling. Wolf did most of the work with Cat putting a decent amount of effort in and Indi doing her small part. Eventually the managed to get Tanya to the top.

    ¡°Got it?¡± Cat asked.

    Wolf gave a growl which Cat took for a yes and she let go of the rope and grabbed a hold of Tanya¡¯s hand instead. She helped her over the railing.

    ¡°Phew, I¡¯m glad that¡¯s over¡± Tanya commented once she was safely over.

    Wolf shifted back into a man and dropped the rope back over the edge. ¡°You can climb up now¡± he yelled down to Zephyr.

    ¡°You¡¯re not gonna pull me?¡± Zephyr joked.

    Wolf laughed and shook his head.

    Zephyr gave him a smile and the thumbs up and began his ascent.

    ¡°I got some food.¡± Indi said as she handed Tanya an apple.

    ¡°Oh my god, you darling, thank you,¡± Tanya replied taking it gratefully. She took a large bite and savoured it. ¡°Mmm, best food I¡¯ve ever had.¡±

    Indi grinned, in between mouthfuls of cheese and cracker.

    Cat had a similar smile on her face as she too filled up on the food.

    ¡°Hey, leave some for the rest of us,¡± Wolf said.

    ¡°First in first served,¡± Cat teased.

    ¡°This is so good,¡± Indi mumbled. ¡°Want some?¡± she handed a cracker to Falco. Falco reached for it and winced so Indi commenced mouth feeding him instead.

    He smiled and muttered a happy, ¡°Thanks.¡±

    Eventually Zephyr pulled himself over the edge.

    ¡°What¡¯s all this? Are you guys having a party without me?¡±

    ¡°Mmm, come join us,¡± Cat told him.

    ¡°Gladly, where are the others?¡±

    ¡°Investigating,¡± Cat rolled her eyes. ¡°Amanda wanted to see what was going on.¡± she pushed herself up. ¡°Right, I¡¯m going to get some weapons, back in a sec.¡±

    As Cat left, Indi turned to Tanya. ¡°Think you can heal Falco¡¯s ribs? I know it¡¯s a lot to ask.¡±

    Tanya nodded. ¡°I can give it a go. I should be able to do the worst of it. This food¡¯s helped a lot. I still need to heal my own but I can move better than he can so I¡¯ll help him first.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Tanya placed her hands on Falco and focused. A moment later Falco seemed to be breathing easier. Suddenly Tanya dropped her hands and almost fell forward.

    ¡°Whoa, careful,¡± Falco grabbed her shoulder to stop her then winced. ¡°Ugh still hurts, but that¡¯s much better than it felt before. That¡¯ll be enough, thanks.¡± he told her.

    Tanya nodded and she sat upright and took a deep breath. ¡°Sorry I can¡¯t do more. I¡¯m afraid if I do I¡¯ll pass out.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Falco replied. ¡°Make sure you look after yourself too.¡±

    They waited patiently for Cat to return while Indi filled them in on what had happened at the bottom of the Splice hole.

    Cat broke her way into the weapons room and grabbed a few guns. Then she decided to check more of the place out. She found no one until she reached the open door to a room they hadn¡¯t yet visited.

    She poked her head carefully around the door and saw a chair with some screens. She crept up slowly behind them but it proved to be pointless for as she reached the chair and peered over to have a look she found the occupant already dead. He appeared to have been shot in the head. She poked him with the weapon just to make sure then turned her attention to the screens.

    Many of them displayed images of rooms that looked familiar. Others were of stone hallways. One in particular caught her attention. It was of a large room with two stone slabs in the centre. Cat recognised the people on them. It was the Mary and her daughter Lily, the people whose dreams Cat had entered into. Around the room stood a dozen soldiers, dressed like the man who had shot at Sirius downstairs, and like him they all carried weapons. Cat watched as another man, dressed much nicer than the soldiers entered and walked up to the people on the slabs. He seemed to be checking on them. He took the woman¡¯s pulse then spoke to a dark-haired woman who had entered with him. He must have asked her something because she shook her head. He didn¡¯t appear happy with the answer. He paced a few times up and down by the slabs then checked on the girl. Some more pacing then he seemed to be yelling at the woman. Suddenly the girl on the slab sat upright. At the same time someone grabbed Cat¡¯s ankle.

    Cat gave them a swift kick.

    A small yelp came from underneath the desk, and then a groan.

    Cat took a step back and pointed a gun at them. ¡°Come out with your hands up or I¡¯ll shoot you.¡±

    ¡°Please . . . don¡¯t hurt me.¡± a female voice choked.

    ¡°Come out then.¡±

    A dark haired woman, covered in blood, crawled on her belly, out from underneath the desk. Her frizzy black hair was a mess, smeared across her face in a mix of blood and sweat. She wore bright red glasses which sat lopsided on her face. ¡°Please don¡¯t hurt me. I didn¡¯t do anything. I was just watching. The splice, it went wrong, it did things, changed them, it wasn¡¯t supposed to happen like this. We didn¡¯t move them all...¡± she whimpered not making any sense.

    Cat lowered her weapon slightly but didn¡¯t drop it completely. ¡°Who are you? What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°I, I¡¯m . . . ¡°

    As she was stuttering Cat took a glance at the camera and realised it was the same woman. The one down in the other room who had entered with the man. This woman looked exactly like her except for the colour of the glasses. The woman on the screen had turquoise glasses.

    The woman with the red glasses reached a hand up as if asking for help but before Cat could do anything the woman dropped her hand and passed out on the floor.

    Suddenly the screens flicked off. It was then that Cat realised they weren¡¯t screens at all but mirrors. Cat knelt down next to the woman and pressed two fingers to her neck. No pulse. The woman was dead. Cat pulled her out from under the desk and flipped her onto her back. Her front was riddled with bullet wounds. Cat backed slowly out of the room and went to regroup with the others. She found them exactly where she left them.

    ¡°Right you five,¡± Cat told them ¡°You need to get out of here.¡±

    They got to their feet ready to move.

    ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to get the others. Just get to the top and wait for us there.¡±

    Indi nodded.

    Cat handed Wolf and Zephyr some guns. ¡°Just in case.¡± then she stalked off towards the elevator they had come up in.

    The five of them headed towards the exit. It turned out getting out was much easier than getting in. They got all the way to the last elevator and piled in, all except Indi who stopped right outside the elevator.

    ¡°What are you waiting for?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°They might need me,¡± Indi replied. ¡°I¡¯ll see you at the top.¡± she hit the close door button and stepped back. The others were too slow. The doors closed quickly separating them from Indi and sending them to the surface level. Indi followed Cat, hoping she¡¯d made the right choice.

    Once upstairs Falco cursed. ¡°We have to go back down.¡±

    ¡°We need a fingerprint,¡± Wolf reminded him.

    ¡°I can do it.¡± Tanya offered. ¡°It should work for my finger, if you want to go back down.¡±

    Wolf and Falco looked at each other.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go,¡± Wolf volunteered. ¡°You¡¯re injured and we don¡¯t need everyone back in there.¡±

    Falco shook his head. ¡°Who put you in charge?¡±

    ¡°Amanda did. When she¡¯s not here I¡¯m in charge.¡±

    ¡°No way, I¡¯m coming with you.¡± Falco started to move towards the elevator but a sharp pain in his ribs made him double over.

    ¡°You¡¯re in no state to,¡± Wolf observed.

    Falco growled but he knew it was true. ¡°Just bring her back safe.¡±

    Wolf nodded. ¡°Tanya?¡±

    Tanya and Wolf got into the elevator. She rode it all the way down and then watched Wolf get off.

    ¡°Make sure they stay up there.¡± Wolf told her.

    She nodded and pushed the button to head back up.

 Chapter 32: Almost All Wrapped Up With A Bow

    ¡°What do you see?¡± Sirius whispered to Amanda as she peered around the corner.

    ¡°A lot of soldiers. There¡¯s a staircase just outside. It looks like it goes up to the next floor of the same room.¡±

    ¡°You think we can get to it?¡±

    ¡°I think so, no one¡¯s looking this way.¡±

    She slipped around the corner and walked as quickly and as quietly as she could towards the stairs. Once she¡¯d gone up the first few steps she stopped and waited for the other two to catch up. They made it there without drawing any attention from anyone inside the room.

    Just as Amanda had predicted, the stairs exited into a long hallway with a balcony that looked down to the room below. About every five metres giant pillars were driven through the balcony floor, from the ceiling all the way to the lower floor. Each pillar was large enough that two people could easily have hidden behind them.

    ¡°What are they doing?¡¯ Sirius asked in a whisper. He glanced nervously back down the stairs. If anyone came out of the room and looked up they would be discovered.

    ¡°Nothing. They¡¯re just standing around. I think they¡¯re waiting for something.¡±

    ¡°Can we move in there?¡±

    Amanda studied the pillars. The first one wasn¡¯t quite as far out as the others were apart. She nodded and crouched low. Keeping down, she snuck along the back of the balcony and then crawled forward behind the first pillar. Sirius followed and crept up next to her.

    Kass glanced back down the stairs much like Sirius had earlier then repositioned herself at the other side of the doorway so she could see the room without turning her back to the base of the stairs.

    ¡°We should get out of here,¡± She hissed at Sirius and Amanda.

    ¡°Not yet.¡± Amanda shook her head.

    ¡°What¡¯s that in the middle of the room?¡± Sirius asked.

    ¡°Looks like a woman and a child.¡± Kass replied. She might need glasses to read but her long distance vision was pretty spot on. ¡°Maybe the ones Cat said she found. The ones whose dreams she was in.¡±

    ¡°They look dead,¡± Sirius observed.

    ¡°They can¡¯t be,¡± Amanda replied. ¡°She wouldn¡¯t have been able to enter their dreams.¡±

    Sirius shrugged. ¡°They still look dead.¡±

    ¡°Maybe unconscious?¡± Kass suggested.

    Sirius shook his head. ¡°Look at how pale they are.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something not right about their skin¡± Amanda agreed then shook her head. ¡°They¡¯re too far away to tell.¡±

    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Sirius asked.

    ¡°They¡¯re waiting for something.¡± Amanda replied. ¡°I think we should see what it is.¡±

    Kass counted the soldiers while they waited. She was glad they weren¡¯t sneaking around at least. Sirius could walk amazingly quietly; he was like a breeze over stones. Amanda wasn¡¯t exactly loud but she lacked the light-footedness of Sirius.

    Kass had had training years ago, on how to step without making a sound, no matter what the footwear, even heels. True stealth was more than just walking quietly though. Diversion and misdirection all played their part as well. Kass could change how she walked, how she presented herself. If one normally walked loudly, then others were even less likely to suspect you sneaking up on them. There was also the ability to blend in even when others could see you. Sirius was good at it. Kass wanted to ask him if it was something he¡¯d been taught. Possibly it was just a product of his upbringing. Cat was always so good at making herself stand out by comparison though. Perhaps that was exactly what she wanted, just a good diversion.

    They waited for what seemed like ages. Kass was good at waiting. She leaned against the wall and shifted her body position ever so slightly to keep the blood flowing. Sirius didn¡¯t seem to move at all. He was so still and his coat just the right colour that he almost blended in with the floor and pillar. Amanda was a stark contrast. The bright red hair that didn¡¯t blend in anywhere and she couldn¡¯t sit still. She kept fidgeting with her fingers, and the pillar. She poked her head around the corner every few minutes. Kass wanted to tell her to stop. She was sure they were going to get caught. But the soldiers below obviously weren¡¯t paying much attention, as none of them said anything.

    Indi ran towards the elevators, hoping to catch Cat before she got back down. On her way there she ran past an office with its door open. She skidded to a halt and turned around. Hadn¡¯t that door been closed before? She walked carefully towards it.

    ¡°Cat?¡± she asked.

    She stepped inside. It was a small office, only one desk and a computer. Some plastic plants sat around the room on several shelves. There was a closed door in the wall behind the desk. Indi walked into the room further and around the back of the desk. She tried the doorknob. It was locked. She turned to see what was on the computer screen and was surprised to find it logged in. She sat down in the chair and began to explore the system.

    She had just discovered an interesting folder when someone wrapped something around her neck. She gave a loud yelp which was quickly cut off. Whatever was around her neck was cutting into her windpipe and she couldn¡¯t make a sound. That was the least of her problems though. It was also cutting off her air. She struggled and tried to get her hands under whatever fabric it was but it was too tight. The room started to melt into little black spots with rings of light. She kicked out and grabbed behind her but it was no good. All she managed to do was bang her leg against the desk.

    Then she was falling. The whole chair fell over. Indi found herself on the ground, her vision was still dark but she could hear and feel. The rope or whatever it was had fallen off her neck but her throat still felt tight. She tried to breathe and managed in a little bit of air. She lay on the ground clutching at her chest trying to get her breathing to return to normal half aware that she should probably be trying to run away but unable to focus on anything but getting air. Nearby she could hear crashes but she couldn¡¯t see anything. She closed her eyes tight. She had no idea what was going on.

    Eventually the noise stopped and she thought she heard someone call her name.

    ¡°Indi?¡±

    She couldn¡¯t answer. She felt warm hands grab her and sit her upright.

    ¡°Indi, are you okay? Can you breathe?¡±

    She recognised the voice now. It was Wolf. She shook her head, although she was finding it easier to breathe now.

    ¡°Let me see.¡± He pulled her hands away from her throat then after a brief inspection he rubbed her back and her shoulders gently. ¡°Just relax.¡±

    Indi did find it comforting, what was even better was that her breathing did seem to be coming slowly back. She opened her eyes and found that her vision was returning as well.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Wolf asked again.

    This time Indi nodded.

    ¡°Can you breathe?¡±

    Indi tried to speak but it came out in a rasp. She nodded again instead.

    ¡°Take it easy.¡± Wolf got up then pulled Indi along the floor a few feet until so she could lean against the wall.

    He stepped away. Indi turned her head to see what he was doing. The office chair lay knocked over and on the other side a man in a dark suit was sprawled unconscious, his head twisted at a weird angle.

    ¡°He looks about my size.¡± Wolf said. ¡°Don¡¯t think he¡¯ll mind if I borrow these.¡± He started removing the man¡¯s clothes. ¡°Might be useful, and I¡¯m sure sick of walking around naked. It¡¯s not easy climbing ropes with nothing on. Bit hard in Wolf form though.¡±

    Indi nodded and rubbed her throat. She rested while Wolf dressed. She noticed the door that was at the back of the room was now open. That must have been where the man had come from. The tiles at the entrance suggested it was likely a bathroom. She cursed herself for not being more aware. Cat never would have gotten surprised like that.

    Wolf sat the office chair back up right then stepped around it and offered a hand to Indi. She took it and let him help her up.

    ¡°You alright?¡± he asked again.

    This time she managed to get out a raspy, ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Ready to go back upstairs?¡±

    Indi shook her head.

    ¡°Indi, you almost got yourself killed, if I hadn¡¯t . . .¡±

    ¡°I found something.¡± she pointed at the computer.

    ¡°Found what?¡±

    ¡°Everything.¡±

    Upstairs Falco sat down on the couches that decorated the foyer. He¡¯d found just walking up here had made him dizzy. At least Tanya was looking better. She paced in front of the elevator. Even some of her burns were already fading. He wished he felt half as good as she looked. He just had to give it time. At least her healing had caused some more improvement. He could sit upright and as long as he didn¡¯t shift too much it was okay. He hoped Indi was okay.

    ¡°We should get the car ready¡± Zephyr suggested. He was staring out the window. ¡°So we¡¯re ready when they get up here.¡±

    Tanya nodded then stopped. ¡°Where are the keys?¡±

    ¡°Amanda has them.¡± He sighed. ¡°Probably not on her though. I think they¡¯d be in her bag.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not letting you back down there.¡± Tanya told him.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure Cat can hotwire it in less than 30 seconds anyway,¡± Falco said.

    ¡°I just don¡¯t like sitting here doing nothing.¡± Zephyr replied.

    ¡°Well get used to it.¡± Tanya resumed her pacing again.

    Zephyr peered out the window again. ¡°I think there¡¯s someone in that shack at the gate.¡±

    Tanya stopped her pacing again.

    ¡°We can deal with it once the others get up here.¡± Falco told him.

    Zephyr quietly looked out the window for a few more minutes before he decided to do something. ¡±I¡¯m gonna go see who they are.¡±

    ¡°Zeph . . .¡± Falco warned but he didn¡¯t have the energy and Zephyr was already out the door.

    Zephyr used his super speed to go from the door of the building to the back of the shack, hopefully without being seen. He¡¯d brought the gun with him just in case. He threw open the shack door and pointed the gun.

    ¡°Hands up.¡± he called.

    A young, dark-haired man in a soldier¡¯s uniform turned around surprised. He held his hands in the air. ¡°Don¡¯t shoot.¡±

    ¡°You work for them. Do you know what¡¯s going on here?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m just a guard. It¡¯s my day to watch the gate, that¡¯s all,¡± the man replied. He was young, probably not even mid-twenties yet. Given the average life expectancy for a witch he was basically just a kid.

    Zephyr lowered his gun slightly. ¡°You don¡¯t know what they do here?¡±

    The boy shook his head.

    ¡°They¡¯re killing everyone. You guys too.¡±

    ¡°Okay, if you don¡¯t shoot me, I¡¯ll help you get out of here. There¡¯s a password you gotta put in from inside.¡±

    Zephyr hesitated.

    ¡°I promise. Honestly this job is shit anyway,¡± the boy added.

    Zephyr stepped back away from the door of the shack and lowered the gun.

    The boy stepped out cautiously.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°Kyle,¡± the guy replied. ¡°What¡¯s yours?¡±

    ¡°Zephyr, Zeph for short.¡±

    The boy nodded the motioned towards the house.

    Zephyr turned and started walking. As they walked he asked Kyle questions.

    ¡°So you don¡¯t know what this place was for?¡±

    ¡°Nah, a couple months ago I got a job offer I couldn¡¯t refuse. Good wages, short hours, mostly just training. As long as I didn¡¯t ask any questions. It¡¯s been boring as shit though.¡±

    A loud crack sounded behind Zephyr. He spun to find Kyle was crumpled on the ground and Tanya holding the gun, like a bat, over his head. In Kyle¡¯s hand was a pistol.

    Zephyr stared at Tanya not sure what to ask first.

    ¡°He was raising a gun at you,¡± she explained simply. ¡°I was worried he was going to shoot it.¡±

    Zephyr nodded. ¡°That¡¯s not how you¡¯re supposed to use that you know.¡± It was all he could think of to say.

    Tanya looked at the gun in her hands and shrugged. ¡°Well I didn¡¯t want to shoot him. I figured knocking him unconscious had the same intended effect.¡±

    ¡°Where did you . . ?¡±

    ¡°I snuck behind the van while you were holding him up.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡± Zephyr looked around the rest of the yard. ¡°At least he seems to be the only one. Shall we drag him inside?¡±

    Tanya nodded. ¡°You grab his head, I¡¯ll get his feet. I¡¯m surprised you turned your back on him, I thought you guys were trained, even I know not to do that.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well some of the others are, I¡¯m just, well it¡¯s a long story. Sometimes even I¡¯m not sure how I really got here.¡±

    ¡°What the hell?¡± Falco asked as they dragged the man inside.

    They laid him down at Falco¡¯s feet. Tanya handed him her gun. ¡°Make sure he stays unconscious¡± she told him. She then turned to Zeph. ¡°Shall we see if we can get the gate open?¡±

    ¡°He said there was something we needed to input inside. Like a code or something.¡± Zephyr replied.

    Tanya gave him an incredulous look. ¡°No, there¡¯s just a button in the guard house.¡±

    Falco laughed at Zephyr then immediately winced at the pain in his ribs.

    Amanda had just about decided that they¡¯d waited long enough, when something finally happened. A fair-haired, blue-eyed, man entered through a lower door with a young woman in tow. He walked up to the bodies which lay on slabs in the centre of the room. He approached the woman¡¯s one first. He brushed her hair from her face and then checked her pulse. He turned to the woman who had followed him in and said something to her. It was too quiet for anyone on the balcony to make out. The woman said something back. The man¡¯s next reply was much louder.

    ¡°My wife is dead! She is dead. She wasn¡¯t dead half an hour ago. What the hell happened?¡±

    The woman shook her head and mumbled something.

    The man paced up and down then walked to the girl. He checked her pulse. He seemed to relax slightly. He turned and paced up and down a few more times then turned and spoke to the woman again.

    She shook her head again.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care,¡± the man yelled. ¡°You fix this.¡±

    The child suddenly sat bolt upright, eyes wide open.

    The man didn¡¯t see at first. He had his back to her. Instead he pulled out a weapon and shot the woman he had been arguing with.

    Then the little girl spoke.

    The man turned. His anger seemed to immediately deflate. He ran over to her and wrapped her up in a hug.

    ¡°We should leave,¡± Sirius whispered to Amanda.

    ¡°Wait.¡± Amanda whispered back.

    They watched as the man fussed over the child like nothing else existed.

    Eventually he pulled back from the child momentarily to yell at some soldiers to take care of the woman on the floor. Two of them grabbed her and took their time lifting her out of the room.

    As they exited the room one of them happened to glance up the stairs. Before he could react Kass pushed him and his partner with her mind. She thrust them against the wall by their throats and squeezed. A moment later they lay dead on the ground.

    Kass checked back in the main room to make sure no one had noticed but one soldier was already walking towards the door.

    ¡°Guys,¡± Kass whispered to Sirius and Amanda ¡°We got trouble.¡±

    ¡°Shit,¡± Amanda muttered.

    The soldier entered the corridor and looked up the stairs. This one managed to get a yell out before Kass could take him down. More soldiers started to come running.

    Another two entered the corridor. Kass felt her body freeze. She couldn¡¯t move. It was like her mind had no control over her limbs anymore. The effects of a mindwalker held her in place.

    A moment later she was freed from the mind trap as bullets slammed into the two men in the corridor below. Someone was shooting at them from the other end of the hall. They lay dead on the ground along with the other three soldiers.

    The man in the room who seemed to be running the show shouted out orders to ¡°get them!¡±

    Inside the room another soldier had spotted Amanda and Sirius. He pointed up at them. Amanda lit him up like a Christmas tree, but instead of burning up he made the fire bigger, pulled it into his own hands and then he threw a large fireball right back at her.

    Amanda and Sirius leaped out of the way as an explosion knocked away the balcony between them and the exit. ¡°Shit, a bloody firestarter,¡± Amanda swore as she and Sirius started to run along the balcony, chased by a hail of bullets.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Kass was knocked over inside the stairwell. She picked herself up and ran down the stairs to grab a gun. She came face to face with Cat who was just coming up the corridor carrying a weapon of her own.

    ¡°What¡¯d you guys do?¡± Cat accused as she also reached for one of the weapons on the floor. Evidently she¡¯d emptied hers. She didn¡¯t wait for an answer. Instead she stuck the end of the gun through the doorway and fired at as many soldiers as she could. She leaped backwards just as a fireball came flying through the doorway.

    Kass ran back up the stairs with her new weapon. She crouched in the doorway and waited for the dust to settle.

    ¡°Where are the others?¡± Cat yelled up to her.

    ¡°Inside.¡± Kass yelled back down.

    ¡°How many are there?¡±

    ¡°Eight minus however many you shot¡± Kass replied. ¡°Plus one¡¯s a firestarter¡±

    ¡°No shit,¡± Cat replied.

    The dust cleared. Kass couldn¡¯t see Amanda and Sirius but the balcony was completely collapsed at this point so they must be on the ground floor. Hopefully not hurt. No one was looking up at her location at least.

    ¡°Two coming your way,¡± she yelled down to Cat.

    The four remaining soldiers seemed to be focused on the other side of the balcony. That must be where Amanda and Sirius were. There was now a large hole in the wall. She watched as one of the soldiers burst into a flaming corpse. Another one retaliated by shooting a large spike of ice into the hole. It burst into water knocking everyone on the ground off their feet.

    Kass found the firestarter soldier, lined up a shot and fired. The bullet pierced his skull, he was dead instantly.

    She glanced down the stairs to see Cat in a brawl with a soldier who looked to be getting the better of her. Kass gave them both a mental push to the side, enough so they fell apart. She hoped Cat had the faster recovery time. She turned back to line up a shot on the Ice Elemental but was surprised as something large and feathery hit her hard and knocked her off her feet.

    She yelped as whatever it was started to grow larger and feathers changed to fur. It pinned her down. She was trapped under it, its weight pushing her into the floor, squashing her. She finally got her wits about her and used her magic. She flung it sideways right through the back wall. She looked up to see Cat had just reached the top of the stairs. Cat gave her a hand up. Kass grabbed her gun and they both peered through the hole in the wall. A brown bear came rushing at them. Cat fired at it randomly, putting as many bullets in it as she could. It just kept coming. Kass pushed it back with her telekinesis, she raised her own gun, lined up the shot, and fired. This time the bear fell.

    ¡°Never thought I¡¯d be fighting two bears in one day,¡± Cat remarked.

    ¡°You ever heard of this thing called conserving bullets?¡± Kass asked as they both looked out the door way into the main hall. ¡°Or you know, aiming.¡±

    ¡°Shit!¡± Cat swore as she noticed the man in charge making a break for it with the child. She took off down the stairs to stop him.

    The Ice Elemental soldier was still in a battle with Amanda. He threw large blocks of ice at her and she turned them into steam. Kass lined up her shot. She fired. Nothing happened. Out of bullets, dammit. She looked down the stairs to see Cat standing in the way of the man and child.

    ¡°Let her go,¡± Cat told him.

    The man just vanished.

    Cat swore. She looked up at Kass. ¡°Help the others, I¡¯m going after him.¡± Cat turned and ran back towards the elevators.

    Kass ran down the stairs and grabbed another gun. She got to the top again to find she was too late. Sirius had evidently gotten tired of hiding behind Amanda and had run out at the Ice Elemental. Lucky for him he¡¯d managed to surprise the guy. He¡¯d tackled him to the floor and knocked the last soldier unconscious. Kass ran back down the stairs to join them in the room.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Amanda asked her as she ran out into the middle of the room.

    Kass nodded and looked around the room. It was a mess. Bits of rubble and broken pillars lay scattered amongst the dust. The burnt, shot, and beaten corpses reminded Kass of a warzone. She¡¯d seen worse during her time in the North but that didn¡¯t make this any better. Amanda and Sirius took a moment to survey the devastation as well.

    ¡°They were probably just doing their jobs,¡± Amanda said solemnly.

    ¡°And we were doing ours,¡± Sirius replied ¡°and protecting ourselves. They did shoot first. Not to mention all the other stuff.¡±

    Amanda nodded slowly. ¡°We don¡¯t know what they were protecting.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯d the other guy go?¡± Sirius asked.

    Kass pointed to the exit. ¡°He teleported out. Cat ran off after him.¡±

    Amanda shared a quick glance with Sirius then started walking briskly towards the exit. Kass started to follow then checked back to see Sirius hadn¡¯t moved. She stopped and waited.

    Sirius walked up to the body of the woman on the slab and placed his fingers on her neck, checking if she really was dead.

    Kass gave him a questioning look.

    ¡°Her skin looks old,¡± he told her.

    Kass walked over to have a look. Sirius was right. The woman¡¯s skin was a strange grey almost green colour as if she¡¯d been decomposing for awhile. Kass reached out and touched her. She was cold. Kass gave her a harder poke. ¡°She¡¯s been dead awhile.¡±

    ¡°The man said half an hour.¡±

    Kass shook her head then said softly ¡°I¡¯ve seen this before.¡±

    She paused then met Sirius¡¯s eyes and explained. ¡°Zombies. He brought them back.¡±

    ¡°It didn¡¯t work though.¡±

    ¡°It worked for the girl.¡±

    ¡°So what, he didn¡¯t have enough sacrifices? All that blood . . . is that what we were here for?¡±

    ¡°They didn¡¯t have a Necromancer.¡± Kass replied simply.

    ¡°How many bodies . . ?¡±

    ¡°Hey guys!¡± Cat yelled at them from the doorway. ¡°Are you coming? There¡¯s more soldiers!¡±

    Kass and Sirius ran over to her then jogged with her back to the elevator.

    ¡°I thought you were chasing the guy?¡± Sirius asked as they ran.

    ¡°I was, but I ran into some trouble. Amanda¡¯s holding them off. Quickly!¡±

    Indi was just finishing her work on the computer when they heard the sound of shooting.

    Wolf glanced at Indi.

    ¡°I¡¯m almost done,¡± she told him.

    He¡¯d managed to retrieve her laptop thanks to some plans of the facility that Indi had found. Turned out the place they¡¯d locked it in hadn¡¯t been too far away so Indi had sent Wolf on a short mission to break the lock and bring it back to her. She was now in the middle of copying a large number of files over from the desktop computer.

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s them?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna go check it out,¡± Wolf replied.

    He walked out into the hallway then went in the direction the sound had come from. He rounded a corner to find a little girl standing near the Splice hole all alone. He stopped.

    ¡°Hello?¡± he said as softly as he could.

    She looked up at his with large blue eyes. ¡°Hello.¡± she replied hesitantly.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± he asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m Lily, I¡¯m waiting for my daddy. He¡¯s gonna be back any second.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Wolf took a step closer and was about to ask another question when the lights above flickered. He paused.

    The girl looked up at the lights frightened.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. How about I show you the way out?¡± Wolf reassured her.

    ¡°Are you a friend of my daddy?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Wolf said, ¡°I¡¯m a friend.¡±

    The lights flicked off. The girl squealed ¡°Daddddy!¡±

    While Wolf was wondering what to do another light appeared in the darkness. Amanda, carrying a flame in one hand walked around the corner, followed by Cat, Kass, and Sirius.

    Amanda took in the scene quickly and stopped just behind Wolf. ¡°Hello there,¡± she said to the girl. ¡°Where¡¯s your Dad?¡±

    The girl didn¡¯t reply, she just looked nervously towards the hallway.

    Cat hissed quietly at Wolf once she got closer to him. ¡°I thought I told you to get out of here.¡±

    Before Wolf could reply a low growl sounded from near the edge of the Splice hole. They looked in horror as a Mimic climbed up over the edge.

    ¡°Time to get out of here,¡± Amanda said. ¡°Hey kiddo, why don¡¯t you come with us and wait for your daddy upstairs.¡±

    The girl took one look at the Mimic and then moved closer to the only people in the room. She glanced nervously at them and then back at the Mimic. ¡°I¡¯m supposed to wait for dad right here.¡±

    ¡°Yeah well he¡¯s running a little late. We¡¯ll help him out, take you upstairs.¡±

    The girl stopped a metre or two away, still hesitant but obviously preferring them to the Mimic, which was slowly creeping closer. ¡°It didn¡¯t look like you were helping him downstairs.¡±

    ¡°Oh we were just . . . that was a friendly battle.¡±

    The girl looked doubtful, but another glance back at the Mimic pushed her further in their direction.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we just get out of here?¡± Sirius asked Amanda.

    ¡°And leave the kid?¡±

    ¡°Think she¡¯ll stay here with that thing. She¡¯ll probably just follow us. Why don¡¯t you light that thing on fire, get rid of it, might push her this way a bit too.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t really want to scare her,¡± Amanda replied but she gave the mimic a look and it burst into flames.

    Lily gave a shriek of surprise and ran the rest of the way towards them. She stopped short of completely careening into Wolf.

    Wolf stepped aside. ¡°Follow my friends. I¡¯ll find your dad, I promise.¡±

    Lily nodded slowly and stepped warily around him. ¡°Don¡¯t hurt him.¡±

    Wolf nodded but he didn¡¯t promise.

    ¡°Wolf . . .¡± Amanda started to protest but stopped with a glance at the girl.

    ¡°I need to go get Indi as well.¡± Wolf told her hoping she¡¯d understand that was all he meant to do.

    ¡°What!¡± Cat exclaimed.

    Amanda frowned. ¡°Where?¡±

    Wolf pointed. ¡°Back that way.¡±

    Before Wolf could move another voice shouted out.

    ¡°Hey! What the hell is going on here?¡± Lily¡¯s father had appeared near the Splice hole. ¡°Get away from my daughter.¡±

    He didn¡¯t notice another two mimics sneaking out of the Splice hole behind him.

    ¡°How about we talk about this upstairs?¡± Amanda replied, summoning a flame into one hand, just in case, and to show him what she could do if she wanted.

    He shook his head. ¡°None of you are leaving here.¡±

    The Mimics crept closer to him.

    ¡°Then why would we give her to you?¡± Kass yelled at him.

    Amanda frowned and watched for the kid¡¯s reaction

    ¡°Daddy, watch out behind you!¡± Lily yelled.

    He turned just as the Mimics leapt at him.

    He vanished. So did the Mimics.

    Before anyone could stop her Lily ran out to the spot where he¡¯d been standing but there was no trace of him left.

    ¡°Hey Lily,¡± Cat said as she approached the girl. ¡°I know a friend of yours who¡¯s outside, you remember Charles, Mr Rabbit? You can see him again if you come with us.¡±

    Lily looked up curiously. Her eyebrows knotted together. ¡°We can¡¯t leave my dad.¡± She glanced nervously over at Kass.

    ¡°We won¡¯t leave him,¡± Amanda lied to her. ¡°But we can¡¯t help him unless you go upstairs first.¡±

    Lily¡¯s light eyebrows knotted even more. ¡°I don¡¯t trust you.¡± she replied. Lily looked at Kass again. ¡°She said you wouldn¡¯t give me back.¡±

    ¡°That was just...¡± Kass started, but a look from Amanda silenced her.

    More Mimics started to creep out of the hole. Amanda set them on fire with the wave of a hand. Lily backed away eyes wide and in the wrong direction.

    ¡°How are you doing that?¡± she asked.

    That made everyone pause. ¡°She¡¯s a firestarter,¡± Cat explained with a hint of confusion in her voice.

    ¡°What¡¯s a firestarter?¡±

    ¡°She seemed confused about teleportation as well,¡± Amanda replied. ¡°Lily, you know, magic?¡±

    Lily shook her head and took another step backwards.

    ¡°We won¡¯t hurt you,¡± Cat said inching closer to the girl.

    Lily backed away further.

    A Mimic leapt out of the dark at her. She screamed as it knocked her to the ground. Cat rushed forward and tackled it. She threw it off to the side, spun around, picked Lily up off the ground and threw her over the shoulder.

    Lily yelped.

    Cat moved fast.

    Once she was out of the way Amanda blasted the mimics with fireballs.

    ¡°Get her out of here,¡± Amanda shouted. ¡°Wolf get Indi!¡± More Mimics were pouring out of the hole now. Amanda lit a bunch on fire.

    Then the sprinklers turned on.

    Cat cursed and handed Kass the child. ¡°Here!¡± she said then followed after Wolf. ¡°I¡¯ll help.¡±

    ¡°I said get out,¡± Amanda yelled at Sirius and Kass as she saw that they hadn¡¯t moved.

    Sirius shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not going anywhere.¡± He turned to Kass. ¡°Take the kid.¡±

    Kass had put the girl on her feet the second Cat had handed her to her. The girl weighed a ton. In her surprised state Lily stood frozen. Kass grabbed the girls hand. ¡°Come on.¡± She pulled the girl towards the exit.

    ¡°But my dad!¡± Lily cried as she half stumbled half ran behind Kass.

    ¡°The others will get him.¡±

    Kass didn¡¯t look back. The others would be fine. Probably.

    ¡°I think they¡¯re multiplying¡± Sirius observed as he stood next to Amanda watching her keep the Mimics at bay.

    ¡°The sprinklers aren¡¯t helping, I don¡¯t want to just light the whole place up though.¡± She set them alight in small groups but they moved so fast that the second she managed to slow one down another group appeared. They seemed to have lost their fear of the fire. Perhaps they were just that hungry or perhaps they were running from something else. Amanda didn¡¯t think about it too long. She just hoped the others found Indi fast.

    Wolf almost ran into Indi as she was coming out of the office room.

    ¡°Ugh who set the sprinklers off?¡± she asked. She had her laptop back in its bag and cuddled up to her stomach. She hunched over trying to keep the water off it.

    ¡°You got everything? Doesn¡¯t matter. We gotta go.¡± Wolf told her.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Indi smiled when she saw Cat but her face quickly turned into a frown. ¡°Jeez you¡¯re coated in blood.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, just wanted a matching outfit,¡± Cat gestured off-handedly at Indi¡¯s own blood-soaked clothes. She then shot an irritated look up at the ceiling as she tried in vain to keep from getting soaked by the sprinklers.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here,¡± Wolf instructed.

    Kass had reached the elevator with Lily in tow only to find the way blocked.

    Lily¡¯s father stood in her way. Evidently he had escaped the mimics. Next to him a panel at the door to the elevator displayed a red light. ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I can¡¯t let you leave. Not until you give me my kid. I¡¯ve put the place in lock down. None of us are getting out unless I say so, and I¡¯m not opening it until you give me the girl.¡±

    Kass pulled Lily in front of her, pulled out her gun, and pointed it at the girl''s head. She knew Cat and Amanda would probably both yell at her for it later but that didn¡¯t matter as much right now as did getting out.

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I can shoot faster than you can teleport. Want to test it?¡± Kass gave the elevator button a mental push as subtly as she could. She didn¡¯t want to accidently push him and tip him off. He didn¡¯t seem to notice.

    ¡°Fine, then we all die here,¡± he growled back.

    The stood starting at each other for a moment. Then the elevator door dinged open. Kass slammed the guy into the side of the wall with telekinesis, knocking him unconscious. She pushed Lily past him into the elevator and dragged his body in after them.

    She shut the elevator doors and pushed the button for the top floor. Nothing happened. Shit.

    She opened the elevator doors again and found herself staring down the hall at a Mimic.

    Her breath caught in her throat. ¡°How¡¯d you get through to here?¡± she asked as she hit the close door button again. She tried not to think about what might have happened to the others.

    The doors started to close at the slowest pace possible. The Mimic walked towards the elevator. Kass hit the close doors button a few more times. She focused on the Mimic. She could push it if she had to. It began to run. The elevator door shut just before it slammed into them. Kass relaxed but only briefly. She pressed the top floor button but nothing happened. Now what?

    ¡°Are we going to die?¡± Lily asked.

    Sirius had suggested she blow up the sprinkler itself. Amanda had stupidly listened. Now there was water pouring down in a torrent. It had made Amanda¡¯s fireballs almost useless. She eventually gave up with the small fireballs and finally risked just sending one big flame at them. It hadn¡¯t really helped. Now the building was on fire. To make matters worse the Mimics didn¡¯t seem to die like they had before. It was as if they were immune. The fire would probably get put out by the water soon but the Mimics weren¡¯t stopping. Amanda and Sirius were forced to retreat. Amanda made a quick executive decision not to leave anyone behind so rather than back out towards the exit they instead headed in the direction that the others had gone looking for Indi.

    They soon ran into them in the hall.

    ¡°Not that way,¡± Amanda told them.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Cat asked. ¡°Where¡¯s the kid?¡±

    ¡°Sent her up with Kass.¡±

    ¡°Where are we going?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°I know another way out!¡± Indi added in a tone way too optimistic for the situation. ¡°Saw it on the map. There¡¯s a maintenance shaft. It can get us into the elevator. Follow me.¡±

    They followed Indi down a new hallway until they reached a double door. Indi grabbed the handle but the door didn¡¯t move. ¡°It¡¯s locked.¡± She turned to look at the others expectantly.

    ¡°Let me.¡± Sirius stepped past her and yanked. The doors flew open.

    ¡°Uh guys.¡± Cat said.

    They turned to look where she was staring. The mimics were catching up.

    ¡°Are they on fire?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s not normal.¡± Wolf added.

    ¡°Good to know.¡± Amanda grabbed him and yanked him through the doors with the rest of them.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t makes sense,¡± Wolf shouted as they ran. ¡°Mimics hate fire.¡±

    ¡°I really wouldn¡¯t have guessed,¡± Amanda yelled back.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think they got the memo,¡± Cat added.

    Wolf paused to say something and Cat gave him a shove. ¡°Keep moving.¡±

    ¡°But the ones we saw earlier didn¡¯t even like the light,¡± he replied.

    ¡°It¡¯s not going to matter how they got that way if you get killed by them.¡± Cat told him.

    They followed Indi down some stairs, through another two sets of locked doors and into what looked like some kind of maintenance room. They shut the doors behind them and shoved whatever they could find up against them.

    ¡°Now which way?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°There should be a small shaft that we can climb up to get into the main shaft, and from there we can drop down into the elevator, or below it assuming Kass has already taken it up.

    ¡°That¡¯s going to be a long climb up.¡± Amanda observed then jumped as something slammed into the room doors from the outside. Smoke started drifting under the door.

    ¡°You¡¯d think the sprinklers would have put them out¡± Cat wondered.

    ¡°Let¡¯s just hurry.¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°I¡¯m looking . . . here I found it.¡± Indi lifted a hatch in the corner of the room.

    ¡°I think the Splice Hole¡¯s causing weird shit to happen,¡± Wolf said.

    ¡°That¡¯s your best explanation?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°You got a better one?¡± Wolf asked.

    Indi crawled into the hole and disappeared.

    ¡°Guys!¡± Amanda interrupted them.

    ¡°Maybe the Hall of the Dead is keeping them alive?¡± Cat theorized. ¡°Or that asshole majorly stuffed up his resurrection and brought a bunch of dead Mimics back that can¡¯t die?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of that happening,¡± Wolf replied but he seemed to be thinking it over.

    ¡°Get in the shaft!¡± Amanda ordered.

    Wolf did as he was told. Cat shouted out to him as he disappeared. ¡°No, you never heard of the incident at Saltbee Island back in 95? A whole bunch of zombies . . .¡±

    A loud crash sounded and the whole door bent inwards. Sirius shoved it back and held it steady.

    Cat caught Amanda¡¯s eye and decided she didn¡¯t need to be told twice. She scurried over to the shaft and climbed inside.

    Amanda followed her a moment later. They climbed up a metal ladder with the only light coming form down below through the hole they¡¯d entered from.

    Amanda glanced down as she climbed hoping Sirius would stick his head through.

    She heard a shout from above and some more light entered the shaft. When she looked back down again she was relieved to see Sirius coming up the ladder.

    ¡°Saltbee was the result of an Infuser and a Healer not Necromancy,¡± Wolf yelled from somewhere up above, ¡°and they weren¡¯t Zombies, not technically anyway.¡±

    ¡°Looked pretty zombie like-like from the pictures I saw,¡± Cat shot back.

    The whole ladder shook. Amanda looked down. Sirius was fighting off a Mimic that had crawled inside. He gave it a boot to the head that sounded like it crushed its skull but it just kept coming.

    ¡°Whatever they are they ain¡¯t fucking natural,¡± Sirus yelled as he kicked at the thing.

    ¡°Duck out of the way,¡± Amanda yelled down at him.

    She focused on the Mimic, on its blood and its bones, she condensed heat within it, then she let it go. The entire Mimic exploded.

    ¡°Nice!¡± Sirius replied but didn¡¯t pause. He started climbing faster once he realised more Mimics were entering the shaft.

    Kass had initially held the elevator hatch closed tight with her mind when the banging on the top had started. But then she¡¯d heard Indi yelling down.

    ¡°Hey Kass, are you in there? Let us in, it¡¯s me, Indi.¡±

    ¡°Indi?¡± Kass asked suspiciously.

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your favourite colour?¡±

    Indi laughed. ¡°Indigo, duh.¡±

    Kass had released the hold on the door and still found herself pleasantly surprised to see Indi dropping into the elevator. Wolf dropped in a moment later.

    ¡°Sorry, just had to ask something to check it was really you. Didn¡¯t want to let in a mimic,¡± Kass told them.

    Indi gave her a smile then turned to yell back out the hatch ¡°Hurry up you guys.¡± She then turned back to Kass. ¡°How come you didn¡¯t go to the top?¡±

    ¡°The elevator won¡¯t work. I think he did something, and there¡¯s a whole bunch of those Mimics outside.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s weird,¡± Indi wondered aloud as she investigated the panel inside the elevator, ¡°I can¡¯t even feel these mimics. Even before, when I managed to block them out I could still kind of hear them in the back of my head. But these ones, nothing.¡± She frowned. ¡°We need to unscrew this.¡±

    ¡°Sirius¡¯ll do it¡± Wolf said.

    ¡°Do what?¡± Cat asked, as she dropped through the top hatch and landed on her feet.

    ¡°The elevator¡¯s not moving.¡± Indi explained then looked apologetically at Wolf, ¡°I think, we may actually need the outside panel.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re joking?¡± Cat groaned. ¡°Can¡¯t you move the elevator?¡± she asked Kass.

    Kass shook her head. That really wasn¡¯t something she wanted to try, not with everyone inside.¡±

    ¡°Is the open door button working?¡± Indi asked Kass.

    Kass nodded.

    ¡°I saw some security codes. It may be as simple as putting that in.¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡± Amanda asked as she dropped in.

    Sirius followed her a few moments later and pulled the hatch behind him. They heard a mimic on the roof shortly after.

    ¡°The elevator doesn¡¯t work¡± Cat explained. ¡°What about this panel?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. That¡¯s the problem. I do know the outside one will work. I¡¯m not sure about this one.¡±

    Everyone was silent for a moment. Just long enough for the Mimic on the roof of the elevator to cause them all to jump when it tried to get in.

    ¡°You want to open the doors?¡± Amanda asked.

    Indi nodded. ¡°I can shield.

    ¡°Do we really want to take that thing up with us?¡± Sirius asked as he looked up at the ceiling.

    ¡°It¡¯s sunlight outside. Isn¡¯t it?¡± she checked her watch to confirm. ¡°Any that come up with us won¡¯t last long. Ready?¡± She asked Indi. ¡°You¡¯ve got sunscreen on right?¡±

    Indi nodded. ¡°Always.¡±

    Amanda hit the button.

    Indi put up her shield but there was nothing there, just a dark empty hallway. She dropped her shield down and moved to the panel. She thanked fate or whoever for the gift of a photographic memory and punched some buttons in.

    Job done. She glanced back down the empty hallway. A woman stood at the end of it. She took a step forward, an unnatural jerky step.

    ¡°Mommy!¡± Lily cried and started to run towards the woman.

    Cat grabbed the girl around the waist and pulled her back inside the elevator. ¡°Indi get inside.¡± she commanded. Then to the girl, ¡°That¡¯s not your mommy.¡±

    Indi moved. Lily struggled against Cat. Amanda hit the close door button. They all watched as the woman got ever so slightly closer, always keeping at the same uneven pace. As the doors shut she reached out a hand.

    The elevator rumbled upwards.

    ¡°They weren¡¯t supposed to be immune to fire,¡± Sirius said. ¡°What makes you think sunlight¡¯s going to stop them?¡±

    Indi¡¯s eyes widened ¡°You think they learnt how to be immune from the sunlight?¡±

    Was that hope in her voice? ¡°You don¡¯t want that Indi, trust me,¡± Cat told her, ¡°not that way.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll blast the building above, bring enough rubble down on the shaft. They won¡¯t be getting out.¡± Amanda replied.

    They travelled the rest of the way up in silence. When the doors opened at the top they were greeted with three guns pointed at them.

    ¡°I thought I left you guys two weapons¡± Cat commented.

    ¡°We acquired one more.¡± Tanya replied with a nod at the unconscious soldier in front of the couch. She lowered her weapon, as did Zeph, and Falco from his position on the couch.

    They walked out of the elevator and spread out around the room. Indi wrapped her arms around Falco and gave him a kiss.

    ¡°You got the car keys?¡± Zephyr asked Amanda.

    The shocked look on her face indicated it was something that had completely slipped her mind. She recovered quickly then shot an expectant look at Cat.

    Cat rolled her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s no problem.¡± She raised the keys she¡¯d lifted from Amanda¡¯s bag earlier and spun them around her fingers. She headed towards outside then paused and turned. ¡°Did you guys clear the yard?¡±

    ¡°There was just him.¡± Tanya told her. She pointed to the unconscious soldier.

    Cat nodded and left to go start the van. She gave the area a cautious sweep before heading out despite Tanya¡¯s assurances.

    ¡°What do we do with this guy?¡± Kass asked as she struggled to pull Lily¡¯s father¡¯s unconscious weight out of the elevator. Lily, herself, had stepped out of the elevator and was standing nervously to the side, eyes jumping between Kass as the others.

    ¡°Where¡¯d the kid come from?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°Long story,¡± Amanda replied. ¡°We¡¯ll bring him with us. Keep a gun on him.¡±

    Seeing Kass glance tiredly at the unconscious guy, Sirius walked over to him and lifted him up. ¡°I got him,¡± he told her. He carried the guy outside to the van.

    Tanya and Kass followed out after him.

    A moment later the van roared to life.

    ¡°You want to come for a ride with us?¡± Wolf asked crouching down next to Lily.

    She shook her head. Wolf looked at Amanda.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± she mouthed to him.

    Wolf sighed and left through the door just as Cat returned back inside.

    ¡°What are we doing with that guy?¡± Indi asked, of the soldier on the floor.

    ¡°We¡¯ll drag him outside. Hey Wolf!¡± Amanda yelled.

    Wolf stuck his head back in.

    ¡°Can you help lift?¡± Amanda gestured to the guy on the floor.

    Wolf nodded and started to drag the guy outside. He paused to look at Indi and Falco. ¡°Are you guys alright?¡±

    Indi nodded and leaned down to help Falco up. Amanda joined her with a quick hesitating glance towards Lily. Cat beat her to it though. She came back in through the door, picked Lily up and threw her gently over her shoulder. Lily gave a surprised yelp.

    ¡°I got the kid,¡± Cat said.

    They all piled into the van. Wolf sat on the floor by the door. They dragged the soldier to the shack and left him inside that.

    Sirius drove the van out through the gate as instructed by Amanda.

    Once outside the gate all of them piled out of the van again, except Falco who stayed in the back and the unconscious man who had caused it all.

    Lily got out, curious about what they were doing. She fiddled with her sleeves, a tired and confused look on her face. They stood just inside the gate, all watching the building.

    Indi glanced back towards Falco and decided she didn¡¯t need to watch this. She walked back to the van. But as she was about to get back in she realised something was missing.

    ¡°Where¡¯d the guy go?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Falco asked. He tried to lean forward to see but his ribs still hurt a lot.

    ¡°He¡¯s gone,¡± Indi looked around but the unconscious man was now nowhere to be seen.

    She glanced back at the others.

    Amanda stood in front of the group, between them and the building, red hair glowing like fire in the evening sun. She raised her hands and brought them down with a loud crash. The building exploded. It burst high up into the air then tumbled down into a pile of rubble. As the dust settled she turned and walked slowly back towards the gates.

 Chapter 33: Figure Eight; A quick and convenient knot

    Later...

    Cat sat in her usual spot in the bar, her fingers tracing the edge of a glass of cranberry juice as her eyes gazed habitually over the people in the room. It was the usual crowd, a mix of local regulars and several foreign sailors just staying in town for the night. It wasn¡¯t even unusual for Cat to be drinking juice. Nothing had changed and yet the world seemed a little upside down.

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    A man known as Baz, slid into the seat opposite her. His seat. Her old friend and lover. He smiled at her. ¡°You¡¯re back.¡±

    Cat smiled a half smile, as if she was happy but didn¡¯t quite have the energy. ¡°Never really left.¡±

    ¡°Come back to mine tonight?¡±

    Her gaze traced his strong shoulders, ran along his neck. She imagined kissing it. Her eyes tilted up, focused on his square jaw brunette hair unshaven and oh so touchable. Drawn down to his lips, she forced her gaze upward to meet his soft brown eyes.

    ¡°Sure,¡± she replied.

 Chapter 34: Kamikaze Knot; A knot which works best under tension but comes loose easily

    ¡°Kass, you seen Tony?¡±

    Kass turned. Her boss had his head poking out of his office door.

    ¡°Not since Friday,¡± she replied.

    He nodded but didn¡¯t look too concerned.

    ¡°Wait there.¡± He ducked back into his office and reappeared a moment later holding a manila folder.

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    ¡°You¡¯re in charge of the Milton Estate.¡± He handed her the folder.

    ¡°I¡¯m not a probate lawyer Sam,¡± she repeated what she¡¯d told Tony last week.

    ¡°Yeah well you were helping Tony on it and I¡¯ve told you before Kass, this firm . . . this town is too small for anyone to specialise. You want to only practice criminal law then move to the city.¡± He returned to his office before Kass could protest any further. Not that it was worth trying. She sighed and looked at the folder in her hand.

 Chapter 35: Prusik; A knot used to ascend a rope

    Zephyr opened the door to his home. He breathed in the familiar smell and smiled. It was good to be back, and on schedule too. It hadn¡¯t always been the case. Sometimes he reconsidered the jobs they did for Coal. They paid well but then danger work often did. When they¡¯d first started, well it hadn¡¯t really been that different, but the thing was it felt different, and that was what really mattered. Maybe it was time he got out. It wasn¡¯t like he really needed the money. The companionship, well that was nice. Maybe it wasn¡¯t time just yet. Maybe a few more jobs. He slid into his lounge chair and stared around his minimalistic living room. Maybe it was more that he felt like he was making a difference, a real difference, helping people. Had that been the case for this job?

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 Chapter 36: Handcuff Knot; A knot used in rescues

    Wolf groaned as he walked into his cabin and saw the mess he¡¯d left behind. Even worse, he¡¯d lost a bunch of stuff over the weekend, including a few rare books. It was probably going to be a mission and a half to get Coal to pay for it too. He started picking a few things up around the room. Part way through shifting a pile of books he overbalanced and tipped the top 3 books onto the floor. He sighed, and was about to tidy them all up when he noticed the title of one of the books; ¡®Experiments in Resurrection.¡¯ He forgot what he was supposed to be doing and picked that book up, leaving the rest of the books forgotten on the floor. He pushed a bunch of papers and things aside on the large table that filled most of the centre of the room and he laid the book out onto it. He opened it up at the contents and began to read.

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 Chapter 37: Zeppelin Bend; A useful knot for keeping two ropes tied together

    ¡°How long until Jewel gets home?¡± Indi asked Falco as they shut the front door to their place.

    ¡°Not long enough.¡± Falco sweeped her up in a passionate embrace, then wriggled his shoulders. ¡°Man they really did a decent job with my ribs. I don¡¯t feel anything anymore.¡±

    Indi smiled but there was a slight sadness to it.

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    Falco caressed her cheek. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just, all those people that died, and all that guy wanted was his wife and kid back.¡±

    ¡°Mmm, the dead aren¡¯t supposed to be brought back to life. That¡¯s why you¡¯ve got to enjoy every moment you have. You never know when it might be the last.¡± He tucked a loose hair behind her ear gently.

    Indi smiled softly. ¡°Yeah.¡± She stuck her chin out, determined. ¡°No time to be sad.¡± She forced a smile, focused on the all the familiar lines on Falco¡¯s face, and found it did actually make her feel a little better.

 Chapter 38: Alpine Butterfly; A knot useful for protecting from frayed parts of a rope

    Amanda shut the door quietly. They¡¯d just put Lily to bed. The poor thing was exhausted. Amanda tiptoed softly downstairs and met her husband in the kitchen. She took a seat at the table.

    ¡°What are we going to do with her?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Coal did offer to take her off our hands,¡± Sirius replied.

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    Amanda shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t trust him not to kill her.¡±

    ¡°He might be right. She isn¡¯t a witch anymore, not even human either, you don¡¯t know how long it¡¯s going to last. They didn¡¯t use a necromancer. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s ever been done successfully. Not permanently at least. She¡¯s likely to regress, and when she does... you know what happens. She¡¯ll hurt someone.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s just a kid.¡±

    They sat there thinking it over in silence.

 Chapter 39: Versatackle; A knot system used to gain mechanical advantage

    ¡°I just can¡¯t figure it out.¡± Cat sat perched on the edge of the desk in Coal¡¯s office. ¡°They must have had a materiokinetic because walls were moving and all sorts of shit but what I don¡¯t understand is how they were watching us. There were these weird screen mirrors but I¡¯ve never seen anything like that.¡±

    ¡°A seer? Clairvoyant? Maybe the mirrors were a just an infusement,¡± Coal suggested. He stood at the other end of the desk, a little annoyed by the fact that Cat sat perched on top of it.

    ¡°No way, a seer couldn¡¯t have relayed all the information for a materiokinetic to be able to do all that so accurately. Not even a good one.¡±

    ¡°How about a technopath?¡±

    Cat frowned. She shook her head, running one hand through her dark black hair. ¡°I didn¡¯t see any cameras and we were all over that place.¡±

    ¡°Maybe they were very tiny.¡±

    Cat gave a laugh. ¡°And millions of them. Also mirrors, not computer screens. If she was a technopath she would''ve used a screen, and that dead woman was definitely doing whatever it was that made them show stuff.¡±

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    Coal shrugged. He paused and offered a different suggestion. ¡°Maybe she had two powers?¡±

    ¡°Nobody has two powers.¡±

    ¡°That you¡¯ve met.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a myth. I like your cameras idea better. Besides, there were at least two people in that room. Could have been others earlier. And then there were her statements before she carked it, she talked about ''not moving them all'', but moving what? People? The walls? Files? Something else?¡±

    "Probably just ramblings of a dead woman. So, are you keeping it?¡±

    ¡°Keeping what?¡± Cat frowned confused.

    He nodded towards her belly.

    Cat stiffened. ¡°How¡¯d you know?¡±

    Coal gave a small but satisfied smile. ¡°I have my ways.¡±

    Cat rolled her eyes and sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to tell Baz?¡±

    Cat gave an indignant snort. ¡°What makes you think it¡¯s his?¡±

    Coal just gave her that smile again.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, nothing yet, not that it¡¯s any of your business.¡±

    ¡°As long as it doesn¡¯t affect your work.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about that.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Coal sighed, and walked around to the back of his desk. ¡°Well I guess that¡¯s that then.¡±

    ¡°And payment?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll have your cut by the end of the week.¡±

    Cat nodded, satisfied and made her way out leaving Coal alone.

 Chapter 40: Bowline; A versatile knot

    ¡°So what really happened out there?¡± Coal¡¯s next visitor, Natasha Crimson asked. She was tall and lanky, close to Cat¡¯s height, with naturally brown hair that had been dyed a rich burgundy. Unlike Cat who had simply perched on the edge of his desk, Natasha had better manners, and was seated in the chair opposite Coal¡¯s desk.

    ¡°The man lost his wife and child in a car accident and decided to use the Splice hole, a materiokinetic, and some ritual magic to resurrect them. I¡¯m not sure who all his helpers were or exactly how they managed it, but I don''t think it matters now,¡± Coal replied simply.

    ¡°Why not just use a necromancer?¡± Natasha asked.

    ¡°I suppose he couldn¡¯t find one.¡±

    Natasha gestured towards herself.

    ¡°Well he didn¡¯t come to me until after everything had started going south. You¡¯d think he¡¯d have given up at that point. Maybe if he¡¯d come to me first I could have sent him to you, but that¡¯s what one gets for being proud.¡±

    ¡°Did you know what you were sending them into?¡±

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    ¡°I had an idea, but no, I didn¡¯t know it was that bad. Amanda mentioned that the mimics didn¡¯t seem to die once the ritual had been completed, which is needless to say a bit worrying.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t know he was planning on using them as sacrifices?¡±

    ¡°I had a feeling, but that¡¯s all.¡±

    ¡°You weren¡¯t worried.¡±

    Coal shrugged. ¡°I knew they could handle it, and I had a backup plan just in case. I always have a back up plan. You haven¡¯t heard of mimics resisting fire before have you?¡± He brushed off her earlier questions, then asked his own with renewed focus.

    Natasha shook her head. ¡°You always have a back up plan yet you never tell anyone what it is. How¡¯d you know they¡¯d survive that one?¡±

    Coal didn¡¯t reply, he just smiled softly.

    Natasha stood up and stepped towards him. ¡°A physic? Do you have a physic?¡±

    ¡°Come on Tash, you know decent physics are hard to find.¡±

    Natasha stepped closer to him. ¡°Well yeah, but it¡¯d be just like you to find one. Necromancers are supposed to be hard to find too and yet here I am.¡±

    Coal just smiled again.

    ¡°You never tell me anything,¡± she teased.

    Coal stepped towards her, gently placed his hands on her hips and pulled her close. ¡°I told you all this.¡±

    Before she could object Coal pulled her in for a kiss. When they finally pulled apart again Natasha changed the subject.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got another job for them.¡±

    Coal raised his eyebrows. ¡°Really? You have a job for them.¡±

    Natasha nodded ¡°There¡¯s this house, it has something of value on the inside but not all who go in come out. In fact, Kass is probably already familiar with it. I need them to retrieve something from within.¡±

 Chapter 41: Knot the End

    From beneath a pile of rubble a hand shot up. Alex pulled herself free as she coughed the dust from her lungs. She¡¯d managed to crawl up the facility¡¯s other maintenance shaft and into the semi-collapsed garage at the back of the building. Memories of Mark¡¯s limp body being torn apart by monsters haunted the back of her thoughts.

    She paused a moment in the hot sun to get a breath. She was just trying to decide what to do when a shadow suddenly fell across her.

    She looked up at a man dressed in casual clothes, with a rope bag slung across one shoulder.

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    ¡°Hello?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Hello, I need some help.¡± His accent was strange. Where had he come from?

    ¡°Help?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, my friend, he vanished, and then all of a sudden he was back again, and then when I grabbed him we were suddenly in this dessert, only then he vanished again and I haven¡¯t seen him since. Do you think you could help me? I just want to get home.¡±

    She cocked her head sideways. Was his friend a teleporter? Why did this man not seem to know what that meant? Had they come through from the old world? Near here though? Surely not the facility? She shook her head. ¡°We can¡¯t take you back, travel to the old world is extremely difficult. But perhaps there¡¯s something else I can do for you if you tell me everything you remember happening.¡±

 Chapter 40: Tied Off

    Coal sat in his office, sipping a single malt.

    The man who wanted was back, and he was unhappy.

    ¡°Your people destroyed my facility! They took my daughter. You have to help me get her back.¡±

    Coal took a simple slow sip. He set the glass calmly on the desk. ¡°As far as I¡¯m aware, it wasn¡¯t your facility, and if what I¡¯m told is correct, you did try to kill them no?¡±

    ¡°I would have paid the extra loss fee,¡± the fair-haired, blue-eyed man explained with frustration in his tone.

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    The darker-haired Coal stood up from his chair and slowly made his way around the edge of the desk toward the man. ¡°Mm, well the thing about the loss fee, is it¡¯s not intended as an option you choose. If you¡¯d told me you''d wanted powerful fodder for a necromancy ritual I could have found you someone else. This group has particular value to me.¡± Coal paused. He met the man¡¯s eyes, blue on blue. Coal sighed. ¡°And the thing is I really can¡¯t have you set this as a new acceptable standard. You understand.¡± He saw confusion cloud the man¡¯s eyes, followed quickly by fear and then horror as Coal thrust his swiftly summoned sword right through the man¡¯s gut and twisted the blade.

    He watched the light fade from the man¡¯s eyes. Then he let the body fall to the floor. He wiped his sword clean with a nearby cloth before returning to his desk. He sighed once more. Took another sip of whiskey and then dialed a number on his phone.

 Volume 2, Chapter 1: Always the Last

    It was a dark and stormy night, and it followed one of the hottest days that the town of Little Rock had seen all year. This was despite the fact that they were just about to head into winter. It wasn¡¯t that unexpected however. The Elemental Festival was in town for the duration of the week and elementals weren¡¯t exactly know for their high levels of control. The place was filled with sprites and weathermakers, causing intense storms and then later breezy sun showers or sweltering snowstorms on a whim. It was bad enough with the regular elementals but this week it was pure chaos.

    ¡°Agatha! Come on.¡± Mindy rolled her eyes, as she clutched at Trevor. Both of them stood outside massive iron gates, hunched under a single umbrella. Two other kids from their class waited with them; a girl in a bright red coat and glasses who swung on the gates which marked the main entrance to the old house, and a boy, in a not quite waterproof parka.

    ¡°I¡¯m . . . coming¡± Agatha gasped between breaths.

    ¡±We¡¯re not even walking up hill. If you¡¯d ever lived in Ridgetown you¡¯d have died before you¡¯d have gotten anywhere.¡±

    ¡°Be nice Mindy,¡± Trevor scolded her, but it was light tone, as if he didn¡¯t really care, it was just what he was expected to say.

    Fat Agatha finally reached the gates, puffing and panting for all she was worth.

    Now that they had no reason to wait the other teenagers eyed the house nervously as if not wanting to be the first to breach the wall. Even the girl on the gate, who had looked so restless when she¡¯d been waiting, didn¡¯t suggest they move further in yet.

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    Mindy and her boyfriend Trevor had won the genetic lottery as kids, and because of their innate luck in life, the rest of the group looked to them for instruction.

    Mindy, who was lithe and pretty with wavy hazelnut hair, placed her hands on her hips and pushed up her chin. ¡°Well, what are you waiting for?¡± she said putting on her best posh voice. She was the envy of many and she knew it, although she never would have said it. She was too polite for that, and while she was a stunner, she was more than just a pretty face.

    Despite her nice clothes and proper posture, Mindy¡¯s family was run of the mill middle class. But thanks to her superb sewing skills and eye for detail in fashion she had managed to convince everyone at school otherwise, including Trevor, who unlike Mindy, had been lucky enough to win the class lottery as well.

    Trevor, with soft sandy hair and a face that would probably look young for his years, nodded at the girl on the gate. ¡°Is it unlocked?¡±

    The girl on the gate, also known as Brandy pushed her head up against the railings so she could peer down at the chain that tied one gate to the other. She shook her head and shrugged. ¡°Looks like we¡¯re going to have to climb over.¡±

    ¡°Ugh, let me have a look,¡± Dylan, the boy in the not quite waterproof parka said as he rolled his eyes at Agatha who was still getting her breath back.

    He studied the lock for some time with a frown. Trevor was almost about to prompt him for an answer when Dylan turned around and shrugged.

    ¡°Yup,¡± he said ¡°looks like we¡¯re going to have to climb over. As he finished speaking he turned and leaped up to grab the top of the gate and hoisted himself up and over. He was down on the other side and running for the cover of the house before anyone else had even moved.

    ¡°He couldn¡¯t have just said that straight away,¡± Mindy complained. She didn¡¯t waste any time beyond that one sentence though. Almost as fast as Dylan had, she too scaled the gate.

    ¡°He¡¯s just being funny,¡± Trevor replied as he pulled himself up and over the gate alongside Brandy, who stopped at the top to adjust her glasses.

    Agatha sighed and looked up at the gate for a few seconds before calling, ¡°Wait for me.¡± But nobody heard her.

 Volume 2, Chapter 2: Distractions

    A few days later...

    Hooves beat the damp soil. A chestnut mane flared out in what was currently a very windy day. 8-year-old Lily watched it all in awe as Amanda raced the old mare around the ring for exercise.

    After a few more laps she slowed the horse down and pulled up next to where Lily hung with her elbows over the fence.

    Amanda smiled kindly down at the young girl. ¡°Would you like to try?¡±

    Lily pulled back shyly but a hesitant wistful smile twitched across her face. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to ride.¡±

    The red-headed woman got down off the horse, giving her a fond pat on the neck as she crossed around the front of the mare to Lily¡¯s side. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s easy. I can teach you. We can just take it slow to start. Clover is one of the gentlest horses we have on this farm. She won¡¯t move unless you want her to.¡±

    Lily eyed the horse. Oh how she wanted to. Her parents had always promised her that one day she could have a horse but they¡¯d never come through. Every year they promised and every year went by and Lily still hadn¡¯t ridden a horse. Lily felt a stab of anger remembering all the broken promises and a touch of victory that now she had the chance. It was immediately followed by a flash of guilt. There was something not quite right about feeling so happy when the happiness was the result of her parents not being here.

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    Lily tried not to think too hard about that. To be honest she couldn¡¯t really remember much of what had happened. All she knew is that she had been travelling in the car with her mother and then..., well then she didn¡¯t remember that part, but last week she had awoken in a strange place, not a hospital but somewhere different, like an underground bunker, sort of, and her father had been there, except he hadn¡¯t seemed like himself. He hadn¡¯t been the warm and friendly man she knew. He had been more distant and he had seemed so worried about something. And then there had been these creatures and . . . and then he¡¯d disappeared.

    Amanda, and the others who had taken her and had said that he had done something bad but that it was alright, that sometimes people make mistakes. They seemed nice and all but whenever Lily asked about going home with her father once they found him they seemed to dodge the question, like maybe he wasn¡¯t coming back. It was the same with any questions she asked about her mother. ''We¡¯re looking,'' was all they¡¯d say.

    Amanda and Sirius, the couple she was staying with, lived on a horse farm where Amanda trained and bred horses for competitions and other sorts of jobs that horses have. They had five kids of their own who were all a bit older than Lily and they had all been very welcoming.

    Lily eyed the horse. Desire twisted within her again. She pushed the dark thoughts to the back of her mind. Her misery did nothing to help find her parents and they wouldn¡¯t want her to be unhappy. She knew that. It was okay then, she decided, if she took a moment or two to forget them. Just for a moment.

    ¡°Okay,¡± Lily climbed the fence excitedly as Amanda held the horse steady for her.

 Volume 2, Chapter 3: Forgotten Things

    Wolf sat perched on a wooden stool, a tad too low for the bench he was bent over. His brows were met in a frown and he pinched the middle of them between his thumb and forefinger. In the center of his large cabin was a wooden table. It was built of thick wood and spanned at least twice the length of any normal dining table. He sat at one of the many benches that encircled the lower room. On almost every surface lay piles of books, with two exceptions. In one corner of the room some vials of strange coloured potions were scattered about. In another spot near the furthermost frosted window the entire bench was covered in a number of herbs and other plants.

    Wolf had open one of his many books, out on the bench in front of him, and he was leaning over it reading in puzzled silence. The cabin had a lower floor with an open area for books and occasionally cooking although any cooking that Wolf did here wasn¡¯t typically the eating kind. There were two rooms and a bathroom through a door in the back. Along the edge of the back wall near the door a ladder lead to the upper floor, an area open to the main room and which contained Wolf¡¯s bed and several stacks of more books.

    Their last adventure had left Wolf with many questions, about mimics and necromancy, and the Splice hole; a gap between the worlds. He¡¯d always thought the path between worlds had been a fairy story, something literal fairies used to trap unwary souls. But he¡¯d seen it, seen enough of it. Sure people often come up with fantastic technology that just came out of nowhere, often rumoured to be stolen from the human world and brought back by world jumpers or through Splice holes. Truth be told, Wolf had always thought it had mostly been world jumpers, even though he¡¯d never met one. It was one of the rarest powers a witch could have.

    Wolf was not a witch. Wolf was a werewolf. Yes the name was a bit ironic but his parents evidently hadn¡¯t thought through the possible outcomes when they¡¯d decided to name him Wilfrid. Of course no other child had called him Wilfrid when he had been young, they¡¯d all called him Wolf, and so the name stuck.

    Werewolves didn¡¯t often socialise within society. He was unusual in this. Going to school had always been something Wolf had wanted, and in this his parents had indulged him. Something they had later regretted, but it suited Wolf just fine. By witch standards Wolf was no socialite but he interacted with enough people to not be considered a loner either.

    Werewolves were known for their hyper sense of smell. He could find anything better than any blood hound. And somehow this town, Little Rock, it seemed to get a lot of disappearances. Although, really what was more surprising was that there was usually someone willing to pay to find one of the disappearances. But it happened often enough that Wolf made a good buck off it. That and supplying potions and information, mostly about potions, plant life or magic. Even though he didn¡¯t have powers there were still spells.

    Weirdly enough it was a rare witch that practiced spells. Most got by on their own powers. Spells were hard and unpredictable. They often had high prices and rare ingrediants, not to mention time, effort and a certain level of skill to begin with. But they interested Wolf and so he studied them and the information he found he would pass along for the right price. Wolf had no magic beyond his basic shapeshifting and enhanced senses but he could still use magic if a witch with the borrower power imbued an item with a particular type of magic. It was these sorts of items that Wolf would sometimes use in spells. Items known as infusements. Most of his spells only did small things. The strength of the borrower mattered and even then borrower imbued objects never lasted forever, and they were bloody expensive. Spells, as they were defined, generally consisted of combining several different types of borrower magic in unique ways, but occasionally they used just one magic in a type of ritual.

    Today Wolf was investigating a particular spell. Not because he wanted to cast it but because he¡¯d recently seen it casted and wanted to know if it was the sort of spell that was likely to last. The book that lay in front of him was one of his rarer ones, one he usually kept hidden away. It was the sort of book that if the wrong person saw it and word got out then Wolf would likely come home to find the whole place ransacked. Despite being rather fond of his belongings this particular book also contained some very dangerous spells, spells that could bring the dead back to life, at least in theory.

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    A knock on the door drew Wolf from his studies with some reluctance. I twas probably a client, someone in need of something found.

    He moved, slowly, toward the door. He was busy enough and spent little enough that he felt he had the power to pick and choose. The only thing he really valued were books.

    He opened the door to find a woman standing there. He couldn¡¯t tell if she was older or younger than he but he felt at the least that they were not from the same worlds. It wasn¡¯t a class difference, she didn¡¯t stick out as rich, no, it was something else, something he couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on.

    He recognised her and it took him a moment to place her. She was the mother of a girl who he¡¯d found not long before he¡¯d left on his last adventure; a runaway, or so it had seemed at the time. He frowned now that the details were coming back. There had been something off about the stepfather.

    Wolf took in a deep breath. The scent helped. It was a lesser known fact that memory was strongly tied to scent, and the other senses too, but for a werewolf scent always stuck out the most.

    ¡°Please, you have to help me. Briana¡¯s gone missing again. I¡¯ve looked in all the usual places, and the place you found her last time. I don¡¯t know where she could be.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Wolf grunted, thinking it over. He would say yes. He knew he would, but he just felt he needed to think first. He hadn¡¯t given this one enough thought last time. He¡¯d been distracted. This time he¡¯d make sure he did right by the child. Sometimes that meant not finding them until you had all the information.

    ¡°Please,¡± she begged again, bringing her hands together.

    Wolf gave a nod and felt a pang of regret as he watched her features collapse into an expression of relief.

    ¡°Where did you last see her?¡± he asked as he turned his back on her and headed back to put his earlier books away. It would not do to leave these particular ones out.

    He went with the woman back to her place and they retraced the child¡¯s steps as far as they could before Wolf transformed and resumed tracking alone on all fours.

    He found the body not far from the house. He¡¯d known almost the moment he¡¯d shifted. He could smell the blood. Someone had covered her up with dead leaves and rotten branches but it was a poor attempt. Anyone stumbling over it would have found it. He wondered how the mother hadn¡¯t done so during her searches. But when he saw her face he knew. She had already known, she¡¯d simply been hoping he¡¯d tell her something different.

    She didn¡¯t wail or cry and somehow that was worse than if she had.

    ¡°You need to phone the police.¡± Wolf told her.

    She paled, if possible even more than she already had, and shook her head.

    Wolf glanced at the house and frowned. Two small faces peaked out from between blue curtains.

    Wolf sighed and nodded. That was the way it was sometimes. The police would take their time and she had too much more to lose.

    He gave her some numbers but she was reluctant enough to take them that he knew they wouldn¡¯t make it inside the house. She likely didn¡¯t have the cash to pay anyone who could actually help anyway.

    He still kept her payment for the search though. He had to. Setting a presidence was important in this line of work and there were just too many cases like this. It was why he always took the cash up front.

    He returned to his workshop with a heavy heart wondering if it wouldn''t have been better to just give her her money back. But perhaps there was something else he could do.

    He glanced sideways at where it necromancy book lay hidden. The girl had only been dead a few hours. He thought of her stepfather still alive. But even with a sacrifice a few hours was long enough to need a bloody good necro, and Wolf didn¡¯t know any that good. He was sure Coal did but he didn¡¯t want to guess at that price.

    Perhaps it would be enough to just rid her of her demon. There were after all still two other children in that house. The police might help but if they didn¡¯t..? Getting the Werewolves involved wouldn¡¯t do, beside he hadn¡¯t been on best terms with his pack lately anyway. They¡¯d always disapproved of him for spending too much time with witches. There were others though who might help. Cat for example, with her history all she¡¯d need was a whisper in the ear and she¡¯d have no problem chasing that problem down. But Cat could also be a loose cannon and just as subtle as one. Sometimes telling her about these sorts of things was more trouble than it was worth.

    He leaned back against the bench and closed his eyes. Four hours later and nearly evening he still hadn¡¯t come to a decision.

 Volume 2, Chapter 4: A Favour

    Indi had been in the middle of trying to figure out why her code was still working even though she¡¯d commented out the lines that were supposed to make it work, when she was jolted from her thoughts by a ring of the phone. She gave a start then rolled her eyes at her own jumpiness.

    ¡°Hello?¡± she answered, not bothering to check who it was, mind still half on her code.

    Her older brother Sly spoke into the other end of the line. ¡°Hey Indi, I need you do do me a favour.¡±

    ¡°Well hello to you too, nice to hear from you,¡± Indi replied in a light but sarcastic tone.

    ¡°Okay I know I haven¡¯t stopped by in awhile but I¡¯ve been busy.¡±

    ¡°Well I¡¯ve been busy too you know.¡± Her mind wandered back to her most recent adventure. The one they were all still kind of in the middle of, given they¡¯d come back with a child who may or may not be a zombie. The kid was living with two of Indi¡¯s friends, Amanda and Sirius, for the time being. Indi and a few other people had been doing some part time work for a local aristocrat, a finder, or middleman as one might say. He¡¯d find people with problems and then he paid her group a cut of the profits to fix them. Most of the time it had been small stuff, missing books, rogue zombies ¨C the properly dead kind, one time a haunted town.

    The last job though, that had been a little bigger. They been hired by what they¡¯d thought was an illegal scientific agency that had had one of its experiments get loose in the labyrinth that was their underground facility. As it turns out while the monsters were real they weren¡¯t experiments and they hadn¡¯t been the most dangerous thing in that facility. The whole thing had been an elaborate plot to sacrifice the hires to bring lost family members back form the dead with an advanced necromancy ritual. Now the guy who had orchestrated it was nowhere to be found and they had his necromancied daughter who may or may not turn into a flesh eating zombie at any point.

    Indi wondered what Sly would think of it. He was almost seven years older and he¡¯d always been protective of his younger sister. Lately he seemed to be away a lot though, and he hadn¡¯t even come to visit her new place yet.

    ¡°I know, I¡¯m sorry,¡± Sly replied, and he did genuinely sound it.

    ¡°When are you going to come by and see my new place, it¡¯s by the sea, it¡¯s a got a great view, and lots of sun?¡±

    She heard Sly give a soft chuckle at that. ¡°Of course it does.¡±

    Indi and Sly were both half vampire, half witch. The vampire came from their mother¡¯s side. Typically vampires didn¡¯t like the sun, mostly on account of the fact that it would cause 3<sup>rd</sup> degree burns if they didn¡¯t take appropriate protective measures, namely a very powerful, and expensive sunscreen that had to be applied daily. But Indi had always loved the sun. Her brother had never quite understood but he loved his sister so he just accepted it as something that was important to her.

    ¡°Listen Indi, I will come visit but right now I¡¯m in a bit of a bind. I need to you pick up some blood from the bank for me. It¡¯s preordered, you just have to give my name and sign. I know you don¡¯t like to...¡±

    ¡°Wait, what? You want me to go to the blood bank?¡±

    Indi had been on animal blood since she was a young teenager and one of the kids at school had called her a monster for drinking the blood of people. Indi¡¯s mother, being a full vampire, drank witch blood from the blood banks, as did Indi¡¯s brother. Indi didn¡¯t judge him for it, but nor did she like to be reminded of it. For the most part Sly had always been discreet with when and where he consumed his supply. To ask Indi to go to the bank for him was no small favor.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Indi, I know you hate those places, but I¡¯ve got no one else who can pick it up, I¡¯m completely out of my supply and I won¡¯t be back until after they close. You think just this once you could do this for me. I¡¯ll owe you big time, and I¡¯ll come see your new place soon I promise.¡±

    Indi hesitated. She hated to not help her brother out but she also really didn¡¯t like the blood banks. She¡¯d never really been comfortable with the vampire half of herself.

    ¡°Can¡¯t Sara get it for you?¡± Indi asked, referring to Sly¡¯s wife.

    Sly didn¡¯t answer immediately which made Indi worry. ¡°What?¡± she asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s the other thing I¡¯ve been meaning to tell you.¡± Sly said with a groan. ¡°Sara can¡¯t get it because she¡¯s out of town but also...¡± Sly paused then continued with a sigh, ¡°We¡¯re getting a divorce.¡±

    ¡°What!¡± the news came as a shock to Indi who had always thought Sara and Sly made such a lovely couple.

    ¡°I... it¡¯s a long story, I¡¯ll tell you later, I¡¯ll come visit I promise, but I uh, I need to focus on the road right now, don¡¯t want to miss my turn off. Can you pick up the stuff.¡±

    ¡°Are you talking on the phone and driving?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got you on speaker,¡± Sly replied. ¡°It was just supposed to be a short call anyway.¡±

    Indi rolled her eyes. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll pick up your stuff.¡±

    ¡°Great, thank you so much, that really helps me out. I promise I¡¯ll visit as soon as I¡¯m back. Err, just leave the stuff in the large fridge, you know where it is?¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡±

    ¡°Okay, and I am really sorry, I¡¯ll make it up to you. Love you sis. Bye.¡±

    ¡°Bye.¡± Indi replied as Sly hung up.

    She sat still and pondered for a moment, mostly just delaying the inevitable. Then she glanced at her watch and decided she should probably get going now if she was going to miss the rise in afternoon traffic on the way back.

    The blood bank was a plain white building all the way across town but it only took Indi about 15 minutes to drive there. When she got there she immediately noticed something out of the ordinary was going on. The front entrance was surrounded by people. Some holding signs. Many were yelling or shouting things. It was enough to make Indi consider turning the car around right then and there. But Sly had said he didn¡¯t have any blood in the house at the moment. Going cold turkey on one¡¯s regular blood supply even for a day usually resulted in some nasty side effects, much akin to a drug addict going through withdrawal. The shakes and sweats and nausea could set in within a day. Sly would survive but it wouldn¡¯t be pleasant. Going without so suddenly would also increase his desire to feed off other sources. Sly would never give into that temptation but still Indi knew he would hate to feel like that. She¡¯d told him she would get his blood and so she would do what she had said.

    She pulled up and stepped hesitantly out of the car. A few of the crowd eyed her suspiciously. As Indi approached the building their stares turned to fierce looks of anger. A ripple of movement went through the crowd as they all turned to look at her. Indi felt like she was standing beneath a giant wave about to swallow her whole. She hesitated. Just as she considered bolting back towards the car once more, the door of the building opened and a thin pale woman stepped out holding a large soft chilly bin.

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    Vampires were characteristically thin and pale with violet or red eyes and long incisors, and this woman was such that even if she hadn¡¯t been walking out of a blood bank she would have been easily recognisable as a vampire. Indi was only half vampire and had a penchant for baked goods along with an array of other unhealthy snacks so she was a few pounds on the heavier side of characteristically vampire sized, and while she did have the pale skin and violet eyes the latter was hidden behind a pair of dark rimmed glasses and her teeth were short enough that you wouldn¡¯t notice unless you were specificaly looking for something different. It was probably why the crowd hadn¡¯t immediately recognised her as what she was.

    As the thin woman walked away from the building, surrounded by crowd on either side they yelled insults and slurs. One even threw something at her. Three policemen were doing their best to keep the crowd behind a string of flimsy tape, all that separated them from their quarry. But the woman¡¯s appearance had been enough to draw the attention away from Indi and seeing her chance, without a thought for her return she dashed forward beneath the screaming crowd and slipped through the front entrance.

    The inside was quite the contrast to the outside. The door must have been well sealed, for once inside, the sound of the crowd outside disappeared completely. The inside of the building was white and sterile, much the appearance of a doctor¡¯s office, only nicer. To her right lay a waiting area with dark black velvety looking carpet, the only part of the room that wasn¡¯t vinyl tiling. There were no windows anywhere. In front of her a long hallway stretched back into the depths of the building. Just off to the right and in front of the waiting area was a reception desk manned by a young woman with dark hair messily piled on top of her head with an assortment of bobby pins. The woman looked up and Indi noticed a nose ring and violet eyes. She was younger looking than Indi had first thought.

    ¡°Can I help you?¡± she asked.

    Indi stepped up to the counter. ¡°I¡¯m here to pick up some blood for my brother.¡±

    The woman frowned and looked down at her computer screen. ¡°What¡¯s the name?¡±

    ¡°Sylvester Owens.¡± Indi placed both her hands on the counter, which was about chest height, and leaned forwards curious. It was her first time here. She¡¯d been in to the blood bank a few times as a child with her mother but not in a very long time and never in this one.

    ¡°And your name?¡± the receptionist asked.

    ¡°Indigo Adams.¡±

    The woman nodded and tapped away at the keys. ¡°Do you have some ID on you and your chilly bag?¡±

    Indi handed over her Potions and Poisons license. ¡°I err... don¡¯t have a bag.¡±

    The woman studied her license then handed it back. ¡°That¡¯s fine, we¡¯ll put in a few ice packs, just make sure you chill straight away when you get home. Take a seat, I¡¯ll let you know when it¡¯s ready.¡±

    Indi took a seat in the waiting room on one of the armless grey couches. Across from her sat a thin blond man, older than herself. He glanced up as she sat down and then returned to reading one of the waiting room magazines. Indi flicked through a nearby pile until she found one with pretty pictures of remote locations. This one seemed to be a feature on waterfalls around the globe. She flicked a few pages in and marvelled at an image of a tiny kayak hurtling down a giant white mass of foam almost ten times it¡¯s size. She imagined paddling off that intentionally and it took her breath away. She wondered if her friend, Amanda, who liked to kayak occasionally, had ever gone down a waterfall that high. She considered ripping the page out and taking it to show her, she was sure they wouldn¡¯t mind, but then nobody else would get to look at it. She flicked through to another page deciding that she could just describe it later.

    It wasn¡¯t long before they called out ¡°order for Owens¡±. It had taken less time than she had expected after they¡¯d told her to wait, faster even than the guy across from her who glanced up at her once more as she got up.

    They handed her a cardboard box, taped shut with red bio-hazard tape. Once she¡¯d signed the release form Indi thanked them, then turned toward the door, pausing as she remembered the crowd outside. She took a deep breath and opened the door to the noise.

    Things had gotten worse since she¡¯d gone inside. The crowd had gotten bigger and a few more cops had turned up as well. To her right one cop was physically trying to pin down one riley member of the crowd.

    The shouting got louder as Indi moved away from the building. Her heart was hammering in her chest. They¡¯d stay back surely.

    Something hard hit her in the head. She winced and noticed a can that someone had thrown landing on the ground nearby. The next one Indi saw before it hit her.

    She shielded, using her magic to create an invisible force field. That quietened the crowd. They weren¡¯t expecting magic, not from a vampire. That skill came from Indi¡¯s father¡¯s side. But it only stopped them for a second. They saw the box she was carrying and to them it didn¡¯t matter if she was or she wasn¡¯t, she was still enabling someone to consume blood from conscious beings.

    ¡°Cannibal!¡± someone shouted at her.

    ¡°Leech!¡± yelled another.

    More projectiles were thrown.

    She heard a cop ask someone if they wanted to be arrested and another member of the crowd dared them to try.

    As she started to break free of the cordoned off area she noticed movement behind her out of the corner of her eye. Someone coming toward her. She glanced back in time to see one of the cops tackle a man to the ground and then several people from the crowd pile on top of him.

    Indi quickened her pace.

    As she was fumbling for her keys someone else drove into the car park, saw the mass of people, turned around and attempted to pull out again. As they did a few of the mob threw themselves in front of the car blocking it¡¯s way out. ¡°Coward!¡± one of them yelled.

    Whoever was driving, slammed their foot on the gas, driving through two people who weren¡¯t fast enough to get out of the way. The crowd did not react well to this. Someone threw a different car, literally, probably a telekinetic. It crashed onto the road, narrowly missing the fleeing vehicle.

    Indi hesitated at that. Her breath caught in her throat, afraid of what they might do if she tried to drive away. She stood paused, half out of the car, half in, box of blood on the passenger seat. The crowd was ignoring her for now, their forcus on the thrown car. But they wouldn¡¯t be distracted for long. Some were already starting to move toward her.

    Once again she had a stroke of luck as a police car came screaming up the road and crowd turned their fury on them.

    Indi got in her car knowing it was now or never but all the while just waiting for the feeling of her car being thrown through the air.

    As she pulled out of the lot someone or something hit her back window shattering it. Indi didn¡¯t look back.

    By the time she got to Sly¡¯s house her hands still hadn¡¯t stopped shaking. Knowing she had to get the blood into the cold she forced herself out of the car.

    She used the key he¡¯d given her years ago to enter, made her way downstairs to the underground floor, and unpacked the packets of blood into his large fridge.

    Once she was done and back outside she took a look at her rear window. The entire thing was likely to need replacing. She thought about driving around to Cat¡¯s garage now but worried that if she did she wouldn¡¯t be able to stop herself from bursting into tears when Cat asked her what had happened. She decided she could leave it for later.

    Once Indi got back in her car she still wasn¡¯t feeling any better. The shakes had subsided but she still felt sick and jumpy. By the time she got home, maybe she¡¯d feel better? Maybe calling a friend to meet her at home would help? If she was careful how she parked then Cat might not notice the broken window and she needn¡¯t face a barrage of questions. And cookies, cookies could make anything better. She picked up her cell and dialed.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Cat answered in her typical rough voice but one which was perky and lighter than usual.

    ¡°Hey, I was wondering if you¡¯d want to come over and help make cookies?¡± Indi said, trying to keep her voice light

    ¡°I¡¯m working Indi,¡± Cat replied, straight to the point which was classic Cat, and sounding slightly distracted.

    ¡°Yeah no worries,¡± Indi replied, unable to keep the disappointment out of her voice. But if Cat noticed it she didn¡¯t say anything.

    Cat hung up without a goodbye. That wasn¡¯t unusual for Cat though and she was probably just busy.

    Indi tried Amanda next.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Indi, I¡¯ve got a few horses still to run, maybe later?¡± Amanda did sound apologetic.

    ¡°Yeah sure,¡± Indi replied making half an attempt not to sound disappointed this time.

    But Amanda was more perceptive than Cat. ¡°Everything alright?¡± she asked after a brief pause.

    Indi gathered herself mentally and put as much positivity as she could muster into her reply. ¡°Yeah I¡¯m fine, just bored.¡±

    Amanda was quiet for just long enough that Indi was afraid she hadn¡¯t fooled her but then Amanda continued. ¡°Well anyway, I was thinking we should call a meeting later tonight, I¡¯ve got a few things I want to discuss with everyone and I¡¯d prefer not to do it at Coal¡¯s. Would your place be alright, say 7pm?¡±

    ¡°Yeah sure,¡± This time Indi knew she manged to sound happy.

    ¡°Great, I¡¯ll see you later.¡± Amanda waited for Indi¡¯s reply before she hung up.

    Indi stared sadly at her phone. She was about to dial another number when the sky rumbled and a sudden thundering downpour had her wondering if she was under attack again. She glanced back at her broken back window with a wince and figured her next call would be better made from home, once she¡¯d gotten the car under some form of cover. She turned the engine on and pulled out of her brother¡¯s driveway.

 Volume 2, Chapter 5: Foreshadowing

    ¡°Step right up! Step right up! Ger yer fortunes told! Right here! Only 24 coppers!¡±

    Triston stepped in line. Why not? He¡¯d seen almost everything else in this market today. He had thought moving to a small town would help him write, and for the most part he¡¯d stayed locked up in his room. For the past six months he¡¯d been working on a non-fictional book, covering in great detail the history of teleportation regulation. It had been lonely work but was going to be very important for helping the government merge the current mess of regional teleportation laws into one cohesive structure, a structure which should last hundreds if not thousands of years into the future.

    Triston watched as a man with a cane and a bowler hat stepped out of the tent, a broad grin spread across his face. He kissed an equally elderly lady right on the lips which seemed to both surprise and please her. ¡°She said I¡¯ve got at least another 30 years.¡± The old man laughed ¡°Let¡¯s go celebrate.¡°

    Triston waited as another patron entered, a middle-aged woman this time. She also came out smiling.

    Then it was Triston¡¯s turn. He stepped inside the tent, not sure exactly what to expect. It¡¯s not that psychics weren¡¯t real. Oh they existed all right, but they were very rare, and given a lot of people liked to know their future there was a lot of business in pretending. It was unlikely this one was real, but 24 coppers was not much to pay for a bit of harmless fun.

    The lady at the table sure looked the part. Her hair was dark and staring to grey. It fell over her shoulders in thick curls. Her clothes were coloured in purple and green, and made of velvet that rippled like the surface of a pond.

    Triston sat down and held out his hands to her. She placed her palms on top of his. Her hands were unusually cold.

    She closed her eyes and swayed ever so slightly. Her dark eyebrows came together in a frown.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± she murmured, ¡°very strange.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Your end, it seems to have come already. The date of your death is December 11, 2004.¡±

    ¡°That can¡¯t be right,¡± he laughed, thinking at first she was joking. ¡°That¡¯s six months ago.¡±

    ¡°I see what I see,¡± she replied simply and said no more.

    Triston paid her anyway but left the tent frowning and in a bad mood. What kind of psychic tells someone something they don¡¯t want and aren¡¯t expecting to hear? His thoughts were quickly interrupted however.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°Can you hear the bells?¡± a young feminine voice asked.

    He turned to see who had spoken and was met with a pretty and petite young lady. She was dressed in fine dark clothing, too tidy and smart for this type of location. Her blonde hair was just past shoulder length at the back, layered shorter around her face, and her eyes were the deepest blue.

    ¡°No?¡± he replied, confused. He hadn¡¯t realised there was a bell tower here.

    ¡°That¡¯s good, because they say only the dead can hear them.¡± She flashed a wide smile then checked her watch. ¡°They¡¯re magic!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t everybody?¡± He replied. Most people had at least one low level power, except humans and vamps.

    ¡°That one isn¡¯t.¡± She jerked her head towards the tent. ¡°She¡¯s a sham, not a real psychic.¡±

    Triston laughed. ¡°Evidently, she told me the date of my death was six months ago.¡±

    I woman seemed intrigued at this. ¡°What a funny thing.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡± he agreed. ¡°Excuse me, I should probably get back to work.¡±

    ¡°So soon, it¡¯s such a lovely day. Perhaps you¡¯d like to take a walk?¡± she asked.

    Her smile was so captivating that he couldn¡¯t help but say yes. They walked to the edge of the market and entered down a little path that wound itself through the overgrown foliage of the town gardens.

    ¡°Perhaps I am dead,¡± he mused. ¡°It¡¯s certainly a heavenly day.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not dead yet,¡± she replied.

    ¡°How do you know?¡±

    She checked her watch, ¡°Because I saw your future, six months ago.¡±

    Somewhere in the distance he heard a bell start to toll.

    Stella stepped away from the body and gave a heavy glance down at her blood covered clothes, pleased she¡¯d had the foresight to wear black. She always felt a little sorry for the people who¡¯s futures she saw, and the ones she helped ensure. But it was better this way. The man would have destroyed a lot of lives.

    And she hadn¡¯t killed him, not really, she¡¯d just seen his death and ensured the location was private. The teleportation accident would have happened either way, the teleporter had locked on to him specifically in a deliberate kamikaze attack in an attempt to terrify anyone who opposed the new teleportation regulation. To prevent the man¡¯s death would have cost others and worse it would have meant meddling, proper meddling. Not only did taking an observational approach help Stella predict the future with more clarity but she also felt that she didn¡¯t deserve the right to make decisions over who deserved to live or die. Every change had consequences, she simply did the most she could without actively causing harm elsewhere. Worrying over it was the reason so many real psychics ended up going mad, the powerful ones that is. This way at least there weren¡¯t any exploding bodies in the middle of a crowded area. Kids and adults alike would sleep well tonight, blissfully unaware of the event they had come so close to witnessing. There would be no violent snowballing of events, no retaliation.

    Stella knew nobody would come by for awhile yet. She contemplated moving the remaining pieces of body but knew that would arouse suspicion. There was about a 30% chance the scene would be found by children playing and a 60% chance it would be found by a man walking his dog. She didn¡¯t bother assessing further for more concrete numbers. Sometimes you just had to risk it and time was short.

 Volume 2, Chapter 6: Missing Persons

    Kass wound her way through the busy hallway, sidestepping past people too busy or wrapped up in other things to watch where they were going.

    ¡°You hear about those missing kids?¡±

    Kass caught snippets of conversation as she breezed past.

    ¡°The ones who disappeared a few nights ago?¡±

    And just as she caught them they faded into the background replaced by other notes.

    ¡°Boss is hounding me up about denting the squad again. I told him, ain¡¯t gonna catch those speed freaks if you can¡¯t chase after them, sometimes that means a few dents in the paint work.¡±

    ¡°You catch the new film, the one about the chef?¡±

    ¡°And I told him, they¡¯re like cats and dogs, they don¡¯t mix, it¡¯s much better to just keep them apart if you ask me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got so much paperwork you could build a small shed out of it.¡±

    She pressed herself tight against the wall as a couple of cops hauled a perp down the hall. More snippets of conversation floated her way.

    ¡°This place is so busy today. What happened, somebody start a riot?¡±

    ¡°Those protests, out front of the blood bank, some idiot threw a car over the fence and it went south from there, the cells are full.¡±

    Kass slipped forward again, following a pair of police in tan and brown uniform.

    ¡°Do you think we have a kidnapper in town?¡±

    ¡°I hope not, there¡¯s enough going on around here as it is and no leads, it¡¯ll probably stay open awhile but I doubt it¡¯ll go anywhere. They probably went camping and got lost in the woods. Let Search and Rescue deal with it.¡±

    ¡°Search and Rescue? I thought it was just us cops dealing with issues like that.¡±

    ¡°Mostly it is but there are a couple of volunteer organisations, not to mention private trackers if the parents are willing to pay for it.¡±

    ¡°Private trackers? Like tracers?¡±

    ¡°And werewolves¡±

    ¡°Werewolves!?¡±

    The way he said it grabbed Kass¡¯s attention like a snare and she thoughtfully eyed the cop. He was the younger of the two, and from the little Kass could see from behind, he looked barely in his 20s. The response and it¡¯s fearful tone suggested he wasn¡¯t from around here. Possibly he was from city, although urban werewolves weren¡¯t that uncommon. More than likely he was just from a sheltered family given the way he spoke as if he¡¯d never seen one. Kass herself hadn¡¯t met her first werewolf until she¡¯d been in her 20s. He¡¯d soon find there was nothing to be afraid of, at least no more than you would fear any other person in Little Rock, which if she was being honest now that she was thinking about it was probably not entirely nothing. Still she¡¯d lived in more exciting places.

    The other cop was a much older heavy set woman. She gave a sideways glance at her partner, a mix of knowing brought about by experience and a touch of exasperation. ¡°They¡¯re not like what you¡¯d expect, mostly all just normal folks like the rest of us, just a bit more reclusive,¡± was all she said in a kind tone.

    They all arrived at the end of the hall. The cops turned left and Kass went right.

    Eventually she reached a counter where a sleepy-eyed sergent was staring off into space.

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    ¡°I¡¯m here to see a client, Morgan...¡± she flipped through her notes ¡°Morgan Reech.¡±

    The sergent yawned and leaned forward ever so slightly so he could check his computer.

    ¡°He¡¯s been released.¡±

    ¡°Released?¡±

    ¡°Charges were dropped, we needed the space.¡±

    ¡°Nobody told me this.¡±

    The man shrugged as if it was his problem. ¡°Probably happened recently.¡±

    Kass was about to press him for more information when her cellphone rang. Deciding she wasn¡¯t going to get anywhere with the sergent and she could follow up back at the office she turned away and answered the call.

    ¡°Hey Kass,¡± Cat spoke on the other end of the line. ¡°Amanda called a meeting for tonight about you know what. 7pm at Indi¡¯s place.¡±

    ¡°Not at hers or Coals?¡± Kass asked.

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t want the kid to overhear, or Coal to interfere, got it?¡±

    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll be there,¡± Kass replied and hung up before Cat could beat her to it.

    Kass returned to her office, leaving the police station through what now appeared to be an almost deserted hallway.

    When she entered through the main doorway of her office she was hastily pulled aside by Benji. Forever fresh-faced and friendly Benji was one of the juniors. He was called Ben by most, mainly out of professional respect, but Kass still preferred to use his given name. The way he always lit up when she did told her he preferred it too.

    ¡°If I was you I¡¯d make yourself scarce for the rest of the day.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Kass started as he pushed her towards the door she¡¯d just come through.

    ¡°He¡¯s in one of his moods.¡± Benji jerked a head toward the offices further in and Kass knew immediately that he was talking about their immediate boss. ¡°Not your fault, it¡¯s the riots, he just got a whole load of cases dumped on his desk, probably be on your desk tomorrow, but given the state he¡¯s in right now I¡¯d find something else to work on for the afternoon. Maybe check up on that Milton place you¡¯re supposed to be sorting out the inheritance for. The one Tony was in charge of before he disappeared.¡±

    Kass rolled her eyes, nodded and mumbled, ¡°Thanks Benji,¡± before heading back out the door.

    Kass pulled up outside the gates of the house about 20 minutes later. She got out to open them so she could drive through. Instead of returning to her car straight away she paused at the gate not quite believing what she saw. A car was already parked in the driveway. One she recognised, her coworker, Tony¡¯s.

    It wasn¡¯t just parked in any place either. It was parked exactly where she¡¯d last seen it parked about a week ago. She looked up at the house. It loomed above her, all it¡¯s dozens of windows looked down at her, reflecting an overcast sky. Somewhere across town thunder rolled. She looked up and could see rain falling in the distance. She hoped it wasn¡¯t headed this way. Kass shivered as a cool wind blew through her thin blouse. Something wasn¡¯t right.

    She left her car parked in the entrance and walked over to investigate Tony¡¯s car. She walked around. It looked exactly as it had a week ago when they¡¯d last visited this house. She could even see the jacket he¡¯d left in the back seat.

    She turned back to retrieve her car. She drove it forward and then around so it was facing the gate. She left the gate open and then walked determinedly up to the front door. She took out her key and then paused. She tried the handle. It opened inward.

    Kass took a deep breath. She should call out but she felt as if something had stolen her voice, not literally, just as if to make a sound now might call unwelcome attention.

    She shook her head. She was being silly. She lifted one heeled foot about to step forward across the entrance-way when her phone ran.

    The sound made her nearly jump out of her skin.

    ¡°Hello?¡± she breathed into the receiver, stepping back away from the door.

    ¡°Kaaass,¡± a familiar voice spoke excitedly on the other end. Indi. Indi paused a moment as if distracted by something. ¡°Why do you sound so out of breath?¡± she asked.

    Kass rubbed the other side of her face with one hand. ¡°No reason,¡± she replied.

    ¡°Anyway I was wondering if you weren¡¯t too busy this afternoon if you wanted to come hang out? I¡¯m making cookies.¡±

    Kass smiled briefly. ¡°I¡¯m working Indi.¡±

    ¡°Well maybe you could call in sick or bring your work over here. I could help? Please, the others all said they were busy.¡±

    Some part of Kass felt hurt that Indi had called the others first but she supposed it was to be expected. She was the quiet one, always just along for the ride. She¡¯d never been much good at making friends or providing entertainment. Indi certainly didn¡¯t mean anything by it. Still, just once she¡¯d have liked it if she could be someone¡¯s first call.

    Kass glanced back up at the house. She wasn¡¯t keen to head into the office and the idea of stepping into the house again made her pause. ¡°How much do you know about Little Rock¡¯s old buildings?¡± she asked Indi.

    ¡°Not much but I¡¯m a great researcher and I¡¯ve got the best internet connection in town.¡±

    Kass sighed. It was possible Indi might actually be some help after all, and the woman was great at multi-tasking. Cookies and research were right up Indi¡¯s alley. ¡°Alright I¡¯ll be over soon, you get started on those cookies.¡±

    ¡°Yaaay!¡± Indi squealed.

 Volume 2, Chapter 7: Rumours

    Indi¡¯s house was up a hill with a beautiful view of the sea. Kass parked across the street. She almost paused as she was crossing the road. She had noticed Indi¡¯s car wasn¡¯t in it¡¯s usual spot. She did have a garage though, perhaps she¡¯d moved it inside? From memory the garage was usually pretty packed with a bunch of her husband, Falco¡¯s, stuff.

    Kass worried that maybe Indi had meant a different afternoon but she was sure it had been today that Indi had said. She climbed the stairs to the front door and knocked. She was relieved when Indi answered it almost immediately.

    ¡°Hi, come in.¡± Indi swung the door wide open with a big welcoming grin.

    Kass stepped quietly through, kicking off her heels once inside.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to do that,¡± Indi said as she crossed the few metres to the kitchen. The entire space, entrance-way and kitchen included, was part of a larger open living area. At one end were floor to ceiling windows. Indi loved them. Kass wasn¡¯t a fan of them herself. The view certainly was pretty but it made her feel so exposed, like being in a giant glass house. All she could think about was all the possible ways a sniper might set up position if they wanted to take someone in the house out. It probably wasn¡¯t a problem for Indi, just something Kass thought about. Then again, someone had been trying to kill Indi when Kass had first met her, and Falco was military. Well it was less likely during the day. Sun would shine off a scope and you wouldn¡¯t get as good a view of inside the house.

    Kass walked around to one of the bar stools at the far side of the kitchen counter. She laid her laptop, papers, and case for her reading glasses down on the bench.

    She noticed Indi¡¯s desktop computer at the far left of the room seemed to have a bunch of papers strewn in front of it and the chair half pulled out as if Indi had left her work with the intent of returning to it soon.

    In front of Kass, on the kitchen counter Indi had covered the bench in a bunch of bowls and various ingredients used for the baking of cookies. Even now Indi was pulling more stuff out of the cupboards.

    ¡°Were you working on something earlier?¡± Kass asked as she looked over at Indi¡¯s desktop.

    ¡°Yeah but I¡¯ve had enough of that for the day and it¡¯s not urgent stuff. Stuck on a bug and my brain¡¯s fried. That¡¯s the beauty of working freelance though I can take a break when I want. Can take the whole afternoon off even.¡± Indi spread her arms wide and flashed another of her characteristic grins. ¡°Might do some work later tonight though. What are you working on? You said you wanted some help with some research?¡±

    Kass nodded as she booted up her laptop and put her reading glasses on. ¡°I¡¯ve been looking into the estate of the late Mrs Milton. Neither of her sons want anything to do with the place but there¡¯s a realtor that¡¯s trying to get it sold and the sons are fighting over the potential returns, along with some second cousin and a few other relatives that have just popped up out of nowhere in the last few days. According to this one lawyer back at the office who I swear has been around since the Great Splice, it was stipulated in the will that house can¡¯t be sold unless the owner has lived in it for a certain time period. Problem is he¡¯s just saying that from what he remembers from when he wrote up the will centuries ago. The house has a bunch of old records and apparently a copy of the will somewhere in it.¡± Kass rolled her eyes.

    ¡°I thought you mostly did courtroom work?¡± Indi asked. She had stopped pulling things out of the cupboards now and was patiently listening to Kass. She actually seemed more focused than usual for Indi.

    Kass rolled her eyes again. ¡°Yeah so did I, but we¡¯re spread thin at the moment.¡±

    ¡°You should hire some more people.¡±

    Kass gave a half-committed smile in reply to that. She agreed but she knew it wasn¡¯t going to happen. This was a community law firm in a small town. The fact it existed at all was impressive. It did cater to most of the Greenstone Valley though, with the exception of the Emerald city which had its own firms, most of them private.

    ¡°So you don¡¯t have a will on file?¡± Indi asked.

    Kass shook her head. ¡°Apparently it was lost. There¡¯s a record of it existing, and it¡¯s noted that there was an original as well as a copy. The copy is recorded as filed but no one can find it. There was a fire a few years ago so it¡¯s possible it was lost in that.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯ve been searching the house for the original?¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s the intention, but it¡¯s harder than it sounds, lots of bedrooms and corridors that go nowhere, it¡¯s a big house and not much in the way of offices yet.¡±

    ¡°Wait, corridors that go nowhere? So it¡¯s a haunted house?¡± Indi said that with a little too much enthusiasm.

    Kass sighed. ¡°It¡¯s an old house, built by a crazy woman.¡±

    Indi grinned, still far to excited. It made Kass hesitate a little before telling her the rest. She figured she might as well though. If Indi was excited about it then she¡¯d be much more help. Maybe she¡¯d even come through the house with Kass. Kass couldn¡¯t explain it but there was something about that house that made her not want to enter it alone. It was silly though, wasn¡¯t it?

    ¡°A few weeks ago, before our last adventure¡± Kass added, giving an internal sigh at that memory. ¡°Another lawyer, Tony, and I were going through the house, back before this other ancient lawyer even mentioned that there was a will. I swear nobody communicates in this firm. Anyway we were just sussing the place out and getting some photos taken. I stepped outside when I got Amanda¡¯s phone call, and when I stepped back in there was no sign of Tony. I thought he¡¯d gone home but when I got outside his car was still there. I figured he¡¯d find his own way out but when I went back today...¡±

    ¡°His car was still there?¡± Indi finished, eye¡¯s wide, a serious expression on her face but with that hint of excitement and intrigue remaining in her violet eyes.

    Kass nodded. At some point during her telling of the story she¡¯d pulled one foot up onto the upper rim of the nearest bar stool and now had her elbow resting on it and her thumbnail between her teeth.

    ¡°What if he got stuck in one of the rooms?¡± Indi asked, eyes wide now more worried.

    Kass took her thumbnail out of her mouth in horror. ¡°Well I didn¡¯t think of that.¡± She shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s been a whole week though...¡± she trailed off.

    ¡°Maybe you should call the police?¡± Indi suggested.

    Kass pushed her lips together tightly.

    ¡°What?¡± Indi asked. ¡°Are you worried you¡¯ll get in trouble?¡±

    Kass shook her head but didn¡¯t answer. She wasn¡¯t sure what made her hesitate. She couldn¡¯t put her finger on it.

    ¡°You couldn¡¯t have known before. And you only just saw that his car was still there today. We should phone them.¡±

    Kass sighed. ¡°My boss is going to be so pissed, but you¡¯re right.¡± She pulled out her cellphone. She dialed the number then looked up at Indi hesitantly before hitting the call button.

    Indi just gave her an expectant and encouraging look. So Kass hit the button. She put the phone to her ear and listened to the ring. Eventually a robotic voice spoke. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, all our lines are busy at the moment, please hold. If it is an emergency here are some other numbers you may try...¡±

    Kass frowned. ¡°They¡¯re busy. I¡¯ve never had that happen before. Since when is the police force busy?¡±

    Indi didn¡¯t look surprised. ¡°Would you believe that¡¯s not even the first time that¡¯s happened to me. Cat says the police force in this town is the worst in the whole continent.¡±

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°Cat would say that,¡± Kass mumbled. ¡°She¡¯s probably had the police called on her more times than she¡¯s called them though. They¡¯re not usually like this.¡± Kass shook her head.

    ¡°We could try one of the private options.¡± Indi suggested.

    Kass rolled her eyes with the phone still to her ear. ¡°We are the private options Indi.¡± and when Indi gave her a confused look Kass added, ¡°Would it surprise you if one of the number¡¯s listed was Coal¡¯s?¡±

    Indi gave it a moments thought and then shook her head ¡°Coal¡¯s too high class for that. Maybe one of them¡¯s a number to someone who can get his number though.¡± Then her eyes lit up and Kass had the sinking feeling that Indi had just come up with one of her great ideas.

    ¡°Kass, what if we investigate it?¡± Indi suggested.

    Kass was thankful that right at that moment someone in the police station had evidently just gotten back from their break in time to answer her call. ¡°Hang on, I¡¯ve got through,¡± she quickly shushed Indi.

    Indi waited quietly and listened while Kass explained her problem to the man on the other end of the line. He gave enough ¡®uh huhs¡¯ in reply that Kass wondered if he was really listening at all. But once she¡¯d stopped he answered coherently enough that she realised it was probably just the voice he put on for the public.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry mam but we¡¯ve already looked into the disappearance of this Tony and we haven¡¯t turned up anything. I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve heard but some kids disappeared recently and their parents thought they¡¯d gone exploring in some old house, sounds like it¡¯s the same one you¡¯re referring to. Anyway we checked out the house while we were looking for them, saw the car out front and followed up. There was no sign of any of them inside the house and we haven¡¯t been able to find any leads elsewhere.¡±

    ¡°Then why¡¯s his car still there? And nobody¡¯s notified the office where he works?¡±

    ¡°Eh.¡± Kass could almost hear the guy shrug. ¡°We¡¯re quite busy at the moment. We¡¯ll probably send someone out there next week to pick it up. It won¡¯t do his car any harm sitting there for the time being, it¡¯s behind gates anyway.¡±

    ¡°And the office?¡± Kass asked.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°His work, nobody¡¯s told them.¡±

    ¡°Oh, well I guess they might have forgot, no one¡¯s actually reported him missing. Listen mam, we¡¯re pretty crazy here right now, if it¡¯s not an emergency I¡¯m gonna have to ask that you try call back later. We¡¯ll get to your issue as soon as we can, we know it¡¯s very important to you.¡±

    Kass gave an exasperated sigh and glance at Indi who was half way between sympathetic look and trying not to burst into laughter. ¡°Fine, what are you all so busy with anyway?¡±

    ¡°Bloody rioters, excuse the pun. This crazy protest group¡¯s taken over the town, they been causing hell for us all everywhere. Sorry, I gotta go mam. Thank you for your time.¡± As he hung up Kass could swear she heard a gunshot in the background.

    She held the phone away from her ear in disbelief.

    ¡°Just another day in Little Rock.¡± Indi chirped.

    ¡°I swear the north was never this bad, even when we were in the midst of war.¡±

    ¡°I hear they are efficient up there.¡± Indi replied.

    Kass nodded solemnly.

    ¡°Sooo,¡± Indi started. ¡°Wanna investigate it ourselves?¡± she was trying to suppress her excitement, Kass could tell.

    ¡°You heard them. They¡¯re not in the house, they searched.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well maybe they missed them. Worst case I could help you find the will anyway.¡±

    It was what Kass had wanted, but now she had it she wasn''t sure.

    ¡°Come on,¡± Indi pushed.

    Still she didn¡¯t really want to go back inside that place by herself. ¡°Okay,¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°Yass!¡± Indi exclaimed. ¡°So what do we know about the house?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t difficult to stop Indi from going down a rabbit hole of research when a haunted house was concerned. She was soon digging up all sorts of information, although a lot of it Kass would have termed rumour. While Kass¡¯s style was a more historical look, what Indi found was still useful. She even managed to did up some half completed blueprints, something that had thus far eluded Kass.

    Eventually Indi did get bored. Kass kept hunting for awhile as Indi finally got started on baking the cookies, interrupting Kass with the occasional bowl of mixture to taste test.

    ¡°How many cookies are we baking?¡± Kass asked with a frown over the top of her reading glasses.

    ¡°It¡¯s an experiment,¡± Indi replied. ¡°I¡¯m trying some different things and I want to see which tastes the best.¡±

    Kass nodded, not convinced she could taste much of a difference between the uncooked batches, with the exception of one which seemed almost a little too bitter.

    She was surprised when they finally came out of the oven how different they all looked though. Some had formed into pools of connected mess while others looked like almost perfect circles.

    ¡°What did we discover?¡± Kass asked leaning forward to rest her chin on one upturned palm, deciding she¡¯d done enough work for now. She¡¯d do a bit more later tonight.

    ¡°This one has too much baking soda,¡± Indi observed with a frown as she bit into one and made a face.

    ¡°Yeah I noticed,¡± Kass replied with a soft smile.

    ¡°I think the rest are okay, too much butter in that one though, and that one objectively has too much sugar, but I think it sort of works.¡±

    Kass smiled again and reached for one of the perfect circles. ¡°I like these ones.¡±

    It was some 30 odd minutes later when the front door opened and in walked Indi¡¯s husband Falco. He dumped a navy duffel bag near the door and held his arms out to Indi who ran at him and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. One which he promptly returned.

    ¡°How was your day?¡± he asked.

    Indi faltered, remembering her earlier encounter outside the blood bank. Her expression fell for just long enough that Falco knew instantly that something had upset her. ¡°That bad huh?¡± he asked lightly as he pulled her back into a hug, catching a confused expression from Kass over Indi¡¯s shoulder.

    Indi pulled herself together again and gave him a smile brushing all the bad away for now. ¡°It¡¯s been fine, and Kass has been helping me make cookies.¡± Indi turned to show him.

    Kass gave a soft smile but her eyes still had a hint of confusion in them. ¡°I¡¯ve been helping with the eating more than anything.¡±

    ¡°Taste tester is an important job,¡± Indi replied with a smile that Kass now realised didn¡¯t reach all the way to her eyes. Kass wondered briefly if she¡¯d done something wrong.

    ¡°What about the rest of your day?¡± Falco pried.

    Indi didn¡¯t lose her smile completely but the edges dropped just enough to reassure Kass that whatever it was, it hadn¡¯t been her. Kass wondered how she hadn¡¯t seen it before.

    Indi shook her head. ¡°It was okay, just really boring.¡± Indi gave a mock frown. ¡°Stuck on a bug.¡± She rolled her eyes.

    Now that Kass was paying attention it almost looked like Indi was over-selling it. Kass was never one to pry though.

    It looked like Falco had noticed that Indi wasn¡¯t up for talking about it. That or her act had been good enough to fool him, and so he turned to Kass. ¡°What about your day? Shouldn¡¯t you be in the office or something?¡±

    Kass smiled softly. ¡°Indi was helping me with some research.¡±

    ¡°What sort of research?¡± Falco asked, as he grabbed a seat at the counter and reached for a cookie.

    ¡°About a haunted house,¡± Indi answered before Kass could, her genuine enthusiasm returning.

    Falco paused with the cookie half raised to his mouth. ¡°A haunted house?¡±

    Kass shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not really haunted.¡±

    ¡°It was built by a crazy old lady, a bunch of people have gone missing in it already, and there¡¯s a secret will hidden somewhere inside,¡± Indi added.

    Falco glanced at Kass for confirmation.

    She opened her mouth trying to decide which to explain first. ¡°No one¡¯s gone missing in it, they just...¡±

    ¡°Happened to disappear after last being seen inside the house,¡± Indi interrupted.

    Kass shook her head. ¡°Those kids weren¡¯t seen inside the house.¡±

    ¡°But their parents thought they had gone in, and what about all those older news stories?¡±

    ¡°None were ever confirmed.¡±

    Falco watched them go back and forth with interest. Eventually he asked, ¡°So why are you researching this old house?¡±

    Kass sighed. ¡°That¡¯s the part about the missing will.¡±

    ¡°Secret hidden will,¡± Indi corrected.

    ¡°Well,¡± Kass continued. ¡°The old lady who owned the place kicked the bucket and...¡±

    ¡°What did she die of?¡± Indi asked, as if she had just found the missing piece to the puzzle.

    ¡°Old age,¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Indi frowned. She sounded disappointed.

    Falco laughed and nearly chocked on his cookie, enough that Indi had to hit him on the back.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Kass asked, as Indi fetched him a glass of water.

    Falco nodded and murmured a ¡®thanks¡¯ between coughs.

    ¡°How was your day?¡± Indi asked once he¡¯d regained his composure.

    ¡°Err, not bad, not bad,¡± he replied.

    Kass picked up on his tone. There was something in it that was hesitant. She wasn¡¯t sure Indi noticed but whether she did or not they both waited for him to continue.

    ¡°I¡¯m shipping out Monday. There¡¯s been some civilian riots in a few cities recently and they want armed forces, not to go in to the city, just be a bit of a presence on the outside.¡±

    Kass didn¡¯t miss the irony of that statement and was tempted to ask if he¡¯d looked outside lately, given the conversation she¡¯d just had with the local police officer over the phone.

    ¡°How long will you be gone?¡± Indi asked with a twinge of sadness. Falco was a sailor and soldier in the Marines, an organisation founded by those interested in keeping some form of law and order. Funding came from various sources, a mix of fundraising, strategic investments, and payments from both local and remote governments. The real value in the organisation however, was its reputation. They were one of the few organisations who ran themselves by a very strict code, involving themselves not in the small disputes of local towns but in larger unrest with the goal to always keep the peace and minimise casualties.

    ¡°A week, maybe two.¡±

    Indi nodded but her expression was obviously downcast.

    Falco gave her an apologetic grimace then looked at his watch. ¡°Anyway I gotta go shower before we have that meeting tonight.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s hours away.¡± Indi rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Yeah, well...¡± Falco shrugged, gave a weak smile, and headed off toward the hallway.

    Indi turned back to Kass. ¡°Soo about that house...¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 8: Snips, and Snails, and Haunted Tales

    Lily clutched her lunch tray as she stood at the edge of the outdoor seating area. It was her first day at school. There was an indoor seating area too with lots of empty tables but Lily had been drawn out by the sun. It seemed so had everyone else. Every table had someone sitting on it so there was no option of sitting by herself. Given Lily couldn¡¯t remember much from her old life she wasn¡¯t even sure if it was something the old her would have done. Now she stood wondering if she should join one of the tables and if so which one?

    The decision was made for her when a girl her age got up from one of the nearby tables and approached her.

    ¡°Lily!¡± The girl smiled at her. Lily recognised her as Ally. Ally had been sitting in the second row during her second class. She was pretty with chin length blonde hair, neatly cut with a few shorter strands around her face. She was dressed nicely in a pale blue skirt, white singlet, with a matching white lace-trimmed ballet style cropped jacket over the top. ¡°You can come sit with us,¡± Ally said as she drew an arm around Lily and walked her toward their table. ¡°You can be our friend.¡±

    Lily didn¡¯t object. Ally seemed nice and Lily was just happy that someone wanted to sit with her.

    Ally led her to a table where four other girls were eating lunch. Ally boldly introduced her to the group. ¡°Everybody, this is Lily, she¡¯s new here and I¡¯ve invited her to join our group. Lily this is Perri, Maddi, Mary, and Josephine.¡±

    ¡°Jojo,¡± said Josephine. She was lanky, dressed in dungarees and had hair a similar shade to Ally¡¯s. She looked like she¡¯d given herself a haircut. One side was a whole two inches longer than the other and unevenly cut.

    ¡°Hi Lily?¡± said Maddi, a curly brown-haired girl wearing a paint splattered t-shirt.

    ¡°Hi,¡± Lily replied and she took a seat next to Mary, who seemed to be dressed almost exactly like a traditional pirate, complete with plastic sword.

    ¡°Arr! Welcome aboard Sailor!¡± replied Mary.

    Lily glanced at the others to see what they thought of this behaviour. None of them seemed to notice.

    Perri was on her other side. She wore a long-sleeved jersey despite the heat and had her light brown hair in plaits. She leaned close to Lily and whispered, ¡°Mary¡¯s going through a pirate phase, think¡¯s she¡¯s like Mary Read.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a phase,¡± replied Mary having overheard but not sounding upset about it. ¡°One day I shall have my own ship and crew and we shall plunder the seas and take whatever we please. And all the boys will fear our wrath.¡± She glared at a nearby table that was full of boys from their year. Then she turned back to their table. ¡°All you girls are welcome to be a part of my crew.¡±

    ¡°Not me,¡± Ally replied. ¡°But I shall ¡®oversea¡¯ your exploits from inside my castle. I will keep the accounts and my spies will tell me which ships you should plunder.¡±

    The other girls all nodded in agreement and Lily had to admit that it did all sound very exciting.

    ¡°Did you do your own hair?¡± Lily inquired of Jojo.

    Jojo nodded proudly. ¡°Yes! It¡¯s all the fashion at the moment. I saw in Green¡¯s Woman¡¯s magazine. Lots of the models have their hair cut like this for fashion week. My mum freaked out when she saw what I¡¯d done. She¡¯ll get used to it though.¡±

    ¡°Jojo is our creative one,¡± Ally explained matter-of-factly.¡±

    ¡°I thought I was the creative one.¡± Maddi complained.

    ¡°You¡¯re the artistic one,¡± Jojo replied. ¡°I¡¯m the spunky outdoorsy one which requires a sense of spunky fashion to go with it.¡± She held a fist in the air.

    ¡°We really need to keep track of these monikers,¡± Ally said. She sat straight with good posture and Lily had a sudden memory of her own mum telling her to straighten up one night at the dinner table. Unconsciously she did so now.

    ¡°What¡¯s a moniker?¡± Mary asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s like a name,¡± Ally explained helpfully. ¡°Like a nickname that people know you by. Like how I¡¯m Ally but I¡¯m also the leader.¡±

    ¡°And the sensible one,¡± added Maddi.

    ¡°Yes,¡± agreed Ally with a curt nod.

    ¡°You¡¯re the leader because you¡¯re the sensible one,¡± added Jo. She shared a grin with Maddi. ¡°Because the rest of us are too crazy.¡±

    Maddi and Jo giggled.

    Mary held her plastic sword up. ¡°Speak for yerselves. I¡¯m not crazy. I¡¯m just determined.¡±

    ¡°Quite,¡± agreed Ally with a nod and a smile as if Mary had said something perfectly sensible.

    ¡°The teachers do all like you,¡± Perri said quietly to Ally.

    Ally nodded absently her focus turning to Lily. ¡°What about you? What do you want your moniker to be?¡±

    Lily hesitated unsure who she even was let alone what she wanted to be. The question thrilled her a little bit though. For the entire last week she¡¯d been struggling with trying to remember her past that she hadn¡¯t really considered that there might be a choice in what she could be. Now with clear simplicity Ally had presented her with one. She had not asked what Lily was or who Lily was. Instead she had asked what Lily wanted to be. For Lily that subtle variation in wording made all the difference.

    Before she could answer however, Maddi leaned across the table and whispered, ¡°Those boys are up to something.¡±

    The girls on this side turned to watch. The boys at the table next to them had finished their lunch and were heading out across the field toward the treeline.

    ¡°I know where they¡¯re going,¡± Mary said. ¡°They¡¯re going to look at that haunted house.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s follow them and give them a scare,¡± suggested Ally.

    The others nodded and eagerly focused on finishing their lunches so they could go after them.

    Once done they returned their trays and then followed after where the boys had gone. Jojo and Mary raced on ahead. Ally strode along in a determined confident fashion. Perri and Maddi, trailed along behind her. When they got to the bushes at the edge of school grounds they glanced around to check if any teachers were watching before sneaking through and jumping the low fence that ringed the school.

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    Lily and Perri both hesitated. Lily didn¡¯t want to get in trouble on her first day. But Maddi turned to them as Ally disappeared between two bushes behind her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not far, and no one gets in trouble when they¡¯re with Ally. She¡¯s a mindwalker and the teachers are too stupid to notice when she¡¯s manipulating them.¡± With that Maddi spun and followed Ally into the bushes.

    Not wanting to be left behind Lily followed. She paused between the two bushes and looked back to check if Perri was following. Perri was balanced delicately on the fence, seemingly still hestitating.

    Lily gave her a friendly smile. Sneaking off in a group like this made her feel a grand sense of belonging.

    ¡°My stepdad will be mad if I get in trouble.¡± Perri said but after another moment¡¯s hesitation she leaped down off the fence and followed Lily into the bushes.

    They crossed a small stream at the bottom of a gully and then climbed up the bank on the other side.

    They gathered in a group below the lip of the bank. Lily peered over. Ahead near a group of bushes Lily could make out the group of boys.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go this way.¡± Ally instructed and they all sidled along the bank until they were hidden by their own string of bushes and could climb up without being seen.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the haunted house?¡± Lily asked.

    ¡°Just through those trees on the other side of the boys.¡± Mary answered. ¡°There¡¯s a high fence around it. Some kids went missing inside it recently.¡±

    ¡°They went missing?¡± Lily asked.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± added Jojo in a hush. ¡°There was a rumour that they went in on dare and none came out.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t actually know that,¡± Maddi answered.

    ¡°Do you think the boys are going to go inside?¡± Perri asked. ¡°We¡¯re not going to stay too long right?¡±

    ¡°No, just long enough to scare them.¡± Ally replied. ¡°We have time before next class still. They won¡¯t even know we were gone. I doubt the boys will have the balls to go inside, if they could even get over the wall. Maddi, do you have the masks?¡±

    Lily wasn¡¯t sure what Ally was asking for. Maddi obviously wasn¡¯t holding anything mask sized, but a moment later a set of five masks appeared in Maddi¡¯s hand. So she was a summoner Lily thought, and Ally was a mindwalker. Lily had spent much of the last week relearning about magic. Whatever had happened to her had wiped a lot of things from her mind. Lily glanced at Ally. If the girl was reading her mind right now she showed no sign of it. Lily found it comforting, if the girl had read her mind and still decided to be friends well then that was great. She seemed nice and Lily liked all the girls here so far. She smiled.

    ¡°You can have my mask Lily.¡± Jojo said as Maddi handed her one. Jojo bent down, ran her finger through the dirt and smeared two dark streaks across her cheeks.

    ¡°What are you going to tell the teachers Jojo?¡± Ally asked.

    Jojo grinned ¡°I¡¯ll tell them that the army look is in at the moment. It is you know. I saw a whole spread on it.¡±

    Lily took the mask. It was hand decorated. They all were, each had obviously been done by each girl at some point. The act of kindness from Jojo made Lily¡¯s insides feel warm.

    ¡°Alright, now we spread around and make spooky sounds.¡± Ally instructed. ¡°When they come to investigate we run at them.¡±

    The girls all nodded and all but Ally took off through the thick undergrowth to find a spot around the small clearing. Lily followed finding her own small group of shrubs. From where she was she couldn¡¯t see the other girls but she could make out the boys about thirty metres away and gathered in a huddle. She watched as one of them playfully shoved another.

    As she watched them she felt the hair of the back of her neck rise and an icy cool feeling like something was watching her. She spun afraid of something unknown. What she did see confused her more than frightened her. A lone woman stood only a few metres away. She was small, not as short as Amanda, but petite none-the-less, and slimmer, almost doll-like. It was her clothes that really made her presence strange. She had layered blonde hair and silver dangly earrings. Red lipstick and a black halter neck dress that reached just above knee height. The footwear was completely inappropriate for bush walking. Strappy high heels, the kind adults wore to parties. Another memory flashed through Lily¡¯s mid of her mother wearing very similar shoes.

    ¡°Hi Lily.¡± The woman spoke softly.

    Somewhere to the side Lily heard her new friends start up with some spooky wailing. She was sure it had grabbed the attention of the boys and part of her wondered how they would react but she was too mystified by the presence of this woman to look anywhere else.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Lily asked.

    ¡°My name¡¯s Stella,¡± the woman replied.

    Lily wondered if she should be afraid. This woman didn¡¯t look like someone to fear though. Her eyes were a deep blue and she had a pretty face.

    ¡°I¡¯m a friend of your parents,¡± Stella told her.

    Lily¡¯s heart stopped for a second at hearing that. For an entire moment it felt as if time had frozen. Afraid the woman might disappear as fast as she had appeared Lily quickly blurted out ¡°Do you know where they are?¡±

    Stella shook her head sadly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± She cocked her head curiously. ¡°Do you remember much of what happened?¡±

    Lily shook her head. She tried not to cry. That brief moment of hope that she might find something out and then having it taken away again had shaken her up.

    The woman smiled at her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it will be alright.¡±

    There was something about the way the woman said it that made Lily feel like she wasn¡¯t just being reassuring but like it was a promise.

    A scream caught Lily¡¯s attention and she turned away. It was blood-curdling. Not the sound one child makes to scare another but a sound of anguish, of pain. When Lily looked back again the woman was gone. She didn¡¯t know why but she was sure that she would not be able to find the woman if she looked for her and so she turned and ran in the direction of the scream.

    As Lily appeared from the bushes she saw Perri on the ground clutching her arm, her long-sleeved jersey was singed as if it had been burnt. When she looked in the direction of the boys she saw they had all turned tail and run. The other girls were all emerging from their own bushes but Lily was the closest. She ran to Perri.

    ¡°What happened?¡± she asked as she knelt next to her new friend.

    ¡°I scared him and he set me on fire,¡± Perri replied.

    ¡°Let me see.¡± Lily reached for Perri¡¯s arm, even though she wasn¡¯t sure what she could do.

    Perri pulled it away. ¡°NO! It¡¯s okay. I... I put it out. I¡¯m an elemental too, w...water based. He just got my clothing.¡±

    But just before Perri hid her arm Lily caught sign of burn marks. She was about to tell Perri not to be so brave when it registered to her that the marks she saw did not match the singe marks on Perri¡¯s clothing. No, the marks on her arm were more circular and tiny and they looked older, more like scars that had healed. Perri had twisted her sleeve around so it covered them now but Lily was sure of what she had seen.

    The other girls joined them. Perri got to her feet.

    ¡°Perri are you alright?¡± Ally asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. He just got my clothing.¡± She spoke more bravely now, more convincing.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± asked Maddi.

    Perri nodded and she smiled a smile that did not reach her eyes.

    It suddenly occurred to Lily that as a mindwalker Ally must know what was on Perri¡¯s arm. She looked at Ally. Ally met her eyes. Neither spoke but in that moment Lily decided she wouldn¡¯t tell the others and as she thought it she saw Ally smile. Then Ally turned her attention back to Perri. She slipped her arm around the girl¡¯s waist. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m sure we can fix that sleeve. I know a mender in the grade above.¡±

    They all began their walk back to the school.

    Jojo evaluated their recent escapade out loud as they walked. ¡°You know in hindsight, that was pretty dangerous. It kind of makes sense that if you scare someone who¡¯s a firestarter that they¡¯ll likely set you on fire. We¡¯re probably lucky he didn¡¯t do more damage.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it makes that much sense,¡± objected Mary. ¡°We¡¯re taught to always identify our targets before any magical casting, never just to react.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± agreed Ally ¡°But he was pretty scared. He probably thought she was a monster or a ghost or something. I should have thought of it. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault,¡± replied Jojo.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± agreed Mary. ¡°What kind of idiot thinks ghosts are real!?¡±

    ¡°Do you think they recognised us?¡± asked Maddi.

    ¡°If they did, they won¡¯t tell, they¡¯d get in just as much trouble for it,¡± replied Ally.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not do that again,¡± said Jojo.

    ¡°Agreed,¡± replied a chorus of voices.

    ¡°At least not without a fake dummy and some distance, and a video camera,¡± Jojo added mischievously.

    ¡°Jojo!¡± exclaimed Mary and Maddi together.

    As they reached the edge of the field, dark clouds formed up above, covering the previously clear blue. They managed to sneak back on to school grounds without being seen. Lily stared in fascination at the gathering clouds. As she looked up, a large drop fell right on the tip of her nose causing her to blink. The end of lunch bell rang just as the downpour began.

 Volume 2, Chapter 9: Regarding the Zombie

    It was the first Friday since they¡¯d gotten back and the first evening they¡¯d all managed to find time to meet. For the duration of the earlier part of the week everything had been hectic. Everything from the surprise storms (which Cat especially hated) to a range of other more personal events almost across the board. Kass¡¯s boss was missing, possibly vanished into a strange house. Cat still hadn¡¯t told Baz she was pregnant. Falco had been called off sea again (shipping out on Monday). Wolf had discovered a deadly mistake in an earlier job. There were the protests at the blood bank that Indi had unfortunately encountered. And of course there was the zombie girl staying at Amanda and Sirius¡¯s place, the main discussion point at this night¡¯s gathering. Only Zephyr¡¯s week had been relatively quiet which was ironic given a therapist was probably just what everyone needed at this point. But with the exception of the night¡¯s main topic no one shared any of their week with the others.

    Amanda had organised the meet up earlier in the week and for this one she¡¯d picked Indi¡¯s house. It was a little unusual since they usually met up at Coal¡¯s to discuss work. Indi¡¯s place was more regularly used for social engagements, but Amanda had her reasons for the change in location and tonight no one questioned them.

    Cat walked in wearing an entire wardrobe of long waterproof coats and scowl that warned anyone away from questioning her clothing choices.

    Indi returned her scowl with a smile. She was pouring tea at the kitchen counter. Kass was sitting across from her and sipping on hers. Zephyr perched on a stool further along the bench.

    Down the hall Cat could hear footsteps which likely belonged to Falco. She dumped her coats on a chair near the door. Her scowl softened a little now that she was out of the rain.

    ¡°Where are the others?¡± she asked.

    Indi shrugged. ¡°Amanda called to say she was running late and that Sirius was staying behind with the kid. I haven¡¯t heard from Wolf but it¡¯s only just after seven now. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s not far.¡±

    Cat nodded slowly but a frown returned to her face. She opened her mouth to say something just as the door behind her opened and Amanda walked in, red hair plastered to her wet face.

    ¡°Sorry I¡¯m late,¡± she told them as she turned and fought with the door against the cold wind.

    Cat shivered slightly as she felt the draft blow past, air pushed in as the door closed.

    Amanda surveyed the group. ¡°Is Falco ...¡±

    ¡°Here,¡± Falco said with a grin as he stuck his head out from the hallway. It was closely followed by the rest of his body.

    ¡°Wolf¡¯s not here yet,¡± Indi said as she held up an empty cup. ¡°Tea?¡±

    Amanda shook her head then paused and reconsidered. ¡°On second thoughts, sure, but one without caffeine if that¡¯s an option in this house.¡±

    Indi smiled and added with a touch of irony, ¡°Who would drink caffeine at this hour?¡±

    Falco came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He glanced down into her cup which contained a dark black liquid. ¡°That¡¯s not tea is it?¡±

    Indi grinned and shrugged guiltily.

    Kass gave soft amused smile from across the kitchen counter.

    ¡°How about you Cat? You want tea?¡± Indi asked.

    Cat shook her head as she walked into the lounge section of the open plan living space to find something comfy to sit on.

    Indi pulled out of Falco¡¯s embrace and reached for a pile of boxes on the counter behind them. ¡°What sort of tea do you want Amanda? I¡¯ve got blackberry, tumeric, tamarillo, dragonfruit, blueberry, chamomile, rhubarb, vanilla chai, peppermint, sufero, green, bluetip, sweetbelly...¡±

    ¡°I think some of those have caffeine,¡± Falco observed.

    ¡°Um,¡± Amanda hesitated. She hadn¡¯t realised there were so many teas.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got chamomile,¡± Kass suggested helpfully.

    ¡°Peppermint.¡± Zephyr held up his own cup.

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure Indi¡¯s is actual coffee,¡± Falco added helpfully.

    Indi looked over the top of her glasses at him.

    Falco smiled back.

    ¡°What was the first one?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°Blackberry?¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll have that one, that sounds good.¡±

    Indi nodded and went about making her a cup.

    Amanda walked around so she was standing between where Zephyr sat on a stool and where Cat lounged on a sofa. Kass and Zeph spun their seats to face her so the group formed a sort of circle.

    ¡°I¡¯ve left Sirius home tonight with Lily so she won¡¯t overhear our conversations,¡± Amanda started ¡°And I¡¯ve avoided holding this meeting at Coal¡¯s so he doesn¡¯t have a say in what happens to the child.¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t he get a vote?¡± Zephyr asked hesitantly, ¡°Given he financed the operation.¡±

    ¡°You mean the operation that nearly killed us?¡± Cat asked.

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I know what he¡¯ll say and I don¡¯t think it¡¯s an option that will sit well with any of us.¡± She paused. ¡°That said, it is an option we need to consider. I¡¯d just prefer to do it without Coal¡¯s input.¡±

    ¡°What option?¡± Indi asked as she handed Amanda her tea and then pulled up a chair on the opposite side of the circle, next to Falco.

    ¡°She¡¯s talking about killing her,¡± Cat said fixing Amanda with a blunt stare.

    ¡°Technically you can¡¯t kill what¡¯s already dead,¡± Zephyr quipped in a bad attempt to lighten the tension in the room. He trailed off as Cat shifted her stare slowly over to him.

    Amanda started to open her mouth to speak but Indi interrupted.

    ¡°You can¡¯t kill her!¡± Indi proclaimed in horror.

    ¡°Zombies have a nasty habit of not lasting very long,¡± Kass explained softly.

    ¡°But still, she¡¯s not, she hasn¡¯t, she seems alive and she¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t people get raised from the dead all the time?¡±

    In the interest of a speedy meeting, Cat took up the explaining baton. ¡°That¡¯s usually immediately after death and even then it doesn¡¯t always last.¡± She was slightly annoyed that Indi didn¡¯t know all this stuff already. For all her intelligence Indi was sometimes very naive. ¡°The longer it is after death, the more energy and skill it takes to raise the dead and the higher the chance it doesn¡¯t stick.¡±

    ¡°But she seems fine,¡± Indi protested more quietly.

    ¡°She won¡¯t necessarily stay that way,¡± Amanda explained gently but firmly.

    ¡°So? What happens to her if she doesn¡¯t? Wouldn¡¯t she just go back to being dead?¡±

    ¡°Zombism and a rampant unstoppable drive to consume flesh. How do you not know this?¡± Cat asked in an annoyed tone.

    ¡°Easy,¡± Falco warned, placing a gentle hand at Indi¡¯s back. ¡°Not everyone has experience with necromancy.¡±

    ¡°Zombie breakouts aren¡¯t exactly uncommon,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°Maybe here in Little Rock,¡± Falco retorted.

    ¡°And Marblewood,¡± Cat replied mentioning the town Indi was from, one that wasn¡¯t too far from Little Rock.

    Amanda held up her hands and was about to tell them too cool it when Indi spoke.

    ¡°I just thought that once it had worked...¡± she trailed off.

    Kass was shaking her head solemnly.

    Amanda explained. ¡°Sometimes it can seem to work for a bit, but making it last is another thing, Much like when borrowers infuse magic into items. Delayed zombism is the most dangerous kind.¡±

    Indi nodded. ¡°He killed so many people for it though...¡± she whispered.

    Falco frowned. ¡°Is killing her really an option we have to consider?¡±

    Amanda sighed and looked down. ¡°It¡¯s an option we have to consider but one which we hopefully won¡¯t have to carry out. Still we should be prepared for it regardless. It¡¯s not an option I want to jump to first, which is exactly why we are not having this conversation at Coals and why I didn¡¯t want to bring it up first, Cat.¡± She gave Cat a pointed look.

    Cat shrugged. ¡°Just clearing the air.¡±

    Indi seemed more relaxed now that that option was less likely.

    ¡°She¡¯s already been through so much.¡± Zephyr observed. ¡°She died, she was brought back, she lost her mum.¡±

    ¡°And we took her from her father,¡± Amanda added sadly.

    ¡°Can¡¯t we just return her to him?¡± Zephyr asked ¡°Let him deal with the potential fallout, ideally somewhere far away.¡±

    ¡°Ignoring the fact that we don¡¯t know where he is, that¡¯s just shifting the problem,¡± Amanda pointed out.

    ¡°The guy killed hundreds of people to raise the dead and you want to hand a 10-year old to him?¡± Cat asked Zephyr, jumping in as Amanda was still finishing, her voice loaded with sarcasm.

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    Amanda answered almost immediately, in place of Zephyr, with a shake of her head ¡°His actions weren¡¯t that unreasonable. You¡¯d do the same if you had a kid...¡± Amanda¡¯s voice trailed off as she cut herself off and her eyes dropped to Cat¡¯s stomach. They didn¡¯t linger but it was long enough for Cat to catch it. Amanda hesitated.

    Cat¡¯s eyes narrowed. She had little doubt from that brief exchange that Amanda knew about her pregnancy. Who in starsside had told her? Who knew? Indi, Kass, Sirius. And Coal. It was probably Sirius. There were no secrets between them, at least there hadn¡¯t been. But who knew where they stood with each other now. On their last adventure Kass had been caught kissing Sirius so he was in the doghouse so to speak. It also could have been Indi, she wasn¡¯t exactly known for keeping secrets. It wasn¡¯t likely to be either of the others though Cat was sure of that.

    ¡°We don¡¯t know it was hundreds of people,¡± Zephyr added.

    Cat fixed him with a look. ¡°You want to ask Natasha how many bodies she¡¯d need to revive a week old corpse?¡± Natasha was a local necromancer Cat knew, another one of Coal¡¯s employees. Zephyr had met her only once and he frowned before he managed to place the name.

    Amanda held up a hand. ¡°Regardless, we can¡¯t return her to him. And even ignoring what he did that doesn¡¯t solve the problem of what she is, it just puts it on someone else.¡±

    ¡°Someone who deserves it?¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°Who¡¯s side are you on?¡± Zephyr asked Cat with incredulation while Amanda gave her a warning look.

    ¡°If that happens it¡¯s unlikely he¡¯d be her only victim,¡± Amanda reminded her. ¡°She¡¯s a child, she goes to school...¡± Amanda had only just let the girl return to school and she¡¯d been reluctant to do that. She still wasn¡¯t sure it had been the right move. She¡¯d told Lily that it was because she¡¯d been though a lot and needed some time to rest but that was only half the truth. The real reason was the danger of Lily going zombie on other kids. What had won out in the end was that Lily sitting around by herself at home, while the others were at school had seemed to be getting her spirits down. Now at least she had something else to focus on. It was a risk though. Amanda knew that.

    Cat pulled her claws back in long enough for Indi to ask another question.

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t we do something to make her last longer, like maybe...¡±

    ¡°Sacrifice a few more people?¡± Cat interrupted with yet another sweetly sarcastic statement.

    Indi didn¡¯t reply. She just bit at her bottom lip, temporarily lost for ideas.

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t necessarily have to be people,¡± Kass suggested hesitantly.

    ¡°Yes, because animal necromancy is sooo efficient. Are you going to hunt down some rats for us?¡± Cat asked, knowing full well Kass couldn¡¯t stand rats.

    Kass dropped her eyes down to look at her tea cup.

    Amanda studied Cat silently for a moment. Sure Cat could be a bit of a bitch sometimes, okay most of the time, but she wasn¡¯t usually quite this bad. ¡°Do you have a better suggestion?¡± Amanda asked her quite seriously.

    That stopped Cat. She seemed to retreat back a little again. She stared back at Amanda but it was a less harsh look than she had used before, and also now matched the serious expression on Amanda¡¯s own face.

    Amanda had figured that Cat didn¡¯t have any better solutions, or hell, if she had that wouldn¡¯t have been a bad thing. But just as Amanda was about to ask for other ideas Cat gave an honest reply.

    ¡°We could just watch her.¡±

    ¡°And if she turns?¡± Amanda asked, not against the idea but wanting to make sure what they came up with was fool proof. There was also the question of watching her while she was in school. Amanda¡¯s own kids had promised to keep an eye on her but they couldn¡¯t be there all the time.

    Cat shrugged.

    ¡°So we want to find a way to prevent her from turning?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°Or from hurting people when she does,¡± Amanda replied acknowledging that there were other solutions.

    The door opened in the silence just after Amanda had finished speaking. Wolf entered, dripping wet and soaked to the bone.

    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m late,¡± he said as he shut the door behind him. He removed his coat and hung it on the nearby coat rack, next to where Cat had hung hers earlier.

    ¡°Hey Wolf!¡± Indi greeted him with a smile. ¡°Do you want tea?¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± he smiled back very briefly ¡°Did I miss anything? And no tea, thank you.¡±

    ¡°We were just discussing options on what to do about Lily,¡± Amanda explained. ¡°You don¡¯t know of any necromancy spells that might work do you?¡±

    Wolf gave a brief chuckle and rubbed the stubble on his chin. ¡°I¡¯ve just been looking into that. I¡¯ve found a couple that might work but...¡± he rubbed his chin again then pulled up a dining chair so he was part of the circle. ¡°But the ingredients are more than a little difficult to come by, I doubt even Coal has them.¡±

    ¡°What makes you think Coal might have them at all?¡± Cat asked, with genuine curiosity.

    ¡°He¡¯s supposed to have a stash of things, various magical items, so he can just summon them when he wants them. Apparently he¡¯s got warehouses full of shit somewhere. But not this stuff, it¡¯s too rare.¡±

    ¡°What do we need?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s not just that,¡± Wolf explained ¡°The spells themselves, I¡¯m not sure how reliable they are, and you¡¯d still likely need a necromancer.¡±

    Cat leaned back in her chair and rolled her eyes in boredom.

    ¡°I thought the point was to do it without a necromancer.¡± Amanda replied.

    Wolf gave a half shrug. ¡°It¡¯s easier with one. Much much easier.¡±

    ¡°They require human sacrifices?¡± Amanda asked.

    Cat¡¯s attention was grabbed. She sat up straight. ¡°You¡¯re going to sacrifice people?¡±

    Amanda hesitated.

    Wolf replied. ¡°We could be careful about who we select. It doesn¡¯t have to be good people or people who would be missed.¡± He considered the stepfather of the girl who¡¯s body he¡¯d recently helped find.

    ¡°Given we just escaped from something similar...¡± Cat trailed off then picked up again ¡°You¡¯re willing to do exactly what Lily¡¯s father did?¡± The question was aimed at Amanda rather than Wolf, partly because she was the one who had hesitated and party because she was the one who would make the final decision.

    Zephyr held up a hand. ¡°I for one, am definitely against that idea.¡±

    ¡°It would keep her alive?¡± Falco asked.

    Amanda looked to Wolf for an answer.

    ¡°Potentially,¡± Wolf replied.

    ¡°I mean, we could always use some criminals no?¡± Falco postulated hesitantly.

    Cat eyed him with a narrowed look. Falco stood his ground and eventually Cat just shrugged and looked bored again.

    ¡°How would you pick?¡± Indi exclaimed, making her objection to the idea obvious in her tone.

    Cat shrugged again and waved a hand. ¡°Pedophiles, wife-beaters, rapists?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re still people, what if they¡¯re remorseful or they were wrongly accused, you can¡¯t just...¡± Indi stammered.

    ¡°I can think of someone suitable.¡± Wolf commented quietly.

    Cat shook her head, either ignoring or not hearing Wolf. ¡°I don¡¯t think remorse counts.¡±

    ¡°Of course it does!¡± Indi exclaimed with enough shrillness that Falco gave her back a soft rub in an attempt to calm her.

    ¡°Guilt definitely does,¡± Kass added quietly enough that only Zephyr heard her. Her experience with the courts made her reluctant to play judge, jury, and executioner, even though she¡¯d technically done so in the past in another line of work.

    Amanda held up a hand. ¡°If we¡¯re not sure it¡¯s going to work I am hesitant to use it.¡±

    ¡°You were the one who suggested it,¡± Cat objected.

    ¡°If we are going to do it it¡¯s better now that later,¡± Wolf added.

    ¡°What do you think Kass?¡± Amanda asked. Kass had been quiet most of the meeting.

    She shifted slightly uncomfortable with the spotlight on her. ¡°We could hand her over to people who are used to dealing with people like her. There are places.¡±

    Amanda didn¡¯t immediately jump at the idea and Kass noticed she actually tensed up more than she had with the other suggestions. Either she was just surprised at the suggestion having not been expecting it or she had some serious reservations about it.

    In front of Kass, Zephyr cocked his head slightly and Kass suspected he¡¯d noticed Amanda¡¯s reaction too.

    It was Falco who spoke next. ¡°Like a prison?¡±

    Kass shook her head. ¡°Like a hospital, a very secure hospital. There¡¯s one between here and the Emerald city.¡±

    ¡°I know the one,¡± Amanda replied. The way she said it made even Cat give her a studied look.

    Noticing eyes on her, Amanda explained. ¡°That wouldn¡¯t be much of a life for her.¡±

    ¡°If she didn¡¯t turn in a couple years surely she could be let out?¡± Cat asked.

    The silence and the looks on Amanda and Kass¡¯s faces answered her question in the negative.

    Seeing Cat¡¯s eyes narrow, her posture stiffen, and her mouth start to open, Amanda finally broke the silence before Cat could say anything. ¡°Those places are very hard to get out of once you¡¯re in them.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not entirely true,¡± Falco started. As all eyes turned to look at him. He continued, ¡°You¡¯d just need a sponsor, someone to take responsibility.¡±

    Kass looked up at Amanda and realised that Falco¡¯s answer hadn¡¯t relaxed her at all. She still seemed in objection to the idea.

    Cat didn¡¯t miss it either. She asked Amanda in a confused voice ¡°So what¡¯s wrong with that plan then?¡±

    Cat¡¯s voice seemed to jerk Amanda out of some other thought. Disinclined to explain further Amanda did the next best things and deferred the questioning. She nodded. ¡°We can keep that as an option, but maybe we should run through some others as well before choosing.¡±

    Falco nodded, seemingly unaware that Amanda hadn¡¯t technically answered the question.

    Amanda turned to Wolf. ¡°Is there any way we could just check and see if the initial ritual worked?¡±

    Wolf leaned back in his chair. ¡°Not reliably. Unless you know a good psychic.¡±

    ¡°Since when is a psychic known as reliable?¡± Cat objected, her classic brand of sarcasm returning.

    ¡°I said a good psychic,¡± Wolf retorted.

    Amanda gave him a look. She was in agreement with Cat on this one. ¡°Zeph?¡± she asked turning to him to see if he had any ideas.

    Zephyr shrugged and held out empty hands indicating that he had nothing.

    Indi spoke up with her own suggestion. ¡°Is there any way of detecting it when she turns?¡±

    Amanda turned back to her, eyebrows raised in surprise. It wasn¡¯t a suggestion she had thought of.

    Misreading Amanda¡¯s expression as doubt Indi explained further. ¡°If we could detect it at the moment she turns then we could have her wear an item that freezes her or doses her with something to knock her out and alerts us.¡±

    Amanda nodded eagerly then turned to look at Wolf as their resident magic spells and items expert.

    Wolf also looked surprised. ¡°Yeah, that could work, maybe, I don¡¯t know, I¡¯d have to do some more research I think. The detection would be the hard part but I don¡¯t think that would necessarily be impossible. Then she could just live like a normal kid. The problem is what we¡¯d do after.¡±

    ¡°A normal kid that can never take whatever the item is off,¡± Cat countered.

    ¡°That¡¯s not that unusual,¡± Kass replied ¡°People do wear and put various similar items on their kids. For power binding or if they get lost.¡±

    ¡°That would be expensive though wouldn¡¯t it?¡± Zephyr asked. ¡°It¡¯s not really a most kids thing.¡±

    Kass nodded. ¡°And the main concern would be, again, getting something that lasts. I think it¡¯s a better option than a necromancy ritual though. Items like that are easier to renew or recharge.¡±

    Amanda nodded.

    ¡°And when she turns?¡± Cat asked.

    Everyone was quiet for a moment. ¡°Then we deal with that then,¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°She might not turn,¡± Indi said hopefully.

    Cat looked doubtful.

    ¡°Do you have a better idea?¡± Amanda asked her.

    Cat gave the briefest shake of her head.

    ¡°Good, Wolf you look into that,¡± Amanda instructed.

    ¡°I can help,¡± Indi told him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be away for a week from tomorrow. But I doubt I¡¯d be much help on this anyway,¡± Falco added.

    ¡°What about in the meantime?¡± Cat asked Amanda.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t need to be solved tonight,¡± Falco replied looking to Amanda for confirmation as he spoke in part for her. ¡°She seems stable, usually there¡¯s signs before...¡±

    ¡°Sometimes there aren¡¯t,¡± Kass warned.

    Amanda acknowledged the warning with a nod at Kass and then turned back to Cat and Falco. ¡°For now I¡¯ll watch her. If you do want to help you could come babysit for a few hours.¡± Amanda had resolved that she would do what she had to if the time came but for now it was enough to just watch.

    To Amanda¡¯s surprise Cat gave a nod at the babysitting suggestion. Cat glanced to the side briefly and replied, ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll need to keep an eye out for her father too,¡± Amanda reminded them all.

    Cat smiled. It was a confident and slightly dangerous smile. ¡°He¡¯s not getting anywhere near her,¡± she replied.

    Amanda looked around the room, checking everyone was happy with the decision. Her gaze finally came to rest on Indi who seemed distracted, more so than usual. She¡¯d noticed that Indi hadn¡¯t been herself this evening. It wasn¡¯t obvious, just little things, she seemed tired and almost like she¡¯d been trying too hard to be welcoming, even before discussions had started. It made Amanda wonder if something was up. She didn¡¯t ask though, not because she didn¡¯t want to or was afraid to but because it obvious to Amanda that Indi was putting in her best effort to appear completely fine. Amanda made a note to check up on her later in the week. If she still seemed off colour then she¡¯d start to pry.

    ¡°Well, thanks everyone. If you do want to babysit,¡± Amanda turned to Cat, ¡°Let me know.¡±

    Cat glanced sideways again then met Amanda¡¯s eyes. She nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll see. Might do. I¡¯ll call you tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°When are we meeting next?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°In a week? Friday again?¡± Amanda suggested. She turned to Wolf. ¡°Or before then?¡±

    Wolf shrugged. ¡°If I find something we can meet earlier, otherwise a week¡¯s good.¡±

    ¡°I might have some old books that will be useful, I¡¯ll stop by sometime,¡± she replied.

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°I gotta go. Promised a client a late night meeting in an hour,¡± Zephyr said as he headed for the door.

    A round of good byes was spoken and then Amanda turned to Falco. ¡°And you¡¯ll be away?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but if there¡¯s anything urgent...¡± he trailed off wanting to offer support if he could but knowing it was unlikely he would be able to leave in the middle of his job.

    ¡°I''m sure we¡¯ll be fine,¡± Amanda reassured him. ¡°Where are you shipping out to, if I can ask?¡±

    ¡°Down the coast, to deal with some protesters.¡±

    ¡°What are they protesting?¡± Amanda asked.

    Falco hesitated and he glanced sideways at Indi.

    It was enough for Amanda to understand. ¡°Ah,¡± was all she said and left it at that.

    As the others made a move to get up Indi interrupted. ¡°There¡¯s one more thing, if we¡¯re done with that plan, and if anyone¡¯s free tomorrow...¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 10: A Proposition

    As Indi trailed off into a pause the others recognised the tone of voice. The one that suggested Indi had some bold idea for an adventure, the sort of adventures that ended in trouble. Cat narrowed her eyes. Wolf started to chuckle. Amanda gave her a questioning look. Kass, knowing where Indi was going with this did her best to look impassive and innocent and quietly sipped the last little bit of her tea, which had long since gone cold.

    ¡°I just thought we could all use a distraction and bit of a break, maybe after a bit of research or before, I mean if there¡¯s time. Breaks are good for coming up with ideas. There¡¯s a project Kass is working on that she could use some help with and it¡¯s actually kind of cool.¡±

    Cat eyed Kass who was doing her best to avoid looking at anyone.

    Indi continued. ¡°So I was thinking, only really Wolf and I have time to spend on researching the necromancy stuff during the week but maybe if we help Kass out with this she would have some more time to help with the research for Lily and she is pretty good with research.¡±

    ¡°Spit it out Indi,¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°There¡¯s a haunted house with a missing will in it and I was thinking we could help find it,¡± Indi blurted out and then gave them a pleading excited look.

    Kass felt more eyes turn her way which she also avoided looking at. Instead she looked to Indi and opened her mouth to try to tell her that it wasn¡¯t necessary for everyone to help out.

    Before she could get a word out however, Indi continued. ¡°Think of it this way. We help you find the will and then for maybe a day or two next week you can say you¡¯re looking for it and help us out instead. You¡¯ve got access to that special library right?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t think work would let me spend that long looking for it.¡±

    ¡°What are they going to do if you don¡¯t find it?¡± Indi asked.

    Kass shook her head ¡°I don¡¯t know. Probably a long litigation process that I really don¡¯t want to be involved in. She¡¯s got a lot of family, some who want to sell it, some who want the land, and some who say it¡¯s a heritage that should be protected, and they¡¯re all starting to get their own lawyers.¡±

    ¡°I thought you did criminal stuff?¡± Amanda asked.

    Kass rolled her eyes and gave a sigh. ¡°Yeah so did I. I expect I might be busy with other stuff next week. It might just end up getting benched.¡±

    ¡°Stuff you want to do?¡± Indi asked seeing an opportunity.

    Kass hesitated.

    ¡°So finding the will makes it way easier right, saves time in the long run? Does your company have to cover litigation stuff?¡±

    ¡°We are required to perform certain duties if we wish to practice here,¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°What special library?¡± Cat asked, jumping back to Indi¡¯s earlier statement.

    ¡°THE Library,¡± Indi explained without explaining anything.

    ¡°Actually that could be useful,¡± Wolf piped in.

    ¡°What special library?¡± Cat asked again.

    Amanda shook her head and shrugged.

    Wolf explained. ¡°It¡¯s, well it¡¯s a special library.¡± He frowned realising he was doing about as good a job as Indi. He shook he head as if to clear it. ¡°It¡¯s literally called The Library, with a capital L. It¡¯s kind of like a guild. You have to apply for membership and you have to pay a fee, quite a substantial fee but it gives you access to a lot very rare texts. That¡¯s their mission in life, to document absolutely everything.¡±

    ¡°And you think the texts would be useful?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Wolf replied.

    ¡°Can¡¯t Kass just give us access?¡± Amanda asked Wolf.

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°No one¡¯s allowed access except those who are members.¡±

    ¡°So why don¡¯t we just break in?¡± Cat suggested.

    Amanda shot her a look.

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°This isn¡¯t one of those places you can just break into.¡± At the glean in Cat¡¯s eyes he added, ¡°That¡¯s not a challenge. They¡¯ve got more security than a lot of banks. They¡¯re considered one of the most secure places in the world.¡±

    ¡°Not to mention robbing a library feels a little wrong,¡± Falco added.

    Cat rolled her eyes.

    ¡°How did you know I was a member?¡± Kass asked Indi curiously.

    ¡°I um,¡± Indi looked a little guilty. ¡°My brother¡¯s one and I er, might have been messing about in their computer systems one time and noticed your name come up.¡±

    ¡°I thought you said they were secure?¡± Cat gave Wolf a look.

    ¡°They are now,¡± Indi replied with a sheepish self-congratulating look.

    ¡°Are you a member?¡± Amanda asked.

    Indi shook her head. ¡°They didn¡¯t want me.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re quite elite.¡± Kass added, ¡°Not that, I just mean... they¡¯re very picky.¡± she stared down into her tea again.

    ¡°How¡¯d you get into their computer systems?¡± Amanda asked Indi curiously. She was the only other one in the group that had any knowledge of computer systems. ¡°Through the net?¡±

    Indi shook her head. ¡°They are actually really secure. They have an entire database backup of the internet but it¡¯s not connected to the internet directly so no technopath can get in. The building is completely enclosed, no cell signals, no wires most of the time. The walls are layered with who knows what. Everything¡¯s funneled though a teleport type system. I¡¯m not even sure how it works. They regularly update their database but it¡¯s done in a series of steps with checks and balances in between.¡±

    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°Then how did you get in?¡± Amanda asked.

    Indi smiled. ¡°The age old trick, I gave Sly a usb with some code on it and said I wanted some data on something. They don¡¯t mind if you copy some of the data from their database and bring it out you see, as long as it¡¯s of a certain type, not the really dangerous stuff or rare stuff. Public archived stuff is fine. They have history records and stuff too, maybe even about that house. Anyway he didn¡¯t know what else I¡¯d put on the usb and yeah, I got in a bit of trouble, and him too. He was pretty mad, and they¡¯ve since spruced their system up so it won¡¯t happen again.¡±

    ¡°Why were looking into their database?¡± Kass asked

    ¡°I wanted to know what their selection process was. You know I even helped them fix a few holes in their security and they still wouldn¡¯t let me become a member.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t imagine why.¡± Falco teased.

    ¡°You did kinda break it in the first place,¡± Amanda added.

    ¡°If it hadn¡¯t been me it would have been someone else,¡± Indi replied. ¡°And who knows what sort of damage they might have done. I was just doing it for personal knowledge, which is what their whole organisation¡¯s supposed to be about.¡± Indi rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Someone¡¯s a little bitter,¡± Cat purred.

    ¡°I think there¡¯s something about honor and not stealing information there too,¡± Wolf added.

    ¡°You ever try become a member?¡± Amanda asked Wolf.

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°They turned me down. It¡¯s super expensive anyway.¡± He tried to brush it off but there was a slight disappointment in his expression that he just couldn¡¯t hide.

    ¡°So,¡± Amanda turned to Kass. ¡°You could have a look for something useful if we help with the house?¡±

    ¡°I mean I¡¯d have a look anyway, it¡¯s just..¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really busy,¡± Indi finished.

    Kass nodded.

    ¡°And Indi¡¯s really interested in a haunted house, no surprises there,¡± Cat quipped.

    ¡°We can help with whatever research you need to do to find that family and the will. That could buy you a day or two right? We¡¯re just trading,¡± Indi pointed out.

    ¡°Yeah I suppose,¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°And I could ask my brother. He¡¯s back in town. He could help you with your search at the library. Plus I have a few online contacts I can ask about the family.¡±

    ¡°We might have some old book¡¯s on Little Rock¡¯s history,¡± Amanda added. ¡°I¡¯m busy most of tomorrow morning but I could probably help out later with looking for the will, Sirius too. He¡¯s here until Wednesday.¡±

    ¡°I was thinking of looking more into the necromancy detection tomorrow,¡± Wolf replied.

    Indi nodded. ¡°Yeah, well we could do that first for most of the day and then after we could go explore the house, once our brains are too tired to think. It¡¯ll be like exercise. There¡¯s nothing like a haunted house to revitilise you.¡±

    ¡°You want to go snooping through a haunted house in the evening?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Well, no I was thinking more like 4pm, it¡¯ll still be light then.¡±

    ¡°Assuming it¡¯s not raining,¡± Cat grumbled.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be dry inside the house,¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°As long as it doesn¡¯t leak,¡± Falco chuckled.

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°Alright that¡¯s enough for me, I¡¯m off to bed. I¡¯ll see you guys tomorrow.¡±

    Once Amanda had gone Wolf stood up and stretched. ¡°I¡¯m off too, what time will I see you tomorrow Indi?¡±

    Cat snorted. ¡°It¡¯s Indi so probably midday.¡±

    ¡°I can do 10am, that¡¯s not unreasonable,¡± Indi replied indignantly.

    Wolf chuckled. ¡°See you tomorrow.¡±

    As Wolf disappeared out the door Cat asked Falco who was nearest the door ¡°Is it still raining?¡±

    ¡°Looks like it¡¯s stopped,¡± he replied.

    ¡°Good.¡± Cat got to her feet and grabbed her coats. She didn¡¯t put them on but instead held them inside out so she didn¡¯t get any water from their outside on her. Before she left she turned back to Indi. ¡°I can probably cut out early tomorrow so let me know when you¡¯re going house exploring.¡±

    Indi nodded and Cat left.

    Falco closed the door behind her. ¡°I¡¯ve got some things to get ready for Monday, I¡¯ll leave you girls to it.¡± He headed off down the hall.

    Indi turned to Kass once he was gone.

    ¡°Is that alright? I didn¡¯t mean to take over your work project really, I just thought if there were more people helping...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine Indi.¡±

    ¡°You sure cause...¡±

    Kass laughed. ¡°Really,¡± she confirmed.

    ¡°You wanna watch a movie?¡± Indi asked.

    Kass shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s late, I should get some sleep.¡±

    Indi nodded.

    Just as Kass was making for the door, it opened and Cat stuck her head back in.

    ¡°Where¡¯s your car?¡± she demanded of Indi.

    ¡°What?¡± Indi asked, playing innocent.

    ¡°Your car. It¡¯s not where it usually is. Where is it?¡±

    ¡°In the garage,¡± Indi replied honestly. Usually they kept one side of the garage empty so Falco had space to hang his punching bag and various other gym equipment that he didn¡¯t have room for elsewhere. The other side of the garage housed their boat. When Indi had gotten back that afternoon, she cleared a whole bunch of stuff out of the way so she could get the car in. She hadn¡¯t wanted to leave it in the street with it¡¯s broken window. Until now, not even Falco had noticed.

    ¡°Why?¡± Cat demanded.

    ¡°Cat?¡± Kass voiced, inquiring about Cat¡¯s line questions.

    ¡°Why¡¯d you put it in the garage?¡± Cat pushed, knowing she was on to something and unable to think of a good reason for Indi to put the car away given how much she used it.

    ¡°I, I just...¡± Indi couldn¡¯t think of a good lie that was also technically the truth. She was no good at lying and she hated it, so if it wasn¡¯t technically the truth she knew she wasn¡¯t getting away with it. ¡°I just did,¡± she finished.

    Cat narrowed her eyes. Any one else might have given up there. But not Cat. Cat knew where the stairs to the garage were and that was where she headed right now.

    Indi deflated knowing the next line of questioning was going to be about the smashed window and why she hadn¡¯t taken it to Cat to get fixed yet.

    ¡°What?¡± Kass gave a confused exclamation as she and Indi followed Cat down to the basement.

    ¡°Indi, what happened to your window?¡± Cat asked in a much sweeter voice. It was calmer and less demanding than before but it was a false sweetness that still hinted at possible change back to demanding if Indi didn¡¯t answer honestly.

    ¡°Some losers in town threw some rocks at it,¡± Indi replied before she¡¯d even had time to decide if that was a good response. Well it was technically the truth and it avoided talking about what had actually happened.

    ¡°What losers?¡±

    Indi shrugged. ¡°Just some randoms. I didn¡¯t know them.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you bring it to me? I could have fixed it,¡± Cat asked with more genuine concern.

    ¡°I got distracted,¡± Indi offered, which was also technically the truth, even if she was the one who had distracted herself.

    ¡°Is it just the window?¡± Cat asked as she inspected the damage.

    Indi nodded.

    ¡°Bring it by tomorrow. On your way to Wolf¡¯s. I¡¯ll drop you off and fix it up while you¡¯re there, then pick you up after.¡±

    Indi nodded again.

    ¡°Next time just bring it straight to me.¡±

    Another nod.

    Satisfied Cat made her way back up the stairs past Indi and Kass. She yelled, ¡°Good night,¡± on her way out.

    Once Cat was gone Kass turned to Indi and took a stab at a hunch she had. ¡°What actually happened to your window?¡±

    Indi sighed, too tired to lie anymore. She replied ¡°Do you really want to know?¡±

    ¡°No, not if you don¡¯t want to tell me,¡° Kass replied fully ready for Indi to not tell her.

    Indi sighed again. ¡°Sly needed some blood so I went out to the blood bank.¡±

    Before Indi could continue, Kass interrupted. ¡°Wait, you were at the blood bank today? There were riots out there.¡±

    Indi nodded and gave a shaky laugh. ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what happened to your window?¡±

    Indi nodded.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Indi shrugged. ¡°I guess.¡±

    ¡°Does Sly know?¡± Kass asked.

    ¡°No, and I¡¯m not going to tell him, he¡¯d feel so guilty. Please don¡¯t mention it to him if you meet up with him for research.¡± Indi replied. None of the group had met Indi¡¯s brother before. ¡°I¡¯ll tell Falco later though.¡±

    Kass agreed. ¡°Is that why you wanted company this afternoon?¡± she asked.

    Indi nodded then replied, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Kass shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m sure if you¡¯d said something the others would have come too.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I just...¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t want to talk about it?¡±

    More nodding. ¡°The haunted house was a pretty good distraction though. Way better than cookies.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well I hope so.¡± Kass smiled.

    ¡°What could go wrong?¡± Indi grinned.

    ¡°With a house that multiple people seem have disappeared inside?¡± Kass asked, but her tone was light and teasing.

    They both laughed, neither really believing that such a thing could pose any danger.

 Volume 2, Chapter 11: Sugar and Spice, and One Not So Nice

    Amanda returned home that night exhausted. Stepping through the front doors of the high roofed farmhouse she found their 15 year old son, Salem, sitting on the family computer playing some kind of game. It looked to be a horror game, a first person zombie shooter of some kind. Seeing it did not put Amanda in better spirits.

    ¡°Salem.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± It couldn¡¯t have been a multiplayer one because the second she said his name he paused it and turned.

    She nodded at the game. ¡°Is that appropriate?¡±

    He blinked blankly for a moment and then recognition filled his eyes. He glanced around checking for Lily and then in a whisper replied, ¡°She doesn¡¯t know what she is.¡±

    Amanda sighed. She knew Salem didn¡¯t mean anything by it. ¡°Yeah...¡± she started, ¡°But...¡±

    He interrupted quickly, ¡°I can play something else.¡± He turned around and exited the game. ¡°I was just finishing up anyway.¡±

    Amanda gave a tired smile. ¡°Have you done your homework?¡±

    ¡°Um... yes...¡± He replied in a way that suggested he hadn¡¯t at all.

    Amanda gave another sigh and a knowing look but didn¡¯t push him. ¡°Do you know where Lily is?¡±

    ¡°Yeah she¡¯s upstairs. She has some friends over. Katrina was teaching them how to do their hair and makeup.¡±

    Upstairs 16-year old Katrina¡¯s slender hands twisted Mary¡¯s brunette hair into a long thick braid. ¡°Perfect for fighting,¡± she remarked to the 10-year old. ¡°But you¡¯re supposed to put the eyeliner around your eyes not across your cheeks.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the fashion,¡± Jojo told her.

    ¡°Yes, but Haute Couture is different from Little Rock fashion,¡± Katrina replied as she fit a pretty red bow on the end of Mary¡¯s braid.

    ¡°Don¡¯t bows get caught in things?¡± asked Mary as she strained around to see what Katrina had put in her hair. ¡°Do you have any skull clips. I¡¯d like something with skulls on it if you have anything. So my enemies will see it and be terrified.¡± She grinned gleefully.

    Katrina frowned. She found this child very weird.

    ¡°Haute Co...what?¡± asked Perri in her quiet voice.

    ¡°I would like a bow,¡± declared Maddi, who had decided that Katrina was very pretty and had her long black hair so perfectly done that Maddi would follow all of her instructions if it meant she could look even half as grown up and beautiful as Katrina did.

    Katrina looked a lot like her father and aunt with her dark hair and green eyes. She had the fairest skin in her family, lacking any blemish. She didn¡¯t quite have their height but she wasn¡¯t as short as her mother either. She adored her aunt Cat and somewhat, to her mother¡¯s annoyance had initially followed her aunt¡¯s example regarding clothes and makeup. Red lipsticks and short skirts that Amanda thought a tad too skimpy for a young teenage girl. But as Katrina had aged she¡¯d dialed it back a little to a more refined classical collection, or at the very least had grown into the older look. Her mother still disapproved of the occasional bare midriff but she also believed in the children making their own choices, at least up to a point, and she had to admit Katrina did manage to look more stylish than anyone else in the family. Today Katrina had her dark hair lightly curled so it flowed in waves down over her shoulders. On her lips she wore a medium to dark brown colour that matched her black clothing. She hadn¡¯t quite outgrown her love for black yet, something her older brother, Bobby, occasionally teased her for.

    ¡°I would like a bow in every colour,¡± Maddi asserted.

    ¡°You can¡¯t wear all the colours,¡± Jojo insisted. ¡°That would clash.¡±

    Ally who had been paying attention to the entire conversation looked at Perri. ¡°Haute Couture,¡± she began, answering the question no one else had yet, ¡°Means high fashion, and it¡¯s more art than fashion. It¡¯s where designers get their inspiration for their ideas, which is why you could totally do every bow in Haute Couture, because it¡¯s art and art is all about creativity, right Maddi?¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± Maddi agreed.

    Jojo was about to open her mouth to object when Amanda poked her head around the corner of the door. ¡°Hi girls.¡±

    ¡°Hi Mrs James.¡± replied the chorus of replies.

    ¡°Do your parents all know you¡¯re here?¡± Amanda inquired.

    ¡°I phoned them all,¡± Katrina told her from where she sat cross-legged retying a new bow into Mary¡¯s hair. ¡°I assume it¡¯s fine if they all stay the night? Their parents don¡¯t mind.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t stay up too late.¡±

    The girls all nodded.

    Amanda watched them for a little while. They seemed so relaxed and happy. Then she left and went downstairs to find Sirius.

    She found him with their 17-year old son Bobby in the lounge. Bobby was working on some homework and Sirius was making a poor attempt at giving him some help.

    ¡°Does this equation look right to you for this problem?¡± Bobby was asking as Amanda entered.

    ¡°Umm...¡± Sirius looked up as his wife entered. A look of relief covered his face. Evidently he wasn¡¯t having a good time at solving high school math problems.

    ¡°Hey mum, can you have a look at this? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve done it right. I keep getting a decimal for an answer but I¡¯m pretty sure it should be a whole number.¡±

    Amanda took the paper from him and had a look. A moment later she shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, it was too long ago for me I think. Ask Gemma she will have done this last year.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s asleep at the moment. I¡¯ll ask her tomorrow,¡± Bobby replied.

    Gemma was Amanda and Sirius¡¯s eldest daughter. She was still in her last year of high school but she¡¯d also just given birth to her own child this year, a little girl named Kate. While Amanda and Sirius helped as much as they could, being a mother and a high-schooler still left one pretty tired.

    Amanda nodded. She glanced at Sirius. He was giving her a curious look, sensing she¡¯d come in here for a reason and wondering what it was.

    Bobby was the one who had given up his room for Lily, offering to sleep on the couch while she was here. He¡¯d been offered a spare pull-out mattress in Gemma¡¯s large room but on account of the baby occasionally waking in the night he¡¯d opted for the living room instead. He was their most reliable and level-headed child so his perspective and thoughts were often appreciated by his parents.

    ¡°Hey, Bobby, I wanted to ask you something, about Lily?¡± Amanda began.

    Upstairs in Katrina¡¯s room Maddi and Jojo were playing magical tug-of-war with the ribbons. Mary would summon one to her and then Jojo, who was telekinetic, would pull it back, intent on preventing Maddi from hogging all the bows.

    ¡°I told you it¡¯s gonna clash if you use that many, and I need some.¡± Jojo pulled a yellow one so hard that it went flying past her and into the wall.

    ¡°What for? You¡¯re hair¡¯s so short you can¡¯t possibly have any use for them all.¡± Maddie replied as the yellow ribbon appeared in her hand.

    ¡°Take a look at that.¡± Katrina told Mary as she handed her a mirror to see the new ribbon in her hair.

    ¡°Wow!, you tied it like a skull! How¡¯d you do that?¡±

    The others all clambered over to see except for Jojo and Maddi who were focused on the war of the bows.

    ¡°Do you think you could tie mine so it looks like a bunny?¡± asked Lily.

    ¡°I can try,¡± Katrina replied.

    ¡°Great!

    Katrina did so while Perri, Ally, and Mary watched.

    ¡°You¡¯re really good at this,¡± Mary observed as she watched the shape of a bunny being formed in tiny pink ribbons. Then she twisted around so she could see her own white skull shaped thicker ribbon.

    ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m just making this up as I go,¡± Katrina told her.

    ¡°Well I think that makes it even more impressive,¡± Ally complimented. ¡°Can you do mine next.¡±

    ¡°Sure, what do you want?¡±

    ¡°A rhinoceros,¡± Ally replied confidently.

    ¡°A rhinoceros?¡± Katrina paused wondering how she was going to pull that one off and why anyone would choose a rhinoceros. She never did figure it out, for a moment later there was a thump as Maddi fainted.

    ¡°Maddi?¡± Ally probed.

    ¡°Serves her right for trying to steal all the ribbons!¡± Jojo said stubbornly.

    ¡°What happened? Did she overuse her magic?¡± asked Mary.

    ¡°Lily go get my mum,¡± Katrina told her.

    Lily nodded and sprang up from the floor.

    Katrina crawled over to the unconscious Maddi and felt for a pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief once she confirmed that there was one and that the girl was still breathing. Even as Katrina watched, Maddi¡¯s eyelids began to flutter and she began to come to.

    ¡°She probably did over-extend her magic and just needs some rest,¡± Katrina told the other girls, hoping it was true. ¡°Why don¡¯t you girls get ready for bed while Lily is getting my mum? Ally can you pass me that pillow?¡±

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Lily took the steps two at a time, skipping the last three altogether. She ran around the corner and skidded in her socks almost right up to the lounge door. She was about to knock when she heard voices inside.

    ¡°There¡¯s some teachers I know you could trust, there are also some you really can¡¯t and any parent that finds out there¡¯s a zombie at their school is going to cause an uproar.¡± It was Bobby who was speaking. Lily frowned and listened. A zombie? At school?

    ¡°Lily¡¯s not a zombie yet, at least not as far as we know,¡± Amanda replied. ¡°You don¡¯t think there¡¯s some teachers you could be sure would keep it a secret?¡±

    Lily¡¯s breath caught in her throat. Her? She was the zombie? Or was going to be a zombie? She didn¡¯t understand. She thought of the zombies in movies or the ones in the computer game she¡¯d seen Salem playing. But she wasn¡¯t like them? She didn¡¯t understand. She knew zombies were real. She had memories of her parents or other adults talking about zombie attacks in other towns. But she didn¡¯t know where the zombies came from or how they got there. She imagined them crawling out of graves.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. One or two, not enough,¡± Bobby replied.

    ¡°Enough to help keep an eye on her?¡± Amanda spoke again.

    She heard Sirius¡¯s voice. ¡°All it takes is for one to speak to the wrong person about it.¡±

    ¡°Maybe we¡¯ll leave it for now, although I think it¡¯s worth having one teacher who knows. Just someone at the school so there¡¯s an adult.¡±

    ¡°An adult with some zombie stopping powers,¡± Bobby suggested.

    Lily listened but no one replied out loud. She felt sick. She didn¡¯t know what to make of this but she was also supposed to be getting help for Maddi. She didn¡¯t want them to know she¡¯d been eavesdropping. She backed up a few paces and then ran at the door and opened it without knocking. Acting as if she¡¯d only just run the whole way down she blurted out, ¡°Maddi¡¯s fainted, help!¡±

    Amanda was by her side in seconds and she followed Lily as she ran back upstairs.

    Amanda agreed with Katrina¡¯s assessment that Maddi just needed to rest and be a bit more careful with her power usage next time. She also agreed that it was about time they all got ready for bed.

    As an infuser Katrina could sense what powers a person had and place them into an item for later use. All night she¡¯d been a little fascinated by Ally. Mindwalkers were rare and Katrina was dying to try out a wider variety of powers, especially ones like that. As the girls left for bedtime she asked, ¡°Ally, could you be a dear and help me put the things away please?¡±

    Ally paused in the doorway. She eyed Katrina with a look that was far too clever for a 10 year old and Katrina suspected her motives were known. That was fine by her. Ally could choose.

    After a moment¡¯s hesitation Ally nodded. ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°You know I was wondering...¡± Katrina started as they began to put the ribbons and bows and makeup away.

    ¡°You want to know if you can borrow some of my magic?¡± Ally replied.

    ¡°For infusing yes.¡± Katrina kept her voice low. Her mother would not approve of her taking some of the mindwalking powers from a 10-year old. Technically it wasn¡¯t taking as it was Katrina¡¯s energy that it would use and it would cost Ally nothing. Ally would just be a channel, like a recipe. There were spells that could turn that against someone, use their specific brand of magic to craft a spell that would target or hurt them in some way, but that wasn¡¯t what Katrina had in mind and Ally knew this.

    Ally seemed to think on it.

    ¡°It¡¯s just for practice?¡± Ally asked.

    Katrina nodded. ¡°Yes, I want to learn how to control it. I won¡¯t use it for evil I swear.¡±

    Ally giggled. ¡°But maybe for mischief?¡±

    Katrina couldn¡¯t help herself. She had imagined the fun pranks she could play on her siblings although she hadn¡¯t really intended to do it, had she? She¡¯d just figured she¡¯d practice first and then once she got the hang of it... She met Ally¡¯s eyes again. The girl was smart.

    Ally pursed her lips. ¡°You have to be careful. If you read a mind worng you can damage it. Or even worse if you try to alter things...¡± She looked worried.

    ¡°I won¡¯t,¡± Katrina promised. She meant it.

    ¡°Even animals,¡± Ally added with a knowing look.

    Katrina gulped, yes the girl was smart. ¡°It¡¯s less risk, if I just tested it on a mouse isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Ally shook her head. ¡°There are other problems with that, for you.¡±

    Katrina thought about it. That wasn¡¯t such an issue. She would be careful. She¡¯d learnt some hard lessons from borrowing her Aunt¡¯s dreamwalking powers. She¡¯d gotten much better at that one now. Mindwalking must be similar. If Ally didn¡¯t want to though that was okay. She didn¡¯t want the girl to feel responsible if something did go wrong. She¡¯d find another mindwalker one day. It was tempting though but Katrina knew this had to be up to Ally.

    ¡°How do you do it?¡± Ally asked after a bit.

    Katrina looked up at her as she put the nail polish back where it belonged.

    ¡°When you take the powers, how do you do it? Does it hurt?¡±

    Katrina shook her head and smiled. ¡°No, it¡¯s simple, I just touch your hands and then I focus and I put it into a ring or necklace or something. You won¡¯t even notice.¡±

    Ally nodded. ¡°Okay, you can borrow some, but you have to promise not to spend too long in anyone¡¯s mind, including animals, and not to manipulate or change anyone¡¯s mind or memories or anything like that.¡±

    ¡°No changing got it, only listen for short times.¡±

    Ally nodded. She took a deep breath and held out her hands. ¡°You could practice on me a little first too if you want, because I know how to rebut it, sort of. I think that would be useful practice, if I could figure out how to steel myself against other mindwalkers. Maybe I can come visit Lily more with the others and then I can practice with you some more?¡±

    Katrina nodded. ¡°Yeah we could do that. Hang on.¡± She darted to the door and pushed it closed. ¡°Okay.¡± She returned to Ally and grasped the girl¡¯s hands. In her left hand she grabbed a red pendant that hung on a long gold chain. She was excited. Mindwalking was one of the most useful powers one could have and here she was about to get a taste of it. She focused her mind and felt the power shift through her, from Ally and into the pendant. She had gotten a good feel over the years for how much she could fit in an item, and how much she could safely take.

    It didn¡¯t take long and once she was done she put the pendant back in the drawer of her bedside table and then opened her own door. No one else seemed to have noticed.

    ¡°Thank you Ally,¡± she told the girl. ¡°Best get ready for bed. I can tidy up the last of the stuff here.¡±

    Ally nodded and left to go join the others.

    An hour went by and the house was silent. Katrina sat on her bed toying with the red pendant that now held a slither of mindwalking powers. To start with she just felt the power, caressed it until she got to know it¡¯s shape, it¡¯s form, how to push it, pull it, weave it, how to make it her own. Amanda and Sirius were downstairs somewhere, maybe helping Bobby with homework. The younger girls were all asleep. She¡¯d heard Salem go into his room around the same time. She wasn¡¯t sure if he was awake still but she heard no sounds from the room next to hers.

    As she sat she heard feet padding along outside and further down the hallway. She put the pendant down and stuck her head out. Her youngest sister, 14-year old Sasha was creeping along near the top of the stairs. Perhaps sensing eyes on her she looked up and met Katrina¡¯s green eyes with her pale blue ones.

    ¡°I was just getting some water,¡± Sasha whispered. Then she turned and trotted quietly down the stairs.

    Katrina returned to her bed. Hearing a knock on the front door a moment later she peered out the window but she could see nothing except a car parked in the long dirt driveway. Whomever it was, was hidden by the porch roof. Wondering if Sasha had invited friends over, but not really believing it because Sasha was far too goody good for that, she left her room to go and investigate.

    She stopped on the landing half way down the stairs where she had a view of the front door. Sasha had indeed opened it but at the door was obviously no friend of hers. There a large man stood with an angry expression on his face. The timid little Sasha was clutching at the door frame obviously a little afraid and having regretted opening the door.

    ¡°Where¡¯s my daughter?¡± the man barked.

    Katrina was about to come to Sasha¡¯s rescue when Sirius appeared from the back of the house.

    The man in the door had his face bearing down on Sasha who had put more of the door between herself and this scary stranger.

    ¡°What¡¯s this all about?¡± Sirius asked as he swept in between the two of them. Sasha darted behind her father.

    The man looked up for Sirius was quite a bit taller than him. For a moment he seemed to be rethinking things.

    ¡°I¡¯m here for my daughter. My wife said she¡¯s here.¡± The man¡¯s growl had softened somewhat in the face of someone bigger than him.

    ¡°What¡¯s your daughter¡¯s name?¡± Sirius asked calmly.

    ¡°Perri,¡± replied the man, and for a moment it seemed things were going along civilly but then he seemed to work up some courage and he pushed past Sirius. ¡°Where is she?¡± He saw the stairs and headed for them.

    ¡°Her mother said it was fine if she stayed over,¡± Sirius told him, surprised at the man¡¯s boldness. And confused at his anger.

    ¡°Yes, well she was wrong,¡± came the reply. ¡°Perri needs her sleep and she won¡¯t get it surrounded by a whole group of talkative girls.¡±

    The man started up the stairs just as Amanda arrived in the main hall. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± she asked.

    ¡°He¡¯s here for Perri,¡± Sirius told her as they both made to follow the man.

    Katrina pressed herself against the back stair wall as the man came past. He gave her barely a side glance. As her parents followed her mum gave her a reassuring look and light touch on the shoulder.

    Bobby then appeared in the main hall and noticing Sasha standing alone and looking scared he went to comfort her. Katrina followed her parents upstairs.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to wake the entire house,¡± she heard her mother saying.

    As Katrina reached the top of the stairs she saw the man holding a sleepy eyed Perri by the arm, looking like he¡¯d just dragged her from her bed. ¡°We¡¯ll be going now,¡± he said to Sirius and Amanda, who at the moment stood between him and his exit.

    Katrina backed away from the stairs in the direction of Salem¡¯s door so she wasn¡¯t also between the man and the top of the stairs. Salem¡¯s door opened a crack and a droopy headed Salem poked his head out. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± he asked Katrina.

    ¡°There was no need to barge up here like this. We could have talked downstairs. Perri was already asleep, along with most of the rest of the this house. If you were so worried about her sleep why did you feel the need to wake her?¡± Amanda asked him in a fierce whisper, obviously trying not to wake anyone else.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t get out of my way woman...¡± The man made a move towards her.

    Sirius stepped between then and the man paused. Then Sirius stepped to the side, pulling Amanda behind him, and letting the man past.

    The man went on his way, dragging Perri after him, who almost stumbled over in her hurry to keep up.

    Amanda made a move as if to follow them. Katrina saw the look of anger on her face and decided she was glad that she wasn¡¯t the target of it. But Sirius held Amanda back with his arm. ¡°Not here,¡± he said with a shake of his head and a glance back at the group of young faces all watching from the girl¡¯s room. From further down the hall a baby started to cry.

    ¡°Are you girls alright?¡± Amanda asked the group as she headed towards Gemma¡¯s room.

    There was a collection of nods. Then Gemma¡¯s door opened before Amanda could reach for the handle. Gemma had her mother¡¯s red hair but her father¡¯s height. She opened the door while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. ¡°What on the Devil¡¯s earth is going on out here? Do you know how long it takes to get her to sleep?¡±

    ¡°You go back to bed, I can take her,¡± Amanda offered.

    ¡°No,¡± Gemma shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s okay, I can do it.¡± She turned back into her room. Amanda followed.

    Katrina watched as her father returned downstairs to check on Sasha and Bobby. The girls had mostly returned back into their shared room. At least that¡¯s what Katrina thought but when she walked into her own room she was surprised to find Ally kneeling on the bed watching Perri and her father leave out the window.

    Katrina knelt beside her and watched the red headlights turn the corner at the end of the drive and disappear into the night.

    Ally turned to Katrina and seemed to be trying to decide something. A moment passed and then speaking low she said, ¡°He¡¯s a brute you know.¡± She nodded out at the darkness. ¡°He hits her, and her sisters.¡±

    Katrina looked down at Ally and tried to judge if she was making it up, but she looked deadly serious.

    Ally met her eyes and then turned back to the window. ¡°Her other sister died last week. From a fall.¡±

    The way Ally said it made it sound like she didn¡¯t think it was from a fall at all.

    Katrina opened her mouth to ask something but Ally interrupted her, speaking in a hurry. ¡°You can¡¯t tell anyone.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Katrina asked.

    Ally didn¡¯t answer. She just stared out the window. Finally she replied. ¡°You just can¡¯t. Promise?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t promise something like that Ally.¡±

    Ally met her eyes again and gave a sigh. An action that made her seem far older than her 10 years and for a moment Katrina felt like she was the child, helpless, small, and unknowing.

    ¡°Someone told on him once before, told the police, but they didn¡¯t do anything. And then he got really angry. And then they moved here. And no one knew. And no one cares.¡±

    ¡°I care,¡± Katrina replied. ¡°My mum would care, and my dad.¡±

    ¡°They can¡¯t do anything. They don¡¯t have proof, not enough of it.¡±

    ¡°That...¡±

    ¡°That was just him being a little rough. That wasn¡¯t anything,¡± Ally replied referring to what had just happened.

    ¡°But you know? You read her mind right? That¡¯s how you know?¡±

    ¡°I also know mindwalkers don¡¯t count as evidence. My mum¡¯s a lawyer. She works in the Emerald city.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°Just promise you won¡¯t tell.¡±

    Katrina hesitated but before she could reply Amanda stuck her head in. ¡°Bedtime Ally,¡± she said.

    Ally nodded and hopped down from the bed. She looked back at Katrina with fierce look.

    In her head Katrina thought ¡®Okay.¡¯ Seeing Ally¡¯s shoulders relax she knew the kid had heard her.

    Once Ally had gone back to her room Amanda turned to Katrina. ¡°Are you okay?¡± she asked.

    The question pulled Katrina from her thoughts. Her mum was studying her with a worried expression. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine,¡± Katrina replied trying her best to mean it. But her mum¡¯s frown didn¡¯t disappear.

    Amanda studied her middle child for a moment before leaving the room, wondering what she was hiding.

 Volume 2, Chapter 12: Necromancy is Barely a Backup

    Indi struggled with the door to Wolf¡¯s house as the wind tried to tear it from her hands. No sooner was she warm inside than the storm vanished as quickly as it had come.

    She peered narrowly out the dusty window. ¡°This weather is insane,¡± she remarked to Wolf who barely looked up from the book he was reading. He was seated at the far end of his oversized wooden table. She then added as she surveyed the stacks of books piled on every spare surface, ¡°How do you find anything in here?¡±

    Wolf finally peered up over the rim of the book he was holding in his left hand, and Indi realised he also had another one open in front of him. Well Falco was always accusing her of multitasking, she couldn¡¯t really judge.

    ¡°A man always knows where his books are,¡± Wolf replied, and with a glance to the window added with a sigh ¡°Yeah, the Elemental festival makes things a bit wild for awhile.¡±

    ¡°Is it always this bad?¡±

    Wolf shrugged and thought on it for a moment. Finally he replied ¡°To be honest the weather probably keeps the people quiet for just as long. Those that don¡¯t go crazy being cooped up that is.¡±

    He narrowed his eyes at her as if wondering if she was the type to go crazy when cooped up.

    Indi just yawned. It was still early for her.

    Wolf frowned and nodded to the table. ¡°Grab a book and start reading.¡±

    ¡°Any book?¡± Indi asked eyes widening. There were a lot of books.

    Wolf nodded. ¡°I put the relevant ones on the table, mostly, use your best judgement.¡±

    Indi nodded as her eye caught the title of a nearby book ¡®101 Poisonous Plants and their Lesser Known Uses.¡¯ That one probably wasn¡¯t relevant, but then again who knew. Now curious she picked it up and gave it a skim.

    Indi churned through several books, scanning them quickly and then throwing them aside. Wolf mainly seemed focused on a few and he occasionally made notes about whatever he was reading in them. For the first half an hour neither spoke. Eventually Indi moved on from the books at the table, and unnoticed by Wolf, started familiarising herself with the books on his other shelves. But soon she grew tired of that too. She was just trying to think of a conversational topic that would elicit more than a one sentence answer from Wolf, when a large clap of thunder sounded outside, followed by the sound of hail on the roof.

    Indi rushed to the window and peered out. It wasn¡¯t easy, and she suspected that the windows hadn¡¯t been cleaned since the place was first built.

    ¡°Cat¡¯s got to be hating this,¡± Wolf remarked.

    Indi turned to see he was looking up from his book and toward the window as well.

    Indi frowned and took a seat on one of his wooden stools. ¡°How come Cat hates the rain so much?¡± she asked.

    Wolf shrugged. ¡°She hates water.¡±

    ¡°Yeah but... I get being afraid of drowning and stuff, and not wanting to go swimming, sort of, but the rain?¡±

    ¡°Lots of people hate the rain.¡± Wolf was looking at his book again.

    ¡°Yeah, but you¡¯ve seen her surely? She flinches at it like it¡¯s acid.¡±

    Wolf just shrugged again and didn¡¯t look up.

    Indi stared out at the rain again. Already the hail had turned to a light drizzle and the sun was shining brightly.

    ¡°It not that much weirder than being afraid of clowns,¡± Wolf added just when she thought she¡¯d lost him to his book again.

    Indi smiled. That jibe was meant for her but she didn¡¯t mind. ¡°Yeah well at least 30 people got killed by clowns last year and that was just in the Emerald City.¡±

    Wolf peered up at her over his book, eyes narrowed.

    ¡°There was a serial killer that dressed up as a clown, and another guy that had a day job as a clown who killed some kids, so you see that¡¯s at least two killer clowns just within the last year that we know about.¡±

    Wolf was studying her. She couldn¡¯t tell if he believed her or not. She hadn¡¯t lied about any of it though and she hadn¡¯t even mentioned the peeping Tom who supposedly wore clown masks and who may or may not have killed a couple while they slept. Not to mention that dreamwalker from a few years back who¡¯d had fun terrorising people¡¯s nightmares with all sorts of things, including clowns.

    ¡°What are you afraid of anyway?¡± Indi asked

    Wolf gave what may have been a cough or a laugh then replied ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you like to know.¡±

    ¡°Well yeah that¡¯s why I asked.¡±

    He eyed her again. It made Indi a little nervous.

    He grimaced, at least she thought it was a grimace.

    ¡°Darker things than clowns.¡± His tone wasn¡¯t mean, it seemed almost wistful and sad. It was Indi¡¯s turn to study him.

    He had his face buried in a book again but a few seconds later he seemed to feel her eyes on him.

    As he looked up Indi asked in an almost whisper, ¡°What sort of things?¡±

    He looked almost surprised for a second, then a pained but empathetic look crossed his face before being replaced by a smile and finally a soft frown. ¡°What book are you reading?¡± he asked of the book she had absentmindedly picked up as she¡¯d sat down. It was one she¡¯d fished out from under one of his shelves. Thick with a light purple cover and brown leather straps. She held it up so he could see.

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Where did you get that?¡± he asked.

    ¡°I thought you said ¡® a man always knows where his books are,¡¯¡± Indi replied innocently.

    He seemed to almost choke and Indi was sure he was trying not to laugh. He gave a cough and held out a hand. ¡°I thought I told you to look at the books on the table.¡±

    ¡°You told me to use my best judgement,¡± Indi replied completely deadpan.

    Wolf balled his fists. Banging one gently against his thighs he tried to avoid looking at Indi, all the while fighting with a smile that was forming on his face.

    When he did finally look up though Indi had such a huge grin spread across her face that he couldn¡¯t help giving a smile in return. No one could ever stay mad at Indi.

    ¡°All the same,¡± he he held out a hand for the book, ¡°I¡¯d prefer if you didn¡¯t read that one.¡±

    Indi handed it slowly to him. ¡°Why? It looks useful, it mentions necromancy.¡±

    Wolf took the book and set it aside for now. He nodded. ¡°There are some dark rituals in there. Not the kind of necromancy we want, not even as our backup plan.¡±

    ¡°Why do you have it then?¡±

    ¡°If I didn¡¯t have it some one else would,¡± Wolf replied, his gaze wandering back to the book he¡¯d been part way through. He glanced up and met her eyes, ¡°And sometimes,¡± he added, ¡°It helps to have a backup backup plan.¡±

    Indi sat back and watched him read for a bit. Eventually she asked, ¡°Are you sure there¡¯s nothing useful in that book?¡±

    Wolf paused and looked up at her again. ¡°The less people who know what¡¯s in that book the better.¡±

    Indi was silent for another moment before asking one more question, ¡°Where¡¯d you get it?¡±

    Wolf was silent a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± He shook his head. ¡°I bought it from a guy who probably bought it from a guy.¡±

    Wolf had barely started back on his book before Indi interrupted with yet another question. ¡°Who wrote it?¡±

    He looked over at the book¡¯s cover which bore no name, only a title. He frowned and reached for the inside cover.

    ¡°How do you know it¡¯s all real?¡± Indi asked, ¡°Assuming you¡¯ve never tested it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± he replied, still frowning. ¡°At least half of all wares sold as having magical properties are fakes, but I¡¯m familiar enough with ones that do work to pick up on some similarities, so if it¡¯s a fake it¡¯s a pretty good one, and I know that at least some of the spells do work.¡±

    ¡°You did test them?¡±

    Wolf closed the book again, still frowning. ¡°I don¡¯t know who it¡¯s by, there¡¯s no name.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve never wondered before?¡± Indi asked.

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s an old book.¡±

    ¡°So because it¡¯s old it¡¯s less likely to have the author¡¯s name on it?¡±

    Wolf sighed. ¡°I just mean, I¡¯ve had it awhile and books like that, of that subject matter, often don¡¯t get named. People don¡¯t like to be linked to that shit, at least not on paper.¡±

    Indi nodded. That made more sense. She looked around the room and for the hundredth time marvelled at just how many books filled the room. ¡°Do you have any food?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you just have breakfast?¡±

    ¡°Yeah but I¡¯m... wait a minute¡± Indi checked her watch ¡°it¡¯s already 1pm!¡± She tilted her watch to show him.

    His eyebrows went up slightly in what she assumed was mild surprise.

    ¡°So it is,¡± he replied. ¡°Hang on.¡± He got up from his his seat and disappeared through a door into the rear area of the cabin.

    ¡°How has it been three hours already?¡± Indi asked, more to herself than to Wolf.

    But Wolf, with his great hearing, replied as he returned, ¡°Time flies when you¡¯re having fun.¡± From the deadpan tone one could have been forgiven for assuming that he was either being sarcastic or serious. The problem was Indi wasn¡¯t sure which it was. She looked down at book he¡¯d been reading, something about dreamwalking for non-dreamwalkers. She wasn¡¯t sure she would have called this fun. Then again it was easy to get distracted amongst the piles of new and interesting information. Truth be told she hadn¡¯t exactly been reading everything of relevance. She might have gotten distracted a few times in there and by the look of this book it seemed that Wolf had too.

    ¡°How is dreamwalking useful for our current problem?¡± Indi asked as Wolf handed her something. She took it and realised he¡¯d handed her a stick of dried meat. She frowned, unsure if it was going to be the sweet or spicy type. She didn¡¯t like the sweet type as much, she preferred it well-spiced. Yes, she sometimes liked to add cream to bacon but that was different.

    ¡°I was wondering if putting her in the dreamworld for an extended period might slow any degradation,¡± Wolf explained.

    ¡°And would it?¡± Indi asked before hesitantly taking a bite of the dried meat. It turned out to be neither sweet nor spicy, just kind of plain. That was fine with Indi.

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, couldn¡¯t find any info on it.¡± He sighed, took his seat again, and began to eat his own strip of dried meat.

    ¡°Tell me you have something more substantial than this?¡± Indi asked holding up the meat.

    ¡°I have more of it.¡± Wolf laid a small sack on the table.

    Indi reached forward and peered inside. There were loads more strips of dried meat.

    ¡°It¡¯s home made,¡± Wolf told her ¡°Venison. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going to complain about lack of vegetables?¡±

    Indi smiled and shook her head. She wasn¡¯t exactly known for her healthy eating habits. That said, both of them needed more meat than the others. ¡°This is fine with me. I don¡¯t suppose you have any popcorn though do you?¡±

    Wolf chuckled and got up from the table.

    Indi hadn¡¯t exactly expected him to have any but find some he did. And then he put on a cup of tea. After lunch Wolf pointed her to some other areas she could try, but an hour more and Indi had already gotten bored. Instead she booted up her laptop which she¡¯d brought with her and resorted to her favorite form of research, the internet.

    Magical rituals and spells were harder to find on the internet than in books. There had always been some kind of weird social divide between those that liked to use technology obtained from the old world and those that preferred to pursue true sorcery. There were a whole bunch in the middle of course. Ordinary folk, who used technology and whatever powers they¡¯d been born with. But those that delved deeper, into rituals and spells tended to shy away from things like computers, and it¡¯s not like the computers of this world were paticulary usable, one did require some level of technical competence. And those that used computers or pursued scientific pursuits generally were either less powerful magically or just less interested in magic, which often translated to less powerful anyway.

    It didn¡¯t help that the old world led this world in the technological space, most technological advancements were brought over by worldjumpers and sold at extortionate prices sometimes decades after initial creation, then reverse engineered. People hadn¡¯t forgotten how the old world had treated witches in their early days of existence. Many saw it as betrayal of magical kind to use human technology but of course the more easy to use and enjoyable things were always a little more tempting. Movies, for example, were significantly less shunned than computers, and phones had caught on pretty well, at least in some regions.

    They kept at it until quarter to four when a horn sounded from outside.

    ¡°Cat¡¯s here,¡± Indi remarked. She hadn¡¯t found anything during the last few hours of research and from the look on Wolf¡¯s face it seemed that he hadn¡¯t either.

    ¡°Good, I could use a break. I haven¡¯t found shit,¡± Wolf remarked as he got to his feet and stretched his arms forward.

    Indi nodded, got to her feet and moved toward the rear of the cabin. ¡°I¡¯m just gonna hit the head, tell Cat I¡¯ll be out in a moment.¡±

    Wolf nodded, grabbed a few books and shoved them into a satchel and walked toward the door. He waved a hand out and held up two fingers, then waited for Indi.

    Moments later they were all piled into Cat¡¯s car and travelling slightly faster than anyone had thought possible on that dusty forest road.

 Volume 2, Chapter 13: Psychic Says

    Further inland, and not far to the south of Wolf¡¯s cabin, Coal was returning to his large stone built multi-story country home. Natasha Crimson had pulled up just as he was opening the front door. He didn¡¯t wait for her but he left the door ajar, knowing she would follow him in.

    He removed his suit jacket and hung it on the hook in the hallway. He briefly debated stopping by the lounge bar for a drink. Instead, he headed into his office. He paused, noticing that his chair was turned sideways, not at all how he¡¯d left it. His eyes swept the room but he saw no one. He listened but heard no sound. Walking behind the large mahogany desk he saw nothing else amiss.

    As Natasha entered the room he decided whoever had been in his office could wait for now. He gave Natasha a pleasant smile as she entered, his eyes drawn first to her dark brown eyes and then to the manilla folder that she clutched in her slender hands.

    ¡°My sources tell me your friends are searching the house tonight, something about a missing coworker and lost will.¡±

    ¡°So I¡¯m aware,¡± he replied.

    She raised her eyebrows. Obviously she had been expecting to be the the first to tell him.

    That pleased him. He didn¡¯t mention that it was Cat who had informed him, with an offhand comment when she¡¯d stopped by earlier that day. Let Natasha think he had other sources as well.

    Noticing his eyes had returned to the folder she was holding, Natasha pulled a photograph from it¡¯s center. She held it close to her body so that Coal couldn¡¯t see what it was of yet. She met his eyes. ¡°I brought you the information on the house remember, filled with treasures.¡±

    ¡°And curses.¡± Coal sat down in the leather chair behind his desk.

    Natasha nodded. ¡°Curses you can worry about later. I made sure Kass got pulled on to that case. She¡¯ll get photos of the contents in the house, then my contact can get them for you. Once you see what¡¯s in there then you can decide if it¡¯s worth acquiring.¡±

    Coal nodded, still waiting for her to reveal the photo she clutched in her hand. ¡°Why send Kass and the others?¡±

    ¡°Well it¡¯s not just any old house, photos of the inside are rare. They say you take a photo of the wrong thing you don¡¯t come back out.¡±

    ¡°Rumours.¡±

    ¡°Well-founded ones, anyway I didn¡¯t actually expect her to drag the others in.¡± Natasha trailed off for a second and Coal wondered if he detected some worry there. Natasha didn¡¯t know Kass very well but she and Cat had been friends for awhile. ¡°I figured Kass had a good chance of survival, crazy telekinetic powers and with the rest of her history... well even if she tore the house apart getting out as long as she gets some photos then you¡¯ll see you have value and then you¡¯ll owe me.¡±

    ¡°Something small you said, because you know how I feel about unnamed favors,¡± Coal interrupted.

    ¡°You love them when they''re owed to you,¡± Natasha quipped before continuing. ¡°But yes, something small. You¡¯ll have the whole rest of house, all I want is this. It¡¯s one of the items in the house.¡±

    She laid the photo on the desk.

    Coal leaned forward to look. It was a picture of a red vase coated in white symbols of some language he wasn¡¯t familiar with. A spell probably.

    ¡°Not taken from inside the house?¡±

    ¡°No, a snap taken by a previous owner.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s it do?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my business,¡± Natasha replied. ¡°That house is filled with things just as valuable and more so and that particular item isn¡¯t valuable to anyone who isn¡¯t a necromancer.¡± She fixed him with a firm look that said she wasn¡¯t going to give him anymore information than that.

    Coal nodded. ¡°Fine.¡±

    Natasha sat back with a satisfied smile. She put the photograph away.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t expect them to all be dragged in?¡± Coal asked as she stood to leave.

    She studied his face for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be fine.¡± She sounded like she meant it.

    Coal gave another nod and Natasha turned and left. He waited until he heard the front door close before he rose from his chair.

    ¡°You should stay away from that house,¡± a soft voice said as Coal rounded the corner into the bar and dining area. A petite blonde woman with eyes as blue as Coal¡¯s own, just a little darker, perched on one of the bar stools. Behind her, glass doors gave a view out on to the large lawn at the back of the house. In her left hand she held what looked like a margarita, in the correct glass and all. She¡¯d obviously helped herself to Coal¡¯s liquor, but he didn¡¯t mind. She was after all the one who got him a good deal on it. They had a unique arrangement.

    ¡°So you were the one sitting in my chair?¡±

    ¡°I figured you knew that.¡±

    Coal smiled. ¡°I did suspect.¡±

    ¡°I thought you might come through for a drink.¡±

    Coal chuckled. ¡°Did you? Some physic you are,¡± he mused.

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t offer Natasha a drink.¡± Stella replied simply noting that Coal had avoided bringing her through to the kitchen.

    His lips curved up slightly. ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± he confirmed understanding now his actions, or lack thereof, had been her known to her after all.

    ¡°Your daffodils are looking lovely.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t grow daffodils.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I must have mixed them up with something else. Whatever they are, they¡¯re looking very sharp.¡± Her tone emphasised the last word as if it were the most important word in the world. Then she sipped her drink and looked up at him through her eyelashes with those pretty blue eyes.

    Coal waited patiently for her to explain further, at her own pace. It was no good trying to hurry Stella or make her speak straight unless she wanted to. Psychics had their own way of talking. It made it easier to ensure certain futures.

    ¡°You should stay away from the house,¡± she repeated again. ¡°Or if you¡¯re going to let them explore it and you want everyone to walk away from this alive then you might consider helping out.¡±

    ¡°I should stay away from it?¡± Coal asked with a raised eyebrow, asking for more information.

    Stella sighed and shifted in her seat slightly. She closed her eyes obviously weighing up whether and what she should tell him, trying to see the different outcomes. When she met his eyes again Coal knew she had come to a decision. ¡°There¡¯s nothing in that house you want. When Tasha says curses and treasures she misunderstands. It¡¯s not curses and treasures, it¡¯s cursed treasures with prices you wouldn¡¯t pay if you knew what they were.¡±

    Coal wanted to argue that people got stuff for free all the time. Not everything great came with something negative. But he knew Stella wasn¡¯t being general, she was being specific. This house. So all he said was, ¡°Why?¡± as he sat down on one of the other bar stools. And without saying any more Stella knew what he meant.

    ¡°Anything powerful comes with risk, risk of misuse. People see these great gifts, creations others have made, tools that can help or harm and either they don¡¯t like the risk or they don¡¯t think we should and so they make sure no one else will.¡±

    ¡°They make sure no one informed will,¡± Coal argued. ¡°Unless they are also skilled.¡± Curses could be broken. Like any booby trap you just had to be careful.

    Stella just stared into his eyes and repeated in carefully formed emphasized words. ¡°Not this house.¡±

    As Coal studied her face he found himself distracted by her big eyes and small pouty lips. He longed to kiss her, just as he had the last time he¡¯d seen her. But he held himself back and instead offered, ¡°Have dinner with me tonight.¡± He tried to make it a statement more than a question. He wasn¡¯t sure if he succeeded.

    Stella held his gaze a moment longer and for a second Coal thought she was considering it but then she stood and shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve told you what I came here to tell you. What you do next is up to you but tonight I have other engagements.¡± She walked past him and stopped only when she got to the edge of where the hallway started. There she turned and paused a moment. ¡°Happy Birthday by the way.¡±

    Coal turned at her words and watched her for a second or two before turning back around to think on what she had said. He didn¡¯t see as she slipped into and then back out of his office on her way out of the house. He had a decision to make.

    Truth be told her last words had distracted him a little. It wasn¡¯t often he saw Natasha and Stella in the same day. Both woman he had a relationship with, if you could call it that. Like house cats they came and went as they pleased. Sometimes he didn¡¯t see them for months. Natasha he could always get in contact with. Stella was harder. He had her number but she rarely answered. Sometime she was just there. Usually when Natasha wasn¡¯t and he wondered if she planned it that way. They¡¯d go out to dinner, to a concert or a show, then back to his. Have a whirlwind of a weekend and then she¡¯d be gone again. He hadn¡¯t expected to see Stella today, not until he¡¯d walked into the house, and then somehow he¡¯d known. It hadn¡¯t just been the chair. Perhaps it was a smell, although he wouldn¡¯t have been able to pick it if you¡¯d asked. He¡¯d half hoped Natasha would remember his birthday, since he had for once. The years that he forgot completely were the best though.

    He shook his head to clear it and got up from his stool. He paced back and forth beside the bar thinking. He and Stella had an arrangement. She gave him information, things she saw in her visions put in whatever way she thought would most benefit him. In return he gave her a house, a castle actually, half a continent away but it was remote and that he knew she liked. He didn¡¯t go there, that was hers. She had other places too but he knew she appreciated that one. It was a retreat. In addition he paid for the butler and any food she may need while she was there. How often she came and went and how long she stayed was up to her. One did not trap a physic.

    He didn¡¯t always follow her advice and many people would have questioned that, not following advice from a physic, a real physic at least, and Stella was one of the best. Better even than the other physic he had on his payroll, a woman who, if the rumours were correct, had been around long enough to serve his great grandfather. She certainly looked it.

    Like Stella he paid for her living in return not for questions answered but for whatever information she considered worth giving. There was an element of trust there but Coal considered it a worthy investment. It was one of the few things he went with his gut on. And he figured if he offered protection in return, as well as kindness then it was in their interest to help him keep what power and influence he had.

    So it may seem on the surface that ignoring their advice would be a mistake but Coal had always just seen it as information more than direction. If he didn¡¯t see a reason to do something other than because a physic had told him then he wouldn¡¯t do it. What they told him was merely added weight to what he already knew, that or a tipping point. Stella had once told him that his method actually helped her see the future. If his decision was certain in spite of what she told him and only small nudges could be made then what she saw would be clearer and more certain. It made him, she had said, much easier to work with than others.

    So given what she had told him this afternoon did it change his mind? He hadn¡¯t had time after Natasha¡¯s conversation to think through her words or worry. It seemed in this case he hadn¡¯t yet made a decision. There was something about the way Stella had said her words that gave him a chill. He knew that was intentional. The timing, the tone, she meant to influence his actions. But she¡¯d also left him two options. Call the whole thing off or join them in the house.

    Truth be told when Natasha had first told him about the house he had considered just going in himself. He¡¯d been busy at the time though and Natasha seemed to have a plan. But now he had the evening free. Stella had turned him down for dinner. Had that been intentional too? Or perhaps she really did have another appointment? He shook his head. That wasn¡¯t the right thought path to go down.

    On the other hand he could call Amanda. It would have to be her. She would hear his tone and she had influence over the others. That would be admitting to some knowledge of the place though. A place that might hold a large quantity of very expensive items. Cursed yes but still valuable at an auction. There was always someone willing to take the risk. Sometimes mentioning a curse only drove the value up. Stella was right, it was usually only the powerful items that anyone bothered to curse.

    Or he could leave them? Let them explore for him. Ignore Stella¡¯s warning. Hope it didn¡¯t cost him. And go and... do what? What did he have to do tonight? Did he really want to spend the evening in his house alone, on his birthday? He¡¯d done it before. He thought again of Stella¡¯s words and shivered. And the look on Natasha¡¯s face when she¡¯d mentioned all of them being dragged in. No. He stopped his pacing and headed towards the back rooms of the house. He¡¯d made a decision.

 Volume 2, Chapter 14: Enter The House

    Amanda and Sirius had brought out their faded blue pickup truck for once, instead of travelling by horse, as was their usual mode of transport. They figured this would probably consume a few hours and neither wanted to leave the horses outside, as the clouds were threatening another storm.

    The gates were open when they arrived and Kass¡¯s sedan was parked out front next to the car belonging to her missing coworker. She¡¯d since filled the group in, via text message about some of the other circumstances and details of the house. There was no sign of Kass.

    As they waited in the car a light drizzle started to fall.

    ¡°Do you think she¡¯s inside?¡± Sirius asked.

    Amanda shrugged. ¡°Dunno but we might as well wait for the others for a little bit. She peered through the windscreen at the house. It was hard to tell how many floors it had, some widows seemed a little off kilter, perched half way between two floors, slightly too many for one to assume they were all staircases but then Kass had mentioned there were staircases to nowhere, so who knew. The roof was high with an initial steep drop that curved out suddenly near the base. Small towers broke through as if some monster had tried to break free of the house but only succeeded in pushing the tiles higher. Up in one of the highest towers, Amanda noticed a widow that seemed to be open. As she watched a shift of the light made it seem as if something had moved within.

    ¡°If we go in now we can avoid running to the door when the clouds really open up.¡± Sirius pointed out.

    Amanda turned her attention to the rapidly darkening sky. ¡°That assumes any kind of reliability in what the weather looks like it¡¯s going to do.¡±

    ¡°Mmm true but you know what is reliable, what the weather¡¯s doing right now.¡±

    Just as he spoke the drizzle ceased. He blinked surprised.

    Amanda chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re not wrong.¡±

    They got out of the truck just as sleek black 4-door sports car pulled up.

    As they were half way to the front door Kass appeared from around the corner of the house. She met them at the main entrance at the same time as Cat, Indi, and Wolf.

    ¡°I was just having a look around the outside of the house,¡± Kass explained.

    ¡°Is it a big garden?¡± Amanda asked.

    Kass nodded. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how far it goes back but there¡¯s a hedge maze and a pond.¡±

    Lightening cracked overhead drawing everyone¡¯s attention.

    Cat grimaced. ¡°Let¡¯s get inside before it rains again.¡±

    Kass nodded and turned to open the front door with a large gold key she¡¯d drawn from her purse.

    ¡°We¡¯ve still got to wait for Zeph,¡± Amanda reminded them.

    ¡°We can wait inside,¡± Cat replied with another nervous glance at the sky.

    Indi turned her face skyward as well with a completely different look. ¡°Oh I just love storms. Isn¡¯t this exciting?¡±

    ¡°Maybe if we were inside and I was sure of the structure of the exterior.¡± Cat grumbled.

    Indi shot her an enthusiastic smile, as if she found even Cat¡¯s pessimism exciting.

    Kass seemed to struggle with getting the lock open but eventually the door swung inward with a piercing creak.

    ¡°When was the last time anyone oiled the hinges?¡± Cat complained.

    ¡°It just adds to the excitement,¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been watching too many bad horrors,¡± Cat told her as she stepped over the threshold after Wolf and Kass. ¡°All those sounds they use are just to distract you. There¡¯s nothing more terrifying than a perfectly timed silence. A mother who expects to hear a baby cry but doesn¡¯t, or when someone falls over cliff edge but you never hear a thump because it¡¯s so far down you know there¡¯s no way they survived, a scream cut short...¡±

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    Cat let her words go softer as she trailed off until by the time she¡¯d finished everyone was straining so hard to hear her that the only sound that remained was the wind rustling the trees.

    ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as true silence,¡± Wolf observed, finally, breaking the spell.

    Indi giggled nervously, obviously still enjoying herself. Even Amanda was grinning. Only Sirius and Kass had more sombre expressions, both were studying the inside of the unexpectedly small foyer they all found themselves in. Compared to the size of the house this was a broom closet. A broom closet with five doors and staircase to what looked like a storage hatch in the ceiling. The walls were half panelled, half wallpapered in a sickly faded pistachio green. Watermarks marred both ceiling and walls.

    A car pulled up outside, drawing all their eyes out just as a flash of lightening struck.

    ¡°Does everybody have torches?¡± Amanda asked. For her it wouldn¡¯t be an issue. As a firestarter she could make her own flame, but as always her first concern was the others.

    ¡°The electricity should work,¡± Kass replied. ¡°But I¡¯ve got this just in case. She pulled a small but very solid and heavy looking black torch from her handbag.

    Indi shook her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t think of that.¡±

    ¡°But you always bring everything,¡± Cat teased, emphasizing the word ¡®everything¡¯. She sighed then peered reluctantly out at the newly started rain. ¡°I¡¯ve got one in my car...¡±

    She didn¡¯t make a move yet. Instead they all watched as Zephyr made a run from his car to the front door.

    The waiting proved to be the right choice as Zephyr held up two large torches and a toolbox.

    Cat gave a satisfied grin as she realised he was carrying exactly what she¡¯d suspected and reached to relieve him of one of the torches. He happily handed it to her. They were much larger than the small torch Kass had managed to practically fit inside of her palm.

    ¡°What¡¯s in that?¡± Amanda asked nodding at the toolbox.

    ¡°Tools, lock picks, small crowbar. In case we need to pry anything open. And spare batteries. Plus matches and candles, just in case. I also grabbed a couple of other ingredients.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you think of that, Cat?¡± Amanda teased with reference to Cat¡¯s propensity for breaking into things she shouldn¡¯t.

    ¡°Sirius can pull anything open we need,¡± Cat retorted without missing a beat. ¡°And Wolf¡¯s always the one who brings the magical supplies.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a few things,¡± Wolf replied patting his satchel.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we want to go around destroying parts of the house.¡± Kass reminded them.

    Zephyr gave the foyer a good look over and replied ¡°Really? It looks pretty destroyed already.¡±

    ¡°Well, we don¡¯t need to make it worse. Keep the destruction to a minimum please.¡±

    Cat caught Amanda¡¯s eye and gave a mischievous grin.

    Amanda sighed but the corners of her mouth turned up anyway.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be splitting up though won¡¯t we?¡± Zephyr asked. ¡°So we won¡¯t all have Sirius to break things open.¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you ever watched any horror movies,¡± Indi objected. ¡°Splitting up is always a bad idea.¡±

    ¡°Well it¡¯s a big house,¡± Amanda replied. ¡°There¡¯s not really much point in all seven of us exploring it together.¡±

    ¡°We could all check out different rooms,¡± Sirius suggested, although it sounded more a soft suggestion than a hard one.

    Zephyr gazed around the room again. ¡°Five doors...¡±

    ¡°You forgot the creepy ceiling door,¡± Indi added with a wary look at it.

    Zephyr gave it a similar look. ¡°There¡¯s no way I¡¯m going in that and we¡¯re looking for a will right, it¡¯s probably in an office drawer or something. I doubt whats-his-name went up there either, if he¡¯s even still here. Which seems unlikely since the police already looked for him?¡±

    Kass nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll keep our eyes open, just in case. So two groups, I don¡¯t think we should go too small. Indi jokes, but this place does have a history.¡±

    ¡°A spoooky history,¡± Indi wiggled her fingers not sounding the least bit serious.

    ¡°Two groups.¡± Amanda agreed. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you have a map of this place?¡± she asked Kass.

    Kass shook her head.

    A large gust of wind pulled the door shut with a loud bang causing almost everyone to jump. The foyer suddenly seemed a lot darker. Zephyr switched on a torch followed by Kass doing the same.

    ¡°Whoa,¡± Zephyr remarked at the intensity of Kass¡¯s torch. Despite being about 20 times smaller it was considerably brighter than Zephyr¡¯s own torch, which gave out a soft yellow glow. ¡°I need to get me one of those.¡± He then stared at the closed door and as if to reassure himself reached to check the handle. He frowned when he twisted and pulled and the door didn¡¯t budge.

    He gave a few tugs until Amanda took over. ¡°It¡¯s stuck she remarked.¡±

    Indi shivered and wondered at how the inside of a house could be colder than outside on a rainy day.

    Cat rolled her eyes.

    Sirius shrugged. ¡°I can yank it off it¡¯s hinges if need be later.¡±

    Amanda nodded. ¡°Shall we agree on a time, say two and a half hours and then meet back here?¡±

    Indi eyed the closed door warily.

    Cat gave a nod. Kass was already peering down and around the corner of the one door that was already open.

    ¡°We¡¯ll take the north-east, you guys take the south-west.¡± Amanda nodded at Zephyr and the three others who already stood grouped behind him.

    ¡°Does somebody have a watch in your group?¡± Amanda asked.

    Zephyr held up his wrist.

    ¡°I have my phone,¡± Indi replied. ¡°Did anyone else bring theirs?¡± She asked knowing half the group was inclined to leave them lying around where they weren¡¯t very useful. There were enough nods to keep her satisfied though.

    ¡°Okay, two and a half hours then,¡± Amanda replied as she followed Kass and Sirius out of the room.

 Volume 2, Chapter 15: Privacy is Overrated

    ¡°So which door?¡± Zephyr asked once those three had left. Three doors were situated behind them, toward the south-west. The other two were on the wall opposite the front door, to the north-west, the right-hand one being the one the others had gone through. That left only...

    ¡°That one,¡± Cat said pointing to the only other door that anyone could have argued was to the north-east, the ceiling door.

    Zephyr groaned. ¡°That¡¯s the wrong direction.¡±

    ¡°It probably doesn¡¯t go anywhere,¡± Cat replied. ¡°Which is why we should check it out first.¡±

    ¡°It probably doesn¡¯t have anything useful in it either,¡± Zephyr argued. The ceiling hatch creeped him out. He had visions of eyes peering down from it.

    Next to him, Indi was unusually silent and he got the feeling she had the same opinion about it. Furthermore, Zephyr would have put money on it that Cat only wanted to look in that door because she knew it creeped them both out.

    To her credit though, Cat was more than happy to check the thing out herself. While the others watched from the ground she scaled the steep staircase, which was really more like a ladder, and pushed open the hatch.

    He half expected something to jump out but nothing did and the hatch swung up with ease.

    Cat took a few steps up until her whole upper body was in the ceiling hatch.

    Beside him, Zephyr could practically hear Indi holding her breath.

    A creak behind them made them jump and they turned to find Wolf had opened one of the doors along the south-west wall.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± he replied as he glanced back to see both of them glaring at him.

    Zephyr and Indi turned their attention back to Cat.

    ¡°There¡¯s something up here,¡± Cat remarked as she turned on her torch to get a better look.

    ¡°You see anything?¡± Zephyr asked impatiently, his nerves getting the better of him. He wrinkled his nose as a sudden and horrific small hit him in the face.

    ¡°Something dead?¡± Wolf remarked beside him.

    Zephyr gave another start, having not realised how close Wolf had been nor how silently he¡¯d moved from over by that other door to right beside Zephyr.

    Indi giggled nervously. ¡°What?¡±

    Before Wolf could answer, Cat called back down. ¡°There¡¯s a dead cat up here.¡±

    Wolf nodded as if he¡¯d been expecting it.

    ¡°Is that what that smell is?¡± Indi asked.

    Wolf nodded again.

    ¡°Come back down, Cat, we should explore the actual rooms,¡± Indi pleaded.

    Cat did as asked, closing the hatch on the way down. The dead animal smell lingered a little longer.

    ¡°What¡¯s in that one?¡± Indi asked turning to Wolf and the door he¡¯d been peaking into before.

    Wolf pulled it open further to show her. ¡°Dumbwaiter, well dumbwaiter shaft.¡±

    They crowded around the dark shaft. ¡°That¡¯s a big dumbwaiter,¡± Zephyr remarked. ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s not intended as an elevator?¡±

    Wolf shrugged.

    ¡°It¡¯s too small to be an elevator,¡± Cat countered.

    ¡°It goes down,¡± Indi observed.

    Wolf nodded. ¡°Probably to the basement.¡±

    ¡°Yeah well they¡¯re unlikely to store a will in the basement,¡± Zephyr remarked, hoping Cat didn¡¯t get any sudden inclinations for exploring the lower bounds of the house.

    Indi turned and started opening the other two south-west doors to see where they went. One revealed a small office, the other a narrow hallway. Cat opened the last door, the one along the north-western wall, which disappointingly turned out to be just a small closet.

    ¡°Hallway then?¡± Indi suggested.

    ¡°Office first,¡± Zephyr countered. ¡°We are looking for a will.¡±

    ¡°Oh right,¡± Indi replied staring longingly at the hallway, evidently more eager to explore the house on a larger scale rather than rifle through piles of papers. ¡°There is that missing guy too though.¡±

    ¡°Who the police said isn¡¯t here,¡± Zephyr reminded her.

    ¡°Not that you could trust them to find a donut in a donut store,¡± Cat quipped as she followed Zephyr into the office.

    Zephyr started opening drawers in the desk, and skimming through the documents contained in the leaning towers of information piled upon multiple surfaces.

    Indi made her way in slowly, taking time to see and get a feel for everything that was in the room before she started touching anything.

    Cat breezed across the tiny space, on a mission to explore the roof high wooden cabinets at the far right of the room.

    The room was not very big but the owner had certainly managed to make use of as much space as possible. So much so that the window behind Zephyr was almost completely hidden by stacks of books and paper. Indi was starting to get the feeling that maybe exploring a creepy old house for a will was not going to be as fun as she¡¯d hoped. Of course she did want to help Kass but if the will happened to be in the first room they looked she was going to be very disappointed. Although maybe they could keep exploring the house after they found it.

    Indi¡¯s eye was caught by something shiny on the desk, a group of metal rods with several silver balls that moved around in a dependent fashion. It sort of looked like one of those desk puzzles people always got. Indi reached for it but just as she was about to grasp it Cat gave a loud exasperated cry behind her.

    Indi drew her hand back and spun to see what was wrong.

    Cat was standing in front of the cabinet with the doors thrown wide open. The contents inside the cabinet added significantly to contents in the room. Indi didn¡¯t think she¡¯d used this much paper in total during her entire time alive.

    ¡°What do you think all these papers are about?¡± Indi asked out loud, but no one answered.

    ¡°Looks like it might take awhile.¡± Zephyr lifted yet another rather large stack of papers out from beneath the desk and dropped them on the only clear space on top with a loud thud.

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    While he was under the desk Indi found herself reaching for the silver puzzle again. As she grabbed it, it shrunk into a small silver cube. She frowned at it. She felt compelled to put it into her pocket before anyone saw it. She did so, and the room felt strangely out of sync for a moment, before the feeling went away.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t there a spell we could use?¡± Cat asked exasperated, evidently about as keen as Indi was on this kind of searching.

    ¡°If we knew what we were looking for,¡± Wolf remarked. He hadn¡¯t entered the room as far as the others had. In fact he didn¡¯t even look at them now. He was balanced in a squat peering closely at something on the door. ¡°That¡¯s the problem, we don¡¯t know what exactly we are looking for, what it looks like, what it¡¯s made of, if it¡¯s even written on paper.¡±

    ¡°Well I assume it¡¯s written on paper.¡± Cat replied. ¡°Anyway, it needn¡¯t be a finder¡¯s spell or a summon.¡± A mischievous glint entered her eyes. ¡°We could always just resurrect the old lady, just for a short period. I managed to dreamwalk a zombie just a few weeks ago. She wouldn¡¯t even need to be awake. We do have access to a necromancer.¡±

    ¡°After our last mission I¡¯m surprised you¡¯d even think of suggesting the idea.¡± Wolf stood and looked at Cat with a stern expression on his face.

    ¡°That seems excessive just to find a piece of paper,¡± Zephyr agreed still looking through papers on the desk.

    ¡°We do?¡± Indi asked, wondering at Cat¡¯s reference to a necromancer.

    Wolf nodded. ¡°You¡¯ve met Tash right?¡±

    ¡°Oh right. Um, how come we don¡¯t use her to help with Lily?¡±

    ¡°Because she¡¯s Coal¡¯s bitch,¡± Wolf replied bluntly. ¡°That said, if it turns out she can help, then we¡¯ll ask. On the other point, no self-respecting necro is going to bring someone back from the dead just so you can get the location of a will.¡± He gave Cat a pointed look. Even though he figured she was just being flippant as usual, he considered it a topic that shouldn¡¯t be joked about. ¡°Think of the pain it would cause the person being brought back.¡±

    ¡°Hence the asleep part,¡± Cat explained.

    ¡°Uh huh and how were you going to implement that?¡± Wolf said with a tone that suggested he had her.

    Cat narrowed her eyes. ¡°Dreamwalker remember.¡±

    Wolf just chuckled at that, causing Cat¡¯s eyes to twitch in poorly-concealed anger. He wasn¡¯t even looking at her anymore though, he¡¯d gone back to studying the door.

    He wasn¡¯t wrong. While Cat could put someone to sleep it didn¡¯t work every time and she¡¯d never done it on the recently revived. Besides any necromancy of someone who had been dead that long, even a short revival, was going to require at least a few dead sheep or something. Cat had known it was out of the question before she¡¯d even brought it up. She hadn¡¯t expected quite the slap down from Wolf though. She had no good comeback so she shook herself off and changed the subject to the next obvious question.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡±

    Wolf pointed to a spot on the door. Both Cat and Indi got closer to have a look. There in the corner of each of the panels were some scratches that Indi had originally assumed to be decorative. They were carved into the wood and appeared to be painted on the inside with a light blue colour.

    ¡°See those markings?¡± Wolf asked.

    The girls nodded. Zephyr stopped shifting through papers and watched them from where he was.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen them before,¡± Wolf continued. ¡°Years ago there was a couple, an infuser and a teleporter, who designed and built a line of well-known doors. They were very expensive so you don¡¯t find many of them. People would hire them to put these doors in their houses. When closed and then reopened they could take you from one part of the house to a completely different part of the house almost instantly.¡±

    ¡°Teleportation doors?¡± Cat asked.

    Wolf nodded. ¡°This was their mark.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Saw it in a book on architecture that I was reading a few years ago.¡±

    ¡°The mark is magic?¡± Indi asked.

    Wolf shook his head ¡°No, no, it¡¯s just their symbol, to show it was theirs, like a brand.¡±

    ¡°So how does it work?¡± Indi asked.

    Wolf stood up and stepped back. He reached for the door.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t we supposed to be looking for a will?¡± Zephyr asked. He had moved a little closer but was still very near the desk.

    Cat turned briefly to roll her eyes at him. Indi remained with her own eyes fixed on Wolf as he gently swung the door shut.

    Indi jumped slightly as the door clicked. She¡¯d half expected something to happen. She glanced over at the window behind the desk but it was too covered with stuff to tell if the room had gone anywhere. For all she knew the room was still in the same place and only what crossed the threshold of the door would be teleported. Or perhaps the magic happened when you opened the door. Less patient than Wolf was she reached for the door handle and pulled it open. Wolf did not stop her.

    Through the doorway crickets chirped, ferns waved, thunder rolled, and the sun shone down through panes of broken glass, two stories above them. They were now looking into a large greenhouse.

    ¡°Whoa,¡± Indi remarked. The others just stared in dumbfounded silence.

    Indi was the first to move. She sidestepped Wolf and stepped over the threshold just as Wolf came to his senses. He cried, ¡°Wait,¡± as he made a grab for her arm. He missed her by a fingernail.

    ¡°What?¡± Indi, now through the door, spun to look back at them.

    ¡°You can still see us?¡± Wolf asked.

    She nodded, Then crossed back into the room. ¡°Let¡¯s see where else it goes.¡±

    Wolf stepped back and let her close the door again. He seemed to happy to observe.

    The next room was empty except for an old metal-based double bed. It must have been near the front of the house as very little light was coming in through the window.

    ¡°Hmm, not much privacy,¡± Indi remarked as she pulled it closed again. ¡°Imagine if someone walked in on you while you were you know.¡±

    ¡°Having sex?¡± Cat completed for her, eyebrow raised, arms crossed.

    Indi blushed and grinned. ¡°Yeah,¡± she replied.

    She glanced at the other two briefly and caught a rare smile on Wolf¡¯s face.

    She ducked her head and turned back to the door.

    It opened into a large pink tiled bathroom. This time the room was filled with sun, and through the giant windows that surrounded three of six sides of the large tub they could see the tops of the trees in the back garden.

    ¡°Wow, they really weren¡¯t concerned with privacy,¡± Indi remarked. ¡°What if you opened it while someone was in it.¡±

    ¡°I thought they¡¯d be tied to specific doors,¡± Wolf mused. ¡°I guess they had a healthy agreement on boundaries.¡±

    ¡°Or they were perverts who got off on watching the guests bathe,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°What happens if you take the door out of the house?¡± Indi asked as she crossed the tiled floor to lean over the tub and peer out the windows.

    ¡°I believe they were constructed so they only work on the house they were built into, although there were rumours that some could reach secret rooms after houses had been destroyed. Probably just external cellars that were connected up during original construction.¡± He stepped through the door, took a few paces forward and turned to look back.

    Cat also followed though, stopping in the middle of the bathroom to look around. Zephyr sighed, and hating to be left alone, he too followed into the room.

    ¡°Crap!¡± Wolf remarked as Zephyr stepped from the door.

    Zephyr turned to see not a door but a pink tiled wall where he¡¯d just come from.

    ¡°It¡¯s gone!¡± Indi remarked with surprise.

    ¡°Yeah, I thought that was what would happen when you first stepped through it,¡± Wolf explained. ¡°It must have a capacity memory though. It won¡¯t close off unless everyone has left the room.¡±

    ¡°Why would it do that?¡± Cat asked. ¡°Why not just stay open until some one closes the door?¡±

    ¡°It takes energy to keep the connection open,¡± Wolf replied.

    ¡°Where¡¯s it getting the energy from?¡± Cat asked.

    Wolf shrugged ¡°It might be built into it. Or it could be powered from somewhere else. I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°For a guy who reads as much as you do, you sure don¡¯t know a lot,¡± Cat jabbed.

    ¡°The more you know the more you know you don¡¯t know,¡± Wolf replied as if that was an answer.

    Cat just frowned.

    Indi smiled. She liked that answer.

    ¡°Well shit, I guess we¡¯re done looking in that room,¡± Zephyr commented.

    Cat and Indi shared a grin.

    ¡°I would have liked to study that door a bit more,¡± Wolf agreed still looking at the wall where the door had been. ¡°You know, I thought it would connect to another door. The fact that it just appears in the wall, opens up a lot more possibilities.¡±

    ¡°Where in the house are we?¡± Zephyr asked as he moved to the window.

    Indi leaned over the tub and peered out again too. ¡°We¡¯re down the end we¡¯re supposed to be looking, I think. The south-west wing.¡±

    Zephyr nodded in agreement as he got his bearings.

    ¡°If we¡¯d managed to get the door out maybe I could figure out a way to get it working out of the house,¡± Wolf continued, talking more to himself.

    ¡°I thought you said it only worked in the house,¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°Yes, well there¡¯s a lot I thought and a lot that¡¯s unknown.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d probably need an infuser,¡± Cat told him. ¡°Know any?¡± She said it in a tone that suggested she didn¡¯t think he did.

    ¡°Katrina is one. You know, Amanda¡¯s middle child,¡± Wolf reminded her.

    ¡°Right, no sixteen year old is going to be able to pull off that sort of magic.¡± Cat shook her head.

    ¡°And yet Amanda at sixteen had better control and power of her firestarting than you do with your dreamwalking now,¡± Wolf jabbed.

    ¡°I¡¯m feeling some tension in the room,¡± Zephyr interrupted with a playful tone and with a gentle nod toward the door that suggested they keep exploring the house.

    Wolf rolled his eyes, he had little appreciation of silliness. But he was keen to keep moving and took the opportunity to reach for the door handle of the regular door. Although he did give this door more of a study than one would normally give a door.

    Zephyr¡¯s comment got an amused half-smirk from Cat however. Wolf had been one-upping her all evening. She welcomed the interruption, and she too, was keen to keep moving.

    Indi reluctantly pulled herself away from the window. The view and the sun had been nice and she felt like she hadn¡¯t fully finished admiring the garden from up here yet. There was so much view to see.

 Volume 2, Chapter 16: Donéˆ¥æª› Blink

    ¡°What was in those papers back in that office anyway?¡± Cat asked Zephyr as they left the room.

    ¡°Honestly I don¡¯t know, half of them seem to be written in another language.¡±

    Cat gave him a harder look, as if not sure whether he was joking or not. Finally realising he was serious she sighed ¡°Well great, we might find the will and not even know it.¡±

    ¡°I doubt the will would be written in anything other than the previous owner¡¯s main language,¡± Wolf replied matter-of-factly as the group wandered out into a long dark and dusty hallway ¡°Just because they have papers and books in other languages doesn¡¯t mean the will would be.¡±

    ¡°Did you check what their main language was?¡± Cat challenged.

    Wolf paused a moment before replying, ¡°No, but probably English¡± He kept his matter-of-fact tone. After another longer pause he added, ¡°Somehow I don¡¯t think the will is our biggest concern here anyway.¡±

    Cat frowned. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I mean we just went through a room that teleported from one part of the house to another. I suspect there¡¯s a lot more in this house than just doors that move, some of it possibly dangerous, not to mention all the rumors that go with this house, and Kass¡¯s missing coworker.¡± He turned to face the other three, who by now, were all gathered in the hallway.

    The floor was constructed of dark wooden planks, smoothed by use, and which had warped in shape over the years, making the surface uneven.

    The natural light in this area was so dim that it was hard to tell the colour of the wallpaper. The only light came from the the corner at the far north-eastern end of the hallway and a slither which shone through the only open door. That door was half way along the wall on the left and had was only slightly ajar. They were surrounded by several other closed doors, and behind them, the hallway took a sharp left turn into darkness. Zephyr turned on his torch and shone it around.

    Indi swiped a finger along the wallpaper. It came away a mix of brown and grey and even green, and it left a mark on the wall. She suspected that the wallpaper may have once been some shade of white but it was hard to know for sure. She wiped her finger with her other hand and then rubbed both on her dark jeans. ¡°You think we should be looking for Kass¡¯s coworker?¡±

    ¡°I think we should have made a better plan before we just walked in here,¡± Wolf replied. ¡°At least mapped the place as we went. I can¡¯t imagine there aren¡¯t house plans somewhere either.¡± He turned away from them and locked his gaze on the edge of the one slightly open door.

    ¡°I asked Kass about that,¡± Indi replied. ¡°She said there¡¯s multiple plans and that when they were last in here, none of them seemed to match. Besides you said it yourself, we just walked though a teleporting room. How do you even map that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not impossible,¡± Wolf replied as Indi strode past him, headed for the ajar door that he¡¯d been eyeing.

    Indi reached the door and pushed it properly open.

    Wolf didn¡¯t try to stop her but Cat did notice him tense up and frown. She rolled her eyes. ¡°Oh come on, we just spent a few days in a illegal underground facility with flesh-eating mimics and a rogue necromancer, what could there possibly be in this house that¡¯s worse than that?¡± Cat brushed past Wolf and followed Indi into the room.

    Zephyr, afraid to be the the last one into the room, on the off chance it vanished like the last, also side-breezed around Wolf with a little help from his super speed, entering the room just before Wolf did.

    The room seemed to be dedicated to painting and art. Wooden frames leaned into one another amidst various strange sculptures made from plaster and paper and steel.

    Through the far window, the sun, that a moment before had been so bright, now seemed more faded and much lower in the sky.

    Wolf stood just inside the entrance, assessing the room from a distance, before touching anything.

    On the other side of the room, Indi was touching everything. She leaned froward over some frames, pulled posters out of the way, just so she could see what possible treasures lay buried under all the junk.

    Zephyr stood back next to Wolf, shining his torch around, although it¡¯s added light was almost unnecessary in this room. Only the corners needed it and they were buried deep enough behind frames and furniture that one might consider acquiring a spelunking kit before venturing in. He did find a ceiling high bookshelf near the door, catering to a mix of objects. On the top shelf a creepy puppet wearing a top-hat and with eyes just a little too big sat among some wooden toys, all of which looked hand-made. He suppressed a shiver at the puppet, and focused on the books and papers that lined the lower half of the book shelf.

    Cat roamed a little further in, not touching anything. Suddenly a loud crash sounded from Indi¡¯s corner and Cat felt something heavy breeze past her so closely she felt the air tremble.

    Instinctively she turned toward Indi. The woman stood eyes wide, hands pulled back as if she¡¯d just been bitten or caught touching something she shouldn¡¯t have. A large wooden contraption, lay unveiled on a table next to her.

    Cat turned the other way. A large, recently fired, harpoon was lodged in the wall.

    Cat turned back to Indi and took a few instinctive steps back, out of the line of sight of what she now recognised as a harpoon gun. Even though she knew it was now empty she still didn¡¯t like the idea of standing in front of it.

    Behind her, she heard Wolf make what now felt like a redundant observation. ¡°That¡¯s a harpoon gun.¡±

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Indi squeaked, balling her hands into fists and holding them in front of her chest, as if to prevent them from setting any other weapons off. She took a step away from the harpoon gun. ¡°I didn¡¯t know it was going to go off.¡±

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    Cat gave her a stern look before eyeing up the harpoon again, fully appreciating exactly how close that had been.

    Zephyr, now pressed closer to his bookshelf, said, ¡°Maybe don¡¯t touch anything else. At least, not anything that looks like a weapon.¡±

    ¡°Books can be just as dangerous if not more so,¡± Wolf replied, as he inspected the harpoon gun. Then he eyed Indi.

    She returned a hesitant look, fully aware she¡¯d made a mistake and unsure if she was in trouble or not.

    ¡°Keep in mind there might be other traps,¡± Wolf told them, taking a step back and eyeing up the rest of the room again.

    ¡°You think that was a trap?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t our house, who knows,¡± Wolf replied.

    Cat scoffed, and after a quick check at the direction of the harpoon gun, she clambered over furniture in the direction of the harpoon itself. ¡°More like some careless idiot leaving their harpoon loaded inside a house under a pile of junk. A trap would be more sophisticated than that.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re underestimating what people are capable of,¡± Wolf replied.

    ¡°You¡¯re underestimating their stupidity.¡± Cat retorted.

    ¡°Well I didn¡¯t say it was a smart trap, expecting every trap someone might set to be sophisticated would be underestimating the stupidity of some people,¡± Wolf countered.

    Zephyr turned. ¡°You guys want to get a room or something?¡±

    ¡°Been there done that,¡± Wolf replied with nonchalance. It prompted a half snort, half laugh, from Cat who had by now had reached the lodged harpoon and was wrapping her hands around the shaft.

    ¡°Wait, really?¡± Zephyr asked now feeling a little more like someone¡¯s leftovers given his more recent history with Cat.

    Indi was equally surprised. ¡°You two dated?¡± she asked.

    ¡°It was years ago,¡± Cat replied and then added before giving a hard tug on the harpoon, ¡°And I wouldn¡¯t call it dating.¡±

    Wolf didn¡¯t object, just gave a fond smile. There was no bitterness or longing there. Just good memories.

    ¡°Is there anyone you haven¡¯t slept with?¡± Zephyr asked Cat a little miffed that he hadn¡¯t known that history until now.

    Wolf¡¯s smile deepened as he replied, ¡°Only her brother.¡±

    Cat paused mid-attempt at first harpoon pull, to turn and roll her eyes at him. ¡°Bit like the kettle calling the pot black there, Wolfy.¡±

    He returned her grin, acknowledging the truthfulness of that statement then added, ¡°Also I don¡¯t think she¡¯s slept with Amanda either, although I could be wrong there. Amanda has dated girls in the past.¡±

    Cat nearly fell off her table this time. ¡°She what?¡± She gave a surprised laugh, then she shook her head. ¡°There¡¯s only two people I¡¯ve slept with in this group and they¡¯re both in this room.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t realise Indi was your type,¡± Wolf teased with a wicked grin.

    Indi went a beet red and Zephyr rubbed his face with his hands and gave an exasperated sigh.

    Cat didn¡¯t look back but all could tell from the way her arms went slack and the shake in her shoulders that she was suppressing laughter. Once she got her composure back she retorted. ¡°I¡¯m trying to focus if you don¡¯t mind.¡±

    ¡°What are you getting the harpoon for anyway?¡± Wolf asked with a frown.

    ¡°People who make silly comments,¡± Cat quipped with the barest hint of a smile on her half turned face. Then she added more seriously, ¡°It might be useful.¡±

    ¡°As opposed to the gun on your hip?¡± Wolf pointed out.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, you guys weren¡¯t doing anything, it seemed like something to do.¡± With that Cat gave a large tug, yanking the harpoon out of the wall. Unfortunately she overestimated the force needed causing her to overbalance and fall off the table, bringing the table over as she did. A chain reaction then caused the enormous pile of junk in the other window-side corner to come tumbling down and spill out onto the floor, revealing a hidden staircase nestled right at the edge of the room.

    ¡°Stairs!¡± Indi cried and then added, ¡°Are you okay?¡± to Cat, who was now attempting to dislodge herself from the pile of furniture.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad there weren¡¯t any more harpoon guns in there,¡± Wolf remarked completely deadpan once they were all sure Cat was fine.

    By the time Cat had brushed herself off and was standing in the middle of a pile of fallen furniture, triumphantly holding the harpoon, Indi had already scrambled over the rest of the pile and had started to climb the small spiral staircase.

    Cat and the others watched as she pushed open the trapdoor in the ceiling and stuck her head through. More sunlight poured down from the room above.

    ¡°What¡¯s up there?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°More paintings and frames,¡± Indi replied. ¡°It¡¯s like a small attic.¡±

    Cat rolled her eyes, uninterested, and holding the harpoon in her hand walked over to inspect the gun portion of the device.

    Indi climbed further up into the attic.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch anything,¡± Wolf warned at her as he clambered over the furniture and ascended the stairs after Indi.

    Zephyr eyed the trapdoor warily, but upon seeing that Cat was more fixated on the harpoon device and had no obvious immediate plans on leaving the room, he decided it was probably safer to stay with her. He turned back to the bookshelf.

    Wolf emerged into a small room with a slanted roof. To his right a semi-circular window took up the entire wall letting in as much of the late afternoon lighting as could possibly be in this room.

    He looked up at the slanted roof and then out the window. ¡°It¡¯s funny, I thought there were four stories in this house, three plus the attic.¡±

    Despite the small size of this room there was enough shelving and stuff that he couldn¡¯t actually see where Indi had gone. He could hear her moving though.

    ¡°Well, we must have been on the third floor before then,¡± Indi called from somewhere near the back of the room not understanding what the problem was.

    ¡°Yes, but I can see the east wing from here, it¡¯s four stories but it looks lower...¡± Wolf trailed off.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably just perspective,¡± Indi replied. ¡°Come see what I¡¯ve found.¡±

    Wolf walked around the stacks of oversized frames, some filled in, some empty, and found Indi crouched in the back corner by a small door, just big enough for a large dog.

    She pointed at it. ¡°I found another door.¡±

    Wolf nodded. ¡°Probably a crawlspace.¡±

    She nodded excitedly, reached for the door then hesitated. She glanced back at Wolf as if wanting permission, but when he said nothing, she pulled the door open.

    As Indi peered in, Wolf walked around behind her and crouched down so he too could see.

    ¡°It¡¯s a passage,¡± Indi remarked as she looked east. Somewhere up ahead there must have been another window, because much like the hallway below, this end was well lit. ¡°Look, stairs,¡± she added after a look down the west end of the passage.

    Not far along, and just before the passage got really dark, a ladder dropped down to somewhere below.

    Indi pulled back a little, frowning, and looked back into their current room, as if eyeing up it¡¯s size. ¡°That¡¯s weird.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I though the hallway would be right below here. This room must be shorter than I think.¡±

    Wolf nodded. It certainly felt smaller. As he continued to peer into the passage beyond Indi, he thought he saw something move down the dark end, just beyond the stairs. The hair on his skin stood on end and he peered closer, a strange feeling of dread sunk into his bones. Again he thought he saw movement but he couldn¡¯t be sure it wasn¡¯t a trick of the light.

    Indi stuck her head in the passage again and this time Wolf was certain it wasn¡¯t the light.

    ¡°Indi get out of the passageway.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Indi didn¡¯t move.

    Wolf had the uncanny feeling that they were being stalked. He resisted the urge to physically pull Indi away, instinct telling him not to make any fast movements. He still couldn¡¯t see what it was.

    ¡°We should get the others,¡± Wolf replied. ¡°Get Zeph¡¯s torch.¡± ¡®And Cat¡¯s gun,¡¯ he added in thought wishing he¡¯d packed his own.

    ¡°Right, right, good idea.¡± Indi replied as she pulled her head back out of the passage.

    Wolf didn¡¯t take his eyes off the thing at the end.

    Once Indi was out he slammed the door to the crawlspace closed, much to Indi¡¯s surprise, although she asked no questions of it. It wasn¡¯t logical, the wall was just wood after all, but the second it was shut, he felt much better, as if they¡¯d just dodged something very deadly.

    Wolf let Indi go ahead of him where he could see that she was safe. They both returned to trapdoor and descended the staircase back into the lower room. It wasn¡¯t until they were down fully that Indi realised the others were gone.

 Volume 2, Chapter 17: Gone

    ¡°Guys? Cat? Zeph?¡± she called, her voice hesitant, a hint of worry showing for the first time since they¡¯d entered the house.

    Wolf kept his eyes on Indi, unable to shake the feeling that something had gone horribly wrong.

    Indi turned to face him, her violet eyes wide, behind dark rimmed glasses. ¡°Where¡¯d they go?¡±

    ¡°They probably just went to check out some other rooms,¡± Wolf replied, not believing it for a second.

    ¡°Even after our experience with the teleportation room?¡± Indi pressed, too smart to believe Wolf¡¯s lie but grasping for some kind of hope.

    Wolf just pressed his lips together. He¡¯d never been very good at calming people down. That was more Amanda¡¯s thing. Behind Indi he noticed that the harpoon gun was still there but the harpoon itself was gone. Wherever they¡¯d gone, he suspected Cat still had the harpoon. He wasn¡¯t sure if that was a good sign or not. He supposed it was better than finding it just lying on the floor as if someone had dropped it. ¡°I think we should find them before we go back to that room above.¡± Wolf replied.

    Indi nodded in agreement, then paused. ¡°What if that room moved us? To an identical room or through time or...?¡± She trailed off, unable to think of any other obvious simple options, although her mind now skipped through several convoluted ones.

    Wolf frowned. He considered time travel unlikely but not impossible. He glanced at the window. The sun didn¡¯t seem to have moved, although that didn¡¯t rule much out. They could just be in a different day. The sky still looked the same and given the Elemental festival he suspected a higher than usual chance of inconsistent weather, so if they had moved through time it was unlikely that the weather outside would look close to what it had been 5 minutes ago. Of course the chance of it looking close to what it had done 5 minutes ago was also almost as unlikely. Either way he¡¯d always been a believer in going with the simplest explanation first and that definitely wasn¡¯t time travel. The simplest option was that they¡¯d simply been distracted by something and moved elsewhere on their own accord. So why was his gut telling him otherwise?

    ¡°Cat? Zeph?¡± Indi stuck her head out into the hallway and called loudly in each direction.

    Wolf considered himself a pragmatic person but that didn¡¯t mean he ruled out following gut instinct. Quite the opposite. He believed that gut instinct was just the more immediate output of the physical senses. The product of things that the thinking part of the brain had yet to process but which had been fine tuned through years of evolution to result in quick reactions that preserved life. And right now he was fighting an instinct to run.

    He wanted to go to the window and see if there might be a way down, but that would mean turning away from Indi and another one of his instincts was telling him that the second he did that he might turn again and find her not there. Besides from memory, the windows in this room hadn¡¯t looked like they would open. He also realised, that while Indi did seem worried, she wasn¡¯t quite at his level of afraid. He trusted himself to keep a calm head even when in a panic, but he wasn¡¯t sure how Indi might react if she started to think they were actually in danger.

    Indi¡¯s call down the hall had been met with silence. She turned back to Wolf with a frown on her brow. ¡°What do we do now?¡±

    Wolf wasn¡¯t sure if they were better off staying put while they made a plan and tried to contact the others. Instinct made him feel like they should move, but logic told him it would be easier for the others to find them again if they stayed in the same place, at least for now. He pointed at Indi¡¯s small shoulder purse. ¡°Phone.¡±

    Indi shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think Cat had hers.¡±

    ¡°But Zeph did. Do you have his number?¡±

    Indi hesitated a moment as she pulled her cellphone from the purse. ¡°I have Kass¡¯s, oh wait I think I can remember Zeph''s.¡± She started dialing.

    ¡°Should have made sure we all actually had everyone¡¯s numbers when you checked if everyone had phones,¡± Wolf pointed out.

    ¡°Cat or Amanda always call him,¡± Indi replied as she held her now dialing phone to her ear.

    Wolf crossed his arms as he waited. He was starting to think that they could have planned this evening out a lot better.

    It took only a second for another frown to appear on Indi¡¯s face. Wolf didn¡¯t like the look of it. The uneasy feeling he had grew. He raised his eyebrows at her in a silent question.

    ¡°I¡¯m just getting a solid tone.¡± She held the phone out for Wolf to hear. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s the weather.¡±

    He leaned froward but didn¡¯t take it from her. He could hear from there a soft solid tone that suggested no connection.

    ¡°We should try from outside,¡± Wolf said.

    ¡°I could try Kass.¡± Indi started dialing.

    ¡°From outside,¡± Wolf repeated.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that will make any difference.¡± Indi frowned as she watched Wolf reach behind her to pick up a thick piece of rope a few metres long from on the ground. He handed Indi one end which she hesitantly took with a confused look.

    ¡°Hold that end. Don¡¯t let go,¡± Wolf instructed before nodding at the door.

    ¡°What¡¯s this supposed to do? If you¡¯re worried about me disappearing I don¡¯t think a piece of rope is going to do much.¡±

    ¡°Some magic works based on touch,¡± Wolf explained. He gripped the other end, coiled among the extra length of rope, leaving only a little between him and Indi.

    ¡°Well by that argument we¡¯re all touching the floor,¡± Indi complained as she turned around to face the door. Then she asked, ¡°Do you think they¡¯re okay?¡±

    ¡°For some magic you¡¯d be right. This is more direct though, not through shoes for starters, but especially if you focus on the rope and how it feels. It won¡¯t stop everything but it might help.¡± Wolf replied ignoring the only actual question she¡¯d asked.

    ¡°Fine, okay.¡± Indi took a deep breath and stepped out into the hallway. ¡°We didn¡¯t come in this way so I don¡¯t know which way to go to get out.¡±

    Wolf stepped into the hall behind her. He noticed that instinctively she¡¯d faced the better lit end of the hallway. He agreed with that assessment although he did take a moment to ponder the irony of a vampire, even a half vampire, drawn to the light. ¡°I think that way is a good start,¡± he agreed.

    She glanced back to check that he was indeed referring to the way she was facing, before she gave a nod and started walking down the hall. Her boots knocked against the hardwood floor and caused creaks in the crevices. Wolf followed behind her, treading so softly that it sounded as if there was only one set of footsteps.

    They continued down the hallway passing several closed doors. The end of the hallway turned left bringing them to face the source of the sunlight. A string of hip-height to ceiling windows lined the western wall. Indi walked faster toward them, keen to see the view. It was the same side of the house that the art room had faced, but even a slight change of perspective drew Indi¡¯s interest.

    Wolf increased his speed too, given these windows looked like the might actually open. They were the kind that slid sideways with criss-cross panels painted in a yellowing white that didn¡¯t match the darker wood around them.

    As Indi stopped to look out at the garden, Wolf brought both hands up, sitll holding the rope in one, and gave a good pull on the window. It stuck fast. He could see that it had opened once but now it seemed that it had been glued or painted shut. He gave an extra tug, just to be sure, but it was to no avail. He considered smashing one, but the nature of the panes meant he would have had to break them too.

    Indi watched him with curiosity. Then she looked around the rest of this section of corridor. She was surprised and confused to find a solid wall no more than three metres further along. There were no more doors here either. The corridor just ended, going nowhere. She looked back the way they came, feeling a sense of unease about heading back into the darker part of the house again. ¡°Well I guess they didn¡¯t come this way.¡± She spoke only to break the silence that was starting to feel suffocating. She tried to sound lighthearted, like she was making a joke and everything was fine but she could tell by the way Wolf looked at her that the quiver in her voice had been unmistakable.

    He nodded and she appreciated how calm he looked, like this was just an everyday thing. He looked back along the corridor as if considering what to do next, in no obvious rush. It calmed Indi a little.

    ¡°After you,¡± Wolf said with a nod. He didn¡¯t sound afraid, like she imagined Zephyr would have sounded if he had he said it. No, he sounded more like he was just being polite.

    Yet another look at the darkness made Indi hesitate at taking the first step. Was the hallway darker than it had been a moment before? Now that she thought about it, she realised, that in just the time they¡¯d been standing here, the light outside had dimmed as evening approached. ¡°Why me first?¡± she asked in an almost whisper as if the house might hear her.

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°So I can make sure you¡¯re still there,¡± Wolf replied.

    ¡°What if you disappear?¡± Indi asked in reply.

    Wolf thought a moment, shrugged, seemed to come to a decision, hesitated another moment and then started back down the corridor first. Indi followed close behind. Close enough that Wolf could hear her breathing behind him. It was enough to keep him satisfied.

    He paused when he got to the start of the long section of the corridor again. He was unsure if they should try each of the rooms, or bypass them in favor of the main route.

    Indi made up the decision for him. She reached forward, brushing past his right shoulder and reached a hand for the nearest door. It was locked. She tried twisting the handle different ways and pushing but the door didn¡¯t budge.

    Eventually Wolf interrupted. ¡°We¡¯ll try the next one.¡±

    Wolf opened the next door on the left. This time the door swung in revealing a beautifully decorated pink bedroom. A large four poster bed rested in the middle of the room against one wall, covered in a pink lace trimmed duvet. A white dresser lined with jewellery, makeup, pens, unused but dusty paper, and other various everyday items stood against the opposite wall. The only truly distinctive feature on it was a pretty pink music box, laying open but silent. Indi couldn¡¯t guess for how long it had been that way but the millions of abandoned cobwebs lining the tops of the four poster bed provided some indication. It gave the room a sad sense of feeling, like something lost and forgotten. Indi felt as if she had just set foot on someone¡¯s grave. She shivered, and Wolf, probably having felt her shiver, given how close she was standing to him right now, pulled her back and closed the door.

    They both noticed it at the same time, a strange rotting smell in the air. It appeared out of nowhere and almost caused them both to gag. Indi did gasp. And as they looked for the source of the smell they saw something even more worrying.

    It was dark at the other end of the hallway, dark enough that one would think no shape would be distinguishable, and yet right there in the middle of that darkness was something even darker. Something that hadn¡¯t been there before. It didn¡¯t stand out enough for either to be sure it was really there or to see what it was, but they both stopped and stared at the same patch of darkness.

    And then it moved.

    Wolf reacted fastest. He grabbed the handle of the nearest door. It was locked but it didn¡¯t matter to Wolf. He twisted, and at the same time thrust his shoulder into the door. It burst open, breaking the lock. He grabbed Indi, who was still frozen, and pulled her inside with him, slamming the door behind them and holding it shut with his weight.

    On the other side something heavy crashed into the door. The door creaked but it did not budge.

    Wolf stayed there holding the door as Indi scanned the room.

    It was a narrow room, only a metre wide of floor space where they stood. Either side of them, floor to ceiling shelves housed an array of items, junk and treasures alike. One shelf actually seemed to contain a pile of golden coins, although they were like none Indi had ever seen before.

    The room was dimly lit, although Indi could not see a light bulb or candle anywhere. The light appeared to be coming from something glowing brightly atop the highest shelf. It had a light bluish sheen to it. Now that Indi was looking up she realised that ceiling was far higher than it had been out in the hallway. It wasn¡¯t quite two floors worth of height, maybe a floor and half. Enough that she was at least 70% sure there was no room above them, This house was making her question things like ordinary dimensions.

    She tiptoed silently towards the back of the room. The shelves didn¡¯t extend all the way to the back wall. Instead there seemed to be enough room left for the walkway to extend around the shelves so it¡¯s overall shape was that of a ¡®T¡¯.

    As Indi eyed the contents of the shelves, Wolf glanced back from his post at the door and warned, ¡°Don¡¯t touch anything.¡±

    Indi hadn¡¯t even considered the idea until Wolf had mentioned it. Now that she did, her fingers itched, but she kept them by her sides and continued moving toward the back of the room. She paused at the end, realising that this room was shorter than the other ones. However, given there were no windows, it did not bother her. It just meant there would be some extra space between this room and the outside wall. Maybe enough for a secret passage? Despite their current predicament Indi still found the idea a bit exciting.

    The thing outside the door had not tried to get in since hitting it the first time and Indi wondered if they had imagined it. But no, that thump had been unmistakable. There had been something there. She was reminded of the mimics they¡¯d encountered a few weeks ago, and a chill went down her spine. She shook it off. There was no way there were mimics in this house, someone would have noticed that for sure. But what if it was something worse? Indi wasn¡¯t familiar enough with all the creatures that existed to be sure if there were such a thing.

    A little bit of hope returned to Indi, as she noticed on the floor at the back of the room, what looked like a trap door. ¡°Hey Wolf,¡± she whispered as loudly as she dared with her head poking back around the corner. ¡°Guess what I found. There¡¯s a trapdoor back here.¡±

    He turned to look at her, his body still pressed against the door. He frowned ¡°It might just be more storage.¡±

    Indi could read the doubt and hesitation in his voice this time. He seemed to shift his body closer to where she was, as if he wanted to come and see but was indecisive about leaving his post, he remained holding the door.

    Indi made up his mind for him and returned to the trap door.

    She heard him say, ¡°Careful,¡± as she turned away.

    She found that the trapdoor pulled up easily. She realised once she¡¯d pulled it open that she really had been expecting just some more storage space, for she found herself surprised to find a ladder going down into what looked like a corridor. She could see little bits of sunlight, much brighter than earlier filtering through the mismatched boards that lined the outer wall.

    ¡°It¡¯s a passageway,¡± Indi told Wolf.

    She watched his eyebrows rise and his face seemed to relax. With a cautious glance at the door he carefully released his hold and backed away slowly. He didn¡¯t turn until he¡¯d reached the end of the room and stood next to Indi. Then his gaze lit on the trapdoor and Indi thought she caught the hint of smile.

    One more glance back at the door, but it thankfully stayed silent. Then Wolf bent down and took a good look through the trapdoor. Satisfied there was nothing dangerous waiting inside, he nodded at Indi to go first.

    Indi did, climbing down as quietly as she could. The corridor was dusty and unmistakably not a main one. Indeed it was exactly what she imagined a secret passage to look like. She tried to peer through the boards that the sunlight was filtering through but all she could see was more wood. No indication of where the light was coming from or even if it was sunlight. It was nowhere near as dim as she had thought when she¡¯d been looking out the window earlier. But maybe she¡¯d just gotten used to the darkness, so that in comparison the light seemed much brighter again. Wolf dropped down beside her and Indi coughed as some disturbed dust flew up her nose. She then looked up and realised he¡¯d closed the trapdoor behind him.

    They shared a brief glance before Wolf headed off in the only direction they could go. She noticed that he still had the rope, only she¡¯d dropped her end when he¡¯d pulled her inside the storeroom above. Now Wolf held all of it. She didn¡¯t ask for her end back again, she didn¡¯t think it was necessary.

    The corridor weaved it¡¯s way strangely through the house, and not always in straight lines. At one point it felt like they¡¯d walked the entire width of the house and Indi was unsure as to what this meant for the rest of the layout on this floor.

    It took quite some time before they reached the base of another ladder going up to the floor above. Ahead the passage continued on. The light was dimmer now. Usually vampire eyesight, and likewise werewolf eyesight, was good for low-light. However, Indi hadn¡¯t inherited that particular gene. So when Wolf stopped below the ladder she bumped right into him.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± she mumbled as he shot her a glance.

    She looked up at the ladder, but Wolf guessing at her thoughts, shook his head and continued down the corridor.

    They walked in silence for a bit before Wolf asked, ¡°Can you see?¡±

    ¡°Well enough,¡± Indi replied, but she was honestly at this point almost walking blind. She could feel the walls where it was darkest though, and she could just make out Wolf¡¯s moving shape up ahead. She could also hear him, just, if she paused. Her own footsteps were too loud usually to make out the sound of Wolf shuffling through the dust. There was just enough visual difference that she didn¡¯t need to though. If he¡¯d asked for a detailed description of their surroundings she wouldn¡¯t have been able to give one but details weren¡¯t necessary for moving through this narrow passage. The trick seemed to just be to keep moving forward until you hit a wall.

    She would have missed the door if she¡¯d been on her own. Somehow Wolf spotted it, pressed into the left-hand side with only a small piece of wood sticking out for a handle.

    She wasn¡¯t immediately sure as to why he had stopped again, until he pushed it open and light flooded in.

    Wolf moved through it and Indi followed, temporarily too blinded, this time by the light, to see where they were exiting to.

    She was surprised to find they were outside, well sort of. There was no roof but there were four walls. They stood on grass in some kind of internal garden. Brick walls as grey as the current sky surrounded them on all sides, reaching up a couple of stories, three or four at least. She counted by the windows but they didn¡¯t match up with her idea of where a floor should be. She¡¯d always been good at estimating distance and holding a 3D model in her head. She¡¯d considered studying architecture once upon a time, but the idea of making detailed plans, and then waiting several months to see anything get built had put her off. She preferred a bit more spontaneity and patience had never been her strong suit.

    The garden was filled with creepy looking statues. Some of them looked like fairies, with wings on the backs, but the expressions on the faces and the rows of teeth on some of them made Indi want to keep her distance.

    She noticed there were no other doors, at least not on this level. Two stories up, a door seemed to be built into the middle of the wall. She wondered if it had once had balcony but the surrounding structure didn¡¯t look like it was missing anything. It was just a door in the middle of the wall, two floors up.

    She turned back to look at where they had come from, while Wolf studied some of the statues. For a second she thought she must be looking at the wrong wall, but as she turned around again, eyeing every wall she realised the way they had come from was gone.

    ¡°Err, Wolf...¡± Indi just kept staring at the wall where the door had been a moment before, sure it had just closed and was hard to find. But there was too much of nothing.

    She felt Wolf appear beside her and give an exasperated sigh. ¡°That¡¯s a pain,¡± he said.

    Indi turned and looked for the only other door, the one a few floors up. It was still there at least.

    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s an option,¡± Wolf said, following her eye line.

    ¡°You still have the rope.¡±

    ¡°Yeah but what would we sling it on to?¡±

    ¡°Maybe there¡¯s another hidden door somewhere?¡± Indi suggested, refusing to give up hope and acknowledge that they were well and truly trapped in this courtyard. She tried not to think about what would happen if they couldn¡¯t get out and no one came to find them. She walked around the garden looking for other signs of escape. Eventually she turned her head skywards and felt a glimmer of hope at remembering that Falco was Flyer. Sure he didn¡¯t like heights but if he knew she was trapped here then he would surely fly in to save her. But then, an air balloon would work just as well. Except all of that plan assumed knowledge of her location. One would have to think to go over the top of the house, and why would one assume that, if one thought she was trapped in the house? Indi tried not to panic. She looked back in Wolf¡¯s direction figuring he was often calm and that that would in turn calm her. Only as she looked back at where she thought he¡¯d been standing she realised that he wasn¡¯t there at all.

    For a moment she thought he¡¯d just been hidden behind one of the statues but as she walked into the centre of the courtyard and then did a loop, she realised her worries from a moment before, now paled in comparison.

    Not only was she trapped in courtyard with no exit in the middle of a creepy house that seemed to keep disappearing people, she was also now, well and truly alone.

 Volume 2, Chapter 18: In Miniature

    Amanda, Sirius, and Kass made their way along the north-east corridor, the very same one Kass had been on when she¡¯d last seen Tony. Outside the sky was overcast and the bulk of the garden was hidden by large pine trees and several shrubs. Kass knew if you pushed through the small gap between those trees, there was much more garden beyond, filled with rose bush mazes, gazebos, and even a small pond with a old wooden bridge. They¡¯d taken a brief walk through part of it when she¡¯d first visited. The weather looked to dingy to go out there now.

    They explored a few rooms, most of which amounted to nothing more than junk and dust bunnies. Then they came upon the kitchen. It was sparkling, lined with pristine black and white tiles, much cleaner than the rest of the house. Kass felt it didn¡¯t fit in this place.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to find a will in the kitchen,¡± Sirius remarked with a puzzled look at the room.

    Kass wondered if he felt as mystified by the room¡¯s cleanliness as she did.

    ¡°No,¡± Amanda agreed softly as she gave the room a sweep with her own eyes. She did a circle around the island in the middle of the room, looking perhaps for any piles of papers. But the place was spotless. Eventually she met the other two by the door and they continued down the hall deeper into the north-eastern wing.

    They tried a few handles, found most things were locked, and continued on.

    ¡°You know it¡¯s probably most likely to be in one of the locked rooms,¡± Amanda replied, as she walked slowly down the hall. She glanced back at Kass with a question in her eyes.

    Kass nodded but wasn¡¯t sure what Amanda was asking. Did she want to break in? ¡°I don¡¯t have a key. I think there was a room with some keys...¡± Kass trailed off, remembering how last time she was here they¡¯d come across a small laundry in which one green wall had been almost entirely covered in hanging keys. But she wasn¡¯t entirely sure of it¡¯s location and even if they found it again she wasn¡¯t confident it would help. There had just been too many keys.

    Amanda turned back again briefly, still walking, still trying doors. ¡°A little magic might help?¡± she raised her own hands and then nodded at Kass¡¯s to indicate she meant her magic before turning back around again. She didn¡¯t wait to see Kass¡¯s reaction.

    Kass paused and glanced at the keyhole on the nearest door. She crouched down so she could peer in it. She understood what Amanda wanted. She was suggesting Kass use telekinesis to move the mechanism.

    ¡°Looks like an old skeleton key lock. They¡¯re awful easy to pick,¡± a deep voice said from right behind her.

    Kass jumped. Sirius had spoken softly only a few inches from her ear. He crouched down next to her and studied the keyhole. Past him, Amanda continued walking further down the corridor, still trying doors. She seemed oblivious that they¡¯d stopped.

    Kass felt her heart beat faster at Sirius¡¯s proximity. Her breath caught in her throat and she hoped he did not notice. Yet some part of her hoped he did. She drew back and gestured for him to have a go at picking it. She was sure he¡¯d do a better job than any attempt with her imprecise magic.

    He pulled a small Allen key from one of the many pockets within his coat and held it up with a smile. It never failed to impress her that while he had the physical strength to just pull the door off its hinges he often chose to use more gentle methods.

    A little bit of fiddling and the door swung open a crack. He met Kass¡¯s gaze and gave her a look that reminded her of mischievous youngster up to something he shouldn¡¯t be. She found the cheekiness charming and couldn¡¯t help but smile in return.

    Her smile fell away as Sirius turned and called out for Amanda. Amanda stopped mid-attempted twist of another door further down the hallway and turned to look back at them. Sirius nodded at the now open door.

    Kass¡¯s curiosity got the better of her and she pushed her way into the room. Or perhaps it was more that she didn¡¯t feel like standing there watching Amanda walk back down the hall to Sirius, reminding her of what was not hers to take. She was sure her thoughts would be plastered all over her face for Amanda to read too. Not that anything much had happened, not since she¡¯d kissed Sirius on their last adventure. Sure for a moment he had kissed her back, but he hadn¡¯t spoken to her since, at least not about anything important, not about that kiss. Amanda hadn¡¯t either and for the most part Kass had avoided making eye contact with her for anything more than a second.

    Sirius glanced after Kass as she entered the room, just to make sure everything was alright, then he turned and waited for Amanda.

    Kass found herself in a room with a lot of potted plants sitting on the floor and atop an array of wooden and glass tables. The thing that struck her first was that they all seemed to be in perfect health. All were a vibrant shade of green and some were blooming with flowers in equally striking colours. The floor was was covered in more black and white squares, no dust or dead leaves to be found anywhere here either. Something about all this cleanliness in such an old house gave Kass the chills so she folded her arms as if in extra measure to not touch anything. She walked among the plants and stopped when she came across something even more strange in the corner of the room.

    A large dollhouse in a less than half inch scale, took up a decent portion of the room. She¡¯d never seen one so big and so minute at the same time. As Kass peered closer it looked strangely familiar, some of the rooms she was sure she¡¯d seen before, only bigger. Indeed, the outside of the dollhouse looked very much like this one. One of the side panels was open and she reached forward and opened another. The house opened multiple sides, the walls hanging on by hinges. It was a model replica of this one, long wings and everything. She circled around it and stopped when she noticed some figures in one of the rooms on the second floor, figures that also looked strangely familiar.

    She picked two of them up and turned them over. Both seemed slightly too big for the scale of the house and were obviously hand made from fabric. One had long dark hair, green eyes, and a feminine figure. The other was male, also long haired but silver in colour. This one¡¯s eyes were grey. Each one bore clothes that resembled the ones that Cat and Zephyr had been wearing earlier today. Dark jeans, a black singlet, and leather jacket for Cat. Light slacks and a soft grey woolen jersey for Zeph. It even had his elbow pads sewn on. Kass placed them down on the table and took a nervous step back feeling like she¡¯d touched something she shouldn¡¯t. Her eyes then caught on two more figures higher up. Without touching them, she could already see that they resembled Wolf and Indi.

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    ¡°Kass,¡± Amanda called from elsewhere in the room. ¡°Come take a look at this.¡±

    Kass left the dolls where they lay on the table and ventured out to find Amanda and Sirius standing around a wooden desk. Kass hadn¡¯t noticed it at first. It, like all the other surfaces in the room was covered in plants. It was thin and had no chair but now that Kass had gotten the chance to look it over again she noticed the small drawers tucked into it. Amanda had pulled one open and was now holding out a letter.

    Kass took it and her eyes widened as she read the words at the top of the page. ¡°It¡¯s the will. You found it.¡±

    ¡°You can read that?¡± Amanda asked.

    Kass nodded absently as her eyes followed the cursively written inked words that ran across and down the page. ¡°Bits, it¡¯s a northern script, not mine but a close dialect. I can read some, well enough. It¡¯s strange though because I thought she would have had it done in English. She was from the north originally though so...¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s it say?¡± Sirius asked.

    Kass frowned as she squinted at the letter while holding it about an arms length away. She then sighed and reached into her sleek leather handbag to pull out a peer of reading glasses. Pulling the letter in closer again she skimmed the rest. ¡°It¡¯s pretty much like the old guy said except... there¡¯s more but it doesn¡¯t make sense...¡± She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I¡¯ve got the translation right. I¡¯ll have to get someone else to look at it. That¡¯s good though, it¡¯s what we came for. What else is in that drawer?¡± Kass put the letter in her handbag.

    Amanda grabbed a handful of papers from the desk and, careful to keep them in order, splayed some out so Kass could see more inked words and some symbols. Kass took a couple off the top to study closer. Some of the words she recognised but the symbols were a mystery. Others were written in languages she¡¯d never seen before.

    ¡°I recognise some of these symbols from a few spells but I don¡¯t know any of the languages. Some of these look like recipes.¡± Amanda told her.

    ¡°That one¡¯s a language spoken across the south-eastern islands, it¡¯s pretty common.¡± Sirius jumped in pointing at a particularly symmetrical looking script.

    ¡°The one that sounds like singing, that we heard in Capricorn?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°With all the tones.¡±

    Sirius nodded.

    Kass held the paper out to him.

    He shook his head. ¡°Oh I can¡¯t read it, I only know a few words, and I doubt they¡¯re on there.¡± He dropped his eyes, obviously feeling bad about not knowing the answer. ¡°I¡¯m sure you can find someone who can read it. Wolf probably knows the spells better than I do at least.¡±

    ¡°You think we should take them all?¡± Kass asked.

    Amanda shrugged. ¡°You might not find this room again, I saw some symbols on the door, I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s live magic but, here come take a look.¡±

    Kass and Sirius followed her back to the open door. She pointed to some markings near the keyhole.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see that before.¡± Sirius knelt down in front of it next to Amanda. ¡°What does it mean?¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°It depends on the caster, they all have their own set of symbols, and there¡¯s a bit of crossover, not always consistent. The more commonly used ones tend to be more powerful though, or more longer lasting, in theory because they are so well known. Although that¡¯s just a theory, but belief does funny things to symbols.¡±

    Kass nodded. ¡°Much like with any language.¡± She¡¯d heard as much about the working of spells herself.

    ¡°In reality they don¡¯t really mean anything, they¡¯re just a a tool, a crutch, like using a wand or pointing a finger. You still need an infuser¡¯s magic. Runes just makes it easier to cast.¡±

    ¡°And to know what¡¯s been cast.¡± Sirius added.

    ¡°This is a teleportation ring,¡± Amanda said pointing to one symbol. ¡°Carved on a door, assuming that it does match up with what¡¯s been cast..¡± she shot Sirius a wry smile ¡°...then when we step back through that door we may not find the room we left behind is still there.¡±

    Kass glanced back to the corner where the dollhouse had been, silently drawn back to it, thinking of the two dolls she¡¯d pulled from the house. Perhaps she should put them back? She wandered off as Sirius pointed to another rune.

    ¡°What¡¯s that one?¡± he asked ¡°I¡¯ve seen it before.¡±

    ¡°You would have.¡± Amanda smiled ¡°It¡¯s a dreamwalking rune. The same ones Katrina was messing around with last summer.¡± Amanda rolled her eyes as she remembered the trouble her daughter had gotten into. Katrina had an interest in dreamwalking magic, which she liked to borrow from her aunt any chance she got.

    ¡°Which makes me wonder...¡± Amanda trailed off as she realised Kass wasn¡¯t there anymore. ¡°Kass?¡±

    ¡°Back here,¡± a voice called.

    Amanda a Sirius followed the sound to the back of the room.

    Kass was just removing her hands in one of the rooms of the giant dollhouse when they found her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch that,¡± Amanda warned as she realised what it was and what the little figures inside looked like. ¡°Did you move anything?¡±

    ¡°Just the dolls, those two.¡±

    ¡°Where were they?¡±

    Kass pointed to where the dolls had been and now were again. ¡°They were there. I moved them before. I realised my mistake, I was just putting them back. You think it¡¯s magic?¡± Kass inquired wanting to know for sure.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Best not to touch anything that looks like a poppet?¡± Amanda was peering now into one of the lower rooms.

    Kass followed her gaze and almost froze. ¡°But how..?¡± Kass trailed off. ¡°They look like us.¡± Her statement was barely a whisper.

    Amanda didn¡¯t answer, she just stayed staring at the dolls and house with a thoughtful and concerned expression on her face.

    Eventually Kass asked in a whisper ¡°How do you destroy a poppet?¡±

    Amanda replied an an almost equally quiet voice, ¡°Depends how it was made.¡±

    The three of them stood silent for a moment.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think they look anything like us,¡± Sirius commented. ¡°I mean they¡¯re all the same height.¡±

    He said it dry, no hint that he was teasing, but it earned a smile and a soft snort from Amanda who was used to his style of humor. ¡°They don¡¯t have to be accurate, although it helps. Let¡¯s just leave them be. We¡¯re safer the further we are from them. I¡¯m not sure we¡¯re really here right now anyway.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Kass asked as she and Sirius followed Amanda away from the dollhouse.

    ¡°There was a dreamwalking rune on the door.¡±

    Sirius shook his head. ¡°I know what dreamwalking feels like, I¡¯ve done it with Cat before, and that time in Katrina¡¯s dream.¡± He rolled his eyes, ¡°That time when she borrowed some of Cat¡¯s powers.¡±

    ¡°Neither of which amounts to the most quality of dreamwalking.¡± Amanda replied without any intended judgement. ¡°A child, an infuser at that, and, let me guess, Cat was also a child when she pulled you into her dreams?¡±

    Sirius gave the barest of nods as Amanda glanced back to check his answer.

    Kass spoke up then. ¡°But if this is also infuser magic that shouldn¡¯t be that strong either, even compared to a child who is a dreamwalker should it?¡±

    Amanda paused as they reached the door to the room. She turned and looked at the other two. ¡°Depends, generally yes but not always, not for a trained infuser. We don¡¯t know what magic¡¯s in this house.¡±

    She held out a hand to Sirius as she turned to face the door. Sirius grabbed hold of it and in turn held out a hand to Kass whose world flipped upside down at the prospect. She grabbed his hand trying to ignore the somersaults her stomach was doing or the guilt she felt at her own rogue thoughts. They walked through the doors, letting go of each others hands once they were through.

    They each gave themselves a once a over before looking back at the door which looked no different than when they¡¯d entered.

    Kass glanced at Amanda wanting to see her reaction. She looked a little relieved but also still a touch on edge. Not that it was easy to tell with Amanda. Kass thought she had her expressions sussed out though, for the most part.

    Sirius also gave Amanda a questioning look. ¡°What now?¡±

    Kass interrupted before Amanda could answer, ¡°That dollhouse... the room the dolls were in, it looked like the room we were in.¡±

    ¡°Which is why I¡¯d like to get as far away from it as possible,¡± Amanda replied. ¡°We¡¯ve got what we came for, now let¡¯s find the others and leave this house.¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 19: A Step In Time

    Cat barely noticed a perceptible difference in her surroundings and yet, it felt like something had shifted in the atmosphere. She looked up from where she had been studying the harpoon gun. Was it darker in here?

    ¡°You feel that?¡± she asked Zephyr who was crouched down looking at the books in the shelf.

    He looked up. ¡°Huh?¡±

    Cat ran her gaze around the room looking for changes. ¡°Something¡¯s different.¡±

    ¡°You mean that flicker of light? It was probably just some clouds moving.¡± He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than Cat.

    Cat studied the room as if at any moment she might find the thing that was out of place. Like it might leap out and try to attack them. But nothing moved. Even the dust was still.

    Now that Zephyr¡¯s attention had been drawn away from the bookshelf he did notice how much darker it was in here. He got to his feet. ¡°You know I don¡¯t think the will is in here.¡±

    She met his gaze as if being pulled from a dream. Her eyebrows narrowed and she focused more on what was here rather than what wasn¡¯t. ¡°It does look like it¡¯s getting dark. Who¡¯s idea was this, to look for a single piece of paper in a big dark house this late in the day?¡±

    ¡°Well day time is hard, Kass and Amanda both work half their Saturday mornings, so do you I believe.¡±

    ¡°Only if I want to,¡± Cat interrupted.

    Zephyr continued. ¡°Plus there¡¯s the thing with Lily, Sirius and Falco are unpredictably away at sea, and as for Indi, well I think she just wanted to explore a haunted house, which is inevitably more exciting at night.¡± He sighed and eyed his surroundings nervously.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s the case, you can¡¯t see as much at night. I think it has more to do with it being so hard to get Indi out of bed early enough, although I suspect she¡¯d do that for a chance at haunted house exploration.¡± Cat peered out the window. Yup, it was definitely darker outside. Much more so than a few minutes ago, as if they¡¯d skipped some time.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think we should keep moving?¡± Zephyr asked. ¡°It is getting darker.¡±

    There was a hesitance in his voice that Cat hated, a trepidation. She much preferred decisiveness. She rolled her eyes. ¡°You¡¯ve got that big torch, I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re so worried.¡±

    ¡°Yeah well it does make it harder to find things or see things, as you already pointed out, and I didn¡¯t see any light switches. What kind of house doesn¡¯t have light switches?¡±

    ¡°An old one,¡± Cat replied. But she was only half paying attention. There was still something making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge and she couldn¡¯t figure out what it was. ¡°Let¡¯s grab the others and go.¡±

    Zephyr nodded, his shoulders relaxing in relief.

    Cat laid the harpoon down next to the gun and moved toward the staircase that Indi and Wolf had disappeared up. As she walked she gave another glance out the window. It was hard to tell, because of all the clouds, but she could have sworn that the sun was much lower in the sky than it should have been. For a moment she wished she had a watch. She rolled her eyes at herself and paused at the base of the stairs. Turning to Zephyr she asked, ¡°Do you have the time?¡±

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    He was closer than she¡¯d expected. When had he gotten so light-footed? She cursed herself for not noticing where he was and momentarily wondered if he used his quickfoot magic to move closer least he be left on his own.

    He held out his wrist. The time was about what she¡¯d expected, based on what it felt like, and yet... she gave one more stare at the dying light outside. Then she shook herself off and began the climb up. There was no point wondering. Cat, was after all, a woman of action. Whatever it was that was going on, it would make itself known in time. She just had to keep moving forward.

    Zephyr was so intent on staying close that he nearly trod on Cat¡¯s heels as she climbed. She was forced to pause a moment and send a glare his way to get him to back off. He gave that puppy dog look that Cat hated so much, but he did keep back and out of the way from there on.

    She did feel a little bad for having led him on all those months ago, if that¡¯s what you could call it. Really, in Cat¡¯s mind there was nothing wrong with casual flings. She¡¯d had a million of them. It just, obvioulsly wasn¡¯t Zeph¡¯s thing. He should have gotten over it by now, and yet sometimes she still caught that wistful glance. It just made her want to run further. She never got that from Baz. Her breath caught at the thought of him and of that thing of his that was growing inside her. Unlike Zeph, he wasn¡¯t a one-woman man, at least she didn¡¯t think he was. He was like her in a lot of ways. A part of her wondered then if there could be more there. After all she¡¯d never really given him the chance. She¡¯d always been the one who came and went. It was just, he¡¯d never seemed to mind. That was what she had liked, at least she thought she had. Now.. she shook her head. It was silly thoughts. Relationships weren¡¯t something she wanted. They couldn¡¯t be. She didn¡¯t even know what they were supposed to look like.

    They found the upstairs empty. No sign of either Wolf or Indi.

    ¡°Perhaps they went through here.¡± Zephyr pointed his torch at a small door at the back of the room.

    As Cat set her gaze on it and she felt her whole body go cold. She couldn¡¯t explain why but there was something behind that door. Something unpleasant.

    When Cat didn¡¯t answer and instead just stared at the door Zephyr was the one who moved towards it.

    As he reached to open it Cat cried out, ¡°Wait!¡±

    She immediately cursed herself at the sound of fear in her voice.

    Zephyr turned, surprise in his eyes, clearly not used to hearing that tone from Cat.

    Realising that one of the them needed to check at some point Cat decided she had better be the one to do it. She pulled herself from her spot and took the torch from Zephyr. Moving her gun into the same hand temporarily she then started to pull the door open. Once it had started moving she kicked the rest of it out with her foot at the same time she leveled the torch in one hand and gun in the other. She took a quick step back as the door swung open to reveal nothing but an empty crawl space.

    Zephyr didn¡¯t say anything. He was the last person who would mock anyone for being afraid.

    Both of them waited in silence for a few seconds before Cat finally got up the courage to look further into the crawl space. It went a long way both directions before turning. There were obvious other tunnels that branched off along the way as well but no sign of either Wolf or Indi. Cat was impressed at the brightness of the torch and decided she¡¯d ask Zeph where he had gotten it from later. It¡¯d be useful for shining around under the car when she was working late.

    Zephyr stuck his head in next to hers. ¡°Any sign of them?¡±

    Cat still had that feeling that something wasn¡¯t right. Something other than Wolf and Indi¡¯s disappearance. She pulled her head out of the crawlspace. Zephyr did the same. He looked at her expectantly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯d go in there without telling us,¡± Cat replied feeling a desire to close the crawlspace door. ¡°They certainly wouldn''t go in there and then close the door behind them.¡± She looked at Zephyr and noticed that his eyes were growing wider and more worried looking.

    ¡°Maybe they just went into the next room and the door shut itself behind them?¡± Zephyr suggested.

    ¡°It¡¯s staying open now,¡± Cat pointed out.

    ¡°Then where did they go?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good question.¡± Cat shut the door to the crawl space.

    Zephyr jumped as it clicked shut. ¡°What do we do now?¡±

    ¡°Amanda knows some locator spells.¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you dreamwalk?¡±

    Cat shook her head. ¡°Not here.¡± Dreamwalking meant being almost unconscious and she didn¡¯t trust Zeph enough to make sure they weren¡¯t attacked.

    ¡°Outside then?¡± Zephyr asked with raised eyebrows.

    Cat considered it. ¡°We might as well find the others on the way. There¡¯s something about this place I don¡¯t like.¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 20: Nothing Is Set In Stone

    Indi hugged herself and eyed the statues in the courtyard nervously. She focused on her breathing and keeping calm. She thought through a list of things she could try. She decided to start by walking around the courtyard looking for hidden doors.

    As she walked along the first wall she half kept an eye on the rest of the courtyard. The statues were creepy and even though she knew they were just statues she still felt like she needed to keep an eye on them.

    By the third wall she had completely forgotten about the statues and was focused on her task of examining every brick high and low. It wasn¡¯t until she reached the start of the forth wall that by chance she turned and noticed that one of the statues had moved.

    At least she thought it had. She hadn¡¯t been paying attention from this angle. But no, she was sure. One of the fairy like ones was closer to the wall. It had it¡¯s back to her and it was definitely in a different place than it had been before. Indi froze and just watched it, hands held in front of her in loose fists, least she need to try and summon a shield. She fiddled with the edge of her sleeves nervously. Half her mind called her silly, half was screaming alarm bells. This was just like that toy clown her mother used to keep at the end of the hallway. There was something evil about it. The only difference was, this time she was sure she was right. She thought of that silly terrifying clown she¡¯d been so afraid of as a child and she wished her brother was here to protect her. Or Falco. Or anybody.

    ¡°Indi?¡± a voice called from somewhere above her.

    She was so surprised she tore her eyes from the statue and looked for the source of the voice. There, two stories up and standing in the open doorway that led to a non-existent balcony was Coal. She blinked twice to be sure it was really him. Then he pointed urgently at something behind her and she spun just in time to summon a shield to meet the stone claws of the fairy statue that was swiping at her. She yelped and stumbled backwards into the wall.

    The claws came at her again, the fanged mouth opened and screamed as Indi¡¯s shield went up once more. There was nothing inside the mouth that suggested the statue was capable of swallowing anything but Indi was sure of one thing. Those fangs would tear flesh easily either way.

    It was about to come at her again and Indi wondered whether she¡¯d be able to raise another shield when suddenly the statue disappeared and a loud crash sounded somewhere nearby.

    ¡°Up the rope,¡± a voice called and it took her a second to remember Coal was there. She turned and saw he¡¯d hung a rope down from the floor he was on. She turned to look at the rest of the courtyard and realised that the statue was now on the other side of the courtyard, but was quickly heading her way again. Even worse, she noticed some of the other statues start to move their heads.

    ¡°Quickly!¡± Coal called forcefully but in a tone Indi could only describe as being far too calm for the situation they were in.

    Indi ran. She reached the bottom of the rope at the same time as the first fairy statue. She shielded but it didn¡¯t matter. As it raised it¡¯s arms to attack it disappeared and then reappeared on the other side of the courtyard only up high in the air. It would then fall straight down with a loud crash that didn¡¯t appear to be doing any damage. Indi paused stunned.

    ¡°Hurry up,¡± Coal instructed from above.

    It had been some time since Indi had climbed a rope. She knew it was something Falco did all the time. When she¡¯d lasted visited the ship he sailed on, she¡¯d seen their training facilities, part of which included thick ropes hanging from the ceiling. She¡¯d had a go climbing one and had managed it but gosh that had been a struggle and this rope here was much thinner than those.

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    She knew she had no choice though. She grabbed it, jumped and twisted her legs around it. It swung and spun and despite how she wrapped her legs it felt like she just couldn¡¯t get a decent position to be able to pull herself up.

    But then she felt the rope being pulled upward and she knew all she had to do was hold on. It moved up slowly but every time one of the statues got close it would disappear and then reappear on the other side of the courtyard. They appeared in the air exactly two stories up, directly opposite Coal. That was when she realised what was happening. Coal was summoning them. Transporting them closer to himself. The courtyard was smaller than the height that Coal was at so by summoning them at his level he could still move them to the other side and away from Indi. She thought it was quite clever really.

    She relaxed a little once she was high enough up to be out of reach. It appeared that despite the marble wings, they could not fly. Her arms were aching by the time she reached Coal but there was nothing that could have made her lose her grip on the rope at this point. Looking back down she noted that the statues seemed to have given up and returned to their original positions.

    Coal held out a hand to her and pulled her over the edge. Once over she collapsed at his feet.

    ¡°Are you hurt?¡± he asked.

    She shook her head and looked up at him surprised. Not only was he not wearing a suit jacket over his white perfectly ironed shirt for once he actually looked like he¡¯d been sweating. He was sitting down against the wall and also seemed a little short of breath. She blushed realising it must have been a lot of work for him to pull her all the way up on that rope.

    ¡°How did you get in there?¡± he asked.

    ¡°We came in through the wall,¡± she gasped, still tired from holding on to the rope.

    ¡°We?¡± his jet black brows furrowed.

    ¡°Wolf and I. We got separated from Cat and Zeph, and then we followed a passageway and...¡± Indi stopped mid sentence to take in a large gulp of air.

    Coal nodded quickly and raised his hands to indicate she didn¡¯t need to speak so fast. He peered down at the courtyard looking puzzled.

    She noticed his jacket lying further in the corridor. Evidently he¡¯d taken it off when he realised he needed to drop down a rope.

    ¡°You moved the statues?¡± she asked, ¡°Summoned them?¡±

    He nodded. ¡°That was a lot of work. I don¡¯t usually move things so close.¡±

    Indi wasn¡¯t sure if he sounded mad or annoyed at her for having to do it or not. Either way she replied, ¡°That was very clever, moving them up so they were closer to you but ended up further away.¡±

    Coal seemed to smile slightly at the compliment. One corner of his mouth curved up coyly. ¡°You¡¯re not able to maintain a shield I take it?¡± Coal asked matter-of-factly, as if he was just gathering information to plan fighting strategy later.

    Indi shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, sometimes, but not always.¡±

    Coal nodded. ¡°You don¡¯t know where Wolf went?¡±

    Indi shook her head. ¡°One moment he was there and then he was gone. What are you doing here?¡±

    Coal looked directly at her a slightly surprised look on his face. Indi wasn¡¯t sure if he was surprised because she had asked that question or if it was because it had taken her so long to ask it.

    ¡°I had an idea you might be in trouble,¡± Coal replied cryptically.

    ¡°But how?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just say a little birdy told me. Now the question is, how do we get back out? I¡¯m not sure that we really want to go back down there but if that¡¯s where you last saw Wolf...¡± Coal sighed. ¡°What about the others? Amanda? Sirius? Kass?¡±

    ¡°Exploring a different part of the house. I¡¯m not sure I want to go back down there either. Besides the house seems to shift it¡¯s walls and rooms about. I¡¯m not sure it matters which way we go.¡± Indi pulled her hands into the sleeves of her comfy purple jersey. She glanced down at the creepy statues and shivered. ¡°If only I hadn¡¯t let go of the...¡± As she turned her head to look the other way, into the dark corridor behind Coal, she saw a shape move, something big. Something shimmered.

    ¡°Coal!¡± Indi whimpered.

    He spun, drawing a sword out of thin air as he did. It clanged loudly with... was that an axe?

    Coal crouched, sword raised against the axe that was pushing down, held in the hands, no, not hands, hooves of what looked like a real life Minotaur, only instead of a bulls head it was a bleached white goat. And it wasn¡¯t holding the axe, it seemed to be glued to it. As it leaned forward putting more of it¡¯s weight into the axe Indi saw that it¡¯s eyes glistened like the fake eyes of badly done taxidermy. As she thought of it she realised that was exactly what it was. Except this one was moving. The last thing she noticed was the colour of the fur at it¡¯s shoulders, a browny red, the colour of dried blood.

    Then she was falling.

    Coal had kicked out at the goat, knocking it off balance just long enough to pull his sword away, grab Indi and throw them both off the edge of the balcony.

 Volume 2, Chapter 21: A Smooth Summon

    Indi thought she managed to shield, but if she did, it was gone by the time they landed. She really needed to practice that more. The landing did feel softer, but as she looked around at where they had landed she realised it wasn¡¯t due to her shield, at least not fully. They were lying on what appeared to be two mattresses stacked on top of one another. It was one of the softest mattresses Indi had ever been on and she was so distracted by both the softness and their surprise appearance that it took her a second to realise she was also lying half on top of Coal.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± she mumbled as she pulled herself upright and off him. A quick glance up confirmed that the crazy goat thing had decided not to follow them.

    ¡°You shielded that time,¡± Coal remarked, seemingly unfazed.

    Indi nodded. ¡°Yeah, for a bit.¡±

    ¡°It seemed to soften the blow.¡±

    ¡°Not as much as these.¡± She nodded at the mattresses. ¡°That was you I take?¡±

    Coal gave a nod as he pulled himself into a sitting position. ¡°I keep a few things in storage that might be useful for summoning should the need arise.¡±

    ¡°Clever.¡± Indi gave a slow nod as she imagined a large warehouse full of bits and pieces. It was probably oversized in her mind. For summoning to work well the summoner generally had to know what something looked like and where it was located. Of course the closer and more fixed the object to the summoner the better too. Remembering the layout and contents of an entire warehouse might not have been difficult for someone with an eidetic memory like Indi but she was well aware normal people were a bit more limited. What Coal had was probably more like a small storage unit, although it did have her wondering about the intended purpose of the mattresses. Perhaps it was intended for falling off things or maybe it was just in case he ever needed somewhere soft to sleep. ¡°But don¡¯t you think a bouncy castle would work better?¡± Indi asked before she could stop herself.

    Coal seemed intrigued at the suggestion. He rubbed his chin. ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s a good point, I¡¯ll have to consider that.¡±

    As he spoke the expression on his face changed and he seemed to focus on something behind Indi with new worry clouding his icy blue eyes.

    Indi looked just in time to see several stone heads slowly turning their way. ¡°Uh oh,¡± was all she could manage in a quiet breathless voice. She went to take another breath and suddenly found she couldn¡¯t. She tried not to panic as her mind was filled with images of the asthma inhaler she¡¯d left in her bag which conveniently lay on the front seat of Cat¡¯s car.

    ¡°We better move. Can you shield?¡± Coal said in a low, firm voice as he slid off the mattresses and held up his sword, eyes not moving from the statues that were starting to move towards them. At least they moved as if they were made of stone.

    It wasn¡¯t that Indi couldn¡¯t speak, it was just at that moment, in it¡¯s panic, her mind decided that squeaking and gesturing at her throat was the better form of communication.

    It got Coal¡¯s attention at least. He gave a frown of confusion for half a second before understanding registered on his face and a moment later he held out a hand.

    Indi glanced down to see him holding an inhaler, much like, but definitely not the same as the one she¡¯d left in the car.

    She hesitated only a second, feeling something like the raw magic that a child feels upon being presented with an unexpected handful of candy. Then she grabbed it greedily and sucked in the helpful medicine.

    Before she was even finished her second puff Coal had swooped an arm behind her and pulled her up from the mattress and to her feet.

    ¡°If you¡¯re going to pass out, now is not a good time,¡± he told her a little too harshly.

    Luckily the medicine helped and Indi found her airways clear again. She did feel a bit slow physically, but her mind was sharp.

    With a glance first to check she was still with him, Coal, with his sword in his other hand, grabbed Indi around the waist and pulled her with him to the edge of the courtyard. He released his grasp once they reached the wall. Then with another quick look at the now slightly faster approaching statues he pulled something from his jacket pocket.

    Indi had just enough time to wonder as to when and how he¡¯d managed to re-don his suit jacket before he was turned and tapping the wall with the point of some small rock. When nothing happened he grabbed her and pulled her along with him to another spot further along the wall. He repeated the process a few more times, occasionally with a pause to check how close the statues were.

    There came a sharp instruction to ¡°Follow,¡± and a quick glance from Coal to check she was still capable of moving. After that Indi kept pace with him, although she used the wall for balance any time they stopped. She kept her gaze jumping between Coal, who was continuing with the strange tapping on the wall, and the slowly closing in statues.

    They were uncomfortably close by now. Enough that Indi tried shielding. It held for awhile and the statues gathered around the edges unable to get in. Then it faded and the statues crept closer in an uncanny jerking motion.

    Coal stopped his tapping and eyed them. Then he eyed a spot further along the wall. One that was blocked by a few statues.

    ¡°Can you shield again?¡± he asked briskly.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Indi hesitated, worried it would fail again.

    ¡°If you can now would be a good time,¡± Coal instructed as he stepped toward them sword in left hand.

    Indi raised her hands and imagined a force pushing their enemies away. She closed her eyes as she did. But then unable to hear or see what was happening she opened them soon after. The shield had worked. A glimmer hung in the air between them and the statues. Relief flooded through Indi, and as it did, the glimmer began to fade as if held there by her fear itself.

    ¡°Don¡¯t drop it!¡± Coal barked. ¡°Keep it steady until I say.¡±

    The harshness of his voice made her heart beat faster. The glimmering wall strengthened. With her back against the wall she focused on keeping it up.

    Coal walked to an edge of the semi-circle. Right in front of one of the statues. A few of the others started to walk towards that edge as well, trying to get as close as they could. Some tried to push forward but the shield held steady.

    Indi¡¯s heart beat faster still and she wanted to yell at him to get away from the edge least the shield collapse, but the words got lost in her throat.

    Coal walked around the edge of the shield slowly, tall and confident, drawing the statues around with him so they congregated on one side.

    Indi glanced the other way, realisation dawning on her as she suddenly understood what he was doing. On the other side was a gap, no statues, only her shield. The way they had been going before. But to where? Indi didn¡¯t know what the rock Coal had did but she got the impression he was trying to find the door she¡¯d come into this courtyard through.

    ¡°Ready?¡± Coal asked with a glance back at her.

    She spun her eyes to meet his and found she still had no voice. But she understood what he was asking and so she gave a definitive nod.

    ¡°Now!¡± he barked as he ran at her. He scooped another arm under hers, and as Indi dropped her shield, Coal pulled her along with him.

    She gave a small yelp and almost stumbled except Coal seemed to feel it and tightened his grip, yanking her up and forwards. Eventually she found her feet but Coal still tugged her along. He continued his tapping on the wall with the rock.

    Indi didn¡¯t look back. She didn¡¯t want to know how close those things were.

    Finally Coal¡¯s rock met the wall with a loud pop, like a miniature thunder storm, and the wall swung inward, looking very much like the door Indi had come through.

    Indi¡¯s heart sang and then immediately sank as something stone grab her waist. She gave a shout.

    Coal spun and swung his sword, bringing in from underneath and hitting the stone arm with a solid clang. It did very little damage, a small stone chip flew off. But it did distract the statue. It released it¡¯s grip on Indi and went for Coal instead.

    Indi fell to the rocky ground and quickly crawled out of the way of any immediate harm.

    ¡°Move! Through the door!¡± Coal instructed as he dodged another blow from the statue. Their arms were much faster than their legs but Coal was faster still, and he moved with the fluidity of a raging river.

    Indi watched for a moment, mesmerized as he danced somehow so beautiful and graceful and strong all at once, beneath stone arms and reaching nails. He struck several skilled and forceful blows, chipping away at small bits of stone. However, any one watching knew that despite his obvious skill with the sword there was no winning for someone made of flesh.

    Eventually Indi, who was still lying on the ground, came to her senses and picked the perfect moment to summon her shield once more.

    Coal recognised the opportunity almost immediately. He lowered his sword and took a step back from the almost invisible wall. The statue, and several others who had joined it now clawed at it with their gnarled, inhuman fingers.

    Coal stood a second, eyeing them up. Then he spun so fast and fearsome and full of something terrifying. Indi was almost afraid at the look in his eyes. She felt she should move. They needed to get out of here. Every bone in her body was telling her to do so but she barely had the energy to get up. Her legs felt like Jelly.

    Coal didn¡¯t hesitate. He pulled her up then swung an arm under her weak knees and carried her through the secret doorway.

    As he put her down, Indi found her feet. ¡°I¡¯m okay, I¡¯m just...¡± she trailed off with a sigh and leaned against the wooden walls of the dark corridor as Coal closed the door on the creatures.

    She watched as he placed an ear to the wall, obviously checking to see if anything was following.

    Indi shivered, wondering if they needed to keep moving. The air was cooler in here. It was also very quiet. Indi could hear her own heart beating a mile a minute.

    Eventually Coal turned away from the wall. ¡°I think they only activate when someone¡¯s in there, or on the ground at least. He looked around the narrow passage and Indi could have sworn she saw an expression of more fear than she¡¯d seen so far cross his face. It was dark though, the only light was that coming through the cracks in the wooden walls.

    She took in a deep breath. That last use of magic had drained her and she suddenly realised she hadn¡¯t actually eaten that much today. The plan had been to get dinner after exploring the house, but she hadn¡¯t expected to be using quite so much magic.

    ¡°Here.¡± Coal, seeing how tired she looked had guessed at what she needed and had somehow summoned a bright red apple. Even in this low light it shone.

    ¡°You can summon food?¡± Indi asked. Organics were much harder than metals for summoners to call. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that take a lot of energy?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m efficient,¡± Coal replied, in a tone that reminded her of Amanda¡¯s smooth confidence.

    Indi took the apple gratefully and demolished it fast enough that Coal gave a small chuckle. He seemed pleased that she liked it even if he was still giving the rest of the corridor worried looks every now and again.

    It wasn¡¯t until after she¡¯d eaten it that Indi asked, ¡°Where¡¯d you get it?¡±

    ¡°I know a place that sells the perfect apples. They always look exactly the same and they never notice a few missing. Now maybe if I took the whole bunch they would but the trick is not being too greedy.¡±

    ¡°Wow! It¡¯s too bad you can¡¯t summon candyfloss,¡± Indi remarked not at all expecting him to do so.

    The next second Coal handed her a stick of the fluffiest candyfloss she¡¯d ever seen with a magical gleam in his eye.

    Indi¡¯s own eyes widened and this time ¡°Whoa,¡± was all she could say.

    ¡°We should keep moving,¡± Coal suggested.

    Indi nodded as she picked at candyfloss. The sugar was definitely helping her energy levels. So was the cool air. But now she found she was also getting cold. She shivered. Noticing this, Coal removed and handed her his suit jacket. She eyed it in surprise. She¡¯d heard some of the others talk about Coal before, mostly not very nice things but here he was being an almost perfect gentleman. He¡¯d always seemed so nice on each short occasion she¡¯d met him too. And he¡¯d just saved her life. Evidently, she hesitated a little too long, so he took it and put it over her shoulders for her.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Indi replied, pulling it gladly around herself, pleased with the extra warmth. ¡°But won¡¯t you be cold? You¡¯ve just got that shirt and I¡¯ve already got a jersey on.¡±

    Coal shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, I¡¯m finding this place a bit stuffy as it is too be honest.¡± He gave a tug at his already loose collar and undid another button as if to back up his point. But he didn¡¯t bother to check for Indi¡¯s reaction. Instead he turned and started off down the corridor.

    She cocked her head sideways at him before following along after. He was an intriguing man.

 Volume 2, Chapter 22: The First Sunset

    Coal moved fast through the hallway. He was fitter than she¡¯d have expected for an aristocrat. But when he paused at a cross-way she realised he was breathing heavily.

    ¡°Which direction did you last say you saw the others in?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Um...¡± Indi was about to answer when an inhuman roar sounded from nearby.

    Both of them froze but there was no sign of the source of the sound.

    ¡°There¡¯s a door here,¡± Indi remarked eventually. It was hidden, blended against the wall, just a thin line and small knob that looked just like another piece of the wall. She¡¯d only noticed it because they had stopped.

    The door kicked up a layer of dust so thick Indi couldn¡¯t help but cough. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the room and what it contained, which caused her to accidentally suck in a cloud of exceptionally woolly dust spurring an almost full on choking fit.

    This prompted Coal to whack her on the back helpfully a few times as he stepped past her into the room.

    The action was effective and Indi managed a mumbled, ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± in a squeaky voice.

    Coal chuckled at her optimistic tone as he poked a life-sized antelope gently with the tip of his sword. It didn¡¯t move so he gave a soft ¡°hmm,¡± and continued warily forward. He glanced back quickly to check that Indi was following.

    He didn¡¯t need to tell her twice. As creepy as it was to venture forth into an obsessive taxidermy collector¡¯s den she wasn¡¯t about to become separated from him now that she¡¯d finally found someone in this freaky deaky hellhole.

    She shivered. There was something not quite right about all the eyes. And given they sort of resembled that thing that had chased them earlier she was half worried they were going to come to life any minute, just like the statues. Coal seemed to be thinking the same thing.

    He stopped in the middle of the room. It was so fast and Indi was following so closely that she walked right into him.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± she mumbled, but he paid her no heed. ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t see a door, an exit.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s hidden.¡± Indi peered around the room, hoping they could find a different room soon. The gaze of an entire forest and even a couple of fish were on her.

    ¡°Maybe.¡±

    Then Indi spotted it, half hidden behind a standing grizzly. ¡°There.¡± She pointed.

    Coal nodded and started toward it. Indi was close enough to him that she could see his main focus was on the bear, so to help out she kept a look out for anything else that might pose a threat.

    As Coal stepped past the bear his foot accidentally knocked down a stuffed hare. There was a small crash as it caused a domino effect.

    That was when Indi saw it coming for her, mouth and eyes wide, it¡¯s skin a blood red on white. Without thinking and with a strangled yelp, Indi turned and fled back the way they¡¯d come, out through the little door and continued through the intersection they¡¯d been considering. She ran as fast as she could. The sound of footsteps beat hard in pursuit.

    She heard Coal shouting after her and a part of her knew it was just him behind her but she couldn¡¯t make her legs stop. Eventually she ran past a ladder. She reached out and grabbed a hold. It was enough to slow her down. She spun behind it, still holding on, and looked back to see that it really was just Coal and not that thing. Taking deep gasping breaths, and with her sweaty palms still gripping at the wood of the ladder, she slid down to the floor, and pulled her knees tight up against her chest.

    ¡°Indi?¡± She felt warm hands clutching gently at her wrists. Coal¡¯s concerned voice asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong, what did you see?¡±

    She was breathing too hard to talk.

    Just like earlier, Coal summoned an inhaler and held it out for her.

    She shook her head and waved it away. She was fine. Her puffing was just from having run so fast. She did notice that it was a different one from the one he¡¯d summoned earlier.

    Coal was frowning. Every now and again he¡¯d glance back down the hall to check nothing had followed them.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything. The noise was just me knocking over a bunch of stuff. It wasn¡¯t alive,¡± Coal told her.

    Indi shook her head.

    ¡°What? You did see something?¡±

    Indi shook her head again. Finally once she¡¯d gotten her breath back she asked, ¡°Where are you getting all these things from?¡± She pointed at the inhaler he¡¯d summoned.

    Coal pursed his lips and gave her a strange look as if amused that was what she was asking.

    ¡°I hope they don¡¯t belong to people.¡±

    Coal gave a non-committal shrug and slight tilt of the head. ¡°I¡¯ll return them.¡± At the sight of her expression he added ¡°They won¡¯t be needed, trust me.¡±

    Indi eyed him suspiciously, or at least she tried to, suspicion had never been her strong suit, and it merely seemed to result in Coal giving her an amused look in response.

    ¡°You¡¯re shivering,¡± Coal noted.

    ¡°I just, I just...¡± Indi nodded, noting that he was right. She wasn¡¯t cold though. ¡°That clown?¡± she finally asked before daring a look up at Coal.

    He raised an eyebrow. ¡°That was just a toy. A creepy one but ..., it fell over when I kicked the hare.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like them.¡±

    ¡°What? Clowns?¡±

    Indi shook her head and pulled her knees closer. Then she buried her face in them ready for the laughter that inevitably followed that sort of admittance.

    No laughter came.

    When she finally lifted her head she saw a thoughtful looking Coal switching from a crouch to a more comfortable seating position against the other wall.

    His gaze traced the ladder upward briefly. When it reached the ceiling he took in a deep breath. Then he looked back at Indi. ¡°You know when I was younger we used to have this full set of armour stationed at the end of the hallway. It terrified me. I always felt like there was something evil inside.¡±

    ¡°Was there?¡±

    ¡°No, just empty armour. I destroyed it with an axe when I was thirteen. But for a long time before that I was so frightened by it, I wouldn¡¯t go in the back two rooms of the house because I had to walk past it to get there.¡± He looked back down the hall. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that clown was just a toy, probably filled with stuffing or paper mache. We could go back and stab it with my sword if you like?¡±

    Indi thought it was a sweet offer but she couldn¡¯t stand the idea of facing it again. She shook her head.

    ¡°Mmm, okay, how about up then?¡± Coal nodded at the ladder.

    Indi nodded. ¡°You know, we had a toy clown that sat at the end of our hall. Mum liked them for some reason. One summer a boy from the neighbourhood, just a year older than me thought it¡¯d be funny to animate it. I hid in the shed and when he snuk in after to scare me I hit him with an ore, from our row boat. I didn¡¯t mean to. I thought he was the clown.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like he deserved it.¡± Coal reached out a hand to help Indi to her feet.

    ¡°Mmm, Sly was livid at the boy, and I couldn¡¯t sleep for a week.¡±

    ¡°Sly? Your brother?¡± Coal asked.

    Indi nodded. ¡°Sly eventually convinced mum to hide it away somewhere or something, I¡¯m not sure. She loved it so much I could never bring up the courage to tell her how much it terrified me. Sly always looked out for me though...¡± Indi trailed off as she saw a figure appear down the hallway. The taxidermy goat thing was back. ¡°Coal...¡± she whispered as loud as she dared.

    He had one foot on the ladder ready to climb but the second Indi drew his attention to the goat, which hadn¡¯t appeared to have quite registered their presence there yet, he stepped back down, grabbed Indi by the hips and lifted her as high up the ladder as he could. ¡°Climb!¡± he instructed in and equally low voice.

    Indi¡¯s last glimpse of the goat thing was of it starting to break into a run. Then she grabbed the ladder and climbed.

    Indi burst through a trapdoor onto yet another wooden dust-covered floor. Coal followed close behind, kicking out at the thing beneath him. As Coal slammed the trapdoor shut Indi was already wondering where in hell they¡¯d arrived at now.

    This room was dark but as her eyes adjusted Indi could make out some shapes. She saw the outline of a cord hanging from the ceiling; an old-fashioned light switch. She gave it a tug and was surprised to find the lights worked.

    She glanced at Coal who was blinking from the sudden light while trying to take in their surroundings.

    It was another bedroom. Only, this one actually looked like it had been lived in, once upon a time. Clothes lay scattered on the floor in a corner, some hung haphazardly out of a nearby hamper. The patchwork quilt spread across the bed was half pulled back, as if someone had just gotten out of bed. The faded sheets that were revealed where the quilt had been pulled back obviously had a layer of dust. If someone had lived here it hadn¡¯t been for sometime but they had definitely left in a hurry.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Something banged into the trapdoor from below. Indi gave a jump but was pleased to see that there was a latch which Coal had secured, and so far it seemed to be holding.

    Coal stood with his sword out pointing down at the trapdoor. They both stood silent for sometime but no more bumps came.

    Indi glanced at the main door to the room and then back at Coal. He gave a nod. For a moment there Indi thought he almost looked more relaxed. Well, she supposed, they seemed to have put that taxidermied monster and the statues behind them and they were now back in the main part of the house. Indi was eager to find the others and get out of here. She thought whimsically of Falco¡¯s warm arms. How she longed to return home to him and curl up in those arms.

    She reached the main door to the room and held out a hand, hesitating briefly at the doorknob. Then slowly she pulled the door open and stuck her head around the corner.

    She was confronted with the view of a brilliant purple-red sky through several large windows. They¡¯d evidently reached the end of the wing. The sun was out of sight by this point, tucked below the trees. There was enough light to still see but it was fading fast. Indi estimated it would be completely gone within 20 minutes.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a torch,¡± she lamented.

    ¡°Here.¡± Suddenly the entire landing was lit in a bright white light. Coal was carrying a round almost globe-like thing which gave off light in all directions. A small handle was tucked in one side of it so it wrapped around the fist.

    ¡°Is that magic or..?¡±

    Coal nodded. ¡°It was a gift, very expensive, a torch would be more useful.¡±

    ¡°You couldn¡¯t summon a torch?¡±

    Coal shrugged. ¡°I wanted to see if it would work. Like I said, it was a gift. A gift from someone who prefers I don¡¯t have any fun, or anything useful.¡± Coal mumbled the last bit but Indi¡¯s sensitive ears picked it up.

    Indi frowned and studied his face.

    He gave her a smile, unreadable. Then she attention switched, drawn to something behind him.

    ¡°There are stairs there,¡± Indi said pointing.

    Coal turned. ¡°Indeed there are.¡±

    With Coal leading they traipsed down the flight of stairs only to find a dead end at the bottom. No doors, no windows. Just a wall.

    Coal tried his trick from earlier and attempted to see if there might be a secret door but to no avail. They were forced to return to the second floor.

    Indi paused at the top to check Coal was still following fearing for one terrible moment that he wouldn¡¯t be there. But there he was. She glanced at the sword we has still holding. ¡°How come you don¡¯t summon a gun?¡±

    ¡°Gun¡¯s are more complicated, harder to summon, plus you have to summon the right bullets too.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t summon them in the gun?¡± Indi asked as she and Coal started to make their way down the only other option, the long second-floor hallway.

    ¡°You can, it¡¯s just harder. But that¡¯s not the only reason, a sword is not only simple and thus easier to summon, it¡¯s also better at short range and if you¡¯re not at short range well it¡¯s generally safer to run than to stop and try to shoot back.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s actually better to bring a knife to a gun fight?¡±

    ¡°Well, a sword technically, more reach than a knife, but yes.¡±

    ¡°What if you¡¯re cornered but still at a distance?¡±

    ¡°Well then I could summon a cannon or a tank or a rocket launcher.¡±

    Indi stopped with a frown. She turned back to look at Coal ¡°A roc...do you have a tank?¡±

    Coal just gave her one of those smiles.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t a tank be really complicated?¡± Indi wondered.

    This time Coal didn¡¯t answer and when she glanced back she found she couldn¡¯t read his expression at all.

    Feeling somewhat calmer surrounded by the glow of Coal¡¯s lamp Indi¡¯s curiosity came back to her and she stopped briefly to try one of the handles of the doors along the hallway. It was locked.

    ¡°There¡¯s no point trying rooms,¡± Coal told her. ¡°We should find the others.¡±

    ¡°I was just... ¡° but truthfully Indi wasn¡¯t sure what she was doing. It just felt wrong to walk past so many doors and not see what was inside. Even though she did want to get out of this place there was also something about it that drew her in. She gave a small nod and continued down the hallway.

    Musing at the softness of Coal¡¯s encouragement to keep moving, combined with the kindness he¡¯d showed earlier, Indi blurted out without thinking, ¡°I don¡¯t believe the rumors they say about you.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t believe what rumors?¡± Coal asked in the same calm tone, no hint that the statement had bothered him at all.

    ¡°What they say about you killing your parents.¡±

    Coal gave a soft, almost surprised laugh. ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡±

    His voice was further back now. Indi turned to find he¡¯d stopped. ¡°You¡¯re too nice.¡±

    Coal laughed again, more of a scoff this time. ¡°You don¡¯t know me at all.¡±

    ¡°You saved me before. Twice,¡± Indi replied adamantly. Both stood stopped facing each other now.

    Coal shrugged. ¡°Maybe I think you¡¯ll be useful.¡±

    Indi frowned and tilted her head to the side. She had expected him to say something like ¡®most people would,¡¯ but he hadn¡¯t. There was something about his statement that felt more honest although she wasn¡¯t sure why that would be nor why it would be a good thing. Still she had a gut feeling. And something about it feeling more honest just convinced her more. ¡°Not just that, I know it.¡±

    Coal studied her for a bit.

    Indi spoke again. ¡°Amanda thinks it was an accident, and you just let people think you killed them for your reputation.¡±

    ¡°Amanda thinks that huh?¡±

    Indi nodded.

    ¡°But she¡¯s too polite to ask.¡± Coal spoke as if more to himself, a small smile tugging at his lips, but Indi didn¡¯t miss the jab at her.

    It was at that point that Indi finally considered if these questions might be too personal too ask. She was posturing on continuing with the line of questions when Coal broke the silence for her.

    ¡°Well she¡¯s right, in a way, but so are the others.¡± Coal nodded down the hallway and started to take a step forward as if that were the end of the conversation.

    ¡°What did happen?¡± Indi blurted out.

    Coal paused, placed his foot back on the floor, turned to face her, and then smiled. This one was a sad smile. He didn¡¯t seem mad at her for asking but the expression on his face did make Indi feel a little guilty. He looked down at his hands held out in front of him. ¡°You ever had that experience where you think you¡¯ve come up with something new but really it¡¯s just something you¡¯ve seen before, maybe even in a dream?¡±

    Indi nodded.

    ¡°I was angry with my parents.¡± He shook his head and gave a short sad laugh. ¡°I don¡¯t even remember why. What the reason was. All I remember is being angry. I imagined a creature coming out of the nowhere and attacking them, taking my revenge. I was very young, not so young that I shouldn¡¯t have known better but the kind of young where there¡¯s a disconnect between action and consequence. I imagined this creature hurting them, killing them even, but I never imagined what that would actually mean. I imagined them coming to me afterwards and saying sorry, realising what they¡¯d done and everything being alright again. It doesn¡¯t make sense but of course this was all imaginary.¡± Coal paused for a moment there. ¡°Except it wasn¡¯t. There are creatures that live in the darkness. Real and summonable. I must have seen them in a dream or past life,¡± Coal laughed at that. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I got my wish but it wasn¡¯t quite what I wanted.¡±

    Indi was about to tell him that it wasn¡¯t his fault when he suddenly pushed her aside. She hit the wall hard and for a moment was confused. But then she saw something shiny and bloody pull back from where she¡¯d just been. There was a clang and when she looked down to see what it was a dagger lay on the floor. Further along the lamp globe came to a stop.

    Coal was clutching at his side, doing somewhat of a poor job of stemming the obvious blood flow since his own weapon was still in the same hand trying to fend off something unseen. He grabbed Indi with his free hand and pulled her along.

    ¡°Move,¡± he commanded. Indi didn¡¯t ask twice. She let him pull her down the hall and into a room. He shut the door behind them. The windows were boarded up and the place smelled musty. It appeared to be an office of some sort. In front of the windows a large solid wooden desk was covered in newspapers and old books. It reminded her of Wolf¡¯s place a little. The air was stuffy and it made it almost hard to breathe. She focused on not panicking and gasping for air least it bring on an asthma attack. Once she felt that she was okay she turned to Coal who had his shirt unbuttoned and was inspecting the wound.

    The last rays of light coming through the gaps in the boards on the windows was minimal and Coal hadn¡¯t resummoned a new light but there was just enough visibility for Indi to make out the cut that pierced his lower left side. There was a lot of blood but Indi had read enough of her brother¡¯s medical text books as a curious teenager to know that things often initially looked worse than they were. It was seeping rather than gushing and the flow already looked like it was slowing.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Indi asked, feeling slightly guilty for her thoughts as she couldn¡¯t help but note how toned his stomach muscles were. For all the suits he wore she¡¯d never thought he would also be so fit.

    Coal didn¡¯t look up from his inspection. He nodded. ¡°It didn¡¯t go in too deep and I don¡¯t think it got anything vital. Managed to shift back just in time.¡±

    ¡°You should put pressure on it.¡± Indi instructed.

    Coal nodded, held his hand out flat. Immediately a dark towel appeared in his hand. He placed it to the wound.

    ¡°What was that thing?¡± Indi asked as she looked around the room warily, half expecting another attack.

    Coal shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t know, it just appeared out of nowhere. There was some movement in the air, like there was something there but I couldn¡¯t see what it was. It was like looking at an incoming wave without the foam. That and a glint of steel.¡±

    ¡°Do you think it will be back?¡±

    He looked up at her. ¡°Don¡¯t know. We probably shouldn¡¯t hang around too long to find out.¡±

    Indi nodded. ¡°What about the others?¡±

    ¡°Where did you last see each of them? Run me through it.¡± Coal asked in a quiet voice as he gave a quick cautious glance at the closed door before focusing on her.

    Indi explained from the start, how they¡¯d split into two teams. How her team of four had found the portal door. How she and Wolf had gone up the ladder.

    ¡°You know, now that I think about it, he seemed really unsettled for some reason.¡± Indi explained as she thought back on Wolf¡¯s reaction to the cupboard in the wall.

    ¡°Unsettled?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, like, like he was afraid of something. But Wolf¡¯s usually pretty calm.¡± As she spoke, Indi couldn¡¯t help noticing how calm Coal was. Even with the blood on his clothes he still had poise. It felt more like they were having a conversation at a party. She hoped whomever had made that suit had charged a pretty penny for it. They deserved every cent. Whatever the fabric was it didn¡¯t seem to crease or hold dirt at all. Then again the dim lighting probably helped. She found his demeanour reassuring. She had the vague impression that someone else might have found it an uncanny calm but for her it was perfect. Even the way his eyebrows knotted, he could have been the stock photo for a man mid-thought.

    His gaze slid sideways to look at the door again.

    They were silent and so was the house. It was during this silence that Indi realised there was something wrong about the light. She walked to the dusty window and rubbed away the dust so she could peer out. Somehow they were up three stories now. The disorientation made her head spin and she put out a hand on the pane to steady herself.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Coal asked.

    ¡°Did you..., wasn¡¯t the sun lower before?¡± she asked.

    He was silent and for a moment she feared she would turn around and he would be gone but then she felt breath on her neck.

    ¡°That is interesting,¡± Coal said from right behind her.

    She turned but he¡¯d already moved away. He was pacing the room, studying their surroundings. ¡°What do you know about this house?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Not much, an old lady lived here, apparently she was crazy. That¡¯s not the elementals doing that to the sun right?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Coal replied.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think so, I was pretty sure they couldn¡¯t control the sun.¡±

    He paused his pacing. ¡°No but a luminary can, at least locally. The light we see isn¡¯t necessarily the light that is given off. There are plenty of other powers that can warp perception as well.¡± He walked to the window and peered out. Then he turned and she noticed him wince a little.

    ¡°You really didn¡¯t research this place before coming in it?¡± Coal asked.

    ¡°We researched it. There just wasn¡¯t that much on it. Some crazy lady who liked to keep adding bits to her house. And none of the kids want to keep it. There was supposedly another will and Kass has been trying to find it. We thought we¡¯d help. How did you end up end here?¡±

    ¡°A little birdy told me. You thought you¡¯d find a will in a house this size?¡±

    ¡°I mean...¡± Indi was about to say that a lot of rooms probably could be ruled out, but as she paused to look around this one, she realised they¡¯d already seen a few potential candidates. ¡°Yeah okay.¡±

    Coal nodded at the door. ¡°We should keep moving?¡±

    ¡°Are we going to look for the others?¡±

    ¡°No cell service right?¡±

    Indi shook her head, wondering how he knew. Maybe he had checked.

    ¡°And we have no idea where they are?¡±

    ¡°I mean, Amanda, Kass, and Wolf are probably somewhere in the north-east wing...¡± she trailed off as Coal raised his eyebrows at her. ¡°We can¡¯t leave without them.¡± Indi finished.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning on it. We know where you last saw Wolf but we barely escaped there with our lives. Amanda and company are in the other wing but they can probably take care of themselves for now. So I suggest we go back to where you lost Cat and Zeph then head down to the basement.¡±

    ¡°The basement?¡±

    ¡°When we were in that courtyard, just before we left, I noticed a rune partially uncovered in the sand. I suspect the basement is where Wolf has ended up.¡±

    ¡°Then why don¡¯t we go there first?¡±

    ¡°a) the most straightforward way we know to get there is back through that courtyard. b) did you happen to notice which floor we are on right now?¡±

    ¡°Oh. Yeah, right, sorry, that makes sense.¡±

    Coal gave her a sympathetic look and then leaned back against the table again.

    Indi was about to ask him if he was alright when the door to the room suddenly burst open.

 Volume 2, Chapter 23: One Reunion Too Many

    ¡°I could have sworn you were with Wolf before?¡± Cat said to Indi as she gave Coal a confused look after kicking in the door.

    ¡°Was that really necessary?¡± Zephyr asked as he eyed the door.

    ¡°Kicking the door lets me keep my hands free for possible attackers,¡± Cat explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

    ¡°Or, you know, we could open it stealthily and not alert them to our presence,¡± Zephyr grumbled.

    Cat ignored him.

    ¡°Cat!¡± Indi exclaimed running full force into the woman and wrapping her in a tight hug that nearly knocked Cat off her feet.

    Cat¡¯s immediate reaction was to put her hands out to the side as one might do when being hit by a giant wave and not wanting to get wet. A moment later however she relaxed and placed her hands gently on Indi¡¯s back. She stood like that for 2 seconds and then deciding that was long enough she pried Indi off her. Cat wasn¡¯t typically the hugging type.

    ¡°I am so glad you¡¯re okay. Both of you.¡± Indi turned to Zeph and gave him a hug as well.

    ¡°Hi,¡± he replied with a smile and a warmer return than Cat had.

    ¡°Indi, where is Wolf?¡± Cat asked, getting straight down to business.

    Coal answered for her. ¡°Missing, vanished through a rune in the floor. I suspect he¡¯s in the basement but I could be wrong.¡±

    ¡°Where did you guys go?¡± Indi asked.

    Cat ignored her, instead she continued looking suspiciously at Coal. ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°Cat, he¡¯s helping,¡± Indi told her. ¡°I¡¯d be dead if it wasn¡¯t for him, or at least still trapped with those freaky statues.¡± Her face contorted into a worried frown as she thought about the courtyard.

    ¡°More likely than not you¡¯d probably have ended up wherever Wolf went eventually,¡± Coal commented.

    ¡°How are you here?¡± Cat asked him again. Then she noticed he was holding the towel against his side. ¡°You¡¯re hurt?¡±

    ¡°Some creature attacked us,¡± Indi explained. ¡°Coal pushed me out of the way.¡±

    Coal didn¡¯t say anything, he was watching Cat¡¯s face.

    ¡°Let¡¯s have a look,¡± Cat said her tone doing a complete one-eighty from accusing to concerned. ¡°Move your shirt out of the way.¡±

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    Coal raised his eyebrows at the command but didn¡¯t object. He removed the towel from his side and pulled the fabric of his shirt aside so Cat could see the wound.

    ¡°It¡¯s not bleeding anymore,¡± Coal observed. He shivered as if cold.

    Indi immediately pulled his coat off and handed it back to him. ¡°Here, you look like you could use this more than me.¡±

    Coal shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m fine, you keep it.¡± He gave another involuntary shiver.

    Cat raised an eyebrow at him but didn¡¯t call him out on the lie.

    ¡°Please,¡± Indi said still holding it out. ¡°You¡¯re hurt and I¡¯m not as cold as I was when we were in the walls.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Coal took the jacket and put it on then added, ¡°You know I can summon another.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Indi replied.

    Coal chuckled and then immediately winced.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Indi replied. ¡°I don¡¯t need a jacket though, really.¡±

    Cat watched them both with a bored impatience. ¡°When were you in the walls?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you cold Cat?¡± Indi asked realising Cat was the only one in a short sleeved t-shirt. It was v-necked and tightly fitted, and for once didn¡¯t bare any of her midriff.

    Cat shook her head. ¡°No. What happened since we last saw you?¡±

    ¡°Well, Wolf and I went up that ladder and when we came back down you were both gone?¡±

    ¡°We never left,¡± Zephyr told her.

    Indi glanced over at him with a puzzled look on her face.

    Zephyr continued. ¡°When we went up the ladder it was you and Wolf that were missing.¡±

    ¡°But that... how can that be?¡± Indi stuttered.

    ¡°The house is playing tricks on us,¡± Coal answered coolly.

    Cat turned. ¡°Excuse me, the house is what now?¡±

    ¡°The old lady who lived here booby trapped it. She didn¡¯t want her stuff stolen so there¡¯s all manner of enchantments and curses floating around this place.¡± He spoke with a casualness.

    ¡°What kind of curse just vanishes two people and then makes them reappear later?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Coal replied. ¡°Cat, you¡¯re not wearing a watch. Zephyr are you?¡±

    Zephyr held up his wrist and gave a nod.

    ¡°What time does it say?¡±

    ¡°5 o¡¯clock on the dot.¡±

    ¡°And Indi yours?¡±

    She flipped her wrist over. ¡°Almost 7pm? That can¡¯t be right, we haven¡¯t been here that long and they should be the same.¡± She pulled out her phone. ¡°My phone¡¯s stuck on 4:11pm which also doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡±

    ¡°About when we came in,¡± Zephyr replied. ¡°I feel like we¡¯ve been her more than an hour but...¡± he trailed off and looked towards the windows at the lowering light.

    Coal pulled a tiny silver pocket watch from his left jacket pocket. The pretty thing caught Indi¡¯s eye and she was immediately jealous of it. Coal flipped it open. ¡°It says 6:05 on mine.¡±

    ¡°What time does the sun set?¡± Zephyr asked still looking at the window

    ¡°6 ish,¡± Indi replied. ¡°I think.¡± She turned her head and looked out the windows watching as the sun set for the second time that day.

    ¡°What time is it?¡± Zephyr asked incredulously.

    ¡°Time to stop worrying about watches and get our arses out of here,¡± Cat replied impatiently. ¡°Wolf¡¯s what? In the basement? Of course he flaming is.¡± Cat said the last bit more to herself. She turned toward the door readying herself to lead the leaving charge. But just as she was about to, a figure appeared in the doorway. ¡°What is that?¡± she exclaimed.

    ¡°Ah shit,¡± Coal mumbled.

    Indi and Zephyr spun around upon hearing their exclamations.

    ¡°Oh no, not another one,¡± Indi cried breathlessly, as Zephyr shone his torchlight on the figure in the doorway.

    ¡°I think you mean oh deer.¡± As terrified as he was Zephyr never could resist the opportunity for a good pun. If anything, his sense of humour got more terrible the more afraid he was. Cracking jokes was a defense mechanism of a sort.

    Cat was less than appreciative and couldn¡¯t resist shooting him a dirty look, just as the figure with antlers rushed forward.

 Volume 2, Chapter 24: Friend or Foe

    Wolf found himself in darkness. He stood still and listened. The ground beneath his feet was hard like concrete. Nearby he could smell the rot of wood. A moment ago he had been standing in a courtyard with Indi. The next thing he knew he¡¯d felt like he¡¯d been falling and then nothing. No landing. No sudden stop. If his senses hadn¡¯t felt so attuned he might have wondered if he was even still awake. He listened for sounds and somewhere nearby he heard the slow drip of water. A leaky pipe maybe? Was he underground? There had been something on the ground beneath him. He¡¯d only just noticed it before he¡¯d fell. A rune of some sort. But he hadn¡¯t had enough time to read it properly.

    Werewolf eyes were good but they weren¡¯t this good. Luckily he didn¡¯t need his sight. He used his nose and ears to guide him. He walked slowly and quietly, pausing every now and again to listen. He found the wall. It was concrete too, structural. Yes, he was pretty sure he was in the basement. He hadn¡¯t known this thing had a basement. The few plans he¡¯d seen didn¡¯t show one. He wondered if he should wait in case Indi came through after him. He figured he would hear her if she did so he took the time to explore the room just in case there was a way back as well. He didn¡¯t think there would be. He had seen enough of the rune to think it went one-way but it was always possible there was another.

    Eventually he decided Indi wasn¡¯t coming. He hoped she was alright. She¡¯d been outside at least, sort of. A courtyard would be easy to locate, even if they had to get a rider and pegasus up there. Amanda and Sirius usually had a couple on their farm. As long as Indi stayed there, he didn¡¯t think she¡¯d be too hard to find.

    The room he landed in had only one exit and so he took it. As he stepped out of the room he felt the floor change beneath his feet. Instead of concrete there were planks of wood and what he was sure he could smell as soil. He suspected the room had been made of concrete specifically for the spell. If that were so then what was he about to find down here? He reached out and took a few steps forward once he left the room but he found no other walls to suggest he was in a hallway.

    He went a little to the right even though his instincts were telling him to go the other way. Assuming he¡¯d kept the same orientation, which wasn¡¯t certain, then the left would take him back toward the centre of the house, assuming that that was the direction he wanted to go. For all he knew the entrance might be the other way, if there even was one.

    He¡¯d gone right initially mostly to see what was there. Finding nothing of interest he switched and went left. Left also happened to be toward the sound of the dripping pipe. Perhaps if he could find those then he could follow them out.

    It didn¡¯t take long before he found himself ankle deep in water. A few more steps and suddenly he was knee deep. He paused, reconsidering continuing, but then he caught sight of a glimmer of light up ahead. He wasn¡¯t sure what kind of light but it was something. He felt a strange sensation on his ankle. He reached down to brush whatever it was off. He touched the back of something slimy. Something latched onto his leg. He didn¡¯t panic. He knew what it was. There were leeches in the water. It didn¡¯t bother him too much. They would do no harm. It did give him the motivation to keep moving forward. Leeches would be heading toward him wherever they were and he¡¯d prefer to keep as many off as he could. The faster he moved the sooner he could get out of here and shed them.

    He briefly reconsidered the idea of continuing when the next step took him in up to his waist. But he pushed on. He was committed now. There was another hole a few metres on. This one sent his feet kicking for lost purchase in the water. It was over his head, but sinking down a foot or two he found the ground again and pushed off, now forced to swim. He considered changing into wolf form but that would mean going back and shedding his clothes.

    He was about half way to the light when he felt something grab his ankle. Something that was definitely not a leech. He tried to shake it off. It seemed to be working but then he felt something slice his side. He knew instantly he¡¯d been cut. Feeling exposed as he was he began the transform. Claws formed and his clothes split apart. His jaw elongated and sharp, thick, pointed canines came down from his mouth. Instantly his smell improved ten-fold. Something splashed nearby. Another thing grabbed him but he slashed out with his claws. He felt teeth sink into his shoulder and he bit back.

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    He tasted flesh, slimy, scaly. They thrashed in the water together. Biting! Kicking! Clawing! He heard the snarls, the yelps. He heard more coming. He recognised their scent, their sound, their taste and he knew what they were. Knew his best chance was to get out of the water. He growled back, sunk his teeth in and pulled. Kicking out with his hind paws he sprang loose from the fight. He swam strongly toward the light. He knew they would be faster and so he listened. Whenever he felt one was getting to close he turned and fought like the wolf he was.

    They were wolves too. Wolves of a different sort. Known as Wendigos. They had no fur, only skin, and webbed paws. Gills let them stay under a long time and long spindly limbs. Their sight was bad. They hunted only by sound and the feel of the water on their skin and everything which moved within it. Once out of the water and silent he would have the advantage. But here in the water, this was their territory. And so while he swam strong, he did not panic. He did not thrash. For that they would hear and the panic would draw more of them.

    He made it to the shallows. He knew he was bleeding all over but as a wolf his skin was tough. He could handle it. He shook himself off and then leapt from that spot onto dry ground. He walked slowly.

    Just as he was about to relax. Just as he though he might be free, one of the beasts leapt from the water and landed right on his back. It went for his neck. He howled a mighty howl right in it¡¯s ear. In surprise it loosened it¡¯s hold just enough that Wolf could throw it off. It whimpered as it hit the wall. He growled at it and backed away toward the light. A small gap between some boards at the top of a short flight of stairs promised salvation.

    The wendigo slunk back into the water, evidently having relised his opponent was tougher than he¡¯d have liked. Wolf climbed the stairs. At the top was not a door, although it looked like it had been some sort of doorway at one point, it was now boarded over. Luckily the boards looked damp and easy to tear. He grabbed one between his teeth and gave it a good tug. It came free. A couple more boards like that and he¡¯d made a hole in the wall just enough for a wolf to squeeze through.

    He emerged into what looked like an oversized conservatory. The floor was a black and white patchwork and he was surrounded by hundreds of plants, all in various sizes from tiny cacti to full grown trees. What had looked like bright sun when he was in the darkness now appeared much dimmer, the dying rays of a setting sun. Wolf¡¯s good low-light eyesight in this form let him see the area about as well as if it had been fully lit. The most disconcerting thing however was that he seemed to have somehow moved from the south-west to the very end of the north-east wing. He assumed that the teleportation must have involved some sideways movement for he was sure he had not travelled that far through the basement.

    As he wandered further into the conservatory he was hit by many different smells. Some sweet. He could swear one of them was pineapple although he could see no pineapple trees. There were roses somewhere too, although they were also out of sight. There were tomatoes, basil, thyme, coriander, monkswood, and so many more. Only once in his life had he seen so many plants in one place and that had been in the botanical gardens of Mercy, one of the largest cities in the southern continents.

    He remained in wolf form for now. It kept him protected from any attacks in addition to giving him an advantage sense wise. Plus, he¡¯d lost his clothes in the transform. He shook himself once more sending droplets of water raining down on nearby plants. He looked skyward trying to find evidence of an automatic sprinkler system. According to Kass this place had been unlived in for a few weeks at least, and yet the plants all looked well taken care of, if a little overgrown. Perhaps the sprinklers were hidden among the trees.

    He cornered around toward where the end of wing must be. He stopped when he caught sight of a figure standing near a tree and facing away from him. She was red-headed and short and had the unmistakable shape and clothing of Amanda, but the smell was wrong.

    He had figured wolf form would help him find them easier. All the better to hear and smell but now, past the sweet scent of the trees, herbs, and flowers, he could pick up the obvious odor of decay, and it came from her. If he had been in his human form he would have yelled out. As he was not he settled for low growl instead.

    The figure, who looked like Amanda did not seem to hear him. Against his better judgement he took a step forward. Then another. Until he was only metres away. The smell was overpowering now and every bone in his body willed him to turn tail and run. But curiosity would not let him. He growled again.

    The figure slowly turned. She smiled at him. She had Amanda¡¯s face. She looked exactly like Amanda. Every little detail. Except for the smell. Wolf knew that and he knew that this could not be her. Could it?

    She held out her hands welcoming. She looked happy to see him. Wolf was torn. He took a hesitant step back. The moment his weight shifted, her expression changed to one of anger.

    Something shiny entered her hand. A knife!

    She lunged toward him.

 Volume 2, Chapter 25: Buried Deep in Dreamscape

    Amanda felt no discernible difference having stepped back through the door with the dreamwalking rune on it. She was relieved to find Kass and Sirius were still with her as well. They all released hands.

    ¡°So, onward then? To find the others?¡± Sirius asked.

    Amanda gave a short nod.

    Kass turned and started back the way they had come. Sirius followed.

    Amanda paused and turned the other way, thinking she¡¯d heard a sound coming from further down the corridor. But when no other sounds followed she shook her head and figured she¡¯d just imagined it. She turned back and followed the other two.

    As she walked she started to feel strange. At first her hearing changed. The footsteps on the hard wood floor ahead, and the creaks of the floorboards, all started to fade, as if she were listening underwater. Then even the air around her seemed as if her balance weren¡¯t quite right, like the world was tilting. For a second she was worried she might faint so she paused and considered calling out for Sirius. But when she stopped it all seemed to click back together like a digital camera finding it¡¯s focus. The words died on her tongue.

    Then a second passed and it all went wonky again and faster this time. She watched as wall started to melt. She didn¡¯t panic, not yet. She focused on feeling the ground beneath her feet. She reached out a hand to steady herself against the wall but it vanished before she could touch it.

    Before her, the others vanished until there was nothing but a winding path ahead and an empty blue sky above. She closed her eyes, then realising that made it worse, that she could feel no consistent gravity, she opened them again. For a little while, as everything shifted, she felt sick.

    ''Relax, it¡¯s just a dream,'' she reminded herself, guessing that they¡¯d never left the room at all, or perhaps they¡¯d never even entered it. This she was sure was the dreamworld. Somewhere deep inside, that terrified her, but she tried to suppress the feeling. She knew the sorts of horrors this place contained, and she also knew that many of them fed off fear.

    As she forced herself to relax, the dizzy feeling lessened somewhat. Then the world started to harden again, to build an image.

    She found herself home, back in her own house, on the second floor, with a disconcerting feeling of deja vu and not entirely sure that this wasn¡¯t the real world.

    ¡®No, it¡¯s a dream. Remember, it¡¯s a dream,¡¯ she told herself. It was important not to forget, although in this moment she wasn¡¯t sure quite why.

    The world started to shift again but she pushed back.

    ''No, stay here. This is fine.'' She knew the dreamer always had some say. Dreamwalkers and dreamwalking power may be able to manipulate and shape this reality for others, but a part of this world belonged to the dreamers themselves, and Amanda was determined to keep as much control over what she saw as she could. Evil walked this world, predators hunted prey, but as long as she recognised where she was, Amanda felt she still retained some power. This reality was hers. These walls were hers. They were fragile. She knew. She felt it, but for now they were hers.

    She took a hesitant step along the hallway. She stopped at the top of the stairs, glanced along the hallway to the room that both was Gemma¡¯s and wasn¡¯t. Her eldest daughter¡¯s room. From deep within she heard a baby start to cry.

    She started toward the call but another sound behind her stopped her. It was coming from the bathroom at the end of the hall. The room opposite her youngest¡¯s. The shatter of glass on tile. Movement, shifting weight, creaking footsteps. The door swinging in. It creaked too even though it never did in real life. No, their bathroom hinges at home were well-oiled. But this was not home. Amanda needed to remember that.

    She felt something was wrong but she didn¡¯t know what. Didn¡¯t know which way to go. In here did it even matter?

    She started toward the bathroom, feeling some protective need to defend the baby, keep her grandchild safe. Except it wasn¡¯t her grandchild. Not in here. She knew that, but she didn¡¯t feel it.

    She took another step, afraid of what she might find in the bathroom. Feeling like she already knew.

    Another step.

    She could hear growls now, soft but unmistakable. A snarl. A shuffle.

    She took the last two steps to the door in two quick strides and there at the edge of the room she paused. Lily stood in front of the bathroom mirror. A shattered glass cup lay at her feet. In her hand she held one shard.

    Amanda couldn¡¯t see her face but the child was wearing a singlet and the state of her arms was easily visible. Her skin was discoloured, pale with patches of green and purple. It was flaking off, as if someone had taken a cheese grater to a fish.

    In this moment Amanda was thankful that, as it was, she could not smell. There the illusion ended. But smell is such a small sense for many, all but ignored, except for when it overwhelms us. Without it the other senses take over. Amanda did not usually pay attention to her nose, and here the sight alone was enough to horrify.

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    Lily turned. One eye hung from it¡¯s socket. Her mouth was rimmed red with blood. Was it hers or someone else''s?

    Down the hall the baby cried again, a shrill fearful cry.

    Amanda turned toward it, heart wrenching. There was something wrong. Someone with it. She looked a moment too long for when she turned back to Lily the girl had already covered half the ground between them and was coming in fast.

    Amanda took a frightened step backward and then she was falling. Darkness whipping by. She shut her eyes. She felt herself speeding up. There was nothing beneath her feet. Nothing where the ground should have been. She prayed for it to stop. For a soft landing. For a reaching hand. For anything. She screamed for Cat first because in here who else could possibly hear her? Then for Sirius on the off chance he was close. She didn¡¯t know enough of how the dreamworld worked when others were in it. She didn¡¯t know how to find someone. She didn¡¯t even know where she was.

    She screamed for Cat again and she considered creating a flame to ward back the darkness, but she didn¡¯t dare. This wasn¡¯t like when Cat had pulled her into Katrina¡¯s dream. She couldn¡¯t feel an edge that told her how to get back. In here she was well and truly lost. She couldn¡¯t trust that any flame she created now would only be in here. This wasn¡¯t any ordinary dream.

    ¡°Help! Cat?¡± She spoke to the darkness, both out loud and with her thoughts. She did not yell anymore now. Now she felt that would do nothing but bring Them, the ones that lived in the darkness. dreamweavers, nightmares, sandmen, and others whose names she did not know.

    She felt her fall slow but still she flailed in the air, no ground beneath her feet.

    ¡°Help,¡± she whispered, quieter now. ¡°Cat. Sirius. Somebody...¡± the last word trailed of her lips, lost. There was no echo, no substance to the air. She felt like she was spinning as if caught on a rope, only there was no rope and no direction of pull. And then quite suddenly she felt ground beneath her arms and hips. Soft soil like in a garden that had just been planted.

    She pushed her hands in deep, glad to feel anything. Deep within the soil she felt something buried, something soft, something cold, harder when you pushed. Not thinking about what it could be she pulled it up.

    She yelped in shock as she realised she¡¯d dug up the cold dead remains of a human arm. Worse, it was attached to something, to someone. She did not want to know who. She did not want to look at this arm. This familiar arm. A part of her knew who but she kept her own mind from it. She clambered to her feet. Tripping over the ground as she rose she tumbled back down landing softly on the heap. The mound of soil she was on took shape and she realised she was kneeling on a grave. Trying not to look at the hand, unable to climb to her feet she scrambled backward and then she felt two hands touch her shoulders.

    They reached down, grabbed around under her armpits and pulled her roughly up. She tried to struggle but then a familiar voice spoke.

    ¡°Relax, it¡¯s me.¡±

    Cat! Amanda tried to spin, unsure if this was just more of the dream.

    Cat finished pulling Amanda to her feet and then Amanda was able to get a good look at her. Cat didn¡¯t let go of Amanda¡¯s elbow.

    ¡°How¡¯d you get here?¡± Amanda asked. This Cat seemed solid, familiar. Somehow more real than anything else.

    ¡°Dreamwalker remember,¡± Cat quipped. She ran her gaze up and down Amanda, checking for any obvious injuries.

    Amanda¡¯s own gaze studied Cat, looked for things that were off. But Cat looked like Cat, right down to the devilish twinkle in her green eyes and the smirk on her lips. ¡°Sirius is...¡± Amanda started.

    ¡°Listen,¡± Cat interrupted ¡°There¡¯s no time for that. I¡¯m going to get you out of her and then you have to come and find us immediately. Understand?¡±

    Amanda frowned. She couldn¡¯t leave Sirius in here, or Kass for that matter. She started to protest but Cat interrupted again.

    ¡°It¡¯s important. I don¡¯t know how to get there but it¡¯s the second floor in the other wing okay, and you have to go straight there. I have no idea which room, nearer the centre of the house. The others will be fine I promise.¡±

    Amanda stared straight at Cat. The woman appeared serious, more so than usual, and she also seemed to be telling the truth, mostly. There was a catch in her voice when she spoke that last bit, as if she wasn¡¯t quite sure. The unusual vigor and urgency with which she said everything was enough however. Cat had good instincts and if she honestly thought finding them right now was more important then it probably was. Besides Amanda wasn¡¯t sure how much she could do to help Sirius and Kass. Spell caused dreamsleeps were hard to break.

    Amanda nodded.

    Satisfied Cat broke eye contact and looked around. ¡°Okay,¡± she said, and then the world started fading. Amanda was sure there was more to the journey back but when she awoke the rest of what had happened was fuzzy.

    She found herself sprawled on the floor her feet were in the room they thought they had just exited and her upper half was in the hallway. Further into the room she could see the unconscious bodies of Sirius and Kass. Figuring out which side induced the dreams she quickly pulled her feet back into the hallway. She waited a moment in case there were consequences but everything seemed to be alright. There was no sign of Cat anywhere.

    From where she sat she could see Sirius¡¯s chest rising and falling. Kass¡¯s was doing the same. They didn¡¯t seem to be in any distress. Good, they were both alright for now. But they were also trapped in the dreamworld and Amanda wasn¡¯t sure how long they would remain safe.

    She longed to go to them. To shake Sirius awake, but she knew if she crossed that line there was a good chance she¡¯d end up back in that same place again. Cat had said to go and find her and to do so fast. Perhaps Cat was already trying to wake them? Except if that was the case then why not wait here until they could all move together? Did Cat and the others need help? Had that even really been Cat? It had looked like Cat and spoke like Cat and she was awake now. She was certain of that. Wasn¡¯t she? She shook her head. Yes, she was sure, she¡¯d done this a few times before. She was definitely awake now and Cat could do that. Cat was the only one in this house that could do that.

    She decided that she could deliberate on the way given time was of the essence. Worst case she could always turn around and come back here.

    It took her longer to get through to the other side of the house than she thought it would. Doors she went though came out in unexpected places and it was only after she¡¯d already gone through a few that she realised she probably should have been making a note. She did eventually make it to what she though might be the correct hallway but at this point she was no longer sure of how to get back.

    She was wandering along with an even pace, not wanting to miss anything, and wondering how she was supposed to find them when there were so many doors. Then she heard what could only be described as the sound of a wild animal up ahead, like a cross between a moose, a wildcat, and a witch.

 Volume 2, Chapter 26: Time is A Theory

    Cat quickly realised her mistake at taking a second to give Zephyr that look. She hadn¡¯t expected the deer to charge so soon.

    Luckily for her, Coal was faster. He sprang to his feet, placing himself between Cat and the charging antler man. He thrust his sword forward meeting the thing in a deadlock. One sharp antler pierced into Coal¡¯s shoulder while Coal¡¯s sword plunged deep into the thing¡¯s stomach and up at an angle into it¡¯s rib cage.

    Cat heard Indi gasp.

    Initially it looked like Coal had him but Cat could see the risk. In a moment the antler boy was going to twist his head and in doing so he¡¯d rip the top of Coal¡¯s chest wide open. So Cat did the most sensible thing she could think of. She leapt on it¡¯s back and grabbed it by the antlers. In hindsight this was not the most sensible thing.

    She realised once she was on it, that there was no way she could hold the antlers steady from this precarious position and all she had probably done was endanger herself.

    Except the action did do something, it surprised the deer long enough for Coal to realise the danger he was in and extract himself from the antler.

    Right as he got free, pulling his own sword out in the process the deer threw it¡¯s head back and roared.

    ¡°Cat, get down!¡± Coal commanded.

    Cat didn¡¯t think she could but the choice was made for her as the deer gave an almighty shake dislodging her grip and sending her flying.

    Coal made to go for the thing again with his sword but having learnt from the first encounter the beast lowered it¡¯s antlers. Coal pulled up short just in time. Seeing no way around it or method to stab it without himself getting stabbed again he took a step back.

    ¡°Indi! Shield!¡± he commanded.

    The deer lunged, and burst into flames, disintegrating into a pile of ash almost instantly.

    It took Coal a moment to register what had happened. It hadn¡¯t been Indi but another figure, one standing in the doorway.

    ¡°Amanda!¡± Indi exclaimed and ran at the woman.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Coal barked but it was too late, Indi had already wrapped Amanda in a huge hug.

    Seeing that it was Amanda and she didn¡¯t do anything to hurt Indi, Coal relaxed. He turned his attention to Cat, who was on the floor but seemed to be okay. He was about to go over to her when the whole world started to spin. Small black dots gathered at the edge of his vision. He sat back on the table behind him with a large crash, blinked his eyes slowly and the next thing he knew Cat was at his side instead.

    ¡°Amanda!¡± Cat called as she grabbed Coal¡¯s discarded towel from earlier and pressed it to this new wound.

    Coal had the vague thought that he probably should have done that earlier.

    Indi appeared to Coal¡¯s right, her hands raised to his shoulder to stop him from falling even though he was still upright at the moment. Or perhaps it was just for comfort. Coal didn¡¯t need comfort though.

    What he did need appeared in front of him next.

    Amanda arrived and Cat removed the towel briefly so she could inspect the wound. It was bleeding heavily and it was deep.

    ¡°Cauterize it?¡± Cat asked.

    Amanda hesitated but quickly came to a decision. She placed her hands over the steady stream of blood and focused. A rough crusty shell slowly began to form over the wound.

    ¡°Zeph, you can come out now,¡± Cat said in an amused voice.

    ¡°Yeah right good.¡± Zephyr replied as he emerged from his hiding spot under a table by the window.

    Coal felt heat spread through his chest. It was nice at first, pleasant even but then it started to hurt. It started to really hurt.

    He gritted his teeth but did not move or yell out.

    Amanda met his eyes. ¡°Hold still,¡± she said evenly. A warning. He understood this was hard for her, in the same way that when she had looked into his eyes she knew it would not be pleasent for him. This was not a normal firestarter practice. This was beyond what even the most advanced of firestarters could do. She had to be precise. One wrong step, burn the wrong thing, and there was a good chance he would not survive the process.

    Finally she removed her hands from his chest. ¡°Find a healer when we get out of here.¡±

    He nodded. ¡°I know one.¡± His chest throbbed but his head seemed to be slowly clearing. Sitting on the table had helped. He turned to Cat. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°You have a hole in your chest,¡± came the reply along with a snort of indignance.

    He smirked. ¡°I know.¡± His eyes dropped to her belly then back up to her eyes. He raised his eyebrows at her.

    Cat glared back. She didn¡¯t need to be reminded that she was pregnant. She knew. She knew the risks and she was trying not to think about it.

    But Coal¡¯s comment had reminded the others. Well it had reminded Amanda and Indi. Zephyr, who did not know, bore a confused look at the exchange.

    Zephyr might not have worried about it any further except the other two weren¡¯t willing to let it drop.

    Amanda touched Cat¡¯s elbow gently and assessed the woman as she asked, ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Cat growled pulling away stubbornly.

    Amanda glanced at Coal. He raised an eyebrow and gave a shrug.

    Indi, much less subtle than Amanda exclaimed ¡°Cat, You¡¯re pregnant and you got thrown across the room.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Zephyr exclaimed.

    Cat ignored him and struck back at Indi. ¡°Well it¡¯s not like there¡¯s anything that anyone here could do about it even if I was hurt.¡±

    ¡°Cat,¡± Amanda said softly, as if trying to calm a wild animal.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Cat replied firmly meeting her eyes.

    Coal gave an amused half smile.

    ¡°What do you mean you¡¯re pregnant?¡± Zephyr asked.

    Amanda appeared to take Cat at her word this time. At Zephyr¡¯s comment she turned to Indi instead and gave her a look.

    Indi¡¯s hands flew to her mouth. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to tell the secret.¡±

    ¡°Every one here knows anyway,¡± Coal replied, still resting on the edge of the table. ¡°Except for Zephyr it would seem.¡±

    Amanda turned to Coal with a puzzled expression. ¡°How do you know?¡± she asked.

    ¡°How do you?¡± Cat asked turning the question on Amanda instead. ¡°I only told Indi.¡±

    ¡°You told Indi?¡± Amanda and Coal asked together. It was a fair question. Indi was not known for keeping secrets.

    ¡°She had to, she¡¯d just been booted in the stomach in a fight... and wasn¡¯t looking so great.¡± Indi trailed off as she saw the expression on everyone else''s face. She had a sudden feeling that she¡¯d said too much again.

    Amanda turned to Cat with arched eyebrows.

    Cat shrugged.

    ¡°To be fair, she was in much worse condition then than she is now,¡± Indi continued in an attempt to remedy her already saying to much.

    Coal actually chuckled.

    Indi looked at him in surprise.

    Amanda sighed.

    ¡°You want me to take that shovel?¡± Coal asked Indi with a straight face and with the barest hint of a smile.

    Indi blushed a bright pink.

    ¡°Wait, just one question,¡± Zephyr interjected.

    ¡°It¡¯s not yours,¡± Cat replied briskly.

    ¡°Ah yes, that was the question on all our minds,¡± Coal quipped, obviously trying not to smile too much.

    Zephyr glared at him. ¡°It¡¯s a relevant question.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t the place for it, for any of this,¡± Cat snapped. She turned to Amanda ¡°How did you get here? And where are the others?¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting such a warm welcome,¡± Amanda replied sarcastically back. Then she took a breath and continued more seriously. ¡°Firstly, you told me to come here, and secondly, I don¡¯t remember this being what Wolf looked like,¡± she gestured at Coal.

    Coal raised and lowered an eyebrow in acknowledgement and said simply with no further explanation, ¡°Wolf is in the basement.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you to come here,¡± Cat replied to Amanda.

    Amanda¡¯s gaze jumped between them, unsure which to address first. She settled on both in rapid fire. She turned to Coal first, ¡°Wolf is in the basement?¡± and then to Cat, ¡°And you did tell me, before you pulled me out of the dreamworld about, well...¡± She glanced at her wristwatch ¡°Well more than an hour ago actually, it took a surprisingly long time to get here. What is going on in this house?¡±

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°The house is trying to kill us,¡± Coal replied matter-of-factly and almost as if he was amused by the idea.

    ¡°It was designed by a madwoman,¡± Zephyr replied with a touch of delirium.

    Indi jumped in eagerly with her own information, ¡°Kass said the old lady who owned this house was a psychic, that she went mad in her old age.¡±

    Cat snorted. ¡°In her old age? How many physics do you know that are adults and aren¡¯t batshit insane?¡±

    Indi shrugged and shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know any psychics.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s one that practices down by the pier,¡± Zephyr replied, ¡°And one with a shop along the main street of Little Rock.¡±

    ¡°Those aren¡¯t psychics,¡± Cat told Zephyr.

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they are.¡±

    ¡°Not good ones.¡±

    ¡°We weren¡¯t just talking about good ones, I doubt even Coal knows any good sane psychics but there are plenty of average ones around,¡± Zephyr retorted.

    ¡°Yeah, average ones that can¡¯t even predict the weather.¡± Cat snapped.

    ¡°To be fair, the elemental festival is this week,¡± Indi pointed out softly.

    It wasn¡¯t so much that Amanda noticed Coal¡¯s gaze drifting in response to the topic of him knowing psychics, as if he didn¡¯t want to be asked the question, lest he have to lie. What drew her eye was when he caught himself and focused his attention back with an almost too blank expression. It made her wonder if he didn¡¯t just have his own psychic stashed away somewhere, a high quality one, feeding him information about the future.

    He caught her gaze and was so fast in asking his next question that Amanda couldn¡¯t be sure if that had been his intent or if he was just drawing her attention away from physics and his response.

    ¡°What time does your watch say?¡± he asked her.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Amanda replied confused.

    The question made the others stop and turn.

    ¡°Your watch, what time is it?¡± he repeated, and he held out his own silver pocket watch for her to see.

    She took his and compared it with her own. From the frown on her face it was obvious she¡¯d noticed a difference.

    ¡°What time does it say?¡± Coal asked again.

    ¡°A little after 6pm. There¡¯s a slight difference but...¡± Amanda frowned.

    ¡°Mine says 7pm.¡± Indi thrust her wrist under Amanda¡¯s nose.

    Amanda looked at it and then she looked at the sky outside.

    ¡°Bit dark for six isn¡¯t it?¡± Coal asked.

    ¡°You know I felt like I¡¯d been walking for longer,¡± Amanda replied still staring at the window.

    ¡°You wanna know what Zeph¡¯s watch says?¡± Indi asked barely able to contain herself.

    ¡°No, but...¡± Amanda hesitated then turned, a little afraid of what she might see.

    Still clutching the large and very bright torch in one hand, their main source of light now the sun had gone, Zephyr held out his other wrist so Amanda could see.

    ¡°Hold on,¡± Cat interjected suddenly, holding up both hands. ¡°What did you say about being in the dreamworld before?¡± she asked Amanda.

    ¡°Sirius, and Kass, and I entered a room with a dreamwalking rune on the door. We thought we¡¯d gotten out of it okay but then things went kooky. You pulled me out and told me to come straight here.¡±

    Cat shook her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t pull you out.¡±

    ¡°Could someone else have done it?¡± asked Coal.

    Amanda shook her head slowly. ¡°It looked exactly like Cat does now. Acted like Cat. Who else would pull me out?¡±

    ¡°The others are still in there?¡± Cat asked.

    Amanda nodded. ¡°It took me so long to get here. I would have gone back but some of the doors don¡¯t seem to work the same way both directions. I¡¯m lucky I even got here. And before you ask I didn¡¯t try to wake them. They were in the room, past the rune. I didn¡¯t want to risk it, although maybe...¡±

    ¡°And you didn¡¯t see anything? Weren¡¯t attacked by anything until now?¡± Coal asked, interrupting before Amanda got carried away in her obvious increasing frustration..

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°What was that thing?¡±

    Coal shook his head. Indi shrugged.

    ¡°Do you want me to to see if I can sense Sirius and Kass?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Yes please.¡±

    Cat nodded. She looked around, then sat down where she was on the floor. She closed her eyes and focused.

    Amanda turned to Coal. Noticing his other wound she asked, ¡°What did that?¡±

    ¡°Not sure,¡± he replied.

    ¡°It was invisible, it tried to attack me but Coal got in the way,¡± Indi told her.

    ¡°And Wolf¡¯s in the basement?¡±

    ¡°We think so,¡± Coal replied.

    ¡°You thi...¡±

    ¡°We saw a rune.¡±

    ¡°Coal saw a rune,¡± Indi corrected for him. ¡°I don¡¯t know what they look like, not really.¡± She frowned. ¡°Which time do you think is the real time?¡±

    ¡°Real time for whom?¡± Coal asked.

    ¡°Out there.¡±

    He shrugged.

    ¡°Why did my watch shift?¡± Indi asked more to the herself than anyone in particular.

    ¡°The better question is why are they all different,¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°Because we haven¡¯t all been together for the whole time,¡± Zephyr replied.

    Amanda turned to him a question in her eyes.

    Indi answered. ¡°Zeph and Cat think Wolf and I disappeared but Wolf and I think Cat and Zeph disappeared. We went into a different room and then the other two weren¡¯t there anymore.¡±

    ¡°And you ended up by yourself?¡± Amanda asked.

    Indi nodded. ¡°Just before Coal found me.¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we be getting out of here?¡± Zephyr asked.

    Amanda glanced down at Cat, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, eyes still shut. She shook her head. ¡°If Cat can¡¯t reach them we need a plan. I don¡¯t want to go rushing off through who knows what door.¡±

    ¡°You must have been through a few on the way here?¡± Coal asked.

    Amanda met his eyes and nodded. Behind him shadows danced on the wall as Zephyr swung the torch around for a better look of the room.

    ¡°And you didn¡¯t meet too much more trouble after that first one?¡±

    Amanda shook her head ¡°No, but...¡± she trailed off and then glanced around the room they were in, following the light from Zeph¡¯s torch.

    ¡°You¡¯re not dreaming now,¡± came Cat¡¯s voice from the floor, guessing at Amanda¡¯s recent thoughts.

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°How do I even... how do I know you¡¯re you? Or that before was you?¡±

    Cat stood up. ¡°You know what dreaming feels like, you¡¯ve done it. If you¡¯re ever aware enough to question if you¡¯re in a dream you will most certainly know if you are or not, unless the dreamwalker controlling it is extremely exceptional.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know before,¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t know you were dreaming?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Not at first.¡±

    ¡°Well, sometimes it takes a bit.¡±

    ¡°Skilled dreamwalkers aren¡¯t exactly uncommon, Cat,¡± Coal reminded her.

    She glared at him.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t know you weren¡¯t you then either,¡± Amanda added to Cat.

    Cat looked worried.

    ¡°You still can¡¯t be sure it wasn¡¯t her,¡± Coal replied.

    Cat looked annoyed and she slid her narrowed gaze Coal¡¯s way again.

    He explained by tapping his silver pocket watch. ¡°Time doesn¡¯t exactly appear to be consistent in here.¡±

    Cat¡¯s eyes widened. Amanda frowned.

    ¡°I would have though my phone would have worked since it¡¯s digital,¡± Indi sighed.

    Amanda paused and turned with a thoughtful look on her face.

    ¡°What difference does that make?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Her clock should update to whatever the time is,¡± Coal explained.

    ¡°Assuming there¡¯s a connection,¡± Amanda replied.

    Indi nodded sadly.

    ¡°Do you have a connection?¡± Amanda asked, guessing at Indi¡¯s expression what the answer was.

    Indi shook her head.

    ¡°And if there¡¯s no connection?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Then it should use it¡¯s internal tick,¡± Indi explained. ¡°It should show the same as Amanda or Coal¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°Assuming ours are the right time. They were a little off remember.¡± Coal answered.

    ¡°Yeah, but whatever time it is it shouldn¡¯t be 4:11pm.¡±

    ¡°Let me see,¡± Amanda held out her hand.

    Indi passed her the phone.

    As Amanda took it she asked Cat, ¡°Did you manage to find them?¡±

    Cat shook her head sadly.

    A muscle in Amanda¡¯s jaw twitched a little but she otherwise appeared calm. Only Coal noticed the twitch.

    She played with Indi¡¯s phone for a bit. ¡°It says it has a connection,¡± Amanda observed.

    ¡°Yeah but if I dial there¡¯s just a tone. And if Coal entered after us and time is moving faster in here than his... no, actually that would make sense, except yours wouldn¡¯t make sense. I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Might depend on which door you go through or the area of the house,¡± Coal replied. ¡°And I wouldn¡¯t trust any technology in here, not if there¡¯s any chance technopath magic is involved. They could turn off or on whatever they want.¡±

    Indi¡¯s face fell and she put her phone away. ¡°Right. There are places like that though right? Where time moves faster or slower.¡±

    Coal nodded. ¡°Pocket dimensions, technically not always a different dimension, but the term applies to both. Pieces of space outside of normal time. People use them for vacations and things.¡±

    ¡°Oh, to be so rich,¡± Zephyr rolled his eyes.

    The other three were looking at Coal with various levels of surprise.

    Coal didn¡¯t falter under their gaze. He seemed more amused that they were surprised.

    ¡°That is definitely not a normal thing,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°You still age though?¡± Indi asked, wanting confirmation.

    Coal gave a single nod. ¡°Yes, but it pauses external commitments.¡±

    Amanda was still frowning.

    ¡°It keeps people off your back,¡± Coal added.

    Cat shrugged and with a smirk replied, ¡°Well when you put it like that.¡±

    ¡°I mean if I had that sort of money I¡¯d definitely have one,¡± Zephyr added. Seeing Amanda wasn¡¯t laughing, and instead was looking worried, he then asked more seriously, ¡°So what¡¯s the plan?¡±

    Coal glanced at Amanda and then speaking mainly to her said, ¡°I don¡¯t really see any other option than just walking through the doors in the direction we think we should be heading. I don¡¯t think we¡¯re in a pocket dimension by the way.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± she replied. ¡°You don¡¯t have anything cooked up your sleeve?¡±

    He shook his head.

    She seemed doubtful but she glanced at the doorway. She was worried about Sirius and Kass but she was also afraid that if they walked through that door everyone was going to vanish and she¡¯d be left alone again.

    ¡°When I was with Wolf, we had a rope to make sure we didn¡¯t lose each other.¡± Indi twisted her fingers together, evidently a little afraid of the same thing.

    ¡°That worked out well,¡± Zephyr replied sarcastically.

    ¡°A magic door could just cut the rope,¡± Cat added.

    Indi dropped her eyes sadly.

    ¡°What makes you think we¡¯re not in a pocket dimension?¡± Amanda asked Coal.

    ¡°It just doesn¡¯t feel like one,¡± Coal replied simply.

    ¡°Why not?¡± Amanda pushed.

    ¡°Eugh, who cares. Let¡¯s keep moving,¡± Cat complained.

    ¡°I just want to get an idea of what we are facing,¡± Amanda snapped at Cat.

    Cat held her tongue.

    Amanda turned back to Coal and eyed him suspiciously. Her trip in the dreamworld had made her wary.

    Coal noticing her expression attempted to placate her. ¡°There may be pocket dimensions here, in certain rooms, but I don¡¯t think this house is one and that won¡¯t be how it split you up.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°When you enter a pocket dimension you exit it at the same time, or near enough to.¡±

    ¡°Near enough to?¡± It was Cat¡¯s turn to ask a question.

    ¡°Spend long enough in one and a few seconds might have gone by when you return.¡±

    ¡°Long enough?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Months, years, it depends on the particular dimension.¡± Coal studied all of their faces in turn.

    ¡°What if it was badly made? Then it¡¯s possible Indi and Wolf walked into one and then...¡± But Cat¡¯s mind had already seen the problem, or possible problem. She and Zeph had followed them into the same room so then there was no way they could have missed them. ¡°Ugh!¡± Cat exclaimed. She hated time travel or whatever this was.

    Coal shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s generally easier to make time almost freeze than it is to make it only slightly slower than regular time, at which point you¡¯d just make a pocket dimension.¡±

    ¡°What? It is?¡± Cat asked incredulously. ¡°Well maybe they wanted time a smidgen slower.¡±

    ¡°What for?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Cat threw her hands out. ¡°Make it not obvious they were coming out of a pocket dimension.¡±

    Amanda who had been thinking suddenly piped up. ¡°Alright, I don¡¯t think it matters. How do we get out of here? Do we just walk back in the direction we want to go and hope nothing changes?¡±

    ¡°We could try find that teleportation door again,¡± Cat suggested.

    ¡°That was further in to the house,¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°Yeah but we know where it goes.¡±

    ¡°Do we?¡± Zephyr inquired.

    Cat rolled her eyes. ¡°Well I don¡¯t know. What if we go where Coal and Indi came from and try and find the rune Wolf went through.¡±

    Coal stiffened but only Amanda and Indi noticed.

    Indi shook her head. ¡°It might not take us the same way and I don¡¯t really want to go back that way.¡± She thought about the taxidermy room with the clown and other creepy things. Coal seemed to relax a bit as she spoke. Evidently he didn¡¯t want to go back that way either.

    Amanda agreed. ¡°I¡¯d prefer if we found Kass and Sirius first. I¡¯m worried in case something else gets to them first. If we can just get close enough for you to dreamwalk.¡± She glanced at Cat.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised this isn¡¯t close enough,¡± Coal observed.

    Cat glared at him.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t a dig at your powers or lack thereof,¡± he replied. ¡°Just that even you should be able to reach them from here, if the house were really only as big as it seems from the outside.¡±

    Cat relaxed her posture a little although she still glared at him. She knew he was right. For all the poking she did to Kass about lack of magic practice she knew she was just as bad. The jab was a fair one even if it was one she would rather not acknowledge.

    ¡°We could just stay here,¡± Zephyr suggested. ¡°Wait until the sun comes up. This room seems safe.¡± He didn¡¯t really want to stay in the house overnight but the thought of risking any more separation by wandering around was even less appealing.

    ¡°If the sun comes up,¡± Indi replied. She had the weirdest feeling that if they stayed here they might never see it again.

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t leave the others.¡±

    Coal nodded in agreement. ¡°It may seem safe for now but that doesn¡¯t mean it will stay that way. Think you¡¯d remember the way you came?¡± he asked Amanda.

    She shook her head. ¡°No way, but I can probably start us off.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s better than standing around,¡± Cat agreed.

    With a final look at each other they came to an agreement. And with a groan from Zephyr they set off.

 Volume 2, Chapter 27: Through The Wall

    Wolf ran as fast as he could. He made for the exit, skirting plants and knocking over a few pots as he ran past. Up ahead the door leading out was closed. He had two choices, run at it and hope the door was weak or unlocked and that his weight was enough to get him through uninjured, or shift back into human form, making himself more vulnerable to a blade and losing himself precious seconds in escaping.

    Figuring he was far enough ahead, based on the sound of her footsteps, he chose the latter. He timed it so he came to a skid right beside the door just as he was done shifting. Trying the knob he was pleased to find it opened easily. He dashed through, ready to close it behind himself. As he crossed the threshold, and spun to close the door, he finally got a good look at what had been following.

    He saw nothing. No pursuer. No Amanda. Nothing. Just a room full of plants. He hesitated. Then he closed the door and backed away slowly.

    He turned around and sussed out his new surroundings. He was in a hallway, mahogany panelling on each side. The panelled floor was half covered in faded red and gold patterned carpet. Even though everything still looked very very old, this side of the house was much nicer than the other had been.

    He paused and considered what to do next. Deciding whatever it was, was best done in wolf form, he shifted back. If he came to a door that needed opening he¡¯d switch again but for now being in wolf form meant his senses were far better. If he smelt anyone else nearby they¡¯d be easier to find, or if he came across a path they¡¯d been on.

    He followed the hallway in the direction of what should be the main entrance, but half way along he reached a staircase that spiralled upward. Behind it was a large iron grate. On the other side he could see another staircase also spiraling up. Further along he could see two bodies that looked a lot like Sirius and Kass. He couldn¡¯t smell them from here though which was strange. He shifted back into human form once more and went right up to the bars of the grate, as close as he dared without touching it. It looked like them. But where was Amanda? And why were they lying on the floor. He suspected another trick but regardless that was the direction he wanted to go, and he certainly couldn¡¯t just leave them lying there if it was a chance that it was them. The main problem was that from this floor it looked like the only way to the other side of the grate was up the stairs.

    He hesitantly touched the bars. Nothing happened.

    He rattled the bars and tried calling some names but the unconscious figures did not stir, and the bars gave no sign of weakness. He tried louder, certain that if it was Sirius and he could awaken him, then Sirius should be able to bend his way through the bars.

    After far too long of an attempt he started to worry they might be dead. That was of course, if it was them at all. He wasn¡¯t certain going up would get him any closer but it was at this point the most direct option. Keeping his human form he climbed butt naked up to the second floor.

    He emerged into a large open and empty room. It was adorned in pale pink wallpaper. Lots of daylight filled the space causing shadows to dance around the room, cast from trees and clouds outside. There did not appear initially to be any other exit form this room, certainly no thoroughfare to the neighbouring staircase. Wolf didn¡¯t trust his first impression however and began to give the room a through sweeping.

    From the far window he could look down onto the conservatory. From this vantage it looked far bigger than he¡¯d imagined. He also realised he had somehow managed to climb two stories up without realising it. He was sure he¡¯d only climbed one floor¡¯s worth of staircase. He wondered if he went back down again, would he return to the same hallway?

    He wasn¡¯t afraid, not for himself at least. Places like this lived off fear but they had been lived in at some point too. Much like the open ocean or the forest, if you showed enough respect sometimes they¡¯d let you leave alive. Sirius would have scoffed at that. He didn¡¯t believe in silly things like fate. Wolf wasn¡¯t sure he did either but it made him feel calmer and if there was one thing he was sure about, it was that being calm was almost always better than panicking.

    He walked around the room, twice. It didn¡¯t change. He peered back down the stairs. He couldn¡¯t see much but it looked like it had before. On his third trip around the room he tried tapping on the walls.

    He was in luck. As he knocked on the wall that shared a border with the other stairs a small door propped open near one corner of the room, right down low. It reminded him of that small cubby he and Indi had found earlier in the day and it gave him pause. There had been something not right about that place.

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    He approached it warily, then shifted into wolf form. I was almost wolf height, a bit of a squeeze still. He didn¡¯t feel quite the same hair-raising feeling as he had done ealier but still he felt that something wasn¡¯t quite right. It felt almost like a creature had opened it¡¯s mouth for him to crawl into.

    It was dark and even in wolf form he couldn¡¯t see much. But he could smell, and coming from somewhere in there he could smell soap. There was something else as well but he couldn¡¯t quite pinpoint it. Two smells in fact, intertwined. He knew there were two and yet he couldn¡¯t quite separate them fully. They reminded him of something.

    He crawled inside. The house was quiet, unnaturally so. It felt dead. Or dormant. It was strange that he could hear no other person, not even the wind blowing outside. He wondered what had become of Indi. He hoped she was alright. He hoped she stayed put. That courtyard was something that would at least be visible from above the house. He worried a little less about the others. He knew they could take care of themselves, except perhaps for Zephyr. Indi wasn¡¯t like them though, she was sweet, naive, kind. Not that the others weren¡¯t kind, just that, well, Indi was different. She believed so much the best in everyone, honestly actually believed it. That alone made the world that much brighter for those around her, and Wolf had grown fond of her, even if she could be a pest sometimes. But that kind of naivete, that kind of trust that everything would be okay. That could get one killed, and so Wolf worried.

    He padded along inside what seemed to be a semi-open crawl space. He followed a raised path of boards laid down on rafters. As he rounded a corner in the path something off to the right caught his eye. He paused and waited for his eyes to work it out. When he did he wished he hadn¡¯t. It was a pile of children¡¯s shoes, all different sizes and styles. A chill went through his spine and his hair stood on end. How did they get here? Why so many?

    He decided not to ponder on the question and continued on his way. He followed the smell of soap.

    The crawl-space was warm and despite the strangeness of the house and the danger he sensed just beyond the edges of his vision, Wolf felt calm. He felt calm right up to the point the entire floor gave way beneath him.

    For the second time that day Wolf found himself falling. This time, instead of being surrounded by darkness, he was blinded by light. It took a moment for the glare to fade and then he could look around properly. He was in a bedroom, on the ground floor. It was decorated with pink flowers and lacy white frills and it smelt like someone had dumped the entire contents of a perfume store into the one room. Through the large, almost full wall windows Wolf could see the front gates to the house and behind them in the distance the unmistakable glow of the mid-morning sun. Wolf gave an involuntary whine. Seeing the sun there when he knew that couldn¡¯t be possible sent chills down his spine like nothing else. It¡¯s unnaturalness frightened him so much that it took him a full three seconds before he even thought to check himself for injuries.

    Still in wolf form he got to all four legs and shook himself so fiercely that a cloud of dust surrounded him glowing like a halo in the light.

    Looking back up at the ceiling he noted he had only fallen one floor. With the extra tall ceilings it was a bit more than one floor in a modern house but definitely only one floor. He must have imagined how high he was before when he¡¯d been looking out over the conservatory, except the conservatory itself had been higher than this ceiling. Now he thought about it, it had been two floors easily. He glanced back out at the morning sun and suddenly found the room felt a lot colder. Not just an imaginary chill down the spine, but literally, physically, colder.

    The driveway was right there. He could see their cars parked. They beckoned. But the sun scared him. It wasn¡¯t right. He couldn¡¯t have explained to anyone how he knew. He just did. But if he didn¡¯t look at it, if he just looked at the cars. Amanda and Sirius¡¯s light blue truck, Cat¡¯s sleek black sports car, Kass¡¯s sensible sedan. They all beckoned to him. It wouldn¡¯t take much he thought, to just break through the window. Then he could at least go and get some help. The sun drew his eyes back up. He looked just below it, at the dark iron gate, the trees beyond, and somewhere through them and far enough away was the ocean. He couldn¡¯t smell it. But somewhere beneath the overpowering scent of flowers he caught a whiff of something else. Someone familiar.

    He turned his back on the creepy sun and moved instead in the other direction, out into the hallway. He followed his nose. As he got further away from the flowery room, her smell got stronger, horse sweat, hay, leather, and a touch of rum and whiskey. Amanda, the real Amanda, not some fake imitation conjured by the house. Wolf was sure. He followed her trail as it twisted through hallways, up stairs, across rooms, and right into a solid wall.

    Wolf was so focused on the scent that he almost walked right into the wall itself. He stopped short just in time and then, confused, walked along the wall to the right. The scent got weaker so he turned and went the other way. Same thing again. Up and down he went but always he came back to the same place. Had she stopped to rest there?

    He was in a dead end room on what was probably the second floor at the back of the house but who really knew? There was no furniture here and no other exits. He circled the room but the scent ended there at the wall. He sat down on his hunches and looked at it. In that moment he was sure that was the way she had gone. He wasn¡¯t sure how he knew, but the house was weird, and instinct told him that was the truth.

    Tired of playing by the house¡¯s rules Wolf decided this time he was just going to take the most direct route. He lunged at the wall, claws out, and was surprised to find the wall was weaker than he¡¯d first expected. Tiny bits of wallpaper fluttered to the floor landing on chunks of rotten wood and old plaster. With a blood-curdling howl he started fighting his way through.

 Volume 2, Chapter 28: Where Blue Meets Green

    Kass found herself standing on a beach and she couldn¡¯t remember how she had come to be there. A small lighthouse stood perched on a cliff further down the shore. She turned to find Sirius standing next to her and looking equally as confused.

    ¡°Where are we?¡± she asked. But as the words fell from her lips the question faded from her mind and she found herself wondering instead at the shoes on her feet. It didn¡¯t feel right to be wearing her work heels on sand. She kicked them off and barely noticed as they sunk into the sand, disappearing from her thoughts as quickly as they fell out of sight.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Sirius replied.

    ¡°Huh?¡± she turned to him, unsure what he was referring to.

    He frowned. ¡°What?¡±

    They stood staring at each other for a few moments, no discomfort, not even confusion, just listlessness, as if they¡¯d just been born again. And as they stared at each other, as blue eyes met green they found themselves caught in a new trap.

    Sirius couldn¡¯t remember where what who or why but he saw those eyes and the colour that reminded him more of the sky than the sea, of life that soared, of something he was forgetting.

    Kass looked away first. The sand between her toes was warm and she couldn¡¯t help but glance down. And then she smiled. When she returned her eyes to Sirius again she knew him properly, remembered something, forgot the rest.

    His eyes were on the sky. ¡°There¡¯s no birds,¡± he wondered aloud. But just as he spoke, a flock of gulls rounded the lighthouse at the south end of the beach and circled overhead, cawing in raucous discordance. It caused him to frown. Something deep within himself told him that the birds were wrong. But whatever chance he had then was snatched away, distracted by Kass¡¯s laugh. Such a pretty sound, so seldom heard, and he wondered how he knew that.

    She was watching the birds.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen gulls like that,¡± Sirius remarked in a cautious tone.

    ¡°Really? They just look like regular gulls to me.¡± Kass glanced up at him then turned to look back at the circling gulls.

    ¡°No, the head shape is different, and the bill.¡±

    Kass looked between him and the gulls, trying to discern both a difference in the bird and whether or not Sirius might be teasing her.

    Eventually he sighed. ¡°It¡¯s hard to explain.¡±

    ¡°No I get it. When I was fighting in the north I saw these giant rabbits, not hares. I know what a hare looks like, and these were different, but I could never quite explain how to people. Some things you just have to see.¡±

    They watched the gulls in silence for awhile and then together they started walking along the beach, side by side.

    ¡°What were they like? The rabbits?¡±

    Kass tilted her face up toward the sun as she tried to remember. The light highlighted the softness of her skin. ¡°They were as big as hares, maybe bigger but they had the roundness that rabbits have and more cream in the colour.¡± She gave him a crooked smile, then shook her head. ¡°Truthfully, they could have been hares but they looked like rabbits. The hares I saw were more stretched out and pure white. They¡¯d blend in with the snow. Often you wouldn¡¯t see until you were almost upon them and even then they¡¯d dash off fast as anything and you might only notice it by the kick of snow left flying behind them. They were real quiet too.¡± She turned to him. ¡°Have you travelled north much?¡±

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    ¡°Not that far, but I¡¯ve been south as far as the ice and I¡¯ve seen snow hares in one of the Eastern elemental pockets, not during the middle of winter though, so they didn¡¯t have their full coat.¡±

    ¡°Are they introduced there?¡±

    Sirius nodded. ¡°I think so, I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t travel to the eastern pockets often.¡± He paused. He couldn¡¯t remember why he went there. Something tugged at the edge of his memory.

    ¡°Where¡¯s your favorite place you¡¯ve been?¡± Kass asked interrupting his thoughts. She looked at him sideways, chin now tilted downward as if feeling shy about asking the question.

    Sirius gave her a gentle smile. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± There was something wrong with his memory but he couldn¡¯t quite focus his mind on it. He knew there were places he¡¯d been, many places, but he couldn¡¯t quite put an image or name to them. The places he did think of filled up enough space that what was forgotten didn¡¯t seem quite so important after a little while. They appeared like a fly on the wall, a small blurry black dot. They buzzed for a bit and then were still.

    ¡°There¡¯s an island I visited once where all the people had natural blue hair, like a bright blue, not electric or light, kind of...¡± Sirius floundered for what colour it been like.

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to explain?¡± Kass finished for him with a smile.

    He laughed. ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°And they were all the same?¡±

    ¡°Well no, there were some subtle shade differences, but mostly pretty similar, except for the Queen. They were a monarchy. But the Queen, her hair was turquoise.¡±

    ¡°You know that¡¯s a kind of blue right,¡± Kass teased with a smile.

    He chuckled. ¡°Yeah, but...¡±

    ¡°More green?¡± Kass finished for him again and when he glanced at her she blushed, ducked her head and mumbled a ¡°Sorry.¡±

    But she quickly glanced back up and he met her soft smile with one of his own.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± he replied softly. ¡°That¡¯s not all though. The whole island, everybody on it, were all water elementals.¡±

    ¡°All of them?¡± Kass frowned.

    Sirius held up one hand. ¡°I swear to the old crone.¡±

    She laughed at hearing the outdated phrase.

    ¡°Was that your favorite place?¡± Kass asked.

    Sirius stopped walking.

    Kass stopped as well, giving him a curious and surprised look.

    ¡°No...¡± He trailed off. The buzzing of flies on the wall of his mind changed to the more piercing whine of a mosquito.

    The hair on the back of his neck tingled. He shook his head to loosen the thoughts. Another image popped into his head. Another redhead, with longer hair and brown eyes, Amanda.

    He looked down and saw Kass¡¯s lack of shoes. Saw his own boots. He looked up at her again and for a moment he didn¡¯t want to ruin it.

    He grabbed her wrist. ¡°Kass...¡± He spoke softly.

    She barely glanced at him, before looking back away at their spectacular surroundings. Shiny sea and soft warm sand. A place of distraction.

    ¡°Kass. I think something¡¯s wrong.¡± He kept his voice low, worried he would be overheard but not sure why that concerned him yet. They were coming back his thoughts. Memories of being a kid. Memories of his sister. Memories of her powers.

    Kass was studying him now and he could see the worry in her face.

    ¡°What?¡± she whispered, mouth parted slightly, lower lip hanging out such that Sirius almost forgot himself for a moment. Then she licked her lips and his heart skipped.

    He got a hold of himself. ¡°I think we¡¯re in a dream.¡±

    He watched her eyebrows rise and come together, the slight hint of a smile. She thought he was joking. As he kept his expression still he watched her smile fade, and her rosy cheeks pale.

    ¡°A dream?¡± she asked so quiet he almost couldn¡¯t hear her.

    ¡°The dreamworld.¡± He kept a hold on her wrist, not wanting her to fade away. He knew from dreamwalking with Cat when they''d been younger, that the dreamworld was no playground. He was also now painfully aware that Amanda had been with them a moment before.

    Kass studied her surroundings, confusion marring her soft features. ¡°But,...¡± She had been about to say that it didn¡¯t look so bad but at the look on Sirius¡¯s face she understood that things weren¡¯t quite what they looked like. ¡°How do we get out?¡± she asked finally.

    Sirius looked around the beach-like scene, so life-like, so deceptive. ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 29: In The Looking Glass

    ¡°Might I suggest we hold hands to keep the group together,¡± Coal said offering out a hand to Indi and Cat.

    ¡°Oh for f¡¯s sake.¡± Cat rolled her eyes but took his hand anyway. Zephyr grabbed her other one. Amanda grabbed Zephyr¡¯s and led the way.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I want to be at the back,¡± Indi said, although she was only really half complaining. She certainly didn¡¯t expect Coal to grab her hand and put it in Cat¡¯s.

    ¡°Here,¡± he said with a gentle smile as he rearranged himself to the back.

    The connected chain lasted about two corridors, when Amanda suddenly stopped, let go of Zeph¡¯s hand, then turned around walked past everyone to re-look at the last intersection. Cat was more than happy for the excuse to shake her own hands free of everyone. And Indi, not wanting to be the only one still holding hands, loosened her own grip. Zephyr looked disappointed not to mention a little fearful as he gave a cursory glance up and down the hall.

    Amanda returned a moment later. Coal raised his eyebrows.

    She shook her head. ¡°None of these halls look familiar. It¡¯s like the whole house has rewritten itself. How are we supposed to find our way through a house that keeps changing?¡±

    ¡°We keep moving,¡± Coal replied as if it were simple.

    ¡°Until we starve or go mad,¡± Cat replied with a healthy dose of sarcasm and a wicked grin.

    ¡°It¡¯s not funny,¡± Zephyr told her in a far more serious tone.

    Coal continued calmly, not a hint of emotion. ¡°The house doesn¡¯t change the areas we¡¯re in. We keep moving we¡¯ve a better chance of at least finding something new. This house isn¡¯t infinite. Eventually we¡¯ll find something useful.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no guarantee of that though,¡± Indi replied matter-of-factly. ¡°We could just end up walking through the same rooms forever.¡±

    ¡°We could,¡± Coal agreed then gave Amanda a look.

    Amanda sighed and finished the sentence for him. ¡°But it¡¯s better than standing still.¡± She agreed with him, she just wished she had a better idea. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s keep walking.¡± Amanda took the lead again.

    ¡°At least we¡¯ll die doing something,¡± Cat quipped but she followed along without another word.

    They walked for what felt like almost an hour and still the winding corridors continued on.

    Then the walls changed suddenly and the group paused. Amanda stopped so suddenly Zephyr bumped into her. Cat rolled her eyes at him.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Indi asked. From near the back of the line she could not see. She slipped past Cat to get a better look at why they had stopped.

    Along the left hand side of the corridor the lower wall was covered in old dusty paneling, well suited to the style of the house. But half way up, the wall suddenly changed to thick glass. Behind the glass was a darkened room. What little they could see, was from the nearby hallway lighting, and their own torches.

    Zephyr held up his bright lamp.

    The room behind the glass had become overgrown by masses of foliage. Large vines pressed right up against the internal window, sprouting pretty red flowers all along their stems.

    ¡°Wow! They look like poppies, sort of. They even have the darker center,¡± Indi remarked. ¡°How do they grow without the light?¡±

    ¡°Who cares?¡± Cat rolled her eyes. ¡°The old bat let the place go to the plants. This doesn¡¯t help us get out of here.¡±

    ¡°It is kind of weird they¡¯ve got no light,¡± Zephyr remarked.

    ¡°Maybe it shines in during other parts of the day. Or maybe they like the dark.¡± Cat didn¡¯t think much of their concern.

    Indi looked at Amanda and noticing the puzzled expression asked, ¡°What?¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°Nothing. It looks familiar.¡±

    ¡°The plant?¡± Coal asked from the back.

    Amanda nodded. ¡°I can¡¯t quite place it.¡±

    ¡°Is it dangerous?¡± Zephyr asked, wondering if he should move away from the glass.

    ¡°It¡¯s a plant.¡± Cat rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Some plants are dangerous.¡± Zephyr retorted.

    Before Cat could reply with another sarcastic quip, Amanda butted back in. ¡°No, he¡¯s right, some plants...¡± but she trailed off, trying in vain to remember anything about this one.

    ¡°What, some plants will run after you down the street?¡± Cat still wasn¡¯t convinced anyone needed to be as worried as Zephyr currently appeared to be.

    ¡°Some plants move and some plants will catch people and kill them.¡± Zephyr told her.

    ¡°Only if you walk into them.¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°Some plants interact with magic.¡± Coal said.

    Cat turned back to look at him.

    ¡°Some emit sounds that render the listener unconscious,¡± he added, meeting Cat¡¯s eyes.

    Zephyr and Indi, were looking at him with horrified expressions.

    Cat turned back to the glass and stared through thoughtfully.

    Coal ignored the horrified looks and spoke over their heads to Amanda, who was still looking at the plant. ¡°If you don¡¯t know what that one is, we should probably just keep moving on by.¡±

    Amanda glanced back at him. Met his blue eyes and gave gave a nod. She took up the lead, walking past the door to the plant room.

    The others followed. Indi didn¡¯t even look at the door, her attention already on whatever was coming next. Zephyr gave the door a wide berth. Cat gave it a suspicious look as she passed. Coal, with a quick glance, observed that the door was shut.

    They walked along the corridor slowly. The floorboards creaking underfoot. Zephyr walked in the middle of the group, carrying the torch.

    Cat listened to the creaking. Shortly after one intersection she noticed a change in sound. She paused and turned. Coal had stopped and was waiting at the last intersection. He held his finger to his lips, shook his head, then pointed to a patch of missing wallpaper. Cat frowned. She took at few steps toward him. He held up a hand, a signal that meant wait. She stopped and glanced back along the corridor to the rest of the group, who were just rounding a corner. She gave Coal a questioning look. Another shake of the head and finger to the lips. He seemed to be waiting for something. He held up one finger again then beckoned her closer and pointed at the other corridor. Cat was confused but she kept quiet and waited with him, not notifying the others. She trusted Coal, or at least she trusted him not to get them all killed in the current moment. Besides, now that he¡¯d pointed it out, there was something weirdly familiar about that patch on the wall. She wanted to know what he was doing.

    They waited in silence and in darkness. Eventually Cat noticed a light coming from the corridor they hadn¡¯t taken. Then Amanda walked around the corner. She got a few paces down the hall, followed by Indi and Zephyr, and then she noticed them waiting up ahead. She stopped. A distracted Indi walked into her. ¡°Oof.¡±

    Behind them both, Zephyr swung his torch up at them. Then he turned and swung it back behind them, looking for the Coal and Cat that had been following him not long. He gave a squeak of surprise when he realised they weren¡¯t there. He swung the torch forwards again and then back.

    Indi scratched her head and looked just as confused.

    Amanda glanced back once and then walked up to Cat and Coal warily. ¡°We didn¡¯t take three left turns,¡± was all she said.

    Coal pointed at the patch on the wall but it was too dark for Amanda to see what he was pointing at. She just gave him a confused look.

    Meanwhile Indi got tired of Zephyr swapping the direction of the torch for the hundredth time and she grabbed it off him and went to join the others.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Zephyr exclaimed, and paused where he was only just long enough to realise she was taking his light away. He scrambled along behind. ¡°What? How did you guys get there?¡± he asked as they reached the corner.

    ¡°We¡¯re going in circles.¡± Coal replied. Now that Indi had brought the light closer he pointed at the patch on the wall. ¡°We¡¯ve passed that patch three times now.¡±

    ¡°No...¡± was all Amanda could find the words for. Her words trailed off into silence as the gravity of it sunk into everyone.

    No one spoke for almost a full minute.

    Indi felt something brush past her ankle. Then something tightened. She glanced down and had just long enough to register that a vine had wrapped it¡¯s way around her ankle before the plant yanked her backward with a yelp and started to drag her along the floor.

    The torch clattered to the floor with a crash and blinked out.

    Like a hare at the sound of a shotgun, Zephyr reached for Indi and grabbed both her hands.

    Indi felt herself stretch between Zephyr and the grip of the plant.

    Zephyr managed to hold her still long enough that Coal was able to step around to the side and swiftly slice through the vine with one deft slash of his sword. ¡°Quickly! Move!¡± he commanded.

    Indi would have glanced back, she was too curious not to, if it hadn¡¯t been for Cat and Zephyr pulling an arm each, and a push from Coal between the shoulder blades. Cat and Zephyr tugged her past Amanda who had stepped to the side, one hand encased in fire, eyes fixed on whatever it was behind them.

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    ¡°Go!¡± Coal commanded.

    Indi could hear footsteps following behind as Amanda retreated as well. Zephyr let go of her hand, falling behind somewhere, but Cat still tugged her along.

    The dim glow from Amanda¡¯s fire vanished, replaced by the light from the torch Coal had summoned.

    ¡°Keep moving!¡± came another command, this time from Amanda.

    They ran through the house. Indi wasn¡¯t sure how Cat decided which way to go or why the house suddenly let them go somewhere other than in circles. The scenery of the house whipped by fast. Indi barely had time to register it. She wasn¡¯t even sure at which point they encountered new areas. Eventually they came across some stairs they hadn¡¯t seen before. They wound their way swiftly down. Indi didn¡¯t dare look back now. When they reached the bottom Cat finally stopped. This new room was well lit, by what appeared to be sunlight streaming through large dusty windows, but it couldn¡¯t be could it? The room was very large and much taller than the other rooms had been, it looked like some kind of ballroom, now converted to storage. They could only see the far wall just below the ceiling. Furniture covered in white sheets blocked their view of anything lower. The room was filled with multiple mirrors of many shapes, styles, and sizes, both on the walls and standing separate independently. It reminded Indi of a fun house.

    Zephyr stood puffing next to Indi. Both took a few moments to get their breath back as behind them Coal and Amanda, also breathing heavily, descended the last of the stairs.

    A few feet away Cat tugged at a sheet and unveiled yet another mirror. She frowned at her own reflection. ¡°Creepy,¡± she remarked.

    Zephyr, having almost got his breath back couldn¡¯t help himself. ¡°Nah, I don¡¯t think you look that bad.¡± Then he grinned in reply to Cat¡¯s glare.

    ¡°What was that thing?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°Dunno.¡± Amanda gave a cursory glance back up the stairs. Nothing appeared to be coming after them. She met Coal¡¯s eyes next, wondering if he knew. If he did he didn¡¯t say anything.

    Amanda turned back to the others as Coal surveyed the room ahead.

    ¡°Looks like there¡¯s a door over that side.¡± Coal nodded toward the far left of the room.

    ¡°If we can get past all this junk,¡± Cat remarked snarkily, but she wasted no time in getting started.

    Zephyr was way ahead of her. ¡°This way.¡± He wandered into the maze of mirrors, trying not to bump anything in case the sheets were hiding something more dangerous than furniture.

    ¡°Come on Indi,¡± Amanda encouraged as she followed Coal and the others.

    ¡°Coming,¡± Indi replied. Then she took a deep glorious breath and followed.

    Everyone walked quietly, or at least they tried to. But in a room this large every small sound echoed loudly throughout. Creeks and scuffles filled the silence. They weaved their way through stacks of tightly packed and sheet-covered furniture, inter-laden with far more mirrors than any house needed, let alone one room. Indi peered into them as she went.

    In one she noticed a figure, or what looked like a figure like shape, maybe a statue, standing in the shadows far behind her. Too far to see via the mirror so she turned around to get a better look, half worried it was going to be like the statues from earlier. However, she could see nothing behind her that resembled the shadowy figure.

    She turned back to the mirror and nearly jumped when she realized the shape in the mirror was closer, like a dark gap in the air, but she still couldn¡¯t quite make it out. Too scared to turn again she ducked around the next corner, the hairs on the back of her neck raised, resisting the urge to run, fearing she might be chased by some unseen thing.

    She stopped short when she found no one in front of her. Her chest tightened. Was she left alone again?

    But a moment later Amanda poked her head around the corner, ¡°Coming?¡±

    Indi released the breath she¡¯d been holding.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Amanda asked after getting a look at Indi¡¯s expression.

    Indi nodded and wasted no time in following behind now. At first she tried not to look back in the mirrors, worried she might see the dark shape again and that it would be right up close this time. Eventually she could take it no more and she risked a glance.

    She regretted it almost instantly. She¡¯d prepared herself for a shadow but now what she saw in the mirror, despite or perhaps because of it¡¯s innocuous nature, was somehow much more terrifying. A light blue balloon floated in the mirror taking up the bulk of the reflective surface. Indi could no longer see her own face in the mirror.

    Worse, she was immediately reminded of the one thing she really didn¡¯t want to see, a thing that was often found holding balloons. There were no clowns in her sight at the moment but right now to her, not being able to see one didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t there, it just meant she didn¡¯t know where it was.

    She found herself frozen to the spot, wanting to run but unable to move. ¡°Amanda!¡± she managed to croak out with a wavering voice.

    Both Amanda and Coal appeared around the corner almost instantly.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Amanda asked.

    Indi remained frozen looking at the mirror. ¡°Don¡¯t you see it?¡±

    From where Coal stood he could see everyone. Zephyr who waited patiently up ahead, keeping his eyes down, pointedly not looking at any mirrors. Cat who stood a few feet away, fixated on her own mirror. Amanda who stood next to him, and Indi who stared frightfully into a mirror that showed nothing but her own reflection. Time for some magic.

    He fumbled in one of his pockets for a cool round stone, opaque, white, and no bigger than a marble but less perfect in shape. He warmed it in his hand and he focused on what it would let him do. On the things it would let him see. It took a few seconds but it granted him vision. The power to see what others saw. And then in the mirror in front of Indi he saw it too. The floating pale blue balloon, white string almost dangling on the ground.

    ¡°Step away from the mirror Indi,¡± he commanded in a cool tone. It wouldn¡¯t do for anyone to panic and he had yet to decipher what magic lay before them.

    Beside him, Amanda glanced up at him. He knew she was wondering what he knew that she didn¡¯t, but there was no time to explain. What would he say that could be of any use yet anyway?

    Indi backed away slowly until she was in reach of Amanda who put out a gentle hand on Indi¡¯s arm. Indi jumped but then she relaxed and turned. A worried look still marred her face. She gripped Amanda¡¯s hand then turned back to look at the mirror, feeling safer with someone to hold on to. The balloon was gone.

    While Amanda comforted Indi, Coal turned to check on the others. Zephyr was biting his fingernails, eyes still on the floor. Probably for the best for when Coal turned his attention to Cat he could now see what he hadn¡¯t been able to before.

    Cat watched herself in the mirror, only it wasn¡¯t herself. She was sure of this, and yet in the mirror she watched as the belly of a woman who looked exactly like her expanded out. As if she were pregnant and time were speeding up. Well the first part was true but it was far too fast. Cat placed both her hands on her own belly and found it only a little rounder than it usually was, not noticeable at all, nothing like what she saw it the mirror.

    But the worst was yet to come. As Cat stared, fixated on the unravelling events, a small bloody hand thrust itself from her twin¡¯s belly. It reached out and twisted, grasping, tearing through the skin. Cat took a horrified step backwards.

    ¡°Let¡¯s keep moving,¡± Indi remarked as she brushed past Coal.

    The act drew his eyes away from Cat and when he looked back again Cat had already been distracted, as Indi grabbed her and pulled.

    ¡°We need to move some furniture,¡± Zephyr remarked as they reached him. He gestured at the pile that had caused them to pause in the first place.

    ¡°So why didn¡¯t you move it?¡± an exasperated Cat remarked as she started lifting a table out of the way.

    Satisfied they were now being productive and keeping their eyes away from the glassy surfaces, Coal turned to check back on what was keeping Amanda.

    Amanda was now looking at Indi¡¯s mirror. In it¡¯s reflective surface Coal could make out the puzzled expression on her face. Behind her, where he should have stood, was an old woman instead. A cruel expression stared back at the both of them. The old woman wore a white coat. In one hand she held a syringe, in the other what looked like leather restraints.

    Coal frowned. The expression on the face of the woman remained the same but she took a step forward.

    ¡°It¡¯s not real,¡± Coal remarked when he saw Amanda¡¯s eyes widen and her stance tense up.

    ¡°What?¡± She glanced up at him briefly, confused and questioning.

    He didn¡¯t answer fast enough but when she made to turn back to look in the mirror he clicked his fingers. ¡°It¡¯s not real,¡± he repeated again. He turned to follow after the others, knowing she wouldn¡¯t wait around behind this time.

    Cat had cleared the way so they moved on through the next section. Coal glanced back to check Amanda was following. She met his eyes, a hard expression on her face. He got the impression she didn¡¯t trust him. Well, truth was, he didn¡¯t think she was wrong to feel that way. He wouldn¡¯t have trusted himself either. It was smart.

    As they walked Coal stole a sideways glance at another mirror on the way. He couldn¡¯t help himself. There were just so many of them. For a brief moment he had to remind himself that it wasn¡¯t real as he watched the walls of the mirrored room shrinking in closer. He drew his eyes away and glanced around the room just to make sure. The walls remained where they were.

    ¡°What?¡± Amanda asked as she caught up to him. She didn¡¯t miss much.

    He didn¡¯t answer at first but his fingers traced some other rocks in his pocket and then one of them started to heat up. ¡°I think we¡¯re being watched.¡± He stopped so he could take a proper look at their surroundings.

    Amanda stopped behind him. ¡°Guys!¡± she called to the others up ahead.

    The rock in Coal¡¯s pocket continued to heat up, indicating the nearby presence of something with malintent, some nearby imminent danger. It nearly singed his hand before he dropped it deeper inside his pocket with a light grimace. Dammit. He regretted not trying it earlier. How could he be sure it wasn¡¯t just the house. But the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. The feel of the room was off. He tried to pay attention to how. There was a feeling of heaviness, almost drowsiness. He shook his head. His rotated on the spot, trying to find whatever it was.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Amanda asked as the others gathered around.

    Cat rolled her eyes. ¡°There¡¯s nothing here.¡±

    But just as she said it Coal spotted movement in the air. A shimmer much like the one he had seen earlier. It dove toward the group. Coal yanked on Indi¡¯s arm, pulling her out of it¡¯s way at the same time he shoved Amanda backward. Amanda bumped into the rear wall of a wooden wardrobe.

    Cat ducked and swore as the blur of air came flying at her. Zephyr, who was nowhere near it¡¯s path, stumbled backwards and fell over a desk with a yelp.

    Coal stepped forward with his sword out and his back to Amanda and Indi. He tired to follow the thing¡¯s path with his eyes but found it hard to do. He kept losing it and then catching sight just as it would disappear again. It seemed to be circling them.

    Across from them, Zephyr groaned and sat up, obviously uninjured but a little dazed.

    Cat followed the thing, seemingly doing a better job at tracking it than Coal was.

    ¡°What?¡± Amanda asked from behind Coal. She couldn¡¯t see what either of them were looking at.

    Indi, too tried in vain to follow whatever it was, but all she could see was air.

    ¡°Shh,¡± Coal replied quietly without looking back.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see anything,¡± Amanda whispered back.

    After the thing did one more tightened lap of the room Cat faced it square on and held out a hand. The thing took on a darker more visible shape. It now looked like a wisp of black smoke. ¡°It¡¯s a shade,¡± she remarked as she kept turning, not letting it get behind her.

    ¡°A what?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°Dreamwalking creature,¡± Coal replied, recognising it now that it responded to Cat¡¯s powers.

    It dashed at them again. It focused on the larger group. Indi hid behind Coal as he slashed out at it with his sword. It seemed to have an effect causing the creature to dart slightly off to the side as it passed.

    Amanda saw a glimmer of something shiny and then felt something sharp nick her shoulder as the creature passed. She glanced down at her arm and saw blood dripping from a thin cut.

    ¡°That¡¯s the thing from earlier?¡± Indi asked Coal, pretty sure she was right but wanting confirmation.

    Coal nodded.

    Indi eyed his sword and his strong shoulders and she found she didn¡¯t feel afraid at all, that was, until Cat spoke.

    ¡°What are you trying to hit it with a sword for, you can¡¯t hurt it that way?¡± Cat remarked.

    ¡°It dodged before,¡± Coal replied. Truth was, he knew what it was, and what they were often used for, but he couldn¡¯t quite remember what the best method for dealing with them was. That was usually what one hired a dreamwalker for. Now, while Coal did like to take an interest in the more practical aspects of jobs, in terms of understanding things at a theoretical level so he could differentiate the pros from the amateurs and pick who to hire, he hadn¡¯t had to deal with a shade in quite some time.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably just instinctively avoiding you lunging at it. That trick won¡¯t last long,¡± Cat replied.

    As if on queue the shade swooped at them again. Amanda and Indi dropped down low. Coal summoned a small wooden crate and threw it at the shade. Ths shade pulled back and the crate seemed to slow down in the air as it passed right through the lower half of the shade.

    ¡°Does it burn?¡± Amanda called to Cat.

    Cat shook her head then she dropped her hands, a puzzled expression on her face. Nearby Zephyr crouched next to the desk he¡¯d tripped over.

    Coal glanced over at Cat and then back up at the shade and he realised what it was she was puzzled over. ¡°It¡¯s not targeting you?¡± he remarked.

    Cat tore her gaze away from the shade to momentarily look at Coal.

    ¡°What will kill it?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°Or at least get it to stop attacking.¡± The cut in her arm stung a little but it wasn¡¯t bad. It was however a very neat cut, an indication of a rather sharp blade, and Amanda didn¡¯t want to know what it would feel like to have that blade cut any deeper.

    Cat was watching the shade again.

    It swooped down low. Coal poked it with his sword. It swooped up again but otherwise seemed unbothered by the blade, and it¡¯s reaction seemed less afraid.

    ¡°Cat?¡± Amanda repeated.

    Cat shook her head.

 Volume 2, Chapter 30: Do Not Fear The Scary Thing

    Sirius and Kass walked along the beach for what felt like hours, chatting about the all the places they had been and the things they had seen.

    Kass barely noticed the sand beneath her feet or salty smell of the sea. They were there though, at the edges of her thoughts, so real. She trusted Sirius, and what he said about this place being a dream. And she had known dreams, felt them used during the northern vampire wars. When she¡¯d been captured, by both sides at one point or another, they¡¯d all tried to get information out of her, tried to figure out whose side she was on. But no dream had ever scared Kass like the ones she conjured for herself.

    ¡°What do you dream about?¡± she asked Sirius, ¡°When you dream, if you dream, do you ever dream of the past?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes,¡± he admitted, ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t call those dreams.¡±

    ¡°What about good dreams?¡±

    He glanced toward the sea. ¡°Sometimes I dream I¡¯m sailing. Standing at the bow of my ship. Nothing but me and the sea, and good weather.¡±

    Kass smiled at the thought.

    ¡°What about you?¡±

    Her smile faded. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°What would you dream about then? If you could pick, anything, any place, anywhere.¡±

    Kass shook her head again but in it she imagined a pretty garden, filled with roses, soft to the touch and sweet-smelling, and a pond with ducks and swans. On the breeze, gentle and calm, the sound of a thousand crickets singing. In the background, two children playing. Her children. ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe a garden with a comfy swing and a good book.¡± But as she said the words her mind filled in it¡¯s own details. Snakes beneath the rose bushes, waiting to strike. Instead of only two children there was now a third, a boy with a mean look. He pushed his brothers into the pond, shattering the quiet scene with a loud splash. Kass closed her eyes until the thought was pushed from her mind.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Sirius asked.

    Kass nodded far too quickly. ¡°Yeah,¡± she whispered.

    ¡°What would you read, in this perfect garden?¡± Sirius asked.

    That did the trick. Kass¡¯s attention was now grabbed by thoughts of her bookcase, one of the few personal items in her otherwise sparse apartment. It wasn¡¯t a big bookcase, only two small shelves. Kass had left things behind too many times to want to collect an abundance of items, it just made it harder to leave when you had to. But what was in those shelves was precious to Kass. More than once in her life she¡¯d had floor to ceiling bookshelves and even today she would have been able to tell you, if anyone had asked, exactly which shelf any particular book had been on. ¡°I don''t know,¡± she answered softly again, ¡°Something romantic, maybe with a bit of mystery, and a happy ending. Something I haven¡¯t read before. What would you read?¡±

    Sirius smiled at the question, a wide smile for him, like he¡¯d been waiting for someone to ask that exact question. ¡°Yaggy¡¯s Guide to the Sea,¡± he declared with confidence. ¡°It¡¯s got a lot of chapters on biological sea life, some on navigation, a section on knots, and even one chapter with recipes suited for sailing with ingredients that store well on a ship or can be caught in the ocean. They¡¯re not all the same style of food either. The best bit about that book though, is the artwork. It has, on every page, an intricately drawn picture. The marine life one¡¯s are very accurate, and he labels all the details so you learn a lot. I swear there¡¯s something new I notice every time I open it. But it¡¯s not just a guide either. It has stories interwoven throughout, relating to the section, like how a recipe was discovered or an incident during which the paticular navigation technique was used, even the politics around the uses of different knots for prisoners. And maps of where to find creatures, with tiny drawings of them sketched in. It¡¯s also a really heavy book.¡± He turned to her with a satisfied smile, ¡°It stops my other books from falling over.¡±

    Kass laughed. ¡°I suppose a big book would be a good choice if you only had one book. By the time you finished the start would seem new again.¡±

    ¡°This book feels new every time I look at it, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever actually read it in order.¡±

    Kass laughed again.

    He looked at her with a smile. ¡°What if you only had one book, and it had to be one you¡¯ve already read. What would you pick then?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too hard. There¡¯s too many books. Maybe..., I read this train mystery once, with different perspectives, of all different ages. A girl on her way to stay with her aunt and uncle for the holidays, a young woman looking for love, a thief, whose name you never got to know. The train goes through a long dark tunnel and sometime during that time a body shows up. The whole book is a mystery but the body¡¯s not even the important part, it¡¯s all the other little plots. The problem was it was an old book and the last few chapters were missing so I have no idea how the main plot ended. But for that one it didn¡¯t really matter. What I loved about it were the descriptions, and the slight differences in how each character¡¯s story was told. And right where I read up to, it all seemed like they were all about to get just what they wanted so you¡¯re left with this feeling of hope. I think I liked that more than if it had ended. It left like a promise of something.¡± She glanced at Sirius then, realising how caught up she¡¯d got in explaining it. He was looking at her intently with a curious expression on his face. Feeling a bit like she¡¯d bared her soul she blushed and ducked her eyes.

    ¡°What about music?¡± he asked.

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    She risked a glance back at him. His expression was kind and gentle.

    ¡°If you had one song, no, one genre of music that you had to listen to forever which would you pick?¡±

    She laughed. ¡°You can¡¯t ask questions like that. Variety is the spice of the human soul.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I said said genre and not song.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, so which genre has the most variety then? I suppose that depends on how you define a genre, there¡¯s a lot of crossover, and... can I just pick music as my genre?¡±

    ¡°Mmm,¡± Sirius waved his hands, ¡°I mean like...¡± he struggled to explain.

    ¡°Well, there are a lot of classical songs and reinterpretations of classical songs which if you¡¯re counting those add up to a lot of songs, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯d want to listen to classical forever. It¡¯s nice but I think I¡¯d want something with lyrics.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you imagine lyrics? You know, the music tells a story?¡± He grinned cheekily.

    ¡°It¡¯s not quite the same. Pop¡¯s a bit too repetitive and similar. Rock, not really my thing, not for a last genre anyway. There are some lovely folk music songs though. I could listen to those all day. And you can extend the word ¡®folk¡¯ to cover quite a range of songs.¡±

    ¡°What about country?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s definitely a bit of crossover there. I¡¯m quite fond of the harp or the lyre though, just minimal instruments and a good vocalist. You could probably say country is subset of folk.¡±

    ¡°Ah, so you¡¯re cheating.¡±

    ¡°Well I was thinking more of a older celtic sort of style anyway. Like the songs sung in the old languages by common folk travelling between towns, back before the world was split.¡±

    ¡°What about sea shanties?¡±

    ¡°Is that what you¡¯d pick?¡±

    ¡°Nothing beats a good sea shanty,¡± Sirius replied. ¡°I do like a song you can sing along to, and something with a good beat. I didn¡¯t used to like country songs so much but Amanda plays them all the time, I think I¡¯ve acquired a taste for them. They¡¯re not quite what I¡¯d pick for an only one genre song but there are some good ones. I like some slower rock songs. If it¡¯s got a solid beat that you can bang out in a bar or on the deck of a ship with a whole group of people or nothing but a mop and your boots then it¡¯s a good song.¡±

    Kass smiled, and imagined Sirius singing into the end of mop.

    ¡°Okay, what about food?¡± Sirius asked.

    Kass laughed. ¡°No, no more ¡®you¡¯re only allowed one¡¯ questions. I¡¯ve got a better one. What if you could have as much of anything you wanted in the world what wouldn¡¯t you want?¡±

    ¡°Mosquitos!¡± Sirius answered firmly.

    Kass giggled. But it had been the wrong question to ask, because thinking about things she didn¡¯t want brought her mind back to that garden, back to that boy with the mean smile. She tugged her thoughts away but they landed instead on the rose bushes, snakes sliding over the roots, twisting around her ankles. It was so vivid she could actually feel them.

    She glanced down. Black and white and brown snakes slithered over her feet. Several of them, covering her toes. She gasped, and jumped sideways, kicking them off as she did.

    Sirius grabbed her arm gently. ¡°It¡¯s not real.¡±

    As they backed away from the snakes Kass replied, ¡°I thought dreams could be made real in the dreamworld? That things could actually hurt you.¡±

    Sirius nodded seriously. ¡°Yes, they can, but the more you believe it, the more risk they pose.¡±

    Kass gave a nervous laugh. ¡°How can I both be wary of something and not believe it at the same time?¡±

    ¡°You have to hold two ideas in your head,¡± Sirius replied in a completely serious tone.

    It was so serious Kass had to check his expression because she really didn¡¯t believe that was something that was possible to do. ¡°How?¡±

    He reached for her chin and gently turned her face towards him. ¡°Just think of something else.¡±

    Kass glanced back at the pile of snakes. ¡°Well at least they¡¯re not rats. I don¡¯t actually mind snakes as long as they aren¡¯t poisonous.¡±

    ¡°But the tails are similar though?¡± Sirius asked frowning.

    ¡°It¡¯s not the tails, it¡¯s the teeth. They can bite through anything. Chew through human skin like it¡¯s butter.¡±

    ¡°Melted butter or frozen butter?¡± Sirius asked with grin.

    Kass couldn¡¯t help but laugh at that.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think about things you don¡¯t like. Think about things you do like. We can go back to that other game. Or what¡¯s your favorite ice cream flavor?¡±

    Kass glanced once more at the snakes and tried not to think about them turning into rats. Sirius''s question worked though. It provided the distraction she needed, as silly and simple as it was. She appreciated the effort. ¡°Vanilla.¡±

    ¡°Vanilla?¡± He frowned.

    ¡°It¡¯s a classic,¡± Kass explained. ¡°What about you?¡±

    ¡°Mango.¡±

    Kass tried not to notice the world changing around them. She had liked the beach scene. It was peaceful. But as they walked the sand changed to soil. Trees sprouted from the earth. She wasn¡¯t sure when they appeared. They didn¡¯t grow or anything like that. One moment there were none and then next there was another, then another, and they came in so subtly that she couldn¡¯t be sure they hadn¡¯t always been there. That the beach hadn¡¯t been all a dream. Well, she supposed, technically all of it was a dream.

    One moment Sirius was beside her and then he was gone. She stopped walking, suddenly very afraid.

    ¡°Kass?¡± Sirius suddenly appeared beside her again. He held out a hand. ¡°Stay nearby.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± she asked.

    Before Sirius could reply she watched at the scene changed once more. The forest was still there but they were in a large clearing and at the other end it seemed almost as if the world just faded away. The large section of the air had a slight sparkle and a purple tinge. Kass couldn¡¯t tell if it was due to the absence of something in that space or if there was a giant cloud there. Except as the hole came closer it took on more of a jelly like appearance. She could see through whatever it was to the other side, but it was like looking through glass.

    Sirius started to back up and pull her along with him.

    ¡°What is it?¡± she whispered, least the thing hear them.

    ¡°A nightmare,¡± Sirius replied.

    When she gave him a puzzled look he added, ¡°Dreamweaver, but most people just call them nightmares. They feed off fear. Try not to be afraid.¡±

    Kass couldn¡¯t help but give a laugh at that but her own intrusive thoughts cut it short and came out almost more like a gasp. The sound of fear.

    The gelatinous blob slid towards them. Kass wasn¡¯t sure how it moved. She wasn¡¯t even sure how distance worked in the dream world, all she knew was that it wasn¡¯t like the world she knew.

    Kass didn¡¯t know when Sirius disappeared. All she knew was that he was gone again. Then she was falling. She landed in a raging river and was sucked under. Instinctively she held her breath. The river brought her to the surface again. Rapids hit her in the face as she struggled to keep her head up. Then there was a hand reaching. She grasped it and it pulled her up. She looked up to find Sirius¡¯s face, only to have him fade to black a moment later.

    ¡°Kass!¡± she heard him call.

    She was floating somehow in cold darkness. She wasn¡¯t sure if it was water or air. She closed her eyes and dreamed of somewhere else. Somewhere nicer. She focused on the image in her head, tried to imagine it.

    She felt grass between her fingers. Soil beneath her knees and feet. And on the air the smell of roses.

    She opened her eyes to a garden. Birds tweeted overhead. Gravity felt right for once. She nervously got to her feet.

    ¡°Sirius?¡± she spoke louder than a whisper but still softly in case the nightmare heard her. Behind her somewhere she heard the sound of children¡¯s laughter.

 Volume 2, Chapter 31: Throwing Shade

    Cat stood, staring up at the shade, still a wispy black smoky colour, a worried expression on her face. She knew shades could be dangerous sure, but they weren¡¯t usually this persistent. She wondered if they should all make a run for it. Shades could move fast though, and the furniture littered throughout this room wouldn¡¯t prove as much of an obstacle for the shade as it would for them.

    ¡°Separate out,¡± Coal instructed.

    ¡°That seems like a really bad idea,¡± Zephyr replied.

    Cat had to agree. She looked at Coal to see if he was being serious.

    ¡°I want to see who it goes for.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Just do it. Shield, duck or throw something at it if it comes for you.¡± Coal moved away from the two woman.

    Indi glanced fearfully at Amanda to see if she agreed.

    Amanda hesitated momentarily and then gave a quick decisive nod. Indi and Amanda took a few steps away from each other.

    Cat rolled her eyes. She thought this plan was stupid. Why did it matter who it went for? She stayed where she was given she was far enough away from everyone else anyway. She waited, ready for it¡¯s next attack.

    Zephyr stayed crouched by his desk.

    He needn¡¯t have worried. The shade picked it¡¯s target. It went straight for Indi.

    She gave a yelp, backed up, tripped onto a white-cloaked couch and then remembered to shield just as the shiny flash of the shade¡¯s blade struck out at her. It was so fast she couldn¡¯t tell how the shade was holding the blade or even if it was a normal blade, or some part of the shade.

    Coal took a few steps froward until he was standing next to Amanda. Then he stood, watching the shade circle once more.

    Amanda made to move to Indi but Coal held out a hand to stop her.

    Cat was wearing her puzzled expression again and stood with her hands placed on her hips loosely as if unworried about the shade rushing at her.

    Cat¡¯s instincts were right as once more the shade took a dive at Indi.

    She was ready this time, with her shield raised high. The shade crashed into it and then paused in the air for a moment as if puzzled. It flew up and over the shield and then rammed it from the other side. Again and again it tried until it flew off and away, picking back up with it¡¯s circling pattern, only faster this time.

    Cat watched it both puzzled and worried by this behaviour. Coal¡¯s gaze was fixated on Indi.

    ¡°What have you got?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Indi looked back at him, confused expression on her face. She dropped her shield hesitantly, half eyeing the shade. Then she fixed her glasses.

    ¡°What did you take?¡± Coal varied his question slightly.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You took something from this house? What was it?¡± He spoke with a fierce almost scary tone.

    Indi looked so confused and afraid that Amanda butted in. ¡°Coal,¡± she warned in a hard tone of her own.

    He held up a hand and repeated his question once more. This time his tone softened, became an asking one rather than a demanding one. ¡°What did you take?¡±

    A look of realisation crossed Indi¡¯s face and she reached for her bag.

    ¡°Whatever it is, get it out and throw it away,¡± Coal told her.

    The shade circled closer, preparing for another dive bomb.

    Indi¡¯s focus was on her bag as she rummaged through, looking for the thing she had grabbed earlier, that pretty puzzle cube.

    She pulled it from the bag, fully prepared to throw it away, but the moment she lay her eyes on it she found herself fixated.

    Nothing could draw her attention. She didn¡¯t see the dark wispy shape as it descended upon her.

    In two strides, before the shade could reach them, Amanda snatched the cube from Indi¡¯s loose grip and hurled it to the far corner of the room. The shade chased after it, disappearing behind rows of furniture.

    They all stood silent for sometime. Frozen, waiting for it to return. Then Indi blinked and she looked at her empty hand. ¡°I didn¡¯t even know what it was.¡± She frowned, obviously puzzled by this.

    ¡°It was probably cursed,¡± Coal remarked.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Amanda asked Indi.

    Indi nodded then noticed the cut on Amanda¡¯s arm. ¡°You¡¯re bleeding.¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s just a scratch.¡±

    Coal leaned forward to take a look and seemed equally unworried.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you took a random item from inside this place,¡± Cat remarked as Indi reached her side and started to walk beside her.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to, I think, it was like it wanted me to take it. Besides, we¡¯re here to find an item, the will remember?¡± Indi replied.

    ¡°That¡¯s not the same, and I¡¯m sure Kass could just get away with a photograph if we do find it, not that there¡¯s much hope of that anymore,¡± Cat replied.

    Zephyr, eager to get further away from the shade, scurried on ahead for once, scouting their path to the exit.

    Amanda, out of earshot of the others, waited for Coal and walked along next to him.

    ¡°How¡¯d you figure that out?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Lucky guess,¡± Coal replied. When he noticed her still looking at him he added, ¡°I have a few items with defensive spells cast on them. Basic thief protection. I¡¯d heard that sometimes shades can be used that way, not that I have any myself.¡±

    Amanda raised an eyebrow and gave him an assessing look. ¡°Right.¡± Finding his reply acceptable she said nothing more and the two walked along together in silence. Somewhere up ahead Indi and Cat chatted while Zephyr cleared a path.

    After a couple of corners, and one scramble over the top of a sheet-covered desk, Amanda paused and turned to Coal. ¡°How¡¯s the wound?¡± she asked.

    He stopped an lifted up his shirt to check. ¡°Not bleeding anymore thanks to you.¡±

    Amanda nodded. ¡°Why¡¯d you come in here?¡± She stared him dead in the eye.

    He met her look and and his expression hardened. He nodded at the winding path ahead. ¡°We should keep moving.¡± He didn¡¯t look back.

    Amanda gave his back a sour look and caught up to him.

    As she reached his side he remarked casually, ¡°They always say you should pick your battles but no one ever says which one¡¯s you¡¯re supposed to pick.¡±

    She didn¡¯t press him any further. She doubted she¡¯d get anything more useful out of him. Was he after something? A treasure? An item? It wasn¡¯t unlikely. But the question remained, had he known they would be in here? Was it coincidence or had he come in after them? And if so, why?

    Indi chatted away to Cat vibrantly. She¡¯d already forgotten about the encounter with the shade or how the pretty puzzle cube had made her feel. Even the ever present dangers that were lurking in the shadows were keeping themselves hidden in her mind. Instead she was just enjoying just talking with her friend.

    ¡°He¡¯s actually quite nice you know.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh,¡± Cat replied skeptically. ¡°Don¡¯t be fooled into confusing politeness with kindness. Coal is as ruthless as they come. He¡¯ll serve you a five course dinner with caviar, clams, and private quartet and then stab you in the stomach just as dessert arrives if it benefits him to do so.¡±

    Indi shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I think that part¡¯s just an act. Like how he lets people think he killed his own parents... I mean he did, but it was an accident. He just a little kid who couldn¡¯t control his powers so he accidentally summoned a monster without meaning to.¡±

    ¡°Who told you that?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Coal did.¡±

    ¡°When?¡±

    ¡°Earlier today.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because I asked.¡±

    ¡°You just asked an aristocrat if he killed his parents or not?¡± Cat gave Indi a bewildered look.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Indi replied not understanding why Cat was making a fuss about it.

    ¡°And he just told you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Cat was silent a moment, thinking it through, and since Indi hated to waste silence, she continued talking.

    ¡°You know it¡¯s sad really. I think he¡¯s lonely don¡¯t you?¡±

    Cat scoffed. ¡°No, I think he¡¯s got plenty of rich pretty people to hang out with at fancy cocktail parties.¡±

    Indi grinned at the thought of it. ¡°What do you think they¡¯re like? The parties aristocrats go to?¡±

    ¡°Probably really boring and full of politics and trying to kill one another or trying to get one another to kill one another. And you¡¯ve been to one remember? Back when we first met.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah, that was nice. I wasn¡¯t really paying that much attention to the party though cause you know we were focused on stealing information and stuff. You know I kind of imagined Coal¡¯s parties as fancier than that one.¡±

    ¡°How do you get fancier than that one?¡± Cat vaulted over a desk effortlessly.

    Indi paused, briefly wondering if she could do the same. Deciding it wasn¡¯t worth the injury risk she climbed over carefully instead. ¡°I don¡¯t know, just fancier. Maybe with like... a giant blow up castle or something and floating fairy lights, and drinks that refill themselves.¡±

    Cat raised an eyebrow.

    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Indi shrugged. ¡°Hey, all of those things are doable.¡±

    ¡°Doable or not I can¡¯t imagine a bunch of aristocrats like Coal in some kind of blow up bouncy castle.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I didn¡¯t say bouncy, I just said blow up, but if there were one I bet they¡¯d all love it. Nobody hates bouncy castles.¡±

    They caught up to Zephyr who stood waiting at the exit to the room. ¡°Figured I¡¯d wait for everyone to catch up before we head back into the other maze.¡± he eyed the door warily.

    ¡°Smart,¡± Cat replied, her tone neutral for once.

    They joined Zephyr in waiting for the other two.

    Indi shifted from foot to foot then spoke quietly to Cat. ¡°What do you think our chances are of finding a working bathroom in this place are?¡±

    Cat shrugged. ¡°Probably depends on what kind of mood the house is in.¡± She replied in an offhandish tone but she had to admit, she kind of needed to go to. She crossed her arms and hoped the others wouldn¡¯t be too long.

    Amanda and Coal rounded the corner a moment later. Amanda nodded at the door. Zephyr hesitated and then reached for the handle.

    They piled into a hallway they hadn¡¯t seen before. It was just as dusty and dark as the rest of the house. No one had any idea what time it was anymore. The light that spilled into the large ballroom behind them had seemed like afternoon light, although the opaqueness of the windows had made it hard to be sure, besides no one trusted what they saw through those windows anymore anyway. The hallway was darker but a few open doors up ahead let through enough natural light that they could make out their way. Zephyr turned the torch back on anyway, just to be on the safe side.

    ¡°Promising,¡± Coal remarked but he was met with a grunt in reply from Amanda and a soft snort from Cat. ¡°Lead the way Zeph,¡± Coal commanded.

    Once again Zephyr hesitated but only for a moment. There was no getting out of here by standing still after all.

    Cat peaked in all the rooms that they passed, hoping one might be a bathroom. No such luck though.

    ¡°Try that end door,¡± Coal suggested, indicating a slightly smaller shaped door at the end of the hall. Its top edge was curved and it was obvious most of them were going to have to duck if they went through it. On its front a pair of pretty pink faded flowers were engraved against green tinged wood, their stalks wrapped around one another.

    Some of the other doors closer to it were also shut and Cat attempted to open each one as they went past them.

    ¡°We¡¯re not going to get anywhere if you insist on opening every door,¡± Coal remarked, annoyed at having to keep stopping. This hallway was narrower than the others had been, and the ceiling lower. He didn¡¯t like it.

    Cat ignored him and frowned as one of the doors opened to reveal nothing but a solid wall behind it.

    ¡°Maybe it was boarded up,¡± Indi suggested.

    But there was no hint of a seam and Cat couldn¡¯t be bothered searching for one.

    Zephyr reached the door at the end of the hallway. As Amanda joined him he remarked, ¡°It¡¯s like they made the door just for you.

    ¡°Mmm,¡± Amanda replied but her tone suggested she was unimpressed with this observation. The height of the door was only a little above her head height.

    She reached for the handle but the door was locked. She tried twisting it again and gave a good solid push but it didn¡¯t budge.

    ¡°You could just burn it down,¡± Cat remarked impatiently.

    ¡°But it¡¯s such a pretty door,¡± Indi complained.

    Amanda looked at the door and sighed. She turned to Cat. ¡°You can lock pick right?¡±

    ¡°Sure but...¡± Cat held out her hands to indicate she had no tools for lock picking on her.

    Coal handed her a small black case.

    She opened it and rolled her eyes. The case was filled with exactly the right tools for the job. ¡°We could just kick it in.¡±

    ¡°Better to be gentle with a house like this. They have shades to protect their treasure, you don¡¯t know what else they¡¯ve got,¡± Coal told her.

    Cat grumbled some more but pushed her way through to the front to take a look. ¡°Good gods, it¡¯s a warded lock.¡±

    ¡°Problem?¡± Coal asked.

    ¡°No, one of these skeleton keys should do it, just need to try a couple. Warded locks are old though. I didn¡¯t think anyone used them anymore.¡± Cat slipped different long pieces of metal that looked like trimmed down keys into the lock. On the third try the key spun all the way around and the door opened with a click. ¡°Easy,¡± Cat remarked. She pushed the door in.

    They all peered through the tiny door as best they could, trying to get a look at the room. Like many of the others it was filled with junk, vases, and candlesticks, and various music boxes. On the other side of the room lay another door, this one more normal sized.

    ¡°I guess this is the back entrance,¡± Amanda remarked as they all trailed in one after the other.

    Coal, who was last through, closed the door behind them. It had no handle on this side and the edge almost blended into the wallpaper each side.

    ¡°Which part of the house do you suppose we¡¯re in now?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°No idea,¡± Amanda replied.

    The group spread out, looking at all the various items in the room. A large table and several other shelves blocked their way directly forwards forcing them to take either the left or the right hand path around the table. Indi, Cat and Coal went one way, Zephyr and Amanda went the other.

    Cat ignored their surroundings and moved to the other door as fast as the structure of the room allowed. Zephyr met her there not long after she reached the door.

    Indi took her time. Even though she did want to find a bathroom, her need was not so great that she could be so easily torn away from such mysteries. It was like getting a glimpse into another life.

    ¡°There¡¯s so much junk in this place,¡± Cat remarked as she wished for them to hurry up.

    ¡°One person¡¯s junk is another person¡¯s treasure,¡± Indi replied, her eyes found every little thing and studied it, marvelled over it, remembered it.

    Coal didn¡¯t mind her slow pace, from the moment he¡¯d walked in he¡¯d spotted something, the thing he¡¯d been meaning to find. It was smaller than he¡¯d expected. Of that he was glad too. While Indi distracted herself and the others he delicately and stealthily slipped the small red vase into his pocket. He hoped it would not draw the shade back again, at least not too quickly. If it did they¡¯d just have to find another way to destroy it.

    Finally Indi finished her lollygagging and reached the waiting group. Coal followed behind her, confident that no one had noticed him take the object.

    ¡°Finally,¡± Cat remarked with an eye roll.

    Amanda nodded at the door.

    Cat reached for the handle.

    A loud crash erupted from the wall to the left hand side.

    Indi gave a yelp in surprise as something pushed through the wall, shattering pottery as it did so. A cloud of dust filled the air.

    Coal raised his sword. Surely the shade wasn¡¯t back that quickly?

    It was Amanda who recognised their new guest first. ¡°Wolf!¡± she cried happily.

    ¡°Wolf?¡± Indi repeated in a puzzled tone as she struggled to make out the animal shape beneath all the dust. Her words quickly turned into a cough and then a wheeze. She struggled to get a breath. She backed up quickly, away from the cloud of dust and pulled her newly acquired inhaler from her pocket.

    ¡°You alright?¡± Cat asked in a concerned tone, half reaching for Indi but not sure how to help.

    As Indi felt the medicine fill her lungs and the dust cloud settled further away from where she was, she nodded.

    Cat pulled her arms back to her sides but watched Indi just in case.

    Amanda went to greet Wolf who pulled back hesitantly at first, but upon seeing that this was the real Amanda he shifted back into his human form.

    ¡°I heard you were lost in the basement?¡± Amanda inquired.

    ¡°I was for a bit,¡± Wolf replied. ¡°What happened to you lot?¡± He surveyed the group then added, ¡°Where¡¯s Sirius and Kass?¡±

    Amanda¡¯s face fell and her shoulders drooped. ¡°Cat pulled me out of a dream but she couldn¡¯t reach them. I don¡¯t know how to get back to where we were.¡±

    ¡°I did not,¡± Cat interrupted. ¡°Amanda says she saw me and that I pulled her out but it wasn¡¯t me, that¡¯s for sure.¡±

    ¡°A different you?¡± Wolf asked, his brown eyebrows knotted in concern.

    Amanda shook her head and rubbed her face with one hand. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was pretty sure it was Cat.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Wolf rubbed his own chin.

    ¡°Time seems a bit messed up here though,¡± Amanda added.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a watch,¡± Wolf replied and then glanced at the window in the side of the room. It was lighter in here now there was a huge hole in the side of the room. He looked back at the hole. ¡°I think I can get you back to them. I went past them earlier but there were some pretty thick bars in the way, and that¡¯s assuming it was them. I couldn¡¯t smell them and this house has been playing tricks. I thought it might have been just another illusion but if they¡¯re dreaming as you said...¡±

    ¡°Show me, anyway,¡± Amanda told him.

    Wolf nodded and transformed back into wolf form. He¡¯d be able to retrace his own path better that way.

    They climbed out through the hole given the door quite obviously didn¡¯t lead to the room Wolf had come from.

    As they climbed through Indi turned to Coal. ¡°So what exactly is a shade?¡±

    Cat answered, ¡°It¡¯s a creature from the dream realm, they¡¯re kind of like nightmares. They make you see things you¡¯re afraid of.¡±

    ¡°How come they didn¡¯t do it before?¡±

    This time Coal got their first. ¡°They did, in the mirrors. They create illusions.¡±

    ¡°Illusions that can hurt you,¡± Cat added

    ¡°I thought shades usually take on other forms themselves?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°They do,¡± Cat agreed but she was frowning as if confused by the same thing.

    ¡°Shades are adaptive,¡± Coal replied, ¡°we¡¯re probably not the first people in this house and a lot of people find mirrors creepy. It¡¯s also something that draws the attention.¡±

    ¡°Maybe if you¡¯re Cat,¡± Wolf remarked so quietly and deadpan that the others almost missed it.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Cat objected but it was more a cursory objection than a serious one.

    ¡°So you ran into a dream shade?¡± Wolf asked.

    Amanda nodded.

    ¡°Are there other kinds?¡± Indi asked, noticing his wording and tone.

    Amanda answered. ¡°The thing about shades is they have no form except that which resembles things that people fear. They don¡¯t read minds mind you, they pick up on what shapes to become through experience and observing nightmares. They usually fear light and will attack it. But the more often a shade takes on a from the more real that form becomes. Fire shades are the worst. They are made of fire and they¡¯ve lost all fear of light. If they touch you they¡¯ll burn you up.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re talking bullshit,¡± Cat interrupted.

    ¡°I am not.¡±

    Cat looked at Wolf to see where he stood on the issue. He huffed and shifted back into two-legged form.

    ¡°I have heard of them...¡± Wolf started.

    Amanda shot Cat a triumphant look.

    ¡°...although many of them are unfounded rumors. And the light thing is an exaggeration. It only applies under certain circumstances.¡±

    Cat replied to Amanda¡¯s look with a raised eyebrow.

    Wolf continued. ¡°Fire-shades are in the realm of namons, anyone who¡¯s seen one didn¡¯t live very long after.¡±

    ¡°Except namons are real.¡± Cat insisted with a frown.

    ¡°If no one survives an attack by one then where do the stories come from?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°I always thought shades in general were just an urban legend,¡± Zephyr admitted.

    ¡°Well we didn¡¯t exactly see the shade the first time it attached us,¡± Coal pointed out in reply to Indi¡¯s question. ¡°But they aren¡¯t uncommon.¡±

    Wolf glanced sideways at Coal and frowned. He left the question that was bugging him for now and instead asked another one. ¡°So what happened to you two earlier?¡± He looked from Cat to Zephyr.

    Cat sighed and rolled her eyes. ¡°Timey wimey bullshit.¡± She reached for a doorknob. She was keeping her tradition of opening and closing every door as they walked. It was earning her the occasional sideways glance from Coal. No one else really paid it much attention though.

    Zephyr added in his own explanation. ¡°We thought you guys had disappeared and you thought we had disappeared but in reality who the fuck knows.¡±

    Wolf grunted in acknowledgement.

    Cat slammed another door to a useless room. ¡°You know, there¡¯s got to be some permanent dream magic in this house if there are shades about. They need a doorway kept open to exist here.¡±

    Wolf paused. ¡°I thought they can still haunt people in the daytime, when they¡¯re awake I mean, not outside literally.¡±

    ¡°They can, do both, but only for a short time. And this house¡¯s owner¡¯s been dead awhile right? So unless someone is coming back here regularly or they¡¯re keeping unconscious people locked up here in the house...¡±

    Amanda stopped walking which caused Cat to stop talking. She turned around and met Cat¡¯s eyes, a question haunting her own.

    Cat shrugged.

    ¡°How else would you do it?¡± Coal asked matter-of-factly.

    ¡°A dreamwalker or borrower or infused item,¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°It¡¯s still going to wear off eventually.¡± He spoke thoughtfully.

    ¡°We saw some runes downstairs,¡± Amanda told him. She relaxed a little at remembering that.

    Coal nodded. ¡°A good infusement then.¡±

    Amanda nodded and turned slowly to start walking again. She still seemed hesitant and unsure though, and maybe a little worried.

    The others followed with Coal taking up the back. Cat rattled the handle of a locked door, momentarily considered picking it but decided it wasn¡¯t worth the effort and moved on to the next one.

    ¡°Cat, quit opening and closing doors,¡± Amanda requested with a glance back as Cat let another on slam shut loudly.

    ¡°I might find something,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°Yeah but that¡¯s not necessarily a good thing,¡± Zephyr remarked.

    Cat ignored them both but she did shut the doors a bit quieter for the next room.

    Three doors on she got lucky, opening it to see black and white tiles and surprisingly tidy bathroom. She paused.

    Coal stepped past her then leaned against the wall as if waiting. Cat glanced at him, noticed his amused raised eyebrow and promptly ignored him. Looking further down the hall she called, ¡°Hey Indi, how haunted do you think their bathrooms are?¡±

    The others turned to look back at her.

    As Amanda opened her mouth to reply Cat slipped inside the bathroom and locked the door.

    Indi retraced her steps down the hall, stopped next to Coal, and complained at the closed door, ¡°Oh, but I need to go to too.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure that was the wisest idea,¡± Amanda remarked with a touch of worry.

    Zephyr sighed and copied Coal¡¯s act of leaning against the wall. ¡°Well it¡¯s probably better it¡¯s Cat, she can best deal with what ever spirits this place has haunting it¡¯s plumbing or any dreamwalker magic that¡¯s floating around.¡±

    Amanda looked at him sternly but she didn¡¯t reply.

    Indi shifted restlessly. Now she was standing so close to a bathroom she found her need much more urgent. She wobbled from one foot to the other, back and forth.

    Amanda gave her a sympathetic look.

    They waited outside until they heard a toilet flush but when after a few minutes there was still no sign of Cat they started to worry.

    Amanda glanced at Coal, who raised one eyebrow in reply.

    ¡°Cat?¡± Amanda called gently, ¡°Are you alright?¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 32: Darkest Depths

    Kass turned but there was no sign of any children. The laughter faded. Kass closed her eyes and breathed in. She could still smell the roses. That was alright. She focused on that, something solid, at least for now.

    But it didn¡¯t last. The stench turned rotten, like meat left out in the sun for the flies to gather on. Kass opened her eyes. She felt wriggling movement by he feet and she hoped it wasn¡¯t maggots. When she glanced down there was nothing. Out of the corner of her eye she caught movement, a small furry thing darted under a nearby rose bush. She was still in the garden but it wasn¡¯t like her imagined garden. There was something off here. To the eye it looked normal, much like the beach had, but the shadows had no consistency, no origin point. There was light but no sun.

    A large dark shape appeared out of nowhere and ran at her from the side. She raised her hands by instinct and sent it flying. Only once it was in the air did she realise it was Sirius. He went flying through a wall with a loud crash. The wall had appeared from nowhere and it resembled the walls inside the house. This one was a pale green tinge with the Fleur-de-lis pattern covering it. Bits of wallpaper had been ripped off and just above the skirting board someone had scrawled on the wall in a thick blue felt tip pen. It was a strange thing to see in the middle of the garden. But then everything here was strange. Kass half expected a talking caterpillar to pop up and start rhyming and smoking a pipe. She might have paused to look more closely at the wall were it not for her friend lying in the remnants of it.

    ¡°Sirius!¡± Kass ran to him. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    But before she could reach him to see if he was hurt, the whole wall, with Sirius in it, disappeared.

    Kass dropped to her knees feeling tired and defeated.

    ¡°Mommy?¡±

    Kass froze. She recognised that voice only too well. Theo, her youngest son. How did this place know what he sounded like? How could it dig up something like that from her memory and replicate is so well. Kass gave a sob and she turned with tears in her eyes.

    There he stood, as old as the day he died, seven years, and wearing the same clothes. And even though she knew he wasn¡¯t real she couldn¡¯t help but reach out for him. ¡°Theo.¡±

    The child took a step forward. As his heel started to strike the soft grass a dark shape, only a little taller, appeared behind him.

    The bat hit Theo¡¯s head with a loud ¡®ker-thunk,¡¯ as the dream world mirrored real life. Theo¡¯s older sibling, Marc, stepped from the shadows, baseball bat in hand, as his brother¡¯s lifeless body fell to the ground. A wide grin was plastered across Marc¡¯s face. Blood dripped from the end of the bat.

    Kass fell back from where she knelt. Her palms hit the ground hard but she didn¡¯t notice. She sat there in a daze, unmoving as the replica of her eldest child, also long since dead, walked slowly toward her. The bat in his hand changed. It¡¯s edge got sharper as it took on the shape of a butcher¡¯s knife.

    Kass leaned back against the ground wishing she could just fall into the earth. The ground gave way behind her, obeying her wish. With a yelp of surprise Kass tumbled backwards into darkness.

    Scenes flashed past her eyes. A snow covered earth, with spring buds just starting to appear. Regulation sized boot prints marring the mud. An old friend, teaching her to spar by the coast, with soft arms, and a joyful smile. Her dead sister¡¯s never-grown smiling face as she pushed a small Kass playfully down the stairs. Her middle child, Jesse¡¯s first steps. Her three boys together at a baseball game, her long-buried husband smiling at her over a carton of popcorn. Her parents, home for Samhein, their faces blurred. What had they looked like? Kass couldn¡¯t remember. Not dead, just gone, another world she¡¯d left behind. So much lost.

    She reached for a scene and found herself standing by a concrete building in winter, rifle in hand. A friendly street, kids kicking soccer balls in the snow. But Kass knew better. She recognised this road and she knew what was to come. She did not want to stay and watch. A war had waged here.

    She wished for somewhere else and once more, to her dismay, her wish was granted. A prison camp. Cold cuffs on her hands. A solider dragged her roughly toward a room. She knew that room, but she¡¯d never been a prisoner here, not at this camp, not in that room. The room with the rats. She struggled and fought. Kicked and twisted, until she had no energy left. They threw her into the pit, too deep for a rat to escape from. She lay there, skin stinging from the cold, elbows bruised from the fall. And then they came.

    A bucket of rats was thrown at her. She screamed with her teeth gritted. She¡¯d seen the result of this torture too many times. She¡¯d never participated in this particular brand of horror but she¡¯d watched. She¡¯d stood by, for the greater good. She¡¯d fired bullets, quick and fast, into innocent and guilty alike. To end a war that never should have started.

    She pulled her arms in tight. She clenched her fists. Made herself as small as possible, as pile after squirming, hungry pile, was thrust upon her, and darkness encased her whole.

    People can control their own dreams. Sirius knew that. Cat had taught him when they were kids. They used to play in the dream world, back before they knew how dangerous it could be. Cat would create worlds. Sirius had requested a tree-house, a swing, a ship, a box of paint. Cat had never liked the ocean so the ship she had made had been small and stuck in the sand, but Sirius had been happy enough with that, even if another part of him had still longed to sail the seas. Their dream tree-house had been plastered with stars and painted with the ocean. A safe place to hide away from their short-tempered father who did not approve of dreams. Back before he realised how useful they could be in transporting items of value. Cat had never been one to be controlled by others, not her own father, not even under the stinging end of a switch. She may have been 2 years younger than him, but she¡¯d taught Sirius a lesson in controlling his own world, every part of it. But while Sirius could control his own dreams, even in the presence of a dreamweaver, he could not control Kass¡¯s.

    He tired to find her and pull her back but every time he got close she¡¯d slip from his grasp and Sirius was finding it harder and harder to keep his own surroundings stable. When he¡¯d landed in the garden and it had looked as solid as the beach he¡¯d thought that perhaps for a moment he¡¯d managed to solidify the world. But the garden wasn¡¯t his and Kass in her fear had lashed out with her powers. He was sure she had not meant to but it didn¡¯t make flying through a wall any softer.

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    He sat up carefully and stretched each muscle. He found himself bruised but otherwise unharmed. The edges of his world dipped in black and he took in a deep breath. Control of dreams meant control of emotions, especially around a dreamweaver. And if you couldn¡¯t control them then you channelled them. That¡¯s what Cat had always said. You take the fear and you turn it into fury.

    Fury may have worked for Cat but that feeling itself scared Sirius. Instead he tried to think of good things, nice things, calm things. Like the ocean, so big that it could swallow everything, that nothing mattered but the steady slap slap slap of the waves against the side of the boat.

    That was how Sirius came to be on a small dingy, floating beneath a starry sky. He knew then that he could stay that way for a long time. Long enough for Cat to come and find him. He could control the world in his immediate vicinity, keep the dreamweaver at bay. It was his mind after all. As long as he was calm. He could stay this way and be safe. He could not pull himself awake, but he could stay alive until rescued.

    But he wasn¡¯t the only one in here. It was a fine retreat and he¡¯d probably need to use it again, however, once his mind was calm, once he was ready, he needed to venture out again. He needed to find Amanda and Kass.

    He wasn¡¯t good at traversing the dreams of others. That was Cat¡¯s territory. But if he was to save them, he had to try. It was possible for a non-dreamwalker to do. He¡¯d never be able to control their dreams like he could his own. Only a dreamwalker could do that. And once he was in their dreams, he would have less control of his own. But it was a necessary risk. If he could find them he could talk to them, try to help. Amanda knew a little of what it was like to dreamwalk, Cat had shown her some. He just needed to find her and remind her.

    But Kass had been closer, she was possibly easier to reach, and maybe in more danger given she didn¡¯t know the dreamworld like they did. Sirius stood. He glanced down at the dark ocean, and it¡¯s unknown depths, perhaps the deepest ocean he would ever lay eyes upon. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly how to find them but a part of him knew that was the way. Down into those depths. He took a deep breath and focused on the sky. ¡°Relax,¡± he murmured to himself. Then he took a step forward and off the boat.

    He dropped like a stone, listening, looking for any sign of life.

    The sea lit up, as if the sun had suddenly come out and gained more power. Fish encircled him. Large slow pink fish with white stripes, small zappy blue and yellow ones. A whale called in the distance but no other person could be seen anywhere.

    Sirius let himself sink down slowly. He felt a tugging at his ankle and looked down. A tentacle had wrapped itself around him. He tried not to panic. There was a chance it would take him where he wanted to go. And if he wanted to get back he just had to imagine the small boat scene again, right?

    The tentacle tentacle tugged harder. Sirius was pulled faster. He felt water getting shoved up his nose. Where he had been able to breathe before, he now choked. He closed his eyes.

    Just when he thought he was about to drown he felt air on his face again. He took in a large gracious gasp and opened his eyes to find himself in the air.

    No, not in the air. Worse. In a plane. And this clearly wasn¡¯t a normal flight. He could see the cockpit, see the air rushing in the front window, hear the captain screaming over the radio. ¡°Mayday! Mayday! We¡¯re going down. Above him the roof ripped away with a horrendous scraping sound as the wind tour metal from metal.

    Sirius grabbed hold of a chair leg to prevent being sucked out. This was his worst nightmare.

    The plane tilted. His stomach somersaulted. He shut his eyes and braced for impact. Would this be the end? His thoughts went back to the boat, small and calm. Slap slap slap. He let go of the chair leg, focused on the boat. He could hear the water now.

    He opened his eyes. He was on his stomach. He could see his hands in front of him. But no boat. Around him, was only inky blackness. This wasn¡¯t where he wanted to be. But at least it wasn¡¯t on the plane.

    ¡°Sirius! Help me!¡±

    ¡°Kass?¡± He looked around but he saw no one.

    ¡°Sirius!¡± A different voice! A different direction! Amanda?

    He spun. He must have have gone in circles a full three times before he reaslied there was no one there. Only echos.

    And yet, he couldn¡¯t help but hope. He closed his eyes and thought of Amanda. Of her beautiful red hair. Of her kindness. The way she looked up at him with those big brown eyes. The way she would sing in the kitchen in the morning, and drum on the pots and the pans with a beat that made you want to swoop her up in your arms and dance, even though the sun was barely up. He thought of that time they¡¯d had a sick mare in the barn and Amanda had stayed up most of the night caring for it. He thought of that time he¡¯d gotten the flu and she¡¯d spent most of the night caring for him. He thought of how when she was thinking she¡¯d sometimes bite her bottom lip. How whenever she had her hair tied up in a ponytail she sometimes had this habit of pulling a strand over her shoulder and twirling it between her fingers. How she swayed when she walked. How she laughed.

    He opened his eyes. She stood right there in front of him.

    ¡°Amanda!¡±

    He was about to run to her and swoop her up in his arms but then her expression changed into a scowl. Then it fell apart, into a look that broke his heart. A look of betrayal. The same look she¡¯d given him when she¡¯d walked around a corner a little over a week ago to find Kass and him locking lips.

    They had talked about it and it hadn¡¯t even completely been Sirius¡¯s fault. It was Kass who had initiated the kiss. But the problem was of course, that Sirius hadn¡¯t exactly pulled away, not at first anyway. But she¡¯d forgiven him, as he¡¯d forgiven her once before for the same thing. But here she was, looking at him with that same hurt expression in her eyes.

    ¡°Why¡¯d you leave me?¡±

    He frowned, confused. ¡°Amanda, I didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You did, you left me for her. We were all in here together and then you left me.¡±

    Before Sirius could reply another voice cried out. Kass¡¯s voice this time. From behind him. ¡°Help me, please. Sirius? Where did you go?¡±

    He spun.

    Kass was standing there with tears in her eyes. One dripped from her chin and landed on her white shirt leaving a small wet splotch. ¡°Where¡¯d you go? You left me! You let go of my hand! Why¡¯d you do that?¡± she spoke between sobs. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you help me?¡±

    ¡°I... I...¡± he stuttered.

    ¡°Sirius?¡± A small trembling voice asked.

    Cat stood to his left. A young Cat, barely a teenager. Lanky and long haired, all arms and legs. Her dark hair wild and unbrushed. Her sleeves were torn. ¡°Where¡¯d you go? Why didn¡¯t you take me with you? You just left me. You left me with him. With that monster!¡±

    They surrounded Sirius. Three voices asking him where he had gone, why he had gone. Telling him over and over that he¡¯d left them.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t...¡± he started but then he turned to Cat, ¡°I mean I did leave you but...¡± he trailed off feeling guilty and he spun to face Kass instead. ¡°I didn¡¯t leave you. I tired, I tied to reach you.¡± He turned to Amanda. ¡°And you. I would never leave you. I love you.¡±

    ¡°You leave all the time. You¡¯re gone for months!¡± she pushed back.

    The words were familiar. Echos of conversations had in the past.

    He shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m home for longer now, I ...¡±

    Her expression changed to one of fury. Amanda raised a fireball in her hand. That was the moment he knew. The moment he was sure beyond all doubt that none of them were real. And that he was in big trouble.

 Volume 2, Chapter 33: Stay Awake

    Cat was surprised to find the water in the taps looked almost pristine. She finished washing her hands but was so intrigued by it that she left the tap running while she watched the water falling.

    When she looked back up at herself in the mirror she found the edges of the world fuzzy, like everything had faded away a little and she¡¯d fallen into one of those drawings Baz sometimes liked to make. She recognised the feeling of the dreamworld. There had to be a gate set up somewhere nearby, for her to be so easily pulled in. She hadn¡¯t intentionally arrived here but now that she was she found she had a lot more control. She could sense something nearby as well, no not something, someone. Wondering if it might be Srius or Kass she reached her mind out for them. Instead she found Amanda.

    The woman was surrounded by darkness. She was clawing at it frantically, as if digging in soil. As Amanda scrambled back away from something Cat reached for her without thinking.

    When Amanda resisted, Cat spoke to her. ¡°Relax, it¡¯s me.¡±

    Amanda didn¡¯t immediately stop resisting but she slowed down enough that Cat could pull her to her feet and help spin her around so they were facing each other.

    Once Amanda saw Cat she relaxed. ¡°How¡¯d you get here?¡± she asked in a breathless voice.

    ¡°Dreamwalker remember.¡± Cat wasn¡¯t sure what this was but she was confident that this was no trick. The real Amanda stood before her. And remembering what Amanda had told her earlier about Cat pulling her from the dreamworld she wondered if this was that moment. If it was, it meant she had a shot at getting Amanda out of here, well this Amanda at least. Did she want the same thing to happen? What if she told Amanda differently? Then she remembered how the freaky deer had burst into flames at just the right moment. Best not to mess things up if this was the past.

    Before she could think through it any further Amanda spluttered, ¡°Sirius is...¡±

    Cat wasn¡¯t sure how much time she had. If this was time travel the house might throw her back at any moment. She should get Amanda out first then try to wake the others with whatever time she had left. ¡°Listen,¡± she said, interrupting Amanda, ¡°There¡¯s no time for that. I¡¯m going to get you out of here and then you have to come and find us immediately. Understand?¡±

    Cat noticed Amanda hesitate.

    Before the Amanda could say another word Cat continued, ¡°It¡¯s important. I don¡¯t know how to get there but it¡¯s second floor in the other wing okay, and you have to go straight there. I have no idea which room, nearer the centre of the house. The others will be fine I promise.¡± Cat didn¡¯t know if that was true but it was what Amanda needed to hear and Cat would do her best to make sure she kept that promise. Of that she was certain.

    What felt like and eternity to Cat passed. Finally Amanda nodded.

    Satisfied, Cat eyed their surroundings and considered how best to do this. Probably the usual way. She hoped it worked. This wasn¡¯t the usual dream. ¡°Okay,¡± she said and closed her own eyes, focusing instead on what she felt about her. She fixated on Amanda, on pushing her out of this place.

    When Cat next opened her eyes she was lying on the floor of a bathroom. Amanda¡¯s voice floated gently through the door.

    ¡°Cat? Are you alright?¡±

    Cat sat up. Above her the tap was still running. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine,¡± she called back as she got shakily to her feet and switched the tap off. She exited the bathroom after one wary glance backward.

    Amanda gave her a worried look which quickly shifted to Indi as Indi pushed past Cat and locked herself in the bathroom.

    ¡°What?¡± Did you get lost in there?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even joke about that,¡± Zephyr said with a shudder.

    Coal raised an eyebrow at Cat but said nothing. Upon seeing Amanda¡¯s worried expression again, Cat decided to explain.

    ¡°You were right.¡±

    It didn¡¯t ease Amanda¡¯s worried look. ¡°About what?¡± Her eyebrows knitted closer toward the middle of her face and she brought her hands to her front and wringed them together.

    ¡°About me pulling you out of the dreamworld earlier. I don¡¯t know how it happened but somehow I was there, or I time travelled back to there. I don¡¯t know, but I did just tell you to come find us.¡±

    ¡°Right now? In there?¡± Amanda nodded at the closed bathroom door.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Cat nodded.

    When Amanda continued looking worriedly at the door, Cat added, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m sure she¡¯s fine, she¡¯s not a dreamwalker... probably.¡± Cat trailed off wondering if it was possible for Indi to be pulled in. Maybe. It was a particularly strong spell, whatever it was.

    Cat rapped on the door, ¡°Indi, you good?¡±

    ¡°Yes, just gimme a sec,¡± came back the reply.

    Cat gave Amanda a satisfied smile. Amanda¡¯s shoulders did relax slightly but the wrinkles remained on her forehead.

    Noticing this, Zephyr chimed in, ¡°I¡¯m sure Cat can pull her back out if she falls asleep.¡±

    Amanda didn¡¯t relax fully until Indi was back out in the hallway with them.

    Sensing the atmosphere Indi said, ¡°What¡¯s with you guys, you look like you saw a ghost.¡±

    ¡°We almost sort of did,¡± Cat replied with a twitch at the corner of one lip.

    Indi gave her a confused look but Cat turned to face the open hallway. Taking this as their cue, the others started moving again too.

    Coal paused and gave the bathroom a quick peek, just in case there was something obvious linked to all the dreamwalking. Seeing nothing he turned and followed the others.

    ¡°You know, I think there¡¯s a dreamweaver here,¡± Cat remarked as they reached the top of some stairs.¡±

    Wolf growled softly.

    ¡°A dream what?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°They¡¯re worse than shades,¡± Cat explained. ¡°They make the dreamworld, sort of. They¡¯re like dreamwalkers but not.¡±

    ¡°So, bad?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°Well not exactly, not always, but dangerous yeah. We just don¡¯t want to get too close is all.¡±

    Down the stairs and a little further along Wolf stopped by some bars. He was frowning. ¡°They were through there.¡±

    Amanda looked but she couldn¡¯t see anyone.

    ¡°How do we get through?¡± Indi asked.

    There were a few shrugs and questioning glances. Not from Amanda though. She stepped up to the bars, placed one hand on each and filled them with a magical heat. Not so much they melted but enough that she could bend them outward. She made enough of a gap that they could all easily fit through.

    ¡°It¡¯s a strange thing to have in a house like this,¡± Coal remarked as he squeezed through the bars.¡±

    ¡°If you think that¡¯s the strangest thing in this house you haven¡¯t been paying attention,¡± Cat replied.

    Somewhere behind them, out of sight and near the floor, a small vine worked it¡¯s way up through a crack in the skirting board.

    Once Amanda reached the intersection she realised she recognised part of the hallway but not all of it. The end to her right was the one they had been in earlier. She could even see the door with the dream runes on it. But this area and further to her left were different than she remembered.

    She almost jumped out of her skin when she looked to the left. For a moment she thought there was a giant figure standing at the end of the hallway but it was just an oversided figurine. It was person height and person shaped and all white, round and bulbous and shiny, made of plastic, like a new age art piece that definitely didn¡¯t fit in with the rest of the house¡¯s asthetic. Amanda eyed it warily.

    ¡°Now that is creepy,¡± Cat observed as she came up next to Amanda. She glanced back to find Coal and then pointed to the weird art, ¡°see.¡±

    Coal responded to it with a disturbed and confused look.

    ¡°I think somebody should keep one eye on that thing,¡± Indi suggested.

    A few of the others nodded.

    Without taking her eyes of the weird figure Amanda spoke to Wolf. ¡°Where did you see them?¡±

    ¡°They were just here, at this intersection,¡± Wolf replied. He transformed back into Wolf form and started sniffing about in different directions. He even gave the strange statue a sniff and seemed happy enough with the result to turn his back on it.

    Amanda sighed and rested against one wall. She rubbed her chin with one hand trying to think of a new plan.

    Wolf padded off down the hall toward the room with the dream runes. Realising where he was headed Amanda pushed off the wall and followed after him. ¡°Wolf!¡± she called.

    She was relieved when he paused just outside the threshold to the door. The rest of the group followed Amanda as she caught up to Wolf.

    Before Amanda could say anything Indi gave a cry from behind. ¡°Hey, the hallway changed!¡±

    The rest of the group turned to see. This time Amanda recognised the end of the hallway.

    Indi gave an excited laugh and started to take a step back the way they had come. Coal grabbed her arm.

    ¡°Hold up Indi,¡± Amanda warned. ¡°Let¡¯s just stay together.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t be far from the exit right?¡± Cat asked.

    Zephyr follower her line of sight wistfully.

    ¡°This is where you were before?¡± Wolf asked, having transformed back again. He nodded at the dream rune which Amanda had described to him on the way here.

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    Amanda gave a single nod. Then she remembered something. ¡°There was a dollhouse with...¡± Knowing Cat was nearby and thinking of nothing more than finding Sirius she pushed past Wolf into the room.

    He grabbed her wrist and followed her in, letting go once past the threshold. He glanced back at the door and seeing the others on the outside he gave a shrug. They all trooped inside. Amanda headed straight for the dollhouse.

    ¡°I like this room,¡± Indi remarked looking at all the plants.

    ¡°Even after that other plant attacked you?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°These ones are smaller and they look more friendly. Look at the pretty flowers on this one.¡± Indi pointed, her fingers getting far to close to an unusual bright yellow petal for Cat¡¯s liking.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch anything,¡± Cat warned.

    Wolf, who had started to follow Amanda glanced back at Cat¡¯s words and shot Indi a serious look.

    Indi clasped her hands behind her back and did her best to look innocent. But the second Wolf turned she had her hands back out and was looking at all the things around the room again. She did avoid touching anything at least. Cat watched her just to be safe.

    Coal watched the entire interaction with an amused expression then paused by the door to get a good look at the dream rune.

    Zephyr wandered around the room behind Indi, feeling safe, but wanting to make sure she didn¡¯t take anymore items. This room was well lit, even if he was pretty certain that the sun shouldn¡¯t be that high in the sky. He had no idea what the time was now, if it was really daytime or nighttime.

    Seeing Zephyr was paying attention to Indi, Cat sidled over to where Coal was.

    ¡°How come you never told me what really happened to your parents?¡± she ventured boldly.

    Coal turned, one eyebrow raised and a bemused smile on his face. ¡°I¡¯m guessing Indi told you?¡±

    Cat nodded.

    ¡°Not much of a secret keeper is she?¡± Coal added but he didn¡¯t lose his smile.

    ¡°How come you never told me?¡± Cat repeated.

    ¡°You never asked.¡± He turned to look at the rune again. The he stood up and took a small vial from his pocket. He twisted it open and poured a bright blue powder into his hand. He put the vial away and then summoned a small cardboard cylinder and snorted the powder into his nose.

    ¡°What¡¯s that for?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°It¡¯ll keep you awake.¡± He pulled the vial out and shook it, offering it to her.

    Cat eyed it warily.

    When she didn¡¯t take it Coal explained further, ¡°Provides resistance against dreamwalker magic.¡±

    Cat shook her head. ¡°I am a dreamwalker, I think I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°Suit yourself.¡± Coal started to put the vial away.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Indi had noticed them talking and, ever curious, had wandered over.

    ¡°Dreamskeep. It keeps you from sleeping.¡±

    ¡°You mean it¡¯ll stop you getting sucked into the dreamworld by accident?¡±

    Coal nodded. ¡°You want some?¡±

    Indi glanced at Cat and Zephyr. Cat rolled her eyes and Zephyr shrugged.

    Having seen Coal take some Indi decided it couldn¡¯t possibly hurt. ¡°Sure, how much do I take?¡±

    Coal indicated for Indi to hold out her hand. She did so and he tapped some powder into it. He paused, studied the amount then tapped a dash more.

    ¡°Now what?¡±

    Coal handed her a small straw-like cylinder of cardboard.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never snorted anything before.¡± Indi giggled.

    Cat gave a snort in reply. She wasn¡¯t watching though. She had her eyes on Amanda and Wolf who were down by the dollhouse pointing at parts of it and talking in voices too low to be heard from here.

    Indi looked at Coal for help.

    ¡°You just put the end of the tube near the powder, one nostril at the other end and suck in hard,¡± he explained.

    Indi giggled nervously again and glanced at Zephyr for reassurance but Zephyr looked as unsure as she did. Well Coal had taken it, it couldn¡¯t be that bad.

    Indi gave it a go. She felt a rush hit her almost immediately and then her nostrils felt really itchy and she started to sneeze and she couldn¡¯t stop. She sneezed about 5 times before she could get a breath in and even then her nose still felt twitchy.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Indi¡¯s sneezes had drawn the attention of Amanda.

    ¡°Coal has Dreamskeep,¡± Indi looked at Amanda warily both worried and curious what her reaction might be.

    There was an obvious flash of recognition and Amanda pursed her lips.

    Coal offered her the vial with a little shake and the raise of a dark eyebrow.

    Amanda eyed it but didn¡¯t take it. Finally she replied, ¡°That stuff¡¯s dangerous. It¡¯s easy to overdose, and I hope you have the antidote?¡±

    Coal shook a different vial of white powder in response.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± She thought about it. Then she looked at Indi, ¡°Did you take it?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Indi replied in a meek tone worried she¡¯d done something wrong.

    But Amanda didn¡¯t curse or look worried Instead she sighed and eyed the bottle once more, still thinking. ¡°I¡¯ll pass,¡± she shook her head.

    ¡°Should we take some?¡± Zephyr asked.

    Amanda met his eyes. ¡°That¡¯s up to you.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the risk?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°What¡¯s the cost?¡± Wolf added with a look at Coal.

    Coal shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ll just say you owe me a small favor.¡±

    Wolf gave a soft snort and replied, ¡°No thanks.¡±

    Amanda gave Coal a measured look and then glanced at Indi.

    ¡°I¡¯ll bake you a cake,¡± Indi replied.

    Coal smiled smiled slyly then upon meeting Amanda¡¯s eyes added more seriously, ¡°It¡¯s on the house.¡± He offered it to Amanda and Wolf again.

    Amanda just smiled and shook her head, as did Wolf.

    Turning back to Zephyr Amanda explained, ¡°It stops you from sleeping but the dose is hard to get right...¡± she trailed off there, wondering if it would be wise to scare Indi with the possible side effects given she¡¯d already taken some. She was then faced with the dilemma of how best to sum it up for Zephyr without making Indi anxious.

    But Coal picked up the baton and gave an explanation at least as good as any she could have. ¡°The risk is it lasts for days, if you don¡¯t take the antidote...¡± Coal shook the vial of white powder, ¡°... then you don¡¯t sleep. The body needs sleep. If you don¡¯t sleep, eventually your organs start to shut down. It¡¯s not a nice way to go.¡± Catching a glance at Indi¡¯s widening eyes he added, ¡°But don¡¯t worry, I have this so that won¡¯t be a problem.¡±

    Indi stretched her arms out in front of her. ¡°I feel really wired, and kind of jittery, and sweaty.¡±

    ¡°Temperature increase is another side effect,¡± Amanda added.

    ¡°But it works?¡± Zephyr asked.

    Amanda nodded. ¡°It will keep you from getting sucked into the dreamworld.¡± She eyed the vial in Coal¡¯s hand once more, considering it.

    Zephyr noticed the look and made a decision, ¡°Okay. Maybe just a small amount.¡± He held out a hand. Coal poured him some powder and handed him the cardboard straw. Zephyr snorted it. He gave his head a shake but didn¡¯t sneeze like Indi did.

    Amanda nodded at Coal, then jerked her head back toward the dollhouse. ¡°I want to show you something.¡±

    Coal followed her to the dollhouse. Wolf walked with them. The others stayed together, with Indi and Zephyr comparing how they felt and Cat keeping half an eye on each group, wanting to follow Amanda but not wanting to leave Indi and Zephyr unattended. Finally she let her curiosity get the better of her and wandered down to see what Amanda was showing Coal.

    ¡°Are those poppets? Of us?¡± Cat exclaimed with a hint of dread as she saw what was in the house.

    Amanda nodded. ¡°There¡¯s none of Sirius and Kass.¡±

    Cat reached out a hesitant hand toward her poppet.

    Coal grabbed her wrist and shook his head.

    Cat withdrew her hand. ¡°What does this mean?¡±

    Wolf was frowning. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anything that can do this, create a poppet from nothing.¡±

    ¡°It could just be an illusion?¡± Amanda wondered with a sideways questioning look at Coal and Cat.

    Cat shook her head. ¡°I¡¯d know if we were dreaming.¡±

    Coal wasn¡¯t so quick to answer. He gaze tracked to his pocket where he¡¯d stored the dreamskeep powder, then up to Cat¡¯s face.

    She stared back at him with a fierce expression, as if daring him to contradict her.

    He turned to look at the poppets. ¡°An illusion doesn¡¯t necessarily mean we¡¯re asleep. Have you touched them?¡±

    ¡°Kass did before,¡± Amanda admitted. ¡°She said she took some from the house but she put them back in the same place.¡±

    ¡°Whose did she take?¡± Cat asked with an expression that was a mix of anger and worry.

    There was a moment of silence before Amanda met her eyes. ¡°Yours and Zeph¡¯s.¡±

    Cat¡¯s eyebrows came together hard. ¡°Fuck!¡± she swore.

    Coal frowned. ¡°She took them out and she put them back, that¡¯s all?¡±

    Amanda nodded. ¡°I think so.¡±

    Cat threw her hands in the air. ¡°What if that¡¯s what caused Zeph and I to time jump right when Indi and Wolf came back down from the other room they were in?¡±

    Coal raised an eyebrow. ¡°It¡¯s possible.¡±

    Wolf studied the dollhouse. ¡°If she did it before, and everything is fine now...¡± Wolf trailed off with a gesture.

    Cat gave him a potent dark glare.

    Amanda bit her lip then shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t see how that would help us.¡±

    ¡°We could figure out how it works,¡± Wolf replied.

    ¡°And then what?¡±

    ¡°Maybe we can teleport with it?¡±

    Cat butted in, ¡°We didn¡¯t feel any different when...¡± but she trailed off there because now that she was thinking back on it, the truth was that she had felt something, like the light outside had suddenly shifted. Thinking about how she might have just not existed for a short period of time made her feel very unsettled. The others were staring at her now, waiting for her to finish her sentence. She stood for a moment mouth hanging open unable to think of anything.

    Coal raised an eyebrow. Amanda was starting to look worried. Wolf¡¯s stern expression never changed.

    Finally she shook her head. ¡°I think that¡¯s a terrible idea.¡±

    Coal turned to Amanda and was about to say something but Amanda got there first.

    ¡°What about a teleport spell?¡±

    ¡°That needs a prepared location at the other end.¡± Coal replied.

    ¡°What and you don¡¯t have one?¡± Amanda asked with a some humourous disbelief.

    Coal fixed her with a measured stare, ¡°I have a single teleporter infusion that doesn¡¯t need an external location prepared. Problem is it only takes two maximum.¡±

    Amanda¡¯s eyes widened, surprised he hadn¡¯t used it himself.

    ¡°What takes two?¡± Indi asked. She and Zephyr had finally joined them.

    ¡°The teleporter Coal has,¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°We can get out?¡± Zephyr asked. The relief in his voice was obvious.

    Cat spoke then. ¡°So we send two people out who set up an external location.¡±

    Amanda was already shaking her head.

    Coal answered first. ¡°That takes hours of preparation.¡±

    ¡°Surely someone already has one set up somewhere.¡± Cat countered, reaching for other options. ¡°Or you could get more infusements?¡±

    ¡°That could also take hours not to mention how would we get back here?¡±

    ¡°Teleport? You said that thing takes two.¡±

    ¡°Two people, not two trips. There¡¯s more energy used in establishing the connection than transferring the information. Plus, given the magic going on in this house I don¡¯t think it¡¯s wise to teleport into the middle of it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure how I feel about people being considered information.¡± Cat complained.

    ¡°How do you think it works?¡± Indi asked out of curiosity.

    ¡°Not like that.¡±

    ¡°So we could send two people for help?¡± Zephyr asked.

    Amanda glanced at Coal to assess his thoughts. It was his infusement after all. What ever they decided he would have the final say.

    ¡°Help from whom?¡± Coal asked Zephyr.

    ¡°The police?¡± Zephyr replied.

    Cat rolled her eyes. Wolf coughed, perhaps to cover another word.

    Indi shook her head, thinking of their earlier experience with calling the local police. ¡°Oh, they are so not going to be able to handle this place.¡±

    Amanda was quiet. She saw the problem already. Coal would have others he could call for help. She was certain of that. The problem was how much it would cost. This house wasn¡¯t a normal call the local cops kind of a situation. This was high level chaotic magic. And there were those in law who dealt with this stuff but they weren¡¯t the kind of people you called without them getting thier noses stuck in other things. Coal wouldn¡¯t want to call them. She was sure of that.

    ¡°Do you want to call in a favor?¡± Coal fixed Zephyr with a solid stare. One that said ¡®be careful what you wish for.¡¯

    Zephyr hesitated and in doing so he looked to Amanda for an answer.

    Amanda looked to Coal. Met his eyes with a decisive expression of her own, then stared at the dollhouse trying to think of something else they could do.

    The corner of Coal¡¯s mouth twitched. He turned back to Zephyr. ¡°We¡¯re not in any trouble yet. We just need to find two people and get out. If we use it now we won¡¯t have it later when we really need it.¡±

    Amanda nodded in agreement, still looking at the dollhouse. Finally she turned back to Coal. ¡°What else have you got?¡±

    He smiled, baring an array of perfect too-white teeth. ¡°I might have a tracking spell. Or at least the ingredients for one.¡±

    ¡°You might have mentioned that before,¡± Wolf growled.

    ¡°Well, when I say I have a spell...¡± Coal nodded his head to the side indicating Wolf should follow him.

    They walked to the other end of the room where there was a spare table. Coal summoned a parchment with the flick of his wrist. With the swipe of his fingers a number of vials appeared on the table along with some plant cuttings.

    Coal gestured at the ingredients then nodded to Wolf. ¡°You¡¯re the spellcrafter here aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Wolf looked at what he had. It seemed mostly right but it was missing something. ¡°That won¡¯t be enough.¡±

    Coal smiled and then placed a pen on the table. Wolf picked it up and studied it. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it unless you considered high quality craftsmanship to be out of the ordinary. But Wolf could guess at what it contained. ¡°Infused?¡±

    Coal nodded. ¡°Tracker infusement.¡±

    Wolf frowned. ¡°We could just use that.¡±

    Mmm, not quite, this one¡¯s designed to need an interface. The spell is powered by the pen but the parchment also produces a result which gets compared with the former to improve the resulting direction.¡±

    ¡°Like using two gyroscopes?¡± Indi asked as she leaned over the table on her elbows, with her chin resting on her palms.

    ¡°Um,¡± Coal frowned, unsure what she was referring to.

    ¡°A spinny thing used for measuring rotational moments. In electronics they sometimes use two and average the result of each to get a more accurate answer,¡± Indi clarified.

    ¡°Right, exactly,¡± Coal replied with a nod. His eyes remained on Indi for a moment, an expression of interest on his face.

    ¡°Cool.¡± She replied with a smile. She studied the items on the table, and eagerly waited to see how they would make the spell work.

    Next to her, Zephyr peered over the table with just as much interest. Amanda and Cat hung back from the table, talking quietly to one another.

    ¡°On their own they¡¯re not very accurate, not in a place like this anyway. But I don¡¯t remember how to mix the spell, and I believe it was quite a delicate process,¡± Coal explained.

    ¡°Surely you have a book somewhere?¡± Wolf inquired.

    ¡°Somewhere,¡± Coal answered with a smile, implying he did not remember where it was. For Coal¡¯s summoning to work he needed to know the precise location of the object he was summoning.

    Wolf sighed. ¡°There¡¯s one more thing.¡± he glanced back at where Amanda and Cat were talking. They didn¡¯t notice.

    Coal nodded. ¡°Prepare the spell first. That part will be easier once it¡¯s done.¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 34: Just A Little Blood

    While Wolf and Coal worked on the spell, Amanda spoke to Cat.

    They went over the events of the day and finally Amanda asked, ¡°Why do you think Coal¡¯s here?¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t want to lose his precious powerful firestarter. It¡¯s like running into a burning building to save your car?¡± Cat explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

    ¡°That second part makes no sense to anyone except you, Cat,¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°If my garage was on fire I¡¯d go in to get my car out.¡±

    ¡°I know you would, but no one else would.¡±

    ¡°I put a lot of work into that car.¡±

    ¡°Cat, only an insane person runs into a fire to save a car.¡±

    ¡°You underestimate how fast I am.¡±

    ¡°You underestimate how fast fire spreads.¡±

    ¡°You underestimate how much Coal values those flames.¡±

    They were quiet for a moment as they watched Wolf crushing some cuttings with a mortar and pestle, then Amanda tried again. ¡°You really think that¡¯s why he¡¯s here?¡±

    Cat shrugged. ¡°That or he¡¯s after something. It¡¯s quite the coincidence him showing up when we¡¯re here though. He had to have known... or maybe he¡¯s being helpful in the hopes you¡¯ll end up owing him a another favour, which brings me back to my first point.¡±

    ¡°He hasn¡¯t asked for anything yet.¡±

    ¡°No, not yet...¡±

    As if on cue...

    ¡°Cat,¡± Coal called at them from over by the table. ¡°We need a pint of your blood.¡±

    Cat raised an eyebrow at Amanda.

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± Amanda replied to Coal with a fierce shake of her head.

    Wolf turned around. ¡°We need it for the spell.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Amanda repeated.

    ¡°It won¡¯t work without it.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to find Sirius or not?¡± Coal added.

    That gave Amanda pause.

    Cat raised an eyebrow at Coal and Wolf. ¡°A pint huh?¡±

    ¡°You can have my blood,¡± Indi offered.

    ¡°It needs to be Cat¡¯s,¡± Coal replied, not taking his eyes off Cat.

    Amanda frowned. ¡°Because she¡¯s a relative or because she¡¯s a dreamwalker?¡±

    ¡°The former,¡± Coal answered. ¡°It makes it significantly stronger.¡±

    ¡°Technically, it¡¯s possible both help in this circumstance,¡± Wolf added. ¡°Although the best would be some from Sirius or Kass.¡±

    ¡°Well, does it need to be a whole pint?¡± Indi asked.

    Wolf nodded.

    ¡°But she¡¯s pregnant!¡± Indi reminded them.

    Amanda looked at Cat questioningly, a pitying empathetic look in her eyes. Cat got the message, it was her choice. ¡°Fine,¡± Cat agreed.

    ¡°Is that safe?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°The body can lose a pint without feeling it,¡± Wolf replied. He then spoke to Coal. ¡°I don¡¯t have syringe though.¡±

    With the flick of his hand Coal summoned him one, along with some rubbing alcohol, cotton pads, a tube for the blood to flow through, and a tourniquet.

    Amanda watched with an annoyed look. ¡°What, do you just have a pile of blood drawing equipment stashed somewhere for when you need them?¡± she asked with a slight bite to her tone.

    ¡°Something like that,¡± Coal replied simply and politely, taking no note of her tone.

    ¡°I mean,¡± Zephyr spoke again, ¡°Is that safe for someone who¡¯s pregnant?¡±

    Indi nodded vigourously in agreement with his question as she looked on worriedly.

    Coal offered Cat a stool to sit on.

    ¡°It should be fine,¡± Wolf replied.

    But there was a measure of doubt in his tone. Amanda could hear it clearly, and yet she stood still and said nothing. She crossed her arms. What was one small risk for potentially two lives saved? Doubt niggled at the back of her mind but she stayed with her decision.

    Cat held out her arm.

    ¡°When was the last time you took blood?¡± Amanda asked Wolf.

    Wolf met her eyes. It had been awhile he had to admit but he hadn¡¯t forgotten how. ¡°Not that long,¡±

    ¡°I can do it if you want?¡± Amanda offered. She¡¯d decided if she was going to be party to this she might as well take some responsibility. She was well practiced with drawing blood from the horses.

    ¡°When was the last time you took blood from a person?¡± Wolf asked in reply. It was a fair question and Amanda hesitated.

    Cat rolled her eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t have a preference, one of you do it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got this,¡± Wolf reassured Amanda in a gentle tone.

    He sounded confident enough so Amanda gave a nod.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a pint,¡± Wolf added with a friendly smile.

    Cat watched him as he tied a tourniquet on her right arm and then swabbed her skin with the rubbing alcohol.

    To the end of the syringe he connected the rubber tubing. At the other end he slotted the small tube into the pen. There was a gap around it so it needed to be held in place.

    ¡°You¡¯re drawing it straight into the end of the pen?¡± Indi asked. ¡°That doesn¡¯t look big enough.¡±

    Coal smiled at the question and nodded at the setup. ¡°Watch, you¡¯ll see.¡±

    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°Hold this,¡± Wolf handed Indi the pen with the tube connected. ¡°Keep it upright and tell me if it gets too full.¡±

    Indi did as she was told. ¡°Is the blood the ink?¡± she asked as she studied the pen closely.

    Beside her, Zephyr also peered at it curiously.

    Cat rolled her eyes and managed to make herself look bored.

    Wolf met Cat¡¯s gaze. ¡°Ready?¡±

    She gave a short sharp nod. She watched as he punctured her skin with the needle and the blood began to flow. The whole drawing blood process took several minutes. No one spoke for most of that time.

    As Cat watched her blood flow into the end of the pen she wondered how Wolf would know when to stop. She could sense Coal standing behind her left shoulder. He¡¯d taken a step closer when Wolf had started the blood draw. Probably worried she was going to pass out. Cat thought of her unborn child. A healer she¡¯d met recently had said it was a girl. Cat wondered what she would look like. Would she have black hair like her mother, or brown like her father? Would she like cars like Cat or the outdoors like Baz. Would she fear water or would she love it? Would this blood donation hurt her? Cat hoped not. She was afraid of having this child. She wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d make a great mother but despite that she was surprised to find that she wanted her and that she already loved her. All these thoughts chased through Cat¡¯s mind in an almost overwhelming way. She had to remind herself to stay calm.

    Wolf studied her face. ¡°Are you alright?¡± he asked.

    Cat nodded, afraid if she spoke she¡¯d give her thoughts away.

    ¡°What do I do once it fills up?¡± Indi asked, looking worriedly at the pen which had already sucked in a lot more blood than it looked like it could hold.

    ¡°Just pinch the tube,¡± Wolf told her. ¡°Or give a yelp, and I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    Indi nodded.

    Wolf watched the end of the pen now anyway, given that it seemed to be flowing steadily and had been for sometime. He didn¡¯t need to watch Cat anymore since both Coal and Amanda were standing behind her in case she passed out. Besides she seemed okay. It was hard to tell. He moved his fingers closer to the pen, ready to cut off the flow. He had made a rough estimate of how long it would take and he felt it was almost done.

    Indi yelped as Wolf pinched the tube and pulled it out right on time. ¡°Wow,¡± she remarked, impressed at the accuracy. From where she stood she could smell the blood. To her it had a faint fruit smell, like sweet plums. The whole time she had been thinking about food and wondering what the blood beneath her nose would taste like. It was much easier to ignore it when it wasn¡¯t right there. She bit her lip. Best not to mention any of those thoughts out loud. She was happy once Wolf finished removing the needle and took the pen away.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got a lot of blood in the tube,¡± Amanda noted.

    Cat could hear Amanda behind her, closer than she had thought she was. It was probably a good thing. For the last couple of minutes she¡¯d started feeling faint and nauseous. She hadn¡¯t wanted to stop and waste the first several minutes though. Some spells required relatively fresh blood to work well. Her skin felt cool and she was sure her pallor was suitably pale. Wolf did frown when he glanced at her face before he removed the needle but she figured looking pale was probably to be somewhat expected. But as Wolf turned his back and dealt with the tubing the edges of Cat¡¯s vision grew spottier and spottier. She closed her eyes and focused on the feel of the material of her dark jeans beneath her palms. She felt almost short of breath. She knew if she was calm the feeling would go away eventually. Whatever happened she must not fall off the stool.

    ¡°It¡¯s for the map,¡± she heard Wolf say.

    Cat felt a small hand on her right shoulder. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Amanda asked .

    Without turning around Cat nodded but did not reply. When she opened her eyes she found she could not see.

    But she still had her other senses. She felt Amanda squeeze her shoulder gently before removing her hand. She could hear the splash as Wolf poured blood onto parchment and she could smell the iron it added to the air. That last thing did not help. She felt another hand, this time a larger one on her right shoulder, and pushing at an angle she hadn¡¯t expected.

    ¡°Hey!¡± she heard Coal exclaim and then Cat felt more hands on her. Amanda grabbed her other shoulder to hold her on the stool. Realising she¡¯d overbalanced, Cat leaned forwards so her elbows rested on her thighs, her head dropped forwards, weight over her feet until she could get a better feel for gravity.

    Without taking her hand away she felt Amanda crouch down next to her. Amanda put her other hand on Cat¡¯s hand and squeezed gently.¡°You alright? Feeling dizzy?¡±

    Cat nodded.

    ¡°You wanna lie down?¡±

    Cat shook her head.

    Amanda stood back up but kept one hand on Cat¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Do you want some food Cat?¡± Indi asked as she knelt down in front of Cat putting one hand on each of Cat¡¯s knees.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got an orange and some muesli bars,¡± Zephyr offered as he handed Indi one of each.

    ¡°Great idea.¡± Indi turned to take them.

    Cat groaned. She hated people fussing. She opened her eyes and was both surprised and relieved that her vision was back. She sat up slightly.

    Amanda peered around at her from the side. ¡°You good?¡± she asked as she studied Cat¡¯s face.

    Cat tried not to move too much least she get dizzy again. ¡°Gimme a sec.¡±

    Indi handed her and orange and a muesli bar.

    ¡°You might want to cut if for her Indi,¡± Amanda told her as she handed Indi a knife.

    Indi took the knife and looked at it momentarily surprised. It was a decent flick-style dagger, smooth edged with a worn wooden handle. The initials A.B. were engraved into the side.

    Cat snatched the orange. ¡°I can cut my own damn orange.¡± At the look of surprise in Indi¡¯s eyes she softened her voice and gave a friendly smile. ¡°Thanks,¡± she added more kindly and sincerely.

    She felt Coal move away. ¡°Is it working?¡± he asked of Wolf.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± There was a hint of worry in Wolf¡¯s voice.

    ¡°What¡¯s it supposed to do?¡± This time the question came from Zephyr.

    Cat sat up straighter and watched them trying to work the map, while she ate the orange.

    Amanda stayed beside her, although she eventually did drop her hand away.

    On the table Wolf adjusted the position of the pen. It was vertical, poised in the centre of the parchment. The parchment itself was blood soaked. As they watched the pen started to draw, but it was chaotic. It would go one direction and then another. It scribbled all over the parchment but nothing on the parchment changed.

    ¡°The blood on the parchment should form a map and the pen should draw us a line showing where to go,¡± Coal explained.

    ¡°A 2d map?¡± Indi asked.

    Coal nodded.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to waste the blood,¡± Wolf mumbled. He started to reach for the pen.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Indi exclaimed with a sudden burst of enthusiasm. She reached past Wolf, grabbed the parchment and turned it on it¡¯s side.

    The pen fell to the table with a clatter. But the blood on the parchment started to shift. It absorbed itself into the fabric. Strong dark blood red lines snaked out, forming what looked like the vertical structure of a house.

    ¡°Well, blow me down,¡± Wolf remarked. Then he reached for the fallen pen. ¡°Angle the map, so it still has some gravity.¡±

    Indi tilted it slowly, watching as the lines shifted again, becoming squished. ¡°I am a genius after all,¡± she replied with the pride that comes with solving a hard problem.

    ¡°A good spell would keep that pen on the page,¡± Coal said.

    ¡°Yeah, well all the good spells get locked away by the sorcerers. They¡¯re no bloody good at sharing. Not the most practical of people either.¡± As Wolf placed the pen on the page it slid down towards the lower end. He frowned. ¡°Tilt it the other way.¡±

    Indi did as asked. The pen traced a new line to the other side of the page as the old line vanished into the page.

    ¡°Well we know they¡¯re down,¡± Amanda remarked.

    ¡°What happens if you tilt the edges and hold the middle flat?¡± Cat asked. In the minutes since eating some food she already felt a lot better. She got to her feet and took a corner. Coal grabbed another and Indi moved around the table so Zephyr could grab the last one.

    ¡°Like this.¡± Cat held her corner with one hand and then poked a point further in from underneath the sheet so that the inner section was higher than the corner. The others did the same. The edges of the map that were folded down showed lines, while the flat centre was completely blood covered. It was dry rather than wet and slightly faded than it had been.

    ¡°How long does this last?¡± Coal asked.

    ¡°Not long enough,¡± Wolf remarked. ¡°That¡¯s weaker than I thought it would be though. Some of your ingredients might be a bit old.¡±

    Wolf placed the pen in the centre of the parchment again.

    The pen moved south towards Coal, who raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be easier if we¡¯re on the lower floor,¡± Amanda said. ¡°You were down there before right?¡± she asked Wolf.

    ¡°That¡¯s not going to be the most straightforward thing,¡± he replied.

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    He thought back to the wendigos, the water, and the lack of light. That last one wouldn¡¯t be a problem with Amanda but other two might be. Cat wasn¡¯t going to want to go swimming. To be honest, most people shouldn¡¯t want to go swimming in that water, but it was the wendigos that were a bigger issue. Maybe Amanda¡¯s fire could solve that problem as well though. ¡°I didn¡¯t really get a great look at the place, but there didn¡¯t seem like there was much in the way of structure down there. It was a bit rundown.¡±

    ¡°You mean the rest of this house isn¡¯t?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°There might be some swimming involved,¡± Wolf added, more to shut Cat up than anything else. It did the trick.

    Amanda gave him a bewildered expression. ¡°Swimming?¡±

    He nodded once. ¡°Basement¡¯s flooded, and... infested with wendigos.¡±

    The only one who didn¡¯t look worried now was Coal. He was lost in thought. ¡°Where did you come up from before?¡± he asked.

    Wolf pointed in the direction away from Coal.

    Coal nodded. Then he pulled an axe out of the air.

    Amanda¡¯s jaw dropped but before she could say anything, Coal handed Wolf the axe and nodded at the floor. ¡°Get chopping. We don¡¯t have much time before that map runs out and I don¡¯t think Cat¡¯s up for another donation.¡±

    Wolf took the axe. Instinctively everyone took a few steps back.

    Wolf stared at the floor. He stared at the axe. He shrugged, and took a swing.

 Volume 2, Chapter 35: Eyes Under the Floorboards

    Wood splintered with a loud crack. Wolf paused to look. The axe had pierced the floor. A solid line wormed it¡¯s way out from the head of the axe. He pulled the axe out of the floor and struck through a few more times. Bystanders hid their eyes with every strike. Eventually Wolf managed to pry his way through the weakened floor. The gap was small and dark. Not much could be seen.

    He hacked away a bunch more. Finally some light was getting through. Zephyr shone the torch on it and they were all disappointed to see nothing under the floorboards except for dirt.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t houses supposed to have a solid foundation?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Modern day houses,¡± Coal replied.

    ¡°Does yours have a solid foundation?¡± she asked.

    Coal replied with a nod. ¡°Parts of it.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s not modern.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s well built.¡±

    They all gathered around the hole.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t go anywhere?¡± Indi wondered.

    Wolf held out a hand so Zephyr could give him the torch. He knelt down and poked his head into the hole and shone the torch around.

    ¡°That seems like a risky maneuver,¡± Cat remarked. ¡°What if there¡¯s something down there waiting to bite your head off.¡±

    Wolf sat back up frowning.

    Amanda raised her eyebrows. ¡°Anything?¡±

    He shook he head and his frown deepened.

    Cat was certain it would have been impossible for his bushy eyebrows to physically draw any closer together. ¡°Well we already know this house likes to play tricks.¡± She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

    Coal glanced at the map that had been left on the table. The ink was fading fast. He grabbed it and brought it to the hole. He held one end out to Wolf. ¡°Drop it in.¡±

    Together they lowered it as far as they could. The dirt floor was only a few inches out of reach. ¡°Put the pen on it,¡± Wolf said to Zephyr.

    Zephyr scrambled to grab it. He placed it point down in the middle of the map and released it. It stayed where it was.

    ¡°That¡¯s new,¡± Wolf remarked. He met Coal¡¯s eyes. ¡°On three, two, one.¡± He gave a nod and they both dropped it simultaneously.

    It landed flat. The pen stayed still.

    Cat rubbed her face and wished she hadn¡¯t agreed to give the blood now. Ah what the hell, she¡¯d done stupider things since getting pregnant anyway. It¡¯s just, it hadn¡¯t seemed real until Indi had said it out loud like she had. Now Cat worried about all the risks she¡¯d taken, like coming in to this stupid house. Another thought struck her, what if worrying was also bad for the baby?

    ¡°I think we should try going back the way Wolf did,¡± Amanda said. ¡°Unless you see a way through down there?¡±

    Wolf eyed the map. The lines remained so it should still work, and when it was at the wrong height before it had been moving like crazy, not still. What did still mean? Well the map was out of his reach. Maybe not Zephyr, Coal, or Cat¡¯s though. He turned to Zephyr and nodded at the map. ¡°Can you grab it?¡±

    Feeling more deflated than scared now, Zephyr leaned into the hole without thinking. He had to put his whole upper half through in order to reach the map. He grabbed the pen first and passed it back out to Coal. Then he grasped at the corner of the map. Once he had it in his hand, he took a moment to look around. It looked very much like the underside of someone¡¯s house. He could see cobwebs and a lot of dust. The darkness that surrounded him scared him a little and just as he was about to pull himself back up into the comfort of the light he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He froze. There was nothing there.

    He handed the map back up. ¡°Give me the torch.¡±

    He felt Coal place it in his hands. He brought it down so it was level with his chest and flicked it on. Dozens of tiny reflective spots of light filled the edges of the darkness. Like tiny eyes, only he couldn¡¯t see anything to go with them. Were they glow worms? Except glow worms didn¡¯t reflect the light, they made their own. Whatever they were they gave him the heebie jeebies and he pulled himself rapidly out of the hole.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Amanda asked.

    Zephyr shook his head. ¡°I dunno, weird reflections. I couldn¡¯t see any obvious rooms or anything down there. If there is a basement maybe it¡¯s properly underground. But I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the way through.¡±

    He got to his feet, glad to be back up, and handed the map back to Coal.

    Coal looked at it with a measure of disappointment. Then he rolled it up so it formed a scroll and tucked it inside his inner jacket pocket. ¡°Alright,¡± he nodded at Amanda, ¡°Downstairs it is.¡±

    She led the way back out into the corridor. The others started to follow.

    They had all trouped out into the corridor and gone maybe ten metres when Amanda suddenly collapsed to the ground. Wolf and Zeph followed suit soon after.

    ¡°Well, well, well,¡± remarked Coal.

    ¡°What?¡± Indi froze, confused and a little afraid. Coal didn¡¯t seem afraid and she didn¡¯t understand why.

    She sidled closer to Cat, who rolled her eyes and swore in an exasperated tone. ¡°Fuck!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Indi asked in a small voice.

    ¡°Dreamweaver,¡± Cat replied.

    Coal crouched near Wolf and felt for a pulse. ¡°Well they¡¯re definitely alive.¡± He looked back up at Indi with a smile. ¡°Now are you glad you took that dreamskeep?¡±

    Indi nodded back at him but Cat gave him a dark look.

    ¡°But Zeph...¡±Indi pointed.

    ¡°Obviously didn¡¯t take enough,¡± Coal answered. He stood up again and nodded at the sleeping bodies. ¡°Are you up for some dreamwalking?¡± he asked Cat.

    Cat sighed. Truth was she could feel it. The presence of the dreamweaver. The moment they had walked through that door, and she¡¯d resisted it, but it¡¯s pull made her feel sleepy. Luckily that actually helped in times like these. It would make it easier to get in and find the others. She suspected she could do it even without touching them, but it would be safer and easier to keep track of them with some physical contact.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t it get us when we went past the seal before?¡± Cat asked as she stepped over Wolf, to get closer to the middle of the sleepers.

    ¡°It might be protection on that room. Maybe it only notices when we cross past it without disabling the magic, it can¡¯t reach us inside and then when we exit it¡¯s more sudden¡± Coal theorised. ¡°If you catch a thief on the way out then you know what he came for.¡±

    Indi stepped over Wolf and stood next to Coal. Cat was crouched between Wolf and Zephyr now, and she didn¡¯t want to be left standing on her own. But Coal stepped away to where Amanda lay. ¡°Hang on, I¡¯ll bring her closer. It¡¯s better if you get contact with all three.¡±

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    Cat nodded.

    Indi stayed where she was. The powder was good but it also made her feel horribly anxious and sweaty. She tried to think of all the nice things she would do once they were out of here. Number one would be a warm bubble bath, then maybe a movie on the couch. She watched as Coal picked up Amanda under the armpits and laid her next to Wolf. She hoped this would work.

    Coal placed their hands close together so Cat could easily reach both of them with one hand. Then he stood up and retook up the spot next to Indi.

    Indi was glad. She felt better having some one taller and stronger standing nearby.

    As Cat slipped into the dreamworld Indi turned to Coal and asked, ¡°Do you think she¡¯ll be alright.¡±

    He glanced at her briefly then back at Cat. ¡°I think she¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    He sounded confident so Indi nodded and silently watched as Cat tried to pull their friends back. Or at least she intended to watch silently. But Indi had never been much good at waiting. After a few seconds she turned to Coal. ¡°How come you¡¯re here? Really¡±

    He glanced down at her. His blue eyes were very pretty she thought. And he had stupidly thick and soft looking hair. His whole face was pretty actually. She¡¯d never looked at him quite so close before. He was rather handsome and less scary than he had once seemed. Younger looking up close too. He had really smooth skin. She wondered if he used moisteriser. She wondered if he did what brand it was. Would it be weird to ask a question like that?

    ¡°It was a bit of a coincidence really...¡± Coal paused. Wait, what had he said before? What did he want to tell her? If he said he didn¡¯t know they were here then she would assume he was here for some other reason. That would be bad. He didn¡¯t want her, or the others, given she seemed not great at keeping secrets, to wonder at what other reasons he might be here for. On the other hand telling her that a physic told him, well... even though Stella was his secret, mostly given how damn accurate she was, it wasn¡¯t too unusual for a physic to get things right occasionally. That was definitely the less risky option, and closer to the truth, which always made lying easier. ¡°A physic told me.¡± he replied simply.

    ¡°What? A physic? I thought... OW!¡± Interrupted by something sharp biting her, Indi slapped at her left arm.

    What looked like a tiny person with wings darted away, but not before Indi got a look at it¡¯s razor sharp teeth. Then another one appeared and flew directly at her.

    Beside her Coal was also under attack. He summoned an actual full-sized metal shield and wacked as many of the flying creatures as he could.

    ¡°What are they?¡± Indi yelped as she ducked another dive bomb.

    ¡°Fairies,¡± came the reply as Coal took a swing at more another group. They seemed to be multiplying.

    One bit Indi in the calf. She gave a small scream at the sharp pain. Another got her back. She spun trying to shake them off. Then she backed up into the wall. Finally she remembered to shield.

    It didn¡¯t get rid of the ones on her but Coal quickly dealt to them, ripping them free. Indi winced as she was sure the last one took a mouthful of flesh from her shoulder.

    ¡°Widen the shield!¡± Coal commanded.

    She wasn¡¯t sure at first why, given he was already in it, but then she realised it didn¡¯t cover her friends on the floor and the fairies definitely weren¡¯t leaving them alone.

    Indi pushed outward. She felt her shield weaken, and her energy wane. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can hold it!¡±

    Coal was busy trying to clear the fairies that had gotten in when Indi had widened her range.

    ¡°Just a little longer.¡± Coal pulled a fairy out that had gotten tangled in Amanda¡¯s hair and flung it to the floor hard. It died, crushed beneath his boot. Another he twisted the head off. ¡°Where are they coming from?¡±

    Indi looked around. ¡°From there! From the room we were just in.¡±

    ¡°Drop the shield, let me out, then raise it again, quick as you can.¡±

    Indi nodded.

    ¡°Go!¡±

    Indi dropped it.

    Coal ran for the door.

    It took Indi a moment to get the shield back up and when she finally did she was already surrounded by fairies. She shrieked and tried to dodge out of their way but it was useless. ¡°Coal!¡± she screamed as she backed against the wall and tried to make herself as small as possible.

    There was flapping in her face and then it was gone, replaced by something larger. She yelped and pushed back.

    ¡°It¡¯s me,¡± came Coal¡¯s voice.

    Indi stopped thrashing, realising that she wasn¡¯t being attacked anymore. She let Coal pull her hands away from her eyes.

    He stared at her, studying her face, checking for injuries. She was covered in scratches from their claws. ¡°Are you bleeding anywhere? Stand up.¡±

    He helped her to her feet and then helped her check her wounds. There was a nasty bite on her shoulder and several superficial wounds but she was otherwise unharmed. Coal had fared even better than she had. He¡¯d been a bit more skillful at hitting back, only a few had gotten a good swipe at him, and most of that was distributed through out his rather posh suit. Indi felt sad to see such a thing now so torn. It was obviously hand tailored and personally fitted. So stylish.

    ¡°Where did they go?¡± she asked.

    Coal nodded back at the door with the rune, now closed. ¡°Locked them in there. I think they came out of the floorboards.¡±

    ¡°You summoned them?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°Got some in a net. Summoned the rest. Sort of.¡± He glanced back to the door.

    ¡°Oh.¡± She now noticed several half cut fairy bodies lying scattered around. The result of incomplete summoning. Nearby was an small abandoned fishing-style net.

    Once Coal was satisfied Indi was alright, he moved to checking their friends on the floor. Not one of them had budged. Cat still knelt upright, eyes closed, hands touching each of her friends on the floor. Other than a few scratches from the fairies crawling over them and one or two minor bites, they looked like they were mostly okay. There was no extensive bleeding at least. The fairies had been quicker at biting the targets that thrashed back at them.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised that didn¡¯t wake her,¡± Coal mused as he checked Cat for any injuries. ¡°Usually a dreamwalker would get pulled out by an attack like that. She must be in pretty deep.¡±

    ¡°You think she¡¯s stuck?¡±

    ¡°I hope not.¡±

    Indi glanced back at the door down the hall. She could hear a faint banging from the fairies hitting it from the other side. ¡°Do you think they can get through?¡±

    Coal followed her eye line. ¡°No way, that door¡¯s too strong for a fairy. Whether there¡¯s another way around is another question entirely.¡±

    Indi glanced up and down the corridor nervously. It was otherwise eerily quiet. ¡°What do you think happened to the time? And the light? Since it seems like it¡¯s earlier. Do you think that sunset was real before?¡±

    Coal nodded. ¡°It should be later than it is. I knew a sorcerer once who had a spell, a luminary type, that made it look like it was daytime all the time. He didn¡¯t like the dark so he made his house how he wanted. As for the watches, same sort of thing. An old aristocrat I had dinner with once made it so any timepiece in his house would fail to work. He liked to do things at his own pace. He didn¡¯t like rushing about at the beck and call of others. He thought the world too busy and all of us slaves to those things. I suspect he also hoped it might make him age slower, or at least stop him from noticing.¡±

    ¡°So you don¡¯t think they¡¯re related.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s one theory. The lady was a bit mad right?¡±

    Indi nodded. ¡°It must have made it hard to sleep, in the house that had no night, although I can understand the appeal of eternal day.¡±

    He raised an eyebrow at her, intrigued, perhaps amused that a vampire would desire such a thing. ¡°Well, nobody much liked to stay over at his place but his afternoon teas were always fair weathered. I¡¯d think I¡¯d want a bit more variety myself. The odd storm to shake things up.¡±

    He smiled at her and she grinned back. Storms were exciting. ¡°Well if it¡¯s going to storm, I like it properly pouring,¡± Indi exclaimed. Then she glanced around nervously. ¡°On second thought I probably shouldn¡¯t say things like that in a place like this.¡±

    ¡°Well I don¡¯t think it¡¯s going to rain in here but I did once know a warlock, a weather elemental, that liked to have an eternal thunderstorm in his front hallway.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Coal shrugged. ¡°I think he liked to observe people¡¯s reactions. I can¡¯t say if he had it going all the time so maybe it was only when he had guests.¡±

    Indi laughed then asked, ¡°What¡¯s a warlock?¡±

    She knew what a sorcerer was, a witch who studied magic at university, or any one of the prestigious tertiary level magical schools. They were hard to get into. One needed to be both extremely smart and magically skilled. There was even a physical component as well, although it was said weakness in that could be made up for by magical strength but it was on a case by case basis. And an Aristocrat was just an upper class witch, like Coal was. Not just rich though, they were all old money and powerful magic. The laws were often made by the result of a tug of war between the politicians, the aristocrats, and the sorcerers (well archmages specifically, the creme-de-la crop of all sorcerers, the rulers of the high level educational institutes). But the term ¡®warlock¡¯ was a new one to Indi.

    Coal gave her a surprised look and then explained, ¡°Well they¡¯re not so relevant here I suppose, but if you head west, towards Mercy there¡¯s a lot more regulation around who can sell what. Warlocks are licensed professionals, permitted to sell certain classes of magical devices and spells. They usually, but not always have a background in sorcery. Sometimes they¡¯re dropped out mages.¡±

    Indi knew that word. A mage, also known as a magician if one was being mean, was an unfinished sorcerer. They were the learners of high level magic. In an interesting twist of things while many sorcerer¡¯s shied away from the term, happy to have graduated above that level, the real masters had readopted it as part of their own name. The archmages considered themselves forever students of magic, always learning.

    The door down the hall gave a particularly large shudder then.

    Indi bit her lip and habitually pushed her glasses further up her nose. ¡°You¡¯d think they¡¯d have given up by now.¡±

    ¡°Fairies are persistent, but don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve had a lot of experience with those little buggers. They used to terrify me as a child.¡±

    ¡°Really? What made you not afraid of them then?¡±

    ¡°Well, I mean they¡¯re still kind of creepy but they¡¯re also a bit stupid, and easy to distract. They¡¯ll get bored eventually, probably. They¡¯re not usually interested in adults but we must have disturbed them when we cut through the floor.¡±

    The fairies gave the door another loud crack, this time harder than before.

    At Indi¡¯s nervous glance Coal replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    But this time she could hear the worry in his voice.

 Volume 2, Chapter 36: Nightdeer

    Zephyr found himself in darkness surrounded by thousands of glowing eyes. They moved about him, circling. What were they? He was not sure. But he was afraid.

    He started to take a step one way but they came in closer. He moved another way. Same thing again. His thoughts didn¡¯t stray to where he was or how he got here. He was purely focused on his current predicament. He did not remember the house or falling asleep. He just was. All he knew was that he did not want to be here and the eyes were stopping him from leaving.

    He tried another direction and as the creatures in the dark approached again he cried out, ¡°Why won¡¯t you let me leave?¡±

    He closed his eyes in frustration and when he opened them again he was back home. Only it wasn¡¯t his home. It was his aunt and uncle¡¯s home. The one he¡¯d lived in as a child, after his parents had died. He was sitting in his old bed, covered in his old quilt. The one his mother had knitted, each square a different colour. Even his body was his old one, childlike and spindly. He felt both small and long at the same time.

    He held his hands out in front of himself and stared at them puzzled. His thoughts were murky. He knew this wasn¡¯t right but he didn¡¯t know why.

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    The door to his room was flung open. He turned afraid to see who it was. Would it be his mean older cousins or his dirty uncle? But it was neither. There in the door stood not a man, not a deer, but a grotesque mixture. A man¡¯s body, a deer''s head.

    Zephyr was suddenly reminded of the time, that as an adult, not long out of university, he¡¯d struck a deer on the road. It had run right out in front of him, given him no time to stop. He¡¯d somehow survived the crash and gotten out of the car to find the deer still alive but mortally wounded lying on the road. He¡¯d thought maybe he should put it out of it¡¯s misery but he¡¯d had neither the tools nor the desire to do so.

    When he was nine his pet rabbit had gotten sick. Nothing had helped so Zephyr had held it, comforted it in his arms until it passed away. He had thought perhaps he could offer some comfort to the deer, but when he had approached the deer had thrashed in fear. And so Zephyr had backed away and watched, with tears rolling unchecked down his cheeks, until the deer faded from this world.

    Now in this room, faced with such a monster, Zephyr wondered if it was the deer come back for revenge. But it was a fleeting thought and Zephyr¡¯s mind soon turned to survival.

    The only exit was blocked and so Zephyr did the next best thing and threw the covers over his head, just as he had done many times before, when his uncle had come for his unwanted night visits.

    Zephyr cowered beneath the blankets.

    Nothing came for him.

    After what felt like an eternity Zephyr peaked out from under the blankets. The man-deer was gone. The door hung open enticingly.

 Volume 2, Chapter 37: The Real Amanda

    Amanda knew instantly this time what had happened and she thought back to Coal¡¯s offer of dreamskeep with some regret. She didn¡¯t panic too much though. Cat was there this time after all, she would wake them. Instead she felt a glimmer of hope. This was the same place Sirius had fallen asleep. Maybe she could find him?

    She set her whole mind on him with ferocious determination. On the real him, not a dream him. The goal consumed her every thought without distraction or doubt. This was something she had to do. There was no other path.

    She found herself on a country road. Long grass grew up between old well-worn tyre tracks. They looked like they¡¯d been used consistently for some time and then abandoned to the wild, and yet the grass had not reclaimed them. Overhead large acorn trees shaded the track and shifted in the wind. Pretty wildflowers, yellow and white waved their head at her.

    She paid no mind to any of it. She started her long walk down the tracks. Tall grass brushed by her knees and stroked her calves. She fingered her wedding ring. Her thoughts never wavered from her goal.

    The road went on for sometime, and while everything in the scene felt like it was moving, it never seemed to change. Amanda didn¡¯t pause. She knew it would come to an end eventually, and at that end would be Sirius. She believed it with all her heart because she had to.

    But there must have been some doubt in her mind somewhere. Doubt that she¡¯d hidden, pushed down, drowned and out of sight, because when she rounded a bend in the road and actually saw him standing there her heart skipped a beat and she paused in disbelief.

    But was it really him? How could she tell?

    As she walked closer, the country road faded into the darkness, disappeared into non-existence.

    He stood in the midst of nothing, surrounded by people. By Kass, by Cat, and... by herself?

    Amanda hesitated. Well that was certainly not the real her. The imaginary her summoned a fireball and took a step toward Sirius.

    Amanda¡¯s breath caught in her throat. She summoned her own fireball. Dare she use it? She had done so in dreams before but she knew it was risky. There was a chance the fire didn¡¯t stay in the dream world. She snuffed out her own hand and instead used some combination of magic and imagination. With Cat¡¯s help she had some small experience with summoning fire in the dream world. It required a mix of imagining fire and summoning a real fire. There was a crossover in the thought process there somewhere but it was a delicate balance to get right and this was as much Sirius¡¯s dream as it was hers. But dreamweavers would suck thoughts from a dreamers head, grant them their wishes sometimes. They were not evil creatures and they liked variety.

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    Amanda imagined this other Amanda disappearing, vanishing into the air eaten by a translucent fire. Not real but close, an imitation, just like the fake Amanda herself.

    It worked and as Amanda approached the other two woman disappeared as well. Only Sirius remained.

    He looked around confused and then his eyes landed on Amanda. There was a flash of fear, then a hint of confusion.

    She stopped several feet from him. ¡°Sirius?¡± she asked. She still wasn¡¯t sure herself. Not until she saw his eyes light up, his shoulders sag from relief. And yet, he did not run to her immediately.

    ¡°Is it you? Is it really you?¡±

    She shrugged and gave him a half smile.

    He was next to her in an instant, wrapping her in a hug. ¡°I thought I¡¯d lost you.¡±

    She allowed herself a moment. One precious moment to feel the love in those arms and to give it back. The she pulled back and looked up at his green eyes. ¡°Sirius, I don¡¯t know where you are, where you and Kass have gone. Cat pulled me out but I had to leave and then when we got back you¡¯d both been moved.¡±

    They still held each other close. Sirius did not plan on letting go now that he¡¯d found her.He looked back down at her. Saw the fear and the worry in her wide brown eyes, the tremble on her lips, and he wanted to kiss her and make it all better. Thinking back on how guilty he¡¯d felt for losing her before he replied, ¡°It¡¯s fine, we¡¯re here now. Where¡¯s Cat?¡±

    ¡°Coming, I hope. But I don¡¯t know where you are in our world. If she pulls you out. I¡¯m not sure where you¡¯ll end up.¡±

    ¡°I have to be somewhere though. I wouldn¡¯t be here if I wasn¡¯t,¡± he replied.

    She nodded with some relief but the worry did not leave her face completely. She glanced around nervously. Her fingers fiddled with the fabric of his sleeves.

    ¡°What is it?¡± he asked.

    ¡°The others got pulled in here too, Wolf, maybe Zeph, Indi and Coal, I¡¯m not sure...¡±

    ¡°Coal¡¯s here?¡±

    Amanda nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s here for but he¡¯s been helpful so far.¡±

    Sirius nodded. ¡°We should find them then.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s easier for Cat.¡± She gripped the fabric of his sleeve tighter. She didn¡¯t want to let him go. But if they were to find the others and get out of here she would have to at some point.

    Sirius noticed this and he pulled his hand back along her forearms until he held her smaller hands in his. He squeezed them gently. ¡°A group is probably easier to find.¡±

    ¡°If we don¡¯t find them then we might just be walking away from Cat, making it harder.¡±

    ¡°How did you find me?¡±

    She glanced down sadly then. Her voice trembled. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I¡¯m still not sure, I...¡±

    ¡°Hey.¡± He clasped her chin gently with one hand and raised it so she was meeting his eyes. ¡°It¡¯s me, I¡¯m real,¡± he told her.

    Amanda nodded and some of that determined look he was so familiar with returned.

    He smiled.

    She nodded. ¡°Okay.¡±

    They walked, hand in hand back down the unreal country road.

    ¡°Who first?¡± Sirius asked.

    ¡°Zephyr,¡± Amanda answered, picking the one she thought would need the most help.

 Volume 2, Chapter 38: Fight or Flee

    Cat reached out with her senses. She could feel them. Every single one of them. And what¡¯s more she could also sense Sirius and Kass. They were spread out more than she¡¯d hoped. Each person in a different direction and already far apart. It was hard to stay still in the dreamworld. Space didn¡¯t exactly work normally here though. Wolf was closest so she went for him first.

    Wolf was running for his life. He wasn¡¯t sure what was chasing him through this darkened, tangled forest, but he knew it meant him harm. And for whatever reason he found himself unable to transform.

    He longed to run on all fours. It would grant him escape from whatever was out there. He knew it would, and yet, try as he might he couldn¡¯t do it. He felt like he¡¯d lost a part of himself.

    Voices from the past ambushed his thoughts. Pack members telling him he wasn¡¯t a real wolf. ¡®Spend much more time with the witches and you¡¯ll be just like like them,¡¯ an elderly werewolf had told him.

    Wolf ran. The thorns and branches of the bushes tore at his skin until he was covered in blood. Yet on he ran. The forest never ended. The undergrowth constantly threatened to trip him, snagging and grabbing at the hair on his legs. He growled back at nature but it stayed silent and unyielding.

    Suddenly he stopped. What was he running from? His thoughts all caught up to him in one go. Wait a minute. This wasn¡¯t real. There had been a house? When had he left the house? He thought back to the blue powder that Coal, Indi, and Zeph had snorted. Oh that was right. Now he knew. This was the dreamworld.

    He spotted a muddy forest road just through the trees so he clambered the last few metres through tangling vines and pointy branches, and out onto the road where he stood free from attack by any nearby tree. He was no longer afraid of the thing chasing him. There was no thing, just his imagination. At least for now. He knew what lurked in the dreamworld but he also knew that if this was the doing of a dreamweaver, as Cat had suspected, then the other creatures of this world would not be so foolish to come quite so close. Not this side anyway. How close was he to one though, he was not sure. Regardless, fear was a dangerous feeling to have in this place.

    He looked left down the road and then right. He could feel the mud beneath his bare feet, squishing between his toes. He did not venture consciously into the dreamworld often, if ever. But when he did he never failed to be amazed at how real it felt. The fact that he¡¯d managed to pull himself up to this level of consciousness, when it wasn¡¯t his magic that had pulled him in, was somewhat remarkable but then it wasn¡¯t the normal way one got pulled into a dream. Control was his then he supposed, for the time being at least.

    He wondered which way to go, if he should be going anywhere at all. Cat would come for them, he was sure of that. He didn¡¯t think he could pull himself awake or if he could, he wasn¡¯t sure how to do it. Would it help to try and find the others? Could he even do that? Maybe the best thing would be to try and find Cat herself.

    He looked both ways down the road again. What was probably best, he finally decided, was to stay put. And so he sat himself down in the road, bare-butt naked, and waited.

    Above him the sky darkened. Grey clouds moved fast. He looked up, but he stayed put.

    In front of him the trees shook. The wind blew harder. Still he did not move. Even when the rain came and large cold droplets hit his shoulders, back, and neck, he growled but he did not move.

    A roar sounded from somewhere off down the road. Wolf had a sense that this was the thing that had been chasing him. He ignored the feeling as best he could. This was a dream. He must remember that. The more you believed them, the more they could hurt you. He stayed sitting, staring stubbornly in the direction of the sound, as it slowly came closer and closer. Then the rain stopped.

    A large form, dark and fur-covered sidled into view. Eight times the size of a regular ape and of a similar shape, with tusks designed for tearing. It reminded Wolf of a monster in a movie he and Amanda had watched as teenagers. A silly horror. He remembered Amanda¡¯s laughter as she¡¯d playfully thrown a handful of popcorn at the screen, mocking the absurdity of the movie. He let the good memories bolster his resolve.

    He sat, naked, and cross-legged, on a patch of short muddy grass, situated between the two tyre-track gullies, and he stared the beast down.

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    It bellowed a loud a ferocious roar and slammed it¡¯s front fists into the ground. The ground shook. Wolf could feel the air move in response to the beast¡¯s war cry.

    The beast ran toward him, covering the ground swiftly in several strides.

    Wolf stayed his ground. This was his dream.

    The beast approached, showing no sign of slowing down. A look of rage engulfed it¡¯s face, if such a beast could be said to have an expression. It¡¯s eyes were tiny and set far too close together. It¡¯s dark, almost blue-tinged fur stuck out all over as if it had a structural integrity all of it¡¯s own. As if someone had glued it¡¯s fur on but the glue had turned everything solid.

    Wolf did not budge. This was his dream, damn it. And nothing was going to hurt him here.

    The beast skidded to a halt right before it struck Wolf. It bellowed at him. But Wolf was not afraid. He felt like he¡¯d stared the beast down and won. Then it struck him. Hard.

    The beast raised it¡¯s head and swiped with its tusks.

    One tusk caught Wolf in the leg and he went flying. He hit the steep bank on the other side of the track with a hard thud. Whelp, that had hurt. So much for this being his dream.

    He scrambled to his feet fast and dodged out of the way as another tusk came flying towards him. He ran beneath the beast like his life depended on it. He tried to shift into wolf form again but nothing.

    He growled at the air, then skidded sharply to the side, to avoid being crushed by the beast¡¯s rear feet. He started off down the road, away from the beast, in the direction it had come from. Then he darted quickly off the road. He¡¯d have better luck avoiding this thing in the thick undergrowth.

    But as Wolf ran, dodging branches, and leaping dead logs, he heard the sound of the beast not far behind him. It was ripping trees out of the way, crushing logs and foliage, and it did not sound like it was being slowed down by any of it very much at all.

    Wolf risked a glance back and then ran smack right into someone.

    ¡°Oof!¡± He fell back dazed, butt hitting soft moss. He blinked. Directly in his eye line stood a pair of dark boots. They were low-heeled and feminine shaped. A couple of buckles tightened them at the ankle. He raised his eyes up. All the way up until he found a familiar face staring down at him.

    ¡°Miss me?¡± Cat remarked.

    As she asked it, the forest around them disappeared and the sound of the creature thrashing through the woods changed into nothing.

    Cat looked down at Wolf. He was a mess. He was covered in mud and twigs. There were scratches all over him, and on his thigh was a deep gash that was leaking blood. By the looks of it, it was a good thing she¡¯d found him when she did. She hoped the others weren¡¯t in worse condition.

    ¡°Jackos, what happened to you?¡± she asked as she nodded at his wound. In her mind she imagined a bandage. That would work for the dreamworld but Cat knew enough to know that he probably also had that wound on his sleeping body now too. She hoped Coal was paying attention and wouldn¡¯t let him bleed to death out there.

    Wolf looked down at his leg with a measure of surprise as if he had only just noticed the injury. ¡°Ah, shit.¡± he mumbled and looked around as if looking for something to wrap it with.

    Cat handed him the bandage.

    ¡°Thanks. You think that got my other body too?¡±

    ¡°Almost certainly,¡± Cat replied. She wasn¡¯t one to sugarcoat anything.

    ¡°Better get moving then huh. You find the others?¡±

    Cat hesitated. She had two options here now. She could pull Wolf out and then go find the others or she could drag him along with her. She wasn¡¯t sure how easy it was going to be to pull him out and it would eat into the precious time she had to find the others. She could see them now though. Amanda and Sirius were together. Well that was something at least. Maybe she didn¡¯t need to worry about them so much. They were closer to Zephyr than she was. And Kass, she could only barely just sense Kass. They were all getting further away.

    The dreamweaver was moving them. She was sure of that, herding them somewhere. It¡¯s why Sirius and Kass had moved. The dreamworld allowed for teleportation in some sense but it was so dangerous that it was normally only used for items that needed to be smuggled somewhere, and only by very skilled dreamwalkers. A dreamweaver could shift a body though, pull it closer to feed off the energy it provided, for as long as the body could last without food and water. That time was extended by dramweaver though.

    Sometimes witches paid dreamwalkers to give them good dreams. Sometimes people got addicted. Sometimes they didn¡¯t want to leave. They¡¯d buy a powder called sandman¡¯s kiss. They¡¯d take it, and their dreams would last longer.

    Eventually a dreamweaver would find them and latch on. It gave them sustenance of a sort, kept their bodies alive longer than they normally could survive without food and water, but not forever. In return it fed off their dreams in symbiotic trade, while they slowly wasted away, unable to escape on their own. Not even a dreamwalker could necessarily always escape the clutches once close enough to a dreamweaver. The good ones weren¡¯t so bothered by them but was Cat good enough? She¡¯d never been close enough to find out. She was no first rate dreamwalker that was for sure.

    ¡°Don¡¯t sell Coal you soul for a heal, but fuck you need to do something to stop that blood flow,¡± she told Wolf.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think he has any healing on him or he would have used it on himself no?¡± Wolf replied.

    ¡°Well...¡±

    ¡°Just find Amanda,¡± Wolf told her.

    Cat gave a nod. Then she focused on sending Wolf back.

 Volume 2, Chapter 39: The Lost and Found

    Zephyr pulled himself slowly out of the bed. As his foot touched the floor and he looked down he watched as his leg start to grow. Before his eyes he shifted, growing taller, back into the man he was. He shook off the last of the sheets. The quilt tumbled back onto the tangled pile of cotton. The shift back into a man made Zephyr feel stronger, like he¡¯d left a small scared part of himself behind.

    This room, it didn¡¯t belong to him now, and it had never belonged to him, not really. Zephyr eyed his prize, the open door. He took a tentative step forward, then another. He footsteps grew more certain as he approached the threshold and no one appeared to stop him.

    Finally he stepped through the door. The light around him was blinding at first but slowly his eyes adjusted. Nothingness panned out in all directions. It was like standing in a fog. Only, when he looked down, it was more like he was standing on the fog.

    He started to breathe in but found he couldn¡¯t. His hands flew to his throat. The oxygen felt stuck at the top. He clawed helplessly at the air around him.

    As he dropped to his knees he felt hands grab him.

    ¡°Zeph! Zeph! Relax, just breathe. It¡¯s all in your head. I promise.¡±

    He recognised Amanda¡¯s voice.

    ¡°You¡¯re fine. It¡¯s just a dream. Think of something nice. Something calm. You have to relax.¡± Her first words had been panicked but as she spoke, tried to reassure him, she slowed her speech, made her own voice calm and soothing.

    Just hearing her voice helped him. The moment she¡¯d grabbed him and spoken his name. That had been enough.

    It didn¡¯t work at first. The air was still caught in his throat but as consciousness started to slip, if one could call this consciousness, his thoughts wafted toward nicer things. He thought of a lunch they¡¯d had a few weeks back at his place. Sirius and Wolf jostling for control of the BBQ. Falco and Amanda poking holes in the bottom of beer cans and seeing who could finish them faster. Indi trying to make a tower out of toothpicks while Kass and Cat watched. As he thought of that day, thought of how it smelt, how fresh the air had been, he finally felt his lungs start working again. Only then did he realise Amanda was holding him upright rubbing his back. Except it wasn¡¯t just her. No, she might be the one rubbing his back, but someone else was holding him upright.

    He leaned forward, placed his head in his hands for a moment, and then twisted around to see.

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    ¡°Sirius?¡±

    ¡°Hey,¡± Sirius replied.

    Zephyr blinked. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Amanda replied. ¡°You¡¯re dreaming. We all are. We got pulled into the dreamworld. How much do you remember?¡±

    Zephyr shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Just take it easy for a bit,¡± Amanda told him. ¡°Do you remember the house?¡±

    Zephyr shook his head, but he had flashes of something. An old house behind iron gates. They¡¯d been exploring it. But how did he get here now? He looked at Amanda and Sirius. They looked worried. Should he be worried? Were they safe here?

    As if reading Zephyr¡¯s mind Sirius said, ¡°Cat¡¯s on her way. She¡¯ll pull us all out. We just have to sit tight till then.¡±

    It might have made Zephyr feel better if not for the look Sirius shared with Amanda right after saying it. There was something else he wasn¡¯t sharing. Something else they were both worried about.

    He didn¡¯t ask. He didn¡¯t want to know.

    They sat in a circle in silence for who knows how long, each one of them grasping a hand of the others. The world shifted around them. The sky changed from day to night and then back again.

    Stars twinkled in the sky. Sirius looked up at them and remarked, ¡°If it weren¡¯t for the unrecognisable constellations I¡¯d almost think they were real.

    As Zephyr looked up to see for himself the sky changed once more, turning a light blue. Fluffy clouds filled the sky which stayed blue for no more than a second before taking on a sickly translucent green colour. A buzzard circled overhead. All of it unsettled Zephyr so he turned his eyes back down to the ground.

    Beneath the grass the earth was moving. The soil was more worms than dirt, fat, white pulsating worms. Zephyr watched as they grew and then shrunk, turned into maggots and then back to worms. Zephyr sucked in some air and decided maybe it was best to keep his eyes level.

    At the sound of his gasp Amanda, who hadn¡¯t taken her eyes off Sirius for the entirety of the time they¡¯d been sitting there, turned to look at him. ¡°Don¡¯t pay any attention to any of it. It¡¯s not real.¡±

    But it felt real. And as Zephyr watched, half of Amanda¡¯s face started to melt and slip off her skull leaving nothing but dripping blood and bone. She didn¡¯t seem to notice. Zephyr shook his head and a moment later she was back to normal.

    He closed his eyes tight. Maybe the best option was to not look at anything at all.

    Amanda turned her eyes back to Sirius. She knew once Cat came and woke them, they¡¯d be separated once more. Maybe Cat would be able to see where he was pulled back to. That was, she suddenly worried, assuming Cat could find them in the first place. But then she had found Sirius, and they had found Zephyr. That was, assuming all of this was real.

    She caught Sirius¡¯s eye then, emerald green, but far more valuable to her than any gem. Yes, he was real. She was sure of it.

    She glanced at Zephyr. His eyes were shut now. Did they dare to drag him to his feet and off into unknown parts of the dreamworld to look for Wolf and Kass? She hadn¡¯t at first, figuring Cat must have found one of them by now and given they were in a pretty decent sized group it might be better to wait at this point. But still she worried. Given the way Sirius kept glancing around she wondered if he felt the same.

    The decision was made for her however when out of nowhere a figure appeared.

    ¡°I thought I might find you guys here,¡± Cat remarked with a grin.

 Volume 2, Chapter 40: The Real World

    Wolf awoke, surprised to find he really was covered in scratches as well, although some of them looked a little different than he remembered. Coal was crouched over him, bandages in hand. He¡¯d just finished wrapping Wolf¡¯s bleeding leg. Evidently he had been paying attention. He¡¯d done a good job, although Wolf could already see some blood very slowly starting to seep through. But it would do for now.

    His leg throbbed. Seeing the summoned bandage Wolf thought of something else. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you have some spare clothes as well?¡±

    Coal looked at him doubtfully. ¡°In your size?¡±

    ¡°Well, close enough to.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Coal flicked his fingers as if to snap them, although he made no sound. A pair of jeans appeared in his hand, followed soon after by an old looking t-shirt, once black but now so faded that it was more of a grey colour. He handed them to Wolf.

    Wolf took them without complaint. ¡°Thanks.¡± The jeans by comparison looked hardly worn. Wolf used the wall, plus a little help from Indi, to get to his feet.

    Coal was checking on the other dreamers, making sure none of them were developing new wounds transferred over from their adventures in the dreamworld.

    The jeans were too long and Wolf had to fold the cuffs over so he could get his feet out the ends. They were a tad tight as well. Evidently Coal was narrower than he looked, or perhaps these were a size he had once been, or perhaps they weren¡¯t his at all. Whoever they had belonged to must be about Coal¡¯s height though. The t-shirt was closer in size, although it was perhaps a looser fit then intended, but it hung comfortably.

    Coal returned a moment later to check on how things were fitting. He nodded then looked at Wolf¡¯s feet and summoned a pair of sneakers as well as socks.

    The shoes were a couple sizes too big but they would do.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to have to take them off again for Amanda to look at your wound,¡± Indi said with a blush in her cheeks. She still wasn¡¯t used to someone who was so casually okay with being naked.

    But anytime Wolf transformed without first undressing he lost another set of clothing. His sudden transforms to wolf form earlier had destroyed today¡¯s wardrobe. He was a little peeved but it didn¡¯t matter so much. After all it wasn¡¯t like he brought expensive clothing anymore, not that he ever had. Clothing in general was a witch thing. Well, vampires too. Werewolves preferred the more natural attire.

    Indi sat across from him on the floor, in better spirits. Now that Cat had managed to wake one Indi was sure it was only a matter of time before the others awoke too. She was glad to have one friend back, even if he was a little worse for wear.

    A thump from the door down the hall sounded once more.

    Indi¡¯s head snapped to look. She¡¯d almost begun to believe that the fairies had given up.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Wolf asked, noting that Indi had instinctively pulled her knees up closer to her chest. Whatever was in there, she was obviously afraid of it.

    ¡°Fairies,¡± Indi replied.

    It was then that Wolf noticed all the little bodies on the floor. ¡°Where¡¯d the net come from?¡±

    ¡°I saw it is one of the rooms upstairs,¡± Coal replied.

    Beside him, Zephyr sat up suddenly with a gasp.

    Coal flinched slightly at the sudden movement before remarking in a cool voice, ¡°Welcome back.¡±

    Zephyr blinked. ¡°Thanks.¡± He looked around. ¡°This is real right?¡±

    Coal stood up with a smile and shrugged. ¡°Who knows?¡±

    ¡°How would we know if it wasn¡¯t?¡± Indi asked, suddenly worried.

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    Coal grinned.

    Wolf glared at him. He didn¡¯t like the man toying with Indi like that. He didn¡¯t really like Coal much in general. The man was too smarmy.

    ¡°Dreams aren¡¯t usually stable for so long,¡± Coal replied without looking at Wolf. ¡°Not unless there¡¯s a dreamwalker involved. But if you¡¯re at the point where you¡¯re wondering if it¡¯s a dream you can usually tell. If you¡¯re wondering that and it feels like it¡¯s real, then it is.¡±

    ¡°I dunno,¡± Zephyr replied, ¡°Felt pretty real in there.¡±

    ¡°This house feels pretty unreal,¡± Indi added.

    Amanda¡¯s eyes blinked back open. She stayed lying on the floor for a second, regaining her bearings.

    Coal offered her a hand up.

    She took it and got slowly back up to her feet. Then she looked down at her arms with a frown. They were now marred by tiny thin scratches.

    ¡°We got attacked by fairies,¡± Coal explained.

    As if on cue, the fairies ramrodded the door again.

    ¡°Oh so that¡¯s what did that,¡± Wolf said as he re-looked at his own arms. ¡°I thought it was from the dream.¡±

    ¡°Well your leg injury is,¡± Coal replied.

    That got Amanda¡¯s attention and she whipped her head around, with a worried look, to see how injured Wolf was.

    ¡°I¡¯d really like to get out of this place now,¡± Indi remarked as the fairies tried once more. They¡¯d picked up in frequency again now, perhaps because there was more talking happening.

    At the bang on the door Amanda had whipped her gaze the other way, towards the door.

    ¡°What¡¯s Cat doing?¡± Coal asked Amanda.

    Cat still hadn¡¯t woken, even though the others were all back now.

    ¡°We found Sirius. She¡¯s trying to see if she can track where his body is.¡±

    ¡°And Kass?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Wolf could probably use your help with his wound,¡± Coal reminded her.

    Her gaze had still been on the fairy door, but at Coal¡¯s comment, she remembered about Wolf. She turned headed his way, stepping over sleeping Cat¡¯s body to get there.

    Indi moved out of Amanda¡¯s way, switching which side of the hall she was sitting on. She slid in next to Wolf, leaving enough of a gap so Amanda could drop down between them.

    Wolf sighed and started undoing his pants. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said to Amanda.

    ¡°Mmm hmm,¡± she replied.

    The t-shirt he¡¯d borrowed was mostly long enough to cover him anyway. As he struggled to get the jeans down, Amanda reached up and helped yank them the rest of the way, being careful when she pulled them over his bandaged leg.

    Indi turned away with a blush, but seeing Amanda unbothered, she soon turned back again, curious about Amanda¡¯s magic.

    Amanda frowned. ¡°Where¡¯d you get the bandages?¡±

    Coal cleared his throat and summoned another bandage roll to his hand.

    ¡°Ah.¡± She¡¯d forgotten how useful a summoner could be. She wondered what other things he had stashed away so that he could summon them at the flick of an finger. Was there anything they needed that would be useful? A healer would be useful but she doubted he could summon a whole person. Summoning living objects usually ended badly. Whatever he could summon he¡¯d need to know where it was too. She bet he knew where several really good whiskeys were. But as much as she¡¯d like one, that probably wasn¡¯t very useful right now.

    As she peeled Wolf¡¯s bandage off, a clot of blood leaked out. The wound looked pretty nasty, and deep. He was going to have trouble walking on that. She paused, wondering how close that went to the femoral artery. There was a possibility cauterizing that would make it worse, if she accidentally burnt through what little barrier there was left to his main blood flow. There was a possibility moving things would make that worse. It wasn¡¯t bleeding heavily but it was weeping continuously. A partial cauterization might do it but she still didn¡¯t like the idea of him moving anymore than he already had.

    She looked up at Coal. Met his pale blue eyes square on. ¡°You really don¡¯t have anything healing on you at all?¡±

    She could see his jaw tense and he didn¡¯t immediately answer. He had something, but whatever it was, it was either very rare or it was hard to get. Enough that he obviously didn¡¯t think it was worth using yet.

    She sighed and turned back to Wolf. ¡°Okay,¡± she placed her hand over his thigh. She¡¯d have to hope that whatever damage was on the inside wasn¡¯t too severe. She¡¯d just stop the outer bleeding. A healer would take care of any infection later.

    Wolf gritted his teeth as she burned the outside of his flesh. When she¡¯d first placed her hand on his leg he¡¯d been reminded of one very fun afternoon with her and a very comfy couch, back in high school, and he¡¯d been quite glad at the length of the t-shirt he was wearing. But once she started burning, the pain chased any thoughts like that from his mind far away.

    Eventually she sat back, worried expression still on her face. She turned to Coal. ¡°Hand me those other bandages. Thank you.¡±

    He handed them over as if he¡¯d been waiting for her to ask, along with the swabbing alcohol they¡¯d used on Cat earlier. Amanda cleaned and wrapped Wolf¡¯s wound and then helped him put his pants back on.

    As Amanda got back to her feet, the fairies attempted another three rapid barrages at the door. She eyed the door warily. It prompted Zephyr to his feet finally. Eventually only Wolf and Cat were still on the ground.

    Coal and Amanda looked at the sleeping Cat and then at each other.

    ¡°You think I should go in after her?¡± Coal held up a vial of white powder, the antidote to dreamskeep, and a blue-black velvet bag.

    What was in the bag? Dreamwalking powder? If she had to guess. Bloody hell. This little trip must have cost him a small fortune already. And while he¡¯d been quite useful, she worried what he might ask for in return later. Coal didn¡¯t do favors for free. Well, she hadn¡¯t asked him here. But then she hadn¡¯t told him to leave either.

    She bit her bottom lip. What was taking Cat so long?

 Volume 2, Chapter 41: Someone Elseéˆ¥æªš World

    Trying to find someone¡¯s real location based on their location in the dreamworld was not too hard for a dreamwalker. What made it difficult in this instance was the proximity of the dreamweaver. Cat did not wish to draw it¡¯s attention. Dreamwalkers could blend themselves into the fabric of the dream, hide themselves, from other dream creatures, dreamwalkers, and dreamers alike, however it required a bit more skill than Cat had, especially in the presence of a dreamweaver. Cat did not wish to engage it in battle, not directly.

    The safest thing to do was get Sirius as close to his body as possible and then wake him up. It would both give her a better estimate of his exact location and minimise the attention of the dreamweaver.

    They walked side by side in silence for awhile.

    Eventually Sirius spoke. ¡°Hey, if by chance we don¡¯t get out of here...¡±

    ¡°Save it,¡± Cat butted in.

    He opened his mouth to continue, but Cat beat him to it.

    ¡°I said I don¡¯t want to hear it.¡±

    He sighed, was quiet for several seconds, and then suddenly blurted out, ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡±

    Cat turned to look at him with her teeth gritted and jaw clenched. A furious look on her face.

    When she didn¡¯t say anything Sirius continued. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for leaving you with dad.¡±

    Her posture relaxed a little. ¡°That was years ago.¡±

    But he could see the pain in her eyes. He knew by the way she still occasionally brought it up, that no matter what she might say, she hadn¡¯t forgotten what it had felt like to have him just up and leave.

    After a moment of staring at each other Cat turned and said softy, ¡°Come on.¡±

    They walked in silence once more.

    When they reached what felt like the right destination to Cat, she turned and looked at him once more.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to send you back, but only partially, just for a moment. I need you to look around and tell me what you see. I can¡¯t maintain that sort of connection for long so you need to be quick okay. Plus it might draw the attention of it so I won¡¯t be able to hang around long after.¡±

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    Sirius nodded.

    ¡°Okay, here we go.¡±

    Sirius¡¯s image faded from her view but she could still feel him there, half asleep in the other world. She called to him.

    ¡°Where are you? What do you see?¡±

    He was already fading. She could feel it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± he replied ¡°There¡¯s a web.¡± He shook his head, corrected himself. ¡°Like a web. We¡¯re caught. I can see light through a window, and the ground but it¡¯s up higher. I think we¡¯re in a basement.¡±

    It was then that he cut off and Cat found herself pulled back. She flew past another mind, one in trouble.

    The next thing she knew she was kneeling back in the hallway. A quick glance around confirmed everyone else was there and all were awake. But that mind she had flown past, that had been Kass.

    ¡°Give me a few more seconds,¡± Cat spoke to the hallway, before she closed her eyes and entered the dreamworld once more.

    She looked for Kass this time. The one person she hadn¡¯t yet made sure was okay. If she had woken Sirius, which she hoped she had, then she might have a chance to wake Kass too.

    She returned to the point where she thought she¡¯d felt Kass but there was nothing. It was a good place to start though. She reached out cautiously, not wanting to draw the attention of the dreamweaver. Had it kicked her out? Or she done that on her own? She wasn¡¯t sure. Kass and Coal were right, she needed to practice her own powers more.

    Finally she found her.

    Kass was on the floor curled in the fetal position. Her clothing was torn with tiny bloody rips. Her white blouse now looked like it had been designed with small read spots. Her stockings were ruined, shredded by something with tiny teeth. Her face was hidden in her arms.

    Cat knelt next to her. ¡°Kass?¡±

    At Cat¡¯s touch Kass jerked away in terror, breathing heavily. After a few metres of movement Kass looked up and paused. She stared at Cat hesitantly. Then her gaze darted to the left and the right. She sat up straighter and hugged her arms across her body.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Cat asked cautiously.

    Kass didn¡¯t answer. She still looked at Cat warily as if trying to decide if the woman was real or not.

    Cat decided she didn¡¯t have time to comfort her. Kass was resilient, she¡¯d deal. Cat spoke firmly and directly to her. ¡°I¡¯m going to wake you up okay? Wherever you are we¡¯re coming for you okay? I got a location when I sent Sirius back so just stay put, but keep out of trouble.¡±

    Kass nodded to show she understood.

    Kass hadn¡¯t wandered too far so Cat took a risk and woke her from there. As she did she felt a chill run down her spine, like there were eyes on her back. Kass was gone but there was something else here now instead. Cat could feel it.

    For some time she did not move, doing her best to stay invisible. Around her the world shifted.

    Vast plains spread out in all directions. Strange crooked trees grew sparsely amongst waist high yellow grass. It was scenery Cat had only ever seen in books. This was not her world anymore. Someone else was in control.

 Volume 2, Chapter 42: Not Here to Fuck Spiders

    Kass¡¯s eyes flickered open. She was in what looked like a basement, held upright in some kind of web-like substance, only thicker. She tried to pull her hands free and it sort of worked, almost. Initially it seemed to be coming off, however as she reached the end of the strange substance¡¯s stretch it started to hurt where the stuff touched her hand, almost as if she were pulling her own skin off. Kass pulled her arm around so she could see. As she peered closer at her palm she realised that the substance was more like a root system than a web, and the end of the roots were growing into her skin.

    She dropped her hand back to it¡¯s original position in a panic. She could feel them everywhere now. All over her skin. On the back of her neck as she tilted her head forward, on her stomach, under her shirt, crawling their way up her thighs.

    ¡°Kass?¡±

    ¡°Sirius?¡± She strained to see him but couldn¡¯t. He was somewhere, buried in his own web-encased coffin to her left. ¡°What is this?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I tried to strongarm my way out of it but it just wrapped around tighter. His voice was muffled. ¡°I can¡¯t even move anymore.¡± No, not just muffled. It sounded like he had something stuck in his mouth.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid if I try anymore it might suffocate me, but maybe what I should have tried was something sharp. I can¡¯t reach my knives anymore though.¡±

    Kass thought of her own knife, strapped to a garter holster on her inner thigh. Maybe if she stretched she might be able to reach that.

    She pulled her knees up as high as she could. Then twisted her hand around and slid it up her skirt until she could just touch the end of the knife tip. A little further, that was all she needed.

    She winced at the pain of the roots tugging on her skin, and she wondered if it might hurt just as much to cut them. If it did, she might just pass out during the process. She didn¡¯t want to risk being pulled back into the dreamworld, but the alternative was staying stuck here forever.

    On the other hand, Cat had said they were on their way. Maybe it would be safer to wait? Did she trust Cat to tell the truth? Well, yeah, actually, Cat wouldn¡¯t lie just to make someone feel better. She was nothing if not brutally honest. But had that been Cat? Well, Kass was awake now, wasn¡¯t she? She didn¡¯t have enough experience with dreamwalking to be sure. Anyway if this was a dream, it probably made no difference if she tried to cut her way out. The biggest issue was, if this wasn¡¯t a dream, and she waited, what might the strange roots be doing to them in the meantime.

    Kass stretched her hand a little further. It felt like someone was slicing her palm open with a kitchen cleaver.

    She gave out a small whimper as her fingers finally found the shaft.

    ¡°Kass?¡± Sirius asked, in a worried voice.

    ¡°Almost, got, it,¡± Kass replied forcing out one word at a time. She pushed the blade up with her finger tips. The hard part was going to be not dropping it.

    She clasped it with her fingers either side of the blade. She was sure they would be bleeding after this, but she managed to dexterously tilt the knife so it landed in her palm. She grasped it tight and pulled it out in front of her. Where to cut first?

    She held the knife in her right hand and pulled her left hand out so it was palm up. Better to cut the non-dominant hand first, just in case it went wrong, plus, it would make it easier to cut with her right, and she couldn¡¯t really reach anywhere else quite so easily with her hands stuck.

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    She took a deep breath. She was going to have to do this fast. In one cut if possible. It was a good thing she kept her knives sharp.

    She sliced quickly away from her body. She braced for the pain, but none came. The roots sliced easily through, like cutting cooked pasta. As the knife left the end of the roots dangling from her hand she felt a sensation of relief. She tilted her hand on it¡¯s side and some of the remnants of the roots simply fell away.

    ¡°It¡¯s working,¡± she said with breathless happiness.

    ¡°What?¡± Sirius asked. Her words had been spoken too softly for him to hear.

    ¡°I said it¡¯s working.¡± She spoke a little louder, but not too loud unless what ever it was that had put them here was nearby.

    She inspected her hand. It appeared to be leaking a clear liquid from tiny pin-pricked holes. She didn¡¯t know what it was. She hoped it wasn¡¯t harmful. It was probably better than bleeding out, probably.

    She switched hands with the knife. Her left hand felt a little numb now, and there was a dull throbbing pain throughout it. But she had enough dexterity to grasp the knife and slice her other hand free from it¡¯s root connection.

    The same thing happened to her other hand. A dull throbbing pain, seeping clear substance, and a numbness that dulled her movement. But she pressed on, propelled forwards by the realisation that soon she would be free of this mess.

    There were roots all along her arms. She cut them free, then reached back behind her neck and sliced the ones that were there. She worked her way down her body, from head to foot. She was pleased to find they hadn¡¯t quite gotten in everywhere.

    Finally she was able to step foot back on solid ground. She stood on roots, and some of them squirmed and pulsated in an unsettling manner. But at least, she was out.

    She turned to Sirius and still she could not see him. He really was in deep. She had to cut through several thicker roots to get to him.

    ¡°Sirius, I¡¯m coming to get you out.¡±

    She heard him murmur something but she couldn¡¯t make it out.

    She cut away a sheet of thickly connected webbed roots and there she saw him. It was worse than she¡¯d imagined. The roots weren¡¯t just in his skin. They had wound their way, inside his mouth, up his nostrils, covered his eyes.

    She couldn¡¯t help herself. She gasped.

    She heard him trying to speak again. How could he even breathe?

    She wasted no time. She reached forward and slit up through the thicker one that had gone for his esophagus. She cut the one in his nostrils as well, and then she waited a moment to give it a chance to release him. Then she pulled them free.

    He spluttered and spat, a thick clear gel like liquid poured from his mouth. She was glad when his coughing turned into steady breathing.

    She breathed out gently herself to calm her own mind. Then she did the roots in his ears. She hesitated at the ones over his eyes. Would he still be able to see? Well she had to do it at some point, better earlier than later. She cut through. Snip. Wait. Pull.

    The roots fell away easily.

    Sirius blinked. Well his green eyes looked okay.

    ¡°Can you see?¡± she asked, afraid of the answer.

    ¡°Everything¡¯s blurry,¡± came the reply. He blinked again. His eyes were covered in the clear goop.

    ¡°Hold on, I¡¯ll get the rest of you out, then we can have a look.

    He nodded.

    She cut him free. It took a surprising long time, and all the while Kass was afraid that whatever had put them here would come back. It was tiring work. Her eyelids drooped. Then she remembered herself. No, no falling asleep. She gave her face a slap to try and stay awake. She fought the feeling, and felt that maybe she was winning. Finally she helped Sirius forward.

    He stumbled slightly and then rubbed his face. He shook his head.

    ¡°Still can¡¯t see?¡± she asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s like I¡¯m underwater.¡±

    Kass nodded and then looked around for an exit. She almost cried when she saw an obvious door. She gripped Sirius¡¯s hand. ¡°Come on.¡±

    She pulled him, as fast as she could towards the exit, only to find, once she got there, that it was blocked.

    Green vines this time, covered in pretty flowers, red and black, almost like poppies. She paused. It looked familiar but she couldn¡¯t place it.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Sirius asked.

    ¡°There¡¯s a plant covering the door.¡±

    ¡°What sort of plant? Can you push it aside telekinetically without touching it?¡± he asked. ¡°You just need to make a hole.¡±

    Kass nodded, looking at it with renewed hope. It was just a plant after all. What damage could a plant do?

    She stood forward from Sirius and used her telekinesis to try to push it to each side. But instead of moving aside, the plant began moving in, towards her.

    Kass took a hesitant step back. Then she held forward her hands and telekintically pushed back against the plant, harder this time. It seemed to work, the plant recoiled. Not as far as it should have, but it recoiled none the less.

    Then Kass felt something behind her. As she turned a vine wrapped itself around her waist. She had just enough time to see Sirius pulled back, surrounded by roots and vines, all coming from the same plant, before it tugged her off her feet and pulled her back to join him.

 Volume 2, Chapter 43: Not Your Family Friendly Fairies

    ¡°Cat! Cat!¡±

    Someone was calling. Someone from the other world. Her world. Cat felt the other worldly presence slip away, distracted by something else entirely.

    She took her chance, and snapped herself back awake. She found herself looking up at the worried face of Amanda.

    Cat sighed. ¡°Hi.¡±

    Amanda moved away so Cat could sit up. ¡°How¡¯d it go?¡±

    ¡°I think they¡¯re awake. Hard to say.¡±

    ¡°They? You got both of them?¡±

    Cat got to her feet with a grunt. ¡°Yup.¡±

    THUMP!

    ¡°What is that?¡± Cat asked, as the fairies made their presence known once more.

    ¡°Fairies,¡± Indi answered.

    ¡°Fairies?¡±

    ¡°Grrrr.¡± Indi bared her teeth and nails in demonstration of what the fairies looked like.

    Cat raised a bewildered eyebrow.

    Amanda ignored the fairy conversation. ¡°Did you find where they are?¡± she pressed Cat.

    Cat nodded.

    ¡°Alright, can someone help me up?¡± Wolf raised an arm, in the direction of Indi and Amanda.

    Amanda stared down at him doubtfully with her hands on her hips.

    ¡°I was running on it before,¡± Wolf remarked. ¡°Before I ran into Cat, quite literally might I add, so whatever damage might be done by walking on this, it¡¯s already been done.¡±

    Amanda still didn¡¯t look happy about it.

    It satisfied Indi though, who helped Wolf to his feet and then gave him a shoulder to lean on.

    ¡°Thank you Indi.¡±

    She smiled at the thanks.

    ¡°Now where?¡± Coal asked Cat.

    She nodded in the direction of the main entrance and the south-west wing, just as the fairy door banged again.

    Cat glanced at it. ¡°I thought fairies were just stories parents made up to make kids brush their teeth.¡±

    ¡°Oh, trust me,¡± Coal said with a serious look, ¡°Fairies are very real.¡±

    ¡°They were were really creepy,¡± Indi added.

    ¡°I mean yeah, of course they¡¯re creepy, what kind of creature likes to collect children¡¯s teeth,¡± Zephyr remarked.

    ¡°What! They actually collect teeth. I thought those were fairy tales?¡± Indi exclaimed.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    ¡°Oh yeah, one got in my room as a child once. Ripped a tooth right out. This one.¡± He opened his mouth and pointed at one of his front side teeth. ¡°A healer fixed it right up though.¡±

    Indi was staring at him with horror. Cat also had her moth half open. Evidently this was news to her as well.

    ¡°Wait, they rip the teeth out?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°Well,...¡± Zephyr paused, suddenly aware that maybe this was the wrong time to bring up the horrors of fairies.

    ¡°They mostly go for kids,¡± Amanda said. She eyed the closed door and then looked to Coal.

    He smiled back. Not worried then.

    Amanda turned to the others. ¡°Come on, we need to keep moving.¡±

    ¡°As if that makes it any better,¡± Cat mumbled in reply to Amanda¡¯s comment about the fairies and kids. But she rolled her eyes, picked up Wolf¡¯s dropped axe, and started off along the hall, Amanda following close behind.

    Coal waited until the others had all passed by, Indi helping a hobbling Wolf, then he took up the rear position.

    ¡°You guys good?¡± Zephyr asked Indi and Wolf, who were in front of him.

    ¡°Yup,¡± Indi smiled.

    Wolf gave a nod.

    The group turned a corner leaving the hallway behind them empty.

    They did not see the door shake once more. Nor did they see the small crack which appeared, and started to widen.

    ¡°What was it like? In the dreamworld?¡± Indi interrogated Wolf as they walked.

    ¡°Wait, you didn¡¯t fall asleep?¡± Zephyr asked from behind Indi.

    She glanced back over her shoulder and shook her head.

    ¡°So the powder, the dreamskeep, it worked on you but not on me?¡±

    ¡°¡¯I did say the dosage is hard to get right. That means both directions,¡± Coal replied.

    ¡°Technically I told him that,¡± Amanda reminded him.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Zephyr thought about that. ¡°So, I didn¡¯t take enough?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s somewhat specific to each person, and hard to predict other than by trial and error,¡± Coal explained.

    ¡°What makes someone more susceptible to being pulled in?¡± Indi asked.

    Zephyr frowned. He didn¡¯t like being called ¡®susceptible.¡¯

    ¡°I just said it was hard to predict,¡± Coal replied.

    ¡°Right,¡± Indi persisted, ¡°But there must be some theories. Like creativity, or magical ability, or...¡±

    ¡°Drowsiness,¡± Cat interrupted.

    Indi frowned. ¡°That¡¯s a boring answer, but I suppose it makes sense.¡±

    ¡°Except she¡¯s wrong,¡± Wolf replied. ¡°I knew a guy once, who had been awake for three days straight. Must have been pretty drowsy by that point. He took a small amount of dreamskeep, less than Zeph did, and when he realised he¡¯d fucked up and forgotten to get an antidote he still couldn¡¯t be put to sleep by a dreamwalker.¡±

    ¡°Shitty dreamwalker then,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°As if you could do it,¡± Wolf retorted.

    ¡°Wait,¡± Indi interrupted. ¡°So, he stayed awake for three days and then he took dreamskeep, why?¡±

    ¡°Because he was an idiot,¡± Wolf replied. ¡°Anyway, he¡¯s dead now, that¡¯s beside the point. The point is...¡±

    But he never got to finish explaining his point, for at that moment the sound of a thousand wings flapping, buzzing, purring, filled the hallway, as the fairies, finally broke through the door.

    One smacked right into the back of Coal¡¯s head. Another brushed the skin of Indi¡¯s cheek as it flew between her and Wolf. Zephyr gave a yelp and managed to strategically dodge a three-pronged attack.

    ¡°Arrrgh,¡± Cat growled and waved her arm as one of them sunk it¡¯s sharp teeth in.

    Amanda turned, fists clenched, furious expression on her face. She strode a few quick paces through the flying chaotic mass to end back of the group, where thousands more were coming. She barely raised her hands.

    A fireball swept the entire hallway behind them, burning everything in it¡¯s path but leaving the aging wallpaper and other furnishings untouched. The dust was barely singed.

    Only the small number of fairies that had been at the front and encircled the group remained now, and they were easy enough to be picked off one by one.

    Coal smacked one into the wall. Zephyr dodged them. Cat even managed to shoot one. Wolf pulled Indi in close then winced as one of the damn things bit his injured leg. Amanda picked them off with fire. Soon there were none left alive.

    ¡°Really Cat?¡± Amanda remarked at the gun in her hand as she returned to near the front of the group.

    ¡°What? You¡¯re carrying.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not shooting tiny creatures in a enclosed space with lots of people.¡±

    Cat shrugged. ¡°There was nobody standing that way.¡±

    They set off again, each with a cursory glance over the shoulder, just in case.

    No one noticed, but beneath the edges of the carpet, thick vines started to wriggle their way out and up. The whole house creaked and groaned as empty crevices and cracks filled with with luscious growing greenery. Never before had the plant had such power to feed on. Tiny black and red flowers sprouted from electrical sockets and light fittings.

 Volume 2, Chapter 44: Plant

    They found themselves back at the entrance to the house in no time.

    ¡°Gods, am I glad to see that door,¡± Cat remarked.

    ¡°We¡¯re not out of the woods yet,¡± Amanda reminded her.

    ¡°How could I forget.¡± Cat rolled her eyes.

    Amanda ignored the snarky comment. They were all tired. She looked at all the faces of the people with her. Yes, they were definitely all tired. Even Indi, although wide-eyed and fidgety, had lost some of the spark for adventure in her eyes. And now here they were, at a crossroads. Who could she send out to safety and who did she need? The only one who didn¡¯t look tired, was Coal. Somehow he always looked like he was about to head out for a night at the theatre or something. Yes, his clothes were a little worse for wear but his posture made it look more like an intentional fashion statement than an unfortunate fairy incident.

    "Now what?" Zephyr asked, his eyes looking longingly at the front door.

    "Now you, Wolf, and Indi go out to the car. Maybe drive Wolf to a hospital," Amanda told them. She wasn''t about to let Coal out of her sight, and she would need Cat for this.

    Wolf shook his head. "No way."

    "You can barely walk. And you definitely can''t run."

    "I was running before."

    "In the dreamworld," Cat reminded him.

    ¡°We need to move fast Wolf.¡± Amanda looked him dead in the eye.

    He sighed. ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°But...¡± Indi started to object.

    ¡°Come on Ind.¡± He tugged her toward the door.

    ¡°Good luck,¡± Zephyr told the remainders as he left through the door after them.

    Amanda gave him a nod of acknowledgement.

    As half of the group filed outside into the sun, Amanda called after them from the door, ¡°What¡¯s the time?¡±

    Zephyr checked his watch. ¡°4:15.¡±

    ¡°Is it ticking?¡±

    He glanced at it again and then nodded.

    ¡°Alright, if we¡¯re not back in an hour, go get help.¡±

    ¡°From whom?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She shook her head. ¡°Just somebody competent, but don¡¯t come back in, got it.¡±

    Zephyr nodded.

    Amanda disappeared back inside the house and shut the door.

    Indi looked up at the blue sky. ¡°It¡¯s so weird. Coal thought that maybe there was a luminary spell and something making the clocks not work, but now we¡¯re outside, it¡¯s like no time passed at all while we were in there, so that must be like a pocket dimension or something right?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re still on the grounds.¡± Wolf shifted his weight uncomfortably next to her.

    Indi noticed. ¡°Oh, sorry, do you want to sit down?¡± She looked around the driveway, to find an ideal spot. ¡°We could go around the back into the garden,¡± she suggested finally.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not,¡± Zephyr replied with a glance at the intimidating house, with it¡¯s stone exterior and ivy covered face. He felt like it was watching him. ¡°We need to take Wolf to a hospital.¡±

    ¡°Well, Wolf and I came in Cat¡¯s car so...¡± Indi nodded in the direction of Zephyr¡¯s car.

    ¡°Ah right.¡± Zephyr fished in his pocket for his keys.

    ¡°I¡¯m not bloody fucking going anywhere until they¡¯re all out here,¡± Wolf replied in a tone that said it wasn¡¯t up for debate.

    Indi pursed her lips thoughtfully. ¡°Well let¡¯s sit in the car for now then anyway. It¡¯ll be comfier than the ground.¡±

    Wolf agreed with that at least and so she helped him into the Zephyr¡¯s backseat.

    As Indi helped Wolf, Zephyr stood by the driver¡¯s door, looking back at the house once more. This time his eyes focused on the door. He thought of Amanda and Cat in that creepy house, with only Coal for comfort. He imagined the worst. They needed to move fast. That¡¯s what Amanda had said. Well no one moved faster than Zephyr. What if they needed him? He didn¡¯t really want to go back into the house but he felt awfully guilty just waiting for them out here. Wolf would still have Indi after all. They didn¡¯t both need to be here.

    He handed the keys to Indi, who took them with a surprised look on her face. ¡°I¡¯m going back in,¡± was all he said. Then his disappeared in a gust of wind, using his super speed to return to the house and find the people he¡¯d left behind.

    Indi stood stock still for a moment, just staring after Zephyr. Finally she looked at the keys in her hand and then at Wolf. ¡°I¡¯m taking you to a hospital.¡± She reached forward to close the door.

    Wolf put his foot in the way. ¡°You bloody well won¡¯t.¡± He nodded at the house. ¡°Not until they¡¯re out.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re being silly,¡± she remarked, but her gaze was fixed back on the house. Well if Wolf didn¡¯t want to go to the hospital, then she wasn¡¯t much use out here. Zephyr had gone back in. And now that she was standing back out in the sun again she felt a lot braver, envious even that she might be missing something. Also what if they needed her? Her shield was useful and she had helped Wolf out.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about,¡± Wolf told her, guessing at her thoughts.

    Well, there was nothing like being told not to do something, to make you want to do it. But she couldn¡¯t just leave Wolf all alone. He didn¡¯t even have a phone on him. She had her phone though. She handed it to him. He took it instinctively.

    ¡°The pin is 5926. If you get in trouble phone Kass,...¡± she trailed off, realising that might not be the best option since she wasn¡¯t sure if Kass was okay, ¡°Or Zephyr, I called him earlier, so the number should still be in there...¡± she trailed off again as she remembered that none of the phones had worked earlier. Well maybe it was different from outside. He could always call for help if he needed anyway.

    ¡°Indi...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be quick, I¡¯ll just check how they¡¯re going.¡± Before he could object again, she turned and jogged back to the house.

    ¡°Indi!¡± Wolf called after her, but it was no use.

    Left alone with only the car for company, Wolf pulled himself to his feet, intent on following them all back to the house. But the pain in his leg only let him get so far before he had to admit if he went back in there he was only going to be a liability. He growled softly to himself and sat back down in the car. Now what?

    He glanced at the phone in his hand. Well, he was outside now. He should phone someone at least to let them know what was happening. But who?

    The fact that it was Indi¡¯s phone in his hand was probably what gave him the idea. He clicked through the interface until he found recent incoming calls. He scrolled down until he found one for someone not currently in the house, one labelled ¡®Falco.¡¯

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    A little while earlier.

    Cat, Coal, and Amanda, stood inside the entrance way.

    ¡°Which way?¡± Coal asked.

    Cat hesitated. She knew the direction and approximately how far. The problem was, they needed to get to the lower floor. Then a door caught her eye, the one they¡¯d gone through hours ago, or at least what seemed like hours ago. The one that had teleported them. Well it was worth a look right. If it was there they could just try opening and closing the door until they got one that was a floor below.

    She walked over to it and opened it. Before her lay a flight of stairs going down. She looked at it, not quite believing what she saw. She hadn¡¯t expected it to be that easy. It was very much in the realms of too easy, so easy that Cat had to wonder if the house wanted them to go down there.

    The other two peered over her shoulder.

    ¡°How did you know that was there?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± Cat replied, as she decided that it didn¡¯t matter what the house wanted. They still needed to find Kass and Sirius, and if the house was helping for now, well, she¡¯d take what she could get. Cat started down the stairs.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t?¡± Coal asked as he followed.

    ¡°It was a different room before,¡± Cat replied. She might be wary of the house¡¯s intent but she was confident in her own choice.

    Amanda glanced at the entrance to the house. She hoped the others were okay. Then she turned and followed Cat and Coal down into darkness, leaving the door behind her hanging open.

    At the bottom of the stairs, Cat paused. There was no light down here and the corridor was pitch black. The walls were made of concrete and narrower than the hallways on the floor above. Beside her she heard Coal suck in a deep breath and summon a light.

    ¡°After you,¡± Cat nodded at him to go first.

    Coal didn¡¯t like the narrowness of the corridor. It felt claustrophobic and it made the air heavy around him. He pushed forward anyway, trying to ignore the suffocating feeling in his chest. Behind him he could hear the two woman following.

    He was less afraid of the house or what might be in it. He trusted Stella somewhat. He did not think she would send him in here to his death, not if there was a high chance of it. He paid her well, gave her whatever she wanted, but then psychics were not infallible. Sometimes believing in them too strongly was what got a person killed. So Coal didn¡¯t drop his guard completely, he didn¡¯t take unreasonable risks, and kept some fear there, just at the edges of his thoughts, a wariness, enough to keep him on his toes. Too much fear could also prove deadly. If only the damn walls weren¡¯t so close.

    He turned a corner and placed a foot forward where he thought the floor should be, only to have it drop down lower than he expected with a splash.

    He gave a yelp and managed to catch himself by placing a hand out against each wall, but he dropped the light in the process. They were all plunged back into darkness.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± he swore.

    A fire materialised behind them. Amanda summoning a flame. ¡°What happened?¡± she asked, pushing past Cat to see.

    Coal had one foot in the water, about step height down. Once he righted himself he felt forward with the other. Yup, there was another edge here. Stairs going under water, who knew how far?

    ¡°How deep is it?¡± Cat asked warily.

    ¡°Not sure.¡± Coal took a step down and then moved his feet out further to see if there was another one. There didn¡¯t seem to be. ¡°I think just this deep.¡±

    Amanda held up her flame. She noticed further down, vines on the walls, and at the end of the hallway there appeared to be a slither of natural light, another room level with this one. Various openings and other hallways branched off to the side.

    As they deliberated, another figure appeared behind Cat.

    Reacting by instinct she pushed them back against the wall, with her forearm pressing against their throat.

    Zephyr raised his hands in surrender. ¡°It¡¯s just me.¡±

    ¡°Jackos Zeph!¡± Amanda held one hand to her chest. ¡°I told you to stay with the others.¡±

    ¡°Yeah well, Wolf¡¯s got Indi, they don¡¯t need me out there.¡±

    ¡°You think we need you in here?¡± Cat asked with bite.

    ¡°Cat,¡± Amanda warned.

    ¡°What?¡± She replied with a shrug.

    Coal was sick of standing in the tiny hallway, feet in murky water. ¡°Well, he¡¯s here now, let¡¯s keep moving.¡± He started forwards, carefully placing each foot in case the ground got deeper. He was right to do so, for after about 3 metres the ground fell out below again. He stretched forward until he could feel it beneath his feet. I wasn¡¯t a drop this time, more like a slope, cut up and uneven. He kept moving forward until the slope seemed to settle out. The water was up to his hips now. An open doorway to his left showed a large room, filled with more water, but the light was too far behind him to make it out properly. He turned to check on the others.

    They were all still back at the water¡¯s edge. ¡°What are you doing?¡± he called. He noticed Amanda glance his way and then look back at Cat.

    He sighed and looked around. The vines on the walls looked similar, like that plant they had seen upstairs. Some of them dipped down underwater and out of sight. And, they appeared to be growing, moving slowly along the walls. It wasn¡¯t obvious unless one was looking directly at them. Coal decided he didn¡¯t want to hang around in the water.

    ¡°Come on,¡± he called back to the rest of the group. Then he started forward toward the day-lit room up ahead, ignoring the darker offshoots into other rooms.

    He heard a splash behind him. ¡®Finally¡¯ he thought. But when he turned to check he found it wasn¡¯t any of the others who had entered the water. Between him and them was another creature, it¡¯s head shaped like a wolf, it¡¯s arms long and spindly. A wendigo.

    ¡°Amanda!¡± he called at the firestarter.

    She had been locked in discussion with Cat and Zephyr, but at Coal¡¯s shout she turned.

    The wendigo growled.

    Amanda fireballed it.

    It was unmissable this time. On both Coal¡¯s left and right, vines grew obviously thicker and longer, reaching out towards Amanda, but still too far away for her to see them. As the fireball died they slowed their movement but they did not stop.

    Coal frowned. ¡°No more fire!¡± he called back.

    Amanda gave him a confused expression. She started forward into the water.

    Behind her Zephyr offered Cat his back and then said something to Amanda.

    Amanda moved aside so they could get past.

    Cat leapt up onto Zephyr¡¯s back so her feet were off the ground.

    Coal suddenly realised what Zephyr was about to do. ¡°No! NO MAGIC!¡± he called.

    But it was too late. At lightening speed, Zephyr took off with Cat on his back. He couldn¡¯t go as fast as usual, but it was fast enough to make solid use of the surface tension of the water.

    Coal backed up almost against the wall. Not too close though. He didn¡¯t want to touch that plant.

    Zephyr and Cat flew past, ending up in the room at the far end.

    Coal could feel the vines behind him grow. He pulled away. Zephyr had only used a little magic momentarily but it was enough.

    Coal turned back to Amanda, who was half way towards him.

    ¡°Put out that flame! Quick!¡± he told her.

    She frowned but did as he said.

    Then another wendigo sprung from the water. It leaped towards Amanda, but before she could get a chance to fireball it Coal cut it¡¯s head off from behind with a swift slice of his sword. ¡°No magic,¡± he told her. Then he stepped aside so she could move past him. He watched the water as best he could in the low light, sword ready as he followed her, walking backwards.

    She frowned at him, obviously confused, but she did as he said, hearing the obvious urgency in his tone.

    They were almost at the other room when a small familiar voice called from the other end, ¡°Guys?¡±

    Beside Coal, Amanda raised a flame, smaller than before. It put out just enough light to see Indi standing at the edge of the water.

    ¡°Put it out!¡± Coal hissed. Then he turned to Indi. ¡°Indi, stay there, I¡¯m coming to get you. Whatever you do, don¡¯t shield.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t... what? Okay.¡± Indi waited, already regretting her return to the house. It was dark and damp down here and she didn¡¯t like the worried tone in Coal¡¯s voice. She hadn¡¯t heard him sound like that before.

    Amanda stayed where she was. She didn¡¯t want to move too far from Coal and Indi. She didn¡¯t understand why Coal had said no magic. The water was waist deep on her and ice cold. She shivered, one hand raised ready just in case any of those things came back.

    ¡°Hop on.¡± Coal offered Indi his back, just like Zephyr had with Cat.

    Indi looked taken aback for a second but then she did as told, happy not to have to get too wet.

    They were half way back when something swam past under water, causing large ripples on the surface.

    Coal paused and raised his sword. Ahead of them he saw Amanda watching the water with her hand raised.

    ¡°No fire!¡± he called just as a group of wendigos burst up and out of the water.

    Amanda didn¡¯t listen. She burned them all.

    Coal rushed forward, Indi still on his back, feeling the heat of the flames on his face as he did, and he sliced at the wendigos as best he could.

    As he entered the fray, Amanda pulled her flames back, not wanting to hurt Coal or Indi.

    Coal finished them off, Indi holding tight to his back. Then he met up with Amanda with a furious look on his face. ¡°What did I say about no fire?¡±

    Amanda opened her mouth to reply but as she did she felt something wrap around her ankle and tug hard.

    She was pulled down into the water with a yelp.

    Coal leaped in after her, just managing to grasp a hold of one hand and elbow.

    As they crashed down through the surface of the water Indi let go. She came up spluttering, unable to see where Coal or Amanda had gone. She found her feet on the floor, and upon hearing Cat¡¯s voice calling her name, she scrambled quickly in that direction before taking the time to even adjust the position of her now crooked glasses.

    Friendly hands helped her out of the water. A moment later Coal and Amanda collapsed on the ground next to her.

    Coal still had his sword clutched in one hand. He¡¯d dropped it when he¡¯d first grabbed Amanda but the water hadn¡¯t been too deep, and guessing at what had her he¡¯d picked his sword up and cut her free from it.

    Amanda got to her feet and looked around the room. Seeing the masses of vines that lined the room she paused, and suddenly remembering what the plant was, she remarked, ¡°Oh.¡±

    Coal, still puffing and panting on the floor, noticed this, and said, ¡°Recognise the plant now? You see why I said no magic?¡±

    ¡°Shit,¡± was all Amanda said.

    ¡°What?¡± Cat asked. ¡°What is it?¡±

    Amanda nodded at the plant. ¡°Witch¡¯s Weep.¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 45: The Second Sunset

    Across town, Amanda and Sirius¡¯s daughter, Katrina, hooked some dangly earrings through the hole in her ear.

    Lily poked her head around the corner of the door. ¡°Where are you going?¡± she asked, noticing that Katrina was all dressed up.

    ¡°To a party,¡± Katrina replied, not tearing her eyes from the mirror in front of her.

    ¡°Can I come?¡±

    This time Katrina did glance at her. ¡°Sorry kid, this ain¡¯t your kind of party.¡± She returned to studying her outfit in the mirror. She had selected a knee length lacy black dress, with see through sleeves that just covered her shoulders. She often wore black, black was the classiest and sexiest of colours after all.

    ¡°Katrina!¡± her older brother, Bobby, called from down the hall. ¡°Have you seen my physics book?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Katrina replied absently, then she paused. ¡°Wait, yes...¡± She reached for a book she¡¯d been using to flatten out an art project. She handed it to Bobby.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± he replied. He paused in the doorway on his way out and glanced back, ¡°You¡¯re going out?¡±

    She nodded, as she compared necklaces in the mirror. ¡°Trip¡¯s throwing a party.¡±

    ¡°Katrina won¡¯t let me come,¡± Lily complained from out in the hall.

    Bobby chuckled, ¡°Well you can do something fun here, maybe watch a movie or something.¡±

    Lily wasn¡¯t satisfied with that. She gave a loud ¡°Hurrmphf,¡± and then she stalked off toward the bathroom at the end of the hall.

    Bobby watched her go then he turned back to Katrina, ¡°You could take her...¡±

    Katrina¡¯s eyes widened and her eyebrows shot up. ¡°To a party?! There will be alcohol there.¡±

    ¡°Well...¡± Bobby hesitated, ¡°I was just hoping on inviting other Lily over tonight.¡± It just so happened that Bobby¡¯s girlfriend was also called Lily.

    Katrina shrugged, then held up a different dress in front herself, trying to decide if she should change her outfit or not. She settled on not. ¡°Well, see if Gemma wants to entertain her.¡±

    ¡°Gemma¡¯s got her hands full with Kate.¡±

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    Just at that moment Gemma appeared out of her room and strode down the hall towards them. She was dressed in her usual casual jeans and tight, collared, purple t-shirt. She stopped when she got to Bobby and handed him a sheet of paper.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Instructions. Can you please watch Kate for a few hours? Tobias and I have a thing.¡± She fiddled with a small hooped earring in her ear, and without waiting for his answer started off down the stairs with a, ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°What! No...¡± Bobby started to object.

    But before he could complete his objection, Gemma spun mid stair. ¡°Where are mum and dad?¡± she asked as if she¡¯d just noticed they weren¡¯t home.

    Bobby blinked at the change of subject. ¡°Um, at some house across town. They¡¯re helping Kass with something.¡±

    Gemma¡¯s eyes narrowed briefly at Kass¡¯s name, then she nodded, and continued on her way. She was out of sight before Bobby managed to gather his wits about him.

    ¡°Oooh, do you think she¡¯d getting a car ride with someone?¡± Katrina asked as she pushed past Bobby and started down the stairs herself. ¡°I better go see. It¡¯ll be much faster than riding there if she has. They¡¯re going to Trip¡¯s thing as well.¡±

    ¡°How are you going to get back?¡± Bobby called after her.

    ¡°I¡¯ll figure that out later,¡± Katrina called back.

    Bobby sighed. He listened to the door slam leaving him alone in the hallway. Wait, where were his other brother and sister? He walked down the hall towards the north-east end, and checked their rooms. There was no sign of them. He checked downstairs at the computer. No sign there either.

    Then the front door opened and Katrina came dashing back inside. ¡°Opps, forgot something,¡± she explained as she ran flat-tack back up the stairs in her strappy, high-heeled shoes.

    ¡°Where are Salem and Sasha?¡± Bobby asked as she came careening back downstairs again.

    ¡°Oh, they¡¯re with the twins. I think Salem said they might come to the party later.¡± The twins were kids in the same year as Salem.

    ¡°Wait! Sasha¡¯s going to the party?¡±

    But Katrina was already gone, disappeared out the door again.

    Bobby sighed and went to check on Kate. The baby was fast asleep. A glance at a message on his phone told him his Lily wasn¡¯t going to be able to make it until after 8 pm. He looked back down the hall toward the bathroom. Well, he supposed there was time for a movie with young Lily then. It might cheer her up and he could send her off to bed when older Lily arrived.

    In the bathroom, Lily was scrubbing at her arms. Her skin had been really itchy lately, sometimes she felt like her skin was going to burn off. She scratched at it and some small flakes peeled away. Was that normal? She wasn¡¯t sure.

    ¡°Hey Lily?¡± Bobby called from out side the bathroom door, ¡°You want to watch a movie. I¡¯ll let you pick if you promise to go to bed straight afterward.¡±

    Lily thought about it. That meant she could pick a long one. Or maybe, something with a sequel, and then right near the end she could ask Bobby to get her a snack. She knew he would because Bobby was very nice. Then while he was getting snack she could start the sequel and pretend it was the same movie. She almost giggled to herself. It was such a good idea.

    ¡°Okay,¡± she called back.

    ¡°Where are your mum and dad tonight?¡± Lily asked Bobby as he set up the TV to play the movie she¡¯d selected.

    ¡°They¡¯re helping out a friend.¡±

    ¡°When will they be back?¡±

    Bobby glanced at the darkening sky outside. ¡°I dunno.¡±

    ¡°Are you worried?¡±

    ¡°Nah, I¡¯m sure they¡¯re fine.¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 46: Witchéˆ¥æªš Weep

    ¡°What¡¯s Witch¡¯s Weep?¡± Indi inquired.

    ¡°It¡¯s a plant, the same plant we saw upstairs. I didn¡¯t remember what it was. I¡¯m used to seeing pictures of its roots and no flowers. They don¡¯t bloom often...¡± Amanda trailed off looking even more worried.

    Indi glanced down at the vines with a puzzled nervous look. ¡°It seems okay now. It¡¯s not moving.¡± But she still hadn¡¯t forgotten about the one upstairs that had grabbed her, and there were a lot of vines in this room. ¡°Maybe we should keep moving?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you just burn it?¡± Cat asked.

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°You can¡¯t kill Witch¡¯s Weep with fire, or magic. If we use any magic near it it will react.¡±

    ¡°React how?¡± Zephyr asked, as he inched further away from the vines around the edge of the room.

    ¡°Like it did upstairs when it tried to grab Indi. And me just then in the water.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not moving now,¡± Cat observed.

    ¡°We¡¯re not using magic,¡± Coal replied.

    ¡°You must have a ton of items on you.¡±

    Coal shook his head. ¡°Nothing active.¡±

    ¡°No permanent defensive spells?¡± Cat raised a curious eyebrow.

    Coal looked back at her like he knew what she was trying to get at, what information she was only too glad to glean.

    They eyed each other for a little while and then Cat frowned. ¡°We weren¡¯t using magic upstairs when it grabbed Indi.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that was our magic,¡± Amanda said.

    ¡°The house?¡± Coal raised an eyebrow in question.

    She seemed to be lost in thought. Finally she looked up at Coal. ¡°You didn¡¯t know what it was before?¡±

    He shook his head. ¡°Not until I saw it moving towards the fire. I didn¡¯t actually remember the name until you said it.¡±

    ¡°So, if the house¡¯s magic can make it attack...¡± Cat trailed off, not feeling the need to finish.

    Amanda glanced at the only other exit in the room and then over to a small window, big enough to fit a child, or Kass, but no one else. The vines seemed to come from the door. The only way forwards.

    ¡°What¡¯s it do if it gets you?¡± Zephyr asked, fearing the answer.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t the house,¡± she said suddenly. ¡°We were closer there. I think it grows up, through the floor. The nearer we get to it¡¯s trunk the easier it¡¯s going to be for it to attack us. But they¡¯re still slow. You could dodge them...¡±

    ¡°I can definitely dodge them,¡± Zephyr replied.

    ¡°No. Not with magic you can¡¯t. They feed off magic. As we get closer they¡¯ll move but it¡¯ll be slow. But any magic, gives them more strength and speed at an exponential rate. Significantly more energy. I think they can still move fast out here if they want but it takes a lot of energy so they¡¯re not likely to, and when they do they¡¯ll rest for a bit afterward, I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve never seen one this big. They usually only last a few years. The one that grabbed Indi was slow but that one in the water...¡±

    ¡°You used magic,¡± Coal reminded her.

    ¡°And if they get us?¡± Zephyr asked again.

    ¡°You won¡¯t die immediately,¡± Coal replied. ¡°It usually takes a few weeks.¡±

    He frowned as if he was unsure but Amanda nodded in confirmation.

    She continued the explanation. ¡°They won¡¯t hurt you as such. They¡¯ll get their roots in you and just drain you.¡±

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    ¡°What?!¡± Zephyr widened his eyes. ¡°They get their roots in you?¡± That sounded too horrific for an acceptable use of the word ¡®just.¡¯

    ¡°What I mean is, they drain your magic and your energy. You basically die of starvation. The roots don¡¯t hurt you themselves and they keep you hydrated. They share a sort of isotonic fluid but they don¡¯t feed you or provide you with enough nutrients, so eventually you waste away.¡±

    The look on Zephyr¡¯s face said that hadn¡¯t made him feel any better at all.

    Amanda glanced to Cat. ¡°What happens if Sirius and Kass are in the dreamworld and that plant is nearby?¡±

    ¡°I dunno, you¡¯re the plant expert,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°They wouldn¡¯t be the ones dreamwalking,¡± Coal replied, but he said it slowly and with some question in his tone.

    Amanda eyed the plant leading further in, then glanced back the way they had come. With a nod she followed the vines. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go.¡±

    This time Coal didn¡¯t hang around at the back. He followed immediately after Amanda. ¡°You know if we get close, it¡¯s probably going to go for you.¡±

    Amanda didn¡¯t glance back. ¡°Let it come,¡± she replied in a threatening tone.

    As they walked the vines got thicker. Other doors and hallways branched off to the side, some into darkness, some lit by smatterings of daylight that had found it¡¯s way in through cracks or small high windows. At one point, the floor above had caved in and they had to clamber over rotten wood.

    Cat glanced up and saw the inside of a tower they hadn¡¯t seen before. Indi paused to look longer until Zephyr pushed her gently from behind with a whisper to ¡°Keep going.¡±

    ¡°How do you know which way to go?¡± Cat asked as they passed another intersection. Amanda had made several decisive choices already and the truth was even Cat wasn¡¯t sure if they were still going the right way.

    Amanda seemed to be following the larger vines. She paused at another junction. To their left, an almost empty concrete basement room let in enough light for them to see by. ¡°I don¡¯t know, call it gut instinct.¡± She turned left.

    They seemed to have gone past the flooded part of the house by now at least. Unfortunately not all of the flooring was concrete, at least half was wood, and it looked like it had seen better days. Cat eyed the floor warily and tried not to put her feet down too hard.

    ¡°You think the plant took them?¡± Cat asked.

    Amanda took another turn, this time through a corridor so tight she had to turn sideways. ¡°It makes sense doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    Coal paused and gestured gentlemanly for Cat to follow through next.

    Cat barely paid him any attention. ¡°I suppose. It could have been the dreamweaver too though.¡± She glanced at the thick vine that ran along the ceiling above her. She wondered how close they were. It couldn¡¯t be far now.

    Indi and Zephyr followed through after her. Once they were through Coal paused and eyed the narrow squeeze. He didn¡¯t want to go through that. He paced two steps forward and then back again. He took a deep breath. No one had noticed that he hadn¡¯t followed yet. It was only a small gap though. He could see where it widened into a room on the other side. He took another deep breath and manned up. He sucked in his chest and squeezed through quick as he could, only breathing once he was on the other side again.

    Indi did turn and give him a brief puzzled look but a moment later she was distracted by other things in the room.

    ¡°There¡¯s like three lawnmowers in here,¡± Zephyr remarked. ¡°How do you suppose they even get them out to mow the lawn?¡±

    Cat rolled her eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t think anybody mows a lawn that big with mowers that small... is that a boat under there?!¡±

    ¡°Where?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°The pile in the middle that¡¯s got everything else stacked on it.¡±

    ¡°Ooooh.¡±

    ¡°How did they get that in here?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°How do they get it out¡¯s the better question,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°Magic!¡± Indi grinned. Then noticing that Amanda was already leaving the room she added ¡°Uh guys,¡± then she followed behind through want looked like a half walled up door. They had to step over a few concrete blocks built into the bottom of the doorway.

    ¡°What power did the old lady who owned this place have anyway?¡± Cat asked as she followed Indi.

    ¡°I dunno.¡±

    As Coal made to leave the room after them his eye caught something to the right. Something shiny. A knife. The blade had strange carvings on it, ones he couldn¡¯t quite make out. Possibly a rune of some sort, or a makers mark. But it wasn¡¯t the blade that was of most interest to Coal, it was the handle. It was carved in the shape of a daffodil. A sharp daffodil. Stella¡¯s words from earlier came back to him, and he grabbed the knife, stashing it in his pocket. He felt a little guilty. He¡¯d taken two things from the house now. This house was obviously booby trapped to some extent, and almost every thing here probably had some sort of consequence or curse attached to it. Sure, he had come here partly for treasure, but he was also well aware that he was risking not just his own life, but the lives of everyone here by touching things.

    But Stella¡¯s words had been so exact that he couldn¡¯t help himself. Sure it could have been a warning, but he didn¡¯t think so. It did no good to double question Stella. Her visions usually led to the more probable path, so if his first instinct was to take, it was probably a good one to go with.

    They rounded another corner, and found that Amanda had stopped. It was a large room covered in wooden floorboards and coated in what looked like giant spider¡¯s webs.

    ¡°Watch where you step,¡± Amanda warned as she started forward slowly.

    Cat paused to peer more closely at one of the webs. They were huge, spanning from half way up the wall to the same length along the floor, and thick like vines...

    The closer Cat got the less they looked like webs, and the more they looked like roots, roots growing out of the walls. Then she noticed something else in amongst the roots. ¡°Hey, I think there¡¯s a person in here!¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 47: That Which Eats But Is Always Hungry

    ¡°I think there¡¯s a person in here!¡±

    That got Amanda¡¯s attention. She turned. ¡°Don¡¯t touch it.¡±

    Cat hadn¡¯t been intending too, but she took a step back at Amanda¡¯s warning anyway.

    ¡°Is it them?¡± Zephyr asked.

    Amanda shot him a worried look then turned to Coal.

    Seeing she was eyeing his sword, Coal nodded, and started to cut away some of the roots, being careful not to hit whoever was inside. His blade was sharp and he made easy work of it.

    As he stripped away the roots near the face, Amanda¡¯s expression fell. It was a man, but it wasn¡¯t Sirius. This man was wearing a suit and was of a smaller stature than Sirius.

    ¡°Anybody recognise him?¡± Cat asked with a bored tone.

    The man might have been handsome once. It was hard to tell. His skin was dry and wrinkled, and his face sunken in.

    ¡°I think he¡¯s been here awhile,¡± Coal remarked. Then he reached forward and brushed some of the roots with his hand.

    Nothing happened.

    He raised an eyebrow at Amanda.

    She let out the breath she¡¯d been holding, and gave him a disapproving look.

    ¡°Check his pockets,¡± Cat suggested.

    Both she and Coal, searched the man, each picking a side. Coal fished out a small, leather wallet, and handed it to Cat triumphantly.

    Cat flipped it open. ¡°Tony Ridgehorn.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s Kass¡¯s coworker,¡± Indi said.

    ¡°Well I guess we know what happened to him,¡± Amanda replied with a glance around the rest of the room. She noted several other nests of tightly knitted root cocoons, and given what they¡¯d just found in this one, the sheer number of them and the small size of some of them chilled her to the bone. But there was also a spark of hope. She doubted the plant could have killed Sirius and Kass yet. It had only just taken them. And if they had found others here then Sirius and Kass must be close.

    ¡°Do you think Kass will be sad?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think she liked him very much,¡± Cat replied.

    Indi pouted and looked sadly at the dead man.

    ¡°Oh, shit.¡± Coal remarked in almost a whisper.

    Amanda turned and saw that he was now giving the rest of the room a proper look. He¡¯d probably noticed the same thing she had. He met her eyes and they shared a knowing look.

    ¡°What?¡± Cat asked, still managing to sound bored.

    She looked at Coal. He nodded at the rest of the room.

    It took Cat a few seconds to register what they were looking at. She heard both Zephyr and Indi exclaim different variations of the same thing before it clicked. ¡°Oh,¡± was all she said once she realised.

    ¡°We need to get them out!¡± Indi cried. She started forward but Coal held up and arm. ¡°Whoa, hold up. Those ones might still be feeding.¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°So, if we touch them we might alert it to our presence.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it already knows we¡¯re here,¡± Cat remarked. ¡°If it didn¡¯t feel the vibrations of our footsteps then I¡¯m sure it feels our voices, or when you touched those roots.¡±

    ¡°Those roots were already dead,¡± Coal replied.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s waiting until we get closer,¡± Amanda remarked.

    ¡°But we need to free them all,¡± Indi whispered, nodding at all the root cocoons.

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s waiting for us to use magic,¡± Coal suggested.

    Amanda nodded. ¡°Fan out, watch your feet, see if you can find Sirius and Kass.¡±

    ¡°How do we kill it?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°We don¡¯t,¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°They can¡¯t be killed, only starved,¡± Coal replied.

    ¡°As in the starving kills them or they just go dormant?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°The latter I think.¡± Coal was following Indi to the right hand side of the room.

    Zephyr went with Cat to the left wall.

    Amanda walked straight toward the end. As she got further in the room expanded out toward the left in an ¡®L¡¯ shape. Some of the walls had been knocked down and she could see beams wrapped with thick green vines. Along those vines, grew black and red flowers. It almost looked like the plant was holding up the house. There were some unsettling cracks in the foundation. She could see the entrance to another room in the far corner, it¡¯s doorway covered in vines. That end of the area was bathed in sunlight. It came pouring through some small windows nestled up near the ceiling. There was one last doorway at the end of this room. It had no actual door, most of these rooms down here didn¡¯t, but it looked far darker than it should have. That was the room where the thickest vines were coming from. Amanda paused, not wanting to get too close.

    Coal, sliced away roots, while Indi watched. Each root cocoon held a person, some of them children.

    ¡°Most of them seem dead,¡± he called to the others. He frowned at Amanda who had stopped and was staring at the dark doorway at the end of the room.

    ¡°I thought we were being quiet,¡± Cat drawled back. She¡¯d been using the axe to hack away roots on her side of the room. ¡°I think this one¡¯s still alive.¡±

    They regrouped by Cat, who was cutting away the last of some actively wriggling roots to reveal the face of a sleeping girl. She was young, very young. She couldn¡¯t have been even half way through high school. She had pale blond hair, and a slender face. Her breathing was slow but steady. She looked fast asleep.

    Cat paused suddenly, then looked towards the darkened room. ¡°I can feel something.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Coal asked.

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    Cat didn¡¯t answer. Instead she handed Coal the axe, and walked towards the back of the room.

    ¡°Cat!¡± Amanda warned.

    Cat held back a hand to calm them but she remained focused on the dark doorway and what was beyond.

    ¡°No, magic,¡± Coal reminded her.

    Cat dodged to the side then stumbled back several feet as she narrowly avoided being grasped by a large vine that had shot out of the room.

    As she retreated it fell suddenly to the floor and was quiet.

    ¡°What did I say?¡± Coal asked in a deep voice.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s using the dreamworld,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°What?¡± Amanda asked.

    Indi glanced back the way they had come from, checking their exit was clear and nothing was sneaking up behind them. Nothing was, but it prompted Zephyr to perform the same check. He inched closer to Indi since she was nearby and further from the wall than he was.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Coal repeated Amanda¡¯s question.

    Cat had returned to the group by this point. ¡°I think, it¡¯s feeding off the dreamworld. I think the weaver is stuck.¡±

    ¡°It caught a dreamweaver?¡± Amanda asked.

    Cat nodded.

    ¡°What would that do?¡±

    Cat shrugged.

    ¡°How is that possible?¡± Coal asked.

    Cat shrugged again. ¡°I dunno, but I can feel it. If I use a little more I can probably figure out which one Sirius and Kass are in.¡±

    At their looks of objection Cat continued. ¡°Look, I just need a second, a small amount. I think it¡¯s mostly focused on the weaver, but I could feel it before, in there too. A short look. We just have to dodge whatever comes out.¡±

    ¡°We should get her out first.¡± Coal nodded at the unconscious girl. ¡°It¡¯ll weaken the plant.¡±

    Cat was already shaking her head. ¡°It¡¯ll weaken it¡¯s hold on the dreamweaver too, and we need it focused on that. It¡¯s through them that it¡¯s doing it. We break too much of that bond then we¡¯ll have the plant¡¯s full attention. We need to be ready when we break them out. And...¡± she glanced around the room, eyeing the broken vine-wrapped beams, ¡°...I¡¯m not sure about the structural intregrity of this place if we wake that plant up too much. I think if we¡¯re going to get them out we need to do it fast.¡±

    Coal looked to Amanda

    Amanda held her hands up. ¡°So you want to do what exactly?¡± she asked for clarification.

    ¡°Dreamwalk, just for a short period. I¡¯ll be able to figure out who in these webs, or roots, or whatever is still alive, and I¡¯ll know exactly where Sirius and Kass are.¡± She nodded at the dark door at the end of the room. ¡°We don¡¯t want to go in that room unless we have too. We¡¯re not quite close enough and it seems tired at the moment. You guys just have to fight whatever comes out until I¡¯m back.¡±

    Amanda looked from the darkened door, to Coal, to Cat, and finally back at Zephyr and Indi.

    ¡°We¡¯re not going anywhere,¡± Zephyr replied with strong conviction. Indi looked less sure, but she didn¡¯t argue. She just looked toward the dark room with trepidation and gave her glasses a push up her nose.

    Cat clicked her fingers to draw Amanda¡¯s attention back to her. ¡°Time is ticking.¡±

    Amanda gave a nod. ¡°Fine. As fast as you can.¡±

    Cat returned her nod, then she walked forwards, putting Coal and Amanda between her and the dark room. ¡°They¡¯re probably going to come for me so...¡±

    She trailed off and both Coal and Amanda nodded.

    The group pulled in tighter, surrounding Cat as she closed her eyes.

    ¡°Um...¡± Indi started, unsure what she should do if the plant attacked. They couldn¡¯t move Cat and they couldn¡¯t use magic.

    Coal handed Zephyr his sword, keeping the axe for himself. ¡°Here, this¡¯ll be easier to use.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Zephyr replied. Then he glanced at Indi, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, just keep the plants from dragging Cat away. And make sure she doesn¡¯t fall over. And if you really need to you can probably borrow her gun.¡± He nodded at the holster at Cat¡¯s hip, then moved Indi so she was standing next to Cat. He positioned himself in behind her and Cat, keeping watch mostly on the rear of the group, with the occasional glance the other direction.

    Amanda and Coal stood to the left and right of Cat, and a little in front.

    Indi watched Cat.

    Cat¡¯s shoulders relaxed and her eyelids fluttered. She swayed a little but she stayed standing.

    For a little while nothing seemed like it was happening. Then a large vine slowly wound its way out of the dark room. It moved slow at first and Indi almost relaxed, thinking that was all there was going to be. But then more vines came.

    Smaller, and faster, and from all directions.

    Zephyr slashed at some smaller ones with the sword. He did alright, better than Indi had thought he¡¯d do. The cut vines shrunk back, while newer vines seemed to take a wider berth. They weren¡¯t quick enough to avoid Zephyr¡¯s strikes however.

    Amanda had her knife in her hand. A larger vine came for her. She slashed at it but the vine was too thick. She backed away several paces, drawing it away from Cat with a small fireball of her own. It took the bait. Not just that vine, but every vine started to move in her direction.

    Coal managed to get up closer to the door, dodging the reach of grasping tendrils as he danced across the floor. He swung his axe into the largest one. But when he went to pull it out it stack fast.

    ¡°You know killing something with an axe is not like in the movies,¡± he remarked as he managed to get it stuck a second time and almost got himself caught in the clutches of several sneaky snake-like vines. He had not used an axe many times in his life. He was used to the sword.

    As the vines moved away from Cat and towards Amanda, Zephyr found himself free from attack. Looking back he noticed Coal struggling with the axe.

    Coal swore as the axe got stuck a third time. This was not like using a sword at all.

    ¡°Here, trade back.¡±

    Coal looked up to see Zephyr at his side offering up the sword. Coal pulled the axe free with one almighty tug, then handed it back to Zephyr, taking the sword in return.

    Coal turned and in one swift movement he sliced clean through where he had been struggling before. He then noticed that the smaller vines didn¡¯t seem to be attacking anymore.

    A quick glance around the room revealed the problem. They were all focused on one person.

    Amanda was backed up against a wall. Vines wrapped around her ankles and pinned her hands. Her knife was almost useless, as she struggled to push back against the writhing heap of plant. It¡¯s weight was slowly crushing her. She found herself struggling to get a breath in.

    They watched as she clenched one fist. The knife fell from her other hand. Coal could see the wild desperate look in her eyes. He knew in that moment what she was thinking of trying.

    ¡°Don¡¯t do it!¡± he warned. But it was too late.

    In a flare of last resort she summoned her fire. Flames encased the creature from floor to ceiling. Wild and hot. They burned nothing.

    The heat was absorbed into the pulsating plant, as it grew in double size.

    ¡°Oh, boy!¡± Zephyr remarked breathlessly from beside Coal.

    Coal rushed forward, sword in hand. He wasted no time in severing as many slithering tendrils as he could. It was almost beautiful to watch. He movements were well practiced, and far more fluid than when he had been wielding an axe.

    He ran right up to the flames. ¡°Amanda! Stop!¡±

    From somewhere inside, even though she could feel the air being squeezed from her lungs. Even though the plant was wrapped so tightly around her that she could not expand her chest out in order to take another breath in. Even though she knew her fire was all she had left. Knew that maybe, just maybe if she burned hot enough she could take the plant out with her. She did not want to take out anyone else.

    Hearing Coal so close, reminded her of how delicate any attempt at incinerating the plant might be. She could not see that the plant had grown, that she had no chance. All she knew was that she didn¡¯t want to hurt anyone else. She pulled her fire back inside and prepared for the inevitable.

    But Coal was there, slashing, with Zephyr not far behind.

    Indi stood still, not sure how to help. With nothing sharp to cut with, she racked her brain instead.

    Cat was still in the dreamworld, unaware of what was going on around her. As Indi glanced toward Cat, wishing she were awake to help, she noticed the knife at Cat¡¯s hip.

    With Amanda¡¯s fire now gone some of the vines turned their attention back toward Cat.

    It gave Coal and Zephyr the opening they needed to free Amanda but it left Indi and Cat in a precarious position.

    Zephyr hacked through the larger vine while Coal cut away the one¡¯s around Amanda¡¯s face and body until she fell forward gasping for breath.

    Indi gripped the knife in her hand, watching the approaching vines, her brain still working overtime, trying to think of a solution that didn¡¯t involve magic. Then an idea struck.

    She leapt forwards, nearly tripping over vines in her rush to get out of the room.

    ¡°Indi!¡± she heard someone cry out as she ran through the door. There was no time to explain.

    As vines descended on Cat, the others found they could spare no one to go chasing after Indi.

    Zephyr was starting to sweat. He wasn¡¯t sure how much longer he could keep this up.

    ¡°We need to wake her up!¡± Coal remarked.

    ¡°On it!¡± Amanda replied in a raspy voice, but a vine grabbed her ankle and she went tumbling to the floor.

    Zephyr cut it clean in two with the axe, while Coal sliced one that reached out for Zephyr.

    Amanda struggled to her feet, finding help from Coal, who offered her a hand up while he struck out at the plant with his other free arm.

    The vines were inching their way up Cat¡¯s legs, one had gotten in underneath her dark jeans.

    Coal and Zephyr struggled to keep on top of them. Coal had one around his waist already.

    Amanda reached Cat. She grabbed one arm. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about this.¡± She used her fire again, just a little, not with the intent to incinerate like earlier. This time she burned Cat, just lightly, not enough to cause permanent damage, but enough to hurt, enough to get her attention, even from within the dreamworld.

 Volume 2, Chapter 48: Where The Weeds Grow

    Cat stepped from the world of the waking in to the streets of the slumbering. She found them all almost instantly. She knew exactly where they were. Kass, and Sirius, and the only other living soul not yet sucked dry, the girl they had already found. There were only three, and all were close by.

    She spoke to the girl first, seeing as she was the nearest. Got an estimate of how long she had been there. Cat found the girl surprisingly aware of the strangeness of her surroundings for one who was asleep.

    Even before Cat had asked the girl¡¯s name she had called out in a whisper, ¡°Help me, please.¡±

    Cat nodded. ¡°I¡¯m trying. What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Agatha,¡± the girl replied.

    Cat could see that she was weak and so she wasted no time in small talk. Once Cat had gleaned how long the girl had been there and that, despite her weakness, she wasn¡¯t in any immediate danger, Cat told her ¡°We¡¯ll get you out of here very soon okay?¡±

    Agatha nodded, obviously too tired for much else.

    Cat turned, ready to find the others. She could feel them, off to the east, in the far room. The one that had been covered by vines. She was relieved they were not in the other darker room. She turned towards that direction now and froze. A giant transparent glob stood before her, the dreamweaver. It was here. But there was something wrong with it. Vines ran through it, holding it in place, but they also seemed stuck themselves, unable to move.

    She circled the pair. The witch¡¯s weep was here, half pulled into the dreamworld, and the dreamweaver was faded, half pulled into the waking world, intertwined together, locking each other in place. It was not obvious immediately, and Cat was certain if she had been further away she would not have noticed it. She never would have gotten so close to a dreamweaver intentionally, but now that she was, she could see that it was slowly dying.

    She watched the plant struggling too. It sucked magic energy from the dreamweaver but it could not extract itself from the dreamworld, not while the dreamweaver was still alive. And the dreamweaver took energy from the bodies of the sleepers, it killed them faster, eating into the food supply of the plant.

    Cat wasn¡¯t sure who was winning, but from the looks of things she would have placed her money on the plant. What would happen once the dreamweaver died? While the plant was obviously restrained somewhat, Cat wasn¡¯t sure how much movement they usually had. Once the dreamweaver died would the plant be free to seek out new victims? Cat was starting to question everything she knew about plants now. It was a question for Amanda.

    The dreamweaver though, Cat knew they could travel. They weren¡¯t so dangerous normally. Usually they stayed in the dreamworld, drawn to dreamers, but they would only siphon off so much energy. It took a particularly hungry dreamweaver to pin someone in the dreamworld permanently or a sleeper who was in deep already. But it did happen, and looking at this dreamweaver she could see it was hungry. But it wouldn¡¯t try to leave while there was food here. Was it even aware of the energy the plant was taking? Their entanglement had weakened the both of them. At this point Cat wasn¡¯t sure what the best way to extract them from one another would be or even if it would be a good idea. Probably best to just leave this place and not come anywhere near it for sometime. But how to extract the sleepers?

    She started moving toward Sirius and Kass. The witch¡¯s weep and dreamweaver were obviously not focused on her so she figured she had just enough time to check if Sirius and Kass were alright before pulling back out. Maybe she could even take a risk and wake them up from in here. Get it over with fast.

    She was almost at them when she felt a sharp pain on her arm. It was a searing burning pain. Was it coming from the waking world? Sometimes Cat had trouble telling. What on earth was going on out there? Yes, someone was trying to wake her up. She winced as it burned hotter, and pulled herself back awake.

    Cat blinked her eyes open. The world out here was very different than it had been in the dreamworld. She quickly found out that her assessment of the plant situation had been more than a little optimistic. The plant had not being paying her any attention in there, because all it¡¯s attention was on her out here.

    ¡°Ow!¡± Cat pulled her arm out from Amanda¡¯s grasp.

    ¡°Sorry, needed your attention,¡± Amanda replied as she turned and kicked unsuccessfully at a vine that was locking her feet to the floor.

    Cat glanced down, and realised she was in much the same predicament. She reached for her knife on her belt and found it gone. She reached for the gun instead, then stopped. What was that even going to achieve? She settled for trying to extract herself from the plants with her hands. Unfortunately that didn¡¯t work very well either.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you wake me earlier?¡± Cat yelled at them, once she realised how out of hand the situation was getting. She watched in horror as one particularly large vine pulled Zephyr away towards a the back of the room.

    ¡°We were a little preoccupied,¡± replied Amanda, who fought hopelessly with fists like Cat did.

    Coal was managing to hold many of the vines at bay, but it was a losing battle. He struck hard, wielding his sword with unparalleled precision. The other arm was now trapped, held tight by vines reaching up from the floor. He wasted no breath on talking. He gave not an moment to the thought of losing.

    ¡°What happened to my knife?¡± Cat cried, as she yanked a vine away, only to have two more try to grab hold.

    ¡°Indi must have taken it,¡± Amanda replied right before being pulled to the floor. She gave a cry of alarm.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Indi?¡± Cat looked around briefly for her and couldn¡¯t see her. But she was soon distracted by Amanda¡¯s cry for help.

    Coal managed to free his trapped arm, then he turned and sliced at the ones holding Amanda, bringing the tip awfully close to Amanda herself. But he seemed to know what he was doing, for he spared not a moment to check she was alright before turning back to fight off yet another grouping. Was the speed of the vines slowing? Maybe a little. Not enough though.

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    Coal stumbled back and got tripped up by a rising vine from beneath his feet. He tucked and rolled and was back on his feet fast but he lost valuable time. He struck some loose tendrils that were attacking Cat, but while he was preoccupied with that another started to drag Amanda away. Then there were the ones relentlessly attacking him. It was going to be a battle of endurance. Now there was no magic in use the plant was losing energy but it was already wrapping Zephyr in a cocoon of roots and each person they lost was one less fighter, and a little more energy for the plant. Amanda was being dragged to a similar spot near the wall, her arms and legs now well and truly bound.

    Coal was doing his best but for how long could he continue?

    Cat twisted and turned and ducked, and managed to rip a few away but she was mostly just distracting them from Coal who was the only one really doing any damage. She wished she had her knife back.

    Her gaze found Zephyr¡¯s dropped axe. She made a move for it, ripping herself forwards from the vines. She couldn¡¯t get her feet out and she was forced to fall forward onto her belly, but it didn¡¯t matter. It put her just within reach of the handle of the axe.

    She grasped it and brought it up swinging, forcing Coal to have to dodge out of the way.

    He gave her a furious look but it only lasted a moment before he was forced to attend to his own barrage of tendrils.

    Cat brought axe down hard on the vines near her feet, severing then neatly in two. She scrambled back upright, but they caught her wrists.

    Coal helped her out, increasing his own peril as he did. Vines grasped at his jacket and he shrugged the thing off in order to get free. He finished yanking Cat to her feet, then he turned and slashed at the ones that had taken his jacket, wincing slightly as the jacket was destroyed in the process.

    Cat separated out, giving herself more room to swing the axe without hitting Coal, but she knew that meant she better not end up on the floor again. Coal was too far to help now, and busy trying to clear his own path. He was panting heavily. Cat felt like she was just getting started, but while she was a good hand at the axe she lacked the efficiency with which Coal swung his sword. How long would they last?

    At that moment Indi returned to the room. She was wearing some kind of weird square backpack and holding a long metal nozzle, which was connected to the backpack via a flexible hose.

    She came running in almost too fast. She careened to a halt just before reaching the limits of the creeping tendrils. Her eyes went wide at how much more greenery there was in here now.

    She sprayed a vine on the floor with some kind of liquid from the nozzle. For a second nothing happened, and her face took on a worried look, but then it started to shrink back away from her.

    With renewed vigor and a light in her eyes she pushed forward, spraying vines as she went. The witch¡¯s weep retreated. Even the vines further away from where Indi was spraying pulled back.

    Cat felt them release her. Even Coal stopped swinging his sword for a moment. Only for a moment though. Then he took every opportunity he could to reduce the remaining vines to shreds.

    The effect of the spray was powerful. Indi could feel the pressure dropping from the nozzle as she reached where Cat and Coal stood. But it didn¡¯t seem to matter. She stopped short of running out completely and watched as the plant continued with a full retreat, all but for the vines that held Zephyr and Amanda. Those were different, paler, smaller. They seemed to be for a different purpose.

    The others raced to free them. Cat grabbed Amanda¡¯s dropped knife and cut her friend free with it. Coal released Zephyr.

    The fell out of their binds, coughing, and pulling sticky wet roots away from everywhere. From their mouths, ears, and even their eyes.

    Amanda wiped her forearm across her face a few times. ¡°Ugh, I can¡¯t see.¡±

    Zephyr, doing the same action mumbled, ¡°Tell me this isn¡¯t permanent.¡±

    Amanda replied. ¡°It¡¯ll come right in a bit, just give it time. What happened?¡±

    ¡°Indi sprayed them with something?¡± Cat replied, trying to get a curious look at the thing Indi was wearing.

    Indi turned and proudly displayed her contraption. ¡°Weed killer. I remembered seeing a whole bunch of containers in that other room. Sorry, I took so long, I had to fill this one up first.¡±

    Cat looked back at the darkened door, where the plant had disappeared. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that actually worked.¡±

    ¡°What sort of weed killer is it Indi?¡± Amanda asked from where she still sat rubbing her eyes.

    Indi frowned and glanced back at the backpack. ¡°I dunno, it just had a picture of a plant with a circular cross through it. Universal symbol for plant killer. I figured that was a kind of plant, right?¡±

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a home-brew,¡± Coal suggested with a frown, then he glanced at Amanda, ¡°Unless regular weed killer would work?¡±

    Amanda stopped rubbing at her eyes and shook her head. ¡°I have no idea. Wolf might know. I don¡¯t think anything outright kills it though. Is it dead or just resting?¡±

    Cat glanced nervously toward the black room. ¡°Just resting I think.¡±

    Amanda rubbed her head and blinked a few more times, trying to clear the gunky fluid from her eyes. ¡°It probably used a lot of energy on that attack.¡±

    ¡°It got a fair bit from your fire too though,¡± Coal replied with a firm edge to his tone.

    ¡°I was trying to keep them away from Cat.¡±

    ¡°Did you find them?¡± Zephyr interrupted, talking to Cat. He looked in the direction he thought she was. He could just make out her tall, darkly dressed shape.

    Cat nodded.

    Zephyr squinted.

    ¡°Will anything help with those eyes?¡± Coal asked.

    Amanda nodded. ¡°But you can¡¯t summon it here. Just water would work, although I¡¯m not keen on washing my face with that basement water. Anyway, it¡¯ll clear in a bit.¡±

    ¡°You could try crying,¡± Coal suggested jovially.

    Amanda gave a laugh a that. ¡°Easier said than done.¡±

    ¡°Not, if I poke you enough with knife,¡± Cat replied teasingly, ¡°I bet Zeph is easy to make cry.¡±

    ¡°Haha,¡± Zephyr replied dryly.

    Cat reached down and helped him to his feet. Then she offered her hand to Amanda.

    ¡°Oh, I almost forgot. Here,¡± Indi held out Cat¡¯s knife for her, once Amanda was on her feet.

    Cat gave her mild look of indignation. ¡°Thanks. I could have used this before you know.¡±

    Indi dropped her head in apology. ¡°I know, I¡¯m sorry, you were out of it at the time though.¡±

    Cat shook her head, feeling a little guilty. She hadn¡¯t meant that to sound as harsh as it had. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    Amanda blinked a few more times. Her vision was improving slightly. She could make out more features now. It was still largely a blur though. She turned to Cat. ¡°Did you say you found them?¡±

    Cat nodded again, which Amanda could just make out, and then she pointed to the far room.

    ¡°Alive?¡± Coal asked.

    Another nod. ¡°I think so, I mean I could see them in the dreamworld at least. How long does it usually take a Witch¡¯s weep to suck someone dry?¡± Cat asked her question at Amanda.

    Amanda blinked a few more times, then wiped her eyes again. The world shifted back into focus. ¡°Weeks usually, can be months.¡±

    ¡°And Tony¡¯s been missing what, a week or two. How long do you think he¡¯s been dead for?¡±

    ¡°He looked like he¡¯d been dead centuries,¡± Coal replied truthfully, not sure what she was getting at.

    Cat rolled her eyes. ¡°Okay, but it seems like it¡¯s killing them faster than it should be right?¡±

    Amanda frowned.

    Coal glanced toward the room where Sirius and Kass were likely held. ¡°We should get them out.¡±

    ¡°Hold up.¡± Amanda held up a hand. ¡°They¡¯re not in immediate danger, that other girl¡¯s still alive.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but for how much longer?¡± Zephyr shook his head, then finding he could mostly see again, walked over to check that life was still the case for the girl.

    ¡°It¡¯s going to rest for a bit, we should get them out, while it¡¯s still tired,¡± Coal said, still not understanding the delay. He¡¯d been fine with assessing things properly up until the point that Cat had said the plant was killing them faster. Now he felt the time ticking.

    ¡°Alright, cut the girl free,¡± Amanda commanded. She was less worried about the immediate safety of the others, but that girl had looked pretty worse for wear and the plant was as dormant as it was going to be, plus it knew they were here now.

    Zephyr raised his knife, ready to cut away the roots.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Cat blurted out.

 Volume 2, Chapter 49: Hard Water

    Zephyr held the knife poised but didn¡¯t cut.

    ¡°What now?¡± Amanda asked Cat.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure what happens if we free them. When I was in there I came face to face with a deamweaver. I think the sleepers are helping keep it here. I don¡¯t think it will try to leave until they are free, but when it does, if it can, it will seek out whomever it can find. I think it¡¯s hungry enough that it will just pull someone in, like it did earlier. The witch¡¯s weep seems to be feeding off it though, keeping it weak.¡±

    ¡°That explains the size of the plant,¡± Amanda replied. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen one so big, I didn¡¯t even think it was possible. Usually they¡¯re dangerous because people don¡¯t notice them until it¡¯s too late, or they use magic to fight them, but that one...¡± she eyed the dark room, ¡°That one was strong even when we weren¡¯t using magic.¡±

    ¡°How far can they usually travel?¡± Cat asked her next question.

    Amanda shook her head, ¡°A kilometre? It¡¯s not like it¡¯s near... oh. The school. Why has it stayed in the house? One this big, it should have travelled.¡±

    ¡°Kass said there had been a few disappearances lately,¡± Indi replied.

    Amanda looked at all of the cocoons containing bodies. ¡°Did you get an idea of how many of those are kids?¡±

    Cat shook her head, ¡°Not once they¡¯re dead. Point is though, I think the dreamweaver is also keeping the plant here. They¡¯ve trapped each other somewhat, locked in a battle to the death. That¡¯s why it hasn¡¯t grabbed more.¡±

    ¡°And you think cutting the sleepers free is going to change that?¡± Coal asked.

    ¡°I dunno, it may only need one here. So what I¡¯m thinking, is I distract the dreamweaver. I think I can lock it back in the dreamworld, entice it away from here. You guys free everyone at once. As for the plant, the weedkiller seemed to be working well enough for us to get out of the house.¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°Where are you going to push the dreamweaver? There¡¯s a whole bunch more people out there than are in here. Not to mention, even if we get out of this house, if you¡¯re right, and that dreamweaver is keeping the witch¡¯s weep in place then we¡¯ve just set it free. We don¡¯t have enough weed killer to contain a thing that big at full strength.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we can get them all out without releasing at least one of those creatures.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t condemn an entire town for a couple people.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a child trapped here!¡± Cat hissed.

    ¡°Then what you¡¯d be doing is no different than what Lily¡¯s father did when he brought her back.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not the same at all. What would you do if it were your child?¡±

    ¡°That is my husband in there!¡± Amanda replied, raising the volume of her voice. Amanda threw her hands in the air. ¡°Look, just give me a second to think. There¡¯s gotta be another way.¡±

    ¡°That kid is dying!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who told Zeph to stop!¡±

    ¡°Because I have a better plan and because we need to free them at the same time.¡±

    ¡°A better plan that consists of fighting a dreamweaver?¡± Coal who had been quietly watching with interest, now spoke. It was his soft spoken tone that made them each realise exactly how loud they had both gotten.

    Cat hesitated just long enough for Amanda to register that there was yet another flaw in Cat¡¯s plan.

    ¡°You can¡¯t fight a dreamweaver,¡± Amanda replied at more of a normal volume, eyes widening, as she realised that Cat¡¯s plan was essentially a suicide mission.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have to,¡± Cat replied fiercely back. ¡°I just have to distract it long enough that it doesn¡¯t go after anyone else. I¡¯m the only one who can get back out once in.¡±

    Coal answered, ¡°That plant doesn¡¯t move that fast without someone using magic, and there¡¯s no one nearby at the present moment, given the time of day. That is assuming there isn¡¯t a containment spell around the house as is. We don¡¯t know but we do have time to find out. Same for the dreamweaver. Even if it gets out and pulls someone into the dreamworld, it¡¯s not going to kill them fast. We just have to track it. Going into the dreamworld puts you on it¡¯s turf. Now maybe that¡¯s the best way, but there are far better equipped people than you.¡±

    ¡°A good weaver will kill much faster than you think,¡± Cat countered.

    ¡°Well it¡¯s not completely without some risk,¡± Coal replied calmly.

    Amanda turned and started walking towards the room that held Sirius and Kass. ¡°Well, it didn¡¯t have Sirius and Kass before, so it definitely only needs one-¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re bound together stronger when there is more,¡± Cat called after her.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯ll take that chance. We¡¯ll get them out first, then once they¡¯re out of the house we do the girl.¡±

    Coal eyed Cat for a moment, but she didn¡¯t seem like she was going to try anything rash, so he followed Amanda to the plant covered doorway.

    ¡°So you¡¯re picking them over a child?¡± Cat barked after the two of them.

    Amanda turned briefly to yell back. ¡°I am picking them first because they¡¯re further from the exit, and harder to carry.¡±

    She didn¡¯t waste another glance on Cat. The decision was made. Cat would obey.

    Coal cut away the vines from the doorway and then stepped forward into the room.

    Amanda turned one last time before following, and said to the remaining group, ¡°You guys stay there.¡± Then she disappeared after Coal.

    Cat breathed out a long annoyed huff and crossed her arms.

    Indi turned to Zeph. ¡°You were really brave before Zeph.¡±

    Cat rolled her eyes but she didn¡¯t comment.

    Zephyr looked at Indi with surprise. ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°The way you were all like, ¡®I¡¯m not going anywhere.¡¯¡± Indi stood up with her shoulders straight, pretending to hold an axe, and gave an impression of Zephyr earlier.

    Zephyr grinned proudly.

    Cat mimed pretending to vomit.

    ¡°I thought you¡¯d be way more afraid,¡± Indi continued, never one to know quite when to stop.

    Cat raised an eyebrow at her last remark.

    Zephyr ignored the implication. Indi was just trying to be nice. ¡°Yeah, I know it¡¯s a dangerous plant, and I can see what it did to that other guy, but I still just find it hard to be afraid of a plant. It doesn¡¯t really register now that I¡¯ve seen it, even more since we got pulled in. Getting back out hurt, but the initial feeling of the roots was weirdly relaxing.¡±

    ¡°It probably puts out some kind of sedative into you,¡± Cat remarked, now more curious about his experience with the plant than she was grumpy, although her annoyance at Amanda still stayed there, simmering just beneath the surface.

    ¡°Mmm, I suppose, it doesn¡¯t really want it¡¯s prey to struggle too much, or does it? Maybe it likes if we fight back with magic?¡± Zephyr wondered.

    Cat shrugged.

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    Indi eyed the dark door at the end of the room warily, then looked nervously over towards where Amanda and Coal had gone. How long should it take them? Should they check on them?

    Zephyr interrupted her thoughts. ¡°You know I think a lot of things are less scary once you can see them. It¡¯s the ones you can¡¯t see, or can¡¯t name that are the most frightening. Imagination is always way worse than reality.¡±

    Indi wasn¡¯t sure she agreed. The things in her imagination could be fought by other things in her imagination, and she was much better at thinking of nice things than she was at thinking of horrible things. Besides reality always felt, well, a lot more real. That said, her imagination right now, was doing a pretty good job of putting ideas in her head of all the things she didn¡¯t want to happen. Like Cat getting herself killed.

    ¡°It¡¯s not logical you know,¡± she said with a look at Cat.

    Zephyr frowned, unsure where Indi was going with this.

    ¡°What isn¡¯t?¡± Cat asked, in a slightly bored tone with a look of warning, like whatever Indi was about to say had better be good.

    ¡°To sacrifice yourself. They¡¯ll still just get out, all you¡¯re buying is time.¡±

    Cat fixed her with an intense stare. ¡°Time is everything. Imagine how much you could fix going back in time.¡±

    ¡°And yet you never see sandmen living perfect lives,¡± Indi objected, referring to witches who could time travel.

    ¡°It¡¯s it my choice though isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Indi didn¡¯t answer. Cat could see she wanted to argue but that she also wouldn¡¯t lie. She wouldn¡¯t argue against something she believed in, even if it¡¯s result wasn¡¯t her preferred outcome. Indi liked consistency too much for that. ¡°It¡¯s still not logical,¡± Indi muttered.

    ¡°Not logical huh, tell me, if it guaranteed lives would be saved and all you had to do was sacrifice one, you¡¯re telling me that¡¯s not logical?¡±

    Indi shook her head, ¡°Only if you think the value of a human life is additive.¡±

    ¡°And you don¡¯t?¡± Cat asked in surprise, a bit taken aback by that argument.

    Indi shook her head again. ¡°I prefer first, before all else, in not hurting anyone, even oneself. We should assign ourselves the same value as others after all.¡± Indi was quiet for a bit, ¡°Would you, if you could save five people by slicing the throat of one, would you do it?¡±

    ¡°Depends on who they were, and who I was saving¡± Cat replied deciding to answer honestly. ¡°What if there was a vampire hunter and you could save five kids by pushing a simple button to kill the vampire hunter, you telling me you still wouldn¡¯t do any harm?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s still a person,¡± Indi replied stubbornly.

    Cat scoffed at that. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you wouldn¡¯t push the button if you were actually faced with that situation.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t always control what we do when we¡¯re actually in those situations. But I don¡¯t think I could live with having hurt someone.¡± Indi bit her lip.

    Cat gave her a skeptical look just as Amanda walked back in on her own. Cat turned to her. ¡°If you could save five people by slitting the throat of one would you do it?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Amanda replied without missing a beat. Then she nodded back toward the room. ¡°We need your help to carry them out.¡°

    Behind her Coal carried an unconscious Kass from the room.

    Cat followed Amanda back into the room. The place was covered in little wriggling white roots.

    ¡°No sign of the plant reacting?¡± Cat asked.

    Amanda shook her head as she crouched next to an unconscious Sirius, recently cut free. ¡°Not yet, and we all seem to still be in this world right?¡±

    Cat shrugged, ¡°As far as I can tell. It might still have a hold on them though, but I can break it once we get them further away.¡±

    Amanda nodded as she stepped back so Cat, who was much stronger, could move Sirius out of the room.

    Cat knelt down next to her brother, rolled him on to his stomach, then lifted him to his feet, and ducked under him so she could hoist him on to her shoulders. ¡°You couldn¡¯t carry Kass, while Coal did Sirius?¡± Cat asked. Amanda may not be able to lift Sirius but Cat didn¡¯t see why they¡¯d chosen to do it this way around.

    Amanda didn¡¯t immediately answer.

    As they walked out of the room, Cat with Sirius over her shoulders, Cat interrogated her further. ¡°If you¡¯re so ready to sacrifice one for many then why not let me deal with the dreamweaver?¡±

    ¡°Because Indi¡¯s right, all you would be doing is buying time, for possibly no lives saved and at least one life lost.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that for sure. You know as well as I do that if that thing gets out, the longer it¡¯s out there, the more people are going to die. They aren¡¯t that easy to track.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps, but your life isn¡¯t something I¡¯m willing to gamble with. Besides we need to you to help get us out of this house. Coal took Kass because, he¡¯s going to hand her off to the others, and you can keep moving with Sirius. Get out while Coal and I get the kid.¡±

    ¡°Like hell,¡± Cat replied. She stopped when she reached the others, noticing that Coal had handed Kass off to Zephyr.

    ¡°You lot get out, we¡¯ll give you some time before we detach the girl,¡± Amanda instructed.

    ¡°Assuming leaving is straightforward,¡± Indi mumbled, fiddling with the sleeves of her jersey.

    Zephyr nodded at Amanda in confirmation.

    ¡°The teleport device only takes two.¡± Coal gave a pointed look at Amanda. ¡°That means you out too.¡±

    Amanda crossed her arms. ¡°No way, I¡¯m not leaving until everybody¡¯s out.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not leaving if she¡¯s not,¡± Cat tilted her head in Amanda¡¯s direction. She adjusted Sirius¡¯s weight a little, damn guy was heavy. Not so heavy she couldn¡¯t carry him out though. But she sure as hell wasn¡¯t leaving Amanda here.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯re going to get moving,¡± Zephyr said, as he started off, figuring he wasn¡¯t helping by standing there.

    Indi glanced nervously at the others and then followed after Zephyr. She walked a little slower with glances back every now and again, as if torn between staying and going.

    Cat gave Amanda a firm stare.

    ¡°How are you going to get out?¡± Coal asked Amanda.

    She looked back between Coal and Cat. ¡°Fine,¡± she replied finally. She started walking, then she paused and turned back to Coal. ¡°That teleporter is still magic, and it¡¯ll take a few seconds to kick in.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll mange,¡± he replied. He waved his shiny sword slightly and gave them a dashing smile, as if he was looking forward to whatever fight might come from the plant.

    Amanda took a slow breath in then she looked down at the sleeping girl. ¡°And you get her out.¡±

    Coal smiled again, more softly. ¡°It¡¯s a promise.¡±

    Amanda stood for one moment longer, but unable to think of any other reason to delay she gave a final nod of good luck and continued on her way. As they walked back through the corridors, she glanced back every now and again to make sure Cat was following.

    Cat had to drop Sirius in order to get him back through the tight squeeze after the junk room, but she managed it with some help from Amanda.

    ¡°Is he just sleeping? Rather than knocked out?¡± Amanda asked worriedly as Cat hauled Sirius back on to her shoulders.

    ¡°I think so,¡± Cat replied. ¡°I¡¯ll wake him in the car park outside. Coal might be right you know, there might be some boundary spells set up around the house.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean for his teleport spell then?¡±

    Cat was silent for a second. ¡°I dunno. It¡¯s Coal though, not the sort to risk his life if there¡¯s a low chance of survival. Worst case I suppose he can just teleport into the entrance hallway.¡±

    Cat stopped short as she realised where they were again. In front of them lay the flooded corridor. Amanda was standing at the edge. She also paused, then she glanced back at Cat with an uncertain look. She made a quick decision and stepped aside, indicating that Cat should go first. Evidently she was worried about Cat not following her through this bit at all. It was a valid thing to be worried about.

    Cat didn¡¯t like water, even water she could touch the bottom in. She especially didn¡¯t like water she couldn¡¯t see through. Amanda knew that, she knew all about Cat¡¯s absolute phobia of water. But with everything else that had happened, both of them had completely forgotten that going back out had meant going back through this corridor.

    Cat stood frozen in place, Sirius still on her shoulders. Indi and Zephyr were somewhere up ahead and out of sight. There was no way the tiny Amanda was going to able to carry the much lager Sirius. He was heavy even by Cat¡¯s standards.

    She walked forward until she stood at the edge of the steps. The tunnel was dark and Cat could only barely make out the other side. Before her the watery floor looked deceptively solid. But in Cat¡¯s mind danced all the thoughts of things that might lurk beneath.

    She stood there, on the threshold for who knew how long before finally Amanda spoke. ¡°Cat, I can¡¯t carry him.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, um, just give me a moment.¡± Cat¡¯s voice was breathless, and scared. Her throat felt dry. She knew it was not far, knew that the longer she stood there, the more dangerous this area became for them, the more likely it was that Coal would free the child, or that something in the water might get tired of waiting, that the dreamweaver or the witch¡¯s weep might come for them. She wasn¡¯t sure how much difference it made that Sirius, and probably Kass, were still out of it.

    She briefly contemplated waking Sirius, wondered if that wouldn¡¯t be better, even if it brought the plant to them. Would it go for them though? Or would it go for those closer? For Coal, and the child. It was that thought that stopped Cat following through with that plan of action. But what else was there? The glistening pool ahead, felt like a hard barrier. Beside her Amanda was waiting. Time was ticking.

    Cat was still frozen in place, her shoulders slowly cramping from having to carry all of Sirius¡¯s weight, when up ahead a small light appeared. Light from a torch. Someone was coming towards them.

    ¡°Are you guys alright?¡± Zephyr asked as he exited the sunken corridor.

    Cat finally put Sirius down by the wall. There was no way she was going to be able to walk through there with him. She wanted to answer Zephyr but she felt like something was caught in her throat. The words were stuck.

    Amanda answered for them both. ¡°Zeph!¡± The joy and relief in her voice was obvious. ¡°Are Indi and Kass..?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re both out and...¡±

    Before he could finish, more lights appeared up ahead, along with multiple voices, mostly male voices.

    ¡°... you¡¯ll never believe who¡¯s here,¡± he finished.

    It took a few seconds for the face of the first newcomer to be revealed. But when it was, relief was felt by all. Out of the darkness came Falco. He was followed by a couple of other tall fellows, and one woman, all dressed in marine uniforms.

    ¡°Need some help?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°Oh my gosh yes,¡± Amanda replied, ¡°Can you take Sirius?¡±

    ¡°Righto!¡± Falco replied. Cat helped him load Sirius on to his shoulders.

    Up ahead gunshots fired along with a splash and lots of movement.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Falco called.

    ¡°Dunno sir,¡± the woman called back.

    ¡°Some kind of creature, but we got it I think, it might have gone back under.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a wendigo,¡± Amanda told him.

    ¡°Alright, move! Move! Move!¡± Falco barked at them.

    They turned around and started moving.

    Zephyr offered his back to Cat. She hesitated a moment but then accepted the offer.

    ¡°Have we got everyone? Are you guys good?¡± Falco asked, with a glance back.

    Amanda hesitated a split second. Did they go back for Coal and the kid? Coal had the teleporter with him. Sending more people back was risky. She shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s everyone.¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 50: The Third Sunset

    The group continued on their way. They all made it through the wet corridor without being accosted by anymore wendigos. Evidently the gunfire had scared them off for now.

    Cat¡¯s toes got wet, but she didn¡¯t complain. It was better than it could have been and she was just happy to be on the other side and on her feet the moment the ground was dry again.

    The sunlight outside the house was bright.

    Amanda shielded her eyes from the harsh rays, but was forced to look up a moment later as Indi gave a joyful shout and encased everyone within reach in a tight hug, before they¡¯d barely stepped free from the house¡¯s premises.

    Indi finally released them a took a step back. ¡°And Coal?¡±

    ¡°Coal?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Amanda strained her head to the side, trying to see the tiny window that must lead to the basement, but the house was big and it was difficult to tell from the outside how far along they had been.

    Before she could get a glimpse of it, or even work out approximately where it was, an almighty crash sounded from within the house. Dust clouds billowed out from the basement windows, followed by crawling vines.

    ¡°Oh, bloody hell!¡± Falco remarked. ¡°Indi, where¡¯d you put the weed killer?¡±

    Indi pointed toward the front of Zephyr¡¯s car, some distance from them.

    ¡°I got it,¡± Zeph remarked. He kicked into top gear before anyone could say, ¡°Zeph, no magic!¡± which several people did all at once.

    Zephyr skidded to a halt right next to the weed killer less than 0.1 of a second after leaving his last position. ¡°Oops!¡± he remarked as the words of the others finally caught up to him and the size of the vines reaching out of the house expanded 10-fold. He grabbed the backpack of weed killer and ran at a normal pace back towards the house.

    The others backed away while Zephyr sprayed the vines. He almost got hit by one large flailing one. He managed to just dodge it, when another hit him over the head from behind. It sent him down in a daze.

    He heard several footsteps pounding the gravel around him and arms pulled him away. By the time he had his wits about him again he looked up to watch the marines battle the last of the vines back into the house.

    He heard Indi¡¯s voice behind him say, ¡°The weed killer didn¡¯t seem to work as well on it that time.¡±

    ¡°Mmm,¡± Amanda agreed from beside her.

    Zephyr turned around from where he sat on the ground to try and face the others.

    Wolf was also there in the car, a grumpy look on his face. He didn¡¯t like being left out of the fighting. He watched with envy as Cat and the marines hacked at the plants.

    Amanda and Indi stayed back, their magic, was no use here, and the marines seemed to be handling things well. Amanda shot worried glances to the far basement window, and Zephyr figured he knew what she was worried about.

    Behind Amanda, Zephyr could see a drowsy Kass and Sirius, upright and awake, but not completely with it yet. They obviously had some plant juices in their eyes. In front of them crouched someone else Zephyr recognised. Her name was Tanya, a doctor and healer, someone whom they had met on one of their recent adventures.

    As Zephyr watched, she finished her inspection of Sirius and Kass, and made her way over to him. She crouched down next to him.

    ¡°How are you doing Zeph? That was some fight you were giving there. I saw you get clobbered.¡±

    ¡°Nah, I had it right where I wanted it,¡± Zephyr replied. Truth was, his head was aching.

    Tanya smiled at him. It was a sweet smile. If Zephyr had been in a better condition, he might have been quite taken by it.

    She reached a hand up toward his temple. ¡°May I?¡±

    He nodded, and then winced as what felt like lightening blared through his skull. But the moment Tanya touched him the feeling faded.

    ¡°Better?¡± she asked, not removing her hand quite yet.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Zephyr replied, not nodding this time in case the pain returned.

    Once the plant had been chased back into the house it seemed to stay there. Falco and the others approached the car where the group sat.

    ¡°You looking for something?¡± Falco asked, noting Amanda¡¯s worried glances further along the house.

    She shook her head a little too quickly and then asked, ¡°How did you get here so fast?¡±

    ¡°We took the heli.¡± Falco jerked his finger towards the iron gates. Just on this side of them was a helicopter.

    ¡°You flew a heli into Little Rock?!¡± Amanda remarked, surprised.

    ¡°It lives on the boat, and we¡¯re still a reasonable distance from dragon territory,¡± Falco explained. Helicopters, and planes in general weren¡¯t typically flown near Little Rock. It¡¯s proximity to the mountains made it a little too inviting to the dragons, and no one wanted a dragon to get close to the town. Once near civilisation they could be difficult to get rid of, and very deadly. There was enough regular car traffic in Little Rock to exacerbate the problem significantly. Enough that discussions about curbing the number of cars had recently been had by some local politicians. As it were, helicopters were allowed only in exceptional circumstances and with pre-approval.

    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure the local council will agree, but I¡¯m glad you did it anyway.¡± Amanda gave him a nod of thanks.

    As Falco had been talking to her she¡¯d shifted away from the house, to keep the lowering sun out of her eyes. She didn¡¯t see what Indi saw but she felt the other woman shift suddenly beside her in a way that got her attention. She turned to look.

    There around the side of the house, walked Coal. He was wearing a suit jacket again, obviously having taken a moment to summon one once outside the house. Amanda noted it and made a mental reminder to berate him for the excessive magic use later. Bloody hypocrite, and for such a silly thing.

    Beside her, Indi watched him in awe. He had the child with him, draped across his shoulders. Despite the added weight he walked with a comfortable stride, like he knew exactly where he was going and he¡¯d get there precisely when he meant to. Indi marvelled at the fact that, despite everything they had just been through, he looked like he¡¯d just walked out a fancy dinner party where he was the guest of honor.

    Tanya met him at the edge of the driveway, Cat followed close behind.

    ¡°She needs some medical attention,¡± Coal remarked as he placed the girl gently on the ground at their feet. He continued on his way past them, striding toward where Amanda and Indi stood.

    Cat glanced sideways at the house. ¡°Maybe do that a bit further back,¡± she told Tanya.

    The plant hadn¡¯t attacked when she¡¯d briefly dreamwalked to wake Kass and Sirius, but that had been further from the house, over near the car, where the others waited.

    Tanya nodded, then hesitated briefly as she wondered how to lift the girl.

    Cat helped her out by picking up where Coal had left off, and carrying the girl to the car.

    ¡°You could have brought her the rest of the way,¡± Amanda remarked to Coal as he reached them.

    Coal turned and glanced behind him. He frowned briefly as he turned back to Amanda. ¡°The magic didn¡¯t seem to have as much effect on the plant from outside the house. I tried a bit on the other side.¡± He ran his fingers down the front seam of his suit jacket, both straightening it and drawing attention to his meaning.

    Amanda narrowed her eyes at him, displeased at his seemingly casual demeanour. ¡°Well, Zeph used his speed before and it brought a bunch more vines out.¡±

    They both took a moment to watch the remains of the fight going on near the edge of the house. Most of the vines had now receded back inside. The marines and Cat chased the few remaining stragglers.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Coal remarked.

    When Amanda turned to look back at him, he added, ¡°It didn¡¯t draw any plants out on the other side.¡±

    She frowned. ¡°Why¡¯d you jump to the other side anyway?¡±

    The look on Coal¡¯s face darkened. ¡°I didn¡¯t. Slight mishap in the triangulation of the teleporter.¡± The tone of his voice suggested, that whomever had sold him the device, would be hearing from him later.

    Amanda didn¡¯t pursue it. Instead she turned once more to watch as the last of the vines were chased away. ¡°What happened? Inside?¡± She asked finally, without turning.

    ¡°Hard to say. I think I was right though, there¡¯s some sort of binding spell on the house walls, weak but it¡¯s there. Nothing else followed me out.¡±

    ¡°That we¡¯ve noticed.¡±

    Indi, who had been listening to the whole conversation silently, gazed up the house. It looked back down at her, watching with many windows. And then in one, right up the very top, she could swear was the faint outline of an old woman. The woman shifted slightly. Then Indi blinked and she was gone.

    She looked to the others to see if they had noticed it, but their attention was lower down.

    Falco approached them, swinging the end of the weed killer nose, and wearing a huge grin. ¡°We got em all. They¡¯re back in the house for now.¡±

    Somewhere in the distance, approaching sirens sounded.

    Coal glanced at the helicopter then back at Falco. ¡°You should get your crew and go. The local police aren¡¯t going to like a chopper being here. The less they see of you the better.¡±

    Falco nodded then rounded up the rest of the marines, signalling that they should head for the chopper.

    Indi reached for Falco as he made a move to leave.

    He paused a moment to give her a quick kiss. ¡°I¡¯ll see you at home.¡± He patted her arm and gave her reassuring look.

    Indi hesitated, then nodded. She watched him jog with the rest of his crew toward the already starting heli. A moment later it was in the air. She watched it fade from view, only half listening to the snippets of conversation of those around her.

    The sirens got louder.

    Amanda met Coal¡¯s eyes. Then she gave the scene a brief survey. Behind Coal, in the car, Wolf watched them with a wary eye. Sitting near him, Sirius and Kass chatted with one another as they recovered from their ordeal. Zephyr was helping Tanya with the newly awakened kid. And Cat, who had stopped a moment to check on those three, was now heading toward Amanda and Coal.

    ¡°You should head off too,¡± Coal remarked, once Amanda met his eyes again.

    Before Amanda could object, Cat butted in. ¡°Well that was one hell of a ... day?¡± She threw her hands skyward. ¡°What bloody time is it? Is it even the same day.¡±

    The question drew Indi back to Earth and she ran to retrieve her phone as Amanda and Coal compared timepieces.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that long after we went in,¡± Amanda remarked.

    ¡°It¡¯s still the same day,¡± Indi called from over by the car.

    Amanda looked expectantly up at Coal but he simply shrugged.

    Cat nodded toward the house, ¡°So now what? What do we do with that thing?¡±

    Still looking at Coal, Amanda replied, ¡°Well we¡¯re not letting the local authorities do anything with it, they¡¯re about as competent as a pigeon among the larks.¡±

    Coal raised his eyebrows at the comparison but started to nod.

    Amanda continued, ¡°This needs someone from Mercy.¡±

    Coal stopped nodding. ¡°I¡¯ve got people who can handle it.¡±

    ¡°Or sorcerers.¡± Amanda paused, registering what he had just said. ¡°Do you?¡± Her tone said she either didn¡¯t believe him or had concerns regarding the type of people he might call.

    ¡°Yes. But for the meantime, the local police can keep the other locals out.¡±

    That didn¡¯t placate Amanda. She glanced toward the gates with a worried look as two cop cars pulled through.

    ¡°I did suggest you lot clear out but I suppose it¡¯s a bit late for that now.¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°They need to know what happened and they¡¯ll want descriptions of the bodies we found.¡± She sighed. ¡°They¡¯re going to want to go in the house, you know that.¡±

    Coal nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure they¡¯re warned, but really you know, it¡¯s their choice.¡± He gave a nonchalant shrug.

    Amanda¡¯s expression darkened at that.

    ¡°I¡¯ll cover for Falco with his chopper but it¡¯ll cost you,¡± Coal added.

    She clenched her fists but saved her words for later. For now, there was a child who needed to be reunited with her family, and a whole bunch of explaining that needed to be done. She needed to ensure no one else stepped foot in that house until there were prepared for what lay inside. She didn¡¯t trust Coal with that.

    It took some time to square things with the police. Eventually they agreed to meet with Kass and some of the house''s descendants on Monday to talk about what should happen with it, and that in the meantime no one would venture inside the house. It was likely some local government bodies would need to be brought in on the conversation as well. The police took Agatha. Tanya went along with the child as well, promising not to leave her side until her parents arrived at the hospital. By the time it was all worked out, the night was late and the sun had set once more.

 Volume 2, Chapter 51: Future Mapped

    ¡°You want a smoke?¡± A pretty boy held out a drag for Katrina.

    She thought of her aunt Cat, how cool and confident and good looking the woman was. She thought of how Cat looked down on smoking. Katrina shook her head at the boy. He shrugged and moved away.

    Katrina mostly came to parties to mingle and gossip and observe the boys. But she was above all that other silliness, mostly. She¡¯d drink a little, and she had to admit, it was sort of fun, but her aunt Cat, who was sort of her idol, looked down on the stuff. Plus, Katrina thought, as she noticed her older sister approaching, Gemma had obviously taken the opposite approach to life and Katrina liked to separate herself out from her sisters. Being the middle child of five, she had to find some different way to make her mark. She had to draw the line somewhere.

    Gemma collapsed into the sofa next to Katrina. She was holding a beer and she was obviously already tipsy. ¡°How¡¯s it going little sis?¡±

    Gemma¡¯s boyfriend, and Kate¡¯s father, Tobias, fell in next to Gemma, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. He was not much taller than Gemma. He had a friendly, freckle-covered face and perky blonde hair that tended to bounce when he walked.

    ¡°Hi young Kat!¡± he said cheerily.

    Katrina hated when he called her that, but he was drunk so she let it slide.

    ¡°Fine. Hi Tobias,¡± she answered coolly. She considered chiding Gemma for the drinking, especially since baby Kate was only newborn, but she knew it would just slide right off her sister.

    ¡°Well aren¡¯t you in a mood,¡± Gemma remarked, reading her little sister pretty darn accurately. ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Your boy toy not show up?¡±

    ¡°No, but if you must know. Lucille Vilan just...¡±

    Tobias interrupted her as a new song started, ¡°Hey, it¡¯s that song, you wanna go dance?¡± He pulled Gemma to her feet.

    ¡°Sure,¡± she replied. As Tobias started to pull her away, Gemma turned and said, ¡°Sorry, little sis, we¡¯ll talk later.¡±

    Katrina rolled her eyes and took another bored sip of her drink. She wondered if she should go and find Lucille. It was probably too soon. They¡¯d had a fight a few moments ago and Katrina needed to wait the requisite amount of time before going and making up. Maybe she should wait until Monday? That would teach Lucille to be so obnoxious. Maybe she should go find her other friends and make sure they understood what Lucille had done was not to be tolerated.

    Her younger brother, Salem slipped onto the couch on the other side of her.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± she asked grumpily.

    ¡°Have you seen Sasha?¡±

    She shook her head.

    He didn¡¯t immediately rush off. ¡°Hey..., what do think about Lily?¡±

    ¡°Bobby¡¯s girlfriend?¡±

    Salem rolled his eyes. ¡°Zombie Lily.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I dunno. And you shouldn¡¯t call her that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been reading books on zombies and well, it¡¯s really really rare, that necromancy on someone who¡¯s been dead so long works long term. Like, given the date of her car crash and the day mum and dad turned up with her...¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know when she was actually resurrected. They didn¡¯t say.¡±

    ¡°It was implied it was recent, and given what Lily¡¯s said.... like, do you think maybe we should be locking our doors at night?¡±

    ¡°That might upset Lily,¡± Katrina replied, shooting her brother a disapproving sideways glance.

    ¡°Mum and dad could come up with a good excuse I¡¯m sure.¡±

    ¡°If you wanna lock your door, you can lock your door. I¡¯m pretty sure Gemma does.¡±

    Salem paused. ¡°She does?¡± He shook his head. ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s not really what I¡¯m worried about. I¡¯m just saying what if she turns when we¡¯re not paying attention...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure mum has...¡± Katrina trailed off as she saw her favorite ¡®boy toy,¡¯ as Gemma liked to call him, walking across the room toward them.

    The tall, dark-haired, and handsome, Jade was anything but a toy to Katina though. Sure, she liked to tease the boys, but Jade was special.

    ¡°Hey,¡± he smiled that dream-melting smile, as he perched down on the arm rest to her right.

    ¡°Hi,¡± she replied back, meeting his gorgeous forest green eyes with her own emerald ones. Her evening just got a whole lot better.

    Beside her Salem made a sound which she ignored.

    Then Salem shot some finger guns at her and slipped off the couch. ¡°Well I can see you¡¯re gonna be distracted for awhile and I can tell when I¡¯m not wanted.¡±

    Jade gave Salem a friendly glance of thanks as Salem disappeared off into the crowd. Then he turned back to focus all his attention on Katrina.

    <hr>

    Amanda and Sirius returned to an almost empty house.

    "Where is everyone?" Amanda asked Bobby.

    "Lily''s upstairs, getting ready for bed. The others went out."

    "To a party?"

    Bobby nodded.

    ¡°All of them?¡±

    Another nod.

    Amanda rubbed her face. She hadn¡¯t expected either their youngest or their eldest to be out. Sasha was more of a homebody, and Gemma had a newborn to take care of. ¡°How¡¯s Kate?¡± she asked of her grandchild.

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    ¡°Sleeping like a baby,¡± Bobby replied with a grin.

    Amanda smiled and nodded, then she left him in the lounge where he¡¯d been sitting and chatting with older Lily.

    Amanda found Sirius seated at the kitchen table looking worn out.

    She picked a bottle of whiskey off the top shelf, narrowing her eyes when she realised it was a lot less empty than she¡¯d left it. Evidently one of the kids had thieved off with some. ¡°Drink?¡± Amanda asked Sirius.

    ¡°After today, sure.¡±

    She grabbed two shot glasses and poured one for each of them. Then she joined him at the table. ¡°So what¡¯ll we do while we wait for the kids to get home?¡±

    Sirius yawned and looked at her with a tired smile. ¡°I think I¡¯m going to hit the sack soon, but you can wait up if you want.¡±

    She nodded.

    They chatted about the events of the day for a short while.

    Eventually Amanda said, ¡°I think I might try make one of those maps.¡±

    ¡°To see where the kids are?¡± Sirius asked.

    Amanda nodded.

    He thought about it. ¡°Just don¡¯t go drawing too much blood that you pass out okay. Actually if you¡¯re going to do that, maybe take half of mine, it might be more effective that way anyway, and maybe it¡¯ll help me sleep. Do we even have blood drawing equipment here.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± and at the look on his face she expanded, ¡°Not the horse stuff, I¡¯ve got some human sized needles here somewhere. Gimme a sec.¡±

    She disappeared into the storeroom that backed onto the kitchen.¡±From the first aid supplies,¡± she explained.

    Sirius rubbed his nose as she laid parchment out on the kitchen table. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say they had an infused pen.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve got a few stones or... actually...¡± She clicked her fingers and disappeared from the room once more.

    She returned and laid a compass on the table along with several other ingredients.

    ¡°Tracking compass?¡±

    She nodded. ¡°Got it from Wolf years ago. It¡¯s not great but it¡¯s something. I think I have all the other ingredients Wolf used. It¡¯s been awhile since I¡¯ve made one of these.¡±

    Sirius smiled and watched her work. While she sorted the ingredients, he drew some of his blood.

    ¡°Hey, you¡¯re only supposed to do half a pint,¡± Amanda remarked when she realised he¡¯d gone over half way.

    ¡°Well you¡¯re half my size so I think I can give a little more,¡± he replied.

    He drew her blood and mixed it in with his, until they had exactly a pint.

    ¡°How do you tell it who to find?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Well, the blood helps, but the rest is just kind of willing it.¡±

    ¡°Does it work better with multiple people? Willing it I mean.¡±

    Amanda frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡±

    He held out his hand and she grasped it. ¡°Well let¡¯s give it a try then.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Together they cast the spell. Dark red lines traced a map of Little Rock and the surrounding area. The compass spun and eventually settled on a direction that was actually close to north but a little off.

    ¡°Ah, they¡¯re out near the wetlands,¡± Amanda remarked, referring to a small gathering of houses on the north side of town, where some of the more down to earth folks liked to live. It wasn¡¯t far from where Amanda had grown up herself, just a little more inland where the lower elevation made it damp rather than dusty. The land to the north of Little Rock was raised up nearer the sea. There were no nice beaches up there, only sheer sandy cliffs and desert if you went far enough, but if one travelled inland before reaching the northern deserts, the elevation dropped and the fresh water beneath the earth rose up, soaking the land and promoting the growth of dense green undergrowth. There were often teenage parties out that way. It wasn¡¯t far from Wolf¡¯s cabin, although, his place was situated a little higher in elevation and surrounded by more sparsely populated pine and other taller trees. Slowly as they watched, little moving dots formed on the paper, all quite close together. One, which must have been Bobby, was right on top of their house. The other four were in another house out in the wetlands.

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad map,¡± Sirius remarked.

    ¡°Yeah, I think it¡¯s actually better than the one we did in the house. We¡¯ll see how long it lasts I guess.¡±

    Sirius nodded and then stood up. ¡°Well, I¡¯m going to bed. Don¡¯t stay up too late, and don¡¯t draw anymore blood. He squeezed her shoulder gently on his way out.

    ¡°I won¡¯t,¡± Amanda replied. She poured herself another glass of whiskey.

    She flicked through and old spell book for awhile, tidied up the kitchen, played some single player card games, and practiced her magic.

    Eventually she watched as one of the dots moved towards Wolf¡¯s house, probably Katrina. She went there to hang with Jade sometimes. Amanda hoped they were being smart.

    Salem and Sasha came back together soon after and said good night on their way upstairs. She heard Salem sneak back down and boot up the computer.

    ¡°Salem.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Go to bed.¡±

    He groaned. ¡°I was just going to play a short game.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s never a short game. Go read a book or something. Play in the morning.¡±

    He grumbled but he started to make a move upstairs. Then he turned and popped into the kitchen. ¡°Maybe a quick snack.¡± He paused and looked at the map, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a map.¡±

    ¡°I can see that. What¡¯s it a map of?¡±

    ¡°You lot.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Salem peered closer, a fascinated look on his face. ¡°All of us? Can you show me how to do that?¡±

    ¡°Maybe tomorrow, if you go to bed.¡±

    Salem grinned and nodded, but he kept staring at the map, his needs-a-haircut soon dark hair kept falling into his eyes as he looked and he had to keep brushing it out of his face. ¡°Is that Katrina? He pointed to the dot at Wolf¡¯s cabin. Hah, she did go to Jade¡¯s.¡± He glanced at his mother with a smug look on his face.

    She returned it with a stern expectant expression.

    ¡°Alright, alright, I¡¯m going to bed. It might be awhile if you¡¯re waiting for Gemma to get home though,¡± he replied as he grabbed his snack and wandered upstairs.

    Gemma got back around 2 am. She stumbled through the door, almost falling over. She straightened herself up and made her way into the kitchen. Amanda had long since packed up the fading map. She looked up from a book as Gemma walked in.

    ¡°Were you waiting up for me?¡± Gemma asked with half wary, half guilty look.

    ¡°Just reading,¡± Amanda replied. She considered her daughter¡¯s state.

    Gemma took a seat and eyed the bottle of whiskey.

    Seeing the look, Amanda pushed it over to her.

    ¡°Needed a break huh?¡± Amanda asked cautiously but softly.

    ¡°Yeah, something like that. Bobby was here. He said he didn¡¯t mind.¡± Gemma ducked her eyes slightly.

    Amanda could pick the small lie in that last sentence but she didn¡¯t call her daughter on it. Bobby probably hadn¡¯t minded too much, he was a good kid. Still, Gemma going out drinking tonight did have Amanda a little worried. Given Gemma¡¯s current state she didn¡¯t think now was quite the right time for that conversation though. Gemma wasn''t breast-feeding so it wasn''t a pressing matter.

    Amanda did understand the need for a night off though. It was her own bad habits which Gemma seemed to have acquired after all. They¡¯d have to discuss this tomorrow but for now Amanda just smiled sympathetically and asked, ¡°Fun night?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Gemma smiled, sipped her whiskey. She was quiet for a moment and then she said, ¡°You know I been thinking, maybe I don¡¯t need to finish school, I could just work with the horses and...¡±

    Amanda interrupted her with a shake of the head. Firmly but gently she replied, ¡°You¡¯ve got little over half a year left. As long as you are under this roof you¡¯ll finish school. That was the rule my mother made with me and it¡¯s the rule I¡¯m making you. Once you¡¯re done you can do what you like but until then. You want to take less classes and spread them out into next year that¡¯s fine but you finish okay?¡±

    Gemma sighed. She shook her head. "I don''t want to drag things into next year."

    ¡°Fine but there''s no problem if you do end up doing that. If you want to keep working with the horses after you graduate then we can work something out, or you can do some correspondence courses at uni. Whatever you do you¡¯ve always got this place to call home okay? But you finish school first, no matter how long it takes.¡±

    Gemma nodded again and in a moment of drunken weakness admitted,¡±I just, I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m doing, or what I''m doing it for.¡±

    Amanda blinked a moment, surprised at the admission but glad for the confidence. She smiled warmly. ¡°There¡¯s no rush. You¡¯ll figure it out. Finishing school gives you more options at least. Anyway, no one really ever completely knows what they¡¯re doing.¡±

    Gemma eyed her mum and then the bottle of whiskey between them. Ain¡¯t that the truth, she thought. But there was enough confidence in her mother¡¯s voice that for a moment she really did believe everything would be just fine. Satisfied with her own path for now, Gemma changed the topic. ¡°So, how was the thing you were helping Kass with?¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 52: Future Made

    In a non-descript, nearly empty bar on south side of town, Stella watched a skinny well-postured barman pour four glasses of wine, each one from a different bottle. He lined them up in front of her, then gave her a polite nod. ¡°There you go madame, miss.¡± He corrected himself, noting that the woman was far younger than he had initially assumed when she¡¯d requested the secret wine list.

    She was about to wave him away, when an image of someone joining her popped into her head. ¡°Oh, and can you bring me a bottle of the Chateau Musar 84¡¯ please? And two glasses with it. Thank you.¡±

    The barman¡¯s eyebrows went up and he momentarily opened him mouth as if he wished to warn her of the hefty price tag that came with such a bottle, especially one which had been sourced from the human world. But something in her cool blue eyes stopped him. She sat so still and poised for one who otherwise looked so young. He really was having trouble pegging her age. But any guest who knew about the secret menu knew the prices that went with it. So he simply nodded and returned a moment later with the requested bottle.

    Stella slid 4 gold and 7 silvers across the table for the entire lot. She did not open this new bottle straight away. Instead, she sniffed, swirled, and occasionally sipped her other four glasses. It wasn¡¯t until another woman slid onto the bar stool beside her that Stella reached for the new bottle.

    Bambi, as the other woman was called, placed one hand gently on Stella¡¯s forearm. ¡°Now, now, don¡¯t open that on my account.¡±

    Stella glanced over her friend. Bambi was a reasonably non-descript woman, with brown hair and dark eyes, which revealed themselves to be a shade of green if you looked at them in the light. She was smartly dressed in office attire, a standard black suit jacket and pants, no fancy tailoring. She was a similar height to Stella, although she was curvier which made her look shorter unless they were standing side by side. Bambi was 10 years older than her, which was also almost as long as Stella had known her. On the last day of the last year of Stella¡¯s high school education, right out there, in front of the school, Bambi had pulled over and offered Stella a ride. She hadn¡¯t said to where. She hadn¡¯t needed to. In her visions of the future, Stella had seen the paths that lay before her, the options she could take. In a way, she had known Bambi even before she¡¯d met her. She¡¯d gotten in the car and she¡¯d never looked back, well she¡¯d tried not to.

    Her parents hadn¡¯t even noticed she¡¯d been gone, their perfect darling child who was going to achieve all their dreams for them, dreams Stella had had no interest in. Bambi had wiped their minds and sweet Stella had considered herself rescued. After that Stella would have followed Bambi almost anywhere.

    Bambi had become a surrogate mother of sorts. For a whole year she¡¯d taken Stella under her wing and taught her everything there was to the world, taken her places that Stella had only seen in her mind. That year had felt like a lifetime. But when that year had come to a close Bambi had put her parents minds back as they had been, with a few alterations. From their point of view, Stella had never left and nothing was changed. To Stella the world was an entirely different place. But Bambi had made it clear that a cover was important and so Stella had returned to her parents and then she¡¯d set off to University to pursue at least some of their dreams.

    And now she and Bambi worked together. If one could call it work. It was more like a life calling really. A life calling reserved to those only with the very best of magic. And that was something Stella was very much a natural at. She was after all, quite possibly the only person alive who had been gifted with more than one power.

    ¡°But I¡¯ve already bought it,¡± Stella replied, ¡°And I am going to drink a glass anyway, whether you want some or not.¡± It was the truth in a way, although Stella already knew that Bambi would have a glass. She knew this because she had specifically picked one which she knew Bambi would like.

    And Bambi, reading Stella¡¯s mind with her own powers, knew the same. She sighed. ¡°You¡¯ll get me addicted to the stuff and that¡¯s not a cheap bottle.¡±

    Bambi had her mouth open to continue but Stella already knew what her next line was going to be. ¡°It¡¯s not wasted on you if you enjoy it. I can get you more of that, I like it too you know. And you never spend money on anything anyway, well hardly anything. What are you saving for?¡± Stella asked as she picked up one of her other four glasses and gave it a sniff. With a sly sideways glance so common in the young she added, ¡°The apocalypse?¡±

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    ¡°Careful now,¡± Bambi warned. A hint of smile played at her own lips but there was a serious note to her tone as well. She watched Stella sip and compare the wines for awhile and then she gave the room a cursory glance.

    ¡°No one¡¯s listening,¡± Stella told her.

    ¡°The barman was.¡±

    Stella paused in her swirling and looked up in surprise. With a glance at Bambi she asked, ¡°I take it he¡¯s not anymore?¡±

    ¡°The thoughts have slipped his mind,¡± Bambi replied with a straight face. She reached for her own glass and hesitantly sniffed it. She took a sip. ¡°Mmm, not bad.¡± She smiled and took another.

    The pair were silent awhile. The barman paid them no mind.

    Eventually Stella asked, ¡°Did you drop off Murphy¡¯s box?¡±

    Bambi nodded. ¡°He had me leave it in a law office in the middle of the day, in a restricted area. I had to wait for someone to swipe me in.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t just make someone do it?¡±

    ¡°Active mind control is harder to hide. You know that. Making them just not notice me however...¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you would have had trouble there.¡±

    ¡°Well Murphy seems in a muddle. You know how he gets when he¡¯s been through several loops and nothing¡¯s coming out right. I didn¡¯t want to take any extra risks.¡±

    ¡°What do you think happens to us when he loops? Do you think it¡¯s the same us but with different memories or do you think it¡¯s a different dimension that he jumps to with different versions of us?¡±

    Bambi reached for Stella¡¯s current wine glass. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m cutting you off.¡±

    Stella pulled her glass out of reach. ¡°No, no, no, no, no, I was just wondering.¡±

    Bambi withdrew her hands. ¡°You get too philosophical when you drink.¡± She shook her head, ¡°And I decided a long time ago not to think about questions like that. He has memories in his head of me that I don¡¯t even remember living through. Like this one time, apparently we got married.¡±

    Stella nearly choked on her wine. That was something even she hadn¡¯t seen coming. ¡°What?!¡± She knew Bambi and Murphy had been a couple. They¡¯d been dating proper when she¡¯d first met them. She wasn¡¯t sure what they were now, but she did know they¡¯d never been married and she''d never seen a future where they were.

    Bambi wasn¡¯t looking at Stella. She had one elbow on the bar and her chin resting on her knuckles while she stared toward the shelves of different coloured bottles, filled with varying levels of delicious liquids. Her eyes were unfocused. ¡°I¡¯m not even sure how recent the memories are. They¡¯re strong but sometimes that¡¯s the case with memories that are well-liked or revisited often rather than because they happened recently.¡± A small smile graced her lips briefly before she took another sip of wine.

    Stella smiled as well. She had her chin resting on her palms now, mimicking Bambi¡¯s posture slightly, and she was giving Bambi her full attention. She liked seeing Bambi happy.

    Bambi put her glass back down on the table and continued, ¡°I¡¯m just glad that if he¡¯s picking timelines, at least he''s choosing ones where we still have kids.¡±

    ¡°What do you think keeps going wrong in this one?¡± Stella asked, trying not to think too much about the topic of children.

    Bambi glanced over at her. In the low light of the bar her eyes looked more brown than green. ¡°What do you see in the future?¡± It was an honest question. Even though Bambi could just pick and choose to read almost any of the thoughts in Stella¡¯s head, it was far easier to read those that lay on the surface, the ones that a person was currently thinking. Asking a question made those thoughts more prominent.

    Stella sighed and stared at her own glasses. ¡°I don''t know. I need to go meditate for a few days. I¡¯m been so busy lately. All Murphy¡¯s little missions, and the wine business, and my parent¡¯s business, and-¡±

    ¡°Coal?¡± Bambi finished for her.

    ¡°He¡¯s good for us. He¡¯s well-placed, easy to influence. He¡¯s not too greedy, not like some of them. And he is nice, actually genuinely nice. He is!¡± Stella insisted as she noticed skepticism appearing on Bambi¡¯s face.

    Bambi sighed. ¡°I know he¡¯s better than the others. Just don¡¯t get too involved. We can¡¯t meddle Stella. It¡¯s the golden rule. You know that.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Stella said it sadly as memories of a possible future flashed through her mind. Thoughts she¡¯d been trying to ignore. Thoughts of a child, Coal¡¯s child. One rare child who could actually survive her body¡¯s excessive healing abilities. One who would almost certainly bring about discord and destruction. Almost. But almost was enough for Murphy. Almost every future scenario she saw ended in the child¡¯s death or the world¡¯s end.

    ¡°You know what Murphy will do,¡± Bambi emphasized, as she read Stella¡¯s thoughts.

    Stella nodded solemnly.

    ¡°There might be other options you know,¡± Bambi reminded her gently, knowing the one thing Stella wanted more than anything was a child of her own. The one thing her healing powers wouldn¡¯t let her have.

    But Stella barely heard her. She was fixated on that future, and that was the trouble, when all you could think about was one thing, sometimes you forgot to look for the other possibilities.

 Volume 2, Chapter 53: Sharp Edges

    Katrina and Jade thrust open the door of Wolf¡¯s cabin with a drunken thump! Katrina gasped, then shushed Jade, who replied with a muffled chuckle and shushed her right back.

    She giggled a reply and they tiptoed quietly inside. The door to Wolf¡¯s cabin was never locked, not even at night. Books lay everywhere. Books of great value, books of great power, books that held great danger. But only a knowing thief could find anything in this mess, and no simple lock would keep that sort of thief out.

    Jade shut the door with an equally loud bang, and Katrina turned and gave him a look.

    ¡°Oops,¡± he muttered with a mischievous smile. Then he took a few steps forward and nearly tripped over a pile of books.

    Katrina widened her eyes at him in emphasis, but the look and his own clumsiness only proved an entertainment for Jade, who then had to press both hands over his mouth to prevent himself from bursting into hysterics.

    ¡°Shh,¡± Katrina giggled at him. She¡¯d had a drink or two after all, but not many. Jade was far more drunk than she.

    By this point Jade was sure that his father was awake and just being polite.

    Wolf respected his children¡¯s right to a life of their own. He expected for them a full life of adventures had, and mistakes made. It was the best way to learn. He wouldn¡¯t intrude if Jade had a girl in the house. There was no danger to be found there, not in one so young, and not in the daughter of a close friend.

    Katrina backed up into the table, knocking a book to the floor in the process. She leaned down to pick it up but then paused, as her eyes were drawn to another book on the table.

    Jade picked up the fallen book for her. ¡°You dropped this,¡± he remarked in a soft whisper, as he placed the book back on the table and slid his arm around her waist.

    When she didn¡¯t reply, but instead kept her eyes locked on the book in front of her, he glanced down to see what it was that had captured her attention so entirely.

    There, on a page of an open book, was a meticulously drawn picture of a knife. The drawing took up half the page. The lower half was filled with words describing the object in great detail.

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    With a slender finger, Katrina flicked to the next page. The description continued across both the next two pages completely, and extended half way down the forth page after that.

    Katrina flicked back to the first page.

    ¡°The Reapers knife,¡± Jade read the title aloud in a hushed whisper.

    ¡°It¡¯s very pretty,¡± Katrina remarked softly, with an edge of wistfulness to her tone.

    Ah, of course, Jade thought. That was what had drawn her eye.

    It was true that Katrina liked pretty things, but she was by no means a shallow individual. She valued power too. She just didn¡¯t see why useful things couldn¡¯t also be pretty. The knife certainly was all that, pretty and powerful.

    ¡°It says it sucks in the life force of anyone it kills,¡± Katrina read, ¡°Meaning you could use it as an ingredient in almost any spell requiring blood.¡±

    ¡°Mmm,¡± Jade flicked the page and pointed to a line he¡¯d noticed when she¡¯d turned the page over before. ¡°It also says if the blood runs out, it will take the life of the wielder as a substitute.¡±

    He couldn¡¯t imagine Katrina ever taking a life, not even that of an animal. Her older brother or sister, sure. They had both killed the odd pig, hare, or deer for dinner. Gemma, he knew had once even taken the life of a man, a pirate who had boarded her father¡¯s ship at sea with ill intentions.

    But Katrina, Katrina didn¡¯t even like to kill the bugs that came in her room at night. She¡¯d capture and release. He also knew, because she¡¯d told him, that once during a fishing trip her father had handed her the paddle to knock the fish out cold. To hit their dinner over the head and end it¡¯s gasping suffering. Katrina¡¯s hands had shaken so bad that she¡¯d had to hand the paddle over to her older sister to do the job for her.

    And once, when Jade in werewolf form, had caught a rabbit in his mouth, a sacrifice to be used in one of her spells, she¡¯d made him wield the knife. No, Katrina was no killer, not for all her lust for power.

    But something she did have, was an insatiable curiosity. ¡°How many lives do you think it contains?¡±

    Jade pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her dark hair. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but for all the information we¡¯ve got, it may as well not exist. A lot of the items in dad¡¯s books are just rumours.¡±

    ¡°Mmm.¡± Katrina leaned her head against his chest. He was nice and warm. ¡°It is very pretty though.¡± She flicked once more through the pages, as if searching for some evidence that this entry had more to it than just rumour. Alas, as curious as she was, she was also very drunk, and a little distracted. Her mind wandered to that of the strong body pressed against her.

    Suddenly he pulled away.

    Katrina glanced up at him in surprise.

    But he grabbed her hand and pulled her gently towards one of the back bedrooms. ¡°Come on.¡±

    She followed obediently, not a thought of anything else was left in her mind, but for him.

    The open book remained where it was. The pretty knife with it¡¯s daffodil blade, so artistically rendered on the page, was all but forgotten.

 Volume 2, Chapter 54: Empty Rooms

    Coal flicked on a light in his large empty house. Nobody there to greet him or welcome him home. He paused a moment to listen but the house remained silent.

    As he usually did, he removed his coat and hung it on a hook in the entrance way. He made his way through to the bar area, what he called the entertaining room. With a click of his fingers a large table appeared in the middle of the room. There he deposited the contents of his trouser pockets. The knife, the vase, and several small pebbles, vials, and velvet bags. He summoned a chair to go with it and there he sat down and pondered things a moment. Thinking back to what else had been inside the house, he focused on an item at random, a music box. Then he fixed his gaze on an empty spot on the table.

    A rock appeared in mid-air and landed on the table with a loud thud. He peered at it from each side before picking it up and turning it over in his hand. It was approximately palm sized, smooth and oval in shape, and there was absolutely nothing unusual about it that he could tell.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± he remarked aloud to no one.

    He tried once more, a different item this time.

    He was rewarded again with another rock. Similar in size and shape but different from the first one.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    On his third attempt he tried for something outside the house but on the grounds, a small pine tree he¡¯d seen in the backyard.

    A tree appeared on his table, its¡¯ roots still encased in a thick chunk of soil. A piny smell filled the room.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s that then,¡± Coal sat back with a look of satisfaction.

    He summoned a piece of paper and pen and wrote a note for the housekeeping that would come in the morning instructing them where to plant the new tree. Then he put his pebbles, vials, and bags, back into his pockets. Taking the knife with him in hand, he left the vase and tree on the table for now.

    He dropped some things into a drawer in his main office, the one without the windows, and while he was doing so he found a note someone had left on his desk. It read:

    Ask him about the human.

    -S

    Coal frowned, summoned a silver lighter, lit the paper on fire, and then put the ashes in the trash. He recognised the hand but the message made little sense to him in his current state of mind.

    He left his main office, closing the door and locking it behind, twice with one key, both physically and magically.

    He made his way into the hallway which lay to the east of the bar lounge, on the larger side of the house, the side that housed most of the rooms, including the master bedroom. It was this room where he went. But he was not headed for bed. Just off the master bedroom, and behind a bookcase, was a hidden door with a hidden latch. Behind this door lay Coal¡¯s second office. This room was protected, much in the same way that he had just found Milton Estate to be protected. Not even he could summon something from this room, nor should anything be able to get in or out. It was in there that he left the knife before returning to the entertaining room.

    He sat once more at the large table and studied the vase. Natasha would come by for this so he did not wish to lock it away, nor did he wish to leave it in the open. But there were spells for this, one in paticular which very conveniently required ¡®dirt from beneath a pine.¡¯

    He separated out some of dirt and wrote another note. One that stated ¡®Do not clean!!!¡¯ with an arrow pointing to the new circle he¡¯d made. In the centre he placed the vase. He got about half way through the rest of the set up before he had to go and find the book for the spell he was trying to remember. He returned a few minutes later to finish off all but the very last thing. Only one ingredient remained, blood.

    He stood still a moment, considering his options. He went to the kitchen and there he found a plate of food, prepared earlier by the chef and ready to heat and eat. He stuck it in the microwave and set it cooking for two minutes. Then once more, he disappeared into the east side of the house. This time he only went a short way down the long hallway, off which lay many bedrooms. He took a door on the right, just past the downstairs bathroom and right before the door to the mansion¡¯s large garage. This door opened into some stairs. A dark, concrete staircase which Coal hated to go down due to the sheer narrowness of it. Still, it was the only room in the entire house that was well and truly soundproofed both with and without magic.

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    He flicked on the light and descended the staircase, closing the door behind him. There were two doors at the bottom of the stairs. The far door, a few metres along and on the left, led to a secret passage, one that came out at various points on his land, an emergency escape hatch of sorts. Some of the tunnels which branched off even led to portals, pre-established teleportation rings which would take him to specific places, although he hardly ever made use of them.

    It was the other door, the one on the right, the very closest one, which he opened and stepped through. On the other side of this door, lay three solid cells. In one of these cells stood a man in shackles, beaten, bloody, and bolted to the wall.

    The man looked up weakly as Coal stepped into the room. Coal smiled calmly at him. Without making it too obvious he studied the man¡¯s condition. He needed information from this man. Information he had yet to get and it would not do to have the man die on him before he had given it.

    The man dropped his eyes to the floor as if too tired to hold his head up. His russet coloured hair was damp with sweat and his body marred in cuts and bruises. He otherwise looked healthy however and Coal deemed him fit to donate a pint.

    He drew the man¡¯s blood and then he summoned the plate of food from microwave. He sat it on a stool in the corner of the room. He set the collection of blood just outside the door way. Then he returned to the man, still locked to the wall and now staring longingly at the food.

    ¡°Now tell me who authorised the latest use of the facility?¡± Coal asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± replied the man. His eyes never left the plate of hot meat and veges. The smell of gravy filled the cell, even managing to mar the stink that emanated from a bucket in a corner of the room.

    ¡°What were they doing there previously?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°You lie.¡±

    The man shook his head. Never once did he glance at Coal. ¡°I¡¯m just local politician. I don¡¯t play ball with the big boys. I don¡¯t know how or who gave him access to that facility or what they did there before. But if those in Mercy find you¡¯ve taken me, they will still kill you.¡± Finally the man raised his eyes to look directly at Coal. His eyes were a balanced mix of blue and amber and they burned with hatred. ¡°And they will ravage your land, and no aristocrat will ever-¡±

    Coal hit him across the face with a quickly summoned steel fighting pole.

    The man dropped his head and after a moment of silence he replied more sombrely, ¡°You can¡¯t let me go and we both know it, so why would I tell you anything?¡±

    ¡°I can always wipe your mind. Maybe you wake up tomorrow with your wife and kids standing around your hospital bed and the newspapers report that a lost climber was miraculously found with only a slight head injury. Or maybe a broken leg. A shattered spine.¡± Coal waved his hand absently.

    The man chuckled. ¡°They¡¯d notice, and you can¡¯t risk it.¡±

    Coal smiled faintly and sighed. He turned to go. He¡¯d let the man think it over for a bit before he let him down to eat what would by then be a cold meal. Halfway to the door he paused, remembering the note that Stella had left, he tried one more question. Turning back to the man he asked, ¡°What about the human?¡±

    The man looked up with a completely different expression this time, one of surprise. His eyes darted to the left and then the right. His brow furrowed. He seemed to be thinking things over.

    Coal waited patiently.

    ¡°They... they sent him to Witchhaven.¡± The man looked over toward the food again then back up a Coal.

    And from all of that, Coal knew that the man had been telling the truth. He didn¡¯t know anything more. His defiance was not bravado but desperation. Coal smiled. A smile so genuine that the man¡¯s shoulders relaxed in response.

    ¡°Please...¡± the man whispered.

    Pole in hand, Coal let the man down. Only the binding collar around his neck remained, enchanted with a magic which bound his powers.

    Coal watched at the man ate the food and then he offered him a glass of fine whiskey. The man swallowed it down in one chug. Coal would have sipped it. ¡°You¡¯ll be back with your family tomorrow,¡± he told the man.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± the man replied with a sigh. His tired eyes looked down at the empty glass of whiskey.

    Then, before the man could raise his gaze up, Coal summoned a sword, and slit the man¡¯s throat so deeply and swiftly that no awareness of the event could have graced the man¡¯s mind even for a moment.

    That was two politicians from Mercy he¡¯d killed this month now. A dangerous game to be playing but even more dangerous would have been leaving either one alive to point the way back to him. This one hadn¡¯t been as much of a necessity but he¡¯d been conveniently caught by one of Coal¡¯s smarter lackeys and Coal had need of information. The lands around the modern city of Mercy were run by different rules than that of the aristocratic lands but each respected the rights of the other to rule in their own way. A delicate peace, balanced in turn by each region¡¯s agreements with the sorcerers, and each aristocrat¡¯s cooperation with one another and their own local councils. But that facility in the middle of the wastelands changed things. It was no man¡¯s land, and just the fact that a politician from Mercy had come to an aristocrat for help pointed to discontent and corruption within that government. Coal would never have known about the facility if not for that. Or maybe Stella would have told him as she had told him other things. There was a weakness there or maybe a secret weapon they had been working on. Coal wasn¡¯t sure yet but he would find out.

    He left the room in a mess. He¡¯d have his special cleaner deal with it tomorrow. He returned to the entertaining room with his freshly drawn pint of blood.

    After the spell was done he found he wasn¡¯t much in the mood for dinner and so he retired into the music room and sat down at the piano. There he stayed for the better part of two hours, his fingers dancing over the keys, as the instrument produced the most beautiful but haunting melodies.

 Volume 2, Chapter 55: Overdue Fangs

    Cat dropped Indi off back at home. She didn¡¯t hang around though. Her finely tuned sportscar had squealed out of sight before Indi had even reached her front steps. It was at her front steps that Indi paused, for even though she knew Falco could not have possibly beaten her home, the lights in the house were very obviously on.

    She hesitated and then climbed a few steps. She could see shadows moving through the glass windows that lined the front door. She bit her lip. Maybe it was Falco? Maybe he had beaten her home? Except his car wasn¡¯t in the driveway.

    She glanced around the rest of the street and soon spotted a new car, a silver sedan, one she recognised but which didn¡¯t belong to Falco. She raced up the front steps and threw the door open.

    ¡°Sly!¡± She exclaimed.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± The fridge door in the kitchen was open. The light from the fridge caused shadows to dance near her feet. A man¡¯s face peaked up from behind the fridge door in mild surprise. His lips were stained dark red. He stared at her for a moment, blinked once, and then he licked the blood off them. He ducked down behind the fridge door again. ¡°Oh sorry, one sec.¡±

    Indi waited patiently for him to put his blood sachet back in the fridge but the moment he stood up again and, as he began to swing the fridge door closed, she raced at him and wrapped him in a tight hug.

    Sly was taller than her and skinnier. He fit the more standard vampire stature of lean and wiry. He kept his brown hair long and tied back loosely in a pony tail. Like Indi, his eyesight was awful, but unlike Indi, Sly opted for contacts rather than glasses. In one of his ears, there hung a small gold hooped earring. Indi thought it made him look a little like a pirate. His clothes were more dressy though, with dark jeans and a black blazer with sleeves ending just below his elbows, Sly could have fit in anywhere from an upmarket BBQ to a wedding. Perhaps an urban pirate then?

    ¡°Heey, missed you too sis,¡± he remarked gently as he hugged her back.

    ¡°How did you get in?¡± She asked as she looked up to see his matching violet eyes staring down warmly. He smelt like wool and pine with a touch of something chemical, maybe paint or varnish, a dash of turpentine. Scents more down to earth than his clothing choices. It reminded her of her childhood home. Sly had always loved woodworking. He could make anything with his hands, from a tiny wooden piano sized for his sister¡¯s toy doll right up to full-sized, finely crafted, tables, chairs, and clocks, all of which he sometimes sold for profit.

    ¡°I found your spare key. It wasn¡¯t hidden very well. You could have anybody just walk on in here.¡± He said it with a smile, meant to tease, but Indi could hear a slight note of concern for her in there too. Sly was a sweetheart.

    She shook her head as they pulled apart, and she shrugged. ¡°Cat says if someone really wanted in then they¡¯d just break a window.¡±

    ¡°Cat?¡±

    ¡°Oh, she¡¯s friend. You should meet her, I think you¡¯d...¡± Indi paused mid-thought then she smiled sheepishly, ¡°Well actually she can be a bit of an acquired taste for some people, but she¡¯s great once you get to know her. I think you¡¯d get on. You should meet all my new friends, although not so new anymore, but new to you. And I haven¡¯t even given you a tour of my new house yet.¡± She gestured widely.

    ¡°I¡¯d like that.¡± Sly smiled and he looked around the open plan living and kitchen area. He spent awhile looking out toward the sea. He glanced back toward Indi and nodded. ¡°I can see you went for the house with the largest windows.¡± He spoke slowly and calmly, always in a comfortable mood, always a light tone, but Indi could hear the worry back again. She knew her brother too well to miss it.

    ¡°You should see the view in the day time.¡± With a little too much glee she added, ¡°It¡¯s to die for.¡±

    Sly raised an eyebrow. There was a twitch of a smile but his eyes were serious.¡±

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry. The bedroom curtains could probably block out a supernova, and I don¡¯t come out here without sunscreen. So what have you been up to? Where have you been? Why haven¡¯t you come to visit? It¡¯s been almost two years.¡±

    ¡°We had dinner two months ago.¡±

    ¡°At your place. I mean it¡¯s been almost two years since I moved in here and every time I invite you you¡¯re always out of town.¡±

    Sly frowned and scratched his head. ¡°Has it really been two years?¡±

    Indi nodded.

    ¡°Huh, I suppose it has. I guess I¡¯ve just been busy.¡± He rested his buttocks on the back of one of the plush leather couches.

    Indi took a seat on one of the barstools opposite him. ¡°Sooo, what have you been doing then?And what¡¯s the deal with you and Sara? Are you really getting divorced?¡±

    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s a long story.¡±

    ¡°You want me to make you some din...¡± She trailed off as she remembered what he¡¯d been doing when she¡¯d first walked in the door. ¡°Oh, did I interrupt you before? I don¡¯t mind if you... um...¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s okay.¡± Sly waved his hand. ¡°I¡¯d already eaten earlier anyway.¡± Unlike Indi, Sly did consume blood for a portion of meals, however he was usually pretty careful about not doing it in front of her, since he knew she didn¡¯t like it. He ate regular food too, just not as often. He met her eyes. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean for you to walk in when you did.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± Indi replied quietly. She knew how much effort he usually put into avoiding the topic of blood consumption. This past week was just different, but it seemed like it had been a rough one for Sly. If he and Sara really were splitting up, she couldn¡¯t blame him for being a little off his game. But the smell of blood was a potent one, she could almost taste it in the air. There was the question too, around why he was eating here and not at his place, especially when this was the first time he¡¯d shown up here. They were only about 30 minutes drive from each other. Indi had so many questions floating around in her head it was hard to focus on just one. ¡°So...¡±

    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°What have I been up too lately?¡± Sly finished for her with a smile.

    Sly must know how she felt, maybe even that she could still smell the blood. It probably didn¡¯t stink as much to him as it did to her but Sly was an empath. He could sense how she felt with his powers. He would know that she was slightly uncomfortable. He could manipulate emotions as well as read them. He could, if he wanted, make her feel at ease with the smell of it too but Indi would not have liked feeling like that in hindsight, and Sly knew that, so he wouldn¡¯t do that.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Indi smiled back at him. She was happy to see him too and he would pick up on that. ¡°And why are you visiting here now? Not that I¡¯m not happy to see you but...¡±

    Sly¡¯s smile widened then he winced apologetically. ¡°Well, I was actually hoping I could crash here for a few days.¡±

    Indi frowned, not because she didn¡¯t want her brother to stay, but because the request made her far more worried about him than she had been a few minutes ago.

    ¡°Just on the couch is fine if you don¡¯t have a spare room. Although I suppose I¡¯ll have to put sunscreen on before bed if I¡¯m waking up in this room.¡±

    Indi shook her head. ¡°There¡¯s a spare room downstairs but... did Sara kick you out? I thought you said she was out of town? And where¡¯s Bree?¡±

    ¡°Bree¡¯s at mum and dads, just for a few more nights. Sara¡¯s down in the Emerald city, joining in the blood protest there. And no, not exactly. I just need to lay low for a few days. No biggie, it¡¯s nothing to worry about.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean lay low?¡± That had been altogether too much information to swallow in one go and Indi felt all of a sudden very tired and worried at the same time.

    Indi had picked up her own daughter from her parents about a week ago and Bree had been there then too. She couldn¡¯t really judge though. Jewel was elsewhere tonight again, sleeping over at a friend¡¯s place. And at least Bree wasn¡¯t near the protests.

    She wasn¡¯t surprised Sara was joining in the protests. Sara wasn¡¯t a vampire but she¡¯d always been a bit overzealous when she found a cause to fight for. Not that this was an unreasonable cause, but Indi hated the idea of violence. It never ended well. It oversimplified things and made things murkier at the same time and Indi was certain there were nicer, more logical ways to achieve the same goals. Sly didn¡¯t always agree, neither with Indi nor Sara, but he would defend Sara if Indi tried to poke holes in Sara¡¯s methodologies, especially when she wasn¡¯t here, and Indi really didn¡¯t want to argue with her brother right now. Plus, Indi was the master at avoiding thinking about depressing stuff she couldn¡¯t control. She would fix a thing or she would find something better to focus on.

    Sly¡¯s last statement was just the thing. It wasn¡¯t a dark, depressing thing yet. At the moment it was just a mystery. One Indi needed to know the answer to. And if it turned out it was something unpleasant, well, then maybe she could make it better. In the unknown lay hope.

    Sly fiddled with his earring. ¡°I just owe some people some money that¡¯s all and it¡¯s better they don¡¯t find me until I have it.¡±

    ¡°I can loan you some.¡± Indi had never been able to decide if Sly was very good with money or very very bad. He was good at making money quickly, but he was also good at losing money quickly. Sly liked to gamble, on the stocks and in the casinos. He was smart and very good with numbers but he also liked to take risks. He¡¯d been kicked out of more than one casino for counting cards. He¡¯d borrowed money from her before but he¡¯d always paid her back, always with unrequired interest, but not always right when he said he would.

    Sly waved her off. ¡°No, no, I¡¯ve got an investment which I expect to turn a profit in a few days, I just gotta bide some time until then.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not making it up in the casinos?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s where I was, in Mercy, doing some legit work for once too, sort of. Doing some work for the house of all things. Made a bad bid, slightly more than I was supposed to.¡± At the look on his sister¡¯s face and the belly dropping feeling he could sense she had, he quickly added. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. They¡¯re not likely to take my fingers or anything, as long as I pay them back more than I lost.¡±

    ¡°Not likely?¡± Indi¡¯s eye¡¯s were wide as dinner plates.

    Sly shook his head and flashed his sister a cheeky smile. ¡°The boss likes me, and he¡¯s easy to manipulate.¡± Sly finished off with a wink. There was not a sign of worry in his posture or voice.

    Indi sighed. Her brother was always finding new trouble but as much as she worried, Sly could weasel his way out of anything. It almost seemed he enjoyed the challenge of it.

    ¡°So, how are you planning on paying them back then?¡±

    ¡°Know a guy who took a shorted position. I¡¯ve got a deal to sell him some shares at market price in couple weeks, whatever the market price may be.¡± Sly grinned, revealing his sharp, half vampire length canines.

    Indi frowned. This was still a puzzle. ¡°Another gamble?¡±

    Sly shook his head. ¡°Not for me. I¡¯ve got some information about which way things are headed.¡± The grin never left his face.

    ¡°Sly.¡± Indi chided him. But she didn¡¯t rebuke him too harshly. Sly wouldn¡¯t give up his games, and at least, she knew, he only conned those who could afford to lose. Not that she approved of that either. She would have preferred he just stuck to furniture making and regular investing. Even his automated fast frequency trading programs were a little too risky for her tastes. At least he seemed to be enjoying himself. Indi unconsciously fiddled with the sleeves of her jersey. ¡°But doesn¡¯t Mercy clamp down hard on that sort of stuff?¡±

    He shook his head. ¡°This one¡¯s not in Mercy. It¡¯s with a guy in Paradise.¡±

    ¡°So far away.¡±

    ¡°Closer than Mercy given I haven¡¯t been teleporting, and we¡¯ll meet half way. There¡¯s this little spa he likes to frequent.¡± Sly smiled. He could sense his sister¡¯s resignation. "Anyway, I meant to thank you, for picking up that blood for me. You really didn''t..." Sly trailed off as he sensed the sudden spike in Indi''s emotions. "...have to. Are you alright? Did something happen? Indi?"

    Indi tried to brush him off but even the best pokerface couldn¡¯t hide their emotions from Sly, and Indi was terrible at poker to begin with.

    She shook her head. "No. Nothing happened," she lied. ,"It''s just been a long day."

    But everything was catching up to her. The trip to the blood bank, the events of the day, the child-sized cocoons, the maybe zombie child they might have to kill. That all contrasted with her favorite (and only) brother finally visiting her new house. Her lower lip trembled even as she started to shake her head again.

    Before she could get another protest out Sly was up off the couch and had wrapped her in the tightest most comforting hug in existence.

    "Tell me about it."

    So they sat on the couch together and Indi started off by relaying him the events of the day, after she¡¯d spent a minute or two sobbing in his arms, because that hug had really been the last straw on the dam wall. But once she¡¯d calmed down, she told him about the house.

    ¡°And there was this room with all these stuffed animals and a really creepy clown and-¡±

    She was cut off as a dinging noise sounded from her computer. She sat up straight and turned sharply toward it. Then she leapt of the couch in a frenzy.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Sly asked after her.

    Indi moved her mouse and the screen lit up. She entered her password and then laughed at the small message that had appeared in the middle of her screen. Turning back to Sly with the widest grin, she replied, ¡°Oh, err, this other job we did, I¡¯ve been trying to decrypt some data for the last week. It just finished.¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 56: Old News, New Problems

    ¡°Successfully?¡± Sly asked.

    Indi nodded and she turned back to open the now accessible files. She picked a random folder and random file.

    A face she recognised popped up in the corner of her screen. It was surrounded by text. It looked like a legal document of some kind, a lease or right to occupy or something like that. It had obviously been photocopied with the photo on top. Smiling back at her from the screen was Lily¡¯s father.

    ¡°Hey! I know him,¡± Sly remarked as he stepped up behind her to have a look.

    Indi turned to look at him in surprise. ¡°You know him?!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well not personally, but I know of him. He¡¯s a politician in Mercy. Lost his wife and daughter in a car accident a few months back. It was in the paper.¡±

    ¡°In Mercy?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, isn¡¯t that what I just said?¡±

    ¡°Necromancy¡¯s illegal there.¡±

    Sly frowned. ¡°Necromancy¡¯s illegal in most places.¡±

    ¡°Yeah but it¡¯s like extra illegal there.¡± Indi licked her lips in thought and then she turned to Sly and explained. ¡°The last job I worked on. This guy, he was there. He had this facility. He was leasing it by the looks of it.¡± She turned back to the computer and skimmed some of the rest of the document and noted the other name on the agreement. ¡°Do you know an Argo Mortimer?¡±

    Sly nodded. He peered over her shoulder. ¡°He¡¯s another politician I believe. I don¡¯t think they¡¯re in the same department though.¡±

    ¡°The same department?¡± Indi had very little knowledge about the government in Mercy operated. All she knew was that it was very different to how things were done here in the Greenstone Valley. Mercy was one of the largest and most modern cities on the continent. Only a few days drive from the Greenstone Valley if you wanted to avoid teleportation but a whole world away in terms of culture and governance. Indi had visited once when she was very young. All she remembered was that it had been so big and full of more people than one could ever imagine. And all the tech, even back then, had been cutting edge. She¡¯d always wanted to go back.

    Sly nodded. ¡°Mercy has independent departments, each with their own set of concerns, like education, security, the environment, finance, diplomatic relations, et cetera. Each department has it¡¯s own independent elections but they also have a hierarchy, sub departments, head departments, and agreements which require a certain amount of cooperation between different departments. Certain departments outrank others, and then there are departments of departments.¡±

    Indi narrowed her eyes at him, not sure if he was messing with her or not.

    Sly smiled. ¡°You think that sounds crazy, I think at one point they even had a department of meetings to set regulations around how many meetings other departments could have and who had to be at each meeting. And a timekeeping department, a parliamentary bathroom usage department, even a toy poodle department.¡±

    ¡°Now I know you¡¯re messing with me.¡±

    Sly shook his head. He laughed but it was his standard laugh, not his teasing laugh. ¡°No, I¡¯m serious, although the poodle department was pretty low down. They handled regulations for dog shows and stuff. People in Mercy love their dog shows. Anyway,¡±¡ªhe nodded at the screen¡ª¡°what does this Cornelius fella have to do with necromancy.¡±

    Indi gave him a serious look. ¡°Because he tried to bring back his kid and wife.¡±

    ¡°No kidding?¡± Sly studied Indi¡¯s expression a moment and then he frowned. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that require blood sacrifices?¡±

    Indi nodded. ¡°And we were supposed to be it. Us and a whole bunch of others who weren¡¯t so lucky.¡±

    Sly¡¯s expression darkened and for a moment Indi could feel his emotions chill the room. Then he regained his control and the heaviness lifted. The look on his face did not.

    ¡°This was one of Coal¡¯s jobs?¡± he asked.

    Indi nodded and rapidly spoke. ¡°But as you can see, I¡¯m perfectly fine. We all are, our group at least, well, except for the small thing where we now have his necromancied kid and the father, Cornelius, is nowhere to be seen.¡±

    Sly stared at Indi speechless for a a full four seconds. ¡°Indi! People have been hung for less than offenses than hiding potential zombies.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know if she¡¯s going to turn.¡±

    ¡°When was she resurrected? Because if you tell me it was in the last few weeks... Indi, I remember what date that car accident happened. There¡¯s no way the guy pulled off a lasting necromancy that long after a death.¡±

    ¡°The cops do it all the time, sometimes even for victims who are decades old.¡±

    ¡°Temporarily, not permanently, and usually by professionals, sorcerers in most cases. Indi, that sort of thing is very hard to do. I tried it once. Getting information out of a corpse is like... well like getting information out of a corpse.¡±

    Indi frowned. ¡°You tried it once?¡±

    Sly ignored her question. ¡°For a regular necro to pull off...¡±

    ¡°He didn¡¯t have a regular necro.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re trying to tell me that a politician from Mercy, an aristocrat, and a sorcerer were all working together, I¡¯m going to go and buy shares in the snail fighting business because that sounds like the start of a bad joke.¡±

    ¡°He didn¡¯t have a sorcerer.¡±

    Sly stared at her in silence.

    Indi glanced at the floor and bit her lip. ¡°He didn¡¯t use a necromancer at all.¡±

    She heard Sly laugh. When she glanced up at him, he was giving her a sympathetic look.

    ¡°Indi...¡±

    ¡°He had a lot of sacrifices.¡±

    That reply didn¡¯t seem to appease Sly. He was giving her more of a concerned look by the minute.

    ¡°She¡¯s not a zombie yet. What would you have us do, just kill her?¡± Indi¡¯s voice rose in pitch.

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    Sly shook his head. ¡°You should hand her over to the authorities.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re useless.¡± Indi rolled her eyes.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mean Little Rock authorities, or even the Emerald city. I mean, call in someone from Mercy or Myst. They have protocols for this kind of thing.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t think they¡¯d kill her?¡± Indi asked, genuinely unsure of the answer. The others hadn¡¯t suggested it and she figured that had been for a good reason but maybe it hadn¡¯t, maybe they just hadn¡¯t thought of it.

    Sly started to shake his head and opened his mouth to reply but then he hesitated. His eyes looked past her at the computer screen. He nodded at it. ¡°What else is in the data you decoded?¡±

    Indi and Sly spent the next couple of hours going through the files.

    ¡°So what exactly was the job you were hired to do?¡± Sly asked after stifling a yawn. He was seated on the couch now, his own laptop open on his lap and a copy of the decrypted files on it.

    Indi spun her computer chair to face him. ¡°Coal said, ¡®play along with what they want and figure out what they are doing.¡¯ He wasn¡¯t very specific, other than that they had some creature on the loose. He often isn¡¯t. But, I mean, that¡¯s clients in general right? Like the other day, I had this one guy, he wanted a shopping trolley feature added to his website, which is fine, except I asked him what what sort of things he was planning on selling and he said he didn¡¯t know, he just thought it would be a useful feature to have. He owns a cafe, which, I suppose there are things which one could sell online but he-¡±

    ¡°So Coal didn¡¯t know? What Cornelius was doing.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. We told him most of what we found, but not that we have the girl.¡±

    Sly was quiet for a moment. ¡°He had to know who Cornelius was.¡±

    ¡°Maybe.¡±

    Sly shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no way he wouldn¡¯t. He¡¯s an aristocrat. His lifestyle and probably his life depends on knowing that sort of thing.¡±

    ¡°You said the guy was in a less important department?¡±

    ¡°Mmm, but not poodles. Transport I think, teleportation regulation. He¡¯s been in the news a bit lately. People have been getting a bit antsy over some proposed policy. Don¡¯t you follow the news?¡±

    Indi shook her head. ¡°The news is depressing, inaccurate, and it¡¯s mostly just the same stuff recycled over and over. Falco tells me if anything important is actually happening.¡± She shrugged. ¡°I have some sites I check occasionally but they don¡¯t really report on stuff that¡¯s happening in Mercy. Also there¡¯s this one local paper that pretty much just reports on happy stories. I skim that occasionally and their crosswords are fun.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Sly¡¯s gaze shifted toward their kitchen table which was piled high with an array of newspapers and other assorted magazines and paperwork. ¡°Do you guys ever use your kitchen table.¡±

    Indi followed his gaze. ¡°We mostly eat at the island.¡±

    ¡°Mmm.¡± Sly stifled another yawn.

    Indi glanced at the time. ¡°Oh Gods! It¡¯s late. I should show you where you¡¯re sleeping and give you a quick tour.¡±

    Sly nodded as he yawned again. He held up a finger. ¡°Just one thing. Maybe I was wrong before, about contacting Mercy or bringing the sorcerers into this.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Well, you have a mid-level politician from Mercy purchasing fodder from an aristocrat, to be used in a necromancy ritual, without a necromancer, in a hidden research facility in neutral territory. That¡¯s a lot of dirty work for a clean politician.¡±

    Indi frowned. "A clean politician?"

    "Yeah, but that''s Mercy''s whole image ain''t it. The city without sin."

    Indi looked at him doubtfully.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, there¡¯s corruption there, not to mention few other issues with that city depending on one¡¯s preferences, but relatively speaking, Mercy has one of the lowest rates of corruption of anywhere on this continent. Compare it to the Greenstone Valley where deals between the aristocrats and the local councils are basically a standard part of government. They don¡¯t even hide it, or Myst where magic might makes right.¡±

    Indi shifted uncomfortably. She hated too much political talk. ¡°We should do what Myst does but for intelligence instead of magic.¡±

    ¡°Mmm, if only intelligence guaranteed kindness.¡± Sly retorted. ¡°And in a way, Myst does do that. Entry requirements for sorcerers do involve intelligence tests. One could say the same for aristocrats. Even with the hefty dose of nepotism and inheritance, stupid aristocrats don¡¯t often survive into adulthood. Unfortunately there¡¯s a heavy selection toward ruthlessness there too. Thing is, Mercy does a good job, generally speaking, of not letting their elite get away with shit like this and everyone knows he lost his wife and daughter in a car accident. It was all over the news, so how did he think he was going to explain them suddenly turning up alive again?¡±

    ¡°Hide them away somewhere?¡± Indi suggested.

    Sly shook his head then he shrugged. ¡°Maybe, but it¡¯s not ideal. Why did he ask an aristocrat for help? And why just for sacrifices? Why not for a necromancer? Most of these names here,¡±¡ªSly pointed at his computer¡ª¡°the other sacrifices, they have criminal records in Mercy. That¡¯s not unusual, prisoner trading is common there, but if he¡¯d already bought this many, why branch out to the Greenstone Valley?¡±

    ¡°Wolf said, the more powerful the sacrifice the better the spell works. People in Mercy aren¡¯t as powerful and the sorcerers would never go for something like this.¡±

    ¡°Mmm, okay, but why not a necromancer?¡±

    Indi shrugged. ¡°He couldn¡¯t find one?¡±

    Sly shook his head. ¡°Any aristocrat worth half his salt can find a necromancer for the right price.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it was too expensive?¡±

    ¡°Possible, but I think he went to an aristocrat for another reason. Maybe he was looking for a scapegoat, a way to disappear with his family, someone to blame. Who knows? Anyway,¡±¡ªSly stretched his arms up¡ª¡°I¡¯d suggest you don¡¯t go mentioning this stuff to anyone else until you know what the guy¡¯s plans were. It¡¯s the sort of thing that could cause trouble between regions. Especially considering the other experiments detailed in these documents. This sort of information could destabilise the government in Mercy.¡±

    ¡°If the government¡¯s got corruption in it maybe a little destabilising wouldn¡¯t be so bad for them?¡±

    Sly shook his head. ¡°A lot of the freedom we have in the Greenstone valley depends on the continued existence and balance of those three groups. The sorcerers, the aristocrats, and the politicians. As long as there are three powers, two of them can always join together to keep the stronger one in check, but if any one of them should ever fall, there¡¯s much less motivation to work together on things or to cater to the desires of the people within their regions. And Mercy¡¯s been in a delicate state lately. The blood protests are occurring even in her streets. It¡¯s not so bad in the Greenstone Valley, occasional chaos and differing opinions define us, but in Mercy it¡¯s really not a good sign. Permanent peace is a big part of what they sell that city on.¡±

    Indi yawned but not because she was tired. She was bored of political discussion. She wanted to get back to reading about the research they¡¯d been doing at the facility before Cornelius had taken it over. Some of it was truly horrific. Horrific but fascinating.

    Sly didn¡¯t miss a thing. As Indi yawned, he glanced at his watch again. ¡°Right, well I¡¯m sure I¡¯ve bored you enough for one night.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not boring me.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh.¡± Sly returned her an amused smile.

    ¡°I¡¯ll um, show you to your room. Got you a bed and everything. Quick tour first though.¡±

    Sly nodded. He stretched, then he followed Indi toward the hallway. ¡°A bed sounds grand. I slept in the car last night. Had to bail on a really nice hotel room last minute. They gave me some credit though. Hotel Grush if you¡¯re ever in Mercy and looking for somewhere to stay. Just give them my name, tell em you¡¯re my sister.¡±

    She gave him a quick tour of the upstairs, then led him downstairs. The guest room was directly beneath the living room.

    ¡°So what happened between you and Sara?¡± Indi asked as they crossed the garage toward the downstairs rooms. Her car was still at Cat¡¯s.

    ¡°Oh that, well.¡± Sly ran one hand through his hair, messing up its tidiness. ¡°I cheated on her.¡±

    ¡°You what?¡± Indi stopped walking at tuned to face him.

    Sly now looked more tired than he had all night.

    ¡°Just the once?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but it doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

    Indi continued leading him toward the guest room. ¡°With who?¡±

    ¡°An old flame, someone you don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Did you try apologizing?¡±

    At the look on Sly¡¯s face when she glanced back she added, ¡°Did you get a boom box and play it outside her window? Something romantic like ¡®I Can¡¯t Live Without You.¡¯¡±

    ¡°That only works in the movies Indi.¡±

    ¡°Oh... well...¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s your car?¡±

    ¡°Um... it¡¯s at the garage.¡±

    ¡°What for?¡±

    ¡°Cracked window.¡± Indi paused at the entrance to the guest room and turned back to gesture him in first.

    He was eyeing her closely.

    She made her eyes big and wide and forced herself to think of anything but that trip to the blood bank.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Sly was frowning.

    ¡°So this is your room.¡± Indi turned away and gestured to it, speaking before he could get any more questions in. ¡°And the bathroom¡¯s just down there.¡± She pointed further along the hallway toward a room under the stairs. ¡°Help yourself to anything.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Indi.¡±

    They hugged each other good night and then Indi returned upstairs. It might be late for Sly but Indi still had time for a little more research.

 Volume 2, Chapter 57: Evidence

    Among the encrypted files had been several folders of videos, each video was labelled with a mix of letters and numbers. Indi hadn¡¯t yet found anything that clarified what the different numbers and letters meant. She clicked one labeled EX12HS03.

    A video started playing. The film was shaky and dark. The camera appeared to be held or attached to someone or something. It bounced along through darkened corridors that looked familiar. The concrete walls, occasionally lit up by a small bouncing light, looked very much like the ones that she¡¯d seen back in the facility a little over a week ago.

    In the silence of her own house she could clearly hear someone breathing over the audio. They were panting, like they had been walking for some time.

    She watched as whoever it was paused to rest. As their breathing slowed slightly a new sound could be heard in the background. The sound of a baby crying. For a moment the breathing stopped and the baby was all that Indi could hear. Then the breathing started up again and the camera continued moving forward, waving about, bobbing in time with the walker¡¯s pace.

    The camera moved slowly toward the sound of the crying baby. It grew in volume, louder and louder, more urgent. Indi¡¯s own breathing quickened in pace. She wanted to see it saved.

    Three minutes into the video the small light that was behind the camera suddenly went out. The crying sound of the baby morphed into that of a laughing child. There were growls and a clatter, then a yelp. That was where the video ended.

    She clicked another, one labelled EX12HS15, but this time she did not watch it all the way through. Instead she skipped ahead to various points. It was much the same except no crying baby. There was talking, a muttering sound. She leaned in close to the speakers and could just make out what was being said.

    A male voice murmured, ¡°Just keep going. Gotta be a way out. There will be a way out. As long as I keep going, just gotta keep going.¡±

    This video was several minutes longer. At one point the person found a well lit room. The walls were covered with artwork, all the same scenic painting. There was a click and a strange hissing sound. Indi watched as a white fog was pumped into the lower portion of the room. Slowly it seemed to be rising. It reminded her of the water room that she and Cat had been temporarily trapped in. A puzzle. Indeed, as she watched, the man studied but did not touch the paintings. They all looked the same to Indi but the man could obviously see something she couldn¡¯t. After 30 seconds of looking he picked one out.

    ¡°This one, this one,¡± he muttered.

    He lifted the painting to reveal a hole in the wall. The man sighed and reached a hand inside. On his forearm she could just make out a tattoo, a shield of some kind with what looked like a lion walking along the top of it.

    There was a click as the man turned something inside the hole. Indi held her breath.

    A grinding sounded and then the camera fixed on an opening door. The rising white fog started to fade.

    Indi took in a deep breath. So did the man.

    He put the painting back on the wall and then he left the room, glancing back only briefly.

    Indi frowned. Had that been a figure there, back in the room? The camera had only shown the image for a second. The subject had obviously caught a glance of something too for he turned to look again. This time the camera showed nothing.

    Indi paused the recording and dragged the timestamp back. It was a blur but it was obvious. A person shaped shadow stared back at her from the screen. The figure was dark from head to foot, no indication of clothing and the eyes seemed to be glowing, like there was a fire in them. Indi skipped ahead to watch the end. It finished much the same way as the other one had. The light cut out and then the video ended a moment later.

    The third file Indi clicked on was labelled EX12WS62. This subject had slender hands and long manicured nails, painted a clear pink and tipped white. There was another puzzle room. This one contained ropes, weights and scales. Indi watched as the person shifted pulleys around and used telekinesis to hold some of the weights in place.

    Indi clicked thorough several more videos. Altogether there were hundreds of them. Some ended quickly, some went on for hours. Some of them met their end at the jaws of the mimics, others died in the puzzles. One of the longest ones found his way to an underground natural pool of water. It was lit by sunlight coming through a hole in the ceiling but there was obviously no way to reach it. The subject stayed there for hours and then suddenly the video just ended. Indi wasn¡¯t sure what happened to him. The average run time seemed to be about 3 minutes but when each video started from appeared to be completely random.

    There was one thing she was starting to notice though. Very consistently, all of the videos labelled with a W in the name appeared to be magic users, witches. She took a quick itinerary of the other options. All the videos in this folder began with EX12, followed by the letters H, W, V, D, B, and one or two labelled C, then an S and another number. The folder itself was labelled ¡®12-SpIn¡¯. Others were labelled things such as ¡®03-InBe¡¯, ¡®09-SoRe¡¯, ¡®04-NuPh¡¯, ¡®01-EnHa¡¯. One was simply labelled ¡®XX¡¯.

    Indi clicked on ¡®09-SoRe¡¯ and played a couple of the videos. In one a victim lay in a chair while figures dressed in white overalls placed a cloth on his face and poured water over him while he thrashed and struggled against restraints. In another, a scruffy looking man got his fingers chopped off with a machete. Indi jumped as the blade came down and closed the video before anyone could scream. She quickly clicked out of that folder.

    ¡®03-InBe¡¯ appeared to be experiments involving multiple subjects. In ¡®01-EnHa¡¯ the subjects were used as sacrifices in spells. One video Indi opened labelled ¡®EX04VS07¡¯, consisted of a camera pointing down at an empty room. There was a bed, a chair, a bucket, and a plate of biscuits, but nothing else and no one that Indi could see.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    She leaned in closer trying to see if there was anything weird about the room or if maybe someone was hiding under the bed.

    Suddenly a face thrust itself right in front of the camera. A sunken, fanged face, with greying skin. Indi jerked back from her screen and nearly fell off her chair.

    The lights above her flickered and she froze. Her heart beat fast. Then the lights settled, the face on the screen continued to growl at the screen but it didn¡¯t jump out of the screen or anything.

    Indi relaxed. Power fluctuations in Little Rock were not unusual. Up here on the cliffs they rarely ever lost power but occasionally the lights might dim or flicker. Now that she was calm she studied the face closer. She could make out violet eyes, much like her own. These ones were tinged with flecks of red.

    The vampire dropped down from the camera and walked into the centre of the room. Indi could see now that it was a woman. She sat herself down at the table and rested her head on her arms. Indi felt sorry for her now for she could recognise the obvious effects of blood starvation.

    She clicked back out of that folder. She eyed the one labelled ¡®XX¡¯. She clicked it.

    Nothing happened.

    She tried moving her mouse.

    Nothing happened. Her mouse was frozen. Her computer whirred. ¡°Dammit,¡± she mumbled. She sat back and waited. A moment later a pop up appeared, one she¡¯d made herself.

    ¡®Enemy Program Detected. Initiating Cleanup. Commencing Full Reboot.¡¯

    ¡°Full reboot!?¡± Indi stared. She¡¯d opened that in a sandbox. It shouldn¡¯t need a full reboot, not unless there was some kooky technopathic shit going on. That was probably the case. She sighed and waited. She had planned for this possibility even if she hadn¡¯t expected it.

    Once her pc rebooted she checked the decrypted folder. All the files were gone. It was no matter, she¡¯d made several copies after all. It just meant that this was probably going to take longer than she thought. She started up a logger and clicked the ¡®XX¡¯ file again.

    There would be more hidden trojans like that one, she was certain. Not for the first time in her life, she wished she¡¯d been born with a different set of powers. If she¡¯d been born a technopath, this sweep would take far less time.

    While her main computer ran a sweeping program, Indi booted up a second laptop. On that one she continued reading. She avoided the videos now, just opening text files. Finally she came across a folder titled ¡®Amelie¡¯s Notes¡¯ which seemed to give more information on the experiments in addition to some personal musings. Written in one file, and dated almost a year ago, she read:

    The effects of the splice hole appear to vary greatly dependent on the individual in question, however no overall trend could be found across different species. Furthermore, binding or restricting power usage had little impact on the survival rate of the subject. Human subjects appear to have a slightly easier time of it than a bound witch but the difference is non-significant. The challenges of the splice, appear uniquely tailored to the individual, however the manner of the tailoring is difficult to predict. Subjects with known mental problems appear no more or less presented with mental challenges than other subjects. Challenges can be largely grouped into mental, physical, magical, or psychological. Although the latter is rare and makes observation of the subject difficult. Observation of the subject is further impeded as the subject enters deeper into the Splice. To date, we have lost contact with three subjects and the exit to this hole has yet to be located. The bulk of the surviving subjects seem to loop back around to the centre. Attempts to measure distance and direction within the Splice have thus far proven interesting. Likewise, none of us yet understand the exact nature of the old spells which are in operation here but once we figure it out, who knows what we could accomplish.

    In another file she read:

    We have a week left of testing and then we have been told to cease our experiments, and hand operational control of the facility over to the army folks. We have not been told who will be in charge or the nature of their planned activities but we have been given the opportunity to stay on and aid them with whatever it is they will be doing. I have talked it over with my sister and I think we will both accept. Although I do not think these newcomers fully appreciate the nature of what this place is, it will be interesting to see how it interacts with them and I am sure they will find our skills useful.

    There were other folders like that but with different names; ¡®George¡¯s Notes¡¯, ¡®Lea¡¯s notes¡¯. One folder was simply labelled ¡®Trevor¡¯.

    Indi clicked it.

    It was filled with news articles, depositions, legal files, and several mugshots, most of them dated over seven years ago. One of the newspaper articles was titled, ¡®The Summertime Slicer Slapped Into Stripes!¡¯ Another, ¡®How the Summertime Slicer Slipped Up!¡¯. Indi read through a very detailed account of how Trevor aka the Summertime Slicer, had murdered his way across Mercy for several years before being caught.

    Trevor Ramone used his materiokinesis to entrap one victim without the walls of her own home so upon later investigation it appeared she had simply starved to death. For days he sat and through a manipulated wall he listened to screams no one else could hear.

    Another victim, Sophie Stevens, was a 23 year old waitress who disappeared one morning on her way to work. Several months of interrogations revealed that Trevor, using the recorded cries of a kitten he had earlier maimed, lured her into an abandoned building rigged with wire traps. Like many of Trevor¡¯s later victims, Sophie was found severely dismembered, likely while still alive.

    Indi read deeper into the rabbit hole, not wanting to know, but finding it impossible to look away. The guy had been a maniac whose crimes had grown exponentially more sophisticated and daring until he¡¯d finally been captured. All up, he¡¯d killed 23 known victims, but was suspected of over 20 more unsolved murders. He¡¯d been magically bound and locked away for the last several years in a prison in Mercy. Evidently someone had sprung him free.

    Each murder was only more and more disturbing.

    Mallory and Cal O¡¯Maverick were owners of an apple orchard just east of Mercy. One day Cal heard a noise coming from the attic-

    CLICK! THUMP!

    Indi had become so engrossed in the history of the serial killer that she hadn¡¯t even heard the door open and Falco come in.

    ¡°Gods, you nearly gave me a heart attack,¡± she remarked with relief.

    Falco hung up his jacket and then glanced at his watch. ¡°You should have been asleep hours ago.¡±

    ¡°And you said you¡¯d be home hours ago.¡± Indi wrapped him in a tight hug.

    He hugged her back. ¡°I know, I¡¯m sorry. I got caught up. What have you been doing? Working?¡±

    Indi shook her head. ¡°I finally managed to decrypt that data we took from the facility. They were up to some kooky stuff, just give me a few days to sort through it and then I can summarise. Also that guy Trevor was a serial killer.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I know. And a whole bunch more stuff. Like, he had a seer working with him who was also a scientist and doing really horrific experiments long before the whole necromancy thing. Come see.¡±

    Falco groaned and reached for her before she could get back to her computer. ¡°Can it wait until tomorrow?¡± He yawned, rubbed her arms gently and pulled her back into a loose hug.

    ¡°Yeah sure.¡± There was a note of disappointment in her tone. ¡°Just let me shut my computer down.¡±

    ¡°Okay, then come tell me some of what you¡¯ve learned while we get ready for bed.¡±

    Indi nodded and returned to her computer. A moment later she glanced back up. ¡°Oh, Sly¡¯s here by the way. Just for a few nights. I put him in the guest room.¡±

    Falco gave a tired nod and then headed off towards their room.

    Indi shut all the computers down, even the one doing a sweep and log. She¡¯d restart it tomorrow. Given that she now suspected that the data she¡¯d taken had very conveniently probably belonged to the IT guy who was also probably a technopath, she decided it was a good idea to play everything safe. She even unplugged the power cable, just in case.

 Volume 2, Chapter 58: Questions

    Miles away, sitting in a tent, overlooking a pile of rubble, Alex complained about her day to her assigned bunk mate, Marcia.

    ¡°No matter what I tell them, they keep asking the same questions. Over and over.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re just checking the consistency of your story,¡± Marcia replied. She was sitting on her bunk in her army fatigues, cleaning her boots.

    Marcia was a good soldier. Always obeyed orders, never answered back, never questioned her superiors. Alex hated her, she never said anything interesting. Not like Marc who had always had a good quip and knew when to break the rules.

    ¡°And now the damn HPL is up my arse as well.¡±

    ¡°With all due respect, they¡¯re up the whole army¡¯s arse, sir,¡± Marcia replied.

    Alex sighed and took a seat on her own bunk and stared out the tent flap at the remains of the facility. ¡°Yeah but as the one who found the human, they have extra special questions for me, as if I somehow knew where he came from. As if I didn¡¯t call it in the moment I found him. As if having any kind of human extraction procedure would have made any difference in this case. The protection league can shove their questions-¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know where he came from?¡± Marcia interrupted. It was a forward question for her but Alex was on a roll.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t know where he came from, for the thousandth time. He just appeared out of nowhere.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have any idea?¡±

    ¡°I climbed out of the facility and there he was. I don¡¯t know what happened. I don¡¯t know what was going on in that place or what went wrong. I was there to guard the subjects. That was all. We were attacked by some creatures, but as to where they came from I couldn¡¯t say, and I don¡¯t know what caused the explosion.¡± Alex paced back and forth. Not all of what she said was the truth but she didn¡¯t trust Marcia. She had known some of what they were doing, the intent if not the details. Alex wasn¡¯t sure if Cornelius had gotten out of the facility with his family or if she was the only survivor. She hoped the child was safe at least. Criminals in exchange for the life of loved ones, especially one so young, had always seemed an easy trade, but something had gone horribly horribly wrong. She wished Marc was here. He would know what to do. She couldn¡¯t get that image of his death out of her head.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°Sounds like you failed at that job then,¡± Marcia replied nonchalantly as she relaced her boots.

    Alex fumed but didn¡¯t rise to the bait. There wasn¡¯t much point and the less she said the better.

    <hr>

    An hour later...

    ¡°I don¡¯t think she knows anything more than she says sir.¡± Marcia stood in the captain¡¯s tent, eyes obediently to the floor.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    Marcia nodded.

    ¡°Well,¡±¡ªa sigh¡ª¡°I suppose there¡¯s not much to do but wait until the evacuation is underway. If only the bulk of the reserves weren¡¯t tied up in the city dealing with those damn protestors.¡±

    ¡°We could call in some help from the navy sir?¡±

    ¡°Pffft! The navy! Those damn holier than thou monkeys couldn¡¯t lift a rock if you gave them a fulcrum and a wheelbarrow. Besides we don¡¯t need the aristocrats and sorcerers knowing what we¡¯re doing out here.¡±

    ¡°I thought the navy were independent contractors sir?¡±

    ¡°Pfft! In naught but name. Everyone knows it¡¯s the aristocrats and sorcerers who provide most of their funding.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ve done work for Mercy before sir?¡±

    ¡°Not this sort of work, besides I hear they¡¯re tied up in the Emerald city with their own protests. Dismissed.¡±

    ¡°Sir?

    ¡°I said dismissed.¡±

    ¡°But sir-¡±

    ¡°Sergeant!¡±

    ¡°What about the human?¡±

    ¡°What about the human? The HPL sent him to Witchaven, we can¡¯t touch him.¡±

    ¡°Witchaven isn¡¯t completely off-limits to witches though sir, and it¡¯s not like they¡¯d know. New people come and go occasionally. It wouldn¡¯t take much to send someone there, to make friends, ask a few questions, confirm Alex¡¯s story.¡± Marcia waited while the captain considered it.

    ¡°Fine, but I didn¡¯t approve this got it?¡±

    ¡°Yes sir.¡±

    ¡°Good night Sergeant.¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 59: Stray

    Cat didn¡¯t go back to her garage that night. She had a bed there, above where she worked, but she rarely slept in it. She slept better when there was someone else in the room. It made the nightmares less frequent. She never stayed in one bed too long either but there were some she went back to regularly. Baz¡¯s little shack had become one of those places.

    Baz was with a client when she got there. He glanced up briefly and gave her the once over, checking to see whether she¡¯d turned up in need of medical attention or simply in want of company.

    Satisfied that she wasn¡¯t dying, he turned his attention back to his work. He was stitching up some poor bloke who looked like he¡¯d pushed his luck a bit too far in one of those semi-illegal but tolerated fight clubs.

    That had been her once, back when she¡¯d first returned to Little Rock. There was good money to be made out there, if you know how to throw a punch and dodge a fireball. Cat had mostly stuck to the physical only fights but there had been many a night where she¡¯d pushed her luck too hard and ended up on Baz¡¯s table.

    The healers board was not a fan of the fight clubs for an obvious reason. They had the full support of the aristocrats and the local council to heavily charge anyone who walked into the hospital with injuries incurred in a fight, and so, those in the know found other places to go where they could be fixed up.

    Baz was no healer, nor did he look like one, with his large teddy-bear like frame and overgrown beard. His plaid shirt and jeans were old and shabby but they were durable. He could have passed for a lumberjack if not for the needle and thread in his gloved hands.

    Cat leaned against the door frame and watched him work. Baz may not be a healer but his mother had been and she had taught Baz most of his medical knowledge before she¡¯d died. The early death of a parent was something they had in common, although Baz had never known his father.

    Baz¡¯s patient eyed Cat warily with darting bruised eyes. Perhaps he hadn¡¯t been at the fight clubs, perhaps he¡¯d simply gotten on the wrong side of some unscrupulous individual. Baz treated all sorts of folks. He was good for the price he charged. He never talked too much, his hands were steady, his tongue wasn¡¯t too bad either Cat thought with a wry smile to herself.

    Cat ignored his patient and kept her eyes on Baz. She liked the way he focused so singularly on his tasks. He¡¯d built this house himself, years ago, just enough room for what he needed and no more. He could do basic car and motorcycle maintenance and he wasn¡¯t a bad driver. He could hunt and fish, and oh gods his cooking was to die for. But he never bragged or wanted for much. He never asked too many questions. She came and went and he never complained, and so she came back again, sometimes after months in someone else¡¯s bed. It was to this little cozy, comfy, shack which she returned more than anywhere.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    Baz didn¡¯t get by on just providing medical care though. He did other jobs too, cleaning mostly, but sometimes he worked as a bouncer, not just because he was a big guy but because his powers made him well suited to it. It was ironic for someone who preferred to clean and fix things to have a power like his. With one thought he could make every nerve in your body feel like it was being ripped out and set on fire, and when people experienced that much pain, they rarely spared a thought for using their own abilities. But Baz didn¡¯t use it often. He was, most of the time, as Cat saw him, a giant teddy bear.

    With no more than a grunt Baz let the guy know that his work was done. There was an exchange of money and then the patient skulked out the door and into the night.

    Once he was gone and Baz had tided up, he turned to Cat. He gave her another once over, no doubt confirming his initial assessment of no injuries. He didn¡¯t trust her to give an honest response anymore so now he never bothered asking. Once she had turned up with a bullet wound that hadn¡¯t been immediately obvious. He had had another patient then too. Baz had asked her if she could wait and she had said that she could. He hadn¡¯t been too happy when he¡¯d asked what she had come there for and she¡¯d lifted up her shirt to reveal a weeping hole in her side. It might have seemed like a rude question to ask but it had been the middle of the day, not when she usually showed up and Baz was not one for beating around the bush, not that sort of bush anyway.

    Cat liked his eyes on her. She leaned against the door frame at an angle which she knew accentuated every curve, and she could see from the way Baz¡¯s gaze tracked that he was not unappreciative.

    ¡°Bed?¡± was all Baz asked.

    Cat had but to nod.

    Baz always let Cat initiate things physically. He never pushed her and he never tired to go on top. That was how Cat liked it. She also liked how he stretched his head back and the way she could hear his breathing quicken. The way his lips parted slightly and his hips pressed upward, hard between her legs. She liked the way he grunted when he was done and how afterward he would wrap her in a tight hug before they fell asleep together in that tiny room with no windows and no door, just a corner and a hallway hid them from the rest of the house. It felt like a bear¡¯s cave or a den, quiet, warm, and safe.

    Cat had meant to tell him about the baby. There would come a point where she would no longer be able to hide it. But in their moment of passion Cat had decided that conversation could wait, at least one more night, just like she had decided the night before.

    <hr>

    A ringing phone woke her up early in the morning. She stretched her naked body and reached her hands out for Baz even before she¡¯d opened her eyes. Finding nobody there, she propped herself up, still half asleep and looked around the room.

    He stood at the end of the bed, pants halfway on, phone to his ear. ¡°Yep, I¡¯m on my way.¡± He hung up the phone and seeing she was awake he added, ¡°Got a job. I¡¯ll see you later.¡±

    ¡°Mmm,¡± she replied as she lowered her head back down to the pillow. A moment later she opened one eye and asked, ¡°Is it Coal?¡±

    But Baz had already left.

 Volume 2, Chapter 60: Full House

    Sirius woke Amanda the next morning with a kiss. She groaned. There seemed to be more sunlight than usual leaking in between the gap in the dark curtains. She rolled over, wanting to know what time the clock said. It was late, after 9am already.

    As she blinked herself more awake she realized Sirius was already dressed and sitting on top of covers looking like he''d been up for awhile.

    "I turned off the alarm and fed the horses already. Thought I''d let you sleep in. You were up late."

    She rubbed her eyes then smiled dozily at him. "I was worried?"

    "About the kids?"

    "Yeah, and Lily, and that darn house, and all the bodies in it, and what Coal¡¯s going to do..." She trailed off with a sigh.

    He nodded then leaned over and kissed the top of her chest, just below her collarbone. "Need a distraction?"

    She laughed. "No..."

    As he shrugged and started to turn away, she grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him back. "Yes," she said right before pulling him into a kiss. It was deep and passionate and it went on for some time.

    Sirius¡¯s hand started to wander beneath the bed sheets. He found Amanda¡¯s bare thighs.

    She pulled back from his kiss and glanced toward the door. It was open just a crack.

    Sirius slid off the bed and closed it. Returning to her side, he asked, ¡°Where were we?¡±

    Amanda pushed herself up on to her elbows and raised her chin enticingly until he leaned down and met her lips with his. ¡°About here,¡± she replied in a soft whisper and she kissed him again.

    Her hands tugged his shirt up towards his head. Her fingers graced the faded scars which lined his muscular back.

    They broke apart so she could tug his shirt the rest of the way off. As she threw it to the floor, Sirius pulled the duvet off her, revealing her laying there in her old oversized high school rock band t-shirt and a pair of panties. Her nipples made obvious indents in the loose faded black fabric.

    She immediately yanked the covers back up. ¡°It¡¯s cold,¡± she gasped followed by a soft laugh.

    ¡°You just took my shirt off,¡± he objected.

    As he arched his shoulders back in mock indignation, Amanda hungrily eyed every inch of his large, slightly hairy, not-quite as chiseled as it once had been chest. ¡°Well you can always get in under here with me.¡± She stared him directly in the eyes and poked her tongue out between her teeth.

    Sirius wasted no time in accepting the invitation.

    As his cold hands tickled her thighs she smothered another gasp. Too loud and the kids would hear. At least they were old enough now to know better than to enter without knocking.

    His unshaven chin tickled another part of her. Anything that had previously been on her mind immediately faded away. Her only thought became entirely fixated on what he was doing with his tongue. She lay her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes, just letting that feeling he was inducing in her swirl around and grow.

    She was nearing the pinnacle of bliss when somewhere in the next room, a baby started crying. It threatened to tug her mind back to reality. She tried to ignore it. The baby was Gemma¡¯s responsibility. She would help soon, in just a few more seconds. That was all she needed. Just a few more seconds.

    Sirius stopped.

    Amanda cursed inwardly.

    He reached a hand up and pulled the covers back so she could see his green eyes peeking out from beneath the covers. ¡°Do you wanna stop?¡± he whispered.

    She shook her head, trying to hold on to that feeling. ¡°No,¡± she replied breathlessly. She leaned her head back and with her feet, she tried to pull him closer towards her.

    She heard the unzipping of his jeans and the next thing she knew, he was inside her.

    Between Sirius¡¯s gentle stroking fingers all over her skin, and his slow consistent thrusts, Amanda was soon back where she had been before the interruption.

    At some point the baby stopped crying, attended to by its¡¯ mother, but neither of them registered the change in sound. They were far too focused on the feeling and movement of one another.

    Soon they lay together, side by side, exhausted and coated in a thin layer of sweat. They remained that way for almost a full minute of blissful silence.

    Then there came a loud crash from somewhere downstairs on the other side of the house, likely the kitchen.

    ¡°We should probably go see what that is.¡± Sirius lay on his belly next to his wife, his butt bare naked, his shirt still off. He made no move to get up.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Amanda agreed with a sigh.

    A moment passed of neither one of them moving.

    ¡°It¡¯s quiet now,¡± Sirius observed.

    ¡°Too quiet,¡± Amanda replied.

    Sirius gave a laugh by puffing air through his nose.

    Another moment later Amanda remarked, ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking.¡±

    ¡°What, while we were...¡±

    ¡°No, after that.¡± She laughed at the tone in his voice. It didn¡¯t match the smile on his face or the twinkle in his eye, but she knew which was real and which was fake. ¡°That, was a nice distraction. It did a bloody good job of clearing my mind.¡± She smiled back at him.

    ¡°Thinking about what then?¡±

    ¡°What if we used time travel?¡±

    Sirius¡¯s smile fell away immediately.

    Amanda continued quickly before he could dismiss the option out of hand. She sat up and held up a hand. ¡°The kids in that house, Lily, what happened at that facility with the mimics, all of it. What if we just went back and stopped the whole lot from happening.¡±

    In a hushed voice Sirius replied, ¡°Ignoring the fact that that is illegal, even here in the Greenstone Valley, it¡¯s also extremely dangerous. You don¡¯t know what side effects you might cause with a change that big. Saving lives with time travel is almost impossible to achieve, especially with spells.¡±

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be a big change. Those cocoons in the house, we don¡¯t know for sure what was inside them. We go back and make sure it¡¯s something else that¡¯s down there and no kids can get in, then maybe when we jump back the missing kids turn up somewhere else and everything was fine all along. Nothing really changes, as far as we know.¡±

    ¡°And Lily? That¡¯s not a small change.¡±

    Amanda hesitated. ¡°No,...¡± She glanced down at the bedspread. Then she raised her eyes back up and met Sirius¡¯s gaze. ¡°But what if she wasn¡¯t necro¡¯d. What if she was just hurt and...¡±

    ¡°And all the people sacrificed in that facility?¡± Sirius asked. ¡°What if it brings back something worse? Or... Nothing ever works out as you think with time travel.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m better at it now.¡±

    ¡°Are you? Enough to gamble all our lives on it? Lily¡¯s included, and possibly the other kids as well.¡±

    Amanda pursed her lips. ¡°Alright. Not Lily, you¡¯re right, that¡¯s too big, but those kids in that house, that could be done, if we were careful.¡±

    Sirius rubbed his face. He frowned but he did not argue.

    ¡°Let me put it to the others. See what Wolf thinks.¡±

    Sirius¡¯s shoulders relaxed at that suggestion. ¡°You know what he¡¯ll say.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡±

    Sirius nodded and sighed.

    ¡°Either way we should organise a meeting, again.¡±

    Sirius nodded. ¡°Come have some breakfast first.¡±

    ¡°I need to chat to Gemma too. She was drinking last night.¡±

    Sirius paused mid-move to get off the bed. ¡°What? Gemma was? I thought she just went out.¡±

    Amanda bit her lip and shook her head.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    Sirius didn¡¯t say anything more while he pulled on pants but Amanda could guess at what he was thinking.

    ¡°And here we thought she always took after you,¡± she said, voicing what she suspected were his thoughts.

    Upon hearing the forced lightheartedness in her tone, Sirius shook his head and took a seat back down on the bed. ¡°Hey, you¡¯ve been doing great lately, no late nights...¡± He paused and thought that through. ¡°Not so many late nights... out.¡± He kissed her forehead and pulled some hair back from her eyes.

    She smiled at him. She had been doing better. Even the hidden bottles he didn¡¯t know about had been gathering dust in recent months. ¡°It helps having you home.¡±

    His expression fell with the knowledge that that was something that couldn¡¯t last. He¡¯d need to get back to his ship at some point. Then he¡¯d be away for a few weeks, then back for a few weeks. She hated when he was gone but they couldn¡¯t live off just the farm. He changed the subject slightly. ¡°Do you want me to talk to her?¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    Another crash sounded from the kitchen, followed by the sounds of raised voices. Voices that were loud enough to prompt the baby to start crying again.

    This time they got up.

    Sirius put his t-shirt back on and went to see what all the din was about.

    Amanda threw on some clothes and headed for the upstairs bathroom. Finding it occupied by Lily, she used the downstairs one instead.

    When she got to the kitchen she found the place was pure chaos. Their youngest, fair-haired Sasha, who looked more like her grandma than either of her parents, was under the kitchen table attempting to uncurl what looked like a large python from around one of the legs of a kitchen chair.

    Sirius was standing between Katrina and Salem, who were staring daggers at each other. The pair were the reason for the raised voices.

    Salem tried to reach around his father to snatch the pan that Katrina was holding. ¡°I need that pan. She¡¯s getting in the way and she¡¯s not even cooking food!¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t you use the other pan?¡± Sirius asked calmly as he put an arm between Salem and Katrina.

    ¡°Because that¡¯s the best pan. She doesn¡¯t need it!¡±

    ¡°I do too!¡± Katrina yelled back. ¡°I can¡¯t just use any pan to mix this stuff. It has to be stainless steel. That¡¯s our only stainless steel pan.¡±

    ¡°I was cooking here first!¡±

    ¡°You were not! Anyway I got the pan first.¡±

    ¡°Was too! You were just reading your book at the table until you saw me getting stuff out.¡±

    ¡°I was reading a recipe numbnuts!¡±

    Beneath the kitchen table Sasha patted the python¡¯s head comfortingly.

    ¡°Guys!¡± Sirius remarked but his voice was far too soft to make much of an impact.

    ¡°You¡¯re the numbnuts!¡± Salem yelled across his dad¡¯s arm at Katrina.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you both use it, just wait a little?¡± Sirius asked.

    ¡°No! She¡¯ll get it all contaminated with her weird shit!¡± Salem cried.

    ¡°I had it first,¡± Katrina replied.

    ¡°OI!¡± Amanda yelled loudly.

    Everyone was immediately quiet.

    ¡°About time,¡± a sleepy-voiced Gemma remarked as she entered the kitchen behind her mother. She was carrying baby Kate. She lay Kate down in a bassinet in one corner of the room and then opened the fridge.

    Amanda held out her hand to Katrina. ¡°Give me the pan.¡±

    Wrinkles appeared on Katrina¡¯s forehead as she opened her mouth to object.

    Before Katrina could get a word out, Amanda added a firm, ¡°Now!¡±

    Katrina handed it over with a sulky look. Behind her on the kitchen table, a handful of mixing bowls were filled to varying levels with various substances. There was a bright blue looking liquid in one, powdery green paste in another, one contained an unappealing lumpy brown concoction, and another a pale pink powder.

    ¡°What are you making?¡± Amanda asked her daughter.

    ¡°Makeup,¡± Katrina replied. She sucked momentarily on her bottom lip.

    Amanda raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Shapeshifting makeup,¡± Katrina admitted slowly. Then with dosing of pride and more speed she added, ¡°You put it on your skin, do the makeup you want, let it dry, peel it off, put it in a container, it relaxes back into a cream, and then later when you want the same look you just put the cream on, it takes like 5 seconds and voila!¡±

    Amanda turned to Salem. ¡°And what were you cooking?¡±

    ¡°Pancakes,¡± he grumbled.

    ¡°Right.¡± She turned back to Katrina. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure we have a dedicated sorcery pan in one of the cupboards downstairs somewhere.¡±

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s non-reactive to most things. Now I¡¯m going to make us all some pancakes but probably not with this pan.¡± She glanced sideways at Salem.

    He shrugged. ¡°I just didn¡¯t want her messing up the food pans. Or the food bowls.¡± He scowled at the concoctions on the kitchen table.

    ¡°We can clean them.¡± Amanda turned to Katrina again. ¡°Although there are bowls downstairs too. Maybe hold off on the sorcery until after everyone¡¯s had breakfast yeah? Is that one of your adapted spells?¡±

    Katrina took a seat. ¡°Maybe just a little.¡±

    ¡°Go over the ratios again then. I don¡¯t want a repeat of last time.¡±

    Katrina rolled her eyes and nodded.

    At the other end of the table Gemma finished off feeding Kate her bottle. She pulled her long red hair to the side and threw a cloth over her shoulder. As she lifted the baby up, it yawned, opening its¡¯ mouth wide.

    Salem peered over at the yawning infant. ¡°It¡¯s weird that she has those two teeth.¡±

    Katrina looked up from her bowls. ¡°Three weeks ago you thought all babies had teeth.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well now I know that babies aren¡¯t supposed to be born with teeth it¡¯s weird. And once you see what their mouths look like. I don¡¯t know, babies are weird,¡± Salem decided.

    Gemma, gave her younger siblings a cursory narrow-eyed glance but was otherwise too tired to say much.

    Amanda reached the other side of the stove, near where Sasha was sitting, still partially under the table, still trying to extract the python. She looked down at her youngest. ¡°Sasha.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Why is there a python under the table?¡±

    ¡°Um, well...¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s Fred.¡± Bobby answered as he entered the kitchen. ¡°That¡¯s my fault. Sorry Sasha, I left the heat on. She probably came out here to cool down.¡±

    ¡°She likes the tiles,¡± Sasha replied and stroked the python some more. It slowly seemed to be uncurling itself from the chair leg.

    ¡°Use your ice, Sash,¡± Bobby told her.

    But Sasha shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t want to cool her down too much. She¡¯ll come loose when she wants to.¡±

    ¡°How long has she been here? And where has she been sleeping?¡± Amanda asked, as she got started on pancakes. Sirius helpfully piled the last of the ingredients onto the bench.

    ¡°You named a female python Fred?¡± inquired Salem.

    Sasha lifted her head up so just her light blue eyes were peering over the table. ¡°She suited it.¡±

    Bobby answered his mother¡¯s questions. ¡°She¡¯s a rescue, and just few weeks. She¡¯s been sleeping in the laundry closet,¡±

    Amanda frowned and thought back over the last few weeks, suddenly very aware of the number of times Bobby had offered to do all the laundry.

    ¡°She¡¯s not poisonous,¡± Sasha answered.

    ¡°I know,¡± Amanda replied. ¡°But they do have a tendency to eat small animals you know. Like that barn cat you rescued last month.¡±

    ¡°And babies,¡± added Gemma between yawns.

    ¡°Not if you keep them well fed,¡± Sasha replied.

    ¡°What have you been feeding it?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°Venison,¡± came Bobby¡¯s reply.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t really like it much though,¡± Sasha added.

    Amanda gave Bobby a meaningful glance over the table.

    ¡°We¡¯re just keeping it until my mate¡¯s friend from Mercy can come pick it up. He¡¯s got the proper enclosures and stuff. I¡¯ll try find some rats or something live to feed it before then.¡±

    Katrina screwed up her face in disgust at the mention of live food.

    Sasha poked her face up over the table again and gave Bobby a sad look.

    ¡°I did say it was just temporary Sash. We don¡¯t have a proper enclosure,¡± Bobby told her as he took a seat at the table between Katrina and Gemma.

    ¡°We could get one.¡±

    ¡°Not with the baby in the house,¡± Amanda answered and that was the end of that conversation.

    Lily still hadn¡¯t come down to breakfast even after one very large pile of pancakes had been quickly devoured. So Sirius took over making a second batch while Amanda went upstairs to check on her. The bathroom door was still shut when she got there.

    ¡°Lily, are you alright?¡± Amanda asked gently through the door.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Lily lied.

 Volume 2, Chapter 61: A Slow Decay

    ¡°I¡¯m just taking a bath,¡± Lily called back through the bathroom door.

    The bath was empty, but Amanda could not see through walls and Lily barely thought about the lie as she said it. Without an expression to judge or any telltale inflections in the tone that would indicate anything but the truth, Amanda believed her.

    ¡°Alright. There¡¯s pancakes downstairs when you¡¯re ready.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Lily didn¡¯t even glance at the door as she answered. She was staring at her self closely in the mirror. She was trying to decide if the veins in her eyes were slightly redder than usual and she was doing that to distract herself from whatever it was that was going on with her skin.

    This morning she¡¯d woken up to find her skin covered in a smattering of weird green and yellow bruises. It was the sort of colour which old bruises went after a few days, except Lily had never had any new bruises to begin with. The bulk of them seemed to be on her body, but a few were on her limbs and collarbone as well, and one of the ones on her arm, where she¡¯d been scratching the last few days, now looked kind of moist, like when you left a plaster on something too long, except more green-tinged than white. She was afraid to touch it. It almost looked like her skin was dying, right there on her arm. The thought terrified her. So did the idea of telling anyone about it so, after some time studying herself, she put on a long-sleeved, tight-necked maroon skivvy and some light denim jeans. They had belonged to Sasha once, before she¡¯d outgrown them, and they had the prettiest tiny pink fabric butterflies sewn into the pockets.

    Once she was dressed she stood there a little longer, wanting to be sure, not a bruise could be seen.

    Downstairs, only Katrina, Gemma, and Sirius remained in the kitchen. Amanda had a unicorn to train. Salem had slipped out of the room toward the family computer. Sasha had taken her python back to the laundry before following Bobby and her mum outside to join them riding.

    Katrina was back to checking and double checking her mixture while Gemma rocked the baby to sleep, her own eyes drooping.

    Sirius finished off cleaning the dishes and then he turned to his two daughters. ¡°Can you tell Lily, there¡¯s pancakes in the fridge once she gets down? I need to head down to the docks to check how things are going.¡±

    Both girls nodded and although he couldn¡¯t be sure that either of them had actually heard him, he figured the pancakes were easy enough to find anyway. ¡°Alright, see you girls later.¡±

    ¡°Mmm hmm.¡± More absent-minded nodding. Katrina was focused on her potion and Gemma just looked tired.

    A little while after he left, Lily skipped into the room. She paused looking momentarily lost. She bit her lower lip.

    ¡°Pancakes are in the fridge.¡± Gemma pointed with only a brief glance at Lily.

    Lily smiled, skipped over to the fridge, helped herself to several leftover pancakes.

    As Lily was closing the fridge door again, Gemma asked, ¡°Aren¡¯t you hot in that?¡±

    Lily shook her head and attempted an innocent smile.

    Gemma¡¯s frown in reply sent a spike of panic through Lily and for one terrifying moment she thought she was caught out.

    But then, as she sprinkled a dash of powder in one bowl, Katrina remarked, ¡°It¡¯ll probably rain later.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Gemma turned toward her with a deepening frown.

    ¡°It¡¯s the elemental festival this week,¡± Katrina reminded her.

    While the two sisters were focused on one another, Lily took her chance to slip from the room. She took her pancakes with her outside, where she could watch the horses.

    Bobby had ridden off toward town to get some feeder rats for the python. In one paddock Sasha was practicing vaulting, a sort of gymnastics but on horseback. Lily thought it was a strange sport but also found it captivating to watch.

    Sasha balanced on one leg on the back of a white horse as it cantered around the paddock. At one turn she threw her hands high and soft snow appeared in the air and fell down around her like confetti.

    In another paddock, Amanda was working with a lilac unicorn.

    Unicorns did not look like regular horses. They were similar in shape and yet anyone who could not tell them apart almost certainly would have been in need of some glasses. Unicorns were taller, more slender, more shiny. They were almost skeletal like in nature. They were not as strong as a regular horse but they were smarter and they could do magic, much in the way a witch could.

    Lily had only ever seen a real life unicorn once before in her life. It had been at a fancy dinner her father had been invited to by one of his coworkers. Usually she was not allowed to attend the fancy parties that her parents went to, but that one had been special. There had been other kids there as well. They¡¯d played hide and seek in the garden hedge maze and Lily had bowed to a white unicorn, and it had bowed, ever so politely back to her.

    This unicorn did not belong to Sirius and Amanda, they were simply being paid to train it for some special event. It was not easy to get unicorns to perform tricks. Amanda had explained this to Lily. Unicorns were proud and clever and yet people always wanted them to do cheap parlor tricks. The real trick, Amanda had said, was in convincing those who coveted the unicorns that what they really wanted to see was a dance, a performance. For while unicorns did not like to be used for the amusement of others, they did like to be admired. It was a fine line, but the fineness of it meant it was often easy enough to convince the proprietor that a performance was a better idea than a simple trick.

    The way one worked with a unicorn was also quite different. They could not be commanded. They must be asked, persuaded. The act of teaching a unicorn to perform was in itself a sort of dance.

    As Lily watched Amanda work, not from a saddle, but from the ground, she found the interaction was just as captivating as Sasha¡¯s vaulting. Amanda looked very much like she was teaching the animal a bunch of dance steps. The unicorn was rewarded with treats, and praise, and mental stimulation. On top of that though, as Lily watched Amanda dance with it, it looked like they were both having fun.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Only the very lucky and very foolish ever rode a unicorn. Rumour had it that a unicorn knew what was in your heart and they only let truly good people ride them. Amanda said it had more to do with kindness. Kindness, respect, and a lot of luck. As Lily watched the magnificent creature perform and fiddled with the sleeve of her sweaty bruise-covering skivvy, she wondered if she would ever be that lucky. She would, she thought, even be happy enough with just a dance.

    Back in the kitchen, just after Lily had left.

    ¡°I thought the festival finished today?¡± Gemma remarked.

    ¡°No, last day is tomorrow. Anyway they¡¯d still all be here,¡± Katrina replied.

    ¡°Mmm.¡±

    Katrina paused in her mixing and glanced at Gemma, who had her eyes shut. As she watched, Gemma blinked them open and shook her head.

    ¡°You know, you might remember things better if you weren¡¯t out drinking until the cows came home,¡± Katrina quipped. With each of her thumbs, she hooked her fingers under her dark hair near the nape of her neck and flicked her hair back over her shoulders in a superior manner.

    Gemma opened one eye and scowled at her younger sister. ¡°Didn¡¯t I see you coming back home early this morning, after the sun was up?¡±

    ¡°That may be true, but I went to bed early and relatively sober, unlike some people.¡±

    ¡°Oh, and whose bed was that in this time?¡± Gemma teased. Even as tired as she was, she knew what words would bite her sister best.

    Katrina bristled. She had a reputation for being a flirt and maybe a little more than that, but the latter half of it was rumour and besides, flirting was fun. Katrina couldn¡¯t help it if she was admired by a lot of people, especially very cute boys. Meanwhile, Gemma had stuck to her small group of friends and same boyfriend for the last two years. Same old, same old, sounded boring to Katrina. She was a butterfly and proud of it. Alas, Gemma didn¡¯t care much for popularity one way or the other so Katrina couldn¡¯t use it against her. But she did have one thing on her sister. ¡°A least I¡¯m not the one who got knocked up while in high school.¡±

    But Gemma just smirked and the words rolled off her like water off a duck. ¡°Not yet,¡± she replied. ¡°And guess who else is pregnant.¡± She smiled like she knew a secret.

    Katrina wanted to ignore her, but the grin on Gemma¡¯s tired face was just too annoying. She glanced curiously at her sister a few times but managed to outright avoid asking.

    Her expression was question enough though and, knowing the answer would provoke Katrina just as much as no answer, a gleeful Gemma said. ¡°Aunt Cat.¡±

    Katrina stopped her work and studied her sister. The grin on Gemma¡¯s face was too obnoxious for the statement not to be true.

    ¡°To whom?¡± Katrina asked, her voice going up a notch.

    Gemma shrugged. ¡°Dunno.¡± Her grin didn¡¯t disappear. ¡°Wanna know what else I know?¡±

    Katrina sighed and sat down. Her sister had her attention now. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You know that old Milton place, just behind the the forest at the back of school? That¡¯s were mum and dad were last night.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°They were helping Kass find the will. Apparently the old lady who owned it kicked the bucket, but that¡¯s not the interesting part. Guess who else was there.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Your favorite aristocrat.¡±

    ¡°Coal?¡±

    Gemma¡¯s smile twisted. ¡°You got another favorite aristocrat?¡±

    Katrina pushed her chin out but she knew she was blushing, and Gemma had her, hook, line, and sinker. There had been a time when Katrina had wanted to be a sorcerer. To learn everything there was to know about magic. To absolutely master it. And a huge part of her still wanted that, but as she¡¯d gotten older and she¡¯d learnt more about the world, about the aristocrats who ruled this end of the continent, her attention had shifted slightly. Sorcerers were powerful yes, but being a sorcerer also came with a large amount rules and restrictions. Knowledge and limitations. The path to becoming a sorcerer was tightly controlled. She wanted to know more but she also wanted the freedom to do things her way. Sorcerers were bound to follow a code and their minds were wiped if they ever strayed. They were kicked out and left with nothing, not even their hard-earned knowledge. Aristocrats did not play by such rules, not spoken ones anyway. They didn¡¯t have the quite the same resources that the sorcerers did but they had plenty of their own power. What better thing to pursue was there? After all, power let you do, well, pretty much whatever one wanted.

    There was more to Katrina¡¯s fascination with the aristocrats than just power though. They were all beautiful. Even the ugly ones had an elegance, a sort of interesting aesthetic that drew the eye. And they all dressed so well. Coal in particular though, with his dark hair, cool blue eyes, strong stature, and well-tailored suit, was every teenage girl¡¯s fantasy, or at least, he was Katrina¡¯s. A real man, not some silly boy.

    Katrina was caught up in a love struck fantasy. She was not quite so naive as to not realise that the aristocrats still had their own set of rules, a darker and unspoken set of rules. Blades in the dark and whispers on the wind. But to Katrina, all of that stuff was a distant fantasy. She knew not the realities of it and danger at a distance held its own allure.

    ¡°Why was Coal there?¡± Katrina asked.

    ¡°Because I still haven¡¯t gotten to the best bit. Turns out that house is full to the brim of magical items. All sorts of things. Things so powerful, the old lady had them guarded by a dreamweaver and Witch¡¯s Weep.¡±

    ¡°Witch¡¯s Weep?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you pay attention in biology?¡± Gemma replied. ¡°Witch¡¯s Weep is that plant that eats magic, and witches. It gets stronger the more magic you use.¡± She said that last bit with a grin.

    Katrina frowned. She didn¡¯t remember that one. ¡°How do you know all this?¡±

    ¡°Mum told me, last night.¡±

    ¡°Mum wouldn¡¯t tell you all that.¡±

    ¡°She would if she was drunk. Almost as much as I was.¡±

    That Katrina did believe.

    If Gemma had been more awake she might have considered the effect her teasing would have on Katrina, but winding her sister up was just a little too much fun and Gemma was tired. Besides, she didn¡¯t for a moment think that her sister would be stupid enough to walk right into a house with a dreamweaver.

    But Katrina¡¯s mind was already imagining all of the items she might find in such a place. And the dreamweaver while scary, didn¡¯t scare her as much as it should have. Katrina considered herself an excellent dreamwalker. She¡¯d borrowed her aunt¡¯s magic so often that it might as well have been the power she had been born with. Besides, her parent¡¯s and their friends had gone in and come back out just fine. Her mind whirred and she wondered, ¡°What do you think Coal took from the house?¡± For she had no doubt that he had taken something, and that is was probably something wonderfully powerful.

    Gemma shrugged. ¡°What does it matter? Whatever he took, you¡¯ll likely never see. That¡¯s an aristocrat you¡¯re talking about. You don¡¯t even come close that kind of power. You probably couldn¡¯t even steal a rose from his garden.¡±

    ¡°Pffft,¡± Katrina came as close to snorting as she dared. ¡°I could too. A rose from his garden would be child¡¯s play.¡± Katrina turned back to her bowls, as if she was above such things, but in her mind she was already making plans.

    Gemma certainly interpreted that as the end of the conversation, with no inkling of Katrina¡¯s reaching ambitions. As Kate started crying again she picked the baby up gently and took her upstairs, intent on them both getting a proper nap.

    Katrina stared down at the measures in front of her, trying to remember how much she¡¯d already added to that last bowl. Did it need another teaspoon or had she already put the right amount in? She should probably start over. Surely one teaspoon off wouldn¡¯t make much difference? Recalling her mother¡¯s words from earlier she reconsidered. She didn¡¯t want things to go the same way as her last experiment, even more so for this batch, given it wasn¡¯t quite the spell she had told her mother it was. The makeup spell hadn¡¯t been a complete lie, this one was adapted from it, but it was also adapted from another spell, one in a book she¡¯d borrowed on her way back from Jade¡¯s house this morning. Yes, she had better start over, at least for that bowl. It needed to set again for a minimum of an hour in the fridge, but that was okay, she already had an idea of how she was going to spend the time.

 Volume 2, Chapter 62: Glimpse of A Ghost

    Katrina knew where Coal¡¯s house was, even though she¡¯d never been there before. Everyone knew. It was a large place, and ancient. Stone on the outside and wood on the inside. She¡¯d never seen inside, but Katrina could imagine. The rumours spoke tales of blood-soaked oaken walls and hidden stone dungeons. Of vast velvet decorated ballrooms and dark damp underground wine cellars containing nectar more valuable than any man¡¯s life. Katrina understood that much of it was probably just rumour but as any intelligent person knows, often the best way to bury the truth is to hide it in plain sight among the lies.

    Katrina approached the house from the forest on the north side. It was the only side that really offered enough cover, although her horse, being both black and white, like a mis-made patchwork quilt, didn¡¯t exactly blend in even among the shadows of the trees. She tied the pinto to a nearby tree, then travelled the rest of the way on foot.

    She paused at the edge of the trees to look up and admire the beauty of the building. In the western paddocks at the back of the house she could see a few horses grazing just past the stables. Katrina knew her mother came here occasionally to exercise and keep their training up to scratch. Coal paid well for it.

    Along the side of the house were planted small bushes of flowers. There were no roses that Katrina could see and she didn¡¯t know the names of the plants that did grow there. If she had she might have stopped to pick a few. As it were she wasn¡¯t after just a rose. No, Katrina had something much more daring in mind. She was going to take something from inside the house.

    She wasn¡¯t sure what yet. Something small, maybe just a teaspoon or something. She figured Gemma would never believe where such a thing had come from but it was more a proof for herself than it was for anyone else. As long as Katrina knew she could do it, that was all she needed. Gemma had just provided the idea for the challenge.

    There was another reason for this adventure too, possibly the more important one. Coal would have charms and spells on his house, she was certain of it. That was part of what made this such an alluring task. If she was ever going to become a powerful witch, even more powerful than any sorcerer, she needed to know what sort of spells other people used, people who knew what they were doing. Who better than to learn from than an aristocrat?

    Her pockets were full of charms, overflowing with magic she¡¯d infused into them, as well as a few useful ingredients she thought she might need. In her hand she held a tiny green notebook, bound with soft leather and wrapped together with leather thread. If she could get inside and back out again without being caught then she would have proven herself among the best. If she couldn¡¯t, well, she¡¯d still learn something and she didn¡¯t really believe that Coal would hurt a young girl, not when she was so confident of her own charm.

    So, how best to approach this? She had some telekinesis in one charm, a pretty necklace shaped like a treble clef, but picking locks with telekinesis required quite a high level of finesse. Katrina had managed it on a practice lock only once and she was pretty sure that was purely by chance. The easier method would be to just force the doors right off their hinges. She could do that with telekinesis or the super strength she had stored in a silver dolphin hanging on a black leather thread, but neither option was subtle or elegant. She had no raw detector magic and as infuser she could only sense the raw magic that people had. Sometimes she could read refined magic in items that had been infused but only with physical contact and even then it wasn''t an easy task. If there were spells around this house, they were out of reach of her magic, even more so if they were passive ones with triggers, but this was precisely what she needed to be good at. Knowledge was power. If she could not read the defenses then she could not hope to get past them and she could not hope to successfully implement her own defenses. She had all her siblings magic, the fire and ice of her sisters, invisibility from her younger brother, and healing from her older, but even the invisibility would do no good here. She was sure Coal would have thought of something like that.

    What she really needed was borrower, binder, or psychic magic, preferably one of the latter two, but they were hard to come by let alone at a high enough power level. But magic could be made, not just used. She was sure of it now. It had to be close enough to what it originally was but it could be done. The sorcerers crafted intricate spells that could perform an obscure list of tasks in just the right order, almost like a computer program. People believed it was just because they were powerful or because they knew how to cast the old spells, but Katrina figured the spells had to come from somewhere. When she¡¯d asked her teacher about spell-crafting she¡¯d been laughed off and told there was no such thing. Where had they come from then? ¡®The guardians left them¡¯ had been the answer she had received, ¡®after they split the world in two¡¯. Katrina had scowled and said that was silly and had received two hours detention for her arrogance and impertinence, which she hadn¡¯t even been too mad about since it had the side effect of boosting her popularity, especially among the cute boys who hung out between the stables and the bike sheds at lunch. But it was silly, for if such a thing were true then why were there spells that interfaced so well with the modern tech stolen from the human world?

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Katrina had spent the last few weeks doing some testing of her own and now she was ready to put it to a real world experiment. She had her charms and her spells and each one made up a component that individually didn¡¯t seem that related to what she wanted to do at all, but together, they would make something new. And the best part, she¡¯d managed to incorporate her favorite magic into it. In a small cat charm, one that represented her favorite aunt, she had some measure of dreamwalking. In another charm, a simple snowflake, she had infused some mirror magic from one of Salem¡¯s friends. With them she combined her brother¡¯s invisibility, a poem of her own making but inspired from the spells, and a vial of animal blood. She was crafting something new and all of it came down to how she thought about it. At least that was her theory. The results hadn¡¯t always been predictable but they¡¯d been close enough.

    Her intent was to visualise the world like a set of planes, worlds that existed parallel to one another and magic as if it were a thing invisible in their own plane but visible in another like infrared light or something. They¡¯d learnt about that in physics class. She didn¡¯t think it mattered if that was how it really worked or not, it only mattered that Katrina believed it. Using the dreamwalking and mirror magic as examples of real planes, she would try to create something sort of in-between. Most people thought of invisibility magic as making things invisible but it was obvious to Katrina that the opposite was also true and if she focused on that side of things, combined with the different planes idea then surely something would have an effect?

    She could have tried the mindwalking magic as another alternative, even as an example plane, but she wanted to master that on it¡¯s own first. All of the other magics she had practice with and using multiple charms at once was hard enough let alone trying to combine them.

    She opened her notebook, committed the rhyme to memory, and then with the charms in her hot fists, she slipped forth from beneath the trees and made a run to the side of the stables. Along it¡¯s side she crept, working her spell in whisper.

    ¡°A slip in space, a silver thread,

    Reflected shapes, now dreamed in colour.

    Another place, where I can see,

    All the things laid clear for me.¡±

    As she reached the edge of the stable, she could quite plainly see that the back door to the Coal¡¯s house was wide open.

    Katrina paused

    The door was open? Had she done that? Or had it always been open? She cursed herself for not checking that first. She could feel the heat in her hands, the magic still working, but working how? She wasn¡¯t sure. It was supposed to show her any defensive magics, make them visible in some way, but she could see nothing unusual but for the open door. As she stared at it, trying to decide if she should just venture in, a figure floated toward it from inside the house.

    As it approached the open door, Katrina could make out the shape and features of what looked like a very old woman, so old and thin she was basically a skeleton. In fact the closer she got, the less she looked like a person at all. Her eyes seemed almost hollow and she didn¡¯t walk, she glided.

    The uncanny nature of it broke Katrina¡¯s concentration and she dropped the spell. The heat faded from her fingers and suddenly she felt excessively cold and a little dizzy. She suppressed a shiver and the urge to run. She swayed a little and tried to refocus on the world around her, and the mission before her.

    The figure in the doorway was now gone but the door still lay open.

    The sun was high in the sky now, and it was an unusually hot day for this time of year. As the surrounding air rewarmed her skin, she found her focus, and curiosity drove her forward. Forget defensive spells, now she just wanted to know, what was that thing she had just seen? What sort of things did an aristocrat keep in his house?

    She figured at this point there wasn¡¯t much reason in skulking. If she was caught it was better to look like she was supposed to be there. Maybe she could pretend she had come to deliver a message?

    The room was not as big as she had been expecting, although it looked like there might be larger rooms attached through other hallways and doors. She had expected a square room, similar to what the house looked like on the outside, but this was more ¡®L¡¯ shaped and seamlessly attached to what looked like a main hallway leading toward the front door. To her left there was a bar with stools and little kitchenette area behind it, although she could see no appliances or clutter, just white marble splattered with small black splotches, surrounding a single sink, and a few glasses in one corner, not the sort that looked like they were for water.

    To her right, the bottom of the L extended into a comfy looking area with armchairs and a fireplace. At the end of the L, past the comfy area, double doors led into what looked like a large dining room.

    There was a dining table in this room too, a little too large for the room. On top of it, very strangely was situated a tree that looked like it had just been torn right out of the ground and dumped there, although there was no dirt trail leading to the table that she could see. And next to the tree, encircled by an obviously intentional ring of dirt, sat the most exquisite red vase. It was patterned with thin swirly lines of gold and blue and black, not colours she would have thought went together, and yet they did.

    She took a step toward it and eyed the dirt circle. Was that to keep people out or to keep the vase in? Katrina was intrigued. Or perhaps it was an atmospheric seal of some kind? The vase was covered in a thin layer of ice, as if it had recently been removed from a refrigerator.

    All her plans about taking something small fled her mind. Now that she was standing inside his house, with such an intriguing object before her, Katrina¡¯s plans evolved once more.

    She took a few steps forward. She reached out a hand.

    ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± a voice asked from a corner of the room.

 Volume 2, Chapter 63: Stolen Rose

    Katrina withdrew her hand.

    Coal stepped out of the shadows.

    ¡°I...¡± was all Katrina could manage.

    As Coal approached she was captivated by him. He was taller than she remembered and younger looking. Irresistibly handsome. His cool blue eyes met her verdant green ones and she felt like her own insides had suddenly been coated in ice while her outsides ranged hot and her pulse quickened.

    ¡°Um...¡±

    She did not run. She could not run. Not because of any magic but because the nearness of that being, one she¡¯d heard so many tales about, one she¡¯d fantasised about. The nearness of him rooted her to the floor and gave her a sense of surrealism like she¡¯d never felt before.

    ¡°Did your mother send you?¡± Coal asked. His voice was calm, cool, easily confident. It carried little more than a light curiosity to the inattentive listener.

    ¡°No.¡± Katrina shook her head and gave an honest answer before she¡¯d even had time to think through the consequences. She looked him up and down. He was wearing a suit so well tailored and timeless that she couldn¡¯t even imagine how much it might cost. She wanted to touch it, to know what the fabric felt like. To know what he felt like. But she resisted. The being before her was untouchable. She wanted and feared him all at once.

    She met his eyes again and somehow their coolness brought her crashing back to reality. This was her chance, to make something of herself. Her introduction to the world of the aristocrats. She couldn¡¯t afford to be seen like a child now. She raised her chin. ¡°I came myself. I was...¡± She glanced back at the vase, her confidence returning in bounds, and she decided that she did not need to tell him why she was here. Not when she could distract him instead. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± she asked of the vase.

    ¡°That, is not your business.¡± Coal replied, enunciating each word slowly and clearly. He took another step forward, perhaps to intimidate her, although he remained more than an arms length away still.

    Katrina was not afraid anymore. She had faith in her own charms.

    She looked up through her eyelashes. She batted them at him. Not obviously, just a couple of blinks. Something she had long ago mastered by practicing in front of a mirror. She placed one hand on a nearby chair and moving in the most sensually subtle way she replied with an injection of curiosity into her own voice, ¡°If you don¡¯t want people asking, they why do you have it out on display?¡±

    She was rewarded with a sword at her throat. Not the reception she¡¯d been hoping for.

    ¡°I don¡¯t recall inviting you in.¡± Coal¡¯s voice was chilling. Cold like the ice on the outside of the vase and although it was still calm, she could hear more of a bite underneath now.

    Katrina suppressed a shiver. The world belonged to the bold. ¡°The door was open. I was simply out for a ride,¡± Katrina replied as slippery as velvet, deciding on a half lie. ¡°I saw, I thought I saw someone in here.¡± She met his eyes intentionally, daring him to disbelieve her. Meanwhile her fingers casually dipped into her pockets where her charms lay, just in case.

    Coal didn¡¯t miss a thing.

    Katrina felt a sharp pain as he pinned her hand to her side with his sword. The blade did not go in deep, but it was enough to cause a small trickle of blood to weave a slow line down toward her fingertips. It quickly clotted and dried. Not a drop fell. The wooden floor remained unstained. He held the blade in place for just long enough that he could reach in and retrieve the contents of her pockets for himself. His hit had been quick and very precise.

    He could have taken her hand off but he hadn¡¯t. He would not hurt her anymore than that though would he? Katrina had her doubts now.

    He stepped back and thumbed through her charms. There was hours of work there, not so much the infusing itself but getting some of that magic had taken some significant sucking up to people, even her own siblings didn¡¯t just let her use their magic for nothing. There had been exchanges of house chores and plenty of begging, and Katrina hated to beg. And getting the magic just how she wanted, that did take some level of focus. They were good charms. Despite her fear she scowled at him.

    When he finally looked back at her she thought she saw the faintest twitch of a smile. It did not make her feel better but she kept her chin up.

    Coal raised his sword to her throat and he kept going until the tip of his sword started to dig in and she was forced to raise her chin up higher than she would have liked.

    Coal looked amused at this. The edges of his mouth curved up a little more. ¡°You were just out for a ride were you? Going where exactly?¡±

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°Just arou-¡± she started to speak but cut herself off as his eyes narrowed and he moved the edge of the blade around the side of her face, stroking her chin, until it sat right under her earlobe. She didn¡¯t like the way he was looking at her ear.

    He dangled one of the charms away from the others and checked to see she was looking at it. She recognised it as the one that held her brother¡¯s healing magic.

    ¡°If I cut your ear off and gave you this back, how well do you think you¡¯d be able to fix it?¡± He sounded genuinely curious. She didn¡¯t like the glint in his eye. She wasn¡¯t sure how he knew what the charm was either.

    ¡°Um.¡± Katrina swallowed hard. With a heavy helping of defiance she replied, ¡°If you hurt me, my mum will light you up like a bonfire.¡±

    Coal chuckled and then with a purr he replied, ¡°But that would require her to know you were here, wouldn¡¯t it?¡±

    Katrina had no answer to that. Outside had been warm. This room felt cold.

    Coal turned his back to her and walked a few paces away.

    Katrina considered running but before she could decide if she had any chance he was facing her once more. But he was not looking at her. He was eyeing the charms again.

    Katrina waited. There was no way she could outrun him. She had more charms in her other pocket but given how fast he had moved before, and given he had her telekinesis charm and he was probably well-practised with infusements, she dare not reach for them.

    He met her eyes once more and some small childish arrogant part of her was annoyed that he did not seem inclinded to run his eyes up and down the rest of her. Her black top was lacy and cut low. Even the teachers at school couldn¡¯t help but glance at least occasionally in lust or jealously, and while she might complain about leering eyes to her school friends, a part of her loved to be adored. And there was no adoration she wanted more than that of the famous aristocrat, Coal.

    ¡°You made these infusements?¡± Coal asked.

    Katrina nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

    ¡°They¡¯re not bad,¡± he remarked the way one might assess their 20th racehorse of the day.

    Among a tornado of other emotions, despite his nonchalant tone, Katrina felt a swelling of pride. She stood up straighter. She almost smiled.

    Coal¡¯s next words brought her back down to Earth. ¡°The question is, what do we do with you now?¡± He was looking at her face again, reading her reaction.

    Her posture relaxed but she did not. Inside she was a mix of thrilled, apprehensive, fearful, awed. She felt like she was stading on a wire which was very very high up.

    ¡°I suppose we could tell your mother.¡±

    As Katrina¡¯s eye¡¯s widened in fear and her face paled, Coal chuckled. Her mother would kill her, if she ever found out Katrina had come here, not literally but she would never be allowed to leave the house again which would be just as bad.

    Katrina shook her head. ¡°I really was just out for a ride...¡±

    Coal was studying her infusements again.

    Katrina had been going to say more, but the look that came across Coal¡¯s face stopped her in her tracks. It was dark, angry.

    Without looking at her Coal replied, ¡°It¡¯s better if you don¡¯t lie.¡±

    Katrina opened her mouth to start over and then she closed it again. She was quiet until Coal looked over at her again.

    ¡°How did you know I was here?¡± she asked finally, pushing her luck. It was after all one of the things she had come here to learn.

    Coal¡¯s smile returned and Katrina decided she liked it much better than his frown.

    He looked thoughtful for a moment and then his frown returned but it was different this time, not angry like before. ¡°What did you cast? Outside.¡±

    ¡°I...¡±

    He was studying her curiously again, trying to read her expression or maybe her mind. Did he have mind magic on him? Katrina was suddenly glad that she¡¯d left that charm at home.

    She decided to answer his other question instead and honestly this time, just in case. ¡°I just, I just wanted to know what sort of spells you used. I¡¯ve been learning about defensive magic, and... and my sister said I couldn¡¯t even steal a rose from your garden.¡± She was about to add ¡®and she doesn¡¯t think I¡¯m any good¡¯ to try and garner some sympathy, but it would have been a lie, and somehow she felt that Coal would know that and would not approve.

    He raised his eyebrows at her. ¡°I don¡¯t grow roses.¡±

    ¡°I noticed. And the door really was open...¡± She met his eyes hoping he would believe her this time.

    He looked thoughtful.

    ¡°And I did see someone inside. There was an old lady....¡±

    He went back to frowning.

    Katrina stopped. Maybe that had been imagined? She wasn¡¯t really sure exactly what her spell had done. ¡°But, it might have been a trick of the light.¡± Katrina quickly added.

    Coal seemed to relax at that. He went back to eyeing the infusements. ¡°A rose huh?¡± He picked out one of her charms, one that was itself rose-shaped. He dangled it in front of her. ¡°Your sister¡¯s magic I take?¡±

    Katrina nodded.

    ¡°And this one?¡± He held up another, a tiny horseshoe on a silver chain. ¡°Your mother¡¯s or your sister¡¯s?¡±

    ¡°Sister¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, a pity.¡± He put them in his pocket. ¡°Well, I suppose it¡¯s almost a fair payment for breaking and entering, and then there is the matter of my silence.¡± He separated out two more charms from the four remaining in his hand. Both her brother¡¯s magics. He added the invisibility one to his pocket with the others then studied the healing one. With a sigh he put it back with the two he still had out, telekinesis and dreamwalking. ¡°Unfortunately, only some of these I¡¯m interested in.¡± He handed those three back to her.

    She took them hesitantly with a frown, a little insulted but also relieved. That relief vanished when she realised he was eyeing her other pocket.

    Coal started to say, ¡°What else have-¡±

    He cut himself off for no obvious reason that Katrina could see. With a swift movement he reached out and broke the ring of dirt that surrounded the pretty red vase which sat not far from them on the table. A moment later the vase vanished. Katrina wasn¡¯t sure where it had gone but she knew he had done it. She watched all of this with confusion.

    Suddenly there came the sound of a door opening and then clicking shut from the front of the house. Someone was coming.

    Coal gave a brief glance toward the hallway and then looked back at Katrina. ¡°Perhaps we better say that¡¯s even and you get out while you¡¯ve still got your ears. Sound good?¡± He didn¡¯t sound in too much of a rush but gave her a nod and a pertinent look at the open back door.

    Katrina didn¡¯t waste any time. She was outside and around the corner before whomever it was reached the room. But she was not yet out of earshot, and she pulled up short when she heard the name Coal used to greet the other person.

    ¡°Amanda.¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 64: The Pursuit of Power

    Katrina was torn. Did she leave or did she stay and risk getting caught? She wasn¡¯t sure which was worse, Coal catching her alone again or her mother knowing she¡¯d been here. Oh who was she kidding? There was no way she was missing this conversation. She spun around and then inched as near as she dared to the full length windows bordering the door. Coal¡¯s voice came floating out through it.

    ¡°To what do I owe the pleasure? And have you heard of knocking?¡±

    Katrina heard her mother answer.

    ¡°The door was unlocked. That seemed invitation enough.¡± Amanda wasted only a little time on the banter. ¡°What¡¯s your plan with the house? You said you had people?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ll be here tomorrow morning.¡±

    ¡°At the house?¡±

    There was a moment of silence in which Coal must have answered with a nod or something similar, for Amanda soon continued, ¡°Do they know what they¡¯re getting into?¡±

    ¡°I have explained the matter.¡±

    Amanda repeated her question again but with more emphasis. ¡°Do they know what they¡¯re getting into?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re an experienced group.¡±

    Another beat of silence. Katrina could imagine the look her mother might be giving him. She was sure she was right too for a moment later, preceded by a sigh, Coal elaborated.

    ¡°They¡¯re a group from Myst. Not sorcerers. A freelance crew. They get called in to assess and catalog magical items of unknown providence. It¡¯s not what you¡¯re thinking. They¡¯re more archeologists than anything close to thieves. They keep a portion of what they catalog but it gets sold to libraries and museums at a heavily discounted price, enough to cover their ongoing costs. This isn¡¯t their first dreamweaver. They did mention it might be the largest Witch¡¯s Weep in existence, but they have a plan to handle it.¡±

    ¡°And the rest of the stuff?¡±

    ¡°Goes to me.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t yours to begin with.¡±

    ¡°Yes well, given the lack of a will, and the family¡¯s disinterest with handling such matters beyond a simple payout, and the potential danger posed, the council has agreed to grant ownership of the contents of the house to me, in exchange for not having to deal with the problem and the potential fallout. They simply lack the experience and contacts required to ensure this is handled safely.¡±

    ¡°They haven¡¯t even located all of the family yet.¡±

    ¡°The council considers this a time sensitive matter. It¡¯s in the best interest of public safety that it is handled quickly. The family still get the proceeds from the house should that go to sale. The legal office has had plenty of time to locate any remaining inheritents and a valid will.¡±

    ¡°The council agrees,¡± Amanda repeated the statement, her voice laden with doubt.

    Katrina wondered if it was true what they said about Coal owning the council. She was old enough now to know that it didn¡¯t mean he actually owned them. They were voted in after all, but the rumours said that any councillor who found favor with Coal soon found his pockets generously lined. There were no laws against corruption here and the truth was that most people simply didn¡¯t care. Even if one ignored the fact that a good portion of Little Rock¡¯s inhabitants were transients or sailors, the influence of Coal¡¯s hand tended to help the people as much as it hindered them. He could get things going and fix problems swiftly in cases where the council floundered and for the most part Coal didn¡¯t do a heavy amount of influencing that they could see. So long as it didn¡¯t look like he was making their lives much worse and things occasionally got better people simply didn¡¯t care who was really running things.

    Katrina had been paying closer attention than most and she was quickly learning. She understood that to really wield power one didn¡¯t do it too openly. The best players in this game pulled the strings from the shadows.

    The rest of Katrina¡¯s family did not understand why she idolised Coal so much. They called him evil, devious, tricksy, a dark horse to be wary of. No matter how she tried Katrina could never quite explain to them that it didn¡¯t matter what they wanted. Because whatever it was you wanted, be it world peace or cream on your caviar, to squash you enemies or to protect your family. The most efficient way to get what you wanted was to accumulate whatever power you could. So Katrina had decided that was a good thing to focus on first and she could figure out what she wanted to use it for later.

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    Her mother was talking again.

    ¡°You¡¯re not worried they¡¯re not going to take the best stuff?¡± Amanda asked. There was a note of glee or something like it in her voice. Katrina wasn¡¯t quite sure of the emotion. It was almost as if she was hoping they would take the best stuff.

    ¡°They provide a record and allow oversight. Anything that turns out to be worth more later would damage their reputation. They¡¯d pay one way or another.¡±

    Katrina shivered. She didn¡¯t like the way he¡¯d said that last word.

    ¡°I want to be there. When they go into the house.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°I had another question. Why were you in the house yesterday?¡±

    ¡°Does it matter?¡±

    ¡°How did you know we were there?¡±

    ¡°What makes you assume I did?¡±

    There was silence. Katrina longed to peer around the corner and see what was happening.

    Finally her mother spoke. ¡°You weren¡¯t just there by coincidence.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± That was all he said and Katrina could hear the smile in his voice. He gave no more than that. Even Katrina felt frustrated by it but she also admired it. Coal didn¡¯t bend for anybody, not even her mother.

    ¡°So why were you there?¡±

    ¡°Why else?¡± Not an answer. Katrina couldn¡¯t believe his nerve. Nobody talked to her mother like that. The audacity of it was impressive and the way he made it sound like it was a perfectly acceptable reply.

    She could hear the uncertainty in her mother¡¯s reply and a dash of tiredness. ¡°You wanted the items, something from the house?¡±

    There was silence and then Coal replied. ¡°I like to keep abreast of the comings and goings in this town. Whenever property such as this one changes hands it¡¯s always worth a look. What told me you were there was the cars parked outside. Lucky for you I turned up when I did it seems.¡± There was a growl in his voice. An unsettling note that came across just a little thretening, like a dog barring it¡¯s teeth. One that dared further questioning at the risk of some peril.

    Katrina could not have walked away from that spot for anything. Listening to that conversation was more exciting than watching her older siblings sword fight. There may not be any physical steel here but there were plenty of blades. Unfortunately it seemed like her mother was loosing.

    Coal drew to make another strike. ¡°I have another task for the group, or perhaps just a couple of you.¡±

    ¡°No. No more jobs. I did the three jobs I owed you long ago and I swore that last job would be the last one.¡±

    ¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t have to be you. I¡¯m sure the others will be fine on their own...¡±

    A firm hit.

    He continued after a moment to let his last statement sink in. ¡°And it¡¯s not technically a new job, although it is an unforeseen task that needs to be tidied up and as for such, shall be reimbursed fully.¡±

    A fatal blow.

    ¡°What it it?¡±

    ¡°That last job, the explosion,¡±¡ªhe let that word hang in the air a moment too¡ª¡°Seems someone crawled out of the rubble. He¡¯s in Witchaven. I want you to go and have a chat with him.¡±

    ¡°A human? What do you mean have a chat?¡±

    ¡°Have a chat, then we¡¯ll go from there? Find out what he knows and who he¡¯s told.¡±

    ¡°Not until I¡¯m sure the stuff with this house is tidied up. That it¡¯s safe.¡± There was a pause as if she was leaving something unsaid and Katrina thought she knew who. ¡°If he¡¯s in Witchaven, he¡¯s not going anywhere.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that.¡±

    ¡°He won¡¯t leave. They¡¯ll make him too scared to. They hate witches there. They won¡¯t care for what he has to say either. And the HPL won¡¯t be too happy if we go there.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not forbidden but perhaps better to keep it stealthy and short,¡± Coal agreed. ¡°It¡¯s not urgent I suppose but no payment until it¡¯s done.¡± There was a finality to his tone like that was the end of the conversation.

    For a moment Katrina thought her mother was going to leave things like that.

    Then Amanda asked in a change of subject, "Why is there a tree on your table?"

    "I''m doing some landscaping." Coal''s reply was quick, as if he needed no time to think up an answer.

    Katrina couldn''t help herself. She wanted to see what her mother made of that statement. She crept closer to the window. To her it was an obvious lie but that was because she knew... what did she know? She knew he''d been doing something else with it. Something more than landscaping. Why had he hidden the vase before her mother arrived? Her mother was good at picking out a lie. Did she catch this one? But poking her head around the corner was risky and she know longer had her invisibility. She briefly wondered if using it earlier other than in the spell would have made any difference. Given the way Coal had seemed to know her mother was coming before she had entered the house, Katrina doubted it. She had probably made the right choice earlier but it seemed it had made not a lick of difference.

    Just as she was about to poke her head around the corner Coal spoke.

    ¡°I know about the girl by the way.¡±

    Katrina froze and pulled back, thinking he was referring to her for one terrifying moment before she realised he was actually talking about Lily.

    ¡°I hope you have a plan to deal with it. Because if you don¡¯t, I will.¡±

    ¡°We have it under control.¡± The fire in her mother¡¯s tone could have melted steel.

    Attack blocked.

    ¡°Good.¡±

    Draw.

    Katrina didn¡¯t want to risk being caught anymore. She suspected Coal knew she was still outside. Although she had no way to be sure she didn¡¯t want to be there once he was alone again. As Amanda left Coal¡¯s house out the front door, Katrina slipped back into the forest and headed for home.

 Volume 2, Chapter 65: The Box

    Zephyr had been in town, picking up a book he¡¯d ordered, when Amanda had phoned to book a meeting that night. She¡¯d picked the Rusty Nail this time, one of her favourite local haunts. No doubt she probably planned to play a few rounds of poker afterward with the regulars. She¡¯d apologised for the late notice but had thought it was better they all met today rather than later in the week.

    Zephyr still had a few hours to kill before the meeting but he had decided that there wasn¡¯t really much point going home. He hadn¡¯t had lunch yet and Kass¡¯s office was only a street over. He figured he¡¯d stop by and see if she wanted to grab a bite to eat. It was a Sunday but Kass was known to work the weekends sometimes, and often through meal breaks. If she was there, getting out for a bit would be good for her. If she wasn¡¯t then he¡¯d just find somewhere to eat by himself.

    He¡¯d gotten half way to the law office when he heard a voice call out.

    ¡°Dr Kelly! Dr Kelly! What a lovely day we¡¯re having isn¡¯t it.¡±

    He turned to find Margot standing on the sidewalk behind him. She was with a friend, a darker haired brunette lady, of similar height and advanced age. Both of them were clutching several bags of shopping. He could see a couple of leeks peaking out of the top of one.

    ¡°Hello Margot.¡±

    She smiled at him and gestured at her companion. ¡°This is Connie. Connie this is my shrink.¡±

    ¡°Hello,¡± Connie replied warmly.

    ¡°Psychologist really,¡± he replied with a smile. ¡°How do you do?¡±

    Margot leaned over to Connie and whispered loudly, ¡°He¡¯s very good.¡±

    Zephyr blushed and started to protest with a shake of his head.

    ¡°Oh nonsense, you are!¡± Margot waved a hand at him, then whispered loudly to Connie again. ¡°He¡¯s the best.¡±

    Connie smiled and nodded sweetly. But before she could say anything Margot was off again. To Zephyr she asked, ¡°So what are you doing today? A bit of shopping?¡±

    ¡°I was just picking up a book, and then I¡¯m off for lunch with a friend.¡±

    ¡°Oohh, are you now? Well we shouldn¡¯t keep you then.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve always got time for you Margot.¡±

    ¡°Oohh.¡± She leaned in conspiratorially to Connie again. ¡°Isn¡¯t he sweet Connie?¡± Then she looked at her watch and back up at Zephyr. ¡°But it¡¯s almost 3pm, and you¡¯re telling me you haven¡¯t had lunch yet?¡±

    Zephyr shrugged. ¡°Lunchtimes are a human invention. I eat when I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    Margot looked him up and down. ¡°You say that but look how skinny you are. Connie don¡¯t you think he¡¯s too skinny?¡± She didn¡¯t wait for her friend to answer. ¡°You should eat more. And what about your poor friend who you¡¯re having lunch with? You¡¯re not keeping them waiting are you?¡±

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m not even sure she¡¯ll be there. I was just going to stop by her office and check. Sometimes she works Sundays-¡±

    ¡°Ooh a lady friend.¡± She shared a knowing glance with Connie.

    ¡°She¡¯s just a friend Margot,¡± Zephyr said, although he didn¡¯t mind the teasing.

    ¡°Oh, well, you tell your friend I said hi. What does she do, this friend of yours, that she must work Sundays?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a lawyer.¡±

    ¡°Ooooh, a lot of big case work then? You wouldn¡¯t get too much in a small town like this would you?¡±

    Connie leaned in and whispered to Margot, ¡°There was that murder up at Quartz Ridge a few weeks back, and that teleporter they found in the gardens. There wasn¡¯t much left of him. And that poor young girl...¡±

    ¡°What teleporter?¡± Margot inquired.

    ¡°The one Donny was telling us about. The one we¡¯re not supposed to tell other people about.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Ariel¡¯s niece¡¯s husband. The policeman.¡±

    ¡°Ohhhh, that one.¡± Margot nodded and turned back to Zephyr. ¡°Is she involved in any of those cases.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m not sure.¡± Zephyr ran a hand over the top of his hair. It was neatly tied back in a ponytail at the moment and he quickly removed his hand, deciding he didn¡¯t want to mess it up. ¡°She¡¯s mostly been working on this deceased estate case at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Ooooh, not the old Milton place?¡± Margot¡¯s eyes lit up. So did Connie¡¯s.

    ¡°Do you know it?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°Ohh yes, well no, not the place, but we know her. She was an eccentric old bird. Everyone knew her, or at least knew of her. She was an artist. A very good one I¡¯m told but very strange. Liked to build things, not for her art, in general I mean. She was a painter by profession in her later years but she kept adding to that house, most of it after her forth husband died. I¡¯d heard she¡¯d passed over too. I didn¡¯t quite believe it though. There have been false alarms before and the way she talked you¡¯d think she would have lived forever. Some people say she killed her husbands to maintain her youth.¡± Margot giggled and then scoffed. ¡°If you believe such magic exists. There were a lot of rumours that encircled her. Many of them she encouraged. I think she enjoyed the attention but not too much of it directly you know.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what her power was?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°Yes, she was a polyglot I believe. She could speak any language. Even worked as a translator when she was younger before she married her first husband.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Zephyr frowned in thought.

    Seeing he didn¡¯t have anything immediate to add and perhaps realising she¡¯d been talking for awhile now, Margot patted Connie gently on the arm, while she spoke to Zephyr. ¡°Well we should let you get to your lunch. We¡¯ve kept you long enough haven¡¯t we Connie? It was lovely seeing you dear.¡±

    ¡°Yes, lovely seeing you too Margot, and meeting you too Connie.¡±

    Connie nodded.

    ¡°See you the usual time next week. Too-da-loo,¡± Margot called as the pair continued their walk down the street.

    Zephyr waved them goodbye and then rounded a corner into an alleyway that led to the next street over. The law office was only a few doors down.

    He was so busy thinking over what Margot had said about Mrs Milton that he was barely paying attention to where he was walking. As he swiftly rounded onto the law office steps he collided right into a woman coming from the other direction and turning up the same flight of stairs he was.

    ¡°Oof!¡±

    ¡°Ow!

    The woman had been carrying a bunch of files which scattered about her over the pavement.

    ¡°Sorry!¡± Zephyr apologised.

    ¡°Oh gosh,¡± remarked the woman as she started to bend down to pick up her dropped folders.

    ¡°Here, let me help.¡±

    As Zephyr bent down to aid her she suddenly glanced up¡ª¡°No, no, it¡¯s my fault.¡±¡ªand she accidentally smacked him in the nose.

    ¡°Ow!¡± His hands flew to his face.

    She gasped. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry.¡± Her hands flew to cover her mouth.¡±

    For one long moment they stared at one another, each a mirrored expression. She was decidedly pretty, tall and slim with grey eyes. Her hair was long, almost waist length and it shone in the sun an orangey red colour, lighter than Amanda¡¯s auburn locks and darker than Kass¡¯s strawberry blonde.

    After a moment of staring at one another, they both almost simultaneously burst into laughter. There was more apologising from both of them and then Zephyr helped her pick up her files.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Are you a lawyer?¡± Zephyr asked as he handed her the last one.

    She put a slender hand to her mouth and laughed softly. ¡°Oh no.¡± She shook her head. Zephyr was instantly mesmerised by the silky movement of her hair over her bare shoulders. She wore a navy blue tank top but in a soft flowy material, something akin to chiffon, that made it look much dressier and nicer than any regular tank top had a right to be. It was loose but half tucked into the top of her dark blue jeans where a black belt with large silver belt buckle drew the eye. On her feet were a pair of black boots with heels that made her even taller than she already was. She was still at least a couple inches shorter than him, perhaps not quite as tall as Cat but close. She was definitely more on the thin side than muscly though. She looked like a strong breeze might bend her in two.

    Zephyr felt suddenly under dressed in his casual loose fitting jeans and comfy grey woolen jersey.

    ¡°I¡¯m here to see a lawyer,¡± she told him.

    ¡°On a Sunday?¡±

    ¡°Are they not open on a Sunday?¡± She frowned and looked towards the double doors of the building and then back a him. ¡°Why are you here if that¡¯s the case? Are you a lawyer?¡±

    He smiled. She had a sweet voice, smooth, young, and high cheek bones. She wasn¡¯t young though, something in her expression and the choice of clothing suggested she was at least 30, maybe even closer to his age. What was he now? A couple years off forty? He tried not to think about it too much. Truth was, she could have been anywhere between 20 and 80, and some people didn¡¯t even really start aging until they hit 100, or much later if they were a vampire. He could tell from her smile that she wasn¡¯t a vampire though.

    ¡°You¡¯re not from here are you?¡± he asked.

    She blinked in surprise, then she tucked a loose strand of hair behind one ear. ¡°Well no, I¡¯m from a few valleys just north of Ruin, up the Ivory Coast but inland a bit. A friend mentioned they were sometimes open on Sundays.¡±

    Zephyr nodded. ¡°Sometimes. That¡¯s pretty far. What are you doing in Little Rock? If you don¡¯t mind me asking,¡± he added at her slowly raising eyebrow.

    Her questioning look collapsed back into a smile that made Zephyr feel far bolder than usual. But that boldness had already almost gotten him in trouble.

    Realising he¡¯d already been prying perhaps a little too much and seeing that she was going to tell him anyway he tried an old age technique of making her want to give him more information while taking the pressure off. ¡°You don¡¯t need to tell me. I was being nosy.¡±

    He started to walk up the steps again. She fell in next to him.

    ¡°Oh no.¡± That damn smile. ¡°My dad died recently and well, turns out he¡¯d inherited some stuff just before he died from another relative and now it goes to us kids only everything¡¯s all a horrible mess and our lawyers up there didn¡¯t have any of the info so it seemed easier to just come down here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Zephyr replied genuinely and now feeling horribly guilty for even thinking about working some moves on the poor girl.

    She smiled again, sadder this time and shook her head. ¡°No, it¡¯s alright, I mean it¡¯s not alright but what can you do you know?¡± The force in her smile was obvious but he could see she was trying.

    He held the front door to the office open for her. ¡°Was it sudden?¡± He watched her reaction closely. That would determine the direction his next response took.

    She nodded. ¡°It was. I¡¯ve got a lot of brothers and sisters though so plenty of family comfort.¡± Her voice trailed off softly at the end and she glanced around the foyer.

    There was a front desk but no one at it. Given the front door had been open though, Zephyr knew that someone must be in, probably Kass. For a moment Zephyr¡¯s question had seemed to relax the woman but then she¡¯d also sort of changed the subject by mentioning her siblings. Plus, she was obviously a little lost here.

    He decided he¡¯d help. He held out a hand. ¡°I¡¯m Zephyr. Do you know who you¡¯re looking for?¡±

    She gave him a genuine smile but it was still a little uncertain. ¡°Arianna, I mean, I¡¯m Arianna, and I¡¯m not sure.¡± She shook her head. ¡°My brother was down a couple weeks ago but he had to head back and I don¡¯t know who he saw. A Tony something I think. It¡¯s about the Milton property...¡±

    ¡°Wait, did you say Milton?¡± Zephyr stared at her.

    She nodded.

    ¡°I know who you need. Wait here,¡± he told her.

    He left her waiting in the foyer and set off down the hallway to find Kass¡¯s office. He knew where it was and when he knocked on the door he heard her voice call back,

    ¡°Hello?

    ¡°It¡¯s Zeph.¡±

    ¡°Oh um, come in.¡± He could hear her shuffling papers about.

    He pushed the door open gently. ¡°You know it¡¯s a Sunday right?¡±

    She paused in moving things about on her desk and peered up at him over the top of her reading glasses. A frown creased the middle of her forehead. ¡°I was just catching up on some things. Did you need something?¡± she asked cautiously, sounding frazzled, and just a touch hopeful perhaps that he did not need anything at all.

    Zephyr glanced around the small dingy box of a room. The only natural light came from a window in one wall far too high up to be able to see out. A solid wooden desk took up the bulk of the space in the room. The only other piece of furniture apart from the three chairs was a small bookcase in one corner. It held a tidy selection of books and what looked like a plastic plant. In contrast to the neatness of the rest of the room, Kass¡¯s desk was covered in papers. An open box sat to one side of her, on top of some of the papers. Even her keyboard and mouse were hidden under a mountain of printed word and scrawls.

    ¡°I came to see if you wanted to grab some lunch actually and-¡±

    Kass was already shaking her head and her gaze kept glancing back to the papers in front of her as if they demanded her attention. She butted in before he could finish. ¡°I already had a salad, sorry.¡±

    Zephyr stayed silent until she finally stopped glancing back and forth between him and her work and paused to actually register his expression.

    When she did she opened her mouth again and stuttered, ¡°I...um...¡± before trailing off and looking worried.

    He felt sorry for her. She always seemed in such a hurry whenever she was working or had just come from work.

    He picked up where he¡¯d left off. ¡°As I was about to say, I ran into someone on my way in here who was is apparently related to that lady who owned the Milton place.¡±

    He noticed the drop in Kass¡¯s shoulders. She looked exhausted. She took her glasses off and sat them down on her desk. He was starting to think he should force her out into the fresh air work or no work. She definitely needed a break.

    ¡°Hello,¡± in a cherry voice, Arianna made herself known as she poked her head in through the doorway. ¡°Are you Kass?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re here about the Milton place?¡± Kass inquired, still frowning. Zephyr wondered if her face was stuck like that now.

    Arianna nodded. ¡°The guy in the lobby said you I could find you here.¡±

    Zephyr was unsure who she was referring to.

    Kass knew. She closed her eyes for a moment longer than a blink then pinched her forehead. ¡°That¡¯ll be Benji. I told him to go home hours ago.¡±

    ¡°Nobody here works sensible hours,¡± Zephyr quipped with a smile at Arianna.

    She returned him a small smile and then looked uncertainly toward Kass.

    ¡°Have you filled out the forms?¡± Kass asked more formally than she probably needed to be. Kass had never been one for much small talk though.

    ¡°Um, I¡¯m not sure. My brother¡¯s been in here before.¡± Arianna searched through the files she had with her to no avail.

    ¡°How long ago?¡±

    ¡°A few weeks.¡±

    ¡°He spoke with Tony?¡±

    Arianna nodded.

    Kass signed and opened one of her desk drawers. She pulled out a bunch of pages stapled together and held them out for Arianna. ¡°Fill this out and bring it back to me. It¡¯s pretty straightforward.¡±

    Arianna took it and flicked through. As she glanced at some of the questions frown lines appeared on her forehead. She started to open her mouth.

    Zephyr could see she had questions and he could also see Kass¡¯s shoulder slumping as she realised the same thing. Her gaze was starting to dart between them and the papers on the desk again.

    Before Arianna could get a word out Zephyr jumped in. ¡°How bout we go to a cafe down the road. I¡¯ll buy you a drink and help you fill that form in? I work with Kass and I know a place that does good burgers if you¡¯re hungry?¡± Zephyr did not specify how he worked with Kass but she had said the form was straightforward so he figured he could probably help out with whatever was needed.

    A glance at Kass showed that her face had not been stuck after all. She even managed a small smile.

    Arianna appeared to relax at the idea too. ¡°Okay.¡± She smiled and turned to walk out the door.

    Zephyr followed her out. When he glanced once more back at Kass she mouthed him ¡®thank you.¡¯

    Kass watched them until the door was shut then she breathed out a huff of air in relief. That old lady had too many relatives and Tony¡¯s record keeping had been atrocious. Meanwhile she had five other cases she was supposed to be working on. So much for a small town. But anything that kept her busy kept her mind from thinking about other things, so she was only too happy to lose herself in her work for the next couple hours.

    She got so caught up in what she was doing that when she next looked at her watch it was five minutes past the planned meeting time.

    ¡°Oh shit!¡± She jumped up from her desk in a hurry, shuffling papers as she moved, a half-hearted attempt to leave things in a somewhat orderly state. She grabbed her coat on the way out the door, draping it over her handbag as she locked her office behind her.

    She was on her way out through the foyer when a voice called out behind her.

    ¡°Oh! Hey! Kass!¡±

    She turned, half expecting to see Benji but quickly registering that it hadn¡¯t been his voice. Instead she saw another lawyer, Charlie, walking out of the other office wing, carrying a box from the archives.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think anyone else was here,¡± she remarked.

    ¡°Murrey and I are in court tomorrow. We¡¯re just finishing off some last minute preparations. What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°Finishing off Tony¡¯s work.¡±

    Charlie gave a sympathetic laugh. ¡°Aw yeah, I heard the boss dumped half his things on you. I hope they find the poor bloke soon... no, you know what, that¡¯s a lie. If I never see his smarmy face around her again it¡¯ll be too soon.¡± Charlie grinned widely then sighed. ¡°I probably shouldn¡¯t say things like that or the next thing you know his body¡¯ll turn up in that swamp they¡¯re draining out at Quartz Ridge.¡±

    Kass didn¡¯t reply but she managed a small strained smile and a glance toward the exit.

    Charlie got the hint. ¡°Anyway, you know how you were looking for stuff related to the Milton place and and there was nothing in the archives. Guess what I just found?¡± He rotated the box so she could see the words ¡®Milton¡¯ clearly listed on the side.

    Kass turned away from the door and back to face him fully with a puzzled look on her face. ¡°Where did you find it?¡±

    ¡°Far back corner, hidden behind some other boxes, which is crazy because I swear I checked there weeks back when Tony asked me to have a look while I was in there getting some other stuff and I know Ben and you have been over that place from head to foot. Alisha too. I mean it wasn¡¯t in it¡¯s correct place so maybe we just all happened to miss it. It was pretty well hidden. Anyway, here you go.¡± He held it out.

    Kass hesitated and glanced at her watch and then toward the hallway that led to her office.

    Charlie withdrew the box. ¡°Or I can just leave it on your desk for tomorrow? It¡¯s not like the locks bother me.¡±

    Kass nodded. ¡°Yeah, thanks. I have another appointment to get to.¡±

    ¡°No worries.¡± Charlie was what most witches called a wallbreaker. He had the power of intangibility, meaning he could effectively push other objects through his body without the object touching his body or any damage occurring. This extended to things like walking through walls. Kass¡¯s son Jesse had been born with the same power so she was quite familiar with it. And while the law office did invest in some substantial security, it didn¡¯t extend to quite cover all possible scenarios.

    Kass had considered staying and checking it out but she was already late and it would probably take awhile to sort through whatever was in there. She¡¯d take a look once she got back.

 Volume 2, Chapter 66: The Rusty Nail

    Despite being late Kass wasn¡¯t the last to arrive.

    The bar was just around the corner from the docks. It was made from top to bottom with well aged wood. It had no windows, which kept it warm and toasty inside all year round, not that it was a particularly cold evening tonight. Some people still strolled about in short sleeves, and a few kids down near the beach kicked a ball across the sand with bare feet. The sun was setting but it would take awhile for the light to fade yet. Give it a month or two and that beach might be covered in snow. Nothing quite like what Kass was used to in the far north but enough for a couple weeks of snowball fights.

    The Rusty Nail was a common haunt for sailors, especially those who travelled through here often and those who were fond of the gambling rooms out the back. The place was neither packed nor empty. Tonight a steady stream of traffic filtered in and out at a slow pace.

    Amanda, Sirius, and Wolf had already claimed a table. Sirius was sitting on a stool next to Wolf, neither one was talking much. Wolf didn¡¯t look too happy to be there. He didn¡¯t like coming in to town much. Amanda was up at the bar grabbing a jug of beer and a couple glasses, probably at a discount given she was a regular here and the barman often made money betting on Amanda¡¯s poker skills.

    In one corner of the room, Kass spied Cat, leaning forward over a table and flirting with a large bearish looking guy. Her black singlet was cut low and Kass figured the leaning forward was intentional. Kass had seen her talking to that guy before on and off, in between other short-lived relationships. She knew his name was Baz and that he was a backdoor medic and a bouncer at some of the edge of town clubs. Kass¡¯s gaze found Cat¡¯s belly, a inch of bare skin showed above her belt. Was Baz the father of that baby? She figured it would make sense, but with Cat, who really knew. She changed beds like some people changed socks. She wondered when Cat was planning on telling him, if at all. Her belly wasn¡¯t going to stay that flat forever. She tried to remember when she¡¯d started showing with her own three boys. Her eldest, Marc had been quite late, a difficult pregnancy and a difficult child. Theo, her youngest, had started to show earlier but still not before the second trimester. And Jesse, sweet Jesse, her only child left, she couldn¡¯t remember with him. So much of her time then had been taken up by Marc. She shook her head, and chased the memories away.

    As she took a seat at the table on Wolf¡¯s other side she could see Zephyr a few tables away. He was sitting with the red-haired woman who had come by office earlier. They were chatting and laughing and she was leaning in close, giving him all of her attention. Evidently Zephyr had been working some suave charm and they were getting on well.

    Amanda returned a moment later. ¡°Beer?¡± she asked Kass, as she started pouring out a glass for Wolf, Sirius, and herself.

    Kass shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m alright, thanks.¡± She wasn¡¯t particularly partial to beer. She did glance briefly toward the bar and considered ordering something else but she wasn¡¯t really in the mood for drinking and she wanted to go back to the office after this and get some more work done, not to mention check what was in that box.

    ¡°We¡¯re just waiting for Indi and Falco,¡± Amanda explained. ¡°Then I¡¯ll grab those two.¡± She glanced once each toward Zephyr and Cat.

    But it seemed Cat was done with her conversation anyway and she joined them a moment later with a bottle of water for the table while Baz headed off out into the night to go and do who knew what. Cat eyed Zephyr and Arianna¡¯s table perhaps a little too long but said nothing about it.

    They didn¡¯t have to wait long for the others. Indi bounced in just ahead of Falco a minute or two later, making no attempt at the sort of skulking this type of place was used to. She practically jumped up onto her bar stool, proclaiming in a loud voice, ¡°Oh my gods guys, you¡¯ll never believe what I¡¯ve found.¡±

    Kass didn¡¯t think much of that statement until she saw Falco¡¯s eyebrows raise in agreement. Indi thought almost everything was exciting news but if Falco thought so too then it really was probably something interesting.

    Kass didn¡¯t ask though. They would get to the matter soon enough.

    No one else had noticed Falco¡¯s look. Amanda might have, it was the sort of thing she¡¯d spot, but upon seeing Falco and Indi come through the door, she¡¯d turned to get Zephyr¡¯s attention.

    Zephyr had nodded and held up two fingers.

    Amanda turned back to the main table. ¡°Beer?¡± she offered Indi and Falco.

    Indi shook her head. ¡°Thank you but I am definitely going to get a cocktail.¡± She looked to Falco, ¡°What about you?¡±

    Falco glanced at the nearly empty beer jug. ¡°I might grab us another jug eh? You ladies want anything?¡± He looked at Cat and Kass.

    Cat narrowed her eyes at the word ¡®ladies¡¯ but she didn¡¯t comment. She just shook her head slightly.

    Kass caved. ¡°Maybe a wine?¡±

    ¡°Red or white?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°White please. Thanks.¡±

    Falco nodded.

    ¡°Tell him it¡¯s for this table,¡± Amanda said to Falco as he and Indi started to make their way toward the bar and the barman who stood behind it and always seemed to be wiping a part of it down.

    Falco nodded. She was probably getting him a discount.

    Kass watched Zephyr say an extended goodbye to Arianna at the table behind Amanda. A subtle glance at Cat, who sat beside Kass suggested the woman appeared to be pointedly ignoring the pair. Her gaze was fixed a little too fiercely off toward a blank wall.

    A moment later Zephyr slipped onto the stool between Amanda and Indi. He grinned like a dog who¡¯d just had a good run and was ready for round two.

    ¡°You help her with those documents?¡± Kass asked. A small part of her was a little jealous although she wasn¡¯t sure if it was because of his envious mood or because she wanted to be the one he was flirting with. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t even about him and she just wanted to be flirted with by someone, maybe someone else specific. She was, she felt, doing her very best to avoid looking at or even thinking about Sirius. There had been a time when her and Zephyr had nearly dated, if it hadn¡¯t been for Cat. At first she¡¯d been kind of bitter about that but as she¡¯d gotten to know Zephyr better she¡¯d realised it probably never would have worked out anyway. Zephyr was fun, a little too fun. He liked to make jokes, a lot, and even more so under the worst of circumstances. Kass didn¡¯t always appreciate that kind of silliness. It could be a little disconcerting and she sometimes struggled to tell when someone was being playful versus disguising an insult. Even though she figured Zephyr was unlikely to be mean on purpose his lighthearted jokes still reminded her a little too much of high school hidden insults, sniggers behinds backs, and fake friendships. His next comment pretty much confirmed that it wasn¡¯t his attention specifically that she longed for.

    ¡°Yeah, piece of cake. I¡¯ll send you my fee later,¡± Zephyr quipped with a smile.

    Even though she knew he was teasing, her instinct was to take the words at face value until her mind caught up. It barely took a fraction of a second but it was always a small rollercoaster of emotion. She hated it. But it wasn¡¯t his fault and she also knew the socially acceptable thing to do was to play along or at least not object to it, so she returned him a small, quiet, smile.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    And as she¡¯d expected, Zephyr read nothing more in her response than politeness.

    ¡°What documents?¡± Cat asked.

    Zephyr sent Kass a questioning glance. She understood, he wanted to know if it was okay to share that information. Kass didn¡¯t see a reason not to.

    ¡°That woman Zephyr was talking to is one of the Milton inheritors,¡± Kass answered.

    ¡°Poor her,¡± Wolf remarked.

    ¡°Poor who?¡± Falco asked as he returned to the table with a jug of beer and a glass of wine for Kass.

    Indi took her seat next to him with her own colourful red-orange drink that looked something like a sunrise.

    Amanda caught them up. Then she added. ¡°Yeah, well she might not get as much as she hopes. Coal¡¯s intent on emptying that place out in exchange for dealing with what¡¯s inside.¡±

    ¡°Is that even legal?¡± Falco asked. He poured himself a beer.

    He glanced briefly at Kass but it was Zephyr who answered.

    Zephyr shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think any of that family care too much. Kass was right when she said they don¡¯t want it. They seem almost afraid of it. Arianna gave me a run down of the extended family and history. And most of them are already well off as it is. Like serious money. They¡¯re worried the old lady left the place rigged with booby traps and that any of her inheritance is cursed.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re probably not wrong,¡± replied Falco. ¡°About the booby traps I mean. A curse seems a little excessive.¡±

    ¡°Can Coal legally claim any of it?¡± Wolf asked with a direct look at Kass.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Sirius told him. ¡°Coal will find a way to do what he wants, legal or otherwise.¡±

    More eyes found Kass, seeking confirmation. She gave a half-shrug. ¡°It¡¯s complicated. Technically yes if it¡¯s a health and safety hazard and the council agrees-¡±

    Cat snorted.

    Kass continued ¡°-The family could file an objection or request certain oversights and they¡¯re still potentially entitled to some of the profits from the sale but-¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s what we get them to do then,¡± Zephyr interrupted, ¡°File an objection.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Indi put her drink down. ¡°If they don¡¯t want it and Coal does want it and he has a way to take care of the things inside then it seems like everybody wins no? Since they still get some profits not to mention the bonus of not dying to a creepy half goat man.¡±

    ¡°Pffft, by the time Coal¡¯s done with it it will probably be listed as a net loss. And we never did figure out what that thing was.¡± Wolf started off with a growl and finished with a mumble.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the point of this meeting?¡± Cat asked with a scowl. ¡°Figuring out what to do about those creatures, whatever they are? Who cares who owns it, one rich fuck or the other rich fuck. It¡¯s the same shit in a different truck.¡±

    ¡°What does that even mean-¡± Zephyr started.

    Amanda who had been watching them debate, finally interjected. ¡°Cat¡¯s right.¡±

    Cat shot Zephyr a triumphant look.

    ¡°Half right anyway,¡± Amanda added.

    Cat scowled at her.

    She continued unabated. ¡°The pressing matter is what¡¯s to be done about the creatures in that house. And Coal has a plan for better or worse. The team he¡¯s called in is from Myst but they¡¯re not associated with the sorcerers. They¡¯re arriving tomorrow. I¡¯m going to stop by in the morning and check on how they plan to handle things. If it looks like they¡¯ve got things covered and they¡¯re reasonably independent then, well I¡¯m not too fussed about fighting Coal over this particular thing. If the family wants help, well then that¡¯s a different matter.¡± She was looking directly at Kass now. There was a question there.

    Indi interrupted with her own question. ¡°What did the will say in the end? Did you get it translated?¡±

    Kass nodded and casually fingered the stem of the glass she had yet to drink from. The others waited in silence. She had decided not to mention the box yet. She¡¯d tell them about it once she¡¯d had a chance to look inside.

    ¡°It¡¯s weird. It was written in the Ruthenian language for starters. It¡¯s an old human language. No one speaks it here. It may even be out of date by human standards. I couldn¡¯t find any records of it being spoken in the old world.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d you know what it was then?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°One of the lawyers a few doors down is a polyglot. She speaks everything.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of,¡± Zephyr added, remembering his conversation with Margot. ¡°Apparently that¡¯s what Mrs Milton was too.¡±

    Kass¡¯s eyebrows shot up, along with a few other people¡¯s. ¡°A polyglot?¡± Kass confirmed.

    Zephyr nodded.

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Amanda asked.

    He smiled secretively. ¡°I have my sources.¡±

    He was met with a few eye rolls.

    ¡°One of my clients was friends with her and Arianna confirmed some stuff,¡± he admitted. ¡°Both said she was real weird too. Some kind of artist, apparently quite well known, made a whole bunch of money from her paintings.¡±

    ¡°None of that explains why she¡¯d write her will in Ruthenian.¡± Kass frowned and took a sip of her wine.

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°She had a bunch of papers in different languages. Maybe she wasn¡¯t always in control of it.¡±

    ¡°So what did it say?¡± Indi asked impatiently. She¡¯d almost finished her cocktail.

    But before Kass could answer an arm reached between Indi and Zephyr and sat another two jugs of beer on the table. The arm was attached to the barman. He looked at Amanda. ¡°You playing tonight?¡±

    She nodded. ¡°Of course.¡±

    He smiled. ¡°Good. Couple of freshers down there¡±¡ªhe nodded toward the end of the room¡ª¡°think they¡¯re the guardian¡¯s gift to this world. Nothing would make me happier tonight than to see you wipe the smile off their faces and empty their pockets.¡±

    Amanda raised and lowered her eyebrows in agreement and gave him a smile.

    Satisfied, the barman returned to his station, leaving the free beer behind for their enjoyment. Amanda who had already finished the last of the first jug, poured herself another glass from the one Falco had bought earlier.

    Zephyr looked at the 2 and a half jugs on the table. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine that the drinking helps the poker playing but I¡¯m not complaining.¡± He poured himself a glass.

    Amanda¡¯s glance slid toward her shoulder but she resisted turning around to look at her future opponent just yet. ¡°It helps if they think I¡¯m drunk.¡±

    ¡°Except if you drink all that you will be drunk,¡± Falco pointed out.

    ¡°It¡¯s best not to question her methods,¡± Wolf told him. Wolf had finished his one beer and had turned his glass upside down. Sirius wasn¡¯t even half through his first one.

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome to help,¡± Amanda replied to Falco.

    Falco glanced at Indi. ¡°Who¡¯s driving home?¡±

    Indi glanced down and her cocktail and then back up at him, wide-eyed and innocent looking.

    Cat rolled her eyes and looked at the rest of them with a measure of disdain. She sighed. ¡°I can give you both a ride, so long as you don¡¯t vomit in my car.¡±

    Zephyr leaned forward and with a hopeful grin asked, ¡°Can I get a ride?¡±

    Another eye roll but Cat nodded. She turned to Kass and asked, ¡°You want a ride, Mouse?¡±

    It was a redundant question. Kass lived in an apartment in town, only a several minutes walk away from The Rusty Nail. Cat knew this but from her tone it was obvious she was in a teasing mood.

    Kass thought of a million suitable replies, each one a piercing blade of wit. But trading barbs with Cat was like wrestling a pig in the mud and Kass had little interest in a never ending war so she held her two-pronged tongue and simply replied as any little mouse would, ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯d fit.¡±

    She realised once she¡¯d said it that there were about a million different sharp replies that Cat could respond with to that comment too. She¡¯d left herself wide open for a reply, but if Cat thought of any, she kept them to herself.

    Indi put her elbows up on the table and dropped her chin into her hands. She gave a poor attempt at a scowl but she just ended up looking slightly puzzled. ¡°What, was, in, the, will?¡± She emphasized the words one at a time in a slightly whiny tone.

    It prompted a few sniggers from the others.

    ¡°Patience, patience,¡± cooed Falco.

    Indi tried to glare back at him but anyone could tell from looking at Falco¡¯s expression that it was just making him think about kissing her.

    ¡°So what was in the will?¡± Amanda asked Kass.

    Kass sighed. ¡°Apart from the weird language it was in, it wasn¡¯t really that interesting. It pretty much confirmed what we thought it did. The inheritor has to spend a certain period living inside the house in order to stake their claim on it. After several months, if there¡¯s no suitable person or persons then the place is to be sold and the profits donated to a specific charitable foundation.¡±

    ¡°How long do they have to stay in it to get the inheritance?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°One cycle of the sun,¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°What!?¡± Zephyr exclaimed.

    ¡°As in one day?¡± asked Wolf.

    Falco gave a disbelieving laugh.

    Amanda nearly choked on her beer.

    Sirius frowned.

    Cat shut one eye in a squint.

    ¡°Oooh but we did that! Can we inherit it?¡± Indi asked with a grin that made it clear she was just being silly.

    Kass gave her a serious answer. ¡°Technically it still has to be a blood relative and technically we didn¡¯t spend a whole 24 hours in there, not by any measure.¡±

    ¡°I saw two sunsets without leaving the house though,¡± Indi replied, her smug grin not leaving her face.

    ¡°Still not a blood relative,¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°Maybe if you drank one of them though...¡± Zephyr started then trailed off at Indi¡¯s reaction.

    She screwed up her face. ¡°Ew, gross!¡±

    ¡°Why one cycle of the sun?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°How many people do you think could survive a night in that place?¡± Wolf asked with a slight smile that suggested he knew something they didn¡¯t. While the others considered the question he turned to Kass and asked, ¡°Do you know what happened to her body?¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 67: Everything

    Kass shook her head. ¡°She was cremated I think, why?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re thinking blood magic?¡± Amanda asked Wolf.

    Wolf nodded. ¡°While I was reading about methods to help Lily I came across some reports of witches sacrificing their own kin to extend their lifespan, often by faking their own death first to lure blood relatives back home.¡±

    Kass shook her head. ¡°I saw the autopsy report. She¡¯s definitely dead. Heart attack apparently.¡±

    ¡°Maybe one of her creepy animal people jumped out at her,¡± Zephyr suggested with a twinkle in his eye.

    ¡°Maybe she saw your face,¡± Cat drawled back.

    Amanda casually raised her beer glass to her mouth. ¡°Weren¡¯t those all just rumours the humans made up way back in the old days. About how witches were all evil because they ate their own babies in exchange for eternal youth and such?¡±

    ¡°Mmm, some of them were true though.¡± Wolf replied with just the slightest of smiles.

    Amanda frowned and sipped her beer thoughtfully.

    Indi, having finished her cocktail, helped herself to a glass of beer and then refilled Falco¡¯s nearly empty one.

    ¡°Would it work then?¡± Amanda asked Wolf,

    ¡°Sacrificing blood relatives for youth?¡±

    ¡°Well for life, like in Lily¡¯s case? When she¡¯s already been necro¡¯d.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s diminishing returns and you¡¯re still only extending the turn.¡± Wolf frowned. ¡°We went over this.¡±

    ¡°The relative part doesn¡¯t help?¡±

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°Not enough and you don¡¯t know where her father is anyway.¡±

    Amanda sighed and nodded. She set down her beer glass, closed her eyes and rubbed her face. When she looked up again she said, ¡°Coal knows about her.¡±

    ¡°How?!¡± Cat exclaimed. ¡°How does he know about everything all of the time?¡±

    ¡°Magic!¡± Indi splayed her hands wide and grinned.

    Cat remained unimpressed.

    ¡°I had another idea,¡± Amanda said. ¡°Not for Lily, well probably not...¡±

    ¡°Definitely not,¡± Sirius interrupted firmly but quietly. Kass had noticed him hunch slightly at Amanda¡¯s last comment, as if trying to curl into a defensive posture like a hedgehog. She wondered what it was that he seemed so opposed to.

    ¡°I was thinking about those kids in the house. Maybe if we just turned the clock back a little-¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Wolf interrupted. His slight smile vanished into a deep frown.

    Amanda shut her mouth and looked across the table at him.

    He stared firmly right back.

    ¡°It-¡± she started up again.

    ¡°No.¡± He repeated his earlier word but softer this time.

    The rest of their conversation was finished with an exchange of looks until Amanda seemed to resign herself to a loss for now.

    ¡°Wait, are you talking about time travel?¡± Falco, who had only just caught on, asked.

    Amanda met Wolf¡¯s gaze again.

    Wolf didn¡¯t blink.

    Between the pair of them, Sirius seemed to relax.

    Amanda sighed and shook her head. With a glance at Falco she replied, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

    "So, what are we going to do about Lily then?¡± Falco asked.

    Amanda met Wolf¡¯s gaze again. ¡°Keep researching?¡±

    Wolf nodded.

    ¡°Great plan. Truly astounding,¡± Cat remarked in a dry sarcastic tone. ¡°This meeting¡¯s been very productive.¡± She stood up and glanced toward the door.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Indi exclaimed. ¡°You haven¡¯t even heard what I found yet.¡±

    Cat sat back down but she didn¡¯t look much more enthused.

    ¡°So you know how I got all that data from the facility where we found Lily?¡±

    A few nods of remembrance were had around the table.

    ¡°You mean the stuff you nearly died retrieving?¡± Wolf asked with an amused raised eyebrow.

    Indi nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the stuff.¡± She brushed her collarbone gently with one hand. She still had the bruises around her neck, although they were pretty faded now. She¡¯d spent the last week wearing a lot of turtlenecks and scarves. As if shaking off the chill the memory put in her she placed both palms face down on the table and in way too a happy voice remarked, ¡°Well it was totally worth it.¡±

    Kass could read straight through her. She figured a few of the others probably could too. But she said nothing.

    Indi let her words sink in for a moment. But once Amanda and some of the others were starting to give her expectant looks she continued. ¡°So it turns out that particular account belonged to the IT guy which is super fecking useful because he had documentation on a whole bunch of employees that weren¡¯t listed on those other documents we found, like even some of their notes and personal files, and probably some stuff he shouldn¡¯t have had, but good for us he did right?¡±

    Cat tilted her head back and let out an exasperated sigh. ¡°What was in the data Indi?¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s what I¡¯m telling you.¡±

    Anyone could tell that Cat was getting impatient but Indi seemed to be enjoying dragging the story out just a little too much.

    Cat narrowed her eyes.

    Indi grinned. She liked the attention. All eyes on her.

    Falco gave her an ¡®I know what you¡¯re doing look.¡¯

    Indi glanced down at her cocktail as if contemplating going and getting another one before continuing.

    She must have thought better of it. In between sips of beer she took them through everything she¡¯d found in the decrypted files.

    ¡°So, let me get this straight,¡± Zephyr summarised once she¡¯d finished, ¡°The facility is owned and operated normally by the government of Mercy...¡±

    ¡°Well, a branch of government,¡± Indi corrected. ¡°I don¡¯t know how much the rest of their government knew about it.¡±

    ¡°...and one of the people in charge of the oversight of this facility, Argo whatshisname¡ª¡°

    ¡°Mortimer.¡±

    ¡°¡ªleased it out to another politician, our father of the year, Cornelius whatever¡ª¡°

    ¡°Whipperton.¡±

    ¡°¡ªWhat a name! Who used it to try and resurrect his dead wife and daughter. Have I got that right so far?¡±

    Indi nodded.

    ¡°And pretty much everyone in the facility, including the soldiers who tried to kill us, were just fuel for his necromancy spell, except for a handful of scientists and Trevor, who, what was Trevor¡¯s purpose?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°Well, I think the scientists were also maybe supposed to be a part of it too. I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not sure. That part wasn¡¯t clear. They seem to have had their own motives anyway. Trevor was a materiokinetic with some experience casting necromancy spells. Apparently some of his victims he brought back to life over and over just so he could torture them some more.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± Cat interrupted. ¡°Hold up. This high class politician and self-professed family man from Mercy, hired a serial killer to help him resurrect his family?¡±

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    Indi nodded.

    ¡°Why not just hire a necro?¡±

    ¡°Disposibility maybe?¡± Amanda suggested.

    ¡°Then why hire Coal? Why us? That¡¯s not subtle or disposable. Not to mention, the hundreds of sacrifices.¡±

    ¡°Probably required even with a necro,¡± Amanda replied.

    ¡°He probably couldn¡¯t get this kind of power in Mercy,¡± Indi explained.

    Amanda nodded and gestured at Indi in agreement.

    Indi beamed.

    ¡°We¡¯re distanced enough from Mercy,¡± Wolf added. No one will notice a couple of people disappearing from here. They might notice hundreds though.¡±

    Cat frowned and looked at Amanda. She asked seriously, ¡°Do you think Coal sold us out?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°What do you think his actual agreement with Lily¡¯s father was?¡±

    Amanda shook her head again.

    ¡°Where do you think he¡¯s gone? Lily¡¯s father.¡± Sirius pondered aloud.

    Amanda glanced toward him.

    ¡°Maybe he doesn¡¯t know where we are?¡± Indi suggested.

    Cat shook her head. ¡°His deal was with Coal and if he knows where Coal is then he knows where we are.¡±

    Still looking at Sirius Amanda said, ¡°We should do a scrying spell for him.¡±

    Cat frowned. ¡°Why haven¡¯t we done that already?¡±

    Amanda glanced from Cat to Sirius, to Wolf, and then back to Sirius again. Finally she turned to Cat. ¡°Because it requires Lily¡¯s blood and I¡¯m still not sure I want to do that.¡±

    ¡°Injuries can speed up zombification,¡± Wolf added for context. ¡°Even something as little as drawing blood.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need blood though do you? From her I mean,¡± Kass asked. She¡¯d seen scrying work with other bodily components, saliva, seamen, once an entire fingernail. However, the latter had only worked because ripping them off someone to find the rest of their family seemed to prompt them to remember their loved ones whereabouts, especially when they thought you were going to be able to find them anyway. The actual fingernail scrying attempt however had been a colossal failure. That¡¯s why it had taken four nails. In theory scrying could be done without the subject¡¯s DNA but theory didn¡¯t always match up with practice. She¡¯d never seen it done successfully but she¡¯d seen it tried many times.

    Kass didn¡¯t really want to be recalling the details of the war tactics her ex-comrades had used over a decade ago though so she swirled her wine and tried to focus on the conversation at present.

    Wolf sighed a little and rocked his head from side to side. ¡°You could use hair as the information component but it¡¯s not as effective.¡±

    Amanda nodded. ¡°We might try. Hair is easier and safer to get. Coal¡¯s convinced the guy¡¯s in Witchaven.¡±

    Sirius did a double blink. Evidently Amanda had mentioned that piece of information to him yet. ¡°What makes him think that?¡±

    Amanda hesitated. ¡°Well technically what he said was that someone who crawled out of the facility rubble is in Witchaven.¡± She shrugged. ¡°But given the way the place went up, who else could it be?¡± She finished off the last of her current beer, and then refilled her glass.

    ¡°If he¡¯s in Witchaven we should probably leave him there,¡± Kass remarked.

    Cat frowned. ¡°What¡¯s the issue with Witchaven?¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t like witches,¡± Wolf answered.

    ¡°So? They¡¯re humans, they¡¯ve got no magic, and they can¡¯t tell what we are,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t stop them doing damage back in the day,¡± Wolf said. ¡°And they especially don¡¯t like vampires.¡± He nodded at Indi.

    ¡°Or werewolves,¡± Amanda added giving him a pointed look.

    ¡°Yeah but I¡¯m less noticeable. Don¡¯t forget, before the great splice they used to burn redheads on sight. Rumour has it, Witchaven still has the occasional bonfire.¡±

    Kass shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not the humans that are the problem. It¡¯s the HPL.¡±

    ¡°HP what?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Human Protection League,¡± Kass explained.

    She frowned as Cat mocked her with a yawn. She added a little more information regardless. ¡°They¡¯re originally from Mercy, but they span wider than that these days and they have agreements in hundreds of regions. Anybody who harms a hair on a human¡¯s head answers to them, doesn¡¯t matter if it was accidental or if you just happened to be in close proximity when it happened. They are ruthless. They were set up after the splice to protect the humans who chose to remain here, and later also those who accidentally ended up here. They regularly monitor what¡¯s happening in human settlements such as Witchaven.¡±

    ¡°Why do they call it Witchaven if it¡¯s not a haven for witches?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°Probably because it¡¯s supposed to be a haven from witches,¡± Zephyr explained.

    ¡°Seems backwards to me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve just described most human settlements,¡± Wolf remarked. ¡°Technologically speaking a lot of them are still stuck in the late 1600s. They haven¡¯t progressed a day since the worlds were split.¡±

    ¡°Whatever you might think of them, Kass is right,¡± Falco said. ¡°I¡¯d rather go up against the aristocrats, the sorcerers, and Mercy combined, before I¡¯d want to have to go up against the HPL.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve dealt with them before?¡± Kass asked.

    Falco nodded. ¡°Briefly.¡± He took a swig of beer and then added. ¡°More than once and I don¡¯t much wish to repeat the process.¡±

    ¡°Anyway,¡± Amanda said between mouthfuls of her own beer. ¡°I don¡¯t think we need to head out there right away. If it is him he¡¯ll likely stay put at this point. It could also be a human who was intended as one of the sacrifices but they''re unlikely to go anywhere else either. I¡¯d rather we saw this house thing tidied up and figured out what we¡¯re doing about Lily first.¡±

    ¡°Hang on,¡± Zephyr interrupted. ¡°Can we jump back a bit because I feel like there¡¯s something very important that we haven¡¯t discussed yet.¡± He turned to Indi. ¡°Before the facility was leased you said they were doing experiments on people?¡±

    Indi nodded and shivered slightly at the memory of what she¡¯d seen.

    ¡°Does that not concern anybody else?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s concerning,¡± Amanda replied although she didn¡¯t look very concerned at all.

    ¡°Mmm,¡± Falco nodded in agreement. ¡°We have video evidence that Mercy was doing experiments on humans, witches, vampires, werewolves, even a chikari.¡±

    Cat frowned. ¡°Underground? I thought they needed sunlight to survive?¡±

    ¡°Probably had UV,¡± Wolf answered.

    Falco continued. ¡°None of that is going to go down well with anyone.¡±

    ¡°What do we do with all this?¡± Kass asked.

    ¡°Nothing,¡± was Amanda¡¯s reply.

    ¡°Nothing?¡±

    Amanda nodded. ¡°The place is destroyed, they don¡¯t know we were there. They don¡¯t know about Lily. The less we get involved with any more of it the better.¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t worried they¡¯ll just start up again elsewhere?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°Not if they need a splice hole,¡± Wolf said.

    He caught Amanda¡¯s eye and she nodded.

    ¡°It¡¯ll take them awhile to get that place unburied. Plus most of those scientists are dead,¡± she added.

    ¡°People still deserve to know. Those people had families,¡± Falco reminded her.

    ¡°So did the scientists.¡±

    He gave her a disbelieving look. ¡°That¡¯s beside the point.¡±

    ¡°Think of the political repercussions,¡± Kass interrupted in a quiet voice.

    But it made Falco pause and contemplate. Then he sighed and nodded.

    Amanda replied, ¡°Maybe in a few months Indi can put the videos on the internet anonymously. If it makes sense to do so. But not right now. Not when it¡¯s just happened and not with how everything is at the moment.¡±

    Indi perked up at her name. Falco gave a resigned nod.

    Everyone else remained quiet.

    ¡°Right,¡± Amanda glanced toward the back room, where a few people were starting to file through to. ¡°I think that about covers everything for now.¡±

    As if on cue, one of the freshers the barman had been talking about early, caught her glance and called out with a sneer, some seedily wriggling eyebrows, and a lick of the lips, ¡°I hear you¡¯re some kind of local legend. Ready for a thrashing?¡±

    Amanda turned back to the table. With a grin she remarked, ¡°I¡¯m gonna enjoy this.¡± She slid off her bar stool and glanced at Sirius. ¡°I¡¯ll see you at home.¡± Then she grabbed her glass, one of the remaining jugs, and headed for the back room, where she handed over some money to the barman at the door.

    The others watched her go.

    ¡°Dare I ask how she¡¯s getting home later?¡± Cat inquired of Sirius.

    ¡°She said she¡¯d phone.¡±

    ¡°Bullshit she will,¡± Cat replied.

    Sirius shrugged. ¡°Well she doesn¡¯t have the car. She¡¯ll probably just hire a horse from Lemmy¡¯s.¡±

    Indi frowned. ¡°You can hire horses in town in the middle of the night?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the Little Rock taxi service,¡± Zephyr replied. ¡°You steer the horse where ever you want to go. Once you get there you let the horse loose and it finds it¡¯s way back. They¡¯re like homing pigeons.¡± He frowned. ¡°I thought you¡¯d used Lemmy¡¯s before?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, once or twice,¡± Indi replied, ¡°But not at like, the middle of the night.¡±

    Wolf nodded. ¡°He works weird hours. It¡¯s if you want a horse at 8am you might struggle.¡±

    Zephyr shook his head. ¡°Nah, often his wife is up earlier in the mornings. They do shifts, or sometimes the son if he¡¯s home visiting. I borrowed one at 9:30 once. The days are a bit random though. Sometimes they¡¯re just shut.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a smart idea really,¡± Falco remarked. In a different voice, and with a wide grin, he said, ¡°But officer, the horse is sober.¡± He topped up his glass and then handed the jug to Zephyr who did the same, finishing off the last of the beer.

    ¡°Did you know it¡¯s actually physically impossible to get a horse drunk,¡± Indi told them. ¡°Their body metabolizes it too fast so the horse is always sober, even if it¡¯s been drinking.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for that Indi,¡± Falco replied with laugh in his tone but fondness in the look he gave her.

    ¡°The police actually support the whole thing,¡± Wolf told him. ¡°Since it keeps less cars on the road. Less cars, less chance of dragons.¡±

    Cat scowled. ¡°Until you get a dead horse in the middle of the road because the rider¡¯s too drunk to steer properly.¡±

    ¡°Except that¡¯s not an issue if there¡¯s no cars,¡± Falco pointed out.

    Cat narrowed her eyes further then in a sickly sweet voice she said, ¡°That¡¯s funny, I could have sworn I heard you say you wanted a ride home tonight?¡±

    Falco swallowed. ¡°You know what, on second thoughts, cars are great! They¡¯re sleek looking and you can go from A to B in almost no time at all. They even double as a house when you¡¯re on the move. I was named after one you know?¡±

    ¡°Mmm hmm, I know.¡± Cat¡¯s eyes were still narrowed but she gave an amused smile.

    ¡°Laying it on a bit thick there aren¡¯t you?¡± Zephyr asked.

    Falco snorted in objection.

    ¡°Speaking of getting a ride home in a vehicle that doesn¡¯t go 20 km an hour, are you lot ready to head off?¡± Cat asked as she got to her feet.

    ¡°Hang on,¡± Indi slipped off her stool. ¡°I¡¯ll just go to the bathroom.¡±

    Cat rolled her eyes and sat back down. ¡°You want a ride Wolf?¡±

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll run.¡± He got to his feet, stretched then after a nod of goodbye he headed for the door.

    ¡°Sirius?¡±

    Sirius shook his head. ¡°Got the car.¡±

    ¡°That thing still runs?¡± Cat raised an eyebrow.

    Sirius nodded.

    Falco turned to Zephyr. ¡°You know we could go to the range? Shoot some shit?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Zephyr started to nod along in agreement.

    Cat stared daggers at them. ¡°I¡¯m not dropping you off at the range after you¡¯ve been drinking.¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t had much,¡± Falco replied but he was obviously in a much looser state of mind than he had been when he walked in the bar.

    ¡°How would you even get home?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Mmm, good point,¡± Falco conceded having not considered that far ahead. ¡°Another time then I guess.¡±

    Zephyr nodded. Then after a moment¡¯s though he said, ¡°You know what does outdo cars though, teleportation.¡±

    ¡°Yeah if you can afford it,¡± Falco quipped back.

    Zephyr sighed. ¡°They could just build a permanent link.¡±

    ¡°What? Between the bar and your house?¡± Falco snorted.

    Zephyr shook his head. ¡°Or somewhere nearby. You know some of the bars up in the foothills give out teleportation bracelets.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, they also charge the equivalent of a new car for the drinks,¡± Cat complained.

    ¡°You don¡¯t even drink,¡± Falco remarked.

    Cat shrugged. ¡°Pretty sure they charge for water too. The stuff here is free.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, and who knows where they get it from,¡± Falco chuckled.

    ¡°You know they had a murder out there recently,¡± Zephyr remarked. He was as bad of a gossip as Indi was.

    Kass was about to ask him how he knew that when Indi returned from the bathroom.

    ¡°Ready to go?¡± Cat asked.

    Falco, Zephyr, and Indi all nodded. There was a couple of ¡®see ya''s¡¯ and ¡®goodbye¡¯.

    ¡°Good.¡± Cat nodded her head so they¡¯d filter out before her. She glanced back to the table to say her own good bye then paused a moment as she registered who was being left alone together.

    Sirius seemed to sense her thoughts and started to get up. Kass glanced at her watch and did the same.

    Seeing they appeared to be leaving too, Cat turned and followed the others out. As the bar door swung open, Indi, Falco, and Zephyr could all be heard continuing their excited, slightly drunken conversation.

 Volume 2, Chapter 68: A Thousand Sunsets

    ¡°You sure you don¡¯t want a ride?¡± Sirius asked Kass.

    Kass smiled and shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s like a 5 minute walk. I¡¯m gonna head back to the office first anyway.¡±

    Sirius nodded.

    They were both silent a moment. Kass glanced at her wine glass. There was still some left in the bottom but she decided she didn¡¯t need to finish it. She looked over at Sirius. He was being a gentleman and waiting for her to go first. She looked up at him as she stepped into the walkway between tables. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind some company if you felt like coming for a walk though.¡±

    To her relief, he smiled. Only slightly but it was there. He nodded. ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve been wanting to talk to you.¡±

    Kass¡¯s heart sank at those words. That sounded more serious. She hadn¡¯t yet talked to either him or Amanda about what happened back that facility. Nor had she apologised. She figured they¡¯d talked with one another and decided just to pretend it hadn¡¯t happened but the tone in Sirius¡¯s voice suggested that might not be quite the case. It would have been simple if she was sorry, then she could just say it and everything would be done with. But the truth was that she wasn¡¯t, not in the slightest. Oh, she felt guilty of course, but there was also this horrid little part of her that was hopeful for another go. These feelings sent her spinning off axis.

    Kass nodded and they walked outside together, each alone with their thoughts until they were through the bar door and back out in the street. There was no sign of any of the others. The streets were a little emptier now. The kids who had earlier been playing soccer on the beach were now gone. The sun was below the horizon but a warm glow, the remnants of the sunset, still remained, highlighting the distinction between the sky and the sea.

    Kass stood and admired the beauty of it for a moment.

    ¡°We could go that way,¡± Sirius suggested, even though it was the opposite direction to her office. ¡°Do a loop.¡±

    Kass nodded. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a nice night for a walk.¡±

    ¡°You can almost see the stars.¡± Sirius pointed with a smile in his voice as they walked in the direction of the port.

    Kass glanced upward. She could just make out one of two of the brighter stars.

    ¡°It¡¯s nice to see the real sky.¡±

    Sirius nodded. After a moment¡¯s silence he started, ¡°Look, I wanted to apologise for what happened back at the facility. I didn¡¯t mean to lead you on or...¡±

    Kass shook her head and opened her mouth. Her stomach dropped. Why was he apologising? It had been her that had kissed him. It had been all her.

    Sirius trailed off at her reaction and waited for her to speak.

    But Kass¡¯s tongue was stuck in a twist she couldn¡¯t untangle.

    Finally Sirius said sadly. ¡°I just, I didn¡¯t mean to give you any false hope or anything. I... I love Amanda.¡± He was looking at Kass to up ahead, and back to her again, like a big puppy dog.

    Kass couldn¡¯t quite bring herself to meet his eyes but she nodded.

    He continued. ¡°I do like your company though. I like talking to you and I would like if we can keep being friends. I just want to make sure that¡¯s clear, that¡¯s all it is.¡±

    Kass finally found her courage and her mask. Hiding the broken pieces of herself deep down inside she finally raised her face up to look at him. ¡°I¡¯m the one who should apologise. It was a stupid impulsive move, on my part not yours. I don¡¯t know what I was thinking,¡± she lied. ¡°It was probably just the feel of being in that place you know.¡±

    He nodded and seemed to relax a little. ¡°So just friends then?¡± he asked. ¡°You¡¯re alright with that?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± She would have to be.

    They walked in an almost comfortable silence for a little way and then Kass asked, ¡°So when are you next heading out?¡±

    ¡°Soon, hopefully the next day or two.¡±

    ¡°And back?¡±

    ¡°Two weeks.¡±

    They chatted more, first about work and then about other things, almost as if that first conversation had never taken place. And sooner than she realised, they were back at her office. Kass paused at the bottom of the small flight of steps that ran up to the front entrance.

    ¡°Well, good night,¡± Sirius said with a small smile.

    ¡°Good night.¡± She returned his smile and they went their separate ways. But the moment Sirius left, Kass was right back in that first conversation. And there she wallowed until she unlocked the door of her office, switched on the light, and found her attention immediately captured by something else, the box on her desk.

    She shut the door behind herself, not that anyone else was nearby. Murrey and Chralie were down the other wing. She¡¯d noticed the light on down their end when she¡¯d come in, but apart from them the place was empty.

    She stepped behind her desk and gently lifted the top off the box. She laid it down to the side and peered at the contents. The box was packed to the brim with an assortment of paper.

    Meticulously she removed the contents of the box and placed things in piles that would allow her to retain the order, just in case that mattered.

    There was a mixture of documentation on the house, including what looked like contradictory plans and the deeds themselves. Much of this Kass already had copies of. She did a quick sweep to check if there was anything in here that she was missing but it didn¡¯t look like there was and it seemed like she had the only copy of the will already.

    She put aside the legal documents and moved onto the next pile which contained a handful upmarket magazines. Each one appeared to be a random edition of The Craft Collection. Flicking through pages Kass was presented with a mixture of articles and images. Most of the images were of art, paintings, sculptures, pottery, and other things.

    One page was marked with a sticky tag. Kass turned to that one. A woman stared back at her from in front of a giant painting made up of hundreds of smaller ones. The caption read ¡®Tricia Milton took the grand prize again this year with her stunning painting titled, ¡®Timeless¡¯.

    Kass peered closer at the painting. She could swear she recognised the locations in the pictures. Each painting was of a beautiful red gold sunset but the setting was different, in some cases only slightly, and as Kass looked longer at it she eventually realised it was the same sunset at the exact same time, only the angle was different. She could tell from the shape of the thin strip of clouds just above the horizon, and all of them appeared to have been painted on the Milton Estate.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Kass put the magazine down feeling like she¡¯d found the answer to some mystery that had been bothering her but that she was no more satisfied with it than she had been before. She continued looking through the rest of the magazines. Each one showcased a piece of art that Mrs Milton had either created or simply owned. One article titled ¡®Art and The Dead¡¯ depicted Mrs Milton standing in front three beautifully decorated vases, one yellow, one blue, and one red. Kass skipped right on past it.

    Beneath the magazines were newspaper articles featuring similar contents. The date on one of them caught Kass¡¯s eye. It was of Mrs Milton, standing next to a silver harp. Kass skimmed the article. It was an enchanted harp apparently, one that compelled all who heard it¡¯s song to start dancing, and to keep dancing until the musician ceased playing or the dancer died of exhaustion. The dress Mrs Milton wore was old fashioned by today¡¯s standards. Kass compared the photo with one of the more recent ones. She found very little difference between the two Mrs Milton¡¯s apart from the clothes and hair style and the caption which read ¡®Anya Kenton¡¯. Even the demure smile and dimples were the same. Despite the older one being dated in the mid 1700s and the later one the early 2000s, Mrs Milton hadn¡¯t aged a day. It was true that witches aged slow, relative to werewolves and humans at least. If a witch¡¯s powers didn¡¯t kill them when they were young, and if no accident befell them once they were older then a witch would easily live over a hundred years. But living a long time wasn¡¯t the same as living forever and most witches wouldn¡¯t show old age until they really were in their twilight years. But here was Mrs Milton looking old in two photos taken centuries apart. How had she done it? Hell, based off that, it was possible she¡¯d even lived through the great splice. Was Wolf right? Had she been looking for a blood relative to sacrifice. It did seem like this might have been the only way to get them there. Except Kass had seen the body. Hadn¡¯t she?

    Kass flicked through more of the newspaper articles and was disturbed to find that some of them were reports of missing children. Blood magic was stronger with like blood but when lacking a relative, any one would do. Except that kind of magic wouldn¡¯t play well with a witch¡¯s weep nearby. Perhaps she hadn¡¯t intended to let it get that big or maybe it had been an ingredient in some spell of another? Kass made a note to ask Wolf the possible uses later. Then she packed up the things and went to go pay a visit to the morgue.

    She knew she¡¯d be able to get in. The guy who ran the place tended to work the night shift on account of two things. One, he really hated when people bothered him while he was working, and two, he was a vampire.

    ¡°Rudolph?¡± Kass poked her head into a dimly lit autopsy room. A single bulb hanging from the ceiling was on, so he must be in somewhere.

    She felt a presence behind her. She spun right as a pale blonde haired dude with a pink shirt, hundreds of braids, and a wide grin said ¡®Boo¡¯.

    A moment later her remarked, ¡°Oof,¡± as he went flying into a wall, pushed there by Kass¡¯s telekinesis.

    Kass¡¯s hand flew to her mouth in regret at the action.

    Rudolph blinked in surprise. ¡°Whoa! That¡¯s the last time I sneak up on you. Those are some nice reflexes. It¡¯s not many people get the drop on me you know.¡±

    It was probably true. Most vampires tended to be extra stealthy, but Kass had hunted them once, a long time ago. She let out the breath she¡¯d been holding. He seemed okay. ¡°Sorry Ru.¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°S¡¯no biggie. What can I do ya for?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to interrupt.¡±

    ¡°Nah, I¡¯m on break. Was just getting some start-of-the-night refreshments.¡± He grinned, unintentionally revealing two full length sharp canines. His red eyes sparkled with energy. Another colour common among vampire folk.

    ¡°I was just wanting to check files on a particular body, maybe get a look at it if it¡¯s still here.¡±

    ¡°Sure, what¡¯s the name?¡±

    Kass followed Rudolph to his computer. ¡°Tricia Milton.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    Kass waited while Rudolph tapped away at the keyboard.

    ¡°It says she was checked out.¡±

    ¡°For burial?¡±

    ¡°No idea, just checked out.¡±

    ¡°By whom?¡±

    More typing. He paused and eyed her. ¡°You fill out a request form?¡±

    She hesitated. She hadn¡¯t.

    He scratched his head and glanced at the screen. ¡°Eh, just bring me one tomorrow.¡±

    Rudolph gave her all the details he had, not that there were many. Turned out her body had been picked up by a professional art moving company. A little digging back at the office and it turned out the art moving company had been heavily funded in its early stages by none other than Mrs Milton, and although the company produced their own funding, Mrs Milton had still held some shares along with a seat on the board. It was all just a little bit too much of a coincidence for Kass but there was no indication as to where her body had actually been taken. Short of getting some help from Indi, Kass figured she wasn¡¯t getting much more info tonight. She decided to call it quits and go home.

    Her apartment was quiet. There was a dirty plate on the otherwise spotless kitchen island which suggested her 10 year old son, Jesse had fixed himself up some food, probably the leftovers she¡¯d cooked the night before last.

    There were no hallways in the apartment, just one joint kitchen living area with a couple doors leading off it. There were two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a tiny closet sized room with a window that they didn¡¯t use for anything. She checked on Jesse. He was doing his homework and he said that he had indeed had dinner.

    The fridge was sparse, much like their apartment. Kass lived a minimalist life and Jesse was a good kid who never seemed to want much. He was so different from how his older brother had been. It was quiet with just the two of them, and empty. There was a couch, a dining table, a microwave, a toaster, a fridge, and that was about it. But there was enough, there was always enough. Kass hardly ever sat still long enough to think about what they might be missing.

    She chopped up some mushrooms and carrots, fried some gnocchi, and boiled some stock. Add in a few other ingredients and she soon had a pot of soup which would last them a couple days. She let Jesse know there was more food if he wanted some. He said maybe in a bit. So Kass sat down by herself and polished off a small bowl.

    She focused on the food as she ate, her mind occasionally wandering back over the last couple weeks. When she was done she washed the plate and set it upside down on the bench to dry. They had a dishwasher but with only two of them and not a lot of plates, there wasn¡¯t much point in using it.

    She stood blankly in the kitchen for a moment wondering if it was too early to go to bed. She could always get her laptop out and do a little more work. But she wasn¡¯t really in the mood. She didn¡¯t feel much like reading either. Instead she went to the safe where she kept her guns. Rifles mostly but there were a couple of pistols too, in various sizes depending on the different need, each one of them probably worth more than the rest of the house contents combined. She moved a few of her weapons over to the kitchen table and laid them all out facing the same direction. She grabbed her cleaning fluid and a cleaning rod and began dismantling them.

    She had hoped the act of doing something with her hands would settle her mind but it jumped about from thought to thought. Sirius¡¯s smile, his words ¡®just friends¡¯. An image of Amanda¡¯s face brought on a wave of guilt, and she felt for a moment that it might just be better for everyone if she vanished from their lives completely, maybe even from this world. The device in front of her would make that so easy and then she wouldn¡¯t have to remember all the things she¡¯d lost, all the people who were gone, and the ones whose lives she¡¯d taken. She never stopped cleaning her rifle but her thoughts ran themselves in circles in her mind.

    She was halfway through the first rifle when Jesse poked his head out of his bedroom. His gaze rested on the gun in her hands with a worried look as if he knew what she¡¯d been thinking. Perhaps he did. There had been a day, a year ago, a moment of weakness and a bottle of pills. But Kass was fine now and seeing her son there, with his father¡¯s fair hair, not red-tinged like her own, nothing like her, reminded her of what she still had.

    Jesse shrugged off the worry in his posture pretty quickly but she could still see the wariness in his eyes as he approached the table.

    In a voice that knew better but feigned innocence he asked, ¡°What are you doing?¡± Just enough curiosity in his tone to keep the mood light. He was wise for a 10-year old, but then he¡¯d seen much more of the world than most, far more than he should have.

    ¡°Just cleaning the guns,¡± Kass replied keeping her own town as cherry and light as she could, burying her previous thoughts back deep down where they belonged. ¡°It¡¯s good to do regularly.¡±

    Jesse took a seat at the kitchen table and rested his chin on one raised hand. In a half sigh he blew a lock of blonde hair out of his eyes. ¡°Can we watch a movie?¡±

    Kass couldn¡¯t help but smile. He looked so grown up and yet still so young at the same time.

    There was no TV but Kass had her laptop along with a hard drive of a bunch of Indi¡¯s favorite movies that Indi had sourced from who knew where. They could put that on the coffee table and watch from the couch. Outside the sky was dark but in here things now felt a little lighter. A movie with her son was a good distraction. The perfect thing to fill the time before sleep.

    ¡°Sure, what do you want to watch?¡±

    Jesse thought on it for a moment and then smiled. With a shrug, he replied, ¡°I dunno, something scary.¡±

 Volume 2, Chapter 69: Nothing

    Wolf loped through the forest on four legs faster than any horse could travel. He carried his clothes in a bag he¡¯d affixed to his back before he¡¯d shifted.

    Amanda''s words echoed in his head as he shut the door to his cabin. Nothing. The word nothing repeated itself over and over as he glanced at a discarded but recent newspaper article on one bench. The one that featured a picture of a seemingly happy family, a mother, a father, and two young girls. But one of those girls was now dead, killed by the one who smiled behind her and gently rested his hand on her shoulder. Wolf was certain of it. And what had he done? Nothing.

    Around him books lay in every direction, stacked on tables, under lamps, fondled by plants. He''d read some of them multiple times, others he''d only skimmed, but he knew their contents well enough. He''d told Amanda they''d keep researching but the truth was he wasn''t sure where else to look. He¡¯d looked at everything.

    Then there was the house. More missing kids. How many had there been? He was blurry on the numbers now. Furthermore he was sure Coal had taken something. He didn¡¯t know what and he hadn¡¯t seen him do it, but he knew, why else would the aristocrat have been in the house?

    After getting dressed he sat down on his stool with a sigh and feeling somewhat useless. Was Amanda right about the time travel? Sirius had obviously talked her out of using it for Lily but Wolf wasn¡¯t so sure. She was almost the easier one to use it on. They¡¯d seen the dead kids in the house and things that were known were always harder to change but Lily¡¯s future zombification was a question. A time traveller could alter something that was a question with much more ease, relatively speaking. But it was still no piece of cake. Time travel was unpredictable. Still, all it would take was a step back to when the ritual was performed, maybe add in a necromancer and a few more sacrifices... oh who was he kidding? That wasn¡¯t really a solution. Was it?

    He rested both elbows on the table and rubbed his face with his hands. Even if he did that it would still require the right infusement and most of the time travel magic available in local stores bought you little more than a few minutes. Useful in a fight, a quick jump back in time to dodge a bullet or a blade, to take back a poorly worded phrase. Those were the legal time infusements. If you wanted hours, you had to dig a little deeper, and some places still allowed them. But days? Days were forbidden, unless you were a sorcerer in which case time travel spells of any amount were allowed for historical observation only. Of course this was just for infusements. There were still those who were born with the power. But time travel was one of the rarest magics to be born with. Wolf however, did know one young boy who had that power, a friend of his kids, a 16 year old boy called Matthew. And Amanda¡¯s own daughter Katrina was an infuser. Together they could create an item for use in a spell. Katrina was pretty talented for her age but good infusements depended on the source as much as the infuser and Matthew¡¯s powers were unstable. Powerful enough for sure but still a high risk, and Wolf wasn¡¯t sure about how he felt using the kids like that, especially someone else¡¯s kids. They¡¯d want to know what the item was for and kids shouldn¡¯t be involved in something like this. So that was a dead end. He could try to find an infusement from elsewhere but it wouldn¡¯t be cheap and there were still all the other issues.

    His gaze found that newspaper article once more. Maybe he was focusing too much on the past? There were still people alive who were in danger, in situations he could do something about. There were two young girls in that photograph. One was gone, but her sister still lived with that monster. Wolf was tired of thinking, tired of doing nothing. He might have failed the first girl but he wouldn¡¯t fail the second.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    But he still couldn¡¯t risk getting directly involved. If anything pointed back to him he would be putting all the werewolves in danger, his entire pack. It didn¡¯t matter that he didn¡¯t live with them anymore, he still had ties there. But that was okay, he had another idea, someone else who could handle this.

    Sirius, Amanda, Zephyr, and Indi didn¡¯t care much for violence. Kass and Falco towed the legal line a little too much. But Cat, she believed only justice, and not anyone else¡¯s versions of it but her own. There was Coal, but Coal was expensive. Most of them would want to involve the police but Wolf knew better than anyone how useless and corrupt the police were. No, there was only one solution here and only one other person he trusted would figure that out.

    He grabbed the newspaper clipping and a red marker. He underlined a few key words and then drew and arrow and a circle around the father¡¯s head. He put the article in his bag along with a selection of other items and then headed out the door.

    He ran back through the forest on all four legs, letting his mind wander and fill itself with the smell of pine and the large patches of blackberries that grew somewhere out to the right. The worries of the real world always felt more distant when he was a wolf.

    He slowed down as he reached Cat¡¯s garage. He paused at the edge of the bush. He did not want to be seen. It was better for everyone that Cat didn¡¯t know who the information came from. He sniffed the air. The smell of petrol fumes filled his nostrils layered with a subtle hint of burnt iron. He could smell people too but the scent wasn¡¯t fresh. No one was in. Cat wasn¡¯t back yet. The place was all shut up.

    He shifted back into two-legged form. Keeping his ears wide open for the sound of any engine that might come roaring up that driveway he moved forward. Cat kept her cars silent, stealthy. It was safer in dragon territory, but no engine could be made perfectly quiet, not without a little magic, and Cat didn¡¯t bother with much of that. Wolf had good hearing though and he was certain he would hear anyone coming long before they reached the bend that would put him in their sights. He would have time to flee if he had to. But this would likely not take long.

    He tried the doors, just in case, but the obvious ones were all locked up. He spied an open window, but it was on the second floor and hard to reach, not worth the effort. Besides he¡¯d come prepared for this inevitability.

    He searched through his bags until he found the infusement he was looking for. He drew some shapes in the dirt and placed the newspaper article in one. This was a sending spell. A rarer magic than summoning but practically its inverse. It let you move things from one place to another, but only in a direction that was away from the sender. It wasn¡¯t a difficult power to use, especially over short distances. Despite being less common to be born a sender than a teleporter, senders were far more likely to survive into adult hood and thus their infusements were cheaper and more common than teleportation infursements, at least for sending small items. Teleportation worked almost as if moving people and larger items was what it had been designed for. Sending non-living things was much easier than summoning or teleporting them but teleporting living things was leagues easier then summoning or sending them. Once you¡¯d mastered them all, teleportation travel was the safest, as long at you knew for sure where it was you wanted to end up. However, it was still the most expensive, requiring far more skill to master, a lot more setup time, and depending where you were, compliance with far more regulation.

    Sending something small like a newspaper article a few feet thought a steel door was easy magic. Wolf knew what the inside of the garage looked like. He aimed for the bench along the left hand wall. Sure, he could have slipped it under the door or taped it to the window, but he didn¡¯t want it to be either too obvious or too easily lost. He put it somewhere where Cat, and only Cat was likely to find it, and somewhere that she wouldn¡¯t think so much of it when she did find it. It needed to look almost as if someone had been theorising and simply left it lying around. Cat wouldn¡¯t look too much into where it came from then, and nor would anyone else.

    The article disappeared and Wolf felt confident it had ended up exactly where he had intended. He wasn''t sure exactly what Cat would do with it but he knew it wouldn¡¯t be nothing.

 Volume 2, Chapter 70: Missed Connections

    When Stella was anxious, and Stella was often anxious, she would press her nails into her skin, hard. She did this because it was an action that could be done almost without notice, and Stella always liked to appear in control. That, and no matter how hard she pressed, even if she drew blood, on Stella nothing left a visible mark.

    But Bambi knew, because Bambi could see inside her mind, not the feelings but the thoughts and the actions that went with them. That facade of control Stella had even sometimes fooled herself. She needed it, and so Bambi let her have it. Stella had found her own way to survive in this world and Bambi didn¡¯t want to ruin that no matter how much her inability to help pained her. If she could think of a better way she might have tried it, but Stella¡¯s mind was like a jenga tower that had been glued together. Pull out one block and the whole tower comes with it.

    They¡¯d met up at a bar again, just after breakfast, and a different location this time. As usual, it was one Stella had chosen. Stella knew all the bars and exactly what each one had on it¡¯s wine list. This one was situated in Marblewood, surrounded by nice views of rolling paddocks. It had been set up in a converted barn. The architect and designers had kept most of the rustic feel. A large stone fireplace, that was lit year round for atmosphere, took up significant portion of one wall. Above it, hung several antlers from different breeds of deer. Giant, comfy leather couches, draped with cow hide encircled the fire. But whoever had rebuilt this place had also taken advantage of the views and swapped enough of the wall for full-length windows to give the place lots of natural light. It somehow managed to strike a perfect balance between upmarket and down to earth at the same time. Likewise, their wine list, most of it supplied by Stella¡¯s import business, had a little something for everyone, from boxed wine to rare whiskey rescued from shipwrecks off the bottom of the ocean.

    The place was called The Broken Whistle, named as such because it¡¯s primary purpose, other than being a watering hole, was to provide a stage for locals and visitors alike to show off their musical talent. Several instruments were available to borrow but if you didn¡¯t play an instrument there was also the karaoke machine, talent was not required. If you did happen to have some talent though, the bartender was known for occasionally shouting a free drink in return for a song.

    The bartender was the alluring component of this place, at least for Stella. She was a pretty thing, somewhere between Bambi and Stella¡¯s age, with pale pink hair, shaved short on one side and roughly plaited on the other. Her eyes were a large vibrant green and she was always in a chipper mood. Several silver piercings ran up the side of the ear not hidden by her hair. Her name was Athena Rabbit, but most people just called her Bunni.

    ¡°What can I get ya?¡± Athena asked with a smile as she leaned forward over the bar toward Stella.

    Bambi supposed it was perhaps a good thing that Stella had picked this place after all because the moment Athena, or ¡®Bunni¡¯ to Stella, leaned over the counter, all of Stella¡¯s anxious thoughts vanished and her mind was taken up with one thing only. It was something Bambi would have preferred not to have been privy to but often she had very little choice in the matter. She¡¯d never had any trouble reading minds, it was shutting everyone else¡¯s thoughts out when she wanted quiet that was the hard part. When she¡¯d been a child populated places had caused her quite an amount of distress. It had been so deliberating that visits to the market had sometimes left her curled up on the ground in a ball, but as she¡¯d grown she¡¯d learnt how to least to limit the range of what she had to hear to a narrower field, and she¡¯d found if she focused heavily enough on one mind she could tune most of the others out. It took some energy but she¡¯d gotten skilled enough at it to take jobs in the city, working as a negotiator, usually between different business partners or two firms wanting to strike a deal that benefited them both. Equal terms of an agreement were easy to propose when you already knew exactly what each party wanted and what they were willing to trade for it. She worked with businesses mostly rather than individuals. Environments where things were more professional and less personal, at least in theory. She was good enough at her job that she had plenty of choice in which clients to take on and which hours to work. That suited her nicely what with the other work she did with Murphy and Stella, the unpaid but very necessary work.

    A glimpse into Athena¡¯s head revealed the feelings between her and Stella were mutual and this was far from their first liaison. Curiosity more than satisfied, Bambi distracted herself by reading the minds of the other customers in the bar. None of them were particularly interesting but that suited Bambi just fine. She wasn¡¯t looking for excitement and the mundanity of their thoughts calmed her own soul. She settled into to listening in as one man with a newspaper near the fire considered if he should buy a new bull, while Stella and Athena chatted.

    They didn¡¯t chat for long and then Bambi let Stella order something for the both of them. Stella knew the wine and always ordered something she knew Bambi would like. Once their drinks were served Athena, who knew how to read the room well, retreated out to the back room, where she was no longer in earshot, and started on unpacking some of the deliveries that Stella had brought her earlier. Bambi could still read her thoughts from here.

    In a low voice, barely more than a whisper, Stella leaned in to Bambi and said, ¡°I keep having premonitions, invasive ones. Ones where I pass out and wake up on the street and everyone¡¯s looking at me. I need to spend a few days meditating or they¡¯ll get worse.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you do that then?¡± Bambi searched her brain for an answer but Stella spoke before she¡¯d found it.

    ¡°I would but there isn¡¯t enough time. I can see that much. And it doesn¡¯t help that Murphy keeps giving me tasks to do, just far enough apart, and some of them are weird. It almost seems like he¡¯s trying to keep me distracted so I won¡¯t look too far ahead.¡±

    Bambi considered that. It was possible that Murphy was trying to prevent Stella doing something specific to ensure certain events occurred but if he hadn¡¯t told her about it then it was possible it was something that both Stella and Bambi would want to do. For the most part their goals were aligned and Bambi did trust Murphy, at least a little more than she trusted Stella¡¯s decision making. Stella was young and impulsive. Murphy was, well who knew how old Murphy really was, centuries at least, maybe even a millennia or more, but it still put her in an awkward position. She didn¡¯t like being left in the dark. She did acknowledge that sometimes it was necessary, but she didn¡¯t like seeing Stella in pain. Unplanned premonitions were often very powerful, and extremely tiring, both emotionally and physically. Premonitions were like pressure in a bottle for a psychic. Stella managed them by going on long retreats, often in the confines of her apartment, where she sat and explored the future, sometimes without eating, drinking, or even moving for days. No other psychic could have done it, only Stella¡¯s healing powers allowed her access to that sort of process. It was the combination of the two that allowed Stella to be such a powerful psychic without going mad. Bambi wasn¡¯t sure how that worked. Stella was also the only healer Bambi knew that didn¡¯t require regular food for her magic to work. Stella could heal from almost anything, laws of energy conservation be damned. Bambi had once wondered if Stella was just so magically efficient that she could live off the energy in oxygen alone, except as it turned out, not even drowning could kill Stella. Only time would tell if aging too was something she could escape. If it was then Stella was effectively immortal, much like Murphy was but in a very different way.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    Beside her Stella was quietly swirling and sniffing her wine.

    Bambi didn¡¯t ask a question this time. Instead she dove right into Stella¡¯s mind to find what she wanted to know. What had been in her premonitions?

    She saw Murphy with his head separated from his body.

    It wasn¡¯t the image she¡¯d been expecting and for a moment it scared her something wicked, but Bambi considered herself a logically minded individual and so after a moment to regather her own thoughts she pushed onward. There were more premonitions, with similar results. All ended in Murphy¡¯s death. And she could tell at the look on Stella¡¯s face that this was causing her some amount of distress.

    ¡°Stella...¡±

    ¡°You see? You see what the problem is?¡± Stella whispered quickly under her breath. ¡°It¡¯s the knife, the knife can kill him, properly kill him. I have to get it back.¡±

    Bambi looked deeper trying to figure out what the probability was, Stella usually knew roughly. She was relieved to find it wasn¡¯t high but nor was it as low as she¡¯d hoped either. About 20% maybe. If it was an invasive premonition it usually meant it was tied to a singular decision point too.

    ¡°You¡¯re fixating,¡± she told Stella calmly. She took a sip of her own wine, more an attempt to convey reassurance that everything was fine than because she wanted a drink. Right now the biggest issue was Stella¡¯s state of mind. The wine was nice though, refreshing and fruity, it almost suited the hour. Bambi usually only ever drank at this sort of time if she was swapping time zones but Stella really did have a knack for picking a drink to suit the mood.

    Stella scowled at her. ¡°I¡¯m not. I¡¯m not. I sent Coal after that knife because it¡¯s going to be useful later for him, but I didn¡¯t know at the time what else it could do, or what putting it in his hands would actually mean. I need to get it back.¡±

    To protect Murphy now and in case we need to use it on him later.

    Stella didn¡¯t say that out loud but she thought it and the thought was immediately followed by regret and hope that Bambi didn¡¯t hear it because even if that was ever necessary, Stella knew Bambi wouldn¡¯t let it happen. In her panic Stella tried to fill her mind with other thoughts but Bambi missed nothing. Stella¡¯s inability to rest and use her powers in a directed manner had left her in a vulnerable state and as useful as that was for Bambi now, it wasn¡¯t good for either of them in the long run.

    Bambi ignored Stella¡¯s thoughts of harming Murphy, a backup plan wasn¡¯t so wrong logically speaking but Bambi was sure if the group¡¯s trust ever required having one then their work would be done for good and the world would probably be screwed. The reason she didn¡¯t worry about it now though was because everyone occasionally entertained thoughts like that once in awhile and Stella¡¯s mind was particularly out of sorts at the moment. Murphy¡¯s plan be damned, Stella needed rest. Not just from Murphy or even from worrying about Coal. As Bambi had dipped further into Stella¡¯s mind, she¡¯d picked up on someone else¡¯s handiwork there. Small things but it bothered Bambi just the same. Another mindwalker and Bambi could guess who.

    His name was Gabriel, an occasional lover of Stella¡¯s, one she went out with whenever he was in town, which thankfully wasn¡¯t often. Stella lived like that, no consistent relationship, rather she had several. How could anyone really have a proper relationship given the nature of the work they did? Bambi had almost managed it once, with Murphy, but she had learned over time, and Murphy had learned over a much longer period of time, which was weirdly about the same amount of time for them both, that despite still loving one another, their relationship couldn¡¯t be a normal one. Normal people lived together and aged together and loved continuously. They promised exclusivity. Murphy promised moments. Wonderful, different, exciting moments but each one non-consecutive and short-lived. In some ways it wasn¡¯t really much different than one of Stella¡¯s flings.

    This one Bambi did not like at all. It wasn¡¯t because he was a mindwalker or even because he was quite a good one, for despite his skill there were none who could compete at Bambi¡¯s level. But unlike Bambi, Gabriel held no qualms with manipulating people¡¯s thoughts without consideration for the consequences to anyone but himself. Furthermore, Gabriel was a brute and Bambi could tell that despite there being no bruises, that Gabriel had exercised that brutality on Stella only a few hours prior. A part of her seethed on the inside. She would have liked to make Gabriel tie a rock to his feet and walk off the docks. She could have. For her, something like that was as easy as taking candy from a baby, even against one as powerful as Gabriel. But if she¡¯d done it, Stella would never have forgiven her for it and Stella¡¯s trust was just too valuable, not just to her, but to their mission.

    Once years ago, during their first year travelling together Bambi had come back to their shared apartment after work to find Stella in tears, crying about how she didn¡¯t want Bambi to take away her memories. At that point Bambi had never manipulated Stella¡¯s mind, only read it, and she¡¯d had no plans to do more than that, but in a vision Stella had seen the possibility that she might and it had upset her enough that in response Bambi had made her a solemn vow to never ever alter a thing inside Stella¡¯s head and she intended to keep it. But at the same time, to herself, she¡¯d sworn to protect Stella as best she could. Stella just didn¡¯t always make doing so easy.

    ¡°You are fixating Stella. Ignore Murphy. Go home and get some rest, catch up on the future. If Murphy complains send him to me. Meditate a few days and then figure out the decision point with the knife. There¡¯s no rush on that yet, I can see well enough to know that.¡±

    Bambi decided quite firmly that anyone, Murphy or otherwise, who tried to interrupt Stella for the next few days would be answering to her. Gabriel at least had the sense to fear Bambi but she dare only use that when absolutely necessary, least he take his frustrations out on Stella later when Bambi wasn¡¯t around. Stella sometimes sought him out without mentioning it to Bambi. There was only so much of someone¡¯s life you could direct. When the day came that Stella wanted him gone though, Bambi would only be too happy to oblige.

    Stella slumped over her wine, another sign of how tired she was. It took longer than usual for her to figure out her posture had slipped and correct it. Bambi frowned. Stella was no good at relaxing, even when she was tired and the only reason Stella even seemed to notice that her posture had slipped now was because Athena had returned from out the back which made Stella immediately very self-conscious about how she looked.

    Reading her mind, Bambi could see that even Athena had noticed Stella¡¯s tiredness but she wasn¡¯t judging Stella negatively for it as Stella feared she would, rather it seemed Athena had the urge to walk around the bar and wrap Stella in a hug. And while Bambi wanted to do the same, and both of them cared for Stella, it was in quite a different sort of way. But Stella had trouble accepting that sort of comfort and so Bambi refrained from offering it. Meanwhile, Athena considered it would be inappropriate to hug her customers, at least where others could see. So instead Athena offered another sort of comfort, one that Stella just happened to find perfectly acceptable.

    ¡°Would you like another wine?¡±

    Stella looked up with a fresh glint of energy at the prospect of something new to taste. But while she was pondering the options, trying to figure out what was new that she hadn¡¯t tried yet or hadn¡¯t had in so long that she¡¯d forgotten and so the taste would be new again, something else happened.

    Stella¡¯s body went stiff and then suddenly limp. Her eyes rolled back in her head. She sucked in a sudden breath. Bambi only just manged to catch her and stop her falling off the stool. Athena looked horrified. Stella was having one of her visions.

    Stella¡¯s body tensed again as as her mind raced. Mentally, Bambi stayed back as far as she could. She did not wish to interfere in a premonition. But she remained close enough to observe much of Stella¡¯s vision for herself.

    This one was about Coal. He was standing in his house near some kind of red vase, coated in thick layers of ice. A ghostly mist surrounded him, moving almost as if it had an intent of its own. It plunged its way into his body. For awhile there was fight and then it ended. Coal¡¯s body dropped to the ground. Dead.

    Stella came to and she was still for several seconds.

    It was Athena¡¯s words that drew her out of her spell. Athena who only knew Stella to be a healer and nothing else asked, ¡°What happ-¡±

    Stella was out the door before Athena could finish asking her question.

    Bambi went after her, wiping Athena¡¯s mind on the way out, of Bambi¡¯s own presence and what had just happened. Athena would still remember Stella¡¯s visit but Bambi wouldn¡¯t be there, and when she thought of how it had ended, it would be with Stella receiving a phone call and having to dash out. Which was conveniently what Stella was doing when Bambi found her outside the bar in the stony parking lot. She was rapidly dialing a number on her phone.

 Volume 2, Chapter 71: The Ghost

    Natasha stepped into Coal¡¯s tiny entranceway early morning and a day later than she¡¯d intended. Relative to the rest of the house, the front hallway was quite narrow, almost as if the builder had designed the house not for company but to keep the rest of the world out. In contrast to the unwelcoming foyer Coal¡¯s door was often unlocked. His reputation kept enough people away and he had his own ways of detecting when guests had arrived. Most people still rung the doorbell anyway but Natasha had been here often enough to know she was welcome.

    She went through to the bar. He wasn¡¯t anywhere to be seen but that didn¡¯t bother her. She knew he¡¯d be along shortly.

    The vase sat in the middle of a clean table. That was what she was here for. She¡¯d been lusting after it for years, ever since she¡¯d first learnt of it through an acquaintance of Mrs Milton''s. It was a necromancer¡¯s dream but when she¡¯d offered Mrs Milton money to buy it, the old woman had played ignorant. Now that she was dead though, the vase could finally be hers, for a little fee of course, but she had plenty of money and she didn¡¯t mind spending some of it on something like this.

    She reached out to touch it, then froze, her fingertips only inches from the edge of the vase. Now that she was this close she could see the layer of moisture on the outside of the vase. That wasn¡¯t right. If the vase was pulling heat from the air then that could only mean one thing.

    Natasha withdrew her hand and took a wary step back. The room temperature dropped several degrees. Surely Coal wouldn¡¯t have been stupid enough to leave it without a bounding circle? Even if he didn¡¯t know what it was, especially when he didn¡¯t know what it was.

    ¡°Coal?¡± she called out in a trembling voice.

    There was no answer.

    Natasha turned to leave but at some time in the last minute or two a cloud of mist had been forming behind her and so when she turned she came face to face with a thick white wall.

    She gasped, and along with that quick sharp intake of air, she swallowed the cloud whole. It filled her up until she found she breathe in no more, nor could she breathe out. Her hands flew to her throat. She tried to shout, to cry, to call for help. But she was voiceless. Then her mind started to burn and boil, like there were two souls fighting for control. The pressure was too much to bare. Her vision blurred and darkened. The last thing she heard was Coal¡¯s voice as he entered the room.

    ¡°Natasha?¡±

    Coal had known something was wrong from the moment the temperature had dropped. He had noticed that Natasha had arrived but he¡¯d been in the middle of just finishing off composing an important letter so had decided to let her wait a little while first. But then things had gotten cold very very quickly. It was like he¡¯d just been plunged into an icy pool of water, or worse, for it had been far colder than the icy water he liked to throw on his face every morning to help him start the day. That was a pleasant chill. This, in contrast was a malicious, stabbing, heart-stopping cold, that left one struggling to breathe. Despite the impending feeling of doom, Coal had left his letter and raced toward the source of it.

    He entered the room in time to see Natasha drop to the ground on the other side of the table as a thick white mist emerged from her body. It rose up in the air and hovered for a moment. Coal got the distinctive impression that it was eyeing him up, despite there being no obvious eyes that he could see.

    The room was different from how he¡¯d left it. The cleaner had obviously been in and had moved the tree and cleaned up the dirt. All of the dirt. Even the circle he¡¯d specifically requested to be left alone. The vase was still there, and it looked, he noted, to be covered in a slowly thickening layer of frost. He glanced between the vase and cloud.

    The cloud bunched up and then it flew directly toward him.

    Somewhere far away on a completely different continent where no roads led, among the forest in a nicely built house by a river but far from anything civilised, a bulky red-headed aristocrat, awoke to the ringing of a cellphone and a weight on his chest. It took him a moment to figure out where he was and that the weight he felt on top of him was the body of a naked sleeping woman, a worldjumper called Iyx. She was bony and fox-faced, and her hair was long and straight, and as red as his own. She stirred. Her big brown eyes blinked once or twice as she looked up and recognised him as Grim, a man famous among the aristocrats because of his father¡¯s magical talents. When he¡¯d been born people had expected great things of him. Grim, had thus far done everything he could to fail to live up to all of their expectations. It wasn¡¯t because he wasn¡¯t talented. He was just exceptionally lazy and very contrarian.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to get that?¡± Iyx asked. She hated phones herself, or anything much to do with people really. People made her anxious. Only very special exceptional people knew of her house by the river and were allowed to visit her here. Grim was one such lucky soul, and the one who had introduced him and Iyx just happened to be on the other end of the line.

    ¡°Stella,¡± Grim remarked as he recognised the voice. He did not bother to get out of bed, but beside him he watched as Iyx slipped out from under the sheets and padded across the floor. The bed they were on was only inches from the ground and Grim had a damn fine view of every inch of her. She bent down and picked up a pink silken robe from off the floor, and with a shy glance back, that made Grim want to pull her back into bed, she slipped the robe on and loosely tied it shut.

    ¡°Grim! Grim! Are you listening?¡± Stella asked from down the other end of the line.

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°Huh? Yeah, yeah I¡¯m listening.¡± Grim half-listened as he watched Iyx curl strands of her long hair up with a couple of short sticks and coil them all together into an intricately crafted bun. She held it together with two of the sticks and he marvelled at how well it stayed put. Then she padded off in the direction of the bathroom.

    Stella¡¯s voice filtered into his brain. ¡°Grim, Coal¡¯s in trouble. It may even be too late now. You have to get over there.¡±

    That got Grim¡¯s attention. Grim had known Coal since kindergarten. They had been friends, good friends, him Coal, and another guy called Lucifer, Luci to his friends. Technically they still were but life had a way of eating up time and before you knew it a few months had gone by. Now they mostly only saw one another if it was at a social gathering or if it involved business. Which meant Lucifer saw each of them the most on account of he was a lawyer and Grim had no business other than spending his family¡¯s money and seducing woman. Okay, that wasn¡¯t quite true, sometimes he dreamwalked deliveries for Iyx and Stella. Iyx brought in goods from the old world but Iyx hated interacting with people so Stella did distribution, but moving the items from Iyx¡¯s place was tricky for Stella and so for a cut of the profits, Grim moved things from Iyx¡¯s to more convenient locations around the globe, via the dreamworld. Not every item travelled this way, just the ones that got a rush put on them or weren¡¯t worth the cost of a teleport spell to where ever they were going.

    ¡°Grim! Please!¡± Grim frowned. Things must be serious. Stella never begged, not in that voice anyway.

    ¡°Yeah, alright.¡± He finally made a move to get out of bed, then took a moment to try to remember where he¡¯d thrown his pants. ¡°How exactly do you expect me to get there? Dreamwalking takes a little while you know.¡±

    ¡°Use one of the teleports, in the lock box by the plant. Key code is 8021.¡±

    Grim started to move faster. If Stella was using teleports on this...

    He frowned. Iyx had a lot of plants.

    ¡°The droopy purple one next to the tall green one,¡± Stella told him, figuring out the situation before he could tell her.

    ¡°Got it,¡± Grim replied and then hung up. No time to waste.

    Iyx returned as he was closing the lock box back up. ¡°Is Stella coming to visit?¡± Her eyes lit up at the prospect.

    Grim shook his head. ¡°I gotta go, Stella needs me to save Coal or something.¡±

    Iyx looked disappointed. ¡°But you¡¯ll come back?¡± she asked hopefully.

    Grim nodded and kissed her head. ¡°Always.¡± Then he vanished.

    He reappeared again in Coal¡¯s house just in time to see Coal shoot a blast of ice at a red vase. The item was quickly encased in a very solid, very nicely square looking block. Across the other side of the large table a cloud of mist suddenly dissipated.

    ¡°Oohh, you¡¯ve got yourself some elemental ice powers, that¡¯s new,¡± Grim remarked in an impressed voice, mostly at how tidy looking Coal¡¯s block of ice was. ¡°Can you get me some of those?¡±

    Coal turned to Grim and blinked. He was surprised to see him. ¡°Grim?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s me.¡± Grim surveyed the room. ¡°Stella said you needed me but it looks like you¡¯ve got everything under control...¡±

    He trailed off as the block of ice suddenly cracked and a white mist started filtering out through the crack.

    ¡°Or not. Is that a spirit trap?¡± Grim asked as he peered at the vase through the thick wall of ice.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what it is,¡± Coal replied with a serious look. ¡°Natasha wanted it.¡±

    ¡°Natasha? The necro?¡± Grim checked.

    Coal nodded but his gaze was fixed on the quickly gathering mist before them.

    ¡°Oh, well probably is then.¡±

    ¡°And that?¡± Coal nodded at the white mist. He stood tensely, one hand in his pocket holding the ice elemental infusement he¡¯d relieved Katrina of.

    ¡°That¡¯ll be the spirit,¡± Grim replied with a grin, looking far more relaxed than Coal was.

    Coal narrowed his eyes at him.

    The last of the spirit appeared to be emerging from the crack in the ice now.

    Grim continued, blase as ever. ¡°You know? It¡¯s a jar for preserving someone¡¯s spirit, or soul, whatever you want to call it, really it¡¯s just pattern of space or I don¡¯t know. Point is you prep it before death then when you die your ghost gets preserved inside. It makes necromancy easier. Or you can capture someone¡¯s essence immediately after death and it keeps longer while you set up a proper revival. Doesn¡¯t work quite as well without the prep but it does the trick. Great for really intense interrogations.¡± He winked.

    Coal was still frowning at him between looking with concern at the white cloud. ¡°How do we kill it?¡±

    ¡°Oh, err...¡± Grim clicked his fingers a few times as if he couldn¡¯t quite remember. ¡°I think...¡±

    ¡°Grim!¡±

    ¡°Um...¡± A few more clicks of the fingers.

    The cloud was bunching up again, just as it had before the last attack.

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Grim cried as clicked his fingers once more and reached forth and somehow managed to grab the ghost by the tail.

    From Coal¡¯s perspective each of them appeared frozen in time, Grim, leaning over but not quite falling, just poised in mid air.

    Time seemed to go slowly and quickly all at the same time. Coal remembered it as if it had lasted a life time and yet he also felt he had little time to react before the ghost disappeared and Grim continued falling.

    Coal grabbed him, but being smaller than Grim, they both stumbled a bit before finding their feet again.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Grim nodded at Coal.

    ¡°Where¡¯d it go?¡±

    ¡°Dreamworld.¡±

    ¡°Does that kill it?¡±

    ¡°Technically it¡¯s already dead, but also no, and kinda. It¡¯ll fade over time, I think. I don¡¯t really know.¡± Grim was sure his father would have known though. He¡¯d known everything there was to know about anything. The man had been Gwendolyn the Great back before he¡¯d gone mad. Now the only thing left of him was a breathing but empty body and his useless son. Grim looked toward the vase. ¡°There¡¯s also the possibility it slips back out. Might wanna beef up some of your protections and see if you can sever it¡¯s connection to the vase. Simple reversal spell oughta do the trick.¡± Grim took a seat at Coal¡¯s bar. ¡°You got any beer? I might help me remember the steps.¡± Even Grim¡¯s preference for beer was snub to traditional aristocratic practices.

    Coal ignored him but not because of the request for beer. He walked right past him focused on what lay on the other side of the table.

    Grim frowned and followed him around. ¡°What no thanks? I just saved your butt. You owe m...¡± Grim trailed off as he saw who lay on the floor.

    Coal knelt on the ground and cradled Natasha¡¯s limp corpse.

    ¡°Oh...¡± was all Grim said. What else could be said at a time like that? If Luci had been there he would known what to say, he¡¯d always been the more sensitive of the three, but all Grim was good for was wisecracks.

    Coal glanced up and nodded toward the vase. ¡°How do we make it work?¡±

    Grim looked at him with a sad expression and shook his head. ¡°You have to sever the other soul first. It¡¯s not a quick process.¡±

    Coal looked down at Natasha¡¯s face. It almost looked like she was just sleeping. What was a person supposed to do when their necromancer was the one who needed reviving?

 Volume 2, Chapter 72: Waking The Dead

    Katrina leaned forward over her newly acquired necromancy book, one she¡¯d temporarily borrowed from Wolf¡¯s cabin. He had lots of books. She was certain she could get it back to him before he even missed it.

    Her potion mixture was complete and now it was time to test it out. She¡¯d spent her usual hour in the morning, doing her hair and trying out different outfits until she found just the one that made her feel ready for the day ahead. Her long dark hair was now swept back into a half ponytail, tied up with a black ribbon. This kept it out of her face as she peered over the book to look into the glass terrarium she¡¯d borrowed from under the house. It had belonged to Bobby once, back when he¡¯d raised frogs over a summer. Her manicured nails were hidden with latex gloves. She¡¯d been thrilled when she¡¯d first found out the store sold them in black. Now she could be stylish while doing her experiments. She¡¯d made some more of her makeup spell just in case anyone asked for a demonstration, but no one did.

    In front of her, past the book, inside an enclosed terrarium, five big blowflies buzzed about. She¡¯d made her own lid for the enclosure, mostly because the original lid had holes that were just a little too big for her purposes. She cut her own hole in the top and through it she poked the nozzle of a rather potent can of fly spray.

    She squeezed the trigger and watched as one by one the flies dropped dead. Once she was sure they were all dead she opened the window to her room wide, lifted the lid of the enclosure and stepped back while she let the poisonous fumes dissipate into the air. She helped them along by flapping the expensive book gently in the direction of the open window.

    Satisfied that the air was clear she took a handful of her pre-prepared mixture and in a gloved hand and slathered it over each of the fallen flies. She put the lid back on the terrarium, disposed of the glove, closed her bedroom window tight and then sat down to watch.

    At first nothing happened.

    Then Bobby¡¯s voice could be heard echoing throughout the house, ¡°Has anyone seen my physics book?¡±

    ¡°How did you manage to lose it again?¡± Gemma asked loudly.

    ¡°Katrina?¡± Bobby called.

    Katrina cursed under her breath. She had indeed borrowed it again, this time to hold the makeshift terrarium lid down. It was the perfect size and weight and it wasn¡¯t her fault that Bobby kept leaving his books lying around.

    Another voice joined the fray outside in the hallway, Salem¡¯s. ¡°Can you guys keep it down, I¡¯m trying to sleep.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s 10am,¡± Gemma replied. ¡°Even mum¡¯s been up for hours and she was out drinking last night.¡±

    ¡°She went to bed long before midnight though,¡± Salem replied.

    ¡°Well, who¡¯s fault is that?¡± Gemma retorted.

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying, I¡¯m quiet at night, you could be quiet in the morning.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s 10am!¡± Gemma repeated.

    ¡°Arrgh! That¡¯s not the point.¡± Salem was getting frustrated.

    ¡°Try operating at normal social hours and you might find people won¡¯t wake you.¡±

    ¡°I am a night owl. I can¡¯t help what my natural state is!¡±

    Katrina heard footsteps heading this way.

    ¡°Katrina?¡± Bobby¡¯s voice.

    Katrina glanced at her experiment and then around for another book she could swap it out for, but nothing else was quite heavy enough or the right shape. And even though there was still no sign of movement within the terrarium she didn¡¯t want to remove the weight holding it in place.

    She got up from her chair and ran to the door before Bobby could get there. She opened as much as she dared and poked out her face.

    Her older brother stood there with his hands on his hips and his eyebrows raised.

    Before he could ask again she said, ¡°Yes, I did borrow your physics book. I¡¯m just using it for something. I¡¯ll give it back once I¡¯m done.¡± Then she shut the door in his face.

    But she hadn¡¯t installed a lock on her door like Gemma had and so Bobby immediately opened it after her.

    She swirled and tried to block his way but he was much taller and stronger than she was and once he caught sight of where his physics book was and what it was sitting on top of there was no stopping him.

    Katrina was trying with all her strength to push the door and shut him out but Bobby was holding it open one-handed with ease, and he was completely ignoring her and her efforts.

    Katrina scowled at him.

    Over the top of her head he glimpsed what a few of the words in the open spell book said. That was enough to give him a pretty good idea of what she was doing.

    He stepped to the side, letting Katrina¡¯s forceful pushing slam the door shut behind him.

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    She yelped as he moved his weight out of the way and she went flying forwards.

    ¡°Katrina, what are you doing?!¡±

    She righted herself, smoothed out her white blouse and black skirt and then stepped between him and her experiment.

    ¡°Nothing, just a project for school.¡±

    ¡°On necromancy?¡±

    She grabbed the spellbook off the desk and slammed it shut but it was too late. Katrina was persistent though. She opened her mouth to give him another lie, when suddenly there came a thump from behind her.

    Both of them turned to look as one of the large blow flies slammed into the glass side of the terrarium hard. So hard that it left a mark on the glass.

    ¡°Katrina, what were you thinking?!¡± Bobby hissed at her in a low voice. ¡°Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? What if that fly got out and bit someone? How would you even find it or catch it again?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why the window¡¯s shut,¡± Katrina replied also speaking as quietly as she could. ¡°It can¡¯t go anywhere.¡±

    ¡°And if someone opened the door or what if it bit you? And you¡¯ve got five in there at once!¡±

    ¡°Well it¡¯s an experiment, it¡¯s no good just testing on one. And there¡¯s a cure for zombie bites.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what it is? Do you know how long that takes to make? Did you make one?¡±

    Katrina dropped her eyes and shook her head. Beyond knowing that it was possible she hadn¡¯t actually been able to find any information on how it worked. But she figured it was something Wolf would know if the worst came to worst and she hadn¡¯t really expected to need it anyway.

    There came another loud thump, more persistent this time. More of the flies were trying their best to get out. They were whacking their bodies so hard into the side of the glass that they were basically squashing themselves. Katrina could see little dots of fly blood splatter. It was quite disturbing. Not at all how she had imagined this to go.

    One hit the roof causing it to rise up a little. Even Bobby¡¯s heavy physics book jumped a millimeter or two. Bobby put his hand on top of the book to hold it down. As he did so the flies all gathered violently buzzing up near his hand. He gave Katrina a pointed look at this response and then stacked the closed spell book on top. When he removed his hand the flies all filtered back down into the rest of the enclosure and resumed their smashing into the the walls.

    Katrina bit her lip and a small whimper escaped her mouth.

    Bobby made a move toward the door.

    Katrina panicked. ¡°Please don¡¯t tell mum!¡±

    Bobby turned back to look at her. He gave her a pitying look. ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±

    Katrina frowned.

    With a puzzled look on her face she watched as he opened the door and stuck his head out into the hallway. ¡°Gemma!¡± he called out.

    Katrina groaned. ¡°We don¡¯t need her. I¡¯ve got a fire infusement...¡± She trailed off as she realised that was no longer true because Coal had taken it.

    Bobby didn¡¯t seem to think she was capable of cleanly incinerating the flies anyway, which was probably true. Fire was a tricky magic to control. Katrina still managed to burn her own hands half the time. Gemma may not have had the best control over her fire either but she was still leagues better than Katrina was. Their mother was the best but telling her would have put Katrina in a lot of trouble.

    Gemma appeared outside the room a moment later, sans Kate. ¡°What?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Get in,¡± Bobby whispered conspiratorially.

    Gemma frowned at him but did as requested. Her frown turned to a look of anger when she saw the enclosure on Katrina''s desk. She didn¡¯t know what it was or what was going on but it was obvious another one of her sister¡¯s experiments had gone wrong.

    Before Gemma could ask anything too loudly Bobby held a finger to his lips.

    So Gemma mouthed back silently, ¡®What the fuck is this?¡¯

    In a normal but quiet voice Bobby replied, ¡°Katrina made zombie flies.¡±

    ¡°Why am I not surprised?¡± Gemma folded her arms. A move that made her look just like their mum for a moment. Katrina didn¡¯t say that though, it would have pissed Gemma off and right now she didn¡¯t want to piss Gemma off.

    ¡°They were supposed to last longer before turning,¡± Katrina explained. ¡°I was going to see if I kept feeding it to some of them if those ones would last longer.¡± She gestured at the potion then studied her own fingernails. She glanced back up in time to see Gemma rolling her eyes.

    Bobby gestured at the flies. Their attempts to escape were only getting more violent. ¡°I think they need incinerating.¡±

    Katrina couldn¡¯t even look at them anymore.

    Gemma sighed and placed her hands close but not right on top of the thin mesh that covered the top of the enclosure. Beneath her hands a fire raged.

    Bobby frowned as he realised the edges of his physics book were getting more than a little singed. The glass kept the flames from burning much else. Once Gemma was done, five little burnt balls lay on the bottom of terrarium.

    ¡°We should probably leave that a little while just in case,¡± Bobby remarked.

    Gemma snorted and then replied simply and confidently, ¡°Fire kills zombies.¡± With a flick of her long red hair she left the room.

    Katrina retrieved the two books and handed Bobby his one back. ¡°Sorry,¡± she mumbled.

    He took it with a murmur of ¡°Hmm,¡± and left Katrina to tidy up her mess.

    Katrina squished each of the flies before throwing them out, just to be safe. Although as she hovered with the dustpan over the outside rubbish bin she hesitated. It hadn¡¯t really gone that bad. It wasn¡¯t like the flies had escaped. It had just been kind of gross and disturbing. Maybe she was just being a wimp? What if..?

    She shook her head and chucked them out, but possibilities and things she could change continued to buzz softly in her head. Then they were drowned out by a new sound. The sound of a car engine starting up. Someone was taking the truck out.

    Katrina ran around the side of the house to see what was happening. She found her mother in the driver¡¯s seat and Gemma in the passenger seat with baby Kate asleep on her lap despite the noise from the vehicle.

    The old blue truck was making a strange spluttering sound. Suddenly it died. Amanda frowned and twisted the key again. The truck groaned and spluttered and roared and then fell silent once more.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Katrina asked through the passenger window.

    ¡°To that old house,¡± Gemma replied with a knowing smirk.

    Katrina¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Can I come?¡±

    ¡°If we can ever get this thing started,¡± Amanda answered, trying to turn the key again.

    Katrina pulled open the passenger door and gave Gemma a look that suggested she shift over into the middle seat.

    Gemma simply retorted, ¡°Shortest goes in the middle.¡±

    Katrina scowled but climbed in and over her regardless.

    ¡°Hey! Watch it!¡± Gemma complained as Katrina scrambled past.

    Katrina ignored her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it?¡± she asked of the car once she was seated between her mother and sister.

    Gemma pulled the passenger door shut. ¡°I think you¡¯ve flooded it,¡± she told her mother.

    Amanda pulled her hand back of the key with a frown. ¡°Mmm, perhaps.¡±

    ¡°Aunt Cat would know,¡± Katrina replied but she got no response from either of them.

    Amanda let the car sit for a bit until eventually Gemma remarked, ¡°It¡¯s probably fine now.¡±

    Amanda gave it another go and this time the vehicle roared to life. She sent her eldest daughter a smile.

    Inwardly Katrina felt a little jealous. Sometimes it seemed Gemma got all the attention, but she turned her focus forward and thought about what treasures she might find at this old house.

 Volume 2, Chapter 73: Nightmare On The Loose

    When they pulled up in front of the old mismatched mansion, they were presented with a lot of activity. More than the house had probably ever seen. Outside on the driveway were several marked areas, some defined by large tarpaulins, others by sets of different coloured cones. Several people were carrying items from the house to the driveway where others were marking them off with clipboard.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect so many,¡¯ Amanda mumbled as they pulled up to a stop.

    Gemma opened the door and hopped out, holding Kate in one arm. She stepped aside so Katrina could exit the vehicle.

    ¡°Ugh, she¡¯s such a brat,¡± Gemma remarked offhandedly as Katrina slipped by without even a word of thanks, her gaze focused on the piles of things pulled out of he house.

    Amanda looked at her eldest daughter. ¡°Hey, jump back in. I want to talk to you about something for a moment.¡±

    ¡°What? Right now?¡±

    Amanda nodded.

    Gemma sighed and got back in the truck. ¡°What about.¡±

    ¡°The other night when you went out drinking.¡±

    ¡°You mean the same thing you were doing last night?¡± Gemma replied. As she noticed her mother¡¯s gaze fall towards Kate, Gemma added, ¡°I¡¯m not breast feeding.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°So what¡¯s the problem with it then?¡±

    Carefully Amanda replied, ¡°You don¡¯t have to follow after my example you know.¡±

    ¡°Some might call that hypocritical,¡± Gemma shot back.

    ¡°Some might.¡± Amanda¡¯s agreed. Her tone was calm, relaxed, and honest.

    The lack of bite was frustrating for Gemma. If she was going to be judged she wanted a proper fight, an excuse to throw something back, to yell a bit, but her mother was just absorbing everything without budging an inch or reflecting any of it back.

    ¡°I¡¯m just worried about you.¡±

    Gemma scowled. She hated that phrase as much as if her mother had said she was disappointed in her. Why were sentences like that so much worse than being yelled at? She scavenged about in recesses of her mind for a good comeback and found the only thing that might work, the truth.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think we ever feel the same way about you?¡± Gemma replied, her own tone switching from hostility to curiosity.

    Amanda actually looked surprised and for a moment her mouth hung open speechless.

    She was silent long enough that Gemma felt that ended the conversation. She opened the car door again. ¡°Good conversation, thanks,¡± she remarked as she started to get out.

    ¡°Hang on,¡± her mother said.

    Gemma turned back to her with a roll of the eyes. ¡°What, you gonna promise to quit as long as I do?¡±

    ¡°What would you say to that if I did?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d say bullshit but sure whatever. I won¡¯t drink a drop if you don¡¯t.¡±

    Amanda held out her hand.

    Gemma shook with her on it. She paused a moment and then climbed back into the cab. She wasn¡¯t worried. She knew her mother wouldn¡¯t last but she figured if her mum could do it then she could too for as long as it lasted. It wasn¡¯t as hard for her. She wasn¡¯t addicted. ¡°And don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know where you keep your bottles. Like that one under the laundry sink.¡±

    Another surprised look. ¡°I don¡¯t think even your father knows about that one,¡± Amanda replied.

    Gemma shook her head. ¡°He doesn¡¯t. Bobby found it.¡± Gemma felt almost guilty for the look of worry that appeared on her mother¡¯s face. But if it helped her keep away from the stuff for the next little bit then maybe that would be enough to pull her out of the dive she was in. Most of the time things were fine. There would be a week or two where Amanda wouldn¡¯t touch the stuff but then something would happen that would up her stress levels or reel her back in and she¡¯d start up again, a sip here, a shot there, nothing too excessive at first. But that would continue on for weeks, slowly getting more frequent until she overdid it and swore off the stuff again, for at least a week or two. Usually it was no more than an especially bad night hugging the toilet or she might sleep in too late and miss an appointment. Sometimes Gemma would be the one holding her hair back. Sometimes it was more than one night. But there had also been worse incidents, like the couple of times where she¡¯d driven her car off the road, or once when she¡¯d left the stove on. Over time Gemma had learnt to predict possible incoming storms and over time her mother¡¯s drinking had gotten better. The lowest point, Gemma figured had probably been about 10 years ago. That had also been about the time when Dad had been away at sea the most and when they¡¯d met their Aunt Cat for the first time.

    Gemma didn¡¯t make any more move to get out of the car. ¡°Can I ask you something?¡±

    The question seemed to pull her mother from some other thought because she looked at Gemma with surprise again. ¡°Sure, what?¡±

    ¡°You had me when you were young? Did that change anything you did or were going to do? Do you wish you¡¯d ever done something different or...¡± Gemma trailed off, not wanting to fnish that sentence.

    Her mother smiled warmly and shook her head. ¡°I was 20 when I had you. Young yes but still, there¡¯s a lot of difference between 18 and 20.¡±

    ¡°But you were 18 when you met dad right?¡± Gemma glanced down to check on Kate and lovingly stroked one of the baby¡¯s cheeks. Kate went right on sleeping.

    Amanda nodded. ¡°I was, and we lived on the ship for...¡± She paused to try and remember, ¡°Oh, well, put it this way, all of you except for Sasha were born at sea. Salem¡¯s birth was particularly rough, both the weather and the thing itself. He almost died, we both did. After that we decided that it was safer to have the next one on land. That and you weren¡¯t far off from starting school anyway.¡±

    Gemma smiled. She remembered having lived on the ship. Those days were some of her best memories.

    Amanda caught her smile and she smiled back. Then she continued. ¡°But no, I never thought about doing anything other than what I was doing, because I loved every minute of it. I still look back and there¡¯s not much I regret, in terms of larger life decisions.¡±

    The pair were silent for awhile and Amanda seemed to drift off into her thoughts for a bit until Gemma remarked, ¡°So, did we come to this place to do anything or are we just gonna sit in the car?¡±

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    Amanda shared her daughter¡¯s grin and then she nodded and reached for her door. ¡°Right, that¡¯s enough chit chat for now.¡±

    Katrina had found herself a cute boy. He must have been about 19 or 20, older than her, but she liked that. Boys her age were so immature. He was the type of tall, dark, and handsome that she fancied, with long black hair and brown eyes. His eyes were so dark they almost looked black themselves and Katrina thought it made him look scrumptiously devilish. He was one of the people carrying a clipboard and making notes but other than the clipboard he didn¡¯t look like the the clipboard carrying sort of person. He was wearing dark fitted clothes and a brown leather vest with lots of pockets and what looked like various infusements stashed on it.

    Katrina had been flirting with him and she had considered it to be going quite well, that was until her sister walked up behind her. She noticed it immediately as his gaze she¡¯d been trying so hard to capture, was suddenly fixated on something behind her. When she turned, there was Gemma.

    ¡°My sister¡¯s not bothering you is she?¡± Gemma asked.

    Katrina didn¡¯t scowl. Scowling was not attractive to men. Instead she did her best to look surprised at the very the suggestion of it, but to her dismay the boy didn¡¯t defend her. Not only that but the words he used next were most offensive. Not to mention, he smiled at Gemma as if she were the most beautiful thing he¡¯d ever seen.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s fine, the kid¡¯s just curious about what it is we do.¡±

    This time Katrina did scowl, but the boy hardly noticed.

    ¡°What is it you do?¡± Gemma asked.

    Sensing that her pursuit of this boy¡¯s attentions was a lost cause, and simultaneously spying an unattended pile of treasure, or what to someone else might just look like junk, Katrina left them to continue their conversation without so much as a goodbye.

    The boy watched Katrina walk off. ¡°Is she alright, did I say something?¡±

    ¡°Oh probably,¡± Gemma replied. ¡°But it¡¯s not your fault, she¡¯s very sensitive.¡±

    ¡°Oh, well, I¡¯m Alphonse.¡° He held out a hand.

    ¡°Gemma.¡± She shook it. Then she nodded at the baby. ¡°And this is Kate.¡±

    ¡°Nice to meet you Gemma and Kate.¡±

    ¡°So what was it you do then?¡± Gemma asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m an archeologist. Well, sort of. We catalogue items with magical properties. Mostly old stuff but sometimes new stuff to. See a lot of history was lost after the great splice on account of everything being so tumultuous. No one really spent much time documenting or writing things down. So that¡¯s what we try to figure out as well as documenting the history of the future.¡±

    ¡°The history of the future?¡±

    ¡°The stuff that happens right now.¡±

    ¡°Oh. So you¡¯re historians of the present?¡±

    He laughed. ¡°That¡¯s another way of putting it yeah.¡±

    ¡°And you get paid to do it?¡±

    ¡°Well...¡± he rocked his head from side to side. ¡°We make a living, but for most of us it¡¯s a passion project you know. Plus we get to travel a lot, and explore some really old tombs.¡±

    Gemma got the impression that Alphonse was slightly into her given the way he was so focused on her face. It seemed like he¡¯d completely forgotten he was supposed to be doing a job too. When he¡¯d been talking to Katrina he¡¯d still be writing things down but his clipboard hung loosely in his hands now. He wasn¡¯t bad looking. Between the fancy waistcoat, dark clothes, and slicked back hair he had a sort of scholarly bad boy vibe, definitely right up Katrina¡¯s alley. But Gemma wasn¡¯t interested in him so much as she was his job, especially given what he¡¯d just said.

    ¡°Wait! You explore tombs? Does that involve climbing or caving?¡± Both of those things Gemma were passions of Gemma¡¯s, or they had been before she¡¯d had Kate. She supposed they still were even if she hadn¡¯t done them in awhile.

    He nodded. ¡°And caves and ruins and creepy houses.¡± He grinned and glanced up at the big house.

    Gemma felt a little like the house was watching them but the sun was too nice and warm to be chilled by it. Besides, Gemma didn¡¯t believe in ghosts. ¡°What about shipwrecks?¡± she asked. Throughout her life she¡¯d occasionally explored sunken wrecks with her father and caves with her mother.

    ¡°All sorts of places, some of them 1000s of centuries old. And if you get really skilled some of us are lucky enough to get to go to the old world.¡±

    ¡°Wait! 1000s of centuries? But I thought you focused on magic history.¡±

    He grinned. ¡°We do. It¡¯s a myth that magic began in the 1600s, or at least we think it is. We¡¯ve found evidence that magic existed long before the great splice. That was just when it started getting noticed but our theory is that it was around long before that. That witches coexisted with humans for whole millennia in secret and that some of the proof of that ended up in our world and some stayed in the old world.¡±

    Gemma looked at him doubtfully but in her head she wondered about it. Could that be true? There was so much of the world she didn¡¯t know about. She loved the idea of finding out, especially if it involved exploring old tombs. ¡°So how¡¯d you get to do this job then?¡±

    He told her about a place called Lyndcraft Academy where he spent his time studying between jobs. It was special collage where students were taught about history and spellcraft and how to excavate a site without disturbing it too much. There was a heavy practical component too which Gemma liked the sound of, and as it turned out there was even another student Alphonse studied with who had two young kids so she wouldn''t be limited by Kate either.

    Eventually another of the archeologists came over and chided Alphonse for slacking off so Gemma left him and went to go find her mum.

    Amanda was standing over near the front door talking to an older man.

    As she approached them, Gemma heard her mother ask the man a question.

    ¡°What about the dreamweaver and the witch¡¯s weep?¡±

    The man she was talking to shook his head. ¡°The witch¡¯s weep was no trouble. Although it is the biggest one we¡¯ve ever seen, by quite some margin, but...¡±¡ª he frowned and gave her a puzzled slightly concerned look¡ª¡°There¡¯s no dreamweaver anywhere in this house.¡±

    Over on the other side of the driveway Katrina wandered around an unattended tarpaulin which contained an assortment of smaller items. She was careful not to touch anything least someone come over and shoo her away. She was sort of hidden though, for the pile next to this one consisted of larger items like fancy dining chairs with carved faces that all looked like they were scowling in slightly different ways, a writing desk lined with green velvet and stained with ink, and one very large trunk which looked like it took at least two regular people to carry it.

    Some of the items were sealed in strange perspex boxes that looked like they had no way to open them. If one looked closely, swirly engravings could be seen etched right into the centre of the perspex walls, sort of like a marble but with writing. Katrina figured they were some sort of binding infusement. She wasn¡¯t sure what the purpose of the words was but they did make boxes look sort of pretty. The thing inside the one in front of her was sort of pretty too. It looked like a metal puzzle with interlocking rods and balls. She wondered how it worked. It looked like each of the components could move in some way. It was labeled with a red tag.

    All of the items were tagged with one of four colours, green, yellow, red, and grey. Katrina had been hoping the tags would tell her more about the item but each one only gave a number. Most of the items in the perspex boxes were labelled with red tags. Katrina figured those were probably the more dangerous items, but one or two were labelled with grey tags and she wasn¡¯t sure what that meant. There were also some items labelled with red tags which weren¡¯t in perspex boxes, like the pink music box sitting the middle of the tarpaulin. It wasn¡¯t something Katrina would have considered particularity pretty. It was overly lacy and the fabric was stained with yellows and browns. Her younger sister probably would have liked it though.

    Something else caught her eye. Something she recognised, a vase. It was shaped like the one that she¡¯d seen on Coal¡¯s table the day before, and the patterns, while not exactly the same, were very similar in style. The main difference was that instead of being red, this vase was a dark but vibrant blue.

    Katrina hadn¡¯t been intending to take anything, not really. She¡¯d just wanted to know what was there and what with so many different items, each one¡¯s power unknown to her, she¡¯d been too overwhelmed to even think about stealthing off with one. Apart from the time when she¡¯d borrowed Clarice Millicent¡¯s lipstick and forgotten to give it back before Clarice had replaced it, Katrina had never really stolen anything. Okay, there was the occasional book she¡¯d taken from Wolf¡¯s bookshelves, but she¡¯d always given them back or at least intended to. And sometimes she took her sibling¡¯s stuff without asking but that was different. Sure, she¡¯d snuck into Coal¡¯s with the idea of keeping a spoon or something small but he was rich and spoons weren¡¯t powerful magical items labelled with yellow tag. At least it wasn¡¯t a red tag.

    Katrina didn¡¯t do it on an impulse. She stood there and considered several options and the consequences very carefully and to the fullest extent before glancing around to check no one was looking. Then she stepped forth onto the mat. With decisive and swift movement Katrina reached down and picked up the blue vase. Then she confidently and casually walked back to the car without a single living soul having seen what she had stolen.

 Volume 2, Chapter 74: The Last Sunset

    ¡°Time is self-righting. You change something, it will do it¡¯s very best to preserve the same outcome that you already saw. Go back to save someone from a fire and you might find they get hit by the fire truck or shot by a passer-by and the paper reports things the exact same way. Kill your own grandfather and you¡¯ll come back and find out you were really adopted all along. Why does it work like that? I don¡¯t know, but it does, for everyone, except for me,¡± Murphy explained.

    The bar woman just stared at him.

    Behind Murphy, sunlight streamed in at a low angle through full length windows. The rays highlighted the different grains in wooden bar top. If he¡¯d turned around Murphy would have been privilege to a mountaintop view that opened up almost the entirety of the Greenstone Valley right out to the sparkling south-eastern sea. But Murphy did not turn around. He had seen this view over a thousand times before.

    ¡°Now you might be thinking what if you go back and save your grandfather, now not grandfather, after killing him, well, he¡¯ll be alive but you¡¯ll still be adopted. You see some things you can¡¯t fix, and one must be very careful what they change. Maybe you go back a third time and you kill your new grandfather to try and fix your first mistake but then it turns out your father was adopted or maybe you were confused for awhile there and now your family is really very worried about your sanity. Maybe they think you should spend some time in an asylum. As a general rule, changing the past should only ever be done very subtly. Of course, if you¡¯re me, it doesn¡¯t matter. Why? Probably because I never return to the future. Then again, I met a woman once, she went back in time to save her child from a kidnapping and just stayed there. Took her own child and ran. You see where this is going don¡¯t you? Turns out she was the kidnapper all along.¡± Murphy grinned and took another long slow sip of his drink.

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    ¡°What if you kill your past self?¡± Either the bartender was intrigued or she was just humouring her only customer. There were others in the bar but they weren¡¯t ordering, most were here for dinner and already had their food. It was possible the police presence outside had scared off the regular clientele. The sort of class that frequented the bar at Quartz Ridge probably didn¡¯t like the idea of bloated bodies being pulled from a swamp only a few hundred metres from where they were eating. Murphy didn¡¯t mind one way or another.

    ¡°Ah. Well, I dunno. I¡¯ve never met anyone who¡¯s done it. Depending on the type of time travel done, sometimes you are your past self. I¡¯m always my past self though and if I kill myself, I just wake up further in the past. There is a certain point, if I go back far enough, I forget things. I forget what I can do. And then I have to grow up again, and sometimes I remember, but I think, a lot of it I don¡¯t. I go too far back and everything is entirely new again. And the scariest thing. I can¡¯t always control when I¡¯ll end up.¡±

    ¡°Why are you telling me all this?¡±

    ¡°Because soon, you won¡¯t remember it.¡± Murphy gazed out the window at the setting sun. ¡°None of you will.¡±

    There was silence for awhile and then the bar woman asked, almost as if she had not heard a word he¡¯d said, "Look, did you want another drink or not?" Perhaps she was used to crazy rambles from her regular patrons and this sounded like just another.

    Anyone else might have stopped there. The drinks here were expensive after all, but the money Murphy paid with would be gone tomorrow anyway and the view was to die for. With one last glance at the slowly disappearing sun Murphy replied. "I suppose we still have time."

    The End of Volume 2

    Volume 3 Continues This Thursday Usual Time

 Volume 3, Chapter 1: The End of The World, Again

    Murphy watched as a mimic leapt past him and ripped the head off a soldier. He stepped back out of the range of the dark red spray from the man¡¯s jugular, and surveyed the chaotic scene that surrounded him.

    The spread of mimics had reached the main city of Mercy. White hairless, tailless, blind monkey-like things bared their several rows of sharp teeth. They had once been lurkers of only the darkest crevices. Now they now walked boldly in broad daylight. Their murky white eyes gazed unseeingly into the bright light.

    Firestarters from the armed forces sent their flames forth, melting the tarmac beneath the mimic¡¯s feet, but the mimics just walked on, right through the fire. A few remaining citizens tripped over their feet as they fled from their apartments. Mimics picked off the stragglers with ease.

    Murphy walked slowly through all this mess unafraid. This wasn¡¯t the first time he had lived through this scene. Murphy could have told them that if they walked slower and more silently then the mimics would find it harder to sense them. But their panic covered up his own soft footsteps and this wouldn¡¯t be the last time he¡¯d walk this particular road either.

    Some soldiers yelled at him to, ¡°Get out of here!¡± but Murphy ignored them all, and the soldiers were too focused on the mimics surrounding them to pursue the issue any further. Murphy had bigger things to worry about. The mimics were part of the problem, but this moment here wasn¡¯t important. It was just part of a pattern that Murphy needed to buck. Not this round though. It was too late for these people. Maybe next time, but for that he needed information. He needed to find out how it had all begun.

    Murphy disappeared down a side alleyway. He found the 23rd brick exactly five feet up and he tapped four times. Or at least he would have, but just as he was about to tap for the forth time, the wall disappeared. Murphy stood still for a moment. Before him lay impenetrable darkness. He had no idea what lay before him. He took a step forward.

    The darkness vanished and the wall sealed up. He found himself standing in a narrow room. The walls were lined with bottles and books and scrolls and jewellery, even a shrunken head or two. To his left a sleek black rifle hung on some wall hooks.

    ¡°It¡¯s telescopic,¡± a voice said. ¡°Are you looking to buy one?¡±

    Murphy shook his head and looked around for where the voice came from. He could not identify it. The voice was neutral, neither old nor young, neither masculine nor feminine, but he knew who it belonged to.

    ¡°More¡¯s the pity.¡± In the corner of the room and a tiny desk, almost child-sized crouched a man in a red robe. He materialised as he leaned forward in a way that made it seem like all he¡¯d done was move into the light. His deep set eyes were lined with dark eyeliner. On his forehead, formed as part of his skull were two pointed horns.

    It marked him as a shapeshifter, a particularly good one. It was a clever shape to assume, given the sorts of wares the man dealt in, especially in a city such as this. No person who stepped foot inside this store could have any confusion about which side of the law they walked. But Murphy was not here to buy things. He wanted information.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering when you¡¯d turn up,¡± the man said.

    That gave Murphy pause. Had his assessment of the man¡¯s powers been inaccurate or had someone else told him? Truthfully it did not matter too much but Murphy appreciated novelty and mystery where he could find it. He did not ask. He was sure he would find out one day and he didn¡¯t want to ruin the surprise. It was also possible he would forget about it before he found out. He tried to remember how long it had been since he¡¯d had a jump that had properly erased his memory. Perhaps he was overdue for one, perhaps not. He didn¡¯t actually know how frequently they happened or if full memory erasure was even possible for him. He had started over young a few times at least, with little memory, but a lot of it had returned as he had aged and it had been awhile now since he¡¯d been properly young. Whether that was decades or centuries he wasn¡¯t sure. Indeed, right now it seemed almost impossible that he¡¯d see those days again because the damn world kept ending.

    He was stuck. He knew several things now that would end this particular loop and keep the world going down some new and interesting path he had yet to observe. The only problem was he could never quite seem to be able to jump far enough back to undo them. It didn¡¯t help that some of the things were quite simply before his time anyway, and so it seemed he was stuck reliving the end of the world over and over until he figured out how to slice through this Gordian Knot within the very short infinite amount of time he had. It was some consolation at least that it never seemed to end in quite the same way. Sometimes the humans invaded from the old world with their nukes, sometimes the immortal mimics erupted out of the earth to eat everyone. There had been many many zombie outbreaks, also seemingly immortal. Murphy had at least figured out why that was now. And then sometimes he just woke up, back in the past, in his slightly younger body, a different set of clothes, and nothing saved but for his memories. He wasn¡¯t sure how the world ended when that happened and he was starting to worry he¡¯d never get to watch the film Little Miss Sunshine again, which was destined to come out less than a year after then end of the world.

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    He placed a piece of paper on the man¡¯s desk. On it were some hand drawn symbols. ¡°Do you recognise these?¡± Murphy asked.

    The old man looked at them and then he looked right up at Murphy and Murphy could see that his eyes were a milky white just like the creatures outside. ¡°Oh...¡±

    But before Murphy could apologise, the man nodded slowly and replied, ¡°They¡¯re very old.¡±

    Murphy frowned but didn¡¯t question it. Another mystery to add to his collection. ¡°They are. Do you know how they work?¡±

    Another slow nod.

    ¡°Do you know how to undo the spell?¡±

    More nods. ¡°It is difficult. If you do it wrong you could destroy the world.¡±

    ¡°Have you looked outside lately?¡± Murphy asked. ¡°The world¡¯s pretty on it¡¯s way to being destroyed.¡±

    ¡°This¡¯d be bigger, and not just this world.¡±

    ¡°Mmm.¡± Murphy looked around for a chair but he couldn¡¯t see one. ¡°The mimics will get through to the human world eventually too. And then they¡¯ll either eat their way though that world or the humans will send their nukes right through to us. If you tell me how to reverse the spell, I can stop them getting through.¡±

    The man nodded as if pondering the thought. ¡°Won¡¯t they just pick another Splice hole? Do you intend to close all of them?¡±

    Murphy decided if he had to come back here again he was going to bring a chair. ¡°This one¡¯s special.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s complicated.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got time.¡± The man waved a hand and a chair appeared.

    It was a simple wooden one but Murphy happily sat in it. Then he glanced toward where he had come in. There was nothing but bricks there, rimmed by purple velvet curtains. The wall kept the outside sounds from bothering them. Murphy appreciated this. It was nice not to have to hear the screams. ¡°With all due respect, I¡¯m not sure anybody has time for this story. Let¡¯s just say that it¡¯s defective due to a large number of very complicated events that I don¡¯t think even I¡¯ve been entirely privy to yet.¡±

    ¡°Ah, you¡¯re a sandman? Or a psychic?¡±

    ¡°The former,¡± Murphy replied.

    ¡°So it¡¯s not really us you¡¯re saving then is it?¡±

    Murphy sighed. This was why he didn¡¯t tell people what he was. Next time he¡¯d tell him he was a psychic. ¡°It¡¯s you, or a version of you, at least as far as I can tell there isn¡¯t much difference.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the point in me helping you if it¡¯s not me who you¡¯re saving?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t think it¡¯s you whose life I¡¯m going to impact then what¡¯s the harm in telling me?¡±

    ¡°Well, maybe it will be me?¡±

    Murphy was starting to think that all this guy wanted was a bit of conversation. ¡°I can still pay you know.¡±

    ¡°What good is money if the world¡¯s going to end soon?¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you rather go out in comfort? And who knows, maybe it won¡¯t end.¡±

    ¡°Mmm, I suppose.¡±

    ¡°I can give you 600,000 Bismuth.¡±

    For a moment the man almost seemed to stop breathing. Then he blinked. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of money.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t be needing it where I¡¯m going.¡±

    The man frowned. ¡°You can¡¯t take it with you?¡±

    ¡°It would be hard to carry all of it.¡± Murphy didn¡¯t explain that his sort of time travel didn¡¯t let him take things back. But once you¡¯d built a secret stash of riches once, it wasn¡¯t hard to do it again.

    The man chuckled. ¡°I suppose it would.¡±

    Murphy set a key down on man¡¯s desk. Tied to the key was a small USB. ¡°This is all you¡¯ll need to access it.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± The man frowned and reached for the key as if he could see it.

    Perhaps the blindness was another part of his shifted form. Or maybe he was an illusionist. He wasn¡¯t a mindwalker. That Murphy was certain of.

    ¡°I suppose that¡¯ll do.¡± The man stretched and then he leaned forward and with milky eyes studied the symbol again. ¡°This was made with blood magic and so that is how it must be unmade. With the same blood.¡±

    ¡°The same blood?¡±

    ¡°Or a relative will do the trick. A descendant.¡±

    ¡°How much blood?¡±

    ¡°However much went in. No more and no less. The rest is simple. But you¡¯ll need the full scripts. Some are on display at the museum on Rosegood Avenue, others are in private collections. People know what they are but they don¡¯t know what they can still do. Most of them don¡¯t have the power. There are five in total.¡±

    The scripts would just be a channel. It was the magic that mattered, and the blood. Still, he would need to get them anyway. Group spells were hard enough without going scriptless. Murphy nodded. ¡°That¡¯s not a problem?¡±

    He stood up to leave. There were other things he still needed to know, but he wouldn¡¯t find them here.

    The man spoke after him, ¡°You¡¯ll have to be careful. Some of those old spells were timelocked.¡±

    ¡°Meaning?¡±

    ¡°No second chances.¡±

    Murphy didn¡¯t reply or look back. He walked straight back through the brick wall. It worked just as he had expected. He reached the edge of the alleyway. The street was deadly quiet now. One mimic turned it¡¯s face in his direction and cocked it¡¯s head. Murphy didn¡¯t move. He was trying to remember if there was anything else he needed to do on this timeline.

    The mimic started to run towards him.

    No, he supposed that was all. Well, time to leave then. He took a pistol from his jacket pocket, put the barrel to his head and pulled the trigger.

 Volume 3, Chapter 2: Moments

    Murphy awoke in his own bed. The first thing he did was to check the date. Then he got up, got dressed, and he made a phone call.

    Bambi met him an hour later at a 24 hour back alley strip bar in downtown Mercy. She was wearing a pantsuit and looking at the menu. Neither of them ordered anything immediately and the barman conveniently ignored them even though the only other patron was passed out on the floor. Mercy didn¡¯t have much of a typical nightlife on account of mandated curfews but people still found a way to party. Right now though it was early enough that most of them were probably home sleeping off their hangovers.

    Murphy was wearing a suit of his own but it was more casual. Bambi was dressed for a day at the office. Murphy was dressed for a night on the town. Nothing too eye-catching though. Neither would have stuck out in a crowd.

    They greeted each other warmly. Bambi was probably reading his mind. Murphy could never be quite sure how much she would read though. She tended not to voice her own thoughts unless she felt it was necessary. Between Bambi¡¯s mindwalking and Stella¡¯s visions sometimes they upset his plans a little but he couldn¡¯t have done this job without them, nor would he have wanted to. He liked their company, especially Bambi¡¯s. It was good to see her again. He wasn¡¯t sure how long it had been since she¡¯d last seen him.

    ¡°We need to talk about what you¡¯re doing to Stella,¡± Bambi started.

    ¡°What?¡± he asked, genuinely unsure what she was referring to.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been giving her non-stop jobs so she can¡¯t sit still and get a proper look at the future.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that.¡± Now he remembered.

    ¡°What don¡¯t you want her to see? And don¡¯t say it¡¯s complicated.¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t gonna.¡± He had been gonna and she knew that.

    She raised her eyebrows at him.

    He considered his answer, figured Bambi was probably reading this one out of him anyway. She was attached to the girl which was why he hadn¡¯t told her already. ¡°Because we need to kill the child.¡±

    ¡°Lily?¡±

    Murphy nodded. At Bambi¡¯s look he replied, ¡°It¡¯s to save the world.¡±

    She pressed her lips into a tight line and thought about it. ¡°Stella¡¯s going to hate that.¡±

    ¡°Which is exactly why I don¡¯t need her looking ahead and seeing it happening. She¡¯ll mess it up and we¡¯ll all end up six feet under a writhing mass of zombies, and trust me it¡¯s not a nice way to go, I would know.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s just a kid.¡±

    The last time Murphy had had this conversation he¡¯d had to ask for clarification as to whether she was referring to Stella or Lily but this time he already knew. ¡°A dead kid. She was necromancied and poorly and because of where it was done it¡¯s caused all kinds of issues. It needs to be undone.¡±

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    ¡°I was referring to Stella.¡±

    Murphy narrowed his eyes. ¡°No you weren¡¯t.¡± But as the words left his mouth and he glanced at Bambi, he could see the faintest hint of a smile. She was toying with him.

    Then smile faded and she looked more serious. ¡°You need to let her use her powers. Things won¡¯t work out well for any of us if she can¡¯t. If it so happens she looks that far ahead then I¡¯ll talk her out of it.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Murphy frowned. Instead of making a decision he moved on to his next issue. ¡°I need your blood.¡±

    She frowned. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Not much. I need mine as well, and also Stella¡¯s and two more, plus one of them does need to be a sacrifice. Not Lily, it has to be one of us, a descendant of the guardians. We could use one of the kids.¡±

    Bambi stared daggers at him.

    ¡°Not for the sacrifice,¡± he clarified. ¡°They just need to give a drop and read a few lines.¡±

    She still didn¡¯t look happy. ¡°Who else have you got?¡±

    ¡°Amanda.¡±

    ¡°The firestarter?¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°How are you going to get her back into the Splice hole and to do her part?¡±

    ¡°I have a plan.¡±

    Bambi drummed her nails on the table. ¡°I don¡¯t want the kids involved at all.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it will work with four.¡±

    Bambi pressed her lips together in thought then replied, ¡°The original spell was five. Reversals are tricky things.¡±

    ¡°Do you think Stella counts as two?¡± Murphy asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Well, I suppose it¡¯s worth a shot.¡±

    Bambi snorted and gave him a bewildered look. ¡°We¡¯re saving the world and you¡¯re going with it¡¯s ¡®worth a shot?¡¯¡±

    Murphy grinned. ¡°Gotta have a little fun sometimes.¡±

    She smiled but she still looked a little worried.

    ¡°Unless you¡¯d rather-¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she replied reading his mind. Decisiveness replaced the uncertainty in her face.

    Another beat of silence. It wasn¡¯t an uncomfortable one. The pair of them could have sat in silence for an hour without feeling the need to talk. Perhaps they would have if the entire state of the world hadn¡¯t been in danger. Then again, this wasn¡¯t the first time and there were worse things that could happen.

    ¡°You ever pick paths where we don¡¯t have kids?¡± She asked it quickly as if she were afraid of the answer.

    Murphy smiled because that was an easy question for him to answer and he knew she¡¯d like the answer. ¡°Not that I can remember.¡±

    She relaxed.

    Knowing she liked logic and wanting to really ease her worries he added. ¡°It¡¯s good that we continue out genetic lines.¡±

    She narrowed her eyes at him. Not quite the response he¡¯d been hoping for and he supposed maybe he should have seen that coming but now that he¡¯d gone down that path it was better he took it to it¡¯s end. He was at least as good at logic debate as she was and besides, she already knew he loved her and their kids. All she had to do was read his mind.

    ¡°You know, in case of situations like this. It¡¯s useful,¡± he explained.

    "I''m not a breeding dog Murphy," she replied with a touch of indignation.

    He grinned. "No, dogs are awesome. They''re loyal. They''ll wait for a dead man, never lose hope. Witches have nothing on a dog."

    She sat up a little straighter and gave him the side eye but Murphy could swear there was a touch of a smile there.

    "I think you missed my point." She raised one eyebrow. Yup, she was definitely trying not to smile.

    ¡°You¡¯re almost as good as a dog though.¡± He said it with a straight face. It was difficult but he pulled it off. To help keep a straight face he thought fondly of his pet dog, Rodger, who had been his best friend growing up. He¡¯d loved that dog more than anything. Truly there was no better being than a dog.

    ¡°Just what every woman want¡¯s to hear,¡± Bambi retorted with an eye roll but she finished the sentence by ducking her face and muffling a laugh with her hand.

    Bambi was beautiful when she laughed. And with that Murphy considered the game won. Another moment lived.

 Volume 3, Chapter 3: Warm and Pumping

    ¡°It¡¯s called Lyndcraft Academy and it¡¯s in Nin,¡± Gemma explained as she slowly paced back and forth around the kitchen, gently bouncing baby Kate up and down as she walked.

    Her mother was only half listening. Amanda stood at the kitchen stove and was in the middle of cooking dinner.

    Nearby, young Lily sat at the kitchen table hungrily hoping that food was not far off. ¡°Where¡¯s Nin?¡± she asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s in The Bales,¡± Gemma replied, only too happy to have someone paying attention.

    Lily frowned. She didn¡¯t know where that was.

    Gemma explained. ¡°Over the hill from Broomstick Beech.¡±

    Lily didn¡¯t know where that was either.

    ¡°Other side of the Dragon mountains. Just a little way past Myst.¡±

    Lily thought about it.

    ¡°That way.¡± Balancing the baby with one hand Gemma pointed north-west.

    Lily nodded. She had heard of Myst. That was where the sorcerers had their university. It, like Little Rock, and the Emerald City to the south, also bordered the sea, but on it¡¯s north-western side rather than it¡¯s south-eastern. The other three sides were surrounded by rugged almost impassable mountains.

    Gemma turned back to her mother, who was frowning at the ingredients in front of her.

    ¡°Anyway,¡± she continued. ¡°You study for half the year and for the rest of the time you get to do field work. All supervised of course. Isn¡¯t that great? It¡¯s all practical focused and because it¡¯s all interleaved you¡¯re basically implementing what you learn straight away so you don¡¯t forget.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh,¡± Amanda nodded. She was still looking at the ingredients in front of her and biting her lip. Then she grabbed a few of the items she had out and shoved them back in the pantry, swapping them for different ingredients. ¡°We need some more white vinegar,¡± she yelled out to Sirius.

    ¡°Okay,¡± he called back.

    Gemma frowned but continued on regardless.

    Lily listened intently as Gemma talked. It was a good distraction from how far away food probably was. She leaned forward and rested her chin on one hand then she suddenly realised her sleeves were drooping low and she was in danger of exposing the strange infected welts that had recently begun to blossom on her arms and legs. She grabbed the ends of her sleeves with her fingers and then tucked her arms in close to her stomach.

    ¡°And the best thing about Lyndcraft is they don¡¯t require you to have finished high school to apply. If you wanna sign up early they¡¯ll let you, as long as your grades are good enough or you can prove yourself semi-competent, so I could just take the rest of this year off and-¡±

    That finally got Amanda¡¯s attention. ¡°What? No. It doesn¡¯t matter what their requirements are. You will finish school.¡±

    ¡°But mum I could spend the rest of this-¡±

    Gemma was cut off as her younger sister, Katrina walked into the room. ¡°Mum, Salem won¡¯t get off the computer and I need it for my homework.¡±

    ¡°Salem get off the computer!¡± Amanda yelled without missing a beat in the cooking.

    Katrina left and a moment later bickering could be heard from out in the large foyer where the computer was situated, just around the corner from the bottom of the stairs.

    ¡°Salem!¡± Amanda warned.

    Gemma continued talking.

    The bickering in the foyer continued as well.

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    ¡°Sirius can you please deal with that.¡± Amanda yelled in between rearranging pots on the stove.

    A moment later a man¡¯s voice joined the bickering in the hallway.

    Gemma droned on. ¡°Anyway as I was saying... and Kate can come too... the accommodation''s really cheap.¡±

    14 year old Sasha walked into the kitchen. ¡°Mum have you seen my skates?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not even skating season yet,¡± remarked Gemma.

    ¡°Winter¡¯s only a few weeks away,¡± replied Sasha.

    ¡°Yeah, but you still have to wait until it snows and it won¡¯t snow until late June.¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t.¡± With a sly smile, Sasha cupped her hands in front of her face and blew. As she blew out, the air turned white and fluffy. Snow burst out from her hands and fell all around the kitchen.

    Lily smiled wide but her stomach growled reminding her how hungry she was. Why was she so much hungrier these days? Every day it felt like there was more and more time between meals. She¡¯d even taken to snacking throughout the day, which Amanda had said was fine and to help herself to whatever she wanted from the fridge and pantry. But then yesterday Lily had eaten almost half a block of cheese and still hadn¡¯t felt satisfied. It was almost as if she was craving something very specific but she wasn¡¯t quite sure what.

    As the snow surrounded them, Gemma clicked her fingers and the little balls of ice burnt up in the air, merging into one large fireball.

    ¡°Gemma!¡± Amanda snapped.

    Gemma withdrew her hand and dropped her eyes. Her fire magic wasn¡¯t the most well-controlled and fireballs in the house were generally not allowed as a blanket rule.

    Then Amanda turned to Sasha. ¡°Where did you have them last?¡±

    Sasha looked down sadly. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Bobby have you seen my skates?¡± Sasha asked her older brother who had just entered the kitchen with a very serious look on his face.

    He glanced at Sasha and then met his mother¡¯s eyes with a worried look.

    Amanda frowned and put the spoon down on the bench.

    Just then Salem entered the kitchen. ¡°Ugh, she¡¯s not even doing homework, she¡¯s just looking up fashion photos.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s for my arts class dufus!¡± Katrina yelled from the foyer.

    Salem rolled his eyes and headed for the fridge.

    Sirius entered the kitchen right as Gemma got up to leave. She handed him the baby. He took her with surprise.

    ¡°Can you hold Kate? I¡¯ll be back in a sec.¡±

    ¡°Hey, no snacks, dinner¡¯s almost ready!¡± Amanda told Salem.

    Lily watched the chaos unfolding all around her. Now that she¡¯d gotten used to it, she almost found it comforting. As Salem slammed the fridge door shut, she caught a whiff of something wonderful, and then, a moment later it was gone.

    ¡°Aww, fine! I¡¯ll be up in my room then,¡± Salem grumbled.

    Sirius looked down at the baby and frowned. He tried bouncing her softly but she started crying. Turning to his wife he asked, ¡°Did you hear back from Wolf yet about tracking the loose dreamweaver?¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°Not yet. I asked Cat as well and she said she couldn¡¯t sense it anywhere. Maybe it died in the house.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s hope,¡± Sirius replied.

    Amanda didn¡¯t look hopeful though. She eyed Bobby with a questioning look.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you put them in the cellar to dry?¡± Bobby said to Sasha.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± She left to go and check.

    Once Sasha was gone Bobby turned to his mother. ¡°I think I¡¯ve messed up a healing. I was riding Cinna and she tripped on a rabbit¡¯s hole. I figured I¡¯d just fix it up but...¡± Bobby swallowed hard.

    ¡°Sirius, can you take over the cooking?¡± Amanda asked her husband.

    ¡°Uh...¡± he looked down at the baby, who was still wailing up a storm, and then up at his wife, unsure how to do both things

    ¡°Just don¡¯t let anything burn,¡± she told him.

    He nodded but still looked panicked.

    Amanda hesitated.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, I¡¯ve got her,¡± Gemma said as she returned and reached for her baby.

    Sirius sighed in relief and took over his wife¡¯s place at the stove.

    Amanda followed Bobby out to the stables.

    Gemma paced up and down the kitchen trying to calm Kate¡¯s cries.

    Sasha returned a moment later. ¡°I still can¡¯t find them.¡±

    ¡°Mum!¡± Katrina yelled from the hall. ¡°Salem keeps dropping fake spiders on me.¡±

    The baby¡¯s crying grew louder.

    ¡°Oh, shh, it¡¯s okay.¡±

    ¡°Daaaad!¡±

    ¡°I am not!¡±

    ¡°I have to find them, Sarah wants to go skating on Wednesday!¡±

    ¡°When¡¯s dinner going to be ready?¡± Lily asked, but no one heard her.

    Sirius struggled over the stove while behind him the chaos continued.

    Lily eyed the fridge. No one was watching her.

    Driven more by instinct than thought and with a singular focus on whatever that sweet smelling thing in the fridge was, Lily slipped off her chair and crossed the couple metres to the fridge door.

    She pulled the door open. No one noticed a thing. Gemma was too focused on calming Kate. Sirius was watching the cooking and occasionally yelling things toward the hallway where Katrina and Salem continued their squabbling. Sasha had disappeared off somewhere again to look for her skates. Amanda and Bobby were outside. They all paid no attention to Lily and Lily paid no mind to any of them. Her sole focus was the plate of raw mince that sat neatly in the centre of the fridge, lit up by the cool glow of the internal lamps as if it had been laid out especially for her.

    The meat was the source of the smell she was sure of it, although her certainty was not something she considered but more something she felt at an animal level. Without any thought at all to what she was doing or who might be watching she reached forward and took a handful of meat. She brought it to her mouth. She closed her eyes as the soft texture surrounded her tongue and the cold juices ran down her chin. The temperature was the one thing that annoyed her. She would have preferred if it had been warm, warm and pumping.

 Volume 3, Chapter 4: Fragile Flesh

    The next thing Lily knew the meat was gone. She felt dazed as if she had lost some time. She looked down at her hands and was surprised and horrified to see the blood there. She¡¯d even gotten it on her sleeves. Then her gaze found the empty plate in the fridge, nothing but juices left. An animal part of her felt the urge to pick up the plate and drink the juices too but the conscious part of her recoiled at the idea. What had she done? She didn¡¯t feel hungry anymore but she did feel horribly horribly sick.

    She stepped back from the fridge and glanced around the kitchen. Kate had stopped crying now. Gemma was over by the window, rocking her gently and singing a lullaby. Not looking Lily¡¯s way at least. Katrina and Salem were still squabbling, although their exchanges of insults were less frequent. They seemed to fall silent for a several seconds every time Sirius yelled at them. It seemed he¡¯d just get back into the swing of adding some sauce or another and then they¡¯d start up again.

    ¡°Don¡¯t make me come out there!¡± he yelled without ever looking up.

    So no one had seen her. Lily turned and fled in the direction of the laundry. There was a bathroom off there as well as an exit into the hallway. But she didn¡¯t want to go upstairs right now, that would have meant going past Katrina and Salem, and she was certain that would be a bad idea. She could feel the blood on her face, the red juices slowly trickling down, threatening to stain her clothes in more obvious ways. She disappeared into the downstairs bathroom and shut the door.

    This room was just a toilet and a sink with a small mirror. She looked in horror at her own face. Her eyes looked sunken, her skin had a clammy greenish white hue. Had she looked like that before she¡¯d eaten the meat? Her lips and teeth were rimmed red. Before she could wash the blood of her face she leaned forward and vomited violently into the sink.

    It was loud but she had no fear of being heard for right as she leaned forward over the sink the baby started up her crying again. Between that, the sizzling of the cooking, and Katrina¡¯s and Salem''s squabbles, all the sounds from the bathroom were drowned out.

    Lily stepped back from the sink and looked at her face in the mirror. She could still taste the sick in her mouth. A second later she was back over the sink retching again. She remained there until she was certain even her intestines had come all the way back up and out her mouth and nothing remained of her insides. Nothing but a squirmy feeling. The sink certainly looked like she¡¯d emptied her guts out into it. She was suddenly very worried that it would be stained that colour.

    She turned on the tap and watched as the water washed all the chunky bits down the drain. She felt like it was washing herself clean at the same time. Once not a drop of red remained on the sink Lily washed her face and inside her mouth. And then she tried to do her sleeves. But her sleeves were more difficult to clean. No matter how hard she scrubbed there still remained the faint tinge of red.

    She panicked, spent a few more minutes washing them, then she closed her eyes, breathed in slowly and deeply through her nose and out in a quick huff. She repeated that three times until she felt calm. She eyed the bathroom door. It sounded like things had quietened down out there now. She didn¡¯t feel quite ready to go out though, besides, her sleeves were soaked.

    From the kitchen she heard Sirius call out, ¡°Dinner¡¯s ready.¡±

    Lily eyed the corner of the small bathroom. It looked cozy and safe. She sat down there and pulled her knees up to her chest. There she stayed until someone rapped on the door.

    ¡°You okay Lily?¡± Sirius asked.

    ¡°Yup, out in a minute,¡± she called back from the floor. She was glad it was Sirius asking. He always actually seemed to believe her when she said she was fine and he never asked twice.

    Lily gathered herself together, put on a brave face, and left the bathroom a few minutes later. No one at the table seemed to give her a second look. There were a total of six seats at the James¡¯s kitchen table. Even with their usual count of seven there wasn¡¯t room for everyone but the family rarely all ate together. Typically the kids would eat while their parents, or parent if one one was home, cleaned up the dishes.

    Sirius was already seated at the table but there was a spare seat for Lily as Amanda and Bobby had still not returned from outside.

    Salem was almost finished his food by the time Lily sat down, in classic Salem style. He would often wolf his food down as fast as he could and then race back to computer.

    ¡°Slow down you pig!¡± Siting next to him, Katrina eyed his feverish hunger with displeasure. She looked down with concern at what was left on her own plate and then back at Salem again. Lily figured Katrina was worried he was going to finish first and claim the computer before she could. But she seemed disinclined to match his eating pace. Katrina preferred to eat her food with a measure of elegance. That was how she put it.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Katrina made a soft rather inelegant growling sound as Salem cleared his plate, leapt up from the table and sprung toward the foyer.

    ¡°Salem!¡± Sirius called.

    Salem skidded to a halt at the kitchen door. Groaned, spun around, grabbed his plate, took it up to the bench, and then sprinted out of the room.

    Katrina glared at him as he went.

    Beside her, Sasha was creating some sort of miniature castle out of her carrot sticks and potatoes.

    ¡°Sasha, eat your food,¡± Sirius told her.

    Sasha pouted. ¡°But it¡¯s more fun when it looks like stuff.¡± She stuck a carrot in her mouth with some begrudgement anyway.

    ¡°What are you? Five?¡± Katrina asked.

    Sasha¡¯s frown deepened but she didn¡¯t reply. Her stare could have melted her potatoes though.

    ¡°What are you? Anorexic?¡± Gemma asked Katrina with a smirk and a carefree slouch, bringing attention to Katrina¡¯s normally slow eating.

    ¡°Gemma!¡± Sirius warned.

    Katrina narrowed her eyes at her older sister then she slapped on a fake smile and flicked her dark hair as if she were above it all.

    Gemma just smiled smugly right back.

    They ate in silence for a little while. Lily picked at her food but none of it sat quite right. She forced herself to eat it anyway.

    When she was done she put her plate on the bench as the others had and headed outside. She thought the cool air might make her feel less sick, plus she liked watching the horses grazing in the paddocks.

    Outside the light was low and although it was not quite twilight yet she could see that the barn light was on. She was drawn toward it like a moth to a flame. Amanda and Bobby were probably in there helping the injured horse. She was curious abut what magic they would use to do it. Magic was one of the things she had lost, both her powers and her memory of them. Ever since her resurrection she¡¯d found there to be gaping holes in what she could recall of her life before. She remembered her parents, her mother¡¯s happy smile, her father being away a lot because of work but how whenever he came back after a long trip he¡¯d always brought back a present. They¡¯d had a cat, a white fluffy one called Mittens. Lily wasn¡¯t sure what had happened to her. She hoped she was okay. She did remember liking horses and unicorns. There were plenty of those here at the James¡¯ Farm, or was it a ranch? She felt like it should be a ranch but everyone just called it a farm. She wasn¡¯t sure what the difference was. Ranch sounded fancier.

    As she got nearer the barn she could hear voices coming from inside.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to be here for this,¡± Amanda was telling Bobby.

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault though. I should be the one doing it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no one¡¯s fault but if you want to blame someone blame the rabbit.¡±

    ¡°But if I hadn¡¯t tried to heal it.¡±

    ¡°A broken leg¡¯s a death sentence anyway.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t for Rorschach.¡±

    ¡°That was a special case, and I¡¯m still not certain it was the right decision. He¡¯ll never be ridden again and he¡¯ll spend the rest of his life with a limp.¡±

    ¡°Better than being dead,¡± Bobby grumbled.

    Outside the barn door, Lily pressed herself up close to the wall.

    ¡°Like I said, you don¡¯t have to be here for this. Go and have your dinner.¡±

    Lily peaked around the corner. They were both further in and both had their backs to her. On the ground before them lay a horse. Was it dead? It¡¯s chest appeared to be moving. Amanda was holding something in her hands. Was that a gun? She sometimes took one when she went out for longer rides, mostly for shooting rabbits, but Lily wasn¡¯t sure why she had it out now.

    Bobby shook his head. ¡°It is my fault. If I had just waited for the vet...¡±

    ¡°They would have come out, charged us a fortune, and still come to the same decision I have. The local vet¡¯s not a healer remember.¡±

    ¡°The one in Marblewood is.¡±

    ¡°And he charges more than that horse costs. It¡¯d be different if it was one your pets but Cinna¡¯s a working horse, and one who¡¯s already past her prime.¡±

    Bobby had his arms crossed. ¡° Rorschach was a working horse.¡±

    ¡°Bobby, it takes months for a broken leg to heal naturally, you know that. And that¡¯s when it¡¯s a clean break.¡±

    ¡°And one that hasn¡¯t been partially healed.¡± Bobby was staring down at the horse and not looking at his mother.

    ¡°From what you said, it sounded like it was pretty shattered.¡±

    Bobby didn¡¯t answer.

    There was a moment¡¯s silence and then Amanda said, ¡°Go back inside.¡±

    ¡°I should stay.¡±

    ¡°What for?¡±

    Bobby shook his head and kept looking down at the horse.

    Amanda reached out and placed a gentle hand on his arm. She squeezed it comfortingly and then let go. ¡°Bobby, that horse was done for even before you messed up the heal.¡±

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have tried.¡±

    ¡°You couldn¡¯t have made it any worse.¡±

    ¡°I could have.¡±

    ¡°But you didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I? She¡¯s got a bunch of tumors in her leg now because of me.¡±

    Lily heard Bobby sniff. Was he crying?

    ¡°Not ones that are doing her any harm at the moment. If anything, it might be less painful. And you learnt something, got some practice.¡±

    Bobby mumbled something Lily couldn¡¯t hear.

    Amanda too, lowered her voice as she leaned in close to talk to her son, so Lily snuck forward and slipped into a stall without being seen. She felt like this wasn¡¯t something she should be interrupting but she wanted to know what was going to happen to the horse.

    ¡°Healing is hard,¡± she heard Amanda say, ¡°And harder still on an injured animal who won¡¯t stay still. Dosing her up like she is now probably would have helped but then you¡¯d have needed to have had the drugs on you.¡±

    Bobby didn¡¯t reply but Lily saw him nod slowly.

    ¡°Now, are you sure you want to stay for this? You don¡¯t have to.¡± She gently touched his arm again.

    Lily saw Bobby nod once more.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Amanda took his hand and squeezed it. Then she turned to face the horse more directly. For two seconds they both just stood there staring at the horse and then Amanda raised the gun and she fired.

    The horse¡¯s chest rose once more and then fell still.

    Lily fell back into the empty stall with a muffled gasp. She dropped into the corner a scrunched herself up into a ball. With a terror she hadn¡¯t felt before she found herself staring down at her covered arms. Beneath stained sleeve she knew her skin was all broken and puss-coated. Had she been healed wrong too? If so would they do to her what they had done to the horse?

 Volume 3, Chapter 5: Fortune Favours Those With Foresight

    Stella peered through the thick trees at the sky. It was going to snow later but not for many hours yet. She should be gone from this forest by then. She walked among the trees at an even pace. She kind of had to in these strappy heels. She could have changed her shoes but then it wouldn¡¯t have had the same effect and it wasn¡¯t like she needed to walk fast. She had left with time enough to get to precisely where she intended at a comfortable pace. To an outside observer it might have looked strange. A petite blond woman in a black cocktail dress out for a stroll in the woods between the sea and a string of sparsely separated farm estates. All of them were large and on fertile land but they had also been here awhile and many were in questionable states of repair, not unlivable but far from desired by the elite. Out here was working man¡¯s land with only dirt roads for access. There wasn¡¯t even a nice view unless one liked the forest, which some did. The ancient woods kept the livestock and crops protected from the fierce winds that struck the north end of the eastern coast the hardest, but today the air was calm in an almost eerie kind of way.

    Stella¡¯s path might look odd to an outside observer. She was headed toward a particular house but it was a very roundabout way of getting there. Stella knew what she was doing and precisely what was coming. This was one of Murphy¡¯s jobs, the last one she would do for awhile she had decided. She walked forward with the look of one who had a plan for everything, except perhaps, for the iridescent unicorn which stepped right into the middle of her path.

    Stella paused. She had not seen that coming, at least not magically. She also really really did not like horses. Unicorns were supposed to be far smarter than horses but it didn¡¯t matter, to Stella they all looked the same and intelligence if anything just made them even harder to predict. It was bad enough trying to figure out what a regular horse what going to do, let alone one with superpowers. People were the hardest of all, especially if the future involved Stella interacting with them. She could still do it, view the conversations as they were likely to happen in her mind. The problem was that seeing something, inevitably unconsciously altered one¡¯s own behaviour and sometimes even the smallest shift in facial expression could have wildly different consequences. So much of communication was in the unspoken. For a horse, the way one sat and shifted about made all the difference.

    She had seen it coming in a physical sense, out of the corner of her eye but she had figured it would just move on by if she ignored it. Unicorns were not meant to be easy to capture so why then had it walked directly up to her and stopped right in the middle of her path?

    She waved her hands at it.

    ¡°Shoo!¡± she told it timidly.

    Most unicorns tended toward one colour or another but this one was a little bit of everything. It probably made it a very expensive beast, maybe even worth more than some of the houses out here. But Stella was not interested, she had plenty of money and knew a million different ways to get more. She just didn¡¯t want the big scary creature with sharp horn and hooves to get any closer.

    ¡°Go away horse.¡±

    It was said that unicorns were proud animals and that some of them understood language although they could not speak it. Stella hoped the insult would make it leave her alone. But instead the pretty creature took another step closer.

    ¡°Oh no.¡± Stella scrunched up her eyes, balled her fists, and pulled her elbows in tight near her body, as the thing got right up next to her. ¡°No, no. Go away please.¡± Even if it was slenderer than a regular horse it was still so much bigger than she was. And then there was that sharp horn.

    She whimpered as the creature put it¡¯s nostrils into her hair and then nuzzled her neck. She stood stock still, too afraid to move.

    She breathed out and opened her eyes as she felt the thing take a step back. She could feel her whole body shaking and it had nothing to do with the cold. Why hadn¡¯t she seen this coming? Even without having meditated properly she should have seen this. She had done some scouting ahead of this day. Plus the thing being here was throwing of the timing.

    It stood looking at her. Maybe she could walk around it now? She tried to see ahead, to find a way out, but she found the immediate future conspicuously blank.

    She glanced off to the side. Then it stepped close again. Stella whimpered but she didn¡¯t close her eyes. It nuzzled her shoulder gently and blew out softly through it¡¯s nose. It seemed like it wanted her to do something but she wasn¡¯t sure what.

    Carefully she raised one hand and placed it on the creature¡¯s neck. She spared no thought for how lucky she might have appeared to anyone else if anyone else had the fortune to even view such a scene. Many people went their whole lives having only dreamed about touching a unicorn. But to Stella it was the most terrifying thing she had ever done up until the thing that happened about 5 minutes after that.

    The fur of the unicorn was soft and silky, not like any horse at all. It was more like cat hair than horse hair, and so much finer still. As she touched the unicorn, it lowered it¡¯s horn and rested it against her skin. At first Stella flinched. She knew how sharp those things were, but then she felt a vision coming on, different from her usual visions. In it she saw a shared future and when she broke apart from the unicorn a moment later she was no longer as scared as she had been for this creature was just like her, almost.

    ¡°You¡¯re a psychic too?¡± Stella said to it. It explained her difficulty seeing ahead. The presence of another psychic always made foresight a little more difficult, even a weaker one hampered things a little, while a stronger one could shut another¡¯s visions down completely.

    She wasn¡¯t expecting an answer. It did bow it¡¯s head though. The movement was so slight that Stella couldn¡¯t be sure if it was just a coincidence or not. It didn¡¯t matter though, from what she had seen, she knew the unicorn understood at least some of what the future held even if it wasn¡¯t in quite the same way she did.

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    Surprising even herself Stella raised her hand and stroked it¡¯s fine neck. ¡°I don¡¯t blame you for running given what¡¯s to come, but you¡¯ll help won¡¯t you? That¡¯s why you¡¯re here?¡±

    Another slight bow that could have been just a head bob.

    ¡°But you have to go back after. You should.¡±

    The creature shook its mane. Stella still wasn¡¯t sure if it was just her imagination.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get Coal to buy you for me. He would have to. I¡¯m not allowed to interact directly, you understand why don¡¯t you?¡±

    The unicorn lowered it¡¯s head and stretched it¡¯s neck and gave as small huff through the nostrils. Stella took that as acquiescence.

    ¡°And you¡¯ve made me late you know.¡± It was a gentle playful chide but there was truth in it too. Stella wasn¡¯t so keen on having to run to get there, not in these heels.

    There was another soft snort and then the unicorn did something horrifying. It turned slightly side on, bent it¡¯s legs, and lowered it¡¯s body in a way that could mean only one thing. It was inviting her to ride.

    Stella¡¯s eyes widened and she shook her head. ¡°Oh no no no no no.¡±

    The unicorn snorted more strongly. Insistently.

    ¡°No, you don¡¯t understand. I don¡¯t ride.¡±

    But the unicorn was waiting patiently and she was late.

    Stella¡¯s face crumpled and she shivered. ¡°But I¡¯m in a dress,¡± she complained as she climbed up on it¡¯s slender back. It was bony and hard and even the hair of its mane felt slippery. Stella felt like she was sitting on top of an eel. She gave another small whimper as the creature rose. But despite not being as round or as comfortable as a horse, its movements were a lot smoother.

    They loped through the forest, a three beat pace less jolting than a canter, leaping over fallen logs and dodging decaying stumps. Stella clung on for dear life, knowing she had no other option. Her small, sweaty hands, entangled themselves in the unicorn¡¯s beautiful mane. Small ferns whipped past them and all too soon they reached a lone figure walking through the forest toward them.

    The figure had her face down, holding a rubbish bag full of clothes and scrambling over large stumps with small hands, such that she didn¡¯t see them until they were almost upon her.

    Lily glanced up after climbing over yet another fallen log, to see before her an iridescent unicorn, closer than any of them had come to her so far. She hadn¡¯t missed how every time she went near their paddock they¡¯d move away from the fence. Amanda had said you couldn¡¯t force a unicorn but it had seemed to Lily like it was almost as if they were frightened of her specifically. Did they know what she was? What she would become? Did they sense it? Even before she had known it herself.

    She was pretty sure now, of what she was. She was something dangerous, a monster. So Lily had decided that she should leave and go somewhere far away, maybe to live with the other monsters. Maybe the werewolves in the woods would have her? She wasn¡¯t sure and perhaps it didn¡¯t matter. She didn¡¯t think she had much time left anyway. She had brought food with her, stashed in the bag with her clothes but if she ran out and got hungry enough maybe she would suddenly learn how to hunt rabbits. Lily hadn¡¯t really planned that far ahead and she certainly hadn¡¯t planned to run into a unicorn. What was it doing all the way out here? Was it one of the ones that had been in the paddock back at the James¡¯ farm. Truthfully, she hadn¡¯t really gone that far from there yet.

    She was so surprised by the sight of the unicorn that she didn¡¯t see the rider until the woman slid of the creature¡¯s back. And when she did see the rider she saw that she recognised her. It was the same woman who had been in the forest outside that house a week or so ago. The one who had told her everything was going to be alright and had then vanished. The one who said her name was Stella. Lily found herself trusting her more now that she had come back. Also she was riding a unicorn. Not even Amanda rode the unicorns, at least not often, not that Lily had ever seen. You had to be really special for the unicorns to let you ride them.

    ¡°Lily, what are you doing out here?¡± Stella asked. She sounded disappointed.

    Lily dropped her eyes. ¡°I was...¡± she shook her head. She glanced down at her sleeves. Some of the blood from the welts on her arms had been starting to soak through. She looked up at Stella and in a shaky voice spoke. ¡°You said everything was going to be alright. But it¡¯s not is it?¡±

    ¡°I found your parents,¡± was Stella¡¯s reply. ¡°And it will be alright, you just have to hang in there a little longer okay.¡±

    Lily was stunned and hopeful but also suspicious. What if it was a lie? But then she glanced at the unicorn and looked back to the woman. They were both so pretty and unicorns were supposed to be creatures of powerful magic and intelligence. If this unicorn trusted her then Stella couldn¡¯t be bad. And Stella was dressed so nicely, the sort of outfit Lily had seen her own mother wear so many times before. She remembered that much of her past. She even smelt familiar.

    ¡°You found them?¡±

    Stella nodded.

    ¡°Can I see them?¡±

    Stella shook her head. ¡°Not yet. Just a little longer okay. You have to go back to the James¡¯ house Lily. I¡¯ll come get you when it¡¯s time.¡±

    Lily looked at her sadly. ¡°I don¡¯t think I have much time.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll get better, even as soon as this afternoon. You¡¯ll see, but you have to go back now okay?¡±

    Lily hesitated.

    Stella dropped down to her own height so they were eye-level. ¡°I promise. You¡¯ll see. If it¡¯s not better by tonight then you can always run away again tomorrow. I won¡¯t stop you.¡±

    Lily eyed her. She seemed so genuine and that sounded reasonable to her. What was one more night? ¡°Okay.¡±

    Stella stood up again and smiled.

    Lily looked at the unicorn. She wondered if she could pet it. ¡°Can I...¡± but she trailed off. It felt wrong to ask so instead she switched to a different question. ¡°Is that your unicorn?¡±

    Stella shook her head. ¡°She¡¯s a friend.¡±

    Lily took a hesitant step toward it.

    The unicorn stiffened.

    Stella stepped between then and lowered herself to Lily¡¯s height again. ¡°You can pat her next time you see her, okay?¡±

    Lily nodded. ¡°Okay.¡±

    They seemed to be waiting for Lily to leave first. Lily slowly turned and walked away, back the way she had come. When she¡¯d gone several metres she turned around to look back, but by then both the unicorn and rider had vanished into thin air.

    Stella watched Lily return and from a distance she followed, hidden in plain sight with a glamour spell. When they reached the forest just behind the house Stella went no further. The unicorn brushed up against her to wait with her. Stella turned to it.

    ¡°You have to go back to. She won¡¯t pick you if you stay on the south side of the paddock. Trust me. You¡¯ll be safe there. The rest I can¡¯t do much about but you know it¡¯s necessary, for the rest of the herd.¡±

    The unicorn gave an undignified huff but it obeyed, exiting the forest and leaping back over the fence to join a small herd of many-coloured unicorns, none with quite the same iridescent sheen. Stella watched as it approached a couple of the other beasts. If she hadn¡¯t known better she would have assumed that it was calling a meeting.

 Volume 3, Chapter 6: Disappearing Act

    Katrina stood half way up the staircase, looking down at her brother who was on the computer, and trying to read his mind. Not figuratively but literally. She figured it was an easy test. She wasn¡¯t sure exactly what game he was playing so if she could glean from his mind what the game looked like, then she could confirm that the charm she¡¯d gotten from Ally worked. Initially she¡¯d been meaning to wait for Ally to come visit Lily again but that could take ages and Katrina had grown restless. So this morning she¡¯d tried it out on a bug. But the bug¡¯s mind had been muddled and confused and Katrina didn¡¯t want to waste what magic she had on insects, and so she¡¯d decided to step it up and try her brother. It wasn¡¯t like there was much in his mind anyway, he spent so much time playing computer games. It should be easy.

    Gripping the charm tightly she relaxed and focused on what she wanted to do. To see his thoughts. And a moment later she found herself somehow simultaneously still on the stairs while also moving through a forest. She could see the path beneath her feet and the trees all around her, and there appeared to be a sword in her hand. She was so startled that it seemed to have worked that she immediately pulled herself back out. And when that worked too she grinned wildly.

    She was about to try it again when she noticed her mother coming in through the front door and toward the stairs. Now here was a much more interesting target. Where had her mother been? Where was she going? And where had she hidden those books she¡¯d confiscated from Katrina just last month?

    As Amanda passed her on the stairs Katrina dove right in. Coming from? Going where? And the books? She caught a flicker of something, nothing solid enough to understand and then suddenly her whole mind was filled with images of herself. She pulled back out, quickly. When she turned she found her mother paused on the stairs and giving her a curious look.

    Amanda¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Nothing.¡± Katrina blinked, hoping she looked innocent. How had her mother known? ¡°I was just...¡± She glanced down at Salem who was still fixated on his video game. When she looked back at her mother the look of suspicion was gone, replaced by a measure of reproach.

    ¡°Leave your brother alone.¡± Amanda gave her daughter a stern look.

    Katrina nodded.

    Her mother gave her one last studious look before continuing on up the stairs.

    Katrina relaxed and then went down to the kitchen for a late breakfast. That had been too close. It was almost like her mother had known what she was doing, but how could she?

    Her father was at the sink, cleaning up some dishes. There was a small plate of pancakes left on the dining room table.

    Sirius glanced around as she entered the room. ¡°You¡¯re down late. It¡¯s almost time for school.¡±

    ¡°Got distracted working on a project,¡± Katrina told him. She didn¡¯t mention she¡¯d been trying to mindwalk a beetle followed by her brother.

    ¡°You almost missed out on pancakes. Do you want me to cook some more?¡±

    Katrina shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s alright, I¡¯m watching my figure.¡±

    He glanced at her with a frown but didn¡¯t comment.

    Katrina ate her pancakes in silence and then she eyed her father. She wondered what he was thinking about. Well, she did have a way to find out.

    She held the mindwalking pendant tightly and focused. She saw a glimpse of red hair but not her mother¡¯s. The woman in his thoughts had short hair and sky blue eyes.

    ¡°Katrina what are you doing?

    ¡°I...¡± she paused and frowned. How did they all seem to know?

    Sirius took a step toward her. He looked quite serious. ¡°What were you doing?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± She wasn¡¯t sure how to reply. Did she tell him she¡¯d been trying to read his mind. That seemed like some kind of violation now she was thinking about it. She hadn''t realised she was holding the pendant in an obvious way until Sirius spoke again.

    ¡°What magic is in that pendant?¡±

    She met his eyes and knew she could not lie. ¡°Mindwalking.¡±

    ¡°Where did you get mindwalking?¡±

    She looked up at him, also unsure how to answer that question.

    ¡°Does your mother know?¡± he asked.

    Katrina shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±

    Sirius sighed.

    ¡°It¡¯s just for practice, it¡¯s not that different from dreamwalking. Are you going to tell her?¡±

    ¡°No but you should, if she hasn¡¯t noticed already.¡±

    Katrina frowned ¡°How did you know?¡±

    ¡°Mindwalking isn¡¯t subtle and the conscious mind picks up on more things then the sleeping mind. It can be subtle but it¡¯s difficult. It takes practice.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Katrina thought about that. Practice huh, well she could do that. She just needed to find a better target first. Maybe somebody young, maybe someone who¡¯d already lost their memories and who wouldn¡¯t mind her hunting about in their mind for what was there. Katrina left the kitchen and went in search of Lily.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    But Lily was nowhere to be found. She returned to her room and finished getting her things ready for school but there was still some time. She could try Salem again? But as she was about to leave her room, something else caught her eye, a pretty blue vase, stashed almost out of sight just beside her nightstand. She still hadn¡¯t investigated what that was yet, not really, not with magic. She¡¯d been playing it safe, but given how well the mindwalking had gone, she was feeling somewhat bolder than usual.

    Amanda had gone up to the attic to retrieve a book, one she usually kept under lock and key. Then she¡¯d taken it all the way down into the basement under the house. She¡¯d had an idea for a spell, one that she knew Sirius and Wolf would not approve of, but she felt they¡¯d been looking for long enough. It was time to try some novelty methods. She hadn¡¯t completely ignored them. They¡¯d said no time travel, well what she had planned wasn¡¯t quite that but it was close enough. She wasn¡¯t planning on using it on Lily just yet, she needed to do some tests first. Small stuff before the big stuff.

    She was in the basement, near the ground high window, gathering ingredients together for the spell when she happened to glance up and notice Lily emerging from out of the forest behind the house. Amanda frowned. What was the girl doing out there? Why was she carrying a rubbish bag? And was that blood on her sleeves? Amanda abandoned her ingredients and books where they were and went upstairs to meet the girl.

    Lily thought she¡¯d made it back unseen as she slipped quietly into the door to the large living room at the back of the house but then another door opened and Amanda stepped through.

    Looking at Lily with concern she asked, ¡°Lily, what¡¯s happened to your arms?¡±

    Lily tried to hide them behind her back but it was too late. She shrunk back in fear as Amanda crossed the living room towards her.

    Sensing the girl¡¯s fear, Amanda hesitated. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s okay.¡±

    But Lily panicked. She dropped her bag of clothes and food and sprinted back out the way she¡¯d come in. She didn¡¯t head for the forest this time. Instead, she took off around the side of the house, in the direction of the barn. She heard Amanda call out her name from somewhere behind her. Lily glanced back briefly to check if she was being followed but Amanda was too slow. Just as Lily was starting to think she¡¯d gotten away she ran right smack into somebody.

    ¡°Oh, Lily!¡± exclaimed a surprised Bobby. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    Lily scrambled to her feet and tried to run around him but he grabbed her before she got the chance.

    ¡°Hey, you¡¯re bleeding!¡± Bobby remarked with concern as he caught hold of her bloody sleeves.

    Lily whimpered and tried to pull away.

    ¡°Hang on, let me have a look.¡± He released her arms but when she twisted and tried to run he grabbed her around the waist instead. ¡°Lily what¡¯s wrong?¡± a confused Bobby asked, just trying to see where she was hurt.

    Lily started crying. ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to be shot.¡± Despite what Stella had said about everything being okay, having Amanda ask about her arms had brought all of her fears flooding back.

    ¡°What?¡± Bobby asked. ¡°Who¡¯s gonna shoot you? Lily stop struggling so I can have a look at your arms.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright Bobby, let her go.¡± Amanda had joined them.

    Bobby looked up in confusion. ¡°But she¡¯s hurt.¡±

    In a calm voice Amanda replied, ¡°I know.¡± Then to Lily she said, ¡°Lily we won¡¯t hurt you. We want to help you.¡±

    Lily was full on bawling her eyes out now and as Bobby released her she found herself trapped in another way. Her tears had blurred her vision so thoroughly that she couldn¡¯t even tell which direction she should be running, so instead she just stood there sobbing. She didn¡¯t even object when Amanda reached for her arm and slowly slid up her sleeves to reveal the weeping messy half-decayed flesh.

    Upstairs Katrina sat the blue vase on her desk. She studied it in silence awhile but a glance at the clock on her desk told her she didn¡¯t have that much time to spare. She picked it up and studied it all over. It was certainly pretty in a vintage, outdated, kind of way, not like anything her parents would own, not that anything they owned was that new either. Everything in this house was the perfect point between too old and not quite old enough. The vase would have fit right in at Coal¡¯s house though, just like it¡¯s twin, the red vase she¡¯d caught a glimpse of the last time she¡¯d snuck into his house. The swirly patterns matched one another so well that there was no doubt they were a pair.

    The vase was a little dusty on the inside but otherwise empty. Katrina had swiped a finger along the inner rim and it had come back greyish in colour, similar to the ash from a fireplace. She hadn¡¯t found any wording or obvious maker¡¯s marks. Normally she would have spent a little longer studying it, maybe try to find it in a book first, but Katrina was impatient this morning and the clock was ticking. She didn¡¯t want to wait until after school and the look of the vase was hardly the most interesting part. It held magic and Katrina was going to find out what sort.

    Reading infused items was harder than reading people. It was a skill she hadn¡¯t even developed until her teens and one she was quite a way off mastering. She needed to have full physical contact with the item. That was true for infusing from people too, although she knew it didn¡¯t always have to be that way. Requiring physical contact was something that frustrated her even if it was something that was common for adult infusers. She knew she was capable of so much more.

    The other problem with reading items was that she couldn¡¯t always tell what the magic was. Even powers she was familiar with could take her an hour or two, unless it was an item she¡¯d infused herself. Every infuser made their items a little differently even if the same source was used. But all she needed was enough of a read that she could spend the rest of the day thinking about it, trying to find familiarities. It wouldn¡¯t be easy or likely that it would help much but that sort of puzzle was far better than spending the day knowing nothing at all.

    Reading items also tended to give her a headache but that could be limited by keeping reads short. Sometimes multiple reads were more effective than singular ones. She turned the vase in her hands, feeling it¡¯s surface and then she let her magic flow into it, poke at it, caress it.

    She closed her eyes. She felt it start to warm. Not a normal reaction but not unexpected either. All infused items behaved differently. She pushed her powers deeper, tried to feel the shape of the magic, the temperature, the energy, the frequency, a tune. Magic was a lot like music in some ways. It was a pattern. One that could be felt or played but it required focus. Something gave a tug. It felt off. Katrina opened her eyes.

    For a moment she thought her vision was just blurred as her view of her hands on the vase seemed out of focus. But then she realised everything else looked far more solid. Her hands in contrast, looked faded and swirly. She tried to pull back but she found her hands stuck. Her arms were locked in place even though she could now no longer feel the shape of the vase beneath her fingers.

    She gave a soft whimper and tried to release her magic as well but something held her in place. She could no longer sense the vase magically either. The end of her fingertips felt numb. A wave of nausea swept over her. She screamed as her fingers disappeared into thin air. The vase remained floating. Something had gone horribly wrong. Her insides went cold and she watched with terror as the fading of her self continued creeping further and further up her arms.

 Volume 3, Chapter 7: Power of the Present

    Amanda rolled up Lily¡¯s sleeves. She did so carefully, trying not to bump or rub any of the damaged skin.

    The arms before her were obviously decayed, rotten, and puss-filled.

    She glanced briefly at Bobby and noticed his eyes widen and his nose wrinkle in some disgust, but he wisely kept his thoughts to himself, and he did not run. Instead he looked concerned. As concerned as she felt.

    Lily¡¯s face was tear-stricken but she seemed surprisingly in control and cognitive given the state of her skin. It wasn¡¯t often the body turned first but when it did it was an unmistakable guarantee of what was to follow.

    ¡°Lily, how long have your arms been like this?¡± Amanda asked gently.

    Lily opened her mouth as if to reply but all she did was take in a trembling breath and give a little sniff.

    ¡°It¡¯s important honey.¡±

    Lily sniffed again and then she trembled and between sobs managed to mutter, ¡°I don¡¯t wanna get shot.¡±

    Amanda tried to steel herself against the heart-wrenching that phrase gave her. She found it easier to lean into the confusion. She gave Bobby a questioning look.

    He shook his head. He didn¡¯t know what she was talking about anymore than his mother did.

    Amanda turned back to Lily. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°L-like the horse.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Recognition filled Amanda. She understood now. Ignoring how dangerous it might be for herself she pulled the girl into a hug. ¡°No, you won¡¯t be. That was different. That was a horse. You¡¯re a person.¡±

    Another sniff. ¡°Am I?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Amanda pulled back. She said it decisively and she meant it, although she still wasn¡¯t sure exactly how she was going to achieve it she knew she would do whatever it took to keep the girl alive. And there was at least one spell she hadn¡¯t tried yet. ¡°Come on.¡± She took the girl¡¯s hand. ¡°I¡¯ve got something we can try.

    Lily hesitated.

    Even Bobby didn¡¯t look sure about what his mother was going to do. Amanda could read his wide-eyed expression as easily as if he¡¯d spoken his thoughts allowed. He knew what Lily¡¯s injuries meant, and he knew what that meant should happen to her.

    Amanda spoke to him. ¡°There¡¯s a spell I can try.¡±

    ¡°A spell?¡± Lily asked.

    The hope in the girl¡¯s voice nearly broke Amanda¡¯s heart. Maybe it was wrong to give it to her. But every moment was something more nothing. She retained her decisive expression, for their sakes. She¡¯d give them comfort while she could.

    Bobby seemed to relax, although Amanda could still see the worry reflected in his brown eyes. Lily had stopped crying. Amanda led her back toward the house, intent on sneaking her down to the basement without Sirius catching them. She didn¡¯t need him knowing what spell she was doing.

    As they reached the front door and she grasped the familiar handle, for a moment, despite the fact that she still knew she needed to find a rather large amount of blood, it seemed like it was all going to be okay.

    Then a scream shattered the silence.

    The door to Katrina¡¯s room burst open.

    ¡°What the fuck have you done now?¡± Gemma cried as she saw the state Katrina was in.

    Katrina looked like she was being sucked into a vase. Swirly colours of skin mixed with the air in ways they really shouldn¡¯t have. It was like an abstract painting come to life.

    ¡°Help!¡± Katrina gasped.

    Before Gemma could react her mother pushed her aside.

    After taking a second to assess the room Amanda turned and ran down the stairs, practically flying past a surprised Bobby and Lily.

    Gemma stared after her in confusion. Then glanced back at Katrina, who gave her the most desperate look. Her neck and collarbone and chest were vaguely see through. Gemma could see straight through to the window on the other side of her sister. She started to step forward, intent on somehow removing the item that was doing this.

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± Bobby cried out.

    Gemma turned to him in frustration. She knew he wasn¡¯t wrong. Touching that thing was probably a horrible idea, but she didn¡¯t have any better ones.

    ¡°Mum¡¯s coming back,¡± Bobby said as he glanced over the railing at the top of the stairs.

    Gemma stepped aside. Her mum would know what to do.

    Amanda pounded back up the stairs holding a bucket, a bag of powder and a knife.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Sasha asked as she emerged from her room at the end of the hallway.

    ¡°Go back into your room,¡± Amanda commanded.

    But, Sasha ignored her, and like the rest of the family, gathered around to see what was happening.

    Sirius appeared in the doorway of Katrina¡¯s room, as Amanda placed a bucket on the floor next to the desk. Into it she tipped some powder. She reached for the vase to place it also into the bucket but drew her hands back fast as she touched it¡¯s surface, as if burnt.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    She paused and frowned as she looked at her own hand and watched as it too started to fade away, just like Katrina was doing. Unlike Katrina however, she wasn¡¯t stuck.

    ¡°Shit!¡± she swore. Then with her non-disappearing hand, she grabbed a nearby book, one that was very heavy and looked ever-so-slightly singed. With that book she knocked the vase into the bucket. She set the bucket down on the floor and with the large knife she slit a long line into the flesh of her forearm. Blood spilled down onto the vase and mixed with the powder. She mumbled some words, the only binding spell she knew. Sirius joined her, adding his own blood to the mix.

    ¡°Bobby!¡± he called, knowing they¡¯d both need a healer.

    A moment later Katrina gasped as whatever it was that was holding her let go. She fell backwards and onto the floor. Her body had stopped fading but it hadn¡¯t returned to it¡¯s normal solid state. She looked pale, disorientated, and vaguely see through. She tried weakly to get to her feet but fell down again.

    Sirius reached down to help her up. Blood still ran down his arm and started to form a pool on the floor below. Drip. Drip. Drip.

    Bobby healed his mother¡¯s wound and then tried to heal her missing fingers, but she shook him off. ¡°Do your father.¡±

    Amanda turned to Gemma who was looking horrified at the scene from the hallway.

    Amanda commanded to Gemma, ¡°Go catch a unicorn from the back paddock and take it behind the house. Wait for us there.¡±

    Gemma nodded and left to do as she was told. She had no idea why her mum wanted a unicorn but the urgency in her tone was unmistakable.

    Bobby healed his father¡¯s knife injury and then reached for Katrina, or what was left of her. She had passed out in her father¡¯s arms.

    Amanda grabbed his shoulder and shook her head. ¡°No. Go down to the basement. There¡¯s an old green biscuit tin on the middle shelf, along the window-side, not quite as far as the sink. Grab it and take it out to the backyard.¡±

    Bobby nodded and took off down the stairs, pausing only a moment when he saw Lily, unsure about leaving her but spurred on by the current situation.

    As Sirius lifted Katrina up, Amanda told him, ¡°Take her out to the backyard.¡±

    He frowned but obeyed. Every word she spoke was spoken with the voice of one who knew exactly what she was doing.

    She went with him. As they passed Sasha, Amanda said, ¡°Sasha, go to your room and stay there.¡± To Salem, who stood on the stairs, ¡°Salem, go grab my pistol from the safe. Code is 7356.¡±

    Salem took off down the stairs. Sasha followed along behind them.

    Amanda grabbed Lily on the stairs with her good hand and pulled her along with them. ¡°We¡¯re gonna do that spell I talked about.¡±

    A stunned Lily gave little objection. She just stumbled along swiftly and obediently.

    Salem met them in the downstairs hallway and handed his mother her gun. She took it with a nod and then indicated the stairs. ¡°Now go back upstairs and wait there.¡±

    Salem frowned but he didn¡¯t object. He simply waited until they¡¯d gone past and then he ignored his mother¡¯s command and followed along beside Sasha.

    Gemma was waiting in the back yard holding the lead of a pale green-tinged unicorn with feathery white hooves. She was talking to it and stroking it¡¯s neck. Gemma was good with the ungulates, just like her mother, and Amanda had been right to trust her to calmly fetch a unicorn from the paddock. The beasts sensed fear but Gemma wouldn¡¯t show any, even if she felt it. Even so, Amanda could see that the beast was nervous in the way it shifted it¡¯s feet and twitched it¡¯s tail. It had every right to be, given what she had planned for it but she dare not risk causing it to panic. Alas, nor was there much time to spare.

    Amanda paused with Lily in the living room for only a second. Just enough to rid herself of any hesitance or nervousness that the unicorn might pick up on. Then she told Sirius and Lily to wait there until she called them out.

    She went into the backyard and started drawing what she could remember in the dirt, the runes which were required for this spell. Her memory was reaching it¡¯s limits when Bobby returned with the green biscuit tin. That triggered her memory enough to complete the markings. In the very centre she drew an enclosed circle. She took the tin from Bobby and then sent him back inside. From the tin she pulled some dried flowers and a knife. In ritualistic fashion she scattered the flowers on the ground while she mumbled some words. Then she beckoned to Sirius and Lily.

    Bobby watched beside Salem and Sasha. Amanda would have preferred that they didn¡¯t see this next bit but there wasn¡¯t time to send them away.

    Lily hesitated but Sirius put a comforting hand on her shoulder and nudged her forward. He lay the unconscious, faded, Katrina down in the circle where Amanda showed him. With her good hand, Amanda then guided Lily into a spot of her own, seated within the circle.

    ¡°Stay very still no matter what happens okay. I promise in a few moments everything is going to be just fine. It might get just a little scary for a second but trust me you are safe.¡± Amanda looked Lily right in the eyes as she said it.

    She glanced up to see Sirius half way back to the house, turned and giving her a worried look. She gave him a smile she knew he would trust, even though inside, somewhere, pushed deep down, uncertainty tried to claim her. It hadn¡¯t a hope in hell, for Amanda had only one thing on her mind right now, saving her family. And in this moment that included Lily too. It had been an easy decision though once she¡¯d seen what had happened to Katrina for the same spell she had been considering using on Lily would almost certainly fix the problem caused by that vase, at least for now, but without a now, there was no future. She¡¯d deal with the future later.

    The last thing to do was the worst part, but the spell would not work without it. Amanda walked to the unicorn that her eldest daughter held. It was pulling at it¡¯s lead in a nervous fashion, far from blind panic, it was simply surrounded in uncertainty.

    ¡°I know.¡± Amanda reached out and stroked it¡¯s neck. Despite the ticking clock Amanda did not rush for one could not force a unicorn, nor would it have been right to do so. One could only lure it. This was a delicate matter and the vilest of deceptions but she had no choice. She took the lead from her daughter and sweetly she guided it over to the circle. She led it to where it stood just on the outside of the inner circle, facing anti-clockwise. It came gently, if not a little anxiously, and at the former she was surprised.

    The circle was barely big enough to contain the three of them but it meant that Amanda could stand in the centre of it and easily reach any of the sides in no more than a stride.

    Amanda looked down at Lily. ¡°No matter what,¡± she reminded her.

    Lily looked frightened but she nodded.

    Her face fell as Amanda turned away and stabbed the unicorn in the shoulder.

    The scream of the creature was horrendous. It was almost human in a nature, and yet so raw and untamed.

    Lily was so shocked she could not have moved even if she¡¯d wanted to.

    The unicorn bolted forward with a loud cry.

    Amanda didn¡¯t try to pull it back. Instead with careful planning and timed precision she tugged the lead sideways while at the same time flicking out a whip of flame toward it¡¯s rear. It had the intended effect and the beast ran anti-clockwise around the circle.

    It had gone only a pace or two when Amanda lunged and once more she stabbed it with the same hand that held the lead. Another scream. Another tug. They repeated the same dance as before.

    ¡°Stop,¡± Lily whimpered. Tears dripped down and flowed over her trembling lips.

    But Amanda wasn¡¯t finished. She loosened the lead and for the last time she stabbed it, each strike made at approximately equidistant points around the circle. This time it turned on her. Amanda could read the betrayal in its eyes. She pocketed the knife. She raised the gun as it¡¯s hooves entered the circle, and she fired. As uincorn¡¯s life extinguished, the spell took final form and the beasts body vaporised, bathing them all in a downpour of warm wet blood.

 Volume 3, Chapter 8: The Sands of Time

    When Katrina opened her eyes she found herself lying in her bed. She could smell soap and someone had dressed her in her summer pajamas. Remembering her mishap with the vase she moved what felt like her arms in front of her with a bolt of fear. Both of her hands were there, as solid as they had ever been. Had it all just been a dream?

    But the angle of the light filtering into her room suggested it was much later in the day, maybe even after lunchtime. And when she sat up and looked about the room she realised she wasn¡¯t alone.

    Gemma sat on a chair watching her, a book in one hand. She¡¯d obviously been sitting there awhile. She lowered the book to her lap as she noticed Katrina sit up.

    ¡°Congratulations you got the day off.¡±

    ¡°W-what happened?¡± Katrina asked.

    ¡°Well, you really royally fucked up this time,¡± Gemma replied plainly and in an almost bored tone.

    Katrina frowned. The last thing she remembered was her arms fading out. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right, there had been more. Her parents had been there, both of them. They¡¯d done a spell, put the vase in a bucket. What had happened after that? Everything else was a blank.

    ¡°Where¡¯s mum?¡± Katrina asked.

    ¡°She went to Wolf¡¯s with Lily.¡±

    ¡°And dad?¡±

    ¡°Gone to the port. They¡¯re setting sail today remember?¡±

    Katrina nodded slowly. She did remember that but she still felt a small sting at him leaving without a goodbye, especially given what had happened this morning. She felt that maybe it warranted some special treatment.

    Gemma seemed to pick up on her feelings. She was almost as good as their mum at reading people. She explained, ¡°Mum told him you¡¯d be fine and they kind of really need the money now, given mum just killed a unicorn for you.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Katrina blinked at that last sentence. ¡°She...¡±

    ¡°And for Lily too I suppose.¡± Gemma sighed. Then she eyed Katrina carefully. ¡°She told me to watch you and phone if you started fading away again but you¡¯re awake now so I suppose you can phone her yourself if that happens.¡± Gemma stood up and stretched. She could be harsh sometimes but she did care. Katrina knew that.

    Katrina frowned and focused on the practicalities of what that meant. ¡°Does that mean it¡¯s not permanent?¡± She looked down at her arms with worry.

    Gemma shrugged. ¡°Dunno.¡±

    From elsewhere in the house a baby suddenly started crying.

    Gemma sighed and turned toward the door. She paused with her hand on the door handle and briefly glanced back. Seeing that Katrina seemed fine, she left to go and deal with Kate.

    Left alone, Katrina took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again she half expected her hands to be gone, but they weren¡¯t. She left her bedroom and wandered downstairs, wondering if Gemma had just been making up the part about the unicorn sacrifice, but it wasn¡¯t like Gemma to make stuff up.

    Katrina soon found the site in the backyard. The scene had been cleared away and someone had attempted to hose down most of the blood off the grass, but the marks in the dirt were obvious and here and there, even without looking closely a touch of red tinged the earth.

    She glanced toward the unicorn paddock wondering which one was missing but other than for transport or the occasional cross-country competition on her own pinto, Katrina didn¡¯t spend a lot of time involved in the farm work, and so it all looked much the same as it had before. She wouldn¡¯t have noticed if one went missing or an extra one turned up. Of all her siblings only Salem was less involved than she. Both of them sometimes even had to be reminded to exercise their own horses. Sometimes Gemma or Bobby did it for them. Still she could feel a sense of sadness in the atmosphere. Perhaps it was just the stillness in the air? Not even the trees were rustling their leaves today.

    When she went back inside she noticed the door to the basement lay open. Normally it was closed. Not that they weren¡¯t allowed down there, but someone had obviously been down there and back out in a hurry. Without much else immediate to do, Katrina was drawn down into it. Even now, after all that had happened, her curiosity was overwhelming.

    Dust sparkled in the strands of daylight that filtered in through the ground level windows. The basement spanned most of this half of the house. It was filled with junk from even before her parents had moved in here, things from back when it had belonged to her grandfather, before he¡¯d disappeared and Sirius had claimed it. Katrina had never met him and her father very rarely spoke of him. Katrina had never known what her grandfather had been like until her aunt Cat had shown up and unabashedly told her stories of his violence. Apparently the man had been something of a fearsome legend in his day too, playing politics even with aristocrats. Katrina wondered if that was why he¡¯d disappeared. Whatever the reason, he¡¯d left behind some very interesting books and artifacts.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Some of it was from her mother¡¯s side of the family too though, things Amanda had acquired over the years or things which her own parents hadn¡¯t wanted cluttering up their much smaller house. The basement was basically it¡¯s own little treasure trove. There was plenty of the mundane too, old tennis rackets, and hiking boots, camping equipment, a patched up scuba tank or two, Bobby¡¯s old saddle from when he was five, a box of poorly done kid¡¯s drawings, either hers or Gemma¡¯s, she couldn¡¯t remember. The more frequently used things sat along the wall that faced the backyard. It was closest to the stairs. This was where Katrina now wandered.

    Tins and jars, some well-labelled, some a mystery, all lined the back of a long worktop bench. There was a sink half way down and a clear space nearby for working and mixing things. At least there usually was. It was covered right now with an array of herbs and powders and other things Katrina would rather not have known the origin of, and in the centre of it all lay a book.

    She could see from the side that its cover was a vibrant blue. It wasn¡¯t one she recognised. Hesitantly she reached out and placed her hand on the page as a bookmark, then flipped to read the front cover. On the front, in the centre of the cover, surrounded by a square of darker blue was a silver number 8, or perhaps, Katrina thought, as she looked at it some more, it was actually an hour glass. But if so it was one without sand. There was no title on the front, only a name in very small print, one she did not know. She checked the spine and there she found the title:

    A Warlock¡¯s Guide, Volume 47: The Sands of Time

    She flipped back to the page that had been open. The heading simply read ¡®Rewind¡¯ and below that:

    A simple spell to undo events within a localised region. The user should be wary that mind, body, and soul are considered as separate entities for the purpose of this spell.

    Katrina frowned at the use of the word soul. What did that mean? She continued reading.

    Balancing the herbs listed below is essential to direct the magical energy toward the correct focus, with time manipulation of only the body being the simplest to achieve.

    The most common usage of this spell is to cure injuries when no healer is available. The user should further be aware that use of this spell for the purpose of memory wiping is prohibited in certain areas. Familiarity with one¡¯s own laws is a exercise left up to the user. AWG takes no responsibility for failure to abide by the local laws or for any mishaps caused by incorrectly following this guide or for not adhering to Good Warlock Practices. It is expected that the bearer of this book is a licensed warlock. If you are not a licensed warlock and have come into possession of this book please hand this book into the nearest Warlock¡¯s guild for a full refund with no questions asked.

    ¡°Right, like anyone ever does that,¡± Katrina muttered to herself with a half-smirk.

    The ingredients seemed straightforward enough, as did the incantation. It was the rune that looked difficult, requiring almost perfect circles, and intricate markings at just the right points, and then there was this section:

    Blood must be spilled around the circle in an anti-clockwise direction and very specific points (see table below for example calculations based on subject and sacrifice compositions).

    It was the most complicated spell Katrina had ever seen. It almost seemed intentionally convoluted. On a piece of paper beside the book, someone had written some notes and calculations. It looked like her mother¡¯s handwriting. There were two lists titled ¡®essential components?¡¯ and ¡®non-essential¡¯, each of which looked like it contained a subset of the spell ingredients, although not everything was listed. In one corner of the paper written in a messy scrawl were the words ¡®time of day?¡¯

    There were more notes and some crossing¡¯s out in the book itself, some of it in her mother¡¯s easily readable hand, others in a fancy tiny, swirly, script that she could not read. On another loose sheet of paper was an extra rune with markings and calculated angles.

    She flipped through the rest of the book. All of the spells related in some way to the manipulation of time. To Katrina¡¯s great interest there was an entire section devoted to time-based infusements, right before another section about something called ¡®Timelocks and other Defensive Magic¡¯. All of the spells in that book were equally as complicated, and the more interesting the spell the more complicated they seemed to get. She hated the way the sacrifices were often written in ¡®number of cats¡¯ too. She knew it didn¡¯t have to be cats, any blood would do, indeed witch blood was the most potent, albeit much riskier. Sorcerers often used cat¡¯s blood though. Katrina was sure that was partly what put a lot of people of using blood magics instead of just their own natural born powers. Perhaps that was entirely the point. She wrinkled up her nose in disgust and then sucked in a slow trembling breath as she thought of the unicorn that had saved her own life just this morning.

    She flicked back to the spell. There was another warning she had skimmed past before. She read it now.

    Users should be warned that while the rewind spell may undo certain things, it does not prevent them from later reoccurring. Particular note should be taken in cases where insufficient blood is shed or where the spell is performed incorrectly, the events may be undone only temporarily and after the equivalent time has passed, things shall be as they were before.

    Katrina looked down at her hands. What did that mean? Was she going to disappear again? She looked to the window at the sun that was by now high in the sky. Equivalent time? As in the same amount that had been rewound? How long until she knew if it worked then? How far back had her mother taken them?

 Volume 3, Chapter 9: A Temporary Fix

    Wolf was nose deep in a book about dreamwalking and it¡¯s historical uses when the door to his cabin swung open.

    He didn¡¯t immediately glance up. He was used to unplanned guests. They could wait for him to finish his paragraph.

    The thumping of a bucket being dropped on the end of his long wooden table drew his attention however, and he glanced up to see Amanda tugging Lily behind her.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± he asked. From the look on her face he could tell that something was wrong.

    Amanda hesitated.

    That worried Wolf even more.

    Finally she spoke softly to the girl. ¡°Lily, show him your arms.¡±

    Lily had kept her gaze downcast ever since they¡¯d entered the room but now she looked up carefully at Wolf and she momentarily reminded him of another little girl. One he¡¯d failed to help. It made him feel just a little bit angry.

    Slowly Lily pulled back her sleeves and showed her arms to Wolf.

    He could smell blood, not witch blood, nor rabbit, but something else, something he couldn¡¯t quite place. The scent was rich and strange. Not like anything he¡¯d ever hunted. Despite what he could smell, the girl¡¯s arms and her clothes were clean. Her skin looked normal. But the scent was all over them, not just Lily but Amanda too, barely hidden under a layer of primrose soap, and suddenly he had a horrible sinking feeling.

    He met Amanda¡¯s soft brown eyes, ones that looked now so certain. With increasing dread he asked, ¡°What have you done?¡±

    She raised her chin ever so slightly and then she dropped it down and spoke to Lily. ¡°Lily, why don¡¯t you go and wait outside for a bit okay. Make a necklace from the wildflowers.¡±

    Lily nodded. ¡°Okay.¡± She gave Wolf one last wary glance and then she left out the way she came in.

    Neither Wolf nor Amanda spoke until she was out of hearing distance. Then Amanda said, ¡°I cast a localised rewind spell.¡±

    ¡°I thought we agreed no time travel?¡± Wolf replied between clenched teeth.

    ¡°It¡¯s not.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s close enough.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s safer.¡±

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s just as useless. And what did you sacrifice?¡±

    He noticed Amanda¡¯s jaw clench. She glanced toward the bucket. ¡°I had to.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s in the bucket?¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t just for Lily.¡± Amanda reached for the bucket and sat in down within reach of Wolf. ¡°Katrina found this.¡±

    Wolf reached for the bucket and tilted it on it¡¯s side so he could see the contents.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch it,¡± Amanda warned.

    Wolf glanced at her questioningly.

    ¡°Katrina tried to use it, or read it, I¡¯m not sure. Maybe all she did was touch it.¡±

    Wolf frowned suddenly realising that her not being sure meant she hadn¡¯t been able to ask Katrina. He knew Katrina and Amanda both well enough to know that if the something had gone wrong and Amanda had found out about it then the girl would tell her mother everything. ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°She¡¯s unconscious.¡±

    Wolf relaxed. It wasn¡¯t just the words but Amanda¡¯s rushed tone that told him the girl was okay, at least for now. There was an underlying urgency though that suggested there was something else Amanda was far more concerned about and once Wolf got past his fear for Katrina he found new worries seeping in.

    Luckily for him Amanda continued quickly with the story. ¡°When she touched it, or whatever she did to it, it...¡± she paused there, seemingly unsure how to explain. ¡°It was like she was fading away. And when I touched it-¡±

    Wolf had been studying the blue vase as Amanda explained but the moment she mentioned that she¡¯d touched it too he glanced up and gave her a through assessment. She looked fine, normal.

    ¡°You touched it?¡±

    ¡°She was stuck to it. I was trying to knock it out of her hands. I wasn¡¯t thinking. I didn¡¯t get stuck to it like she did though but I could feel it pulling. Like the feeling you get just before you teleport but slower, like mud.¡±

    Wolf nodded and looked back at the vase. She¡¯d mentioned teleportation but the rest of her description almost certainly ruled it out. Teleportation wasn¡¯t slow. What made a person fade other than teleportation though? Worldjumping? He had no idea what that was like but the rarity of it was likely answer enough. There were spells that could produce that sort of feeling, sacrificial ones, energy suckers. That was far more likely but it didn¡¯t tell him what the spell was for. There were other hints though. The nature of the item for one. It wasn¡¯t always true but often enough for a reasonable guess. Time magic was typically infused into timepieces, glamour magic and shapeshifting into jewellery and clothing, firestarting into lighters, healing magic into pastes and balms and pills. People liked predictability, so then, given that line of logic what did one infuse into a vase?

    ¡°You want me to leave it with you?¡±

    Wolf nodded. ¡°Please.¡±

    ¡°Will it make a difference what it is if...¡± Amanda hesitated. ¡°If I had to use the rewind spell to undo the fading? Will it last?¡±

    ¡°A localised rewind?¡± he repeated thoughtfully.

    Amanda nodded.

    ¡°Which one?¡±

    ¡°The one in ¡®A Warlock¡¯s Guide, Sands of Time. I believe you have a copy?¡±

    Wolf nodded. He did. He went to fetch it. The Warlock¡¯s Guidebook spells were always over complicated. They added unnecessary steps, tasks complicated enough to keep the average person from trying. Those books were allowed to be sold as openly and as widely as they were precisely because the real methods were obscured, hidden in plain sight. The basic spells still worked for those who put in enough effort but it was yet another red herring. The more difficult spells Wolf had found purely by accident, were often written in code. Certain ingredients or combinations of them actually indicated things not mentioned at all. He¡¯d never managed to figure the entire code out, just pieces here and there. He¡¯d tried reducing some down to what he thought were their base components but it didn¡¯t always work. Many of these spells were far beyond him or Amanda. Only a trained sorcerer or a warlock knew how they really worked. But it wasn¡¯t for lack of trying and occasionally Wolf would give them another go and sometimes he¡¯d manage to crack a new one. And once you got one working in theory it was just a matter of time and repetition to figure out what was essential and what wasn¡¯t. The problem in practice was that not all component amounts were listed correctly and a half working spell could be very dangerous.

    It had been awhile since Wolf had looked at this spell. Amanda had her own books and had likely done her own experiments over the years and he knew for a fact that she wouldn¡¯t have had all of the listed ingredients. So the next question he asked was, ¡°What alterations did you make?¡±

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    Amanda showed him and he compared with his own notes on the spell.

    ¡°And the sacrifice?¡±

    ¡°A unicorn.¡±

    Wolf paused and had to look at her to check she was serious. Finally he turned back to his book. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s better than a person. Was it yours or a client¡¯s?¡±

    ¡°A client¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°Shit.¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡±

    Wolf gave a bitter laugh. ¡°Can you pay it back?¡±

    With a clenched jaw, Amanda briskly replied, ¡°We¡¯ll figure it out.¡±

    ¡°That probably cost you more than what Coal paid for this entire job. How much was that thing worth? A couple, several months earnings? And all you¡¯ve done is delay the change.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t just for her. Katrina-¡±

    ¡°Right, because you just happened to have the spell ready to cast.¡±

    Amanda didn¡¯t reply to that and Wolf knew he was right.

    But after a few minutes of silence as Wolf reviewed the spell Amanda asked, ¡°I need to know if it worked. If it¡¯s gonna stick.¡±

    Wolf sighed. ¡°How long did you cast it for?¡± He ran his finger down the table of calculations trying and failing to do the math in his head. The table didn¡¯t list unicorn blood as an option and there were so many other variables.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Until I felt the energy running out.¡±

    ¡°You can feel that?¡± Wolf looked up at her in surprise.

    Amanda nodded. ¡°I need to know if it worked for Katrina, and for Lily.¡±

    ¡°Lily¡¯s death was months ago and she¡¯s already been necro¡¯d once. You can¡¯t undo that.¡± Wolf got up and moved over to a stack of small wooden drawers. He started rifling through them. He picked out several small white and blue stones. ¡°Maybe the necromancy worked. She hasn¡¯t turned yet.¡±

    Amanda was silent and Wolf didn¡¯t think much of it until he glanced up and got a look at the expression on her face. Suddenly something clicked and he felt his blood chill. ¡°Why¡¯d you show me her arms earlier? Why¡¯d you even bring her here with you?¡±

    Amanda looked at him a moment as if considering something. Then she glanced away and focused her gaze on the table. ¡°Because this morning the flesh on her arms was decaying, and now it¡¯s not.¡±

    Wolf¡¯s lips curled up in a snarl and he dropped a collection of vials on the bench with a loud thump. ¡°Then there¡¯s no doubt. That girl will turn. The most you¡¯ve done is buy her some time and I can tell you that without even doing this test.¡± He nodded at the vials and stones in front of him.

    Amanda¡¯s furious brown eyes pierced into him. ¡°It¡¯s still time we can guarantee that she won¡¯t turn in. It¡¯s extra time we have to think of another solution.¡±

    ¡°What? By killing a unicorn every few weeks, or months, if you¡¯re lucky, and at increasing frequency at that. Even if you managed to turn the clock back enough before her death, which I doubt, even with unicorn blood, it can¡¯t prevent a death and it can¡¯t undo a poorly done necromancy. There are no do-overs, no second chances when it comes to necromancy. There is no other solution.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that,¡± Amanda snapped back.

    ¡°No, I do know that, and if there were already signs then it¡¯s not in question anymore. That¡¯s a guarantee. She will turn. In which case, Coal is right. We should put a bullet in her skull right now and be done with it. Keeping her in the state she¡¯s in, it won¡¯t end nice, not for her, not for you. And you¡¯re risking everyone¡¯s lives.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a child,¡± Amanda hissed at him trying to keep her voice low.

    ¡°No. She is a zombie.¡± Wolf met her eyes and didn¡¯t back down.

    ¡°A zombie who we know won¡¯t turn yet.¡± Amanda nodded at the components in front of him.

    Wolf looked down at them and sighed. ¡°You¡¯re too close to her. We never should have let her stay at your place.¡±

    ¡°Mine was the safest.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not so sure about that now,¡± Wolf replied in a mumble. He hadn¡¯t changed his mind but he needed Amanda focused for this spell, besides she¡¯d obviously made her mind up. Arguing with her was pointless. He cleared away space on his table and drew some circles in chalk. From another cupboard he fetched a ceramic teacup. It was decorated with pretty flowers and a gold trim. From a small fridge he grabbed a vial of dark red viscous fluid and placed it in front of Amanda.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Unicorn blood. A stranger left some here awhile back as collateral for a book that was never returned. I¡¯ve never used it, never had a need, but I figured it was useful having it, just in case.¡±

    ¡°What was the book?¡±

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°Nothing particularly interesting, at least I didn¡¯t think it was. Just some poetry, not even magic.¡±

    ¡°That you knew.¡±

    Wolf sighed. ¡°Well it¡¯s gone now. Anyway, you remember that cook book Coal had us chasing down on behalf of a client last year for an enormous fortune. That turned out to just be a regular cookbook. Sometimes people get attached to things a little more than they should.¡± He glanced at her to check if she got his meaning.

    She raised an eyebrow. ¡°Lily is not a thing.¡±

    Wolf took the vial back from her and cracked the lid. He recognised the smell now. There was some debate as to whether unicorn blood was more or less efficient than witch blood when used in spells. Usually it didn¡¯t matter, witch blood was considerably cheaper, but Amanda wouldn¡¯t have had enough of that and for some reason blood spilled at the moment of death was the most potent of all. But for his test now what he needed was the same as what she had used or at least close enough to, and who or what the blood belonged to mattered far more than its freshness.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to redo the spell but at a smaller scale,¡± he explained. ¡°What did you use for the infusement?¡±

    ¡°One of Katrina¡¯s trinkets. Something she¡¯d infused from Matthew¡¯s magic. It burnt up when I cast the spell.¡±

    Wolf sighed but it came out like half a growl. He pinched the bridge of his nose. He supposed he shouldn¡¯t have expected much more.

    ¡°It worked,¡± Amanda insisted.

    Wolf kept his mouth shut.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need much,¡± Amanda continued, ¡°It¡¯s just a guide. It¡¯s the blood that matters.¡±

    She sort of had a point but she was only half right. The blood may have been the most important part, but it wasn¡¯t the only thing that mattered. Wolf grumbled lazily under his breath. Their whole method was terrible. It always had been. It was amazing they¡¯d both made it to adulthood. The one thing he couldn¡¯t argue against though was that Amanda did seem to have a natural knack for magic. There was more to this than just the ingredients but he had never been able to figure out exactly what made her spells work so much better than his. ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡±

    He looked down at the book once more. Third down the ingredient list, stated plain as mud was written:

    1 minute bag

    Also known to those with some experience as a sandman¡¯s infusement, time travel magic which had been infused into a standard pocket sized bag of sand, available for purchase at any warlock¡¯s store with appropriate ID or specific back alley shops in exchange for a healthy sum of cash. That sand didn¡¯t come cheap. But since it was Amanda and since she¡¯d used infusements from children then he probably only needed a few grains. For him the quality and quantity of the borrowed magic seemed to matter a lot more. Maybe because she was a witch and he wasn¡¯t? But Wolf suspected it was more than just that.

    As if fate were making a point, while Wolf counted out grains of sand, Amanda looked down at the pebbles he¡¯d previously laid on the table with a frown and remarked, ¡°You don¡¯t need the stones do you? The sand is infused already.¡±

    Wolf stopped what he was doing and looked at her with a puzzled expression. It had been awhile since they had done proper spells together but surely she hadn¡¯t managed to perform a spell without a separate infusement component? Wolf had thought that impossible. At least it was every time he¡¯d tried it. ¡°You¡¯ve done spells without infusements?¡±

    ¡°Well, no, just if I have an item. I figured since it was infused...¡± She shifted on the stool she¡¯d sat down on. She seemed as surprised as him as his question. ¡°You haven¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    She was silent awhile and then she glanced toward the door. ¡°Do we need Lily for this?¡±

    Wolf sighed. He¡¯d spent his life studying magic and so much of it still made no sense to him. The more he learned the more questions he had and the more exceptions there seemed to be. Did the sorcerer¡¯s even understand it? He shook his head. ¡°No, but she¡¯s eavesdropping so you might as well call her in.¡± He could hear Lily¡¯s shoes scuffling on the other side of the door. She hadn¡¯t been there long. She¡¯d probably gotten bored looking at the flowers and patting the horses they¡¯d likely ridden over on.

    ¡°Lily?¡± Amanda called in a gentle voice. ¡°You can come on in. It¡¯s not polite to eavesdrop you know.¡±

    Amanda gave Wolf a wary look. Perhaps she was worried he was going to say something to upset the girl or perhaps she was wondering if Lily had heard what he¡¯d said earlier. Wolf knew the girl hadn¡¯t been close enough then but he said nothing to reassure Amanda of it. He saw little point in sugarcoating things now. It would just make them worse later. But nor was he going to make the bitter truth plain to Lily. That was Amanda¡¯s call.

    Lily poked her head in the door. Amanda beckoned her over. Lily climbed up on a stool next to her. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°A spell,¡± Amanda replied.

    Lily watched as Wolf drew patterns on the table. Then he handed Amanda a bowl of herbs and other things, as well as a dropper containing a very small, very carefully measured amount of blood.

    ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± Amanda asked.

    Wolf held up one finger indicating her to wait a moment. He glanced about in front of him and soon located what he was looking for, a small digital timer. Then he picked up the pretty teacup and he smashed it right in the middle of the circles.

    Lily jumped.

    Amanda gave Wolf a look as she simultaneously reached over to give Lily¡¯s back a comforting rub. The girl glanced worriedly at her.

    Wolf started the timer right at the breaking. He watched the seconds tick for awhile then he said to Amanda, ¡°Not yet but in several minutes and on my mark, I want you to cast the spell to fix the teacup. Use all the blood in the dropper. We¡¯ll repeat it with different amounts, see how long it lasts each time, and extrapolate from there.¡±

    ¡°On the same teacup?¡± Amanda asked with a frown.

    ¡°No.¡± Wolf sat the timer down on the table and then he opened the same cupboard from earlier. He lifted out several more teacups, all a similar size and shape before returning to his timekeeping. It was going to be a long morning.

    Wolf wanted the breakage to be far enough in the past that the small sample of blood he¡¯d given her wouldn¡¯t fix it for very long. The goal here was to fail and then repeat the process until they had a mathematical model of how fast the spell¡¯s effects collapsed.

    ¡°Ready?¡± he asked as the seconds finally reached his intended starting mark.

    Amanda nodded.

    ¡°Go.¡±

 Volume 3, Chapter 10: That Which Heals Almost All Wounds

    Katrina spent the next few hours restless.

    She wandered all through the house. She sat down in front of the computer but found herself not much in the mood for surfing the web or doing schoolwork. She went back downstairs and read the spell again. Then she took the book up to her room.

    She hesitated at the doorway, remembering what had occurred only a few hours prior. Finally she went in and she lay the book down on her desk. Suddenly she didn¡¯t much feel like reading either. She glanced toward the window, then she climbed up onto her bed so she could look outside.

    Down below in the training paddock near the front of the house, she watched Gemma riding her energetic palomino named Ginger. The creature had come to them as a young filly violent and wild, abused by a previous owner and thought unrideable, but Gemma had tamed her, and now only Gemma could ride her. She rode well, a natural in the saddle, Gemma had inherited all her mother¡¯s skill with horses and then some.

    Katrina watched with a tinge of envy. Gemma looked so relaxed, so unworried, while Katrina¡¯s stomach was in a ball of knots. She hugged herself and shivered in spite of the warm sunlight streaming through her bedroom window.

    As she watched, a figure approached the end of the driveway and rode up toward the house on a white slightly speckled horse. Katrina recognised Tobias, Gemma¡¯s boyfriend. He slid down from the saddle once he reached the training paddock. Gemma met him from the other side of the fence. They chatted there for a bit. Ginger tossed her head once or twice but Gemma calmed her down with a gentle pat. Tobias showed Gemma some books and then the two shared a couple of kisses. He¡¯d probably taken his free period to bring her homework. Gemma only went in to some of her classes at the moment. Mostly she stayed home with Kate who Katrina assumed was asleep in a bassinet on the front porch because once the lovebirds were done with their kissing, Gemma nodded that direction and Tobias vanished under the roof while Gemma stayed by the fence watching and soothing Ginger.

    Katrina turned back toward the spell book as a wave of nausea washed over her. She took off running and barely made it to the bathroom to be sick. By the time she¡¯d returned to her room and looked out the window again, Tobias and his horse were gone and Gemma was back on top of Ginger again.

    Outside, as if matching her mood the sky turned from bright and sunny to an overcast grey that threatened rain.

    Katrina lay on her bed for quite some time, barely moving, until she heard the front door open and then close. She sat upright and glanced out the window. Was that snow? It was early in the season for snow. Small gentle flakes of white were just beginning to dust the paddocks. Sasha would be thrilled even though it probably would stick around for long.

    Gemma was still out there in the training paddock, although she was in the process of unsaddling Ginger, and Katrina could see Lily standing on the lower rung of the fence and leaning over to talk to her. That meant her mum was home, somewhere downstairs.

    Katrina didn¡¯t immediately move. She wanted to know what had happened, what would happen, but a large part of her was terrified to find out and she just knew she was going to be in big trouble. Then again, it wasn¡¯t like this morning had been blissful ignorance.

    Her mother was in the kitchen alone, pouring over a pile of papers. A cup of something sat on the table next to her.

    She looked up when Katrina entered the room. She pushed the papers to the side to focus her attention on her daughter.

    Katrina hesitated in the doorway, unsure exactly how much trouble she was in or where to start.

    For a moment her mother also seemed at a loss for what to say.

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    ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    Katrina nodded weakly.

    Her mother gave her half a smile but it came out more like a grimace. She nodded at the seat next to her.

    Katrina took it, slowly.

    Once she¡¯d sat down her mother asked gently, ¡°Where did you get the vase?¡±

    Katrina frowned. She looked down at her hands which she twisted in her lap. She glanced up, briefly met her mother¡¯s eyes, then glanced away again. Her mother¡¯s eyes were kind but Katrina knew she could put up a good front if she wanted to. She couldn¡¯t tell what her mother was thinking. If she was angry or worried...

    ¡°Katrina-¡±

    ¡°Am I going to disappear again?¡± Katrina blurted out. She felt like she was on the verge of crying. She¡¯d spent all morning waiting for an answer and now she was about to get one it was all a bit too much. She kept her eyes down and tried to choke her threatening tears back.

    ¡°No. The spell fixed that.¡±

    ¡°The rewind spell?¡±

    Her mother was silent for long enough that Katrina was suddenly scared that she wasn¡¯t supposed to know about that. She dared a peek at her mother¡¯s face.

    Her mother was giving her curious look, one that Katrina couldn¡¯t quite read. But when Katrina met her gaze her mother replied, ¡°Yes. That one.¡±

    ¡°I took the book upstairs. I was just, I was just having a look...¡± Katrina trailed off meekly, knowing that it seemed like she hadn¡¯t learnt anything.

    And when she snuck a glance at her mother again, Amanda¡¯s eyes were briefly closed. She opened them with a sigh. Then she started to open her mouth.

    Before her mother could speak however, Katrina continued. ¡°Did... did...¡± or at least she tried to. She wanted to ask about the unicorn but she couldn¡¯t get the words out.

    Her mother closed her own mouth and waited patiently.

    Eventually Katrina gave up and she just resumed staring at her own lap in silence.

    After awhile Amanda spoke. ¡°Katrina, I need to know where you got it. What you were doing with it.¡±

    ¡°I was just... I don¡¯t know... Coal had one-¡±

    ¡°Coal had one?¡±

    Katrina nodded. ¡°It-¡±

    ¡°How do you know Coal had one?¡± Her mother¡¯s questions were faster now, more urgent.

    Katrina looked up as she nervously chewed on one finely manicured fingernail. She could see similar levels of worry reflected in her mother¡¯s face.

    ¡°Katrina?¡±

    Katrina glanced back down. She forced her fingers from her mouth to her lap again. Yes, she was definitely going to be in trouble if she wasn¡¯t already. ¡°Because I went to his house.¡±

    A beat of silence.

    ¡°When? Why?¡±

    She could hear the tremble of anger in her mother¡¯s voice and she decided she better explain fast.

    ¡°Because Gemma said I couldn¡¯t even steal a rose from his garden and so I... I went there and the door was open so I went inside. I thought I saw someone but it was just a ghost or something... and I wasn¡¯t there very long... but he had this vase on the table and it looked like that one and so when I saw that one at the house the other day-¡±

    ¡°Hold on. Hold on.¡± Amanda held up a hand to stop her. ¡°The Milton house?¡±

    Katrina nodded. ¡°When I saw it, I just took it. I figured since Coal had one then it must be important, powerful you know?¡± Katrina risked a glance at her mother again.

    Amanda had one eyebrow raised.

    Katrina shrunk back in her seat. ¡°I wasn¡¯t really doing much. I was just trying to read it, I didn¡¯t think-¡±

    ¡°No, you didn¡¯t think.¡±

    Katrina was silent.

    She heard her mother sigh.

    ¡°So, I¡¯m really not going to disappear?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± The reply was more gentle this time. ¡°If you were then it would have happened already.¡±

    Katrina¡¯s lip trembled. She brought her fingers up to them. ¡°I... I thought...¡± She blinked and felt a couple of tears fall. She could see her mother¡¯s blurred arms reaching for her, pulling her into a hug. Vaguely she registered that her mother still had both her hands. ¡°Did you really have to kill a unicorn for it?¡± Katrina asked finally as Amanda stroked her hair.

    ¡°I did.¡± Amanda replied softly.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just glad you¡¯re okay.¡±

    Katrina felt all her worries fade away in the warmth of that hug. For a moment it was almost as if the morning hadn¡¯t happened.

    ¡°Why¡¯d you go to Wolf¡¯s?¡± Katrina asked when they finally broke apart.

    Amanda hesitated. ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure if it worked and I went to see him about Lily. I thought maybe the spell would help her too.¡±

    ¡°Would it?¡±

    Her mother hesitated. ¡°A little.¡±

    Katrina frowned. ¡°You did it on her at the same time?¡±

    Her mother nodded.

    ¡°To slow the zombification? Does that mean-¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t just for you. The unicorn was worth more than one person today.¡±

    Katrina frowned. That hadn¡¯t been what she was going to ask but the speed at which her mother had interrupted and the shift in her posture told Katrina that maybe she was deliberately avoiding answering the other unspoken question. Was Lily safe from turning?

    Her mother seemed determined to draw her attention away for the issue as her next question changed the subject. ¡°So Coal had one like that one?¡±

    Katrina took the hint. She nodded. ¡°Just like it. Only his was red.¡±

 Volume 3, Chapter 11: Deep Underground

    The red vase was laughing at him. He¡¯d found a particular pattern on it that looked just like a smiley face. Now he couldn¡¯t help starring at it.

    ¡°Coal?¡± Grim¡¯s voice drew him from his pondering.

    ¡°Is it done?¡± Coal looked up from where he sat at his oversized table.

    Grim drew back from Natasha¡¯s prone body. Dirt, blood, and milk covered his hands. ¡°It¡¯s the best I can do. It¡¯ll give you a few days, maybe a week but you¡¯re going to need a bloody good necro and maybe more than that. This wasn¡¯t an ordinary death and I¡¯m starting to think that¡¯s not an ordinary spirit trap?¡±

    Coal raised his dark eyebrows in question. He stayed seated at the table. He lacked the energy to get up right now. He also didn¡¯t want to see the lifeless body of his recently deceased lover lying on his hardwood floor again. The image was burned into his brain enough. He needed to regain his strength if he wanted to do anything about this.

    Grim didn¡¯t directly answer him. ¡°And you should bury her. It¡¯ll slow the decay.¡±

    Coal frowned. He didn¡¯t like the idea of that beautiful face being buried under suffocating dirt. The thought of it made his chest feel tight. But he briefly closed his eyes and focused on the now. ¡°How?¡± he manged to force out between clenched teeth.

    ¡°This particular spell feeds off surrounding nature. You¡¯ll want to put her somewhere private too and away from people and animals you care about. The more plants the better. If you can get a witch¡¯s weep that¡¯d help. They have good symbiosis with preservation of the dead.¡±

    Coal sighed and silently cursed himself for not saving a cutting from the Milton house. He glanced at the red vase again. They had severed the connection with the former host as best they could but when attempting to secure Natasha to it Grim had stopped and after a moment¡¯s hesitation had suggested a different spell. Now Coal was wondering why but despite being a little distracted he hadn¡¯t missed a single word that Grim had said earlier.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t it an ordinary spirit trap?¡± Coal asked his question directly.

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    Grim glanced away as if he was embarrassed to answer and from that Coal could glean that perhaps it was simply because it was something he could not figure out. Any time Grim found himself lacking in knowledge or skill, which was not often, he got a look like that on his face. No doubt it reminded him how once again he didn¡¯t quite measure up to his father. Coal was sure Grim could be just as skilled, if only he¡¯d put enough effort in. But telling Grim that would only have made it worse and it wasn¡¯t like it helped with the situation right now. It was also something Grim had been told a thousand times before.

    ¡°It¡¯s complicated,¡± Grim mumbled as he took a seat. ¡°Whoever made it knew what they were doing. I¡¯m not sure you¡¯re going to be able to find someone who can operate that and given Tasha was killed by whoever was in it, you are going to find her death much harder to reverse. This ain¡¯t a job for no police necro.¡±

    ¡°I suppose I¡¯ll have to ask Patrick.¡± Coal sighed. He really didn¡¯t like Patrick, another aristocrat, one known for being particularly condescending to everyone and anything.

    But Grim started shaking his head. ¡°Patrick doesn¡¯t have one.¡±

    Coal narrowed his eyes. On any other day that would have been very useful information.

    Grim crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. ¡°He just pretends he does. Good infusements. You need an actual necro or¡±- Grim gestured at the vase and scoffed in a way that suggested this next suggestion was an impossibility-¡°a sorcerer.¡±

    Coal rubbed his temple. ¡°Christopher?¡±

    Another shake of the head from Grim. ¡°Another fraud.¡±

    ¡°Bridge?¡±

    ¡°Heard his one drowned a few months back at sea.¡±

    ¡°Spen?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°Aster?¡±

    Grim chuckled. ¡°Would you ask her if she did?¡±

    Coal narrowed his eyes.

    Grim gave him a look of surprise then his expression turned thoughtful. He glanced toward the body. ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°You must know someone who has one?¡± Coal pressed.

    Grim looked thoughtful for a moment. ¡°Well I don¡¯t think Aster has one on call but she might know who does. Risky business talking to her though. She¡¯ll want something pricey in return, especially if it¡¯s you asking. And she has a way of twisting contracts.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll get Luci to look over anything before I sign it,¡± Coal replied with an offhanded wave.

    Grim rested his chin between his thumb and fist and studied Coal with a frown. ¡°I¡¯d consider what insurances you have on her first.¡± He sighed. ¡°There was this witch I slept with a few months back in Myst who works as a necro. Not sure she¡¯s quite up to this but those in the trade you know, maybe she¡¯ll know someone.¡±

    Coal doubted it but he gave a nod anyway. Good necros were like good psychics, the very best were either all in someone¡¯s employ or, he glanced in the direction of Natasha¡¯s body, deep underground.

 Volume 3, Chapter 12: Respect

    ¡°Back already?¡± Wolf asked in surprise as he looked up from his work to see Amanda standing back in his cabin. No Lily behind her this time.

    She waved a hand. ¡°I needed a ride, and another horse needed the exercise. I also wanted to talk to you without Lily present.¡±

    ¡°Why¡¯d you bring her before then?¡± Wolf continued moving things about. It looked like he was in the middle of another spell.

    Amanda didn¡¯t reply but Wolf glanced at her and read the answer in her expression. ¡°You thought she might turn.¡± There was a sense of superiority in his tone, something that sounded a little too close to ¡®I told you so.¡¯

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure,¡± Amanda corrected firmly.

    Wolf didn¡¯t press the issue.

    ¡°What are you working on?¡±

    The table was smeared in charcoal, chamomile flowers, and blood.

    Wolf frowned. ¡°Another dreamwalking spell. So far they¡¯re all variations of useless.¡±

    ¡°You should get Cat to help.¡±

    ¡°She did for a bit the other day but then she got bored.¡± Wolf spoke those last two words in a slightly higher pitch. The tone was a tad mocking.

    Amanda smiled and watched him work for a bit.

    Eventually he gave her a sideways glance. ¡°If you¡¯re here to talk about Lily again, I¡¯m not really in the mood.¡±

    She gestured at his spell. ¡°Well I also wanted to ask how the hunt for the dreamweaver was going but you¡¯ve answered that question.¡±

    Wolf raised and lowered his eyebrows in acknowledgement.

    Amanda could sense frustration and she hesitated a moment. She did want to talk about Lily some more but perhaps that was better to wait. There was still the other reason she had come. ¡°Katrina¡¯s awake, and up and about.¡±

    Wolf paused in his spell-crafting to look up and Amanda could see his expression relax slightly.

    ¡°She say where she got the vase?¡±

    Amanda nodded. ¡°I suspect the same place Coal got his.¡±

    Wolf¡¯s eyebrows knotted in confusion.

    ¡°Coal has one just like it,¡± she continued.

    ¡°What?¡± It took a few moments for her words to sink in. ¡°How do you know?¡±

    ¡°Only his is in red. Katrina saw it at his house.¡± She waved away his next question and continued. ¡°Apparently she got this one from the Milton house. One of the artifacts they pulled out of it. I took her and Gemma with me when I went to see how Coal¡¯s people were getting along with emptying that house.¡±

    And just like that Wolf¡¯s expression changed from one of confusion to one of realisation.

    He grabbed the box the blue vase still lay in and tilted it toward her. ¡°Does that look like an urn to you?¡± he asked.

    Amanda studied it. ¡°I suppose it does now that you mention it.¡±

    Wolf nodded as if suddenly everything made sense.

    ¡°Does that mean something to you?¡± Amanda asked.

    He nodded. ¡°Necromancy magic likely, and if it¡¯s from the Milton Estate... you remember what I said about Mrs Milton sacrificing her family members for youth, well I was kind of joking but it was based in some truth too. The reason I brought it up was because I found an old book which mentioned her family.¡±

    He left his half finished spell on the table and jumped up to go and retrieve another book. He laid it out on the table for her. ¡°See in the pictures, same face, different names. Note here years apart. And here see this one, this woman, Anya Kenton, her granddaughter apparently vanished in 1820 only to turn up a few years later exactly the same day her grandma died. Looks a little different though doesn¡¯t she.¡±

    Amanda stared down at the photos. It was hard to tell if it was the same girl or not. There was definitely a resemblance though. ¡°She¡¯s grown up a bit...¡±

    ¡°Mmm.¡± Wolf smiled. ¡°Uncanny how much she looks like her grandma isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°But that would mean she de-aged herself. I mean regaining and keeping youth is one thing, that¡¯s just really good healing, but to actually regress to a child state. That¡¯s not possible. There¡¯s no magic that can do that.¡±

    Wolf considered it. ¡°There¡¯s illusions.¡±

    ¡°Then why not look more like the girl? And can you imagine the energy maintaining something like that?¡±

    Wolf frowned.

    Amanda glanced toward the urn. ¡°You think that¡¯s what she used?¡±

    ¡°Maybe.¡±

    ¡°You think it could help Lily?¡±

    Wolf¡¯s frown deepened considerably. ¡°We don¡¯t even know what it is and I have no doubt that this is some nasty blood magic. It won¡¯t come free.¡±

    ¡°Maybe we could find someone who deserves it.¡± She spoke slowly, uncertainly.

    Wolf narrowed his eyes. ¡°I believe that¡¯s exactly what Lily¡¯s father had in mind when he tried to kill us. A lot of those names Indi turned up were criminals. Even we aren¡¯t exactly an exception. Cat has a record, petty theft, grand larceny, aiding and abetting. Sirius is known to smuggle things of questionable origin and purpose-¡±

    ¡°Nothing too bad,¡± Amanda objected.

    Wolf continued. ¡°And Kass. I don¡¯t know exactly what she¡¯s done but I know it¡¯s enough for several lives worth of penance even in the most forgiving society-¡±

    ¡°And Indi?¡±

    Wolf hesitated. He looked sad for a moment. ¡°She¡¯s the exception, and Falco, and Zeph I suppose.¡±

    ¡°Not me?¡± Amanda gave him an amused smirk.

    ¡°You¡¯re harbouring a zombie.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re aiding and abetting. Technically you all are.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re making my point for me.¡±

    Amanda crossed her arms. ¡°Well, maybe I don¡¯t think he was so wrong to do what he did.¡±

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    ¡°He nearly killed us.¡±

    ¡°A mistake. He didn¡¯t know who we were. He didn¡¯t know we¡¯re...¡± The word ¡®good¡¯ died on her lips.

    ¡°Did you see the numbers? How many lives he had to end.¡±

    Amanda was quiet a moment as she considered that. ¡°Why didn¡¯t his spell work, if he had that many sacrifices?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s not just about the blood,¡± Wolf answered, partially glad to have gotten the chance to clarify the assumption she¡¯d made earlier in the day. ¡°There¡¯s more to it. Either his method was shit or his magic was basic or both.¡±

    ¡°Maybe if I did it,¡± Amanda wondered aloud.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so arrogant,¡± Wolf spat back and gave her a full stare.

    She didn¡¯t flinch.

    For a full five seconds they matched glares.

    Amanda turned away first but it wasn¡¯t a look of concession. ¡°She thought we were going to shoot her.¡± The tone she used was sad.

    Wolf narrowed his eyes. He had little doubt that the tone was intentional, a ploy to persuade him. He wouldn¡¯t fall for it.

    She met his gaze again. Gave him a pleading look. ¡°I had to shoot Cinna, one of our horses last night. He¡¯d broken his leg. Bobby tried to heal him but...¡± she shook her head. ¡°It wasn¡¯t his fault. Leg was too smashed anyway.¡±

    Wolf listened patiently all the while keeping the same stubborn expression on his face.

    ¡°Lily saw us shoot this horse. She thought that¡¯s what we were going to do to her.¡±

    Wolf ignored the sad look she gave him and went straight for the jugular. ¡°That¡¯s what you should do to her.¡±

    Amanda¡¯s face contorted into a look of horrified rage.

    ¡°You owe her that.¡±

    ¡°I owe her that?¡± Amanda¡¯s indignation was barely suppressed by her confusion.

    ¡°The same respect. A decent death. You¡¯ll give it to a horse but you won¡¯t give it to her?¡±

    ¡°Respect has nothing to do with it. If I had the money I¡¯d keep every horse alive until I fixed whatever was wrong. They deserve that and I can¡¯t give it to them.¡± Her voice cracked slightly.

    ¡°You¡¯d let them suffer?¡±

    ¡°If it meant they lived a happier life in the long run.¡±

    Wolf was silent for a moment. He tried to reestablish his resolve. Softly he replied, ¡°You killed that unicorn...¡±

    Amanda turned to face the window. No longer looking at Wolf. ¡°I don¡¯t think Lily¡¯s father was wrong,¡± she admitted. ¡°If it were one of my kids I¡¯d burn the whole continent to the ground before I¡¯d let them go. I value the horses and the unicorns but the kids are worth more. People are always worth more. Lily is worth more.¡±

    ¡°Nepotism was always humanity¡¯s greatest weakness.¡± He spoke with a sad note, as if he had hoped witches could have done better and as if for the moment he didn¡¯t really consider himself as belonging to either.

    Amanda turned to face him. ¡°Are you telling me you would kill your kids if it benefited the world in some way?¡±

    Wolf knew she didn¡¯t necessarily mean killing, not directly, but to Amanda it was all the same. If you had the chance to save someone and you didn¡¯t then you might as well have wielded the blade yourself. She would always hold herself responsible for things which she could not possibly hope to change. Wolf didn¡¯t bother arguing against it. He shook his head and responded with his own truth. ¡°The world doesn¡¯t deserve saving and nor do my kids deserve anything more than anyone else does.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong.¡±

    ¡°What? You think they deserve more? Just because they¡¯re mine?¡±

    ¡°No. I think that the world deserves saving. It¡¯s just that I intend to do both.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll do neither in the process.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡± She crossed her arms.

    He sighed. ¡°Amanda. Necromancy can not be done twice. It¡¯s the golden rule when it comes to reviving the dead.¡±

    ¡°Rules are meant to be broken.¡± She spoke as if the decision had already been made.

    ¡°And the road to hell is paved with good intentions,¡± Wolf mumbled. He was losing the energy to argue.

    ¡°Hell doesn¡¯t exist,¡± she said simply.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure that¡¯s what Mrs Milton thinks when she casts her spells.¡± He gave her a meaningful look.

    Their tones of voice had lowered. They were at an impasse. Both were silent a moment, stewing in their own thoughts, letting the storm calm.

    Eventually Amanda sighed and nodded at the urn. ¡°So what do we do with that? We could give it to the archeologists? Tell them about Coal¡¯s one. It might void whatever deal he has with them.¡±

    ¡°More likely Coal would just end up with this one given they work for him.¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°They¡¯re honour bound. They have their own code and they abide by it. They won¡¯t step over it just because he offers them money or threatens them. They have a long history of keeping dangerous artifacts out of the hands of the rich and powerful. Their reputation for honesty is so strong that aristocrats and sorcerers both hire them as go-betweens when dealing with one another. They hate each other but they trust these guys. Back in 95¡¯ a couple of their number were caught trading retrieved goods to a particular aristocrat under the table. They were magically bound and sentenced to hard labour for several years while the entire aristocracy was blacklisted for a month.¡±

    ¡°How do you know all this?¡±

    ¡°Because I just spent half the morning listening to Gemma harping on about them. She wants to go and study with them. They do a fair amount of tomb exploration apparently, places where no man has stepped since long before the splice.¡±

    ¡°This world isn¡¯t that old.¡±

    Amanda shrugged. ¡°We don¡¯t know what existed before, what¡¯s a reflection or a deviation or what¡¯s brand new. Hell, we don¡¯t even have a map of the old world as it currently is.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not true. There are maps.¡±

    ¡°Not of it¡¯s entirety. Not of every rock and cave or trench under the sea.¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯re being picky... or pedantic.¡± Wolf frowned and started working on his dreamwalking spell again, shifting things around.

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying, even the human world still has it¡¯s mysteries and we know even less about ours then they do about theirs and for some people figuring them out is far more important than riches or safety. They¡¯re a well-known and well-backed organisation.¡±

    ¡°If they¡¯re so well known then why haven¡¯t I heard of them before?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°But you have, just under a different name. The people emptying that house are branch of the organisation known as The Librarians.¡±

    Wolf paused and looked up at her, obviously checking her expression.

    Amanda smiled at him, taking some pleasure in being able to share this tidbit. Wolf prided himself in being the keeper of knowledge. And given how all high and mighty he was being this morning she was only too glad to knock him down a peg or two. Let him question what he knew and he would be less likely to question her.

    And for a moment he did look confused. Then his expression shifted through a range of emotions. She watched his mouth start to form the start to several different questions. She waited patiently for him to settle on one.

    ¡°How do you know that?¡± he finally asked.

    ¡°Something Gemma said reminded me of something so I looked them up on the internet before coming back here.¡±

    Wolf scoffed slightly. ¡°They¡¯re on the internet?¡±

    Amanda nodded. ¡°It¡¯s modern times Wolfy.¡± Only she could get away with calling him that and after their earlier row she felt a bit like pushing his buttons. She kept her tone playful though. A little banter was also what they needed. A muscle in his jaw twitched. She caught the start of his subtle smile.

    He raised an eyebrow. ¡°Says the woman who still uses cds.¡± It was reference to a complaint Indi regularly made whenever they travelled in Amanda¡¯s car.

    Amanda snorted. ¡°Says the guy who still listens to vinyl.¡± She gestured to where she knew he kept his records.

    ¡°It has a better sound.¡±

    Amanda snorted again but didn¡¯t reply.

    Wolf glanced down at his half done dreamwalking runes. ¡°I should probably switch to working on an identifying spell of some kind. I just wanted to think about it first, but if Coal has one...¡± He gaze shifted toward the blue urn.

    Amanda widened her eyes. ¡°Borrower spell? Do you know one?¡±

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°No, but it¡¯s a common enough infusement, despite being one of the hardest ones to make. I have a couple. All tightly wound though, you don¡¯t get much play.¡±

    ¡°Expensive?¡±

    Wolf tilted his head from side to side in a yes-no kind of reply and he looked thoughtfully at the urn. ¡°Coal will probably be looking for it. We should know what it is. The ones I have are a bit cheaper but they take several hours to work so I¡¯ll probably make a spell just to activate it and so I don¡¯t have to feed it myself while standing there for 12 hours.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re sure that will work?¡±

    ¡°Being tightly wound, the item should work as is. All I¡¯m doing with the spell part is changing the interface slightly?¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t affect the way the item works?¡±

    It technically wasn¡¯t a straight binary system, more a sliding scale, but in general infusements could be categorised into one of two categories.

    Tightly wound infusements were items made by extremely good sorcerers, usually for use by those with less aptitude for spell-making and magic outside their own raw abilities, i.e. most people who weren¡¯t sorcerers. They were designed to be used in very specific ways with inbuilt safety catches and heavy limitations. They were commonly sold openly, with little restriction, but being hard to make did not come cheap. They tended to be used almost exclusively by those with a lot of money, particularly aristocrats.

    Loosely wound infusements were more often used as components by spellcrafters; warlocks, mages, sorcerers. They were easier to make by amateur infusers and thus a lot cheaper but also much harder to find from an honest seller as the sale of said items were not approved by the sorcerer¡¯s council for general public use. The council¡¯s reach only extended so far though and the rules varied considerably by region, so those in the know, like Wolf, typically had no trouble finding what they needed. One exception however, was infusements from powers which interacted directly with other magics, powers like infusing, borrowing, and binding. These powers were difficult for amateur infusers to attach to an item and as such, when these powers could be acquired in infusement form they tended to be made by good sorcerers who would always made sure they were very tightly wound.

    Wolf shrugged and sighed. He was tired. ¡°What¡¯s the worst that can happen?¡±

 Volume 3, Chapter 13: The Chase

    ¡°Oi Reggie!¡± Cat rapped on the body of the car to get his attention. She kept her eyes ducked to avoid looking at the light from the tip of welding nozzle he was currently using to repair the vehicle¡¯s roof. The faded dark blue, poorly repainted sports car had two large gashes in it¡¯s roof. The owner had recently driven through the Dragon Mountains and found out first hand exactly why they were named so. The car was now in one of the semi open building¡¯s out the back of Cat¡¯s garage.

    Reggie was a brand new mechanic, taken on as a favour to someone Cat had once worked with before. He¡¯d come with a warning that he wasn¡¯t the best at his job but given time his skills would probably improve. Her old coworker had promised her a guaranteed entry spot in this year¡¯s Fever Rally, all she had to do was give Reggie a try for a couple months.

    Fever Rally entry tickets were hard to come by and assigned based on a lottery so even good driver¡¯s weren¡¯t guaranteed an entry but that deal had been back before she¡¯d found out she was pregnant. Worse still, she was starting to think saying Reggie wasn¡¯t the best mechanic was one hell of an understatement. At this point it was unlikely he was going to last another week let alone months.

    ¡°Huh,¡± Reggie flipped up his mask.

    ¡°Why haven¡¯t you put a welding blanket down? You¡¯re spitting molten metal all over the window. We¡¯re gonna have to replace that now. And didn¡¯t I tell you to flip the sign by the entrance when you¡¯re welding.¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°Anyone who¡¯s coming can hear it. And this car¡¯s a dump anyway, he¡¯ll never notice.¡±

    ¡°He bloody well will. Look at it.¡±

    ¡°I can scratch it off.¡±

    With fists on her hips, Cat gave him an incredulous look.

    He stared blankly back. ¡°Look, I¡¯ll do it right now.¡± He glanced about for a metal scraper.

    Cat took in a deep breath. ¡°No. Reggie. Just... get out.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re fired. Get out.¡±

    ¡°My cousin and you had a deal.¡±

    Cat waved a hand. ¡°Deals off. Tell him he can keep his entry ticket. Now get out before I have Bongo throw you out.¡±

    Reggie got down off his step ladder. His eyes narrowed as he stepped toward her with clenched fists.

    Cat stared fiercely back at him. She was taller than he was and was pretty certain she could take him in a fight if she had to. Normally she would have had no trouble dragging his arse out of here if it came to it, but the whole being pregnant thing did give her some pause. Enough that she was actually a little relieved when two of her other employees just happened to step out back, both of them quite large men.

    One of them, who was nicknamed Gus, noticed Cat and Reggie¡¯s postures and proximity. ¡°Everything alright out here?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Reggie was just leaving,¡± Cat said looking pointedly at Reggie.

    Reggie glared back then he glanced at the three of them. ¡°Fine,¡± he snarled. He threw his welding mask down to the ground, kicked at a rock, and stormed off. ¡°Didn¡¯t want to work at this shithole anyway.¡±

    They watched him leave. The other man followed him out to make sure he actually left and didn¡¯t wreck anything on his way.

    Once they were gone, Gus remarked, ¡°You know I¡¯m pretty sure his cousin just made that deal with you so he could get rid of him.¡±

    ¡°Probably,¡± Cat agreed. She was looking down at the window and remaining welding work, wondering who she should get to fix it, or if she should just do this one herself.

    ¡°Too bad about the rally entry, maybe you¡¯ll still get drawn for it.¡±

    Cat shrugged. She really should tell them all that she was pregnant but she should probably do that after she told the father first.

    Gus noticed the car window and whistled. ¡°Shit!¡± he commented. ¡°You want me to finish that one boss? The coupe I¡¯ve been working on¡¯s only got a few hours left of work.¡±

    Cat nodded. Then she paused. ¡°Actually, it might be a good one for Joanie, if you can work with her once she gets in this afternoon. You can do a bit each. Teach her how to weld.¡±

    ¡°On this one?¡±

    Cat nodded. ¡°She¡¯s gotten pretty good on the practice steel. This one¡¯s as good as any.¡±

    Gus ran a hand through his hair. ¡°I ain¡¯t much of a teacher.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a 50% bonus for each hour you work with her.¡±

    ¡°Oh second thoughts, I¡¯ve always wanted to help educate and inspire the next generation.¡± He smiled.

    Cat just nodded. ¡°Good.¡± She left him to it and returned back to the front garage where she had a project of her own, a sleek green track car who¡¯s owner had requested some engine modifications.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    She was searching about for some tape when a piece of paper blew out from under a can she¡¯d moved. It fluttered to the floor. Cat bent down to pick it up. It was a clipping from out of a newspaper. She frowned and turned it over a few times. On one side a happy looking family stared back at her, a father, a mother, and two you girls, maybe ten and eight years old. The title was more chilling, ¡®Young Girl Slain. Were Werewolves Responsible?¡¯. Cat knew enough to know that the bit about werewolves was probably just some sleazy journalist stirring up trouble. The local werewolf packs mostly kept to themselves and only hunted deer and rabbit. Sure, some of the younger werewolves sometimes struggled with control but the pack was pretty good about keeping them away from people and livestock. Unfortunately it was the fact that they kept to themselves that made some people more suspicious. They were mostly a minority though and not overly vocal. That wasn¡¯t the part of the article that Cat found interesting.

    Someone had taken a pen and drawn a circle around the father, along with an arrow just in case the bright red circle hadn¡¯t been enough. That combined with the fact that they¡¯d underlined the words ¡®unknown assailant¡¯ made Cat pretty confident of what they were trying to say. The whole thing sent a chill right through her. But who had drawn the lines on? Why was it here?

    Cat checked with the others, but no one knew where the clipping had come from. She set it back down on the bench just as her phone vibrated from somewhere among several canisters of automotive paint. She checked the message. It was from Baz. All it said was, ¡®need to talk.¡¯

    She frowned and tried to ignore the ache that statement put in her belly or the chill left over from reading that article. It could be about anything, Baz was a man of few words and he probably wasn¡¯t the sort to think about how things he said might sound either. It wasn¡¯t so much the words that bothered her though. It was the fact that he¡¯d messaged her at all. For that to happen it must be something important. Had he found out about the baby? What would his reaction be? Would he request an abortion? She wasn¡¯t so sure she could now but what were the alternatives? Raising it? She doubted she¡¯d be any good at that. And yet, unwittingly she found herself wanting it. Wanting her.

    She glanced at the time. It wasn¡¯t quite midday yet. Baz tended to work odd hours. So did she. Sometimes she¡¯d get up early and take the afternoon off to nap. Other days she¡¯d sleep in and work into the evening. Time had never really meant much to Cat. She did what she wanted when she felt like it. For a mechanics shop the only person who really needed to clock in and clock out at a set time was the receptionist, and that was Bongo¡¯s job. From 8am to 5pm he took the customer¡¯s details and work orders, managed inventory, finances, and any other office type stuff that needed doing. Everyone else set their own hours. Everyone earned a wage, except for Cat who owned the place and took a certain percent of the profits whichever way they fell. In the early days there had been a lot of up and down, mostly down until she¡¯d gotten the neighbouring rally track back up and running. But these days business was booming on both the track and the garage.

    She told Bongo she was heading out, and then she hopped in her black 4-door V8. The wheels kicked up gravel and dust as she left the garage behind her.

    The fastest route took Cat close to town, right by Little Rock¡¯s main entrance and not that far from the bars, the law office, and the police station. Cat didn¡¯t bother to slow down. She never did. The road was nothing but a large expanse of dirt here and all the pedestrians were further in or closer to the buildings themselves. She was just reentering the section of highway out of Little Rock, an area tar-sealed and surrounded by thick forest, when she heard sirens picking up behind her.

    She cursed. She hadn¡¯t really expected them to be able to get out of the building fast enough to pursue her. From the sounds of it, one of them must have been already in their vehicle. She considered her options. Stopping wasn¡¯t one, not unless she had to, but she¡¯d already had two tickets this month for speeding and in her experience three was always about the point where they started kicking down your door to collect. Cat would rather put off paying for as long as she could get away with it. The good news was, the tickets only counted if they could prove it was her that had been driving. That meant they had to catch her first.

    She could keep going, shoot past Baz¡¯s and do a whole loop, but that would take ages and force her back through the town again, and by that time they might be waiting. They were too close behind her now to stop or to hide before she reached Baz¡¯s. She could lose them but not without being forced into the loop. There were other roads she could take but there was only one way into Little Rock and depending on which copper it was, they might just wait for her to turn around and come back. She didn¡¯t really feel like driving all the way to Broomstick Beech or the Emerald City.

    She glanced in the rear view mirror and between guiding the car smoothly at high speed around swooping corners, Cat tried to read the number plate. She eased off the accelerator just enough to gauge whether on not this was a cop she could bribe or sweet talk. She kissed those options good bye as she realised the car was one that belonged to a cop named Bliss. Bliss had given her one of the other tickets and Cat was pretty sure the woman had personal vendetta out for her at this point. Bliss was also a decent driver, Cat definitely wasn¡¯t beating her to Baz¡¯s. A loop would lose her but as the greenery outside blurred past, Cat had another idea.

    She would need to time this right. She floored it past Baz¡¯s place and counted in her head how far she went. Soon she reached a straight section of road, just long enough to allow her to perform the maneuver she had planned. She assessed the road ahead. A wide grassy berm on each side and no oncoming traffic made this a reasonably safe trick to pull off.

    Still keeping count Cat slammed her foot on the brakes, sending the car into a controlled skid. With split-second precision and fine-tuned movements Cat angled the car just right. Then she yanked up the handbrake forcing the rear end of her car to spin around in a dramatic 180 degree arc. The smell of rubber filled the air and Cat smiled at the familiar thrill of feeling gravity-like forces pulling in all the wrong directions. It would be rough on the suspension but this car was built to handle these type of sharp maneuvers.

    Cat lined up along the highway, facing the completely opposite direction to what she had been facing a moment ago. The cop car rounded the bend. Cat floored it right at her. The car surged forwards with an immense amount of power, one that never failed to make Cat feel invincible. At the last minute Cat spun the wheel and pulled her car back onto her own side of the road. Behind her, the cop swerved instinctively off into the grassy berm, coming to a stop a moment after Cat had disappeared out of sight.

    Cat slowed right down to an almost crawl before turning down the road that led to Baz¡¯s place. Here was gravel and dirt again and the less dust she kicked up the harder it would be for Bliss or any of the other cops to figure out where she had gone. By the time Cat stepped out in front of Baz¡¯s tiny house, she was pretty sure she had lost them.

 Volume 3, Chapter 14: Confessions Of A Mechanic

    The sliding door into Baz¡¯s makeshift clinic was wide open but there was no sign of Baz, not anywhere in the house. He rarely had jobs during the day though so if he wasn¡¯t sleeping or doing maintenance on his motorcycle there really was only one other place he was likely to be.

    Cat walked into the bush south of Baz¡¯s shack. She followed a winding skinny path through thick undergrowth. It was well-trodden and easy to follow. After a few minutes of walking the path opened up to a grassy bank near the edge of a large pond. Some might call it a small lake. Cat wasn¡¯t sure what the difference was. It was maybe a little less than an acre in size. A steady flowing stream on the far south side carried fresh water in and old water out. Most of the lake was surrounded by dense bush and few people ever came here other than Baz. The path continued winding around the edge of the water and Cat knew that it eventually split off into several paths that weaved all through the forest on the southern side of Little Rock. You could follow them all the way to the sea if you wanted to, or the other direction, up into the hills. Nearer the sea the forest was narrower and there were many exits back into civilisation, through back streets and backyards but this far inland, up where Baz lived, people were rarer and the bush easy to get lost in. It was a nice place to run in dry weather but a muddy mess after the rain.

    Baz liked to fish here sometimes when the weather was nice. The waters were full of salmon and trout. Cat could see his little dingy out there on the water now, fishing rod sticking out the back. Baz was leaning back, book in one hand, enjoying the day.

    Cat eyed the water warily. Baz had offered to take her out in the boat several times but each time she¡¯d refused. She didn¡¯t even like getting too near the water¡¯s edge. The pond was a murky green and who knew what lay down there other than the fish. Whenever he¡¯d asked she¡¯d just told him she didn¡¯t like the idea of sitting still in a boat and just waiting for something to bite. Baz had never questioned it. She did like the fish he brought back though and her mouth watered at the thought of one for lunch. She wondered if he¡¯d caught any today. He was an amazing cook and always offered her food if she hung around long enough.

    She stood on the bank for a moment hoping he¡¯d see her there but he was facing away from her and engrossed in whatever it was he was reading. Somehow the peace of the place made her not want to yell out. Instead she found a stone on the ground and pitched it out into the water. It made a satisfying plopping sound and Baz spun around at the noise. He smiled when he saw her standing there and then he set his book down, pulled in his fishing line, and started to row into shore.

    ¡°Afternoon,¡± he said as he stepped from the boat and back onto land.

    ¡°It¡¯s morning,¡± she told him with a slight smile.

    ¡°Huh,¡± was all he said, followed by a grunt as he pulled the dingy up the bank and stashed it upside down among the undergrowth. When he reached her he added, ¡°Guess I was out there less time than I thought. Felt like an eternity, in a good way.¡± He gave a satisfied sigh. His gaze ran up and down her body.

    ¡°You sent a message.¡± Cat couldn¡¯t explain why that made her feel so anxious. Baz didn¡¯t usually make her feel anxious.

    ¡°Oh right.¡± He rubbed his shaggy brown hair.

    Cat frowned. He didn¡¯t appear too concerned. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t important after all.

    But a moment later his face deepened into a frown. ¡°Right,¡± he repeated in a completely different tone. One that was far more serious. ¡°Let¡¯s go up to the house.¡±

    ¡°You hungry?¡± he asked once they got there.

    Cat was but she could also hear the strain in his voice. She didn¡¯t want to wait until after they¡¯d eaten to find out what it this was all about. She shook her head.

    ¡°Grab a seat.¡± He nodded toward a chair then he sat himself down on the stool he often sat on while tending to patients.

    ¡°What¡¯s this all about? Why¡¯d you message?¡± Cat asked. The waiting was getting to her. Her stomach churned with apprehension. Outside she tried to keep a cool and calm front.

    Baz gave a large sigh as if prepping himself up for something. ¡°Last night Coal called with a body dump.¡±

    As the content of his words filtered in Cat relaxed. So this was work related.

    ¡°The body he wanted me to dump was Natasha Crimson¡¯s.¡±

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    Cat blinked at him. It took a moment for what he said to sink in. ¡°Wait, what?¡±

    ¡°He said it was an accident. That she was killed by a malfunction in an item that she had bought from him. Normally he doesn¡¯t tell me so much but I think because it was her...¡±

    Cat was only half listening. She was imagining Natasha limp in the back of Baz¡¯s trunk, just like dozen or so other bodies he¡¯d cleared away for Coal or one of Coal¡¯s higher paying clients over the years. Cat saw Natasha in a hole, an unmarked hole in the middle of the forest, with dirt being thrown down on top of her. Did she have family who would wonder where she had gone? Why had Cat never asked her about her family? They¡¯d been friends, not best of friends but something more than strangers. Natasha had often come and watched the races next door to her garage. She hadn¡¯t been particularly into engines, she just liked the way cars looked but that had been fine, she¡¯d enjoyed the races. For an aristocrat she¡¯d been more than friendly, always with a bit of a gossip, willingly sharing information from an entirely different class of people over lunch, and she¡¯d loved clothes. Not the way Indi loved clothes, all brand labels and trends. No, Natasha had appreciated quality. She liked subtle and stylish outfits. The sort that lasted. She knew the difference between French Seam and an Overlock Stitch. Despite being upper class she was down to earth. Cat had appreciated all of that. She imagined Natasha¡¯s fine threads decomposing slowly, unseen, beneath the soil, alongside her flesh.

    She was suddenly very glad she hadn¡¯t taken Baz up on his offer for food. She surprised Baz by getting quickly up from her seat and running to the bathroom down the hall. She dropped down over the toilet bowl. She hugged the seat which was thankfully down, and vomited up the contents of her stomach. A minute later she felt gentle hands at the nape of her neck, pulling her long hair back into a ponytail.

    Baz didn¡¯t ask if she was alright. After tying back her hair he just sat back against the hallway wall and waited until she was done.

    Once she was certain her stomach was well and truly empty, she crawled out into the hall and sat there opposite him.

    He was frowning at her with concern.

    For a moment she considered crawling into his arms, letting him hug her, just lose herself in his big protective hold. Would he let her? She was certain he would. They often fell asleep like that after sex, but that was different. The sex made it different. It was a tenderness preceded and hidden by animal desire. It was easy to blend the two into one. Sex didn¡¯t scare her. Vulnerability did. She was scared if she gave in now, she¡¯d never be able to find her feet again. Scared of the power it would give him over her. What would he think of her then? If she ever became so weak. The fear made her mad and in rage she found strength. She hated the pity in his eyes.

    She shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not what you think.¡± She wanted to explain why she was sick, that it wasn¡¯t some emotional reaction to her friends death, no matter how justified that might have been. But what better excuse did she have except for the other truth? Was there really ever going to be a good time to tell him? She shook off the remains of nausea. By the time she got to her feet she was relieved to find the feeling had fully passed.

    He remained on the floor for a moment longer, looking up at her with a hint of confusion. At least it was better than concern.

    She sighed. ¡°I¡¯m pregnant,¡± she explained. She didn¡¯t wait for a response. She didn¡¯t want to see his reaction and she was done with sitting still. But when she reached his front door she realised that leaving without seeing his reaction would be much worse. She turned back to face him and found he had followed her down the hallway.

    His brown eyes were wide behind all the hair on his face. They scanned her expression as if checking for some kind of joke. ¡°What do you mean?¡± he asked.

    ¡°I mean I¡¯m up the duff, cooking an egg, got a bun in the oven, knocked up, however you want to put it. Congratulations, it¡¯s yours, probably.¡±

    ¡°Probably?¡± The poor guy looked stunned and perhaps a little confused.

    Cat shrugged. She was being mean and a little snippy and she knew it, but much like a runaway cart she found herself unable to stop. Mean was better than weak so she leaned into it. ¡°That or it¡¯s a miraculous conception.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±

    ¡°About being pregnant or that it¡¯s yours?¡±

    ¡°Both.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Pretty darn sure.¡±

    He looked her up and down again, several times, until Cat felt like she¡¯d been stripped naked in public. ¡°Okay. Enough.¡± She frowned at him.

    He jerked his gaze back up to her face. ¡°How long have you known?¡±

    Cat shrugged and shook her head. ¡°Does it matter? A few weeks.¡±

    ¡°Are...¡± he hesitated. There was a slight tremble in his voice. ¡°Are you keeping it?¡±

    Was that fear in his voice? Because he wanted it or because he didn¡¯t? Cat wasn¡¯t sure. She shrugged. She could see his face tightening, like he wanted to say something but couldn¡¯t. His gaze dropped to her belly again.

    She turned and started walking out toward her car.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    She spun back and thought about her answer. But before she could get her reply out he crossed the short distance between them.

    ¡°Listen,¡± he said quickly in almost a hush. ¡°I want it.¡± He glanced between her face and her belly. ¡°If you do I mean. I want it if you do.¡±

    His eyes were gentle, caring, pleading even. Cat didn¡¯t deserve a single bit of that. She knew that too. Perhaps she should have felt warm and happy at his admission, but she didn¡¯t. She just felt distant. And numb, and terrified, like she¡¯d just jumped feet first into icy water. She didn¡¯t want to be here. She needed something else to focus on and she found it easily in the reason he had called her here.

    ¡°Noted,¡± she replied with measure of steel in her voice. Then she turned to continue on her new mission.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Baz asked again, more casual and simply curious. He knew when to let her go. That was why she always came back.

    Without turning around Cat replied, ¡°To murder Coal.¡±

 Volume 3, Chapter 15: The Devil You Know

    Stella slipped into Coal¡¯s house. She could hear him in his main office talking to someone. She paused there, outside the door and looked ahead.

    She saw in the future, when they would exit the room and the pained look that would be on Coal¡¯s face when they did. She considered looking further ahead. Silver threads of visions enticed her.

    She shook them off. There wasn¡¯t time for that, not now. She was here for something specific and Coal could not find her here, not until after she had what she needed.

    She stepped quickly and quietly past the closed door. Stella¡¯s footwork was light and well-practiced. She continued forward, past another door, one she knew led to the front lounge where Coal kept most of his books, the less interesting ones. She arrived a moment later in the entertainment area. Some might have called it a kitchen or a dining room, and indeed there were elements of each here. There was a large wooden table, surrounded by matching chairs in the nearest end of the room. Then some empty space for standing and a bar. Behind the bar, in the corner there was a sink and some basic kitchen appliances.

    But the table didn¡¯t fit. It hadn¡¯t been designed for this room, a room whose shape was long rather than wide. The table was a beautiful, heavy oak, also longer than it was wide, but not to the same proportions of the room. It came too close to the wall on one side while leaving a lot of empty space at the ends. In here it was mismatched, but Stella knew that Coal often moved it around. As a summoner, shifting furniture at a whim was as simple as clicking his fingers. He¡¯d have placed this table here recently for some practical purpose.

    It was not one usually used for eating from. It had been built hard-wearing, made to handle both sword cuts and magical spills. Coal had another dining room elsewhere in the house, with a massive glass table, which he disliked but kept because it had once belonged to his parents. It was one of the few things that remained of the original furniture. She expected Coal would get rid of it someday too. He had been working his way there. Shaking off the old piece by piece. Constantly improving on things.

    As for the kitchen, it was through another door, one that lay behind the the bar. It led to a much larger, almost commercial kitchen with attached larder. The bar was really the primary feature of the entertainment room. Stella was sure the room was supposed to have another name but Coal called it the entertaining room, so she figured entertainment room was equally justified. The bar in question had it¡¯s own sink and bench that curved around three sides, hugging two walls and then extending out into the room, lined with bar stools. Within the internal area of the bar, it held, in dark wooden cupboards, an abundance of liquor, some of it was quite fine. Stella was tempted to stop for a tipple. She was familiar with almost every bottle he owned.

    But she had a mission. Maybe on the way out, if she had time.

    She headed towards Coal¡¯s other office. The one hidden behind a bookcase in his room. The one he used for only his closest friends and when he didn¡¯t want to be disturbed or overheard.

    She knew what she sought was there but she couldn¡¯t quite see the exact location yet. She just saw the room. Where had he put it? Would he know if she took it? He was busy at the moment and she estimated that she had several minutes left. That was what her premonitions suggested, but premonitions were only statistical and still she must be careful. Plus she hadn¡¯t really had time to do a deep dive on them yet. Bambi had told her focus on the future first but Stella couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that this was important to get done quickly. Another small part of her was reminded of that old saying, 5 hours of testing saves 5 minutes of reading the manual and maybe if she used her full sight first she¡¯d see a better path but that took guaranteed time and thieving was likely to be quick, so it was the former part that won.

    This office, unlike his other one had windows, two large ceiling high ones that were semi-circle shaped at the top.

    Like his other office, there was one desk with two chairs in front, and one large leather one behind. Three chairs in total, even though Coal never used this office for entertaining more than a single guest. Stella wasn¡¯t even completely sure that Coal knew that she knew about this little secret room.

    She moved around behind the desk, appreciating the warm rays of the afternoon sun. They lit up the whole room, softening the green leather top of the desk.

    To her left lay some books and papers, a coaster imprinted with what she was sure were whiskey rings, and a knife. But not the knife she was looking for.

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    Coal emerged from his negotiations feeling very tired. Drake was an old friend, rival, and a hard bargainer. They were at a stalemate. Today neither man had gotten what he wanted, each too stubborn to budge on their requirements.

    Coal had time though, possibly more than Drake did. The ability to be patient was often what won out in the end, especially for deals like these.

    After that discussion he felt like he could use a hard drink to take the edge off. Drake had declined his offer of a drink, perhaps fearing a strategy to weaken his resolve, so Coal walked on his own toward his secret office, to the place where he kept the real top shelf stuff.

    Stella rifled through several drawers but it was to no avail. She paused and considered where else to look. There were the shelves. It could be hidden behind the books or in one of the cabinets. But her instinct and her magic drew her back to the desk. She opened the drawers again and one by one she placed the contents on the desk as she gave each a through search over with her hands. She felt about for false bases and hidden latches. It was the top drawer that she found it. When her fingers pressed up, something clicked and when she opened the bottom of the three drawers she found its contents had changed. There right in front of her was the blade she had come for. It was silver with an elegantly carved handle shaped like a daffodil. She took it out and turned it over. Strange to think that something so small could be so powerful.

    Without planning to she was suddenly struck by a vision of Coal coming into the room. Based on her estimate of how far away the vision was she didn¡¯t have time to leave the way she had come in. She glanced toward the window but it wasn¡¯t the sort that opened. She hurriedly put things back the way they had been, including clicking the switch in the topmost drawer. Then with little time to spare and nowhere else to go she ducked down beneath the desk. She hid in the little enclave where the feet usually went. Lucky for her the front of the desk was thick and solid so she would not be seen until someone went around behind the desk. Unfortunately for her, she was almost certain that was exactly what Coal was planning to do.

    She heard Coal enter the room. He paused to close the door behind himself. Then she heard his footsteps make their way across the soft carpet toward the desk.

    With naught to do under the desk but look at the future, Stella was surprised to find that she had a small chance after all. She just needed to buy a second or two. She reached into her pocket for her burner cellphone. She dialed Coal¡¯s number and hit the call button.

    He stopped to get his phone out and check who it was. Right as he hit the answer button Stella hung up. Then she turned off her phone. She hoped that had been long enough. She waited with baited breath.

    Coal stayed standing where it was for some time then she heard him move again but it didn¡¯t matter, this time she was certain she had gotten the timing right and she knew how she was going to be able to get out of here.

    She heard him at the side of the desk, so close she could just make out the faint sound of his breathing. Her own breathing was slow and silent. She had no fear. She knew what was coming. Everything was completely under her control.

    Suddenly, just as Stella had foreseen, Coal paused, turned, and walked out of the office. From elsewhere in the house she could make out the sounds of someone moving about.

    Stella was on her feet quickly and back to rifling through the desk drawers. She had to move quickly. They would be returning soon. No time for her to leave just yet but while she¡¯d been under the desk she¡¯d been trying different possibilities out in her head. In the middle drawer, with the latch clicked, she found them. A small collection of infusements. These ones hung on necklaces, not the sort a man like Coal would wear but then they hadn¡¯t originally belonged to him. Stella took only the one she needed and she hung it around her neck. Then carefully with time to spare she put everything away again.

    She stepped back from the desk and then off to the side of the room where a shelf took up most of the wall space. She focused her mind on the magic in the charm. She felt it warm against her skin and cold at the same time. A sharpness like plunging frozen hands into warm water but she made it work. Stella was well practiced at using infusements and it was a good thing too for this charm¡¯s infuser had been not much more than a child. A talented one but young and imprecise, and the magic she had imbued it was average at best. It would not last very long but Stella was efficient enough to draw it out slower. She may not be a sorcerer but she had learned from someone who had rivalled the best of them.

    Coal re-entered the room followed by another man, one Stella recognised as Lucifer, a friend of Coal¡¯s who most people simply referred to as Luci. He was fair-haired and slimmer than Coal but of a near enough height. He was well dressed, as was expected of any aristocrat. He wore a tailored outfit a shade or two lighter than Coal¡¯s own. His eyes were blue, like Coals, but nowhere near as piercing.

    Neither of them noticed Stella. She stood by the bookshelf, waiting for them to move out of the way of her only exit. By using the magic in the charm she had shifted her body out of the visible spectrum. It wasn¡¯t the only charm she had active on her but the other required very little focus to use. It was a binding charm, not for her own magic but to repel other magics, a very specific set of magics. It effectively did the same thing the invisibility charm did only on a different level. It was tailored especially for Coal¡¯s defenses and that focus was part of what made it so easy to use. Not all of his defenses however, just the one that notified him of company. So Stella stood inches from them, invisible in more ways than one, slowly draining the magic in the necklace that kept her physical form hidden, but as they closed the door behind them, she realised she was far from free.

 Volume 3, Chapter 16: Intruder

    Coal sat sipping whiskey in his secret office with the lean and fair-headed Lucifer. They¡¯d been discussing Coal¡¯s latest endeavors and Coal had been trying to rope in some help with Drake. Lucifer knew the man well and was in a position to prod Drake in a direction that just might sway things in Coal¡¯s favor. Unfortunately for Coal, Lucifer was having none of it.

    ¡°Perhaps you could have a chat with him,¡± Coal suggested, after pointing out the potential benefits for Lucifer in doing so.

    Lucifer, who had been in some agreement up until that point now quickly shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be involved in that. That¡¯s your deal.¡± Lucifer pointed one finger at Coal, while the others gripped his whiskey glass. ¡°I have no interest with getting involved in the business of dragons.¡±

    Coal eyed him a moment, and then reached for the decanter and moved it out of Lucifer¡¯s reach.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Lucifer exclaimed as he watched the whisky moving away from him.

    ¡°Well, I guess you won¡¯t be needing any of that stuff delivered to your door.¡± Coal was the proprietor of some fine beverages. It was through Stella that he sourced most of them but none of the other aristocrats knew that and besides, Stella was loyal to Coal. Access to good liquor was something Coal used often to garner favors in other areas of his business.

    ¡°You can¡¯t just hold the whiskey hostage every time you want something,¡± Lucifer complained. He was right to some extent, be too stingy and people would eventually find another supplier. Stability had it¡¯s benefits too.

    ¡°Not all the whiskey,¡± Coal replied, knowing where his limits were well, ¡°Just the Beltane batch. You know my supply is limited and I have another friend who would be very interested in this stock. He also happens to be mates with Drake.¡±

    Lucifer leaned back in his seat. He knew Coal had him. The Beltane batch was important but not important enough to get his feathers in a rustle over, maybe just important enough to talk to Drake though. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll do it. I¡¯ll have a chat to him, but I make no promises you hear and I have no interest in being at the event in question.¡±

    ¡°An attempt is all I ask,¡± Coal replied smoothly, replacing the decanter back next to Lucifer, who looked at it fondly. ¡°And I¡¯ll keep you abridge of dates as I know more.¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t it look suspicious?¡±

    Coal gave him a questioning glance.

    ¡°If I¡¯m not there.¡±

    Coal gave a light shrug. ¡°Depends on the event, besides we haven¡¯t attended the same event in awhile.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve noticed.¡± Lucifer raised his glass and took a sip. ¡°People are starting to talk. They think you don¡¯t care about maintaining social relationships.¡±

    ¡°I visit the people I¡¯m interested in.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the problem. Everyone else feels snubbed. I had to tell Emily DeVerre that you simply had a prior engagement and it wasn¡¯t because you don¡¯t like her that you missed her party.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like her. She¡¯s daft and needy and she smells like she took a bath in a perfumery tank.¡±

    ¡°That may be so,¡± Lucifer nodded in agreement and winced slightly at the memory of the woman¡¯s overpowering odor. She always ruined whatever beverage one happened to be drinking nearby. Aroma was half the flavor profile. He sniffed his whiskey to settle his senses before continuing. ¡°But unless you intend on ending up like Grim, it might be prudent to pay your social dues from time to time.¡±

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    ¡°Nobody bothers Grim.¡± Coal sighed and glanced around the room. There was some nice art on the walls, mostly men on horseback hunting various types of rodent with their hounds. He glanced to the side, enjoying the sun that streamed in behind him. It was peaceful here. He had no desire to be anywhere else right now. He sipped his whiskey slower than Lucifer but not because he enjoyed it any less.

    ¡°That¡¯s because half of them are still afraid of his father.¡±

    ¡°Most of them don¡¯t know.¡±

    The pair were quiet for a moment then Lucifer spoke. ¡°I¡¯m just saying, despite the woman¡¯s distasteful choice in perfume, she does have some useful connections. I¡¯ve also heard her making some noise about how these protests have been negatively affecting her imports, and on another note somewhat tangentially related, I¡¯m not sure now is the best time to be increasing the tax on blood shipping.¡±

    Coal raised his own glass to his lips, took a sniff, then sat the vessel back down without taking a drink. With a smile he replied, ¡°Actually, I think it¡¯s the perfect time.¡±

    Lucifer frowned. ¡°How do you figure?¡±

    ¡°Well, the regulation of the industry costs money. Given current concerns regarding black market blood sourcing, pulling in some more income from some of those sources themselves to feed back into that regulation would appease some of the concerns currently being voiced.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d be undercutting your own income then, and pushing up blood prices.¡±

    Coal shook his head. ¡°We¡¯d still be controlling who we let in the same way, we¡¯d just be charging a bit more for it. The money still goes into the regulation but bribery fees are higher and we have a tighter handle over who¡¯s doing what.¡±

    Lucifer smiled slightly. ¡°And the blood prices?¡±

    Coal waved a hand absently. ¡°With more income perhaps there¡¯s an opportunity to funnel some funds into setting up a more local and legitimate operation. More legitimate blood sources please everybody.¡±

    ¡°And pisses off everybody,¡± Lucifer countered with a smile. He sighed. ¡°As much as I¡¯d love to see you set up yet another side business with public funds, isn¡¯t Little Rock near expected capacity for blood donations.¡±

    ¡°You may be right,¡± Coal acknowledged. He¡¯d need to think about it more.

    ¡°Either way, you should talk to Emily DeVerre and maybe have a backup plan for how you want to deal with this thing should the need arise.¡±

    Coal nodded and after a moment¡¯s consideration he said, ¡°I¡¯ve been meaning to ask you something.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°If you had any necromancy contacts?¡±

    Lucifer frowned. ¡°I thought you had a necromancer.¡±

    Coal was silent a moment, his face impassive. He could have sworn he heard the bookshelf make a strange almost whimper like sound and the air in front of the books appeared to shimmer slightly but he then blinked and everything looked normal. ¡°There¡¯s been some complications there.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Lucifer was studying Coal closely. He sat back in his chair eventually, giving up on the reading. ¡°Well, unfortunately no. Although depending on what you¡¯re after there is one option. Reason Winters.¡±

    ¡°Winters?¡± Coal repeated with a frown. He remembered her from their year back in high school. She¡¯d been an impertinent red-head, but bloody good with magic, not a necromancer but a borrower. ¡°Didn¡¯t she become a sorcerer?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s been kicked out,¡± Lucifer replied.

    Coal raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Memories kept intact,¡± Lucifer added.

    Coal gave him a confused frown. That was unusual. Typically expelled sorcerers had their minds wiped. ¡°Why?¡±

    Lucifer shrugged. ¡°No idea but she¡¯s been allowed to continue working as a warlock, with her trade restricted to Mercy only, of all places.¡±

    Coal¡¯s frown deepened. ¡°You think she¡¯s a plant?¡±

    Lucifer shrugged. ¡°Doesn¡¯t really matter to us.¡±

    ¡°It might.¡± He pondered the implications for a moment. Leaked information about his purchases was one risk. There was another problem too. ¡°If she¡¯s restricted to Mercy she won¡¯t trade with an aristocrat then.¡±

    Lucifer shook his head. ¡°It just means you can¡¯t buy direct. I know a guy who knows a guy. Perhaps you¡¯ve even got a contact of your own.¡± The smile he gave suggested that Lucifer already knew who that might be but he wasn¡¯t telling for free.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± Coal asked.

    But before Lucifer could answer, a powerful woman¡¯s voice yelled out from elsewhere in the house, ¡°Coal! Get out here and show your face you murdering coward!¡±

 Volume 3, Chapter 17: Cause And Effect

    Cat had stormed into Coal¡¯s house slightly disappointed that the door had been unlocked and she didn¡¯t get the chance to kick it in.

    ¡°Coal!¡± she yelled again.

    She was starting to think he wasn¡¯t home when he finally stepped out of the hallway and into the entertaining room.

    ¡°To what do I owe the pleasure?¡± he asked, infuriatingly calm as always.

    ¡°You bloody well know what!¡± Cat stood a few metres from him with her fists clenched. She refrained from getting any closer yet. She wanted... no, she needed to hear him say it.

    But he just looked mildly confused, which made her even madder.

    ¡°Natasha,¡± she clarified through gritted teeth.

    Now there was a hint of recognition. He did know. Not that she had doubted Baz but she was surprised that Coal wasn¡¯t continuing with the act of ignorance.

    She pointed at him with a closed fist. ¡°You killed her.¡±

    ¡°Natasha? The necro?¡± another man¡¯s voice asked.

    It took Cat a few seconds to register that there was someone else there with them, standing next to Coal and slightly behind. It took her another few seconds to register who it was and only a split millisecond after that to decide that he wasn¡¯t important right now.

    ¡°What is it you think you¡¯ve heard?¡± Coal asked her, still calm.

    So calm she wanted to punch him in the face, but as angry as she was she knew she had to be careful. She¡¯d seen how fast he could put a sword in someone¡¯s gut. She wasn¡¯t planning on that happening to her, at least not yet. Besides the look of recognition he¡¯d given a moment before wasn¡¯t enough of a confession. But she also didn¡¯t want to throw Baz under the bus as the one who had told her.

    ¡°She¡¯s dead isn¡¯t she?¡± Cat growled.

    Coal gave a single slow nod. ¡°She is.¡±

    Cat narrowed her eyes and took a step forward. Coal didn¡¯t even flinch. He was so stupidly calm. But he watched her like a hawk watches their prey. Beside him Lucifer shifted slightly, away from Coal and into a position that gave him a better view of Cat. His fingers twitched slightly. He was a telekinetic from Cat¡¯s memory, not overly powerful, but above average and extremely precise. He might struggle to lift a car but he had the type of precision that lets one press and hold an artery closed without damaging the surrounding tissue. Right now, Cat didn¡¯t care. All she could think about was the million different ways Natasha might have spent her last moments.

    ¡°And you killed her.¡± Cat inched another step closer.

    ¡°It¡¯s not like what you think,¡± Coal replied. He hadn¡¯t inched back or flinched or even tensed up. Lucifer had, just a little, a tightening of his body posture betrayed some small level of apprehension, but he moved like a snake sizing up a rabid lion.

    ¡°You killed her, or something you gave her killed her. However it happened, it doesn¡¯t matter, ultimately you¡¯re still the one that¡¯s responsible.¡± She tried to take another step forward, the step that would put her within reach of him, but she was dismayed to find her feet were stuck to the floor. Some invisible force held her pinned in place.

    ¡°I think that¡¯s far enough,¡± Lucifer told her.

    She glared at him. This was hardly a fair fight and this wasn¡¯t between him and her. She looked back at Coal.

    Coal shook his head and waved a hand to the side. ¡°It¡¯s fine Luci.¡±

    But Lucifer didn¡¯t release her. Cat glared at them both. Stupid Coal¡¯s stuck up relaxed callous attitude and Lucifer¡¯s meddling. She hated them all. ¡°I¡¯m not leaving until you admit it.¡±

    To her surprise Coal took a step toward her. Even though it was only her feet that were stuck she was too surprised to hit him but she tensed up ready just in case.

    Further to her surprise, he walked right past her. As he got out of reach again she felt the telekinetic hold on her loosen. She could move again if she wanted. She chose not to, for now, too curious to know what he was doing.

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    As he walked he talked, with his back to her, and his gaze fixed on the other side of the room. She didn''t understand the significance of that particular area.

    ¡°The item that killed her was one she requested specifically. Maybe you¡¯re right and some of the responsibility is mine but¡±¡ªHe turned to face her and met her eyes¡ª¡°if the responsibility is mine then it¡¯s also yours.¡±

    ¡°How do figure that?¡± Cat narrowed her eyes at him.

    He sighed softly and for a moment he glanced at an empty place on the table. He appeared lost in thought.

    For awhile no one spoke and then Coal looked to Lucifer. ¡°I¡¯ll see you next Tuesday.¡±

    There was some unspoken message that passed between them but Cat didn¡¯t look at Lucifer. She kept her gaze on Coal.

    Coal waved his hand in a shooing motion.

    Finally Cat heard Lucifer walking away and then a little while later she heard the front door shut.

    She was too confused to be mad now.

    Coal gestured to a seat.

    Cat didn¡¯t budge. She noticed him sigh but he didn¡¯t make any other comments. Instead he waved his hand and a moment later a wooden chest appeared on the table between them. With a key that had also appeared out of nowhere Coal reached out and opened the lock on the chest.

    Cat watched him with trepidation, confusion, and suspicion.

    He opened the box. Inside it sat a red vase. She could see inscriptions on the box but she didn¡¯t know what any of them meant. It was probably a containment vessel of some kind.

    ¡°It¡¯s empty now but I¡¯ve put it in here just to be safe.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean empty?¡±

    ¡°This was up until recently the final resting place of one dearly departed Tricia Milton.¡±

    Cat frowned. ¡°You mean the old owner of that creepy house we just nearly got stuck permanently inside? The one with the dreamweaver which is now loose somewhere on the town?¡±

    ¡°The very same.¡±

    ¡°You know it escaped right?¡±

    ¡°I heard.¡±

    ¡°And you don¡¯t care? Like you don¡¯t care about what happened to Tasha.¡±

    Coal made a slight choking sound before clearly replying. ¡°There were no immediate sightings of the dreamweaver. And I do care. Natasha was...¡± he faltered ¡°...useful.¡±

    All Cat noticed were the words. ¡°Useful?¡± she sneered. ¡°You handed her the very thing that killed her.¡± She gestured fiercely at the vase. She was within reach of him now. She could hit him if she wanted but she probably wouldn''t survive it and she still wanted to hear him say it. Admit properly that he had killed her. Then she could hit him. Or at least try to. Coal was hard to land a hit on. This she knew from past experience. His reflexes were fast and he was stronger than she but maybe if she waited for just the right moment.

    ¡°And you led me right to it.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Cat blinked.

    Coal took a step back. He gestured at the vase. ¡°This came from the house. Oh don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯d have had it either way but the nature of it¡¯s arriving here would have been very different if it hadn¡¯t been that night.¡±

    Cat was confused. She shook her head. ¡°You chose to go into that house when you did. That had nothing to do with us.¡±

    ¡°I was in that house when I was precisely because you lot were in there, and how many of you do you think would have survived that night if I hadn¡¯t been?¡± His voice was harder now, almost a growl. The emotion in it unsettled her, scared her even.

    She thought back to memories of Coal swinging his sword at the plant that had nearly trapped them all, had consumed magic so thoroughly that even Amanda couldn¡¯t have burned her way out. He was probably right on that point, but it wasn¡¯t relevant. He was reaching, distracting her with tall tales of indirect cause and effect and she knew it.

    ¡°You handed her something you knew was dangerous, with no protection in place.¡±

    ¡°I had protective spell in place,¡± Coal shot back.

    Cat was silent a moment, put off balance at the anger in his blue eyes, even if his voice was still calmer than hers. ¡°So what happened then?¡±

    ¡°It was removed.¡±

    ¡°By whom?¡±

    ¡°Someone who won¡¯t get the chance to do it again.¡±

    Cat frowned, uncertain who he meant. ¡°Natasha?¡±

    Coal shook his head. Then he took a seat. He didn¡¯t seem concerned that she might attack him at all.

    Truthfully Cat was feeling kind of deflated now. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you necromancy her?¡±

    He met her gaze and studied her face, considered something and then replied, ¡°Because that was the only necromancer I have at my present disposal.¡±

    Cat was surprised that he¡¯d admitted that. Finally she took a seat at the table next to him. She rubbed her forehead and stared at the vase. It was so shiny, it almost felt like it was mocking her. ¡°What about that thing?¡±

    Coal raised his eyebrows in question.

    ¡°Well,¡± Cat explained, ¡°Mrs Milton was using it for some sort of self necromancy right? And that¡¯s why Tasha wanted it? Because it helps with necromancies?¡± Cat was guessing but the look on Coal face said it was a good guess. ¡°So why can¡¯t you use that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s complicated.¡±

    Cat frowned and opened her mouth to ask a second question but Coal beat her to it.

    ¡°It took some time to vacate the other ghost. Reversal spells are tricky things and in the process whatever magic was in that was lost.¡± Coal actually managed to look sad about it this time, and tired. It was a good act.

    She turned to look at the vase, her jaw clenched but the rest of her feeling very lost. If even Coal couldn¡¯t revive her... so that was that then. Natasha was gone and there was nothing to be done about it. She could still hit him but it didn¡¯t seem worth the effort now. And that deflated sad expression on his face, even if it was fake, it was certainly off putting.

    She sat there in frustrated, flat, silence with Coal until he asked. ¡°Was there anything else you wanted?¡±

    She shook her head, got to her feet, and walked out without another word, leaving him alone with his empty vase.

 Volume 3, Chapter 18: Sharp Minds

    Stella made her way back to her apartment with the knife. After her close call this afternoon she¡¯d decided that she was going to spend the next few days meditating, getting fully lost in the future with no interruptions. Then she wouldn¡¯t miss anything and the uncontrollable intrusive premonitions would ease off for a bit.

    As she reached for the door handle to her apartment however, she hesitated. There was someone inside. Who? She took a moment to look ahead. But the answer was unclear. There were two options and neither one made her happy. But one of them was far far worse than the other. If she waited out here too long though he would hear her thinking. And so, pushing her thoughts down deep like she had practiced many times over the years, first with her neurotic mindwalker of a mother and then later with Bambi, she opened the door and went inside.

    She was relieved to find it was the other option until she remembered the knife she had with her. That sharp knife in her hot little hand. The only thing that could kill the man in front of her. If she had wanted to, which she did not. Right? Her thoughts were muddled, mixed in with her visions of the future. She needed to meditate to sort it all out. Bambi was right and Bambi would never forgive her if she hurt Murphy. But Stella kept seeing it, and now with her own hand, over an over. The visions reached for her mind, grasped her with all the fingers they had and they forced her to look. She tried to resist as she always did when she left things too long. But they made her see the blood on her own hands. And she could feel it too, wet and sticky and real. Suddenly she realised she had been gripping the wrong end of the knife a little too tightly. She released it as fate released her mind and as her senses swiftly came tumbling back she smoothly tucked it into the belt that decorated her skirt. She kept her hands tucked neatly behind her back so he would not see the blood. As she felt the cuts healing, she wondered how much he knew.

    Murphy stood in her living room with his back to her and his hands in his pockets, calmly waiting for her in the light from her full-length windows. It wasn¡¯t direct light. Stella¡¯s view faced south, down the coast and a little toward the sea but she was on the sixth floor, only two floors down from the top of one of Little¡¯s Rock¡¯s tallest buildings and the highest residential floor. The room had been carefully architected to let in as much light as possible when the occupant wanted it and only when the occupant wanted it, which for Stella was most of the time. She liked to look out. The warmth of the sun on her face up above the rest of the world helped her meditate and control her own mind.

    Murphy was looking at the view. It was a nice view. In the distance sometimes the glint of the Emerald city could just be made out, not so much the wooden skyscrapers themselves but the reflection off the many thousands of windows of the people who lived and worked there. Between here and there were many miles of coastline and farmland, a few suburban blocks, and hundreds of acres of forest. Just beyond the edge of town, separating suburbia from the central part of Little Rock, was enough bush to lose a body, or several, as Stella was all too well aware. But only a few that she had buried herself and none which she had killed herself, for Stella did not kill, she merely altered the way events sometimes played out. It wasn¡¯t the same thing at all. Not even when she knew exactly what the result would be.

    ¡°You ever wonder why they never built a ninth floor?¡± Murphy asked still admiring the view. He rarely ever got straight to the point. He always liked to chat first.

    Stella didn¡¯t immediately answer. She poked ahead, intentionally this time, trying to gauge what his next words would be, learning why he was here and how much if anything he knew about the knife. ¡°No,¡± she replied finally, even though she had wondered that several times. He was referring to the fact that the restaurant and club above her was named ¡®Cloud 9¡¯ despite the fact that it was on the 7th and 8th floors and had been that way since the building had first been constructed. Although it had changed hands and style several times, the new owners had always kept the name. Stella had always appreciated the quality of the sound proofing. The club sometimes played music on full volume until the early hours but Stella had never had a sound or even a vibration penetrate her walls. The access hallway was also separate from her own so no late night party-goers ever disturbed her either.

    ¡°Neither do I,¡± Murphy replied giving her a smile as he turned.

    Stella smiled back but it didn¡¯t reach her eyes. She was too fixated on what came next and that sharp knife.

    ¡°I have a job for you.¡±

    Stella shook her head. ¡°Bambi said I¡¯m to ignore you.¡± She eyed him carefully.

    ¡°I know.¡± He paused. Checked his watch. Looked back up at her. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t need to be done now. In a few days, weeks even, I need to you to get something for me from the University. It¡¯s very important.¡±

    ¡°From Myst?!¡± Although Stella had her contacts at the Sorcery School, and Murphy did sometimes request her to retrieve things from there, he only did so when absolutely necessary. For the most part he stayed as far away from the sorcerers as he could. Stella figured he was afraid of them. He had after all been one of them once, as had Bambi, almost. She had just been a mage, a student, before Murphy had pulled her out, lured her away down a different path. But before she had left she had been the best, top of her class. Bambi couldn¡¯t show her face at that place now though. Stella didn¡¯t know the details but she did know that the way Bambi had left had been messy. Whether they thought her dead or mindwiped Stella didn¡¯t know. And for whatever reason Murphy dared not go anywhere near the sorcerers. So access to anything in that place was available to Stella, and to Stella alone. Even so, Stella was neither mage nor sorcerer, and if she ever got caught, she risked not her life, but far worse. Cross a sorcerer and they would strip you of your self, every thought and memory that made you who you were would be gone, not even Bambi would be able to put her back together then. With Stella¡¯s innate healing powers it was a consequence that could potentially last an eternity. But to Stella a little danger was a lure. The risk gave her a thrill. And she liked the university. She had friends there.

    Murphy approached her waving a brown envelope. He held it out for her to take. ¡°All the details are in here.¡±

    Stella remained with her bloody hands clasped firmly behind her back. She eyed the envelope warily. It was a ploy though. She would do it, she already knew she would. Just like she knew that by giving him that look he would ask no questions and he would leave the envelope on the table where she could read it¡¯s contents at her own leisure later.

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    After some time Murphy did just as she predicted. He gave her a slight bow and placed the envelope on the coffee table. With a slightly crooked smile he remarked, ¡°Right, well, think it over. I¡¯ll let you rest now.¡± Once more he checked his watch, then suddenly seemed in even more of a hurry to leave.

    Stella kept her front toward him and her hands behind her back as he swept briskly past, giving her another smile as he went. She watched him go with a curious frown. Then, ignoring the envelope, she went to the sink to wash her hands.

    She was barely done drying them when there came a knock at her door. She stashed the knife beneath the sink without a thought.

    She knew who it was this time.

    She wished she did not. She wished he would just turn around an go away, at least for today. But it was too late. He already knew she was here. She tried to quiet her mind anyway, suppress her thoughts until only the mundane remained.

    She opened the door.

    ¡°Gabby.¡±

    ¡°Stella.¡±

    ¡°I thought you were heading back to the city?¡±

    He swept in and closed the door behind himself. He was taller than her, and stronger, and he could read her mind. His hair was a dark blonde, almost brown but not quite. He kept it tidily pulled back into a low ponytail. His eyes were blue, deeper and darker than Coal¡¯s. But Stella intentionally did not think of Coal when she was with Gabby. She loved Coal too much for that. But she could not have him. Their future was set in stone and he had better options than her anyway. Of that she was certain. For Coal and her, in the future lay only tragedy. Gabriel¡¯s was more uncertain and the gods help anyone else who caught his eye.

    ¡°Did you hope I had?¡± he asked. There was a slight accusatory tone there.

    Stella was tired. Some days she loved Gabby. He¡¯d had a rough life. He tried to be better, truly he did and some days he was wonderful and lovely and the kindest person ever. He had strong opinions and Stella loved to hear them. On the good days he could talk for hours and Stella was content to just listen. Not that he ignored her, but he never asked too much. On the good days she felt they were making progress. But on other days, on the bad days, he did not ask, he just took. On those days Stella figured it was better her than someone else. But today, today she was just tired.

    ¡°No, of course not.¡± To give her mind something to focus on, other than the lie, so that he would not see it, she turned and walked back toward the living room.

    She never got there. He grabbed her and he pushed her back up against the wall. Then he pressed himself to her. ¡°Did you miss me?¡±

    ¡°Of course I missed you.¡± Her voice was hollow. Stella¡¯s thoughts and self retreated deep inside, so far in she went until she felt she was no longer there at all but on the outside looking down. He could not read her here. She separated herself from her surface mind. All that remained was a singular focus on her physical surroundings. The way his hands gripped so tight they burned her skin. Pain kept her grounded. The mundane kept her safe. She studied the blonde stubble on his chin, a day overgrown but not unkempt yet, all perfectly even. He was a handsome man with etched features, like someone had crafted his face perfectly. Pretty to look at and Stella did so easily and without feeling.

    She did not give in to him completely though. That would not be good for either of them. She let him kiss her and then she tried to pull away. With a shake of the head she said, ¡°I always miss you, but I¡¯ve had a long day. I need to rest. Perhaps another day.¡±

    She made it as far as the edge of the kitchen this time. He let her go and then he followed her. He spun her and he pressed her against the island counter. It dug into her back hard and he pushed her there so fast that for a moment Stella was breathless.

    ¡°But I want to see you today.¡± He leaned back and he studied her fully. He drunk in every inch of her.

    And for a moment Stella hesitated. He wanted her. She liked being wanted. So much of her early life she had never been good enough but here and now with this it was so easy. And Gabby too knew what it was like to not be appreciated. But if she conceded then he would stay and she would get no rest. And she needed to rest. She really needed to rest. Right now she just wanted to be alone.

    She tried to pull away again. ¡°A-another day.¡± She manged to move a few inches to the side. But Gabby overpowered her. Not just physically. She could feel him trying to get a grasp on her mind. But in there she kept hidden while he hunted.

    ¡°I know you want me. I can see it,¡± he insisted.

    Stella¡¯s heart beat faster. Maybe it would be easier, quicker, if she just let him have it. But then she would hate herself tomorrow. ¡®No,¡¯ she thought at him. ¡®I do not want to. Not now. Not today. I just want to... I need to rest. Let me go. Please.¡¯

    ¡®Liar.¡¯ She heard the words, echo in her mind. Not her words. With some force he thrust his hand deep down the front of her skirt. The waistband was not very stretchy and the zip and the back bit into her skin so tight she was afraid he would rip it.

    ¡®No, please.¡¯

    His fingers were cold down there. Stella tried to turn her face as he pressed his lips to the side of hers.

    ¡°Gabriel.¡± Another voice. Someone else in the apartment. A woman. Bambi.

    She spoke his name in a cool acknowledgement. Ice cool. Like the inside of the antarctic deep beneath the surface of the sea, somewhere that hadn¡¯t seen the sun since long before man first learned to walk. The sort of tone that could chill skin right off the bone.

    He removed his hand from within Stella¡¯s skirt and he stepped away so he could face Bambi front on.

    Bambi stood there looking calmly up at him from several feet away.

    ¡°I need to talk to Stella.¡± That same tone again. It was neither request nor negotiation.

    Stella hadn¡¯t heard her come in. She tired to not think about how she felt about this whole situation. Some things were better not to think about.

    For a moment Gabriel appeared to be sizing Bambi up but Stella knew that he would go now. She could see that, just like she could see how any fight between the two of them might end. She let that premonition rise to the surface of her thoughts, laid it bare where she knew Gabriel would notice it. Bambi was unbeatable. If he stayed Bambi would be his doom.

    He stiffened. Then he inched, foot by foot, as one might side step around a venomous python, and backed away slowly without removing his eyes from Bambi until he was out of the apartment.

    Bambi watched him leave. Then she turned to Stella.

    Stella did not meet her eyes.

    After awhile, in a soft voice and without mention of anything that had just happened, Bambi spoke. ¡°Go rest, catch up on your visions. He won¡¯t be back anytime soon.¡±

    Finally Stella looked up and met her eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t hurt him.¡±

    She thought she saw a muscle twitch in Bambi¡¯s jaw, then Bambi replied, ¡°I won¡¯t touch him.¡±

    Stella was too smart not to see the loophole in that. She gave Bambi a pleading look.

    Bambi sighed. ¡°Or mindwalk him.¡±

    Stella nodded.

    ¡°Get some rest,¡± Bambi told her.

    ¡°Are you staying?¡± Stella asked, even though she already knew the answer.

    ¡°I have an errand to run.¡±

    Stella nodded and headed toward her bedroom. Without turning around she asked, ¡°How did you know?¡± She didn¡¯t need to explain what the question was referring to.

    ¡°Murphy mentioned that you might have an unwelcome visitor.¡±

    ¡°He was here before too.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    Stella finally turned to face her. ¡°Do you think they¡¯ve met?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, Murphy only phoned me half an hour ago.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t think he¡¯ll hurt him do you?¡±

    ¡°No comment. Go rest and maybe you¡¯ll be able to tell me.¡±

    Stella hesitated.

    ¡°He said he had somewhere to port to and won¡¯t be back for a few days.¡±

    Stella relaxed and nodded. She had time and she was so very tired.

 Volume 3, Chapter 19: Interference

    Bambi watched as Stella disappeared into her bedroom, a place she would not emerge from for several days. Stella would not sleep so much as she would enter into a form of low energy trance, a kind of hibernation almost. While in this trance she would explore at rapid speed the paths that the future could take and when she awoke she would be calm and clear-headed.

    Murphy was waiting for Bambi when she left the building.

    ¡°I thought you had somewhere to be?¡±

    He shook his head and kicked off the wall to join her on her walk. ¡°I was just avoiding meeting Gabriel. I can¡¯t get too close to him. It¡¯s not safe.

    Bambi slowed down her pace slightly. ¡°He read your mind?¡±

    ¡°Something like that. It didn¡¯t go so well.¡±

    She gave him a sideways glance unsure if he meant for Gabriel or himself. She didn¡¯t really want to know. She tried to stay out of his head. Instead she fanned out, searching in every other head in the vicinity for those who had seen which direction Gabriel had gone.

    ¡°You promised Stella you¡¯d leave him alone. The Bambi I know always keeps her promises.¡±

    ¡°No, I told Stella I wouldn¡¯t touch him or mindwalk him.¡±

    ¡°There are other options, but none that end well. Trust me, he¡¯ll get what¡¯s coming to him but it won¡¯t be by us, and it won¡¯t be yet, not for quite some time.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t see what he was about to do to her.¡±

    ¡°I know what he was he was doing, what he¡¯s done, but you still can¡¯t touch him, in the non-literal definition of the word.¡±

    ¡°Why is he so important?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not but it works out better this way, trust me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re an arse.¡±

    ¡°Noted. Leave Gabriel alone.¡±

    She spun to face Murphy and the pair of them stood there in the street staring at each other. ¡°I don¡¯t get what this next task is meant to accomplish.¡±

    ¡°You could read my mind if you want to know.¡±

    Bambi shook her head and started walking again. She wouldn¡¯t, not that deep. When it came to Murphy, some things she didn¡¯t want to know.

    Murphy waited and then jogged a short way to catch up. ¡°Sometimes you do you know.¡±

    ¡°Do I?¡± Bambi gave him a doubtful look.

    Murphy replied with a dashing smile and a secretive glint in his eye.

    ¡°You mean the other Bambi¡¯s?¡±

    ¡°You know, you¡¯re my favorite Bambi.¡±

    Bambi glanced at him again and immediately regretted it. That darn smile. ¡°I bet you say that to all the girls,¡± she replied dryly, but once again he had managed to completely disarm her. Pushing aside her own icky feelings about all the alternate realities and timelines she dipped into his mind, just a little way and she could see how he wanted it to be, the world that is. She could see the things he wanted to avoid, and that was enough for her to trust him. But then she made the mistake of going just a little further.

    ¡°You slept with her?!¡±

    ¡°Amanda?¡± he replied. At her look he continued. ¡°Oh, yes, but that was a lifetime ago, another world, one in which Sirius died. It¡¯s important that never happens by the way. It¡¯s not good for anyone. His dying.¡±

    Bambi sighed. It had been a lifetime ago, several in fact. She could see that just like she could see how much she featured across all his lives. She pulled herself back out of his thoughts. The idea of other versions of her that she had no experience of being wigged her out. Their relationship was not a normal one, that was obvious. She knew he hadn¡¯t lived every life with her, just as she didn¡¯t spend every hot and steamy night she had with him. Of course, with her schedule she didn¡¯t find much time for dating so most of her dalliances were bought and paid for at a discrete fancy little club in Mercy. Given her tastes, it also made finding a compatible partner a hell of a lot easier in addition to removing any chance of an awkward morning after. She liked the no strings attached. Except for Murphy. Murphy was a giant tangled ball of yarn, and she was caught up in him like a newborn kitten. Despite everything she still loved him and he loved her, and he had for quite some time, a lot more than several lifetimes. So she skipped over the small issue of sex with another woman to something far more important.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you make her a guardian?¡±

    Murphy started rapidly shaking his head. ¡°I did. Once, maybe twice. Bad idea. Very very bad idea. I get the reason the sorcerers have their tests you know. The first rule of the guardian¡¯s is non-interference. We do only that which is absolutely necessary.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s bullshit and you and I both know it.¡±

    ¡°Okay, look, I¡¯ll admit sometimes I get a little bored or I take a break, but my goal is and has always been the preservation of this world.¡±

    ¡°You said she was a descendant of the original guardians? The ones who split the world. So surely-¡±

    ¡°What? No I didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You said it just the other day. It¡¯s why we need her blood.¡±

    Murphy looked baffled.

    ¡°For the spell.¡±

    ¡°What? No...¡±

    She paused in her walking and put her hands on her hips. ¡°When did you last jump?¡±

    Murphy checked his watch. ¡°About an hour ago.¡±

    Bambi let that sink into her own brain for a moment before she started walking again. ¡°And our meeting at that bar in Mercy was how long ago for you?¡±

    ¡°Um, awhile.¡±

    Against her better judgement Bambi read his mind to find out how long ¡®awhile¡¯ was. The answer was longer than she¡¯d been expecting.

    ¡°So she¡¯s not a descendant of the guardians and we don¡¯t need her blood?¡±

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    ¡°No, we still do, and I don¡¯t know, she might be, or she might not be. I got some bad info from a guy. Them back alley places you know. The guy actually turned out to be a great stand-up comedian though and not too bad at karaoke.¡± He shot her a smile. ¡°Either way, whether she is or she isn¡¯t doesn¡¯t matter. She¡¯s powerful and she¡¯s not a sorcerer so it works out well. Plus there¡¯s the matter of Lily.¡±

    ¡°So the plan hasn¡¯t changed?¡±

    ¡°No, well, there¡¯s a few kinks I still need to work out, my guy wasn¡¯t wrong about everything, but it¡¯ll be fine. And powerful or not, no matter how young that woman gets recruited she makes for a terrible guardian.¡±

    ¡°How young? You didn¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± he confirmed. ¡°I can¡¯t. She¡¯s almost our age. I¡¯d be a kid, limited memories then.¡± He paused. ¡°Anyway, I haven¡¯t been back that far in quite some time. It¡¯s more that I don¡¯t think people really change their spots too much you know. I mean some things do but some things really don¡¯t. She cares too much about her family and she always will.¡±

    Bambi frowned, thoughts going to her own two college aged kids. ¡°I care about my family.¡±

    Murphy shook his head. ¡°Not like that. It¡¯s different and better this way. Trust me.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how you expect us to trust you when you can¡¯t even remember a few days ago let alone...¡± she trailed off with a sigh.

    Murphy turned around and started walking backwards in front of her. He gave her the full physical with his eyes, taking his time like he was looking at something he never wanted to forget. ¡°You were wearing that sexy pantsuit. After we talked we went out for breakfast. I ordered bacon and eggs with extra of both. You said you weren¡¯t that hungry. You ordered a long black and then when the food arrived you ate two of my eggs, one strip of bacon, and half a slice of my toast.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m always wearing a pantsuit,¡± Bambi replied but she couldn¡¯t help the smile creeping up on to her face.

    ¡°And you always eat my eggs. I believe I also compared you to a dog.¡±

    Bambi gave a laugh. ¡°You did,¡± she agreed.

    ¡°See, I don¡¯t forget the important stuff.¡± He spun around so he was walking beside her again. ¡°I didn¡¯t remember the blood thing because it turns out it¡¯s not actually that important. I mean the blood is, but not the related to the original original guardians bit.¡± He waved a hand absently then he stopped walking.

    She stopped and looked at him. ¡°You really are an arse,¡± she told him with a smile.

    He smiled back. ¡°I know.¡± Then he nodded at the building they¡¯d stopped in front of. ¡°Don¡¯t mess up.¡±

    With another, this time cockier, smile she replied, ¡°When do I ever mess up?¡± She watched him walk backwards off down the street for a bit. He was grinning the whole way doing that thing with his eyes again. Then she turned back toward the building beside her.

    They had passed by the front of the hospital some time ago. This was a side entrance usually reserved for police and professionals of a similar ilk. The sign by the single-sized back door simply read ¡®Morgue.¡¯

    Bambi pushed her way inside. The front desk was empty so after putting on a pair of gloves she leaned over and shifted through some papers hoping to find a roster.

    ¡°Can I help you?¡± a female voice asked a few minutes later.

    She turned to face a tall youngish looking girl with mousy dark blonde hair. The girl was wearing blue scrubs and gloves. Her hair was tied back in a low ponytail. She had a pretty face but a sullen sort of look to her.

    Bambi entered her mind.

    Her name was Ursula Dred and she was an empath. That was unfortunate. Empath minds were always a little harder to make alterations to. They tended to focus more heavily on how things felt rather than just what they thought. Bambi could change thoughts and the mind¡¯s interpretations of what it felt but she could not alter feeling itself. A memory of a strong enough feeling was almost impossible to erase completely. The trick was to make sure that every feeling had a reason for it. The problem was that Bambi could not read what a person actually felt, only what they thought they felt if they thought consciously about it at all. If a person felt emotions that they themselves could not identify or did not at the time consider then they would be beyond Bambi¡¯s ability to even notice them. But not being able to identify them didn¡¯t mean they wouldn¡¯t be able to later and if inconsistencies were noticed then the person might start to pick at their memories a little closer. For the most part regular people tended to brush small inconsistencies off but to empaths, emotions were far more important, and small inconsistencies had a much greater impact.

    So what was this girl likely feeling?

    Bambi could not read an emotional assessment in her mind so she had to guess. Likely there was some curiosity given the girl¡¯s thoughts. ¡®Who was this person? Why were they reading the papers on the desk?¡¯ Perhaps there was some suspicion? For a regular person Bambi could have wiped herself from their thoughts completely and they wouldn¡¯t have thought much of it but an empath would notice the nuance between curiosity about a sound that turned out to be nothing versus how they might feel if they actually saw a person. So instead of removing herself Bambi altered what she looked like and since she didn¡¯t want Ursula to remember her reaching over the desk and searching through papers, Bambi also made the new version of herself a little more suspicious looking in itself but nothing too outlandish or off putting.

    The person in the girl¡¯s mind would ask a simple question. They were looking for someone, a relative. They¡¯d been told to come here by mistake.

    The question Bambi actually asked was, ¡°Who¡¯s on duty Thursday night?¡± She waited for Ursula to think of her answer before swapping it with the fake question.

    Before she¡¯d even considered opening her mouth to reply Bambi was already reading through other parts of her mind, getting to know her better. Learning what her typical responses were along with any other useful information. She lived in the suburbs to the south. She owned four cats, all rescues. She liked reading fantasy stories and making cosplay outfits of the characters. She lived alone but had recently gone on a date with a lovely fellow who worked as a vet¡¯s assistant but she kept putting off calling the guy back, even though she liked him and he¡¯d already left a message about going to the movies. She often worked nights. She didn¡¯t really like people. The emotions of even small crowds overwhelmed her because she was not a very good empath.That last piece of information was a very useful thing for Bambi to know. It meant she didn¡¯t need to be quite so careful. She would be anyway but it did help her relax which meant this Ursula would also be a little more relaxed and less on edge. Her empath abilities would likely still pick up some of Bambi¡¯s emotions but a large part of going through sorcery school was learning to suppress things like that. Perfect for the rest of this plan because the next bit was quite difficult.

    Since Ursula was the one who was going to be on duty, Bambi could enact the entire plan here. Given what Bambi needed Ursula to do was also to occur here, this was very good thing. Making people do things was relatively easy for Bambi. Making them do them at some point in the future, a little less so.

    Want someone to hold the door open? Easy. Have them give her their seat on public transport? No problem. Make them walk out the 10th floor window of a building or shoot their boss? Piece of cake. It wasn¡¯t so much the now that mattered. It was the in between. Making someone do something at some point in the future was all fine and dandy if they could walk around like a zombie until then. It did get harder the further ahead the thing was but the really really difficult thing was to make them do something in the future but act completely normal and not remember anything until then. This was known as priming and it usually required a trigger. In Bambi¡¯s case, since she wouldn¡¯t be there, she needed things in the event to be the trigger themselves. This was much easier when one knew how the event would play out which thanks to Murphy, Bambi did.

    Bambi spoke aloud what she wanted the girl to do in addition to manipulating and priming her mind. The hearing of the instructions sometimes helped cement them in the brain.

    ¡°On Thursday night a red-headed woman is going to come in here and ask to see a body.¡± Bambi inserted the person Ursula would see into her thoughts, stashed away in a corner which would be accessed only once the woman was seen. ¡°You are going to take her to the body and then you are going to leave her alone and not return no matter what you hear. You will not see her for the rest of the night because you will not feel very well so you will go home early. When you next come in for work you won¡¯t remember anyone ever being here on Thursday night and you will remember that you finished your shift only a few minutes shy of home time. And you are going to call that boy back and go to the movies with him. Understand?¡± The question also helped cement the actions in the mind.

    Ursula nodded.

    ¡°Good. Now I am going to leave. As the door swings shut you will remember having sent a man who was looking for someone on his way and no more than that until you see the red-headed woman in this room. Now, thank you for your help.¡± Bambi twisted the girl¡¯s thoughts, compressed and altered them, packaged them up until they looked smooth and normal, untouched unless one dug really deep. Bambi didn¡¯t not expect any other mindwalker to search around in Ursula¡¯s thoughts but she left nothing to chance. Only a really good sorcerer would find any trace of her here and only if they knew where to look first. No one would. To most of the world, Bambi Smith did not exist.

 Volume 3, Chapter 20: Bloody Nightmare

    Cat returned back to her garage. She had considered going back to Baz¡¯s to ask him where Natasha¡¯s body was buried. She figured he¡¯d show her. He knew she was smart enough not to visit it too often or do something stupid like leave flowers on it or anything else that might mark it as an obvious grave. Not that anyone would look for her. People disappeared from Little Rock all the time, aristocrats no less than any other. Her position in this world actually made it less likely any of the local police would investigate, not unless someone specifically asked them to. But no one would. If some other aristocrat missed her, well they had their own ways of dealing with things like that. Cat would ask Baz later. Besides she¡¯d just told him about the pregnancy and she figured they both needed some time to ponder the implications of it, or to avoid pondering them, as Cat was so apt at doing.

    She threw herself back into her work with vigor. It gave her mind something else to focus on and the physical work was calming. She got so wrapped up in what she was doing that the next thing she knew it was well after dinner time and everyone else had gone home. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she¡¯d forgotten to eat lunch.

    She left her tools where they were, mostly out of the way but easy to pick up again, locked up the shop, and then trooped upstairs to wash the oil off her hands and set about making dinner. She threw a steak in a pan and fried some veges, nothing fancy. She considered fancy sauces a waste of money. She didn¡¯t even bother with salt, she couldn¡¯t taste much of a difference when she added it and she lacked the skills to know what or when to mix to get the different flavours. She could taste the difference when Baz cooked things but how he did it was a mystery to her. She mostly just ate for sustenance anyway.

    Once she was done eating she retired to her own room. She didn¡¯t bother with a wash, she wasn¡¯t that greasy and she¡¯d probably head out for a run or to the gym in the morning anyway. She sat on top of the bed, cross-legged, left with little to think about now but for the events of the day. She wasn¡¯t tired but she should sleep if she wanted to run before the sun got too high tomorrow, not that it mattered much, now the elemental festival and all the crowd that had come with it had left town the temperature of the days had dropped significantly, enough to not be walking around without a jacket anymore. There was one sure fire way to make Cat tired, and that was using magic. Dreamwalking in particular had the side effect of making one feel extra drowsy, plus it would be useful. She could take another look for their lost dreamweaver, and without Wolf staring at her asking questions or making suggestions every five minutes.

    She lay back and closed her eyes. She could dreamwalk standing up but lying down was easier, she didn¡¯t need to keep half her mind distracted by the waking world. Mist clouded in around her and moments later she found herself in a familiar place. The dreamworld could become whatever she wanted to make of it. There was darkness and demons hidden out there in the fog but Cat knew enough to keep them away, or at least how not lure them closer. Tonight she didn¡¯t make her surroundings into much of anything. She let the fog shift around her and settle near her feet and she listened. She couldn¡¯t explain how it worked but if she paid enough attention she could feel the others who were sleeping. The longer she listened the further she could reach, right out over the town. Keeping track of time was difficult in here but she wasn¡¯t worried. She had all night.

    She floated about, almost like she was flying across the town, a town coated in thick fog. She dipped down and close to some sleepers but nothing seemed out of sorts. It was all based on feeling and of course this town was too big to search all at once. The things in the dark could hide from her just as well as she could hide from them. She could look more actively, send out a beacon of sorts and see what responded but she really didn¡¯t want to draw that much attention to herself. There were worse things than dreamweavers out here and a detailed search was impossible to do quickly. A proper good search of the town would have taken weeks for someone like Cat and would have been extremely draining. Plus there were places she just couldn¡¯t look. She found her way to approximately where she thought the Milton house might be, but she couldn¡¯t be certain. Time and space didn¡¯t always work as one thought in this place, especially as one drifted further from one¡¯s own body. There were also spells that would keep dream creatures, including dreamwalkers like herself, from getting too close. She couldn¡¯t see anything where the house was supposed to be but that wasn¡¯t unexpected.

    She travelled to Baz¡¯s next, a much more familiar location, but she couldn¡¯t sense him. He probably wasn¡¯t asleep right now. Feeling like she¡¯d looked the best she could, despite still coming up empty handed, she pulled herself back awake. It had been quite the trip. Visiting even one dreamer was enough to lower her energy levels. Feeling much more tired than she had before, she kicked off her jeans, threw her top and bra onto the floor, and slipped in among silk sheets to drift off into an entirely different type of sleep.

    The dreamworld slipped into her unconscious anyway. It often did, especially when she was sleeping alone. Her own mind called it, mixed with it, and summoned visions of horrors and memories she¡¯d rather have forgotten. Sometimes she¡¯d wake up tangled in the sheets or if Baz was there she might find him holding her and whispering reassurances. But other than that he never asked. Always in the morning it was like it never happened. The first time she¡¯d had a nightmare in Zeph¡¯s bed he¡¯d spent the next morning interrogating her, well maybe it had only been a few questions but it had felt like an interrogation, combined with unwanted suggestions. The worst though, was when she found herself back in the dreamworld, fully and completely unintentionally and when her mind pulled things back from it into the waking world.

    Cat had never been skilled enough to transport items via the dreamworld but on occasion she¡¯d accidentally pulled things from it. Something real could be made a dream and something dreamed could be made real. Unfortunately for Cat, the things she made real weren¡¯t usually very nice things.

    She dreamed she was home, her childhood home, the place Amanda and Sirius now called their own. It had been abandoned by her father over 15 years ago, yet another unexplained disappearance, one of the better ones this town had seen. Cat had never understood why her brother would want to live there again. He¡¯d explained that he was making new memories, reclaiming it as his own, rebuilding it, but Cat would rather forget. She had forgotten it for a time, along with the town itself, until she¡¯d been forced back. The town itself was one thing, and she did like Little Rock, or at least her own little corner of it, the garage and the neighbouring race track. She had happy memories here, but that house was another thing entirely.

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    In her dreams the house was empty. For that she was glad, but as she made her way into the room that had once been her parents, the room where her mother had died, and which in the present waking world belonged to her niece Gemma, the far wall vanished. The room itself was empty, taking on neither its appearance in Cat¡¯s memories nor it¡¯s modern day one. Instead she was presented with bare walls and bare floors, and despite being on the second floor the far wall opened into an expanse of green grass which stretched into an eternity.

    It looked pretty enough but Cat was not fooled. Where else was she to go though? Her sleeping mind did not consider other options but to press forward. She did not look back. Soon she found herself in a graveyard. It was no ordinary graveyard though. There were no headstones, but Cat could tell from the look of earth that dead things had been buried here, and some of them not quite so well. She could make out hints of flesh among the dirt and tiny limbs, far too small to belong to an adult. She didn¡¯t look too closely at those. Then she came upon a larger face, one she recognised. Natasha¡¯s. Her body was buried in the dirt, only her face remained above ground. She opened her eyes and croaked out a few words.

    ¡°Cat, help.¡±

    And then she was yanked under, disappearing beneath the soil. Cat felt nothing but distance as if a part of her identified this as not being real even though the active thought never crossed her mind. It was as if she wasn¡¯t the one in control of her emotions. She felt nothing up until when the soil started to shift. It turned and toiled and rolled and waved, almost as if it were a liquid.

    Drowning featured often in Cat¡¯s nightmares. It wasn¡¯t unheard of for a dreamwalker to be killed by one of their nightmares and Cat had regularly wondered if that was how she would one day go, if instead of waking up, she¡¯d suffocate in her own sleep.

    The soil darkened. It splashed against and stained her legs a blood red. She started to sink, and as she sank, the feeling of terror finally hit her, rising up like tidal wave. It pulled her under. Around her she could feel limbs banging into her. Hands grabbed at her feet. Voices whispered her name. Voices that shifted into the sound of a baby crying. Then right as she was sucked down into the darkness she woke up.

    For a moment she was disorientated, unsure of where she was but then she recognised her window and the bright rays of moonlight shining through it. It was a full moon tonight or near enough to and cloudless enough to let the external light brighten the whole room. It took her a few seconds before she realised she was cold and wet. Even her hair clung to the side of her face. The air around her smelt like iron. She¡¯d pulled water from the dreamworld before, woken up to find her mouth full of brine and the sheets and sometimes surrounding floor soaked. It wasn¡¯t common and it only ever got that bad when she was sleeping alone. But this wasn¡¯t water. She could tell that much already.

    Not one to put anything off she reached out and flicked on the light. Her sheets were dark but her skin was not and as she looked down at herself she wasn¡¯t surprised to find her arms were now red. Blood. A lot of it. She touched a hand to her hair and squeezed a few drops from it onto the palm of her hand. Also blood. Carefully she got out of bed and checked herself over for any wounds. She didn¡¯t remember getting injured in this last dream but it had happened before. After dreams where she¡¯d fought monsters she¡¯d woken up with claw marks on her skin in the same place they had scratched her in the dream.

    She grabbed a towel from a nearby drawer and cleaned off the worst of it. She wiped her feet as best she could, not wanting to trail blood throughout the rest of the house. In the bathroom she glanced at her reflection in the mirror. She looked like a walking crime scene. Anyone else would have jumped straight into the shower, but Cat hated even those. She did however, turn the water on full blast, and then she grabbed a washcloth, or several. She pointed the shower head toward the wall so she could stand in the shower without being hit by it. Then from head to foot she cleaned herself up using the washcloths.

    There had been a time when a very young Cat had refused to shower at all. She¡¯d kicked and screamed and her father had broken her arm once trying to force her into the bath. Kids at school had teased her for being smelly and Cat had fought back at them with all the fury of a cyclone. It at least had the benefit of them leaving her alone. None of them dared tease her after that, at least not to her face. They had still whispered. But by the time she¡¯d reached high school Cat had found her own way of doing things that at least allowed her to keep clean. And over time kids had forgotten why they used to tease her but not that they were afraid of her. She¡¯d been branded a wild child, prone to fist fights and injury.

    The boys had gotten over their fear of her faster than the girls had, what with her long legs, vibrant green eyes, and contrasting jet black hair. Cat had eventually made friends of a sort, a mix of boys looking for adventure and kids too weak to stand up for themselves who found in Cat a weird sort of guardian angel. She was the girl who liked any excuse to fight, and bullies were a satisfying target.

    It took her some time to get all the blood out of her hair. It didn¡¯t help that it was so long and thick, falling to her mid back, or that she didn¡¯t like to put her head too near the full blast of the shower. Usually she washed her hair over the sink and only when it really needed it, but there was so much blood everywhere that she thought it best to keep it confined to as few places as possible.

    Once she was fully clean and her hair smelt damply of pine instead of blood, she was faced with how to get the rest of the blood out of her bed and carpet. She briefly thought of calling Baz. Baz could get blood out of anything. It was after all what he spent many of his nights being paid to do. But she still wasn¡¯t quite ready to face him just yet. She had learnt enough from him over the years though. The first thing she did was dump everything that would fit into the bathtub and soak it with cold water. Normally you weren¡¯t supposed to use too much water but given the amount of blood Cat wasn¡¯t worried about spreading it about. Once the colour of the water coming out was more dilute Cat filled the bath and left it to soak a little while longer while she dealt with the mattress. Wolf probably knew a spell to clean things but Cat didn¡¯t really fancy telling him why she needed to get blood out of a mattress. He might not pry as much as Zephyr would but he¡¯d give her that curious look.

    Left with nowhere to sleep other than the couch Cat considered where to go. Not to Baz, not yet. She considered showing up at Zeph¡¯s but he¡¯d have questions and besides it seemed like he¡¯d just started to get over her. She didn¡¯t want a return of the pitiful looks he¡¯d given her after she¡¯d last broken up with him. Why couldn¡¯t he just enjoy the moment without needing more? She had once fequented Wolf¡¯s bed but that had been sometime ago now. She¡¯d been younger then and Wolf wasn¡¯t really one for giving comfort, nor had she particularly enjoyed the sex with him. She could go to a bar and find a nice stranger, one who wouldn¡¯t mind just a night but she didn¡¯t find herself much in the mood for that. So instead, she threw on a pair of jeans, a fitted t-shirt, and a jacket, wandered back downstairs and picked up work on the car right where she had left off. She worked through until the job was finished. And then she climbed back upstairs and fell asleep on her couch, warmed by the comforting rays of the sun.

 Volume 3, Chapter 21: Deadly Dream

    Agatha turned left and then right and stared at her reflection. She didn¡¯t recognise the girl in the mirror. She¡¯d lost several kilograms during her ordeal in the Milton house. A month ago it would have been something she would have welcomed. The other kids at school had teased her mercilessly about her weight and her lack of fitness. They had called her ¡®Fat Agatha¡¯. But there was no joy here. There was too much death and in a strange twist of fate it was the extra pounds that had saved her life. She felt lighter without them, too light, as if she might just float away.

    ¡°Agatha! Dinner!¡± she heard her mother call from down the hall.

    She opened her door and called back, ¡°In a minute.¡±

    Then she sat on her bed. She didn¡¯t really have anything else to do, she just didn¡¯t feel like going to dinner yet. She was so tired. She figured she could sit for a few more minutes.

    ¡°Agatha!¡± her mother called again.

    Her door was still open and she could hear the back and forth whispers that followed. It was probably her father telling her mother to lay off, reminding her that she needed time to recover. Her mother must have listened, because a moment later, she called back gently, ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t feel like eating now. We¡¯ll leave a plate in the fridge for you alright?¡±

    Agatha didn¡¯t answer but that was okay, she knew her parents wouldn¡¯t require one. Instead she lay down on her bed and pulled her knees up. Then she closed her eyes. She was so very tired.

    She found herself lost walking in a mist, a little scared, feeling like there was supposed to be people with her. Beneath her feet she could feel the earth crunch but she couldn¡¯t see where she was walking. Around her in the mist, shadows seemed to dart about, as if there were people out there just trying to keep out of sight.

    ¡°Hello?¡± she called.

    Somewhere up ahead she could just make out the warm glow of orange lights, little spots that reeled her in. Then the music started.

    It was a happy tune, the sort that carnivals play. It reminded her of when she had been younger. Her parents had taken her to the local fair. They¡¯d paid for her to ride the merry-go-round and then afterward when she¡¯d had several goes of that, they¡¯d bought her the biggest ice cream she¡¯d ever seen.

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    As she walked forward, out of the mist appeared something that looked very much like that merry-go-round, only this one appeared to be floating on a pool of water. She wasn¡¯t sure if it was built there or if it was magic holding it up. She just knew she wanted to ride it.

    The fog around her lifted, revealing more exciting rides and booths. There was candyfloss and a clown game and ice cream. It was all so real that she could even smell it. For what felt like hours she ran around and rode all the rides. She played several games, although where she got the tickets to play she was not sure. Every time she looked in her pockets there appeared to be more of them.

    And then she started to feel very very tired and a new feeling washed over her. There was something horribly familiar about all of this. It was almost as if she had been here before.

    It was dark when she awoke. The house was silent. Someone had laid a hand-knitted quilt on top of her for warmth, probably her mother. Despite having obviously been asleep for some time she felt an immense exhaustion and when she tried to get up from her bed she found her legs didn¡¯t quite work. She ended up sitting on the floor of her room breathing heavily for a long time. Eventually she managed to pull herself upright and off the floor.

    She sat back down on her bed and reached for the glass of water on her nightstand. After a long drink that did make her feel a little better she tried to remember. The moment she remembered the merry-go-round with it¡¯s bright lights and fancy plastic ponies, everything else suddenly came rushing back. Not just from tonight but from the other nights, the ones she had spent in that house. She understood the familiarity of it now, of the fog, and magic of that place with it¡¯s infinite tickets that let her go round and round and round until she got so tired. But still she had to keep going round and round and round. But not this time. This time she had woken up and it wasn¡¯t anyone else who had woken her. Why had she woken? Why had it let her go?

    It was a good question because with almost absolute certainty she knew it was still nearby. She could feel it even now.

    In a panic she ran from her room, crying out for her parents.

    ¡°Mum! Dad!¡±

    But no one answered.

    ¡°Mum! Dad!¡±

    She ran into their room. She could see the shape of their bodies under the covers.

    ¡°Mum? Dad?¡± She asked more softly.

    She drew in closer.

    Both of them were lying on their backs. The covers of the bed were moving slowly up and down with their breathing but that did little to assuage her fears.

    ¡°Mummy? Daddy?¡±

    She reached out one hand to poke her father awake

    ¡°Dad?¡±

    He didn¡¯t even stir a little.

    ¡°Dad!¡±

    She poked harder.

    Nothing.

    She tried with both hands shaking each of her parents over and over but they were out for the count. Nothing she did would wake them. She switched on the light and yelled to no avail. She stood staring down at them, at a loss for what to do and they stared right back with wide open unseeing eyes.

 Volume 3, Chapter 22: Childish Gossip

    BANG! BANG!

    ¡°Yeah! Score!¡± Indi cried as she took out another zombie. ¡°Eat that dirt bags!¡±

    Sitting next to her on the couch, her brother Sly raised an eyebrow.

    She looked at him with a grin. ¡°I am so kicking your arse right now.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s no fair,¡± Sly complained. ¡°You¡¯ve played this version before.¡±

    ¡°Too bad so sad!¡± Indi quipped with glee. ¡°Maybe you should try gitting good.¡±

    Sly shook his head in mock sadness. ¡°Whatever happened to the sweet little sister I grew up with.¡±

    ¡°She was kidnapped by goblins and you failed to save her.¡± Indi cried dramatically as she turned back to focus on the screen. ¡°And now she is doomed to defeat all the games.¡±

    ¡°Doomed to defeat?¡±

    Indi nodded sombrely and looked at him with the barely concealed pleasure of one who enjoys a good horror. ¡°I can¡¯t stop playing until I win.¡±

    ¡°Not even to take a break for food?¡± her husband, Falco, inquired from the kitchen.

    Indi¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Oooh, food! I¡¯m starved.¡± She dropped the controller on the couch and leapt up to go and join their daughter Jewel who was sitting at the kitchen island already enjoying a burger packed with a patty, salami, cheese, and gherkins.

    Sly laughed. ¡°You had lunch only a couple hours ago.¡±

    ¡°Even undefeated champions need to take a break occasionally,¡± Indi called back from the kitchen.

    ¡°Can we have a go?¡± This question came from Bree, Sly¡¯s daughter, who was sitting next to Jewel. Unlike Jewel, who was fair haired, Bree had brown hair like her father. It was currently tied back in twin plaits. Both girls had indigo tinted eyes, although they were easily mistaken for blue unlike Sly and Indi whose eyes were much more obviously some kind of purple.

    ¡°Course you can,¡± Sly answered as he joined them at the island.

    Much to Indi¡¯s pleasure, both Sly and Bree had been staying with them over the last few days. She still hadn¡¯t introduced her brother to her friends but that didn¡¯t matter so much, for now she was just happy that she got to spend so much time with him.

    Jewel sighed softly. She wasn¡¯t quite as into computer gaming as Bree was. A lack of enthusiasm she shared only with her father.

    Falco didn¡¯t really understand the appeal of pretending to shoot things on a screen but he knew Indi enjoyed it so he would watch for that reason. It was the bulk of what the two siblings had been doing over the last week. That and watching horror movies. Falco was baffled at how, despite spending most of their time between the couch and the fridge the pair of them, never seemed to gain any weight. That was vampires for you though. He did see Sly go for runs sometimes but the only exercise Indi ever seemed to get was in the bedroom and over half the time she was on her back for that too. He kind of wanted to drag her there now but that wasn¡¯t really an option with everyone else in the room. He¡¯d just have to wait until later. To distract himself he turned to the kids.

    ¡°So, how was school?¡±

    Jewel grinned. ¡°The linguistics teacher got a phone call and burst into tears in the middle of class.¡±

    Sly gave her a concerned look.

    Bree who had also been smiling at this, caught her father¡¯s look and shrunk down on her seat looking a little ashamed. In a quiet voice she explained, ¡°Nobody likes Mrs Kamp. She¡¯s really mean.¡±

    Jewel nodded and continued on with unabated glee. ¡°She was sniffing and wiping her nose on her sleeves and everything.¡±

    Falco narrowed his eyes. Sometimes he was concerned they were raising a monster. He was at least glad to see that Indi looked equally concerned.

    ¡°What was the phone call about?¡± Indi asked.

    Jewel¡¯s eyes lit up like she¡¯d been hoping someone would ask that question.

    Bree at least had the decency to sink a little further down on her seat and look embarrassed at Jewel¡¯s enthusiasm.

    ¡°Her husband was found dead in some motel room in bed with a prostitute,¡± Jewel declared, obviously proud of herself for having found out what the phone call had been about. At the looks everyone was giving her she added as if it were an explanation, ¡°Well he was cheating on her. The filthy man whore got what he deserved.¡±

    Bree shifted uncomfortably and glanced at her father. Evidently she was aware of her own father¡¯s indiscretions.

    Sly took a sip from the cup in front of him and pointedly didn¡¯t look at anyone.

    ¡°Jewel, where did you hear such things?¡± Falco asked, more than a little surprised by her language.

    Even Indi looked surprised, and she often brushed off a lot of Jewel¡¯s more precocious behaviour as the ¡®natural boundary pushing of an intelligent child¡¯. Intelligent she was, that was for sure. Jewel had taken after her father in looks and her mother in brains. She certainly ran rings around Falco and most of her teachers.

    Jewel glanced around at the looks people were giving her with a little more trepidation than before. She widened her eyes and gave her father that innocent look her mother was so good at. ¡°It¡¯s what Mrs Kamp said¡±

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°What? In front of you kids?¡±

    Jewel dropped her eyes. ¡°No. I might have accidentally overheard her talking when she went into the hallway.¡±

    Falco had no doubt that Jewel had been eavesdropping on purpose but he knew if he accused her of it she would just deny it.

    ¡°Jewel...¡± Falco was about to scold her for eavesdropping in general when Indi butted in with a question.

    Leaning forward with a look of curiosity Indi asked, ¡°Were they both dead?¡±

    Falco gave his wife a disapproving look. In front of him he noticed Sly crack a small smile.

    Jewel sat up straighter and the look of glee returned to her face. She nodded eagerly. ¡°And listen to this. They¡¯d been there for days. The only reason they were found was because of the smell.¡± She screwed up her whole face at the thought of it.

    Falco sighed. He was fighting a losing battle.

    Bree actually looked curious too now. ¡°What do you think they died of?¡±

    Jewel shrugged. ¡°I heard Mrs Kamp say they died in their sleep. Some dream monster got them or something.¡±

    Bree hugged herself. ¡°Freaky.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Jewel agreed.

    ¡°Wait, when did this happen?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°Today,¡± Jewel replied with a blank look at her mother.

    ¡°No, no, I mean when did they die?¡±

    ¡°Indi,¡± Falco warned.

    Indi held up a hand to stop him talking but she kept her inquisitive eyes on Jewel.

    ¡°I dunno, a few days ago, a week maybe,¡± Jewel replied.

    ¡°Where did it happen? What motel?¡±

    ¡°Indi!¡±

    Jewel shrugged.

    Indi sat back with a thoughtful look on her face.

    Falco frowned.

    Sly raised on eyebrow.

    ¡°Have you heard of any other things like that happening?¡± Indi asked Jewel.

    Jewel pursed her lips in thought and then shook her head.

    Indi looked almost disappointed.

    But then Bree perked up, ¡°Well there was that whole thing that happened with Agatha.¡±

    Jewel wrinkled her nose in disgust. ¡°You mean fat Agatha,¡± she corrected meanly.

    Her mother ignored her. Her gaze was now fixated on Bree. ¡°What thing?¡±

    ¡°The whole her getting almost eaten by a haunted house thing.¡±

    ¡°Oh right.¡± Indi definitely sounded disappointed this time.

    ¡°And she hasn¡¯t been in school the last couple of days,¡± Bree added.

    ¡°She hasn¡¯t?¡±

    Bree shook her head.

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Bree replied.

    Jewel stifled a yawn.

    Bree, having finished eating, leaned in toward Jewel. ¡°Do you want to go shoot zombies now?¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Jewel replied with only a mildly increased level of interest.

    Both girls jumped down from their seats and headed for the couch.

    Falco crossed his arms and gave Indi a disapproving look.

    Sly busied himself with making a second burger.

    Indi looked at Falco like she¡¯d just had a brilliant idea. She opened her mouth to speak.

    ¡°Indi,¡± Falco repeated in a tone of disapproval again.

    Suddenly she registered how he had spoken. She gave him a confused look. ¡°What?¡±

    He sighed and gestured toward the two girls. In a voice to low for the kids to hear he asked, ¡°Do you really want to encourage that behaviour?¡±

    Indi still looked confused.

    Beside her, Sly chuckled and then immediately tried to pretend like he¡¯d just been clearing his throat.

    Falco sighed. To Sly he said, ¡°Do you have something to add?¡±

    Sly shook his head and resumed a serious expression.

    ¡°What? The eavesdropping?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°And the language, and the happiness that her teacher is crying because her husband died.¡± Falco gave her a look of incredulity.

    ¡°Oh that, she¡¯s just, she¡¯s young. She¡¯ll grow out of it,¡± Indi replied.

    Falco could see that Sly was trying very hard not to laugh, but he did not feel like laughing very much right now himself.

    Sly met Falco¡¯s gaze and his expression changed. Looking at Indi, Sly asked softly, ¡°Why all the interest anyway Ind?¡±

    She glanced in the direction of the couch, presumably to make sure the girls weren¡¯t eavesdropping. ¡°Because they died in their sleep. What if it¡¯s the dreamweaver?¡±

    Falco shook his head. ¡°Neither Cat nor Wolf could find any indications of it.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s not out there,¡± Indi insisted.

    Falco glanced at Sly. He looked thoughtful. Sly was as smart as Indi was and when Falco was with them he always felt a lot like the dumb one in the group. He shook the feeling off. It wasn¡¯t important. What was important was that his family was safe and happy and his daughter grew up learning from good examples. He wasn¡¯t sure that all this focus on tiny loose threads was a good example but on the other hand if it was the dreamweaver and he ignored it that would make him responsible for anyone it hurt. He felt conflicted. He considered Sly at least a little more responsible than Indi was and he wondered what his big brain would think was the best thing to do.

    Sly shrugged. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s worth stopping by this Agatha person¡¯s house? Checking her and her family are okay.¡±

    Indi didn¡¯t look like she liked that idea. ¡°I dunno, I don¡¯t want to bring memories of it all back up if they¡¯re all fine and just trying to move on.¡±

    ¡°She didn¡¯t see you lot when she was in the house though did she? So you wouldn¡¯t need to say anything about it. Just pretend you¡¯re there selling something. Maybe it¡¯ll even give them a sense of normalcy.¡±

    Falco frowned at the suggestion of deception but said nothing.

    Indi seemed to think it over. ¡°I suppose. The only person she saw was Cat. And I could look into the police records to find out about the other case, see if it¡¯s a lead.¡±

    Falco pinched the middle of his forehead. ¡°I¡¯m not going to ask how you have access to the police records.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you should see their security system, it¡¯s a mess.¡±

    Falco didn¡¯t even try this time. He just closed his eyes. When he opened them Sly was smiling at him again.

    At the look Falco gave her next Indi shrugged. ¡°Well, they¡¯re so terrible at their jobs I figure we might as well give them a helping hand in exchange for a little information sharing.¡±

    ¡°Involuntary information sharing,¡± Falco chided, but his heart wasn¡¯t in it. At least her goals were noble.

    ¡°I can help,¡± Sly offered.

    Indi grinned.

    And despite all the mess Falco felt content. At least everyone he cared about was happy.

    <hr>

    The next morning Indi was up bright and early at 9:45am. Sly had promised he¡¯d join her on her trip to check in on Agatha and her parents. But when she went downstairs to see if Sly was awake yet, she found all of his stuff gone and a note that simply said,

    ¡®Sorry for leaving so suddenly. Something important has come up and I need to leave town for a few days. Can you please watch Bree for a night or two? Sara should be back to pick her up either Thursday or Friday. Lots of love,

    - Sly¡¯

    Dejected, Indi sat down at the kitchen bar. Lazily her eye line found today¡¯s newspaper. Falco or someone had obviously been reading it because it lay open on the second page. Indi absently scanned the titles of the articles, not paying them much attention until a familiar name and face caught her eye. The title read:

    ¡®Body pulled from Quartz Ridge Lake Identified!¡¯

    ¡°Lake? That¡¯s taking some liberties.¡± Indi frowned. She¡¯d been up to Quartz Ridge before but she¡¯d never actually eaten there. It was expensive even for her tastes. It was largely frequented by sorcerers and aristocrats. But she knew enough to know that the man-made swan sanctuary was no lake. The place was covered in reeds and mud. It was prettier than it sounded, designed to look natural and wild, with winding paths through various gardens which a person could easily get lost in, or as it turned out, hide a body in. Except this one evidently hadn¡¯t been so well hidden. Below the title the article read:

    ¡®The recent discovery of a body at Quartz Ridge has now been identified as Mercy politician, Cornelius O''Hara.¡¯

    A few paragraphs further down was a small photo of the man¡¯s face which Indi recognised as none other than Lily¡¯s father.

 Volume 3, Chapter 23: Responsibility

    ¡°You sure this is going to work?¡± Amanda asked Wolf.

    ¡°Nope,¡± he replied as he reached for the necklace Amanda was holding out for him. A tiny silver cat on a silver chain. ¡°It¡¯ll probably go a lot better if you help though.¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°Can¡¯t, gotta get back to the horses. Anyway, I¡¯m not much of a dreamwalker.¡±

    Wolf sighed and studied the dreamwalking infusement Amanda had borrowed from her daughter. He doubted her last statement. Even if Amanda hadn¡¯t done much dreamwalking she¡¯d still done enough and she was naturally talented at magic. Maybe it would be better if he waited to cast this spell. The chances that they¡¯d find the dreamweaver were getting slimmer and slimmer by the day anyway. He should probably just call the search off.

    Amanda started to make a move for the door.

    ¡°Hang on,¡± Wolf called. ¡°Before you go, there was one other thing. I seem to have misplaced a particular necromancy book recently. It¡¯s possible someone may borrowed it.¡± He shook the cat necklace to aid with his hint.

    A stern look came across her face and then she nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll keep an eye out for you.¡±

    ¡°Much appreciated.¡±

    Amanda turned to go then but as she reached for the door to Wolf¡¯s cabin, the handle twisted on it¡¯s own.

    Then the door opened.

    ¡°Oh my gods guys! You¡¯ll never believe what I just saw in the paper.¡± Indi stood on the door step.

    ¡°Hey Indi,¡± Amanda greeted her.

    Indi responded by wrapping her in a tight hug.

    Wolf was glad he was too far away to have the life squeezed out of him.

    ¡°Whatcha'' doing here Indi?¡± Amanda asked once Indi released her.

    ¡°Well I phoned your house but you weren¡¯t home but your kids said you were here. Look at this!¡± Indi held up a newspaper and then threw it down on the table.

    Wolf sighed and waited for Amanda to read it and one of them to summarise it for him so he didn¡¯t have to move.

    ¡°Cornelius O''Hara,¡± Amanda read aloud. ¡°Lily¡¯s father?¡± She looked up and caught Wolf¡¯s eye.

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Indi exclaimed

    ¡°What about him?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°They found his body in the swamp up at Quartz Ridge,¡± Indi answered before Amanda could. She sounded far too happy about the whole thing.

    Amanda was wearing a frown. ¡°What do you think happened to him?¡± She looked at Wolf for the answer.

    He replied, ¡°I¡¯ll give you three guesses but I¡¯ll bet you only need one.¡±

    ¡°Coal.¡±

    ¡°No way!¡± Indi cried. ¡°Why would Coal kill him?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s got a point,¡± Wolf replied contemplatively. ¡°He was a client.¡±

    ¡°A client on a job that went sideways,¡± Amanda explained with a shrug. ¡°Either he¡¯s cleaning up loose ends now he¡¯s been paid or he¡¯s paying the guy back for not being straight with him about what the job was.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe Coal didn¡¯t know,¡± Wolf replied. Then after a moment¡¯s thought he sighed. ¡°It¡¯s not like him to have a body resurface though.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not,¡± Amanda agreed.

    ¡°I think you guys are jumping to conclusions,¡± Indi told them. ¡°Anyway that¡¯s not the only thing I came here to tell you about. I think I have a lead on the missing dreamweaver.¡±

    That got Wolf¡¯s attention. He sat up straighter. ¡°What? Where?¡±

    ¡°About a week ago there was a suspicious death that could be the work of the dreamweaver.¡±

    Wolf slumped. With another sigh he replied, ¡°That¡¯s too long ago Indi.¡±

    She frowned and actually managed to look a little annoyed for once, an unusual look for Indi. ¡°But it might still be nearby.¡±

    ¡°Unlikely, they move around.¡±

    ¡°Not that much, I mean you¡¯re still looking for it in town right? So maybe if we go to where it last was and do whatever-¡± she gestured at the books and ingredients spread out on the table ¡°-then we might find a hint of it.¡±

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Amanda cocked an eyebrow at Wolf. The look said ¡®worth a shot¡¯.

    Wolf sighed. ¡°Maybe.¡± It wasn¡¯t like he had better ideas.

    Indi grinned. ¡°Also Jewel says Agatha¡¯s been missing from school for a few days so I was thinking we could also stop by her place and just check in on her, make sure she¡¯s okay.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea,¡± Amanda mused.

    Wolf narrowed his eyes at her. He didn¡¯t see the point. Sure, sometimes dreamweavers revisited old victims and once you¡¯d encountered one once the chances of meeting another increased but if the girl hadn¡¯t been visited by it on her first night then it was unlikely it would find her specifically after that wasn¡¯t it?

    Indi clapped her hands together. ¡°Great, you guys want to team up and go check those things out then?¡±

    Amanda gave an apologetic shake of the head. ¡°I can¡¯t. I¡¯ve just go too much to do, but you guys should go. Don¡¯t approach it if you find it though, just try and track it.¡± Amanda emphasised that last instruction at Wolf. Indi was unlikely to follow that kind of instruction. ¡°Phone me if you find it.¡±

    Indi looked sad.

    They said goodbye to Amanda and then Indi turned back to Wolf. ¡°I tried calling Cat but I got no answer. I can try again though, shall I call the others too?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if we want to turn up to Agatha¡¯s with a whole group of people,¡± Wolf objected.

    But Indi was already dialing numbers.

    A few minutes later she was pouting. ¡°I can¡¯t get through to Cat or Kass, Amanda is busy, Sirius is off at sea, I left Falco in charge of the kids. They like to go home for lunch if they have a free period straight after. Zeph said he¡¯d come help though, he¡¯s free until 2 pm. He said he¡¯ll meet us at Agatha¡¯s.¡± She perked up then. ¡°We¡¯ll be like the three musketeers.¡±

    ¡°Three is a better number anyway,¡± Wolf agreed.

    Indi clapped her hands. ¡°We can take my car. Do you need anything for tracking the dreamweaver once we get to the old crime scene?¡± She ran her eyes over the ingredients on the table again.

    Wolf nodded. ¡°Yeah, give me a minute or two and then we can head off.¡±

    A couple minutes later Wolf sat in the passenger seat of Indi¡¯s car while Indi fiddled with the the radio. Upbeat pop funneled out of the speakers. Indi turned the volume down so they could chat while she drove. She was quiet only long enough to get out of the bumpy, almost non-existent road to Wolf¡¯s cabin.

    Then she turned to Wolf and asked, ¡°So, what do you think we should do about the whole Mercy experimental facility thing?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not our problem.¡± Wolf replied simply.

    ¡°No,¡± Indi agreed.

    ¡°What?¡± Wolf glanced over at her with a frown. All of the rest of them always seemed to think everything was their problem. He hadn¡¯t expected Indi of all people to agree with him. Not with the way she was constantly sticking her nose into things. But then her tone was a little off.

    ¡°But it could be.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Wolf repeated.

    She spoke carefully but optimistically. ¡°You¡¯re right, technically it isn¡¯t our problem. We could do nothing and that would be perfectly okay. It¡¯s enough, to live, and see, and experience the world and never help anybody.¡±

    Wolf frowned. She had his full attention. Half of him was expecting a ¡®but,¡¯ except the way she spoke was as if she truly believed every word, not a hint of sarcasm. She¡¯d even smiled at that last word.

    Indi continued. She took a hand off the wheel briefly to wave it. ¡°To just do no harm you know. We¡¯re not responsible for anyone but ourselves, but also if we wanted we could do something and as long as we¡¯re careful about not making things worse then it feels good to help. Don¡¯t you want to help other people Wolf?¡± She glanced at him briefly before focusing her attention back on the road.

    Wolf sighed. He liked the way she said it and he did want to help others but there were so many others that it was almost a fruitless prospect, and it often seemed that whatever he did, there was always some hidden cost. It was far better, far safer, to keep one¡¯s nose to oneself. Just look at all the trouble Indi was regularly in. And yet something about the hope in her eyes and the lack of judgement almost made him want to try again. ¡°Sure. I want to help.¡±

    ¡°But?¡±

    Wolf had hoped she¡¯d leave it at that, take it as a yes, but it seemed she had sensed his hesitation.

    ¡°But nothing ever works out the way you want it to,¡± he explained. ¡°There¡¯s always consequences, and when you meddle then you are responsible.¡±

    Indi thought on it. She pursed her lips together, something she often did when she was thinking. Wolf found it annoying. Somehow it made her look cute. On anyone else he was sure the expression would have looked stupid.

    ¡°Only if you intend for them to happen,¡± she replied.

    ¡°So your argument is no one¡¯s responsible for anything?¡±

    ¡°Well, no...¡± She frowned and bit her lower lip.

    ¡°So, if someone gets in a car and drives drunk and hits and kills a child, they¡¯re not responsible?¡±

    ¡°No, I mean, it depends, if they intended to drive drunk.¡±

    ¡°They were drunk when they made that decision,¡± Wolf replied. He wasn¡¯t sure why he felt the need to debate with her on this. It wasn¡¯t helping solve their problems, but somehow it seemed important that he not lose this argument.

    ¡°Well, I mean, then that would be manslaughter not murder so... unless they¡¯d done it before, in which case they should know better and we¡¯re back to them having intent.¡± Indi nodded like she¡¯d just figured out a puzzle.

    Wolf wasn¡¯t done. ¡°What if someone killed a whole bunch of people with the intent to bring his family back from the dead but instead he creates zombies that kill a whole bunch more people? Is that person responsible for what the zombies they created do then?¡±

    Indi thought carefully before answering. Her face was solemn, serious now. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t think the ends justify the means so the sacrificing is bad regardless. But as to the zombies killing people, no, I don¡¯t think he¡¯s responsible for that part.¡±

    ¡°And if we know about the zombies and we do nothing to stop them are we not responsible for them?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Then who is?¡±

    ¡°Why does anyone have to be?¡± Indi spoke a little louder and faster now. She was obviously frustrated. Then she took a deep slow breath and seemed to calm herself. She glanced at him then focused on the road, waiting for his reply. Confident in her own assertion.

    Wolf sighed. He didn¡¯t know the answer to that, he just felt that someone had to be. But there was, he felt, an awful lot to be responsible for, if the blame fell on the ones who did nothing. What was the point in trying if you ended up responsible either way? There was, he had to admit, something freeing about Indi¡¯s point of view. He couldn¡¯t quite shake the feeling that someone had to be responsible though, that it was right and better that way but he also appreciated that Indi had no expectation or judgement of him. That he could choose either option, as long as his intent was not ill-formed, and she would never hate him for it. There was something comforting about that. He could not quite view the world as she did, nor did he expect that many people did, but sometimes he wished he could.

 Volume 3, Chapter 24: Prey

    Wolf was silent for the rest of the drive and to her credit Indi didn¡¯t say anything more either until they¡¯d pulled up in front of Agatha¡¯s house at the edge of suburbia.

    ¡°There¡¯s Zeph,¡± Indi remarked as they stepped out of the car. She gave Wolf such a vibrant smile that it made him think she¡¯d already forgotten their conversation in the car.

    ¡°Hey guys,¡± Zephyr greeted them as he came over. He was dressed in jeans, brown boots, and that woolen grey jersey he was so fond of.

    Indi wrapped him tightly in a hug. He hugged her back before the two separated and then both turned to look at the house.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s our game plan here?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°Um,¡± Indi hesitated. Evidently she still hadn¡¯t thought of anything.

    Wolf had no ideas either. He didn¡¯t usually go door knocking. If it hadn¡¯t been for Amanda thinking it was a good idea he probably wouldn¡¯t have come at all.

    But Zephyr was quick thinking in addition to quick on his feet. ¡°We can probably just say it¡¯s a quick welfare checkup, to see how Agatha¡¯s going which is technically what we are doing.¡±

    ¡°What if she doesn¡¯t want to be reminded of it?¡± Indi asked.

    Wolf was half hoping they¡¯d change their mind and then they could go and check out the crime scene, do the spell, which probably wouldn¡¯t find anything, and then he could go back home and... and what? There was still the vase that he was half way though analysing. He¡¯d started another spell running on it this morning. It was currently in a bucket under a draining deer out the back of his cabin. There wasn¡¯t much more to do on that for a few hours yet and he had been planning to get the dreamwalking working better. He had kind of been hoping Amanda would help.

    Zephyr easily set Indi¡¯s worries to rest. ¡°I doubt she¡¯s forgotten and the opportunity to talk about it in a different context often does more good than harm. We just have to be careful what we say. We¡¯ll just ask her how she is and let her do the talking. Reassure her that it wasn¡¯t her fault.¡±

    Wolf¡¯s ears picked up at those words, ¡®wasn¡¯t her fault,¡¯ and at first he thought that was an obvious thing to say but the longer he thought on it the more he wondered about it. The girl had gone into the house after all, someone else¡¯s private abode. Wasn¡¯t it her fault what had happened? Just as it was theirs for letting the dreamweaver out. He frowned and followed Indi and Zephyr up the pathway toward the house.

    They knocked on the door and waited but there was no answer.

    Wolf hung back a little his mind whirring. He thought about the girl in the newspaper clipping, the one he¡¯d left at Cat¡¯s place, he thought about the facility and the experiments, all the videos Indi had shown them, the werewolves that had been there, those who had been sacrificed for the ritual for Lily, the issue with Lily herself and the danger there. He did no doubt that Amanda had told no one about the girl¡¯s regression. Maybe not even Sirius? He glanced at Indi and he was reminded of the man he¡¯d killed to save her life. He didn¡¯t regret that. He was glad she was okay. Glad that someone, even in this world, seemed to find a reason to smile.

    Wolf loved that smile. He hoped she would always be like that. He worried with what they were doing He had almost been too late then. He''d let her go off and she''d almost gotten killed. And Zephyr too. The guy was not meant for work like this. He wanted to help people. He was nothing but kind. Wolf felt if anything happened to them he would be responsible. Neither of them should be out here.

    ¡°Maybe they¡¯re not home,¡± Indi wondered.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± Zephyr frowned. He knocked on the door once more.

    ¡°It is the middle of the day,¡± Wolf reminded them. ¡°They could be at work and school.¡±

    Indi shook her head. ¡°Jewel said that Agatha hadn¡¯t been in school all week.¡±

    ¡°How far apart are they in years?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°Agatha¡¯s a couple years older, but Jewel always knows the school rumors,¡± Indi told him.

    ¡°Well maybe she heard wrong,¡± Wolf suggested. He was more than ready to return to the car and get all of this over with so he could get back to his experiments without having to worry about involving others. Cat and Amanda didn¡¯t count. They could take care of themselves.

    ¡°Their car¡¯s in the garage,¡± Zephyr pointed out.

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°I just checked.¡± Evidently he¡¯d used his abilities to do a quick look in the garage window before they¡¯d even had time to notice him move.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Indi considered it. ¡°Well, maybe they have two cars.¡±

    ¡°In Little Rock?¡± Wolf gave her a look. ¡°Most people don¡¯t even have one car, except Cat and the aristocrats.¡±

    ¡°The aristocats!¡± Indi proclaimed with glee.

    Wolf gave her a questioning look.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°It¡¯s a movie,¡± Indi explained. ¡°And a pun. You know what puns are right?¡± she teased playfully.

    Wolf just sighed.

    Indi cocked her head. ¡°Are you alright Wolf?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Yeah, you do seem a bit not yourself,¡¯ Zephyr remarked

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Wolf told them but he didn¡¯t miss the glance the pair shared with one another, neither of them believed him. ¡°Look they¡¯re obviously not home. We can come back later.¡± Wolf turned and started to walk back down the path.

    Zephyr hesitated. ¡°Something doesn¡¯t feel right.¡±

    Indi nodded in agreement but it didn¡¯t seem like there was much to be done and so they followed Wolf back toward the car.

    They¡¯d gotten maybe half way along the hedge that separated this house from the neighbours when a head suddenly popped up alongside Wolf. He jumped half a mile in the air and swore. Then he glowered at the older looking woman wearing a wide brimmed hat and inwardly cursed himself for letting his guard down.

    ¡°Oh sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to startle you,¡± she remarked. ¡°Are you looking for the Turners?¡±

    ¡°We were just here to check in on their daughter Agatha. See how she¡¯s doing after her ordeal,¡± Zephyr offered. Sometimes providing information netted some in return.

    ¡°It¡¯s such a pity what happened to her, first her being kidnapped like that and now her poor parents. And so young too.¡±

    ¡°Her parents?¡± Wolf asked.

    ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t know?¡± She looked around and then leaned in closer with widened eyes. ¡°They both died, just a few days ago. And it was Agatha that found them of course. Oh my heart bleeds for her.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d they die?¡± Indi asked.

    She shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Heart attacks I suppose. I heard they went in their sleep. That¡¯s some consolation at least.¡±

    ¡°The both of them at the same time?¡± Wolf asked.

    The lady shrugged. ¡°Well why not, happens to animals. There¡¯s that one deer I once read about that kills itself if its mate dies. Maybe one of them sensed the other¡¯s death and that was it, or they woke up and got a shock. It¡¯s just a pity they left the poor kid, what with all she¡¯s been though.¡±

    ¡°Do you know who she¡¯s staying with now?¡± Zephyr asked.

    The lady shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I wouldn¡¯t a clue. With relatives I¡¯d guess.¡±

    ¡°Well, thank you for you time anyway,¡± Zephyr told her.

    ¡°Your¡¯e welcome. I was just out here doing some gardening when I saw you coming down the path.¡± She raised a hand and stroked a plant. They watched as right before their eyes the bush grew more vibrant and lively. ¡°Are you with child services?¡±

    ¡°Oh, no we¡¯re an independent company. Child therapy. Someone probably forget to update us on her status.¡± Zephyr told her. It wasn¡¯t exactly a lie. Some of his patients were teenagers.

    ¡°Oh.¡± She nodded and seemed to relax a whole lot more. ¡°I used to work for the council, in accounts.¡± She hook her head. ¡°So trust me I know how bad they are at notifying different departments of changes in things. And external contractors even worse.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, thank you very much for your help. We¡¯ll let you get back to your gardening.¡±

    The lady nodded again, gave them a smile and then disappeared among her plants.

    Indi remarked to the other two with a frown, ¡°There¡¯s no way they both died of a heart attack on the same night or even one of them. I looked them up, they were young, not even in their 60s yet. Nobody gets heart attacks until they¡¯re in their second century at least, except humans but that¡¯s only cause they don¡¯t live very long anyway.¡±

    ¡®Well sometimes young people do,¡± Zephyr replied with some hesitation. He glanced at the bushes where the neighbour had disappeared. Then he pulled them away and added. ¡°Two at once is a bit weird though.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s got to be the dreamweaver. It has to be,¡± Indi exclaimed, ¡°Right Wolf?¡±

    ¡°Huh? Oh right, yeah.¡± Wolf nodded.

    Zephyr frowned at him. ¡°You sure you¡¯re alright, Wolf?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I was just thinking.¡± He had been thinking, thinking about how he¡¯d almost given up on searching for the thing. He had that infusement that Amanda had brought him this morning but he¡¯d intended that to be his last attempt, and he hadn¡¯t really expected it to work anymore than the previous failed attempts but now he was certain that it was still in town, and killing people. Was this his fault? Maybe if he¡¯d just tried a little harder earlier? ¡°Indi, when did you say those other people died?¡±

    ¡°Um, so a day or two ago I guess. This one wasn¡¯t in the police system. The other one was.¡± She nodded at Agatha¡¯s house. ¡°Do you think Agatha¡¯s in danger?¡±

    ¡°Not if we can find the dreamweaver,¡± Wolf told her, ¡°But that makes this the most recent crime scene.¡± He followed Indi¡¯s eye line back toward the house.

    ¡°So should we start looking for it here?¡± Zephyr asked.

    Wolf could hear the hesitation in his voice. A slight shakiness, and he was reminded again how neither of those two were really cut out for this kind of thing. Both of them were too nice for this. But he hadn¡¯t brought any blood. Not that it was strictly necessary. A talented witch could cast using an infusement directly and if what Amanda had said was true even without the raw infusement magic as long as they had an infusement itself. Wolf wasn¡¯t sure how she had achieved that and he was no witch either, although even for a witch, using a separate blood supply was far safer and far easier. The separate blood supply defined spell-craft but other than safety and power it wasn¡¯t that different from using an infusement on its own was it? Truth was he didn¡¯t really know. He¡¯d observed differences. He¡¯d heard stories. But even now he wasn¡¯t really sure how it worked. He was half convinced that some infusements were made with spare energy stored within them which would imply using them was a form of spell-craft or blood magic and not just infusement magic. One thing he did know was that magical talent mattered and he didn¡¯t think any of the three of them had enough of it. He certainly didn¡¯t and Indi was only half witch herself. None of them were very experienced. But he didn¡¯t want to disturb Amanda now, as much as he¡¯d been hoping she¡¯d help. She¡¯d killed a client¡¯s unicorn and she was busy trying to wrangle him a replacement from another breeder in exchange for what work he wasn¡¯t sure but she had seemed pretty stressed this morning.

    Indi interrupted his thoughts. She clapped her hands together. ¡°Shall we do some magic here then? Like a locating spell or something? Like that one we did in the house.¡±

    Wolf frowned. He shook his head. ¡°That spell locates people, not dreamweavers.¡±

    ¡°Okay, how do we locate dreamweavers then?¡±

    ¡°With dreamwalking magic,¡± Wolf replied. He looked between the two of them. Indi looked excited. Zephyr had gone quiet and a little pale.

    ¡°Should we wait for the others?¡± Zephyr asked.

    Indi shook her head. ¡°I already tried calling people and I know Amanda said she was busy. I don¡¯t think we should wait because then it will have been longer since it¡¯s been here, right Wolf?¡±

    ¡°Mmm.¡± He didn¡¯t answer fully. She was sort of right but at the same time it was possible it had already been too long.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°If it¡¯s already been a few days...¡±

    Indi interrupted before Wolf could finish. ¡°Ooooh, what if we lured it to us? Like there must be people who it¡¯s more attracted to right?¡±

    Wolf nodded. She was right but that was also the most dangerous option. He had wanted to find the dreamweaver rather then have the dreamweaver find them. But if it had already killed four people maybe he needed to stop messing about.

    ¡°So who does it go for then? What¡¯s its prey?¡± Indi pressed.

    Wolf answered. ¡°People who have nightmares.¡±

 Volume 3, Chapter 25: The Hunt

    ¡°Indi!¡± Cat rapped on the door to Indi¡¯s place. ¡°Are you home? I need your help.¡±

    To her disappointment Falco was the one who opened the door. ¡°Hi Cat.¡±

    ¡°Is Indi home?¡±

    Falco shook his head. ¡°Nah, I was out on a run and she just left me a note saying to watch the kids once they got home from school and that she¡¯d be back later. You want me to give her a call?¡±

    ¡°Nah, it¡¯s alright. I just wanted to see if she could look up some information for me. I would have called but I¡¯ve misplaced my phone somewhere. I¡¯ll find it later and call her then.¡±

    Behind Falco, Jewel had been watching and creeping ever closer, curious to see what their visitor wanted. Bree kept pace with her, just a step back and a slightly more timid look on her face. It didn¡¯t overrule her curiosity though.

    ¡°What did you want information on?¡± Falco asked, not noticing the girls behind him.

    ¡°Maybe I can help, I¡¯m pretty good with computers,¡± Jewel bragged loudly.

    Falco jumped slightly as the closeness of her voice and then relaxed again as he realised it was just Jewel.

    Cat held up a newspaper clipping. The one that had been left in her garage. She¡¯d folded the paper so only the photograph and not the heading was visible. ¡°This guy.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s Perri!¡± exclaimed Bree.

    ¡°Perri?¡± Cat asked.

    Jewel shot her cousin a glare for stealing her thunder then she put on a pretty smile and nodded. ¡°She¡¯s in our year. She hangs out with the weirdos and Ally, the teacher¡¯s pet.¡± Jewel rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Jewel doesn¡¯t like her because she gets better grades than her,¡± Bree explained.

    Jewel turned on Bree. ¡°She does not. That was only one test and only because the question was stupidly worded. And anyway you¡¯re only going to my school on temporary exchange while you stay here so you don¡¯t even know.¡±

    ¡°Jewel,¡± Falco warned.

    ¡°I think she¡¯s nice,¡± Bree said quietly.

    Jewel poked her tongue out at Bree and then turned back to Cat with a smile. ¡°The teachers just like Ally cause she¡¯s a mindwalker. She¡¯s super manipulative. They have no bad thoughts of her because she makes them all go away.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s quite the accusation Jewel,¡± Falco told her.

    She widened her eyes at him. ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± she emphasized.

    ¡°Then how come she doesn¡¯t remove your bad thoughts of her and make you like her too?¡± Bree asked with a superior bored look on her face.

    Jewel opened her mouth to reply but Cat interrupted, ¡°What about Perri and her parents? What do you know about them?¡±

    ¡°Well Perri is kind of quiet. She doesn¡¯t talk much.¡±

    As Jewel paused to think Falco gestured toward the kitchen. ¡°You want to come in for a snack or something. We were just having lunch. Gotta take the kids back soon though.¡±

    Cat shook her head. ¡°No it¡¯s alright, I¡¯ll just be a minute.¡± She turned back to Jewel. ¡°Do you know where she lives?¡±

    Jewel and Bree both shook heir heads. Then Jewel added, ¡°Her mum stays at home. I think her dad¡¯s an architect or something. He has a car and it¡¯s got a name printed on the side, like Horizon Creations or Architects or something... I can search.¡± She ran off toward the computer.

    Falco gave Cat a narrow-eyed look. ¡°Why do you want to know about this guy?¡±

    ¡°No reason,¡± Cat said as she breezed past him and followed Jewel to the computer.

    ¡°Oooh, it¡¯s Horizon Aesthetics Corporation, that one,¡± Jewel pointed at the screen showing. ¡°They design houses.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Jewel, do they have an address?¡±

    Jewel nodded and wrote it down for her.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Cat told her.

    Jewel beamed.

    Falco frowned as Cat waltzed past him and back out the front door as fast as she¡¯d arrived.

    <hr>

    Cat pulled up outside HAC. It was a white fancy looking two-story building surrounded by pine trees, just off the southern motorway, south of Baz¡¯s thicker-treed forest, and nestled among a small group of obscure techy type commercial buildings. It wasn¡¯t far from the more upmarket end of suburbia. The type that liked enough trees between themselves and their neighbours such that they could pretend they owned a larger plot of land than they did.

    Cat parked her dark sportscar and then stayed seated for a moment thinking. She just needed to talk to the guy. Ask him a few questions. His reaction should tell her if he was guilty or not. Then what? She wasn¡¯t sure. She¡¯d figure that out later.

    She got out of her car and walked determinedly toward the building¡¯s front entrance. A receptionist glanced up from the front desk as she entered. Some young mousy-haired skinny thing wearing small glasses and oversized earrings.

    ¡°Hello, how can I help you?¡± She gave a pleasant smile.

    ¡°I¡¯m looking for Nolan Perninski.¡± Cat was already scanning the list of names on wall behind her. Unfortunately none of them had room numbers.

    ¡°Do you have an appointment?¡± the receptionist asked as her fingers went tappy tap tap over the keyboard. She looked at her screen and frowned. Then she looked at Cat and then back to her screen.

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°No but it won¡¯t take long.¡± Cat eyed up the two hallways. There was an upstairs too but she could see from here that the offices had names on the doors and it wasn¡¯t like this was a large building.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, you¡¯ll have to make an appointment. What did you say your name was?¡± The receptionist glanced up just in time to see Cat walking into the right-hand corridor.

    ¡°Miss! Miss, you can¡¯t go that way without an appointment.¡±

    Cat walked swiftly along the hallway, scanning the names as she went. Amber Morris, April Smith, Brendan Hale, Carl Kitteridge, Frank Prince. Were all these offices in alphabetical order by first name? What crazy system was this? She hoped the corridor went around in a loop because she¡¯d obviously picked the wrong side.

    ¡°Excuse me miss! Miss!¡±

    She could hear the receptionist trotting after her in heels. But the shorter woman couldn¡¯t keep up with Cat¡¯s longer strides, at least not in those shoes.

    Somewhere behind her Cat vaguely heard a door open.

    ¡°Amelia?¡± a woman¡¯s voice asked.

    Cat was stalled then as, in front of her, an office door opened and a man stepped out. Not the one she was looking for. He gave her a surprised once-over.

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Move,¡± Cat told him.

    He just stared at her.

    She made a move to push past him but suddenly found herself blocked by a wall that had appeared between her and the man. It had grown out of the sides and filled the space in front of her. It blended in perfectly with the surroundings, pale green wallpaper and white trim. Cat spun, figuring she¡¯d just go the other way around then. She wasn¡¯t after that man anyway. But as she turned she realised that it wasn¡¯t him who had created the wall. A woman had emerged from the second office along the corridor to join the receptionist in the hallway. This was evidently the one who had spoken to Amelia, the receptionist, a moment before. She was taller than Amelia but not by much, and Amelia herself was much shorter than Cat had originally assumed when she¡¯d been sitting at the front desk. This new woman, April had been the name on the door, also had brunette hair but she was slightly more professionally dressed and her hair was loosely but very neatly piled up at the back of her head.

    Neither looked particularly threatening. In a physical fight Cat could have taken them easily but April had her hand placed against one wall indicating she was the materiokinetic and a pretty darn good one at that. Cat started to stride toward them. And she soon found herself facing another wall.

    She gave an exasperated sigh that almost came out like a growl and then she reached for one of the other office doors. But she found it would not open. Had the woman somehow locked those.

    ¡°Oi! Let me out!¡± Cat banged against the wall.

    A moment later a gap in the wall widened like a little window. Even the edges of the little window were neatly wallpapered. Well, Cat supposed, it was a useful power for an architect to have.

    April¡¯s face appeared, unfortunately not close enough for Cat to grab, nor would she want to given the woman could close the wall at any moment. The window was perfectly at April¡¯s height and Cat had to bend over to be able to peer through. When she did she could see April staring coolly at her with blue eyes. The woman didn¡¯t seem even remotely tired or distracted from moving the walls about.

    ¡°I hear you wish to see Nolan?¡± April asked as she casually tucked an invisible loose strand of hair behind one ear.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Well, if you come calmly back to the front desk, Amelia can set you up with an appointment.¡± April spoke perkily like she was trying to sell something.

    ¡°I only need to talk to him for five minutes.¡±

    April gave her a sweet smile. ¡°That may be so but you¡¯ll still need to set up an appointment.¡±

    A little further back, Amelia was nervously glancing from April to Cat and back again.

    Cat considered it. It didn¡¯t look like there was any other way the woman was letting her out, and if she went back to the front then she would be closer to the other hallway and thus closer to Perninski. She could try the other hallway once April was gone.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Cat agreed.

    ¡°Very good.¡± April smiled and a moment later, the extra walls disappeared. She stepped aside to let Cat past. So did Amelia.

    April was watching her closely, but to Cat¡¯s pleasure, she didn¡¯t follow them out into the reception. She did pause in her office doorway a moment to make sure Cat was doing as instructed.

    Amelia sighed and returned to her desk.

    Cat waited. When she next looked down the long hallway, April had disappeared back into her own office. Amelia wasn¡¯t watching.

    Cat took her chance.

    ¡°So,¡± Amelia started, with her eyes on her computer screen, ¡°When-¡± she glanced up. But Cat was already gone.

    Cat was unsurprised but a little disappointed to find that the first name in the other corridor was ¡®Zoey Zips,¡¯ followed by ¡®Peter Xie.¡¯ She paused and briefly reconsidered her knowledge of the alphabet when the next two were ¡®Yolanda Tummus,¡¯ and ¡®Andrew Viktor.¡¯ Then, with a shake of her head, she continued on her way, walking almost to the end before she checked anymore.

    As luck would have it she¡¯d stopped right next to ¡®Nolan Perninski.¡¯

    She didn¡¯t want even a second before barging right on into his office.

    Two men glanced up as she entered the room with surprised looks on their faces. She recognised Nolan from his picture.

    She walked right up to him, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pushed him toward the back wall. She figured she probably didn¡¯t have long to ask her questions so she might as well cut straight to the chase.

    ¡°Did you kill your daughter?¡± Cat asked him directly, watching closely for a reaction.

    And she got one, briefly, a widening of the eyes, then a narrowing. Not surprise but something else, Cat was sure of it.

    That was as far as she got before she suddenly found her arms being pulled to her sides by her own clothes. Her jacket was getting bigger, wrapping itself around her, pulling her arms down.

    ¡°What?¡± Cat released Nolan and looked down at herself in confusion. Somehow her jeans had fused themselves together, trapping her legs. She tried to turn her head to see what was behind her. A moment later someone else rotated her. She came face to face with a very large man who looked like security, and April again, whose eyes were fixated on Cat¡¯s prison. Her fingers were held out in front of her her as if she were playing some invisible instrument.

    Finally, she met Cat¡¯s eyes. ¡°You were given a chance to make a appointment. Unfortunately we cannot tolerate this kind of violence.¡± To the security guard she said, ¡°Manny, please escort this woman from the building.¡±

    The large man nodded, grunted, and then, much to Cat¡¯s humiliation, he hoisted her up and over his shoulder and carried her off down the corridor.

    April followed.

    Cat glared at her.

    Manny sat her down outside the front door.

    ¡°Thank you, Manny.¡± April said politely.

    Manny nodded and left.

    Cat continued to glare at April who had raised her hand again and looked to be considering whether or not to release Cat¡¯s binds. How had the woman managed that without contact? She must be a pretty good materiokinetic.

    ¡°Why do you want to talk to Nolan so badly?¡± April asked.

    ¡°Because he¡¯s an abusive child-murdering fiend and I wanted to hear him admit it,¡± Cat told her plainly and calmly.

    The woman looked taken aback for a moment and then she replied. ¡°I see. I¡¯m going to let you go now, but you should know, it will only take me a second to restore those binds as they are, and I don¡¯t have to put your clothes back as they were, so if you don¡¯t want your very nice jacket ruined I suggest you leave here.¡±

    April waited for a moment, perhaps hoping Cat would acknowledge her, but Cat just gave her a sour look. Eventually, with a slight shrug, April stepped back, far enough away that Cat knew she¡¯d never be able to reach her even if she had wanted to. Then she twisted her hand in the air and Cat felt her clothes returning to their original shape.

    April returned to the building, watching Cat the entire way. Cat could see Manny inside, also watching. This was fine though, she¡¯d gotten what she¡¯d come for. It wasn¡¯t quite a full confession but from his reaction she was pretty sure he was guilty. Wasn¡¯t she? She turned and walked back to her car.

    She didn¡¯t immediately leave. She didn¡¯t know where he lived and for the next stage of her slowly developing plan, she needed that information. But she could wait. He shouldn¡¯t be more than a couple hours. Then she could follow him home. Possibly that¡¯s what she should have done to start with. The look on his expression had been helpful though, hadn¡¯t it? She shrugged that thought off. It didn¡¯t matter. Once she knew where he lived then she could figure out the next steps.

 Volume 3, Chapter 26: Red Macaroons

    Cat was sitting in her car doing surveillance when a new car pulled into the car park, one with some very distinctive black and yellow markings, a cop car.

    Cat gave it a sideways look, pressed herself back hard into her seat, hoping this was just a coincidence, and tried and failed not to look suspicious. Her heart sank even further when she recognised the cop that stepped out of the car. It was Bliss, the one she¡¯d played chicken with a few days ago.

    Bliss was tall and muscular with brown hair tied back in a tidy plait. Her stature wasn¡¯t that different from Cat¡¯s. The woman obviously regularly hit the free weights at the gym. Cat thought maybe she could beat Bliss in a fight, but she wasn¡¯t certain. There was a part of her that wanted to find out, that longed for some proper competition. Unfortunately, if cops priortised anything, it was their own. Cat couldn¡¯t risk an altercation with Bliss, even if she did end up winning today, she¡¯d lose tomorrow.

    Bliss rapped on her window.

    Cat rolled it down and gave Bliss her best ¡®yes, officer¡¯ look.

    ¡°What are you doing, Cat?¡±

    ¡°What does it look like I¡¯m doing?¡± Cat asked.

    Bliss smiled but it didn¡¯t reach her eyes. ¡°It looks like you¡¯re waiting for the guy inside that you nearly beat up, to come out, so you can finish the job.¡± Bliss sighed and shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m gonna have to ask you to leave, Cat.¡±

    ¡°That guy, killed his daughter.¡± Cat stared right into Bliss¡¯s grey eyes as she said it.

    She thought she saw the Bliss¡¯s jaw twitch. Did she know what he had done already?

    From what Cat could remember, Bliss was like a mindwalker of sorts. Except, she didn¡¯t read minds. She read memories, but not from people, from places and things. Luckily for Cat right now, that sort of stuff was inadmissible in court. There was no doubt that Bliss probably knew it was Cat who had sped through Little Rock, on more than one occasion, but she couldn¡¯t arrest her for it unless she could prove it in a court of law. On the other hand, maybe if it had been admissible then Cat wouldn¡¯t even be here right now and Nolan would be the one looking forward to the inside of a jail cell. More than likely they both would be.

    ¡°Do you have proof?¡± Bliss asked.

    Cat narrowed her eyes.

    Bliss read her expression easily.

    ¡°Move along Cat, unless you¡¯d like a ride in my car. Now.¡±

    Cat eyed her thoughtfully, considering her options.

    Bliss sighed. ¡°You¡¯ve got 5 minutes to get off the premises before I arrest you for trespassing.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± Cat grumbled and reached for her keys. Less than a minute later her tyres were squealing out of the car park. From the rear view mirror, Cat could see Bliss watching her until she was hidden by the trees.

    <hr>

    Baz was just putting the finishing touches on a collection of macaroons when Cat barged back into his small cabin. From the way she entered, he could tell she wasn¡¯t here on a social call. More than likely she wanted information. If not that then something else. As an unorthodox emergency medical repairman of the worst of the underbelly of Little Rock, and frequenter of The Rusty Nail, Baz knew all the gossip, not that either of them would ever refer to the kind of information they shared simply as ¡®gossip.¡¯

    ¡°What do you want?¡± Baz asked, not unkindly. If he¡¯d learnt anything about Cat over the years, it was that she liked to get straight to the point and that she rarely expected people to give her what she wanted the first time. Thus, doing exactly that tended to make her pause and actually think for a moment. Sometimes that was enough to stop whatever crazy rampage she was on. As much as he considered her business hers, and he did like her company, he didn¡¯t like it if she was turning up on his doorstep with holes in her torso in need of repair. It made him worry that one day she might not turn up at all. That, and she had a damn nice torso.

    But he had more reasons to worry now. A glance at the slither of bare belly that was visible just above her belt made obvious what he had missed before. How had he not noticed the slightly increased protrusion of what was normally so flat? Perhaps he hadn¡¯t really wanted to? Whatever the reason before, he knew he wanted to know it now, her or him, or whomever his future child might be. For a moment he let himself get lost in thoughts of teaching a son to fish.

    As Baz had expected, the fire went out of Cat¡¯s stride the moment he asked what she wanted. Or perhaps it was the velvet red macaroons, sitting so neatly decorated on his kitchen bench, and the fact that he was currently in the middle of filling the last one delicately with frosting. As she caught sight of them she paused, frowned and cocked her head a little to the left.

    He couldn¡¯t blame her really. While he cooked often, it was usually steaks, salmon, eggs, meat pies, and other hearty things. Once he had made her a panna cotta, because he knew how much she liked cream. Desserts he could do well and occasionally did indulge in, but only once or twice in front of Cat and rarely something quite so fiddly as macaroons.

    It wasn¡¯t that he feared her judgement. Quite the opposite in fact. Right now he was getting quite the silent kick out of her puzzled reaction. It was more that she didn¡¯t usually eat a lot of sugar and so dessert would have been wasted on her. He was of the opinion that food should be loved or it should not be eaten at all. There was no point in eating things you hated. And there was something about the expression on her face right after she¡¯d tasted a bite of a deer he¡¯d just butchered and braised. It was a difficult look to achieve with Cat, and a fine fillet seemed to do it for her like nothing else quite could.

    ¡°I¡¯m not gonna ask,¡± she remarked, eyeing the macaroons suspiciously.

    ¡°Good,¡± Baz replied.

    While she pondered the presence of the macaroons and her reason for being here, Baz turned around to find a container to put his latest creations in. When he turned back again he found her with her finger coated in frosting and half way to her mouth.

    He immediately grabbed her hand.

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    ¡°Stop.¡±

    She gave him another puzzled frown.

    As he pulled her by the wrist toward the sink he said, ¡°Those aren¡¯t for consumption unless you¡¯d like to end up six feet under.¡±

    She cocked one perfectly trimmed eyebrow. Her long, thick, dark hair was naturally smooth and straight, or at least it would have been if she¡¯d bothered to brush it and refrained from running her oil coated hands through it. As it was, her hair always looked a little ruffled, like she¡¯d just walked out of the bush or recently woken up. But despite not seeming to own a hairbrush or the finding the time to use one, she always had her eyebrows neatly plucked into a slight arch. One that was even more pronounced in her current expression. He could smell car oil on her. He found it strangely alluring. There was always a slight scent of pine too, although he wasn¡¯t sure why. If he had to guess it was probably her shampoo or soap but he couldn¡¯t be certain given she never showered at his place. Maybe she thought his shower too cramped? There really wasn¡¯t much room in it, but Baz hated wasted space and resources. He¡¯d made his place as big as it needed to be. The more bush around it the better.

    He turned on the tap but she yanked her arm from his grasp.

    ¡°I can clean my own damn finger.¡±

    He left her to it, only glancing back to make sure she wasn¡¯t eating the stuff. He didn¡¯t really expect her to be so stupid, he just wanted to make sure she didn¡¯t think he¡¯d been joking or something.

    He finished plating the maroons and then he stood and watched her as she finished drying her hands with a paper towel. Occasionally she glanced at him out of the corner of her dark green eyes, but she seemed disinclined to look him for any extended amount of time. Furthermore, she seemed angry about something. He wasn¡¯t in a hurry though so he waited and while he waited he studied the clear curve of her jaw, the way her neck moved when she swallowed, the shape of her ear as she brushed her hair from her face and finally looked him in the eyes.

    For a little while she just stared at him, as if she had forgotten herself and the reasons for her being here, until he felt like he was the one under a microscope.

    ¡°What did you want?¡± he prodded.

    ¡°Who says I want anything?¡± Her reply was sharp and short as it often was. He could hear the challenge and the defiance. He couldn¡¯t explain why he found that so hot, but it made him want to pin her to the bed and show her who was really in charge. She would never let him though and he would never do something she didn¡¯t want. She may act all tough but body language didn¡¯t lie. If anything he did ever made her stiffen then he backed off. And that was fine by him. The top might be fun but the bottom was a lot less effort.

    Still, he couldn¡¯t resist the teasing threat. She liked the lure of a fight almost as much as his eye fillets. What they did was a dance, as if it were rehearsed. He enjoyed the game, never knowing when she might show up. He liked missing her, liked that cocky half-twisted smile that said she¡¯d be back. He took a step toward her, close enough so he was looking down. She raised her chin so she was looking right at him, no way was she backing down. He expected no less.

    With a cock of any eyebrow he asked, ¡°So, you¡¯re here on pleasure then?¡±

    He could feel the tremble in her breath, whether form excitement or nervousness he wasn¡¯t sure. But then she spun on her heels and stepped away. That body language said enough. It said not tonight. Evidently whatever business she had come here on was more important.

    ¡°I need a sleuth.¡±

    ¡°What for?¡±

    ¡°Does it matter?¡±

    Baz shrugged.

    Cat¡¯s eye line slid to where the plate of macaroons sat. ¡°Who are the macaroons for?¡¯

    Baz didn¡¯t answer.

    ¡°Are they for Coal?¡±

    ¡°Thought you weren¡¯t gonna ask.¡±

    Cat sighed, waved a hand, and then paced up down the kitchen. ¡°There¡¯s a guy I want followed.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because I think think he killed his daughter.¡±

    ¡°You think?¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t need a sleuth if I knew for sure would I?¡±

    He hadn¡¯t moved from his spot and she came back to meet him now.

    ¡°I just need to know where he lives.¡±

    ¡°You must know at least one place to find him. Why can¡¯t you follow him yourself?¡±

    ¡°Because this stupid cop is up my arse.¡±

    He almost smiled. That was exactly why he asked those questions. ¡°Ah, and so you want to bring them down on me do you?¡±

    She scowled. ¡°How would this bring them down on you?¡±

    ¡°Simple, they see you following him and then they see my guy following him, then they can link that to you, and then potentially to me.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯d be a shitty sleuth then.¡± She cocked one questioning eyebrow.

    Baz pretended to consider it and then her replied, ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Oh, come on.¡±

    Ah, so she planned to beg now did she? It wouldn¡¯t work. He didn¡¯t like pleading. He found the angry and demanding Cat far more attractive. He shook his head.

    Cat pouted and her eyes narrowed. It wasn¡¯t a cute look. It was dark, thoughtful, plotting. Cat could be clever when she actually stopped a moment to think things through.

    He waited.

    Finally she sighed. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t about the exchange, not with Cat. It was just a facade for their game, but something in those words made his mind wander off in a direction he hadn¡¯t expected and before he could consider his thoughts properly and stop himself, he found his mouth answering for him.

    ¡°We should get married.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    Fuck! Had he really just said that? He couldn''t blame her for looking as surprised as she did. Oh well, now that he¡¯d said it, he realised he meant it. Might as well roll with it.

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°Uh...¡± Cat¡¯s mouth fell open. She was at a loss for words. Eventually she said, ¡°Oh, you¡¯re serious?¡±

    He nodded and repeated, ¡°Why not? We¡¯ve known each other ten years now. Other people do it.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not other people, and we¡¯re hardly exclusive.¡±

    A part of his mind agreed with her and part of it feared he was pushing her away in asking. Wasn¡¯t it the unknown that he enjoyed? Except, with a glance to her belly, he realised it wasn¡¯t the same if there was a kid involved. He¡¯d grown up with a father who had been absent. It had driven his mother insane. He didn¡¯t want that for his kid. He wanted it to have a proper family at least for the child, and that wasn¡¯t whatever this was. Things would have to change. He pushed forward.

    ¡°We could be though.¡±

    He noticed her lip waver. That seemed to scare her more than the mention of marriage. She laughed.

    He kept his composure.

    She glanced at his face and then she hesitated. She seemed to be considering it but there was doubt there too.

    ¡°You¡¯re not just asking because I¡¯m pregnant?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± he lied. Was it a lie? He knew he never would have asked if it weren¡¯t for the kid, but he didn¡¯t think the kid was the only reason he was asking. Now he was imagining Cat being here all the time, waking up every morning with her by his side. There was an appeal in that. He just hadn¡¯t considered it seriously before. Right? He didn¡¯t let his doubt show. He pushed it down, deep inside.

    Cat was quiet a moment longer and then she quipped, ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to get down on one knee or something?¡±

    ¡°Do you want me too?¡± he inquired seriously. He wasn¡¯t sure how you were supposed to do this stuff, least of all with the likes of someone like Cat. She was right, they weren¡¯t like other people.

    ¡°No.¡± She laughed and twisted her body so she was leaning against the kitchen bench with her arms crossed. A quick rejection of the act but it was just a little too quick, and the sharp silence that followed, along with her serious expression and furrowed eyebrows, suggested she wasn¡¯t quite sure about that either.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said after some time.

    ¡°Think about it,¡± Baz told her offhandedly, knowing he didn¡¯t sound like he was talking about marriage at all but something far more mundane. Perhaps that was important though.

    Cat gave the barest of nods, tilting her head side to side as she did, as if considering a purchase. Then with a wry smile she asked, ¡°You¡¯ll think about giving me that name?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a trade.¡± He smiled softly back. He wanted to make sure she knew that, even though it was all just banter. ¡°But sure, I¡¯ll think about it.¡± Maybe he could do some of his own research. And there was something to be said for giving Cat the name of one of his sleuths so she didn¡¯t get herself into trouble trying to get her own one from somewhere else.

    ¡°Alright then,¡± Cat said in a tone that indicated she was leaving.

    Baz gave her a nod and then he watched her as she walked out, letting the image of her fine arse burn itself into his retina for later recall.

 Volume 3, Chapter 27: Dig Your Own Grave

    Baz had almost finished clearing the last of the dishes when he heard footsteps coming through the front door to his house. At first he thought it was Cat come back, but when he made his way out to the main room, it was not Cat he found darkening his doorway. It was Coal.

    Coal glanced left and then right, carefully checking his surroundings.

    ¡°There¡¯s no one else here,¡± Baz told him.

    Coal nodded. ¡°Good.¡± He took a swift step forward, his eyes tilting up slightly to look Baz directly in the face.

    Baz was a big man physically. He was also magically capable of causing all of a person¡¯s nerve endings to feel like they¡¯d been simultaneously ripped out and wrapped around an iron hot poker, with barely the flick of a finger. Causing instant and unimaginable pain was one of his specialties, his least favorite one, but it paid the bills. He far preferred cleaning up the messes rather than making them though. He¡¯d told Coal as much once, and Coal had, for the most part, respected that. Coal was a gentleman after all, and he was always open to negotiation. As long as you played by his rules, he would play fair. Whether or not his rules were fair in the first place was another question entirely.

    But gods help you if you crossed him. Baz had once seen Coal summon a man¡¯s beating heart right from his chest. Despite Baz¡¯s larger size and his own painmaking powers, he knew better than to underestimate Coal. Besides, there were far worse aristocrats out there than this monster, just waiting to move in and claim his domain for their own. Baz had met them and he knew, better than anyone, the sorts of messes they left behind.

    Unfortunately, the current expression on Coal¡¯s face was not one of pleasure, nor was it normal for him to make a call to Baz¡¯s home. Baz¡¯s instructions were usually received via phone call, or, very rarely, if a job was more complicated, he might be called to a separate location where a handler would go over details with him. Never had Coal just shown up at Baz¡¯s house himself. It was not a pleasant feeling to find that he had now done just that.

    Often it was Natasha Crimson who relayed job details to Baz. She¡¯d always walked a fine line between his world and Coal¡¯s, their liaison. Now she was dead. Baz had buried her himself, following precise instructions. But then he¡¯d told Cat about it, shared information he¡¯d been instructed to keep to himself. Was that why Coal was here?

    ¡°Tell me,¡± Coal started in a cool, casual tone.

    Baz¡¯s eyes were drawn to Coal¡¯s right hand. It was in a position ready and waiting, looking empty without sword in it. The sword was Coal¡¯s favorite way to kill. It was that way for a lot of aristocrats, poison, the knife, or raw magic. They all had a thing for dramatic flair.

    Baz remembered a case where one aristocrat¡¯s young son had been shot by a sniper. There had been a whole lot of uproar, not so much about the death, but about the method. Guns were barbaric, a tool all far too human. Multiple feuds had been put on hold while the entire aristocracy had banded together and hunted down the poor fool who had dared make such a mockery of them. It seemed, for the aristocrats, there was such a thing as a bad death.

    ¡°...What exactly do you think the word discreetly means?¡±

    Baz heard the words and he was unsurprised by them. Aristocrats were always very careful with their words. Baz didn¡¯t miss the unsaid. Coal hadn¡¯t accused him of anything specific. Sure, it was probably about his sharing information with Cat, but it was best he not admit to anything too soon. Baz wasn¡¯t sure what the best way to answer this question was. He just knew he had to be careful. To buy himself time, he asked a question in reply.

    ¡°In what context?¡±

    Coal¡¯s jaw twitched. Was he amused by the question? Or was he annoyed?

    ¡°The body of Cornelius O''Hara was just pulled from the lake up at Quartz Ridge. I¡¯m going to guess that whomever buried that body, didn¡¯t do a very discreet job.¡± Coal¡¯s words were loaded with accusations.

    Baz frowned. This time the words hadn¡¯t been at all what he had expected.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Baz asked after a moment¡¯s silence, still confused, enunciating each word slowly to give his brain time to catch up.

    But Coal had noticed his response and already backed off. ¡°Where did you bury him?¡± he asked more casually.

    ¡°Not up there.¡± Baz¡¯s mind was still trying to catch up. He¡¯d buried Cornelius in the forest, in an unmarked grave, away form any other bodies, out of sight from any path, and covered with foliage.

    ¡°Who did you tell?¡± Coal asked, already onto the next question.

    ¡°Nobody.¡± He hadn¡¯t. Not a soul. Not even Cat. The only body he¡¯d told her about was Natasha¡¯s.

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    ¡°Show me where you buried him.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s wise?¡±

    Coal didn¡¯t answer but the look in his eyes said he¡¯d made up his mind.

    Baz nodded. Then he led Coal outside and glanced around to make sure no one was nearby. He didn¡¯t expect there to be but if you were about to revisit the unmarked grave of a Mercy politician you damn well double checked.

    Coal didn¡¯t usually give him names to go with bodies, but Baz had spent enough time doing jobs in Mercy for ¡°friends¡± of Coal, that he had recognised that particular face. ¡®The Money Man,¡¯ was what some of the Mercy upper class called Cornelius in hushed whispers at secret meetings.

    Baz glanced back at Coal and then frowned as he noticed the fancy dress shoes the aristocrat was wearing. Not to mention the open neck suit. It was probably worth a small fortune

    ¡°It¡¯s a bit of a walk,¡± Baz told him.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Coal replied.

    Seemingly not getting the message, Baz elaborated. ¡°You might want some different shoes.¡±

    Coal glanced down. ¡°Oh.¡± A moment later he had in his hands, a summoned pair of hiking boots that looked like they¡¯d never been worn.

    They climbed over logs and ferns as Baz led him through the forest to the spot where he¡¯d buried Cornelius.

    ¡°There.¡± He pointed to an area of soil that looked no more disturbed than the way he¡¯d left it.

    ¡°Start digging,¡± Coal told him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a-¡± Baz turned to find Coal holding out a shovel . He took it with a sigh and got to work.

    Several minutes later, he knew something was wrong. He was exactly where he had buried the body and deep enough now that he should have unearthed it already. But there was nothing to find in this soil except worms.

    Baz climbed out of the hole. ¡°It¡¯s not here.¡±

    Baz froze as he stood up to find a sword pointed at his neck. He suddenly realised how much easier he¡¯d made things for Coal. If Coal wanted to kill him for his silence or whatever had gone wrong here, it would be easy out here. There would be no crime scene. His blood would get washed away with the rain. Hell, had he dug his own grave?

    ¡°Who else knew he was here?¡±

    ¡°No one, I swear.¡±

    ¡°Someone must have known.¡±

    ¡°Well, if they did, it wasn¡¯t through me.¡±

    Baz waited stubbornly for the strike to come, refusing to drop his eyes or beg. He¡¯d done his job and he knew it. Whatever had gone wrong here had been out of his control.

    The strike never came. Instead Coal withdrew his sword, stashed it away in a recently summoned scabbard on his belt. Then, very casually he walked around the hole.

    Baz watched Coal¡¯s boots leave imprints in the freshly turned soil as he circled the empty grave. The sizing of the footprints was off. Baz noticed things like that. When your night job was cleaning up crime scenes, paying attention to details was important. He wondered whose boots they were? And the purpose of them. Did they even belong to anyone? Or were they just a red herring. Coal hadn¡¯t thought to swap shoes at first, but Baz was certain that once the topic of shoes had been brought to his attention that Coal would not skimp on details.

    Coal had his hands in his pockets and was studying the grave with a slight frown. Finally he withdrew his hand from his pocket and held it out over the grave. He shut his eyes as if he was listening to something. A spell maybe? Baz had little interest in such things. Spells were the domain of sorcerers and aristocrats. Devil¡¯s magic.

    With a second wave of his hand, Coal refilled the grave. It was somewhat to Baz¡¯s annoyance, since he wondered why he couldn¡¯t have done that to empty the grave in the first place and saved him some effort on digging. Perhaps he had needed to see the soil first?

    A moment later a small pine tree sat in the place where the grave had been. Coal stepped back and what had been a beautiful day only a moment before now crackled with thunder up above.

    The next thing Baz knew, they were standing back by his little cabin near the lake, and he found himself fighting a sudden strong bout of teleportation induced nausea. He gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to vomit in front of an aristocrat. Why couldn¡¯t he have been given some warning first?

    Coal immediately spun and walked over to retrieve his shoes.

    Once the nausea subsided, Baz glanced toward the forest where dark clouds had gathered overhead. It would be raining soon. He thought about how Cat hated the rain. She¡¯d always press closer to him if it was raining outside. He wondered if he¡¯d get to feel that again. He supposed he probably would. If Coal hadn¡¯t killed him in the forest then he probably wasn¡¯t going to now, right?

    He turned to find Coal placing the hiking boots on the small deck in front of the cabin.

    ¡°Dispose of these would you?¡± Coal told him.

    Baz nodded. He¡¯d burn them this afternoon when he lit the fire. There was a chill in the air now and the smell of the incoming winter.

    ¡°You had something else for me as well?¡± Coal inquired. ¡°I might as well collect that while I¡¯m here.¡±

    Baz nodded again. He led Coal back inside his house, into the kitchen where the plate of macaroons still sat on the bench.

    Baz burned the boots after Coal left. They were good boots, not expensive, and too small for Baz, but they were solid and sturdy, the type plenty of people in town would have been overjoyed to have been gifted. If this hadn¡¯t been Little Rock but some big city, Baz might have considered that option, but as it was, the less to point back to him the better.

    He sent an inoculate message to a sleuth he knew suggesting he get his car checked out at Cat¡¯s garage later today. He mentioned that the service was exceptional and the owner was hot. Definitely worth the man¡¯s while. Baz left his front door open. It was cold out but the cabin would overheat if he didn¡¯t.

    As the fire raged inside and the rain started to fall outside, Baz opened a drawer. Resting on a large pile of used sheets of paper, Baz retrieved a blank drawing pad. As he lifted it out, a mix of comic heros and beautiful woman smiled up at him, nestled among detailed depictions of varying landscapes, and a few rogue sketches of different species of fish.

    Baz took a seat near the fireplace and carefully extracted a piece of charcoal from just beyond the reach of the flames. He cast his mind back to earlier, before Coal¡¯s visit, to the curve of Cat¡¯s muscular arse as she paused on the way out his door, the jut of her lower lip, and the look in her eyes as she glanced back over her shoulder to give him one last look. He remembered the way her hair reached her middle back, as wild and free as she, and as dark as the charcoal that now smudged his hands.

    He thought back to earlier, to every inch of her, and then, in front of a roaring fire, he put charcoal to paper and he drew all that he remembered.

 Volume 3, Chapter 28: That Which Waits On The Ocean Floor

    Wolf and Indi returned to Wolf¡¯s place. Zephyr didn¡¯t come with them since he had an appointment to keep.

    They paid a brief visit to the other crime scene. Wolf had argued that there wasn¡¯t much point but Indi had insisted. They¡¯d asked the motel manager some questions but hadn¡¯t gleaned much more than they already knew.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s still useful to know,¡± Indi had said in the car on the way back to Wolf¡¯s. ¡°What if they had known something and we hadn¡¯t asked?¡±

    Wolf had merely grunted, and now that they were back in his cabin he was trying and failing to think of the next most sensible thing to do while Indi bounced around the room, scanning the names of all the books that filled the shelves on his walls.

    ¡°We could try that dreamwalking spell,¡± Indi suggested as she moved from one shelf to the next.

    Wolf wondered how much coffee she¡¯d had today. He shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think either of us could do it.¡±

    Indi turned to him and pouted. ¡°Well, there¡¯s no harm in trying.¡±

    ¡°It wastes blood,¡± Wolf replied, unsure as to how she¡¯d managed to get this far in life without learning the basic concepts of spell making. Sure, schools didn¡¯t really cover blood magics beyond a warning that they were dangerous and frowned upon unless you were a sorcerer, but it wasn¡¯t like they weren¡¯t known about. ¡°So yes, there is harm in trying. And given you¡¯re a half vampire who doesn¡¯t like to drink blood, I¡¯m not sure how that doesn¡¯t bother you.¡±

    ¡°Do they all use blood?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Wolf sighed.

    She looked puzzled. ¡°I thought you could just buy infusements and use them like that?¡±

    ¡°Infusements yes. Spells no.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡±

    ¡°Spells use infusements, and raw infusement magic, usually...¡± Wolf hesitated. He wasn¡¯t sure about that now, given what Amanda had said.

    ¡°Raw infusement magic?¡±

    ¡°Like, this. Infusement stones.¡± He retrieved some of the infusement stones from his cupboard and laid them on the table.

    Indi studied the white stones.

    ¡°It¡¯s like how an infuser can put firestarting into a stone, well in this case they put infuser magic into a stone. It gets used like a glue. When you make a spell you alter the nature of the magic, sometimes combining multiple magics. This is what pulls it together.¡±

    Indi frowned. ¡°How come that¡¯s not more common then? If anyone can just use borrower magic on it¡¯s own then isn¡¯t that more useful than having a specific infusement since you could just borrow the magic of whoever is around you?¡±

    Wolf took a deep breath. ¡°First off, it¡¯s not borrower magic, it¡¯s infusement magic, they are different. Secondly, you can¡¯t use them to actually make infusements. They¡¯re not powerful enough for that. They tie together already loose magic. If you tried to use it to pull magic from a person you¡¯d burn through it extremely fast. And finally¡±¡ªhe reached out and plucked the stone from her¡ª¡°They are extremely expensive.¡± He put the stone back with the rest and sighed. ¡°They¡¯re only really used for spellmaking, which is more difficult and much less common than using infusements. Spell making requires blood, the freseher and more intelligent the better. Infusements don¡¯t, most of the time. Spellcraft is blood magic. Infusements aren¡¯t, most of the time.¡±

    ¡°Most of the time?¡±

    ¡°Depends on how they are made. An infusement is really just any item that has had magic put into it which a witch can pull loose even if it¡¯s not their own magic but they can be made by infusers or by spellcraft.¡±

    Indi squinted at him and cocked her head sideways. ¡°Wait, you just said spellcraft used infusements so how can infusements be made using spellcraft?¡±

    Wolf furrowed his brow and gave his explanation another go. ¡°Spellcraft is really just power boosting and power blending. All infusements are initially made using an infuser but if you add blood and other components then you can boost the power of the infusement and sometimes alter what it does and who can use it. I can¡¯t use a natural infusement, only a witch can, but I can use a bloodcrafted one.¡±

    ¡°And you can use the white stones?¡±

    Wolf nodded. ¡°Anyone can spellcraft, I think.¡±

    ¡°But aren¡¯t they a natural infusement?¡±

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve never met an infuser who has been able to infuse another infuser¡¯s magic into an item. It¡¯s either very difficult or there¡¯s a very different trick to it. Only the sorcerers know how to make these.¡±

    "Why are they white stones?"

    "I don''t know. Because they''re recognizable? Why are time infusements always a timepiece?" Wolf shrugged.

    "Are they?"

    "No, but mostly.¡±

    "So, for you to dreamwalk you need an infusement stone and a dreamwalking infusement and blood?"

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    "Right."

    "And for Amanda to do it she just needs a dreamwalking infusement?"

    "Right. But using a stone and blood would still make it easier for her."

    Indi took a seat on one of the wooden stools that surrounded the table, placed her elbows up on the table and rested her chin in her hands while she considered it.

    ¡°However it¡¯s also riskier,¡± Wolf added. ¡°And in some ways harder.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Indi narrowed her eyes at him. ¡°But you just said...¡±

    Wolf held up his hands and nodded. He took a seat on his own stool. ¡°Okay... infusements are easier in the sense that you can¡¯t fuck them up, most of the time, at least not badly. Spellcraft is easier in the sense that it requires less energy to do the same thing-¡±

    ¡°Because of the blood?¡±

    ¡°Correct. But there are about a million more ways for things to go horrifically wrong.¡±

    "Because you can accidentally also do things beyond what the infusement can do depending on what other things you add?"

    "Correct. You¡¯re familiar with the three pillars or magic right?"

    ¡°Power, control, efficiency,¡± Indi rattled off flawlessly.

    ¡°Good. Spellcraft grants you more power. Infusements grant you more of the other two.¡±

    ¡°More efficiency? I thought they were less efficient?¡±

    ¡°In terms of overall energy yes, but they can be designed so the magic can only be burnt through so fast. And technically they can also be made such that you don¡¯t get much, if any, gain in control. That¡¯s called a loosely wound infusement, as opposed to a tightly wound one, but either way, you get access to a power you wouldn¡¯t normally have.¡±

    ¡°So they can function like rate limiters?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes. But of course, nothing beats raw magic, all else being equal. It is possible for a sorcerer with a high quality infusement to beat a weak magic user of course.¡±

    Indi nodded thoughtfully. "Sooo, do you have a dreamwalking infusement then?"

    "Yes, but you''d need the right kind of spell to lure a dreamweaver in and I''m still not certain this is a good idea."

    "Like a spell that gives someone nightmares. I saw one of those in your books. One of the ones over here." Indi hopped off her stool and walked over to the back wall and began peering at books.

    "Wait, what? When?" Wolf didn''t remember having a spell like that, but then he did have a lot of books.

    "When we were doing research the day we went in the house. I remember seeing it. Oooh, this one, page 82, 3rd paragraph down." She pulled a book with a blue cover off the shelf.

    Wolf frowned. She even remembered the page and paragraph? He hadn¡¯t thought she¡¯d been paying much attention that day. "I didn''t even know I had that spell."

    She laid the book on the table and he leaned over to see what it said.

    "I thought a man always knows where his books are?" She teased, reminding him further of that morning.

    Now she¡¯d proven him twice wrong on that point. How did she always manage to remember everything that was said?

    "Yes, but evidently not what''s in them." Wolf sighed.

    ¡°Soo,¡± Indi started again, her violet eyes practically sparkling behind the black rims of her glasses. ¡°Shall we give it a go?¡±

    Wolf was silent. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°If we don¡¯t find the dreamweaver more people might die.¡± Indi spoke with emphasis and then a little more weakly asked, ¡°We can use animal blood right?¡±

    Wolf raised an eyebrow at her and then he nodded. ¡°It also uses a dreamwalking infusement and...¡± He hesitated. Did he need the raw infusement? He was curious to try without it. The damn things were expensive enough that it was worth a shot. Had he and Amanda ever tried that when they were young? It had been so many years that Wolf couldn¡¯t remember. Amanda and he had found a pouch of them as kids, along with a spell book, marked in the margins with alterations that actually worked. It almost made him laugh now, knowing how expensive they were, and how they¡¯d played with them like they were toys.

    ¡°Well, where did you get it?¡± Indi asked.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Wolf was jerked from his thoughts.

    ¡°The dreamwalking infusement.¡±

    ¡°Oh, um.¡± He sighed. She had him there. It, at least was easy enough to replace. So was the blood technically. ¡°Katrina James infused it from Cat¡¯s magic.¡± He noted Indi¡¯s obvious glee at that and he continued before she could get a word in, ¡°But we still need a way to capture the dreamweaver if we find it.¡±

    ¡°Amanda said to just locate it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah but that doesn¡¯t work if the plan is to lure it here.¡±

    ¡°So, we let it feed for a bit. It¡¯s not like it kills straight away right, I mean...¡± Indi trailed off with a frown as she realised the problem. ¡°...except for recently... with the victims being in different places and killed so close together I guess it must have... But that still gives us hours... probably. And I have this.¡± Indi set a vial of white powder on the table.

    Wolf¡¯s eyes narowed. ¡°What is that?¡± He was pretty sure he already knew but he hoped he was wrong.

    ¡°Dreamskeep. I have the antidote too.¡±

    ¡°Why do you have that?¡± Wolf asked gruffly, ¡°Have you taken any?¡±

    ¡°No. I just got some because it was so effective before, like really good coffee, and I figured maybe it would be useful for when I have deadlines and stuff¡¯s just not working except then I got kinda scared to take it... but it¡¯s useful now, right? I mean, if I take it in the dreamworld would it wake me up?¡±

    Wolf took a moment to calm himself. At least she hadn¡¯t taken it. After some consideration he replied, ¡°I have absolutely no idea what that would do, and it¡¯s not coffee. It¡¯s not like coffee. It¡¯s not even remotely the same thing.¡±

    Indi curled her hand around the vial and pouted. ¡°Okay so how do you normally kill a dreamweaver then?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°What was your plan before then?¡±

    ¡°To trap it. You don¡¯t kill it, you trap it, with a binding spell.¡± Wolf got up from his chair and returned soon after with another book. ¡°It¡¯s a tricky spell. You bind it to an item which prevents it from travelling too far from the item, or for a really good spell traps in inside the item or binds it¡¯s power. And then you dump it in the ocean.¡±

    ¡°Which starves it to death?¡±

    ¡°No. I don¡¯t think so. I think they just get weak. I don¡¯t really know.¡±

    ¡°But the spell won¡¯t last forever right?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°So, are there like a bunch of bound boxes just lying on the ocean floor containing monsters which will one day be freed from their confines and kill us all?¡±

    Wolf studied her. He could swear she almost looked excited at the prospect of it. ¡°Uh. I mean... I¡¯m sure there are ways to deal with them that work permanently. I¡¯m just not sure what they are.¡±

    ¡°But there are others who know?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°So we can give the bound dreamweaver to them then? And not pollute the ocean?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Wolf considered the options. There were the librarians. Would they take a dreamweaver? Or did you just mail it to the sorcerers? Coal probably knew who could deal with something like that, but that information would cost.

    ¡°Excellent.¡± Indi clapped her hands together once. ¡°So we cast the spell to give us, or me, nightmares¡ª¡°she frowned and swallowed briefly as if suddenly realising what that actually meant¡±¡ªwhich draws the dreamweaver to us and then you cast a binding spell on it and trap it and then we give it to Coal.¡±

    Wolf narrowed his eyes at the mention of Coal¡¯s name.

    ¡°Or whomever,¡± Indi said as she noticed Wolf¡¯s expression. Then she grinned proudly.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    ¡°Lives are at stake, remember?¡± Indi emphasised. ¡°Besides we can always phone Amanda if we need.¡±

    Wolf sighed. ¡°Alright, fine. It¡¯s worth a shot.¡±

    ¡°Yay!¡±

    ¡°But you do exactly what I say.¡±

    Indi nodded furiously and tried her best to look serious as Wolf started piling ingredients onto the table.

 Volume 3, Chapter 29: Accidental Magic

    Several minutes later, Indi sat cross-legged on top of Wolf¡¯s giant wooden table. She was situated right in the middle of what looked like a massive spider¡¯s web crossed with a pentagram drawn in pig¡¯s blood. Wolf had handed her a smaller jar of blood to touch up the edges she¡¯s scuffed when, out of impatience, she¡¯d entered the circle a little too early. Luckily the middle had fully dried by that point.

    She cupped the jar in her hands. It¡¯s sweet smell wafted up and filled her nostrils. She dipped her finger in the viscous dark red fluid. Then she put it in her mouth.

    ¡°Oi! That¡¯s not for eating,¡± chided Wolf.

    ¡°Oops, sorry.¡± Indi ducked her eyes. ¡°It just smelt so good.¡± She dipped her finger in again and leaned forward to add more blood to one of the lines on the table. As she sat back she caught the scent again and breathed in deeply.

    Wolf watched her closely. ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t drink blood?¡±

    Indi opened her eyes. ¡°Animal blood¡¯s okay. I just don¡¯t like to drink blood from people. But this is like really good pig¡¯s blood.¡± She sniffed it again.

    Wolf gave her a sympathetic look and then held out a hand. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    Indi handed him the jar. ¡°It is pig¡¯s blood right?¡±

    Wolf nodded, frowned, and then looked at the jar. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? Because that is like really really good pig¡¯s blood? Like extra special or something.¡±

    Wolf took a sniff of it. ¡°Hmm.¡± He turned the jar around, looking for its label. It should have a label, except there wasn¡¯t one. ¡°Well, it was with the other pig¡¯s blood.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not people though right?¡±

    Wolf sniffed it again. ¡°No.¡± There was definitely the scent of animal blood, besides, he rarely had anything that wasn¡¯t animal. But she was right, it was a weird smell for pig. Goat maybe? Well, they¡¯d used it now, either way it probably didn¡¯t matter.

    ¡°It kinda smells like strawberries,¡± Indi remarked.

    ¡°What!¡± Wolf took another sniff and frowned. ¡°That does not smell like strawberries. That¡¯s more like...¡± Another sniff.

    ¡°Strawberries but kind of savory too,¡± Indi elaborated.

    ¡°Yes, savory makes more sense. It¡¯s gamey. It¡¯s not like strawberries.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s kind of like strawberries.¡±

    Wolf frowned. ¡°Is that a weird vampire thing? Do you guys actually taste different things?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I mean yes probably.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Because I am not getting strawberries. I mean, I guess there¡¯s some kind of sweetness.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sweetness. Savory sweet like flowers.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, okay flowers or greenery yes, but not strawberries.¡± He sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t usually spend this long sniffing the blood. Not once it¡¯s out of the animal.¡±

    ¡°Do you... do werewolves ever get that thing where it like overwhelms you for sec?¡± Indi brought her hands together and twisted her fingers as if she wasn¡¯t sure she should be asking.

    Wolf understood what she meant though. ¡°Yes, sometimes, in wolf form, if we¡¯re hunting. You¡¯ll smell something and there will be an overwhelming urge to pursue it, chase it down and bite it. Mature wolves can resist. The young sometimes have trouble. That¡¯s why they¡¯re not allowed to hunt alone.¡±

    ¡°Do you feel it, even for people?¡±

    Wolf might have been annoyed had anyone else asked that question. It was a stereotype, the blood-thirsty out-of-control werewolf, unfortunately one that wasn¡¯t always inaccurate, but it was hardly common, and werewolves killed people no more often than witches did. But he knew Indi wasn¡¯t asking out of ignorance. She was asking because she felt the same way and she wanted to know if he understood.

    Wolf nodded. ¡°Sometimes. It¡¯s not a problem for an adult to resist, but we do feel it.¡±

    Indi nodded and was quiet for a bit. She looked down at her hands.

    Wolf wasn¡¯t sure what to say but he felt for her. He knew what it was like to fight your own nature.

    ¡°Are you ready?¡± he asked finally.

    She looked up and nodded eagerly.

    A few minutes later he had her lying down in the middle of the table.

    ¡°Are sure about this?¡± he asked her.

    She nodded. ¡°Mm hm.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Spell¡¯s ready,¡± he said after a few more adjustments.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to recite anything?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°What do I do?¡±

    ¡°You sleep.¡±

    ¡°Just, like, fall asleep?¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡±

    ¡°The spell doesn¡¯t make me fall asleep.¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Nope. The spell for nightmares is different from a spell to put people to sleep. I do have a sleeping potion but I don¡¯t want to make it too hard to wake you up if the dreamweaver does show up so we¡¯re doing this the old fashioned way.¡±

    ¡°And I just have to fall asleep.¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡±

    ¡°On this really hard table?¡±

    Wolf was quiet a moment. He frowned. ¡°Do you want a pillow?¡±

    ¡°Surely most of the time this spell gets cast it¡¯s on unsuspecting enemies or something, so shouldn¡¯t it work on a bed?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well I didn¡¯t want to get blood and chicken feathers all in the spare bedroom. You know falling asleep would probably help if you weren¡¯t talking so much.¡±

    ¡°Cat doesn¡¯t fall asleep before dreamwalking though. I¡¯ve seen her do that sitting upright.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but Cat¡¯s a dreamwalker, and you having nightmares is different from you dreamwalking.¡±

    ¡°Is it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I think so. I don¡¯t know.¡± Wolf rubbed his face. ¡°Okay fine, we¡¯ll try the dreamwalking infusement. I¡¯m just not sure how the combination is going to work. Mixing magic sometimes has unpredictable results and I don¡¯t know what the bad dreams spell actually does.¡±

    ¡°But it uses dreamwalking magic right?¡± Indi rolled onto her side and propped herself up on one elbow.

    ¡°Yeah, but, it¡¯s different. Don¡¯t ask me how. I told you, spells are tricky, unpredictable things. They¡¯re like recipes where nobody actually knows what the ingredients do and the second you mix things you get a whole new thing. Like swapping in milk for butter and ending up with chocolate chip scones instead of cookies.¡±

    ¡°You know I actually did that once.¡±

    ¡°Yes I know.¡±

    Indi chatted on as if she hadn¡¯t heard Wolf. ¡°But I¡¯m pretty sure I know why that happened, and they were still pretty good.¡±

    ¡°Okay, hold this.¡± Wolf handed her Katrina¡¯s cat charm.

    Indi took it and laid back down. She stared up at the wooden rafters on Wolf¡¯s ceiling. Directly above her the ceiling was low but as it got nearer the back shelves it slanted steeply upward, giving more space to the second story alcove. She knew his bedroom was up there, no door or anything, privacy achieved simply by its height. She wondered what it looked like and imagined a bed surrounded by more books. ¡°Now what?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Now you dreamwalk.¡±

    ¡°I just... dreamwalk?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you just think about about dreamwalking.¡±

    Indi frowned. ¡°That¡¯s not very helpful, Wolf. That¡¯s like telling someone who¡¯s never walked before to just think about walking.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well, how would you describe how to walk to someone who had never walked before?¡±

    Indi considered it. He had a point but there had to be a trick to it. ¡°I¡¯ve never used an infusement before either.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just like using your own powers in a way, apparently.¡±

    ¡°But, I¡¯ve been using my own powers my whole life. That¡¯s like the walking thing again.¡±

    ¡°Just try, think about it, I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Well, how did you do it when you first tried using magic? I mean, you weren¡¯t born with it so it¡¯s not as intuitive for you. It should be easier to explain.¡±

    Wolf cast his mind back. Back to him and Amanda as kids, barely teenagers, box of magic at their fingertips. They¡¯d found a trunk of items in a cave, half buried in the mud, one extra-dry summer. They¡¯d followed instructions in a book that wasn¡¯t theirs. They¡¯d considered it such fun find. Vials and powders and lockets infused with all sorts of unknown things. It had been easy for Amanda, even before she¡¯d figured out how to master her own magic.

    ¡®You just think about,¡¯ she¡¯d told him, just like he¡¯d told Indi now. But it hadn¡¯t helped then, not till she¡¯d taken his hand in hers, and somehow she¡¯d guided the magic until he¡¯d understood instinctively how to do it. Would that work now? He considered taking Indi¡¯s hand and trying to guide her the same way, but somehow he didn¡¯t think he could achieve even now quite what Amanda had back then.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± he replied.

    Indi sat up and looked at him with a frown, like a child who had been denied a toy. ¡°Maybe we should try your sleeping potion then.¡±

    Wolf scowled. ¡°Maybe, you should give it a bit more of a try. You¡¯ve barely focused on it at all. I¡¯m beginning to think you can¡¯t even be quiet for a full minute.¡±

    ¡°I can.¡±

    ¡°Alright, do it then.¡±

    Indi lay back down on the table stubbornly.

    Wolf started a timer.

    Not even 5 seconds later she said, ¡°Maybe it would be easier if it was dark. There are spells to do that right?¡±

    Wolf didn¡¯t comment until she looked at him and when she did he simply tapped his watch and repeated. ¡°One minute.¡±

    ¡°I can do a minute, I can,¡± Indi grumbled as she lay there staring at the ceiling but a few seconds later, ¡°What if-¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not starting the timer until you¡¯re quiet,¡± Wolf interrupted.

    ¡°I was just thinking out loud.¡±

    ¡°Try thinking quietly.¡± He resisted the urge to laugh. It would definitely not help her concentration.

    ¡°Okay, okay. Think quietly, got it. Thinking quietly, starting now!¡±

    After about 10 seconds she sat back up. ¡°Hey, do you think-¡±

    At Wolf¡¯s expression she cut herself off and lay back down again.

    Wolf watched her with baited breath.

    She was doing a poor job of lying still. Her legs shifted every now and again and her fingers fiddled with the charm. He was starting to think this wasn¡¯t going to work, but then it was probably for the best. He wasn¡¯t sure what they were going to do if she actually managed to draw the dreamweaver here.

    She hit 34 seconds this time.

    ¡°What if we put some relaxing music on?¡±

    Wolf didn¡¯t reply.

    She turned her head to look at him. ¡°Surely it¡¯s been a minute now.¡±

    ¡°37 seconds,¡± Wolf replied. ¡°Stop trying to force it and just relax.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    1 second.

    2 seconds.

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    This time, as the seconds ticked she seemed to calm a little more. Her legs became still, her breathing slowed. Wolf watched as she closed her eyes. And when the little hand ticked past one minute he said nothing.

    Indi wasn¡¯t sure what she was supposed to be doing. Truthfully, she wasn¡¯t sure how she even used her own magic. There had been times when she¡¯d tried to shield and just couldn¡¯t and then other times when she just did it instinctively without even thinking about it. Wolf¡¯s last suggestion helped though. Weirdly, it reminded her of the first time she¡¯d achieved sexual bliss with another person, well not that moment specifically, but a little before. She¡¯d been lying on her back then too with a large blond guy named Smudge looking down at her. He¡¯d been older, and one of her brother¡¯s friends. He¡¯d also been her third proper boyfriend, and far more experienced than she, but a total sweetheart, so gentle and kind and cuddly. She¡¯d dated him for some time, until he¡¯d left town to join up with the army or something like that. But she remembered how her first time with him had been initially so awkward and she¡¯d done a lot of giggling and far too much talking until Smudge had smiled and told her to relax. When he¡¯d disappeared between her legs she¡¯d started to worry after awhile that he might be getting bored so she¡¯d told him that he didn¡¯t need to worry about that and he could just stick it in her. But he¡¯d just smiled and told her to relax and that the trick was not trying to force it.

    When Wolf had said that same thing, something had clicked in her brain. It made sense she supposed that magic was like sex in a way, since sex was kind of like magic, sort of. Well, okay, maybe that was a stretch but the relaxing part at least did make some sense to her.

    She wondered what Smudge was doing now? Where he was? How his life had ended up. She supposed the where didn¡¯t matter too much for Smudge since he¡¯d been a teleporter, not that he could jump across continents. That was too far, but he could do half way across town. She wondered what it would be like to be able to just teleport wherever you wanted. Did Wolf have teleportation infusements she could try? She imagined being able to just teleport into the cinema and catch a free movie. The idea of it gave her a naughty thrill of excitement. Or never having to use doors. If she¡¯d been born a teleporter she totally would have made a secret room with no doors, except then she wouldn¡¯t get to see the sun. Perhaps it would have to have a skylight at least. She thought about just being able to jump outside. She imagined leaping to a mountain top, the sun on her face, the open sky up above, surrounded by trees...

    The charm between her fingers started to grow warm.

    Indi didn¡¯t notice at first. Not until she felt a cold breeze on her face.

    When she opened her eyes she found she was standing upright in the middle of a forest.

 Volume 3, Chapter 30: Whispers In The Walls

    Zephyr looked up at the massive four-story mansion that stood before him. Surrounded by fields full of neatly tended grapevines and built with clean white stone, it was more modern than the Milton place. The other Milton place that was, for this too, had been owned by a Milton. It had been Arianna¡¯s father¡¯s before he had passed. Now it belonged to her and her siblings.

    Arianna clutched his arm and gave him a daring grin. ¡°Do you want to go inside and have a look around?¡±

    Zephyr frowned. ¡°I did tell you what happened the last time I went inside one of your relative¡¯s places...¡±

    When he¡¯d left Indi and Wolf earlier that day, he¡¯d told them that he¡¯d had an appointment with a client. It hadn¡¯t been entirely untrue. He¡¯d promised to help Arianna with some paperwork. Sure, he¡¯d offered the help for free but it was still technically work of some sort. It wasn¡¯t his fault that when he¡¯d turned up at the place they¡¯d agreed to meet she¡¯d declared the paperwork all done and had just wanted to talk about him instead, a not-so-subtle hint that this was actually a date. Something Zephyr certainly wasn¡¯t about to complain about.

    Arianna was enthusiastic, friendly, pretty to look at, and best of all, she seemed completely enthralled by him. Somehow she¡¯d managed to get him talking about himself too, which was truly something remarkable given that was usually what Zephyr was good at getting other people to do. And so, he¡¯d told her about her grandma¡¯s house. Not everything, but most of it. And then she¡¯d asked if he wanted to go see another Milton house. He hadn¡¯t said no or yes, but his hesitation had been enough for her to grab his arm and quite literally whisk him away to a fancy looking winery in the middle of the Rainbow Valley.

    It wasn¡¯t that far from the Greenstone Valley, where Little Rock lay. Only a few ranges east into the Dragon Mountains. At first Zephyr had thought she was a teleporter but then she¡¯d flashed her bracelet and explained that she often cheekily used the winery¡¯s teleportation infusement as a quick form of transport. Apparently as long as you bought a certain amount each year they didn¡¯t mind.

    The Rainbow valley was known for it¡¯s excellent wines and upper class residents. Hell, given how difficult access into the valley was, you pretty much had to be oozing gold to live here. Importing anything by ship was rarely attempted due to the rocks and currents. Most stuff got bought in by teleport or dreamwalker, or on rare occasion by those crazy enough to drive a vehicle through the Dragon Mountains.

    Cat was one of those who drove that road regularly, sometimes just for the thrill of it. Zephyr had done it, once, and never again. Once you saw a dragon up that close and lived to tell the tale you didn¡¯t forget it. Now, most of the journeys the group took out of Greenstone valley for Coal were by teleport, at least as far as Broomstick Beech. The further you teleported the more expensive it got, and teleporting an entire car of people wasn¡¯t cheap to begin with. Given Arianna had said she was from near Ruin, it must be a pretty costly infusement she was wearing. Even more so, given she¡¯d said it was a two way bracelet, as long as they jumped from somewhere near the winery and within several hours. Wander too far from the origin point or try to jump too late and the result wouldn¡¯t be pretty. Luckily the house hadn¡¯t been far from the winery, and after a couple of mandatory glasses and a helping of vibrant chatter, they¡¯d made their way up to its front doors.

    Now Zephyr was re-thinking things.

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry. This one wasn¡¯t one of hers. Even my relatives don¡¯t go into her house anymore.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    Arianna shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t know. Just that none of them like her or seem to trust her. She always kind of creeped me out you know?¡±

    Zephyr nodded. ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Arianna¡¯s grin returned and she tugged him toward the large estate. ¡°So, coming then?¡±

    Zephyr let himself be pulled forward. Who could say no to a request asked like that? If she¡¯d asked him to go to the moon with her he probably would have said yes.

    He watched as she jiggled a key in the door. It took her a few tries before it fit.

    ¡°Have you been in here before?¡± he inquired.

    She shook her head. Her long red hair dancing against her expensive-looking dark grey cashmere sweater. ¡°Nope. First time. My brother took a look inside when he came down though.¡±

    Zephyr followed her through the door. The inside was big, made even bigger by the lack of furniture. High ceilings and fancy looking chandeliers towered above them. Everything in the entrance way was painted white, even the twin curving staircases, save for a touch of light brown on the steps themselves.

    He followed Arianna through double glass-pained doors and onto lush carpet. A stone fireplace situated in one wall suggested that this was the living room, one of them at least.

    ¡°How many brothers have you got?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°Three.¡±

    ¡°Three!¡±

    She laughed. ¡°And three sisters.¡±

    ¡°Big family. Do you get along?¡±

    ¡°Most of the time.¡±

    He followed her voice as she went from room to room. She gazed about in admiration of the place as if she¡¯d just found out she was a princess and this was her new castle. Zephyr was glad that the beauty of the place was not lost on her. She seemed to appreciate what she had, which was certainly a lot, but it had not gone to her head. Even at the winery, she¡¯d been so excited with each glass, despite the fact that she¡¯d been there several times before.

    ¡°What about you?¡± she asked. ¡°Do you have brothers? Or sisters?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s just me,¡± Zephyr replied. ¡°I grew up with my cousins though. Parents died in a car accident when I was young.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry.¡± Arianna twirled around to face him with a sympathetic look.

    Zephyr shook his head, indicating she needn¡¯t be, it was long ago.

    ¡°Did you get on with them?¡± she asked. She swayed a little form side to side, her navy skirt swinging as if her body wanted to keep exploring, but her grey eyes stayed fixed, giving him all her attention.

    Zephyr gave a small laugh and hesitated. He didn¡¯t want to lie but nor did he want to answer honestly and bring the conversation down.

    But she read it from his reaction anyway. ¡°So, that¡¯s a no then?¡± She smiled, keeping things light.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s a no.¡±

    ¡°Too bad.¡± She was astute enough not to press that line of questioning.

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    He followed her into another hallway. As they stepped through the door he felt the temperature drop substantially.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s cold,¡± Arianna remarked. ¡°Good thing we¡¯re dressed warm. Somebody probably left a window open.¡±

    ¡°Maybe.¡± Zephyr frowned. What was that sound he could hear? It was like a faint whispering coming from the walls. Or a soft crying? ¡°Do you hear that?¡±

    Arianna paused and listened. ¡°The wind maybe?¡±

    ¡°Maybe. Maybe we should go?¡±

    She spun and gave him a surprised look. ¡°Scared?¡± she teased.

    ¡°No,¡± he lied.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s coming from this way.¡± Without a look back she pushed forward.

    ¡°Mmm.¡± Zephyr followed with a frown. ¡°I don¡¯t know if we should be following strange sounds in a strange house. Especially given what happened last time.¡±

    Arianna paused and turned back to study him. Then she took his hands, smiled, and replied quite sincerely, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll protect you.¡± As she spun to follow the sound again she added, ¡°I told you. This one wasn¡¯t my grandma¡¯s house. This was like her brother¡¯s or uncles or something. I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Does your family have a lot of deaths quite regularly?¡± Zephyr asked, recognising that his voice had notched up in pitch but unable to do much about it.

    ¡°Well, there are a lot of us, so I think it¡¯s just a numbers game. If it¡¯s not somebody dying, then it¡¯s somebody getting married.¡±

    Zephyr gave an amused smile at her tone. Evidently, she wasn¡¯t a very frivolous person. He had guessed as much anyway. Despite her excitement at nearly everything, she always managed to come across dignified. She never slouched, and while she¡¯d sway and shift she never jumped up or down or clapped her hands, although sometimes she would bring them quickly and softly together as if she wanted to.

    ¡°You know I swear, while I was in high school, we must have had a birthday like every second weekend. One time there were three at once.¡±

    She stopped suddenly.

    Zephyr nearly ran into her.

    Then she rotated slightly, lifted one hand and placed it gently on his side as if to stop him.

    Zephyr¡¯s stomach did a somersault at her touch and he would have sworn his heart skipped a beat.

    She tilted her head to the side and listened. ¡°It¡¯s stopped.¡±

    He did the same. She was right. No more crying, just a quiet whisper of the wind. When he glanced down to meet her gaze he realised how close she was.

    ¡°Hi,¡± he said.

    ¡°Hi.¡± She smiled.

    For a full moment they stared at each other, only inches apart.

    ¡°Were you really scared?¡± she asked seriously.

    ¡°No,¡± he lied again. He took her hand between his and gently caressed her smooth skin.

    She kept her smile but narrowed her eyes, obviously unsure if he was lying or not. She brought her other hand up and walked her fingers up his forearm. Casually she played with the half-rolled up sleeves of his woolen jersey.

    For a moment he thought about admitting that he had been scared after all, but then she glanced away and replied, ¡°She always used to scare me.¡± She shivered as she met his gaze again.

    She¡¯d said the same before, but Zephyr appreciated the comment now. He smiled and took the opportunity to run both his hands up and around her biceps, as if to warm or comfort her, but really just to touch another part of her that he hadn¡¯t touched yet.

    ¡°Why did she scare you?¡± he asked as he dropped his hands back down.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. There were lots of rumours about her. That she messed about with sorcery and blood magics. That she ate children and bathed in the blood of virgins to stay young. Fairy stories, I think.¡±

    ¡°You think?¡±

    ¡°Who knows. Some people say the sorcerers can live forever. Not that they¡¯d share it with the rest of us if they could.¡±

    ¡°Would you want to live forever?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know if it would still be us then. Maybe like a version of us.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it matters. Only our perception of it. I think it would make things a lot easier.¡±

    He frowned. ¡°Easier? How would it make things easier.¡±

    ¡°More predictable,¡± she replied with a smile.

    ¡°You¡¯d still have new people though and you¡¯d still have deaths from other things.¡±

    ¡°Well, that depends on the nature of how we attain immortality,¡± she replied with a smile, ¡°But things would change slower I think and people do some crazy things when they think they¡¯re going to die. Plus, you wouldn¡¯t have any aging minds in charge of anything. They¡¯d be fresh and brilliant forever.¡±

    ¡°And in charge forever until someone bopped them off,¡± Zephyr quipped as he mimed hitting someone with a hammer.

    Arianna laughed.

    ¡°And people might get a little impatient waiting around for a freak accident to collect their inheritance.¡±

    Arianna laughed again and then she shook her head. ¡°Inheritance isn¡¯t something I think most people care about.¡±

    ¡°So says the rich girl standing in her inherited house,¡± Zephyr teased.

    Arianna seemed to take his teasing in her stride although she did blush a little.

    ¡°You know what I think,¡± Zephyr continued before she could reply.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I think it wouldn¡¯t make a single difference.¡±

    ¡°No?¡± She raised her eyebrows.

    ¡°No. That¡¯s the nature of people. They get happy or sad for awhile depending on what happens but most people are like those dolls with the weighted bottoms. They have a set point and they always find it again. Same for peace and chaos. Give someone a perfect life and they¡¯ll go looking for trouble. Give them enough chaos and they¡¯ll make friends where they had none before.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so you do enjoy being a little scared then? Here I had you pegged for the smart and sophisticated armchair sort,¡± she teased as she placed her hands on his chest and leaned in a little. ¡°But then you go telling me about your crazy adventures.¡±

    ¡°Sometimes, I can be both,¡± he replied as he leaned down, heart-thumping in his chest, and met her lips with his.

    Their kiss was soft and sweet and only the barest tip of tongue was used.

    ¡°Well, you certainly make my heart beat a little faster,¡± she admitted once they broke apart several minutes later.

    Zephyr grinned and was about to reply when a loud yowl echoed through the house, followed by a soft crying, just like they had hear earlier.

    ¡°It¡¯s started again,¡± Zephyr observed.

    Arianna frowned as she listened. Then she smiled and took off after it again.

    ¡°Hey, wait a minute,¡± Zephyr called as he raced to catch up.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s some kind of animal,¡± Arianna replied as she paused by a door. Then she reached for the handle.

    ¡°What¡¯s your power, out of interest?¡± Zephyr asked from just behind her, wanting to know, just in case it wasn¡¯t an everyday animal.

    She paused, gave him a surprised look followed by a smile. Then she held up on finger and created a small flame on the tip. A moment later she snuffed it out by forming her hand into a fist.

    ¡°You¡¯re a firestarter?¡±

    She nodded. ¡°And you?¡± She was paused with her hand on the door handle now. From inside this room Zephyr could hear a quiet snuffling. Whatever it was was in there.

    ¡°Quickfoot,¡± he replied.

    She raised her eyebrows and with a smile remarked, ¡°Ah, well you¡¯ll be able to outrun me then.¡±

    He frowned. He did not think that helped things. He didn¡¯t want anything to happen to her anymore than himself.

    Gently she turned the door handle and nudged the door open just a crack, enough that she could peer around the edge. A moment later she pulled back with a smile on her face. Then she nodded for him to take a look.

    Zephyr hesitated, but it didn¡¯t seem like she was afraid of whatever it was so he leaned forward and took a look.

    There lying against one wall of the room was a white fox-like creature with several bushy tails, nursing a small litter of kits.

    ¡°Fynxara,¡± Arianna whispered in his ear. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a baby one before. She must have come in through a window to give birth. What a rare treat.¡±

    Zephyr pulled back and whispered back, ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen an adult one before, except in pictures. They don¡¯t usually come near people do they?¡±

    ¡°They do if they¡¯re bonded or looking to bond but that¡¯s rare, and I don¡¯t think this one is or she would be with her witch. Even bonded ones are pretty elusive though. One of my aunt¡¯s used to have one. It followed her everywhere but you hardly would have noticed it unless you knew, and it often took the form of a cat. Lucky woman. We should leave it be.¡± But she peered around the door to get one more look.

    Zephyr did the same, figuring it might be his last chance to ever see one. Just seeing a fynxara was a once in a lifetime event, let along several at once.

    ¡°Do you think it can get out?¡± Zephyr asked as Arianna gently closed the door to the room.

    She hesitated. ¡°If it got in then it should be able to get out. I¡¯m not familiar with the sorts of powers they can have. Some can teleport I think but maybe the babies can¡¯t.¡± She cracked the door open a bit. ¡°We¡¯ll leave them a way out just in case, and maybe give them a few weeks before we do anything with this place.¡±

    ¡°What are you planning to do with it?¡± Zephyr asked as they tiptoed away down the hall.

    ¡°Probably just sell it,¡± Arianna replied.

    Zephyr could hear the wind whispering in the background again but it no longer seemed as scary as it had several minutes ago, not after the miracle he¡¯d just seem.

    He was feeling a lot calmer by the time they got back to the entrance hall, at least he was until a shrill sound rang out from his pocket. He jumped about a foot in the air before he realised it was just his cellphone. He checked the call screen. It was from Wolf.

    He hit the answer button, ignoring Arianna¡¯s gentle laughter. ¡°Hey?¡±

    ¡°Hey Zeph,¡± Wolf¡¯s voice filtered down the line. His tone betrayed worry. ¡°How fast can you get to my place? It¡¯s Indi. Something went wrong with a spell we cast. ¡±

 Volume 3, Chapter 31: Blurred Lines

    Indi looked around the forest. Was this a dream? Or a nightmare?

    It seemed peaceful enough, and so real. She pinched herself. Yup, definitely very real.

    ¡°I guess pinching yourself to check if you¡¯re dreaming was just an old wives tale,¡± she said aloud to no one. There was no reply. The forest remained silent apart from the odd twitter of a bird or the rustle of the gentle wind.

    Now what? Did she just wait for the dreamweaver to show up? Or should she walk around?

    She stood still for a couple of seconds before deciding that waiting would be far too boring. So she picked a direction and started walking.

    She¡¯d gone barely a 100 metres when she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. There! A movement among the trees. But when she turned to look directly where it had been, there was nothing there. She shook her head and with a furrowed brow and a cautious step, she kept moving.

    A few metres on there was another flash of something dark, just off to the right. A large shape, she was sure of it. But once again when she turned to look it was gone, and this time she wasn¡¯t sure how it was hiding, for it had seemed far too big to be able to fit behind the trees, and there wasn¡¯t much in the way of undergrowth in this part of the forest. The towering evergreens over her head suffocated anything else that tried to grow here.

    She started moving again, faster this time. Pine needles crunched softly under her low-heeled boots.

    A sixth sense told her something was following her. She spun once more. This time, standing among the trees, she saw a large wolf. Its coat was a jet black and its eyes were bright green.

    For several seconds the two of them just stood staring at one another, then it turned and loped away. Indi waited but it didn¡¯t seem like it was coming back and the feeling of being watched vanished with it. She turned and kept moving forward.

    The forest barely changed and she started to wonder if it was infinite. Perhaps she should climb a tree and get a look around? Easy in theory, but a quick glance about, showed that was going to be much more difficult in practice. None of these trees had branches low enough and Indi had no idea how you were supposed to climb just the trunk of a tree.

    She vaguely remembered a rule from school about what to do if you ever got lost in forest. You were supposed to hug a tree. Indi hadn¡¯t understood what the hugging the tree part was supposed to do but she¡¯d liked the idea of it so she¡¯d never questioned it. It hadn¡¯t been until much later that she¡¯d realised that it was just a way to ensure that kids stayed where they were. It was easier to remember than ¡®stay put.¡¯ Still, the idea of hugging a tree was comforting in a way, it made her view of the forest far friendlier. At least it did until the howling sounded. There were two wolves at least, but far apart from one another. She paused and listened. It almost sounded like they were having a conversation. That thought was enough to calm her. It was perfectly natural, just creatures of the forest going about their business. One had already seen her and he hadn¡¯t bothered her.

    She wasn¡¯t sure how far she¡¯d gone when he showed up. Wolf, on all fours. She recognised him, or his dream duplicate she supposed, since he couldn¡¯t possibly be here right? Unless he was dreamwalking too?

    She knew it was him, although she didn¡¯t know how. He looked like Wolf but then a lot of wolves looked like him. His fur was a touch lighter than that of the wolf she¡¯d seen earlier and his eyes were brown rather than green. She wondered if the wolf she¡¯d seen earlier had been a werewolf too? Or just an image from her mind?

    She knew some of the things in here were real, like the dreamweaver, and she knew that some of the things in here could hurt her, but so could the mind, and belief played strange games when it mixed with magic.

    ¡°Wolf?¡± she asked as he approached. She wasn¡¯t afraid. Nothing had tried to hurt her yet and he was too familiar.

    He stopped before her. He was panting as if he had been running very fast. Then he gave what appeared to be a nod.

    She waited for him to shift and when he didn¡¯t she briefly reconsidered if it was him or not. But then she noticed the small pack he was wearing and she remembered that he couldn¡¯t shift with his clothes. She turned her back to him.

    She waited for what seemed like ages to her, but in reality was barely enough time to get changed, then she spun to face him.

    But it wasn¡¯t Wolf that stood before her anymore, at least not the Wolf she knew.

    Gold-red eyes glowed back at her from behind a snarl lined with white and red paint. Streaks of colour coated the otherwise brown fur of the giant wolf that stood before her. It had grown almost four times in size and it¡¯s face was drawn on exactly like that of circus clown.

    Indi screamed, and then she ran.

    <hr>

    Sometime earlier, back at his cabin, Wolf had been waiting for the spell to take effect, when suddenly Indi had vanished from the table.

    ¡°Ah, shit!¡± For a moment he¡¯d held his breath hoping it was just his imagination or that she would reappear in a second or two. When she didn¡¯t immediately come back, he leapt off his chair and got to collecting up the ingredients for a locator spell, hoping that she hadn¡¯t gone very far. He compromised accuracy in favor of range and cast a spell that would give a direction or at least tell him if she was still on this plane of existence. As far as he knew, a body couldn¡¯t just disappear into the dreamworld, but dreamwalkers could perform a form of teleportation. It was usually quite difficult and Wolf doubted that Indi had managed that on her first time dreamwalking, except if it wasn¡¯t that then he had no idea what else it could be.

    Locator spells were his specialty and he barely needed to glance at the book in order to perform this one. He was almost done when he reconsidered the spell he¡¯d chosen. If she¡¯d teleported herself via the dreamworld then it was unlikely that she¡¯d gone far, in which case she should be close enough by for a more accurate spell. But it was too late to change his mind now. He had other ways of narrowing in on her location though.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    On a blood-drawn rune before him, he spun a stick of obsidian and watched its movement slow until it settled toward east. It slowed quickly, which meant she was close.

    He didn¡¯t waste time with a second spell, instead he stripped his clothes off and shoved them into his travel sack. It fit tightly on him in wolf form and loosely in man form.

    Once outside his cabin, he transformed into his four-legged self. Once he reached the rear and east-facing side of his cabin he paused to sniff the air. He caught the scent of a rabbit but not much else. No sign of Indi, which meant, while she was close, she wasn¡¯t that close. He had other noses in the forest though, all he had to do was ask.

    He sent up a blood-curdling howl, the sort that made witches latch their doors and windows and night, but which to a werewolf simply meant, ¡®is anyone listening?¡¯

    He got a reply a few moments later, two in fact, one to the east and one to the west. He wasn¡¯t surprised about the one to the west. It was in that direction that his pack¡¯s cave lay, near the sea nestled among a denser forest than here, just north of the James¡¯s farm, but south of the desert plains.

    He sent his next question up in another howl. He described Indi and was even more surprised when he got at immediate and affirmative reply back from the wolf to the east. This time he recognised the timber of the voice. It was his own son, Jade. It was school hours, but that did not matter so much to the wolves. Most wolves grew up outside of witch society. If they went to school at all, it was usually just high school, and only so they could better understand the witch world. Wolf had fought his own parents tooth and claw to be able to go at a younger age. He had liked school, had liked the witches and magic, but he was the exception. Even his own kids only attended half their classes. Not every place allowed such inconsistent and disruptive behaviour. Wolf¡¯s parents had had to ship him halfway across the continent to live with another pack in order to attend school. They were basically his own pack now, especially given they were also his ex-wife¡¯s pack.

    A few more howls and Wolf knew exactly where Indi was and that she was still in one piece. He raced through the forest, passing by Jade¡¯s dark form on the way. The youngster carried a live rabbit between his teeth now, undoubtedly a present for Katrina and one of her spells.

    Normally, Wolf might have stopped to give Jade a warning about the dangers of spell-casting, but right now, in an ironic twist of events, he was more worried about the effects of his own wayward spell-casting to stop for what only would have been a repeat of previous conversations anyway.

    He found Indi not long after. She seemed fine and unworried. She even recognised him, and he was surprised with how happy that made him. He confirmed that it was indeed him with a nod, and then she turned, no doubt to give him privacy to shift.

    He shifted and changed quickly, knowing her impatience would probably not let her keep turned away for long.

    He¡¯d half done up the button¡¯s on his un-ironed half-stained shirt when she turned around to face him. He was about to speak when he noticed the look on her face. She wasn¡¯t looking at him like she was happy to see him. Instead she looked terrified.

    Then she screamed, turned, and sprinted as fast as she could away from him.

    Thinking there was something terrifying behind him, Wolf turned, but he could see nothing but empty forest. He stared after her, watching as she nearly tripped over roots to get away from him.

    ¡°What?¡± he asked the empty forest in a confused tone.

    Then he took off running after her, not bothering to shift form this time. Indi wasn¡¯t that fast.

    ¡°Indi!¡± he called as he got closer. ¡°Indi, stop. Why are you running?¡±

    He made several more attempts at getting her to stop but she kept running. After a couple of glances back she eventually seemed to slow. Finally she came to a panting stop and she turned to face him with a wary look in her eyes.

    He held up his hands and approached her slowly.

    ¡°Wolf?¡± she asked, as if she wasn¡¯t sure it was him.

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s me.¡±

    Her eyes searched the nearby forest.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? What happened?¡± he asked.

    She started to take a deep breath as if to explain. For a moment the air seemed to get caught in her throat and Wolf worried he was going to have to run all the way back to his cabin for her inhaler. Then she sighed and resumed breathing normally. She still looked nervous.

    ¡°I... I don¡¯t know. I think it was part of a nightmare... except this isn¡¯t like what I expected at all. It¡¯s so much more real.¡±

    Wolf frowned. ¡°You¡¯re not dreaming, Indi.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not?¡± She looked unsure.

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°So, what did I see before then?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°How do I know I¡¯m not dreaming and you aren¡¯t just my imagination?¡±

    Wolf scratched his chin. He hadn¡¯t had this problem before. And the difficult thing here was that Indi hadn¡¯t dreamwalked before so how did he explain to her what it was supposed to feel like.

    ¡°Um...¡± He swallowed.

    Indi, at least seemed to be calming down though. She peered at him cautiously. ¡°You¡¯re not going to turn into that thing again are you?¡±

    ¡°That thing?¡±

    ¡°Mmm...¡±

    ¡°Look, why don¡¯t we go back to the cabin? Maybe familiar territory will help.¡±

    Indi considered it and then nodded slowly. ¡°Okay.¡±

    She seemed disinclined to walk ahead of or even close to him though so Wolf took the lead. He glanced back every so often just to check she was still following. She regularly and nervously checked the surrounding forest as they walked and she kept her distance from him but she did follow him all the way back to the cabin.

    Once they were both inside, and he was a safe distance on the other side of the room, she cautiously walked along the bookshelves, glancing warily between the contents there and Wolf.

    ¡°I thought it would look different,¡± she announced finally.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t look different because you¡¯re not dreaming,¡± Wolf replied.

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what a dream Wolf would say though,¡± Indi insisted.

    Wolf groaned. This was going to be harder than he thought. ¡°Why would dream Wolf say that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Why wouldn¡¯t dream Wolf say that?¡±

    Wolf studied her. She seemed serious and her breathing had gotten faster again. Perhaps he should call Amanda? But no, he could handle this. He just needed to explain to her what had happened in a logical manner. Logic always worked on Indi.

    ¡°Okay, look.¡± Wolf took a seat on his stool, hoping it might help her relax a little more. ¡°You teleported. That¡¯s what happened. I don¡¯t know why but sometimes dreamwalkers can do that. The dreamworld lets them shift through space somehow, from one location to another. You know how dreamwalkers can move items through dreams. It¡¯s a whole transport industry, you know that right, Indi?¡±

    She nodded.

    ¡°Okay, well that¡¯s what you did.¡±

    ¡°Why would I do that? I remember falling asleep... at least I think I fell asleep. I don¡¯t know... I teleported?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°But, I saw... I saw that thing.¡±

    Wolf wasn¡¯t sure what she had seen but whatever it was it didn¡¯t matter. What mattered was convincing her that she wasn¡¯t still dreaming. ¡°It was probably just a remnant,¡± Wolf said, completely making up his answer on the spot. ¡°Like a memory of your brief period in the dreamworld. Just an image that got pulled through with you.¡± For all he knew, maybe that was the truth.

    ¡°Just a remnant...¡± She considered it. ¡°So the spell didn¡¯t work? I didn¡¯t manage to lure the dreamweaver in? Or any bad dreams?¡±

    ¡°No. And teleporting via the dreamworld is actually quite inefficient so we probably burned up all the energy we put in.¡±

    She looked a lot calmer now. She even took a seat at the other end of the table.

    Wolf turned toward his teacup cabinet. ¡°How about I make us a cup of tea and we call it a day?¡±

    Indi nodded.

    Wolf turned his back on her.

    Just as he was reaching for the cupboard, he heard her scream and the clatter as a stool fell to the floor.

    He turned back to find her curled up in the corner, her shield up, and waving one of his spell preparation knives at the empty air.

    ¡°No! Stay back.¡± She swiped at nothing and then she whimpered. ¡°I wanna wake up now. Wolf? Please! How do I wake up?¡±

 Volume 3, Chapter 32: Just A Small Jump

    Wolf tried Amanda¡¯s number first but all he got was dial tone. Calling Cat produced much the same result. But the third time was the charm.

    ¡°Hey Zeph, how fast can you get to my place? It¡¯s Indi. Something went wrong with a spell we cast.¡±

    He watched Indi the entire time he talked. She was still pressed against the back wall, clutching the knife and staring at something he could not see.

    ¡°Indi, there¡¯s nothing there,¡± he told her as he covered the mouthpiece.

    But she didn¡¯t listen to him.

    ¡°Stay back!¡± She held the shaky knife out in front of her, too far from her body to do any good. Then she curled into a ball as if bracing for an attack from something. A few moments later she peaked back up, her eyes fixed on one spot in front of her.

    Zephyr¡¯s voice filtered back down the line. ¡°Uh, that¡¯s kind of tricky. I¡¯m in the Rainbow Valley.¡±

    ¡°What? Why are you in the Rainbow Valley?¡±

    ¡°Long story, what¡¯s wrong with Indi? Is she okay? Can you phone someone else?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s seeing things that aren¡¯t there and thinks she¡¯s still dreaming. I already tried Amanda and Cat. I got no answer. I don¡¯t know who else to call.¡±

    ¡°Uh, how about her husband?¡± Zephyr replied in a tone that suggested he though it an obvious first call.

    Wolf hesitated. ¡°He¡¯d probably just make things worse. He¡¯s not familiar with spells or dreamwalking, and he¡¯ll probably just bite my head off for getting Indi into this situation. You¡¯re a therapist, can¡¯t you tell me how to calm her down? Convince her what she¡¯s seeing isn¡¯t real.¡±

    ¡°Is what she¡¯s seeing not real?¡± Zephyr asked matter-of-factly.

    Wolf hesitated again. He wasn¡¯t sure about that. It was a good point.¡±Hang on,¡± he said to Zephyr. Then to Indi he asked, ¡°Indi, what is it that you¡¯re looking at?¡±

    ¡°A monster,¡± she whispered. Her whisper was followed a moment later by a small whimper.

    Wolf suppressed a groan. ¡°Yes, but what does it look like?¡±

    ¡°Like a wolf.¡±

    ¡°Like a...¡± Wolf frowned. He put the phone back to his ear. ¡°I¡¯m not getting anywhere. I need some better suggestions, Zeph.¡±

    ¡°Uhh...ahhh!¡±

    There came a high-pitched scream down the line and suddenly two figures and fox-like creature fell out of midair and landed on Wolf¡¯s table.

    The figures landed roughly, sprawled and groaning. The fynxara dropped in delicately right between then, as if it had just hopped down a single step. It straightened up, looked Wolf right in eye, then leapt straight toward him, vanishing into thin air before it reached him.

    ¡°What the?¡± came a woman¡¯s voice that he did not recognise.

    The other figure was Zephyr.

    Wolf frowned, crossed his arms, leaned back against his bench, and waited for the new arrivals to come to their senses.

    ¡°Um...¡± Zephyr sat up and scanned his gaze around the room. He paused when he saw Indi, then he looked to Wolf and recognition flooded his face.

    The woman didn¡¯t bother looking around the room. Her eyes had found Wolf and from that moment she had fixed him with a wary look.

    ¡°Uh, hi Wolf,¡± Zephyr replied.

    At his words, the woman turned from Wolf to look at Zephyr with a surprised and confused frown.

    It was Zephyr that asked the question she was probably also thinking.

    ¡°What just happened?¡±

    Wolf could guess but he hesitated in saying it. It had been the work of the fynxara, he was sure, but fynxara were so rare a thing that saying ¡®a fynxara did it,¡¯ was like saying the dog ate your homework. He wasn¡¯t even sure if Zephyr knew what a fynxara was.

    ¡°Well, it looks like you teleported,¡± Wolf replied.

    ¡°Uh... yeah, but how?¡± Zephyr gave the room another sweep and once more his gaze found Indi, still scrunched up silently in the corner, breathing heavily. He hopped down off the table and made his way toward her.

    ¡°Well, it might have something to do with the fynxara that was just here,¡± Wolf replied, expecting to have to explain what that was. He watched Indi shrink into her corner a little as Zephyr got closer.

    But to his surprise, the woman on the table said in a more relaxed voice, ¡°Oh, the fynxara, it teleported us?¡±

    Wolf gave her a second assessment. She was slender, red-headed, and tall. Almost as tall as Cat but without an ounce of muscle on her. She was more limb than body and kind of delicate looking. She smelt like fancy perfume, white wine, and comfortable living. She was dressed fancy too, in a skirt and soft jersey, neither of which looked fit for running about or fighting monsters or handling vials of blood. Was she a client of Zeph¡¯s? She¡¯d lost her wary expression now and was instead giving him a look of curiosity.

    ¡°Oh, err, Arianna, this is Wolf. Wolf, this is Arianna.¡± Zephyr waved a hand behind himself without even a glance back. He was was focused on Indi. ¡°Hey Indi, you alright?¡±

    Arianna held out a manicured hand to Wolf. ¡°Pleasure to meet you.¡±

    He gave a loose shake of her limp grip and grunted a reply. Then he turned to watch Zephyr.

    Zephyr took a few steps slowly toward Indi.

    Suddenly she raised both hands as if to ward him off. ¡°No, don¡¯t come any closer, it might hurt you.¡±

    Zephyr paused, his eyes now drawn to the knife in her hand. ¡°What might, Indi?¡±

    ¡°The wolf.¡±

    ¡°The Wolf? You can see a wolf? What does it look like? Is it big or small?¡±

    ¡°Big.¡±

    ¡°Like a werewolf?¡±

    She nodded.

    ¡°What colour is it?¡±

    ¡°Brown.¡±

    Zephyr was gentle and slow with his questions and after each answer he¡¯d nod thoughtfully.

    ¡°What sort of brown? Like a light brown or dark brown?¡±

    ¡°Mmm, medium maybe.¡± Indi was sounding slightly less shaky now. Her breathing seemed less panicky.

    ¡°Any distinctive markings?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s face is painted like a clown.¡±

    ¡°Like a clown?¡± Zephyr had been crouching slightly, now he stood up straight and glanced back at Wolf.

    Wolf shrugged so Zephyr turned back to Indi.

    ¡°What¡¯s it doing now?

    ¡°Just... growling, kind of.¡±

    Where is it?¡±

    Indi pointed to a spot a couple feet in front of Zephyr. He took a few steps toward that spot.

    Indi furrowed her brow, obviously not happy with what he was doing. But before she could object, Zephyr was standing in the spot she had pointed.

    Her objection seemed to falter and she looked at the spot with a frown

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    ¡°Is it still there?¡±

    Indi nodded slowly. ¡°It¡¯s a dream I guess. I don¡¯t know how to wake up.¡±

    Zephyr glanced once more at Wolf who shook his head. Arianna was watching Indi with a concerned empathetic expression on her face.

    ¡°You¡¯re not dreaming, Indi. You¡¯re just seeing some things that aren¡¯t there. They¡°¡ªHe looked to Wolf¡ª¡°can¡¯t hurt you?¡±

    But this time Wolf didn¡¯t respond. He just looked at Indi with a worried expression.

    Zephyr sighed. With a smile he said to Indi, ¡°We¡¯re going make them go away okay, just bare with me.¡± Then he turned and walked back to Wolf. ¡°What magic were you doing?¡±

    Wolf looked past him, his gaze still fixed on Indi, his mind thinking how this was all his fault and how useless he was at people things. At least calling Zephyr appeared to have been the right decision. He had managed to calm her down somewhat. But Wolf had no idea what to do now.

    Then Indi spoke, ¡°What if I cut myself with the knife or something, maybe a strong pain will wake me up?¡±

    Wolf met Zephyr¡¯s eyes and for a moment he saw the terror he felt reflected there. Then, in less than a blink of an eye the quickfoot was on the other side of the room, kneeling next to Indi and prying that knife from her hands.

    Indi gave a yelp and jerked back into the wall with a light thud. Luckily, she forgot to shield and the surprise loosened her grip. Zephyr easily took the knife from her. He threw it safely across the room and out of her reach. It lodged neatly into a cupboard door.

    He spoke to her calmly and quickly. ¡°It¡¯s okay, Indi, it¡¯s just me. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea okay. The dreamworld doesn¡¯t work like that so even if you are dreaming all you¡¯d do is hurt yourself okay. And if you were dreaming we wouldn¡¯t leave you in there would we?¡±

    She hesitated.

    ¡°Anyway, you¡¯re not dreaming.¡± He held out a hand. ¡°Look, feel my hand, feels real right?¡±

    ¡°I guess.¡± She carefully touched his fingers, turning his hand over within her own.

    As she seemed to relax, Zephyr closed her hand in his own and gave it a gentle squeeze.

    Indi frowned. ¡°But, the dreamworld feels real right? How can I be sure?¡±

    Zephyr reached up and squeezed her shoulder.¡±Well, sure it can feel real.¡±

    ¡°But not this real,¡± Wolf interjected in a gruffer tone than Zephyr¡¯s.

    ¡°And the magic wears off eventually so you¡¯d wake up,¡± Zephyr added.

    ¡°Not if it was a dreamweaver that trapped me,¡± Indi argued, although she seemed much calmer now at least.

    ¡°Yeah, but think back to what happened. You and Wolf cast a spell or something right? So Wolf would wake you if you had gone to sleep. But you didn¡¯t, you...¡± he gave Wolf a questioning look.

    But Indi replied before Wolf could. ¡°But what if I was dreaming then too? What if I¡¯ve been dreaming from the moment I stepped foot in that house, or, or... or even before that?!¡± Her voice was getting raspy again.

    ¡°Uh...¡± Zephyr frowned. ¡°Let me talk to Wolf for a second okay? You just sit here.¡±

    Zephyr started to get up but Indi grabbed his arm.

    In a panicked voice she said, ¡°No, don¡¯t go.¡±

    Zephyr gave Wolf a hard look. ¡°Call Falco, now.¡±

    Wolf sighed and grumbled but he pulled out his phone and started dialing.

    ¡°And try Amanda and Cat again.¡±

    Arianna suddenly seemed to realise what she was sitting on, not so much the table itself but the circle of blood that had been painted onto it. As Wolf made his call, she climbed down off it, checked her clothes for any stains, eyed the table warily and then slowly walked around the edge of the it until she was in Indi¡¯s line of vision.

    ¡°Hey,¡± she said in a friendly tone. ¡°I¡¯m Arianna.¡±

    ¡°You were chatting to Zeph that day we were all in the Rusty Nail?¡± Indi replied.

    Arianna looked surprised. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Indi glanced from Arianna to Zephyr and then back again and a small smile started to form on her face. She released Zephyr¡¯s arm, then in a shaky breath she asked, ¡°I¡¯m really not dreaming?¡±

    ¡°Nope,¡± Arianna replied with a smile. ¡°Although I suppose it¡¯s possible we¡¯ve all always been dreaming.¡±

    Zephyr gave her a frown but then Indi laughed.

    ¡°I suppose,¡± she said. ¡±Maybe that¡¯s not so bad then... except...¡± she turned to look at that same spot again. The place where nothing was.

    ¡°It¡¯s still there?¡± Zephyr asked.

    Indi nodded. ¡°But you did walk through it before, so I know that¡¯s not real at least. Wolf said I teleported, like through the dreamworld, with this.¡± She opened her hand to reveal the little silver cat charm.

    Zephyr didn¡¯t point out that it was also possible the creature was real and he wasn¡¯t. She seemed to have decided that he was the real one and he sure as hell wasn¡¯t going to challenge that assumption. He took the cat charm from her and glanced toward Wolf, who was by now off the phone and watching with a concerned look.

    ¡°I can sit with her,¡± Arianna offered.

    Zephyr gave her a grateful smile.

    ¡°Would that be alright Indi?¡± Arianna asked.

    Indi nodded. She glanced nervously toward the invisible creature but made no move to grab Zephyr as he got up this time.

    Arianna proceeded to distract her by chatting to her and asking her questions about herself.

    ¡°What did you cast?¡± Zephyr asked Wolf in a low voice.

    Wolf sighed and reached for his book. ¡°Bad dreams spell. It was supposed to lure the dreamweaver here, and-¡±

    ¡°You were trying to lure it?!¡±

    Wolf shrugged sheepishly. ¡°It was Indi¡¯s idea and I figured it gave us a chance to trap it.¡±

    ¡°That thing kills, and fast by the looks of it. What were you thinking?¡±

    ¡°I was thinking it was going to kill more people if we didn¡¯t soon something about it.¡±

    ¡°So you used Indi as bait?¡±

    ¡°a) her idea, and b) she would have been perfectly safe.¡±

    Zephyr gestured to where Indi and Arianna were now deep in conversation over in the corner. There was a lot of smiling and a little bit of laughter going on but every now and again Indi would glance nervously over to that same spot. ¡°Would have being the operative words.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what went wrong.¡± Wolf studied the instructions for the spell again. ¡°I got her to use the dreamwalking infusement as well but, they shouldn¡¯t have had this result.¡±

    ¡°This thing?¡± Zephyr handed him the necklace.

    Wolf nodded as he took it. ¡°She was having trouble falling asleep and I can¡¯t be 100% certain that she didn¡¯t take some dreamskeep. She had some on her and she says she didn¡¯t but she seems jittery and I have no idea what that combination of things would have done. I would have expected that it just didn¡¯t work. Teleportation via the dreamworld is hard. Cat can barely do it and that¡¯s with a lot of extra set up.¡±

    Zephyr frowned and glanced toward Indi. ¡°Indi¡¯s often jittery.¡±

    There was a sigh from Wolf. ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know. Sometimes the dream world can bleed into reality. A dreamer can make a monster real. That¡¯s usually more common with novice dreamwalkers though, not infusements. But maybe that¡¯s what she¡¯s seeing. Cat could fix it but I still can¡¯t get a hold of her.¡±

    ¡°And the others?¡±

    ¡°Falco¡¯s on his way.¡±

    Zephyr frowned and looked down at the description of the spell that Wolf had placed before him. He didn¡¯t think he was going be much use though. He didn¡¯t know magic like Wolf did, and Wolf seemed to be at a loss. ¡°Maybe we should call Coal?¡± Zephyr wondered out loud.

    Wolf made a choking sound. ¡°I¡¯m going to try Amanda again. Or maybe I¡¯ll phone one of her kids. I¡¯ve got all their numbers and Gemma might be at the house or know where she is.¡±

    Zephyr turned back to the book while Wolf dialed. He studied the words. When he got to the bottom of the page he reread them. It seemed like a simple and straightforward spell, a specific drawing in blood and a special paste. The paste was made from a bunch of ingredients that Zephyr had never heard of but which sounded plant-like. The caster was instructed to have the subject of the spell lie above the rune. No more was required than that. It was almost too simple. The more Zephyr reread it, the more questions he had. Like, how big was the rune supposed to be? Did the accuracy matter? What about blood type? Blood freshness? Even the amount of blood probably varied depending on how thick you painted the lines of the rune. The book mentioned none of these things. Even some of the paste components were simply measured in handfuls. But whose hands? He found it especially disconcerting that this looseness wasn¡¯t consistent. One of the ingredients was listed with a weight to 3 decimal places. Did that mean it mattered more than the others?

    These weren¡¯t the only things missing though and once Wolf got off the phone Zephyr turned to him and asked, ¡°Are you sure this spell just induces bad dreams while a person is asleep?¡±

    ¡°When else would it induce them?¡±

    ¡°Well, a daydream is a dream right.¡±

    Wolf considered it, then he pulled the book over, skimmed it and shook his head. ¡°Gavelroot is usually only used in spells whose effects last only so long as the subject is within the circle.¡±

    ¡°Within, as in their entire body has to be within the circle. Wouldn¡¯t that mean it would have to be quite big then and thus obvious?¡±

    ¡°Well, people use rugs or sometimes paint them on the other side of the floorboards, but no, it doesn¡¯t. It can be small. It just has to be¡±¡ªWolf looked over to where Arianna and Indi were chatting¡ª¡°close enough and maybe the angle matters... Except, she teleported from here, quite a distance, too far for the spell to work. Although, I suppose it¡¯s possible it took a little while to wear off...¡± He stared at the book a little longer with a frown on his face. ¡°Do you think it creates hallucinations?¡±

    ¡°Maybe we should destroy the rune then? Is that safe to do?¡±

    Wolf nodded. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s a good idea.¡± He spun around and retrieved a bucket, gloves and wash cloths from beneath his sink. He filled the bucket with warm soapy water and then handed Zephyr a pair of gloves and a cloth.

    ¡°I probably should have thought to do this already,¡± Wolf remarked as they began scrubbing the blood off the table.

    Zephyr shrugged. ¡°You got Indi back to the cabin safe and called for help. It¡¯s not a bad response. Why do you think the fynxara teleported us here?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe it sensed that¡¯s what you needed. They¡¯ve been known to help their familiars like that.¡±

    ¡°Neither of us is bound to it though.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s looking to be?¡±

    ¡°It had kits.¡±

    ¡°Did it? Hmm, interesting. I don¡¯t really know that much about fynxara. Nobody does. They¡¯re reclusive creatures and the witches they bond with typically rarely speak about them.¡±

    It took them some time to scrub their way fully through the circle. The blood had soaked into the wood nicely. But eventually they made a cut.

    ¡°Zeph!¡± Arianna¡¯s voice carried across the room.

    Both men looked up from their scrubbing.

    It was Indi who replied. ¡°It¡¯s gone.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s gone?¡± Zephyr asked. ¡°The creature?¡±

    Indi nodded.

    It was at that moment that the door crashed open and a worried looking Falco burst into the room. He stopped, looked around, saw Indi, and ran toward her.

    Indi, upon seeing Falco, got to her feet and leapt into his hug.

    He hugged her tightly for a moment and then he held her at arms length so he could look at her. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    Indi nodded and then he pulled her into another hug.

    ¡°Just a bad dream,¡± she replied. ¡°While I was awake... I think... I mean I could still be dreaming but as long as you¡¯re here then that¡¯s fine, and as long as that thing is gone.¡±

    Falco, still holding Indi in a hug, turned to glare in Zephyr and Wolf¡¯s direction. ¡°What in the blooming splice were you thinking?¡± His frown deepened when he saw the half-cleaned blood rune on the table. ¡°What is that?!¡±

    ¡°It was just a simple spell,¡± Wolf explained with a slight grumble.

    ¡°Oh, a simple spell?!¡± Falco replied in a booming voice. ¡°A simple spell that has you calling me to tell me that my wife can¡¯t tell the difference between a dream and reality... still, still can¡¯t tell the difference between a dream and reality. And you expect that just makes it all okay, because it was a simple spell?!¡±

    ¡°Well, when half the reason it probably went wrong is because she¡¯s abusing a dangerous substance then yeah,¡± Wolf snapped back.

    Sensing things were about to get out of control, Zephyr held up his hands. ¡°Hold on, hold on.¡±

    Falco ignored him and took a step toward Wolf. ¡°Say that again.¡±

    ¡°Say what again?¡± A calm voice asked from the doorway. Amanda had just arrived.

 Volume 3, Chapter 33: Cracks

    Amanda clicked her tongue and stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Falco turned, still holding Indi as if he were afraid to lose her. ¡°Wolf nearly got Indi killed.¡±

    Indi frowned and nudged him gently. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    Wolf scowled at Falco and then said, ¡°Indi¡¯s taking dreamskeep. It¡¯s what messed up the spell. I¡¯m sure of it.¡±

    Falco looked toward Wolf with an angry expression on his face.

    Amanda turned toward Indi and spoke before anyone else could. ¡°You took dreamskeep?¡±

    Falco, hearing the steeliness in her tone, turned on Amanda.

    One brief glance at the expression on his face and she held up a finger to quell him.

    He settled for a quiet glower.

    ¡°I... um.¡± Indi faltered under Amanda¡¯s stern gaze. ¡°No...¡±

    Amanda raised her eyebrows. ¡°Indi, don¡¯t lie. This is serious.¡±

    ¡°Well, maybe, just like a smidgen.¡± She held up her thumb and forefinger to demonstrate the smallness of what she had taken then she rapidly tried to explain. ¡°The witch at the store said if I wasn¡¯t sure then I could just take the smallest little bit, like a pinch between tweezers, and it wouldn¡¯t even need the antidote¡±¡ªat Amanda¡¯s increasingly raised eyebrows, Indi quickly clarified¡ª¡°but I got the antidote anyway of course. And I only took like the teeniest tiniest bit. I didn¡¯t even really notice any effect.¡±

    Amanda spared a glance at Falco who immediately replied, ¡°That doesn¡¯t change the fact that Wolf put her in danger.¡±

    Amanda gave a single nod of acknowledgement and then turned to Wolf. With pointed glance towards the table and half-cleaned blood rune she asked, ¡°What did you cast?¡±

    But it was Indi who explained. ¡°It was just a bad dreams spell. We thought it might lure the dreamweaver here.¡±

    Amanda¡¯s expression darkened. She directed her question at Wolf again. ¡°You were trying to lure it here?¡±

    Wolf tried to avoid looking at Falco¡¯s triumphant expression. ¡°I had a plan to trap it. You were the one who suggested we keep looking for it.¡±

    ¡°I said to locate it, not lure it.¡±

    ¡°Nothing else was working.¡±

    ¡°You used Indi like bait!¡± Falco added in a raised voice.

    ¡°No,¡± Indi interrupted. ¡°It was my idea. I persuaded Wolf. Anyway, I¡¯m fine now. We can try again. I can take the antidote first this time.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± came the collective response of both Falco and Wolf.

    ¡°That is a terrible idea,¡± mumbled Zephyr at the same time.

    ¡°Definitely not,¡± agreed Amanda, almost simultaneously.

    ¡°But we learnt stuff. I can do better this time,¡± Indi protested.

    ¡°Take the antidote, no more than what you had earlier,¡± instructed Amanda. ¡°Then give the vials to Wolf.¡±

    Indi pouted then she sighed. ¡°The same amount? But I used tweezers this morning.¡±

    ¡°Wolf?¡± Amanda asked.

    Wolf sighed and got up from his seat. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve got some tweezers somewhere.¡±

    While Wolf was retrieving tweezers, Arianna asked in a hesitant voice, ¡°What is dreamskeep?¡±

    Amanda explained to her. ¡°It¡¯s a powder that keeps you from sleeping. It counteracts dream magic.¡± She shot a curious and cursory glance at Zephyr before looking back to Arianna. Then she added, ¡°It¡¯s somewhat temperamental though, as well as highly addictive.¡± This time she spared a glance Indi¡¯s way.

    Indi bit her lip and managed to look guilty.

    Zephyr frowned. ¡°Hold on, I took way more than a tweezers pinch of that stuff back in the house and I still got pulled into the dreamworld.¡±

    Amanda shrugged. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s more effective on Indi? I did say it was variable.¡± She gave another pointed glance between Arianna and Zephyr.

    Zephyr got her message. ¡°Oh, err, this is Arianna. Arianna, this is Amanda, Falco, Indi, and Wolf.¡±

    There was a general exchange of pleasantries.

    ¡°Nice to meet you,¡± Falco told her. ¡°Sorry for the barging in like I did before.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s alright,¡± Arianna replied.

    ¡°You¡¯re a Milton?¡± Amanda asked.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m Arianna Grey, but related to Milton yes. My father took my mother¡¯s maiden name. He wanted to distance himself a little from the Milton line. It has... history.¡±

    ¡°What sort of history?¡± Falco asked.

    ¡°Oh, all sorts of things but mostly that she was into quite a bit of blood magic and things... like that...¡± Arianna trailed off as her gaze slid toward the half-scrubbed blood rune on Wolf¡¯s table. She bit her lip and gave a slight frown.

    ¡°It¡¯s animal blood,¡± Wolf explained as he handed Indi some tweezers.

    ¡°Right...¡± Arianna replied but she still seemed a little unsettled by it.

    ¡°We were trying to catch a dreamweaver,¡± Indi added.

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°So, you just cast the bad dreams spell?¡± Amanda inquired of Wolf, picking up her questioning again.

    ¡°That and the dreamwalking infusement,¡± he explained.

    Amanda raised her eyebrows. ¡°That¡¯s a loose infusement you know?¡±

    Wolf nodded. ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°And you had Indi doing it?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect her to teleport.¡±

    Amanda frowned and turned toward Indi. ¡°You teleported?¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°Apparently.¡±

    Amanda looked questioningly back to Wolf.

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    He gave a similar shrug. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I couldn¡¯t do it though. I needed to be able to cast the trap spell.¡± After a moment¡¯s silence he added. ¡°Cat couldn¡¯t find it. I didn¡¯t think I would be able to. Luring it here was the only thing left.¡±

    While they argued, Arianna whispered something to Zephyr, who whispered something back and pointed toward the back of the cabin. A moment later she left through that door.

    ¡°She was just asking where the bathroom was,¡± Zephyr explained to the curious glances he got after the door closed behind Arianna.

    Wolf turned to Amanda. ¡°Maybe if you''d been the one dreamwalking we could have pulled it off.¡±

    Indi pouted.

    Amanda frowned at him. Then she shook her head. "I''m a shitty dreamwalker and there''s no way I''d offer myself up as bait for a dreamweaver."

    "It ate 3 more people this week," Indi told her.

    Amanda looked to Wolf for confirmation and when he nodded she bit her lip. After a couple moments of thought she carefully replied, "Well, it''s possible that it''s already consumed enough to get back to regular feeding. They''re only dangerous if they''re starving or if they focus too much on one victim."

    "I wouldn''t count on it," Wolf replied.

    "We could try once more," Indi suggested.

    Wolf shook his head. "You''re lucky you didn''t teleport into a tree."

    "I can''t believe you teleported," Amanda added. "That''s usually quite hard. I don''t want anyone trying to lure a dreamweaver. If we can''t locate it stealthily then we need to leave it be. Luring risks bringing it closer to town anyway. Let''s just hope it''s had its fill."

    ¡°Dreamwalking infusement¡¯s out of juice anyway.¡± Wolf handed Amanda the charm back.

    ¡°Good.¡± Amanda turned toward Indi. ¡°As for the dreamskeep...¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t take anymore,¡± Indi promised.

    ¡°Good, and I don¡¯t think you should keep it, but that must have cost a bit...¡±

    Indi shook her head. ¡°It wasn¡¯t so bad. Wolf can have it as a present.¡±

    ¡°And no more spellcraft.¡± Amanda looked from Indi to Wolf.

    ¡°Are you going to follow your own advice?¡± Wolf asked with a cocked eyebrow at Amanda.

    Amanda just gave him a stern look back.

    "I thought you guys did this stuff all the time as kids?" Indi complained. ¡°How am I supposed to get better at it if I don¡¯t practice.¡±

    ¡°Well, first off, if you¡¯re going to practice anything that might involve teleportation I¡¯d do it in an open and relatively flat area, not in the middle of a forest. Secondly, we were very stupid kids and extremely lucky. And thirdly...¡± Amanda glanced at the door where Arianna had gone, then in a much lower voice said, ¡°The legality of blood magic is somewhat of a grey area, and not that widely accepted. At the very least we should be careful who we do this in front of.¡±

    ¡°They kind of just dropped in, magically,¡± Wolf explained. ¡°As in they teleported onto my table.¡±

    At Amanda¡¯s confused expression, Zephyr clarified with a shrug, ¡°A fynxara teleported us here.¡±

    It didn¡¯t clear anything up for her. With an even more confused expression Amanda said to Wolf, ¡°A fynxara? I thought they were a myth?¡±

    Wolf shook his head. ¡°Oh no, very real, just very rare. And I had one, right here on my table.¡± He studied the spot where the fynxara had been earlier with a look of renewed disbelief.

    ¡°But the sorcerers do spellcraft all the time,¡± Indi complained.

    ¡°Yeah, and you can guarantee that they at least have a well-practiced healer and a necro within arm¡¯s reach at all times. Even then, the survival rate for mages isn¡¯t 100%,¡± Amanda explained.

    Arianna returned to the room then holding in her hands a blue urn. ¡°Where did you get this?¡± she asked.

    As the colour drained from Wolf¡¯s face, Amanda spun to see what had caused it.

    Wolf was across the room faster than Amanda could react. Much to the confusion of the others in the room he snatched the vase from Arianna¡¯s grasp.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch that!¡± he scolded. He set it gingerly on the table and backed away from it with a cautious glance down at his own hands.

    When nothing happened he shot a questioning glance at Amanda who simply raised an eyebrow in question. Wolf then turned on Arianna. ¡°Don¡¯t you know better than touch random items being used in a spell.¡±

    Arianna frowned indignantly at him. ¡°Well, who just leaves spell components lying around where anyone might touch them? Anyway, it was just sitting out the back. It didn¡¯t look like it was part of a spell.¡±

    Wolf gestured to the entire room and then shot back, ¡°It was under a draining deer!¡±

    Zephyr took a step toward Arianna, placed a comforting hand on her back, and gave Wolf a warning look.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see any deer,¡± Arianna replied in a confused tone.

    At this remark, Wolf left the room to go and confirm what she¡¯d said. A moment later his voice could be heard from the back of the house exclaiming, ¡°What the fuck!¡±

    He returned shortly. ¡°The deer¡¯s gone,¡± he explained.

    Amanda frowned and glanced toward the urn. ¡°Maybe the spell on the urn ate it?¡± she suggested. ¡°Maybe that¡¯s what it¡¯s for, to store a sacrifice? To keep in fresh?¡±

    At those words Arianna¡¯s expression darkened. She repeated her question. ¡°Where did you get this?¡± When she got no immediate answer she added, ¡°It¡¯s from my grandma¡¯s house isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Wolf gave the barest of nods.

    Falco frowned and looked from Amanda to Wolf and back again. ¡°You took something from the house?¡±

    Indi held out a finger toward the vase as if she was going to poke it.

    ¡°Indi!¡± Wolf exclaimed with a growl. ¡°Don¡¯t touch that.¡±

    ¡°You and Arianna were just touching it,¡± Indi complained.

    ¡°We don¡¯t know what it does,¡± Amanda explained.

    ¡°You took something from my grandma¡¯s house and you don¡¯t even know what it does,¡± Arianna gave them all an incredulous look.

    ¡°Katrina took it,¡± Amanda replied with a sigh.

    ¡°Katrina? Your daughter?¡± Falco asked. ¡°When was she in the house?¡±

    ¡°She took it off the driveway when I went around to check how Coal¡¯s extraction team was going.¡±

    ¡°You took your kids with you?¡± Falco inquired in a slightly accusatory tone.

    Amanda shot him quite the glare in reply.

    The question prompted Indi to check the time. After a glance at her wristwatch she looked to Falco, ¡°Jewel and Bree will be home from school soon.¡±

    He checked his own watch. ¡°Mmm.¡± Then he gestured broadly at the table and urn. ¡°I do not approve of any of this.¡±

    Arianna nodded. ¡°You should get rid of that thing. Drop it in the ocean or something.¡±

    ¡°Well, we don¡¯t want to pollute the sea,¡± Indi complained studying the urn more closely. Her nose inches from its surface.

    Wolf watched Indi closely while he spoke to Arianna in a curious tone. ¡°How did you know it belonged to your grandma? Have you seen this before?¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°No but I¡¯ve seen one like it. A yellow one.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s three of these things?!¡± Wolf exclaimed.

    ¡°Wait, what do you mean three?¡± Falco asked. ¡°Where¡¯s the third one?¡±

    ¡°Coal has one,¡± Amanda explained. ¡°A red one. Which is why we wanted to know what this one does.¡±

    ¡°Well the bloody identify spell didn¡¯t go as expected either,¡± Wolf grumbled. ¡°Where did you see the yellow one?¡±

    ¡°Uhh... I don¡¯t know. Maybe on her mantel years ago.¡± Arianna shrugged. ¡°Or, it could have been... I¡¯m not sure.¡±

    ¡°Well, whatever it is, I agree with her.¡± Falco pointed at Arianna. ¡°You should get rid of that thing, and leave Coal to his own business. The house is taken care of, the dreamweaver¡¯s untracable, and...¡± he trailed off as he remembered Arianna didn¡¯t know about any of the rest. He settled for repeating his first statement. ¡°... You should get rid of that thing.¡±

    Wolf and Amanda shared a glance.

    Finally Amanda nodded. ¡°Fine.¡±

    Zephyr narrowed his eyes at them, seemingly unconvinced by that assertion, but Falco and Arianna looked more appeased.

    ¡°Alright.¡± Falco nodded and sighed. To Indi he said, ¡°We should get going then?¡±

    She started to nod and then hesitated. With a glance at the bloody table she replied, ¡°I should probably help clean this mess up.¡± She nodded at the blood on the table. ¡°You could go and I¡¯ll come later?¡±

    Falco frowned then checked his own watch. ¡°We¡¯ve still got a little time. Jewel knows where the spare key is anyway.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± Indi smiled. ¡°Wolf suggested tea before too so maybe once we¡¯ve cleaned this up, if the offer¡¯s still open?¡± Indi glanced at Wolf.

    Wolf nodded. ¡°Sure.¡±

    Amanda studied the table. ¡°Is it just blood?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Blood and a paste.¡± Wolf handed her the spell book.

    Amanda glanced at the ingredients, then placed her hand on the table a little way from the edge of the rune. There was a brief flash of fire and a moment later the table was as clean as it had been before they¡¯d started the whole thing.

    Arianna¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Was that... was that fire?¡± she asked incredulously.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Amanda confirmed with barely a glance her way.

    Arianna looked at Zephyr to confirm.

    He nodded.

    She looked back at Amanda, with the same amazed expression. ¡°But you put it out? And the table¡¯s not burnt at all?¡± Arianna reached out to touch the wood of the table. She frowned when she realised it was just normal wood and looked to Amanda again with a stunned expression.

    Amanda shrugged, and ignoring Arianna¡¯s continued stare, she looked to Wolf with a question in her eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯ll find a box for the urn,¡± he replied, answering her unspoken question. ¡°You staying for a cup of tea?¡±

    She shook her head then replied, ¡°I gotta get back.¡±

    ¡°Not even one cup,¡± Zephyr pressed.

    Arianna still couldn¡¯t take her eyes off Amanda.

    Amanda hesitated.

    As Wolf used gloves to place the urn in the box he¡¯d prepared for the dreamweaver, he paused to raise an eyebrow at Amanda.

    Amanda caved. ¡°Fine, fine one cup.¡±

    ¡°Yay!¡± Indi exclaimed as she clapped her hands together.

    As they took seat around Wolf¡¯s table Arianna whispered to Zephyr, ¡°She vapourised blood without even charring the wood. That¡¯s like over 200 degrees Celsius. Nobody can do that? Not any firestarter, not even a sorcerer.¡± She gave Zephyr a puzzled look, not understanding why he wasn¡¯t impressed.

    He nodded and gave a sort of proud grin, even though it wasn¡¯t him she was impressed by. ¡°I know.¡±

    Arianna finally closed her hanging jaw and looked at Amanda again with a renewed measure of respect. With a glance at the box containing the urn and then back to Zephyr she whispered, ¡°So they¡¯re actually good at this stuff then?¡±

    Zephyr shrugged as Wolf handed out teacups.

    Just as Wolf was about to place the last one in front of Amanda, the entire cup shattered in his hands.

 Volume 3, Chapter 34: Consequences

    Katrina found her mum sitting at the kitchen table when she finally got back from hanging out with Jade after school. Amanda was sorting through bills, putting them in different piles when Katrina walked in. In front of her was a cup of something.

    At the sound of footsteps behind her, Amanda made to hide the cup, but when she saw it was Katrina she relaxed.

    ¡°Oh, hey, how was school?¡± Amanda asked.

    Katrina eyed the cup for a moment. She could guess what was in that but she didn¡¯t comment. Her dad and older siblings disapproved, even though Gemma was kind of a hypocrite about it. But as much as Katrina didn¡¯t drink much alcohol herself, she kind of liked the way her mum was always a little more relaxed after a couple of glasses of the stuff. She could be more fun and was much more likely to answer any questions Katrina had about spellcraft. Katrina felt it put them on more equal footing.

    ¡°It was fine,¡± Katrina replied. She didn¡¯t mention that she¡¯d been trying out the mindwalking charm again or even that she had it. She longed to ask her mum for tips but she knew she couldn¡¯t just blurt stuff like that out directly.

    ¡°Are you feeling okay?¡±

    Katrina was surprised by the question. She frowned. ¡°Fine. Why?¡±

    Amanda shook her head then gave a smile that didn¡¯t quite reach her eyes. ¡°No reason.¡±

    Katrina thought her mum looked tired, but she still needed to be careful what questions she asked about magic. She started with something simple, related to an infusement she¡¯d misplaced. ¡°Mum, have you seen my dreamwalking charm?¡±

    She hadn¡¯t been expecting the look that crossed her mum¡¯s face.

    Her frown deepened as her mum held up a very recognisible cat charm.

    With a sigh, Amanda replied, ¡°Sorry, I needed to borrow it for something.¡±

    Katrina took the charm back. She probed it with her own magic. ¡°It¡¯s empty!¡± she exclaimed. Then realisation crossed her face and with some excitement she took a seat at the table. ¡°Were you casting a spell?¡± Eagerly she leaned forward, wanting to know the details.

    But Amanda gave her a firm look in reply. ¡°Never you mind.¡±

    ¡°You took my charm without asking,¡± Katrina countered with a measure of indignation.

    ¡°And I¡¯m sorry for that, but on that note Wolf says he¡¯s missing a necromancy book. You wouldn¡¯t know anything about that would you?¡± Her mum raised an eyebrow.

    Katrina made her expression blank. ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°Katrina, necromancy is dangerous.¡±

    Katrina deflated with a sigh. ¡°I know.¡±

    Suddenly the lights above them flickered and then went out. Both woman glanced upward. A moment later their came a whirring sound from the basement as the back up generator kicked in, and then the lights came back on.

    Amanda immediately shuffled through one pile of bills until she found a specific one. ¡°Crap,¡± she mumbled.

    Katrina frowned. ¡°Are we out of money?¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°No we¡¯re fine. I just haven¡¯t paid the power bill yet. I¡¯ll get that done today. Now go grab me that necromancy book.¡±

    Katrina sighed and took off up the stairs, past Bobby who was on his way down, and past Sasha who was sitting with her legs hanging through the banister, watching a large green spider scuttle its way up and down her arm.

    Katrina wrinkled her nose. Snakes were bad enough. Spiders were like a million times worse. Why couldn¡¯t her sister stick to puppies and kittens?

    As Katrina passed, Sasha mumbled sadly, ¡°I miss proper power cuts. They were way more fun when they lasted more than a second.¡±

    Katrina rolled her eyes. She did not share her sister¡¯s enthusiasm on that either. No power would mean no computer, which right now, amazingly had no annoying brothers using it. She paused long enough to ask, ¡°Where¡¯s Salem?¡±

    Still in that sad tone, Sasha replied, ¡°He went to the arcade with Robbie. There¡¯s some competition on tonight. Salem said I wasn¡¯t allowed to come. It¡¯s boys only.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t even like video games.¡±

    ¡°I like the one with the different coloured cats.¡±

    Katrina had been intending to head straight to her room for the book. She had no plans to get caught up in whatever it was her sister was or was not doing. But Sasha¡¯s sad tone tugged at her heartstrings. With a sigh, she stopped and asked, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you hanging out with Beka and Sarah then?¡±

    ¡°I was. We went to the mall but then they closed it cause there was a zombie outbreak.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    ¡°Some lady tried to necro her dead baby and then got bit by it,¡± Sasha explained in a bored tone.

    In a hushed voice Katrina asked, ¡°Does mum know?¡±

    Sasha shook her head. ¡°Bobby said not to worry her.¡±

    Katrina crouched down next to her sister. ¡°Did you see it happen?¡±

    Sasha glanced at Katrina as if surprised by the interest, and then she shook her head. ¡°We just heard the shots and some screams. Then Bobby and Lily, older Lily, appeared and we left with them. They took all our names before they¡¯d let us out of the mall.¡±

    ¡°Was other Lily there?¡±

    Again Sasha shook her head. ¡°She¡¯s over at Ally¡¯s place with her other friends tonight.¡±

    <hr>

    Downstairs, Amanda was just about to call the power company when Bobby¡¯s voice behind her asked, ¡°Are we broke?¡±

    ¡°No, we¡¯re fine. I just forgot to pay the power company. I¡¯m calling them now.¡± Amanda held up one finger and dialed them before Bobby could ask anymore questions.

    Bobby waited patiently while she gave them payment details and talked them into reconnecting the power tonight.

    When she was done she glanced at her son who gave her a sceptical look.

    ¡°Are you sure we¡¯re not out of money? Because I¡¯ve got some savings-¡±

    Amanda cut him off with a shake of her head and the raise of one hand. In a tone that invited no debate she repeated, ¡°We¡¯re fine.¡±

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°How was your day?¡± Amanda asked him in a more conversational tone. ¡°Anything interesting happen?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Bobby replied.

    Amanda had intended it as just a casual question but his reply gave her pause. Had that been a slight squeak in his voice at the end of that word.

    She frowned but was interrupted from questioning him further as Katrina returned with the borrowed necromancy book. Bobby took his chance to escape, dodging his mother¡¯s suspicious glance as he stepped out of the room with a far too casual smile on his face.

    ¡°Here you go,¡± Katrina said as she placed the book on the table. Then she took a seat. In a sing-songy tone, she said, ¡°You know if you wanted to prevent me from making future mistakes you could give me some specific pointers on how not to do necromancy.¡±

    Bobby, who caught that last statement on his way out could be heard giving a snort from the next room.

    Amanda narrowed her eyes at Katrina, who was making an attempt at an innocent look that fooled no one.

    This time Katrina¡¯s persistence outlasted her mother¡¯s.

    With a sigh, Amanda replied, ¡°Fine.¡±

    Katrina made an attempt to hide her surprised look.

    Her mum ignored it, having already conceded to giving her at least some pointers on what not to do. ¡°First things first, necromancy is illegal, unless you have license for it?¡±

    ¡°What about people whose power is necromancy? Do they just not use their power until they¡¯re licensed? Don¡¯t people learn magic better when they¡¯re young?¡±

    Amanda nodded. ¡°Under supervision is the exception. Your teachers will have had training in different magics.¡±

    ¡°But they¡¯re not sorcerers.¡±

    ¡°No, but they will have been taught by someone who was.¡±

    ¡°But they still only let us use our own powers.¡±

    ¡°I thought you did a little bit with infusements in class? We did, when I was probably a little bit younger than you actually.¡±

    Katrina pouted. ¡°Yeah but it was only like an introduction. I mean, I get to do a little more, since infusing is my power but only with powers my classmates have and none of them are necromancers. There¡¯s only like a couple of them in the whole school. It¡¯s all telekinesis and shapeshifting and elemental stuff. And empaths. I hate empath magic.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s boring. Why would I want to know how other people feel about things. Mindwalking is way more useful.¡±

    Amanda gave her daughter a thoughtful look. Carefully she replied, ¡°Emotions don¡¯t always match up with thoughts. You might read a mind and hear someone thinking horrible things about you but where those thoughts come from can very different. It might be what they actually think or it could be that they¡¯re jealous of you or you did something to upset them, or perhaps they¡¯re just having a bad day and what they think about you in brief moment that you are listening has nothing to do with you at all.¡±

    ¡°That still doesn¡¯t seem that useful. You could just mind read for longer until you have a better picture.¡±

    Amanda sighed.

    ¡°Have you done mindwalking?¡± Katrina asked.

    In a wary tone Amanda replied, ¡°Yes.¡± With another sigh she added. ¡°Mindreading is also a little invasive. If you¡¯re going to use any of the mind related powers I¡¯d suggest you stick to mindtalking, rather than mindreading, and especially not mindwalking or control. Those two are dangerous.¡±

    Katrina rolled her eyes. ¡°Everything¡¯s dangerous.¡±

    ¡°I just said mindtalking was okay,¡± Amanda replied.

    Katrina frowned. ¡°I thought mindtalking and mindreading were the same thing?¡±

    ¡°In terms of power yes. But they¡¯re implemented very differently. Mindreading is to look at someone thoughts, to view their private mind. Mindtalking is to invite their view and thoughts into your own head. A talented mindtalker can separate out a section of their own mind and open a comms line between one or even up to several people while still keeping their own private thoughts hidden. It lets people choose what they think to you and lets you communicate across the room without saying a word. It¡¯s actually quite useful and generally harmless but tricky to master.¡±

    Katrina considered it, her eyes glinting with ideas. ¡°I suppose it would be quite useful during a test.¡±

    ¡°And almost certainly considered cheating,¡± Amanda replied sternly, but she¡¯d done her fair share of cheating by mindtalking with Wolf when she¡¯d been a youngster. Katrina was smarter though. She took after her father. Amanda knew she wouldn¡¯t need to resort to such things to get decent grades. The idea of it obviously appealed to the girl but Amanda thought that it was more likely the possibility to just chatter during a test that Katrina would want to use it for. Katrina didn¡¯t like having to be quiet for very long.

    Katrina grinned.

    ¡°Perhaps we should leave it there,¡± Amanda suggested.

    Katrina¡¯s face fell. ¡°What! No. Tell me how to do mindtalking.¡±

    A knock at the door interrupted them however.

    Amanda answered it to find a tall green-eyed man with a thick, wavy head of lustrous brunette hair standing there. He was wearing jeans, simple dress shoes, and nice dark green coat woolen coat that matched his eyes.

    ¡°Felix.¡± Amanda greeted him in surprise. He was one of her clients, the one whose unicorn she¡¯d slaughtered for the spell. A spell which was a ticking time bomb for Lily and maybe Katrina too. She thought she¡¯d got it right for the latter at least, and maybe she had, Wolf¡¯s experiment hadn¡¯t been perfect and, as he¡¯d reminded her over the phone after she¡¯d runshed out of his cabin, there were still two unbroken teacups left. Katrina was more than likely fine. The shattering cup had scared Amanda though and reminded her that she was running out of time for Lily. Wolf had said if another one went then they were definitely on borrowed time.

    ¡°Amanda,¡± Felix replied in a polite greeting. ¡°May I come in? I won¡¯t be too long.¡±

    Amanda stepped aside so he could enter.

    ¡°I wanted to apologise,¡± he started. ¡°For the way I spoke to you on the phone when you last called.¡±

    Amanda brushed him off with a wave of the hand. ¡°It¡¯s fine, you¡¯d just found out we¡¯d lost your unicorn.¡±

    ¡°Yes, well, regardless, I was perhaps a bit harsh. We¡¯ve been working together for what? Several years now? And you¡¯ve always done a great job with the animals before. I know the broken leg was an accident. Rabbits are incessant no matter how hard to try to get rid of them, they¡¯re always making new holes, and new rabbits. The paddocks at home are constantly refilled with them. And even though I do wish you¡¯d called me to do the healing, I can understand why given the circumstances you chose to attempt it yourself.¡±

    ¡°I am truly sorry,¡± Amanda told him.

    ¡°Yes, well, healing is a tricky art-form. Trust me I do know.¡± He sighed. ¡°Anyway, I know you said you¡¯d pay me back and you¡¯ve given me a suggested repayment schedule, which is all very well. it¡¯s just, I think it would be better for the both of us I we found a faster way to resolve this. I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t want that dept hanging over your head for years and the truth is there¡¯s something else that you might be able to help me with.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Amanda asked, confused. For a moment she¡¯d been worried he was going to ask for earlier repayment but now she had no idea. Felix wasn¡¯t an aristocrat, nor was he the sort to ask for anything of a lewd or questionably moral nature. To be quite honest, of all the unicorns she could have used as a sacrifice, Felix¡¯s one had probably been the one with the smallest consequences. Even though he¡¯d been very upset at first, as he had every right to be, once he¡¯d calmed down he¡¯d been perfectly accepting her offer to pay it back. So reasonable she had felt bad lying to him about what had happened. But even though they¡¯d known each other for years, she didn¡¯t know him well enough to trust him with the fact that she had done that sort of blood magic.

    Felix was a vet who resided in Marblewood. He was the expensive kind of vet, the kind with healing powers. Amanda had used his services occasionally, when the costs could be passed on to clients, but never for her own animals, not even the best of her competition horses. Felix loved animals and competed in show type events occasionally, with dogs, horses, and sometimes other exotic species. Amanda couldn¡¯t begin to imagine what it was she could do for him that would be worth a unicorn.

    ¡°Dragons.¡±

    ¡°Dragons?¡±

    He nodded. ¡°Three to be precise, ideally still in the egg phase.¡±

    ¡°You want three dragon eggs?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m willing to pay market prices for two of them. The third plus the act of getting them all would make us even for the unicorn.¡±

    ¡°Dragons are illegal to sell in Little Rock at the moment.¡±

    ¡°For the time. I think that will change next election, and no one really pays much attention to it anyway.¡±

    ¡°A lot of the trade for them has dried up here over the last year.¡±

    You¡¯ve still got some contacts surely?¡±

    Amanda considered it. Even if she could find a local dragon trader who was still in business following the law change, the profit from two dragons wouldn¡¯t make up the cost of the third, but it would greatly decrease the debt she owed. There was always the option of going further abroad too.

    ¡°How long have I got?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Give it a few months. If you don¡¯t have me some dragons by then then we can go back to the repayment schedule,¡± Felix replied.

    She nodded. That didn¡¯t sound too bad. ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡±

    ¡°Excellent.¡±

    There came another knock at the door.

    They both looked at it curiously.

    ¡°Busy house tonight,¡± Felix remarked.

    Amanda had strange sinking feeling that whoever was at the door, it wasn¡¯t good news. She opened it anyway.

    Another man stood on her door step, one she didn¡¯t know. White hair cut short and spiky, piercing blue eyes, and a cloak. The kind of cloak sorcerers liked to wear. A leaf-shaped bronze clasp held the neck of his cloak together. Small spectacles perched on his nose. He was shorter than Felix and he stood straight like a rod, all business-like. He swept his way inside without asking for an invitation.

 Volume 3, Chapter 35: An Honest Lie

    ¡°Good evening,¡± the man in the cloak remarked as his gaze swept every inch of the room.

    Amanda resisted glancing toward the kitchen, where the necromancy book still lay on the table. She pushed any thoughts of it as far back in her mind as she could, bringing to the forefront her initial impressions of him and his sudden barging in here. A lot of sorcerers carried mindwalking infusements, or at least a lie detection charm. One had to be wary of one¡¯s thoughts and words in the presence of a sorcerer, if that¡¯s what this man was. But why was he here?

    ¡°I apologise for the intrusion,¡± he continued. ¡°But this won¡¯t take long. I just have a few questions.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Amanda replied, her mind still fully focused on the moment. It was easy enough for her to let curiosity rise to the top, but in the back of her mind she knew the danger they were in. ¡°And you are?¡±

    ¡°Gideon Turner, registered warlock, and investigator with the southern necromancy guild.¡±

    ¡°Do you have id?¡± Felix asked, his tone brusque.

    Gideon pulled up his left sleeve and showed them a tattoo on his inner wrist. It looked like an hourglass sitting inside a circle with four curved and protruding spikes. ¡°Good enough?¡±

    Felix gave a nod but continued eyeing the newcomer with suspicion.

    ¡°Good,¡± said Gideon. Then he turned to Amanda. ¡°How many people live in this house?¡±

    ¡°Seven,¡± Amanda replied. Not technically a lie. Seven people lived here normally. Seven people lived here now while Sirius was away at sea. She couldn¡¯t feel any fingers prying in her mind. A warlock was less likely to carry a mindwalking infusement than a sorcerer, and it took some skill to pull off deep mindwalking without her noticing but there was still the chance he had lie detection powers on him, and she wouldn¡¯t notice those. Plus she still had no idea what his own powers were.

    ¡°All your family?¡± he asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡±

    ¡°Is everyone here your family? The seven who live here, they¡¯re all your own kids or partner? No current guests?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Amanda replied. ¡°Everyone who lives here is family.¡± That wasn¡¯t a lie either. Lie detection would only pick up phrases that she viewed as falsehoods. That was their weakness. As far as Amanda was concerned Lily was family now.

    He nodded. ¡°And you haven¡¯t met or known of anyone who¡¯s died recently and then appeared later perfectly fine?¡±

    ¡°Recently?¡± What counted as recent? ¡°No. There was one a few years back. A woman fell off her horse at the racetrack and broke her neck. I believe a necromancer was summoned then.¡±

    ¡°Ah, no, I know about that one. That was one of ours, perfectly legal. Um, you haven¡¯t had any offers for cheap necromancy services have you? No one¡¯s approached you or anyone you know?¡±

    ¡°No, nothing like that.¡± Amanda gave him a sweet smile.

    ¡°And you don¡¯t know anyone by the name Blair Babich?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± She didn¡¯t.

    He nodded then he gave the room another sweep with his eyes. He missed nothing. Amanda was glad he couldn¡¯t see the kitchen table from where he stood. He only needed to take but a few steps forward though. She wasn¡¯t sure what she would do if he asked to look around.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Cheap¡¯s a bit of subjective term when it comes to necromancy, isn¡¯t it?¡± Felix asked. There was an edge to his tone and he looked at Gideon with a frown.

    Gideon shifted uncomfortably. ¡°The prices we set are well justified, I assure you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they are.¡± His tone did not belie his disagreement.

    ¡°Anyway,¡± Gideon turned to Amanda with a smile. ¡°Thank you for your time.¡±

    Felix opened the door for him but Gideon paused at the exit and then he looked back at Amanda. ¡°One last question, do you know a Natasha Crimson?¡±

    Amanda shook her head. ¡°No.¡± Was that a lie? She recognised the name but she couldn¡¯t place where it was from.

    It wasn¡¯t until Gideon had left that she remembered where she¡¯d heard it. Natasha was one of Coal¡¯s acquaintances, and Cat¡¯s too. Amanda had met her once or twice. She¡¯d come to rally car races that Cat had held on the track near her garage. She¡¯d always looked a little out of place, too dressed up for the kind of crowd that usually attended. Amanda remembered Cat saying that the woman didn¡¯t actually know anything much car engines, she just liked to watch them race. Why was a warlock asking about her?

    ¡°That was weird,¡± remarked Felix with a frown.

    Amanda sighed. ¡°I do know that name.¡±

    ¡°Which one?¡±

    ¡°Natasha Crimson.¡±

    For a moment, Felix seemed to relax. Then he frowned.

    ¡°You lied?¡±

    ¡°No, I just didn¡¯t remember where I¡¯d heard it. She works for Coal I think. Some sort of liaison.¡±

    ¡°Oh, well, probably good you didn¡¯t remember. Better not to get between warlocks and aristocrats. I wonder why he was here. It may have something to do with the events in town earlier.¡± Felix looked contemplative.

    ¡°Events?¡±

    ¡°There was a zombie outbreak at the mall. Only happened within the last couple hours.¡±

    Amanda tried not to let the chill that sent through her show.

    ¡°And they¡¯re already what? Scoping every house?¡± Amanda doubted it. She felt that if they had come here then it was probably to do with Lily, but how they knew she wasn¡¯t sure. And if they did know about Lily then why had he left so easily? Maybe it really was just a coincidence?

    ¡°Looking for people who know Babich I think.¡±

    ¡°You know her?¡± Amanda suddenly clicked. His earlier hostility toward Gideon made more sense now.

    But Felix shook his head. ¡°I know of her,¡± he corrected.

    Amanda raised an eyebrow.

    Felix sighed. In a low voice he replied, ¡°Sometimes customers want to resurrect their pets but don¡¯t want to pay guild level prices.¡±

    ¡°And you what? Point them in the right direction?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s just something I¡¯ve overheard.¡±

    Amanda didn¡¯t believe him. Perhaps he wasn¡¯t their main contact with the underground necro but he definitely knew more than he was saying. For a second she considered pressing for more information. A contact with a non-guild necro could be useful, but that was risky territory, especially given the company they¡¯d just had. Besides, underground necros were rarely top tier. The woman probably wouldn¡¯t be much help with Lily. Amanda needed a different sort of a approach and she needed one fast.

    She bid Felix good night and then she returned to the kitchen where the necromancy book lay tauntingly on the table.

    Lily was running out of time. Wolf was right though, you can¡¯t do a necromancy twice. Unless... unless you undid the first one. A reversal spell? They were tricky things. You had to know how the first spell was cast. But it was done sometimes, especially for necromacies that had gone wrong, or for accidental mind wipes. She¡¯d seen it done. Once.

    She sighed and shook her head. What was she thinking? Even the one situation where she¡¯d seen it done, it hadn¡¯t worked quite right. And that reversal spell had been cast by a sorcerer. Besides she didn¡¯t know the details of Lily¡¯s necromancy. The only person who knew that was dead, lying on a slab here in Little Rock no less.

    Amanda paused. She looked at the book in front of her. Lily¡¯s father might have taken all his secrets to the grave, but there were ways of making the dead talk.

 Volume 3, Chapter 36: Fox, Snake, Sparrow, Mouse

    A couple of hours earlier...

    Kass turned her phone back on as she reached the bottom of the courthouse steps. Her case had gone okay but it had been a long day. The number of notifications that popped up on her phone reminded her that it wasn¡¯t quite over. She had one missed call from Indi, one from Wolf, one from Jesse¡¯s school, and one from the locksmith. She was about to call them each back when a male voice interrupted her thoughts.

    ¡°Hey Fox.¡±

    Kass spun, her blood going ice cold as she recognised the speaker.

    ¡°Baelfyre.¡±

    Dark hair, deceptively warm brown, golden-flecked eyes, and a surprisingly clean-shaven face. The Baelfyre she had known had always had a tidy beard but she knew that face. She¡¯d have known it anywhere. It was a face she had hoped to never see again.

    They had been allies once. Did he know that she had betrayed him? Was he here to get revenge? Or to pick off a target? Was she the target? How had he found her?

    He was dressed in a suit, simple office attire, similar to her own style. He fit right in here on the courthouse steps. At least it was a public place, but then when had that ever stopped him. The man had once killed a politician in broad daylight with a blowgun concealed in an umbrella.

    ¡°Last I heard you were dead,¡± he mused. His sharp eyes, watching her every move.

    ¡°You have me confused with someone else.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I¡¯d know those rosy cheeks anywhere. That was clever though. Faking a house fire. Nobody had any reason to check the identity of the bodies. Where¡¯d you get them out of interest?¡±

    Kass didn¡¯t answer. She simply glanced to the sides, checking her surroundings. If he had found her then perhaps others had as well.

    ¡°If you¡¯d prefer we could go somewhere else to talk?¡±

    ¡°Here¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not here to kill you. You know as well as I do that we wouldn¡¯t be having this conversation if I was.¡±

    Kass wasn¡¯t so sure about that. If she had information he wanted then he might wait.

    ¡°I¡¯ve actually come here to make you an offer.¡±

    ¡°How did you find me?¡±

    He hesitated and then he smiled.

    ¡°Pure coincidence actually.¡±

    She narrowed her eyes.

    ¡°A bit like you I¡¯m working for an aristocrat.¡± He reached into his coat.

    Kass felt every fibre of her body tense in response. She knew he was unlikely to pull a gun on her here but things hadn¡¯t always been so civil in the north. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. Baelfyre was a trained killer. One of the best, just as she had been once.

    He handed her a business card.

    Kass hesitated. Apparently he¡¯d killed someone with one of those once too. Poison, rubbed along the edge.

    She took it anyway. Some small part of her had been waiting for that shot to come for a long time, half hoping even, just to get it over with, to achieve some semblance of peace and atonement. But she already knew that day wasn¡¯t today. Still, she could feel herself getting tired. It was hard to be alert all the time, to force herself to care. But there was still one thing that mattered. As long as Jesse was safe, she didn¡¯t care what happened to her.

    ¡°You¡¯re a lawyer now?¡± she asked as she looked down at the card.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s what I was before.¡± He smiled. To anyone else that smile would have looked normal, friendly. But Kass knew too much of the man underneath.

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    ¡°I remember.¡±

    ¡°Like you, I¡¯m retired. Sort of. At least life is simpler now. I still do the odd job but it¡¯s different you know. The aristocrat I work for resides in the Emerald City and he¡¯s quite happy to stay there, as long as Mr Chase stays up here. But of course, he likes to know what his neighbours are up to, as I¡¯m sure does your employer. Sometimes there are benefits in bringing him good information. Perhaps we could help each other out? Nothing too devastating of course, but a tidbit or two to sweeten the pot occasionally.¡±

    ¡°You want information on Coal?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m willing to exchange.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not interested.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? I¡¯m sure your boss would be very grateful for whatever I could give you. He might even offer you some extra protection from your other enemies, should they ever find you and that son of yours.¡±

    Those last words and the way he said them chilled Kass to the bone. Of course he knew about Jesse.

    She took a step toward him and very coldly replied, ¡°I¡¯m done with that life.¡±

    ¡°Mmm, well that¡¯s fine. If you change your mind you know how to find me. I¡¯ll otherwise keep out of your way, unless we ever happen to meet in court. I must say, I was surprised to find you work for the defense now. Too much like looking in the mirror when you see them sitting there in cuffs?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just say I¡¯ve realised the government doesn¡¯t always put the people¡¯s interests first.¡±

    ¡°It was always for the people, Kass. But I don¡¯t entirely disagree with you. And speaking of dirty governments, here¡¯s a free piece of information, your friends in the desert are rebuilding. They¡¯ll have that place up and running again in no time.¡±

    ¡°What?

    ¡°Our common enemy. You say you just want to live your life, well, that¡¯s going to get mighty hard if Mercy ever extends their reach down this end of the continent. They say we live in the wild down here. That it¡¯s chaos. You and I know better of course, what the real wild looks like, but still this environment, it¡¯s relaxed enough that it lets you keep hidden. Imagine if Mercy introduced their citizen registers down here. Your enemies would find you in seconds. Like you, I like my privacy, as does my boss. Now, I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re doing in that place but they¡¯re getting a little too close for comfort, them setting up base in that desert.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s no man¡¯s land.¡±

    ¡°And he who controls the centre of the board controls the game.¡±

    Kass hesitated. It was a problem if that facility was being rebuilt, but not for the reasons Baelfyre thought. It was what was trapped in that place beneath the rubble that worried her. Mimics that had been immune to fire. Was there a chance they were also immune to the sun? Did the excavators know what they were digging up? Perhaps she should go out there and check for herself?

    Her thoughts were disrupted as Baelfyre handed her something else, a photo of a woman. She had curly brown hair, blue eyes, and she was smiling. It was an otherwise normal looking photo, just a head shot of her sitting or standing somewhere with trees in the background. Perhaps a park? Kass had been handed enough photos of unknown people in her life to guess at what Baelfyre had in mind but she hoped she was wrong.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°Another freebie. This is Mya Pierce. She lives in the Emerald city. She¡¯s one of the key leaders for the vamp group who¡¯s responsible for nearly all of the recent protests this side of the Dragon Mountains. You take her out, you severely damage their leadership structure, maybe even put an end to this little war.¡±

    She handed it back to him. ¡°I don¡¯t hate the vampires anymore.¡±

    He didn¡¯t take it. ¡°Neither do I, and you¡¯ll be surprised to find, I¡¯m actually working for one. That¡¯s not the problem. The problem is the protests have been disrupting trade. There¡¯s multiple people who would like a stop to be put to them one way or the other.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you do it yourself then?¡±

    ¡°Because there are some agreements that prevent me from acting. A third party however... And I¡¯m sure if others knew Coal was the one who could end the protests for them, they¡¯d be more than willing to pay. Why don¡¯t you present him with the choice? The chance to take or protect a key piece as he chooses. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be very thankful for the information.¡±

    ¡°Or I could just tell him about you? I¡¯m sure it wouldn¡¯t take much to figure out who you¡¯re working for.¡±

    ¡°Probably not, but it wouldn¡¯t be as useful for you as it would be for us, I assure you. Well, It¡¯s up to you I suppose. Call me if you¡¯d like to discuss this arrangement any further, or even if you¡¯d just like to catch up. I¡¯ve missed you, Kass.¡±

    He didn¡¯t turn away though. Was he waiting for her to leave first? For her to turn her back?

    ¡°I don¡¯t get involved in wars anymore," she told him.

    ¡°We¡¯re always at war. Not every fight is won or lost on a battlefield.¡±

    ¡°I know that better than anyone.¡±

    He stepped closer, barely blinking, his eyes studied her intently from less than half a metre away. ¡°I¡¯m sure you do. You might look like a fox and think like a fox but on the inside you¡¯re as snake-like as the rest of us. You can¡¯t deny your nature. You know, I always wondered whose side you were really on. At least until they killed Sparrow and Mark. Then I knew you were ours.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m nobody¡¯s.¡± At least, not anymore.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry about what happened to them, by the way. I truly am.¡± When she didn¡¯t answer he added, ¡°You know they say everyone has two wolves inside them fighting for dominance. I wonder, what¡¯s more likely? A snake eating a fox or a fox eating a snake?¡±

    And just like that she found her new nickname fit in a way she hadn¡¯t expected, like a glove she¡¯d grown into.

    "Perhaps a mouse ate them both."

    "A mouse?¡± He managed to look surprised for the first time.

    ¡°A mouse is like a tiny rat. You remember the rats don¡¯t you? Well, a mouse is like that. It¡¯ll eat through anything when it¡¯s cornered.¡± She turned her back to him and walked away, half expecting a bullet between the shoulder blades, but none ever came.

 Volume 3, Chapter 37: Idle Idol

    Cat was sitting slouched down in her car across the road from Nolan Perninski¡¯s place, silently waiting for him to do something. A sharp tap on her window made her nearly jump out of her skin. She turned to see her niece, Katrina waving from outside the car.

    Cat reached over, opened the passenger side door, and yanked the teenager quickly inside.

    Katrina gave a surprised yelp.

    ¡°Shh,¡± Cat said as she eyed the Perninski residence for any sign of movement.

    ¡°What are we doing?¡± whispered Katrina once she¡¯d gotten comfortable. It was harder than it looked, while the black leather seats appeared cushiony at first glance, they were in reality quite firm. Cat had specifically hunted these ones out for as much off-track use as on. She found them comparatively comfy. Passengers didn¡¯t usually agree.

    ¡°We...?¡± Cat frowned at her, ¡°...are on a stakeout.¡±

    ¡°Whose house is that?¡±

    ¡°A man by the name of Nolan Perninski, and it¡¯s not a stakeout unless you¡¯re quiet.¡±

    ¡°I doubt they can hear me all the way in there,¡± Katrina replied. ¡°Wait! Did you say Perninski, as in Perri Perninski?¡±

    Cat spared her a confused glance. ¡°That¡¯s his daughter, how do you know her?¡±

    ¡°She goes to my school. Also she¡¯s Lily¡¯s friend. Her dad¡¯s a real brute.¡±

    ¡°How do you know that?¡± Cat had turned her attention fully away from the house now and was studying Katrina.

    Katrina bit her lip and twisted her hands in her lap. ¡°Promise you won¡¯t tell mum?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Cat replied without even taking a moment to consider it. Looking at Katrina was almost like looking in the mirror. The girl had inherited the James family signature dark hair and green eyes. Even her bone structure was similar, sharper and less rounded than either of her sisters or their mother. Even her clothes weren¡¯t so far from the sort of thing Cat had in her own wardrobe, a lot of black and not much fabric, although Katrina¡¯s stuff tended toward a little more lace than Cat¡¯s, but Cat knew the girl idolised her. Both of her brother¡¯s eldest girls did, in different ways. Before she¡¯d gotten pregnant, Gemma had often come around to practice her sparring. She was damn good at it too, at least she had been. Almost a match for Cat. It had been good training for Cat too. But she¡¯d been down a sparring partner for awhile now and given her own pregnancy she was starting to wonder how she was going to manage to keep fighting fit over the next several months. She didn¡¯t want to lose her ability to defend herself and her unborn child.

    Cat wasn¡¯t sure why her brother¡¯s kids looked up to her of all people but she imagined her kid looking at her the way these kids did and she felt a mixture of both warmth and fear.

    Katrina didn¡¯t answer straight away. She shifted in her seat a bit first. ¡°Well, I might have used some mindwalking and read Perri¡¯s mind.¡±

    ¡°How?¡± Cat was fully focused on Katrina now. Magic, other than Cat¡¯s own, or hell, even including her own, was out of her wheelhouse, but Cat knew Katrina spent quite a bit of her time learning about it and mindwalking could be useful here.

    ¡°From Ally, another one of Lily¡¯s friends. The whole group of them was staying at our house, for a sleepover. Perri¡¯s dad showed up and yanked her home. Like he almost physically dragged her out of the house. Apparently his wife had said yes to the sleepover but hadn¡¯t told him.¡±

    ¡°What did your parents do?¡±

    ¡°Well, not much. I mean, mum said some words to him, but then he and Perri left.¡±

    ¡°Figures,¡± Cat muttered under her breath as she turned back to eye up Nolan¡¯s house.

    ¡°Well, what were they supposed to do?¡± Katrina argued. ¡°It¡¯s not like they could hold her there against her parent¡¯s will or beat him up or anything. Besides, he didn¡¯t hit her in front of them or anything. He was just kinda rough.¡±

    Cat didn¡¯t take he eyes off the Perninski place. What should be done? That was the question. Katrina was right, beating the man up once wouldn¡¯t do it. He¡¯d probably just take it out on his wife and kids later. And she knew from practice that reporting it to the authorities didn¡¯t accomplish anything either. What was it she had always wanted someone to do? Steal the kid away? Except this girl¡¯s mother was still alive. Cat knew from experience that you couldn¡¯t make the spouse leave. Even if they did leave, they often went back. And as far as she was concerned, they were an adult, they made their own choices. But the kids...

    Katrina¡¯s voice continued. ¡°I think he does worse than just hit her though.¡±

    It drew Cat from her own head and she turned to look at Katrina again. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I peeked in Lily¡¯s head. Went looking for memories about Ally and Perri too. I wanted to practice mindwalking and I was curious. But I found this one memory where Lily saw Perri¡¯s arms and how she has cigarette burns all along them. And then one afternoon I saw Perri sitting alone after school, waiting for her mum or dad to pick her up I think and I looked in her head too.¡±

    ¡°You saw him doing that? In her head?¡±

    ¡°No, But I saw her parents shouting at one another. It was weird. It was like I was her for second.¡± Katrina shivered.

    Cat was too focused on what else she might have seen to really register Katrina¡¯s reaction. ¡°Did you see him hit her?¡±

    ¡°No. No. Just her own memories. One where she was hiding under her bed and her parents are yelling and she¡¯s cuddling her sister, before she died I guess.¡± Katrina shivered again then a concentrated look appeared on her face. ¡°Maybe if I was in his head though.¡±

    Cat looked back toward the house then to Katrina again. ¡°Can you read him from here?¡±

    ¡°No, too far. I had to get pretty close to Perri, like a couple metres. I think it should be possible to do it from further away. Mum said across the room should work but even that was too far. I tried mindwalking with Jade while in class but it didn¡¯t work. Maybe I just need a stronger infusement.¡±

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    ¡°How much is left in your current one?¡±

    ¡°I dunno. A few more reads at least. I think there¡¯s still enough magic there, it¡¯s just not strong enough for more distance, or I¡¯m doing something wrong. Every infusement¡¯s different. Every person is different. I just need more practice.¡± Katrina got a determined look on her face.

    Cat glanced from Katrina to the house again. ¡°What about from right outside the house?¡±

    Katrina glanced up with a surprised look on her face, evidently only now catching onto her aunt¡¯s line of thought. ¡°You want me to read Perri¡¯s father¡¯s mind?¡±

    Cat nodded. ¡°I think he killed his other daughter.¡±

    Katrina¡¯s eyes grew wide and her face paled, but a moment later the determined look returned. She bit her lip. ¡°It¡¯s harder through walls, but maybe.¡±

    Cat studied the house thinking. She didn¡¯t want to push Katrina into doing something she didn¡¯t want to do or put her in the way of danger, but she needed to know if Nolan had really killed his other daughter.

    Katrina evidentially didn¡¯t fear the danger too much for a moment later she suggested. ¡°I could knock on his door and pretend to be selling cookies? I¡¯ve mastered the art of not falling over while I mindread now. I think I could even hold a conversation at the same time.¡±

    Cat frowned and then studied the girl. She looked eager again, no trace of that fear that had been there a few moments ago. ¡°We don¡¯t have any cookies.¡±

    ¡°Well, I could just be doing a survey then? Or maybe I was out camping and I got lost?¡±

    Cat cocked an eyebrow. ¡°In those clothes?¡±

    Katrina scowled. ¡°I¡¯m a teenager. Okay, how about I was walking home from a party?¡±

    Cat checked the time. ¡°It¡¯s late afternoon.¡±

    ¡°Teenager. We do party in the afternoon sometimes. Okay, fine, ooh I got a good one. How about I was with my boyfriend and he dumped me and then I got lost. I can do great fake tears. I can just ask to use his phone to call my mum but not actually call my mum, because she would definitely kill us both if she knew what we were doing.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I suppose that would work. How did you even find me here by the way?¡±

    Katrina shrugged. ¡°Location spell, mum uses them all the time to check where we are, although probably not right now, I hope. I needed more dreamwalking magic. Mum used it all.¡± Katrina held up her cat charm.

    ¡°On what?¡±

    ¡°I dunno. She wouldn¡¯t tell me.¡±

    ¡°Probably hunting the dreamweaver,¡± Cat said more to herself than to Katrina.

    ¡°The dreamweaver?¡± Katrina gave her an interested look.

    Cat barely heard her. She was already focused back on the house again. The street was borderline suburban, heavily wooded, with enough space between the houses for some privacy, but Cat doubted his neighbours hadn¡¯t noticed anything at all. They probably just looked the other way. It wasn¡¯t remote like her childhood home where you could have screamed at the top of your lungs and not been heard.

    She glanced back again when she heard Katrina rummaging around in the dash compartment. When she turned to look at her, the girl was putting on lipstick, Cat¡¯s dark red lipstick.

    Cat frowned. ¡°You¡¯re supposed to be mindreading him not seducing him.¡±

    Katrina paused with her mouth still hanging open. She turned toward Cat and then shut her jaw. ¡°If I was visiting my boyfriend then I¡¯d be wearing lipstick.¡±

    ¡°You were already wearing lipstick.¡±

    ¡°Well, I like this colour better. Can I keep it?¡±

    Cat rolled her eyes. ¡°Fine. How are you going to get out after? You use his phone and then what? Maybe we should just do the survey thing.¡±

    Katrina shook her head. ¡°Pretending to be on the phone will give me more of a chance to focus on the mindwalking. I can just ask to use their bathroom and then sneak out a window afterward or something.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I should do it...¡± Cat trailed off thinking.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know how to mindwalk,¡± Katrina quickly pointed out.

    ¡°It can¡¯t be that different from dreamwalking, can it?¡±

    Katrina shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s very different, and it¡¯s dangerous if you get it wrong. I¡¯ve had practice.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, besides you¡¯re right here. If anything goes wrong, I¡¯ll scream. I¡¯m told I have an excellent scream.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what his power is?¡±

    Katrina nodded. ¡°He¡¯s an ice elemental, pretty minor though.¡±

    ¡°What if Perri recognises you?¡±

    Katrina dangled another necklace in the air, a silver buffalo head. ¡°Shapeshifting magic. I¡¯ll make my face look difference.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re going to shapeshift, what was the point of putting on the makeup then?¡±

    Katrina shook her head and lifted up the small compact mirror that Cat always kept in the dash. ¡°I don¡¯t shapeshift the makeup. That stays. The less stuff you shift the easier it is to maintain a form. I just alter my bone structure a little. See.¡± She tilted her head this way as that as the profile of her face altered. ¡°I elongate my nose slightly, square out the jaw, puff the cheeks a little, and maybe add some dimples, and voila, cute as ever but even my own mum wouldn¡¯t recognise me.¡±

    ¡°I bet she would,¡± Cat remarked offhandedly. Even though, it was uncanny how different Katrina looked with just a few structural changes. There was something similar there too though.

    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know how she does it. Once I tried to sneak out looking like Bobby and she knew it was me.¡±

    ¡°Maybe she picked up on your facial expressions.¡±

    Katrina¡¯s eyes widened and Cat decided there was definitely some familiar in the way her face moved if not in her face itself.

    ¡°I bet that¡¯s it!¡± Katrina exclaimed. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to practice that.¡±

    ¡°Somehow, when it comes to your mother I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll make a difference. A mother knows her kids.¡± As Cat spoke the words, she wondered if that would be true for her own child. Would she one day be able to pick her out of a line up of shapeshifted faces? How did Amanda do it? Did a mother really just know her kids that well? What if Cat wasn¡¯t up to it? It was a dangerous world. What if she couldn¡¯t protect her? It would be a lot less dangerous without people like Nolan Perninski in it though. As her mind wandered, her eye line found his house again.

    ¡°Hey, aunt Cat?¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Are you really pregnant?¡±

    Cat snapped back around to look at her. ¡°Who told you that?¡±

    ¡°Gemma.¡±

    ¡°Who told her?¡±

    ¡°I dunno, mum probably. Maybe she overheard.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Cat frowned, then sighed. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m pregnant.¡±

    Katrina was silent for a moment.

    ¡°Are you going to keep it?¡±

    Cat scowled and replied sharply, ¡°What sort of questions is that?¡±

    Katrina didn¡¯t flinch at Cat¡¯s tone, she simply replied, ¡°When Melanie Higgins got pregnant last year, her parents sent her away to live with her grandma for awhile and when she came back she wasn¡¯t pregnant anymore.¡±

    ¡°How long¡¯s awhile?¡±

    ¡°Like a month.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Well, yes, it¡¯s here now.¡±

    ¡°That means I¡¯ll have a little cousin who I can teach about fashion right from the start,¡± Katrina replied with a happy smile. Then she added, ¡°Sasha¡¯s too close to me in age and fashion sense didn¡¯t naturally catch on with her. Oooh and magic too!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve got a little niece of your own now.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but I don¡¯t think Gemma will let me teach her the important stuff. But you¡¯ll let me teach you daughter right? Or son... hmm I suppose if it¡¯s a boy I can just teach him boy fashion.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a girl.¡±

    Katrina¡¯s mouth dropped open. It was still weird to look at her without her own face on.

    ¡°You know?! Cool! I¡¯m gonna be the best cousin ever.¡±

    Cat smiled, then she glanced at Nolan¡¯s house. There was work to be done before that.

    Looking back at Katrina again, she asked, ¡° How long does that shapeshifter magic last?¡±

    ¡°Oh, ah, a little while but I should get started. We¡¯ve got a bad guy to catch. So, I need to read his mind and find out if he killed Perri¡¯s sister and where the evidence that will convict him is, right?¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Cat agreed, even though it was only really the first part she had been thinking about. Physical evidence wouldn¡¯t hurt but she doubted it would help either.

    Katrina gave a decisive nod and reached for the door handle.

    Doubt crept into Cat¡¯s mind. Worries for her own child suddenly making her realise how precious kids were to a mother. Amanda would not approve of this, not one little bit.

    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re up to this?¡± Cat asked Katrina.

    Katrina flashed a cocky smile. ¡°How hard could it be?¡±

 Volume 3, Chapter 38: Mind Over Matter

    Katrina took a moment to work up some tears. She thought about the pretty speckled rabbit that Jade had brought her the other day for her spellcraft. She knew there were lots of them out there in the forest, that they were bad for the horses, they dug up the paddocks and ate the veges in the garden. She knew the blood was essential for the spellwork and of all the things to use, rabbits weren¡¯t such a bad option, but still... the way its little chest had risen and fallen so rapid, as if it knew what had been coming... the way its eyes had rolled in its head... the crack of its neck when Jade had twisted its head with his strong hands, making the act somehow sexy and horrific all at once. That poor rabbit, its life cut so short. And it was all her fault.

    It didn¡¯t take long before Katrina felt tears falling. Good. She wiped at her eyes. She was wearing eyeliner so that should make it smudge a little and add to the effect. She gave a sniff and then she walked up the front steps to Perri¡¯s house. She knocked three times.

    Perri¡¯s dad answered. He was taller than Katrina remembered and for a moment she considered turning around and fleeing back to her aunt¡¯s car. But the memory of how he¡¯d dragged Perri from Lily¡¯s sleepover that night was still clear in her head, and the words that Ally had said afterward. Plus, her aunt Cat was counting on her to do this and she didn¡¯t want to disappoint her. No way could she show herself as a coward in front of Cat. Her aunt would never be scared. Her aunt was too cool for that.

    At least the way Perri¡¯s dad was making her feel so small right now, was probably helping with the act she was giving. Katrina gave another small sniffle and then started to open her mouth.

    ¡°What do ya want?¡± he asked gruffly, cutting her off before she could get her words out.

    Another sniff, although she was getting the impression already that that wasn¡¯t helping. She notched her voice up a pitch. ¡°Please, sir, can I use your phone? It¡¯s an emergency.¡± The rest of her planned words died away on her lips. In the seconds she¡¯d been at his door she knew rambling wouldn¡¯t work.

    His hand twitched on the door, obviously thinking about whether or not to slam it in her face.

    Katrina blinked her tears away and straightened herself up. In her sweetest and sultriest voice she said, ¡°It won¡¯t take long I promise.¡± She did the thing where she pushed her shoulder back and dropped her chin slightly so she was looking up at him through her eyelashes. This was not a sympathetic man. But if crying didn¡¯t work, well there was always seduction. It was what Katrina was best at anyway. She battered her eyelashes, just slightly, not too much or it would look weird.

    To her surprise it worked. His whole posture changed and she felt his eyes scan the full length of her body. Gross. While she often bragged that she preferred older men, she wasn¡¯t thinking about men like this when she said it. She was thinking about men like Coal. Even when he¡¯d threatened to cut off her ear he¡¯d still been beautiful. Not like this guy, with his slightly potty belly and stained collared shirt that he¡¯d probably bought at the mall. Still, she¡¯d make good use of the attention.

    ¡°Fine,¡± he grumbled as he stepped back from the door. ¡°Hurry it up then.¡±

    Katrina stepped through into a long hallway.

    He nodded his head toward a phone attached to the wall a few metres away.

    ¡°It¡¯s over there.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Katrina swept past him, not looking him in the eye, now that she¡¯d gained entrance.

    She reached the phone and paused. She didn¡¯t want it to ring while pretending she was phoning home. That would be a disaster. So perhaps she should actually call someone? She had her aunt¡¯s number. That would work.

    She quickly dialed while he was still standing close by. She could feel his eyes on her.

    There was no answer but that was fine. Katrina gave her best performance ever to the answering machine, pretending to explain to her mum how her boyfriend had just left her on the side of the road and she needed a ride home. Then to buy herself time she acted like her mum was giving her a lecture, occasionally trying to butt in with things like ¡®but mum I...¡¯ followed up a bit later with one word phrases like ¡®uh huh¡¯ and ¡®yup¡¯.

    As she slipped into the less demanding part of her performance she carefully drew her magic into the mindwalking infusement, twisting it and calling it from wherever it was it came from. Then, invisibly she reached for Nolan¡¯s mind.

    So far, most of her practice had just been trying to read the thoughts people were actively thinking at the time. Only once before had she used mindwalking to seek out a specific memory, and that infusement had been tightly wound, made by a sorcerer and designed to guide the user. Katrina still remembered what it had felt like but despite that, this was something else entirely. This was wild magic and it was up to her to control it.

    In her mind¡¯s eye she could see a dark hallway, and miniature version of herself stepping down it. The end of the hallway was encased in shadow but as she walked forward more it revealed itself, always the same distance ahead though. What she needed was down there, she felt it. But as she bypassed door after door she started to get frustrated. Finally she stopped to consider things.

    In her real hands she twisted the telephone cord and mumbled, ¡°Mmm.¡±

    A door appeared before her mind-self, suddenly out of nowhere. Katrina tensed up but remained where she was, acutely aware that she had to maintain her cover. In her head she stepped forward. Or was it his head?

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    The door opened without her touching it or anything and then it just fell away and she was blinded by a white light. Around her, a scene formed, and out of the corner of her real eyes she could swear the real world was altered a little too. And then it vanished and only the fake one remained, but it looked decidedly like the very same hallway.

    Katrina knew it wasn¡¯t. The light was different. Night had fallen and Perri¡¯s father was no longer standing by the door. The phone had also magically put itself back on the hook.

    It was strange. This was almost like dreamwalking. The tightly wound mindwalking infusement she¡¯d used hadn¡¯t been like this, not at all. This was far more visual. She wondered if she could shape the world around her to her will? But would that mean she was altering memories? She decided she better not.

    She glanced around. Was she still standing upright in the real world or had she passed out? She hoped it wasn¡¯t the latter, but now she was here, she might as well look around.

    Voices sounded from around the corner. Laughter.

    Katrina hesitated at first but then she pressed onward, reminding herself that this wasn¡¯t real. Or maybe it was real? If memories made a person then maybe this was a real as it got? She wondered what would happen if she suddenly showed up in someone else¡¯s memories? But it was too late for her to turn around. By the time the thought crossed her mind she was already within eye line of the kitchen, where three young girls were helping their mother ice cookies. One of them Katrina recognised as Perri. The other two both looked younger.

    The middle one suddenly reached out and smeared icing on her younger sister¡¯s nose with a giggle. The younger girl shrieked and reached for the bowel with her own fingers.

    ¡°Hey now, hey now.¡± Their mother tried to calm things between her own laughter.

    Katrina was about to turn around and leave when the mother glanced up and looked her directly in the eye.

    Katrina froze.

    ¡°Nolan, you¡¯re back.¡±

    Katrina frowned and spun, expecting to see Perri¡¯s dad behind her, but there was no one there. What was going on?

    She turned back to look at the woman and three girls. The girls all had their heads down now, no longer was there any laughter. They just sat there quietly icing the cookies with focused looks.

    Suddenly she felt herself moving forward and not of her own volition. And then she spoke, except it wasn¡¯t her voice. It was Nolan¡¯s, gruff and cutting just like it had been when he¡¯d opened the door.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you girls all have homework?¡±

    Katrina suddenly realised how much further away the floor was, as if she¡¯d grown a couple of feet.

    The mother stepped forward, her smile hesitant, twitching. ¡°Nolan...¡± she started.

    But he interrupted. Katrina lifted her arm and pointed. ¡°Go!¡± came the command.

    Katrina felt her lips move but she had no control over what was said or the movement of her limbs. She tried to resist but as the kids scampered from the room, she felt herself take a step towards Perri¡¯s mother.

    And then she leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips.

    No, no, nonono. Katrina pulled back but she was stuck in his body, experiencing everything he did. Ugh, gross. She didn¡¯t want to kiss this woman.

    She relaxed a little as he finally pulled away. At least there hadn¡¯t been any tongue. Now, how did she get out of this? She had felt something bend a little when she¡¯d pushed just now, but it felt like if she pushed harder she might break something and she didn¡¯t want to accidentally rewrite or destroy any memories. Maybe this was the memory she was looking for? Maybe this is when it had happened? It was obviously in the past. Maybe she just needed to ride it out? The kiss hadn¡¯t been that passionate, just a casual peck between couples.

    But then Nolan leaned in for another one.

    Katrina tried to shut her eyes and block it out but it was like her lids had been taped open. She could only blink when he did. She kissed what he kissed.

    To her horror, Nolan leaned down and gently nibbled his wife¡¯s ear with his lips. ¡°I¡¯ve missed you, Iris.¡±

    Katrina felt herself put her... his hand on his wife¡¯s hip. He tugged her toward the hallway.

    For a moment Katrina was confused about where they were going, her mind too focused on trying to prod the edges of this memory, but then realisation hit her like a tone of bricks. She had an erection. She could feel it between her legs. All the wrong body parts. The itchy stubble, the way he breathed, so heavy and slow. Ugh. How could someone else¡¯s memory feel so real? Worst of all, she could see the rapidly approaching bedroom door and she knew exactly what he had in mind.

    Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. She definitely did not want to be here for that. Screw this!

    She found the edges of his mind and she pushed hard. Out! She had to get out.

    Nolan pulled them into the bedroom and closed the door behind himself. He shoved his wife roughly onto the bed.

    In a place where no one could hear her, Katrina whimpered. She tried to kick to scream to fight but her body wasn¡¯t hers. It did not respond to her commands.

    Her fingers grappled at nothing as she placed her palms on the bed and slowly climbed up and over his wife.

    Okay, think, she just had to think. How did she get out of the dreamworld? Maybe it was similar for mindwalking? Truth was she hadn¡¯t always been able to. More than once she¡¯d woken up to find it was her mum, or her dad, or her aunt who had pulled her back awake, and once when she¡¯d been about to get eaten by some monster.

    But she shouldn¡¯t be thinking about those times, she needed to think about the times she had gotten out. These days she set and alarm clock or a dead man¡¯s spell, something to pull herself back out in case she got stuck too long. Why hadn¡¯t she thought to do that for this? If only she could call her aunt.

    Nolan was yanking his wife¡¯s pants off now. Down came the panties too, silky white ones with a little bow at the front. This was already way more than she wanted to see. Katrina tried not to think about it, tried not to focus on the physical feeling of being here or the fact that Nolan¡¯s wife trimmed instead of shaved. What she needed was to find another mind? Preferably her own.

    Katrina got the sense that might be hard given her own mind was currently elsewhere. What she needed was her head. How did she get back to it? How did she usually do it?

    ¡°Help! Aunt Cat!¡± She tried screaming, calling Cat¡¯s name but she felt nothing, no mind she could talk to and no sound came from her lips. Her aunt must be too far away.

    Sometimes it had been enough to just focus on the physical. When she dreamwalked she often lay on top of her bed, on a quilt her grandma had made. She remembered the mismatched feel of it and sometimes that would pull her back. But what did she have now?

    Her fingers fumbled at her the button on her pants. No, not that. She wasn¡¯t wearing pants, remember.

    She had twirled the phone line around her fingers before she¡¯d mindwalked. That rubbery twisty thing that curled in on itself. She focused on that, the way she could tug it and let go and it would spring back into shape. So many hours she had spent on the phone gossiping with friends, playing with that stretchy, curly cord.

    She closed her eyes. The world went black. And then she felt hot breath on her cheek.

 Volume 3, Chapter 39: Forget Me Not

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Nolan¡¯s gruff voice asked, right next to her cheek.

    Katrina gave a start. She pulled the phone away from where it was still pressed against her ear. ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°I asked are you alright?¡± His brow was furrowed. He watched her suspiciously.

    She was back in real world but what had happened while she had been gone?

    She¡¯d stayed standing obviously, even the phone had still been at her ear.

    ¡°Oh, no, no, I¡¯m alright.¡± She fumbled to get the phone back to her ear. ¡°Hi mum, yes, yes I¡¯m here. Of course I was listening.¡± If she pretended to Perri¡¯s dad like her mum¡¯s imaginary droning on was what had made her space out then maybe she¡¯d get away clean. ¡°Yes, okay, I¡¯ll wait here.¡±

    Katrina hung up the phone then registered what she had just said. Shit! Why had she said that she¡¯d wait here? She obviously wasn¡¯t getting anything out of this guy¡¯s head. She should have said something that would let her walk out the front door. She supposed she could just leave, it wasn¡¯t like he was physically stopping her. But it would be rude. Katrina couldn¡¯t quite bring herself to be rude.

    He was still giving her a strange look. After a moment of awkward silence he asked, ¡°Do you want a drink? We have water.¡±

    ¡°Actually, can I use your bathroom?¡± she asked. Somehow the idea of sneaking out a window felt less rude.

    He grunted and pointed. ¡°Second door on the left.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Katrina scurried a toward it, passing by what she now knew to be the kitchen door on the right and trying not to think about how familiar this section of a hallway she¡¯d never physically walked down now looked to her.

    She shut the bathroom door and leaned against it with a sigh. Then she looked down at herself, checking she was still all her. She was relieved to find all was as she remembered it. She turned her attention to her surroundings.

    This was one of those bathrooms that contained everything in one room, toilet, shower tub, and sink. It was painted a nice olive green, a little chipped in places up near the ceiling but still vibrant in colour. Unfortunately, the window was one of those tiny little ones that only opened an inch, too small for anyone to climb out.

    Katrina pulled the toilet seat lid down and sat on top of it. She leaned forward, her dark hair gracing the tops of her bare knees. Now what?

    She could hear him out there, from the creaking of the hard wood floors. He was moving about nearby.

    She took in a deep breath and considered things. So she hadn¡¯t found the memory she had been looking for, but she had figured out how to get back out. It had been scary, a little traumatising even, but all in all she was fine. It hadn¡¯t gone so badly and if she let something so small scare her off then she would never master this skill. Mindwalking was one of the most sought after magics. Well, maybe after psychic magic but that was rarer than finding a naked porcupine.

    He was close enough to her here that maybe she could try again? If she was careful. She just needed something solid to tie her to this world. She looked around the bathroom, searching for something she could use to ground herself. The soap on the bathroom sink caught her eye. That was something with a distinctive texture.

    She checked the time next. It appeared she hadn¡¯t actually been gone that long. Somehow even less time had passed than she¡¯d thought, only minutes since she¡¯d entered the house. How long would it take before her aunt got worried? She figured one more try and then she¡¯d think up an excuse and leave.

    She picked up the soap and reached out for the nearest mind. She¡¯d intended to sit down again before she got fully into it but she¡¯d barely even registered the feel of someone¡¯s thoughts before she found herself pulled in and completely submerged in another world.

    She curled her fingers into her hands over and over but she could no longer feel the soap. A quick glance around showed her that she was still in the bathroom, but was it just her or did the mirror seem a little taller?

    She looked up. A new face stared back at her, brown eyes and a smattering of freckles, not her own, nor the one she¡¯d shapeshifted it into, but a child¡¯s face. Not Perri but her sister, the middle one, the one who¡¯d started the frosting fight. Katrina hadn¡¯t known her name, but she did now. It was Amy.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Katrina, in Amy¡¯s body, looked down at herself. She was in what looked like pyjamas, pink ones, long sleeved but slightly too small so the ends of her arms stuck out just enough for Katrina to get a glimpse of some strange marks. She pulled the sleeves up. They were circular and looked like tiny little burns.

    Katrina frowned and looked at herself in the mirror once more. Weird, it seemed like she had more control in this mind than she had in the other, or had Amy done those things too? Perhaps Amy¡¯s own memory was influencing Katrina¡¯s thoughts?

    She glanced toward the bathroom door, wary but curious. She bit her lip. The door was bigger, intimidatingly so. How old was she? Perri was about 10, this girl must be younger by a year or two. Without really consciously thinking about it she left the bathroom and made her way into the living room.

    He sat there, her stepfather, in a chair watching television. It was up loud, too loud for sleeping. It was why she¡¯d awoken.

    He glanced up as she entered.

    ¡°Briana?¡± Hope in his voice, followed by disappointment. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you, Amy?¡± A moment later he spoke again in a different voice, a tone she couldn¡¯t quite figure out. ¡°Why don¡¯t you come over here and sit on my lap?¡±

    She went to him, slowly, hesitantly. He¡¯d asked this before. Usually he just stroked her back and her hair. Sometimes he patted her legs but when he did that she¡¯d always bare her teeth and growl at him and pretend to be a bear. It always seemed to make him stop, except for a couple times when he¡¯d suddenly grabbed her wrist and pressed his cigarette into her arm, like he sometimes did when she¡¯d been naughty. Mum had told him to stop that but she never said it very fiercely. Her mum wasn¡¯t a very good bear. That was probably why he kept doing it.

    But he didn¡¯t have his smokes out tonight. She hadn¡¯t seen him with them in a whole week now. He¡¯d been wearing that funny looking patch on his arm instead. It wasn¡¯t good to refuse his request so she did as he said and hopped up onto his lap. Usually he¡¯d get bored after a bit and push her off.

    He smiled and continued watching the television as his fingers tickled her back. For awhile they sat there like that in silence. Then his hand dropped to her knee. She squirmed and considered getting down but he didn¡¯t like it if she got off before he told her to.

    But as his hand started to move up higher she pulled her hands up like little paws and growled at him.

    ¡°Grrr.¡±

    He turned his eyes form the television with a frown. The hand he had on her back slid up until it clutched the back of her neck. He held her there as his other one reached up and gripped her jaw from the front. It wasn¡¯t a hard grip but she didn¡¯t like it. His fingers traced their way across her lips.

    On a sudden impulse she leaned forward and bit him, right on his thumb.

    He growled. He was an angry bear. Then he smacked her in the face.

    For a moment the world spun and then she was on the floor, her wrists hurting from the way she¡¯d landed.

    ¡°You¡¯re nothing like your sister,¡± he growled.

    She could hear the chair creak as he started to get up.

    Without looking back she sprang to her feet and ran toward her room. She dove under the covers and there she stayed, safe in her cave. He might come in later, but he never went to her bed. He always went to Briana¡¯s.

    The room outside the covers seemed to suddenly grow brighter and then dim again. It did that several times before she risked a peek. It was night still but something was different. She was still in her pyjamas, the blue ones with the little bear on the front. She looked around the rest of the room. Her stuffed family of teddies was sitting where they usually were. This was her room, hers and Briana¡¯s.

    She looked over to where her sister slept but the bed was empty.

    The next thing she knew she was standing in their living room wearing her day clothes, although she couldn¡¯t remember how she¡¯d gotten there, and wasn¡¯t there something else she was forgetting? Somewhere she was supposed to be?

    Her older sister, Perri was sitting in an armchair in the corner, tucked up reading a book, keeping out of trouble as usual. Amy was the troublemaker, she knew that.

    Her mum was folding laundry not far away. Her step father was sitting in his chair watching TV. Briana was at his feet making something with paint and glue on the glass coffee table.

    Amy just stood in the doorway feeling like she wasn¡¯t supposed to be there. But where was she supposed to be? Why hadn¡¯t they noticed her yet?

    She watched as her sister stood up holding something.

    ¡°Look mum...¡± she started to step across their stepfather, who sat between Briana and their mum.

    He scowled as she covered his view of the TV.

    ¡°For goodness sakes, child, get out of the way!¡± He shifted his leg, just slightly but intentionally. Amy could see that from where she stood. As Briana put her foot down, her stepfather¡¯s leg knocked into hers. It upset her balance. Their legs somehow all caught together. She fell backwards and right through the glass coffee table.

    Amy was certain she would never forget that horrible sound her mum made, not quite a scream but a cry. Or her stepfather¡¯s words.

    ¡°Get up, you lazy girl! Stop just lying there.¡±

    But Briana couldn¡¯t get up.

    ¡°It was an accident,¡± her mother said later.

    Time seemed to fly by and Amy just stood there. When she next looked down she found her clothes were bloody and she held in her hand a sponge and a bar of soap.

    Soap. Wasn¡¯t there something she was forgetting? She tried to remember.

    Then she was back staring into the bathroom mirror, brown eyes looking back at her. Standing in her pink pajamas. She studied her arms, the marks burned into her skin. Then she turned toward the door. The TV was on too loud so she went to the lounge. He was there.

    ¡°Briana?¡± Hope in his voice, followed by disappointment. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you, Amy? Why don¡¯t you come over here and sit on my lap?¡±

 Volume 3, Chapter 40: Skin

    Something felt familiar. But of course it felt familiar. This wasn¡¯t the first time he¡¯d asked her to sit on his lap.

    She went to him. His fingers tickled her back.

    ¡°You alright, kid?¡±

    That was a new voice.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Amy stirred. Where was she?

    She was lying against something hard and cushiony, like a seat in a car, only extra uncomfy.

    ¡°Katrina?¡±

    ¡°What.¡± She opened her eyes. She was in a car. A nice looking car. Her head spun. ¡°Where am I?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re in my car.¡±

    She recognised the voice now. Her aunt Cat. Memories came flooding back, and not all her own. It took her a few seconds to remember who she was.

    ¡°I¡¯m not Amy.¡± She reached up and touched her own face and for a moment she panicked when she didn¡¯t recognise it. But then she remembered the shapeshifting spell. It must still be active. She felt for the necklace and pulled it off. She relaxed as she felt the magic shift her back. Then she pulled off all her other charms as well.

    ¡°No shit. You alright?¡± Cat was as straight and to the point as ever.

    Katrina wanted to ask what happened but at that moment the dizziness caught up to her and she leaned forward and vomited between her feet.

    She heard a groan and a swear from her aunt.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Katrina mumbled as a dollop of spit and vomit fell unattractively from her lips to the floor.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    She wiped her mouth and then she sat up. The world felt more stable now, mostly. At least she didn¡¯t think she was going to be sick again. She glanced over at her aunt.

    Cat was staring out the window, pointedly not looking in her direction.

    ¡°I¡¯ll clean it up,¡± Katrina said, thinking Cat must be mad.

    Cat waved a hand. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m just trying not to add to it. Pregnancy has a tendency to make you extra sensitive to these things.¡±

    ¡°Oh. What happened?¡±

    ¡°You were taking too long. That and I thought I heard you calling for help, in my head. So I went in. I found you passed out on their bathroom floor. ¡±

    Katrina looked up, surprised. ¡°You heard me calling for help?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Her aunt was no longer looking out the window.

    ¡°I thought I was too far away.¡±

    ¡°It was pretty faint. I wasn¡¯t sure if I was imagining it. Didn¡¯t want to take any chances though, not if he killed his daughter.¡± She glanced back out the window, eying their surroundings.

    It was at that point that Katrina realised the car had moved. They were no longer outside Perri¡¯s house. Instead they were parked along some long stretch of road, boarded both sides by pine forest. It didn¡¯t look like they¡¯d gone very far, just enough to get out of suburbia.

    ¡°He did,¡± she confirmed.

    Cat¡¯s head swung sharply back around to look at her.

    ¡°You saw?¡±

    Katrina nodded.

    She watched her aunt¡¯s eyebrows knot together.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Katrina nodded. ¡°I think so. Just tired. I think I burned through a lot of magic. I nearly got stuck. How did you wake me?¡±

    ¡°I was trying to dreamwalk you but it wasn¡¯t working, so I tried using that... the mindwalking charm.¡± Cat waved a hand. ¡°But I couldn¡¯t get that to work either. I think it just ran out of energy. I could feel something in it and then nothing.¡±

    Katrina fumbled for it and poked it with her magic hesitantly. No, there was still something there. Maybe her aunt had just felt it as it had worn off for whatever reason.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    ¡°You sure you¡¯re okay?¡±

    ¡°What happened to their stepfather? When you went in to get me, what happened?¡±

    Cat shook her head. She didn¡¯t meet Katrina¡¯s eyes. ¡°Nothing, don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

    Katrina leaned back against the chair. She felt exhausted, like she¡¯d just run a marathon. Had she overused her magic? What would have happened if Cat hadn¡¯t got her out when she did? Chances were, it was probably the distance that cut the magic off. She¡¯d managed to mindwalk further than she had before though. And she¡¯d found out what had happened to Briana. She couldn¡¯t get Iris¡¯s cries out of her head. The noise she¡¯d made was like nothing she¡¯d ever heard before or wanted to hear again.

    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Katrina asked.

    ¡°I, am going to get you home. Nolan won¡¯t be bothering anyone for the time being. I¡¯ll deal with him properly another day.¡±

    Katrina wanted to tell her aunt about the other things he¡¯d done but she couldn¡¯t find the words. Instead she just nodded. She was so tired and her aunt¡¯s tone left no room for debate.

    <hr>

    Cat dropped Katrina off with a studied look and another ¡®are you okay?¡¯ It was more ¡®are you okay¡¯s¡¯ than Katrina had ever heard Cat ask in her entire life, which meant she must look pretty terrible. She appreciated it though. It made her feel safe and loved, which she needed after that last mindwalk. Cat didn¡¯t even seem that mad about the vomit in her car. Katrina had offered again to help clean it but Cat had waved her off once more and for that she was very glad.

    She slipped through her front door quietly and then ran quickly and lightly up the stairs. She had to pause at the top as the world started spinning again. She really must have overdone it. As the feeling passed she went into her room, but it returned almost the moment she sat on the bed. A lightheadedness that made her feel not quite there. It scared her and she pulled herself to her feet, afraid if she stayed there alone, she might start to disappear.

    Gemma¡¯s door was open but there was no sign of her or Kate. Bobby¡¯s was closed but she could hear movement inside so she pushed it open without a thought. He was on the bed with his girlfriend. Katrina was so dazed that it took her a moment to fully realise what she¡¯d walked in on. Long enough for Bobby to grab a pillow and throw it at her.

    ¡°Oi! Get out.¡±

    Katrina gave a small startled yelp and backed out, forgetting to shut the door. She fled back to her room and climbed onto her own bed where she pulled her knees up close and hugged them. Memories of Perri¡¯s parents and what she¡¯d almost seen them do, flashed through her mind. She heard Bobby¡¯s door slam shut.

    But a few minutes later he appeared in her doorway, fully dressed now.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you ever heard of knocking?¡± he started, but his expression shifted from annoyance to confusion the moment he laid eyes on her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    He sighed. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± He didn¡¯t immediately leave. He studied her for a few seconds more, concern mixing in with the confusion. ¡°Why are you crying?¡± he asked more gently.

    She sniffed and wiped her cheek. ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±

    He sighed again, pulled her chair out from her desk and took a seat beside the bed. ¡°Katrina?¡±

    This time it was her turn to sigh. She still felt kind of light-headed but the feeling was fading. The fear had gone but the memories of what she¡¯d seen today had gotten stronger. ¡°I just over-used my magic a little, that¡¯s all.¡±

    ¡°Doing what?¡±

    She bit her lip. ¡°Mindwalking.¡±

    ¡°Mindwalking who?¡±

    ¡°Perri¡¯s dad.¡±

    ¡°Perri¡¯s... who?¡±

    ¡°Lily¡¯s friend. He killed his daughter.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°He tripped Perri¡¯s sister up so she fell into a glass table and died. I saw it in his head.¡±

    ¡°Have you told anyone else this?¡±

    ¡°I told Aunt Cat.¡±

    She could see Bobby relax a little at that statement.

    He hesitated a moment then he asked, ¡°Are you sure that it was a real memory? Sometimes memories lie? People can remember things incorrectly.¡±

    ¡°Pretty sure.¡± She could see he wasn¡¯t sure what to do with that information so she added, ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s fine. I told Aunt Cat so she¡¯ll do something about it, and I¡¯m fine now. I just almost burnt myself up I think but I feel better now.¡± It was partially true. She did feel physically better, and a little mentally better too for having talked to Bobby, even if for some weird reason what she¡¯d told him hadn¡¯t been the worst part for her. She¡¯d seen a murder, but all she could think about was those fingers stroking her back.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    She straightened herself up and shook her head as if to clear it. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m going to go take a shower, scrub my mind free of everything I just saw.¡± She changed her tone so it was more perky and sophisticated sounding and then made a face at him. She uncurled her legs and slipped down off the bed.

    Bobby sighed again but he looked less worried. He nodded, got up, pushed the chair back in and headed for the door. He paused there and said, ¡°Just make sure you knock next time.¡±

    Katrina shivered and made a face. ¡°Like I could forget now. Maybe you should try locking your door.¡±

    Bobby walked backwards into the hall with his hands splayed. ¡°What if there¡¯s a house fire and I fall asleep? Everybody else knocks.¡±

    ¡°Whatever,¡± Katrina quipped and headed the other direction toward the bathroom.

    <hr>

    Katrina breathed a sigh of relief as she got under the hot water. This would clear her mind and remind her of all the good things that were in the world, like hot water delivered right to your door, and shampoo, glorious, wonderful shampoo. She cleaned herself from head to bottom and then all over again until she felt well and truly like herself.

    It wasn¡¯t until she turned the water off that she noticed something stuck in the edge of the shower drain. Something large and fleshy looking. With a frown she bent down to see what it was. She poked it. It was sort of jelly like. She picked it up between two nails. It smelt kind of funny. As she peered closer she realised what it was. It was skin. A big long strip of someone¡¯s skin that had fallen off.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± She yelped and threw it into the trash. Then she washed her hands in the sink, over and over. She grabbed towel and huddled on the floor in it until the steam had completely cleared and Bobby was outside reminding her to stop hogging the bathroom.

    She ignored him, as she always did, but it did prompt her back to her feet. She finished drying and moisterizing. She did her hair, and then she carefully lined her eyes with a dark pencil. It really really wasn¡¯t her day today but as long as she knew she looked good she could face anything.

 Volume 3, Chapter 41: Car Vs Dragon

    The smell of burning metal permeated the air like a thick fog. Cat slapped her welder''s helmet up as the sound of a new engine roared down the drive. Something well-tuned and looked after, not suped-up and pushed to it''s limits or falling apart like most of the vehicles that came to her garage.

    She recognised the car once it rounded the corner of the forest. She watched Kass park and then step out of her sensible sedan in decidedly unsensible shoes. She kept watching as the woman picked her way carefully across the uneven gravel.

    "What do you want?" Cat asked Kass a little harshly once the other woman reached the edge of the garage.

    Kass pressed her lips together and glanced at the floor hesitantly, but she continued anyway. "I heard some rumors about some activity out in the desert. In a particular area of the desert."

    "Oh."

    "Want to take and SUV an go check it out?"

    ¡°What? Now? Just us?¡± Cat took her welding helmet off and set it down on a nearby bench.

    Kass nodded. ¡°Figured we¡¯d be faster. I don¡¯t want to do anything, just get a look. If they¡¯re rebuilding sooner than we thought, it could mean trouble, given what we left down there.¡±

    Cat ran one hand through her hair and considered it. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t take an SUV through the Dragon Mountains and I doubt Coal will let us use another teleport.¡±

    ¡°He might if it¡¯s to fix a problem with something he was involved in.¡± Kass shrugged. ¡°Or we could take something else. I just figured it would be more stealthy, that¡¯s all.¡±

    Cat was quiet for a few seconds then she asked, ¡°For how long?¡±

    Another shrug from Kass. ¡°A night? Maybe two, depending what we find out there.¡±

    Cat nodded. ¡°When?¡±

    ¡°Now?¡±

    Cat frowned and glanced out towards Kass¡¯s sedan. It was grey, functional, understated, just like Kass. She gave Kass a surprised look. ¡°You¡¯re already packed?¡±

    Kass nodded.

    ¡°Okay, give me 20 mins. We¡¯ll take my car. Desert racing¡¯s a thing, should blend in well enough.¡±

    <hr>

    They were on the road in no time, Cat behind the wheel, Kass riding shotgun, almost literally. She¡¯d thrown a rifle in the boot and one smaller box that Cat suspected was another gun on the back seat. Cat hadn¡¯t asked although she wondered exactly what Kass had planned. It was possible the one in the back seat was also a rifle. Even though the box didn¡¯t look long enough, some of Kass¡¯s guns were materiokinetically telescopic.

    They drove swiftly and in silence all the way out of Little Rock and through the inland town of Marblewood. Cat kept checking the rear view mirror, half expecting a cop car to suddenly show up in pursuit. They never seemed to leave her alone.

    But the roads stayed empty. They often were out here. Not many people drove in the Greenstone Valley this far inland. The mountains were for people who weren¡¯t afraid of dragons.

    ¡°You want to stop for anything?¡± Cat asked as they approached the last fuel station this side of the mountains. This would be their last chance for a couple hours. It was generally ill-advised to stop in the middle of the mountains.

    Kass shook her head so Cat kept driving. She already had a full tank, enough to get them through to the other side.

    The road wound its way up and Cat took the corners at high speed.

    Kass seemed unbothered and didn¡¯t say a word. She just watched the road in front of them and the view out the window. Cat appreciated the silence, it let her focus on the driving and the feel of the car. She relished the excuse to drive this road. The curves and the views were something to die for, and many people had.

    The mountains were beautiful and the road a flawless dark river that cut through them. Cat couldn''t imagine the work it had taken to seal this road but she was glad they had. Many considered it a folly, even now. It was the sorcerers who had built it or funded it or whatever. Cat didn''t know why and she didn''t really care. She was just glad it was here.

    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Cat didn''t glance back towards Little Rock. There was nothing there except for the sea. She preferred the inland views, rugged cliffs reaching up, and pointy trees, sturdy and strong, dark green even in winter, not that it was quite winter yet. But it was cold enough they should hit snow at some point.

    The main road was made with a magic that was intended to keep it largely clear of snow, except in the worst storms, but occasionally the ice still formed a slick almost invisible layer over the top. As if the dragons weren''t enough to worry about, she''d have to keep and eye out for the subtle sheen of ice as they got higher up and deeper in.

    She caught Kass glancing back behind them once or twice with an expression she couldn¡¯t read.

    Cat checked the rear view mirror again but the road behind them was still empty.

    Soon the sea disappeared, hidden by towering hills too steep to simply walk up. Occasionally the road went through tunnels and then sprung back out into open air bordering steep drops that fell away to stunning valleys. Other times the edge of the road was lined by trees and the view was hidden.

    Cat cracked a window for a brief period and let the smell of pine fill the car. Outside, the engine purred softly and the sound of it brought her great satisfaction. Every turn and dip and swoop of the road made her feel almost like she were flying free. Out here she was in control. She owned every inch of this road and none could tell her otherwise.

    Except for a dark shadow that soon fell into line above them. Cat caught sight of its shape on the road behind them. A dark blot soaring high up in the sky. Leathery wings pulled taught by the upper air currents.

    Cat knew the road, and she knew how these creatures hunted. A few twists and turns on and she pulled to a smooth stop in a tunnel that had a little off-the-road shoulder in the middle of it, made exactly for moments like this. There, Cat waited and she watched. Beside her Kass sat still and straight, alert but not obviously nervous.

    Eventually Cat pulled out of the tunnel. She increased her speed slowly, not wanting to make any more noise than she needed to. Her car was as quiet as she could get it. It purred, it did not roar. Even the angle she took the corners at was intended to minimise any screech of the tires. Her driving was smooth and fast. Her lines direct but never over the centre, not unless she could see up ahead. The road may be rarely used but that didn¡¯t mean they wouldn¡¯t encounter company.

    Unfortunately, it was the wrong kind of company that found them again. Barely 10 minutes later the shadow was back behind them. She could see Kass glance behind a couple times and at Cat as well. It was almost a question but not one she said out loud. Cat had no idea what sort of experience Kass had with dragons but she seemed to understand Cat¡¯s need for focus. And because of that, Cat decided she deserved to be rewarded for it.

    ¡°It¡¯s high up at the moment,¡± Cat told her. ¡°It¡¯s circling, figuring out if we¡¯re worth it. It won¡¯t come down for a bit yet, not unless we stop somewhere obvious. There are places we can hide but not for a little bit yet. I just need to keep an even pace for now, not let it know our max speed but not go too slow either. If it thinks we¡¯re predictable it might fly ahead and wait at certain points or it might come down into a valley at a spot where it thinks it can keep up. If it does that then I might be able to lose it.¡±

    Cat shifted easily between gears as she talked. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kass nod.

    They kept driving.

    They shadow got larger. The dragon dropped a little closer.

    Cat bit her lip, willing it to stay up there just a little longer. There was a twisty valley coming up that if it chased them there then she knew she could lose it on the road. But if it came down before they reached that point then there wasn¡¯t much she could do. They were bordering a steep gorge at the moment to the driver¡¯s side, with vertical hard rock on their outside. There wasn¡¯t enough room to maneuver or hide. The road wasn¡¯t narrow and twisty enough to dodge it, nor straight enough to out-accelerate it. The perfect kill zone. Perhaps the dragon knew it.

    At that moment another car suddenly veered around a blind corner in front of them. It was half across the centre line and Cat was forced to react fast. She swerved to the side, closer in against the rock wall. So close, she heard her wing mirror clip against stone. The other side was worse as the driver¡¯s side wing mirror was completely smashed off by the other car.

    Cat hissed and then swore.

    The other driver blared their horn, then accelerated off with a growl of their engine.

    Between them, a shadow rose.

    Then Cat laughed as she watched the dragon in the rear view suddenly turn and fly in the opposite direction, after the other car.

    Kass twisted in her seat to watch.

    Cat didn¡¯t bother. ¡°They¡¯re dead,¡± she said. ¡°Dragon food. Count your blessings it¡¯s not us and don¡¯t look back. Fuckers!¡± She swore under her breath as she glanced in the direction of her damaged mirror. It was still hanging on at least but that was going to need completely replacing, and she¡¯d just waxed it the other day. Still, they¡¯d gotten lucky with that dragon.

    But the journey wasn¡¯t over yet. They still had many more miles to go before they were safe, if safe was even a place they were going. Cat didn¡¯t think about it too long. In her experience, focusing too much on the future was what got you killed in the now.

    The road dropped down a little, into a windier valley. The rock walls here weren¡¯t as steep but they still would have been hard to run up and in some places between the cracks where the sun found it hard to reach were little patches of white snow. It wasn''t long before they came across their second dragon.

 Volume 3, Chapter 42: Distractions

    It sat crouched on the hillside, barely a metre or so off the road. Dark black scales, lean body, large red-brown eyes. One clawed hand resting on what looked like the body of a woman. It hardly seemed to notice what was stuck beneath those long, curved talons. It¡¯s focus was on the dark blue SUV in it¡¯s other hand. A second body, likely a man this time, was limply hanging from the front windscreen. The dragon opened its mouth wide in almost a lazy yawn. Several pointed teeth were laid bare for all the living to see. Then it crunched down into the back of the vehicle as if it were nothing but butter.

    They could hear the screech of tearing metal as it attempted to rip the rear cab right off.

    The dragon released the car and bit down again in a slightly different position. Then it suddenly shook its head rapidly side to side. The body hanging out the front was tossed about so violently that there was no question about his state of being. As they passed by, the dragon stilled. Then it hunched its shoulders and dropped its head like a cat stalking prey. Two large eyes blinked a couple times and watched carefully as Cat¡¯s car passed on metres in front of it. Its head turned to follow where they moved. As they pulled further away, slowly it started up its chewing again.

    Kass watched it watching them until they¡¯d disappeared around the next bend.

    ¡°I guess that one already had a meal,¡± Cat said once they were a little further down the road.

    Kass was still looking behind them, holding her breath, half waiting for it to chase after them.

    ¡°It¡¯s better not to look them in the eye,¡± Cat added.

    Kass gave a slightly nervous laugh. ¡°Is it likely to chase after us?¡±

    Cat didn¡¯t immediately answer. After a few seconds of silence she replied, ¡°I hope not. It looked young. You see why SUVs are a bad idea though.¡±

    ¡°What will you do if it does?¡±

    Another pause. ¡°Is that your gun in the back?¡±

    Kass nodded.

    ¡°Sometimes the young ones have a gap between their scales. You¡¯re probably better off using telekinesis though.¡±

    Kass shook her head. ¡°I¡¯d be just as likely to push us off the cliff.¡±

    ¡°Well, I guess I¡¯ll just have to drive fast then.¡±

    Kass glanced back behind them. ¡°Shit.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s following.¡±

    ¡°Shit.¡± Cat hit the accelerator.

    Kass watched the dragon silently. At first it crawled along the mountainside. She wondered how young it really was. It was lean, not as bulky as the one that had been in the sky earlier but it was big, at least twice at big as their car. Just before they rounded the next bend, Kass saw it suddenly take to the sky.

    ¡°It¡¯s in the air,¡± she told Cat in case the knowledge might be useful.

    Cat gave the barest of nods but didn¡¯t speak.

    Kass tried to gauge her expression without looking directly at her. She didn¡¯t want to distract her from her driving.

    Cat shifted rapidly down gears and then back up again as they weaved around tight corners. Cliffs rose up on both sides of them now and the road angled upward slightly.

    Kass turned her attention to the sky. This pass was narrow and she hoped it was hard for a dragon to follow them through it. She suspected it was staying up high, waiting for them to emerge out onto more open terrain.

    She was right.

    As the slopes fell away and they suddenly burst out onto flat open plains of tussock grass, a shadow fell over them.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± Cat mumbled and slammed on the brakes. She hit reverse. Expertly she weaved them backward several metres and then into a sudden 180 degree spin. Twisting the wheel rapidly she drove them back beneath the towering walls of rock. A little way in she did the same thing again. Then she parked up and waited.

    ¡°What are we doing?¡± Kass asked.

    ¡°I forgot that was out there. Don¡¯t want to race a young skinny dragon on an open plain. We¡¯ll lure it in here and that should give us enough of a head start.¡±

    ¡®Should?¡¯ Kass thought but she didn¡¯t speak. She knew Cat worked best on instinct, and this was her domain. Out here, Kass had to trust that instinct. Besides what other option was there?

    ¡°Just hope no one comes up fast behind us,¡± Cat added without a look back.

    Kass kept her eyes on the sky as well. They were too close to the corner behind them for any warning to make much difference. There was no point looking back. Up was where the avoidable danger was, the more immediate threat.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    Kass spotted it first. A brief shadow, there one moment and gone the next. She pointed. ¡°It¡¯s just over that ridge.¡±

    Cat nodded. ¡°We need it to come down.¡±

    Kass bit her lip but still she did not question. Briefly she wondered what it would be like to die by dragon. It probably wasn¡¯t too different from a car accident, unless it used its flames. It hadn¡¯t on that last car but Kass knew they sometimes did. She just didn¡¯t know enough about dragons to know why or when. At least dragon fire would probably be quick. It burned far far hotter than normal fire, hot enough to melt steel.

    For a moment Kass imagined her death as some kind of release, a deserved penance, an escape, if there were such things. But then her thoughts flitted to Jesse and to Baelfyre¡¯s earlier words. It wouldn¡¯t be fair to leave him with such threats hanging over his head. Even if she was dead, she didn¡¯t trust Baelfyre not to try to use her son. He was the child of two high profile assassins and Kass knew all too well how useful children were in war. Jesse¡¯s father had grown up like that and Kass knew he¡¯d never really left war behind him. Perhaps she hadn¡¯t either. It had taken just a little too much.

    Now, here she sat, waiting for a dragon to descend upon her. Kass wasn¡¯t sure how many million seconds they sat quietly in that car but eventually she noticed a shadow on the hill moving slowly down.

    ¡°There,¡± she whispered, not sure why she felt the need to be so quiet.

    But Cat nodded and replied. ¡°I see it.¡±

    Kass shot her a questioning glance, wondering how close Cat was planning on letting it get.

    Without taking her eyes from that dragon, Cat replied, ¡°Wait for it.¡±

    Kass felt like every muscle in her body had tensed up. Her mind thought of a million different ways this might go but still she didn¡¯t panic.

    She could see out of the corner of her eye, Cat¡¯s hand resting on the gearshift, ready to move the moment the time was right. Her fingers shifted ever so subtly.

    Kass understood that motion. She¡¯d been taught to do that before a fight. Keep tense but not too tense, just enough to keep the blood flowing. Relaxed subtle movement to stop the body falling asleep. Keep it moving, be ready. Her life was in Cat¡¯s hands but Kass knew how to recognise skill when it existed. Knowing how to accurately read people and the danger in a situation was how she¡¯d managed to stay alive this long.

    Despite all that trust, she could not keep her heart from beating rapidly as that shadow got within 100 metres of them. How fast could a dragon leap? How far could their flames reach?

    At just past the 50m mark the dragon suddenly sprung forward. Quicker than her namesake, Cat dropped into gear right at the same time. Somehow she¡¯d revved the engine up perfectly to match the acceleration she wanted. The car sped off with barely a pause as the dragon overshot right above them, hitting the road where¡¯d they¡¯d been only a moment before.

    Kass didn¡¯t even have time to see how the dragon reacted after that.

    They weren¡¯t far from the plains. Cat had obviously gone in just enough that she estimated she could beat the dragon back out and get some distance between them.

    Kass didn¡¯t move. Didn¡¯t even look back as they roared across open road. It wouldn¡¯t have made a difference. They were committed and right now any distraction could be deadly.

    Slight bumps in the road sent them flying. Hit something at the wrong angle and they¡¯d soon find themselves rolling across tussocks.

    It wasn¡¯t until they were almost three quarters of the way across the open patch that Kass reached for her gun, just in case. With this much open air she might get a chance at a clean shot.

    A glance behind them put her in a more relaxed state. She could see the dragon¡¯s shadow and it was far enough back that she knew they¡¯d make it. Still, if she could line up a shot. Maybe out the back window? It was up high at the moment. Would it come down behind them or try and pick them up from above?

    Cat seemed to read her thoughts. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare put a hole in my back window.¡±

    Kass raised her eyebrows. ¡°Not even to kill a dragon.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t hit it.¡±

    There was a pause where Kass didn¡¯t say anything and Cat added, ¡°And not because you aren¡¯t a good shot. Their scales are metal. You won¡¯t be able to see what to shoot from here.¡± Finally she added, ¡°Besides, we¡¯re gonna make it.¡±

    Kass set her gun slowly back down on the rear seat. She didn¡¯t ask Cat what happened once they made it to the next open plain, or worse, something just open enough that it could easily chase them between the mountains. Were they just going to play leap frog with the dragon until they got out the other side? Would it stop chasing them then? Kass didn¡¯t know how far dragons travelled but she didn¡¯t think it was likely to tire before Cat did.

    As they wound their way back among tight mountain passes, Kass asked, ¡°How come it didn¡¯t try to set us on fire?¡±

    ¡°Young dragons like to play with their food.¡±

    ¡°How old¡¯s young?¡±

    ¡°That one? Probably a couple decades.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s our next move?¡±

    ¡°Find another dragon.¡±

    ¡°Find another...¡± Kass trailed off in confusion.

    ¡°Hopefully. They¡¯re territorial.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°Tell me if it starts to come down,¡± Cat said.

    Kass nodded.

    Kass watched the sky as Cat watched the road.

    They dropped down into a lower valley, surrounded by pine trees. Several times the dragon swooped in close only to overshoot them. Kass was starting to see a pattern in its behaviour. It was over-eager and Cat knew it. She¡¯d slow down at certain points and let it catch up before veering away and out of reach around bends it couldn¡¯t quite take. At one point it even crashed into the mountain causing a small rock fall.

    As Kass watched the dust disappear around another gathering of pines she asked, ¡°What about the older ones.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re even worse at cornering but I wouldn¡¯t let them get this close. Tight stuff¡¯s alright and they can¡¯t accelerate as quick. They¡¯ll all catch you on a long enough plain or anything in between if you¡¯re not paying attention. To be honest I might be wrong about the young ones and fire. Some of them are extra fiery but this one doesn¡¯t seem to be one of those.¡±

    ¡°You mean it could have set us on fire before?¡±

    Cat shrugged. ¡°Didn¡¯t really have any other option. I don¡¯t think we would have gotten quite so far ahead if it hadn¡¯t gone for the lunge. Oh shit!¡± Cat suddenly swerved to the left, narrowly dodging an outstretched claw. Then she cackled manically as they sped into a dark tunnel and then out the other side a moment later. ¡°There¡¯s our distraction.¡±

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Kass said. She could have sworn she¡¯d seen the dragon up in the skies only a moment before.

    ¡°Not you,¡± Cat replied with a smile. ¡°That was another dragon.¡±

    ¡°Another one...¡± Kass twisted in her seat to watch the mountain range behind them. Sure enough, a moment later a fat red dragon rose up from the top of it, followed moments later by the smaller, speedy black one.

    ¡°Uh, Cat. What do we do if they¡¯re both following?¡±

    She didn¡¯t like the look that crossed Cat¡¯s face at that question.

    Worriedly, Kass turned back to watch their pursuers.

    For a moment it seemed like they now had two dragons on their tail, but then suddenly the red one darted toward the black one. Then they both veered off, taking snaps at each other. A fireball lit up the sky.

    Kass breathed a sigh of relief as they disappeared out of sight, still locked in some kind of territorial dispute.

    When she turned to look at Cat she could see a smile.

    Cat glanced toward her. ¡°Told ya,¡± she said with a smirk.

 Volume 3, Chapter 43: The Best Laid Plans

    A little over 20 minutes later Cat swore and pulled the car up off the road.

    ¡°What?¡± Kass asked, worried something was wrong with the car.

    Cat made a sort of growl like sound and then sighed. ¡°Nothing, I just need a pee break. I thought it wasn¡¯t until late in pregnancy, when the baby¡¯s big enough to press on your bladder that you end up needing to pee every friggin'' hour.¡±

    Kass relaxed. ¡°Well, that happens too, but in the early months your heart rate increases so it can pump blood faster. That speeds up the processing of your kidneys and makes you need to pee more.¡±

    ¡°Why does no one ever mention that,¡± Cat complained as she stepped out of the car and gave the surrounding area a once-over.

    Kass frowned. ¡°It¡¯s in all the baby books.¡±

    But Cat was already half-way toward the rear of the vehicle. She waved a hand absently back. ¡°Watch for dragons.¡±

    ¡°What do I do if I see one?¡± Kass asked. But she kept her voice at a normal volume and she doubted Cat heard her from where she was squatting behind the car.

    Kass scanned the skyline. Half-subconsciously she also looked for the glint of sniper¡¯s scope. She knew it was unlikely there was anyone out here except for them and the dragons, and the dragons were definitely the bigger worry, but she couldn¡¯t help herself. It was habit more than anything.

    Cat was back in the car a minute later, looking much more relaxed. She wasted no time in putting her seat belt back on and starting the car. Soon they were off again.

    Kass was silent for the first few seconds, unsure if Cat wanted any advice. Then she said, ¡°You really should read a couple of pregnancy books. It¡¯ll give you a preview of what you¡¯re in for. It¡¯s less worrying when you know something you think is weird is actually totally normal.

    Cat frowned but didn¡¯t reply.

    Kass continued. ¡°Well, maybe that¡¯s a lie. You¡¯ll probably still worry.¡± Kass trailed off quieter at the end. She decided not to say anymore. Cat obviously didn¡¯t want to talk about that topic.

    But another brief glance at Cat¡¯s expression showed it had shifted to a more thoughtful look, and after a moment of silence, she asked, ¡°What was your first like? Was it planned? Something you wanted?¡±

    ¡°Marc? Yeah. The pregnancy at least. The rest not so much. I mean, we weren¡¯t actively trying, we just weren¡¯t not trying. We figured whatever happened happened. I don¡¯t know. We did talk about it, kind of like wishful thinking and I was overjoyed when I found out I was pregnant. We both were, at least at first. Then, I don¡¯t know. I guess I thought it was just hormones, maybe it was, but something didn¡¯t feel right. And it didn¡¯t feel right the whole way through. Sparrow always said it just nerves. But even after Marc was born I felt like something was wrong with him. Sparrow didn¡¯t see it but then it was like he was different around his dad, even as a baby. Maybe I was just hallucinating it. I sometimes wonder if I¡¯m the reason he turned out the way he did.¡±

    Kass paused there, suddenly realising she¡¯d been rambling. She¡¯d gotten lost in her memories, memories she hadn¡¯t really talked about to anyone before and now here she was talking about those memories to someone who was about to be a first time mother. At the look on Cat¡¯s face she bit her lip.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Maybe I¡¯m not the best person to be asking these questions. My experience is probably not the normal. Indi¡¯s probably a better person to ask.¡± Kass tucked her elbows in close, making herself smaller and linked her fingers together.

    Cat was quiet for another moment and then she asked, ¡°What about your other two?¡±

    Kass glanced at her, trying to gauge if she really did what to know or if she was just being polite. But polite wasn¡¯t really Cat¡¯s style. Kass took a slow breath in. ¡°Jesse yeah. Theo no. He was a complete surprise.¡± Kass smiled sadly, thinking of her youngest, the way he had been before he¡¯d had his head bashed in by his older brother.

    ¡°What was it that made you think something was wrong with Marc?¡± Cat¡¯s question was direct, and without emotion.

    Kass could still picture the way people had looked at her after Theo¡¯s death. Many had given her looks of pity but none had wanted to get too close, almost as if it might be contagious. Then there were some who had given her looks of judgement, as if it had been her who had wielded the baseball bat.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly, just a feeling. But then, that¡¯s probably common.¡± She didn¡¯t want to worry Cat. ¡°Except, I didn¡¯t really feel it with the other two.¡± She supposed it wasn¡¯t that surprising for two assassins to have produced another killer. ¡°I was morning sick a lot, and his birth was the worst of the three of them. Compared to him Theo was almost easy. Jesse was a bit harder, more like Marc for the birth. He kicked a lot more too. Marc was often so still, like I don¡¯t think he kicked as much as other babies.¡±

    ¡°When did you know?¡± Cat asked. Same clinical tone, same thoughtful look.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if there was singular point, more like lots of little things that added up over time. The way he just stared. It was unsettling. And he cried a lot. That¡¯s not unusual, some babies cry a lot. When he was two he took a knife from the kitchen drawer and ran at me laughing. I just thought that was a one off, kids being thoughtless as small kids often are. Then I later found him stroking the new baby¡¯s face with the same knife. We got locks on the drawers after that. Moving them out of reach wasn¡¯t enough. He broke his arm trying to climb the pantry to get them down, and when we went to the doctor¡¯s he blamed me. Maybe that was the key sign. The way he¡¯d act so different around different people. He was always an angel with his father. It was just me he hated. At least it felt like it, but I don¡¯t know why. He¡¯d lie all the time. He was physically abusive toward other kids, and animals. At first I thought he was just a bit rough but...¡± Kass looked from her hands to out the window to back down again. She was quiet for a few seconds, too afraid to look at Cat.

    Cat didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°I hit him once,¡± Kass admitted in an almost whisper. ¡°I couldn¡¯t take it. And Sparrow never understood because he never saw what I saw, not even when Marc injured another kid at school. He¡¯d make excuses because he loved him. And I never did. Not even when he was in the womb. I think he knew, maybe that¡¯s why he acted out-¡±

    Cat scoffed. ¡°My father beat the crap out of me and I never killed another kid. Parent¡¯s don¡¯t make a scrap of difference to who we are.¡±

    Kass finally turned to glance at Cat. Cat¡¯s eyes were straight ahead on the road. Kass studied her expression. She had a determined look on her face.

    ¡°You don¡¯t think you¡¯d be different if you¡¯d had a different father?¡±

    Cat shook her head and replied curtly, ¡°No. Do you?¡±

    ¡°I think my life would have been different,¡± Kass replied, but this time she didn¡¯t go into detail. There was just too much to sort though, too many wrong turns. Some which had led to beautiful moments, but like anything precious, nothing had lasted. Perhaps that was just true of all things.

    <hr>

    They exited the Dragon Mountains unaccosted by anymore if its scaly residents. They stopped in Nin for fuel and food then Kass napped for a bit. When she woke up she offered to take over driving for a bit, but Cat refused.

    Conversation waxed and waned. Mostly they drove in silence. Hours and a few more stops later, they reached the desert.

    Kass tracked their position on a map, estimating their distance travelled by looking at the odometer and very rare landscape markers. Out here in the desert, there wasn¡¯t much that stood out. Kass instructed Cat to drive off road and out into the sandy nothingness just before they got to the location of the facility.

    Cat peered out the window with a frown. ¡°Hmm, it might be a little sandy for this car.¡±

    ¡°I thought you said desert racing was a thing?¡± Kass retorted.

    ¡°Yeah, on dryer and harder ground.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t need to go far, just park up somewhere behind that hill.¡± Kass pointed up ahead.

    ¡°If we get stuck it¡¯s your fault,¡± Cat replied.

    Kass didn¡¯t answer. Worst case, if they got stuck, she figured she could lift the car, although she knew Cat wouldn¡¯t like that solution.

    They parked up and Cat did a circle around the vehicle, eyeing the tyres.

    Kass grabbed her rifle and a bottle of water. Then she started walking up the nearest hill.

    Cat, noticing where Kass was going, quickly scrambled after her. It took her a few seconds to get used to the sand. Kass didn¡¯t wait until she got to the top. By that point, Cat wasn¡¯t too far behind her, although she¡¯d obviously put some extra effort into the last stretch.

    ¡°I don¡¯t expect you¡¯ll be able to see much,¡± Cat told her as she dropped down to lie on the sand beside Kass. ¡°They had some sort of shield around it last time remember?¡±

    Kass nodded but was already raising her scope to her eye. Cat wasn¡¯t paying attention. She hadn¡¯t seen what Kass had yet.

    ¡°What are they doing?¡± Cat asked, finally looking out toward the facility.

    It was as Kass had hoped. The fence around the place hadn¡¯t gone out that far, at least not far enough to contain the work crews they¡¯d need to dig the place out quickly. Given someone had seen activity out here was enough to suggest that the cloaking field was no longer active. Of course it was possible that Baelfyre had found out another way but Kass had figured their chances weren¡¯t bad.

    ¡°Looks like they¡¯re excavating,¡± Kass answered.

    There were even more people than she¡¯d assumed camped around what was a very visible facility. The gates were open and soldiers were streaming in and out. Some of them carried shovels.

    ¡°Do you think they know what they¡¯re digging up?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Let¡¯s watch them for awhile. Maybe we can get a closer look once darkness falls.¡±

    They stayed where they were on that hill. Kass didn¡¯t budge from her spot for hours. Cat would occasionally troop back down the hill for a bathroom break and later to set up the tent and cook dinner. Kass finally joined her while the pasta was cooking.

    ¡°How can you lie still like that for so long?¡± Cat asked her between giving the pasta a stir.

    Kass shrugged. ¡°Patience?¡± She stood their aimlessly for a second and glanced around the area. There really wasn¡¯t anything in the way of bushes or rocks to hide behind.

    ¡°What you just standing there like that for?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°I... um, I need to pee,¡± Kass replied. She could feel her cheeks blushing.

    ¡°Well, go do that then,¡± Cat replied. When Kass didn¡¯t answer or immediately move she added, ¡°I won¡¯t look.¡±

    Kass left her rifle by the car then walked off and found a place far enough from the car or anywhere they were likely to walk later. She glanced back briefly to check Cat was keeping her word. She was.

    <hr>

    ¡°So what¡¯s the plan?¡¯ Cat asked once they were both eating dinner.

    Kass rested her fork in her bowl. ¡°I want to do a bit more observation. I didn¡¯t expect quite so many people. It seems like quite a big operation. It would be nice to know who they are but I didn¡¯t see any obvious identification.¡±

    ¡°We know they¡¯re from Mercy though don¡¯t we?¡±

    Kass shook her head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t assume until we know for sure. I don¡¯t think this place is as secret as people think.¡± She sighed. ¡°I¡¯m worried about those mimics we left down there. They didn¡¯t die to Amanda¡¯s fire. What if sunlight doesn¡¯t hurt them either?¡±

    ¡°That would be bad I suppose,¡± Cat agreed, but she didn¡¯t sound that worried. ¡°They¡¯d be like fast zombies then.¡±

    ¡°Fast zombies that can¡¯t be killed,¡± Kass emphasised.

    ¡°Everything can be killed,¡± Cat replied.

    ¡°What if they got caught up in the necromancy spell and that¡¯s why it didn¡¯t fully work,¡± Kass theorised.

    Cat considered it and then shrugged.

    ¡°We need to find out, who they are, what they¡¯re doing, and what they know.¡±

    ¡°How do you propose we do that?¡± Cat asked, sounding vaguely bored.

    With a focused look Kass replied, ¡°I¡¯ll set an alarm for very early morning, say 3am. We¡¯ll sleep until then. Then we¡¯ll see if we can get a little closer.

    Cat nodded, accepting Kass¡¯s plan without question.

 Volume 3, Chapter 44: Too Close For Comfort

    It was the snow that tipped Cat off to the fact that she dreamwalking, and not her own dream this time. Kass often dreamed of snow. It snowed most of the year up there in the far north. Cat figured this replica must be of a warmer time of year though, for the snow was mostly melting and here and there she could see patches of green starting to poke through. Normally it would be cold, but Cat chose not to feel it. She was in control here, or at least she could be. Right now this image was a conjuring of Kass¡¯s mind mingling with another reality. Cat could change it if she wanted. She didn¡¯t. For now she wanted to know what Kass was dreaming about. Where was Kass?

    Cat looked around but she could not see her. She had to be close though. The dreamer always was, and the snow made Cat certain that this was Kass¡¯s dream. She been nosy enough times to recognise the sorts of places Kass dreamed of, although she hadn¡¯t been unintentionally pulled into one before.

    Empty swing-sets hung silently nearby and the surrounding streets were devoid of any activity. Kass¡¯s dreams rarely involved a lot of other people though. Places that could be bustling in real life ended up eerily empty in her head. Cat wondered if it was a product of Kass¡¯s lonely childhood or if that was just what the streets had really been like during the northern wars. Was this a war zone?

    She walked slowly toward the playground¡¯s steel gate. She half expected kids with grenades to pop out from the bushes or a nearby building. Child soldiers weren¡¯t an uncommon occurrence in Kass¡¯s head either. But the most startling thing that happened was a bird suddenly lifting off from a rooftop.

    Cat scanned the tops of the rooves. She knew what Kass had done during the war, what her job had been, who some of her targets had been.

    ¡®All¡¯s fair in love and war,¡¯ Cat mused, but she found it hard to imagine. Kass was an enigma. So easy to make blush or glance away shyly, and yet, when push came to shove she could be a ruthless and an effective soldier, almost like a switch had flipped. It made Cat want to poke at all her buttons, and see how far she could push her, if only so she could figure out, just who the real Kass was.

    Around her, brick buildings were filled with bullet holes and had large gaps in then. Definitely war time then.

    As she turned the street corner, a door to her left and not much further ahead, swung inward, opened seemingly by no one.

    ¡°Are you in there?¡± Cat asked the empty air.

    It was the most likely place for Kass to be now, so Cat took a step inside. She was swiftly grabbed by someone and yanked into a nearby room.

    ¡°Shh,¡± Kass whispered to her as Cat turned to face her assailant.

    Realising it was Kass, Cat relaxed and rolled her eyes. But Kass was too focused on something else to notice her reaction. Dreamers also tended not to notice Cat as much unless she wanted them to. Usually that was the default. She was surprised that Kass had registered her presence as much as she had. Cat wasn¡¯t really putting much effort into controlling that at the moment though.

    Kass was dressed head to toe in black and holding an expensive looking rifle. It was currently pointed down at the floor. It wasn¡¯t the sort of rifle one fought with indoors, rather it was the type used to make a long distance shot. Kass¡¯s favored weapon. Of course it wasn¡¯t really physically here. None of it was, not really.

    To Kass it was real though. Kass didn¡¯t know she was dreaming.

    Cat could make her aware of it but right now she wanted to see how it played out. ¡°Who are we hiding from?¡± she asked.

    But Kass just held a finger to her lips and then beckoned Cat to follow her further into what looked like a kitchen. There was no furniture and they moved though the room swiftly. They then stepped through a large hole in the wall, over rubble, and into the neighbouring apartment. Down a long hallway they travelled. It stretched out unnaturally long but Cat doubted that Kass noticed. Nor did she probably register the change in floor as it shifted from wood to dark blue carpet. Then Kass led them both into a room.

    This room had a bed, but no mattress, just empty wooden slats. And a wardrobe, large enough to hide the two of them. It was wooden and kind of creepy looking. It loomed over the rest of the room. After pausing to survey their surroundings, Kass stuck her head back out into the hallway.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    Cat did the same.

    There at the end of the hallway stood a boy. He was young, maybe ten or twelve. Cat couldn¡¯t be sure. He was wearing all black, just like Kass. A child soldier? Of course it was a child. It was always a child in Kass¡¯s dreams, except for that one time it had been an adult vampire. Or occasionally other soldiers, groups of them. But often, far too often it was children.

    He was holding a knife in one hand. It looked like it was dripping something onto the carpet but he was too far away to be sure. He started to run toward them.

    ¡°Quick!¡± Kass grabbed Cat¡¯s hand and pulled her toward the wardrobe.

    Cat groaned. ¡°That¡¯s a terrible hiding place.¡±

    But if Kass heard her, she showed no reaction.

    Inside the wardrobe they hid, waiting for something.

    Eventually they heard laughter coming from outside. Gentle, playful laughter, like a child having fun.

    Cat watched as Kass slowly push open the door. Cat did the same and soon the pair of them stood in a different room. Three beds, all kid-sized. Toys scattered about, cars and trucks and a plastic dinosaur. Walls decorated with drawings and mismatched artwork.

    A small boy knelt in the middle of the room with his back to them. It was the same boy but younger. He was drawing something on the ground.

    He giggled. And then he turned. His mouth was smeared with red, blood by the looks of it. His eyes were a cold blue, just like Kass¡¯s eyes. His hair, a sandy brown, like his father¡¯s had been. He smiled but his eyes were mean. There was something about those eyes that sent chills through Cat¡¯s bones and for the first time that night she felt afraid.

    Cautiously she took a step around to the side to see what he had been playing with.

    It was a bird. A dark black bird, it¡¯s blood smeared across the carpet.

    ¡°Marc?¡± Kass said as she took a step towards him.

    Cat knew him too. She¡¯d seen this kid before, in photographs, like the one Kass kept in her wallet, and other times in Kass¡¯s dreams. Or perhaps nightmares was the better word.

    The kid sneered at her and turned back to the bird. He raised his hand high above his head, and then he brought the knife down. He giggled as he stabbed the bird again and again, and then he turned to his mother with smile as if daring her to punish him.

    ¡°That¡¯s fucked up,¡± Cat remarked. Not wanting to see what the boy might do next or how things would progress from here, Cat sighed and said, ¡°Kass you¡¯re dreaming. Wake up.¡±

    As Cat put her magic into ending this nightmare, Marc suddenly leapt to his feet and lunged forward toward Kass. A flash of silver vanished into darkness.

    <hr>

    Kass awoke to see green eyes surrounded by dark black hair, staring down at her. For a moment she thought it was Sirius. But the angles of the face were all wrong, sharper and more feminine. And there was no beard. That was when she realised it was Cat leaning over her, studying her, from barely inches away.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you ever heard of personal space?¡± Kass asked, her heart beating rapidly, as she tried to pull herself out from under Cat. She was glad that it was probably too dark for Cat to see the blush that had crept into her cheeks.

    With a thoughtful look, Cat pulled herself away. ¡°What were you dreaming about?¡± she asked from her side of the tent.

    Kass pulled herself upright and then paused. She didn¡¯t actually know. She couldn¡¯t remember, but if Cat was asking... ¡°Were you in my head again?¡±

    Cat shrugged but the twitch of he mouth said Kass had it right.

    Kass sighed softly. ¡°I don¡¯t remember,¡± she admitted. After a moment¡¯s silence she asked cautiously, ¡°What did you see?¡±

    Now it was Cat¡¯s turn to look uncomfortable. ¡°Probably better you don¡¯t remember.¡± Her eyes dropped to Kass¡¯s bare shoulder then and her eyebrows knotted together. ¡°You¡¯re bleeding.¡±

    Kass glanced down. ¡°Shit.¡± At least it didn¡¯t seem to have stained her white singlet or much of her sleeping bag, although it was hard to tell about the latter.

    Cat turned on a lamp and searched about for a first aid kit. Finding one she handed it to Kass and then watched as Kass delicately wiped the cut.

    It wasn¡¯t deep and it hadn¡¯t bled much but it weirded her out that she didn¡¯t remember getting it.

    ¡°Was I dreamwalking?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Why did Cat look so guilty? Kass gave the woman a wary look.

    Cat sighed. ¡°That¡¯s probably my fault. Most people don¡¯t end up in the dreamworld unless a dreamwalker or other dream creature pulls them in. If I wasn¡¯t here, that probably would have been a regular dream.¡±

    Kass frowned. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look so bad.¡±

    ¡°Mmm, that was a little too close. Guess I¡¯m not the only one who has nightmares,¡± Cat added.

    Kass paused. Cat was often very open about her own shitty childhood, to a shameless degree, almost like she enjoyed the way talking about it made some people uncomfortable. But to admit to nightmares and in that tone, suddenly felt a lot more intimate and raw.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± was all Kass could think to say. She wondered just what it was that Cat had seen to make her be so gentle now. Her voice was still rough. There was a natural edge to it that never went away but for once there was not an ounce of snark in the tone.

    Kass could still feel her heart beating. Whatever it was she had dreamed about, something had gotten her blood pumping. She checked the time. As much as she knew one day she¡¯d have to face the things that tormented her, tonight was not that night. Even if Cat was willing to listen, even if they had all night, she wouldn¡¯t know where to begin.

    ¡°Looks like it¡¯s about go time anyway,¡± Kass remarked.

    Cat nodded and without question or smart comment she went about getting ready, almost as if she knew exactly what Kass needed and that tonight there had already been enough boundaries pushed.

 Volume 3, Chapter 45: Pushing Back Penance

    They crept across the sand under the cover of night, the quarter moon partially hidden by cloud. They dodged between shadows, moving swiftly until they approached a collection of tents on the northern side of the compound. The area was mostly quiet except for a few watchmen.

    Kass paused for a moment, then she suddenly grabbed Cat and yanked her down. They hid behind a rise in the land as a torchlight swept their way.

    ¡°Come on.¡± She nodded off toward the right once it had passed by. Then she led Cat on one giant loop around toward the back of the facility.

    They sat there for awhile, just watching from behind a large rock. The guards were more spaced out this side, with one walking the perimeter every few minutes. It would be hard to find a gap, but maybe if they were quick?

    ¡°We¡¯ll go in over there.¡± Kass nodded toward a spot not far from one corner of what looked like a giant tent that covered what used to be the main building.

    ¡°How are we going to get past the fence?¡±

    Kass handed her a pair of wire cutters. ¡°That¡¯s your job. Wait for my cue. Aim for that spot down there just in front of the truck, then duck under the the front cab and wait there once you¡¯re through.¡±

    Cat nodded. She had no idea what the rest of the plan was but it didn¡¯t matter. She only needed to know a few steps ahead and the general direction. Her skin prickled with the excitement of the night. There was a thrill in sneaking about. The necessitation of high alertness was an adrenaline rush in itself.

    Beside her Kass raised her rifle. A sleek, dark grey, barrel of death pointed down at the next soldier to round the corner, as the old one, the lucky one, disappeared around the far end of the fence line.

    Cat frowned at her. Surely she didn¡¯t mean to...

    Kass tracked him with her rifle. He got five or six metres along the fence line, right behind a smaller secondary tent.

    Cat saw the recoil knock Kass back a little but she heard no sound, not even a suppressed pop, as the soldier fell to the ground with a tiny hole in his head. That gun was infused with proper silencing magic.

    ¡°Quick! Go!¡± Kass commanded in a whisper. ¡°Before the next guard comes.¡±

    Cat took off running toward the fence, wire cutters at the ready. She didn¡¯t bother ducking low, optimising for speed was more important than any extra stealth a few less inches would give. Her mind mulling over what Kass had just done. Had that really been necessary? Did they really need to get in here that bad? Cat didn¡¯t mind killing soldiers that were shooting at her but from a distance like that, it just felt a little unfair. Like fishing in a barrel. What was done was done though. Better not to waste the opportunity.

    She cut through the fence in a matter of seconds. A quick glance to the side showed Kass telekinetically lifting up a bunch of sand, moving the soldier¡¯s body into the recess it left, and then placing the sand back on top. Body hidden, she sprinted toward the hole in the fence. A moment later, they were both lying side by side underneath the belly of a large truck.

    ¡°Was killing him really necessary?¡± Cat asked in a whisper.

    Kass gave her a confused frown. ¡°We wouldn¡¯t have found a gap otherwise.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not really sure what we¡¯re doing here, Kass.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you come?¡± More confused eyebrow furrowing.

    Cat shrugged. ¡°I wasn¡¯t really expecting an entire army. And it seemed wasteful to come all this way just to look at them.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Kass agreed. ¡°Exactly, we don¡¯t know enough about them or who¡¯s really in charge here, and whether or not we can trust them with what¡¯s down there.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they¡¯re Mercy government soldiers.¡±

    ¡°Sure, that¡¯s probably true, but which Mercy government? Because I don¡¯t think the guys who were running experiments in this place are the same ones who organised the necromancy ritual if the notes Indi found were anything to go by. And this group may be a different one entirely again. Or maybe they¡¯re all run by the same guy. I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Indi already got all the files down there. What more are we going to find?¡±

    ¡°What we left behind, how they¡¯re handling it, maybe some evidence for why the necromancy went wrong. They¡¯ve probably got their own documentation somewhere in this camp too.¡±

    ¡°Not sure I¡¯m keen on going back in that place with those things.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t necessarily need to. We can just see what¡¯s out here first. Here hold this.¡± Kass handed her the end of a fishing line.

    Cat looked at it in confusion. ¡°What¡¯s that for?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to eavesdrop by the side of that tent, maybe sneak in. I¡¯ll time it for the biggest gap but I might be in there longer. If you see a soldier while I¡¯m exposed, give it two tugs. And if I tug once on it, give it one tug for the all clear, two tugs for wait. Got it?¡±

    ¡°Got it.¡± Cat sighed. ¡°I¡¯m not sure information was worth shooting a guy over though.¡±

    Kass shook her head. ¡°Information is the most valuable thing one can have in a war.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t realised we were in a war.¡± Cat narrowed her eyes.

    ¡°We¡¯re always in a war,¡± Kass replied, then seeing a gap, she scrambled out from under the truck and ran to the edge of the tent, uncoiling the line as she went. Quietly she crouched by the edge and listened. Her gaze twitched every now and again toward the fence line.

    Cat did the same, her eyes more on the fence than Kass, keeping an eye out for when the next soldier would round the corner. When she did finally glance back toward the tent, Kass was gone, and she could only barely make out the fishing line trailing over the sand and under the edge of the tent. Cat kept her hand on the other end of it and focused on the perimeter. The soldiers seemed none the wiser that one of their number was missing. Cat wondered how often then did a radio check in.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    It wasn¡¯t too long before she felt a tug on the string though.

    The guard was right at their side of the fence so Cat gave two tugs back. Once he¡¯d moved far enough along she gave one more tug. Kass was back at her side a moment later.

    ¡°Find anything?¡± Cat asked.

    Kass nodded. ¡°They¡¯re a different branch of government. They¡¯re trying to figure out what happened here but they also don¡¯t want it getting back to the rest of Mercy.¡±

    ¡°As in the citizens or the government?¡±

    ¡°Both. And they mentioned monsters, not mimics, but they do know what mimics are which leads me to think there¡¯s something very wrong with these ones.¡±

    ¡°Well, we knew that already.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but it does tell us that they¡¯ve been inside. Reclaimed some of the first floor in fact.¡± Kass pointed to the other smaller tent. ¡°The rear access shaft is in there. It leads to another part of the facility, one that wasn¡¯t as destroyed in the explosion. Someone actually managed to climb out through the rubble apparently.¡±

    ¡°You got all of that in the time you were gone?¡±

    ¡°I got more than that but I¡¯ll save it for later. We need to get down there.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because that¡¯s where all the juicy documents are. The head honcho has an office down there and right now it should be reasonably empty. They also mentioned some experiments. The bottom of the shaft is guarded but it¡¯s a pillow post.¡±

    ¡°A what?¡±

    ¡°Sandbag shift.¡± And Cat¡¯s confused expression she added, ¡°They don¡¯t expect much to happen so they¡¯ll be easy to surprise. It sounded like they¡¯re a bit short on quality soldiers too. The post is to the right of the door going in.¡±

    ¡°Okay, how did you get all this information in such a short amount of time. What, are you a mindwalker now?¡±

    Kass shook her head. ¡°I eavesdropped on a couple of guards for a bit. They bitched about their employees and mentioned that Derek was on pillow duty. Then I grabbed a different guy and I asked him some questions.¡±

    ¡°And he just told you? Didn¡¯t think to scream for help or try to fight?¡±

    ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t grab a soldier. I got lucky. He was carrying a clipboard, looking at financial numbers and mumbling about the cost of a few cubic metres of sand. Pencil pusher¡¯s always talk when you put a rifle in their face. Plus, I didn¡¯t let him physically speak. I asked him yes no questions.¡±

    ¡°You got all of that information from yes no questions?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m very good at charades. Are you ready?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Cat didn¡¯t ask what Kass had done to the guy she¡¯d captured. Although she had her suspicions, it would make little difference now.

    They waited for a gap and then they sprinted for the other tent. They made it inside without being noticed. At their feet a concrete pad lay embedded in the ground. In the centre of it was a heavy steel hatch.

    ¡°What about his powers? You didn¡¯t know what they were.¡±

    Kass held up a finger to indicate she should be quiet, but then she sighed and rolled her eyes. In a whisper she explained, ¡°He was telekinetic, I watched him use his powers after he tripped over an extension cord.¡±

    ¡°That was lucky.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t so much luck.¡± Kass squatted down and placed her hands on the access hatch, ready to lift.

    ¡°What about this guy?¡± Cat nodded toward the shaft.

    ¡°I guess we¡¯ll find out.¡± Kass met her eyes. Blue looked directly at green, no fear in either¡¯s expression. This was an element Kass evidently felt very comfortable in and Cat understood that on a primitive level. Physical danger was familiar to the both of them. They knew how to deal with it.

    Cat itched to get down there, to fight. It was what she was good at. She might be questioning Kass a lot tonight but it was more of a test than anything. She wasn¡¯t about to follow someone who didn¡¯t know what they were doing. So far Kass was passing with flying colours. For once, Cat wasn¡¯t too worried about magic either. There weren¡¯t many powers that could best Kass and her over powered, if a little imprecise, telekinesis. Cat just had to make sure she kept out of the line of fire.

    ¡°But given the boys back in the tent mentioned budget cuts, I like our chances,¡± Kass added as she lifted up the hatch.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go first,¡± Cat volunteered.

    Kass looked briefly surprised but then she gestured at the ladder.

    The shaft was completely vertical. Cat wasn¡¯t sure how far it went down. The only light came from the entrance and Kass closed that over them once they were both on the ladder, sealing them in complete blackness. They had to feel for the rungs as they descended. Each step had to be made in complete silence, for a tunnel like this had the tendency to amplify any sound. Neither of them spoke as they descended.

    After what felt like several minutes of down-climbing Cat¡¯s boot touched something solid, the floor. She stepped off the ladder and cautiously reached out with her foot, then with her hands. She guessed from the nearby walls that they were in a very small room. The shaft had kept it¡¯s size all the way to the bottom. There would likely be a door in the wall somewhere here.

    She waited for Kass to reach the bottom before she looked for it. Better they were both ready. She stood by the ladder and listened. She felt more than heard Kass start to move down past her. A subtle change in the air and the temperature. She reached out and grabbed her wrist, guessing where it was with expert precision.

    She felt Kass freeze, tense up a little, and then relax. She made not one sound but Cat knew her message had gotten across. They were here.

    A moment later she sensed Kass turn and the woman tapped Cat¡¯s wrist several times. Cat recognised the patterns as morse code but for the life of her, she had no idea what Kass was saying. She lay one finger against Kass¡¯s wrist, the universal sign for wait. Then she turned and started looking for the door.

    She found a handle and then she hesitated. If she tried to turn it and it was locked then it might alert the guy inside. There was also the question of which way the door moved. If it swung in, that meant the guard would be effectively behind the door. It would make it difficult to get the drop on him before he yelled out. She could try and fling the door open, but that definitely wasn¡¯t subtle either.

    Cat didn¡¯t think the door opened toward them. There wasn¡¯t much room in this shaft so it probably opened into the next room or hallway. And it probably wasn¡¯t locked. She couldn¡¯t feel a keyhole on this side. Maybe people gained entry via a password or something but given the thing Kass had said about ¡®pillow duty¡¯ she didn¡¯t think they were likely to be that strict about it. If she was wrong about the lock they could try and run for it, but they¡¯d never get up the shaft above them fast enough to avoid gunfire. They would be the fish in the barrel then. The alternative would be to wait, and that was probably an even worse option. Still, it was a small risk so the real question was, did she open the door slowly or quickly?

    She knew the guy¡¯s name was Derek. Maybe that would help. How well did these soldiers really know one another? She stood up straight and yanked the front of her black singlet down a few inches so her cleavage would be more visible.

    She decided on slowly, well, not too slowly. She swung it like a normal person might open a door they had every right to be going through. She stepped through, gaze quickly sweeping the room. She was entering a slightly larger box of a room. This one had concrete walls and was lit by a single bulb in the ceiling. It was empty except for an occupied chair behind the door, which she quickly turned to face. He looked young and surprised.

    ¡°Derek!¡± she exclaimed with her most excitable, dumb bitch smile, as if she knew him. It was friendly and alluring. Sweet enough to make him hesitate long enough so she conk him on the head hard enough to knock him out.

    He crumpled to the floor.

    Kass stepped around the door then and gave a satisfied nod. She quietly closed the door behind them. Then she pointed her rifle at the Derek¡¯s head.

    Cat frowned. "What are you doing? He''s already unconscious, no need to kill him."

    Without removing her eyes from the soldier on the floor, Kass replied. "If he wakes up he''ll alert people to where we are."

    "He''s just a guy doing his job."

    "He knew the risks." Kass pulled the trigger.

 Volume 3, Chapter 46: Breaking Boundaries

    Penance would have to wait. Kass tried not to think about the guy she¡¯d just killed, or the look in Cat¡¯s eye after she had done it. There had been a brief flash of confusion on Cat¡¯s face but it had quickly been replaced by something more like resignation or post-justification. Somehow Cat trusted her, trusted that Kass had made the right decision, and for some reason, Kass was feeling horribly guilty about that.

    It was the right decision. She was certain of that. Cat¡¯s knock to his head could have killed him just as easily, or left him alive but brain-damaged, and they had needed to make sure he didn¡¯t alert anyone to their presence. If their mission didn¡¯t remain stealthy, there was a good chance many more people would die tonight.

    ¡®Why are we here?¡¯

    That was the problem.

    Kass hated looking people in the eyes. It was too easy to read what they thought of her, to see her self reflected back, and Kass didn¡¯t much like herself.

    That was the problem.

    When you¡¯d made so many mistakes that undoing them felt impossible, what was one more? When you no longer feared death but welcomed it, what impact did taking a life of another have? When your sole purpose for staying alive is to protect one person, the rest of world falls away in comparison.

    But Kass couldn¡¯t protect Jesse if her enemies found her, because if they found her then they found him. She had been a fool. She¡¯d made another fatal mistake. Information was everything. And this facility had information on her, on Jesse. She wouldn¡¯t rest until she¡¯d destroyed every piece of it they had. She¡¯d thought it had been buried, but if they were digging this place up, who knew what they might find, or who they might share it with.

    Cat trusted her and Kass had lied. Well, maybe not entirely. Anything else they could get while they were here was a benefit, maybe even worth a few lives depending what it contained. Baelfire had made some sense in what he had said. War was never-ending. One way or another they would come out of here with something.

    There hadn¡¯t been anywhere to hide Derek¡¯s body so they had left him where he was. Cat had suggested moving the chair to the corner and positioning him to look like he was sleeping but it wouldn¡¯t pass an inspection more detailed than a glance and no one would just leave a sleeping guard to it. Hopefully no one would enter that room until the next shift swap, which Kass had gleaned wasn¡¯t for over an hour at least. Still, they needed to move fast. If Kass could at least deduce which department they were then she could have Indi hack in and wipe any information in their systems later. That plus she needed to know the state of any files that might have been on the lower floors and the chances they would be found. She knew they couldn¡¯t go down there tonight, but if it looked like it might be awhile before anyone else did then she¡¯d have time to think of another plan.

    Cat followed her without question through a few empty hallways. They were lucky enough not to encounter anyone other than the door guard. Neither of them were familiar with this part of the facility and couple of times they had to back track when they reached what looked like a recently sealed corridor. Mental panels had been welded in place, preventing access to other parts of the facility. At least the lights seemed to be on 24/7.

    ¡°It¡¯s too bad they don¡¯t have one of those ¡®you are here¡¯ maps,¡± Cat joked as they walked along one corridor. Kass could hear the boredom starting to creep into her tone.

    The next door they found was a light blue and held nothing but for a bucket and a few mops.

    ¡°Imagine having to mop this whole place,¡± Cat said.

    They got luckier around the next bend, a whole string of green doors. Kass pressed her ear to one.

    ¡°Snoring?¡± she said as she pulled away.

    ¡°Bunk rooms?¡± Cat suggested.

    Kass nodded. ¡°I guess this is where personnel slept.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s bigger than I remember,¡± Cat observed.

    ¡°That¡¯s cause you¡¯ve aged since we were last here,¡± Kass replied completely deadpan.

    Cat choked on a snort.

    Kass held a finger to her lips but she couldn¡¯t help the small smile that touched the edge of her lips and when she caught Cat¡¯s eye she could see the self-satisfied glint of mischief. Kass almost let herself get carried away in the enjoyment of the moment before she remembered why she was here and all that had led to this moment and then she remembered that she didn¡¯t deserve to be happy.

    ¡°Come on,¡± she said more seriously.

    They walked further along the corridor. Kass paused again at another door. This one was slightly ajar with a light on. She listened carefully, then very slowly she pushed the door inward. It was definitely a bunk room. There were two single beds pushed against each wall, a desk, and one large wardrobe.

    Cat followed Kass inside.

    While Cat made her way toward the desk drawers to inspect their contents, Kass pushed the door behind them so it was almost shut, only a small gap remained. That way she could easily hear if anyone returned.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    She went for the beds, running her hands under the mattress and pillows, not entirely sure what she was looking for. These beds probably belonged to soldiers who were on duty tonight. She had seen many more tents outside and she wondered what rank one had to be in here. Hopefully they were important enough that they might have some useful information. She found nothing.

    She was just about to join Cat searching the wardrobes when a pair of voices could be heard coming down the hall.

    ¡°Quick, in here.¡± Kass pulled Cat inside the wardrobe.

    ¡°I am not hiding in a wardrobe again,¡± Cat complained in a low hiss. But she got in anyway.

    ¡°There¡¯s nowhere else,¡± Kass replied, then once they were inside without thinking she asked, ¡±What do you mean again?¡±

    But Cat never got to reply for a moment later two men entered the room.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get why they don¡¯t just seal this place up and be done with it,¡± one of the men could be heard complaining.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious,¡± replied his partner.

    ¡°Well, if it¡¯s so obvious Captain Genius, why don¡¯t you explain it to me.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s simple. Harold wants the power of this place for himself. It¡¯s a splice and very unique one. Who knows what sorts of magic was cast to make this place. Besides if the necromancy department can¡¯t produce something useful while being in charge of this place then the transportation department will argue that it should be handed back over to them.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, Bash. You didn¡¯t see those things. We set them on fire and they just kept burning. No matter what we try, we can¡¯t kill them. Drowning, electrocution, poison, nothing works. Whatever the transportation department was doing here goes against everything we stand for.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s already done. Maybe what we can learn here will give us a leg up over our enemies. Did you know when the guardians made this place they created a plane that preserved the dead.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if preserved is the right word for those things down there. That¡¯s some dark magic at play, that¡¯s for sure.¡±

    ¡°Look, better the devil you know than the devil you don¡¯t right? Now that Harold¡¯s convinced the council to give the necromancy department ownership of this place we can make sure everything¡¯s appropriately taken care of and responsibly managed. Anyway, the place is welded up tight. They can¡¯t get through.¡±

    ¡°I hope not.¡±

    ¡°Just get some sleep. Harold wants a meeting first thing in the morning.¡±

    His companion groaned. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind that so much if that damn HPL lady didn¡¯t keep booking all these middle of the night meetings.¡±

    The men could be heard moving around. Kass silently hoped they didn¡¯t need anything from the wardrobe. They heard some boots dropped to the floor a bed squeak soon after. A few seconds later, the thin strip of light that had shone through the wardrobe door disappeared and the lights in the room were switched off.

    Neither of them moved immediately. They needed to wait to make sure the men were asleep. Kass counted slowly in her head.

    It had only bee a few minutes when Cat whispered, ¡°They¡¯re asleep.¡±

    In the quietest voice she could manage Kass asked, ¡°How do you know?¡±

    ¡°Dreamwalker,¡± was all Cat needed to say.

    They slipped from the room with a little extra help from Cat¡¯s magic. Once people were already asleep it wasn¡¯t too much effort to try and keep them there, or at least make them a little less likely to wake.

    ¡°What do you mean again?¡± Kass asked once they around the next corner.

    Cat was silent a moment, considering things. Then she sighed. ¡°We hid in your wardrobe in your dream. Marc was chasing us.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Kass turned away, eyes downcast. ¡°Did he have a knife?¡±

    Cat narrowed her eyes. ¡°Did he do that a lot? Chase you with a knife? Or just the two times you mentioned?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Kass sighed, still looking at the floor. ¡°It was a couple times. I don¡¯t even know where he got them all from. One night I woke up and he was standing at the side of our bed just watching us with a knife in his hand. When I woke Sparrow, Marc hid the knife and it was like an instant personality change except for this brief look he gave me. I worried one night he¡¯d kill us for real.¡±

    ¡°And you never put a lock on your door or sent him to a shrink?¡±

    Kass shook her head. ¡°The boys shared a room and the shrink found nothing wrong with him.¡±

    Kass picked up speed. She didn¡¯t want to talk about this anymore.

    Cat sped up too but didn¡¯t say any more.

    But the next corner they rounded made them both stop dead. Another welded up dead end. The lack of movement caused Kass¡¯s thoughts to catch up with her. Even now he haunted her. She couldn¡¯t shake him from her thoughts. Couldn¡¯t find that deadly calm she was so used to. Up against the wall and looking for anyway to snap her out of it she suddenly blurted out, ¡°Sometimes I wonder if I wasn¡¯t rough enough.¡±

    Cat glanced at her with a surprised look on her face. She found Kass¡¯s gaze.

    Kass met it and then glanced away. Spun on her feet to turn around, walk a different direction.

    Cat narrowed her eyes. ¡°I''m not gonna tell you you were justified in hitting him, if that''s what you¡¯re looking for?" Her voice was surprisingly relaxed and clear.

    "No, no, that wasn''t what I wanted," Kass stuttered regretting her words already. What had she expected? Anger? Yes. Why? Why had she felt such a sudden need to provoke Cat? And here of all places. Perhaps she had just wanted to share a simple truth even if it was only one of many, and she worried as much about not being rough enough as she did about being too rough.

    "What then? You want me to beat you. Give you some kind of penance?" Cat¡¯s tone was pointed but still weirdly calm. For once she didn¡¯t rise to the bait, perhaps because she was so familiar with laying it that she knew exactly what Kass had done and why. Perhaps she knew even better than Kass did.

    Kass hesitated but she did glance briefly at Cat.

    Car studied her with a frown. "It''s stupid fixating on the past as if there''s anything you can do to fix it. You can''t change it so why think about it?"

    "Maybe to do better in the future. I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t know why I said that about..."

    "You don''t need to know the past to do that and punishment doesn''t make doing right in the present any easier. Decide who you want to be and then fucking be it. Don''t waste time apologizing. Evil never apologizes."

    "Maybe I was hoping that I wasn''t evil," Kass sighed. It was an off-handed statement but there was an element of truth in it. More objectively she added, "I think there''s more of a difference than just not apologizing though and I don''t think it''s that black and white. The past can still teach us things. Long term consequences and that sort of thing."

    "Doesn''t change what''s evil. Evil hurts kids," Cat replied. Then she stopped as if realizing what that meant for Kass in the context of her old job and she hadn''t actually intended that.

    "So I am Evil?" Kass asked more bemused now than anything. Cat was honest. She needed an honest answer. Maybe the truth would set her free? Perhaps she did want to be beaten, and if not with fists then words would do.

    Cat shrugged and casually replied, "Maybe you were in the past but it doesn''t mean you have to be today."

    The walls around Kass seemed to fall away so fast then that she found herself longing for their comforting embrace, for the familiar, even if it was wrong.

    Their conversation was interrupted by the cry of a baby. Slowly the pair of them turned toward the sound. It was coming from behind the metal wall.

 Volume 3, Chapter 47: Dream of Death

    ¡°What the hell?¡± Cat mumbled.

    ¡°That¡¯s not a baby,¡± Kass answered. ¡°It¡¯s them. The mimics.¡±

    Something rammed the wall from the other side. It hit the wall hard enough that the whole corridor shook slightly.

    The baby¡¯s crying got more persistent.

    ¡°We should keep moving,¡± Kass whispered.

    Cat hesitated and then nodded.

    They found some stairs not far along the next corridor. After a brief glance at one another, they headed down. There they got lucky.

    ¡°What is this? Some sort of observation room?¡± Cat asked.

    The room was long and slightly curved. Newer in construction, the upper half of one entire wall was made with a thick glass. A control panel was situated in front of one of the windows. Cat walked up to it.

    She glanced down at the buttons and then hit one that had a familiar looking symbol on it.

    A bright light suddenly lit up the room on the other side of the glass. This was followed by a blood-curdling scream as the mimic inside the room suddenly moved its head in their direction. It started running toward them.

    Cat switched off the light.

    The room went silent. Not even a thump.

    Cat glanced back at Kass who looked slightly annoyed.

    Cat gave her a confused expression and a shrug. When she mouthed ¡®what?¡¯ Kass actually rolled her eyes. Cat almost wanted to laugh.

    Kass moved forward a little closer to the glass. She gave it a serious look.

    ¡°I thought mimics were blind?¡± Cat asked in a whisper. ¡°How did it know the light was on and how come it didn¡¯t put it out?¡±

    ¡°They might be able to see changes in light. And I don¡¯t think that was them controlling it. Maybe they were just making use of it. I looked them up after we got back home. I couldn¡¯t find anything on them manipulating electricity.¡±

    ¡°You think they¡¯re trying to figure out how to kill it?¡±

    ¡°That or use it,¡± Kass replied.

    Cat frowned. ¡°Use it?¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°It would make a pretty good weapon don¡¯t you think?¡± She turned and began searching the rest of the room.

    Cat was confused. ¡°How is that thing a weapon?¡± she asked as she followed Kass around the room.

    Kass opened drawers and shuffled through papers and handwritten notes. She shrugged again. ¡°Imagine letting several of those loose in a town or a city. They ¡®can¡¯t be killed by any means¡¯.¡± She held up a sheet of paper and pointed to that exact wording.

    ¡°What good would that do? They can¡¯t kill them either.¡±

    ¡°They wouldn¡¯t need to. They could just pretend like they know how to deal with them. If they had trackers on them, release and catch wouldn¡¯t be so hard. You could use it to extort money or intimidate an enemy.¡±

    ¡°To what end?¡±

    ¡°Power, to win a war.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not in the north Kass.¡±

    ¡°Just because the war isn¡¯t obvious doesn¡¯t mean there isn¡¯t one. There¡¯s always been a power struggle between the sorcerers, the aristocrats, and Mercy politicians.¡±

    ¡°That would be escalating things quite a bit though don¡¯t you think? Even people who want power don¡¯t usually want that kind of mess.¡±

    Kass nodded and sighed. ¡°Yeah, maybe.¡±

    ¡°What are you looking for?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Information. A computer...¡± she trailed off as she noticed that exact thing in one corner, half buried beneath a bunch of loose paper. She went over to it and wriggled the mouse. She was confronted with a login screen. She glanced toward Cat.

    Cat shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me. Computer¡¯s are Indi¡¯s territory.¡±

    Kass turned back to computer with a frown.

    Casually, Cat reached for some of the nearby paperwork. ¡°What do you think this is?¡± She tilted her head and the paper, as if it would help her make sense of the markings.

    Kass glanced over at it. ¡°Looks like test results of some kind. I don¡¯t know. Probably from the mimic.¡± She turned her focus back to the computer. After another moment of thought and then she made a decisive move. She turned the thing off and started unplugging everything from the main box.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m bringing it with us. Indi can hack it from home.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t we already get all the stuff off the computers when we were last here?¡±

    Kass shook her head and handed Cat the box. ¡°Weren¡¯t you listening to those two guys before. This is a different department so this is probably their computer and if not, well we still might find something new.¡±

    Cat sighed and rolled her eyes but she did as Kass asked.

    Kass glanced at the time. ¡°We should keep moving. They¡¯ll probably be changing shifts soon. We should probably be on our way...¡± But she didn¡¯t immediately move. Instead she stood and eyed the rest of the room.

    Cat narrowed her own eyes. ¡°Kass, what are you really looking for?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she replied breathlessly.

    ¡°We¡¯ve got everything we came for don¡¯t we? We know who these guys are, what they¡¯re doing, mostly, and we¡¯ve got their computer.¡±

    Still Kass hesitated.

    ¡°Kass.¡±

    Finally she spun and faced Cat. ¡°I was hoping we could get access to the old computer system and all the printed files and just burn anything that survived the first explosion. When we first came in here, they had information on us. They probably still have that. If these guys find it, they¡¯ll be able to find us, and who knows who else might come looking.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re worried about your old enemies from the north.¡±

    ¡°And new ones.¡±

    ¡°It probably all burned up.¡±

    ¡°This section survived.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, cause it¡¯s offset a little from the rest of compound. All the access is welded up anyway. We can¡¯t get down there and even if we could...¡± she trailed off and glanced toward the darkened observation room.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Kass was silent.

    Cat turned back to study her. With the cock of an eyebrow she added, ¡°Unless you want to blow this place up as well?¡± But as she said it, Cat¡¯s thoughts went to the sleeping men they¡¯d overheard just earlier. It would be effectively like killing them in their sleep and that seemed horribly unsportsmanlike. To her relief, Kass shook her head.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    But Cat¡¯s thoughts of the sleeping men had given her another idea. ¡°What if I dreamwalk them?¡±

    Kass spun. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Well, everybody¡¯s asleep right.¡±

    Kass checked her watch. Then she nodded. ¡°15 minutes, then we leave.¡±

    Cat made herself comfortable between two filing cabinets at the back of the room.

    ¡°Try and target someone higher up in rank if you can. They¡¯re probably all on this floor. Anyone outside, maybe we can try from back at the car anyway. Who knows if they have binding magic at the shaft.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t,¡± Cat replied. ¡°I just have to make sure to avoid any other dreamwalkers.¡± As she slipped into the dreamworld she found she could see many sleepers nearby, both above ground and below. Then the real world faded away as did her sense of time. Kass would wake her if anyone approached though. She hoped.

    She aimed for the two whose room they¡¯d searched earlier.

    Their dreams revealed very little about their work though. One man dreamed of playing ball with his wife and kids. The other dreamed he was running along a remote mountain path. Cat focused on the second one. As he ran she molded the world around him. Shifted it into dark hallways instead of countryside. Placed him in the compound. But soon things altered beyond Cat¡¯s control. Behind them, a group of mimics suddenly appeared, making sounds like helpless kittens all the while they chased them. The man ran and Cat ran with him. She¡¯d wanted him to walk somewhere to act out his day so she could learn something but instead he was living his nightmare.

    Cat released her hold on his dream before applying her magic again, this time to shape it back into mountainside and then a tent, a blurry man who paced, one she hoped this man would fill in the details and view as a superior officer. What were they talking about? Cat gave him free reign and was annoyed when the room shifted to a well-lit living room and half a dozen real life kittens instead. The man sat on the floor and began to trail a piece of string among them.

    Cat sighed and was about to leave to try someone else when a woman¡¯s voice called from the kitchen, ¡°Trick, can you come help me.¡±

    Curious, Cat followed.

    Trick made his way into a fancy looking kitchen. The whole place looked modern with extra high ceilings and plants and fluffy rugs, not a hint of mess. It looked more like something done up for an open home than somewhere someone lived.

    A woman stood by the stove. She gestured down at it. ¡°The damn starter¡¯s broken again.¡±

    Trick nodded, and as the woman started the gas again, he waved his hands and caused a flame to burst up from one burner. The woman clapped her hands together softly, then leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. A neat little peck that fell away into something more passionate.

    Cat scrunched up her face, worried she was going to have to intervene again, but they drifted apart a moment later and then the man returned to living room where the kittens were bounding about over furniture or sleeping all stretched out on the sheepskin rug.

    Cat was about to leave again when she thought of something else she could try. She shifted into a version of his wife and made her presence more known.

    He glanced up as she took a seat on one of the comfy white armchairs. She practiced a gentle smile, something that felt out of place on her own face. This woman was not the type she usually pretended to be.

    ¡°So how¡¯s work at the moment?¡± she asked, figuring it a common enough question among couples.

    His face widened into a loving smile but he shook his head. ¡°Now, you know I¡¯m not supposed to talk about work.¡±

    ¡°Not even to me?¡± she pouted, unsure if the woman would act like this but doing her best impression of sweet and tidy housewife. Cat wasn¡¯t untidy but the way the house was decorated, as if designed specifically for company, made Cat think this woman and herself had very little in common.

    Trick frowned. Perhaps he sensed something was off. Usually dreamers didn¡¯t question as much as they would when awake but that didn¡¯t mean they couldn¡¯t still pick up on irregularities, and it always seemed to be the subtle things. Stick a literal elephant in someone¡¯s living room and they might not notice, but shift the tone of voice their loved one uses regularly and it could upset their entire world. Cat didn¡¯t understand why, she just knew that some details were important to get right.

    ¡°No, not even to you.¡±

    Cat tried one last time. ¡°Who am I going to tell?¡±

    But his eyes narrowed, going from a frown to outright suspicion. If she wasn¡¯t careful she could soon have him questioning his entire reality and then he might figure out it was a dream. So she gave a smile and had an image of his wife leave the room as Cat stood up from the chair.

    He returned to happily playing with the kittens.

    Cat paced unhappily nearby. There was something unsettling about seeing these soldiers in their family homes with their loved ones. Had Derek, the guy they¡¯d killed on the way in had a family? He must have at least had parents.

    As Cat thought about him she found herself drawn to that spot where he had been and she was surprised to find there a mind that matched. She slipped in.

    But as she entered it she immediately knew something was wrong. It felt off, in strangely familiar way.

    She found herself as the dreamer then and an overwhelming hunger overcame her. She found herself in the room where he had died but her mind felt confused. She sat on the floor, her thoughts filled with longing for flesh, delicious juicy flesh. She needed to eat.

    Creeped out, Cat pulled herself back awake with a jolt.

    The bang of Cat¡¯s elbow into the side of one of the filing cabinets jerked Kass¡¯s head in her direction. In a worried voice, Kass asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Cat shook her head, unsure what exactly she had just experienced. ¡°Nothing, just something weird.¡± She leaned back and was soon back in the dreamworld. Pushing aside the strange experience she¡¯d just had, she hunted for a new mind.

    She jumped between several but found little of consequence. She did glean a little information about their structure and that the Mercy army also had their own departments, each one serving different government departments in a complex hierarchy of command and responsibility that made the Gordian Knot look like a simple piece of string. This wasn¡¯t one organisation here but at least three, some with their own subgroups.

    One group was dedicated entirely to the health and safety of excavation and no earth-moving work was allowed to be done without their knowledge, another was a 3rd party so proficient in the workings of the HPL that they were regularly hired as mediators to help with paperwork of any incident involving a human. The main organisation was the Necromancy Department, supported by an offshoot of the Mercy main defense force who were here for security purposes. The necromancy department was apparently headed by some guy named Harold, who was quite high up in the main Mercy chain of command. He was positioned such and well enough off that no one had any issues with him teleporting in all the way from Mercy everyday, at least not any they vocalised where command could hear them.

    The necromancy department wasn¡¯t just politicians either. Some were scientists and researchers. In the head of one sleeper, Cat found herself standing in what was very likely Harold¡¯s office, listening to the guy give a report.

    ¡°Sir, I¡¯m not sure what happened by when we went to find those old scripts in the history archives they weren¡¯t there. Apparently, some time ago they got lent to the linguistics department and were never returned but when I went to talk to the linguistics department they had no record of it. Beryl did mention they¡¯ve had issues with some of the newer interns signing things our under the wrong department so I asked around at the Department for the Preservation of Historic Calligraphy and the Department of Archeological Acquisitions but nobody knew anything about them.¡±

    ¡°Somebody must know where they are. I saw them on display at the museum not that long ago,¡± said a man Cat assumed was Harold. He was of average height and had a square shaped sort of stature. He had probably been quite fit in his younger days but had since found himself in an office with little time for exercise. Now he wore well fitted but not overly flashy suits. His hair was a luscious blonde and parted perfectly down the middle. His top collar was unbuttoned, suggesting he had a preference for comfort and practicality over showy aesthetics.

    Cat wandered around the room, wondering how accurate it was. It was based on one man¡¯s memory after all. The view was nice. The office was high up. It overlooked both the city and surrounding countryside. It was far inland and there was no sea in sight but Cat could make out the shimmer of what might have been a winding river in the distance. The room itself was filled with vases, books, and photographs of various people, some of them obviously family, others more political.

    She opened a drawer below a yellow vase with strange markings on it and was unsurprised to find it contained documents with nothing but indecipherable scribbles on them. The dreamer obviously hadn¡¯t seen the contents of these documents and so his mind had filled in something vaguely realistic looking but without meaning.

    Their conversation droned on and Cat, not hearing anything of interest, left and went in search of another dreamer.

    She found a soldier¡¯s tent a few rows over and dipped down into one head as usual. She found herself in a park. Kids were screaming with laughter in the distance and dogs were playing fetch with their owners. The grass rippled like water and that wasn¡¯t a metaphor. Cat winced and solidified the earth beneath her feet while nearby a picnic blanket drifted past containing two ducks holding tea cups.

    They saw her and suddenly went flying off. The rest of the surrounding ground stilled. Cat relaxed but when she turned around to look for her new dreamer she came face to face with a man wearing a soldier¡¯s combat pants and a white singlet. He was looking directly at her.

    ¡°Who are you and what are you doing in my dream?¡± he very clearly asked as he took a step toward her.

    Cat immediately pulled herself out of the dream but it was too late. She could already feel him waking up and given this man was obviously another dreamwalker she knew she didn¡¯t have a chance at keeping him asleep.

    She sprung awake and was already on her feet before Kass could ask her how it went.

    ¡°We gotta go!¡± Cat told her.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Kass asked, already making a move toward the door.

    ¡°You know how I said the one thing I had to worry about was not meeting another dreamwalker, well, I¡¯m pretty sure they know we¡¯re here now.¡±

 Volume 3, Chapter 48: Escape

    They managed to make it all the way back to the internal entrance without running into any trouble. But as they approached the door to the room where they¡¯d left the dead guard they stopped. From behind the door came sounds like gunshots.

    ¡°Are they shooting?¡± Kass asked with a frown.

    ¡°Come on,¡± Cat tugged her back the way they came.

    Kass resisted. ¡°To where? If there¡¯s some other thing in there that¡¯s got them distracted we could use it.¡±

    Cat paused and thought about it. ¡°I think it¡¯s a zombie.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°That guy we killed, on the way in. I managed to enter his dream, I think. I dunno. I sort of did the same with Lily and her mother back when we were here last. I didn¡¯t even know that was a thing but I think whatever magic Lily¡¯s father cast in this place is keeping things from dying, just not the way he intended. Whatever¡¯s through there is probably like the mimics.¡± She frowned and paused. ¡°Do you think Lily will end up like that? A ravenous monster but unkillable.¡±

    Kass shook her head. ¡°We don¡¯t have time. Zombie or not, they can¡¯t fight us and it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah but even if we make it past them we still have to go up that shaft. And there will be more soldiers coming. We¡¯ll never make it out of there.¡±

    Kass considered it with a glance toward the door. The gunshots had ceased. ¡°Shit.¡± She gave a nod and the pair of them started running the other way.

    ¡°There¡¯s no other way out though,¡± Kass told her. ¡°And with a camp full of this many soldiers they are bound to to have at least one of a binder or a borrower or a mindwalker or someone who can track us down and when they do we are screwed.¡± Kass suddenly stopped.

    Cat did likewise. Both of them evidently having heard the same thing. Footsteps, coming from both directions.

    ¡°In here.¡± It just so happened they were standing right outside the blue supply closet. This time it was Cat who yanked Kass inside.

    They stood there in silent darkness, pressed close together, waiting and hoping that the soldiers would pass them right one by. To their disappointment the two groups ran into each other right outside the supply closet door.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Who hit the alert?¡± asked Trick.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. No update from command yet,¡± replied a new man. ¡°But Derek¡¯s a zombie. I think one of those creatures might have got out and got him. We didn¡¯t see one on the surface so it might still be down here. ¡°

    ¡°Shit. Fan out. We¡¯ll help with the search.¡±

    The men could be heard scattering.

    ¡°We need to make a move for that shaft before they figure out what¡¯s really going on,¡± Kass whispered. ¡°The guy who saw you in the dream, will he know where you are physically?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Good, that force that just came down is probably the group dedicated to inspect this floor. It¡¯ll probably be a minute or two before we get any more.¡±

    ¡°That shaft was pretty long,¡± Cat whispered as Kass cautiously poked her head out of the supply closet. ¡°Also, there¡¯s no way I¡¯m climbing up that thing with this computer.¡±

    Kass glanced back at Cat and then at the large box that Cat had placed on the floor between them. ¡°Shit. Give me a sec. I¡¯ll take the hard drive out.¡±

    ¡°Do we have time?¡± Cat asked.

    But Kass had already whipped out a miniature screwdriver and was rapidly removing the side panel. She located the hard drive and attached to her belt with some kind of velco strap.

    ¡°Ohh, these on the other hand..¡± While Kass fiddled with the computer, Cat studied the bottles on the shelves that surrounded them. She grabbed an oversized cloth, created a makeshift sack she could carry in one hand, and casually started loading it up with solvents, as well as a few extra rags.

    When Kass gave her a frown, Cat replied with a shrug, ¡°Potential distractions.¡±

    ¡°Diethyl ether,¡± Kass read off the label of one bottle Cat was grabbing. ¡°You don¡¯t even know if that¡¯s flammable.¡±

    ¡°I guess we¡¯ll find out,¡± Cat replied with a grin.

    Kass checked the hallway once more. ¡°Okay, come on.¡±

    Back to the entrance they went. All was quiet now.

    Kass opened the door, keeping her body positioned slightly off to the side. She entered the room followed closely by Cat, both of them with their weapons in hand.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    On the far side of the room, wriggling around within restraints was the obviously partially decomposed body of Derek. He looked like he¡¯d been dead for weeks rather than minutes with bloated strips of skin hanging off him. Two guards were standing either side of him. Both of them looked up as Cat and Kass entered the room.

    Kass raised her hand to throw them against the wall with her telekinesis but at the same time one of the other men raised his hand.

    Nobody moved more than an inch.

    Except for Cat who was already raising her gun. She fired a loud shot at the man on the left as he was mid-reach for his own sidearm. Her bullet hit him in the chest and he fell back against the wall with a grunt.

    Kass, likewise was faster than the man on the right. With her magic nullified by his borrower powers, she went for her rifle. Her shot hit him in the head.

    She then finished of Cat¡¯s guy with another shot to the head. Both of them hit perfectly between the eyes.

    ¡°Show off,¡± Cat quipped with a shake of the head.

    Neither of them wasted much time hanging around to see if the men turned out just like Derek. At least if they did, it would slow down anyone who might follow them.

    They shut the door to the shaft closed behind them, and in the dark they made their escape. Kass went first, rifle slung over her shoulder but in an easy to reach position least she need to aim up. Anyone who stuck their head over the top of that shaft was getting a bullet to the brain no questions asked.

    But no one did.

    Kass stopped when they reached the top and indicated for Cat to climb up next to her, that way, neither one of them would be stuck still climbing up if there were soldiers guarding the entrance.

    They got lucky on that front too. But once they were standing inside that small tent on the surface, they could hear the chaos all around them. People were shouting and running about. The entire camp sounded very awake.

    ¡°So, we make for under the truck again?¡± Cat asked.

    Kass shook her head. ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not thinking of going through the camp are you?¡±

    Again Kass shook her head. With a thoughtful frown she replied, ¡°It¡¯s chaos out there and not everyone necessarily knows everyone. We should have grabbed the fatigues off those guys.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s too late now. So, we make a run directly for the fence line then?¡±

    Another head shake. ¡°How fast can you hot wire a truck?¡±

    Cat grinned. ¡°Under 30 seconds. How are we going to get in the door? I don¡¯t have a slim jim or anything similar on me?¡±

    ¡°I doubt they leave them locked. It¡¯s in the middle of a guarded camp. Who¡¯s gonna steal it. Worst case, I can probably pull the door off.¡±

    Cat wasn¡¯t convinced Kass could manage that without rolling the whole truck over but she decided to take her chances on the door being unlocked.

    Out from the tent they ran. Forget cover. Speed was of the essence.

    Cat noticed a few people stop running and look in their direction. She had further to run than Kass, who had gone for the passenger side. As Cat reached for the driver¡¯s door she could see Kass already inside the front cab.

    Cat wasn¡¯t sure if the door had been unlocked or if Kass had unlocked it from the inside once she was in. Either way, she was soon inside as well. She dumped her makeshift sack of chemicals on the middle seat then went about pulling out the front cover below the steering wheel. There were two screws to remove which was more than she¡¯d hoped there¡¯d be but less than there could have been. It took her seconds to get them out with her pocket screwdriver. With a forceful tug, she yanked out the wiring harness next. She located the starter wires, stripped them back with the wire trimmer attached to her screwdriver. She wound the wires tightly together, then located the ignition wires.

    ¡°Ready?¡± she asked Kass. Without waiting for a reply she pressed them together.

    The engine of the truck roared into life. Cat gave it a few revs as she pulled the driver¡¯s side door shut and strapped on her seat belt.

    Kass was pressed right up against the passenger side door with the window down. She seemed to be using the side pillars for partial cover. She had her rifle on the seat beside her rather than aimed out the window.

    Cat could see several people coming their way now.

    As truck pulled forward Kass leaned out the window and raised her hand.

    Everyone in front of them went flying.

    ¡°Floor it!¡± Kass commanded.

    Cat put the pedal to the metal.

    The truck roared.

    She heard several shouts of, ¡°Stop that truck!¡± as they pulled through the front gates of the facility.

    Cat briefly glanced at Kass to check the woman was wearing her seat belt. She was. She was also holding up Cat¡¯s bag of chemicals with a lighter underneath it. As the bag finally caught fire, Kass twisted the air around it causing the fire to flare. Then she quickly chucked it out of the passenger side window.

    ¡°What are you doing? We could have spaced those out.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want any flammable chemicals in the car if we end up crashing this thing, and with the amount of telekinetics that are probably in this camp you can almost guarantee us getting thrown. She was holding her rifle in a way that made Cat think she almost expected a crash.

    The massive explosion that sounded behind them a moment later made Cat think that maybe throwing the bag out the window had been a good idea after all.

    Kass was right about the telekinetics too for a moment later they found themselves flying through the air in a spinning truck.

    Cat tired to relax as the vehicle hit the ground and bounced and rolled along. Relaxation made survival far more likely. Luckily the truck appeared to have been fitted with a very sturdy roll cage and this wasn''t the first car accident Cat had been in.

    They rolled several times over and soon came to a rest in a pile of currently unoccupied tents.

    Cat climbed out of the truck feeling far more nauseous than she normally would have expected. She pushed the feeling down, all too aware there would be people soon hot on their trail. Then she helped Kass climb out the driver¡¯s side window. Both of them seem to have gotten through the crash unscathed but they were still far from safe.

    She looked out across the open desert at all the space between here and the hill where her car hid. It was a couple hundred metres at least, with nothing to hide behind, but she knew staying and fighting wasn¡¯t an option. At least they were at the edge of the camp now and all their pursuers were behind them.

    With little hesitation the pair of them sprinted into the open desert. Kass still carrying her sniper rifle.

    Cat was the faster runner and she didn¡¯t bother waiting for Kass. Kass could handle herself, probably. Either way, there wasn¡¯t much she¡¯d be able to do. She did glance back a few times to check the woman was managing to keep up though.

    They got about half way to the hill when the bullets started to stream past them. One kicked up sand not far from Cat¡¯s feet. Another, she heard go flying right past her head.

    Another glance back, showed Kass had dropped to the sand. But it wasn¡¯t from a bullet. She¡¯d spun around and dropped down with the intent on returning fire.

    ¡°Kass?!¡± Against her better judgement, Cat turned around, intent on getting the woman to keep moving.

    ¡°Keep running!¡± Kass yelled at her without even a glance back. ¡°I know what I¡¯m doing.¡± Then she fired her first round.

 Volume 3, Chapter 49: Just A Graze

    Kass sounded so confident that Cat obeyed, turning for the hills. Somehow, she¡¯d managed to avoid being hit by any bullets in the short time she¡¯d stopped.

    Meanwhile, Kass eyed up her targets. Most of the camp was still in chaos and they¡¯d managed to make it pretty far before anyone had even noticed that they¡¯d taken to the desert. But Kass knew they¡¯d have snipers and decent marksmen and it only took one bullet to end their luck.

    Kass didn¡¯t intend to stop for long. Just enough to give them a bit of time. With eagle-eyed precision she picked off several following soldiers. Then she felt something clip her cheek.

    Where had that come from? She searched all the good sniper spots in that direction. And then she found him. Perched up on top of another truck, lying prone just like she was, a proper good sniper with a decent gun.

    She ended his run before he could get another shot out. Then she got to her feet and took of running after Cat.

    By taking up the aggressive stance she¡¯d made herself the prominent target. Luckily, with the exception of the one guy, most of them had been trying to shoot long range with short range weapons. A really good marksman might have been able to aim at that distance but these were just regular soldiers. The larger danger had been the number of them and Kass had just drastically reduced those. Unfortunately there was more where they had come from. But Cat was already at the top of the hill and just disappearing down the side. Only Kass remained for them to aim at.

    Now that she no longer had Cat to worry about, Kass used her powers to speed up her movement. She aimed a hand down at the ground and pushed herself along in leaps and bounds. She was imprecise with it but every shove sent her off at an angle that would maker her hard to shoot. She stumbled and nearly fell on the landing several times. She wasn¡¯t so much pushing against the earth as many people assumed. Telekinesis didn¡¯t work like that. The energy might be conserved but the forces were not. Rather she was moving herself the same way she might lift her boots on their own. It was just that she was attached and part of the boots. Amanda had once jokingly referred to it as bootstrapping.

    It was strange to think about lifting oneself though and it had been Amanda who had taught Kass how to do this. She had told Kass just to think of her body as if it were its own separate thing. Kass kind of understood. She knew what it was like to sometimes feel as if she were outside herself and looking down. But Amanda was good. With a telekinetic infusement Amanda somehow had even more precision than Kass did. She could hover completely in place. For Kass, it was more like brief, uncontrolled, bursts of movement.

    She¡¯d send her foot flying up toward the direction of her body and if she was angled just right then the rest of her would move as well but angles were hard to get right. She didn¡¯t put too much force it. She didn¡¯t want to go flying up high. What went up, must come down after all. Kass could sort of prevent that but it was easy to accidentally overcompensate which only exacerbated the issue so she focused on single thrusts and trying to transition into a run when she landed. At least her uncoordinated leaping made her hard to hit.

    Bullets went flying by but Kass was moving so fast that by the time they hit one spot she was already moving through the air to the next spot. She was sure a good sniper could have picked her off like a little clay pigeon but thankfully this army didn¡¯t seem to have a spare one of those.

    Occasionally she¡¯d feel another telekinetic try to shift her but Kass had more power than all of them and she simply pushed back in reply.

    One bullet did come extremely close as Kass crested the hill and she was glad when she finally dropped down beneath its shadow.

    Cat was there, waiting at the top. She¡¯d kept low, peeking over the top.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you in the car?¡± Kass was immediately annoyed. Any decent sniper could have found Cat¡¯s head sticking up and picked her off.

    ¡°I was making sure you didn¡¯t get shot.¡± Cat scowled as they fled down the hill.

    ¡°What were you gonna do if I was? Run out under a hail of bullets and carry me up the hill?¡± Kass knew that situation only would have resulted in them both being shot.

    ¡°And what if I was? Besides I couldn¡¯t just wait in the car not knowing who was gonna come over that hill. What if it had been the soldiers?¡± Cat scoffed.

    Kass didn¡¯t reply. Cat kind of had a point. Kind of. She could have set a time limit and gotten the car ready. Getting it wrong if Kass had been shot could have been deadly though.

    Just as they were about to scramble into the car a ball of fire came flying over the hill.

    Kass raised her hands and sent up a strong updraft of wind and sand. She was glad whoever this firestarter was that they weren¡¯t as good as Amanda.

    The fireball was followed spikes of ice. That was easier for Kass to handle. The fireball had tired her though. She got in the car, willing that the tyres would move and not just spin in the sand like Cat had worried about earlier.

    But Cat knew what she was doing. She was easy on accelerator, even though it slowed their escape, they did start moving.

    Kass watched the sky and the hill for any sign of movement. She rolled the window down as Cat got the car moving faster. She focused on the sand at the top of the hill, every little grain up there, she pushed her magic into them and she lifted them up and threw them over the top, hopefully destroying any visibility on the other side and slowing their pursuers down considerably.

    She kept doing that as Cat drove them faster and faster across the sand. Behind them, bright balls of fire mixed in with the sandstorm, randomly sent in the hopes of hitting a target.

    As Kass watched, she felt the scene grow kind of distant and she relaxed almost as if she were simply watching a pretty fireworks display. She felt sad they were running away from it. Maybe they should stop and watch. That wasn¡¯t right though. Her thoughts were wrong. No. Her emotions were. The facility had evidently located one very powerful empath. But the adrenaline coursing through her veins and the stinging of her cheek all combined to help her fight back. She shook the feeling off long enough to grab her knife and slice a cut in the back of her forearm. It hurt but that was the point. It sent physical signals that overruled whatever the empath was trying to do.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    She reached out and cut Cat¡¯s arm as well.

    ¡°Oi! What the hell?¡± Cat shouted as she jerked slightly in reflex. She didn¡¯t lose control of the car though.

    ¡°Empath¡¯s trying to make us want to stop running. From this distance physical pain overrides it,¡± Kass explained.

    ¡°Well, I think he was focused on you. I can¡¯t feel a thing except for that damn dreamwalker. He¡¯s been trying to make use fall asleep since we were half way to the hill.¡±

    ¡°He has?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but I can keep him at bay.¡±

    Something pinged the back of the car. A bullet.

    Kass glanced back. The soldiers were cresting the hill.

    Another shot pierced a tyre. Then a third one right through the centre of the rear windscreen. Cat swore but didn¡¯t ease up on the driving. They hit the road and Cat swung them around the corner, twisting the steering wheel first one way and then the other as the car started to skid. They slid around around the bend like a gymnast¡¯s ribbon might curve around its handle. Cat straightened them up and then they were off even faster than before but now running slightly parallel to their enemy.

    Kass had a perfect view of them and through the window she more ice spikes coming their way.

    Kass sent them flying back toward where they had come from.

    A large ball of fire melted them in response. After that, no more fire or ice spikes were sent their way. She felt the empath¡¯s hold lessen too. Perhaps that person was too far back now.

    She saw movement in the sand and a couple of quickfoots approached them rapidly but Kass threw them back and then she lifted the sand again and sent it flying. They wouldn¡¯t be able to run forever, probably. She was surprised they¡¯d even risked getting this close.

    Twice more she raised the earth. But on the fourth attempt nothing happened.

    As the remaining sand from the previous attempt fell, she turned to Cat. ¡°We got another borrower. You better drive fast.¡±

    ¡°And here I thought slow was the plan,¡± Cat replied in a tone heavily laden with sarcasm.

    Kass lined up her rifle, knowing her magic was going to be no good. The bigger problem was, she was still wide open to their magic. But did they know that? They¡¯d already proven their comms to be slow and inefficient. Thank the gods for budget cuts.

    Cat¡¯s car saved them in their final hour. They were out of sight before the sand had settled and if anyone followed them now, Kass doubted they could keep up with Cat. Still, she eyed the surrounding landscape for any potential teleporting snipers.

    She didn¡¯t let herself rest until at least 30 minutes had passed and the view out rear window remained empty.

    Cat pulled over about an hour after their initial escape to check on the state of the tyre that had taken the bullet. She changed it to the spare and was back in the car in under two minutes.

    After that, they drove non-stop for hours, all the way almost to Nin. It was at the edge of Nin that Cat suddenly pulled off down a back road and found them a secluded and empty campsite to pull into. She parked up under some trees and switched the engine off. The sun was just rising.

    ¡°Wait here.¡± Cat got out and walked off, probably to find a bathroom.

    Kass waited patiently for her return. While she waited she inspected the damage to her cheek in the rear view mirror. It was bloody but only the skin had been nicked. She¡¯d been very lucky.

    Cat returned while she was still inspecting the wound. She frowned at Kass and then got right up close with narrowed eyes.

    ¡°You get hit by a bullet?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s jut a graze,¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°Mighty close graze.¡±

    But her reply seemed to satisfy Cat, who slid back into the driver¡¯s seat with a sigh. At moment later she said, ¡°Listen, I¡¯m too tired to keep driving, especially through those mountains.¡±

    ¡°I could take over,¡± Kass offered. She didn¡¯t think it was likely she was getting much sleep if they stopped and she was eager to get home, for this adventure to be over. To curl up in her own bed, knowing Jesse wasn¡¯t far away and was safe. She doubted she¡¯d actually be able to rest once she got there but if they kept going, at least she¡¯d be exhausted enough to collapse into sleep.

    But Cat shook her head. ¡°Not through those mountains.¡±

    Kass gave a nod of acquiescence. ¡°Okay, so we get a room then. Sleep today and drive tonight?¡±

    ¡°No, not at night. There¡¯ll be more dragons out at night. We can hole up here today, get to bed early tonight and then get an early start tomorrow.¡± Cat glanced back at the rear window. ¡°Plus, first we gotta fix that. We can¡¯t park up in a public street with what looks like a bullet hole in the rear window. Also, I need to get a new tyre. We got lucky it was a slow leak and didn¡¯t damage the rim driving as far as we did but what I¡¯ve swapped it to is just a compact spare and it¡¯s not suited to driving through the Dragon Mountains. It¡¯ll limit our speed too much.¡±

    ¡°You have to replace the entire windscreen right?¡±

    Cat nodded then started looking around the car for something.

    Kass glanced back to look at the windscreen. It was a small hole. The morning rays of the sun made the edges glint. She got out of the car walked around toward the back. She opened the rear passenger door and pulled out her rifle.

    A sudden smash made Cat look up. ¡°Oi! What the hell?!¡± Cat exclaimed.

    Kass had deliberately put the butt of her rifle through the back window. The small hole was small no longer.

    ¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t look like a bullet hole anymore,¡± Kass explained as she got back in the car.

    ¡°I could¡¯ve said it was a stone chip.¡±

    ¡°Little too round for a stone chip. Wherever we go to get glass is going to require someone sees it and the sun¡¯s up now. Cops in Nin aren¡¯t like the ones in Little Rock. They¡¯ll ask questions,¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°I could have taped over it. Now, it¡¯s even more obvious,¡± Cat replied with a calm scowl. ¡°And I know a garage who won¡¯t ask questions. Just as soon as I find my phone.¡± Her eyes scanned the car again and she gave an annoyed sigh.

    ¡°Where did you last have it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Want me to call it?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Cat threw her hands in the air and leaned her head back against the head rest in exasperation.

    Kass found Cat¡¯s number in her phone and hit the call button. ¡°It¡¯s ringing,¡± she remarked with the phone to her ear. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t seem like it¡¯s here, unless you left it on silent?¡±

    Cat screwed up her face and then shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll find it later, can I borrow your phone?¡±

    Kass handed it over with a narrow-eyed look. ¡°Who are you calling.¡±

    ¡°A guy, who knows the guy that we need to take the car to.¡±

    Kass watched Cat dial a number off by heart.

    ¡°Hey Thumbs!¡± There was a moment of silence then, ¡°Hey, you remember that mechanic you recommended in Nin? ... Yeah, that¡¯s the one, you still got his number or the address of his garage? ... uh huh, yup... 503 Oleary Road, got it. Thanks Thumbs... Will do. See ya.¡± Cat hung up then looked to Kass. ¡°What¡¯s the time?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve got my phone,¡± Kass pointed out with a smile but she twisted her left wrist over anyway. ¡°Just shy of half seven.¡±

    ¡°Oh, right.¡± Cat glanced at the phone and then handed it back. ¡°They should be open by the time we get there then. Some places start at 7 unofficially anyway.¡±

    ¡°Do you know where we¡¯re going?¡± Kass asked.

    Cat shook her head. ¡°We¡¯re gonna need a map. ¡°Plus we¡¯ll want somewhere to stay. We¡¯ll find a touristy motel. They¡¯ll have maps and they shouldn¡¯t ask too many questions.¡±

    Kass frowned. ¡°In my experience,it¡¯s the touristy places that ask the most questions, and Nin is pretty touristy. We could keep going to Broomstick Beech?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m beat and I don¡¯t think Broomstick Beech has a mechanic,¡± Cat admitted after a moment¡¯s silence. ¡°And the more touristy a place the more people there are to blend in among.¡± But she hesitated slightly and her tone indicated that was more of a question.

    Kass considered it a moment and then nodded. The truth was it was a double edged sword. Numbers were safer if you knew how to blend but it also meant a lot more witnesses if you couldn¡¯t. How many people had seen them back at that facility? Would they chase them this far? Did Cat understand what it actually meant to blend in? Either way, she did look pretty tired and she had good point about the mechanic. The only other place close enough that would have a mechanic was Myst. There was an argument for going there. Mercy soldiers would be unlikely to follow them into sorcerer territory. But the sorcerers came with their own risks. Kass wasn¡¯t sure how closely they might look at a broken window. It probably wasn¡¯t that uncommon given the proximity of the dragon mountains but there were more mindwalkers in Myst than anywhere else, not to mention it wasn¡¯t really on the way.

    Kass nodded. ¡°Nin¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Cat put the car into gear and once again they were off.

 Volume 3, Chapter 50: Dollhouse

    Nin was a pretty town, Lots of orange-leafed trees and reasonably spaced two-story houses. Some of the smaller ones had white picket fences or honey-suckle lined front doorways. What few roads there were were better built, all tar-seal and no dirt, despite there being only a smattering of cars. The town was small enough that the locals could walk or bike or ride across it easily enough while the travellers mostly stuck to the centre of town or took one of the horse drawn carriages. Like Little Rock, Nin was full of transients. Unlike Little Rock whose visitors were mostly merchants and sailors, Nin was an academic tourist town. The sea met her from the northern side where the waters were calmer and more approachable than the south-eastern sea that bordered Little Rock. People flocked from all over to visit Nin¡¯s grand libraries and museums.

    Cat groaned as they turned on to Main Street and found themselves in an equine traffic jam.

    ¡°What¡¯s our cover story?¡± Kass asked, figuring they should probably be consistent.

    Cat shrugged. ¡°We¡¯re from Paradise and we¡¯re here to drive the Dragon Mountains.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s Paradise like?¡± Kass knew little about the place. She knew it was a large city known for its street racers, dried up lakes, and dirty underbelly but that was about all. Cat had lived there ages back but Kass herself had never been.

    ¡°Does it matter?¡± Cat scowled at the rear of the carriage in front of them. ¡°It¡¯s not like anybody¡¯s going to ask for details or would know if you got something wrong if they did. Just don¡¯t talk too much. Paradise is big, it varies.¡± Another shrug.

    ¡°We could say we¡¯re from Mercy.¡±

    ¡°Nobody street races in Mercy.¡± She gave another pointed scowl at the traffic then mumbled, ¡°At least they have cars there though. I don¡¯t get why they don¡¯t just move to cars here like everyone else.¡±

    ¡°Paradise and Mercy are far enough from the mountains,¡± Kass replied hesitantly. She figured Cat probably knew that and just wanted to vent. She wasn¡¯t completely certain though and her own tiredness made her focus on the more technically correct answer.

    ¡°We¡¯re far enough away here. They don¡¯t even really come into Little Rock, and that¡¯s closer to the mountains.¡±

    ¡°Is it?¡± Kass peered out the window at the surrounding landscape. The mountains looked pretty close to her.

    ¡°Those are hills,¡± Cat replied.

    Kass studied them. They were indeed shorter and more rounded than the peaks that surrounded the Greenstone Valley and Little Rock itself, but they were a lot closer and there was far less of the flat farmland in Nin. ¡°Hills can still have dragons,¡± she replied.

    Cat didn¡¯t argue with that, perhaps she was too tired, or perhaps it was cause at that moment the traffic started moving and up ahead a ¡®vacancy¡¯ sign came into view.

    ¡°How about that place?¡± Cat asked.

    ¡°Sure.¡± Kass didn¡¯t see any reason why not. It looked like it was one of several motels along here. Unlike some of the others further toward the centre of town, it was single story. It was simple and plain looking, and probably contained all the essentials they would need.

    Cat pulled up right in front of it.

    ¡°At least finding a place to park is easy,¡± Kass remarked.

    Cat just grunted.

    The reception was small and tidy. A stand with pamphlets was situated on the front counter. Behind it, a woman with medium length hair and glasses was sorting through some papers. She looked up as they entered and gave them a welcoming smile.

    ¡°Hi, how can I help you?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯d like a room for two, just the one night.¡± Cat leaned across the counter and barely managed to stifle a yawn.

    ¡°Sure thing. Um, we¡¯ve only got doubles is that okay or would you prefer a second room?¡±

    ¡°Doubles is fine,¡± Cat replied without pausing to think about it.

    ¡°Excellent, just bare with me a moment.¡± The woman tapped at some keys on her computer.

    Kass studied the pamphlets in a larger stand against the right hand wall. Evidently Nin was not far from some decent rivers and caves for several pamphlets promised white-water rafting and guided caving tours. Others were for the museums and of course, The Library. The world¡¯s largest collection of literature, from children¡¯s books to dark spells, some forbidden for public consumption. The Library of Nin dwarfed that of even the one in Myst.

    Kass reached for another pamphlet. She hadn¡¯t seen any evidence of any trams on the drive in but this pamphlet was titled, ¡®The world¡¯s most expansive underground tram network.¡¯

    ¡°There are trams here?¡± Kass asked.

    Cat spared her a tired glance.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    The lady behind the counter looked up from the computer with undisguised enthusiasm. ¡°Oh, yes. The entire city is built on an expansive cave network. The trams run all underneath us. Most of them were natural caves, carved out by dragons who have since moved on. There¡¯s wards that stop them getting too close, most of the time.¡±

    ¡°City?¡± Cat cocked an eyebrow. Kass thought she looked like she might fall asleep on the counter at any moment.

    ¡°Oh, well, I like to think of it as a city,¡± the receptionist replied with a giggle. More seriously she added. ¡°But it is a lot bigger than you think. Much of Nin is built underground. Some people live down there permanently.¡±

    ¡°Vampires?¡± Cat asked.

    The receptionist nodded, her eyes still on the computer screen this time. She tapped a few more keys. ¡°Yes, a fair few of them are. There we go, all checked in. You¡¯re in room 4. Now, we take at least half up front but if you want to pay everything now to save time on check out, that works too. The total comes to 42 coppers.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, all now sounds good.¡± Cat handed her a card.

    As they did the transaction, the receptionist remarked, ¡°If you¡¯re really looking for something exciting, you should check out the dragon museum. They have a life sized skeleton of one. They¡¯re really something different when you see them up close you know. Thank goodness for modern tech.¡±

    ¡°Yes, modern tech,¡± replied Cat in a somewhat sarcastic tone that the receptionist failed to notice.

    The receptionist handed them some keys. ¡°You just go through that door and straight ahead on the left,¡± she told them with a smile.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Kass replied since it didn¡¯t seem like Cat was going to give her much of a reply.

    Once they were out of earshot of the receptionist, as they unlocked the door to their room, Cat remarked with a slight grumble, ¡°They have wards to keep away the dragons and they still use horses to get around.¡±

    ¡°Well, it sounds like they actually use the trams to get around,¡± Kass replied. She pushed the door to their room in.

    There was one double bed, one ensuite bathroom, a couple of nightstands, small table for two, and an old telly, the sort with the large box out the back.

    Cat sat down on the bed and eyed the pillow longingly.

    ¡°I found a map in the pamphlet stand,¡± Kass told her brandishing the piece of folded paper and then placing it down on the small round table in the corner. ¡°And Oleary¡¯s Road is right here.¡± She glanced at Cat. Cat looked too tired to answer. ¡°You know I could take the car up there if you want to sleep?¡±

    Cat was quick to shake her head. ¡°No, I should go. We got their address through my contact, and it¡¯s my car.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Kass conceded.

    Cat remained seated on the bed.

    ¡°Are we going then?¡±

    ¡°Mmm, just give me a sec.¡± A second later, Cat got to her feet. She paused and then she looked at Kass. ¡°I should probably go alone. Less people with the car, the less we match the description from the compound if they send one out.¡±

    Kass hesitated. Cat was right. But Kass was also a little worried about her state right now.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you get us some food. I¡¯ll take the car out to the garage and meet you back here. Sound good?¡± Cat suggested.

    Kass nodded. Cat did seem a little more on her feet after the brief sit down and speeding up the getting of food would probably help. She doubted it would take Cat long to drop the car off. ¡°Okay.¡±

    <hr>

    After unloading their stuff from the car they went their separate ways. Kass walked along Main Street, looking for bakeries and cafes that were open and food that would stay good even if Cat did take a little longer. She found one with fresh croissants stuffed with bacon, tomato, and lettuce, which she bought two of from a very friendly lady. It seemed like everyone in this town was extra friendly.

    Figuring Cat probably wasn¡¯t back yet, she wandered a little further until she stood outside a large building with a big sign that read, ¡®Museum of Cursed and Unusual Artifacts.¡¯

    Curious, Kass walked up the front steps. The entrance way was intimidatingly large. A man in green suit greeted her. His name tag read ¡®Georgie.¡¯ Like many of the other residents he approached her with a large smile.

    ¡°Hello! Welcome to the Museum of Cursed and Unusual Artifacts, would you like to buy an entry ticket?¡± said Georgie.

    ¡°Sure, how much is it?¡±

    ¡°Only three coppers.¡±

    Kass¡¯s eyebrows went up. Accommodation had been cheap, she hadn¡¯t expected the museums to be that expensive but she supposed that they were Nin¡¯s main attraction and it wasn¡¯t like she minded supporting the museums. She considered the preservation of history to be a good thing. She fished around in her wallet and handed over some coins.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± He smiled and handed her a ticket. Then he pointed. ¡°Start through that way.¡±

    Kass walked though a large archway into a room filled with musical instruments. All of them were contained behind glass and when she peered up closely she could just make out strange inscriptions within the glass itself. Swirls that looked not quite like writing. If it was writing though, it was like none Kass had ever seen.

    The box in front of her read, ¡®The guitar that killed Nightingale Nigel!¡¯ Kass knew the name, knew his songs even. He¡¯d been a famous singer of the 70s who had died on stage electrocuted by his guitar. Kass hadn¡¯t thought there had been anything unusual about that, just an unfortunate accident, all too common back then. But the placard in front of her claimed otherwise. It stated that despite proper and safe wiring, this guitar was later discovered to have been cursed by someone. Although who the someone was had never been discovered.

    Kass wondered at the truth of it. Perhaps it was just for show. She wandered past several other exhibits, pausing to read a few of them. She passed a piano that was enchanted to make everyone who heard it dance continuously until the music stopped, a trombone that simply burst eardrums of those standing directly in front of it, and a triangle that when played with a specific tune summoned a sort of demon that relentlessly hunted the musician.

    Kass moved onto the next room. There she found toys and puzzles, an array of creepy looking dolls, and a life-sized replica of a clown that she knew Indi would have absolutely hated.

    She passed through a room filled with various plants. They even had a witch¡¯s weep in one corner, although it was much smaller than the one she¡¯d last encountered. She knew the glass was probably infused with some kind of binding magic or something that kept the plant contained and the guests safe but even so, the presence of it being so close unsettled Kass and she moved on quickly to the next room, all the while wondering if binding magic really could counter the plant or if that too would make it stronger. Perhaps that glass had just been painted with some kind of weed killer. Kass had little inclination to test it.

    She paused at a curtain that partially covered what looked like another hallway. Was that part of the museum too or was it closed off? She poked her head around the edge of it. She was about to leave, figuring Cat would probably be back soon, when she spotted something she recognised.

    An exquisite doll house sat behind one large pain of glass. A doll house that was a perfect replica of a house that Kass knew far more about than she desired, the Milton Estate.

 Volume 3, Chapter 51: Finders Keepers

    A voice made Kass jump.

    ¡°You¡¯re not supposed to be back here. This exhibit¡¯s not open yet.¡±

    Kass breathed an audible sigh of relief as she looked up to see another young man. This one was also dressed in a suit, only it was black instead of green and instead of a jacket he had on over the top of his shirt a vest with an excessive number of pockets. He wore no name tag.

    ¡°Oh, sorry. I wasn¡¯t sure what the curtain meant and then I saw this dollhouse.¡±

    The boy nodded. ¡°Mmm, it is very well built isn¡¯t it.¡± With pride he said, ¡°Did you know there is a life-sized one just like it in the town of Little Rock.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Kass played as the interested party. It wasn¡¯t hard. So this was where the contents of the house had ended up. She spared a brief glance around but couldn¡¯t see anything else she recognized.

    The boy nodded eagerly. ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s still being excavated at the moment and all the items are being cataloged and tested to ensure the ones we display can be adequately protected.¡±

    ¡°What does this one do?¡± Kass asked.

    The boy smiled like she¡¯d just asked him about his life¡¯s work. In a way, she supposed this was his life¡¯s work.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯re not completely sure yet but basically, it creates a doll of anyone who steps inside the house for the duration that they are inside the house, with the exception of certain rooms.¡±

    ¡°A poppet?¡± Kass asked.

    He shook his head. ¡°Not exactly. The dolls don¡¯t allow control or harm of the subject but they do show some interesting behaviour when removed from the dollhouse.¡±

    ¡°What happens?¡± Kass could guess but she wondered if he would have more information.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly but they are observed to vanish from the house completely. When the doll is put back in the house the subject reappears in the exact spot they were when they were removed with no memory of ever being gone. If you place them in a different spot then the doll itself and the person jump back to the old location, although it won¡¯t do it while being watched or filmed. Not sure why.¡±

    ¡°And if you destroy the doll while it¡¯s removed from the house?¡±

    ¡°Ah, well. Then the person stays gone.¡± He said this in a more morose tone than his previous excited statements had been.

    A chill went through Kass. ¡°How do you test something like that?¡± she asked, afraid of what the answer would be.

    The boy was silent awhile then he replied, ¡°We trick it into thinking an animal is a person. We noticed that it didn¡¯t seem to register shapeshifters so we thought if we temporarily transfigure a cat into a person then it would generate a doll.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t even know you could do that,¡± Kass replied.

    She could sense the boy watching her reaction closely. He seemed a little worried and perhaps was now reconsidering how much he was supposed to be telling someone he didn¡¯t know. Evidentially his enthusiasm had gotten the better of his common sense before.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s very difficult magic. Very very difficult...¡± he trailed off.

    ¡°Why do you display them?¡± Kass asked, pushing her luck just a little further.

    At this question, the boy seemed to perk back up again. Perhaps it was the just the question about their experimental methods that had put him on edge?

    ¡°To educate people. Many are completely unaware of the dangers of cursed objects and blood magic. All too often people will stumble across or inherit something dodgy, perhaps from a family member who liked to practise unsanctioned blood magic. Or they¡¯re a wannabe sorcerer who thinks the hardest part of blood magics is sourcing the ingredients and performing the sacrifice. For a small fee we can test items and remove or neutralise curses. The more people who are aware of the dangers, the more who will come to us first and then less people will get hurt meddling with things they don¡¯t understand. Plus, it¡¯s good income.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t worry about giving people ideas?¡±

    He shook his head. ¡°We don¡¯t tell them how to make them and I think it¡¯s better they know what¡¯s out there. Besides, evil can be very creative when it comes to causing pain. Good, not so much. They can¡¯t imagine wanting to hurt others in the first place so of course they don¡¯t think of ways to do it. We put the innocent and the good on even footing.¡±

    Kass smiled softly. She didn¡¯t think it was that simple but she didn¡¯t want to sour the boy¡¯s seemingly good mood. She did have a few more questions for him though.

    ¡°So, you guys are what people call the Librarians?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what some people call us yes.¡±

    ¡°What do you call yourselves?¡±

    ¡°Well, The Librarians is the larger organisation, the Keepers of knowledge, but for those of us that go out in the field, we like to think of ourselves as The Archaeologists, or The Finders. It depends who you talk to. The Finders and Keepers,¡± he proclaimed with a smile. ¡°We find stuff and the Keepers keep it safe.¡±

    ¡°But you sell stuff too right?¡±

    He nodded. ¡°Sometimes, if it¡¯s deemed safe enough and not of historical value. Sometimes we come across stuff that is uniquely made, which even we don¡¯t always understand. There is much that is still unknown about magic and much that was lost in the post splice wars.¡±

    ¡°Do you ever work with the sorcerers?¡±

    He hesitated briefly. ¡°Sometimes. We do trade information and items sometimes but we have to be careful. We¡¯re considered an independent organisation you see and we have slightly different philosophies from the sorcerers. Information sharing is important but we have to make sure it¡¯s done equally.¡±

    ¡°You mean between the politicians and the aristocrats as well?¡±

    He nodded. ¡°And others. We are a global organisation after all.¡±

    ¡°So, what happens if you find something that the sorcerers want?¡±

    ¡°It depends what it is. Sometimes we loan items out under sufficient collateral. If it¡¯s small sometimes we just sell but all purchases must follow an approval process and we weigh up how much different known groups have received. Sometimes those quotas are reduced as penalties if there has been a previous failure to abide by our rules. Information on sales is completely public to members as well but there is an approval process for that, if you¡¯re interested in joining. The fee is pretty small and you get information to quite a vast number of resources. You can actually find all the information you need about the application process online.¡±

    Kass didn¡¯t bother telling him she was already a member. She figured it was about time she headed back to the motel. Cat was probably be wondering where she was. She simply thanked the boy for his time and then headed back out into the street.

    When she got back to the motel she found Cat had indeed already returned and had fallen asleep on top of the duvet.

    Kass set the croissants on the table and quietly sat down to eat her one. She figured Cat needed her rest and she could eat once she woke up.

    She was almost done eating when she heard some raised voices coming from outside and in the direction of the reception area.

    Curious, Kass cracked the door open to see if she could hear what was being said.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    The receptionist¡¯s voice drifted down from reception. ¡°I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re damn Guardian, you don¡¯t get in here unless you¡¯re a guest or you have a warrant.¡±

    A man¡¯s voice followed in reply. ¡°Mam, this is a military operation. All I need to know is if you have any guests that match these descriptions.¡±

    ¡°And I told you already, if I go giving out information on my guests willy nilly to every man dressed in uniform who walks in here then soon I won¡¯t have any left. Now, do you want a room or not?¡±

    Kass silently wished for him to go on his way. She got what she wanted and after a few more words the military man eventually gave up and the slam of the door could be heard.

    Cautiously, Kass left the room and made her way to the reception. She stuck her head inside. There was no sign of the man but the receptionist did look up as Kass poked her nose in.

    The receptionist¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. From that reaction, Kass had no doubt that the woman knew that her and Cat were the people the man had been looking for.

    Kass gave a slightly exaggerated sigh of relief and rolled her eyes. ¡°Ugh, was that a guy in military attire?¡± She shook her head feigning disbelief. ¡°My friend and camped one night in the desert on our way here. We heard the sunsets were really nice out there. But not long after we¡¯d got our camp set up this group of guys come by, all in military attire. I don¡¯t know if they were or not, and initially they were kinda friendly but then they start hitting on us and eventually they started to get a little creepy. We snuck away in the middle of the night just cause we were worried they were going to follow us in the morning.¡±

    ¡°Oh my gosh, you poor dears!¡± exclaimed the receptionist as she put a hand to her mouth. ¡°Do you want me to call the cops?¡±

    Kass quickly shook her head. ¡°Oh no, it¡¯s fine. We¡¯re pretty tired so we¡¯re mostly going to sleep today and since they don¡¯t know we¡¯re here then I expect they¡¯ll move on.¡±

    The receptionist nodded. ¡°Oh of course.¡± She put her hands on her chest. ¡°This is why guest privacy is so important. Listen, I¡¯m just going to be out the back but if there¡¯s anything you girls need at all, just ring the bell on the front desk.¡±

    Kass politely thanked her. The moment the receptionist had disappeared out the back, Kass¡¯s smile fell away. She eyed the front window and cautiously approached. Carefully she peered out into the street but she could see no sign of the military man anywhere.

    Feeling a little more relaxed she headed back toward their room. The space between each room and the reception was open to a small grassy outdoor area. The walkway was covered but well-lit from the sun that spilled down from above. The courtyard ended against a two story high building painted with exquisite graffiti like artwork of some open plains with brightly coloured birds flying about. Each room had a little window that looked out into the courtyard, and at the end of the corridor, just past room six, the walkway disappeared into a small tunnel with rooms on either side. Kass wasn¡¯t sure where that went as she hadn¡¯t checked out the rear of the building.

    She considered it now. If there was a rear exit, that would be useful knowledge to have. But just as she was standing outside the door to their room and debating doing just that, a man stepped from that very corridor. A man wearing military attire.

    Before the soldier could react Kass had thrown him in to the wall of the next building. His head made a lod crack against the stone and left a bloody red patch high up on the wall.

    ¡°Shit!¡± Kass cursed under her breath.

    She hadn''t intended to kill the guy, just to pin him and knock the air out of him so he could not cry out. But she had little control over his rotation and the angle he hit the wall at proved quickly fatal.

    She glanced around to check if anyone had seen anything but the rooms all looked dark except for room 2 which had the curtains pulled.

    Kass somehow managed to telekinetically lift up the man¡¯s body and move him back into their room, past a still sleeping Cat, and into the bathroom. She had to do so very slowly so as not to accidentally crash him into anything. It took her far longer than was ideal. But it seemed Cat was a deep sleeper, and no one emerged from any of the other rooms.

    She paused a moment to catch her breath. Now, at least he wasn¡¯t in a public area where someone would stumble across him. Immediate crisis had been resolved. There was however, a dead body in their motel bathroom. She needed to resolve this issue and fast.

    Kass shut the bathroom door and returned to the small quad. She wiped up what blood drops she could but there was still that smear high up. It wasn¡¯t immediately obvious though and people were rarely that observant. She considered throwing a cup of water at it, but at that height she worried she¡¯d smash the cup. Besides, if anyone saw it, they would probably just think it was from a bird that had hit the wall.

    She felt very little as she went about this process. Her mind forgot all emotion and fixated on the practical aspects. What to do next, each action involved. How to minimise the risks. Step 1 was usually to minimise the people involved.

    Kass returned to the reception and rang the bell. A moment later the receptionist appeared, as perky and happy as always.

    Kass fell into a role, something she often did for court. She wasn¡¯t herself but someone else who she was playing. An act expertly performed.

    She smiled warmly at the receptionist and then she rolled her eyes. ¡°So, it seems my friend has developed a bad case of the snoring. I think I¡¯d like to take that second room after all if you¡¯ve got one.¡±

    ¡°Oh, certainly. That¡¯s no problem. Room 5 is available, right next door. How¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s perfect.¡±

    ¡°Would you like two keys still?¡±

    ¡°Yes please?¡± Kass figured that option would be the less suspicious one.

    The receptionist retrieved the key.

    ¡°Here you go,¡± she said, handing it over to Kass. ¡°Did you wish to pay for this room now or later?¡±

    Kass gave her a warm smile. One that never faltered for a second. ¡°Thank you. Now is good.¡± Kass handed her 3 silver pieces and 8 copper. She hoped the woman didn¡¯t mind that it was in cash. Cat had already used her card but it was still better for them to keep as low a profile as possible.

    Kass returned to their shared room a moment later, pleased to find that Cat was still fast asleep. Quietly and quickly she moved the body from one room¡¯s bathroom to the other. She spun the guy upright using her telekinesis to shift him between the rooms. She made it look like she was helping him walk from one room to the other, as if he were simply drunk and not dead. Normally it would be safest for her to touch the body as little as possible but the risk of being seen outweighed the risk of transferring evidence between them, besides she wasn¡¯t planning on leaving the body around as evidence.

    She left his body in the other bathroom tub with the door shut, pulled the curtains, hung up the ¡®do not disturb¡¯ sign, and then returned to their own room. He¡¯d been heavy and even with the help of her telekinesis it had been difficult. His head wound had dripped all over her. At least her clothes were black but it would still be prudent to wash them out as soon as possible, plus she needed to clean out their shared tub.

    She was half way across the room with a spare change of clothes when Cat stirred.

    Kass froze, then kept moving. Even if Cat was waking up, there was nothing that suspicious about taking a shower and the closer she was to the bathroom, the less likely Cat was to notice the blood.

    Kass paused once more at the bathroom entrance, but it seemed like Cat had just been moving in her sleep for she had fallen mostly silent again.

    Kass disappeared into the bathroom. She got in the shower with all her clothes on and she made sure she scrubbed that tub well, until not a drop of blood could be seen or smelt.

    It didn¡¯t take her long but by the time she stepped out of the bathroom, Cat was sitting up on the bed, her dark hair looking ruffled. She looked at Kass with a puzzled, tired expression.

    ¡°I was just taking a shower,¡± Kass explained as she dropped her toiletries back into her duffle bag.

    Cat made a sort of grunting sound and the next minute she was leaping off the bed and had soon locked herself in the bathroom.

    Kass gave a surprised look at the bathroom door.

    A moment later, vomiting sounds could be heard coming from the bathroom.

    Kass relaxed, just standard pregnancy nausea probably. For a moment Kass had forgotten about that. Her mind had been so fixated on the dead guy next door, she thought for a second that maybe Cat had been suspicious.

    Cat emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later and sat on the bed with a soft groan.

    ¡°You alright?¡± Kass asked.

    Cat just gave a single nod. Then she frowned, and her gaze, now a little more alert, shifted toward the bathroom door and then back to Kass. ¡°Did you wash your clothes?¡±

    Kass shrugged nonchalantly. ¡°Yeah, I was wearing them when I was shooting last night. Figured I¡¯d wash the gun powder residue off them.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°Sorry I wasn¡¯t here when you got back before. I got distracted by one of the museums. It had some stuff from the Milton house in it.¡±

    ¡°It did?¡±

    Kass nodded. ¡°It makes sense. Nin is the home of the Librarians and that¡¯s who Coal called to handle the house.¡±

    ¡°Mmm.¡± Cat frowned. She still had a confused look on her face. ¡°They were showing the stuff in a museum?¡±

    ¡°Well, out the back technically. I chatted to a guy about it for awhile.¡±

    Cat¡¯s gaze slid toward the uneaten croissant on the table.

    ¡°I got you food but you were asleep when I got back.¡±

    Cat nodded but didn¡¯t make a move toward it.

    ¡°You should probably eat something. It¡¯ll help with the nausea,¡± Kass told her. She hoped that was all it was. Cat wasn¡¯t usually so out of it. ¡°You weren¡¯t hit or anything during the escape were you?¡± Kass couldn¡¯t see any sign of blood or injury on Cat.

    ¡°Huh? Cat looked momentarily confused then she shook her head. ¡°No.¡± She gave a sort of wry laugh. ¡°I don¡¯t know who decided to call it morning sickness. It¡¯s so fucking random.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s normal. So¡¯s the tiredness,¡± Kass said with a soft and sympathetic smile. ¡°But the food will help, trust me.¡±

    Cat eyed it suspiciously. ¡°I¡¯m not so sure about that.¡±

    ¡°Just eat it in small bites. If you want anything else I can get it for you. I was thinking of grabbing some more food, maybe something for tomorrow too so we can leave early?¡±

    Cat nodded. With a sigh she got up off the bed, grabbed the croissant and then sat back down. ¡°Garage won¡¯t be open until 7 but that¡¯s probably not a bad idea. It¡¯ll mean we can leave faster.¡± She unwrapped the croissant, sniffed it cautiously, then with a satisfied and hungry expression, took a large bite.

    Kass nodded, satisfied that Cat didn¡¯t look like she wanted to join on the excursion. ¡°I¡¯ll be back soon.¡± She was out the door before Cat could change her mind about tagging along. It wasn¡¯t just food she was planning on getting. She needed something to dissolve the body next door. She knew of a few chemicals that would do the trick and it was a university town so there should be someone who sold what she needed, it was just a matter of finding out who.

 Volume 3, Chapter 52: The Body In The Bathtub

    Kass gave the street a good study before she went out into it. Keeping her eyes peeled for anymore soldiers, she took a walk around. She stopped to ask a few people a question or two. She played the part of new student looking for books because whoever sold the sorts of books a student of Nin would want probably knew where to find chemical supplies. Some, like hydrofluric acid, she would need to show ID to buy. Kass was pretty confident she had a good grasp on which ones could be purchased without ID. Sulfuric acid, for example, would also do the trick and was much less likely to raise any questions. The problem was, she¡¯d likely need four times as much of it and in those sorts of quantities it was little more obvious. Not to mention it was more than she could carry in one trip. If not for the need for ID, 50 litres of hydrofluric acid would be the better choice. She¡¯d suss out their purchase processes before she decided. She was confident she would be able to figure something out.

    There was still the problem of disposal of course but it didn¡¯t take her too long to learn where a chemistry lab was located. A friendly chat with a nearby animal rights protester led to information about their disposal system and a location of where she might leave an empty barrel undetected. There was still the issue of transport but Kass had a solution for that already in the form of a dimensional sack. It wouldn¡¯t fit much more than a single barrel, nor would it reduce the weight, but it would would work well enough for what she had in mind. What she needed next was a disguise.

    She stopped by a hat store and bought a hat, along with a pair of sunglasses. She made sure they stuck out. If her temporary clothing was easy to remember then the rest of her would be more forgettable. Next she grabbed the food she¡¯d told Cat she was getting. She¡¯d face questions if she returned to the motel room without that. She checked the time. This wasn¡¯t a quick process but if Cat was watching the time she figured she could jut make an excuse about getting distracted by the sights again. She took note to be aware of her surroundings just in case more details were needed.

    Next, she found ¡®Warren¡¯s Warlock¡¯s Emporium¡¯ which from a glance in the window appeared to have a chemicals and blood section. Inside, she found another section dedicated toward infusements and she briefly wondered if a proper shifted or glamour disguise wouldn¡¯t be better, but she had little experience with that sort of magic and the prices were prohibitive.

    Without being obvious she watched as a few students came in a made some purchases, one for a few litres of blood. The guy at the counter didn¡¯t seem to be checking ID that closely which gave Kass a more solidified plan.

    Initially she¡¯d been thinking about paying a student to purchase it for her but that was risky. Possibly even riskier than just buying it herself with her own ID given the guy at the counter didn¡¯t appear to actually be recording who bought what. He was supposed to but then this was Nin, not Mercy and these sorts of purchases were probably common. If it had been Myst, they wouldn¡¯t even be asking for ID because you¡¯d have to be either insane or very skilled to get away with murder in a city of sorcerers. Nin was a nice middle ground.

    Kass didn¡¯t need her own ID though. She had a few fakes, nothing that would pass a check on the computer but it would do for a simple glance. She hoped the warlock who owned the place was consistent.

    She watched a few more purchases take place just to be sure. It was risky staying in the store longer but there were enough customers and she borrowed time browsing some infused necklaces. She considered buying a cheap one. Maybe she could learn to use them? But when she found the price tag she scratched that idea. The cheapest one was 60 gold, over 200 times the price of their motel room. She knew they weren¡¯t that expensive back in Little Rock. That didn¡¯t make sense to her though. Surely with Myst so close, infuesments should be cheaper here? Perhaps this was just a more upmarket store with higher quality infusements? She didn¡¯t have the skills to be able to tell the quality of these though and that was the other thing that put her off. Another option was that they were just more regulated here. She wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if most of the infusements sold in Little Rock were done so without a license.

    Kass did hunt around for a few other things, things that would make the hydrofluric acid a little less suspicious. By the time she reached the counter she¡¯d witnessed at least three other people buying blood and only getting their ID checked but not recorded. She hoped the process would be the same for the acid. Based on her knowledge of the law it wasn¡¯t a bad assumption.

    She handed over one of her fake Ids. As with the other customers the guy at the counter gave it the barest of glances. At 10 gold, the acid wasn¡¯t cheap either but it wasn¡¯t like she spent her money on much else, and she at least knew what she was doing with this stuff. He didn¡¯t bat an eyelid when she lifted the barrel into her tiny sack and it promptly disappeared. The thing still weighed about 50 kg but Kass used her telekinesis to help with that. Now she just looked like a regular person walking down the street with a small parachute bag.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    She made it back to the motel and ducked past their shared room, moving fast past their window and keeping her head shielded by the hat in case Cat was looking out. In the second room she locked the door behind herself and set the food aside on the table for now. She extracted the barrel from the bag, set it on the floor, and paused to consider how to best do this.

    There wasn¡¯t enough acid in the barrel to cover the body but she hadn¡¯t wanted to risk getting two barrels. It would likely need to be sped up with agitation and she¡¯d probably need to rotate the body occasionally. Her telekinesis could probably help with that but she¡¯d still need to be careful and she wasn¡¯t quite skilled enough to do it without line of sight which meant she¡¯d need to be in the room occasionally. Even at a distance which her telekinesis would let her keep, hydrofluric acid was still dangerous. The gases were extremely toxic.

    Plus there was the smell. She¡¯d grabbed some safety gear at the store, a decent mask and gloves. But there remained the question of whether or not she should open the window while this was occurring. Keeping the gases enclosed made this more dangerous for her but opening it ran the risk of someone else smelling it.

    She had the mask she figured. Opening a window probably wouldn¡¯t reduce the toxic gases that much but she would need to open the door occasionally and the smell would still get out then, and that was probably more obvious to a passerby than at the window. She also wasn¡¯t sure about the bathtub. She¡¯d witnessed hydrofluric acid used to dispose of bodies in tubs before but not all tubs were necessarily made of the same material. Had the ones they¡¯d used in the north been porcelain? She studied the one in the bathroom. It looked to be a similar material but she knew very little about material science. What if there were different types of porcelain or different materials that looked the same? She should probably do a small test first. That wouldn¡¯t show long term damage but she didn¡¯t really have a better way to predict that. She¡¯d just have to take the risk.

    So, back to the window. She hopped up onto the tub, opened it and peered out. It opened not far away from the wall of the neighbouring building. Looking up and down the thin gap between the two buildings she could see the other room¡¯s windows and she could stick her head out far enough to have a good line of sight. Perhaps that was the solution? She could leave this one closed but unlatched while she wasn¡¯t in the room then open and close it from a distance a little bit before she needed to enter. She¡¯d keep the internal bathroom door closed as well, to keep the smell and gases in as much as possible. As long as the smell wasn¡¯t prolonged most people would probably ignore it.

    She had several hours. That would hopefully be long enough. And for most of that time she¡¯d keep the smell contained. That did mean she probably shouldn¡¯t return to this room often. Maybe she could do a single airing and check in the middle of the night? That was probably wise, just in case things weren¡¯t going to plan and she needed to think of a new strategy.

    The last thing she did before getting the chemicals was go through the man¡¯s pockets. She found his wallet and ID. Sergent John Grady was his name. She took in a shaky breath. It was never a good idea to find out their names. Even worse was the picture of his family tucked neatly into one pocket of his wallet.

    She sat down on the edge of the bathtub to rest for a moment. She hadn¡¯t meant to kill him, at least not that quickly but there hadn¡¯t really been another option. He was chasing them. Whether rightly so or not it didn¡¯t matter. In that moment it had been him or her. Everyone died eventually, all she¡¯d done was change the timing. And now she had a job to finish.

    A familiar cold washed over Kass. A calm so perfect that nothing could have disrupted it. What¡¯s done was done. All that remained were the next steps. But as she wheeled the barrel of acid into the bathroom she found her hands shaking. She set it down. This would not do. For a moment it was as if she hadn¡¯t moved, hadn¡¯t left the north. This was just another job for someone else, for a greater purpose, but Kass couldn¡¯t remember what that was. She hesitated.

    Protect Jesse? Was that her goal now? She was as much a danger to him as she was protection. What if she brought this new threat home? Had going into the desert been a mistake? What about those creatures underground?

    She looked at the body in the tub and found she didn¡¯t feel much with regards to him anymore. It was if he were distant, non-existent. She needed to get rid of the evidence. Right now, nothing else mattered. Time was ticking.

    She put on her mask, then removed the lid from the acid. With steady hands and renewed focus she lifted the barrel. She could have done it from a distance but she didn¡¯t trust the control she had over her telekinesis for that. She used just enough to make the barrel easier to lift but not so much to unbalance it.

    The liquid was clear like water, so innocuous looking. She knew it smelt a little like vinegar but her mask prevented any of the scent making it¡¯s way to her nostrils. The acid didn¡¯t quite cover the body but as it dissolved it should flow over. That, and she¡¯d make sure to come and turn the body later. She could use her telekinesis for that as long as she was careful. For now she simply stirred it up with the wave of a hand. Maybe with a good enough mental image of the bath tub she could do it from the other room? It was probably better not to. She hadn¡¯t done anything like that before and hydrofluric acid wasn¡¯t the best first experimental substance to try it on.

    She left all but the mask in the bathroom and closed the door. The mask she sat on the floor near the front entrance and out of sight of anyone peering in the window. She took the food she left on the table with her and ducked back beneath the window to their shared room. She needn¡¯t have worried about keeping out of sight. Cat was asleep once again when she returned.

 Volume 3, Chapter 53: The Dead May Rise For Questioning

    Late on Thursday Night Amanda made her way to the local town morgue. The sun had set not long ago and purple streaks still highlighted the edges of the sky. She cast a quick eye about but the nearby street was empty. She¡¯d parked her horse down by the bar which was where she planned to head after for a few games of poker, maybe a drink or two. She¡¯d technically already broken her promise to Gemma, not that she thought the girl had noticed, so really what was a few drinks as long as she kept it to just that? But before she could relax there was work to do.

    She pushed her way inside the morgue with the barest of plans in mind. In her experience, something based in truth was usually the most convincing. She figured getting someone to let her see the body wouldn¡¯t be too difficult. She considered Lily family now, and so by extension then, so was Cornelius O''Hara. Family could usually view a corpse without needing to show too much proof. Hell, if you spun a sob story well enough about how you knew the victim they were usually pretty lax. Worst come to worst, bribery sometimes worked. It had worked before, when they¡¯d had bodies they wanted to look at, but she¡¯d also been kicked out of the morgue before too.

    The problem was, this time she didn¡¯t just want to look. She wanted to perform a resurrection and for that she would need a reasonable about of time alone with the body. A few minutes she could probably snag but more than that was going to be a challenge, one she was still trying to figure out as she approached the reception desk.

    A young girl with dark mousy blonde hair and sad sombre sort of a smile glanced up.

    ¡°How may I help you?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m here to see a body. Cornelius O''Hara.¡± Amanda told her no more than was required. Let the girl ask the questions. It was better not to lie if she didn¡¯t have to.

    ¡°Cornelius O''Hara?¡±

    A strange look came over the girl¡¯s face and for a moment Amanda worried that perhaps he had been moved already.

    But then the girl smiled, a wide and welcoming smile. ¡°Of course. Follow me.¡±

    Surprised that was all it had taken, Amanda didn¡¯t look the gift horse in the mouth. Her focus was still on how she was going to get this girl to leave her alone with body. There was also the issue of what state the body would be in once she was done with it.

    It wasn¡¯t until they were half way down the hallway that Amanda realised the girl hadn¡¯t made her sign in. Always in the past there had been a sign in process. But it had been awhile since she¡¯d been here, perhaps their system had changed? She glanced about for cameras but could not see any. She doubted the council could afford anything hidden. Besides, given how Coal¡¯s jobs had occasionally required them to pay a visit to the morgue, she suspected he, and the other aristocrats, preferred no one look to closely at what went on here. This time, however, she was going behind his back. Indeed, if it weren¡¯t for the location the body had been found in, she would have suspected that it was Coal who put the body here. Truthfully, she still wasn¡¯t certain that it wasn¡¯t. Tonight she would find out though, and she¡¯d get answers about exactly how Lily has been resurrected. Answers that maybe, just maybe could help her save Lily.

    The morgue attendant took Amanda to an L shaped room where square silver drawers lined the walls. It was much colder in here than it had been outside. She felt her larger of her two satchels moving in response to the temperature drop, shivering maybe. It reminded her of what she had come here to do. She did not shiver, she had come prepared. Except, she still hadn¡¯t figured out how to ensure enough time alone with the body.

    ¡°Cornelius O''Hara is in that one.¡± The girl pointed at one silver door, one square up from the floor. ¡°I¡¯ll leave you alone now.¡±

    Amanda watched her go in surprise. She hadn¡¯t expected that. Usually they waited unless you requested them to leave and that wasn¡¯t a guarantee. Things had been weirdly easy tonight. Amanda didn¡¯t dwell on it though. She had no idea how long the girl would be gone for and she planned to make the most of the time she could, even if it meant she got kicked out half way through. Resurrections were illegal without a license but she could burn any evidence quick enough if she needed to, then the most she might face was a charge for corpse desecration.

    She had brought two bags with her. One full of ingredients, dried flowers and powders that she wasn¡¯t sure were needed but which she dare not risk leaving out, as well as a book with incantations which she was also uncertain were necessary. She had begun to get a sense lately that it was less about the ingredients and more about the thought process but she couldn¡¯t be certain, for thoughts were hard to replicate and seemed themselves somewhat related to the act of carrying out the spell. There was one thing however which she was certain of, and that was the blood. All spells required blood, whether the caster¡¯s own or that of another.

    She followed the spell¡¯s instructions to the letter. It was safer that way, if a little more expensive given some of the ingredients, but tonight she was taking no chances.

    She brought along an infusement stone as well. There was a time when she had thought that all spells required infusement, as well as some form of the raw power, in this case necromancy magic. This too was something she was not longer certain of. She¡¯d noticed Katrina mixing magics in a way that almost made something new, and magic itself varied so substantially across people even within what they called a singular type of power, and yet they could often achieve the same effects. There needed to be a relationship though, that much was obvious. Perhaps with the right focus a telekinetic could create flight but no matter how she looked at it she could not see how a firestarter might create life. The power had to relate to the outcome and tonight was not the night to test it and so she had acquired a necromancy infusement at some cost.

    They quality of the magic in bone she had purchased was questionable but she had noticed that as she had aged the infusements and tools she needed no longer had to be as powerful as they once did. These days, a small infusement stone, the barest minimum was all she needed to create a spark to bind the spell and she wondered if one day perhaps she could do without one at all.

    But they did make things easier and the easier a spell, the less energy and the less blood it needed, almost as if there was a trade off, up to a point. The effect definitely tapered off and Amanda has been disinclined to waste that many raw infusement stones just to test a theory. They did not come cheap. Infusements themselves were made by infusers but no one knew how the raw infusement stones were made, no one but the sorcerers and they guarded that secret closely, but sometimes Amanda wondered if there weren¡¯t blood in the making of those too.

    She lay the ingredients out as instructed. She¡¯d memorised most of these steps so she could perform quickly and with only the barest of glances at the book.

    From the second bag she pulled a live rabbit. Dead worked too but live was better. Fresh blood held more power. It squirmed in her hands as if it knew what was coming.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡®Sorry, and thank you,¡¯ she thought to it, and then she slit it¡¯s throat.

    She lay it on the floor where the blood could spill out naturally as the book instructed. As the flow slowed she reached forward with ungloved hands, also as the book instructed, and painted around the rabbit¡¯s body a sort of incomplete circle, wavy in places and broken in others. This spell would not last forever, certainly not this long after death and with only a rabbit as a sacrifice, but Amanda only needed a few minutes. Just enough to time to gather whatever information she could.

    With bloodied hands she pulled open the drawer, half worried the morgue attendant had gotten the wrong one. Even as the drawer pulled out Amanda could not be certain this was the correct body. It looked like no man ever should, all bloated and decaying. He had been lying in a swap for sometime. The flesh had soaked up the swamp water and the fish had nibbled little bits off his face. A name tag on his toe suggested this was the right person but the only way Amanda could be sure was to ask him and so with the blood from the rabbit she anointed his rotting flesh and then she chanted the words.

    For a time nothing happened. The still silence of the morgue appeared to echo indefinitely and the air grew ever so slightly warmer. For several seconds neither the living of the dead stirred, until the body suddenly sputtered and spat fowl-smelling swamp water into the air. Then it sat up and it looked around.

    Amanda kept her distance and her hand at the ready, just in case.

    ¡°Are you Cornelius O''Hara?¡± she asked, doing her best to ignore the ever increasing smell of decay or the literal emptiness of the eye sockets that looked at her. She did briefly wonder if he still could see at all. At least his ears and mouth looked for the most part intact, even if his nose holes were a little larger than they should have been.

    The corpse made another sort of splutter and then something that sounded like it was trying to clear its throat. Then, in a guttural sort of voice, one that sounded a little rusty, it spoke.

    ¡°Who¡¯s asking?¡±

    ¡°My name is Amanda. I have your daughter Lily. I took her from that facility, the one where you resurrected her. Now she¡¯s in danger and I need your help to save her.¡±

    ¡°Lily...¡± the corpse croaked.

    It sounded like he understood and that he was lucid enough for her purposes but for how long she had no idea. His external flesh had made no reparations but it was not what she had been focusing on restoring. She didn¡¯t bother beating around the bush or waiting for any further reply. Instead she got straight into her questions, starting with the easy ones.

    ¡°I have questions and we don¡¯t have a lot of time. Who killed you?¡±

    There was a pause and Amanda worried perhaps the spell hadn¡¯t worked well enough. But then he answered. ¡°The aristocrat. Coal Chase.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    He hesitated. ¡°He didn¡¯t like that I tried to use you as components in the spell.¡±

    ¡°He didn¡¯t know about that? When you hired him.¡±

    His voice grew a little smoother, still not perfect but clearer with a slight catch, almost as if his vocal chords had remembered how to work and they were doing the best with what they had. The new clarity of his tone contrasted with the state of his face.

    ¡°I told him we had a monster loose, which was true. The mimics had escaped and it was a problem that needed dealing with. I figured two birds one stone. But that damn Trevor was taking his time. He was supposed to help corral them into one area, along with you lot, but he kept making excuses like the place itself was fighting back or something stupid like that. The blood has to be relatively fresh though and I was running out of time, what with when the previous sacrifices had been made, and the scientists were getting shitty that their damn pets were still on the loose.¡±

    ¡°Their pets? The mimics?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I didn¡¯t really expect you to be able to get them back but I was so close and, I told the aristocrat I needed someone with a lot of power. I figured, a couple of powerful witches and that¡¯d be enough.¡±

    ¡°They were experimenting on the mimics?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What were they testing?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. That¡¯s not my department. I was just borrowing the facility in exchange for money. Look, a few months back, before the accident, the Department of Transportation got a huge cut in funding-¡±

    Amanda waved a hand. ¡°I don¡¯t care about Mercy politics. What were the other components of the spell? What else did you do to make it work?¡±

    ¡°No, listen, this is important. One of the guys in the transportation department died very recently. The circumstances of his death got covered up but there were rumours, even before he died, that someone from the Department of Necromancy ordered a hit out on him.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly but he did have some very controversial ideas.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    ¡°He wanted to regulate teleporation the same way necromancy is. And he wanted to create a more accessible bridge between the two worlds, reassimilate us with the old world. The transportation department¡¯s been researching the splice for years but they didn¡¯t really start making progress until several months ago. He made a big announcement about some important discovery they¡¯d found, then suddenly went on sabbatical to write some book. He never came back.¡±

    ¡°Shit.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°So he had supporters, none who can really take his place, but rumours got around and if they start making noise... things in Mercy are delicate at the moment, there a plenty of people looking for an excuse... if it had gotten out that one department ordered a hit on another...¡±

    ¡°Okay, so what does this have to do with the splice and your spell?¡±

    ¡°Well, things kind of fell apart in the transportation department. I¡¯m with Department of Finances. I move the money. I oversee purchases. I rub elbows with people from every department. Everything goes through me but I¡¯m relatively out of the public eye. When I lost my wife and child, a close friend of mine in the Transportation Department said he could help me out in return for a few favors. I shift some money about and he¡¯ll let me use the facility.¡±

    Cornelius paused and took a deep breath.

    ¡°Go on,¡± Amanda encouraged.

    ¡°Some more deals were made and in exchange I acquired some spells from the history department, criminals from the rehabilitation department, and silence from the poodle department.¡±

    ¡°Where are those spells now?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re in the facility, buried beneath the rubble. We could have worked together back then you know.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who fled.¡±

    He nodded. ¡°I was trying to find my wife. I don¡¯t know why it didn¡¯t work. Even without you lot, it should have been plenty. I wasn¡¯t skimping.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t have a necro.¡±

    ¡°I did. The twins. One¡¯s a seer, one¡¯s a necro.¡± He sighed. ¡°But not a very good one. They shared powers you know. In close proximity each of them could do what the other could. Their whole lives they¡¯d pretended like they had the same power but all along, they¡¯d been sharing. People aren¡¯t a big fan of necros in Mercy you see so they acted like they were both seers but I think they made each other weaker too.¡±

    ¡°You killed one of them?¡±

    He nodded. ¡°I thought it would make the other twin stronger, give her both her sister¡¯s powers.¡±

    ¡°Did it?¡±

    He was silent for a while and then he groaned. His expression twisted. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± He shook his shoulder and then he twitched slightly.

    Amanda took a small step back. Her spell was wearing off. She didn¡¯t have much time. ¡°Even if it had worked, what was your plan? Where were you going to go? How were you going to make it last?¡±

    ¡°We were going to meet a friend in Witchaven. Hide among the humans for awhile. Part of the spell, made Lily human, took her powers, in exchange for her life.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not human. It didn¡¯t work.¡±

    ¡°The friend we were going to meet there said he had a back up plan, in case things went wrong, a way to make it last.¡±

    ¡°Which friend?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Argo organised it.¡±

    He folded over then and grunted. He rolled his neck, then he seemed to come right again, at least for now.

    ¡°Where is Lily? What happened to her?¡± he asked.

    ¡°She¡¯s safe.¡± Amanda told him.

    He looked straight at her. She still didn¡¯t think he could see. He was probably just looking in the direction of her voice. ¡°Look after her for me. Please?¡±

    Amanda nodded. ¡°I will.¡±

    Relief filled his face, what little of it what left, and then a moment later it was gone, replaced by something inhuman and hungry. He growled and his half eaten nostrils twitched in her direction.

    The spell had run out of energy.

    With a slight wave of the hand Amanda set him on fire. She closed her eyes briefly and then opened them again and forced herself to watch until nothing of Lily¡¯s father remained but the ash.

 Volume 3, Chapter 54: A Night In Nin

    Kass couldn¡¯t sleep. She sat by the window, watching and waiting, half expecting more soldiers to come trooping around the corner any minute. Briefly she wondered if it had even been wise to leave Cat on her own earlier but there hadn¡¯t really been a choice there either. She thought of the solider in the next room and how he probably didn¡¯t look much like a person anymore. There certainly wouldn¡¯t be enough for his family to identify him once he was done.

    He must have been a tracker of some kind, except he hadn¡¯t seemed completely sure they were at this location when he¡¯d been asking the receptionist. He had been suspicious enough to go in the back though. So how had he found this place then? And who had he told? It was too bad she hadn¡¯t had the chance to ask him.

    She studied her hands. They were small slender hands, uncalloused, unblemished. They didn¡¯t look like the hands of the killer. There was an advantage to that. She considered this information objectively and with a sort of detached mindset. They didn¡¯t feel much like her hands either. This wasn¡¯t the first life she¡¯d taken with her powers accidentally. She told herself it was for the best. A scuffle would have drawn far more attention and she couldn¡¯t have let him live. Such a waste to not get anything from him though.

    Her mind jumped back through the sequence of events. Everything had logically been the best course of action at the time, a local optimum leading deeper and deeper into a well. She tried to figure out when it had all started. Had it been when she¡¯d accidentally killed her university professor? Flung him against the wall, just like she had this soldier. She¡¯d just wanted his hands off her back then, hadn¡¯t meant to kill him. Had that been the moment it had all started going wrong? Or had it been later? Maybe the first time she¡¯d pulled the trigger intentionally? At this point she wasn¡¯t even sure exactly when that moment had been. Perhaps things had always been this way? It wasn¡¯t like her childhood had been a happy one. There had been a moment though, after she¡¯d met Sparrow, before she¡¯d had Marc, when things had almost seemed perfect. Too perfect. Nothing lasts. She should have known better.

    She thought about Sirius. How he looked at her and spoke to her, and made her feel like she mattered, somehow even when he was telling her that he wasn¡¯t interested in her that way. But that wasn¡¯t right. He wasn¡¯t hers. Couldn¡¯t be hers. He was Amanda¡¯s and Amanda had been nothing but kind. Kass was a horrible person.

    A part of her longed for the soldiers to come. Anything to end this torturous wait. But she would kill them all if they came and she knew it, like a spider waiting in a web.

    ¡°Have you rested at all?¡±

    Cat¡¯s voice interrupted her thoughts. She glanced back from the window. Cat was sitting up on the bed, looking more alert, studying her with a frown.

    ¡°I am resting,¡± Kass replied.

    Cat narrowed her eyes. Then she slid off the bed and headed toward the table and the food Kass had put there. ¡°I mean, don¡¯t you want to get some sleep?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll sleep tonight,¡± Kass replied, but she knew it was a lie. She couldn¡¯t sleep, not while those soldiers were still chasing them. And who¡¯s fault was that? She was the one who had dragged Cat out here. For the good of the Greenstone Valley? For Jesse? For herself? For simply something to do? She wasn¡¯t sure anymore.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you get some now? I can keep watch for a bit if you¡¯re worried.¡± Cat spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. One that contrasted so completely with the tumultuous state of Kass¡¯s mind.

    Kass turned to look at her.

    ¡°Go on.¡± Cat nodded toward the bed.

    Kass sighed but did as she was told. ¡°I¡¯m not the one who¡¯s going to be driving tomorrow.¡± But somewhere inside she knew Cat was right and that the lack of sleep wasn¡¯t helping her mindset.

    ¡°I¡¯ll wake you when I want to sleep.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll set an alarm.¡± Kass could see from the look on Cat¡¯s face that Cat didn¡¯t think much of that idea but she kept her mouth shut, perhaps worried that Kass might not sleep otherwise. Kass couldn¡¯t tell her that the alarm was because she wanted to check on the body later.

    She lay down, not convinced she was going to be able to sleep but for whatever reason sleep came easy, for a time at least.

    <hr>

    Cat knew that sleep was one of the most important things which a person needed to survive. More important even than food. People went mad without sleep. Even if you didn¡¯t die without it straight away, the effects of not getting it would kill you just as quickly. Even just a little sleep deprivation could be fatal. People made mistakes when they were tired.

    Cat didn¡¯t always sleep the night away but she had no qualms about napping in the middle of the day if she felt like she needed one, and lately she felt like she needed one often. Pregnancy had really done a number on her energy resources though. It was annoying to say the least.

    Sure, one¡¯s guard was down when one was asleep but if you didn¡¯t know when an enemy was going to strike then it was better to sleep when you could. A sleep-deprived watcher wasn¡¯t much better than one that was fully asleep.

    Kass had been sitting at that window, so still, staring so intently, that for a moment Cat had thought she was frozen there. Her tone, when she¡¯d spoken, had sounded distant, as if she were a million miles away. Given the way Kass had been looking out that window, Cat had been afraid she might not sleep at all. She¡¯d been surprised when Kass had actually laid down on the bed. Still, Cat had figured it was probably safer for all of them if Kass was well rested and she hadn¡¯t wanted to take any chances so she¡¯d helped the woman along with a little sleep magic. She didn¡¯t enter or manipulate her dreams, she just helped her fall asleep a little faster.

    She glanced out the window a few times but there was nothing out there and she figured if anyone found them here, there wasn¡¯t much advantage in seeing them coming before they got to the door so once she was done eating, Cat found a TV guide and started on some crosswords that were in the back.

    She hadn¡¯t been going at those for long before she heard Kass stirring. But the woman wasn¡¯t awake. She was obviously dreaming about something unpleasant. Her brow was furrowed and she made the occasional whimper as her head tossed gently from side to side.

    Cat got up from her seat and crossed the room. She reached out a hand and then hesitated. Perhaps she had snooped enough already? Instead, she gently grabbed Kass¡¯s ankle and shook it.

    ¡°Kass,¡± she prodded.

    Before Cat had even finished speaking, almost at the first touch, Kass suddenly sprung awake and sat right up. Breathing heavily, she yanked her feet up the bed towards herself and flattened herself against the wall. She stared wide-eyed at Cat for a moment, her hand groping about no doubt for a non-existent gun, before recognition filled her face and her breathing steadied.

    ¡°You alright?¡± Cat asked, echoing the question that Kass had asked of her earlier.

    Kass nodded. Her face was now the colour of a light pink rose, and she was shaking slightly. Like a scared little mouse thought Cat. What had she been dreaming about this time? More war horrors? Or her kid again? Maybe both?

    Ducking her eyes, Kass pulled herself off the bed and returned to the seat near the window. ¡°You know what? I¡¯ll sleep later,¡± she remarked.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    Cat watched her with a worried frown for a little while. But then, with a shrug, she pulled herself up onto the bed. She felt like she could sleep for a thousand years herself. Well, maybe not sleep but at least lie here. But she did need something to do and maybe some more food before the nausea returned. She slipped off the bed again and grabbed both the book with the crosswords and some of the food Kass had brought earlier. There were crackers and cheese and fruit, all of which sounded perfect right now, although what she really wanted was yogurt. Maybe Kass would go get her some?

    She eyed Kass watching the window and decided it probably wasn¡¯t worth it. Besides, they had plenty of food. The woman did seem to need a distraction though and there were some crossword clues Cat was stuck on. Kass was good with words, maybe she would know the answer.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s a five letter word for ¡®epic poem division¡¯?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Kass glanced up from the window.

    ¡°For my crossword.¡± Cat held the magazine up. Five letters meaning epic poem division, starts with a ¡®C¡¯, ends in an ¡®O¡¯.¡±

    Kass thought for a moment then replied, ¡°Canto.¡±

    ¡°Canto?¡±

    Kass nodded. ¡°It¡¯s a long section of a long poem.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, okay about about another four letter word, second letter ¡®L¡¯, for a female voice?¡±

    ¡°Alto,¡± Kass replied without hesitation. Her eyes glanced from the window to Cat and back again as if torn between two things.

    ¡°Six letter word for ¡®rambled¡¯?¡±

    Kass frowned. Considered it for a bit, then got up to have a look, leaving the window behind her. She looked thoughtfully at the page for a few seconds before declaring, ¡°Roamed,¡± with a smile. Then she sat down next to Cat and proceeded to fill in the rest.

    ¡°Well, great, now what am I going to do for the next several hours?¡± Cat asked as Kass handed the now complete crossword back. When Kass hesitated and didn¡¯t immediately answer, Cat asked less sarcastically, ¡°Do you want to watch a movie?¡±

    Kass¡¯s face relaxed into a small smile and she nodded.

    They spent the next few hours watching movies on the TV, chatting about the characters and plot, and laughing and joking as if they were just two old friends on holiday. Kass knew an awful lot about the original literature and film history so Cat picked her mind in that teasing manner she was so apt to use and for awhile Kass seemed to almost relax. As she answered Cat¡¯s questions she seemed to become, for a time, an entirely different person, playful and lighthearted, neither shy nor cold.

    <hr>

    Eventually Cat called it a night and Kass returned to her seat by the window, tension refilling her posture. She would have been lying if she had said that the last few hours hadn¡¯t helped her focus somewhat though. Once she was sure Cat was asleep, she did her telekinetic window trick and then slipped next door to check on the body.

    It was decomposing nicely. Well, perhaps nicely was not the quite the right word, but the acid was doing it¡¯s job. Kass didn¡¯t stay in the room too long, all too well aware, the longer she lingered the more risk of exposure to toxic gasses. She simply rotated the body over and gave the acid a stir before closing the window again and returning to their shared room.

    She tried to sleep for awhile, listening to the sound of Cat¡¯s resting figure breathing softly next to her, but she kept hearing other noises too, or mistaking shadows for movement outside. Several times she got up from the bed to peak out past the curtain to find there was nothing. She set an alarm for early in the morning, just a quiet one, knowing that it took quite a bit of noise to wake Cat but not herself. Truthfully, she probably didn¡¯t even need it. She had a habit of waking up at the time she wanted to, but she didn¡¯t want to take the risk of sleeping through it.

    For a time she almost drifted off but then she was awoken by Cat giving a start and a gasp as if waking from a nightmare.

    ¡°You alright?¡± Kass whispered as she heard Cat sit up, words that were becoming all too common on this trip.

    ¡°Yup,¡± mumbled a sleepy sounding Cat. She pulled herself out of bed and disappeared into the bathroom.

    Kass checked the time. It was almost early enough. She waited until she was sure Cat was asleep again before she slipped out once more. This time in dark clothes and with the intent to get rid of the last of the body and equipment.

    The body was mostly mush by now. She could have left it a little longer but that might be getting too close to dawn. What wouldn¡¯t wash down the drain would be small enough to fit into a couple of the polyethylene bags she¡¯d bought earlier.

    She gave the tub one last stir then waited in the nearby room to give it a few more minutes. Once she was satisfied that the body was as mushy as it was going to get for now, she returned to the bathroom.

    She¡¯d bought a few packets of baking soda at the grocery store with the intent of using them to neutralise the acid. She poured it in now, using telekinesis to ensure it was mixed thoroughly. She took her time, trusting her mask to protect her from the gases. She took comfort in the fact that she couldn¡¯t smell anything more than the inside of the mask. She covered every area of the bathtub, anywhere that the acid might have splashed.

    Once she was certain the baking soda was mostly mixed in she slowly added in some water from the tap. Do this too fast and the violent reaction would cause splatter and mess. Carefully she took her time to mix that in as well. She watched the mixture bubble and fix. It took well over several minutes before she was satisfied enough to turn the taps on more strongly.

    Once the reaction had stopped she further diluted the mixture. She made sure to scrub the edges of the tub as well. This she did with a sponge also without touching it. Then she pulled the plug up with her magic. She winced when it flew up a little too high, but she was far enough back that the splash didn¡¯t get her.

    She listened to the tub drain, the slurping sound it made echoed loudly and obnoxiously amidst the silence of the night. This wall boarded the room where Cat slept and Kass had no idea how thin the walls were. They had heard little from the other guests though and it wasn¡¯t like an emptying tub was that unusual, even if it was the very early morning. Some people rose early and strangers could be strange.

    Kass used her powers to further agitate the mix as if flowed down the drain. She hoped nothing would get stuck. As the water level dropped, remains were revealed. A partially eaten away pelvis would need separate disposal, along with several of the larger bones, but the acid had done its job and broken things down enough that Kass could lift all that remained into a smaller bag.

    Once more, her powers came in handy, although it proved harder than she¡¯d imagined it would to raise a bone from the tub and move it into the mouth of an open bag. It frustrated her a little. There were telekinetics who could move ring along a string without ever touching the string but here was Kass, using all her focus and patience to get pieces of a body into a large bag. She held the bag open with her hands too so she had to be extra careful. Several times she¡¯d hit the edge of the bag or missed it completely. She managed to avoid herself though and eventually the job was done.

    She placed that bag, made of special material into not one but three other bags, the latter two being regular black garbage bags that looked like regular household rubbish. That could now be disposed of in the regular trash. Even if she¡¯d messed up the neutralisation step, the polyethylene should protect anything from seeping out, at least before it was well and truly disposed of.

    She did briefly wonder if Nin was one of those places that used materiokinesis for garbage disposal but she figured it was unlikely. That sort of process was expensive and only done in high density areas. No one would bother with it out here, surely?

    It took her a little over an hour to dash across town and stash the neutralised, cleaned, and empty barrel with others of its kind out the back of a chemical lab. Even if they did a count, it wasn¡¯t like they could trace it and the barrels weren¡¯t exactly highly regulated. They¡¯d probably assume a miscount. There were enough barrels for that not to be unreasonable.

    The body she dumped in someone else¡¯s rubbish, far away from the motel, out the back of some cafe that probably threw a bunch of stuff out daily. By the time she got back to the room, a gentle rain had started. A glance at the courtyard wall suggested that blood smear would be washed away before sunrise.

    She then spent another hour thoroughly cleaning the bathroom and tub. She did it with the window open, hoping to purge most of the gases before people started waking up. She aided this process by getting one of the towels and using her telekinesis to flap it frantically back and forth. She couldn¡¯t go too fast because of the noise but it was a hell of a lot better than nothing. She left the window open wide for continued ventilation.

    An inspection of the bathtub raised a slight problem. The acid hadn¡¯t leaked out but nor had it left the tub completely intact. It took a close inspection to notice it but there was definitely some pitting and warping. At a glance it could be put down to it just being an old tub but anyone with knowledge of crime scene analysis who looked close enough would likely find it very suspicious. There wasn¡¯t much she could do about it now other than hope no one ever decided to look too closely at this tub. May all policemen be assigned a different room or be too tired to give the tub more than a cursory glance while they were on holiday. She was probably safe unless something else made them look closer at this room.

    She threw out everything, except the mask. It was a risk keeping it but she didn¡¯t have one back home and it would be useful if she ever decided to do any painting or had use of it again. She double checked the room, wiped everything down, locked up, and returned the keys to the return box near the counter.

    She was back in bed with maybe an hour to spare before Cat woke up.

 Volume 3, Chapter 55: Arrest

    Cat scowled out the window at the miserable weather. She hadn¡¯t thought to bring a coat. She continued to eye the weather with a suspicious glare while she ate breakfast and waited for Kass to have yet another shower. Kass was pretty quick about it but still Cat didn¡¯t think a shower in both the evening and morning was necessary. She didn¡¯t even think one everyday was necessary. The body had it¡¯s own way of keeping clean, it didn¡¯t need that much help. One every few days was plenty often enough.

    ¡°You ready?¡± Cat asked, once Kass was out of the shower a moment later.

    Kass nodded.

    ¡°You eaten?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll eat on the way,¡± Kass replied as she packed up the last of her things.

    Cat shrugged then eyed the weather again. ¡°You want me to go get the car and bring it back to pick you up?¡± Kass was a quick runner but still not as fast as Cat. A part of Cat wondered if she could convince Kass to go and get the car and then drive it back. She really didn¡¯t want to go out there right now, not in that weather. It wasn¡¯t raining that hard but still. She hated the feel of it. The rain on her skin was like being assaulted by the sky.

    ¡°No, a walk will be nice. Shall we go?¡± Kass paused with her hand on the door and gave Cat an expectant look.

    Another glare out the window.

    Kass didn¡¯t miss it. ¡°Maybe the front desk has some umbrellas?¡±

    Cat sighed. Kass¡¯s tone had been light, a little too light, as if she were holding back a comment. Preferring not to give Kass time to say whatever it was she was thinking, Cat got to her feet and joined her friend by the door. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    At least the corridor in front of the rooms was covered. One peek at the sky suggested it wasn¡¯t going to let up for awhile. If anything, they should probably go now before it got any heavier.

    They dropped off the keys. There was no sign of the receptionist.

    Cat paused once more at the entrance to the motel. None of the street was covered and there hadn¡¯t been any umbrellas in the reception.

    Kass stepped outside and then looked back to see Cat still standing in the threshold of the doorway. ¡°It¡¯s not raining that hard.¡±

    ¡°Most of the way to the garage was in the open air. I ran most of the way here.¡±

    ¡°Do you want me to go pick up the car and bring it back?¡± Kass asked.

    Cat hesitated and then registered something like surprise in Kass¡¯s response. The reaction caused her to scowl.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to get wet, you could take the underground rail. There¡¯s a station not far from here.¡± A voice interrupted Cat¡¯s pondering. It seemed the receptionist was awake after all.

    ¡°Where is it?¡± Cat asked, glad of some solution. She could run a short distance in the rain.

    Kass rejoined her inside and the receptionist showed them a map of the stations on a pamphlet.

    ¡°It¡¯s just down here. It¡¯ll take you all over town, wherever you need, and even up the hill. There¡¯s a lovely restaurant on top if you¡¯re looking for somewhere with a nice view for lunch and a few vineyards just down the other side.¡±

    Neither Cat nor Kass answered. They simply nodded vaguely as they studied the stations.

    ¡°Did you sleep alright?¡± asked the receptionist.

    ¡°Yes, thank you,¡± replied Cat without much enthusiasm.

    ¡°You know, I¡¯ve heard peppermint can help with snoring if you¡¯re looking for a natural remedy.¡±

    Cat gave her a confused frown.

    Kass suddenly folded up the train map. ¡°Uh, we really should get going. Thank you for your help and hospitality.¡± She tugged Cat toward the door before anyone could say another word.

    They ran all the way to the station, carrying their bags with them. They went through a little green doorway nestled in the wall which led downward into darkness. It didn¡¯t look much like a station at all and it wasn¡¯t until they were properly underground and into a well lit cavern that they were sure they were where they were meant to be.

    It wasn¡¯t so much a station as it was an entire underground street and even at this early hour of the morning there were people bustling about, far more down here than there had been on the surface.

    The pathways were cobblestoned and well sign-posted. Quaint little shops were built into the walls and many of them were already open.

    They walked along in silence for awhile, neither of them having expected the scenes that surrounded them.

    ¡°There¡¯s a teleportation stop,¡± Kass remarked as they passed one shop.

    Cat glanced in the window at the list of places and prices on a large board. ¡°Oh yeah, look, for only 4 Jade you can jump to the Emerald city.¡±

    ¡°Do they jump cars?¡± Kass asked, more out of interest than anything else, for only the rich spoke in denominations of Jade.

    ¡°Individuals and luggage only it seems,¡± replied Cat with a smirk.

    ¡°Pity,¡± replied Kass in a neutral tone but with a comradely smile.

    Cat gave an amused snort and they continued on their way in silence.

    They found the station and paid a small fare to travel. Some of the carriages had no rooves and were more reminiscent of mine carts than proper trains. There wasn¡¯t much of a guard between them and the wall that went sailing past at a moderate pace.

    ¡°Did you know Nin was like this?¡± Cat asked. She¡¯d travelled through the town before yet somehow it seemed she¡¯d never seen the real Nin until now.

    Kass shook her head. ¡°No.¡±

    A nearby eavesdropping older woman leaned over then and said, ¡°Oh, you think this is something, you should see it at night.¡±

    Cat found herself wishing they could almost stay and explore a lot more but she knew they needed to keep moving. Who knew when their pursuers might catch up to them. They¡¯d be much safer once they were on the other side of the Dragon Mountains.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Fairy lights lined the streets of the station they got off at. There were a few shops here as well but much less and they could see streets branching off which angled down past more homely looking dwellings whose true sizes were impossible to tell from the front.

    They emerged out into the comparatively bright light of an overcast day. The rain was still falling and they picked up pace again, running another 500 metres down the road, Cat hating every minute of the weather. The rain grew in intensity as they neared the garage and Cat kicked up speed into a flat out sprint. She made it into the garage just as the sky opened up and began to really pour buckets.

    Kass joined her a minute later, soaked to the skin.

    ¡°Bet you regret that shower now,¡± Cat remarked.

    <hr>

    While Cat dealt with payment, Kass waited by the car. As she did so, she watched another car pull up. It was a sleek black four-wheel drive with tinted windows and something about it set Kass¡¯s hair on edge.

    Two men got out of it a moment later. They were nicely dressed and both were packing heat. Kass could see the slight outline of a gun beneath their coat jackets. They each popped an umbrella and sauntered up to the open door of the garage. One of them paused just inside to answer his ringing phone. The other, the more fair-haired one of the pair walked up to Kass and flashed a badge that indicated he was police.

    ¡°Is this your car?¡± he asked.

    ¡°My friend¡¯s,¡± Kass replied.

    Cat was still in the office paying for the repairs.

    ¡°Uh huh, where is your friend right now?¡±

    Kass glanced toward the office. She didn¡¯t see much point in hiding where Cat was. She also wasn¡¯t sure what they were doing here but she got the feeling it wasn¡¯t a routine check.

    He followed her eye line then he turned back to ask her another question. ¡°You been in town long?¡±

    ¡°Just the night.¡± Kass didn¡¯t see any harm in answering that question either and it was always better to stick as close to the truth as possible.

    ¡°I see. Where are you headed?¡±

    Before Kass could answer that question the other cop joined them. To his partner he said, ¡°There¡¯s nothing here, we should go.¡±

    But the first cop disagreed. ¡°Oh, I think there is.¡±

    ¡°Brey wants us back across town on another call,¡± insisted the darker-haired man.

    ¡°We came all the way out here. This is them, I¡¯m sure of it.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it is.¡±

    Kass watched in confusion as the pair debated back and forth.

    ¡°The car matches the description.¡±

    ¡°Lots of cars match that description.¡±

    The fair-haired man gave his partner a confused look. ¡°No they don¡¯t...¡±

    ¡°Are you feeling okay?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You look a little tired.¡±

    Right in front of her the fair-haired man suddenly fainted. His partner caught him, then he looked right at Kass and said. ¡°You ladies should get going. I recommend taking the back road out of town.¡±

    Kass watched as the cop dragged his now unconscious partner back to their car and propped him up in the passenger seat.

    ¡°What was that about?¡± Cat asked, having arrived just in time to hear the cops warning and see him drag his partner away.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know but I think we should leave.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t have to tell me twice.¡± Cat was in the car before Kass even had her own door open.

    Kass joined her a moment later, but she couldn¡¯t take her eyes of that cop. He watched them right back and he almost looked as confused as she felt. She could see he was talking on the phone again and she wondered who to. She didn¡¯t get to look at him for much longer though because a moment later, Cat had hit the accelerator and they¡¯d pulled out of the lot and back onto the road with a soft purr.

    Cat did as the cop had suggested and took the back country road out, more because it was the fastest route than any other reason. In fact she¡¯d scoffed when Kass had told her about the cop¡¯s suggestion.

    ¡°You can¡¯t trust a cop,¡± Cat had said.

    ¡°He did let us go,¡± Kass reminded her.

    ¡°Maybe they were just posturing and it was an intimidation routine to see how we would react.¡±

    Kass didn¡¯t think so but she didn¡¯t bother arguing.

    They drove in silence for awhile.

    ¡°Did you tell that motel receptionist that I snore?¡± Cat asked eventually.

    Kass had thought Cat had forgotten about that. ¡°Uh-¡±

    She was saved from having to answer by a loud popping sound. This was followed by the car suddenly swerving to the side.

    Cat swore. She twisted the wheel. The car fishtailed a little and Cat struggled to hold it steady. With angry and focused look on her face she eventually managed to straighten out before letting the car naturally slow down. She pulled it off the road. And then she sat for a moment looking dead ahead out the rain splattered window. ¡°Tyre blew out,¡± she explained. Then mumbled ¡°Fuckers,¡± under her breath. ¡°Bet they messed up the mounting.¡±

    She didn¡¯t make a move to get out of the car though. Instead, after a few seconds silence, she glanced hesitantly at Kass. ¡°There¡¯s a spare in the boot. A proper good one. Think you could change it?¡±

    ¡°Is this cause you don¡¯t want to get out in the rain?¡± Kass asked bluntly. Lack of sleep had dulled her sense of tact and self-preservation.

    But her senses weren¡¯t so dulled as to miss Cat¡¯s posture stiffen.

    ¡°You know how to change a tyre right?¡± Cat asked, ignoring the question, although her tone carried a warning.

    ¡°Sure, but you¡¯d be faster at it,¡± Kass replied, actually daring to meet Cat¡¯s eyes for a second.

    Cat looked angry.

    For a moment Kass lost her nerve and glanced away, but then she looked back and this time she noticed something different, fear.

    Her curiosity got the better of her. ¡°Why do you hate the water so much?¡± Kass asked.

    ¡°Please,¡± Cat said through gritted teeth. And there was a wild pleading, maybe even vulnerable look in her eyes, one that reminded Kass of her younger self.

    For a moment Kass felt lost. She¡¯d done all sorts of things, killed, lied, manipulated, but always for good reason. She¡¯d never been unjustly cruel. No matter how mean Cat could be sometimes, no one deserved that. Kass ducked her eyes and with little more than a nod she pushed her way out into the rain.

    Cat called her instructions for where things were from inside the car and once the tyre was done and Kass was safely and warmly back inside, they continued on their way as if none of it had ever happened. It later turned out, the mounting had been fine, they¡¯d simply been unlucky enough to run over an extra sharp branch that had pulled down by the rain.

    <hr>

    As they ascended deeper into the mountains, Kass found the constant pull of the car almost relaxing. She closed her eyes and just focused on the movement. She must have fallen asleep for the next thing she knew she was waking up surrounded by familiar territory, the inner farmland of the Greenstone Valley. It seemed she had slept through their entire journey through the Dragon Mountains, dragons and all, if there had been any. The sky was clear now, if a little overcast, but she could see the rays of sun poking through the cloud almost as if to welcome them back.

    ¡°We¡¯re home?¡± Kass asked, surprised. It felt like they¡¯d only just left Nin.

    ¡°Almost.¡± Cat smirked.

    ¡°Did you make me fall asleep?¡± Kass asked.

    But Cat simply snorted softly and she shook her head. ¡°Not this time.¡±

    ¡°This time?¡±

    Cat didn¡¯t get to answer. As they flew past a bar known as The Broken Whistle, sirens pierced the air behind them and a hidden cop car pulled into sight in the rearview mirror.

    ¡°Oh, come on,¡± Cat grumbled, ¡°I¡¯m not even speeding this time. I swear they have it out for me.¡±

    A glance at the speedo indicated she was telling the truth for once.

    ¡°Well, you might as well pull over then,¡± Kass replied.

    Cat did so with a reluctant sigh.

    Kass was surprised when a second cop car pulled up soon after, this time from the other direction.

    As the first cop got out of her car and started to walk towards them Cat groaned, ¡°Of course, it¡¯s Bliss. Now there¡¯s a woman with a personal vendetta.¡± Cat wound her window down.

    As two more male cops approached from the front of the car, Kass was starting to think that maybe she shouldn¡¯t have told Cat to pull over. There was something off about this situation.

    ¡°Cat...¡± she started.

    But Cat was already giving Bliss an arrogantly perky greeting. ¡°What do you want, Officer?¡±

    ¡°Cathryn James, please step out of the vehicle,¡± Bliss commanded in a serious tone.

    ¡°Or what? You¡¯ve got nothing on me. I wasn¡¯t even speeding,¡± Cat replied gloatingly.

    ¡°Step out of the vehicle now or I will be forced to drag you out,¡± repeated Bliss.

    The other two cops moved little closer.

    Cat gave a little laugh but it died in her throat as she noticed the looks the other cops were giving her.

    ¡°Maybe you should do what they say,¡± whispered Kass, who saw no other option at this point. The second cop car was parked such that escape was impossible, at least not without tossing a cop car in the air, and an action like that would not be without some serious consequences.

    ¡°Fine.¡± Cat scowled but did as asked.

    The second that Cat was out of the vehicle, Bliss grabbed her and spun her around so she was pressed prone against the back window. Cat was momentarily too surprised by it to fight back. Besides, she knew better that to give Bliss any excuse.

    As Bliss drew some handcuffs from her belt she spoke.

    ¡°Cathryn James you are under arrest for the murder of Nolan Perninski.¡±

 Volume 3, Chapter 56: Hot Potato

    It took three knocks, one cry of ¡°Mum, aunt Bambi¡¯s at the door,¡± followed by a reply of, ¡°I¡¯ll get it. You stay at the table and finish eating your potatoes,¡± before the pristine white door of the well-architected but understated family sized home was pulled open.

    ¡°Bambi! What are you doing here?¡± a surprised April remarked of her sister.

    ¡°I hear congratulations are in order,¡± Bambi replied, pleased to have something to offer other than a request for April¡¯s help.

    April smiled and looked a mixture of relieved and surprised. She stepped aside so Bambi could come in.

    Bambi decided not to leave it too long before she ruined her good mood. ¡°And I wanted to ask you some questions about a house.¡±

    April sighed and rolled her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s always business with you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, April. I mean to come just for a visit, I do. I¡¯ve just been really busy.¡± Bambi left her shoes by the front door. April was particular about her floors.

    ¡°As usual.¡± April led the way through the hallway toward the kitchen. ¡°You¡¯re as bad as Rou, and Dakota. Only here when you want information. Only Buck and Robin ever actually just come to visit.¡±

    ¡°I came to your BBQ.¡±

    ¡°And left half way through.¡±

    ¡°I had-¡±

    ¡°A client, I know. Do you want a drink? Tea? Coffee?¡± April gestured toward the cabinets in their open plan kitchen. Not far away, April¡¯s daughter, Ally sat at the table, swinging her legs and looking suspiciously at a pair of baby potatoes, all that remained on an otherwise empty plate.

    ¡°I¡¯m alright, thanks.¡± Bambi grazed her sister¡¯s mind with the barest of touches. She had to be gentle when reading her siblings thoughts, they had been used to her growing up, and any mind reading was quickly noticed unless Bambi took great care. April was easy enough though. It was her brothers who were the hardest to read, the middle one, Rousseau most of all, since he was a borrower. He could even read Bambi¡¯s mind in reply if she wasn¡¯t paying attention.

    There wasn¡¯t much of interest on the surface of April¡¯s mind. Most of her thoughts went to the state of her house and how messy she thought it was. It wasn¡¯t that bad at all though, not in Bambi¡¯s opinion. Sure Bambi¡¯s own apartment was much tidier but she was hardly ever home and April had a kid.

    There was one thought though that Bambi hadn¡¯t been expecting. She had enough self-control not to blurt out her surprise at it though. April would not approve of her mind being read.

    Seeing her niece at the table, Bambi remarked to April, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t realise you were having dinner. It¡¯s so early.¡±

    ¡°Well, Pan and I have finished eating. Ally¡¯s just finishing off her potatoes, aren¡¯t you Ally?¡±

    ¡°I hate potatoes,¡± Ally grumbled from the table then with a smile, ¡°Hi Aunt Bambi!¡±

    ¡°Hi Ally.¡±

    A peek into the girl¡¯s mind and Bambi could see her trying to think of ways to hide her potatoes. The girl was half-hoping the family dog would come back in and sit under the table. Bambi could also feel something else, the touch of someone trying to read her own mind, like a child trying to dent a mountain by throwing pebbles at it. Despite being a mindwalker herself, Ally hadn¡¯t yet grasped the skill to detect when someone was reading her own mind and while she was relatively skilled and controlled she had only a smidgen of the power Bambi had had at the same age. Bambi did not mind her reading attempts so much, it was good for the child to practice as it would improve her control even further.

    ¡°Eat your potatoes,¡± April told her. Then to Bambi she said, ¡°It is nearly half five. Mum always had dinner on the table at five too you know.¡±

    It was true, they had always eaten early as kids. These days Bambi often didn¡¯t eat dinner until after eight, that was if she made time to eat dinner at all. It was an easy opening into the thing that Bambi had read in her sister¡¯s mind though.

    ¡°True, although I suppose these days you¡¯re probably heading to bed a little earlier too.¡± She gave April a knowing look. From her mind reading she knew April had mentioned her pregnancy to their eldest brother, Buck, at least, and she hoped April would just assume she¡¯d heard it from him or more likely Rousseau.

    April narrowed her eyes slightly.

    ¡°Rousseau told me,¡± Bambi lied, figuring Rousseau was far more likely to cover for her than Buck was. Buck had a thing about honesty, probably somewhat related to the fact that lie detection was his power. Rousseau on the other hand, despite being a cop, liked to make up his own rules. Plus, Rousseau was the one who had told her about the other news, the one her original congratulations related to.

    ¡°So, did the marriage proposal come before the baby or the other way around?¡± Bambi teased.

    ¡°Babies,¡± corrected another voice, one belonging to April¡¯s partner, Panteleimon, as he entered the room carrying a dust mask. Pan was fair-haired, of slimmish build and about a

    Bambi turned to back April. ¡°Twins?¡±

    April nodded.

    Pan swept in behind April and gave her a quick hug.

    ¡°Congratulations,¡± Bambi said to the both of them, ¡°On the impending marriage and the pregnancy.¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Pan acknowledged with a gracious smile before turning to April. ¡°Babe, have you seen the tape measure?¡±

    April considered it a moment and then replied, ¡°Oh, it¡¯s in the bathroom.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± And with that Pan was off and out of the room again.

    The family dog entered the room then. Behind her, Bambi could hear Ally¡¯s thoughts, her attempts at trying to mindwalk the dog to get it to come closer. It would never work, even Bambi couldn¡¯t mindwalk an animal. That it seemed, was a separate power. It was however, very naughty.

    ¡®Uh uh ah,¡¯ Bambi thought to Ally.

    Ally immediately thought back, ¡®No fair. You¡¯re not supposed to read my mind.¡¯

    ¡®And you¡¯re not supposed to try mindwalk the dog.¡¯

    ¡®Do you want my potatoes?¡¯

    While Bambi carried on a friendly conversation with her niece in her head she simultaneously continued one with April out loud.

    At Bambi¡¯s glance after Pan, April had explained, ¡°He¡¯s turning the guest room into the babies room, making jungle themed bunk beds even, for once they get bigger of course.¡±

    ¡°Pan does carpentry?¡± Bambi asked, surprised. Pan was a sports commentator by profession and while she knew he was big into the outdoors, she hadn¡¯t seen him do much with his hands beyond chopping firewood.

    ¡°I¡¯m learning,¡± Pan replied as he swept through the room again, catching a glass April accidentally knocked off the bench as he passed, his movement no more than a blur. Pan was like Murphy in some ways. He could manipulate time. Unlike Murphy he couldn¡¯t go backwards. But he could freeze a moment and pick a falling glass out of the air long before it ever hit the ground.

    April shot him a thankful smile before turning back to her sister. ¡°So, what about you and Murphy?¡± she asked. ¡°When are you two going to get married?¡±

    Bambi laughed. ¡°I think that ship has long since sailed. The kids are even all grown up now.¡±

    April shrugged. ¡°Pan and I have been together over a decade now and we¡¯re only just getting hitched. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s such a thing as too late. And it didn¡¯t have anything to do with the babies, not really, we just got talking about it one day and decided why not. It¡¯s a good excuse for a big party and we have more money now than we did when we first met.¡±

    ¡°I get to be the bridesmaid,¡± Ally said out loud. She had by now chopped her potatoes into the smallest of pieces and was eating them slowly one by one with a pained expression on her face.

    ¡°Maybe you should let her off the potatoes,¡± Bambi whispered to April.

    April studied her daughter for a moment with a fond expression. Then with a sigh she said, ¡°Alright, Ally, you can clear your plate. Bring it up here. I¡¯ll eat the last of the potatoes.¡±

    ¡°Yay!¡± Ally leapt up from the table with unbridled enthusiasm.

    ¡°You know,¡± said April turning back to Bambi with a sly look. ¡°When I told mum I¡¯m getting married she made a comment about how it was the youngest daughter getting married first.¡±

    ¡°Buck¡¯s married,¡± Bambi objected with a frown.

    ¡°Yeah but I think she meant out of us girls. She wants to see one of us in a big fancy dress and all dolled up.¡±

    Bambi shook her head. ¡°Well, at least she¡¯s got you. I don¡¯t plan on getting married and Dakota would need to get a boyfriend, or girlfriend, first before that ever happened, and she¡¯s far too in love with her books for that.¡±

    ¡°You talked to her lately?¡± April asked.

    ¡°No, I spoke to Rou the other day though.¡±

    ¡°Oh? How¡¯s he doing?¡±

    Bambi shrugged. ¡°Working the beat in Nin. Not much else to say.¡±

    ¡°What about the others?¡±

    They chatted politely about their siblings for awhile, sharing what they knew of each other¡¯s lives. Ally went and got a book and pretended to read it on the couch but Bambi could tell she was eavesdropping. Eventually they got onto the main topic Bambi had visited her sister to discuss; the Milton house.

    ¡°You know Dakota asked about that house recently too,¡± April said. ¡°Apparently the Librarians are excavating it.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think she worked in acquisitions?¡± Bambi frowned.

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t. I think she just heard about it and thought she could be helpful given she has a sister in the architecture business. Why are you interested in it?¡±

    ¡°Have a client interested in buying it,¡± Bambi lied.

    ¡°Oh, well, I don¡¯t really know much. I mean, it is pretty famous and unique piece of architecture. I might have some historical files on it on the computer if you want to have a look?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Bambi decided that it was probably safer to have this conversation out of Ally¡¯s earshot anyway. Of course she might try read her mother¡¯s mind later but Bambi didn¡¯t think Ally was skilled enough to evade her mother¡¯s attention if she tried such a thing. April was too familiar with what mindreading felt like. That didn¡¯t stop Ally from occasionally pushing boundaries of course.

    Bambi left her handbag on the kitchen counter as she followed April to the office, thinking little of it of the bag¡¯s contents.

    <hr>

    ¡°What do you know of Tricia Milton?¡± Bambi asked as they skimmed old articles.

    ¡°Ah, she¡¯s an artist who likes to be shrouded in mystery. She¡¯s had several husbands, all of whom she outlived.¡±

    ¡°You think she was a black widow?¡± Bambi asked.

    ¡°Oh, who knows. She was on an entirely different continent when one of them died. That said, she was a teleporter. Jumping continents is really something but not impossible.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, she was a teleporter? Are you sure?¡± Bambi pressed. ¡°I¡¯d heard she was a polyglot.¡±

    April paused in her searching. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know. I guess I¡¯m not sure where I heard that. I don¡¯t think she was very open about her powers. Is this something that¡¯s relevant for your client?¡±

    Bambi shook her head. ¡°Just idle curiosity.¡± Murphy hadn¡¯t said why he¡¯d needed information on the woman, in fact it seemed like he already knew a lot more about Tricia Milton than he¡¯d been letting on. Bambi hadn¡¯t dived into his thoughts too much though, she¡¯d simply followed his instructions to ¡®ask her sister¡¯ about the woman and the house.

    April smiled. ¡°Well, the woman does attract a lot of that.¡±

    Bambi considered the possibilities of the woman¡¯s powers. Even Murphy hadn¡¯t seemed completely sure, and given the nature of the pretty knife that was now tucked neatly at the bottom of Bambi¡¯s handbag, the one she¡¯d slipped out of Stella¡¯s apartment without notice, it was possible that Tricia Milton¡¯s known powers had simply been nothing more than a very good infusement. How long did the powers of the dead last anyway? She¡¯d felt a lot of power in that knife when she¡¯d touched it. There were more than a few lives in there, that was for sure, but she¡¯d been reluctant to probe too far. The power of it had scared her. She should really get rid of it, bury it somewhere. The danger of anyone killing someone like Murphy with it was just too great and yet, she felt far safer with it nearby.

    She talked with April a little longer and even managed to score a variety of house plans, although she suspected Murphy had seen these already. Eventually she had to leave, so as not to miss an appointment with a real client, one who needed a negotiator to help figure out how he and his soon-to-be-ex wife were going to split their property and their dog. It was days like that that made Bambi wonder why anyone bothered to get married in the first place. It was far less complicated to just keep everything separate. Still, she wished her sister the best.

    Ally was gone from the living room when Bambi collected her bag and shoes, probably playing in the forest out the back suggested April. April made a move to call her to come say good bye but Bambi brushed her off, knowing her meeting could not wait much longer. She promised she¡¯d visit again soon, waved a brief good bye to Pan, and then was out the door.

    She didn¡¯t check her handbag properly until several other meetings later. In fact, she was so tired that it wasn¡¯t until the next morning that she realised that the knife had been taken and by that point she had no idea when she had lost it.

 Volume 3, Chapter 57: Evidence

    ¡°Don¡¯t say anything until I get there,¡± Kass yelled as they dragged Cat away in handcuffs and pushed her into a police vehicle.

    Bliss and Cat were gone a few seconds later leaving the remaining two cops behind. They started going through everything in Cat¡¯s car.

    ¡°Oi, you can¡¯t do that, that¡¯s private property,¡± Kass told them before they got too far.

    ¡°We have a warrant,¡± one of them replied.

    ¡°Where? Let me see it.¡±

    He handed it over. It was legit. Kass could do nothing but stand by as they went through everything.

    ¡°That¡¯s my bag,¡± she protested when they popped the boot and reached for her duffel.

    It didn¡¯t stop the cop. ¡°Warrant covers everything in the car.¡±

    Kass watched as they pulled out a couple knives, a roll of duct tape, string, and several other items and tools she quickly and easily explained away as camping equipment. She blushed when they lifted out a pair of lacy panties.

    ¡°Nice gun,¡± one remarked when he found her telescopic rifle.

    ¡°That¡¯s mine.¡± At his questioning look she added, ¡°I like to hunt.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a pretty powerful rifle to be hunting with.¡±

    ¡°The further away you are the less likely you are to spook the deer,¡± she replied with a forced sweet smile.

    He matched her smile and his was equally as fake but he put the gun back down. It might be an unusual and higher priced gun for the citizens of Little Rock but guns themselves were pretty common. The only thing in the car that was really that unusual for them to have was the gas mask. Kass cursed herself for thinking for a second that it had been a good idea to keep it.

    When the cop held it up she simply shrugged and replied, ¡°I¡¯m thinking of painting my apartment. They were on special.¡± Not entirely a lie and the cop let it slide.

    It wasn¡¯t soon enough that they were packing up their stuff and driving off and then Kass was left standing alone on the side of the highway beside Cat¡¯s car with stuff thrown about all through the boot.

    She packed up all the stuff the cops hadn¡¯t bothered to put back and then she slid into the driver¡¯s seat and sat for a moment. Cat would hate that someone else was driving her car but there wasn¡¯t much to do about that. Kass needed to get down to the station. She just hoped that Cat had kept her mouth shut.

    She took a moment to familarise herself with where everything was and then she adjusted the seat and mirrors, knowing Cat would probably hate that too but that driving safely was more important and Cat would agree with that. She pulled the seat forward and then she started up the engine. Despite being more powerful than her own car, Cat¡¯s engine was much quieter. It purred softly but it pulled away fast when Kass put her foot to the floor. She couldn¡¯t help but enjoy the thrill of it a little. It was a nice car to drive.

    She returned to Cat¡¯s garage first, figuring it was better to pick up her own car. Cat¡¯s would be safer here. She dropped Cat¡¯s keys off with Bongo at the front desk. He had his feet up and was reading some kind of automotive magazine when she entered. He didn¡¯t bat much of an eye at her leaving the keys with him and she didn¡¯t mention anything about Cat being arrested, only that she¡¯d be back later.

    Then Kass took her own car down to the station. It wasn¡¯t that far from her own office.

    She found the front desk. ¡°Cathryn James was just brought in. Where is she? I¡¯m her lawyer.¡±

    The clerk pointed her to an interrogation room down the hall.

    When Kass burst into the room she found Cat and a male cop standing face to face inches from the back wall and looking like they were moments from a fight. A second cop was sitting at the interrogation table doing nothing.

    ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± Kass asked the one standing. ¡°Get away from my client unless you want an assault charge.¡±

    ¡°She attacked me,¡± he protested as stepped back.

    Cat glared at him but didn¡¯t make a move to pursue him at least.

    ¡°She¡¯s handcuffed,¡± Kass replied.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± the other cop asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m her lawyer,¡± Kass told him. ¡°And you shouldn¡¯t even be speaking to her without one.¡±

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°She never asked for one,¡± he replied, as he got up from the table slowly.

    ¡°Yeah, well she has one now so get out.¡±

    The cops obeyed. Kass didn¡¯t feel completely relaxed until they were gone. Then she took a seat at the table, hiding her shaking hands under it. It was strange, when she was in the middle of something she could do stuff without thinking about it. Just command a cop to leave the room or speak confidently in front a jury. In the moments she felt nothing but afterward there always some come down, regret, uncertainty, fear, sometimes a drive to do better next time, even if she hadn¡¯t really done that badly the first time. Nothing was ever quite perfect though and it often felt like everything she did was just an act. It felt like the floor had fallen away beneath her but she fought to maintain her even composure.

    She nodded at Cat to take a seat as she tried to regain her bearings. She knew this stuff. The law was her domain.

    Cat rolled her eyes but reluctantly did as suggested.

    "Okay. Nolan Perninski? Explain."

    Cat shrugged. "There''s nothing to explain."

    ¡°Why do they think you killed him?¡±

    Cat shrugged again.

    Kass raised her eyebrows, a indication for Cat to elaborate.

    In a bored voice Cat replied, "You told me not to talk to anyone."

    "I didn''t mean me."

    Cat¡¯s gaze flicked to the glass mirror against one wall. A one way mirror.

    ¡°They¡¯re not allowed to listen or record this conversation. It¡¯s privileged.¡±

    Cat gave her a doubtful look. ¡°They¡¯re always listening.¡±

    Kass didn¡¯t bother trying to convince her otherwise. Truth was, Cat was probably right. They may not be able to use anything said in this conversation in court but that didn¡¯t mean no one was listening. The rules were played with loosely in Little Rock. Instead she sighed, ¡°Fine, if you won¡¯t tell me anything then I¡¯ll get it out of them. They have to give me everything they have, but it would be easier if I know what they might find later.¡±

    Cat¡¯s hard gaze fixed on Kass¡¯s. Her eyes narrowed. ¡°You think I¡¯m guilty just like them.¡±

    ¡°Are you?¡±

    Cat didn¡¯t reply

    For a moment they just stared at one another. Kass tried to read the truth in Cat¡¯s green eyes but there was nothing. She was just a wall.

    Kass got to her feet. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do about getting you out on bail.¡±

    Cat¡¯s defiant expression seemed to soften slightly and she nodded silently. As Kass made for the door Cat said, ¡°And maybe you could see about getting them to let me use the bathroom?¡±

    Kass glanced back at her and nodded. Then she left. She found a young looking cop in the hall. His name tag read Jerry.

    ¡°Hey, my client wants to use the bathroom. You guys have a protocol for that right?¡±

    ¡°Uh, yeah, she¡¯ll need an escort.¡±

    Kass gave him an expectant look.

    He shook his head.

    "Uh uh. No way. I ain''t escorting her to the bathroom. And none of the others will want to either. She''s violent. She''ll probably try to slip her cuffs and escape. Just give her a bucket."

    Kass stared at him. ¡°She has rights you know.¡±

    He laughed. ¡°She is Cat James. Don¡¯t you know? Her father terrorized half this town and she is just as bad as he was.¡±

    Kass frowned. She knew Bill James had been violent but she¡¯d never heard much about him from other people in town. ¡°What happened to him?¡±

    The cop shrugged. ¡°I dunno. It was before my time but apparently he just disappeared one day. We¡¯ve all heard the stories though. Wannabe aristocrat but he was no gentleman. He married the daughter of one but they shunned him and her.¡±

    ¡°You heard what he did to his wife then?¡±

    Jerry shrugged. ¡°Rumors. Nobody could ever prove it. From what I hear nobody would have risked trying.¡±

    ¡°But you arrested Cat?¡±

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t my call. Some cops got a grudge against her.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s a setup?¡±

    ¡°Oh no, not at all. From what I heard they got some pretty good evidence.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s in charge of her case?¡±

    ¡°You should talk to Bliss.¡±

    He started to walk away.

    ¡°Hey, what about an escort?¡±

    He shrugged.

    She narrowed her eyes. "Fine, I''ll do it myself."

    "You''ll get in trouble."

    Kass replied with a shrug of her own. It was a small transgression. Compared to all the other cowboyish stuff that went on around here, she doubted anyone would care, as long as Cat didn¡¯t actually manage to escape.

    She returned to the interrogation room. Cat looked bored by she glanced up with interest when Kass entered.

    ¡°Come on. I¡¯ll escort you to the bathroom but if you try to run I¡¯ll lose my job so please don¡¯t okay.¡±

    Cat rolled her eyes but she complied and was quiet all the way there and back.

    Kass went to find Bliss next.

    She introduced herself. ¡°I¡¯m Cat Jame¡¯s lawyer. What do you have on her?¡±

    Bliss studied her. ¡°Aren¡¯t you also the woman who was there when she was arrested?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m also her friend yes.¡±

    ¡°Bit of a conflict of interest isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Kass shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s a small town.¡± She avoided looking directly at the woman.

    Bliss was almost as tall as Cat and equally as intimidating, maybe even more so given Kass didn¡¯t know her quite as well. But Bliss largely remained polite and formal.

    Bliss led her to a large interview room with a square table and several chairs all around it. In one corner were some beanbags and kids toys. Bliss threw a folder down on the centre of the main table.

    ¡°Nolan Perninski, found dead in his living room by his wife and daughter. One gunshot wound to the head. The gun was found in his right hand.¡±

    ¡°He was holding the gun?¡± Kass interrupted. ¡°Then how do you know it wasn¡¯t suicide?¡±

    ¡°Because, Miss Nite, Nolan Perninski is left handed. If he was going to shoot himself, why would he use his other hand?¡±

    ¡°Did you find any prints on the gun?¡±

    ¡°Just his. We suspect the gun was wiped and then placed.¡±

    ¡°Why do you think Cat did it?¡±

    ¡°Because a few days earlier she broke into his office and attempted to attack him. She then waited outside until she was forced to move on. And we found her prints in his house.¡±

    ¡°Where?¡±

    ¡°On a door handle. Mr Perninski also looked like he had taken a beating prior to his being shot. It¡¯s all in the documents.¡± Bliss tapped the folder.

    ¡°No witnesses?¡± Kass asked as she picked the folder up off the desk.

    ¡°One. There was another set of prints found at the crime scene, one not belonging to his family. Cops are on their way over to interview that witness now.¡±

    ¡°How do you know that person¡¯s not the one responsible?¡± Kass asked.

    ¡°Because that person is a sixteen year old girl. Katrina James.¡±

    ¡°Are you charging Cat?¡±

    ¡°We plan to yes. Although a confession would be nice. I hear the prosecution is willing to make a deal. Her name and number are in with the rest of the files. But personally,¡±¡ªBliss gave a smile¡ª¡°I hope she doesn''t talk so we can put her away for good.¡±

 Volume 3, Chapter 58: Conflict of Interest

    Murder didn¡¯t always come with a lifetime charge. It could but it was unlikely to in this case. Still, it was obvious from the way Bliss had spoken of Cat, that she was no friend.

    Kass returned to her office to pick up some things and look over the files in more detail.

    While she was going through her desk, her boss appeared in the doorway. "What''s this I hear about you picking up a case I never assigned you to?"

    Kass glanced up, surprised at how fast the news had travelled. "Cat James. She''s been accused of murder."

    "Isn''t she a friend of yours?"

    She was surprised that he¡¯d remembered that, but then Cat had once threatened him, just casually, nothing too serious but evidentially enough that he remembered her.

    When Kass didn''t answer immediately and instead continued looking for a document in her desk, he added, "Well you''re off it. I didn''t assign it and that''s one hell of a conflict of interest anyway."

    Kass''s head jerked up. "She needs representation."

    "Then I''ll assign someone else. You''re off it. Got it? Not another word. And escorting a criminal out of an interrogation room by yourself? Don''t do that again." He held up his hand and then he left before she could argue.

    Kass stared at the other case files on her desk. She''d been almost all caught up before she''d left, now she was behind again. She''d make it up on the weekend though. The more pressing matter was what to do about Cat.

    She was still deliberating when Benji poked his head into the room.

    "Benji, can you find out who got assigned Cat James''s case. I''m just a little worried. She''s a difficult client."

    He gave her a grim look. ¡°Already did. He gave it to Patricia.¡±

    Kass sighed. Well, at least Patricia was a good lawyer and unlikely to be intimidated by Cat. But she could also be very straightforward and hard on her clients and was unlikely to get any cooperation from Cat either.

    Benji cleared his throat. ¡°I¡¯m supposed to take her the files.¡±

    Kass looked down at the folder in the middle of her desk. ¡°I haven¡¯t even had a look through them yet,¡± she lamented more to herself than to Benji.

    Benji licked his lips and then got a thoughtful look on his face. ¡°I mean, I was about to go get coffee. I could do that first and then pick it up when I get back. You want anything?¡±

    Kass gave him a grateful smile and a nod. ¡°Yeah. A black¡¯s fine. Thank you Benji.¡±

    Kass took photos off all the files first, then she sat down and started to read through every little detail. It wasn¡¯t an air tight case but it didn¡¯t look great. A lot would probably depend on what Katrina had to say but then witness testimony could be easily shoved under the table but either side. It was clear from Nolan¡¯s previous files what Cat¡¯s motive would have been. The guy had had several domestic calls out to his house. And then there was the recent death of his stepdaughter. The evidence might not look rock solid but jury was likely to eat up the story. The only way Kass could see Cat getting off is by making an argument for vigilante justice. It had been done before, not often but enough to argue for precedence and that would probably still carry some jail time.

    Benji returned with coffee sooner than she¡¯d have expected and when she looked at her watch she realised just how much time had flown.

    She thanked Benji for the coffee and handed over the file.

    Benji didn¡¯t immediately leave.

    ¡°What is it?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s worth mentioning but her brother¡¯s back in town.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± For a moment she didn¡¯t understand who he was talking about, then she clicked. ¡°Sirius? Sirius is back?¡±

    He nodded. ¡°He¡¯s her brother right and you¡¯re all friends, and that¡¯s why you tried to take the case? I saw his ship docked in the harbour while I was getting coffee. Figure he probably doesn¡¯t know his sister¡¯s been arrested yet.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s a good point. Thanks Benji.¡±

    He nodded and then he left.

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    Sirius was back. It was a few days early. She hoped that wasn¡¯t a sign of anything bad. She didn¡¯t see how he¡¯d know about this yet though. And she probably should tell him. Maybe he could get through to Cat, if getting Cat to talk was even a good idea. It was important for Cat to cooperate with her lawyer though. Right now Cat was as likely to dig her hole bigger as she was to climb out of it.

    Amanda should probably be told too but if the cops were already looking to talk to Katrina, as Bliss had said, then she¡¯d know soon enough anyway.

    The port was closer and the idea of a walk appealed to Kass. That and seeing Sirius. She couldn¡¯t lie to herself about that. It had been a whirlwind of a few days. She could use a friendly face, even if she couldn¡¯t tell him everything. Maybe he¡¯d know something about Nolen, such as why Cat had fixated on that man specifically. It wasn¡¯t like he was the only guy with a history of domestic call outs in Little Rock. Kass made a decision. She left her office and headed in the direction of the port.

    <hr>

    Amanda was working with a horse in the paddocks when a cop car pulled up at the end of the drive. The lone cop parked on the road and then made his way up toward the house. Amanda dismounted and met him halfway up.

    ¡°What can I do for you officer?¡± she asked politely. Had she been caught on camera at the morgue after all?

    ¡°I¡¯m looking for a Katrina James.¡±

    His request caught her off guard and she frowned. ¡°What for?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a witness in an investigation.¡±

    ¡°An investigation for what?¡±

    ¡°Homicide.¡±

    ¡°Whose?¡±

    ¡°Nolan Perninski.¡±

    Amanda¡¯s frown deepened. She didn¡¯t recognise the name.

    Gemma joined them then, having heard the cop arrive from in the house. Not a lot of traffic went this way. She was holding baby Kate who appeared to be napping.

    ¡°A cop?¡± she remarked with some disdain. ¡°What does he want?¡±

    ¡°He wants to talk to Katrina,¡± Amanda answered, studying the cop carefully.

    ¡°She may have witnessed a murder or the lead up to it,¡± the cop explained.

    Gemma snorted in disbelief. ¡°Katrina? Witness to a murder?¡±

    To the cop, Amanda said, ¡°She¡¯s at school.¡±

    The cop checked his watch. ¡°Does she come home straight afterward.¡±

    ¡°Usually,¡± Amanda replied.

    He nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll wait then. Are either of you two familiar with the name Nolan Perninski?¡±

    Amanda shook her head.

    ¡°Perninski?¡± Gemma frowned.

    Amanda turned her head sharply. ¡°You know him?¡±

    ¡°I think that¡¯s one of Lily¡¯s friend¡¯s last names. I remember because it was like a double p. Something like Penelope or Penny or Perri maybe?¡±

    The cop made some notes. ¡°Does she come over her often?¡±

    Amanda shook her head.

    ¡°Not really,¡± Gemma answered. ¡°I think she was the one whose dad came and dragged her back home during Lily¡¯s sleepover though.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by dragged?¡± The cop made some more notes. He had several more questions for them so Amanda invited him inside for tea.

    At some point Gemma went upstairs to nurse the baby.

    Eventually the younger kids all arrived home together. Katrina and Salem and Sasha were all chatting as they entered the house.

    ¡°Katrina,¡± Amanda called her into the kitchen. ¡°Can you come here a mo.¡±

    Katrina appeared in the doorway.

    ¡°This cop¡¯s got some questions.¡±

    The cop gave her a pleasant smile. ¡°It won¡¯t take long, I promise. And you don¡¯t have to talk to us. Anything you say may become a matter of public record and may be used-¡±

    ¡°Hold on,¡± Amanda interrupted. ¡°You¡¯re reading her her rights? Do you consider her a suspect?¡±

    ¡°What did you do?!¡± Salem exclaimed from the doorway where both he and Sasha were eavesdropping.

    Amanda gave them a direct look. ¡°Go do your homework.¡±

    The two younger kids ducked out of sight. Amanda suspected they hadn¡¯t gone very far though.

    ¡°No, no, no, just a witness,¡± the cop clarified. He faced Katrina as she took a seat at the table next to her mother. ¡°Now, what can you tell me about your aunt Cathryn? Are you two close?¡±

    ¡°Aunt Cat?¡± Katrina hesitated.

    ¡°Yes, your aunt Cat. Were you with her last-¡±

    ¡°Salem! Sasha! Go upstairs now!¡± Amanda called toward the hallway. This time the patter of feet running up the stairs could be heard. Before Katrina could answer, Amanda then turned to the cop. ¡°What is this about really?¡±

    The cop directed his reply at Katrina, who was looking quietly worried. ¡°Your aunt is suspected of killing Nolan Perninski.¡±

    ¡°No. She wouldn¡¯t!¡± Katrina shook her head.

    ¡°Where were you Monday night?¡±

    ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°Were you with your aunt? Did you go to Nolan Perninski¡¯s house?¡±

    ¡°Give her time to answer,¡± Amanda chided him. ¡°What evidence do you have that Cat killed this man?¡±

    Calmly, the policeman replied, ¡°We have her fingerprints at the scene of the crime, hers and Katrina¡¯s.¡±

    Amanda studied his expression for a moment and then she turned to Katrina with a questioning look on her face.

    Under the gaze of both her mother and the policeman, Katrina finally blurted out. ¡°Okay, yes we were there at his house, but she didn¡¯t kill him. When we left he was alive.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± the policeman asked.

    Katrina hesitated then with a decisive look on her face she replied firmly, ¡°Yes.¡±

    It was a little too firm though. Amanda suspected her daughter was lying. She didn¡¯t challenge her though, not in front of the cop. She¡¯d ask her later. In fact, she decided, it was probably best Katrina didn¡¯t say anymore to the cop.

    Amanda turned to the policeman, ¡°There, you¡¯ve got your answer. Maybe it¡¯s best you go now.¡±

    ¡°Why were you there?¡± He said to Katrina, pushing his luck. ¡°What was the point of the visit?¡±

    Amanda butted in before Katrina could answer. ¡°I said you¡¯ve asked her enough questions. You want to ask anymore you come back when there¡¯s a lawyer present and when you¡¯ve been invited.¡± She gave him a firm look.

    He opened his mouth as if to speak and then he closed it again and gave a simple nod. In silence he stood up and started to head for the door.

    Katrina suddenly blurted out, ¡°It¡¯s because we wanted to know if he killed his daughter.¡±

    The cop turned. ¡°What?¡± he asked softly.

    ¡°He did,¡± Katrina replied stubbornly, ignoring her mother¡¯s look. ¡°I saw it in his head. He murdered his own daughter, made her fall into a glass coffee table and then he disposed of the body in the woods.¡±

    ¡°Katrina...¡± Amanda whispered in a gentle warning tone.

    ¡°But Aunt Cat didn¡¯t kill him. We were just getting enough evidence to go to the cops with it.¡±

    Amanda stood up and faced the cop. She positioned herself between her daughter and the policeman. ¡°Out. Now,¡± she commanded at him.

    He did as he was asked.

 Volume 3, Chapter 59: Confession

    The moment the cop left, Amanda turned back to her daughter. She took a seat beside her and gently asked, ¡°What do you mean you saw it in his head? You were mindwalking?¡±

    It was a guess but Amanda had already felt what she¡¯d though was Katrina playing around with mind magic another day.

    Katrina nodded.

    Amanda gave her a moment to elaborate.

    ¡°I just... I went to find Aunt Cat to get some more dreamwalking but she wasn¡¯t at her garage and nobody knew where she was, but I¡¯m pretty good with locator spells now so I used one of those and I found her parked up outside this guy¡¯s house.¡±

    Katrina went quiet for a few seconds so Amanda prodded gently, ¡°And then what happened?¡±

    ¡°I asked her what she was doing and she told me that she was getting evidence that he¡¯d killed his kid.¡±

    ¡°Why would she think he did that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know but I know she wasn¡¯t wrong.¡±

    Amanda¡¯s eye¡¯s narrowed.

    Katrina scrambled to explain. ¡°He beats up his kids... and... and worse...¡± she trailed off. She pulled her arms in close and shrunk in on herself.

    ¡°What do you mean worse?¡± Amanda studied her daughter¡¯s face.

    Katrina closed her eyes tight and hugged herself. When she opened them she said, ¡°I saw it in his head and theirs sort of. It¡¯s like...¡± Katrina struggled for the words.

    Amanda reached out to comfort her. ¡°Like you were there? Like you were them?¡± She knew what mindwalking could be like, how easy it was to lose oneself in another mind.

    Katrina pulled away. ¡°No... I mean maybe sort of... I didn¡¯t see it so much form their perspective, just their parents fighting. But when I was in his head it¡¯s like I was him, like I was...¡±

    Amanda wanted nothing more than to hug her daughter but Katrina obviously didn¡¯t want that right now. Perhaps if she kept talking about it or about other things related to it. If she she shared everything that had happened then maybe it would help her feel better.

    Amanda took the questioning a step back, hoping it would reground Katrina a little. ¡°Where did you get the mindwalking?¡±

    Katrina hesitated and looked so sad and guilty that Amanda felt horrible for asking. But she knew she had to get the whole story out. To make things a little easier she said, ¡°You¡¯re not in trouble. I¡¯m just trying to get an understanding of everything that happened.¡±

    ¡°It was Ally¡¯s. Lily¡¯s friend. At the sleepover. She told me how to use it and I was being careful I swear.¡±

    Amanda nodded and held up a hand to slow her down. ¡°Ally? And this guys daughter was there too right? Perri? Nolan Perninski was the guy who barged in and wanted to take her home is that right?¡±

    Katrina nodded. ¡°Ally said he hurts her... but she didn¡¯t say about the other stuff.¡±

    ¡°Sexual assault?¡± Amanda clarified knowing a direct answer was needed but guessing that Katrina was having trouble saying it.

    Katrina nodded. ¡°I didn¡¯t find out about that until that day at his house.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so you went to get dreamwalking magic and Cat was just sitting outside his house, just watching?¡±

    Katrina nodded again. ¡°Yeah, and I told her what I knew, and what I¡¯d seen in Perri¡¯s head one day and in Lily¡¯s too.¡±

    ¡°In Lily¡¯s?¡±

    ¡°She saw burn marks on Perri¡¯s arms, like from a cigarette.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so you told Cat all that and then what?¡±

    ¡°Then I said maybe I could mindwalk him too and get proof that he killed his other daughter, like if I could find a memory of hidden evidence or something.¡±

    ¡°And you tried that from outside his house?¡±

    ¡°Well, no. I knew I couldn¡¯t do it from that far away so I pretended like I was lost and needed to borrow a phone.¡±

    Amanda¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°You went inside the house by yourself? And your aunt let you?¡±

    ¡°She was right outside,¡± Katrina protested.

    Amanda didn¡¯t push it. She knew Katrina idolised her aunt. ¡°So then what happened?¡±

    ¡°Well, I tried mindwalking while I was borrowing his phone, just pretending to talk to you.¡±

    ¡°You did both of those things at the same time?¡± Amanda had her doubts there. Katrina had proved herself skilled at magic but she was still new to mindwalking and pulling off that sort of magic while having a fake conversation was certainly not novice stuff.

    Katrina shook her head slightly. ¡°Well, I mostly started a fake conversation and then just pretended like I was listening when I did the mindwalking bit.¡±

    ¡°He stayed nearby?¡±

    ¡°Mostly, I mean, I think so.¡±

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Amanda could guess what happened. ¡°He noticed you were mindwalking him.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I think he was suspicious so I asked to use his bathroom. I figured, inside would be close enough and I could focus better. I don¡¯t think he knew what I was doing or noticed I was in his head but I think maybe I spaced out for a bit. And then while I was in the bathroom I found the memory where he killed her. It was an accident sort of but also not really. He tripped her up because she was annoying him, all because she was in the way of the TV for just a second and then he tripped her into the coffee table and she didn¡¯t get up again. Then I got sort of stuck in another memory. I kept living it over and over. I didn¡¯t realise at the time but I remember after.¡±

    ¡°How did you get out of it?¡±

    ¡°Cat pulled me out. I called for help mentally I think. Maybe I sent a message right out to the car. And then she came in and got me and we left.¡±

    ¡°You left?¡± Amanda queried, sensing that Katrina was leaving some stuff out. ¡°Just like that?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Katrina wouldn¡¯t meet her eyes.

    ¡°And Nolan was still alive? You saw that?¡±

    Katrina met her gaze but it was hesitant and unsure and her reply more a question than an answer. ¡°Yeah?¡±

    Amanda raised her eyebrows. Gave her daughter a ¡®really?¡¯ look.

    Katrina folded. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know. I mean when I next came to I was in her car and we were a few streets away. But she wouldn¡¯t have hurt him... not unless it was to protect me... and it wasn¡¯t that long and she wasn¡¯t covered in blood or anything and she didn¡¯t have any weapons.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±

    Katrina nodded furiously. ¡°Not even in the dash and I know cause I went through there looking for her lipstick.¡±

    ¡°What about elsewhere in the car?¡±

    Katrina hesitated. Then she reiterated, ¡°She wouldn¡¯t have hurt him unless she had to.¡±

    That Amanda did believe. The problem was, with Cat, ¡®had to¡¯ covered a lot of scenarios.

    ¡°Am I in trouble?¡± Katrina asked. Then before her mother could answer she added, ¡°Is aunt Cat?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Amanda replied honestly. It didn¡¯t sound great for Cat.

    Before Amanda could decide what to do, Bobby arrive home with older Lily and poked his head into the kitchen. ¡°Dad¡¯s back,¡± he said.

    ¡°Your father¡¯s home?¡± Amanda checked.

    Bobby nodded. ¡°Ship¡¯s in port. They¡¯re still unloading. One of my mates saw.¡±

    Amanda nodded. Then she realised one of the kids was still missing. To Bobby she said, ¡°Have you seen other Lily?¡±

    He nodded. ¡°She went home with some of her friends.¡±

    Amanda frowned. ¡°I¡¯d prefer if they all came here.¡± There would come a point she knew, when it would be too dangerous to let Lily be alone with others, with those who didn¡¯t know what she was, how much risk there was. Perhaps it was already at that point? And yet, Wolf¡¯s testing had suggested they had a little longer yet. What was a few more days of letting her be a normal kid? Well, today was probably fine at least.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll try entice them back here next time,¡± Bobby replied with a good-natured smile.

    Amanda nodded. ¡°Thank you.¡± He was a good kid. Always took everything in stride. Truth was she hoped she could solve Lily¡¯s problem before anyone had to deal with it. She knew it wasn¡¯t right to put that sort of expectation on Bobby or any of her other kids but it was better than someone younger and completely unprepared.

    In the meantime it seemed there was a new problem to be dealt with. Cat¡¯s arrest. Sirius being back gave her an easy answer though. He¡¯d have some idea for what to do about Cat. Sirius always had good ideas. Whenever she couldn¡¯t think of something he could usually come up with another option. At the very least, she needed to tell him his sister had been arrested.

    Bobby and older Lily headed upstairs.

    Amanda turned to Katrina, who had been quietly sitting at the table. ¡°Are you alright?¡± she asked.

    Katrina nodded. She did look a little better. Obviously worried about her aunt though.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to head into town. If any cops come by, don¡¯t let them in. Just pretend to not be home if you can. If anything happens you give me a call. Don¡¯t talk to anybody except your siblings.¡±

    Katrina nodded.

    ¡°Good girl.¡±

    <hr>

    In a cell in the back of the local jailhouse, Cat lay on a hard bench, staring up at the plain white ceiling above her. She heard the loud thump thump thump of footsteps making their way along the corridor but she didn¡¯t immediately look up. They weren¡¯t the footsteps of anyone she recognised so it was probably just a cop come to poke the animals in the cages.

    She was right.

    ¡°Hey hey hey, what¡¯s this we have here? A pretty little kitty got caught in a cage?¡±

    Slowly she slid her eyes his way. Most cops weren¡¯t bad guys, just idiots who thought they made the town better by enforcing stupid arbitrary rules like speeding limits all the while letting pricks like Nolan Perninski get away with murder. But every now and again there was one or two who joined up with the force just so they had an excuse to push people around. True brutes. This guy was one of them. The same guy who¡¯d been about to rough her up when Kass had entered the interrogation room earlier.

    She didn¡¯t give him the dignity of an answer. She just returned her gaze to the ceiling.

    It didn¡¯t put him off at all.

    ¡°Poor kitty all alone now. No friends to play with. No one to believe you. Even your lawyer friend didn¡¯t take your case. Guess she don¡¯t think it winnable either.¡±

    Cat didn¡¯t reply. She figured he was probably just lying to try and get a rise out of her.

    His tone changed somewhat. Got sweeter and all sickly like. ¡°You know, you come over here and be a good girl maybe I could be your friend.¡±

    Cat considered it. Considered getting him to drop his trousers and giving him a hard bite where he wouldn¡¯t forget it. She didn¡¯t really want that thing anywhere near her mouth though. But perhaps a hard grope would do the trick. She sat up and took some satisfaction in the sick smile that crossed his face, knowing she¡¯d be wiping that off him in a second.

    She never got her chance though. Another cop joined them.

    ¡°Oi, Alaric, what are you mucking about doing? You¡¯re supposed to be bringing the prisoner to the interrogation room.¡±

    Alric grumbled something about ¡®getting there,¡¯ then he unlocked Cat¡¯s cell.

    Cat stood up, readying herself for whatever was coming.

    Alaric dared not try anything too questionable with his partner watching but he did roughly force Cat¡¯s hands behind her back and into cuffs before giving her a hard push in the direction of the interrogation room.

    For once Cat didn¡¯t fight back. She knew he¡¯d just use it as an excuse to be a little rougher in reply.

    When they reached the interrogation room, a lady in posh office attire was waiting for them. She was tall, blonde, and thin. On her nose perched a pair of dark rimmed glasses.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Cat asked as she was shoved roughly in the direction of the suspect chair.

    With barely a glance up from the notes before her, the woman replied in a confident tone and strict tone, ¡°I¡¯m Patricia Golding. I¡¯ll be your lawyer.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s Kass?¡±

    ¡°Assigned to a different case.¡±

    Cat scowled. So the cop had been telling the truth.

    The cops left her alone with the lawyer.

    ¡°There is quite a bit of evidence against you,¡± Patricia told her. ¡°It¡¯s in your best interest in this case to tell me everything and to cooperate with the police as much as possible. If the act was in self defense that¡¯s an angle we can work, or if it was to protect another, the law does have some leeway there.¡±

    Cat didn¡¯t trust her. She crossed her arms and glared, refusing to answer any questions this new woman asked. Eventually the woman gave up and the cops returned to give it a try with the lawyer still present.

    The cops sat down at the table opposite her. For several hours they grilled her until eventually Cat replied after a yawn, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll confess.¡±

    Both cops breathed a sigh of relief. The lawyer, who appeared completely unflappable simply adjusted her glasses and reached for a pen.

    Cat motioned for Alric to lean in close. He did so. She put her lips right up by his ear and whispered, ¡°I confess that you should go fuck yourself.¡±

    And then she bit him on the earlobe. Hard.

 Volume 3, Chapter 60: A Wanted Man

    It was almost a nice day, if not a little chilly. The bite of the incoming winter hung in the air even this late in the day and a gentle breeze was all it took to make everyone feel it. Kass recognised Sirius¡¯s ship easily. The wood was dark in colour, almost a grey black. The sails too, had been dyed black, but the colour was faded and weather worn. It was distinctive and yet much like Sirius himself, it somehow seemed to blend in among all the white sails. It wasn¡¯t the only ship with odd coloured sails though. Down near the other end of the dock, nestled between much larger ships, was a single-masted yacht with bright pink sails. Whoever owned it must be a good sailor to be taking a ship that small out into these waters. Even the bays could get quite rough.

    The land curved around an area of water large enough to boast several smaller and predominately uninhabited islands. There had been more than a few drownings by people trying to get to them in small dinghies on the wrong day.

    To the north, the land rose up slightly as it reached outward toward the ocean. Fancier and newer houses, like Indi¡¯s, were situated atop the hill as it curved around the bay, though they were mostly hidden among dense low-lying bush.

    If you kept going north the land quickly became covered in pine forest. Houses had been built around some of the next bay over too but they were more sparsely spread and situated further back from the water¡¯s edge, where they were completely concealed by pine trees.

    To the south, the land was also raised but it was lower than to the north and covered in bare farmland. Sheep dotted the hillside. At the very end of the headland sat a lighthouse and large old manor.

    The pier itself was bustling. Kass couldn¡¯t remember a time when it hadn¡¯t been. The docks were the heart and soul of Little Rock. Several cafes lined the waterfront before you got to the proper docks, further down and in among a large collection of warehouses.

    Kass found Sirius directing cargo into one of the warehouses. As she passed by another crew unloading boxes from their own smaller and lighter coloured ship, one or two of them gave her an appreciatory whistle. She wasn¡¯t dressed in her usual office attire but she was nicer dressed than most of those on the docks who wore a mix of canvas, jeans, and scruffy t-shirts or singlets. A couple of men were hauling boxes bare-chested, despite the slight chill. That morning she¡¯d opted for clothes that could pass in an office but wouldn¡¯t be unsuitable for running, a pair of dark stretchy skinny jeans, boots, and a simple beige cap-sleeve blouse. She¡¯d gotten soaked that morning in the rain but everything had mostly dried during the ride back.

    Sirius glanced up at the sound of the whistles and did a double take when he saw her. He straightened up and frowned.

    ¡°Kass?¡±

    She gave him a brief smile and was pleased when he returned it, although it was equally as brief. ¡°Hey, I have some rather unfortunate news.¡±

    His frown returned.

    ¡°Cat¡¯s been arrested.¡±

    His frown deepened. ¡°What for?¡±

    Kass explained almost all she knew. When she was done Sirius was silent.

    After some amount of time in thought he asked, ¡°So what do we do?¡±

    ¡°Well, she¡¯s got a good lawyer but it would really help her if she cooperates with them and I don¡¯t know how likely she is to do that. Maybe it would help if you talked to her?¡±

    Sirius shook his head. ¡°She doesn¡¯t listen to me.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s another thing.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°They found Katrina¡¯s prints at the scene. I believe they¡¯ve already sent someone around to your house to interview her.¡±

    ¡°Does Amanda know?¡±

    Kass shook her head. ¡°I came straight here. I¡¯d just heard you were back and the port was closer.¡± Kass nearly tripped over her words to explain. She didn¡¯t want him to think she¡¯d come to him first because she¡¯d wanted to see him, even though there was some truth in that.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Sirius gave a worried nod. ¡°I need to get home.¡±

    Kass knew he was right, as much as she would have liked to keep talking to him, even in spite of all the circumstances. After the few days she¡¯d had she found his presence calming. Even when he was obviously worried, he had a sense of peace about him.

    The peace was disrupted by a sudden scream from down the docks. They each turned to look, along with several other dock workers who paused in their work. Down near where the pink-sailed boat was berthed a lady was being supported by two companions, a man and a woman. She was fallen half-way to the ground, her knees folded in underneath her and she was wailing.

    ¡°It¡¯s the end! It¡¯s coming! I can see it so clearly! Can¡¯t you see it?¡±

    Another man joined the group and all four of them made their way down the docks in the direction of Kass and Sirius. They half dragged, half supported the woman the entire way down, all the while she moaned and proclaimed all sorts of dark predictions.

    As she passed by Sirius and Kass she suddenly pointed at them with a shaky finger. ¡°Y-y-you have to close the splice! You have to close it!¡± Then she folded in on her self. ¡°Oh! The ghosts! So many! So alone! Oh! They are coming! And the dead will walk like they never have before.¡±

    Her companion who wasn¡¯t currently supporting her called out as they passed on by. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, please pay her no attention. She¡¯s out of her mind. We¡¯re taking her to a doctor.¡±

    ¡°Out of her mind huh?¡± Sirius mumbled softly as if he didn¡¯t quite believe it.

    Kass kept watching as the pulled the woman down the dock and eventually around the corner. She was so busy watching after the screaming woman that she didn¡¯t notice Sirius studying her own face, until he asked, ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± She glanced up to meet his eyes and for a second she felt like he could read her soul.

    ¡°You look tired.¡±

    ¡°Oh, uh, yeah, maybe I am I suppose.¡± She dropped her eyes away, reminding herself that he wasn¡¯t hers, and that she definitely didn¡¯t deserve someone like him. But the memory of those emeralds stuck in her mind and she couldn¡¯t help herself. She was drawn back up to look at him.

    He looked worried. How tired did she look?

    She shook her head and tried to brush of his concern. The fact he was concerned at all just made her like him more and she half wished he wasn¡¯t so caring. ¡°It¡¯s been a long day.¡±

    ¡°You should go home, get some rest.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got too much work to do.¡± That was the truth too. There was a lot for her to catch up on, not to mention Cat¡¯s situation.

    ¡°You can¡¯t do much if you¡¯re tired,¡± Sirius replied matter-of-factly. ¡°I¡¯m gonna head home, talk to Amanda. You said Cat had a lawyer?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, just court appointed but she¡¯s decent. I¡¯ll send you her name and number.¡± Kass pulled out her phone to get on that straight away.

    ¡°Thank you. Are you sure you¡¯re alright?¡±

    She met his eyes again and felt her knees go weak at the concern in his eyes. ¡°Me? Yeah. I¡¯m fine.¡± She really did feel like just going home and hitting the sack though. It was late enough in the day and he was right. She¡¯d be more productive if she was well-rested. There was no way they were letting Cat out tonight. Everything else could wait until tomorrow. ¡°I¡¯ll probably knock off early though. Call me if you need any help?¡±

    He nodded. ¡°Will do.¡±

    With that, they parted ways. Kass didn¡¯t go back to the office. Instead she went home to her apartment, figuring maybe a short nap would do the trick and then she could pull some hours in the late evening. When she got home, she set her overnight bag aside to be unpacked later. Then she lay down on the bed, still in her clothes. She fell asleep before her head even hit the pillow.

    <hr>

    Earlier...

    Amanda tied her horse up out the front of The Rusty Nail, just around the corner from the docks. She spared a brief glance at the bar. Then, resisting the urge to break into a run, she made her way in the direction of Sirius¡¯s ship.

    Her heart lifted at the sight of those familiar sails flapping in the cool breeze. Even though he¡¯d only been gone several days, it felt like weeks. With all that had been going on lately she wanted nothing more than to drag him back home, seat the kids all around, and curl up on the couch with Sirius, while they all watched a movie together.

    That wasn¡¯t going to happen. Not tonight. There was too much else to deal with first, Cat, Lily, Katrina. But Amanda would settle for a hug. Just knowing he was back bolstered her mood greatly.

    She saw him first, his tall form towering over others. She smiled.

    But she stopped short half way toward him and her smile fell away as she realised who he was talking to... Kass.

    Amanda froze. A sick feeling rose in her stomach and she felt like the floor had fallen out from underneath her.

    She couldn''t face them like this. She didn''t want that encounter. She spun on her heels and walked away.

    In the back of her mind she knew it made sense. Cat had been arrested. Kass was a lawyer. She probably knew and she was telling Sirius.

    Amanda hesitated. She paused and looked back at them. They were still talking. She didn''t miss the way Kass was looking at him. Even from this far away Amanda could plainly see how undivided Kass¡¯s attention was.

    Sure, some things made sense but why hadn''t Kass come to Amanda first? Why hadn''t she warned her the cops were coming to interrogate Katrina? How had she even known Sirius was back? Even before Amanda had?

    Amanda kept walking and she didn''t really think about where her feet were taking her until she found herself standing inside The Rusty Nail.

    The barman leaned over the counter with a welcoming smile. "Amanda! What''ll it be?"

    Oh what the hell. After the day she¡¯d had. One beer wouldn''t hurt.

 Volume 3, Chapter 61: Where The Wild Things Wave Knives

    ¡°En guard!¡± cried Maddi as she attempted to strike Mary with her sword, which was actually just a long stick she was pretending was a sword.

    But Mary was ready for her. Not only had she had spent countless hours learning about sword fighting and practicing her thrusts and parries, she¡¯d even managed to talk her mother into letting her take fencing lessons.

    Maddi stood no chance.

    Mary defended the attack with ease and wasted no time in striking back. Maddi, who was more used to holding a paintbrush than a sword, shrieked in the face of such ferocity, turned tail and ran all the way over to the edge of the forest that boarded Ally¡¯s backyard.

    Jojo, seeing an opportunity, dove in from the side to try and take Mary out. She didn¡¯t have Mary¡¯s skill but she was more than a match for her in enthusiasm and the pair fought their way back and forth in front of the swing set with smacks and whacks and the occasional yelp but no sign of slowing.

    Maddi, threw herself on the ground by the swing set where her other friends sat and proclaimed dramatically, ¡°I nearly died. I think I need more practice.¡±

    ¡°You should get back out there then,¡± encouraged Ally from one swing.

    Maddi shook her head where it lay on the ground, her brown curls spayed out over the grass then she pulled herself upright. ¡°I think I will just watch for now.¡±

    Lily watched the fight from the other swing with wide eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t know how Jojo can just take so many hits.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because she¡¯s tough,¡± said Perri with a hint of envy. She sat on the ground under one leg of the swing set. She was wearing long sleeves as usual, and she fiddled with the ends of them.

    Lily was also wearing long sleeves but it wasn¡¯t so weird today given the temperature seemed to have dropped in the last few days. It was close enough to winter now that she thought she should be able to get away with it for awhile, although a part of her wondered if she would even get to see summer. Her skin had been getting worse and after a bit of research in the school library she thought she understood a lot more about what she was. It made it hard to think about other things and even the happier moments felt like a lie that could be revealed at any moment.

    Amanda had said they would help her, and for a time the spell that had been done had seemed to work. But her skin was getting worse again and she understood that whatever it was Amanda had done, it was only temporary. She also understood that if anyone knew how to fix her then they probably would have done it already. Besides, all the books said it was impossible. Worse than that, they said she was illegal, malformed, wrong, and dangerous. ¡®All zombies should be shot on sight and then burned.¡¯ That¡¯s what one of the books she¡¯d found had said.

    No matter how much Lily wanted to forget about what she had read and just join in her friend¡¯s games, she couldn¡¯t. Her thoughts wandered to her father. Where was he? Was he looking for her? She knew that he was the one who had done this to her and she knew that it was probably because she had died. It was a weird thing to think about. She couldn¡¯t remember any of it nor could she remember what her powers had been, and she must have had some but not a single memory could she find where she had used them or someone had mentioned them. And yet it didn¡¯t feel like her memories were incomplete. She remembered many things from her life vividly. Sure, nobody remembered every moment of every day. That was normal. But she remembered enough to feel like she remembered her whole life and who she was. Logically things must be missing but this was only based on observation of others around her and what they told her. The nature of the world she lived in now told her she must have had powers. But how could she be sure? How could she know what she had forgotten if she¡¯d forgotten it?

    She sat silently on the swing, keeping back from the action, much in the way Perri often did. She watched and she observed and no one said anything. Ally must know her thoughts. Ally could read minds, but if she did, she thus far had said nothing. She simply sat with them and kept them company until her mother stuck her head into the backyard and called out.

    ¡°Who wants to help me make brownies?¡±

    Maddi and Perri were on their feet in an instance. Their rush inside was quickly followed by Jojo and Mary, leaving only Ally and Lily out on the swings.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Along with the return of her skin condition, Lily had begun feeling more tired lately too. Even the walk inside felt like it would take some huge amount of effort. And a part of her was afraid. Afraid that if she spent too much time close to her friends that she might end up hurting them.

    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of you you know?¡± Ally said from the swing beside her.

    Lily kicked gently at the ground, making the swing move ever so slightly. ¡°Maybe you should be,¡± she mumbled.

    ¡°No way. And I don¡¯t think you¡¯re a zombie cause I can read your mind and I can¡¯t read the minds of the dead,¡± Ally declared confidently.

    Lily paused in her swinging. Could that be true? Maybe what she thought was wrong with her wasn¡¯t what was wrong with her after all. ¡°Are you sure?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Sure I¡¯m sure,¡± Ally replied with the confidence of one who has never been wrong in her short life.

    Lily smiled. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go make brownies.¡±

    The afternoon passed by in a blur and Lily did her very best to ignore the itching of the skin on her arms.

    Evening fell and soon all the others had either been picked up or called back home.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get Pan to drop you off, dear,¡± Ally¡¯s mum told her.

    ¡°I wanna come for a drive,¡± declared Ally.

    Ally¡¯s mum nodded and returned to her current cleaning of the mess they¡¯d all made in the kitchen.

    ¡°Hang on, I just need to get something.¡± Ally took of running toward her room.

    Ally¡¯s mum handed Lily a small package wrapped in sandwich paper. ¡°Some brownies for the road,¡± she told her.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Lily said politely.

    ¡°I¡¯m back. Let¡¯s go,¡± Ally declared.

    ¡°April, have you seen the car keys?¡± Ally¡¯s dad called from the front hallway.

    ¡°Where did you leave them last?¡± Ally¡¯s mum called back.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Did you check your jacket pocket?¡±

    While they looked for the keys, Ally held something out for Lily. ¡°I got you a present. I thought it might cheer you up. If you¡¯re worried that someone might hurt you, all you need is a lucky dagger. All good pirates have one you know. Plus this one suits you. It has flowers on it, kind of like how your name is a flower. That makes it extra lucky.¡±

    Lily looked down to see what Ally was giving her. It was a knife, a real one. The blade was ever so slightly curved and covered in some kind of sheath. The handle was the prettiest thing Lily had ever seen. It was sliver and gold and shaped just like a flower as Ally said, a daffodil to be precise. Lily took it gratefully. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said, too enamored with the blade to ask where Ally had gotten it from.

    ¡°It¡¯s a friendship knife,¡± Ally said proudly.

    ¡°But I don¡¯t have anything for you,¡± Lily worried aloud.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, friendship is about gifts, not trades,¡± Ally declared wisely.

    Lily kept the knife tucked beneath her packet of brownies during the ride home.

    Ally¡¯s dad had the radio turned on the whole way but he didn¡¯t listen to music, it was some kind of sports game described by two men who laughed a lot.

    In hushed whispers, Ally performed her own rendition of their commentary, much to Lily¡¯s amusement.

    She¡¯d almost forgotten her earlier worries completely and for a while there things seems almost normal, like she was just another kid being driven home from her friend¡¯s place.

    Suddenly, Ally¡¯s dad swerved off the road and stopped the car not far from a blind corner.

    It surprised Ally enough that she stopped her mock commentary, and both girls looked up to see what was going on.

    Initially it seemed like nothing was happening. Ally¡¯s dad simply sat there looking at the road ahead. And then suddenly, a car came speeding around the corner, taking up both sides of the road, its headlights blindingly bright. It barely missed them, even though they were hardly on the road.

    For a second as the lights of the other car filled their small cab, Lily was somewhere else, staring into a different set of blinding lights on another road, ones coming straight for her. And then just like that they were gone. But the memory remained, seared into the back of her eyelids so brightly she could have sworn that if she shut her eyes she was there, sitting beside her mother, staring down death.

    ¡°Idiots,¡± mumbled Ally¡¯s dad, as he got the car moving again and pulled back onto the country road. ¡°Just cause hardly anyone drives out this way, they think they own the road.¡±

    With a shaking hand he switched off the radio and continued on more slowly than he had before. Even Ally was quiet the rest of the way to the Byrn¡¯s house.

    They passed by a few people on horseback but saw not one other car.

    The sun was setting as Lily walked up the long drive to the Byrn¡¯s house. The windows of the three stories up ahead were well lit and felt somehow both welcoming and distant at the same time. She had her own room now. Bobby had reclaimed his and she¡¯d been moved up to the very top floor, a little room that Amanda had cleared out of boxes and things and in which she¡¯d set a bed up in. A room with a ceiling that slanted down at an angle until it met the little box window that looked out the front.

    She could see her window as she walked up the path, dark compared to the other rooms. Dark and on a different floor from the rest, but it was cozy up there and it felt a little bit more like her own space, like she could belong here. But as she looked up at that little dark window that was now hers, that promised her a place, she could still see those two spots of bright light layered right on top of it, indistinguishable from all that that was real and promised, and completely impossible to escape. For no matter where she turned her head, those headlights were coming straight toward her.

 Volume 3, Chapter 62: Calming The Storm

    Sirius returned home to chaos but no sign of Amanda.

    ¡°Get off the computer!¡± Katrina demanded of her brother.

    ¡°I was on it first,¡± Salem shot back.

    ¡°Dad, Salem¡¯s hogging the computer,¡± Katrina complained.

    ¡°I only just got on,¡± Salem butted in.

    Sirius ignored them both. ¡°Where¡¯s your mother?¡±

    ¡°She went to look for you. Bobby said you were back,¡± Katrina explained.

    Sirius frowned. ¡°She went to the port?¡±

    Katrina shrugged. ¡°Where else would she go?¡±

    ¡°The bar,¡± suggested Gemma with a scoff from half way down the stairs. Less snarkily she added, ¡°Hi dad. How was your trip?¡±

    Salem gave them each a cursory glance and then with a satisfied smile he returned his focus to his game.

    Katrina turned on Gemma. ¡°Why would she go to the bar when she was looking for dad? It¡¯s more likely she went to the police station.¡± She turned back to her dad and explained, ¡°Aunt Cat got arrested.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s she going to do at the police station?¡± Gemma interrupted.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe bail Aunt Cat out.¡±

    ¡°She murdered somebody. They don¡¯t just let you out on bail for murder.¡±

    ¡°Yes they do.¡±

    ¡°Not this soon.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know when she was arrested.¡±

    ¡°Dad!¡± Sasha appeared then with a big smile on her face. For a moment it looked like she might run up and hug him like she used to, but she held herself back, too old for such childish affections, too young to not care what others thought.

    ¡°Hey kiddo,¡± he replied with a tired smile.

    Bobby joined them a moment later as well. ¡°Hey dad.¡±

    Gemma and Katrina continued arguing.

    Sirius held up his hands in an attempt to create some order.

    Sasha beat him to it. ¡°I can¡¯t find Fred.¡±

    Silence descended like a hammer and all eyes turned her way.

    ¡°How do you lose a python!¡± exclaimed Gemma. She glanced up toward Kate¡¯s room with a look of worry and then took off up the stairs.

    ¡°Sash, you were supposed to keep it in its cage,¡± chided Bobby.

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t like being locked up. You have to help me find her!¡±

    <hr>

    Fred only a few minutes earlier, had been slithering her way up the side of a cot. The small pudgy thing inside smelt strange. It lured her in. It begged ¡®come closer¡¯ but it was also new, different to anything the snake had encountered before, and yet so strangely comforting. Fred felt a need to investigate.

    Slowly, ever so slowly Fred arched up and over the side of the crib. She looked down at the creature inside. It was warm, not as warm as that place downstairs. That place was too warm, just as the other place had eventually gotten too cool. But this creature. Its warmth was just right. The scent of the creature was overpowering and its movements welcoming. Everything was perfect.

    Down into the crib Fred went. She slithered around the small, pudgy creature. She brought her body in close and tight. This creature was no threat to her. She curled up close to it, letting its warmth fill her skin. Its hands stroked her scales and the vibration felt right, like she was meant to be here.

    She felt no desire to eat it as she had when she¡¯d first entered the room. Rather, everything about it made her want to protect it, like it was her own nest. The scent that emanated from it wasn¡¯t like the other, bigger creatures. Fred didn¡¯t wonder how such things came to be. She didn¡¯t have the capability. She didn¡¯t question. She just accepted.

    Side by side they lay, until suddenly vibrations shook the second floor. Someone coming up the stairs. Coming very fast.

    Fred did not move at first, not until she smelt the scent of fear. Fear from the little creature next to her. And then its little hands moved. They vibrated. Tap tap tap. Fred knew what that meant too. Danger was coming. Flee. Flee. Flee.

    And so Fred moved fast. Like a slippery noddle spilling out of a bowl she found herself on the floor in seconds. Under the bed she went, to hide from whatever danger the baby had warned her of.

    It was a curious thing, or would have been had the snake been more aware, that once Fred was safely hidden and once the door to the room opened, the baby¡¯s scent changed once again. From a warning to a welcoming, a happiness at the sight of this bigger creature, and a joy that her new friend had managed to hide just in time.

    <hr>

    It took them all a good hour before the python was safely located and returned to its cage.

    After getting a quick recap of the afternoon¡¯s events from the kids, Sirius ran one hand through his hair and asked, ¡°Where¡¯s Lily?¡±

    ¡°She went to a friend¡¯s house Bobby answered.

    Sirius checked the time and frowned. It was nearly dark outside. ¡°Anyone got their phone number?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be in mum¡¯s notebook by the phone. I wrote them down that time they stayed over,¡± Katrina answered. With a sideways glance at the computer, which Salem had quickly claimed even before the search for the python had ended, Katrina started, ¡°Dad-¡±

    Without missing a beat, and in a tone that invited no argument, Sirius remarked, ¡°Salem, give your sister a turn on the computer.¡±

    Salem growled but did as he was asked.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Smiling, Katrina jumped on the computer, opened up the internet, and typed in the name, ¡®Nolan Perninski.¡¯

    In the kitchen, Sirius frowned down at the list of names, unsure which one of Lily¡¯s friend¡¯s she was with. He was just about to dial the first number when the main door to the house opened and Lily walked in.

    He put the phone back down. ¡°Hey, you alright?¡± he asked.

    Lily nodded and smiled.

    ¡°Good...¡± with a frown he turned toward the kitchen and checked the time again. Amanda still hadn¡¯t returned either but the kids probably needed dinner.

    Evidentially food was also on Salem¡¯s mind and catching the direction his dad was looking as he entered the kitchen he remarked, ¡°Mum said there¡¯s dinner in the fridge, we just have to heat it.¡±

    ¡°Ah good.¡± Still Sirius hesitated although he wasn¡¯t sure why. He glanced toward the door.

    Sasha, Bobby, and Lily had headed upstairs. Katrina looked lost in some online article. The kids had food.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be fine,¡± Gemma told him as she took a seat at the dining table, and gently bounced baby Kate. To Salem she said, ¡°Hey, heat me a plate would you?¡±

    ¡°Heat your own plate,¡± Salem shot back.

    ¡°Can¡¯t, busy holding the baby,¡± Gemma replied.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Salem grumbled.

    Gemma¡¯s gaze slid toward her father again, who was lost in thought halfway between the kitchen and main entrance hall. ¡°She probably just got distracted by a poker game or a client or something.¡±

    Sirius wasn¡¯t so sure though. While they did often leave the kids to their own devices, it wasn¡¯t like Amanda to not do what she said she was going to, especially given the current circumstances. And she rarely left Lily for very long without checking in on her. Had she simply missed him when she¡¯d gone to the port? If so then why hadn¡¯t she returned home? He had feeling he knew where she was, he just wasn¡¯t sure why she would be there if she knew he was here, which she probably did.

    He could have given her a call, and it certainly would have been the easier option, but Sirius hated talking over the phone, and it wasn¡¯t like it was that far into town.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be back soon,¡± he told the kids.

    Gemma nodded absently.

    On he way out the door he heard her say, ¡°Hey Salem, can you pass me the Jack?¡±

    He paused briefly to frown but then continued on his way.

    <hr>

    He found Amanda exactly where he thought she¡¯d be, but there was no poker game. She was simply sitting at the bar in The Rusty Nail, nursing a dark spirit, probably a whiskey. There was no sign of how many she¡¯d already had.

    The place was relatively empty tonight, only a few patrons scattered around tables, all chatting quietly. He recognised a few of them as sailors from other ships. With the exception of one grey-haired fellow at the end who looked half into his grave already, Amanda was the only one who was seated around the bar bench.

    ¡°Hey,¡± he said softly as he approached.

    She heard him because she did glance his way. But then she turned away again and proceeded to ignore him.

    He took the seat next to her sensing she was angry. Whether it was at him or something else he wasn¡¯t sure.

    ¡°Cat got arrested,¡± he ventured.

    She gave a curt laugh and didn¡¯t look at him. ¡°I know.¡± Barely giving him a moment to reply she then followed up with, ¡°A policeman came by to interrogate Katrina.¡± This time she met his eyes, albeit only briefly before she returned to stare down her drink as if some answer might be found at the bottom of it.

    Sirius studied her. He knew if he waited long enough she¡¯d eventually tell him what was wrong. She wasn¡¯t one to just let things stew. He tried to gauge how drunk she was. She wasn¡¯t outright slurring her words but she¡¯d definitely had a few. Apart from the slight bitter note in her tone, she otherwise sounded and looked pretty relaxed.

    After another moment of silence she sighed and then scoffed. ¡°Kass knew and didn¡¯t even have the fucking decency to give us a warning call.¡±

    He frowned. ¡°She came and told me at the docks.¡±

    Another laugh. ¡°I know. I saw.¡± She didn¡¯t look at him. She just stared straight ahead at the many coloured bottles lining the shelves behind the bar. The bartender was down the other end, cleaning glances and occasionally shooting them a look, but it seemed he could read a situation well enough to know when he wasn¡¯t needed.

    ¡°Ah.¡± Sirius replied. Now he understood why she was unhappy.

    Amanda smiled at that but it wasn¡¯t a happy smile, it was more of a ¡®see I told you¡¯ sort of a smile. And still she kept her eyes straight ahead. ¡°You two looked pretty cozy together.¡±

    Sirius reevaluated his assessment of her state. She had slurred that time and raised her voice, enough that a few nearby patrons were now glancing their way.

    In a quieter tone he replied, ¡°She was just telling me what happened to Cat. The port¡¯s closer than our house.¡±

    ¡°Not closer than a phone call.¡± She¡¯d lowered her volume now but only slightly and her tone was snappy.

    He didn¡¯t reply that he hardly ever had his phone on him because he knew she didn¡¯t mean that Kass should have called him and he couldn¡¯t really argue with that.

    ¡°How¡¯d she even know you were back? And before I did¡± Her tone shifted now, from angry to sad. Her last four words were so quiet he almost missed them.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± he replied honestly. He knew there was no point in arguing. He could understand why she was upset, even though he knew nothing had happened. Kass probably should have called Amanda first but he couldn¡¯t really blame her for that either. He knew Kass felt more comfortable talking to him than she did Amanda, plus Cat was his sister so it also made sense coming to him first. It wouldn¡¯t do any good saying that to Amanda though. He knew all she needed was reassurance and maybe to sober up a bit. The fact she¡¯d left Lily so long without checking on her worried him. The fact that Lily was home with only his own kids to supervise, as much as he did trust them, worried him too but there was no point in worrying about what had been done beyond figuring out how to ensure it didn¡¯t happen again.

    ¡°Come on, the kids are home alone,¡± he reminded her. He hated that pointing it out would probably make her feel guilty for being where she was right now, but it was also the most likely thing to get her moving.

    She sunk down a little on her elbows at his words and then nodded.

    When she didn¡¯t immediately move he got to his own feet, hoping she¡¯d follow.

    After a small sigh she stood up, and downed the last of her glass in one go before he could stop her. It had been more full than not and he knew that wouldn¡¯t help.

    She followed him out of the bar without a word or a glance at anyone else. He¡¯d left his larger black horse next to her chestnut one and they mounted them in silence. There seemed a tenseness in her posture though and he wasn¡¯t convinced she¡¯d said all she¡¯d wanted to.

    It wasn¡¯t until they were half way down the road and away from people that he glanced back and asked, ¡°Do you want to yell at me?¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t do anything,¡± she replied simply but the bitter tone had definitely returned to her voice.

    He wasn¡¯t certain if she meant that she was frustrated that there was nothing to yell at him for, even though she wanted to, or if she meant he should have done more. He took a punt at the latter. ¡°I told Kass I wasn¡¯t interested in her that way. I made it very clear.¡±

    He watched her expression closely. She still wouldn¡¯t look him in the eyes for more than a brief second.

    His response made her face darken.

    ¡°I know she should have called you first and she didn¡¯t but I was coming home to tell you right after she told me,¡± he added.

    She was dragging behind a bit so he pulled his horse up short and waited for her to come along beside him.

    Her expression had softened slightly by the time she reached him. She pulled her horse to a halt beside his. ¡°I know, but that doesn¡¯t make it any easier... when she...¡± she trailed off, her voice catching like she was trying not to cry.

    He reached out for her hands and squeezed them gently. ¡°I love you, and only you.¡±

    She sniffed and swallowed her tears back, then she turned to look him dead in the eyes. ¡°You still find her attractive though don¡¯t you?¡±

    She didn¡¯t look away now at all and he knew there was no way he could lie to her. She would read him like a book, and the truth was she was right. The truth was the only thing he could reply with. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± he told her meeting her gaze. Her eyes had a sheen to them in the light of the moon, a sheen of unshed tears. Tears because of him, whether it was his fault or not didn¡¯t matter either. He hated that he was the cause and he wanted nothing more than to make her feel better because he did love her. That was the truth too. ¡°Yes, I find her attractive, like her even, but not as much as I like you, not as much as I love you. And I have absolutely no intention of doing anything with her beyond what has already been done and which you already know about.¡±

    She blinked then and a few tears fell from her eyes. She swallowed and turned her face away.

    He reached over and brushed her tears from her cheeks and then gave her hand another squeeze. ¡°Hey?¡± he whispered softly, fearing he¡¯d lost her.

    She pulled her hands from his to wipe her own face and then she nodded. ¡°Yeah.¡± After a couple of deep breaths to regain her composure, she gave his hand a brief squeeze back and then reached for the reins. ¡°Let¡¯s head home.¡±