Author's Notes:

'Satyr Play 3' was supposed to be the conclusion of my surprisingly well-received first attempt at dabbling in the realm of magic. Once more, throwing caution to the wind, I run wild through the dandelion patch of canon, convention, and tradition, kicking up the fluff that is the Fantasy genre.

Yeah, I know, but whatcha gonna do.

Minimal effort is made here to explain the backstory, so if you've just stumbled upon this story as your first exposure to the tale, I highly recommend you read them in the following order:

• Satyr Play
• A Dark Heart (Short Story - for context)
• Satyr Play 2, Part 1
• Song for a Still River (Short Story - for context)
• Satyr Play 2, Part 2
• Bride in Black (Short Story - for context)
• Satyr Play 3, Part 1
• Satyr Play 3, Part 2
• Satyr Play 4, Part 1
• Satyr Play 4, Part 2
• Satyr Play 5... to come.

All characters engaging in sexual relationships or activities are 18 years old or older. Most aren't even human... or real. Or are they? Dun dun DAH!

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Satyr Play 3, Part 2

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Chapter 24

Henry's condo was a hive of activity on Saturday. While his friends promised to let him rest on Friday after returning from Washington, they began arriving at his place Saturday morning from ten onwards. He was soon hosting the same group he'd had at his housewarming party, the only exceptions being Kali, Yuko, and Jun. This time, the guests brought the food and drinks.

He was pleased to see Siobhan and curious about the mirrored sunglasses she slipped on the moment she entered. When he gestured to them, she smiled and patted his chest as she walked into the living room.

He was asked to recount his side of the events in Washington, and that's where Henry had a problem. His mind shied away from the memories of what happened to him as they were chaotic and horrifying. He wasn't sure he could share them. He remembered too well, but the images in his mind were difficult to examine too closely.

So, he gave a sanitized version of the story, omitting the horrors, covering his run back through the Mall, and waking in the hospital. As his friends kept arriving, he was repeatedly asked to give his story until he finally begged Mahati to take over that duty.

He saw Roy watching him with a thoughtful expression, so he wondered if he'd slipped up during the retelling. Roy's sharp mind caught things like that.

When Meixiu arrived with Sigrid, he greeted them at the front door, immediately noticing how low the Vampire's energy level was, and insisted on feeding her.

"I did not wish to bother you so soon after your troubles in Washington," she said timidly.

Sigrid looked at her in concern. "What were you doing that used up so much energy?"

Meixiu looked embarrassed. "I met two of my kind two nights ago. I may have shown off a little when I left them."

"You met other Vampires? Why didn't you tell me?" Sigrid asked in annoyance.

Meixiu turned to her in frustration. "I planned to, then Henry went missing, and I was embarrassed by how I used up all my energy."

Henry wrapped his arms around the Vampire with her back to his chest and lifted his wrist to her face.

Meixiu's face flushed as she enjoyed being in Henry's arms so much, but a feeding was very intimate, and Sigrid was still standing before her.

"Could... could we have a little privacy?" she asked quietly, and Sigrid snorted in frustration and left to join the others in the living room.

Meixiu pressed her lips to Henry's wrist and paused as something was significantly different. His skin was new. The spot she'd previously fed from would not have scarred, but there was always a tiny amount of dimpling or thickening at the site. Henry had none of these signs on his wrist. She was intimately aware of the nature of skin due to her diet, and she could tell immediately that the skin on his arm was like a newborn's, free of any sign of aging, use, or abuse. Her hunger stopped her from spending more time on this oddity. She numbed his wrist and bit gently. She managed three small swallows and suddenly felt lightheaded from a surge of energy. She just managed to seal the bite before she slumped in his arms, unconscious.

He lifted her easily and carried her to the bedroom once more. This was becoming a thing. Sigrid was immediately at his bedroom door as he closed it.

"What happened?" she asked in concern.

"I don't know. She'd barely started when she passed out. I think she really overdid it when she drained herself," he suggested. "She's resting now, but I'll check on her in a little while."

He took Sigrid's hands in his and looked into her lovely blue eyes. "I'm so sorry about messing up our plans again. We'll have a date night this week. I promise."

Those beautiful eyes blinked at him in surprise, then her cheeks flushed. Unable to resist how adorable she looked, Henry dipped forward and kissed her.

"Mmmmm!" she purred as the kiss went on.

When he pulled back, he heard several gasps from the living room. Sigrid smiled blissfully, then she saw his tense expression and noticed the noises from the next room. She took Henry's hand and drew him after her.

The TV was on, and everyone was staring at it in shock. A shaky and grainy video of the dramatic storm over Washington's National Mall was on the screen. Someone there that night had a functioning cell phone and managed to get a movie of the clouds battling. The scene showed the wide bolts of lightning from the two enormous clouds shooting straight down, then leaping diagonally to strike a dark shape on the lawn... for far longer than normal lightning lasted.

The amateur video was shot a long distance from the impact zone. The network news channel was zooming in, which did nothing to improve the sharpness.

The reporter's voice came over the video as they started the clip once more in slow motion. "The dark shape seen in the center of the lightning appears to be the size and shape of a man. At the beginning, you can see he seems to be standing. By the end, he's prone on the ground, in what looks like a fetal position."

Henry was shaking as his mind drew him back to the moment. He didn't have any clear memories of when he was the focal point of the bolts. A sharp burst of pain, then his nerves were overwhelmed. He hadn't known how bad it was until he saw himself through the eyes of the young Silver Person.

Because he had no eyes of his own. A tremor shook his body.

"Henry? What's wrong?" Sigrid asked as she felt his grip tighten and his trembling.

Roy looked away from the TV to examine him. He stood and walked over to stand before the younger man.

"This is you, isn't it. This is what you weren't telling us," he asked gently.

Henry couldn't speak as his lips were trembling too much. He looked up into Roy's eyes and saw the man's concern. Henry stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the big redhead and felt himself being squeezed by Roy's arms. The tears came then as the horror he'd held at bay finally got loose. Roy hugged him as Henry's shaking became violent, and his silent crying became sobs.

Sigrid looked to Camila and Marisa then they all looked to Mahati, who was staring back at Henry in shock. Obviously, she knew nothing of what he'd actually gone through.

Mary was confused and looked at Tish. "I don't get it. The guy in that lightning storm can't be Henry." Tish shook her head, then watched Henry with tears in her eyes.

"It's impossible! I've seen what happens to someone who's accidentally touched high voltage. I've responded to calls at accident scenes. This," Mary gestured to the TV, "This wouldn't leave anything left."

Roy glared at Mary as he felt the impact her words were having on the shaken man in his arms. She swallowed her next words apologetically.

The news program had switched to an on-the-scene interview with a woman with two young kids and two young men standing nearby. "He was glowing as electricity jumped all over his body," she gushed. "I was frightened of him at first, but he just seemed to want to protect my children."

Henry twitched again, and Roy looked over to Camila and nodded.

"His eyes freaking glowed from within, man, and he commanded us to bring them to safety. We grabbed the kids, and I've never run so fast in my life!"

"Can we turn that off, please?" Roy asked. Camila was closest to the remote and pressed the power button.

Henry released his death grip on Roy and stepped back. He glanced up. "Sorry," he said and accepted a tissue from Sandy. He wiped his eyes as he steadied his breathing.

"It's okay. Can you tell us what happened?" Roy asked calmly.

Henry looked around at the gathered people. His friends, his new family, the people he'd returned from death to be with.

Camila, Marisa, and Sigrid looked like they were seconds from rushing to him to pull him into a hug.

His eyes caught Mahati's look of distress and gave her a small, trembling smile, which seemed to ease her expression somewhat.

Tish, Sandy, Dayshia, and Mary, their eyes full of concern and confusion, this... stuff still completely alien to their Human perceptions.

"I need to sit down," he said as his legs trembled, and Mahati moved over on the couch to let him join her and Tish. He sat between them and took a shaky breath.

When he felt a little calmer, he looked up and saw he had everyone's attention. It felt strange to be focused on so intensely, but he pushed past that, too.

"Mahati and I were in the Mall when I felt the magic-laced rain. I've seen what these false clouds can do, so I got scared and told Mahati to run for the Lincoln Memorial. We were almost there, and I couldn't see Mahati, so I looked back and noticed that woman with the two kids. She... she wasn't going to make it, so I ran back toward her to help her get her kids to safety.

He took a breath, then gripped his knees until his knuckles went white. Tish placed her hand on one as Mahati held his other one. He sucked in a sharp breath, then nodded. He could do this... with a little help from his friends.

"I-I don't know why, but the charge in the clouds was drawn to me. I could feel the power jumping all over me, and I started to glow. Maybe the Wild Magic in the storm was drawn to the Wild Magic in me." He glanced over to see Siobhan nodding, as she obviously believed this.

"I knew I had to get away from everyone, but there were so many people. Some Silver People showed up, and I'd seen them save people before, so I asked them to save them, and they did, just before the two pseudo-clouds hit me with their lightning. It only hurt for a short time, then everything went numb."

His voice cracked. "Could I get some water?"

Sandy quickly collected a glass of water for him, but Kesini plucked it from her fingers and handed it to him as she approached. Sandy gave her hair an annoyed look but retook her seat across from him.

"Thank you," Henry said after he swallowed some to wet his throat. "While I was in the lightning, Xiong reached out to me and asked me to save the remaining Glass People in Kuwait. My mind went there, and I opened tears to drop them into Eden, the other world. Then... then he showed me three more who were being tortured." He looked at the others, his eyes brimming with fresh tears, though it was his rage resurfacing. "They killed a child! They were laughing!" His body began shaking once more.

"What did you do, Henry?" Roy asked.

Henry looked away. "I killed them. I dropped all six of them into a lava flow." A shudder went through his body as he contemplated the violence he'd done.

Roy shared a look with Sigrid.

Meixiu had been listening from the hall. She walked into the living room and saw the looks of sadness, shock, and despair on her friend's faces. She'd heard Henry's confession and knew he'd been justified in his actions, so she wondered why the others were so upset.

She moved to kneel before him. She took his hands, and she looked up into his eyes. She saw they were filled with pain. "It was necessary, Henry. People who could do such awful things would do it again."

He sucked in a shaky breath, hearing her acceptance of his actions.

"Why is your skin new?" she asked. Henry twitched, and several of the gathered made sounds of shock.

He looked from face to face and swallowed hard to force his stomach to settle. "The lightning burned me... badly, as Mary said. Xiong brought me to Eden, but they couldn't help me. I saw what happened to me through the eyes of one of the Silver People. I was charred, my skin completely burned, and my face was gone. I... I had no eyes!" he forced out, and Mahati and Tish cried out and clung to him. He was crying again as shudders shook his body from reliving it.

Meixiu moved to stand next to Sigrid and touched her shoulder to get her attention. She leaned down and whispered in her ear. Sigrid gasped and turned to look into Meixiu's eyes as she nodded.

Roy leaned forward. "Who healed you, Henry?" he forced out.

Henry blinked at him through his tears. "I... I did."

"Henry, that's not possible," Roy said gently. "Was it the witch?"

Henry shook his head and looked up at Roy. "I was dying, Xiong told me they couldn't heal me, I was slipping away, and Baba came to me in the dark. She told me I could just let go." He shook his head slowly as he remembered. "I knew... she was testing me again. I knew she expected me to fight, so I did. I had so much to come back for. It was so hard, but I came back. Xiong and a Glass Person who used to be a doctor implanted a crystal from a deceased Glass Person's brain into mine so I could control magic like a wielder."

"They made you a wielder?" Roy exclaimed as his eyes went wide. Henry nodded, and Roy's mind spun, then shook his head. "Okay, okay, but it's still impossible to cast against yourself. Otherwise, wielders would be turning themselves into gods!"

Henry frowned as he thought about that. It made sense, but... he was proof it worked.

"I did it."

They all looked at him in shock, making him feel uneasy, so he explained.

"I didn't do anything godlike. I just created a... spell that would run autonomously until it completed."

Roy frowned. "Who taught you magic?"

Henry shook his head. "Okay, it was more of a program than a spell, but I think they're roughly the same thing: instructions to perform an action, powered by the energy of magic, and controlled by the will."

Roy's incredulous anger flared. "And how did ya manage ta stay aware during a spell that ripped ya apart and put ya back together again?" he snapped, his accent coming through in his agitation.

"Roy!" Camila and Sigrid snapped in response. He just looked at them in frustration as Henry flinched from the memories.

"I didn't. I knew I couldn't, so I embedded the spell with my will," Henry asserted.

Roy stared incredulously at the boy, messing with things he had no experience with, making assumptions that would get him killed. Roy needed him to understand how dangerous magic was. "It doesn't wor—"

"It worked, okay!" Henry surged up from the couch as he yelled. He panted as his anxiety shook him. "I was dying! I don't know how fucking magic works, and maybe that's good because at least I tried. I never wanted anything to do with magic, but this time, it saved me! I don't intend to use it again."

Roy's chest felt tight as he watched Henry shaking from reaction. He stepped forward and pulled him into another hug. He was desperately afraid for the boy, but he couldn't deny Henry was right. He'd managed the impossible because he didn't know better. As Henry's trembling slowed, Roy cast his eyes over the group with a serious expression.

"No one speaks to anyone about what happened," he said sternly.

The corner of Camila's lips curved up slightly. "You mean about how huggy you've become?"

Henry snorted explosively against Roy's chest, then pulled back to look up at the man apologetically.

Roy shook his head, exasperated, and squeezed Henry's shoulder before stepping back to focus on Camila. "No. I've always been a hugger." That caught Camila and Sigrid off guard, and they snorted, too.

He continued in a serious tone. "We won't speak of Henry's new state of being a wielder. The Hidden Races Council has too many reasons for grabbing the boy as it is. Informing them he's miraculously become a wielder and can use magic in ways no one else can will guarantee an immediate reactionary response from them." He looked to Michelle as the only active member of the Council in their group. The woman nodded with an equally serious expression, and he gave her a nod.

He turned back to Henry, who was once more sitting between Mahati and Tish, both of whom were holding his hands again. "I can't say I'm comfortable about the idea that these Glass People put a crystal in your brain."

"Henry, may I take a look?" Dayshia asked. "I want to see how they grafted crystal to brain tissue."

He squirmed. "Maybe later?"

"Oh! Certainly," she nodded, embarrassed that her fascination made her miss his unease.

"Getting back to the events of Washington, the press is all over this Lightning Man, and so far as we know, the Council isn't aware of Henry's involvement. If they are paying attention to his movements at all, they'll have their suspicions. Henry attracts more chaos than anyone I know," Roy sighed. "For everyone's benefit, no more visits to other cities. Restrict your movements to work and home for a few weeks at least, please."

Sigrid scowled at the man. "Roy, you can't impose—"

"Yes. I would welcome some semblance of routine in my life right now," Henry said, interrupting her. Glancing at the tall blonde, he amended his statement. "As long as we include my friends' homes in the restricted location list."

Roy nodded briefly, and Sigrid tried to hide her smile. She nodded to Meixiu as it was time to get an answer to her earlier question. The Vampire moved back to kneel before Henry.

"Earlier, when you fed me, I noticed another difference. The magic in your blood is far more potent than it was before. I could only manage three swallows before I lost consciousness from the power sweeping through me. Is that due to the lightning or the fact that you're a wielder?" she asked.

He blinked in surprise at her. "I-I don't know! I don't feel any different." He turned to look at Siobhan, but she was facing the window. He could see her eyes were closed behind her shades, so she was still struggling with her magic sight. His face fell as he felt terrible about that. Then he realized he was staring, so he quickly looked away into Camila's all-too-aware eyes. She turned her head to focus on Siobhan as well. Then Roy was watching her until most were looking in her direction.

Siobhan sighed deeply and bowed her head slightly. "Funny how a man burdened by so many of his own secrets can't keep just one from someone else."

"I'm sorry, Siobhan, I didn't mean—"

"It's fine. It was bound to be discovered since I'm wearing these indoors," she sighed as she gestured toward her shades.

"How does Henry's power level connect to your—you can see it?" Camila gasped as the dots connected.

Siobhan nodded. "Please keep it to yourselves as it's a sensitive secret for my folk." She removed the shades and looked around the room without opening her eyes. She named each person in the room as she pointed directly at them.

"You can see our power levels too?" Dayshia asked.

"No, I can see you bathed in the reflections of Henry's power. He's casting off waves of the stuff. Bathing the room in energy, much brighter than before, as Meixiu noted. Can't you feel it? It's hard to imagine you couldn't."

The group looked at each other, and slowly, smiles appeared. "I can't feel the transfer, but I do feel... refreshed," Marisa confessed, and heads nodded. Eyes turned towards Henry.

"We get a charge just by being near Henry?" Dayshia asked in surprise.

Meixiu giggled at Henry's embarrassment. "Yes, but not as quickly."

"Where is that energy coming from?" Sigrid asked.

"The rift to the Wild Magic dimension!" Roy exclaimed. "Henry told us he had one inside him but didn't tell us who told him. We thought it was the witch, but it was Siobhan." He looked to the Selkie. "Is the rift widening?" He suddenly realized he was practically vibrating with the energy he'd soaked up while hugging the boy.

Siobhan aimed a weary smile at Henry but shook her head. "The rift is the same size, but the flow is faster, his body is saturated, and it's casting off the excess. That might be from the lightning or his new wielder abilities, but there's just so much!"

"Can you see if the crystal the Glass People stuck in his head is casting off energy?" Roy asked.

Siobhan looked directly at him without opening her eyes. She shook her head. "That's like asking if I can see the sunspots when I stare directly at the sun."

Roy frowned in concern as he looked at the others. "That also makes it dangerous to... charge from Henry. The risk of overdosing has grown exponentially," Roy asserted.

The gathered females who'd been intimate with Henry immediately protested... strongly. Roy looked to Henry for support but saw Henry was torn. When Roy tilted his head at him, Henry finally nodded.

"Precautions will need to be taken, at the very least," Henry amended. I don't want to ruin any more lives."

"Henry! You haven't ruined any lives!" Tish scolded. "How do you think it makes us feel when you say that? We love our new states! Even Dayshia!"

The woman in question frowned at Tish for bringing up her former resistance but nodded to Henry. When he looked away, she could no longer resist peering into his head, searching for this miraculous crystal. She couldn't find any foreign substances but wasn't sure what she was looking for. She suddenly felt ashamed for looking without permission.

He looked at his friends sheepishly as he hadn't realized his words hurt their feelings. "I'm sorry."

Tish turned her attention to Roy. "We've fully... evolved with the Wild Magic, and our glamors are powered by it, so outside of passing out as Meixiu did from an overcharge, what effect are you expecting to happen?"

Roy gave her a frustrated look. "I'm not an expert on this! Who is? I'm just sayin' things have changed, and extra care is required."

That message seemed to take, so Roy sighed and addressed Henry again. "Did you at least get the big government agencies off our backs for a while?"

Henry and Mahati shared a look, and she smiled. "I don't believe so. Henry's firewall is apparently driven by a technological breakthrough that's increased their zeal to hire him away from VRL."

"Dammit!" Roy cursed, then looked at Camila. "I told you this was a bad idea! Keep a low profile, I said!"

"What kind of technological breakthrough?" Sandy asked.

"Quantum Tunneling," Henry answered. "It's theoretical for most, but I can identify which CPUs can do it, and I've written code to utilize that capability. It opens up the possibilities of computing exponentially. I'm working on a market trend analysis application to give VRL another competitive advantage." He frowned. "Homeland Security wanted to build an array of these computers to track Human behavior for spying on people. I told them I wasn't interested."

Roy dropped himself onto a couch next to Camila with a weary thump. "I'm done."

Camila patted his leg with a smile. "We appreciate your efforts." That just produced a weary snort from Roy.

Michelle was watching Henry with wide eyes. "You've discovered a practical use for Quantum Tunneling?"

Henry's expression brightened up. "Yes! You're familiar with the theory?"

"Yes! I dabble," she said.

"Nerds," Dayshia teased, surprising giggles from Michelle and a few others as the tension finally broke.

Tish and Sandy ensured everyone had a plate to select their food from the spread on the kitchen island.

Soon, everyone was enjoying their meals, and conversation made its way back to the strange changes brought on by the arrival of the pseudo-clouds.

Roy looked at Henry pensively. "What?" Henry asked.

"I'm wondering, since you have the ability to open tears between the dimensions, could you do it to make the clouds go back to their home dimension," he said.

Henry blinked in surprise. "There are at least three problems with that idea. One, I've never made one cloud-sized. It takes an enormous amount of effort to open them, and it's tremendously draining to keep them open. Two, I'm not opening the tears the clouds are using to get here now. I don't know if anyone knows how or why that's happening. That should be stopped before anyone tries to send the clouds back. The third issue is trying to get the clouds to go back through the tears to their old home. They seem to like it here." He frowned at Roy. "Besides, I have no intention of using magic. It's nothing but trouble." That comment got him annoyed looks from his lady friends, so he looked back at Roy as he gestured to them. "See!"

Camila picked up the topic of the latest chaos. "The Hidden Races Council must be at their wit's end trying to do damage control on the trouble these clouds are causing. News of the Glass and Silver People is too widely spread now."

"Don't forget the Atlantians!" Sandy said with a grin. Heads turned to her in surprise, and she blinked at them. "Didn't you see the news reports?" More head shaking ensued, so she continued. "The seas are rejecting the waste humans have been dumping into them. All that garbage is washing up on the beaches but only next to populated areas. This is happening worldwide. Governments are being forced to deal with it. Some stations have reported that the waste is being directed to these locations by a sea-dwelling race the media have named the Atlantians. They even have some amateur photos of the mermaids."

"Shit, there's no way to put the cat back in the bag now," Roy agreed.

"Can't they just back off and keep their distance from it?" Dayshia asked.

Sigrid shook her head. "The trouble lies in Humans finding out that magic is real. They'll begin working on ways to understand it and potentially negate it. This would eventually lead to our exposure. Discrediting all sources that reference magic as real is simpler and safer."

"Like what happened to that fighter pilot," Tish said with a frown.

Camila nodded. "Exactly. To avoid the genocide of the Hidden Races, some individuals are discredited and given unfair treatment, but the alternatives are far worse."

"It bothers me too, but I get it, and now it's more important than ever," Henry added, placing a hand over Tish's tummy. He recalled speaking with Marisa about his fears of not being ready to be a father. Then came the memory of his clawing his way back to life. He hadn't spoken to Tish about it yet, but had to... soon.

The conversation continued into the evening, and they found some online news clips of the mermaids, but they'd yet to be captured on camera clearly. Finally, people began yawning. The party was over. Henry walked them to the door and hugged everyone except Michelle, who embraced him as he leaned into it.

Sandy and Dayshia took extra-long hugs, and Kesini was glowing from his shared energy when she finally unwrapped herself from Henry.

Finally, it was just Tish and Henry. He took her hand and led her back to the couch, where they sat facing each other.

"How went your last visit to the doctor?" he asked, unsure how to begin what he wanted to say.

She smiled as she looked at him curiously. "She said, based on the growth rate and size of the baby now, I'm on track for a delivery in three months."

He nodded as he thought about that. "How... how are you going to explain it to your family? You're beginning to show."

Tish's hands went to her tummy and cupped the small bulge. Her expression flitted between joy and something resembling panic. "I-I don't know. I know how to be an aunt, but a mother?"

He smiled. "You're going to be an awesome mom. I'm asking how you're going to explain how you could have a baby after your accident and injuries. Your family knows, right?"

She nodded, and her expression settled on dread. "I don't know."

"You could hide from them until after the birth, then say we adopted."

She smiled and touched his cheek. "I can tell them I adopted the baby. I don't have to tell them we're a couple—"

"No. The baby is ours. I want to be its father. I came back for... her?" he guessed, looking at Tish's sweet smile. "She's going to know her father. I didn't get to know mine."

Tish leaned forward and kissed him tenderly. She pulled back a little to look into his eyes. "It could be a boy, but I think it's a girl, too." She smiled wistfully. "I'm not going to say it's adopted." His eyebrows rose. "I want to share this experience with them. I'll tell them I had a radical new transplant treatment and not explain the details. It'll drive them nuts, but they'll be too busy shrieking. That's what my family is like," she said fondly.

Henry stroked the back of her hand with his thumb as he held her hand. "I'm frightened. I'm frightened I won't be able to protect the baby," he choked out.

"Protect the baby?" she asked hesitantly.

He nodded shakily. "Baba took the daughter Mab had with me. I couldn't stop her and haven't seen her since that day." He held back that he visited her through their linked fingers. "When I traveled to Kuwait City in my mind, I saw horrible things happening to children, and I could do nothing for them. With all this magic energy in my body, I could do nothing. Now that Xiong added this thing to my brain, I may be capable of controlling the magic now, but Roy was right. I was never taught how magic works or how to safely use it. I could never risk trying it on another life."

Tish took his face between her hands. "I've never been one, but I know being a parent isn't about magic. I will do my best to love our child and live for them. I'll guide them with advice and listen to them. I'll ensure they have food for their body and mind, shelter, clothing, and life's necessities. Beyond that, it's a crapshoot. I'll do my best. No one can ask more from you."

She suddenly got a determined look in her eye. "I need to go visit my family. I've put this off for too long, and now that I know how much longer it will be, it's safe to make it official. I can arrange a little time off. I'll go see them this week." She looked at him. "I'll be gone for a few days, maybe a week. Think you can manage on your own?"

He grinned and nodded. "You don't want me with you?"

"You're not supposed to travel, remember? Besides, it will be a scream-fest with my sisters—lots of elevated emotions. The second visit is when I introduce you," she explained. "That's the grueling ordeal of surviving their inspection and interrogation."

"Ah, okay," he responded nervously, and she giggled.

Tish stood and pulled Henry to his feet. "Come on, you. You've had quite the day. Time for bed."

He yawned suddenly. "See, you're casting spells of your own on me!"

They headed to the bedroom arm in arm. Henry felt better after opening up to Tish. She looked pretty happy, too. He was looking forward to a good night's sleep.

Then he felt her hand slide down his back to cup his ass. He glanced over and saw she was biting her lip with a mischievous smile.

Sleep would be his second objective tonight.

Chapter 25

Tish spent Sunday making arrangements to visit her family in Philadelphia. Henry smiled as he recalled hearing each sister's squeal of excitement through the phone as Tish rolled her eyes happily at him.

Dayshia and Sandy came over and were similarly inspired to visit family. Soon, all three were on their phones, making arrangements to head off on Monday to see them. Dayshia's sister in Chicago was delighted to have her visit. Tish's sisters were fighting over who would host her during her stay, and Sandy's parents were so happy to have their daughter home after so long.

Henry asked them to maintain their disguises at all times while visiting and received three annoyed stares in return.

The advice from Captain Obvious was not appreciated.

Tish got a flight for that evening, while Dayshia would fly out on Monday morning with Sandy traveling with her as far as Chicago. The blonde would catch a bus from there to Nowhere, Iowa, as she described it. While eager to see her parents, Sandy was the least enthused about the journey, as she said the bus ride was grueling. At least it wouldn't be as bad as her original road trip from her home all the way to New York City.

After the flurry of activity starting just after breakfast and ending with Tish heading off to the airport and Dayshia and Sandy rushing back to their condos to pack, Henry found himself alone on a Sunday night. He didn't feel like cooking, so he pulled out the wad of take-out and delivery menus to make his choice.

His cell rang on the kitchen island, so he picked it up and saw it was Yuko.

"Hello?"

"Henry? This is Yuko. Tish called me to say you might be available for dinner tonight," she said nervously.

"Ah, she did," Henry said, picturing the sneaky little smile on the tall brunette's face as she called from the taxi.

"Are you not?" Yuko asked quickly.

"No, she was right. I have no plans. I was just going to order in."

There was a moment of silence. "Would you like to join Jun and me for dinner?"

Jun would be there. Henry paused. That actually sounded less like a date, so he relaxed a little. "That sounds nice. When—"

"Any time. Now, if you like. Seven-oh-eight," she chirped, then hung up.

Henry blinked in surprise, then set the cell down. He decided to change his clothes to something a little nicer than a T-shirt and shorts.

Not that it was a date.

-=-

A short time later, Yuko answered the door and paused to take in Henry's ensemble. The black short-sleeved button-down shirt showed off his muscular arms and broad chest, and his grey khakis fit very well.

He was busy admiring her silk blouse, printed with vintage French wine ads in bold colors. Her black tights hugged her slim legs and ended at her pretty white slippers.

She smiled nervously at him, then noticed he was holding a bottle of wine.

"Is that for me?" she asked.

He smiled and handed it to her. "To match your lovely shirt!" he said with a grin. "I've never been to your place."

"Please come in," she said, stepping back.

He entered and left his slippers at the door. He saw the condo wasn't furnished in the Japanese minimalist style as she'd done to his first condo. Her living room couch and chairs were contemporary, bordering on modern, but they looked comfortable. There were also several boldly colored movie posters on the walls. He saw West Side Story, Kill Bill, Blade Runner, V for Vendetta, Pulp Fiction, and Excalibur. He raised an eyebrow and looked back at Yuko, who grinned quickly.

"Jun is very fond of American pop culture." She looked over at the posters. "I just like the colors."

Other pop culture references, like small figurines and toys, were scattered throughout the room.

He spotted Jun working in the open-concept kitchen, and she looked up to smile at him as she worked at the island. "Hi, Henry!"

"Hi, Jun. Something smells delicious!" he returned with a smile.

"It's almost ready. Please make yourself comfortable in the living room."

Yuko took the wine to the kitchen to open it.

He sat and picked up a comic book left on the couch cushion. He'd seen other kids reading them at school as he grew up but never had the money to buy one. Baba had made it clear such activities were a waste of time.

He flipped through the book and found himself enjoying the story and the colorfully costumed superheroes.

Yuko sat next to him. "You like comics, too?"

He smiled at her self-consciously. "This is actually the first one I've ever read. It's good!"

She looked at him in surprise. "You've never read a comic before? You are so much like Jun. I thought you would read comics like her, too."

He glanced towards the kitchen, where Jun smiled back at him as she worked. He looked back at Yuko. "I'm like Jun?"

"She means we're both nerds," Jun volunteered from across the room.

"Ah," Henry sighed as he leaned back against the cushions. "It's true we both like technology, but I wasn't allowed to collect comic books or play with toys like these while I grew up," he gestured to the collection around him, "Baba was a little strict about what she considered play."

Jun looked over at him. "So, it's true. You were raised by Baba Yaga."

He sighed. "Yes. She was strict, but she was fair and treated me well."

The two ladies were quiet as they struggled to fit that image into their perception of the witch.

"What did you read growing up?" Yuko finally asked.

"Non-fiction. Mostly science-related. You know, nerdy stuff."

Jun and Yuko chuckled.

"Dinner is ready. Please take a seat at the dining room table," Jun said, so Yuko and Henry stood and walked over to a four-seat table by the window overlooking the water. Yuko lit the candles as Henry sat and smiled at the elegant place settings.

Jun approached with a platter of sliced prime rib surrounded by potatoes and carrots. Then he noticed she was wearing a frilly apron and not much else. She'd been behind the kitchen island, so he'd missed it earlier.

She noticed the widening of his eyes and smiled demurely. "I am merely the help this evening."

As she walked back to the kitchen, he saw the g-string disappearing between her perfect ass cheeks. His face heated up, and he glanced at Yuko, who seemed to be enjoying his reaction.

"I understand Tish, Dayshia, and Sandy have all gone to visit family," she said, holding his eyes with hers.

He cleared his throat and smiled at the welcome subject change. "Yes. It began with Tish feeling a little homesick, then it spread to the others."

"But not you? You do not feel homesick?" Yuko asked with a little smile.

Henry shrugged. "It's no longer there. Baba's cottage was in a bog north of the city, but it's been filled in. The last time I went back, everything was just... gone." He shook his head and smiled self-consciously. "It was just a small cottage with no electricity in a swamp, so not much to be nostalgic about." He saw the beginnings of a look of pity in Yuko's eye and moved to nip that in the bud. "Not as gorgeous as your home in Japan!" he exclaimed.

A look of confusion came and went on Yuko's face as she recalled he'd visited Japan and her parent's home.

She nodded. "Yes, it was pretty, but not to our taste. Too traditional," Yuko answered as she shook her head.

Jun was nodding as she approached the table with a gravy boat. "Definitely, mother's taste. I think even father would have preferred something a little more contemporary."

She looked at her sister. "Before I forget, Mother told me to let you know if we are successful tonight, she will expect us to return to Japan immediately."

Yuko gaped at her sister, and her short temper looked like it was about to make an appearance.

Jun set the gravy down and held up a hand. "Not permanently. She just said it was critically important for us to not delay our return."

Yuko pouted but nodded. Disobeying a parent was obviously something to be avoided in their household... as it had been in his, too.

Henry was still confused. "I-I thought you'd need to be in heat or something. Human women have to be at some particular phase of their monthly cycle to be fertile or..." He stopped as both Jun and Yuko were giving him the look. The one which said he was a man and therefore not an authority on the subject and should shut up.

When he was quiet again, Yuko spoke. "I'm at peak fertility tonight, and unlike Human women, I'll know if I'm pregnant within the hour. The Soul Binding will dissolve."

Henry nodded as he looked at the table surface. The questions were becoming more awkward. "There's still the matter of the child."

Jun and Yuko looked at him with curious expressions, so he pressed on. "I'll want to be part of its life."

"Of course!" Jun laughed suddenly, surprising both Henry and her sister. "But we're definitely getting ahead of ourselves as we haven't yet proven your glamor can eliminate the Wild Magic. Before that, we should enjoy the meal I spent so much time slaving over."

Henry smiled at her burst of enthusiasm as he watched Yuko's eyes roll in her head.

"When I was Henry's housekeeper, I would make meals for him, and he found them delicious," Yuko said casually, but Jun's eyes picked up the challenge.

The younger sister placed two slices of prime rib, some potatoes, and carrots on Henry's plate. He smiled and nodded to her as it looked and smelled delicious. She placed smaller portions on her sister's plate.

"Would you like some gravy, Henry?" she asked as she held up the small pitcher.

He smiled but shook his head. She turned to Yuko's plate and began pouring.

"No! I don't want any, thank you," the older sister snapped, then glanced at Henry as she dipped her eyes in apology for her raised voice.

She scraped the gravy to the side of her plate and frowned down at it. Her frown became a smirk as she looked at her sister. "You might want to check for lumps next time."

Jun's cheeks reddened as she set the gravy boat back on the table.

Henry was getting a very clear impression of the rivalry between the sisters. As an only child, he had no idea how to defuse it, so he concentrated on the meal. His first bite of the meat made him sigh with pleasure as it was so tender it melted in his mouth. He chewed it slowly to savor the flavor. He opened his eyes and caught Jun's anxious gaze.

"It's delicious! I see the Imamura sisters share not only beauty but a talent for preparing wonderful meals," he said as he watched them both.

He saw them perk up at his compliment, so he felt relief at that little measure of success. Then he noticed the hunger in their eyes as they looked back at him. They both looked like they might devour him, given a chance. He smiled and returned to the meal, which he enjoyed very much.

He asked questions about the meals they ate at home and learned that their mother was a world-class chef.

This led to questions about childhoods, and he found himself talking more and more about his own being raised by the world's most powerful witch.

He finally grinned at them as they finished the meal. "Remember, she never showed me any sign that she had any powers at all. She was just my Baba, a strict but caring grandmother. She wasn't big on showing affection, but I could get hugs from her if I did it in subtle ways. I think she knew when I needed it and didn't deny me on those occasions as I hid my tears and presented a calm façade, even if I was wailing inside."

Yuko was watching Henry with her fork, forgotten halfway to her mouth. "When... when did you need it?"

He shrugged and smiled self-consciously as his eyes dropped to his plate. "You have to understand, I was smaller than the other kids but smarter than most. I wasn't connected to the same things they were," he gestured to the comics and toys around the room. "We shared so little in common, so I was ripe for bullying. Some of the kids were particularly vicious, and I got beat up a few times a year. The teachers in the schools Baba enrolled me in weren't particularly strong in their abilities... or Humanity, so most turned a blind eye to it. I'd come home from school and get my crying done on the way when I was alone, as Baba wasn't one to listen to that. She'd clean me up, and I'd keep it together until she was done. If I was calm, I could remain on her lap in her arms until I fell asleep."

He looked up, and both ladies were now fighting back the tears. "Hey! I didn't mean to make you sad! It all worked out fantastically. Sure, my childhood had challenges, but the payoff has more than made up for it!"

"You must hate Humans," Jun said softly as she wiped at her glassy eyes.

Henry smiled and shook his head. "No, not at all. It was a hard time. I saw good and bad kids. I saw good and bad adults. I kept my mouth shut, but my eyes and ears open. I learned I wasn't the cause of the bullying. They didn't really hate me. They couldn't, as none of them knew me."

He saw he had their complete attention, so he continued.

"College was better. I wasn't getting beat up, at least. I worked hard and learned so much. I-heh... I leaned into it, as an old professor once told me to do. I found my forte, and I loved it. I still didn't have any friends, but I discovered a purpose.

When I got to this building, I met some Humans who didn't know me, but they took the time to get to know me. They were, and are, exceptional people. I don't know... maybe I'm a pushover since they were my first friends, but they showed me what Humanity could be. So, no, I don't hate Humans. Except for a certain ex-Queen, I try not to allow hate into my heart."

He smiled at them, and they nodded. Jun stood and collected their plates to carry back to the kitchen.

"Do you like sweets?" Yuko asked.

He gave a small nod. "We didn't have them at Baba's. I've tried them and liked some, but not so much to eat them every day."

"I bought some Castella, which is a Japanese sponge cake. It's not too sweet as American desserts can be. I like it very much," Yuko said.

Jun brought over three small plates with slices of the cake on each. "I bought ice cream if you'd like a scoop with your cake."

"Ah, ice cream is my weakness!" Henry joked, and they giggled.

"Chocolate or vanilla?" Jun asked.

Henry sighed. "Chocolate, but just a small amount, please."

She went to the kitchen and returned with the tub to place a scoop on Henry's plate. She looked at her sister with a raised eyebrow.

"The same as Henry, please," Yuko admitted.

When she was finished with the ice cream, it went back into the freezer, and she sat so they could all enjoy their desserts. Henry made sure he tried the cake on its own to appreciate its flavor, which he quite enjoyed. Then, they finished off the sweet treat.

Jun stood and walked over to Henry's side as she reached behind her neck to tug loose the tie on her apron. It dropped to expose her lovely breasts. Henry was frozen as she reached a finger down to his plate to scoop up a little bit of melted chocolate ice cream. Then she dabbed this cold liquid on her nipples.

"Ooo, that's chilly!" she sighed. "Won't you lick them clean?"

Henry glanced at Yuko, but she was already undoing the buttons on her silk blouse with a hungry look in her eye.

He felt Jun's fingers slide into his hair as she guided his mouth to her nipple. He ran his tongue over and around the stiff nub as she gasped.

"Your tongue is cold!"

He pulled back slightly. "I just ate ice cream!"

Jun pulled his mouth onto her once more, so he sucked and licked both nipples until they were free of the dessert and stiff with her excitement.

"Henry? Would you clean mine as well?"

He pulled back to see Yuko's amazing breasts exposed and smeared with streaks of ice cream. He moved his mouth to them, and she moaned as he cleaned and teased her nipples until she was squirming.

"Maybe we should continue this in the bedroom?" Jun suggested.

"My bedroom," Yuko insisted. Jun dipped her eyes, yielding to her sister's will.

Henry slid his chair back and stood as Yuko took his hand, leading him to the bedroom at the end of a short hall.

Yuko's bedroom had a canopy bed with strings of small amber LED lights strung up above. They cast a warm glow over the sheets below. The rest of the room was... girly. The walls were a soft pink, and the rest of the furniture showed Yuko's feminine style preferences. She was also a bit of a slob as several alternate outfits were strewn across her bureau, chair, stand-up mirror, and of course, the floor.

A gentle but firm touch on his chin guided his eyes back to Yuko, who was blushing.

"Do not look at how untidy my room became today," she scolded him gently.

Jun snorted, refuting her claim that this chaos was the product of one day. Yuko's eyes snapped to hers, and once more, Jun dipped her eyes in submission, but her crooked smile remained.

To forestall an argument that Yuko's rising color indicated was almost upon them, Henry slid his fingers along her jawline into her silky-smooth hair, making her gasp before his lips found hers.

Her mouth was hungry for his kiss, and her tongue quickly found his.

As the kiss deepened, Henry felt small hands undoing his belt and pants. They soon slid down his legs, and he stepped from them as Jun carefully folded them and placed them on the corner of the bureau. She pulled off his low-rise socks and stood to slip her arms around him to start peeling his shirt back over his shoulders as Yuko completed its unbuttoning.

Henry had to pull his hands from Yuko's hair to let Jun pull his shirt off. Yuko moaned a little as he released her.

Soon he was standing before them in just his underwear, and Jun wasted no time in running her hands over the front. She was definitely the bolder of the two.

"Y-you remember what you need to keep in the forefront of your mind?" Henry gasped out as he grew harder under Jun's touch.

"Mmm... Human, no magic," Yuko said as she slid her hands over his stomach's hard and trembling muscles.

It was becoming difficult to think as Jun's touch was becoming more insistent.

Her hand slipped inside his underwear, her fingers taking a grip on his cock.

"Oh yes, this is very nice!" she sighed.

Yuko took hold of the waistband and pulled it down as she knelt before him, exposing Jun's fingers wrapped around him and squeezing in pulses. He was very near his maximum rigidity.

Jun released him and knelt down next to her sister. The sight of the two of them looking up at him, inches away from his cock was almost enough to set him off.

Yuko leaned forward and kissed the tip, and Henry sucked in a sharp breath. She looked up at him with a sly grin as her tongue flicked out to tease the underside of the head.

"Fuck!" he gasped through clenched teeth.

Yuko looked at her sister. "I believe Henry is very excited. What do you think?"

Jun glanced up and pressed her lips against the tip as well.

Henry's body was trembling as Jun smiled up at him. "Yes, very excited and delicious!" She suddenly ran her tongue along the length of his cock, and his hips automatically thrust forward slightly.

The ladies burst into giggles at their control over him. With a mischievous shared smile, they both leaned forward and pressed their lips to the sides of his shaft and moved in unison to stroke him from balls to tip, again and again, their tongues licking and teasing with each pass.

"Oh, fuck!" Henry exclaimed as the sensation was driving him insane. It was so intense and such a tease. "You better slow down, or I'm going to come!"

This just seemed to spur them on as they increased their pace. When they began to take turns sucking him deep into their mouths while the other licked the shaft, it was too much.

"AH! It's too much—gonna cum!" he cried.

Jun sucked him deep into her throat and then pulled clear just as the first surge exploded out... into a paper cup she suddenly had in her hand.

Yuko's right hand pumped him while she gently scratched his balls with the nails of her left. The dual sensations triggered Henry through two more surges before his legs wobbled. She pushed him back until he sat on the side of her bed.

She turned to her younger sister, who dipped a finger into the paper cup and paused. Jun's eyes lifted to Yuko's, and she gave her sister a little shrug. Lifting her finger out, she touched it to her tongue and paused again. "Nothing. I sense no magic at all."

She poured a little onto her tongue, and Yuko took the cup to taste it as well. They concentrated as they rolled it on their tongues and grinned at each other. "It's fresh but contains no magic," Yuko agreed. She tossed the rest back and slowly swallowed it as Jun squeaked in protest. With a smug little smile, Yuko smacked her lips. "You're merely the help this evening, as you said."

Jun pouted as Yuko stood and tossed the cup aside. The younger sister's pout became a scowl as she crawled after the crumbled paper cup to properly dispose of it.

Yuko stood before Henry and smiled. "It worked, Henry. It's safe. You can give me a baby."

He reached out and pulled her body to his and kissed her deeply. She made a muffled squeak then she returned his passionate kiss as he rolled over and positioned them on the bed. Before she could recover, he moved his kisses to her jaw and neck, then down to her breasts and across her firm tummy. She was so caught up in the sensations she didn't feel him working her tights down her ass, then her legs, until he pulled them from her feet. Then she cried out in bliss as he fastened his mouth on her wet pussy. His need was so intense she was being swept away.

Henry's mouth left her, and she felt her legs being lifted as he positioned his cock against her wet lips. His first thrust sank deeper and deeper inside Yuko as her heels hooked behind his legs to pull him to her. When he came to rest upon her, pressing firmly on her clit, she cried out in bliss.

Then he began to stroke in and out, increasing his speed and energy until it felt like he was trying to drive her through the mattress to nail her to the floorboards.

She came far quicker than she expected, and still, he drove himself into her. When she hit her second peak and felt her world beginning to white out, she sensed him swelling inside her. Her baby! She was going to get her baby with Henry! Joy exploded through her as she welcomed him deep inside one last time, and his seed filled her with its heat. So much!

The unique properties of Henry's glamor protected her once more and fulfilled her greatest need. She clung to him, and he kissed her temple as his body trembled through his own bliss.

He tipped her face back and looked into her eyes, and she smiled up at him.

Henry kissed her, and she sighed contentedly when he rolled off to lie beside her. He glanced around, but Jun was nowhere to be seen.

He looked back to Yuko and was surprised to see she was sound asleep. He smiled and eased himself off the bed, and collected his clothes. Letting himself out into the hall, he closed her door silently.

"Henry?"

Jun was standing in her door at the end of the hall, watching him over her shoulder as a red glow from inside painted her nude body with its lurid colors. His eyes panned down her naked back until he saw the large fluffy fox tail hanging down from between her ass cheeks. He froze as this wasn't a Kitsune tail. It was a faux fur tail attached to an anal plug. The sight was so jarring from how he pictured her that he couldn't move. She was the younger, innocent sister! She was definitely bolder than Yuko, but this?

She reached back with both hands and spread her cheeks so he could get a clearer view of the plug filling her ass. "You got me so hot! You aren't going to leave me unfulfilled, are you?" she asked plaintively with a pout.

He found himself walking to her door and watched her pout become a wicked smile as she licked her lips.

"I-I should freshen up—"

Jun reached out and pulled him into her room, closing the door behind him. She guided him to her bed, taking his clothes from his hands to place them on her bureau. Then she sat him on the edge of her bed and knelt before him to clean his reviving erection with a washcloth and a basin of warm water she'd prepared earlier.

Henry stole glances at her room between moans at her gentle touch.

It was smaller than Yuko's but filled with tech and toys. The wall facing the bed had a large flat-screen TV mounted on it, surrounded by shelves. The ceiling light cast off a red glow, as were the bedside table lamps and the lamp on her desk by the window. He spotted her cell next to the bed with an app open, which controlled the lights' color.

Tech nerd, indeed.

Looking back to the shelves, he was stunned by the array of gadgets, comics, collectibles, and toys filling them. He almost missed the collection of dildos, vibrators, and other sex toys amongst the statuettes and action figures. Some were rather large, and their shape reminded him of his own cock in his true form.

"You like my toys?" she giggled, noticing where he was directing his stunned gaze.

"I... I suppose I didn't suspect you'd enjoy such things," he said after clearing his throat.

"Mmmm... I have a tremendous appetite for sex. There were so few opportunities at home under the watchful eyes of my parents." She stroked her tongue up the underside of his cock and smiled as he sucked in a breath.

"Your glamor is a dream come true for me. I can envision my ideal in many sizes and shapes, and it adapts to that, yet it will feel like a real cock, not like one of my toys! Just the thought is making me so wet! I want to do something I've never done before!"

He watched her cautiously as she hopped up to her feet and skipped to the other side of the room, the foxtail between her cheeks bouncing and swaying with her movements. She stopped before her work desk by the large floor-to-ceiling window and pulled a tube of lube from one of the drawers. As she rushed back, she paused to consider her sex toys and collected one of the larger, oddly shaped dildos from the shelf.

Henry's eyes widened as she placed the items on the bedside table.

"What?" he asked, looking at the large shape.

She grinned. "That's for me. I want you where I currently have this tail."

"Oh. Oh!" he said in surprise, and her grin widened. She pushed him back, then tapped the screen on her cell phone. The lights began to dim, then changed hue in unison. Red to violet to blue to green, then yellow and orange, and back to red. While these slow transitions were happening, Jun climbed on top of Henry and rubbed her wet pussy up and down his stiff shaft. She finally reached down and positioned him against her lower lips before forcing the head inside.

"OH FUCK!" she grunted.

He looked up at her in surprise as she seemed to be having some trouble accommodating him. She'd press down then jolt as another inch would slip inside. He wondered at the expression on her face as she really seemed to be struggling to take him.

He was about to suggest they stop when she slammed her body against him, finally taking it all.

"Henry... oh fuck, Henry. This is too good!" she moaned as she shifted side to side. "You fill me so completely!"

He was enjoying her heat and pressure as her inner muscles clamped down on his cock. "Are you sure you want me in your ass? You seemed to be having some issues fitting me in up front."

A large tremor went through her body as he mentioned going in her ass. She kissed him deeply, her tongue wrestling with his. When she pulled back from his mouth, her lips were puffy, and her eyes were glassy. "Yes, I want it so—FUCK!—so much!" She began to bounce up and down on his cock but never more than an inch.

"Ah! That feels really good, too!" he managed to say as her movements became increasingly aggressive.

When she suddenly began to clamp down on him and tremble, he realized she'd peaked. He was on his way there, but she was obviously done.

"That was a wonderful start! Now, it's time for the main event. I want you in my ass!" she purred as she stretched out over him. She felt him throb in reaction and grinned.

She pulled his cock from her body and rested her forehead against his chest as she panted in reaction. "Can you... hand me the... lube and toy?"

He reached over and picked up the two items. She took them from his hand as she moved to the center of the bed. Henry gave her a little room as she poured lube onto the head of the dildo and ran her fingers up and down and around the bumpy surface. Then she turned to him with a smirk. "Your turn."

She poured lube onto the head of his cock and ensured she had a generous coating on him. She got on her hands and knees and looked over her shoulder at him. "Can you ease the plug from my ass? Do it slowly."

He parted her cheeks and gripped the disc attached to the plug. He gently turned it and tugged in little pulses.

"ohfuckohfuckohfuck!" she panted as her legs trembled.

He increased the strength of his tugs and saw the tight orifice begin to bulge wider and wider to release the bulb.

"fuuuuuuuck!" she squealed as the tight muscle slid over the broadest part and forced the rest out. "Ooooo! Fuck!"

Jun suddenly spun around to grab Henry and kissed him feverishly. He did his best to keep up.

"I want you inside me now," she whispered to him as she held his eyes.

Henry nodded, and she turned away again, presenting him with her gorgeous ass. He picked up the lube and poured some in the crack of her ass, and massaged it over her rosebud. Jun sucked in a breath as it was still sensitive from the plug she'd worn.

He massaged a little firmer until she opened for his finger, and he let the slick digit slip inside.

"Ahhh!" she gasped.

When she relaxed, he pressed a second inside with the first. "fuckfuckfuck," she chanted softly.

As he positioned himself behind her, he saw her line herself up with the dildo. So, they were doing a simultaneous penetration then. So be it.

He pressed the fat head of his well-lubricated cock against her ass and applied pressure. It took some time, but eventually, she relaxed, and he slipped inside. Her knees gave slightly, impaling her on the large dildo.

"OH, YES!" she cried, and he was surprised by how loud she was being.

It was slow going as he was larger than the plug had been. She was also making concerning noises, but each time he tried to withdraw, she'd grab at him to stop him. Finally, he was in, and he felt the pressure of the toy she had in her pussy pressing back.

When she seemed to calm, he began his outstroke. She hissed and cooed in equal measure, and he was seriously freaked out by her behavior and wanted to pull out and stop, as she couldn't be enjoying this based on the noises she was making. It felt tremendous for him, but that was secondary.

Before he could suggest they stop, she pushed back to start his next thrust. He involuntarily twitched forward, and she gasped.

"Yes! Oh, yes!"

He gripped her hips and began to smooth out the strokes, not picking up the pace but keeping it nice and slow. He could feel her body trembling under his hands, but she was continually cooing now as the dual penetration was doing good things for her.

This was also doing amazing things for him, and he felt his own release getting closer.

"Faster. I'm almost there," she sighed breathily.

On his next thrust, he doubled the speed, and she threw her head back.

"Ahhhhh! More!"

He rocked his hips and bit his lip as it felt too good when he sped up again. "I'm almost there," he grunted.

Her hips were twitching uncontrollably now. "Harder! Fuck me!"

Gripping her slick hips, he drove his cock deep into her as she cried out.

"Fuck! Fuck me! Ahhhh!"

Henry's initial impression of Jun was being completely obliterated. She was far more mature than he'd assumed, and his incorrect assessment was on him as he'd stopped looking past the surface impression she gave. Her youthful looks and the quiet persona she projected disguised a woman who was very much in touch with her desires and not afraid to demand them. He increased the power of his strokes, and she cried out her joy at the bliss he was delivering to her.

"That's it! Harder! Oh yes! So good! I'm coming!"

Henry couldn't put off his own release any longer and felt his cum filling her ass as her trembling became severe shaking.

"FFFFFUUUUUUUUCCCKKKKKKK!" she screamed as he held on to the thrashing woman.

She was going limp, so he eased her off and let her drop to the mattress, where she lay panting deeply.

He heard a click behind him and turned his head to see Yuko glaring at them from the doorway. She spun and rushed back to her room, where she slammed her door.

Henry stepped off the bed to go speak with her.

"No," Jun said, and he looked at her. "She won't listen to you tonight. Besides, she's mad at me, not you. She's only disappointed with you for not resisting me."

"Still, I should say something—"

Jun snorted as she looked back at him. "Nothing you could say is going to sway her tonight. Besides, it's not as if she loves you. The Soul Binding has been broken."

Henry's eyes widened. "What?"

She smiled, and a tremble went through her as she enjoyed the afterglow. She opened her eyes and nodded to him. "If she'd still been bound to you and found you in the bed of another, she would have attacked, not stormed away. It seems my big sister is pregnant."

Henry's mouth worked, but he had no words. He finally found some. "We didn't finish discussing my involvement in our child's life."

Jun looked away momentarily, and a frown quickly came and went on her face. She then glanced at him. "We're heading back to Japan tomorrow as we promised mother. I'll send you an email once I'm there, okay?"

He paused as he wasn't sure what the big rush was, but he was out of his element. "Okay."

Her smile returned. "Thank you for an amazing evening. It was everything I hoped it might be."

He was a little embarrassed, but he nodded to her. "I had a wonderful time as well. It was... an eye-opening evening."

"For me, too," she giggled.

He shook his head as she smiled at him. He'd been so wrong with his innocent little school girl preconception. She was definitely more of a college girl in her experimental phase. He looked down at his lube-covered cock and didn't want to pull his clothes on over that mess. He took the washcloth she'd used earlier and quickly cleaned himself before he tugged on his underwear.

Jun rested back against the headboard as she enjoyed the show with a crooked little smile on her lips.

"Could you lock up behind me?" he asked when he was done.

She nodded and eased herself off the bed. She didn't bother with a dressing gown but followed him naked back through the apartment to the door.

He turned to say goodnight, and she pulled his face down to hers, and they shared a sensual kiss.

"Good luck, Henry."

He smiled at her odd phrasing and nodded. "To you, as well."

When he was in the hall, he decided to take the stairs up the two floors to give him time to let his mind absorb the evening's events. The stairwell was empty, and he climbed as he grappled with the idea of having another child, this one with Yuko.

He... wasn't sure how he felt about that. She was a difficult person to relate to as she had such a volatile temper.

That would be difficult for a child to deal with.

He frowned again. Maybe some people should get their shit together before they have children or not have them at all.

He sighed as that could also apply to him.

He had plenty to think about before he'd get to sleep tonight.

Chapter 26

Monday, life went back to normal for Henry. He rode the subway into the city with too many people and joined the crowds on the sidewalk to walk to the VRL office. When he arrived, he was greeted with numerous requests for reports and sat through a tedious meeting where he contributed little but received three more requests. By lunchtime, he actually had a smile on his face.

"What's made you so cheerful?" Marisa asked as she poked her head in his door.

He cracked a grin at her. "I'm so busy! I'm going to have to skip lunch."

Her eyebrows went up. "And this makes you happy?"

He nodded as he looked back to his screen. "Just another day in paradise."

Marisa snorted and left. When she returned from lunch, she had a sub sandwich for him and a large milk. He thanked her, took a bite, and turned back to continue coding one of the reports.

She said goodnight before she left and must have spoken to her mother before leaving as Camila stopped by on her way out and told him his day was over.

Henry glanced at the clock and saw it was seven. He saved his work and pushed back with a sigh.

"Don't push yourself so hard!" Camila growled softly.

He smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, it just felt so good to be busy with stuff like this. Normal stuff. Something I understand and have control over."

Camila nodded and pulled him up from his chair to hug him. That felt good, and he sighed happily.

"I understand, but tomorrow is another day you can fill with the same work. You may have noticed our people have a voracious hunger for information. You slice and dice it for them, and they come back for more," the CEO sighed as she also enjoyed his embrace.

He pulled back to smile at her. "It's true. I love it!"

She chuckled and pointed to his office door. "So, you can go home while there is still daylight and come back to it in the morning."

He sighed. "Yes, dear," he said like a nag-weary husband.

A little zing went through Camila, making her pause momentarily as she looked at his teasing smile. She gave herself a little shake. "Exactly," she asserted and gently pushed him towards the door.

They left his office and rode down to the lobby, where he stepped out with a goodnight as she was going to the garage.

Roy was in the lobby speaking with two of his team. The big man smiled at him and glanced at the wall clock above the reception desk.

Henry held up his hands in surrender. "Yes, yes! I know. I'm going home now."

Roy chuckled. "Have a good night!"

Henry waved over his shoulder and stepped outside.

The air was warm but comfortable, and Henry had a spring in his step as he walked to the subway. It was definitely less crowded at this hour, so it was a comfortable ride back to his neighborhood.

As he walked along the waterfront walkway, he enjoyed the light breeze from the river. He felt his body relaxing as he got closer to home. Then he recalled everyone was away visiting their families. That put a little damper on his enthusiasm. He realized he felt a bit tired, so maybe he'd just grab a bite and get to bed early.

As Camila said, tomorrow he'd have all the work he didn't finish today!

-=-

Meixiu smiled across the table at her two new friends. She'd received a text from Eleanor Hollings asking if they could get together tonight. Her shift at the hospital ended at six, so she and Raymond met her at half-past in a coffee shop down the street from the hospital. She was thrilled to meet other Vampires.

"Your departure the last time we met was amazing," Eleanor said with a wide smile.

Meixiu shrugged and blushed. "I must admit I was showing off. I used up almost all of my energy outrunning the motion sensors on the next street over."

Raymond blinked in surprise. "You can outrun the lights?"

She giggled. "Yes, but it's exhausting."

Eleanor looked at her and could almost feel her energized state. "You seem fine now."

Meixiu nodded. "I had a feeding."

Raymond glanced at his wife. "Feedings or a feeding?"

"Just one," the tall beauty said with a smile.

Eleanor's curiosity was flaring. Then, a sick feeling of dread washed over her. "You... you didn't kill them?"

Meixiu's expression flashed to embarrassment. "No! Oh, I'm sorry! I gave you the wrong idea. I took only three small sips, but his energy is so intense I lost consciousness momentarily. I should be good for a week or so. Unless I show off again." She smiled sweetly.

Raymond was sharing another look with his wife. They had to be so cautious about their diet and took only enough to last them one or two days. To not have to eat for a week! "I don't understand. How is his blood able to contain so much energy?"

Eleanor was equally shocked. "Would... Could we meet him?"

Meixiu suddenly realized she was divulging privileged information. She looked at her new friends sadly as she bit her lip. She glanced around, but they wouldn't be overheard. "I shouldn't have mentioned him as the Council has put a lock on all information about him. I was just so excited to have friends like me."

"There seems to be a rash of people either hiding from or being hidden by the Council these days," Raymond growled. Meixiu looked at him regretfully. Eleanor explained. "The first was a woman who can control people with her singing. She was on the run from the Council."

Meixiu perked up. "Oh! You've met Lorelei Reichenbach? My friend told me about her!"

"Yes, she told us she was worried about the Council, but she didn't know why they were after her," Eleanor offered.

"This isn't a safe place to talk about it," Meixiu said. As her new friends were already aware of the Naiad, she made a decision. "I think you should meet Henry."

Raymond and Eleanor smiled excitedly and nodded. The three quickly left the coffee shop and headed to the subway.

"I will text him to let him know we are coming," Meixiu stated as she sent a message letting Henry know they were coming to visit.

She couldn't wait to show him her new friends!

-=-

Henry heard a ping, drawing his attention back from where his mind drifted. He glanced at his cell's screen and saw Meixiu had invited herself over with her new friends. He smiled at her assumption this would be cool with him. He sighed. So much for getting to bed early.

Whatever. She seemed excited about these new friends. He could be gracious. He banged off a reply, stating he was steps from his front door and looking forward to meeting her friends.

He hit send, and his cell was slapped from his hands. It spun into the air, over the railing, and into the Hudson.

Then he couldn't see anything as a black hood was yanked over his head. It was tied around his throat, but not so tight he couldn't breathe. Someone punched him in the gut, and he lost his wind. Hands grabbed his arms and dragged him backward. He wanted to yell, but he couldn't get his breath. More hands grabbed him to hold him still, and he felt a pinch on his arm, then a cold sensation.

"Go! Get that blood back to the boss," a voice barked, and footsteps rushed away as his arm ached.

Henry felt a cold fear shoot down his spine. How much blood did they take?

Then he was moving again, stumbling backward. He tried to think of something he could do, but they were so strong.

"Get him in the van!"

More fear surged through him. He thrashed and managed to shake off their hands, but that just meant he tumbled backward to fall onto his back. A foot kicked him in the side of the head, and he saw stars.

A heavy mass fell across his body, pinning him down. Then he heard a strange sound, like a sharp metallic cough. After each burst was a grunt, wheeze, or sigh. He was still pinned down, but he fumbled with the tie on the hood until he was able to yank it upwards over his face.

Then he froze at what he saw.

-=-

Minkah could no longer wait. She was going to take Henry tonight. The target! She was going to take the target tonight!

She cursed inwardly. This mission was messing with her head badly. She took some calming breaths, then got into position in the lot facing the walkway he'd walk home on. She'd called Rand von Deussel, so he was waiting in the extraction van. He was sick of waiting, too.

She was familiar with the movements, comings, and goings of Henry's neighborhood, so when the city works van parked at the end of the street two blocks away, her radar went off. She was in her cat form, so she rushed forward and kept to the shadows, out of sight of the large men who exited the truck. They weren't acting like city employees as they set up a perimeter. They were an extraction team!

Someone else was after Henry!

Then she spotted him walking toward the men, oblivious to the danger ahead. He pulled his cell out and smiled as he tapped a message into the keyboard.

She almost yelled out as two of the men approached him and slapped his cell phone from his hand.

She transformed into her human disguise as she ran forward. They were sticking something into his arm, then the one with the syringe was running away. She sprinted closer as they roughly tugged Henry closer to their waiting van.

Her suppressed SIG-Sauers were in her hands, and she was firing before she arrived. The thug holding Henry's right arm took a round through his temple, and down he went, falling over Henry.

Then she was putting bullets through the heads of each of the goons who were attempting to steal her target. They tried to retaliate, but her aim was too accurate, and her hands were too quick. None managed to do more than pull a weapon from inside his coverall. Six thugs went down in rapid succession, including the driver. She removed that one from behind the wheel before he made a mess of the vehicle.

She looked up the walkway to spot the one with the syringe sitting in the passenger seat of a car on the next block. He was staring back at her in shock. She put a bullet into his throat just before the car reversed out of sight.

Her keen hearing picked up the sound of Henry struggling to free himself, so she holstered her guns and rushed around the side of the truck just in time to see him yank his hood off.

His eyes locked on hers, and recognition flared.

"What?"

She jammed the injector against his neck as his smile began, and her heart clenched to see it collapse into disappointment.

Forcing her emotions down, she yanked open the van's side door, hoisted Henry inside, and closed the door. Then she climbed behind the wheel and got the van moving. She pulled the burner from her pocket and pressed the quick dial.

"Yes?"

"Change of plans. Get moving, and we'll do a vehicle switch-over in the lot under the turnpike," she said tersely. "Send a clean-up crew to this location as soon as possible."

"Right."

She drove away calmly from the grisly scene and merged into the evening traffic.

-=-

Meixiu looked at the chaos of emergency vehicles, police blockades, flashing lights, and news crews swarming over the area just a block from Henry's home. They'd just come out of the subway and faced this nightmare. Raymond was speaking with the police as she stood with Eleanor. She tried calling Henry, but it went to voicemail, and he didn't answer his texts. She also called and woke Michelle, who knocked on Henry's door, but he didn't answer, so he wasn't home.

She texted Sigrid, and she responded immediately. She said Roy was on his way.

Raymond returned, and his expression was grim. He moved their little group away from nearby ears. He kept his baritone voice low so it didn't travel. "They're saying it looks gang-related—a professional hit. Someone executed at least six men wearing city worker uniforms. Headshots."

"Not Henry!" Meixiu gasped in relief, and Eleanor put her arm around the woman.

"They're IDing the victims. Does this seem like something your friend would be involved with?" the public defender asked.

Meixiu's eyes flared, but she quickly regained control and calmed. "No. Not at all, but the timing is too close to when he sent me the text, and trouble finds him too often."

"Meixiu!"

She turned to see Roy walking towards her. She flung herself into his arms, and he hugged her as he eyed the two people standing with her.

"Eleanor and Raymond Hollings," the woman said, "New friends of Meixiu's. We've much in common with her."

"I see. Roy Duncan." He eased the girl down onto her feet again and looked at her. "We've not been able to reach Henry. When did you text him?"

Meixiu's bottom lip was trembling, and her eyes were getting glassy. She seemed unable to speak, so Eleanor spoke for her. "It would have been just moments before this happened. He apparently indicated he was steps from his door."

The lawyer addressed Roy. "I've spoken with the police. They said it looks like a gang-related execution. Six large men in city workers coveralls, each killed by a single gunshot to the head," Raymond explained.

Roy frowned. "Either there were multiple shooters or one highly skilled professional." He looked closer at Raymond. "Exactly who are you to have such a relationship with the police?"

The big man smiled. "I'm a public defender. They don't all like me, but some are willing to talk... or can be persuaded to."

Roy looked at him. "Right." He glanced at Eleanor. "What do you do?"

She smiled confidently at him. "I'm a surgeon."

"Is there something we can do?" Raymond asked.

"I need more information. What I need is to get closer to one of the victims," Roy said in frustration.

Raymond nodded. "Come on. Let me see what I can do." He looked at his wife. "We'll be right back."

Roy followed Raymond into the chaos of flashing lights.

Meixiu watched them go and bit her lip. Where could Henry be?

-=-

Minkah sat in the passenger seat of the van driven by the Council Investigator. The small man had clamped extenders to the gas and brake pedals to reach them. It made Minkah uncomfortable, but she couldn't fault the dwarf's precise driving.

They'd met at the designated location, and he'd helped move Henry into his vehicle. He'd also provided the incendiary device to destroy any trace evidence that might be in the van she'd taken from Henry's would-be abductors. As they drove away, she'd watched with satisfaction as it burned.

They were almost at their destination, and there'd been no sign of anyone following.

The Investigator's cell buzzed, and he spared a second to look at it. "Dammit!" He tucked the phone away as he gave her a quick glare.

"What?" she snapped.

"The body count you left behind was discovered before our cleanup crew could get to it. Now we have a media circus on our hands!" he snapped back.

"They were abducting Hen—the target! If they'd taken him, tracking them and taking control of him might have been impossible. If they'd killed him, that would have had dire consequences, as the file stated. You got what you wanted. This was a successful conclusion for the mission. That's what I do. Spin the collateral damage. Isn't that what you do?"

Rand clamped his jaw shut as she had a point. Still, he didn't like her. He'd caught her slip. She wasn't as professional about her target as she claimed... yet she'd followed through without blinking. He admired her abilities, but her cold nature made him uncomfortable.

Minkah turned her face from the driver and glanced once more into the back of the van. She could see Henry was breathing, and the drugs were still working. She looked out the windshield and brooded.

Minutes later, Rand turned off the Interstate and headed north on the much smaller country highway. It wasn't long before they turned off onto a smaller road, then a long, winding single-lane drive emerged from a forest into a gravel drive leading to a farmhouse with a separate garage.

Rand stopped the van next to a small post with what looked like a mailbox on top. He rolled down his window and reached out to place his hand against its side. Then he rolled the window up and drove towards the garage. The door swung up as they got closer, and he took them inside. He shut off the engine but made no move to get out.

Minkah looked at him, but he only spared her a glance before the floor began to drop slowly. An elevator!

Once it stopped and doors closed above them, Rand got out, and she exited as well. She pulled the side door open and checked on their... prisoner. She wasn't about to fool herself. That's what he was going to be until he eventually died. It seemed like such a waste. She didn't understand, but her part of the mission was over. She felt a little ill.

Two large orderlies in white scrubs appeared with a wheeled gurney. Following them was a thirty-something woman dressed in a white jacket and pants outfit with a loose white lab coat over top. In a girl-next-door way, she was pretty with her mousy brown hair pinned back in a bun. Her thin nose supported white plastic-framed half-glasses connected to a silver chain, allowing her to rest the eyewear against her modest chest as she reached out a slim hand to the investigator.

"Good evening, Mr. von Deussel."

"Good evening, Dr. Leslie," he returned as he shook her hand and glanced uncomfortably at the assassin. "This is Minkah Kamilah Nassor Meskhenet—"

"Yes," the doctor interrupted with the briefest of nods to her before turning back to Rand. "You've brought me our newest guest," she said with delight. She gestured for the two men wheeling the cart to move towards the double doors to their left. She immediately followed with Rand at her side.

Minkah was stinging from being abruptly dismissed, but she wasn't ready to leave Henry's side just yet. She followed and picked up the conversation the doctor was having with Rand.

"We're less than half capacity, so another guest is no strain at all. We've set his room up as directed, and I can assure you we will maintain his physical condition for as long as his natural lifespan allows," the doctor continued.

"He's not to be allowed to become conscious. We have no idea how he's doing it, but we're convinced he is linked to the arrival and propagation of the pseudo-clouds."

The doctor nodded and looked thoughtfully at Rand. "It normally takes a few days to stabilize his medication. The dosage given to him to keep him under in transit will naturally be higher than we will use to maintain him." She moved up to stop the gurney and looked into her patient's eye. Henry's pupils were pinpricks. She frowned.

"He seems to have had a stronger-than-normal reaction to the sedative. He's under too deeply, and his breathing is too shallow." She looked to Minkah. "Did you inject him twice?"

"I did not. I used one of the provided injectors against his neck at the time of his capture," Minkah said in a clipped voice.

The doctor looked away without acknowledging her response. "You'll have to excuse me. I should address this immediately."

Rand nodded, and the doctor hustled away with the orderlies. Another woman approached them, and Minkah noted she was identical to Dr. Leslie, except her half-glasses had black plastic frames.

The investigator bowed slightly to her. "Administrator Kenzie. We've delivered the subject into the care of Dr. Leslie. You've arranged a vehicle for our trip back?"

The woman shook her head. "Minister Hoek contacted me to ask you two to remain overnight in case our new guest shows complications."

"Shit!" the dwarf snapped.

Minkah looked at the Administrator. "Where are we supposed to stay?"

She looked at Minkah, and her disdain was evident as she sighed wearily. "While no one stays there, the farmhouse is fully functional. Breakfast is served in our cafeteria at seven. The kitchen is closed now." She pointed to a door at the end of the hall. "That takes you into the house. Good evening." She turned and headed back into the complex.

Rand and Minkah shared a brief look of unease then she headed off toward the door. Rand fell in behind her.

Passing through the heavy door, they found themselves inside the farmhouse's basement. It was dimly lit with old clear bulbs. The door they'd just entered looked like an old, wooden bedroom door from this side. They glanced around at the unremarkable basement interior. Aside from being very clean, neat, and orderly, it could have been any farmhouse... owned by a clean freak. They climbed the old stairs into the kitchen and saw appliances from the 1960s. Again, spotless. The lights were a little brighter here, but there was a general feeling of tiredness about the home. They did a quick tour of the main floor and then headed upstairs. There was a bedroom at the front of the house overlooking the front lawn and the lane that led to it. Two more bedrooms were at the back.

"I'll take this one," Minkah said from the doorway of the larger front bedroom.

Rand flashed a sour look at her, then headed to the bedroom farthest from hers. "See you at seven," he grumbled, then closed his door.

Minkah closed and locked her door, then did a sweep of the room, finding it clear of listening devices and cameras. On the old bed was a plastic, shrink-wrapped package containing the bed sheets and pillows. In the ensuite bathroom was another shrink-wrapped package with a toothbrush, toothpaste, facecloth, and towel.

She wanted to clean her guns, but the tools were back in the safe house in the city.

Sighing, she made the bed and undressed. The guns went under the pillows, and she settled back to rest.

She went through all her actions on this mission, and while she'd never admit it to Rand, she hadn't performed as professionally as she should have. It was something about the target, something about Henry Gable. He wasn't the most exceptional example of masculinity she'd ever encountered, and she'd taken many exciting and talented lovers over the years. Yes, she thought he was handsome enough and had a pleasing physique, but there was... something else.

With an angry snort, she flipped over and forced her mind into reciting her mantras to calm her thoughts and bring herself a little peace so she could sleep.

The mission was over. She would move on. There was nothing left for her to do.

Was there?

Chapter 27

Henry watched himself being strapped down on a bed that seemed to be able to rotate him 180 degrees. The IV tubes they stuck into his arms would allow this range of motion, so he supposed he was expected to be there a while. They were preparing him to prevent bedsores.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that. The drugs they'd stuck in him were exceptionally good at flattening any emotions he might be feeling.

He looked away from his body to the people working on it. The two large orderlies were brutes but very well-trained brutes. Their big hands moved with practiced precision, and while Henry couldn't feel it, he could see their almost gentle touches to ensure he was secure but not constricted by his restraints.

Henry looked closer at their faces, and he saw their intense concentration. Thinking didn't seem to be their forte. He reached out and touched one. Shit! Henry saw through its disguise. The orderlies were Ogres!

The one he'd touched pulled back as if stung and looked around. Henry saw it shiver. Then, it went right back to work with another nervous glance at the fourth occupant in the room, a woman dressed all in white. She was watching Henry's body with intense concentration as well. She was standing before a machine that was taking readings from him. He couldn't make heads or tails of what the screen was saying, but based on her expression, she wasn't happy about it. He'd seen that expression before. It was on the face of Mab's Master Inquisitor. He looked more closely at the doctor. He didn't need to see through her glamor. She was Fae!

After a time, he grew bored of watching her, and something told him it would be dangerous to touch her to see through her glamor, so he turned his attention outward. The chamber looked like a hospital room except for the lack of windows. This wasn't a hospital room. It was a prison cell.

A spike of fear shot through him, and that felt... bad. It was a real emotion, so he welcomed it after the numbness. The lady in white snarled something and made an adjustment on her console.

Henry heard a steady but distant drum begin to slow, the sound faint at first and getting quieter. Gradually, he felt himself getting closer, but the sound remained muted, like it was coming through a fog bank. His fear began to fade as well, and he realized the woman had given him another drug. She was smiling now, but there was no warmth to it. She reminded him of Walter, the dragon who'd wanted to collect him for his uniqueness. He'd had a total lack of empathy. This woman had none as well.

He didn't want to be here, so he moved to the door and went through it. Henry found himself standing in a white hallway lined with doors on both sides. He turned and saw he was in room number six. There were four more doors on his side of the hall, so there were twenty cells in this hallway. He crossed the hallway and slipped through the door, but the room was empty. He moved through the wall into the next room, which was also empty. All the rooms on this side of the hallway had no occupants.

He felt a stirring in his chest and realized it was relief. There were no prisoners on this side of the hall. Crossing to room ten, he found it empty, too. He slipped from room to room, seeing they were all vacant until he reached his own. The doctor and the orderlies were gone. Little lights flickered on his console, and gentle tones sounded to indicate all was well... or he was dying. He couldn't really tell, but the latter seemed unlikely. They wouldn't go to all this effort just to kill him. There were much faster ways.

He made the assumption that the next room would not be empty, so he slipped out into the hall once more and stepped into the door of room five. He found himself out in the hall once more. The sheer intensity of the psychic pain the occupant of room five was experiencing had pushed him clear. There was no mind left, just pain. Unending pain.

Henry collected himself and moved to the door of room four. Inside was a woman, a Human woman, crying due to her great loss. Grief was pouring off her in waves, and Henry staggered under its weight. Everyone had been taken from her. She was alone, and she couldn't escape the despair her life was filled with. She wanted desperately to join her loved ones on the other side, but she was trapped here.

He dragged himself out into the hall and fought back the tears. Holy shit, these people were in pain! He threw an angry glance up the aisle. What kind of monsters were they to do this?

He hesitated at the door of room three as his emotions felt raw from the previous two. Henry took a deep mental breath, then moved cautiously into the room.

The lights were dimmed for sleeping, but the occupant was awake. He turned his head toward Henry and just looked at him as if Henry was visible. The man's mouth worked, but he said nothing. He was younger than Henry but gaunt, like he'd missed more than a few meals. His hair was long black waves, and he wore striped pajamas, making him look even younger. Faded bruises showed on his lightly bronzed skin as high cheekbones and large, expressive dark eyes with long lashes softened his features.

He wasn't strapped down to his bed, which was better than Henry could say for himself.

Knowing it certainly couldn't hurt, Henry tried to speak to him. "Hi, can you see me?"

The man twitched and then licked his lips. "Are you the devil?"

Henry was shocked as the man could actually see and hear him while he was all floaty and out of body.

"No! No, I'm not. Why would you think that?" he asked.

The man gestured up at his head and down to his feet. "The horns and hooves."

So, he was in his true state when he went out of body. "I'm a Satyr, not a demon," Henry explained.

"Oh, I've never hallucinated a Satyr before. Maybe my meds aren't working anymore," the young man mumbled.

"You have hallucinations?" Henry asked.

"Duh, I'm having one now, so yeah. I see all kinds of crazy shit! It's why they put me in here," he admitted.

Henry had a thought.

"I have a friend who can see through glamors and see people for what they really are. Maybe you're not hallucinating. Maybe you're like her. My name's Henry Gable."

"My hallucination now has a name," the young man said quietly in surprise.

Henry wasn't sure what he could say to convince him. He'd start with the truth.

"I'm actually strapped to a bed three rooms that way." He pointed to the left wall. "They've doped me up to keep me asleep, but that just makes my mind slip out and wander. What's your name?"

The young man in pajamas blinked in surprise at him. "DJ. People call me DJ. The nice ones do. Most people call me fucking asshole, god damned thief, dirty beggar, and fun names like that."

Henry realized DJ might have been living on the street. "Were you homeless before they brought you here?"

Eyes too weary for the face they were in watched him carefully. "You know, none of my hallucinations ever asked so many questions."

Henry had a thought. "Sorry. My friend, who sees through disguises, can see the real being inside. The orderlies here aren't Human. They're Ogres."

The man laughed. "Yeah, they are big and ugly, so ogre is a good description."

Henry just looked at him. "No, real Ogres, as in not Human."

It was the young man's turn to stare. "What... what do you mean?" he choked out.

Henry moved closer as DJ seemed to be frightened. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. It's just... magic is real."

DJ screamed, and Henry stared in shock. The young man was terrified. He moved closer still and reached out a hand to calm him, accidentally touching his hand.

Henry was in a cafeteria.

He looked around and wondered how he'd gotten here. He looked down and couldn't see his body, so he knew he was on a mental walkabout.

Then, the memories came crashing back. DJ! He was—

A ripping sensation made Henry scream, and the cafeteria exploded. Tables and chairs flew outwards, away from where he was floating at the center of the room. A stack of trays was suddenly airborne and spinning in all directions. All the notices were ripped from the bulletin board, and the blackboard placard leaning against the far wall shattered into pieces.

Henry's eyes snapped open. Someone was fucking with Wild Magic, and he knew exactly who it was.

He needed to speak with DJ, but first things first. He turned to face her direction and disappeared from the cafeteria just as the two Ogres burst into the room to look around in dismay.

Chapter 28

The boardroom in the lower level of VRL was filled with people, which wasn't typical for the late hour. The group that filled the room was also somewhat atypical. There was representation from VRL's management team, namely Camila (CEO), Sigrid (Head of HR), Roy (Head of Security, Marisa (Henry's Executive Assistant), and Mahati (External Legal Counsel).

Also present were Mary, Meixiu, and Lorelei Reichenbach, who was invited by Roy as a precaution.

When she arrived, she spotted Raymond and Eleanor sitting at the table with pleased smiles on their faces.

"You!" she exclaimed.

"Friends of Meixiu!" Eleanor said quickly, gesturing to the young-looking woman before they could be sung into oblivion again.

Lorelei watched them suspiciously.

"We also found some information you may need to protect yourself from the Council. I called in a favor with a contact within the administration to find out who they might have assigned to hunt you. Almost all local agents are tasked with finding and eliminating the New York serial killer, but there were two open cases in Europe. One of the agents was working in Germany when they were re-tasked with something here in New York. As you're here, she might be here for you. I have an image of her—"

"Let's see it," Roy said as he joined them.

When Minkah's face appeared on Raymond's cell screen, Roy swore, and eyes went to him.

"It's the woman from the museum! The one who bumped into you!" Roy exclaimed as he stared at the image.

"So, she was after me? For what I did in Germany? Why didn't she attack when she was standing right next to me?" Lorelei said a little more sharply than intended. She was trembling.

"What did you do in Germany? We're not judging!" Sigrid quickly added as she saw Lorelei begin to tense up. The tall blonde looked at the assassin's picture and froze—one blue and one yellow eye.

"I was trying to find out about my birth parents in Germany, and this small man tried to attack me. When he discovered what I could do, he said he would kill me, and even if I stopped him, others in the Council would be sent. He left me no choice," Lorelei said with trembling lips.

Roy, Camila, and Sigrid nodded to her, and she took strength from that.

Sigrid looked at Camila. "There's something about her eyes. Camila, do you remember when Henry told us about the new neighborhood cat he was feeding?"

"Yes, he said it had beautiful eyes, one blue and one yellow," the CEO replied.

Roy looked closely at the image again. "She's a shapeshifter? With a cat and Human form?"

"Most likely a Bastet," Mahati offered. "Supremely proficient hunters and assassins."

Roy looked to Raymond. "I think we found the one who took out the team trying to kidnap Henry."

Lorelei was looking from face to face, trying to follow what was happening. "Is she after me or not?"

Roy gave her a grim look. "If she was the one investigating the death of the Council agent in Germany, and it sounds like she was, then she'll be the one hunting you. The fact that she was pulled from her mission in Germany and was stalking Henry means he was her target here, not you. She didn't recognize you in the museum, so her investigation in Germany didn't identify you. You covered your tracks well. That said, she won't stop until she has completed the mission or it's called off. We'll work on making sure the council rescinds the contract." He went quiet.

They could see Roy's mind was working out the possibilities, and he glanced at them when he'd found his most likely scenario. Lorelei watched the others observing Roy patiently, so she remained silent, too.

He looked to Camila. "As for Henry, he wasn't one of the dead on the street, so she wasn't here to kill him. Due to the complexities surrounding him, the Council needed to bring in their best to capture and tuck him away in a dark pit somewhere." Voices cried out in dismay hearing this, but he raised his palm. "They'll take good care of him though he's an unknown to them. They might try to keep him sedated."

"SHIT!" Sigrid swore, and heads turned in her direction. She glanced at those looking at her. "His mind leaves his body when he's intoxicated or drugged. That's highly dangerous for him and others, but mostly for him. The longer his mind is outside his body, the harder it is to get him back to it."

Eleanor's eyes widened. "Does he remember what happens while he's wandering?"

Sigrid nodded.

"What do you mean, dangerous to others? He's mentally projecting. How could that affect others?" Raymond asked.

"That, I can't really explain without taking you down a rabbit hole," Sigrid said reluctantly, and Raymond's eyebrows rose.

"How far can he project?" Eleanor asked.

"What's with the twenty questions?" Lorelei finally snapped in frustration. "Henry's been grabbed by this tyrannical council. We have to get him back!"

Eleanor and Raymond both looked embarrassed by their behavior, so he addressed it. "Our apologies. We meant no harm or insult. We've lived for a long time and became excited by the unprecedented nature of these events. By all means, the emphasis should be on finding a means to extract your friend from his imprisonment."

"I'll speak to their Minister of Security tomorrow and let her know we're aware of his captivity and how this is jeopardizing our relations with several US Government Intelligence Agencies. That should add an uncomfortable amount of pressure," Mahati asserted.

She continued with a proud tone at the curious looks directed her way. "Henry wrote security software for them. They consider him an asset to be protected. They won't accept that he just disappeared."

"Who were the six who tried to kidnap Henry?" Camila asked.

"Raymond managed to convince one of the ambulance drivers to let me take a look at one of the bodies. I didn't recognize the man, but I could smell Carl de Bellisle on him. They were from his pack. Carl must have ordered them to bring Henry to him. Either Carl knows about his nature or was trying to get to me through the boy. But he didn't get Henry, and he lost a crew. He's not going to be rational the next time he contacts us. I'm going to have to deal with him. That means I must contact the other pack leaders to prepare them."

"Is there anything we can do?" Raymond asked.

Roy shook his head, then paused. "Do you have a contact within the Council who might know the location of their containment center?"

Raymond frowned. "I'll contact the guy I know, but I may have closed off that avenue getting the information on the assassin."

Roy nodded, then looked to Eleanor. "If you can, stay close. It could get messy, and having a surgeon available would be an asset," he said, then frowned. "I wish Dayshia was here as well. She's proven her surgical skills under emergency conditions. Having x-ray vision doesn't hurt either."

Eleanor's eyes widened in surprise, and she traded an excited glance with her husband, then noticed Lorelei watching her with a troubled look.

Roy drew the Naiad's attention. "Until we get the Council to rescind the contract on you, I'd like to set you up in a safe house."

"She can stay with me," Camila suggested.

Lorelei looked like she might argue, but she saw the woman's compassionate smile, which eased her concerns. "If it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience."

Camila shook her head with a grin. "I'd be honored. Bring your art supplies in case inspiration strikes. There's lovely light in my condo."

Lorelei felt a little thrill at the idea of not being alone. She nodded with a grateful smile.

"I'll assign a team to help you collect your items, and they'll take you to Camila's," Roy said with a grateful nod to the CEO.

He continued. "The plan is to make a two-pronged attack. First, Mahati will spearhead the effort to convince the Council that it's in their best interest to release Henry. While that's happening, we'll work on finding the containment center." He paused and looked at Sigrid. "If he's on a mental walkabout and has developed... new skills, he might try to contact us." He glanced around at the gathered people. "Don't dismiss the possibility that Henry might be able to contact you. If you see any evidence of this, note it and let us know."

A thrill ran through the group, and hopeful smiles appeared.

"Second, I'll deal with Carl. He's a threat to everyone. It's time to take him out, but I have preparations to make first." He nodded to the group and saw they were ready. "Make sure everyone shares their contact details."

The meeting was over, and everyone moved to trade numbers and gathered into smaller groups to discuss their next steps.

"You're an excellent leader, Roy. They needed a calm, decisive mind in a time of crisis," Mary said with a smile.

He snorted and leaned closer to her to speak quietly. "Aye, it's a good thing they can't see how much I want to rip my way through that Minister of Security and feel her blood on my claws for hurting Henry."

"Yeah, you'll have to settle with Carl's," Mary agreed with a grin.

Roy's answering grin was no less bloodthirsty.

-=-

The world's largest wolfpack leader stared at the shivering survivor of the team he sent after one young man.

"What do you mean they're all dead?" he growled in frustration.

"They were ambushed by an assassin. Marley was s-s-s-shot through the throat from a b-b-block away!" the Were stammered.

"But did he get it?" Carl snapped, not giving a shit about excuses.

The terrified driver stared at Carl, then handed him the thick syringe he'd taken from the hand of his dead partner.

"Good! Leave," Carl grunted, already completely focused on the prize in his hand.

He heard the door close and looked up to ensure he was alone. He felt incredibly foolish to put so much hope into something that seemed like a childhood story, but he desperately wanted to defeat Roy and see him broken at his feet.

Carl walked over to open his door and looked out at his secretary. "I'm not to be disturbed." She nodded to him with wide eyes. Giving her one more stern look, he closed and locked his door, returning to sit behind his desk. He pulled a whisky tumbler from his drawer and emptied the antique syringe into the glass. He was surprised by how much the needle had contained.

Setting the glass on the desk surface before him, he took a breath and dipped a finger in the blood. He then sucked it from his finger.

"UHHHH!" Carl gasped as sparks rushed through his body. He leaned back in his plush chair and enjoyed the residual tingles for a minute or so. When he was done, he focused his eyes on the tumbler and knew the realization of his dreams was sitting before him. If he got such a charge from a small mouthful of this blood, the power contained within the rest would make him... invincible!

Without a second thought, he lifted the glass to his lips and tossed the rest back in one swallow. His tongue licked the rest from the glass.

The sensation wasn't sparks this time but a small nuke exploding in the core of his chest. Blind from the energy scouring him out from the inside, his arms and legs flung wide as he screamed silently, sliding to the floor behind his desk.

Terrified, his cheeks wet with tears, Carl struggled to hang on to his sanity while the flood of energy surged within. His extremities drummed against the floorboards, and his body shook violently.

On the count of three, he went under.

Chapter 29

Henry felt the rush of his movement around the planet suddenly stop. He found himself on the edge of a cliff overlooking the angry waves of the Atlantic crashing against the rocky crags of the north-western shore of Ireland. He paused as knowing exactly where he was in the world while traveling this way was a new and distinct sensation. He wondered if this was a wielder thing.

He put that aside as he was here to deal with Mab. She was fucking around with Wild Magic, trying to forcibly bend it to her will. That wasn't working out so well for her. He knew the new magic could not be made to comply. However, it responded to invitations to participate quite well. That's the best analogy he could come up with to describe the sensation of working with the Wild Magic.

He could see the microtears between the Earth and Eden opening and closing as pulses in the sky above. This was the damage Mab was inflicting in her tests. He reached out and soothed the rips until they settled and closed. He sensed larger tears as hot spots all around the planet. What the fuck was she doing? She'd made a mess of things!

Before him was the North Atlantic and a small island. Carrickhesk, his new geolocation sense, told him. He grinned at having this level of information available to him. It was so much better than relying on his memories of Geography Class in school.

The island was just an upthrust of rock in the cold waters, but Henry's eyes saw what no Human eyes could.

Atop this rock balanced a five-story castle, the original of the one he'd visited atop the office tower in Manhattan. Surrounding this building was an energy shield to keep out... everyone. Mab had locked her castle down and wasn't accepting visitors. Not from her people, who'd cast her out for breaking one of their society's most intrinsic laws while at the same time putting the lives of the Fae at risk. Two unforgivable sins from their queen, so she was queen no longer.

She certainly wasn't accepting visitors from the other Hidden Races, and that included him.

Too bad.

He floated across the space between the shore and the outer edge of the energy field. She'd managed to do one thing with the Wild Magic. The dome around the castle was powered by it.

If he'd been more than just the energy of his mind, this would be as far as he went. Looking at the rooftop patio a short distance away, he pictured himself there, and he was. He moved to the glass doors and peered inside at the familiar bedroom where she'd tricked him into making a baby. He was inside the room before he knew what he was doing. Crossing that threshold, he felt a distinct ping from the old magic. He'd triggered an alarm, so he probably didn't have much time.

Mab was aware she had a visitor.

He looked around and saw nothing useful. His eyes landed on the closet where she'd kept the feral Succubi twins. He smiled as he recalled how they'd bonded with him and turned on the mad queen. The closet door opened as he concentrated on it, but they weren't there. He wondered where they were and if they were okay.

He spotted himself in one of Mab's many full-length mirrors. In her castle, he was visible in his true form, but light passed through him as well. So he couldn't slip around unseen. So be it.

Henry paused to think. Where would he find information that might be useful? Maybe a map of the house to locate the dungeon where he suspected Nate would be chained up.

The Library.

That was two floors down. He remembered what it looked like, and he was there.

Nate dropped the book he was glancing through as he stared at the translucent presence of Henry. "Henry? You're dead?"

"Nate!" he exclaimed joyfully and moved closer but stopped when Nate stepped back. "I'm not dead. I'm just... visiting mentally." He watched Nate's expression close up. "What's wrong?"

His expression broke. "VISITING!?!" he screamed. "You're not here to rescue me? She's fucking crazy, and she tortures me for fun!"

Henry could see his friend was coming apart. It was almost guaranteed that he'd been exposed to some horrific shit. "I'm so sorry, Nate. We've been trying, but she locked her castle away from the world. I would have come earlier, but I didn't have this ability before."

"What ability would that be, Henry?" a cold voice asked behind him.

Nate dropped to his knees, pressing his face to the floor. Shudders were going through his muscles, memories of the pain inflicted upon him.

Henry watched this as his rage built. He wanted to strike out at her so badly, but Nate needed him more.

"I'm sorry it took so long, Nate," he whispered.

The floor beneath Nate opened, and with a squeak of genuine fear, Nate fell three feet face-first into soft red grasses.

Henry snapped the tear closed. It was so much easier now.

"NO! HE'S MINE!" Mab shrieked as she lunged forward from the doorway.

Henry gasped in agony as Mab drove a blade between his translucent shoulders. He tried to escape, but it felt like the knife was pinning him in place. He immediately began to sense a lethargy growing in his mind.

"If I can't have Nate, you'll have to do," she purred, her unhinged mind flipping from rage to playfully homicidal seduction in an instant.

He felt her fingers changing their position on the knife handle as she moved around to his side. Turning his eyes, he finally saw her and sucked in a virtual breath as she didn't look good.

Mab's eyes were sunken and ringed with bruises. She obviously wasn't sleeping. Her skin was pale, and her cheeks sunken. Maybe she wasn't eating either. Gone was the glamor that made her look inhumanly beautiful.

"Fuck! You look like shit!" he growled.

She twisted the knife, and he gasped once more as another lance of agony shot through him.

"It's this cursed magic! It's so hard to make it do what I command!" she snarled.

Henry wasn't about to tell her how to make it work. "Considering what you used it for the first time, I'm not surprised. You'd blow the whole world into pieces if you had your way."

She grinned maniacally at him. "That does sound delicious, but my subjects will first taste the fear and agony they deserve for abandoning me. Then, they will die of a painful rot that no magic or science can defeat. The spell is almost ready."

"Why can't you just accept you were a bad queen—Ahhh, fuck, that hurts... and you deserved to lose your crown." Madness flashed in her eyes, but he was in too much pain to care.

"Once I've punished my people, I will turn my attention to your friends. I'm going to take them apart. One. By. One."

"ENOUGH!"

Henry's rage exploded, and everything around him flew outwards. Mab was thrown over a table and crashed into the chairs on its other side. She'd lost her grip on the knife when she was tossed away, and it fell at his feet. Fighting to get control over his emotions once more, he lifted the knife with his ghostly hand and felt the lifeforce the blade had stolen from him surge back.

He scowled at Mab, who was just now struggling to pick herself up from the ground. It was almost painful to see her like this. She'd once commanded awe and respect for being dangerously intelligent, wickedly clever, and highly skilled in all aspects of politics and magic. The long stretch of time or the failing of her magic must have eaten away that brilliance, and all that was left behind was the danger.

To Henry's science-based mind, she was much like an aging nuclear warhead in an obsolete intercontinental ballistic missile. Its usefulness, if it truly ever had any, was gone, and now it had to be carefully disposed of to protect everyone around it. He needed to drive this blade into her skull to end her reign of terror once and for all. This was likely his best opportunity.

His muscles suddenly spasmed as a shock went through his entire body. Everything went white.

Then he was looking up into the cold eyes of the doctor dressed in white.

"You're back with us again. Good."

Henry's eyes rolled back as his exhaustion took him down into a restful sleep this time.

Something clattered to the floor, and the doctor frowned as she looked down at her feet. Her eyes widened in shock as ancient words of protection quickly slipped from her lips, their sounds twisting and evading comprehension. She bent then stood holding the handle of the dagger reverently as her eyes took in the etching on the blade.

"Mèirleach Anam," she sighed, trembling with an almost carnal glee as she felt the heft of the weapon in her hand. Her eyes moved to Henry's face to watch him sleep.

Then she looked at the splash of blood on his chest where no injury existed. Where had it come from?

The doctor struggled to understand how this legendary blade came to be in the hand of a prisoner strapped down to a bed in her containment center. She was beyond frustrated that she wasn't allowed to ask any questions about the prisoner. She'd just been told to keep him sedated.

After the explosion in the cafeteria, she'd checked on her patients. The two in the first two rooms were quiet, but she'd had to sedate the young man in room three as he'd become very agitated. Coming into room six, she discovered none of Henry's sensor pads were attached as their adhesive had failed. Also, the monitoring machinery was dead. Then she noticed the patient's breathing was very shallow, and his pupils were non-responsive once more. She'd had the orderlies bring in monitoring gear from the room across the hall, and she watched very carefully as they reattached all of the sensors. She ensured they did it correctly this time.

Then she began rebalancing her patient's body chemistry to bring him to just under the consciousness threshold. When he started to spasm as if in great pain, she could see nothing to explain it on the machine, and blood appeared on his gown, but when she checked, there was no wound.

His life signs began to fade, so she was forced to shock him. It worked, but... the dagger. She scowled as she looked at Henry. He had answers, but they were forbidden to her.

She went to his monitoring station's console and set the sedative to a slightly lower volume but started his treatment again. She watched his brainwaves move from the regular sleep patterns into a deeper state. She wouldn't allow him to slip as deep as before. With a final glare at the mystery man, she tucked the dagger into her jacket and stepped into the hall, locking the door behind her.

She had plans for the ancient weapon.

-=-

Tish unpacked her suitcase into the bureau in Kristen's guest room. She knew she'd be repacking when she went to Steph's home in two days. Her sisters created a schedule for who she'd stay with over the week. With four sisters and two brothers, she had too many family members to fit into the week, but they tried. Each wanted to have a party at their home to celebrate the miracle of Tish's pregnancy, but Tish wasn't sure she could endure that much. Kristen's party completely wore her out.

When she arrived at Kristen's house, her sister almost passed out when she saw the baby bump. Then came the shrieks of joy. As the rest of the family showed up, the explosions of shock and joy continued. As she'd told Henry, she gave them minimal information about the how of her pregnancy and instead fielded many questions about Henry. Her sisters exploded into more shrieks as she finally showed them a photo of them together. Steph grabbed the cell and skipped ahead to see a picture Tish had snuck of Henry's naked Human body from behind. That produced screams the neighbors were sure to hear. Tish was relieved she'd kept her promise to never keep photos of their true selves.

It was an emotionally charged day.

She'd missed her family and promised herself she would take more time to visit them more often. She wasn't sure how this would work when she had a Faun child. Regular Hidden Races people didn't have Human relatives they had to keep secrets from. She couldn't put them at risk.

She sat on the edge of the bed and thought about how sweet Henry had been when he'd told her about his worries and his joy at being a father. She felt a warmth enveloping her, and she flopped back on the mattress with a smile as she could feel Henry's strong arms around her. She looked up and saw the ceiling spinning. She was more tired than she thought.

Lips caressed hers as she felt Henry's strong Satyr arms wrapping around her once more.

She lifted her hands to rest them on his chest as her body filled with warmth and his energy. Her exhaustion caught up to her, and with Henry's love filling her mind, she fully relaxed and felt lips kiss her belly.

A sweet smile surfaced as she finally fell asleep.

-=-

Kesini was restless, and that wasn't letting Sandy fall asleep either. The truth was, sleeping in her childhood bed felt weird. It was almost like she'd never traveled to New York to make a life for herself, never got a job at the hospital, never inherited the condo from her grandmother, and never met Stanley, then Henry. Kesini hugged her, which helped dispel those unhappy thoughts, but she still missed Henry.

Showing up in town and seeing how little everything had changed had shaken her. It really felt like a bubble in time. Her parents looked older, and the house looked a little more worn down as her father wasn't able to maintain it as well.

Kesini was on her best behavior and gave absolutely no sign of her presence. This helped Sandy relax.

Some kind of high school gymnastics competition was underway, drawing in parents and students from all over the county. The hotels were booked, so Sandy had no choice but to stay in her old bedroom with her folks.

She met the neighbors and her parent's friends, and they, too, just looked a little older. At dinner that night, they talked about the same things Sandy had heard when she lived there. Needing to shake that feeling, Sandy talked about her life in New York, minus all the magic stuff. They listened, enthralled, but none were eager to experience it first-hand.

They talked about the serial killer with fear in their eyes, and her parents showed extra concern for their daughter, but she deflected by asking questions about her brother. Apparently, her parents hadn't heard anything from him either.

Sandy's thoughts returned to how stagnant this town felt and how much she missed her new home and Henry in particular. She struggled to keep her tears at bay, but she was losing that fight as she was so tired from the trip.

She sucked in a sudden breath when she felt large hands gently touch her face, thumbs brushing away her tears. It was Henry!

Kesini swept forward, but there was no one there to hug. She was confused until she felt Henry's strong hands slide back through her hair to massage her scalp and the back of her head. Kesini trembled and settled to the bed as Sandy sighed happily. When she felt his lips gently kiss hers, a flush of energy rushed through her. She fully relaxed, and Kesini curled up beside her.

That's how sleep found them.

-=-

Dayshia was pacing in her sister's guest room. This motion matched how her brain went round and round, struggling with her inability to deal with how she felt about Henry, currently the only man in her life.

This always happened when she spent time with her sister and her wonderful husband. They were a perfect couple, in her mind, at least. They loved, respected, and supported each other even if they didn't always see eye to eye on all things.

Dayshia screwed up all her relationships. There was always something she'd identify as a deal-breaker. Her inability to compromise on even the smallest issues inevitably meant she'd break up with them.

Henry's issues were the largest of all. He wasn't human. He was a creature of magic. He'd turned her into one, too! He upended her entire life without so much as a may I.

Then, there was the fact that he had many lovers. She despised players, but putting him in that category felt wrong, too.

Yet, for all that, she was intensely attracted to him and thought he was one of the sweetest men she'd ever met.

He made her so confused! The fact that he didn't match her ideal mate in so many ways made her doubt her ideal.

She wished she could talk with him about it but was terrified of the change that might bring.

Dayshia dropped herself onto the edge of the bed and put her face in her hands.

She squeaked when she felt the pressure of large hands resting on her knees. She sensed the warmth and energy from Henry seeping into her body.

Glancing quickly to confirm she'd locked the bedroom door, she dropped her glamor and let her eyes scan through a range of frequencies. Nothing.

Then she thought about how Henry might be here only as energy, so she concentrated on picturing that in her mind as she closed and slowly opened her eyes again. She felt her energy levels draining as she projected a black light from her eyes, which caused an outline of him to appear as he knelt before her in his Satyr form. He moved to sit next to her and took her hand in his. The effort to see him this way lessened as he began to feed her more energy through his touch.

"Henry? Are you okay?" She knew he didn't travel out of his body willfully. His jaw appeared to move, but she heard nothing. She saw him pause, then wobble his hand side to side in the so-so gesture. Speaking with him didn't appear to be possible.

"Where are you?" she asked.

His hand moved up to bump himself on his forehead. What did that mean? Then he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her palm. Tingles shot through her body. He held her hand against his cheek, and his warmth and magic filled her.

"Oh! I miss you, too!" she gasped.

The doorknob rattled, and Dayshia snapped her glamor back in place.

"Dayshia? Are you okay in there?" her sister Beth asked from the other side of the door.

"Yes!" she said and felt Henry slip away. She got to her feet and opened her door. Beth glanced into the room and saw her sister's cell on the dresser. She looked at Dayshia.

"Who's Henry?"

Dayshia frowned at her big sister. "You still listening at your little sister's door?"

"I was just passing by this time. Besides, you always were the wild one. The one I had to keep tabs on for Daddy. Now, don't you go changing the topic. Who's Henry?" Beth said with her hands on her hips.

Dayshia pouted and huffed. "He's... he's a friend."

Beth's eyebrow went up. "A friend you miss that much," she said, nodding downward towards Dayshia's generous bosom, where a certain excited stiffness was displayed against her nightie.

The younger sister wrapped her arms in front of her. "Rude!"

"You're the one getting hot and bothered in my guest room. Where is he?" Beth said.

Dayshia scowled at her sister. "He's obviously not here! He's back in Jersey City. He has a condo in my new building."

"Is he another of your bad boys?" Beth asked wearily, and Dayshia burst into laughter at the thought of Henry being thought of that way.

Beth watched her sister in surprise.

When Dayshia managed to calm her laughter, she smiled at her sister's burning curiosity. "No. Henry is the opposite of a bad boy. He's a tech nerd. He's the CIO of an investment house. He's all about computers, networks, and tech."

Beth's face lit up with a smile. "A CIO with an investment house? That's quite the departure for you!"

Dayshia's earlier troubled thoughts intruded. Henry really was a change in direction for her. She couldn't keep that doubt from her face, and her observant sister caught it.

"What's wrong? Is he married? Old? A cross-dresser? Abusive? A Serial Killer?"

Dayshia scowled at Beth. "No! He's a sweet, kind man."

Beth looked once more at her little sister's cell phone. "You have a picture of this prince among men?"

Dayshia nodded and picked up her phone to launch her photo gallery app to scroll through her pictures. She found one Sandy took of her with Henry and handed the cell to Beth.

Her sister's eyes widened as she looked at the big man. "Ooo, he's pretty!"

Dayshia couldn't keep the satisfied grin from her lips. "And his kisses make me melt in his big hands!"

Beth's eyebrows rose. "Have you determined if anything else is big?" She burst into giggles at her own audaciousness, and Dayshia joined her.

Chris, Beth's husband, appeared in the doorway in his jammies. "Can you two keep it down? You're gonna wake the kids."

"Sorry, baby. We'll be quiet. Go to bed. I'll be there shortly," Beth said to him.

Dayshia noticed Chris looked pretty good in his sleepwear, too.

The man nodded with a little frown and closed the door gently behind himself.

Beth turned back to her sister. "Well?"

"Oh! Yes, he's... nicely equipped."

"So, you've had sex with him," Beth said bluntly.

Dayshia's expression lost some of its joy as she shook her head.

The older sister's brows came down in concern. "What's wrong?"

"You know how I am in relationships." She took a shaky breath. "I've found flaws in every man I've been with and always break up with them. Nothing lasts." She looked into Beth's eyes. "You're right about Henry, though. He's... an extreme departure from my usual boyfriends."

"He doesn't have issues like the others?" Beth asked.

Dayshia snorted explosively, and Beth looked at her in surprise. Dayshia gave her head a quick shake as her expression became pensive. She knew what her issues with Henry were, and none could be explained to her sister. She shook her head again, more gently this time. When she closely examined her concerns, searching for the big deal-breaker, she realized none gave her the same gut-level rejection she'd felt with other boyfriends. "They just... don't seem as important with him."

Beth gave her sister a hug. "That's love, baby girl." She smiled tenderly at her sister.

Dayshia took a deep breath. "What I have now with Henry is so good. I'm terrified I'll destroy it if I go further."

"If you don't take that chance, you'll also never know how much better it could be," her big sister admonished gently.

Dayshia looked into the loving eyes of her sister and knew she was right. She gave her a small nod.

Beth kissed her forehead as she used to do when she had her big sister talks with Dayshia during their childhood. "Time for you to get some rest. We'll see Dad tomorrow, and he hasn't been himself recently. It's going to be a trying day."

"Thank you, Beth."

The woman smiled at her sister and nodded. "You're welcome." She went to the door and looked back. "You must bring that hunk with you on your next visit."

Dayshia smiled and nodded.

Beth grinned and went to join her husband.

Dayshia closed the door and locked it once more as a precaution.

As she settled under the sheets, she recalled the sensation of Henry's touch tonight and realized she needed to get past her fear. Henry wasn't going to hurt her. It wasn't in him to do that.

She smiled as she thought about Beth's words. She wanted to know how much better it could be.

-=-

Henry felt his energy levels dropping as he checked in on his friends. He'd felt an intense need to reach out to them after his ordeal with Mab. Her threat to hurt his friends struck too close to home, and he needed to reassure himself that they were okay.

He wasn't sure if he could find the ones not at home in his current state as he didn't know their actual location. He concentrated on how he felt about them, and his connection to them through the Wild Magic made them stand out in the distance like arc lights beaming their brilliance up into the sky. Surrounding their beams was a sea of candles, which had to be Humans based on their numbers. He was a little confused that Humans showed up in the Wild Magic at all, but he pushed that aside with his joy at finding his friends.

Now, he was discovering that physically moving shit was exhausting. Lifting Tish to reposition her on the bed may have been a little over the top.

Before losing the ability to communicate tonight, he needed to tell someone about Mab. As he'd discovered with Dayshia, speaking was not an option.

Mahati wasn't lighting up the horizon as she was a wielder of the old magic. Henry knew where to go to find her.

Home.

He found himself standing outside his door. Instead of entering, he moved to Mahati's place and slipped through her door. He saw her burning the midnight oil, working on her laptop.

He looked closer, and she was typing something into a document. He reached past her and pressed the enter key. It wasn't too difficult, so he felt confident he'd found a way to leave her a message.

She stopped typing to see her paragraph had broken. Cursing softly, she moved the cursor back to the break and fixed the text.

Her kitchen sink tap suddenly began running, and she squeaked in surprise. Cautiously, she got up and went to shut it off.

While her keyboard was open, Henry moved the cursor down and started a new paragraph. He typed in point form quickly as he felt his strength waning. He paused as he was beginning to hear sounds from the hospital room. There was a voice speaking words he couldn't comprehend. A Fae spell and the drugs were waning! He focused on the keyboard and pushed the last few keys before he felt himself pulled back to his body.

Slowly blinking his eyes open, he saw the doctor watching him.

"There you are. You've been a naughty boy, flitting about while your body is secured here. We will have to put up some additional barriers around you to keep you in place."

His brow furrowed as how could she have known?

As if reading his mind, she chuckled, but the humor never reached her cold eyes. "The dagger. I did my research, and the last sighting of it was millennia ago, when our former queen used it to clear her way to the throne. No one else has seen it since, yet you brought it to me. This means you went to see her. The blood stains on your gown tell me she used it on you, yet you're alive, and you had the dagger when I brought you back. Is she finally dead?"

He tried to glare at her, but whatever she'd done to him made everything so hard. "Too soon," he sighed.

Her eyebrows went up. "Had I waited a few more moments, it would have been done?"

He nodded slightly.

"Ah, that's on me then."

He needed to tell her Mab was preparing to kill the Fae, but he'd reached the end of his strength. He didn't sleep, but he wasn't awake. The spell she'd used on him tied him to the threshold, and he knew she could keep him there indefinitely. He'd just have to counteract it. It was strong, but it wasn't Wild Magic.

If he could break free from the lethargy first.

Chapter 30

Minkah stared at the destruction in the cafeteria with wide eyes. The orderlies were doing their best to separate the salvageable bits, but it was clear they wouldn't be having breakfast here. Even the coffee maker was a smashed mess.

"What happened here?" she asked as Rand wandered in with a sour look on his face.

"Who's the only new inmate in this prison?" the dwarf growled.

She immediately scowled at him as he seemed to target Henry for everything that bothered him, and she was seriously tired of it. "You've got him locked in a cell. Didn't you say he'd be unconscious for the rest of his days?" she snapped.

He glared at her. "Listen, nothing about that Satyr is normal or predictable. The rules don't seem to apply to him, and crazy shit has been happening since the day he first appeared. We should have terminated him the moment we learned of his existence. Back when there was only one of those fucking animals!"

Minkah froze. Satyr? Henry was a member of an extinct race? That seemed significant. Why wasn't that included in the file?

Of more immediate concern, Animals? What the FUCK?

Rand's speciesism had surfaced, and it was an ugly thing. Her muscles began to vibrate. He froze as well as he suddenly recalled the tall woman beside him was a Bastet.

"Perhaps you should go back to the city without me. Now," Minkah said slowly, and Rand nodded, walking away cautiously.

She struggled to get her nerves to calm. Running after the bigot to gut him with her knives might feel good, but it wasn't a good idea.

She'd have to find the center's administrator to arrange for another car for her to drive back to the city. Speak to the woman who'd completely dismissed her the night before.

Shit.

-=-

"Billy! The boss wants to see you!" Ted bellowed over the echoing whine of the crane moving into place to move the huge ladle. He saw the man wave to him and head towards the exit.

Even from this far out, the heat was barely tolerable, but at least he wasn't basting in his own juices in one of those silver suits. Ted was a floor manager now, and his days of working that close to the liquid metal were over. He climbed the stairs to the observation booth, where he could see the entire operations area.

He had a good crew, and they would exceed their monthly numbers. This brought a smile to his face. Maggie would be happy with that bonus check he was going to get.

He kept his eyes on the massive ladle as the crane carefully lifted the heavy container and moved it to its pouring position. Slowly, the ladle tipped, and the molten metal began to pour.

Ted loved this part. Watching the creation of new steel.

"Did you hear the report of last night's light show?"

Ted glanced to his left and saw Mike Bentley, his crew chief, walk into the booth. He shook his head as both men turned their heads back to the pouring.

"Several of the floor crew claim to have seen rainbows wrestling inside the smelting chamber and dancing across the whole building."

Ted glanced at Mike incredulously. "What? Were they high?"

They watched the metal running down the channel as the pot continued to tip and pour.

"Apparently not. Medics checked them out. They're getting a few days off, just in case."

"Shit! I'd claim to see rainbows for that!" Ted chuckled.

He heard Lee up in the crane booth squawk his radio, so he lifted it from his belt.

"What's up, Lee?"

"Ted, I got some weird vibrations coming through the crane. I'm seeing a good connection, but—SHIT!"

Ted watched a surge of molten steel gush from the spout.

"Ted! It's going over! The balance is all fucked up!" Lee yelled over the radio, and Ted slapped the alarm button on the wall behind him.

Lights began flashing, and a loud klaxon wailed. Ted saw his floor team start running towards the exits. "Get out of there, Lee!" he yelled into the radio and was relieved to see the man leave the crane's control booth and run along the catwalk.

His eyes were drawn to the opening of the ladle as... something was moving in the liquid metal!

"What the fuck is THAT?!?" Mike yelled.

Something large and glowing was climbing out of the opening. It suddenly tipped forward and fell, striking the floor below with a massive thump that shook the building. Ted and Mike were thrown to the floor. They looked at each other in shock, then scrambled to their feet and rushed from the control room, racing down the stairs to get to the exit. They stopped to direct the workers outside and looked back. A large creature was struggling to right itself. It was tearing the shit out of the surrounding equipment and concrete it was lying on.

Ted struggled to understand what he was looking at. Its body was roughly shaped like an eggplant, only the size of one of those subcompact cars. It seemed to have three thick limbs, each ending with a wide paddle. He couldn't see any eyes, but it did have a cluster of hairs on the top of its head, a jagged tear of a mouth, and its squealing was horrifying. Like metal plates scraping together, the noise cut through Ted and jangled his nerves.

The last few floor crew members raced by, and Ted frowned. "Did you see Lee?" he yelled to Mike and saw the man shake his head. Then Ted spotted the man in question wearing a silver suit on the opposite side of the thrashing thing. He was trapped, and the thing seemed to be about to right itself. Ted noticed it wasn't glowing as brightly as it had been. That gave him an idea.

The creature somehow seemed to notice Lee and slowly started dragging itself towards the man. Its screeches took on a different tone, which to Ted sounded aggressive.

"Mike! Help me!" Ted yelled and ran deeper into the plant, closer to the monster. As he reached the fire equipment station, he turned and saw Mike was a fair distance back. He knew he didn't have much time as the thing was closing on Lee.

Ted grabbed the fire nozzle and pulled the pin to release the hose. He began hauling the hose closer until Mike and two of his crew got behind him as a third man opened the valve.

They struggled to hold the hose as the water blasted out and struck the ground at the thing's... feet.

The cold water exploded into steam when it splashed up against the superheated surface.

It screamed.

The sound it made before paled in comparison. It was deafening. It was terrifying. It shattered the nerve of two of their helpers, one on the hose and the man at the valve. They turned and ran.

With only three people holding the hose, they had trouble directing it. When the creature turned to charge them, Ted leaned back and managed to tip the torrent of water up to score a direct hit in its horrible maw. The sounds it was making immediately stopped, and it rocked back.

Lee saw his opportunity and made a run for it.

The creature slammed one of its paddle-like appendages against the floor just behind the running man, causing him to lose his footing and take a nasty tumble. The next strike would flatten Lee to paste, and it raised its arm for a second attempt.

Ted, Mike, and the crewman held the spray on the area under the raised limb until it seemed to freeze in place.

Steam continued to pour off the creature, so they concentrated on what might be its head as the water dripping down its body was doing damage as well.

The beast slammed a hand down on the concrete floor, striking edge-on in a chopping motion as if attacking the incoming spray. The floor split in a massive crack under their feet and the men were knocked down, losing their grip on the hose. It spun crazily as they dragged themselves from its path.

Ted got to his feet and saw that the creature's hand was stuck in the floor. He dashed forward and put an arm around Lee. They moved as fast as they could, avoiding the hose as well. They joined up with Mike and the crewman and hustled Lee away as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, a flash of light filled the building, and the ground heaved under them. They all fell forward onto the floor. Looking back, they saw the creature was gone, and all that was left was a huge crater in the concrete.

The crane gave way, and the ladle hit the ground with a massive thump. The remaining liquid metal poured out with three roundish orbs.

"Oh my god! It-it laid eggs in the molten steel?" Ted gasped.

"The eggs are moving! We need to call in the army!" Mike exclaimed as he got up and helped Lee to his feet.

"Nah, just the fire department," Ted replied as they hustled towards the exit.

-=-

"We're getting really odd readings from the caldera. I'm going to send a drone up for some pictures," Freyja Remeksdóttir said quietly as she peered closely at her laptop screen. The vibrations being recorded didn't match anything she'd seen before. Freyja was a volcanologist from Iceland, currently traveling with five fellow volcanologists on a tour of some of the world's most active sites.

They were currently in Colombia, studying the Galeras volcano, which showed signs of activity once again.

"Most of the drones are down for battery recharging after last night's light show," Magnús Kristjánsson complained. He was her life partner and official technical support crew, how she justified including him on this field study trip. He was highly gifted with their equipment, so she didn't feel too bad about choosing him over one of the junior techs from her university.

At dawn, Freyja and Magnús hiked up to the observation site, which was as close as they could safely get without protective suits. From here, the team could launch their drones and still be within range to control them. Freyja was set up on a small table, and Magnús was unpacking his gear.

He glanced over at her and barely contained his snort of amusement as she'd decided to wear the birthday present he'd bought for her. Her short blonde hair was tied back under a brightly colored kerchief with the new GoPro clipped to a headband, looking very much like a third eye on her forehead. He thought she looked adorable.

The light show he'd spoken of had been captured by five of the team's drones, sent skyward by Russian volcanologist Pavel Morozov. He had twenty-five minutes of video showing rainbows twisting and stretching wildly on and above the active peak. They were still trying to explain how that light energy might have been created, and the theories were wild and varied. The arguments became heated, and Pavel had a lovely black eye this morning while their German volcanologist, Rolf Keller, had his hand in a makeshift cast. Bruised face or not, Pavel was giddy with the idea of the fame he'd achieved with his unique videos.

His words finally sinking in, Freyja looked to her husband in dismay. "We don't have a drone?"

He grinned at her. "I didn't say that. I have our drone, which I didn't hand over to Pavel last night. Greedy bastard didn't need any more drones." She grinned at him, so he continued. "It's fully charged, wearing its heat shields, and ready to go." The shielding was an invention he'd come up with to allow their drone to withstand the conditions found in the volcano's caldera, for short periods at least. It was another reason he hadn't loaned the drone to Pavel.

He turned on the camera and checked the feed. The signal was strong, the recording was working, and all systems were go. With a loud whine, the props spun up to speed, and up it went. Magnús expertly controlled the flying camera platform as Freyja sat next to him, watching the screen intently. She reached up and activated the GoPro, and he couldn't suppress his snort then. She playfully pouted and poked him for teasing her.

"Pavel was bragging he was going to sell the video to a film producer friend of his," he muttered as he carefully navigated around some hot spots and moved the drone closer to the lip of the caldera. "Seriously, he was getting very graphic about what he was going to do with all the pussy his friend was going to throw his way."

"The man's a troll," Freyja agreed.

Magnús agreed the term was a good match for the physical reality of the man. Still, the man was happy and not moping as he so often did. That made him a little more bearable. Maybe he wouldn't stare at Freyja so much. "Okay, I'm reaching the lip. Are the odd vibrations still occurring?"

Freyja looked away from the screen to review the readings on her laptop. "Yes, they're stronger than before.

At Magnús' sharp intake of breath, she turned her eyes back to the screen showing the drone's initial view.

In the molten rock, three large shapes appeared to be swimming in the lava. They each had three limbs ending with large paddle-like appendages. They rose to the surface, then plunged deep only to surface again. Each time they did, the lava would heave.

"This beats the shit out of a light show!" he muttered, and Freyja burst into nervous giggles.

Magnús moved the drone closer, and the three slowed their movements, sinking into the molten rock until only their heads were poking out. They could see the hair-like tendrils on their heads twitching.

He glanced at the sensor feed from the drone. He had less than twenty seconds to get the drone out of that heat. When he glanced back at the screen, he saw the closest creature rise slightly, and something told him to move. He pulled the controls back and to the side abruptly as a jet of molten rock shot by. He pushed the controls and flew the drone past the creatures again, rolling the flying camera in a loop to evade another jet. He used an evasive pattern to get the drone back over the lip when it suddenly went into an uncontrolled spin. It landed, bounced once, and stopped, luckily with its props pointing skyward. He sent a query to it, and it responded with a low battery alert. All four props were still functional, so he commanded it to return home on the quickest route.

When the drone got close enough for detail to be visible, they saw the landing pads were badly melted, and the heat shielding was bent and dangling on one side. It landed next to the table.

Freyja observed Magnús carefully removing the damaged heat shield with pliers, as the metal plate still had some molten rock clinging to it. When she looked back to her laptop, she shrieked as the readings quickly climbed, indicating an imminent eruption. She threw the computer into her backpack as Magnús stopped the recorder and put it into his pack as they both began to run.

The ground rumbled under them, and they ran faster. The caldera roared, the ground heaved, and a plume of fire and rock was ejected upwards as they ran for their lives.

As they approached base camp, they could see the others scrambling into the back of the truck, which was already beginning to move, the driver losing his nerve.

"WAIT!" Magnús yelled, waving his arms, and Pavel glanced back, his expression of terror clearly visible. He scrambled into the back of the truck and screamed something as he flailed his arms. The engine revved with a cough of black smoke, and the vehicle jolted forward to roll toward the road.

A boulder ejected from the caldera, roughly half the size of the fleeing truck but many times its mass, landed on it from above. Magnús and Freyja were thrown to the ground by the impact. He scrambled to his feet, staring at what had once been a truck filled with people, and gave himself a shake. There was no time. He pulled his stunned wife toward the camp, where a beat-up old jeep was parked next to the tents. He shoved Freyja into the passenger seat and jumped behind the wheel. They were on the road in seconds, and he put his foot down as the road had long, straight sections. The problem was it snaked back and forth down the side of the mountain while the eruption went straight down. Once he saw his chance, he put the nose of the jeep over the side and drove straight down the mountainside, working the brakes hard. Freyja screamed as the jeep was always seconds away from crashing. Somehow, Magnús kept the jeep's wheels on the ground.

More boulders fell from the sky, and he had to brake hard and veer wide to avoid the damage, but he kept up the speed as much as he could. He crossed the serpentine road several times, and on one occasion, he floored the jeep through a patch of shrubs to get to the road beyond.

Finally, he was forced to head straight across pasture land, crashing through fencing and down farm lanes until he reached an actual road. He wasted no time but put his foot down and drove like a man possessed amongst the other drivers, all trying to do the same. He was less concerned about his vehicle's condition, so he was willing to drive through a gap between cars and lose paint or trim in the process. No one was willing to stop to argue with fiery death breathing down their necks.

Magnús wasn't proud of what he did to get himself and Freyja clear of the blast, and truthfully, he wasn't even sure how he managed it during those initial minutes. As he stood on the side of a road, miles away from the horrifying devastation unleashed by the mountain, he thought of the expressions of Freyja's colleagues from the back of that ill-fated truck. He saw their terror and their guilt, but they weren't going to wait for the two of them.

Strangely, if they had, they would have avoided being crushed by the boulder, but they couldn't have moved fast enough to get away in time.

Magnús and Freyja would be dead as well.

Dead before they could tell the world of the creatures they'd seen in the caldera. Perhaps the cause for the rapid escalation of the eruption. They had proof. They just needed to upload it.

They held each other tight as they watched the distant city burn.

Chapter 31

Lise-Anne Hoek, Minister of Security for the Hidden Races Council, was ready to call it a day, and it wasn't even lunchtime yet.

The reports she'd been getting this morning left her at her wit's end. Sightings of odd-behaving rainbows followed by stories of horrifying creatures were coming in a steady stream.

A farmer in Montana had most of his herd of cattle decimated by one of those ribbon creatures before the man managed to blow it out of the sky with his hunting rifle.

A steel mill in Pittsburgh was severely damaged when something alive in the molten metal attacked the workers. The local firemen were being called heroes for thwarting an invasion of lava monsters.

Most damning of all was a report from Colombia where the two surviving members of a team of volcanologists posted actual video of these lava creatures in a caldera moments before the mountain erupted. Their survival story was flooding the Internet as it was sensational, compelling, and combined with additional video of their desperate escape, impossible to deny. She'd have her team begin their effort to debunk the creature in the lava aspect, but in her heart, she knew it wouldn't be enough.

Lise-Anne had no agents in Colombia available to silence these well-respected experts in their field, and truthfully, it was too late.

Things were going to shit.

She'd convinced herself that if they contained Mr. Gable, these events would stop, but as last night proved, it just got worse.

She contemplated sending an order to terminate him, but wiping out the Fae at the same time was a little extreme.

Her desk phone buzzed from her personal assistant.

She slapped the button. "I said I wasn't to be disturbed!"

The voice was hesitant but firm. "Yes, Ms. Hoek, but Ms. Chandra is here and indicated she knows the true source of the events being triggered."

Lise-Anne paused. Ms. Chandra had to be Mahati, the one working with Mr. Gable. Anything she said would be biased. Still, she was a Chandra, and sparing her a few minutes could avoid difficulties with her family.

"Send her in."

The door opened, and Mahati stepped inside the office and closed the door behind her. She took the chair Lise-Anne gestured to and smiled politely. Lise-Anne did her best to suppress her scowl as the young woman looked too well-rested while she felt like death warmed over.

"Good morning," Mahati began.

"I'm not sure I can agree," Lise-Anne replied sourly and received a nod.

"I'm here representing my client, Henry Gable, and his employers, VRL," the lawyer began.

Lise-Anne just held the younger woman's gaze, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"You're holding Mr. Gable against his will, against Baba Yaga's direct command and endangering the Fae," the lawyer asserted calmly.

"You have evidence to back up this claim?" Lise-Anne said coldly.

"I do." She opened her briefcase and slid a photo across the desk. On it was a clear image of the Minister's assassin.

"Minkah Kamilah Nassor Meskhenet. Bastet assassin on contract with the Hidden Races Council. Currently on special assignment in New York City. Witnessed on more than one occasion in contact with Henry Gable in her feline form and once in her Human guise. Last night, Henry Gable was being abducted by parties working for Carl de Bellisle when they were executed by a highly-skilled assassin. The odds of two professional assassins of the Bastet's skill level being in proximity to Henry are astronomical. Once these would-be abductors were killed, Henry was taken."

"All this proves is that there is a serious leak in my department, which I will address," Lise-Anne said grimly.

Mahati smiled. "I believe you will be too busy in the next little while to focus on housecleaning."

Lise-Anne's eyes narrowed as she looked at the Nāga suspiciously.

"You weren't the first or most senior member of the Hidden Races Council I spoke to about this. Chancellor Mugawee was not pleased to be informed that the actions of his Minister of Security would be drawing the attention of every significant security agency in this country," Mahati said with a single raised eyebrow.

Lise-Anne froze, then scowled. "What are you talking about?" she snapped.

Mahati's expression hardened. "If you are going to run the most important security agency on this planet and make life and death decisions for the citizens you are tasked to protect, it would be the responsible thing to do to have a complete picture of their interconnections with the world around them before you take steps that might cause a decrease in our security. This means researching more than the widening social circle Henry is developing."

She shot the Minister a look of scorn, then continued. "Henry Gable is a brilliant software developer. Potentially the most brilliant to date. This has drawn the attention of the Director of Homeland Security, Stephen Dawes, the Director of the NSA, Wallace Granger, the Director of the FBI, Charles Starkley, and the Director of the CIA, Maurice Hall. All are attempting to woo him away from VRL for his security application development. They consider him a critical asset of the US Government who must not fall into the hands of America's enemies. And you've just imprisoned him."

Lise-Anne's jaw was moving, and her face was a deep red of barely contained rage. "What part of remaining under the radar of Human attention has Henry Gable not grasped? Why has he engaged with some of the very agencies who could expose us?"

Mahati held the woman's eyes. "Did you not hear me mentioning his technical brilliance? When he was Stanley Garin, he was charged with bringing his new employer's in-house technology from a state of disaster to state-of-the-art. He succeeded. His firewall is like nothing else ever developed and uses technology only being talked about theoretically. In his new identity as Henry Gable, he's improved upon it. The agencies discovered this on their own. To protect VRL and himself from their paranoia and potential incarceration, he offered the application to them."

"Why didn't he offer his technical expertise to us first?" Lise-Anne blustered.

Mahati leaned back in her chair as she studied the Minister's face. "Interaction with the Hidden Races Council is not something members of the Hidden Races generally seek out. Your reputation for brutal, reactionary responses to anything outside the status quo defines you."

"What you ignorantly call brutal reactionary responses are, in truth, efficient and effective surgical strikes and the only means we have to protect them! Humans are increasingly difficult to hide from without the swiftest actions. We have no choice but to make such decisions!" Lise-Anne argued.

Mahati shook her head sadly. "That you cannot, or will not, see other options explains why you are in this very situation. Release Henry Gable."

Lise-Anne's expression showed an icy resolve. "I've not stated that we have him. When such an action is taken, it's typically due to a significant danger to the Hidden Races. Such as the sudden appearance of anomalies like the Pseudo-clouds, the Glass People, the Silver People, and now Lava Monsters."

Mahati tilted her head in interest. "And you've identified the source of these anomalies with cold facts and irrefutable evidence?"

The Minister's patience had run out. "I don't answer to you. I'm sanctioned to take any steps necessary to protect our ability to remain unseen and unknown. You need to leave. Now."

"So, you don't want the information on the actual source of the recent incursions?" Mahati asked with a raised brow. "Fine, the Chancellor will likely make better use of it—"

"Don't threaten me!" Lise-Anne shouted, dropping her glamor and lifting into the air on angrily beating wings.

Mahati resisted the urge to escalate as well. Instead, she waited calmly, eyes on the fairy.

"You'd do well to remember who you're talking to, girl," the hovering Fae said with a rage-tinged voice.

"Do you know who I am?" Mahati asked calmly.

Lise-Anne blinked in confusion. "You're the whelp of Indrani Chandra."

Mahati shook her head slowly. "No, I'm the one who dethroned Queen Mab in her own Fae Court. What that should mean to you is I have more important priorities right now than dealing with your temper." She waited to see how the enraged fairy handled that. She gave no sign of the spell she'd prepared before entering the room. If Lise-Anne lost control and attacked, Mahati would only have enough time to unleash one spell, so she made it a good one. If it came to a battle, powerful or not, the fairy wouldn't be getting out alive.

Lise-Anne watched the young Nāga wait calmly, and something about her confidence sent a treacherous stab of doubt through her. While Fairies of her age were master wielders, she'd heard about the raw power of the Nāga. Then there was the fact that she'd taken Mab out of the game. That seriously gave her pause. She would never have had the nerve to walk into that courtroom. With a deep breath, she nodded cautiously.

Mahati nodded as she relaxed slightly. "I got word last night that Mab is experimenting with the same Wild Magic Henry is connected to. She's working on a new spell that's causing breaches, large ones, between the realm of Wild Magic and here. These breaches are how the creatures from the other side get here."

Lise-Anne frowned at Mahati as her curiosity utterly deflated. Mahati was pointing the finger at Mab? She knew for a fact that wielders of the original magic could not work with the Wild Magic as it was toxic to them. Of course, now that Mab was in seclusion, she made an excellent target to deflect attention away from Henry. The transparency of the lawyer's ploy was almost sad to behold. "Mab has locked herself behind a field no one can get past. How did you get this information about her," she asked with little enthusiasm.

Mahati frowned at the Fairy. "It doesn't matter how I got it. I received word that Mab is creating a spell to torture her people and then kill them. Then, she'll turn her attention to the Hidden Races. She's insane and has access to a source of magic far stronger than anything she's had in a long time. She's still learning how to use it, but her magic skill is second only to Baba Yaga. Once she perfects her spell, she'll unleash Hell upon the Fae, then us."

The Minister of Security examined Mahati critically. She'd thought the young woman had promise as a lawyer, but this stunt was pathetic. Mab was still a threat, queen or not, but not in the Big Bad way the lawyer was trying to paint. "Right. Is that everything? I have a busy day ahead."

"You'll free Henry?"

"I've not indicated we have him. You've identified others who attempted to kidnap him. Perhaps you should check with these other abductors. Good day." Lise-Anne switched back to her glamor and settled into her chair behind her desk.

Mahati blinked in surprise at the woman.

"Close the door on your way out," the Minister said, holding her eyes.

The young woman stood and frowned in confusion. "You don't believe me—"

"Good day."

Lise-Anne watched the woman leave her office and close the door. She slumped back in her chair as her exhaustion caught up to her again. She'd have to push through it.

She couldn't help the issue of the US Security Agencies becoming upset about Henry's disappearance. She'd just have to see how that develops. She could have her team spin something if they needed to show he died in an accident. Give them a badly scorched finger or two.

She pushed that aside as she needed to deal with the volcano monsters.

Shit.

-=-

Roy arrived at work feeling a little tired from spending hours on the phone speaking to the pack leaders who ran the regions surrounding Carl's Louisiana territory. Having endured his terrorizing, they were eager to hear Roy's plan to deal with Carl and his oversized territory. Many were too young to have knowledge of the previous time it had happened, so Roy had to explain the process to them.

Each of them would be required to absorb an outer block of Carl's territory and cover the costs of rehabilitating the resident Lycanthropes. Any who could not adjust to normal pack behavior would be euthanized. Brutal, but safer for all.

None of these leaders would face Carl in battle, so Roy was delegated to be the one to remove him, but he'd been expecting that.

The core of Carl's territory would be divided up into reasonably sized regions, and there would be a dominance tournament to find new leaders for them. Roy and the leaders of the surrounding territories would be the judges.

On his way to the elevator, he saw Mahati enter the front doors. He paused as the look on her face told him something had gone seriously wrong.

"Good morning, Mahati."

Dark eyes flashed at him, and she struggled to control her emotions. "G-good morning, Roy. I need to speak to you, Sigrid, and Camila. Now."

Roy's brows rose, and he gestured to the elevators.

They took one to the top floor, and he poked his head into Sigrid's office to ask if she was in. The elevator dinged behind them, and the tall blonde stepped out to smile at them. That expression fell away quickly when she saw Mahati's grim face.

"We're going to Camila's office," Roy stated, and she nodded as she moved past to drop off her bag.

Roy and Mahati walked down the hall to Camila's office, and Felix indicated they could go right in. Sigrid quickly joined them.

Camila's smile was strained as she looked between them. She locked her door.

"Last night, Henry managed to leave me a note on my laptop. Just brief points, but enough to say he visited Mab. He freed Mr. Walker by sending him to Eden. He also said Mab was causing major breaches between the dimensions as she experimented. Mab is planning to kill the Fae and then us. She has the power and the skill but is still learning how to use the Wild Magic."

Roy shifted uneasily as he looked at Sigrid and Camila.

Mahati continued. "I spoke with Chancellor Mugawee this morning to inform him of Henry's abduction and to let him know the difficulties this would raise with the security agencies. While he gave no sign that he'd sanctioned the action, he expressed his concerns that it could escalate into something dangerous between the US and countries they may suspect. I told him I'd speak to the Minister of Security to pass along his concerns." Mahati took a deep breath. "Minister Hoek is not dealing with the stress of her position well. She was unaware of Henry's involvement with the agencies and did not appreciate being called out for that. When I mentioned Mab was the source of the recent breaches, she closed down and made me leave her office. She didn't believe me!"

Camila shared an uneasy look with Sigrid, then held their lawyer's eyes. "She didn't believe Mab was the source because wielders can't use the Wild Magic."

"Yes, but Mab isn't in her own body—" Mahati froze as she saw the guilt on their faces. "Hoek doesn't know?" she asked incredulously.

"It wasn't safe to tell her," Sigrid explained with a look of regret for forgetting to inform Mahati.

"And you sent me to convince her without telling ME?" Mahati shouted.

"We're so sorry. There are so many secrets around Henry. We just forgot which ones were known by you," Sigrid explained.

Mahati threw her hands up. "We've just ruined our chance at convincing the Minister to cooperate and let's not forget this woman is sanctioned to send assassins after people she considers a threat. She certainly has enough reason to send them after us."

Roy growled, deep and angry, and all eyes turned toward him. "I'm getting a wee bit tired of living under the threat of increasingly unstable leaders. We have our own troubles to deal with."

They were quiet for a moment as each considered the situation.

Camila's phone chirped, so Camila pressed the intercom. "Yes, Felix?"

"A Michelle Beaumont is here asking to speak with you. She doesn't have an appointment."

"Please send her in," Camila responded as she sent a concerned look to the others and unlocked the door.

The door opened as Michelle stepped inside, and she closed it. She turned and looked up to see the others. Her eyes widened. "Is this not a good time?"

Roy snorted as he stood to pull another chair before Camila's desk. "We'll all die of old age if we have to wait for a good time."

Camila sent an annoyed look at Roy as she gestured for Michelle to take the chair. Once she was seated, the CEO looked at her. "What brings you to us this morning?"

Michelle took a deep breath. "I-I thought I might be able to help search for Henry as I have access to the historical records for the Hidden Races Council. There might have been some record of the construction of the containment center they took him to. It took all night to hunt through the database and track down every project the Council had employed a construction company for, but none of the projects I found could be it. There was only one that I couldn't get background on, as all it had was a single non-redacted invoice number. I went into the sub-cellar to hunt through the paper files, but when I found the docket for the invoice, there was only a single sheet of paper. It was a handwritten letter that was heavily and sloppily hand-redacted. What I was able to read showed it was a bill of sale for a farmhouse in New Jersey. The only other text that stood out was a partial word, Wol, but the rest was redacted, so I don't know the context." She shook her head. "It could be a wild goose chase. While I found it with the construction projects records, there's so little usable information."

Roy was rolling the information around in his mind as Sigrid smiled at Michelle. "It was very courageous of you to do this for Henry. You might have been caught—"

"I was." Tears appeared on her lashes. "Security personnel escorted me to Lise-Anne's office this morning. She charged me with unauthorized access of files not pertaining to my assigned duties. She fired me, revoked my security clearance, canceled my pension, and froze my assets." Her lips began to tremble. "I have no money for my mortgage payments! I've jeopardized Dayshia's home, too, as I'm going to be homeless."

"No! You will not. We'll help you!" Sigrid insisted, and Michelle watched her with the beginnings of hope in her eyes. She looked at Camila and saw the same compassionate determination in her eyes.

Michelle began to cry, but now it was in relief. Mahati handed her some tissues to dry her tears. Knowing her aversion to feeling trapped, they refrained from hugging Michelle but gave her supportive smiles, making her feel better.

Roy got Camila's attention. "I have to get back to my preparations for dealing with Carl. Can you and Sigrid work with Michelle and Mahati on discovering the location of the containment center?"

Mahati looked at him. "What do you intend to do once you find where he's imprisoned?"

"Get him back, of course!" he snapped.

"Go, Roy," Camila said, unlocking her door again, and the big man marched out, shutting it behind him. "Mahati, please work on what we can do to keep the Hidden Races Council off our backs. If you have access to the Chancellor, work that angle, but please remember that we don't share information on Henry with people outside this group. It's typically not in his best interest. Again, we're sorry we forgot to bring you up to speed. We'll work on Henry's location," Camila instructed.

Mahati was tight-lipped but gave her a nod and stood to leave. She looked at the Arachnid. "It will all work out somehow, Michelle."

As she left the office, she schooled her expression to hide the desperate doubt that lingered.

Chapter 32

Henry was pissed off.

He was scared, too, but holding onto his anger kept the fear from overwhelming him.

Dr. Bitch was fucking with his head. He'd been riding the edge of sleep for hours. He had no idea how many, as he had no means to track the passage of time. It felt like at least a day, or maybe more. Whatever spell she'd inflicted on him prevented him from fully immersing into sleep yet stopped him from fully awakening.

It was driving him nuts!

Worse, her spell was based on the old realm magic, which grated on the Wild Magic inside him.

He knew he could easily break her spell with a blunt-force attack, but he needed her to think she'd succeeded. He was still tied down and helpless, so he needed to tread lightly, or she might resort to a more painful or permanent measure to detain him.

The spell made thinking exceptionally difficult, but he recalled the times he was cramming for his school exams. He knew how to get his mind into a zone where all other concerns and pressures had to take a back seat to a single focus point. He hadn't used this discipline in a long time, so he'd used up those hours working his way back through the process until he finally had it.

What was really pissing him off was that, with all of his other options unavailable to him, his only avenue of escape was to turn to the magic within him and try and see if he could come up with another spell.

He recalled Roy's concern for him, but this time, he wasn't going to do anything as dramatic as rebuilding his body. He needed to have his body feed the sensors a loop of the same information they were getting, like a closed-circuit surveillance camera being provided a recording instead of a live feed.

Holding that intent in his mind, he mentally coded a program that would loop the sensations from his body. He could hear the gentle whir of the monitor next to the bed and its quiet pings as his readings fluctuated.

Once more, he infused his will into the tiny program and felt it eagerly waiting to be launched. He listened to the monitor as he activated the program, but no alarms went off, so he turned his attention to the spell. He needed it to continue but not affect him, so he gradually linked it to his monitor spell instead. When its last barb was removed from his mind, he sighed in relief as he felt the grating vibration of the old magic finally fade. His body immediately pulled him under from the drugs running through his veins.

Idly, he recognized he could write another program to isolate the drugs and direct them out of his body if he wanted. For now, though, they were going to help him travel.

Before he did, he reached out to the geolocation ability and felt the response immediately. Hainesburg, NJ, was his current location. He should have done this before, but lesson learned.

He wasn't sure if Dr. Bitch had any additional traps in place, so he cautiously slipped free of his body and listened. Nothing.

Instead of immediately rushing off to inform Roy of his whereabouts, he decided to deal with his unfinished business next door first.

Slipping out into the hallway, he heard no alarms and felt nothing to indicate a monitoring spell had been activated. So far, so good.

Henry went to DJ's door and went through.

"Fuck!"

Henry looked towards the bed and saw the young man staring at him with frightened eyes.

"Sorry if I spooked you last night," Henry apologized.

"Spooked me? You terrified the fuck out of me! I almost soiled myself," the man spat. "But I suppose that's what ghosts or delusions do!"

Henry frowned. DJ was going to be more difficult to convince than he thought. First things first, though.

"The fear you experienced was put there by a very powerful witch. Baba Yaga uses compulsions to keep people from looking where she doesn't want them to see." He saw skepticism, but he pushed on. "Last night, when I touched you, I also felt the blast of fear. I also saw your true self."

Fear flashed in DJ's eyes, so Henry held up his hands. "I'm not gonna talk about that as I can see it triggers her trap. Let me tell you about a couple of my friends and me first."

DJ watched him cautiously, so he began telling his story gently.

"Baba Yaga is ancient and very powerful. No one can determine why she does the things she does. Her plans span millennia. She pulled me from my time way back in the ancient past when I was a baby. She raised me but hid who I truly was, a Satyr, behind a spell that made me appear Human." Henry saw DJ was listening and not freaking out. "I only discovered that a short time ago when the spell broke. It was terrifying for me when the compulsion spell on me broke. Then I was so confused, as nothing made sense, but I met some people who showed me my true self wasn't bad, just different."

Henry smiled at DJ, who seemed to be calming. "Then I met a cool guy and discovered he'd also had a fear compulsion on him which prevented him from living as who he really was, an Incubus. Baba pulled him from the past as well, and he was raised by Human parents and never knew he was an Incubus until someone helped him break his compulsion."

DJ twitched a little, so Henry gave him a moment. When it looked like he was relaxed again, Henry continued.

"Just recently, I met this lovely woman who's a Naiad. Baba Yaga also pulled her from the past. I have suspicions about why Baba pulled us all here to this time, but she won't answer that question." He sighed and looked at DJ.

"That's quite the story, but it has nothing to do with me," DJ insisted a little desperately.

Henry looked at him sadly. This wasn't going to be easy. "There is an organization that keeps Humans from finding out about us. They're called the Hidden Races Council. They use terrible methods to ensure people, Humans and non-Humans, don't spill any secrets about us. We all wear disguises to appear Human. A long time ago, two of the Races said they wouldn't hide from Humans—the Naiads and... yours. I'm not saying the name as it'll probably trigger the compulsion spell Baba placed on you. Anyway, the Council couldn't get these two groups to participate, so they murdered them—all of them. All except for two, apparently, Lorelei the Naiad and you. The fact that you have what you call hallucinations may be because you can see through the disguises the Hidden Races are wearing. The Council would want you silenced as you are putting the Hidden Races at risk. If they discovered what you are, they'd take deadlier action. Just as they would if they learned about my friend, the Naiad."

DJ was trembling. "I don't think I like this Council."

"Yeah, I'm not fond of them either. They threatened my friends and grabbed me to permanently stick me in this containment center in the room a few doors away. I understand the importance of hiding from the Humans as they kill what they don't understand and fear, but there has to be a better way."

They were quiet for a while, each lost in their thoughts, and then DJ broke the silence. "I'm not in love with humanity either. People have been assholes to me my whole life. I don't have parents and was in the system my entire childhood. When I was pushed out onto the street, I started seeing things. Life went downhill pretty fast. Then I got grabbed in an alley and brought here. I thought it was a hospital, not a prison. The doctor is a piece of work, a real sadistic cunt."

"I've met her type before. She's Fae but one of the bad ones," Henry agreed.

DJ watched Henry carefully. "You're being careful not to say something, but I get the feeling you want to."

Henry smiled self-consciously. "You're very good at reading people."

"Survival skill."

Henry nodded as he took a deep breath. "You need to break the compulsion. Once it's gone, you can act of your own free will. That said, I got a taste of the compulsion last night, and it won't be easy to get past. Baba did a really good job of building a scary as fuck blockage." He went silent for a bit as he realized why. "I guess she had her reasons."

DJ caught his hesitation. "What? Why would she lock me down this tight? What am I?"

Henry held his eyes. "I'm not trying to be obscure, but I'll use terms that shouldn't trigger the response." DJ nodded nervously. "There's no documentation of what each Hidden Race is capable of, but there is a tremendous amount of misinformation. I'm the least reliable resource for knowledge of... powers, as Baba prevented me from reading anything that wasn't science-based. I'm really good with computers and tech, but the Hidden Races stuff makes my head spin. Baba taught me nothing about what I could do. She actually hid it from me. I was the only one of my kind, and I had to learn from scratch."

Henry felt a pain in his chest as he recalled some of the ordeals he went through as a Human child and knew Baba had allowed him to go through them to push his personality in directions she favored. It didn't work because his instinctive nature was stronger than nurture in that instance. But he was a Satyr, and DJ was not. His bad experiences with Humanity might have made him spin a cursed ring given a chance.

"You may have powerful abilities. Going from social pariah to someone containing great power is a tough transition." Henry said gently.

"Are you going to unlock this blockage or not?" DJ snapped, his nerves raw from stress.

Henry moved closer. "DJ, you're the only one who can break the compulsion. I'll be with you to bear some of the pain and stress, but you have to face it and break through it."

DJ watched him with a sudden wariness. "Why are you doing this? What are you getting out of this?"

Henry gazed calmly back at him. "I don't know why Baba did this to you. I'm not clear why she did it to Nate, Lorelei, or even me. Pulling us all from the past and putting us into these new lives was cruel. She has plans none of us can fathom. I'm doing this because I believe it's the right thing to do. My only advice is when you come out the other side, take baby steps to start, and subtlety is best."

DJ nodded nervously. Henry held out his hand, and the young man hesitantly reached out and gripped it.

Once more, Henry's mind was filled with terrible images and sounds. He picked up the image of a small blue-skinned boy curled up in a fetal position. In this plane, DJ was younger.

He pushed himself forward until he could reach out and touch the boy's shoulder. The horrors exploded violently in Henry's mind, amplified by his connection to DJ. The pain was so intense it almost forced him to retreat, but Henry realized he'd endured worse. This helped him cling to his sanity with a fierce determination.

While Henry reeled back under the deluge, he refused to let go of his connection with DJ. He allowed the images and screeches to wash over him as he forced himself closer.

Finally, he moved his mouth closer to DJ's ear. "I'm here, DJ. I've got you. You're not alone. You can do this. I'm here."

He pulled the small boy to his chest and took as much of the pain as he could. He listened to the youth's screams slow, then stop. Then Henry felt him move.

"Th-thank you," came out as a small gasp against him.

The horrific sounds and images faded quickly until they were left in complete silence and inky darkness.

"Boy... what have you DONE!"

Henry jolted as his eyes flew open at Baba's angry shout and found himself hovering next to DJ's bed. Ice ran down his spine as he recalled the rage in Baba's voice. The young man was resting back against the pillows, panting, looking like he was waiting for his heart to stop racing.

His skin also had the oddest blue tint. It was still a lightly bronzed brown, but when looked at directly, it had a metallic blue sheen, like the color was a thin layer hovering just above the surface. He held up his hands and looked at them. Then he glanced at Henry. "That voice. Was that...?"

"Baba. Yes. She sounded... seriously pissed," Henry said quietly.

"What am I?" DJ asked.

Henry's eyebrows rose. "Oh, I'd hoped you would get some memories when the spell broke." He shrugged. "You're a Djinn." He got a blank look. "A Genie?" he qualified, and DJ's expression broke into a shocked grin.

"As in Alladin and the Genie?"

Henry smiled weakly. "Sorry, I'm not really up on those stories, and they're likely way off base for what you are and what you can do. I believe you're a wielder, which means you should be able to bend magic to your will. You might want to start by disguising your skin's blue color. Disguises are the first and best defense against detection."

"Where do I find magic?" DJ stared at him.

"Uh, it's just the energy within you. We're linked to it. I can't really feel it, so I can't detect if you are linked to the original source of magic or the new Wild Magic."

"Okay, how do I use magic?" DJ asked.

Henry squirmed. "I'm really the last person to ask, but try to envision what you want to happen and push with your will. Glamors are disguise overlays people wear, hiding their true selves and presenting an appearance they want to show. Mine has to hide a lot," he said, gesturing to his horns and furry lower half. "...but for you, just create a filter layer that hides the blue."

DJ looked at Henry and nodded to himself. He closed his eyes, and after a moment, the blue just faded away.

Henry smiled at him as DJ opened his eyes. "Perfect."

DJ looked at himself and grinned. "Holy shit! It worked!"

"Now that you have the basics, you should be able to create glamors to look like anything. I don't know the extent of your abilities. You really need a trainer, someone who's been a wielder their entire life and maybe has some historical background on Djinns. Listen, these are the most important things to take away from this: You're not crazy. You're a Djinn. Magic is real, but secrecy is essential as Humans must never find out about us. Act normal if someone you meet doesn't appear Human. They're just one of the Hidden Races."

DJ's smile faded. "Why am I getting the feeling you're saying goodbye?"

Henry paused. "The people running this place are not good. I've met good Fae, and I've met really bad Fae. The doctor falls into the second category. Ogres aren't friendly, either. You aren't tied down like I am. I can get you out."

DJ frowned. "I'm not going without you! I can undo your restraints!"

Henry shook his head. "If we open the doors, they'll know and come running. Ogres are also really tough!"

"How will you get me out if we don't open the door?" DJ asked.

Henry smiled wickedly. "I can open a door to another planet. It's where the Glass People are living now. They call it Eden. I've been there, and it's really nice. I sent my friend Nate there when I rescued him from the mad Fae torturing him. My Glass friend Xiong will be able to open a door for you back to Earth. Go to VRL in Manhattan and ask to speak with the Chief of Security, Roy Duncan. Tell him Henry Gable is in Hainesburg, New Jersey."

He gestured for DJ to get out of bed. A light on the wall above the bed winked on. "Shit, they're monitoring your bed. Quickly. Stand here." Henry said, gesturing to an empty spot in the middle of the floor. Bend your knees."

DJ began to crouch, then gave Henry a puzzled look. "Bend my— waah!"

Henry heard the gentle thump of the young man landing in the grass just before he snapped the opening closed.

He felt pretty good about himself. That was two rescues while strapped down to a bed. He wondered if he could help the two patients in the first two rooms he hadn't checked yet. He slipped through the wall and saw a Fae woman on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, unblinking. He moved closer and realized she wasn't there. Her body was idling, but there was no one at the controls.

Henry spotted an odd bloodstain on the fabric over her chest. She'd been attacked? He had a sinking feeling as he recalled his own gown and rushed into room one. A fat Human was on the bed, but he, too, had a blood-stained shirt and empty eyes. He was dead, but his body just didn't know it yet.

The dagger.

The doctor was experimenting with the ancient weapon.

Ice shot through his veins as Henry slammed back into his body violently. Vertigo overwhelmed him, and he began to retch. The bed immediately spun him to be face down. The contents of his stomach exploded onto the floor below him.

When he finished, the bed spun him back into a face-up position. His stomach rebelled, but he managed not to hurl again.

An orderly began to mop up the floor as he shot angry looks at Henry.

"What am I going to do with you?" the Doctor in white said through clenched teeth in a fake smile.

"Let me go," he sighed.

"No. That's not happening on my watch," she said, equally soft. She examined him like an insect under glass. "Something with teeth is in order."

"You killed the people in rooms one and two," Henry forced out.

She flipped a dismissive hand. "There was no value left to glean from their existence, end of term. It's an acceptable loss, and I gained knowledge of how to use Mèirleach Anam, so win win. Now they're just Ogre Chow." She crooked her head to look at him more closely. "You, on the other hand, have much to teach me. We will have a long future ahead of us where I will get to know every little secret you have tucked away."

Henry prepared to strike out at her.

"For now, sleep." She pressed a control on his monitor, and his body betrayed him, his mind dropping out from under him, taking his consciousness with it.

Chapter 33

DJ sat on his ass in the soft grasses lit by starlight alone. Henry had sent him to a foreign world currently experiencing night. He knew it was foreign by the scents and sounds, but his strongest indicator was how his body reacted to just being here. There was a gentle grating sensation, an itch under his skin that said this was not home.

DJ grew up in the city, so sitting in a field of wild grass at night listening to strange sounds wasn't making him any more comfortable. He looked around and made an involuntary sound of joy when he spotted a small bonfire a short distance away. He'd arrived facing away from what appeared to be a row of smallish standing stones. Between these, he could see the dancing flames of a fire.

He stood and walked quickly towards the fire. As he got closer, he could see the fire's light was visible through the standing stones but in different colors. His footsteps faltered as he approached because Henry's words returned to him. The Glass People. These weren't stones. They were living beings made of glass!

He wobbled on his feet as his legs threatened to give out on him and felt gentle hands brace him. He yelped and looked to his side to see his firelit reflection where the silver being's face should have been. His yelp became a louder one as he pulled away and fell on his ass once more. He looked up as several more Silver People rushed up to look down at him. Henry said nothing about shiny people!

Some of them parted, and a dark shape stepped between them. In the darkness of the night, it was impossible to clearly see the new arrival.

"Who are you?" a nervous voice asked belligerently.

"I'm DJ. Who the fuck are you?" he snapped back, equally nervous.

"You're a DJ?" came a confused reply.

"No! My name is DJ. Are you Nate?" DJ was hoping he guessed right. He heard a startled gasp and got the impression the dark shape stepped back a little.

"How do you know my name?" a voice asked quietly.

"Henry told me you'd be here before he dropped me here, too," DJ said as he relaxed a little.

"You know Henry?" Nate asked cautiously.

"Know him? Not really. He showed up in my cell and scared the fuck out of me. Then he told me this crazy story about a witch who pulled people out of the past, including me."

Nate made another strangled noise. "You met Baba Yaga?"

DJ pushed himself to his feet. He then noticed all the silver people were holding hands, and Nate was holding their hands, too. He was inside their circle. He immediately felt trapped. "Hey! What's going on?" He gestured to their encirclement.

Nate looked down at his hands. "Oh! This is how they can understand what you're saying. They're from Kuwait, and most in this group don't speak English. Linked like this, they can understand you because they hear you through my mind."

DJ was staring at Nate in confusion. "They're from Kuwait?" he asked quietly.

Nate's voice seemed more relaxed now. "Come on, let's go sit by the fire, and I'll bring you up to speed on what's happening here, and you can fill me in on what's happening there."

Nate turned and walked back towards the fire, stepping through a gap in the wall of Glass People. DJ followed, and the Silver People gathered around them, too. They all went back to holding hands.

DJ got a better look at Nate and was dazzled by his dark skin, silver spots, and wings! Nate shuddered, disappeared in sudden darkness that dimmed the light from the fire, and reappeared as a young black man dressed in a black T-shirt, black jeans, and sandals. He sat cross-legged and reached a hand out to the closest Silver Person. DJ sat a short distance away and kept his hands clasped in his lap. He listened as Nate explained how the Glass People, now sleeping around them, and the Silver People came to be and how Henry helped them escape to Eden, which they much preferred.

"So, the storm clouds are from here but are sneaking through to our side and making Glass and Silver people?" DJ asked.

"More accurately, the clouds are making Glass People, and humans are stumbling upon the parts of the dead clouds that turn them into Silver People. Humans are too fascinated by shiny things." He grinned as he looked at the Silver People sitting around them, who were all nodding vigorously.

"Can they speak?" DJ asked hesitantly.

"Yes, but can you understand Arabic?" Nate asked.

"Hello!" one of the Silver beings closest to DJ said, sounding hollow and strange. It offered a hand, and DJ hesitantly reached out to grip it. His head immediately filled with static, and he yanked his hand back.

DJ saw all the others had let go and shook their hands like they stung. "What?"

Nate looked at him. "You must be connected to the old realm magic. It's not compatible with the Wild Magic here."

"Maybe that explains the itch I'm feeling all over my body?" DJ said, and Nate nodded.

"You mentioned you were in a cell? As in prison? Is Henry in prison? Why didn't he come through to Eden, too?"

DJ shook his head. "I thought I was in a hospital for the insane, but Henry told me what I was seeing weren't hallucinations or delusions, just Hidden Races people."

"You see through glamors? Does that mean I still look like an Incubus to you?" Nate asked in surprise.

DJ stared at him. "No, I saw you change into a human wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and sandals."

Nate nodded. "I guess you can't see through it because it's a Wild-Magic-powered glamor. That makes sense."

"I'm glad it does to you. This magic stuff is all new to me, and Henry says I'm a Djinn and should be able to do powerful things with my magic."

Nate grinned at him. "You're a Genie?!? Shit! Yeah, you should have awesome powers... according to the stories... that were written to mislead. Huh. I guess I have no idea what your real powers should be. One thing I do know, your magic won't work so well here as this place is powered by Wild Magic." He shook his head. "Back to your explanation. You thought you were in a hospital?"

"Yeah, but Henry said it was a containment facility run by the Hidden Races Council. I should tell you he wasn't physically with me in the room when he told me these things. He was—"

"A ghost," Nate mumbled, and DJ watched him cautiously.

"He looked like one, but he explained he was actually strapped down to a bed in another cell. Then he freaking dropped me through the floor into the field over there!" DJ growled, gesturing with a thumb over his shoulder. Nate snorted gently as he nodded. "That's how you arrived too?"

Nate nodded. "Fell on my face. Ate some grass."

DJ chuckled. "Does he do that a lot?"

The young man facing him suddenly frowned, and a series of intense expressions flashed by. He got control and shook his head. "He... he told me he just got the ability to do it. But he helped a lot of Glass People get here, and he helped them save the Kuwait Glass people. I'm not sure what the truth of that is." He pulled his hand from the hand of the Silver Person next to him.

In the firelight, DJ was able to see the expression on the face of that silver man. He was looking at Nate sadly. He suddenly recalled Henry saying Nate had been tortured. He guessed that Nate was still pretty messed up about that. Time to change the topic.

"Henry asked me to speak to a Glass Person called Xiong. He said I can get back to New York with his help. I need to speak to someone named Roy at VRS—"

"VRL. The company is VRL, and it's Roy Duncan," Nate corrected him quietly.

"You should come with me. I have to tell him Henry is in Hainesburg. This Roy is more likely to listen to you as he knows you," DJ said. He watched Nate's body language as the man froze, then crossed his arms before himself and leaned back slightly.

"No, he'll listen to you if you tell him the message is about Henry's location. I-I can't go back right now." Nate looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"Sure, it's cool. If you could help me speak to Xiong, that would be great."

"No problem. You're gonna have to wait until morning, though, as they sleep until the sun comes up," Nate offered.

DJ just nodded, then yawned. "Sleep sounds good. I don't want to leave Henry alone with those creeps. I owe him that much."

Nate nodded, and they watched the fire for a moment.

"That trick you did with your glamor. You included clothes. Do you suppose that would work for me, too?" DJ asked.

"It should. Glamors are just a magic overlayer. Just choose what you want to wear and imagine it as part of your disguise," Nate explained.

"Thanks," DJ said and went silent for a moment. "Have you met Baba Yaga?"

"I think so, just once. She looked at me and said Shit," Nate sighed.

DJ chuckled. "Great first impression." Nate shrugged. "When Henry helped break the compulsion she put on me, the witch showed up in our minds and screamed at him. I almost pissed myself, and her anger wasn't directed at me."

Nate frowned with concern. "Baba Yaga frightens Roy, and he's a big scary motherfuckin' werewolf! Henry's supposed to have a better relationship than most with her. Let's hope that's true for his sake."

There didn't seem to be anything else to discuss, so DJ just settled down next to the fire as Nate did. He watched the Silver People get up and leave until it was only Nate, him, and the sleeping glass.

"Where do they go?" he asked quietly.

Nate glanced over at him. "They chase storms. The lightning feeds them. Just being here on this planet seems to feed them, but they get an extra boost from lightning. Crazy shit."

DJ nodded and did his best to relax. It might be a nice place for the Glass and Silver People, but he preferred a more urban environment. Hopefully, in a few hours, he'd be able to get back to it. He hoped Henry would be okay until he did.

-=-

Sandy rested back on her pillows and stared at the small, glow-in-the-dark stars she'd stuck to her bedroom ceiling so many years ago. She recalled how proud and excited she'd been as a child as she gazed up at her efforts. Tonight, she was surprised they still managed to hold a glow as her lights had been off for hours. Sleep was evading her, and she knew why. She no longer belonged in this place.

She'd endured another day of listening to her parents and their friends discussing local concerns until she felt her brains were melting out her ears. Shortly after dinner, she said her goodnights and went to bed early. In her old room, she worked out what she would tell her parents the next day at breakfast as she'd arranged a bus ticket back to Chicago for midmorning.

With a six-hour bus trip to Chicago, then the transfer to O'Hare, and catching a flight back to New York, she didn't expect to get home until the early hours of the following day. Kesini shifted restlessly. Sandy knew she needed to burn off a little energy, so she decided to go for a run.

She hadn't packed any workout clothes, so she opened her closet and poked through the old clothes that still hung there. She needed to get her parents to donate these items to some retro clothing shop. She wouldn't be caught dead in these outfits ever again!

Pushing them aside, she stared in surprise at her high school track and field suit hanging on the hanger. It was a white halter top, red tights, and a blue hoodie. Very patriotic and stretchy, as she recalled. She recalled seeing some girls walking through the shops downtown wearing similar outfits, so her old high school must still wear this uniform. As nothing else in town seemed to advance, she wasn't surprised they hadn't either.

A smile slipped onto her lips as she pulled it out and held it against her body. She saw it would probably still fit. Sandy wasted no time stripping off her clothes and pulling on the halter and tights. They were definitely tight, but they didn't bind as she lifted her knees to her chest. This would be perfect for running. She slipped on some ankle socks, tied up her running shoes, and pulled on the hoodie. Facing the mirror, she gazed at herself critically. The hoodie was comfortably loose, but the top and tights were skin-tight. She wouldn't have gotten away with this in her teen years. She smiled as she thought she looked pretty damn good. Her job kept her fit, and having Kesini as her constant workout buddy did wonders for her muscle tone.

She looked to her door and realized if she tried to sneak out down the stairs, the creaking would wake her parents, and she'd have to explain. Instead, she moved to her window and slid it open. The old oak tree was still there, and the branch she used to climb out onto was perhaps a little closer to the house. Kesini eagerly flowed out the window to test the branch. Finding it firm and strong, Sandy was lifted across, where she climbed down to the ground with Kesini's eager assistance.

She set a random direction and began to walk. Once her muscles warmed up, she moved up to a jog. She'd been training Kesini to assist with this as she wanted to run with Tish and Henry one day. She knew she couldn't keep up on her own, but Kesini was a fast learner and integrated into her body so completely she could gauge how much strength to add where and when to make it look effortless.

They got into a rhythm, and she soon found herself approaching the edge of town. Only darkness lay beyond, so she changed direction and ran parallel to the town's perimeter.

She felt good. It still took effort as she provided the movements, and Kesini was simply augmenting her strength. Her muscles were expending energy as well. Still, moving from a jog to a run, she felt like she was flying with Kesini's help.

Once more, she changed direction and ran down the main drag through the town's small downtown core. Nothing was open at this time, so she had the place to herself. She breathed in the cool air as her lungs worked like a bellows and her legs pumped.

She missed seeing the police cruiser pulling out of the parking lot next to the city hall to follow her with its lights off.

When she reached a small industrial section of town, the road ahead of her suddenly lit up with headlights and the cruiser's red and blue lights. Then she was rolling back over the hood of the car as it struck the back of her legs. If her legs hadn't been protected by Kesini, they might have ended up broken.

The cruiser suddenly stopped, and she rolled off to hit the street. Again, Kesini bore the brunt of the fall, but Sandy was still dazed by the sudden attack.

She heard approaching footsteps and found herself being lifted in a cruelly tight grip and slammed face-first on the hood of the cruiser.

"Just another tight-assed little cock tease. So many of you fucking bitches in this town," a gruff voice growled as a big hand landed on her ass and squeezed hard. Sandy grunted in pain.

"We're gonna have a little fun. You stay nice and quiet, and you won't get hurt. Mess with me, and I'll fuck you up!" he snapped at her as one hand pressed her down against the car, as his roaming hand grabbed the tight waistband of her tights and tugged it down to expose her ass.

"NO!" Sandy roared as she suddenly spun under him, dropping her glamor in her rage. Kesini exploded out of her hood as Sandy's hair-wrapped fist connected with the officer's jaw with a sickening crack. Sandy slid off the car onto her feet as Kesini lifted the creep in the air and slammed him face-first on the hood of the car hard enough to cave it in and crack a few of his ribs.

Sandy stood before the car, listening to the heavyset man struggle to breathe. Kesini was angrily whipping back and forth, and Sandy saw his hand trying to pull his gun from his holster. As she caught this motion, Kesini shot forward and wrapped around his hand, crushing the bones and making him scream. Then she tore the holster from his belt, and half of his pants came away with it.

"GODDAMN YOU BITCH! I'M GONNA FUCK YOU—" He screamed through his clenched teeth.

Sandy had Kesini tear off the rest of his pants until he was naked from the waist down. She then pulled his nightstick from his belt and pressed the blunt end against his puckered asshole as Kesini held his legs open with tight grips on his ankles. His struggles increased as he felt the intruder begin to push inside.

She was shaking with rage at what this piece of shit had attempted to do to her. She wondered if he'd done it to others. It seemed likely.

"You stay nice and quiet, as this is really gonna hurt," she ground out between her teeth, unconsciously channeling her inner Dirty Harry.

"N-N-no! Don't you fuckin' do—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHhhhhh!"

She roughly fucked him with the polished stick until he passed out, then she pulled it from his body and let it drop. With her hands completely wrapped by Kesini, she wasn't concerned about leaving fingerprints.

She heard two sharp cracks and saw Kesini releasing his broken ankles. She staggered back as she pulled up the back of her tights to cover her ass. Her rage flared again, and she almost picked up the nightstick again. Instead, Kesini did and threw it through the cruiser's windshield.

"We have to go," Sandy mumbled, activating her glamor once more as she walked backward away from the scene. The cruiser's red and blue lights were still weirdly illuminating the empty buildings around them. When she turned the corner, she spun and burst into a run.

She stuck to the quieter and darker streets until she slipped back into her neighborhood. Kesini lifted her effortlessly up the tree and into her window. Quietly, she closed it and stripped off the track and field suit. She looked at it and realized it might have trace evidence on it. She wanted to burn it, but that wasn't possible. She'd have to take it with her. She pushed it into the bottom of her suitcase and covered it with her other clothes.

The officer would be discovered in the morning as the workers in those buildings arrived. She'd have to remain calm and act natural.

More than anything, she wanted to leave this place and get back to her friends.

As she tucked herself into bed, she clung to Kesini and let her tears finally fall.

-=-

Dayshia dabbed the tears from her cheeks as images of seeing her father today intruded on her thoughts again. Beth had taken her to the home he was in, and Dayshia was shaken by how small her father had become. He'd been such a strong and vital man, but this sickness had sucked all of that away until he was left a shadow of his former self.

On top of this, his personality, which had always been so calm, firm, and self-assured, had twisted as his mind slowly failed him. Fear and bitterness were taking over. He'd said some pretty mean things to his younger daughter today, and she was torturing herself with self-recriminations for living so far away.

The man she saw today was not the man who raised them.

Beth saw how hard the visit was on her baby sister, and they'd spent hours talking afterward. Dayshia knew her sister held absolutely no resentment for staying behind to look after her father while Dayshia left to make a life for herself. She was thrilled to hear she was going to be a surgeon.

Dayshia was happy spending time with her sister's kids but realized it didn't inspire her to want her own. She recalled teasing Tish and Sandy about her hopes and dreams, including marriage and a family, but she wasn't sure she wanted that at all. With her new career as a surgeon, she knew she couldn't dedicate sufficient time to her family.

Spending free time with Henry... that sounded good. The thought of being a surgeon made her happy. Being with her friends also made her happy, and their group was undoubtedly getting bigger.

Losing Roger had been painful at first, but she now realized he was always pushing them outside their boundaries, but not in good ways, not in ways that led to personal growth. It was like doing damage control all the time. The fact that he'd become a murderer after his change... that gave her pause. How much of that was due to what he'd become, and how much had been there already.

That thought gave her shivers.

He needed to be stopped. She knew if she was given the opportunity, she would do it without hesitation.

She just hoped her soft-hearted bestie Sandy didn't interfere.

-=-

Tish sank into the overly soft pillow top mattress in Steph's guest room. Her mind immediately took her to her memory of sleeping on the collected grass on Eden with Henry. All she needed was the slight scent of cinnamon and his warmth beside her to make the scene for her with her eyes closed.

She heard a soft knock on her door.

"Come in."

Steph opened the door and peeked inside. "Still up?"

"Yup."

"Mind if I visit?" her sister asked tentatively, and Tish's eyebrows went up. Steph wasn't the shy type.

"Sure, pull up a cloud," Tish teased as she patted the mattress next to her.

"Ugh, I told David the mattress was too soft!" Steph said as she closed the door behind her. She rushed over and slipped under the covers on the bed next to her younger sister.

"I thought you'd be all talked out," Tish teased.

"Are you kidding, me with nothing to say?" Steph asked in false shock. Tish just chuckled as she knew it was true. While Steph was eleven months older than Tish, she acted two years younger and never stopped talking.

Looks-wise, they could have been twins, except Steph preferred a pixie cut for her ebony hair.

"Oh my god, I missed you!" the older sister sighed as she cuddled beside Tish. "You know, of all of the kids in our family, you're the only one that doesn't immediately tell me to shut up?"

Tish chuckled. She missed this.

Then her mind took her to a painful truth she'd been hiding from herself. Once her baby was born, she might need to stay away from her family until her child was grown enough to understand the importance of remaining in disguise.

Steph caught the sadness in Tish's eye and pulled back a little to examine her carefully. "I'm sorry if I said something to upset you."

Tish gave her head a firm shake and forced a smile onto her lips. "No, it's nothing. I-I just missed this, too. I'm sorry I live so far away."

Steph smiled at her. "You could move here! Bring that hunky man of yours with you, too!"

Tish chuckled. "I'm afraid to bring Henry anywhere near you!"

"He's so yummy!" Steph growled quietly in her sister's ear, which caused both of them to burst into giggles.

Once they got control of themselves, Tish sighed happily. "He is."

"So, sex is good?" Steph asked with a wicked grin.

Tish snorted softly. Steph was such a lusty girl. Her husband, David, who Tish found to be a cold fish, had his hands full with her. "The sex is... indescribably good!"

"Oooo! You bitch! You weren't supposed to tell me that!" Steph squealed with a pout.

Tish just smiled and shrugged.

"Now you're gonna have to give me all the details," Steph said petulantly.

Tish watched her sister with love in her eyes. There had to be some way to keep this. Then, an idea came to her, but it was so dangerous she immediately shut it down. She'd... talk to Henry when she got home.

In the meantime, she had a fantasy to provide the details for.

Chapter 34

DJ was going out of his mind! The morning after he'd arrived on Eden, Nate introduced him to Xiong once the sun had risen high enough to wake the Glass Being. Nate touched it to speak with Xiong, and he knew the answer wouldn't be good from Nate's expression.

It seemed that the Glass People had drained themselves recently, making home improvements in the valley for all the new arrivals, and wouldn't be able to open a gate until probably the following day. Nate told him the group no longer allowed Xiong to open tears on his own as it took so much energy it put the being's life at risk. They spread the effort amongst a group now, which was far safer.

Spending another day and night on this itchy planet was torture for him, but at least he had Nate to talk to. That said, he found himself being careful what he said around Nate, as the man wasn't as innocent as Henry had been. DJ was getting the impression that Nate wasn't warming up to him. That was too bad, but DJ wasn't looking for a friend at the moment.

He wanted to return to New York to deliver his message to this Roy guy to pay off his debt to Henry. In their gratitude, they'd point him to someone with information on his powers. If he really was all-powerful, he had some scores to settle and riches to accumulate. Henry was a nice guy and all, but he knew jack shit about how to live amongst the Humans, or rather, how to rule them.

He'd waited all day as a large group of the Glass People basked in the rays of the orange sunlight. Then, by noon the next day, it finally looked like they were ready as the group made their way toward Nate and himself.

"Last chance to head back to the city with me," DJ said, aware of what his answer would be.

Nate spread his wings and stretched them. "No, I'll go later."

DJ shrugged and looked at the one he identified as Xiong. Nate placed his hand on what might have been Xiong's shoulder, then turned to DJ. "They're ready to send you back."

"Will they open the tear near VRL?" DJ asked.

Nate frowned. "That's a very busy spot. Too much chance of being seen."

"I've already risked Henry by not reporting his location for so long. If I have to run across half of New York to get to this guy Roy, it might be too late!" DJ said, adding a little desperation to his tone.

Nate shifted uncomfortably, but the Glass People seemed agitated by what they heard through Nate's ears. They gathered closer and reached out their hands to touch one another. Xiong, DJ recognized by his color and shape, was at the front of the group and held his hands before him. A tiny tear formed, maybe the size of a football, and DJ could see it was in a darkened doorway. A dirty metal door was closed just beyond. Xiong turned the viewpoint, and they could see an alley, and it looked empty. At the end of the alley, people were walking by, dressed in business wear. DJ changed his glamor to match and grinned as he was suddenly looking as sharply dressed as the working stiffs. He felt a surge of joy as this was going to work.

"Perfect! Let me through here!" he exclaimed, riding the high of success.

Xiong opened the tear wide enough for DJ, and he wasted no time leaping through. As his feet hit the pavement, the tear snapped closed behind him. He turned to head out of the alley and saw three large figures standing in the alley entrance, gaping at him. They weren't human.

He recalled what Henry said about remaining calm when faced with what he once thought were hallucinations. Now, he knew he simply saw past their disguises. He schooled his expression and walked towards them.

The three were large, furred creatures with clawed fingers, toes, and faces reminiscent of wolves. Nate said Roy was a werewolf, so these must be some of his pack? He smiled confidently.

"What? Did you see how this guy appeared out of thin air?" one said to another.

Seizing the initiative, DJ stopped before them. "I need to speak to Roy Duncan immediately. It's about the location of Henry Gable," he said boldly and watched their expressions freeze.

He didn't see the slap coming, but DJ felt it strike the left side of his face in an explosion of pain, and the world went dark.

-=-

Henry was fighting to live. The doctor found a method to not only keep him unconscious but unable to leave his body.

She poisoned him.

Dr. Bitch discovered that if she gave him tiny doses of Strychnine, his body went through the terrible symptoms, intense muscle spasms in his head and neck, which spread to every muscle in his body, with nearly continuous convulsions. The pain was severe, and his body would strain against his bindings. Then, he would gradually come out of it. She'd test him and discover the poison was no longer in his blood. The monitor device would automatically administer another small dose a brief interval later.

Under the harsh fluorescent lighting, the doctor was unaware of the pale green glow that would bathe Henry each time he reacted to the poison. He'd created another program that was running independently of his consciousness. It pulled the magic to him and ran a filter over his blood to neutralize the Strychnine. In the brief intervals of semi-coherence, he would work on another program. He needed to stop this insane woman. He could tell his filter spell would eventually fail as, after each cycle, he was a little more physically weakened.

He desperately needed help, but he couldn't get more than a few feet from the property line before his body's physical state yanked him back.

On his last attempt, he was surprised to see the shocked expression on a lovely face with one blue and one yellow eye.

"Help me, please. She's killing me," Henry managed to gasp before he was sucked back into the cycle of agony.

-=-

Minkah should have left three days ago, but once Rand left with the car the administrator had arranged, she was told they wouldn't be able to get another for two days. It arrived late in the evening the day before, but she chose to stay overnight one more time for... reasons.

It certainly wasn't for the cafeteria food. It was dull and flavorless.

There was no intelligent company to converse with. The administrator and the doctor ignored her, and the two Ogre orderlies had no personalities at all. Minkah wasn't allowed to see the inmates.

Two days earlier, Minkah arrived at breakfast to see the doctor and the administrator screaming at each other. She caught the word escaped. Her ears perked up as she enjoyed a good hunt.

Before they noticed her arrival, Minkah heard the doctor suggest Henry had somehow assisted the other to escape. The two spotted her then and quickly left the room.

So, the escapee wasn't Henry, but he was responsible for freeing another.

How was that possible? Didn't they say he was strapped down? Drugged? The file said he wasn't a wielder and couldn't bend magic to his will.

Today, she wanted to grab a quick breakfast and leave. She had to get her life back on track. She had a car waiting for her and missions to complete. Yet, she found herself lingering through her meal. Finally, she forced herself to her feet and dumped her tray on the way out.

As she passed through a dim hallway on the way to the farmhouse, she suddenly stopped as a large horned being with furry legs and hooves was standing before her. She could see the lights down the hall through him, so this was some kind of astral projection. Then he turned to face her, and there was no question. It was Henry. She'd never seen him in his natural state before. He froze with recognition as he looked into her eyes.

"Help me, please. She's killing me," he said softly, then vanished.

Minkah cursed.

-=-

"Where the fuck are Sam and Jeannie?"

Jake paced nervously amongst pine trees at the forest's edge behind a farmhouse in western New Jersey. A few nights ago, they'd all had another shared dream with the ancient-sounding voice. This time, the voice told them to look for the Aurora Borealis somewhere in this state.

So, for some reason, they did.

Sam was the one who spotted the green glow on the horizon and guided them to this farm that wasn't really a farm. It was pretty apparent to their experienced eyes that there wasn't any kind of farming activity happening here.

Then Jeannie was the first to feel it. Tingling energy, like a tickle of purest electricity. They compared impressions and agreed it felt like the lightning strike zone back on the Washington Mall without the sharp edges and intensity. It was warm and smooth, and they wanted more! They got closer to what looked like the garage and found if they hid in the woods behind it, they could pick up a trickle charge just by proximity. That meant the source had to be underground. They shared their concerns about that. None wanted to try storming an underground facility.

When the green sheets of light reappeared, they seemed to be concentrated directly above them. This appeared to confirm their energy source's location, though how they were connected was still a mystery.

Sam decided the situation warranted bringing in the assistance of their new friends, who had specialized training for this. He volunteered to run back to Washington, and Jeannie insisted on going with him. Jake paced as he knew they should have returned by now. He was worried his friends had been captured for experimentation instead. He had no great love for the government. Shady characters!

The green curtains started their dance once more as Jake and Brenda watched in fascination. Did they seem a little dimmer?

He looked to the road, hoping Sam would hurry.

-=-

Raymond drove the rental car smoothly along the curvy country road. From the passenger seat, Eleanor was scanning the skies for what Meixiu assured them would be there, a visible sign of Henry's presence. The highly excited young woman had burst into the coffee shop they'd planned to meet at after work. On her way there, she'd found some images posted on an atmospheric phenomenon subpage of a social media site she followed. Meixiu was excited about posts from a restaurant waitress at a small airport in Blairstown, New Jersey. The woman recently reported seeing the Aurora Borealis multiple times in the skies just west of the airfield.

Meixiu dragged her new friends out of the café and had Raymond rent a car at a nearby rental agency. A short time later, they were on the New Jersey Turnpike heading towards the Blairstown Airport. They'd been driving for over an hour, and the skies had gone dark when they turned off Interstate 80, and Eleanor made a squeak of surprise. She'd spotted a tell-tale green glow beginning in the skies ahead of them.

"It's him!" Meixiu cried out from the back seat.

"When will Roy be arriving with his team?" Raymond asked.

When Meixiu didn't respond, Raymond glanced over his shoulder at her, then looked to Eleanor in concern. His wife turned in her seat to see a guilty look on Meixiu's face. "You didn't call Mr. Duncan?"

"I was too excited," she moaned.

Raymond pulled into the dark parking lot beside a veterinarian hospital and stopped the engine. He looked over his shoulder as he watched Meixiu's anxious expression. She was looking out the side window at the glow in the sky.

"This is a top-secret Hidden Races Council facility you're talking about. We aren't supposed to know it exists, much less visit it. They aren't just going to release him into our custody," he said reasonably.

"I will make them," Meixiu said with a fierce expression.

Raymond shared another look with his wife, then looked back to Meixiu. "They might have an army in there. Why don't we do a little scouting and report what we've found to Roy? Maybe he has resources in the area he could call in."

Meixiu pouted but finally nodded. They got out of the car and looked up at the sky. "How far away do you estimate the focus of that light show is?" Eleanor asked her husband.

He frowned as he watched the wispy curtains of green light move and twist. There seemed to be a slight funneling as if the light was being pulled down.

"I think we should drive up that side road a little way and take another look," he suggested. "I think we need to get closer." Meixiu smiled at him. He gestured to her cell. "Call Roy now and let him know where we are."

They got back into the car as Meixiu dialed.

Almost immediately, she sighed. "It went to voice mail," Meixiu said, then left a message with their location. "I will try Sigrid," she stated as Raymond drove them across the street and up the smaller side lane. She frowned when she got Sigrid's voice mail. She left her the information as well.

Eleanor watched the light as they climbed higher along the curving country lane until she saw it begin to fade.

"We're losing the light. Pull over," she said quickly.

The moment the car stopped, Meixiu was out the door and scaling the tallest nearby tree. Seconds later, she returned to the ground and pointed to the property across the road. Illuminated by the headlights, they saw a gravel laneway between two stone gateposts. The gates were open. On the gateposts and nailed to little sticks stuck in the ground were no trespassing signs, at least half a dozen.

"Go beyond the gate, and we're trespassing. Not the friendliest greeting," Eleanor said.

Raymond sighed. "And we've been parked in front of the driveway. If they have cameras aimed at this spot, we've made a poor attempt at stealth. Let's drive up the road a bit and return on foot."

Eleanor watched her husband's face as they entered the car. "Are we seriously going to break into this place?"

"We'll reconnoiter and let Roy's team do the actual breaking-in. They're better suited for the rough and tumble duties. We can get them the intelligence they'll need to get in safely," Raymond suggested as he watched Meixiu.

She nodded. "Roy has not responded to my call, and neither has Sigrid."

Raymond winced. "Well, we'll take a look around and come back to the car to try again."

Eleanor gave Raymond a nervous look as this was far more daring than they'd been in a long time. She was a little rusty when it came to being adventurous. She'd become downright risk-averse.

Raymond parked the car on a small patch of grass next to the road a few hundred feet up the hill then they all got out.

It was adventure time. Meixiu seemed to fade into the darkness and was gone.

"Meixiu?" Eleanor called out but heard only the breeze in return.

"I'm getting too old for this shit," Raymond grumbled as he set off down the hill with Eleanor smirking at his side.

"You and me both!" she said. "Maybe we should leave this to the youngsters."

"I believe Meixiu may be older than us," he whispered as they got closer to the gate.

"That doesn't make me feel any better, you know," Eleanor grumbled, equally quiet. They leapt over the fence and kept to the shadows as they rushed towards the forest at the back of the property. She shot an annoyed look at her husband.

Dammit, she was a doctor, not a commando!

-=-

Roy knew he was driving into a trap, but he really didn't have a choice. He'd received a call from one of Carl's lieutenants stating they had one of his people who'd stepped out of thin air into an alley a block away from VRL.

The only one he knew with that ability was Henry. Somehow, the boy had escaped the detainment center and had immediately fallen into the hands of Carl's men. That also sounded like Henry's luck.

He glanced over at Mary, who was fidgeting due to the stored energy in her body. She'd sparred with the team, not striking any blows of her own, so she'd built up quite the charge.

In the backseat, Sigrid was calmly taking in the view of the dockyards they were driving into. She claimed to be almost fully charged as well.

Roy's team was deployed around the neighborhood to contain the invaders. They wouldn't come any closer unless Roy ordered them to. The packs from the neighboring territories were also on standby, as he'd informed their leaders of this move.

He was feeling pretty good himself, so he hoped between the three of them in this car, they were a sufficient force to deal with whatever this Lieutenant had cooked up for them. Carl might have been the one who was setting up the ambush, but it really wasn't the man's style to let others do his talking.

They pulled up to the warehouse he'd been directed to and saw it was pretty run down. Carl had apparently purchased the property in preparation for his incursion into Roy's territory. It wasn't much, but it was a toe in the door.

They got out of the car, and Roy scented the air. It was foul from the water, and the garbage left on the property, and this covered most of the invaders' scents, but he still detected the pong of an alpha radiating his dominance. So, he was here. Carl was such a tool.

He looked to the others. "Carl is on site. He's mine. Don't interfere with our fight. His pack needs to see their leader defeated to restore order."

"I can't promise I won't kill him if it doesn't go your way," Sigrid stated bluntly.

"I'll help her do it," Mary stated.

Roy snorted. "Let's hope for the best then," he said with a scowl and caught the little smirk on Sigrid's lips.

"A million laughs," he sighed under his breath as he pulled the door open.

They walked through the outer offices, which were all empty with debris scattered on the floor. The building hadn't been used for a long time. There was a scent of dust and decay and a feeling of despair about the office area. It didn't strike any of them as having ever been a happy place.

Pushing through the double doors at the end of the hallway, they entered the cavernous space of the warehouse itself. The ceiling was lost to the darkness, as were the far walls. Ahead, in the middle of that dark, open area, was a small figure taped to a chair. A spotlight on a stand was set up to shine on the chair from behind, leaving the man in silhouette from the backlighting. They could see his head was slumped forward.

Roy relaxed slightly as he saw the man's shoulders weren't as broad as Henry's, so it wasn't him. Still, the comment about him stepping out of thin air was curiously specific to something Henry could do.

Two larger men stepped forward to flank the man in the chair. They were heavily muscled, so Roy assumed these were two of Carl's goons. A third stepped forward and walked to stand before the three. He was slimmer but tall. He addressed Roy.

"Mr. Duncan. I'm Keith le Brère, Mr. De Bellisle's personal secretary. Thank you for joining us in this humble location." He gestured to the warehouse. "We intercepted this one on his way to you. He had a message for you, which he said you would be keen to get. The location of your pet Satyr."

"I'm here. I'll take that message," Roy said stiffly.

A second spot turned on, finally illuminating the man tied to the chair. He was a bloody mess. He had bandages over his ears, one eye, and his nose. His hands were both wrapped in bloody rags.

"Unfortunately, the effort to extract this information became a little too aggressive as the interrogator's friends were murdered in their attempt to capture the Satyr." He gestured to the bloody man in the chair. "He's no longer able to deliver the information, but not to worry, we got it. Our team should be arriving at any moment to extract him."

Sigrid's cell vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and glanced at the screen. "A message from Meixiu," she explained to Roy casually.

"Can it wait?" Roy asked.

"I should probably listen to it," Sigrid sighed.

The tall, slim secretary was annoyed by their disregarding him. When Roy turned his face back to him, he saw he was being glared at. He looked at the damaged man. Henry had likely been involved in opening the tear. Roy needed to get this young man to safety. "Are we done with the theatrics?" he said wearily.

"FUCK, you're so god damned ARROGANT!"

The voice was loud and rasping, and its source stomped out of the shadows behind the spotlight.

Roy controlled his reaction when Carl stepped forward and became visible. The man wasn't using a glamor. Gone were his chiseled good looks and trim, muscular form. In their place was a blunt face with a prominent brow ridge, sunken eyes, a broad, flattened nose, a jutting jaw with jagged, crooked teeth, and a thick stocky body. He looked like a primitive and violent brute, not the polished businessman image he'd developed over the decades. He was wrapped in a rough robe, and his body was also visibly larger. His voice matched his new visage.

"Roy, it's time for you to realize you were never meant to lead. You don't have the drive. You don't have the ambition. You don't have the strength!" Carl laughed at what he took for a confused look on Roy's face.

Roy shook his head in disgust. "You still don't have a clue about what it takes to be a pack leader these days. Your mind is trapped in the past. You're unable to change with the times. You don't care about your pack mates. You use them as tools and discard them when you no longer have use for them. Carl, you're a shit leader."

"You think you're pretty tough because you amped up your Were powers with a little blood from your Satyr. You don't know power-AAAIIIEEEEEEE!"

For races that physically transformed between forms, glamors made that agonizing transition obsolete. They stayed in their beast form and simply hid it with a Human glamor. Carl's disguise had been burned out by the Wild Magic in Henry's blood. He had to fall back on the old method. Both transitions were intensely painful.

Carl threw back the robe as he screamed in agony, exposing his naked and warping body. Bones stretched, snapped, and reformed in new shapes. Muscles swelled and tore free from their anchor points to relocate and bind to new locations. Skin stretched, ripped, and stitched back together as fur sprouted and grew to cover. The process typically took less than a minute, but Carl was larger than a standard Lycanthrope and slightly larger than Roy's evolved form. Longer limbs, longer and sharper teeth and claws, and wider jaws. He had a crazed, feral look in his eyes as he changed.

Finally in his evolved state, the massive monster Carl had become panted, his muscles trembling from the remembered pain. He glared down at Roy and curled up the corner of his lip to display a deadly sharp fang. The pong of dominance radiated from the huge creature.

Roy felt his instinctual reaction to the bigger Were kick in, but the difference between a beast and a thinking being is the ability to choose to defy instinct and act based on reason. Instead of cowering and showing his throat, Roy dropped his glamor and growled low in his chest. He wasn't as big as Carl, but there was no question he was equally deadly.

Sigrid quickly texted a warning to Meixiu that Carl's people may be on their way. Then she whispered to Mary. "Meixiu and her new friends found where Henry is being kept. I warned her about Carl's men." Mary nodded without looking away from Carl.

Sigrid looked between the two alpha Weres and did her best to hide her concern for Roy. Carl seemed to have the edge as he gave off the impression of crazed violence and the mass to back it up. The question was, how long could Roy go toe to toe with such a beast.

-=-

Waves of unending pain swept through DJ as he heard the muffled sounds of growling.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. He wasn't supposed to end up a chew toy for a bunch of wild dogs. He was a fucking Djinn! An all-powerful being of magic! He was the one who should be inflicting terror and pain upon those who defied him!

Another spark of agony stabbed through him, but he didn't even have the strength to moan.

He didn't open his remaining eye as there was nothing to see. He just let his mind sink into the darkness.

"Yes, you can be free of the pain if you just let go," an ancient voice whispered to him.

He paused as he'd heard that voice before. It'd terrified him then, but now it was trying to ease his suffering?

"You... you're the witch."

"Yes," she replied.

"Free me!" he cried.

"No."

He was rocked by the indifference in the voice. She had no compassion at all. But... wasn't this her fault?

"You brought me here, to this time. That makes you responsible for my fate!" he reasoned.

"No."

Despair washed over him, then rage.

"Why the fuck did you bring me here if you're just going to let me die!" he screamed.

She was quiet for a moment, then her whisper returned, but she wasn't really speaking to him. "A contingency plan, hmmm. A final and desperate option, not meant to be used unless all other options failed. The boy activating you was unexpected, but his fate is so tangled now, I couldn't see it coming."

Once more, he felt her indifference to his fate and shuddered at how cold the crone's voice was. He was somehow... less than insignificant to her. He thought he picked up a wistfulness when she spoke of Henry. Maybe he could use that.

"My fate is intertwined with Henry's—"

"Fool. Your fate is nothing... but you can serve one last purpose."

-=-

Sigrid turned to Carl. "Since you got what you needed from the boy—"

She took a single step towards the young man taped to the chair when Carl spun and stabbed his claws deep into the boy's chest and ripped his heart from the cavity. Sigrid watched his head come up in shock and despair. He was looking directly at her when life left his remaining eye.

Carl tossed the gore into his mouth and swallowed. He shuddered from the energy this small meal fed to his trembling muscles. Then he turned his bloody grin to Sigrid, and she almost launched an attack. She held back at the last second when Roy held up a hand before her.

"MMMmmiiinnnne," Roy growled, and Sigrid looked at him in surprise. She recalled he'd said it was impossible to speak in this form. Roy flicked his eyes her way briefly as he nodded to her, and she stepped back as she returned the gesture. She wouldn't interfere.

"Kill the fucker," Sigrid growled, and Carl snorted in amusement, obviously supremely confident of his victory.

Everyone moved back to give the two big Weres room to maneuver. Carl's body was slightly larger with a longer reach, but Roy's movements were smoother.

The initial clash happened almost faster than the eye perceived. Carl surged forward while swiping his deadly claws at Roy, who was suddenly inside his reach and scoring a slash along the inside of Carl's outstretched arm. As Roy leaped past, Carl spun with inhuman speed and managed to rake the claws of his other arm across Roy's back. Both stepped back cautiously and assessed their injuries.

Carl's arm was already healing, though it wasn't functioning properly yet. Roy was recovering, too, but not as quickly. He was at a disadvantage there.

Sigrid frowned as she traded a look with Mary. They wouldn't let Roy die, but they couldn't interfere.

Roy was just going to have to fight smarter... or Carl dumber. She smiled. Maybe she could help with that.

-=-

Administrator Kenzie reviewed the video as the motion detector caught something at the lane entrance leading to the containment center facility. She watched a car stop, and three people got out to look around. A short time later, they got back in and left. It could be nothing, but it could also be something. She was willing to waste the time of an orderly, sending him outside to confirm. She paged one of the dimwits and gave him the order when he called in. He actually sounded pleased to get the opportunity to be violent. It was in their nature, after all.

She put it out of her mind and called Dr. Leslie. They were treating each other with extra frost ever since one of their inmates disappeared. She had yet to submit the report on that event to Minister Hoek.

"What? I'm busy," the doctor demanded.

"With only three patients to care for?" she fired back.

There was a pause as she could hear Leslie grinding her teeth. "The new one is presenting additional challenges."

Kenzie frowned. "You strap him down and drug him. How much of a challenge can he be?"

The doctor sucked in and swallowed her angry retort. She didn't want to disclose the man's ability to leave his body and still affect his environment, so she went in a different direction.

"His metabolism is unique. It's too sensitive to tranquilizers and sedatives, so finding a proper amount to administer has been very challenging. The order was to keep him unconscious but alive. He's fighting everything I give him." She stifled a cruel grin as she thought about the delicious pain he was going through from the current treatment. How he survived and bounced back each time was an intriguing mystery, and she found that thrilling! She had so many more experiments she wanted to try on him. But first...

"Why did you call?"

"I must submit a report regarding the missing inmate. How do I explain how he vanished from a sealed cell without a trace? You were the last to see him. You sedated him. This won't look good on your record. Certainly, it's a black mark on mine, but I wasn't the one to lock him in the room," Kenzie suggested.

Leslie ground her teeth as she was being thrown under the bus. "You know very well, my bad fortune is yours, sister." Leslie spat the final word as she loathed the idea of being related to this bitch, much less being her twin.

"Then give me something I can use to protect both of us!" Kenzie spat back.

Cornered, Leslie was forced to play one of her hidden cards. "I-I believe it was the new arrival. He has... abilities."

Kenzie was immediately suspicious. She knew her sister too well. "And you're only reporting them now? What kind of abilities?"

Leslie sighed. "When he's drugged unconscious, his mind leaves his body. In that state, he retains the ability to manipulate his environment. He was likely the cause of the disturbance in the cafeteria. I think he moved the missing patient outside."

Kenzie was silent as this would get them off the hook, but she was still suspicious about why Leslie kept it secret from her. She would have to be extra vigilant around her.

Since their early childhood, they'd been plotting against each other when they were told they had a conjoined life force. They couldn't be further apart than a few hundred yards, or they'd begin to mentally degrade. Together, they maintained their genius-level intellects, but apart, they could slip into a vegetative state. Neither could tolerate the idea of being dependent on the other, but they were trapped. Each looked for a means to escape, but it had been fruitless so far. Could Leslie's hesitance in reporting the abilities of their new inmate indicate she was up to something? She would have to be extra cautious, but she wouldn't let on that she knew.

"I can work with this. Don't hesitate to keep me in the loop in the future," she said with her usual scorn.

"Whatever," Leslie said and disconnected.

Her phone immediately rang, so she answered. "Yes?"

"The sky is green."

Kenzie recognized the dull voice of the Ogre she'd sent outside. "What do you mean it's green?"

"The sky is all wiggly and green but only above," it said, the effort to explain the phenomenon taxing its vocabulary and its limited intellect.

The Aurora Borealis was above the containment center? That wasn't good. It would draw attention to them, which she couldn't abide by. The memory of the three standing by their car flashed into her mind. "Check the grounds. We may have trespassers."

The phone disconnected, and she frowned at the receiver. Was he following her orders, or did the clumsy oaf just drop the phone? She called and sent the second Ogre out to assist the first.

In the meantime, she would personally check on their recent arrival. The strangest phenomenon did seem to revolve around him.

-=-

Meixiu was perched on a tree branch, watching two Silver people hiding amongst the trees behind a garage structure. She wasn't sure what to make of that. She'd seen them on TV, and they'd protected the Glass People, which meant they were the good guys. She'd also heard of a group working for the US Military, and those were people the Hidden Races needed to avoid. Humans now had people working for them who might be able to expose the Hidden Races. She couldn't take that chance.

When the big guy suddenly walked around the side of the garage and spotted the two Silver People, he lifted a nasty-looking little gun and pulled the trigger. The bullets ripped through the trees where the two had been only a second before. A small trail of kicked-up leaves from the forest floor suggested the direction they'd run. The thug with the gun ran after them.

Meixiu was about to follow when her cell vibrated. She glanced around to confirm she was alone, then pulled it from her inner pocket and quickly read the text from Sigrid. More company after Henry? Not good! She needed to get him out!

She sent a quick reply about spotting the Silver People. She hoped Sigrid would have some advice on what to do. This situation had rapidly grown beyond her ability to deal with it.

-=-

Raymond and Eleanor heard the staccato burst of an automatic weapon and froze. Almost immediately, they were nearly bowled over by a silver streak that veered around them at the last second. They fell back onto their asses on the soft forest floor. The streak returned to stop and stand before them. Eleanor stared at the two in shock as Raymond watched them cautiously.

"A big guy with a machine gun is coming," one of the Silver People said, gesturing over his shoulder. There was a hollowness about the voice, but it was clearly English with a hint of an accent.

"Thanks!" Raymond said as he stood and helped Eleanor up. They heard the heavy thump of the running gunman approaching, so he gave his stunned wife a gentle pull. She nodded to him, and they tapped into their skills. They faded into the darkness to slip away from the Silver people, moving off at an angle to avoid the guard as well. Their movements weren't as smooth and rapid as Meixiu's, but they sufficed to let them escape.

Thinking of Meixiu, they hoped she'd avoided the guard, too.

-=-

Jake grabbed Brenda's hand. "Did you see that?" he asked excitedly as he stared at the point where the couple had been standing a moment before.

"I did! How did they do that?" she gasped in return.

Their sped-up perceptions picked up the sound of the big guy's approach. "I think we need to do something about this fella's weapon before he hurts someone." Jake picked up a rock and grinned at his wife.

"Agreed," Brenda said with a nod.

-=-

Kenzie stood next to the bed and watched the man convulsing in agony. In the bright, cold light filling the room, every stretched tendon, every bead of sweat, and every tremor was brilliantly visible to express how much pain her sister was putting the man through. She wasn't deluding herself to say she actually cared about his state. What truly bothered her was the glee she could see in her sister's eyes. She was enjoying this! Disgusting!

She stared across the bed to see Leslie's excited expression. "There! He's beginning to purge the poison! How is he doing it?" the doctor gushed as her eyes flashed green.

Kenzie frowned. Her sister's eyes were blue. "What color are my eyes?" she asked.

Leslie didn't even look at her. "Blue."

"Look again."

With an annoyed frown, Leslie glanced up and froze. "They're green?"

"Something's not right," the administrator said and looked around. There was too much light. She turned and walked to the doorway, where she turned off the room's light. They gasped in unison as a green light was coming through the ceiling to cover the bed. The Aurora Borealis! It was in the room! He had to be drawing it to himself!

She returned to stand beside the bed and watched the man's face begin to relax. He really was flushing the poison from his body. She reached out and ran her fingers through the green light. It felt... refreshing. Her jaw dropped open, and she looked across the bed to tell her sister what she thought the light was, but she wasn't there.

The blade stabbed deeply into her back, almost thrusting up out of her chest. Leslie wrapped an arm around her neck to hold her in place as the dagger began to make its presence felt.

"Are you mad?" she choked out in shock. "You're killing yourself too!"

"No, sister, not with Mèirleach Anam feeding me your life. Soon, I'll never have to share anything with you!"

"How?" Kenzie squeaked at the name of the ancient blade. Already, she could feel the lethargy filling her as the edge drank from her energy.

"He brought it to me. His mind traveled to Mab's castle. She used the blade on him, but he somehow got free and returned with it in his hand. To deliver it to me," Leslie gloated, her excitement growing as her sister slumped.

Kenzie stared at the man resting peacefully at last on the bed. In the terrible lethargy, she momentarily forgot her impending doom. How was it possible for him to travel so far? His eyes... they were open, and his lips moved.

The explosion caught Leslie and Kenzie completely off-guard. The bed suddenly flew apart as each fastener and connection suddenly expanded. Metal shrapnel fired in every direction, one bolt passing through the thigh of the doctor. The side rail's impact knocked both of them across the room, breaking Leslie's grip on the blade handle in the tumble. Kenzie ended up leaning against the wall next to the door while Leslie was on her stomach on the floor eight feet away. Mèirleach Anam was on the floor between them. Kenzie wanted to leap forward, snatch up the dagger, and plunge it into her sister's back, but she was still too weak.

The room was getting darker as the green light faded. Her sister had attacked her from the darkness, and Kenzie wouldn't allow that to happen again.

She stretched a hand up above her and managed to find a light switch. Pressing it produced a shower of sparks above the remains of the bed, and one light panel lit feebly. In the dim illumination, she saw the pile of scrap metal that had been the bed stir as a large horned creature sat up with a groan. The inmate had dropped his glamor, and she was looking at... a Satyr?

He was pulling the tubes and wires from his body, but the monitor had been smashed beyond salvage and sounded no alarms.

Her mind latched onto that. Alarm. She needed to trigger the alarm.

Once more, she forced a hand up along the wall and looked up to guide her hand to the emergency alarm. She tugged at it feebly until she managed to pull it all the way. A siren sounded in the distance.

Leslie groaned and whimpered, making Kenzie look at the blade in desperation.

She gasped as she tried to move her body and realized her leg was broken. However, seeing her sister drag herself forward, she had to attempt to get to the blade first. The pain from moving threatened to pull her consciousness away.

When her eyes opened again, she sucked in a frightened breath. Leslie was on her feet with the blade in her left hand as her right arm hung motionless.

"Time to finish the job," Leslie chuckled.

She was looking into the mad eyes of her sister when they suddenly disappeared from view as the woman fell through the floor. Her scream came up through the tear and slowly became quieter and quieter as she dropped from a great height.

Kenzie looked to the Satyr, who was sitting on his ass, looking back at her wearily.

She could feel it. Her keen intellect was slipping away, faster and faster. The world was shrinking for her as she stared in dismay at the creature before her.

The tear snapped closed, severing her connection to her sister, and her eyes rolled back as she slid down the wall. Kenzie and Leslie were gone before their bodies impacted their respective resting places.

-=-

Henry watched in confusion as the woman, who looked so much like the doctor, keeled over and died. Even after he'd saved her from the homicidal doctor.

It might have been petty, but dropping Dr. Bitch from a great height onto a lava field not only eliminated her evil but it also destroyed her remains so she wouldn't pollute Eden. The dagger was also finding a molten end, maybe. Considering the magic imbued in the weapon, he couldn't be sure, but he had hope.

Opening that tear had taken almost the last of his energy. If he tried to create one for himself, he wouldn't be able to keep it open long enough to get through it. They'd intentionally fed him poorly to keep him weak and compliant. His head spun with fatigue. He needed food and real sleep in that order.

He'd switched to his true form as he needed the additional strength just to remain conscious. He'd deleted the program for purging the toxins when he activated his exploded view program. The bed disassembled perfectly, though launching the spell had been a big gamble. He would have been equally dismantled if the restraints hadn't exploded into their base components simultaneously.

Henry pushed himself to his hooves and shuffled towards the door. He tried the handle, but it was locked. He lifted and pressed the woman's hand against the plate next to the door, but that didn't work either. He squatted down as he contemplated the door. He didn't have the energy to kick it open. He was stuck, and the alarms had been triggered.

Shit.

-=-

Minkah stood in the garage before the car the Administrator had arranged for her. It was a piece of junk, but she wasn't surprised as that woman was a petty piece of shit. Minkah sighed once more. She'd been standing before the bloody car for minutes, her mind looking for an excuse to stay.

She couldn't deny it any longer, though she'd stubbornly tried. She needed to check on Henry. His ghostly plea for help had affected her more than she wanted to admit.

With an angry huff, she spun and marched down the hall towards the admin wing. Passing by the containment ward, she stopped and went to the door. She was surprised to see it was unlocked. She pulled it open and stepped into the hall. She didn't know which room was Henry's, so she looked into the first room's window but saw it was empty.

A muffled thump came from further down the hall. She held still and listened. When the alarm began, she ran out of the containment wing, but its door didn't automatically close, sealing her in. Cautiously, she returned to the hall and saw a red light flashing above a door. She walked to it and looked into the window. The lighting was very dim, but the room looked like a wreck. The bed was a pile of smashed junk in the middle of the room, and a large creature was crouched closer to the door. It was broad-shouldered and had large ram horns. Its head hung forward in exhaustion. As if sensing her gaze, the head slowly lifted, and she was looking at Henry.

He locked eyes with her for a moment. Then recognition came to his expression. His eyes dropped, and he slumped in defeat. That stung more than she expected it would. She opened his door but cautiously remained in the hall.

"Are you here to kill me?" he asked wearily.

"No. I was just hired to bring you here," she replied. Then she spotted the leg of the administrator. She pulled her gun and held it on him. "You killed Administrator Kenzie?"

He gazed wearily at her gun, then up into her eyes again. "No... I thought I was saving her from the mad doctor who was trying to stab her. But she died anyway."

Minkah's eyes scanned what she could see from the hall but observed no sign of the doctor. "Is the doctor's body in there too?"

He frowned at her. "Not anymore. Are you going to kill me now?"

Minkah didn't know what she was going to do. "What do you mean, not anymore?"

"Listen, I don't have the strength to explain. I have nothing left. If I don't get something to eat, I'm gonna pass out. If you're going to shoot me, go ahead. Otherwise, can you show me where I can get some food?" Henry asked weakly.

With a frustrated scowl, Minkah gestured for him to step out into the hall. With a moan, he stood and swayed. It looked like he was struggling to stay on his feet as he reached the doorway.

Henry paused as he looked at the next two room numbers. The people locked in rooms four and five deserved their freedom as well. Free from the unending pain and sadness. He looked to his current jailor. "My name is Henry."

She gave him a cautious look. "Minkah."

He nodded, then gestured to the two doors. "Minkah, these two deserve to be free." When he saw her getting upset, he shook his head. "Sorry, I didn't mean they should come with us. It's too late for them. Their minds are gone." She gave him a skeptical look, and he sighed.

"The doctor drugged me, and my mind left my body and went visiting. All rooms on that side of the hall are empty, and only the first six on this side had people in them. The doctor killed the first two rooms' occupants with a cursed dagger, just as an experiment. DJ, a Djinn Baba Yaga brought from the past, was in room three, but I got him out." He gestured to room five. "This one is trapped in a state of unending agony." Then he pointed to four. "There's a Human woman there who's stuck in a cycle of intense despair. She's desperate to join her family on the other side." He looked to Minkah. "I'm going to assume you're a trained assassin. Could you give them some mercy? I don't know who will take over running this place, but I can't risk them continuing to torture these people like this."

"If I don't—"

"I will," he said firmly, bracing himself against the wall.

She held his eye and realized he was completely serious. He looked like he might fall down any second, but he'd spend his limited energy on mercy-killing these two. She found herself nodding, so he opened the doors and held their hands as Minkah performed the coup de grâce on the two.

She led him out of the containment ward and down the hall to the cafeteria. He moved slowly and leaned against the wall all the way. By the time they reached the large room, his eyes weren't tracking so well, and he needed to pause a few times before he made it to a table.

"Stay here. I'll see what's available," Minkah said, and he just nodded.

She raided the fridge and found a full box of day-old powdered donuts. She brought them back to the table and flipped open the package before him.

Henry focused on the food before him and began to mechanically lift the stale donuts to his mouth. He barely chewed as he swallowed one after another.

She brought him a few large bottles of some no-name cola. Once he polished off the box of donuts, he drank the three colas. Letting out a mighty burp, he apologized, then smiled gratefully at her.

"That was truly awful, but the sugar and caffeine should keep me on my feet for a short time. Thank you," Henry said quietly. She gave him a quick nod. "What's next?" he asked.

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You work for the Council. This is their prison, and I was one of their prisoners because you drugged me and brought me here." He paused as he looked at her calmly, then continued. "I need to get back to my friends as they're probably worried and doing daring things to rescue me. I don't want them to get into trouble or be in danger." He frowned as his re-energized brain suddenly remembered a more significant threat. "Shit! Mab! She's preparing another major extermination spell! She's going after the Fae first. She's going to kill them, then she's going after everyone else. She's completely unhinged, and now she's powered by much stronger magic!"

"How do you know this?" Minkah asked.

"When I first got here, and they drugged me, I went to visit Mab when I felt her fucking around with the Wild Magic. I found her castle, and she attacked me. She told me she was almost ready to launch her killer spell. I've been here too long. I need to stop her," he said a little shakily.

"Why you?" Minkah asked.

"What?"

"Why does it have to be you?" she asked.

Henry slowly blinked as the food began to feed energy back into his body. He sighed. "Here is where I need to ask you to take a leap of faith that what I'm about to tell you is completely true. We don't have time for messing about with long-winded explanations. Mab and I are linked to the same dimension of Wild Magic. At her party in New York, where she grabbed all those Human celebrities, she tricked me into helping her create a baby, our daughter. Mab then switched bodies with her to have a connection to the Wild Magic. She aged our daughter's body to its teen years.

For endangering the Fae and breaking her deal with me, she was dethroned, and she wants revenge for that and how we destroyed her original plans. Basically, she wants to kill us and everyone else. I don't know how she will do it, but it involves the Wild Magic. I felt her experiments. I have to stop her."

Minkah watched Henry's eyes and knew he believed every word he was saying. The Minister of Security likely had no idea what Mab was up to. She decided she would take that leap Henry mentioned, but she had a condition.

"I'll help you, but you must never leave my side. You must give me your word that you'll remain in my custody while we do this. Afterward, we will speak with the Hidden Races Council directly to present your case," she said firmly.

Henry blinked at her. "Ah, okay. That works for me. I give my word, as long as the council does not hurt or persecute my friends for anything they might do to protect me."

"I can only promise that I won't take any action against them," Minkah insisted.

Henry nodded. "Fine. I can feel the junk food picking me up, but this won't last. Can we go? Oh! What about the ogres, I mean orderlies?"

"I'll deal with them," she pulled Henry to his hooves. "You might want to change back into your glamor."

Henry nodded. "Right." He was suddenly Human again but wobbled on his sneaker-covered feet. A white t-shirt and jeans completed his default glamor. Minkah nodded as she liked what she saw as she braced his body against hers. She pushed that thought aside as he stabilized and took deep breaths. "I'll be okay. Let's go."

They made their way to the garage, where Henry looked in dismay at the piece of junk subcompact they'd be driving back to the city. "Is this safe to drive on the highway?" he asked, worried about pieces falling off, like a wheel.

"They got it here, so I assume it's roadworthy," she sighed.

"Maybe they brought it here on one of those flatbed tow trucks," he suggested.

"Let's go," she replied shortly.

With a worried glance at her, he moved to the passenger door, which was locked. Minkah opened her door, sat behind the wheel, and reached over to unlock the door. Henry pulled on the handle again with no luck. Minkah used the handle on the inside to open it.

Henry didn't voice his concerns again as he could see the anger in Minkah's lovely eyes.

"She's dead, yes?"

It took a second for Henry to respond as he connected the dots to the administrator, but he got it. "Y-yes."

"Good," Minkah sighed as she started the engine with the key left in the ignition switch.

The tiny engine started and sounded smooth enough, though the car vibrated oddly. Henry popped the glove box and pulled out a manual for the vehicle. He scanned the first few pages. "It's a 1984 Chevy Sprint. It's only got three cylinders!"

"Put that away," Minkah snapped as she noted the gas gauge indicated less than a quarter tank. She assumed that was enough to get them to the gas station near the interstate entrance.

She drove them into the elevator, and her hope that it was automatic was answered when the platform began to rise. When it stopped, they heard the sharp burst of an automatic weapon being fired. Henry's eyes widened as the garage door opened on a chaotic scene. The big orderlies were before the door, facing someone to the right. One of the brutes struggled to hold his machine gun with broken hands. After firing a final burst, they threw down the spent weapons and dropped their glamors to rush forward into a fight between Weres and Silver People. There had to be a little more than a dozen of each, though it was hard to count the Silver People as they moved quickly. The Weres were trying to fight them and occasionally managed to get in a lucky hit or two, but they only knocked them off their feet momentarily.

The Were's fighting was wild and undisciplined, so Henry assumed they couldn't have been Roy's men.

When the Ogres entered the fray, it got even messier. One of the Weres was grabbed and ripped in two, splashing blood and gore across the two Ogres. This just sent them into a crazed frenzy.

Minkah edged the small car out of the garage, but the engine caught a dozen bullets and immediately died.

"Get out and go to the back of the garage. Find a safe place to hide. I have to take out the shooters," Minkah said.

She saw him exit and slipped out her door. She rushed to the edge of the door and peeked out. The shooters had to be on the edge of the forest. She holstered her guns. She'd need to switch to get out of the garage.

Glancing back, she saw Henry tucking himself against the back wall. She smiled.

Good boy.

-=-

Henry scrambled to get out and stayed low as he rushed back to lean against the wood boards of the outer wall. He made himself as small as he could. He looked at the open garage doors and caught the blur of a black cat running outside and disappearing.

"Henry?"

His head whipped around to stare at the wall. "Meixiu?"

"I'm here! Are you injured? We saw the green light," she cried through the wall.

Henry held back his sob of relief as his friends were here. Then, he was immediately worried about them. "You need to get out of here! I don't think these are Roy's pack. I don't know who these Silver People are, and there are two insane Ogres as well."

"Step back from the wall," she called out.

He frowned but did as instructed. He moved too slow as the shattering boards crashed into him, knocking him down. He just managed to keep from passing out. When he opened his eyes again, he looked up into distorted reflections of himself as two silver people gazed down at him in worry.

"So sorry about that, fella," one said.

"Yeah, we got a little too eager to get through the wall," the other said.

"Henry!" Meixiu cried and pushed between the two to jump on him and kiss his lips.

"MMmmph!" he exclaimed. When she pulled back, he looked at the two Silver People in embarrassment. They just grinned back at him.

"We need to leave. These Weres are from Carl de Bellisle's pack. They're here to kidnap you again," Meixiu said. "Roy is fighting their leader now." She pulled her cell and quickly sent Sigrid an update. The Silver People helped him up to his feet, but they continued to hold his arms. He looked at them cautiously, so they released him reluctantly.

"Sorry, we don't know why, but we're picking up a charge from you. Just being next to you is giving us energy! Oh, I'm Sam, and this is Jake," Sam said with a grin.

"Hi, I'm Henry," he said awkwardly. He had no idea what would be safe to say to these guys. "We should probably go." Then, he recalled his promise. "Shit! I can't leave without Minkah!"

Meixiu frowned at him. "Who's Minkah?"

"She's the one who brought me here and got me out of my cell. She will help, but I need to stay in her custody. I promised."

"Custody?" Jake asked.

"Long story and we have no time. Let's get out of the garage, but we can't leave the property without Minkah.

They clambered out the hole in the back of the garage, where two other Silver People watched for danger. They immediately turned to stare at Henry when he stood before them. He could see they were female.

"This is my wife, Jeannie," Sam said in introduction. The smaller of the two did a strange little curtsey and burst into giggles.

"And this lovely thing is my wife, Brenda," Jake said.

Henry smiled at the four. "Why do I feel a group hug is in order?"

Jeannie was the first to accept the offer, and Brenda was close behind. With Jake and Sam at his back, he was entirely encircled by Silver People.

"That was nice," Henry said, suggesting it should end. Sam pulled away first, then Jake. They had to gently peel their ladies from Henry's chest.

"Why do I feel so energized?" Jeannie said dreamily.

"He feels like fresh lightning!" Brenda agreed.

Henry twitched as he recalled his experience with the storm in Washington. His eyes became a little haunted. Sam was focused on his face, and it clicked as he remembered speaking to the glowing man. Henry matched his size and shape. "Oh my god! You're the Lightnin' Man! From Washington, DC!"

Jake's eyes widened as well. "Well, shit! That makes sense, don't it!"

"I-I can't talk about that right now," Henry gasped as his mind rebelled against dredging those memories up again.

"Oh! Sorry!" Sam said, seeing the panic beginning to appear on Henry's face. They watched Henry get control of his breathing as Meixiu leaned against his arm to comfort him.

"I will find my friends and bring them here," the Vampire said softly. Henry nodded, and she faded into the surrounding darkness once more.

Henry looked around the dark forest and realized he had no idea where he was or how to get home. The four Silver People were standing close with smiles on their faces, and he began to feel awkward as he couldn't really say anything without jeopardizing the Big Secret.

Meixiu was immediately next to him and clutched his hand. "Raymond is hurt! I need you to come with me!" She tugged his hand, and he moved. He got the impression they were being flanked by the four Silver People, but he could only keep his head down at Meixiu's level to avoid branches to the face and watch for trip hazards as she quickly drew him through the woods.

They entered a small clearing, and a large but injured man was resting back against the tree, with a shorter woman watching him with a desperate expression. The man was pressing his hand over his side, and Henry smelled blood.

"Henry, this is Raymond and Eleanor. You must help her heal him!" Meixiu pleaded.

He looked at her in surprise. "I'm not a healer! I'm also exhausted. They starved me in that madhouse!"

"We can get you food!" Sam blurted suddenly. He grabbed Jake's hand, and that man nodded. "Yeah, we can do that. There are houses just down the road. They'll have fridges with leftovers."

Henry snorted in surprise.

"Eleanor, give them some money to leave for the food," he said with a weak smile.

Giving her husband an annoyed look, she pulled some cash from her pocket and thrust it at Sam. He took it, and Jake zipped away after him.

Henry knelt down next to Raymond and looked at Eleanor. "I'm not a doctor. I'm a CIO for an investment house. I build computer networks and write computer software."

"We avoided the battle, but a stray bullet caught Raymond, and I think it nicked an artery. I'm a surgeon. I need to operate on him, but I have no instruments or an operating room," Eleanor said nervously.

"I wish Dayshia and Mahati were here. They operated on me when I had glass fragments in my back. Dayshia used the light of the healing spell to make the instruments she needed," Henry sighed.

Eleanor's eyes almost glowed with excitement as she imagined working with such tools.

Sam and Jake were suddenly back, the latter smelling like soup. His wife struggled to suppress her laughter at his look of discomfort. "Hey! It ain't easy running with liquids!" he pouted.

He handed Henry a reusable plastic container half full of chicken noodle soup. He thanked him and drank right from the container, gulping down the noodles without chewing. He set it aside and burped again.

"Excuse me, and thank you. Could someone go back to the garage to see if Minkah is there looking for me?" Henry asked.

"Sure, what does she look like?" Brenda replied.

"Either a tall brunette woman or a black cat. One blue eye and one yellow eye is the way to identify her," he said hesitantly. The Silver People shared looks, and Brenda rushed away.

Sam handed Henry a plate of fried chicken. Accepting it, he turned his back and scarfed down the food as quickly as he could without choking. By the sixth piece, he felt his stomach complain, so he stopped.

He looked back and saw everyone watching him. "Sorry. That's good. Thank you."

Henry had eaten his fill, and now his abused body wanted him to sleep, but he couldn't yet. He listened to the continuing fight and gave the others a worried look. "When I pull the healing magic, it's gonna light up this area and draw everyone's attention. We're still too close to the battle."

"You are fortunate I don't shoot you myself!"

Henry turned to see Minkah stepping through the trees with Brenda behind her. Neither looked happy.

"You were supposed to wait for me in the garage!" she snapped.

"My apologies. I wasn't going to leave without you, but Meixiu's friend needs help right now." He gestured to Raymond, who didn't look good. He turned to Eleanor. "He needs blood. Can you take a little from me and feed it to him?"

She looked at him strangely. "I have no instruments—"

"He means with your mouth," Meixiu explained gently.

"Oh!" Eleanor exclaimed. She was surprised by someone offering to feed her.

"Take a small amount and feed it to Raymond quickly, or you may lose consciousness, and we need you to operate," Meixiu continued but saw the doubt on Eleanor's face. "I will do it."

Henry lifted his wrist, and Meixiu took only a small amount and licked the wounds. She quickly bent down and fed most of the blood into Raymond's mouth. Then she seized the back of Eleanor's neck and fed the last drops into the squeaking woman's mouth.

The three Vampires trembled as the magic-infused blood sent energy through their bodies. Meixiu recovered first. She felt her cell phone vibrate and stepped away to find a safe place to check it.

Shaking off the buzz, Eleanor looked at Henry hungrily, then controlled her expression. "Thank you."

He just nodded and looked over to Minkah. "When I light this place up, can you defend us?"

Minkah nodded. "They are very occupied at the moment but do it quickly."

"We'll help!" Sam said, and the other three nodded.

Henry looked at Eleanor. "I'm going to pull the healing magic down and give it to you. You need to use your willpower to create the tools you need. Okay?"

She nodded with wide eyes.

Henry reached for his daughter and felt resistance for the first time. Was someone blocking him? It had to be Baba, as she was the only one close to his daughter. He couldn't fight her, but he didn't need to. He pushed his love through his connection, and Baba pulled away until he felt the child respond. Her love returned, as did his link to her. He could no longer detect Baba, so he reached for the Fae's healing magic.

He felt another presence. Someone was trying to manipulate the healing spell! When he detected her poisonous intent, he knew it was Mab, and she was aware of him. He had to stop her from using the spell as a weapon. He needed to defend it!

The first thing that came to mind was his firewall code. He immediately pulled up the code in his mind, shaping it into a package, authorized to his biosignature alone, powered by the Wild Magic, and driven by his will. He bound this to the Fae's spell to make it tamper-proof. He didn't know what damage she'd already done. The Wild Magic picked up his changes, and he felt them sink inside. He could only hope for the best.

A shriek of pure rage shot through their connection, and Henry took that as a good sign.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" Mab's voice thundered through the link, and those gathered around Henry leaned away from the intense hatred as her voice shook the ground around him. "I wasn't finished!"

Henry felt the corruption dripping from the spell she was preparing to add to the Global Overlay Spell. It was a far more aggressive and destructive variant of the Fae Wasting Disease the field was designed to protect against! She would invert the protection spell to inflict the very disease it was curing. Only this time, the wasting spell would take days to kill its victims, not centuries. It radiated its murderous intent as she tried to force it through the link, but Henry launched another rapidly bound spell of his own at it. Ripped from her mental grip, the malignant spell was quarantined and rapidly disassembled into harmless base elements to be scattered by the current in the Wild Magic.

"NO! NO! NO! You insolent cretin! Who gave you the right to interfere with my divine vengeance!" Mab spat. "You are nothing! I'm Queen of all Fae—"

Henry's rage against the creature who'd stolen his daughter's body threatened to ignite. "Not anymore! Now you're just Mad Mab!" He readied his antivirus spell again, wondering how it might be used directly against her, but she shrieked in pure fury and vanished.

Shaking with unspent adrenaline, Henry reached for the healing spell and pulled it gently towards him. However, this time, instead of wispy sheets of mist, an intense green light came crashing down on the clearing like a waterfall. The sky filled with more and more green light falling in beams from above.

The current in the Wild Magic was so much stronger now. The green light flooded the clearing and spread out in all directions, linking with other light falls. Henry and Meixiu, who was returning to them, were the only ones who felt the full pressure of the flow. For the others, it was just light acting like a liquid, which was amazing enough to dazzle them. The Silver People felt their energy increase as the light flowed around them.

As he was standing directly under a torrent, Henry felt his grip slipping on the ground. He was at risk of being swept tumbling away. His strength hadn't been replenished yet, so, in desperation, he dropped his glamor. His strength surged and he dug his hooves into the forest floor.

Raymond and Eleanor gasped as they looked up at the horned creature standing where Henry had just been.

The four silver people gawked at him in shock, and Minkah looked concerned.

Henry glanced at them and shrugged. "Sorry, I needed the extra strength of my true form." He felt his connection to his daughter, and the healing spell was firmly linked to him, so he faced Eleanor. "Let's heal him now," Henry suggested.

Eleanor just nodded and turned to her husband, who stared at the Satyr. She felt big hands land on her shoulders and she sucked in a breath as the weight of potential settled upon her. She suddenly felt like she had the power to do... anything. She looked down at the bullet wound, then looked closer and closer as her vision revealed new levels of detail she'd never seen before. She reached for forceps and felt them in her hand. She reached into the wound and felt the forceps capture the edge of the slug. The sensations traveled through the instrument even though it was made of light. She gently tugged the bullet back out along the channel it created on the way in.

Once she had it out, she dropped it to the forest floor and released the forceps, watching the light simply fade away. She began to search for the bleeder. The nick was small, but blood was trickling out with each beat of his heart. She looked closer still at the artery and made micro sutures with the green light to close the tear, then ran a line of green light along the torn edge like glue to reinforce it. She backed her vision out of the wound and repaired the damage she could. She finally blinked her eyes back to normal and leaned back. She felt Henry pull his hands away, and the sudden loss of the power he was feeding her made her sway slightly.

Sitting back on her heels, she gazed down at her husband, who looked more relaxed. "Are you done?" he asked in surprise.

"Yes," she said with a smile. She turned her face to Henry, who was rocking on his hooves. He didn't look so good. "Henry?"

"So tired," he sighed.

The sound of fighting was quickly getting closer.

"They saw us. We have to go! Do you have a car?" Minkah said tersely.

Eleanor helped Raymond to his feet. He nodded to her. "This way," she said. They moved quickly through the woods, stealth no longer their priority.

Short seconds later, they came to a fence, and the four Silver People tore through it, leaving a gap for the rest to get through easily. A short distance up the road, they reached the car. Henry switched back to his glamor and leaned against the side of the car, panting.

Meixiu moved to his side. "I got a text from Sigrid. Roy is not doing so well against Carl. The man drank so much of your blood and is stronger. He is hurting Roy badly."

Fear shot through Henry at the thought of losing Roy, his surrogate dad. It was too much. His strength failed him, and he barely registered Meixiu pushing him into the middle of the back seat before his eyes rolled back.

-=-

Meixiu hopped in, pulled the door closed, and put her window down as Minkah got in behind the wheel. Eleanor tucked Raymond in on the front passenger side and got in the back seat behind her husband.

"Where are we going?" Minkah asked.

"Go to VRL in Manhattan," Meixiu said as she nodded to Sam to ensure he'd heard. Sam smiled as he nodded, and the four Silver People raced away. Meixiu put her window up and lifted Henry's eyelid. His pupils were tiny, so he'd left his body again. She knew she could pull him back, but she also understood he needed to be where he was going now.

"Say goodbye to Roy for me too, Henry," she said quietly.

Chapter 35

Sigrid's idea of sniping insults from the sidelines to enrage Carl was partially successful. He did lose his temper, and his fighting did get sloppy, but even with Roy's devastating surgical strikes against the brute, his endurance and healing speed were superior to Roy's.

Worse, when Carl did manage to land one of his blows, it did more damage than was being inflicted upon him.

Roy was slowly losing this fight. She'd sent a note to Meixiu after she received one saying they had Henry. She wanted to prepare them for what might happen.

She looked at Carl and he didn't look that good either. The bastard thought he'd crush Roy quickly, but they'd been fighting for some time now. Each took time to heal after attacks as they warily watched the other, gauging the time to strike again. They'd just completed a pass, and Roy looked shaken as Carl had seized the legs of le Brère and used him as a medieval flail against Roy. He killed his own man trying to bludgeon Roy to death. It was just another example of how little he cared for his pack.

Sigrid watched Mary walk up to Roy and say something.

Seeing his opponent was distracted, Carl surged forward.

When Roy grabbed Mary's legs and swung her into the side of Carl's head, the brute did a complete cartwheel, feet leaving the ground as Mary's double fist hammer punch cracked his jaw. Carl tumbled and scrambled back, stunned as his confidence also took another blow.

Roy released Mary's legs, and the woman sat up slowly. Apparently, being swung like a club affects the inner ear badly. She wobbled off the floor over to Sigrid's side.

"Nice try," Sigrid whispered.

"Shut it. I'm trying not to hurl."

Sigrid looked back to Roy and froze. Something was seriously wrong. "What-what's he doing?"

-=-

Michelle Beaumont stood at her condo window and stared in shock and dismay at the green light surrounding her building.

She'd been fretting about losing her job and putting Dayshia's new home at risk.

When the green light fell, she thought it was lovely... at first.

Then, she saw someone from her building on the sidewalk below walking home. When the light washed over them, their glamor immediately dissolved. They were caught out in the open in their true shape.

This was a personal nightmare for Michelle, and it was coming true! She cried out but could do nothing as the being lifted their briefcase to hide their face as they ran the rest of the way home.

Michelle stared at the green light surrounding her and saw it went on as far as the eye could see. She'd never be able to leave the building, but now, she had nowhere to go.

-=-

Sam and his friends stopped a short distance from the road and held hands.

"What do we do?" Jeannie asked.

Jake shook his head. "We're definitely going down the rabbit hole now!"

Sam nodded. "People who can disappear into shadows, turn into big goat people—"

"He's a Satyr," Jake clarified, and Sam grinned at his encyclopedic friend before continuing.

"Glass People, Silver People, furry werewolf people, and two big guys with tusks. Not your typical crowd at the NASCAR track."

Brenda spoke up. "Those people back there seemed like they knew what was going on. I think we should stick with them. The pretty Chinese girl invited us."

Jeannie nodded, as did Jake. Sam smiled at them as he agreed as well. "Okay, we stick with them. The next question is, do we tell our new army buddies about them?"

Jake frowned. "They disguise themselves as human, and I think I can figure out why. How about we just tell them army boys to meet us in Times Square, Manhattan? That way, if something goes sour, we can get their help quickly?"

Sam smiled and nodded. "You go catch up with our new friends while I drop that hint to the Army."

They sped away, and Sam got closer to the fighting. He wanted no part of that. He spotted the Sergeant and rushed up to her side. She glanced at him.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

"Watching unbelievable stuff. Listen, when you're done here, meet us in Times Square," Sam said, nodding toward the battle that seemed to be winding down.

"Times Square? Why there? What's going on?" Mick turned to ask, but Sam was gone.

She growled to herself. This night just got crazier and crazier.

-=-

Roy had come to the grim realization that he wouldn't be able to outlast Carl. The bastard's energy reserves were too great, and Roy was running on empty.

He'd underestimated the impact of Carl's Wild Magic evolution.

Sigrid's pissing Carl off had helped, and Roy had scored a killing blow, but Carl's mind had slipped into a feral state and continued to fight.

There would be two dead alphas on the cold cement floor tonight.

"Roy!"

He flicked his eyes over to Sigrid and Mary. They were both watching him with dread in their eyes. They knew he was done.

"Roy!"

He frowned. It wasn't the ladies calling him. He felt a sudden warmth against his chest, which wrapped around his back. Was he being hugged? He recognized this feeling and stood up straight. "Henry?"

His fatigue was fading as Henry's warmth sank into his body. Roy wrapped his arms around himself, hugging Henry in return.

"I may consider you my old man, but that doesn't make you old. Stop acting like it! Finish this! I need your help. Mab's back and the sky's falling," Henry growled and dumped his energy into Roy, who tasted... stale donuts and cola?

-=-

Sigrid watched Roy stand up straight and say something quietly as if speaking to someone. He wrapped his arms around himself and smiled with his eyes closed. His red fur began to floof up, making him look like a big fluffy puppy.

That looked so adorable that she almost missed seeing Carl launch himself at Roy. He was definitely slower than he'd been during the fight, but Roy wasn't reacting this time. She had no time to call out a warning.

Just before Carl's outstretched claws reached the throat he wanted so badly to rip open, Roy dropped below the grasp. Then he immediately exploded upwards, driving the claws of both hands through the underside of Carl's jaw, up through his skull, and deep into his brain. Carried by Carl's mass and trajectory, the two crashed to the floor, but Roy twisted mid-flight to ensure he would be on top. Looking into Carl's terrified eyes, Roy clenched his fists, shredding his brain. The monstrously sized alpha twitched violently, made an odd gasping sound, and then went still.

Roy pulled his hands free, stood next to the body, and shook the gore off his claws onto Carl's corpse. It began to collapse in on itself, shrinking back into his Human form.

Sigrid stared in shock as Roy howled his victory. The vast empty chamber reverberated with the sound and raised the hairs on the back of her neck. The two muscular goons stared at Roy in awe, immediately exposing their throats in submission. He glared at them until they began whimpering, then he switched to his Human form.

"Return to your homes. I'll come to make assessments in the next few days—best civil behavior. If I hear you've been fighting, both sides die. Pass that message along to the pack," he snapped.

They nodded and rushed from the building.

Roy waited until he sensed they were alone, then he dropped to his knees. Sigrid and Mary rushed forward. He sat back on his heels and took some deep breaths as his wounds slowly closed. Mary was rapidly speaking into her mic, alerting the team of Roy's victory.

"What happened? I thought you'd taken him out much earlier," Sigrid exclaimed.

Roy shook his head. "I did. I scored a mortal wound about eight minutes ago. He was bleeding internally, but he wouldn't acknowledge it. He'd gone feral by that point. I could do nothing but wait him out, but I had nothing left, and he just kept attacking. We would have both been dead after this fight."

Mary grabbed his shoulder. "What was that little thing you did at the end there? Looked like you were praying, and suddenly you're all Bruce Lee, Fist of Fury!"

Roy chuckled, and his smile spread across his face. "Henry visited me."

"WHAT?" Sigrid and Mary exclaimed.

"It was a mind walkabout thing? He fed me a shitload of energy. Tasted odd, but it worked for one last burst." His smile faded. "He said something about Mab making the sky fall?" He looked down at Carl, and the ladies helped him to his feet.

"We'll call in the clean-up team," Sigrid said as they returned to the front entrance. The moment they stepped outside, they froze. It was like the Aurora Borealis had melted and was falling from the sky to rush around at ground level like a raging river. They crossed the lot quickly to get into their SUV, and a nearby curl of the green light swung wide and passed through them. They all picked up the pressure sensation and had to lean into the current to stay on course for the truck. Mary insisted on driving as Roy was still weak from his healing injuries. They climbed in and quickly closed the doors. Looking out the windows, they could see the green light falling here and there from the sky like waterfalls.

"This is going to cause one hell of a panic! We need a master strategy meeting back at VRL!" Roy said. "Call Mahati and let her know this is Mab's doing, and she should call Ms. Hoek—"

Sigrid's cell vibrated from an incoming call. She answered as it was Meixiu.

"Are you safe?" Sigrid asked immediately.

"Yes, we're driving back to the city. Henry is unconscious. I think he went to say goodbye to Roy," Meixiu answered sadly.

"Roy tells us he did visit him, but not to say goodbye—"

"Hey!" Roy barked indignantly, and Sigrid waved him to silence with a small smile. She continued.

"Henry gave him enough energy to finish the fight. He also told him that Mab was making the sky fall."

Meixiu made a surprised squeak. "Is that what's happening with the green light? We saw it pouring down like it's never done before. Mab did this? Is it affecting anyone badly? It didn't hurt us!"

Sigrid was looking out the window, and the sky seemed to fall in green waterfalls, thousands and thousands of them in all directions. She looked back at the docks and was surprised to see it wasn't falling over the water, only on land. A little further out, it appeared to be landing on a ship. Was it hydrophobic?

"We're in a pretty empty area. Not too many people down here, but it didn't hurt us," she said.

"We're returning to VRL, and the woman who kidnapped Henry is driving us. He insisted he had to stay with her as he was in her custody," Meixiu explained, and Sigrid picked up the woman's unease about that.

"That's fine. Get back as quickly and safely as possible. We're going to VRL, too. Park in the basement and text me when you arrive. I'll let you in," Sigrid explained. "How is Henry now?"

"One moment," Meixiu said.

Sigrid listened and heard Meixiu speaking to Henry, commanding him to return. When she came back on the phone, she was upset.

"He's not returning! He always did before!" she cried.

Sigrid frowned with worry. "He's still breathing?"

"Yes!" Meixiu said nervously.

Sigrid heard Eleanor's voice. "He's overextended himself. He was exhausted after he helped me operate on Raymond. We could go to a hospital and get him a glucose and sodium chloride infusion."

"Meixiu, let her know I'll have one ready for Henry when you arrive," Sigrid said.

"Thank you, Sigrid," Meixiu said softly.

"Be safe," Sigrid replied and hung up.

She immediately dialed up Mahati, who picked up on the first ring.

"Sigrid! Do you know what's happening outside?" Mahati blurted.

"Henry says it's Mab. She's done something to the Fae healing spell," the Valkyrie explained.

"Is it dangerous?" the lawyer asked.

Sigrid contemplated that question. "Well, it's heavily laden with Wild Magic. If you get caught in the middle of it, I assume it wouldn't behave well with your magic. It might even affect your glam—"

Sigrid's eyes widened as she froze in shock. "Oh my god! What if that's what Mab intended. She strips away everyone's glamors and exposes all of the Hidden Races!"

"Aye, that sounds exactly like something she'd do," Roy growled.

"Wild Magic affects humans too." Mary reminded them, and they looked at her in worry.

"Mahati! Stay inside!" Sigrid said urgently to her. "Call the Minister of Security and let her know Mab may have triggered something disastrous. Tell her Henry is no longer at the containment facility but remains in the custody of her pet assassin."

"Kali's out there," Mahati gasped.

"Call her. Warn her," Sigrid said and heard the line disconnect. She immediately called Camila.

"Sigrid! How's Roy?" her friend exclaimed immediately.

Hearing her concern for Roy, a smile bloomed on the blonde's face. She glanced at Roy as he had to have heard that cry. From his pleased smile, he had. "He's a little worse for wear, but he won. But that's not our biggest concern at the moment."

"Hey!" Roy exclaimed in protest again, but Sigrid ignored him.

"Mab messed with the Fae's healing spell. It's falling to the ground and overloaded with Wild Magic," she pointed out.

"What? Wait a minute!" There was the sound of drapes being pulled open. Sigrid heard the sound of two voices gasping. She recalled that Lorelei was staying at her place.

"Oh my god! That could burn out glamors!" the Succubus gasped. Her voice became more strained. "It affects Humans, too."

"Yes. I've called Mahati to get her to contact Hoek to give her the heads-up," Sigrid informed her. "I've also heard from Meixiu. She and her friends found Henry. The assassin is with him, and he's apparently in her custody. He's currently unconscious and likely having another out-of-body experience. Meixiu couldn't command him back to his body this time."

"Maybe the Wild Magic falling from the sky is interfering?" Camila suggested.

"We're heading back to VRL. Can you meet us there?" Sigrid asked.

"Sure, I'll bring Lorelei," Camila said briskly.

"Be careful out there," Sigrid said and hung up. She frowned as a suspicion pricked at the back of her mind. Why had Camila drawn her blinds? Her condo had protective glass.

-=-

Camila called for her car to be ready, then turned to the lovely brunette in her bed. "We need to get going. We'll pick up my daughter Marisa on the way."

Lorelei's head was still gently spinning as she came down from the heights of passion. The exotic creature in bed with her knew things about sex she'd never imagined. Camila's black and red skin gleamed in the dim light and picked up the glow of the green light falling past the window.

She certainly hadn't expected to have sex with Camila when she accepted her offer to stay in her guest room. They both needed the distraction tonight as they waited for news on Roy's battle with his rival, as Lorelei understood it. She'd been more concerned about Henry. Camila let her listen in on the call, so she now knew Henry was on his way back! She thought this was good news, but Camila appeared worried about his unconscious state.

She slipped out of bed and steadied herself against it momentarily as her body tingled madly. Being with Camila had been intense and wonderful, but now all her body wanted was sleep. There was no time for that, so she pushed herself off the bed and hustled to the guest room.

Her host had been right when she said the light was good in her condo. Lorelei had her easel and paint supplies with her and had been inspired by the new location. She had a new painting almost complete and knew how lovely it would look above Camila's mantle.

After a quick refreshing in the ensuite bathroom, she put on fresh panties and a bra, then her deep blue long-sleeved yoga top and tights, and finally, a loose black knit sweater over top. It went down to mid-thigh, so it was almost a dress.

She met Camila by the front door and pulled on her sneakers to follow the woman out. The tall, raven-haired beauty looked amazingly fresh and energized in a black dress with a large red orchid print and matching red heels. There was plenty of cleavage on display, and they shared a smile.

They went down to the garage of her building and got into a large SUV. Lorelei noted the driver didn't even look over his shoulder to look at them. He drove them up onto the street and headed downtown. They stared out the windows at the swirling green light. They saw people walking around in it without concern while others were panicking. Camila's cell immediately rang, and she gave it a worried look as she answered.

"Hello, Nuru—" Camila began.

"Camila! Something terrible has happened!" the head of the Succubi Association cried over the phone.

"What's happened?"

"Our glamors! They're gone! We were outside in the park across the road from our hotel, enjoying nature, when the green light fell from the sky. My attendants and I were caught in what looked like a waterfall, and suddenly, we were exposed. Our glamors dissolved, and we cannot reactivate them. They're gone! The scent of the light matched yours, so I am calling you. You must help us!"

"Of course! Where are you now?" Camila asked, a feeling of dread in her stomach. This was what they feared might happen.

"We stole a tarp covering a sidewalk vendor's cart and snuck back into our hotel in the chaos. We're in our room, but we're trapped here. There are no cloaks in this hotel!" the woman gasped.

"Give me a second," Camila said to Nuru, then addressed the man behind the wheel. "Driver, how many cloaks do we have in the truck?"

"There are six under the rear bench seats," he said in a flat, emotionless voice. Lorelei frowned as she felt a little put off by his attitude.

"Give me the name of the hotel and your room number. I'm coming to collect you. I have cloaks and will bring you to VRL. We're setting up an emergency base of operations there."

"Thank you, Camila! It's the Ritz Carleton, Central Park, room seventeen-oh-five."

"We're on our way," Camila said and hung up. "Driver, take us to the Ritz Carleton, Central Park." The man nodded and turned the truck.

She dialed another number. "Marisa? We're going to be a little late. I need to pick up Nuru and her attendants. They've experienced a problem with their glamors. See you soon."

Camila gave Lorelei a bleak look. "This looks really bad."

Lorelei took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

The SUV parked in the drop-off zone in front of the hotel. The driver jumped out of the car into a green current of light. He closed his door, took two steps, froze, and fell over with a thud. Someone on the opposite sidewalk screamed and ran. Camila looked out the window at the clay statue of her driver.

"Dammit!"

"Oh my god! What happened to him?" Lorelei gasped, trying to see past Camila. Her eyes widened in horror when they caught sight of the man-shaped blob of reddish clay that was beginning to sag.

"He was a Golem. An artificial man, made of clay, disguised by a glamor, and powered by Fae magic. The Wild Magic in the light is undoing the spells the Fae made." She looked to Lorelei. "I have to get Nuru. Wait here."

Camila reached under the bench seat and pulled out three plastic-wrapped bundles. Then she slipped from the truck and rushed into the hotel's front doors.

Lorelei watched the people panicking and running here and there. Her nerves were becoming frayed. She shrieked when someone opened the driver's door and jumped behind the wheel. She quickly sang to the would-be carjacker. He jumped out and ran into traffic. She watched in shock as the man cartwheeled over a speeding taxi.

When the man staggered back to his feet and hobbled across the street to disappear into the darkness, she breathed a sigh of relief.

The panic outside increased.

An older woman rushed past on the sidewalk, chased by a group of angry men. They caught her a short distance ahead. Punches were thrown, and the woman went down.

"Stop!" Lorelei shouted as she jumped from the car. She felt the flow of the light swirling around her. It felt like the uncontrolled current of a raging river, and she clung to the SUV's door to keep from being swept away.

One of the men yelled back at her. "You shut the fuck up! She's a fucking monster!"

Seeing the desperate look in the fallen woman's eyes, Lorelei sang to them to be calm. The sound was unexpectedly amplified by the swirling green light and carried across the street, into the park, and off into the distance. Everyone in earshot paused and looked for the source of the beautiful music. The group closest to her were staring at her with gentle smiles.

Shaken by the strength of the sound, Lorelei sang once more, a gentle song of returning home. People began to walk away, so she let the tune fade.

The woman struggled to her feet. "Are you all right?" Lorelei called out to her. The bruised and bloodied woman blinked, coming out of her trance to look at the younger woman clinging to the car door.

Lorelei finally got a good look at her. Definitely not human. Ancient. Pale skin with an olive green tint and pointed ears... long pointed ears. She thought of the cloaks in the car and how the woman could probably use one. "I have a cloak."

The woman's eyes lit up, literally, but it was a faint glow that quickly faded as she moved closer to Lorelei.

"What are you, girl?" she asked with a gravelly voice.

"Rude," Lorelei admonished.

The woman snorted. "No more than putting someone into a trance with a song. I'm Investigator Kashellion of the Fae High Court." She looked down at herself with a sad frown. "But it seems my magic is gone."

Making a snap decision, Lorelei gestured for the woman to get in the front passenger seat of the SUV. Then she moved to get back inside herself. The green light suddenly wrapped around her, and she almost lost her grip on the door.

"Lorelei!"

She froze as she heard a familiar voice. "Henry?" She looked around, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"The song. Calm and soothing. More! Stronger!" The voice was coming from the light!

She looked at the old woman watching her in the rear-view mirror as she rested back against the seat. "Can you hear him?" Lorelei asked and received a shake of the head.

"Please!"

Lorelei heard his plea and began to sing a song to make listeners calm, relaxed, and soothed. She increased her volume and let it flow from her to the green sea surrounding her. She felt Henry's focus on her, and a little hope also slipped into her song. His joy and affection seeped into her, and she almost let go of the door to join him in the light. A wave of it bumped her gently, ending her song, and she was inside the truck. She closed the door and reached under the seat to give the investigator a cloak.

The light around the truck began softly replaying Lorelei's song. It spread out in all directions, and she could see it was having an effect as the panic was subsiding. She smiled as she realized Henry must be responsible for this. It was so beyond anything she'd experienced. She knew she should be frightened, but she just remembered the feeling of Henry's presence. He'd seemed so happy, almost giddy with joy.

The old woman moaned slightly when her bruises complained about her struggling to get the bulky garment on while seated. Finally, she pulled the hood up over her head, hiding her ears, and settled back with a sigh. She rolled her head to the side to peer over the seat at Lorelei. "Thank you for the cloak. I ask you again. What are you?"

Lorelei held her eye for a moment. "I'm a Naiad."

The woman's eyes held confusion and doubt. "There-there are no Naiads."

"Baba Yaga saved one."

Investigator Keshellion froze, her mouth open to ask another question, but hearing that name suggested silence would be more prudent. She faced forward to rest once more.

Lorelei watched the doors and saw people coming outside to investigate the music. Their nervous expressions quickly changed to wonder and smiles.

She suddenly had an epiphany. This was something only she could do, with Henry's assistance, of course. It was what she was best suited for. She smiled. "I am needed."

The Fae heard the softly spoken words and glanced back at Lorelei. Then she looked out the window to see the calm expressions on the faces of people walking by in the green light. She understood Lorelei's words and nodded to herself.

Exiting the hotel, Camila guided three tall beings in hooded cloaks. Halfway to the car, Camila's group slowed to a stop and reached for their hoods to throw them back. Camila spotted this and dragged them forward to push them into the rear bench seat one at a time. She glanced at the cloaked being in the front passenger seat, then over to Lorelei.

She didn't wait for an explanation. She rushed around the SUV and climbed in behind the wheel. She looked over at the stranger, and the old woman looked back. "I'm Camila Villamor. Your glamor failed?"

"Investigator Keshellion of the Fae High Court. Yes, all of my magic is failing, or rather, it's being suppressed by the magic in the green light. I can feel it returning now, but so slowly. I was attacked by a mob of angry Humans, but the girl saved me." She looked at Camila. "Your glamor seems to work."

"Yes, we'll get to explanations soon. Right now, I need to pick up my daughter, then we'll go to a place where we can talk freely," Camila stated firmly, getting them moving again.

It was easier driving now as people weren't running into the street panicking. Anyone outside was hearing the music.

Lorelei gazed out the side window and thought about Henry. He was out in that green river of light somewhere.

She hoped he was safe.

-=-

Tish was sitting in her sister Ellen's home. Everyone had gathered yet again for another party. There was one exception. Steph's husband David claimed he was partied out and stayed home. When she arrived, the look on Steph's face spoke of a recent argument, so Tish did her best to lighten her sister's mood.

The party was quickly upstaged when the skies fell, and everyone scrambled inside from Ellen's back deck. They just manage to get inside before it hit. Now, they were all crowded into the family room, watching the news. When they initially heard the light wasn't hurting anyone, the kids were super excited and wanted to go out into the backyard to play in it. When the dad's made to go too, the mothers shrieked their outrage at the idea.

So, here they sat watching the TV.

The light show was happening worldwide, and slowly, a few stories surfaced of people being changed by the light, but the news channels were quick to state that these stories hadn't been corroborated.

Tish grew quiet as she realized these stories could be about real Hidden Races people losing their glamors if the light was Wild Magic. She had to know, so she quietly left the family room and slipped into the garage. Hearing no one following her, she stepped out the rear door and into a swirl of green light. She opened her senses to it and felt the Wild Magic tugging her to follow the flow. She smiled as she felt her energy levels rising.

"Tish."

She turned to look back at the garage, but no one was there.

Then she felt him in the flow of energy. "Henry?" she gasped quietly.

"Yes."

"Where are you?" she asked, beginning to worry. Was he traveling out of body? Something was wrong.

"I'm... everywhere! Oh! Lorelei's singing!" he sighed, and his presence faded.

"Henry!" she called.

"Tish! What are you doing? Get inside!" Steph called out from inside the garage.

She wanted to stay in the backyard with Henry, but he was gone, and she'd likely have better luck finding out what was happening by calling Marisa on her cell.

When the light began to sing, Steph stepped outside and walked to join her sister in the backyard. She swirled her fingers through it and grinned at her younger sister.

They suddenly heard banging on the glass sliding doors of the family room. Ellen, Kristen, and Jackie were gesturing vigorously behind the glass. The doors opened, and the men and the kids spilled out onto the deck. The ladies were the last to come out, and they did so cautiously. The kids rushed down the deck's stairs to run around the yard, squealing excitedly.

"This music... it's beautiful, but I don't understand," Ellen said as she hugged Tish while the music soothed her nerves. Soon, everyone, even the excited kids, were part of the group hug. Tish's heart felt like it might burst with Joy. She loved her family so much.

"David is an idiot for missing out on this!" Steph snapped, and the others chuckled. Tish hugged her sister until the woman finally smiled again.

Family was everything. Tish had to find a way to keep hers!

-=-

Dayshia stood on the patio in her sister's back yard and ran her fingers through the green light swirling around in the small fenced-in yard. She felt the tingle of the Wild Magic and knew something major was going on. She pulled out her cell and dialed Sandy's number. On the sixth ring, she finally answered.

"Dayshia! Where are you?" Sandy's voice exclaimed.

"I'm in Chicago! Are you still in Nowhere, Iowa?" she returned.

"No, I couldn't take it anymore, so I'm on my way home. I finally made it to Laguardia, but there are no taxis. What a hellish trip it's been to get here. Do you see this green light?" Sandy asked.

Dayshia snorted. "It's everywhere. I'm standing in it."

"Same here. It's Wild Magic," Sandy said quietly.

"Mmmhmm. This is the stuff that changed us. It may change others." Dayshia said quietly, as well.

"Maybe it should. I don't know about you, but I hate hiding," Sandy grumbled.

Dayshia nodded to herself. "Yeah, but I'm not sure the world is ready. People are panicking." She heard a car squeal into the driveway on the other side of the house. "My sister and her husband just got back with their kids. I'd better go. Be careful out there!"

"Dayshia! Dayshia!" Beth's voice rang through the house as they burst through the front door. The back door was open with only the screen door in place, so Dayshia heard her clearly.

"I'm out back!" she called out.

"What are you doing? Come inside!" Beth shrieked as she ran to the back door.

Dayshia thought about what Sandy said about hiding, and she agreed. However, she couldn't decide for others about changing, though she wished she didn't have to conceal what she'd become. She looked back and saw the worried expression on Beth's face and sighed. "Okay... fine."

Then the music started. It was lovely, and Dayshia realized it was coming from the light! She was surrounded by it!

When Beth touched her shoulder with Chris by her side, she started and looked to see their contented smiles. Dayshia was suspicious of their sudden change in attitude and realized it had to be the music. Was it designed to lure people outside into the Wild Magic?

Giggles drew her attention, and she saw Beth's kids playing in the yard. It was far too late to stop them now.

She wondered if her Dad was seeing this, and if he was, what he'd make of it. The chaos of his thoughts might connect to these strange events, or he might just be frightened. That was a sad thought.

"What are you thinking about that's making you sad?" Beth asked gently.

"Dad," Dayshia admitted.

Beth gave her a hug. Chris and the kids joined in, and Dayshia felt so much better.

She hoped everything would be okay, but with Wild Magic, you never knew what you would get.

Chapter 36

It was happening!

Roger felt excitement buzzing along his nerves as he walked amongst the panicking sheep. He couldn't see what he was wandering through, but the sensation made him recall once being at the beach in Florida and feeling the current in the ocean pulling at him. This was gentler, but it still tugged more than simply air.

Most thrilling was that the sheep could finally see the monsters as he did. A group of them chased a small creature past him, screaming curses at it. Roger would have given chase and eaten the thing, but he was well-fed and enjoyed the delicious satisfaction of knowing the truth had finally been exposed.

Of course, these were the little people. He knew there was vile corruption at the highest levels. There had to be agents in high places of government and society to hide in plain sight like this. He decided his next mission would be to expose them as well. He salivated as he thought of how delicious their organs would be.

Before beginning his next phase, he needed to settle the score with Dayshia. She was still a danger to him. He was going to take that bitch down, once and for all. So, he waited in the shadows of the lot next to her building.

He jumped slightly when a voice began singing all around him. He clicked and looked around, but he was alone. Weird. The song was sweet but distracting.

When a taxi pulled up, Roger readied himself to surge forward. A figure stepped out of the cab with a suitcase.

It wasn't Dayshia. It was Sandy.

His heart twisted as he recalled how she'd been like a little sister to him. She'd arrived in New York so innocent, unaware of society's hidden dark secrets. She was like a new daisy, transplanted into the poisonous soil of the city. He'd done his best to protect her and make her aware of the evils around her. Of the group he hung out with at the hospital, she was the only one he thought was worth saving. The others had all been drawn in by the seductions of society.

"Sandy," he called out suddenly as the taxi pulled away. He hadn't meant to, but something inside him needed to. He discovered he'd moved from the shadows to stand on the drive before the front doors.

She stopped and turned to face him. "Roger?"

He clicked and saw she wasn't approaching. "Yeah."

She was just standing there, silent, and he wasn't sure what he wanted to say.

"Is it true? Are you the one killing all those people?" she asked softly.

His anger flared. She was so simple-minded sometimes. "They aren't people! They're monsters, not humans! Tonight is the first time people are actually seeing them for what they are!"

"What do you mean?" she gasped.

"I've seen them chasing the monsters, screaming at them, so they truly see them. I've been the only one who has since that night in the hospital. Since Henry changed me." He spat the name as he knew who'd caused all this mess.

Sandy shook her head. "It wasn't Henry. It was me. Kesini knew I cared for you, so when you arrived, she also helped you change." Sandy explained quietly.

Roger was confused. "Who's Kesini?"

Sandy paused, then lifted her hand where the bulk of Kesini rested. "You can see how I'm holding my hair, yes?"

Roger's steady clicking showed the large mass balancing on Sandy's palm. "Yes."

Sandy nodded to herself. "She's Kesini. She has a mind of her own, and she thought I'd want you to share the experience. Except, it's random what you become with this magic. When you disappeared that night, we were frightened for you. We could have helped."

Roger snorted. "Helped? In what way?"

Sandy leaned towards him. "Helped you understand what's happened to you. Helped you come to terms with our place in this new world," she said urgently.

"Are you kidding me? You, the backwater bumpkin, teaching me how the world works? You're completely ignorant of who's in control of society, who makes the rules and keeps them," Roger scoffed.

Sandy was silent as she looked into Roger's red eyes. "I just returned from visiting my parents in that backwater. Being away helped me see my home with a fresh perspective. My parents and their friends didn't want to see anything change. They were comfortable and safe in their little bubble. My return showed them things had changed, and that made them uneasy. I made them uneasy. The TV news for them was a horror show, and they much preferred to talk about local news, which was always the same and simpler to digest—"

"That's what I'm saying! Heads stuck up their asses, unaware of the truth!" Rogers blurted angrily.

Sandy looked at him sadly. "They aren't the only ones trapped in a bubble. Without listening to people, experiencing how they live, and truly seeing them as individuals... without that perspective, it's far too easy to put them all under comfortable little labels. Bumpkins. Monsters."

Roger leaned back as he clicked quietly.

"You've changed," he finally said.

Sandy snorted. "You think?" She smiled sadly. "I think I've grown up a lot in the past year. Visiting home was eye-opening." She suddenly frowned and looked away sharply, making him curious about what had happened to the woman who was once a small-town girl.

"It doesn't make them any less monsters," he said firmly.

"Roger, have you looked in a mirror recently? These days, you're not exactly the poster child for Humanity," she asserted.

"That's because I have a special purpose. I see the truth—"

"You see the shape! You see sound, don't you! You bounce sound off people and see their shape in the reflections. But that's only the surface! That's not who they are, who we are! Can't you see your lack of perspective has you trapped inside a bubble just as much as my parents are?"

Roger hissed at her as his rage built. "How dare you put me in the same categories as your simpleton parents!"

"They aren't simpletons! They're just people who've chosen to limit their perspective. Like you," Sandy insisted firmly.

Roger's teeth began to grow as he quickly lost control of his temper. He couldn't believe he'd once thought she was worth saving. She was just as poisoned as Tish and Dayshia.

No matter. She wasn't deadly like Dayshia. She was simple little Sandy but in monster form.

Pathetic and soon to be his dinner.

-=-

When Roger first called out to her, Sandy heard the voice of the man who once looked out for her like an older brother. She wanted to connect with that man and convince him he needed to stop.

Now, she saw that his concern may have just been his ego attempting to assert some control over his perception of her. He'd needed her to behave in a way he imagined she should. He didn't truly see her then and certainly didn't now.

As she spoke with Roger, she explained to Kesini how Roger saw using echolocation, how dangerous he was, and how they might survive. Her years in the ER had worn smooth any nervous reactions she had to hostile assailants. She could step back from those emotions and deal with them later.

When Roger moved to attack, Kesini suddenly ballooned out, each individual hair presenting the least amount of surface to reflect sound back to his eyes. All strands moved apart and pointed towards Roger's mouth, so his clicks passed along their length without reflecting the sound.

Kesini simply disappeared from Roger's perception.

He was already two large strides closer to Sandy, and she'd also taken two steps forward. He cautiously slowed his forward momentum. He could see Sandy perfectly fine and knew her heart rate was rapidly accelerating. She was frightened, and Roger's excitement spiked.

When Kesini drove dozens of steel-like strands of hair through Roger's red eyes, he yanked back. Kesini was prepared for this and curled the tips to cause twice the damage on the way out. Roger lost most of the surface of his eyes in the first seconds of his attack.

Screaming, Roger wildly slashed his long razor claws where Sandy had last been. He picked up the vibrations of her cry of pain on the intact corner of his left eye, so he pounced in the direction of the sound. A coil of hair wrapped around his throat, and he slashed again before it could squeeze. His claws made contact with Kesini and tore through her, severing her grip.

Sandy cried out again, and he surged forward, crashing into a concrete pillar of the building. Clever girl, he thought. Bouncing her scream away from her body.

Kesini pounded him against the pillar, and ribs broke, but he ignored the pain and spun again, claws splayed, catching the edge of Kesini's retreating coil and ripping away more strands.

"I'll eat you and heal. Nothing you've done is permanent. You lose," Roger hissed around his jagged teeth.

"Fuck you."

Roger grinned and jumped at Sandy's voice, smacking into the glass door Kesini yanked open before him. The shatterproof glass rang like a bell. He fell to his knees, dazed.

Sandy used Kesini's strength to grab Roger's arm and swing him against the building's brick façade.

He rebounded and threw a few slashes. Kesini lifted Sandy's suitcase like a shield, but Roger's claws tore through it, scattering her stuff across the sidewalk.

Sandy stifled her angry cry as she leapt back. She stepped on a bottle of conditioner and tripped, falling with a thud. Kesini pushed off the ground to set her back on her feet, but Roger swept forward with another slash that cut a large bundle from the hair.

Again, Sandy stifled her cries, but now it was from pain. She felt Kesini's life being whittled away as she grew weaker with every slash. Each cut was a raw wound, shattering Sandy's concentration. Kesini picked up the trip hazards, including the bottle of shampoo. Sandy grabbed the large bottle and yanked the top off. Roger swung his head in her direction and caught a large splash of the thick liquid directly across his face and injured eyes.

He roared and slashed in all directions as he tried to clear the remains of his vision. She hit him with another splash in the eyes. Hissing, he swung so wildly he slipped on the slippery stuff and fell onto his stomach.

Kesini slammed a maintenance cover, edge first on the back of Roger's neck. It was the only weapon available to the weary, injured being, but the heavy iron disk cracked the concrete beneath as it separated Roger's head from his body. Both spasmed violently, then slowly went still as the head rolled to stop by Sandy's feet. His mouth worked in shock, then life slowly faded until he went still. His teeth shrank as his body shrank back into its Human shape. Sandy kicked Roger's head back to his body, then collapsed onto her ass on the curb, utterly spent. Only now, when the fight was over, did she allow herself to notice the cuts Roger gave her. Thanks to Kesini, none were too deep, but they hurt like nothing she'd ever experienced. She gathered Kesini in her arms and began to cry. Sitting so close to the ground, she was immersed in the green light but didn't care.

"Sandy? What's wrong? What happened?"

She cried out in relief as Henry called to her. She looked up to see him but she was alone. "Henry?" she called timidly.

"I'm here. What's wrong with Kesini?"

Sandy pushed herself to her feet, lifting her head above the green light, but she was still alone. She looked down at the light. Henry couldn't be in there, could he? She sat once more. "Henry?"

"I'm here. What's wrong with Kesini? I can barely feel her," he said softly.

She realized he was traveling outside his body again. "Roger attacked us. He's dead, but Kesini was badly hurt."

Suddenly, Henry was inside her mind, and she could feel his. He was... drunk? His happiness was off the rails; everything was beautiful, and he loved everything! Sandy fought to contain her own giggles as his joy was contagious. He lifted her arm towards Roger's body, which dropped through a hole that suddenly appeared under it. The evidence was gone, and the hole snapped shut.

Next, she felt Henry drawing power from the light around her, filling her cells from her toes upwards. Each scrape and gash tingled madly as they were reached, and as the power rose past them, she saw her injuries sealing and healing. They itched like mad, but she managed to keep herself from scratching. The intensity of the green light around her was dimming as Henry drew upon the Wild Magic.

When the energy reached her scalp, she felt Kesini suddenly wake. She sensed the being sighing contentedly as the Wild Magic fed along each strand, healing and growing them where necessary. Soon, Kesini was back to full length and strength. She thrashed around, searching for Henry, desperate to hug him, but he wasn't there. Sandy calmed her as best she could by pulling her close.

"Henry, you need to go back to your body," Sandy said, but she could feel him slipping away. "Henry!"

Weary from the ordeal, Sandy looked around her and saw the ruins of her suitcase and its contents. She began picking up her items and dumping them into the case's intact side as best she could. Kesini put the manhole cover back and scooped up the rest of her scattered clothes.

She made her way into the building with a sigh, spotting the building manager, Johann Bruger, watching her with wide eyes. The lobby was otherwise empty. He stepped closer, his hands clenched together almost as if in prayer.

"You have my eternal gratitude and utmost admiration for dispatching a creature my grandparents spoke of in frightened whispers. I never thought I would ever bear witness to their evil as the night hunters were thought to be extinct. I don't understand how you did it but thank you!" The diminutive man bowed to her, and she wearily nodded to him before walking away to the elevators.

Belatedly, she realized her glamor had been in place during the entire fight, so it would have appeared like she had telekinetic powers. She'd also failed to use her shield, but she didn't know if it worked against physical attacks. She shook her head weakly as she pressed nine and headed upstairs.

Once inside her unit, locked safely behind her door, she dropped her suitcase on the floor and crawled into bed to have a good long cry, releasing her fear and tension now that it was safe to do so.

Kesini wrapped herself around Sandy to give her what comfort she could.

Chapter 37

Minkah drove the rental car into the underground parking lot of the Manhattan investment house. She looked in the rearview mirror to see if the green light would follow them down the ramp, but it didn't, so it wasn't completely mirroring how water behaved. She didn't understand this new magic at all!

The Vampires didn't seem to be affected. Henry appeared to be able to control it, though she'd been informed he was a conduit, not a wielder, and the Silver People keeping pace with their car seemed to enjoy it. When she'd been immersed in the light at the containment facility, she barely managed to switch back to her Human form to dispatch the shooters. Her abilities were suppressed by the Wild Magic.

That made her very nervous.

Meixiu pointed to the visitor spot she'd been instructed to use. Minkah stepped from the car and immediately prepared for an attack as she saw four large men rushing towards them. They slowed when they noticed the four silver escorts standing by the vehicle.

Meixiu moved in front of her, gesturing to remain calm. "It's okay. They work for Roy. They're here to help with Henry." The smaller woman opened the rear door, where Eleanor gently slid out, pulling Henry after her. The security officers took over carrying Henry back towards the elevator lobby, and they followed.

"Here are your keys," Minkah said, tossing them back to Raymond.

"Do you think the rental place will be open in the morning?" he asked with a strange wistfulness.

She watched him, and the thought of what the morning would bring stuck in her head. She could only shrug.

They walked past the elevators and entered the stairwell, taking them down two more levels where one of the agents touched a wall pad, and the door opened automatically. They guided Henry's body inside where the tall blonde she'd seen in the museum with Henry stood waiting with an anxious look on her face.

"This way," she said as she led them through a hall and opened double doors into another large chamber with a large round boardroom table circled by chairs. Beyond that was a medical gurney with an IV prepared.

Eleanor went immediately to inspect the IV and nodded to herself. Once Henry was laid on the gurney, the doctor went to work. The four security officers left to head back upstairs.

Minkah quickly scanned the occupants in the room. It was quite a gathering, and she noticed four wearing cloaks. Glamor issues?

The far doors closed, and she felt a slight change in pressure.

"Okay, we have privacy," a tall, lovely brunette stated.

One of the cloaked figures pointed a long, boney finger at the Silver People. "Who vouches for them?"

The big redhead man was listening to his earpiece. "Hang on, we have another guest." He nodded to his man by the door, and they opened again.

Minkah watched Rand von Deussel enter the room. He got three steps inside and froze when he saw the Silver People. His face went into a scowl. "What the hell? What are they doing here?" His eyes locked on Minkah with more than a little anger in them.

"They've been quite helpful," Minkah replied.

Rand's eyes went to Henry on the gurney. "What about him? He's the source of all this misery outside!"

"Your containment center was compromised, and all the inmates are either dead or have escaped. Henry's not the source. Mab is. We heard her! Besides, Henry remains in my custody," she explained.

Rand snorted with a sneer. "So, you believe that story too. You think he's in your custody? Is that what he told you?"

The doors were sealed again with the privacy field in place.

Minkah glared at the dwarf.

What was his problem?

-=-

Rand knew they'd have one chance to catch them all by surprise and put an end to the source of the chaos. He quickly categorized the threats in the room.

Roy Duncan was an Alpha Were, but he looked tired. His beast-like natural state would make him vulnerable to their initial attack.

The assassin was also a beast, so she was equally susceptible, as were the Succubi, for slightly different reasons.

The old Fae was already bruised and bloody. She had no glamor, so her magic must have been suppressed by the Wild Magic outside. She was a minimal threat and would likely be taken out by the initial attack as well.

The Silver People and a few others were unknowns, so they'd have to be careful and strike their target with deadly accuracy.

It was showtime.

-=-

Marisa and Siobhan were standing on the far side of Henry's gurney, watching him slowly breathing. Meixiu was whispering into his ear, but he wasn't returning. Siobhan had been visiting Marisa when the skies fell, so she tagged along when Camila picked Marisa up.

The brunette smiled at Lorelei as the tall woman approached. "Hello, I'm Siobhan, and this is Marisa."

"I'm Lorelei. Is he okay?" the pale beauty timidly asked as she gestured to Henry.

"His mind is traveling outside his body, and Meixiu is trying to get him back," Marisa explained as she frowned in concern. "He usually responds to her compulsion."

Lorelei's eyebrows went up. "Compulsion?"

Marisa smiled slightly. "She's a Vampire. It's one of their skills."

Siobhan was watching the Dwarf who'd just arrived, and something was wrong. There was a suppression of magic surrounding him. A shield or some other kind of defense caused the flow of magic to avoid him.

She reached out to grip Marisa's arm just as his eyes found hers.

Marisa's eyes flicked to Siobhan's, which were widening with alarm. She quickly glanced towards the new arrival and opened her sight. Death radiated from the dwarf. Reacting, she leapt forward, pulling Siobhan up against the gurney as she engaged her shield.

Startled, Lorelei took a step back from them.

Then all hell broke loose.

-=-

Rand's collar popped open, and Lise-Anne flew out of concealment, slapping her tiny hands together to launch her attack spell. Immediately, the air in the room was filled with fungal spores.

As expected, Roy and Minkah reacted first, choking on the air as it infiltrated their sensitive sinuses. The Fae investigator gasped as she dropped to the floor. The cloaked Succubi behind her soon followed.

Lise-Anne quickly launched her second spell. While the fairy folk were eternally underestimated due to their diminutive size, a senior member like Hoek had centuries of experience building her skills to access and control magic. She was master level, so her next spell sent a tight beam of intensely hot plasma directly at the unconscious Satyr and the females crowding around him. Everyone in its vicinity instinctively flinched away to avoid the energy ripping through the air.

The beam struck a domed shield over the group and rang it like a huge bell as it deflected up to cut through the ceiling. This triggered the sprinklers, whose spray began to clear the spores from the air.

Rand dropped his glamor and pulled his dual war axes from their harness with a mighty battle cry. He launched himself across the room at the Satyr's defenders. The deadly honed edges of his weapons hungered to bite into the flesh of his enemies. He rarely carried the enchanted axes as he couldn't draw them without feeding them, but their magic cut through almost everything.

An explosion of white light slapped him back towards the door. Lise-Anne was knocked from the air as well and slammed against the wall. She fell to the floor, unconscious. The remaining airborne fungal spores were reduced to fine ash from the Wild Magic in the intense light. Those who fell from the fungus choking them felt the light pass through them, helping to clear their sinuses.

Sigrid stood between the attackers and Henry, her battle armor gleaming with her righteous fury. She looked to the four stunned Silver People. "Defend Henry. The Dwarf is mine."

-=-

Sam reached a hand to Jeannie, who grabbed Brenda's free hand as she held Jake's. Time appeared to slow as their perceptions sped up.

"It's like we just got sucked into the middle of a war! What the fuck do we do?" Jake asked.

Sam snorted. "Depends on who you believe? The people defending the guy who turns into a goat-man or Snow White's eighth dwarf, Ragey. The little guy brought his own laser-firing Fairy! I felt the heat of that beam as it shot past my head.

"He's a Satyr, not a goat man, and that laser would have burnt a hole right through him had it hit," Jake corrected.

"Do you think he could be responsible for that mess outside?" Brenda asked.

They were quiet momentarily as they recalled the events in the forest clearing.

"That screaming voice we heard. The one the Satyr guy called Mad Mab. She was pretty pissed at him for interfering with her vengeance. I think she sounded like the big bad in this situation," Sam suggested.

"I don't like her," Jeannie offered, and Brenda nodded seriously.

"I think that means we side with the Satyr and do as the shiny lady asks," Jake reasoned.

Sam glanced at the players in this battle. The spell the fairy cast first knocked many people out of commission right from the start. He saw some coming around, coughing and sneezing to clear their lungs and noses, but most were still down for the count. The doctor and her husband weren't the fighting kind, and he had his arms protectively wrapped around her.

The big redhead had pushed himself to his feet and changed into a huge, vicious-looking werewolf in a blink. Sam saw another blink to his right, and the lovely brunette woman was also on her feet. She now had shiny black and red skin and looked like something out of a fetish film. Very sexy... except for the razor-sharp claws she now had and the totally pissed-off expression on her face.

"Form a wall between the bad guys and the Satyr! Stay linked!" Sam said, and they moved as one.

Through their link, they shared their fear of the laser bolts. None knew if their shiny skins would reflect it, so they agreed to leave that to the force field the Satyr seemed to be under.

Sam now wished he'd brought along the soldiers.

-=-

Colonel Crane was in the middle of a storm of organized chaos. He was standing in a control room with dozens of soldiers gathering intel from stations worldwide. Reports were coming in of sightings of non-human invaders. Not huge groups of them, just singles or groups smaller than half a dozen. It was the fact that it was so widespread that was confusing. None of the sightings reported violence. None after the swirling green light began playing music, at least. There had been some bloodshed and panic initially, but that seemed to have settled down. People were remarkably calm about this turn of events.

"Are we under attack?" General Baines shouted angrily.

Crane shook his head as he frowned at the General's agitation. He was tempted to ask them to play the green light music in the control room.

He glanced over at Hugh, leaning against the wall, watching them with his crooked smile. Their eyes locked briefly, and he swore he felt the man's amusement. Sighing, he looked back at the General. "No. This bears none of the signs of being a military action. Have the scientists had any success in getting any readings on the green light?"

Stephen Dawes shook his head. "The only information we are getting from them is that the light behaves like a liquid. They're fascinated," he growled in frustration.

"What are your thoughts on this?" Hugh asked calmly from the side of the room.

Crane couldn't shake the impression that the man knew more than he let on and was just watching them struggle to grasp the truth. He had nothing to prove his gut feelings, so he tried to push them back.

"The appearance of the light coincides with the sightings of these non-human beings. Knowing what we do about the Silver People, the fact that they are humans changed by the materials found in the pseudo-clouds, which seem to come from another place, I think we may be looking at another form of transformation. These may be humans changed by the green light." He looked to Dawes in frustration. "We need a new way to measure something we can't see."

Dawes's expression froze for a moment.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Hugh offered, and the Director jolted slightly as he returned from his thoughts.

Stephen shook his head gently like he was trying to shake free a blocked memory. "It was just something I heard someone say about seeing what can't be seen. He said sometimes you have to look at what's missing to find what's hidden in plain sight."

"Who was this?" Hugh asked.

"Henry Gable. The tech genius we tried to recruit because he discovered processors capable of performing Quantum Tunneling."

Hugh's eyes lit up, and he glanced at Crane, who was watching him.

The Colonel recalled talking about this young man. "Right, he went missing in that pseudo-cloud attack on the capital. You found him later, as I recall." Dawes nodded. "He discovered Quantum Tunneling in processors? What does that mean?"

Stephen shook his head. "All I know is that it made a room full of professional eggheads completely lose their shit." His expression turned serious. "I'm being told it represents a completely new era in computational power. A major leap forward, and none of my geniuses have the slightest clue how it works, but they all agree that it does."

Crane's cell rang, and he saw it was the Sergeant. "What's the situation?"

"Definitely FUBAR, Colonel. May I assume the green light is at your location as well?"

"You may. It's global," Gordon replied.

"Ah, okay. Just so you know, the light contains the same energy as the strike zone on the mall, just not as intense. We're picking up a charge from it, which has been helpful due to what we found here.

Our midwestern agents led us to a secret underground facility in Hainesburg, New Jersey. That's about an hour due west of Manhattan. When we arrived, we encountered a battle in progress, and that's when it got weird. I'll give you a more detailed report later, but I can tell you the two groups of combatants were not human. We had to use deadly force with the two giants as they wouldn't surrender."

"Giants?" Gordon interrupted.

"Yes, sir. Eight feet tall, tusks from their lower jaw, and built like tanks. One slapped Yablonski hundreds of yards away. It actually managed to knock him unconscious, but he seems fine now. The other combatants are... well, I think they're werewolves." When the Colonel remained quiet, she continued. "It seemed like they were ready to continue fighting, but they all just stopped. I overheard one saying their boss was dead. That really took the fight out of them. We don't have any means to restrain them as they're stronger than our zip ties, so we have a dozen of them sitting on the ground with guards posted around them.

We did a preliminary inspection of the facility. It looks like a farmhouse on the surface, but below ground is some kind of prison or medical center, but the kind where the patients are locked in their rooms. We found three dead bodies inside three of the rooms, two from close-range gunshots to the head and one with no visible signs of trauma, though the room was destroyed like a bomb went off."

"Where are the midwestern agents now?" the Colonel asked.

"During the battle, before the green light fell, we could hear some intense screams of rage a short distance away, which shook the ground, but we were too busy fighting to be able to investigate. Afterward, Sam stopped by to ask us to meet them in Times Square when we were done."

"One second, Sergeant," Gordon said to Mick. He spotted and flagged down the tech who'd been getting him reports on the movements of the Silver People. "I need tracking for the original midwestern Silver People between Hainesburg, New Jersey, and Times Square in Manhattan. Use satellite and traffic cam footage." The soldier nodded and rushed to his terminal.

Gordon went back to his call. "Any sign of who might be running this secret prison?"

"We found no documents at all. It looks like a paperless operation. There are computers, though, so maybe there's a server room. We need an inspection team up here," she explained.

"Sir! I found them!"

Gordon looked over in surprise at the tech. "Hang on again, Sergeant." He walked over to join the tech as the General, Dawes, and Hugh joined him to peer over the tech's shoulder.

The man looked back at the Colonel and received a nod to begin. "The traffic cams caught the four Silver People running with traffic—"

"Keeping pace with the traffic?" Gordon interrupted. The tech nodded as he looked back in question, so Gordon explained. "They can outrun any vehicle on the road and often run faster than the eye registers. If they're going that slow, they may be following someone. Look for vehicles that remain in their vicinity."

The tech looked back to the screen and rolled the footage he'd flagged forward and backward to see if a common vehicle existed in all the scenes. He paused the screen, showing a dark sedan. "Yes, sir. This one."

"Get the plate and run it. Where are they going?" the General asked.

"The car turns up this road, and the traffic cam on the next street north doesn't show it coming out. They stopped somewhere on that street. Lots of financial companies in this neighborhood," the tech noted.

The men sitting at the terminal pulled up the listings, and Dawes sucked in a sharp breath. Eyes turned in his direction.

He looked a little embarrassed, but he forced his expression to clear. "It could be a coincidence, but VRL is on that street." At the blank looks, he continued. "The company Henry Gable works for."

More looks were exchanged, then Gordon shook his head. "Too many hints to be purely coincidental. We need to have a little talk with him." He lifted the cell to his ear as he peered at VRL's address, reading it aloud. "Sergeant, I need you to take the team to that address and collect a man named Henry Gable." He looked to Dawes. "Do you have a picture of him?"

"I'll get you one," Dawes said as he pulled his cell out.

"Sir, what about the prisoners?" Mick asked.

Gordon knew if he mentioned them to the General, his answer would be to terminate them. Something told him that wasn't the route to take here. He was going with his gut.

"Their leader is dead? Ask them what they're going to do."

"Yes, sir," Mick replied, and he heard the relief in her voice.

There was a muffled conversation, and the Sergeant was back on the line. "They received a command from their new leader to go home and wait for an assessment."

"Who's their new leader, and where can we find him?" Gordon asked.

After another brief conversation, the Sergeant was back on the call. "Roy Duncan. He's also at VRL."

Gordon looked to Dawes with a grim expression. "Sergeant, you have your orders. Top priority, and don't spare the horses. Get to VRL and take these two people into custody."

"Yes, sir!" She hung up.

"Are you going to fill us in on the details?" Baines growled.

Gordon nodded. "I think I may have to amend my previous theory. The Sergeant and her team followed the midwestern agent to a small town in rural New Jersey, where they encountered a battle underway between two giants and a group of werewolves. I believe some of these beings may already be in place, somehow disguised as humans. Maybe the green light is breaking their disguises, which is why we're suddenly receiving reports of them appearing all over the world."

"Giants and werewolves? Really?" the General complained.

"But Silver People are more reasonable?" the Colonel retorted and got a scowl from the General. "Listen, the labels giants and werewolves are just placeholders until we get more information. I don't like this any more than you do, but these are how the facts seem to be lining up. We need to speak to these two people from VRL."

"What about the monsters?" Baines demanded.

"The non-humans?" Crane said to correct him and received a scowl. "The giants are dead. We've identified and are about to capture the leader of the werewolves. The rest aren't important right now."

"You let them go?" Baines yelled in outrage.

"General, the Colonel's right. His team has more critical targets to acquire and no time to waste," Hugh suggested.

Dawes looked uneasy but nodded as well.

"Perhaps we should join them in New York?" Hugh continued.

"Yes," Gordon said firmly, and eyes turned his way. "It feels like something is escalating, and signs are pointing to VRL as at least one of the focal points." He held the General's eye. "My Sergeant just informed me that the green light covering everything outside contains the same energy as the strike zone but not as strong. It comes from the same source as the pseudo-clouds. We don't seem to be able to measure it with our instruments, but it can be felt."

Gordon saw the others were absorbing that information. "We're missing a significant detail. As the man said, sometimes you have to look at what's missing to find what's hidden in plain sight."

He looked into the eyes of the other men. "Let's go meet the missing piece."

Chapter 38

Being inside a ringing bell is not a pleasant experience, but it beats being incinerated by a beam of white-hot plasma.

Marisa pulled Meixiu and Siobhan to her sides, and they glanced up at her in dazed confusion. "You're going to have to brace me! I'm going into Henry's mind to find him!" she exclaimed. She felt them wrap their arms around her and take a grip on the gurney. She was now pinned to its side. She looked down at Henry's sleeping form and placed her hands on his forehead and chest. Clearing her thoughts, she let her mind sink into his.

She was swept away by the raging current of the Wild Magic circling the planet. The sensation of falling was terrifying, but she focused on the feeling of Henry's presence. She needed to reach him.

"Henry!" she cried out.

She felt him all around her but spread so thin. His attention swung towards her, glacially slow.

Agony shot through her, and she heard shrill laughter. It was Mab enjoying the pain she inflicted upon Henry and, subsequently, Marisa.

As quickly as the pain appeared, Henry eased it with soothing waves of coolness. She felt his focus returning, and his presence began to solidify.

"What are you doing? Henry asked her, his voice stronger and coming from the space before her.

As they were still joined, mind to mind, Marisa felt him splitting his attention between her and attacking Mab. There was another part of his mind he was keeping hidden. How was he doing this?

She pulled her attention back to answer him. "Your body is back at VRL in the boardroom, but we're being attacked by the Hidden Races Council members!" Marisa exclaimed.

A bloodcurdling scream of agony and rage cut through the space around Marisa. Suddenly, Henry was standing before her in all his Satyr glory. He grinned at her playfully. "Mab found my prickly pear cactus land mine traps. That should distract her for a while. Come with me!"

He took her hand, and she suddenly realized he'd also given her a physical state. She glanced down at herself and discovered she was in her true shape. She could feel his strong hand in hers, and her next awareness was of standing on a rocky cliff overlooking the rough moonlit ocean.

"What? Where?"

"Ireland. Specifically, the island's northwest corner overlooking a rocky crag called Carrickhesk." He pointed out into the darkness. "Can you see what's balanced atop the rock spire?" he asked.

She peered into the murk. "No! It's too dark."

Henry smiled and handed her some binoculars he seemed to pull out of thin air. "Abracadabra! Try these."

She hesitantly looked through them, and there was Mab's castle, precariously balanced upon the rock. She gasped as she recognized it from the night Nate was kidnapped. She lowered the binoculars from her eyes. "Nate's in there."

Henry looked at her in surprise. "No! He's on Eden. Didn't DJ tell you guys?"

Marisa shook her head. "I don't know who that is."

Henry's grin changed to a look of disappointment, then worry. Finally, he pushed that aside. "Nate's on Eden. He was pretty messed up emotionally when I freed him from Mab's castle—" Some movement on the horizon distracted him. "Ah! We've got company at ten o'clock."

Marisa lifted her binoculars and saw a tiny dot on the horizon. "Who is that?"

"It's a surprise!" Henry giggled.

Marisa looked at him closely. His eyes seemed glassy. "Henry? Are you drunk?"

"What? No!" He laughed, then paused and smiled in confusion. "I don't think so. I don't recall drinking anything." He glanced in the direction of the castle. "Hang on a second. I gotta lift a skirt." He bounced his eyebrows at her, then took a wide stance as he faced the castle. He bent his knees and reached his arms out like he was bear hugging a tree. Then he grunted as if he was trying to uproot that tree.

Marisa watched as his muscles bunched and swelled. He groaned from the effort, and his legs began to straighten out as he lifted... something extremely heavy and invisible. He bent backward just a little, then held the position.

"What are you lifting, Henry?" Marisa asked quietly.

"Shield," he grunted. His muscles were trembling from the effort.

Marisa lifted the binoculars once more and looked towards the castle. How such a huge structure could balance on such a small piece of rock was beyond her understanding. The shield over it was still invisible, but if she imagined a dome over the castle and Henry lifting it, based on his movements, there might be a ten to fifteen-foot gap at its base on the far side now. At the last second, she caught the flash of the rockets on several missiles, pushing them forward through the invisible gap to strike the rock with devastating effect. A second barrage of missiles shot in under the protection, though one was a little high and exploded against the shield. A jet shot by overhead as a third and final set of slower-moving missiles struck the small rocky island with an enormous concussive blast. Marisa threw up her hands to protect her face as the blast and the rocky shrapnel reached them, but it flew through her without impact. She'd forgotten she wasn't actually there.

With a gasp, Henry fell back on his ass, panting from the effort. Marisa was stunned by how real everything felt but was grateful it hadn't included being hit by the debris. She wondered if Henry needed the structure of physicality and translated his mental effort into its physical requirements. Her eyes glanced at the retreating jet.

"What happened?" Marisa said.

"The shield is gone," Henry sighed as he pushed himself back to his feet.

Immediately, the hillside came alive with Hidden Races Council soldiers, all wrapped in black cloaks. None could see Henry or Marisa. The soldiers ran to the cliff's edge and began preparing their invasion of the castle. Henry guided Marisa to the side to avoid being walked through.

"Are you going to the castle?" she asked.

He shook his head. "It's not there. I felt it move when the supports sheared off in the last explosion."

Marisa looked through the binoculars and then back at him. "I can still see it!"

"That's just the false one we were in when Mab was visiting Manhattan," he explained. "It's a trap. Once you're inside, it'll disappear into nothingness. The physical one isn't here anymore."

Marisa shuddered as he looked through the binoculars at the smoldering rubble of the small island. "So, she escaped?"

He turned to Marisa. "No, she's back on top of that office tower in Manhattan. The Castle was moving when it jumped out. I wonder what effect that had on its arrival there. Shall we go see?" he said with a grin.

She noticed his eyes were still glassy, so something was affecting him here like alcohol did. "Yes, let's get back to our real bodies!"

He glanced up. "She made quite a mess. It took me so long to fix all the rips and tears she'd made." He froze, then looked back at her with wide eyes. "That's why the healing spell is so saturated! She must have flooded the spell with Wild Magic," he gasped.

She recalled her former urgency, so Marisa took his hand. "Henry, take me back to my body. I've never left it before. Certainly not for this long. Will I be able to get back?"

Fright appeared in his eyes.

The sensation of being tossed along on a raging current returned with a vengeance, but this time, she felt Henry guiding them, timing their leap from torrent to stream.

She no longer had a body, nor did Henry, but she could feel his mind surrounding hers and picked up his worry for her. She wanted to assure him, but all she could do was concentrate on who she was as she began to feel a lethargy creeping over her.

Henry's lips were on hers, and he blew air into her lungs. His hands were on her chest, and he was about to start compressions when she gasped a breath.

He touched her face and pressed his forehead against hers, and she felt his tears drop onto her face.

"You've come back to me. Please promise me you won't ever try that again," Henry whispered.

"The baby?" she gasped softly, fearful of what her reckless act might have caused.

"She's fine. Perfect," he said, resting his hand over her belly.

Marisa's eyes widened. "She?"

"Can you two stop making googly eyes at each other and help?" Siobhan growled.

Meixiu swooped down to hug Henry. He returned it as he suddenly became aware of the battle raging around them. The buzz he'd felt while immersed in the Wild Magic was gone, and reality was sinking its teeth into him once more.

The air was foul, and everything was soaking wet. Almost every surface showed scorch marks. The boardroom table and chairs were destroyed, and black ichor was splashed everywhere.

Huddled behind the energy shield that Marisa was somehow keeping active, he saw an ashen Lorelei kneeling next to a prone Camila, who had a nasty gash on her side. Her glamor wasn't active as she was stronger in her Succubus form. Four people in cloaks were behind them, with two others he assumed might be Meixiu's Vampire friends.

Minkah was unconscious and had a terrible scorch mark on her left shoulder.

A bolt of plasma was fired across the room, and the Silver People standing between them and the battle leaned away from the heat. It struck the energy shield, and Marisa cried out as her energy was finally exhausted. She passed out, and their protection was gone.

Henry felt the dome of energy flicker and fade and realized everyone protected by it was now at risk.

Rand shouted another battle cry as he rolled past Roy, giving him another gash on the leg as he passed. The dwarf immediately hopped to his feet and charged directly at Henry. Leaping into the air, he swung his axes at the silver guardians. They moved faster than the eye could track to grab his wrists, but he was stronger than they expected, and the blades continued their arcs toward their necks. Either they let go to jump away, or the axe blades would connect.

Henry's big Satyr fist shot forward to connect with Rand's face, smashing the dwarf backward, blood spraying outward from his crushed nose.

The axes fell from his nerveless grip as Rand fell to the ground, unconscious and bloody from the Satyr's punch. The Silver People moved in a blur to safely snatch the falling weapons out of the air.

Henry looked to where Sigrid was battling two demons. A third was dead, bisected, and collapsed against the wall.

Who the fuck unleashed demons?!?

He could feel energies collecting across the room for another deadly plasma bolt. He couldn't let Lise-Anne finish that. As he charged across the room, he suddenly realized he wouldn't get there in time. He reached inside to see if he had any spells left after his battle with Mab and found one land mine spell. He didn't even let himself think as he flung a disk of Wild-Magic-infused light at the floor beneath the hovering fairy.

When the trap triggered against the floor, it flung its payload of prickly pear cactus upwards. Lise-Anne screamed as the needles pierced her skin and tangled her wings. Her blast was nudged off course and shot past Henry to punch a hole through one of the demons.

The odds now against its survival, the final demon made an attempt to run, but Sigrid thrust her spear through its head from behind.

Sigrid kicked the body loose from her weapon, then spun it to flick it clean. She approached Henry, who was inspecting his handy work. Lise-Anne couldn't move without a needle pulling out or poking in. He hadn't realized how effective the nature-based weapon would be on the fairy.

"A cactus? What kind of sicko are you?" Sigrid asked with a grin. Her eyes sparkled with joy at seeing him, but she was covered in the blood of her enemies, so she refrained from hugging him.

Lise-Anne was trying to say something, but it might have been a spell, so Sigrid lifted her spear and slammed the butt end against the fairy's forehead brutally hard. Confirming the Minister of Security was out, she looked at Henry's surprised expression. "Don't be fooled. They're tougher than you think."

With Lise-Anne out of commission, they turned to see Roy kneeling on Rand's back as he bound the dwarf's arms behind his back with Mary's help.

"Who unleashed the demons?" Henry asked.

"This asshole had three in a quantum paradox trap. He sprung them on me when he discovered his weapons couldn't get through my shield, and I hit harder than he did. Keeping enslaved demons as pets is a crime punishable by death, so I wouldn't feel bad about lopping the bastard's head off," Sigrid snarled.

Henry shook his head, then caught Camila's pained expression and rushed over to see her. The doctor, Eleanor, was giving him a worried look as she knelt next to her.

"We need to perform surgery now. The edge of this cut looks chewed!" she exclaimed.

Sigrid joined them but stayed back from the injured as she was still coated in demon blood. It was the only stuff that stuck to the Valkyrie's armor and body. "The dwarf was using enchanted weapons. Sharper, stronger, and the nasty things cause much deadlier wounds," she spat.

Henry looked to the two Silver People holding the axes. He tried to recall their names. "Sam? Jake?" They moved closer. "Can I ask you two to drop those weapons over there, a few feet away from the wall?"

"Uh, sure," Jake said.

When they moved back, Henry opened a small tear, and the axes dropped through. Heat poured up through the hole as the lava was only a few feet down. A terrible shrieking wail began, and words came through that none could decipher. This cut off abruptly when the tear snapped shut.

"NUH!" Rand jolted awake, hearing the cries. He thrashed around, looking around him, but he was securely bound. "Where... mmph—my axes!" he bellowed at Henry through his swollen face.

Henry held his eyes. "You shouldn't have used them on my friends."

"They were mmph... meant for you! Where are they?" the man roared.

Henry was becoming annoyed as he needed to help Camila. He glared at the dwarf. "They're melting down into their base elements in a lava flow."

Rand screamed and thrashed with insane fury, but he couldn't free himself. Everyone froze and watched his manic struggle. Panting as he settled down, he stared at Henry with death in his eyes. "You—you've damned the souls of my ancestors, who sacrificed their lives to be bound to Zult and Zort for vengeance and victory! I, Rand von Deussel, vow to end your miserable life and the lives of every single person you love—"

Rand disappeared through another tear. His screams had just begun when it snapped shut. Henry was shaking as he stared in shock at the spot.

Eleanor spoke gently. "Henry? That's done. We need to help the injured. Can we do that now?" This seemed to draw his attention back to the room. He glanced at the woman and nodded. He kept his eyes averted as he was afraid to see the fear and disgust he was sure he'd see in his friend's eyes.

He sucked in a surprised breath as Sigrid kissed his cheek. Siobhan and Meixiu pulled him into hugs, and he had tears in his eyes as his body began shaking again. Roy gave him a firm hug, and Henry clung to him.

"It's no time fer cryin'. We can do that later, aye? Now, we have work to do," Roy said quietly, and Henry nodded, getting control again.

"We... we need to be outside so I can draw on the healing magic," Henry muttered. He pulled the gurney over to Camila.

"Use the back patio," Sigrid suggested. "It's relatively private, yet open to the sky."

"Uh, we have a patio?" Henry asked quietly, wiping his eyes dry.

Sigrid looked at him in surprise. "Haven't you ever eaten your lunch out there?"

Henry awkwardly shook his head. "I usually eat at my desk or skip lunch."

"No more! You take your lunch hour and make sure you eat... outside your office," the Head of HR insisted.

Henry looked at her seriously. "That assumes life as we know it will continue after tonight."

They were all quiet as they contemplated that idea.

As they carefully lifted Camila onto the gurney, one of the cloaked women, a Fae, moved forward. "What do you intend to do? Are you a wielder?"

Henry looked at the ancient Fae's face and saw the burning curiosity in her eyes. The thing Xiong's doctor friend added to his brain meant he was, but he still couldn't really feel the magic. Would he call himself a wielder? He had some limited ability to make magic do things, but he was a long way from being an expert. "I'm a beginner at best. Considering I'm better at feeding power to others, maybe conduit is still a better term. We need to get upstairs to operate."

He looked at Minkah and saw she was still unconscious. "Raymond, can you carry Minkah upstairs as well?"

"I'll stay here with Marisa," Siobhan said, and he nodded.

Henry knelt down next to Lorelei, who didn't look so good. "What's wrong? What can I do?"

Her lovely eyes locked on his. "Hudson." Her voice was raw and hoarse.

His eyebrows went up. "The river? You need to get to the river?"

She nodded desperately.

His energy reserves were pretty low, but he had to try. He was actually finding it easier to open the rifts between the two dimensions, but keeping them open was where the effort remained. He concentrated on a clear section of the floor next to them, and it opened to show them red grasses. Keeping the first tear open, he created a second just below the first, just inches above the Hudson River. The strain of holding both open at the same time was terrible. "This is the Hudson just offshore from where I live," he said through clenched teeth.

Before he could say anything else, Lorelei leaned forward and dropped through the opening to fall into the river. Water splashed back onto the floor where she'd been only a moment before. Henry blinked in surprise at the dark waters, but she was gone. He let the tears close and stood to help move the gurney. He looked down at Camila, confused about Lorelei's departure.

"She's a Naiad. The river will take care of her. She's safe," the woman told him as her lips trembled from her pain. He lifted her hand to press it against his chest. He closed his eyes and willed the Wild Magic from the source inside him to feed her. He heard her suck in a breath and sigh. She was resting when he opened his eyes but didn't look as weary. Eleanor watched him with wide eyes, but he just ignored that until he saw the four cloaked women also watching him with interest. He turned from them to help get the gurney moving.

They wheeled the mobile bed around the fairy trapped in her cactus trap.

"We'll send someone to extract you soon," Henry mumbled as they passed.

Roy was listening to his earpiece and frowned. He looked to the others. "We have two groups of guests on the main floor. An attack squad from Hidden Races Council tried to storm the building, but my team put them down with gas. While they were putting restraints on them, a squad of Silver People in army uniforms entered lightning-fast and took control. My guys locked in the security office have the building locked down. No elevator or stairwell access, so we're safe here."

"That also means we're stuck here. We can't wait down here! Camila and Minkah need help, now," Henry insisted.

"If we go up, the secrets out—" Roy began.

"Oh, I think the secret's out already, without our assistance. Besides, if we don't stop Mab, she's going to extinguish all life," Henry insisted.

"What?" Jake gasped.

Henry looked to the four Silver People. "Mab's the mad, homicidal ex-queen of the Fae. She's vowed to murder her people for betraying her, then she'll kill us and everyone else. She's also one of the most powerful witches on the planet."

"She was the one screaming at you back in the forest?" Jake asked, and Henry nodded. "She's that dangerous, and you pissed her off?"

"She was going to kill everyone with the green light. I locked her out of the healing spell by adding my firewall code," Henry explained with a slight grin, which quickly faded as he looked at Roy. "She has plenty of other ways to kill, though. We have to go up."

The big redhead sighed and finally nodded to him grimly, then looked at Sam. "Can you explain to them we need to heal our friends before they do whatever they're here to do?" he asked.

"Yes, we can try."

Sigrid pointed towards the gym entrance to indicate she was going to wash up.

Roy and Mary guided the gurney into the first elevator, and Sam got in last to be the first off.

When they left, Henry called another elevator and stepped inside with Meixiu, who clung to his arm, Eleanor and Raymond, still carrying Minkah. The four cloaked females pushed on, then the three remaining Silver People.

The doors closed, but it didn't move. Henry eased closer to the door as he was the only one who could activate it. He pressed the lobby button, and the elevator moved.

When the doors opened, they faced the largest silver being they'd seen yet. He wore a tattered dress uniform.

"Can you give us a little space, GI Joe?" Jake asked belligerently.

The big silver man stepped back, holding Jake's eye until the others began leaving the elevator. "Which of you is Henry Gable?" he asked stiffly, glancing between Raymond and Henry.

Another Silver Soldier approached and pointed to Henry. "It's him according to the image we received."

"You need to come with me," the large soldier said, moving closer.

"I need to help my friends first, then I'm all yours," Henry said, pointing to the nearby gurney and Minkah.

"No, you're coming with me now!" he barked. His agitation seemed elevated unnaturally.

The soldier who'd identified Henry watched her fellow soldier with concern and spoke gently. "We don't need to go anywhere, Gunny. We just need to hold the fort until the others arrive."

"Sergeant, something unnatural is going on, and the General said this guy's central to it. He's not getting away this time."

"Unnatural? Says the big Silver Soldier," Henry said in frustration.

Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say to the agitated soldier as Henry suddenly found himself slammed face-first against a marble tile wall with his arm bent up behind his back.

"Gunny!" the sergeant cried.

Meixiu leapt at Henry's attacker, who slapped her from the air midleap. She fell to the floor in a crumpled ball.

Henry stared at her in shock, and his mind said enough. The silver man pinning him to the wall was strong, but he could be strong, too. He dropped his glamor.

He heard the big man make a noise of surprise as Henry's now much thicker arm ripped from his grip. His big hand gripped the soldier's face and gave him a mighty shove, making him stumble back. Henry opened a tear behind him before the man could regain his balance and snapped it shut after Gunny passed its threshold. Henry engaged his glamor again and quickly knelt beside Meixiu to check on her.

Sigrid came up with the next elevator and saw everyone frozen in place and staring at Henry. She glanced over at Roy, but he was just pinching the bridge of his nose wearily. She saw Meixiu sitting up tenderly. Henry looked to Sigrid with an anxious expression.

"I think she may have a concussion," he asserted.

"How did that happen?" Sigrid asked.

"Where's Gunny?" the soldier cautiously asked Henry.

"The asshole? He's cooling his heels on Eden," Henry said with a scowl.

The sergeant looked at Sigrid in question, who shrugged. "It's like an alternate dimension Earth, where the Glass People are now living."

"Sigrid!" Roy snapped.

"What! You heard Henry. We need their help against Mab, or none of us will survive," the tall blonde insisted. That sent a ripple of unease through the soldiers within earshot.

Eleanor knelt in front of Meixiu and examined her. She looked to Henry. "Yes, I think you're right. She may have a concussion. She'll be okay, though. We really need to address the axe wound."

"Axe wound?" the soldier asked weakly.

Sam approached. "Sergeant, I can fill you in faster," he said, holding out his hand. She eagerly gripped it. Seconds later, she let go and stared at the gathered people, her mouth working, but no sound came. Finally, she got control. "What do you need?" she asked Henry.

He relaxed and smiled. "We need to be outside, on the back patio, which is sheltered but open to the sky."

"Yablonski! Green! Dane! Inspect this patio and secure it from the street," the Sergeant called out. Three soldiers rushed past, each giving Henry a wide berth.

"I'm Mick," the Sergeant said to Henry, who nodded to her as he helped Meixiu to her feet. "Can we get Gunny back?"

"He seemed like he was freaking out. Maybe he's not coping with all the changes. Are you sure you want him back immediately?" Henry said, offering his wrist to Meixiu.

She looked around nervously, so Henry gently pulled her back to his chest and hid her from the others. He felt a brief prick, then a cool numbing of his wrist.

When he turned back to the Sergeant, the soldier stared at Meixiu with her mouth open again. The youthful-looking Vampire blushed in embarrassment.

"She needed a feeding to help her recover," Henry explained gently. Meixiu moved to stand with Sigrid.

"We-we need the marine back now, please. The General expects to see him when he arrives," the Sergeant insisted. "It'll be bad if he isn't."

Henry sighed. "It's draining to keep a tear open. I've opened too many already tonight. I'll try, but if he isn't close to where I dropped him, I'm not keeping it open as I need my strength for the operations."

She nodded, and Henry gestured for her to stand back. He concentrated and opened the tear again. The big Silver Marine leapt through the opening when it was large enough to take him. Something black was right behind him, and Henry cut its head off when he released the tear. Everyone shouted in surprise and jumped back, but the head of the black ribbon beast wasn't moving.

"What the FUCK!" the marine bellowed.

"Settle down, Gunny. Why don't you wait on the curb for the General to arrive," the Sergeant suggested.

The marine stared back at Henry, who just scowled at him. He looked down at the severed head, and a tremor went through him. He turned and walked away stiffly.

The Sergeant gestured for one of her people to follow him.

Roy pushed the gurney to Henry, who took over. Eleanor followed him with Raymond right behind. Two soldiers led them out, and two more, including the Sergeant, followed. The rest of Henry's friends stayed inside under guard.

When they were outside, Henry saw the first three soldiers sent outside were blocking the alley's access to the patio, walled in on the other three sides, the green light pooling on the deck. Raymond immediately placed Minkah on a picnic table. She moaned in pain quietly, and he stretched the strain from his tired muscles.

There was a commotion at the back door, and they looked back to see the old woman in the cloak trying to join them. One of the soldiers was blocking her.

"I need to see what he's doing!" she snapped.

The Sergeant looked at Henry, and he shrugged. "She's Fae. I've found most of them behave like her. I have no issues with her watching."

Mick gestured to her team to let the old woman through. Struggling to maintain her dignity in the cloak, the Fae joined them on the patio. Her old eyes glittered with curiosity.

The Sergeant stepped closer to Camila and took a picture of the wound. She glanced at Henry's surprised look. "It'll help explain why we left the building," she said as she stepped back.

Henry moved to Camila's side, lowered his face to hers, and kissed her tenderly. He pulled back and saw her calming with the wave of energy he'd just fed to her. "Before we begin, I'll give you a large dose of energy. This will help you ride out the operation. Hopefully, it will let you sleep through it. Eleanor is an amazing surgeon!"

Camila's eyes twinkled with joy as he lifted her hand to his chest once more.

"I'd prefer to be fed the usual way," Camila teased as she bit her lip sexily.

Henry's face warmed up. "Yes, well, not in polite company, and besides, you're injured. Hush now!" Once more, he willed the Wild Magic from his body to hers.

"Ahhh! Yessss..." she gasped, and her eyes rolled back. He pulled her hand away and rested it next to her. When he looked at Raymond and Eleanor, they did their best to hide their knowing smiles. He did his best to ignore that.

He addressed the surgeon. "We do it the same way we worked on your husband. I'll feed you the magic, and you use your will to form it into the necessary tools."

Eleanor smiled at him nervously, but he could tell she was excited to be operating this way again. He dropped his glamor and reached for his daughter, but she wasn't there. Panic clawed at him, but he fought his first instinct. It could just be Baba hiding her. He forced himself to accept that, as any other answer threatened to send him screaming into the night. He took some deep breaths and felt himself become centered once more.

He still needed the healing spell but didn't need to pull it to himself as he was surrounded by it. Instead, he reached into it and connected himself directly to the flow swirling around him. He grunted as he braced himself against the pull and dug his hooves in to keep himself in place. The current was too erratic, so he tried to think of a way to harness the river's power. Immediately, his mind latched onto the idea of a hydropower plant. It was close to what he needed, but this wasn't the same as writing software code. He needed to think of how he would design the model in his head. If he could maintain the complete design in his head, he could follow the same process of encapsulating the concept into a packaged spell. It'd worked with the coding idea.

Henry prepared a workbench in his mind. A clean, open workspace. He recalled the story he'd read as a child of Nikola Tesla designing the hydroelectric power plant in Niagara Falls. The components appeared, and he integrated them into the model he was building in his mind. He felt a thrill rush through him as it felt like he was connecting with the genius of the man who designed a way to tap into the majestic force of nature to power the homes of a nation.

Once he had his design, he had to test it. He let most of the current pass by untouched, but his intake gate, which regulated how much of the healing spell entered, directed the channel to the turbines. In his mind, they began to glow with the healing spell as they spun up to speed. His prototype worked! Binding this design into a package, he saved it as a prepared spell and let it run.

He lifted his hands, which began to glow a bright green from the excess power he was picking up. He dialed his intake back until there was just the soft glow he was used to seeing.

"I-I think I have it. Sorry, I couldn't use the previous method for pulling the healing spell to me, so I built a new one. Let me know if it feels different this time. Ready?" he asked Eleanor, and she nodded. He lowered his hands to her shoulders, and she suddenly gasped, so he lifted them off. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head firmly. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong. The energy just feels... sharper. More focused, like moving from a flashlight to a laser pointer," she said breathily.

"Are you okay?" Raymond asked in concern.

She smiled. "Yes! It's wonderful! So much power and potential! Let's try again!"

Henry again lowered his hands to her shoulders, and Eleanor got to work.

Her eyes were so much sharper with this new energy pouring into her. She peered closer until she was focusing at a microscopic level, seeing the smallest cellular tears. Distractedly, she formed a stylus with an equally tiny dot of the healing light at its tip. Her skilled hands, steadied by the magic's strength, guided the tool quickly along torn tissues inside the slash in the Succubus' side, mending the tissues in the deep wound. She repaired the organs first, then moved on to the connective and support structures. Finally, Eleanor worked her way out of the repaired gash until she was sealing the latex-like skin.

Once she'd finished, Eleanor closed her eyes and relaxed as she released her grip on the healing stylus, which faded away.

When Henry lifted his hands, Eleanor wobbled, and Raymond steadied her.

"That was incredible!" Mick gushed as she leaned in to take a picture of the area after the operation. She looked to the surgeon. "I've never seen this kind of surgery before!" She glanced around in confusion. "Where are your tools?"

Eleanor was tingling madly as the Wild Magic had soaked into her cells during the operation, and now, she was drunk with it. She blinked at the Sergeant, not really hearing her words over the buzzing in her head. She looked over at Mishka. "I'm sorry... Henry. I can't... operate on plasma burns. Damage... too great... too deep. It's dead flesh." She reached out and grabbed one of Henry's glowing hands to console him. Her body went rigid in Raymond's arm as her eyes rolled back. Raymond tugged her back, breaking her grip on Henry's hand.

The public defender stared at his wife in shock as the overload of magic warped her body, stretching her limbs. Her hair also grew in length as the color bled out until it was shockingly white.

"What's happening?" he cried.

Henry watched her wearily. "She'll be okay, but she's going to look different. She's received too much of the energy. It alters the body. It's what happened to Meixiu. I'm sorry. I didn't realize she'd absorb it, too."

Henry was suddenly staring into the bright eyes of the old Fae. He shut down his spell for channeling the power, and his hands stopped glowing. He disconnected himself from the Wild Magic's current and swayed as exhaustion caught up to him.

It suddenly came to him just how much he was breaking his original promise to himself to avoid using magic. Using these new tools was so seductively easy, especially when they were supported by his existing coding skills and knowledge. This last use was another leap away from his old self and a greater example of his acceptance of his new state. He sighed wearily as he faced the Fae.

"You really are a conduit! Can you charge wielders?" she asked with a slight desperation in her voice.

Henry shook his head. "The magic isn't compatible. I understand it's toxic to old realm wielders."

The old Fae pouted. "I've never seen magic used in his way. Who taught you how to control it?"

Henry shook his head. "Sorry, I've never had any lessons. It's kind of a learn-as-you-go experience. So far, I've managed to not kill myself, so that's a bonus."

He moved around the old woman to check on Minkah. Her eyes were slightly open but very glassy. "Hey. I'm so sorry you got hurt." He looked at her burnt shoulder, and his mind went to his experience with burns. A shudder went through his body as he tried to push those thoughts away. Looking closer at the burnt flesh, he realized he might be able to fix this, but he wasn't sure how safe it would be to run his healing program on someone else. He barely survived himself.

"Minkah? Can you hear me? Blink if you can understand me." She blinked slowly once and held his eyes. "I have a spell for healing burns, but I've only ever used it on myself. It's horribly painful, but it works."

"What do you mean you used a spell on yourself? That isn't possible!" the Fae barked.

Henry just glared at her, then looked back to Minkah.

"Do it."

He almost missed her words but saw the intensity in her eyes. "It's dangerous—"

"Do it!" she hissed.

Henry nodded and looked at the Sergeant and Raymond. "I'll need your help holding her still while the spell replaces all the dead tissues."

"That's impossible!" the Fae snapped again, but Henry ignored her.

Mick stepped closer and took a picture of the scorched flesh of Minkah's shoulder and upper arm. She moved down to stretch across the woman's legs at Henry's direction.

Raymond moved Eleanor's body to a second picnic table and gave her a troubled look before joining Henry.

"I ran this spell on myself when I was badly burned by a lightning strike—" He twitched at the memory but pushed on. "It sheds all the burned cells then replaces them with new cells—"

"Not possible—"

"Would you shut the fuck up?" Henry shouted at the old woman. "Not helpful! Either watch quietly or go back inside!"

The woman's mouth was opening and closing in shock at being addressed so rudely, but she shut up and watched.

"Thank you." Henry looked back to his helpers. "No glossing over the fact that the process really hurts. I passed out, but I'd set up the spell to continue autonomously until it was done—" He looked sharply at the Fae, who'd made a choking sound.

Looking into Raymond's eyes. "I need you to keep hold of her arms and upper torso. I'm going to stand at the top of the table to power the spell." He saw he had their complete attention. "Ready?" They grimly nodded as Raymond took his position.

Henry examined the spell he'd made for the burn. He created a copy in his mind as he'd have to change how it was powered since he didn't have the same linkage. He also ensured the instructions were generic enough for anyone with burns. When his new program was linked to his power plant spell, he connected himself to the Wild Magic stream once more, feeling it pull at him. Standing above Minkah, he looked down into her eyes. "I'm going to start now. Do your best to ride it out." She nodded slightly, so he placed his right hand on her upper chest to send the spell and the energy into her. His left hand rested gently on her left cheek to calm her and feed her power to survive.

He launched the spell.

Henry opened the intake on the power plant spell and felt the energy surge through him into Minkah's body. Raymond and Mick gasped as they were picking up the overflow.

Minkah shrieked as her shoulder began to dissolve. They watched in horror as the burned areas melted off her body. She roared with a mix of terror and rage as she thrashed under the tight grip holding her to the tabletop. The dead and damaged cells were gone, and the open wound was sealed in a coating of green light.

The new cells were rapidly growing and filling in the wound. Minkah's cries were strangled by the pain tearing through her. Her thrashing became more violent, and Mick called out for Yablonski to help her. The wide-eyed soldier rushed up to the opposite side of the table to grab one of Minkah's legs while the Sergeant held the other down.

"It's going well, Minkah. Almost done," Henry said gently as he poured energy into her body.

He was suddenly looking down at humanoid but very feline features. Under the stress of the pain, her human form shifted to that of a Bastet, and he was surprised at her elegant but alien beauty. The overall difference between her Human form and this true form wasn't enormous except for being covered in short black fur, larger eyes, feline pointed ears, a small T-shaped nose, and her jaws containing some nasty-looking fangs.

Slitted pupils glared up at him, mad with pain. She roared, then lifted her head to sink those fangs into his right forearm.

"GGGNNNN!" Henry grunted through clenched teeth, but he couldn't lift his hands from her body, or the spell would lose power, and Minkah would bleed out.

She was biting down so hard, and he was bleeding badly, but looking at her shoulder, he saw it really was almost done.

Minkah's jaws suddenly relaxed as she'd swallowed the blood. Her eyes closed as her head dropped back to the table.

Henry was still bleeding. He looked to Raymond. "You can seal the puncture wounds?"

He blinked at Henry in shock, then nodded.

First, Henry confirmed the spell had gone dormant, then he lifted his right hand and presented the punctured forearm to the Vampire. He quickly numbed the area with his tongue and licked the wounds until they closed.

Henry watched Raymond slump over Minkah's body, then slide off. The Sergeant caught him on the way down.

Minkah wasn't returning to her Human form. Henry wasn't sure how shapeshifters maintained their Human appearance. He began to worry that the Wild Magic he poured into her for healing had messed up her ability to change. He looked desperately to the old Fae, who frowned at him.

"Shapeshifters don't use glamors. Just wait," she snapped.

Minkah suddenly switched to Human faster than he could blink, and her Human state looked the same. He breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Henry stepped back from the table as his patient was healed, but the world kept moving. He was running on empty and had nothing left to control his legs under him. As he toppled forward, he saw Yablonski's frightened and desperate expression as the man tried unsuccessfully to catch him.

The Silver Soldier wasn't any more successful at cushioning his fall.

-=-

Mick looked at the fallen people and realized this hadn't gone as well as she'd hoped. She glanced at the old woman in the cloak, but she just had a sour expression as she spun and walked back into the building.

"Help! Mick!" Yablonski called out from the other side of the table. She walked around and saw that Yablonski was stuck under Henry, who looked human again, wearing a white t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. How the fuck does he do that? She had so many questions! She wondered if she would get answers to them. With Colonel Crane, there was a good chance she would.

She felt Henry's strong pulse and then worked with Yablonski to lift the big man enough to free her soldier. They gently rested Henry back onto the patio deck. They stood together and looked at the two resting and fully healed patients on the tables and the unconscious people who'd healed them. Only Henry looked unchanged by what had just occurred here.

The Sergeant moved closer to the woman Henry had just healed. She took a picture of the perfect, smooth skin where raw, cracked, and blistered skin had been before. Obviously, it was impossible, but she saw it happen. Her burnt skin was still on the ground under the table. She took a picture of that, too.

She looked to the tall man who'd helped hold her down; he'd changed as much as his wife had. While he'd only added two inches to his height, his hair was also long and white. His face had changed shape, too, though he could easily be taken as his brother or cousin as there was a strong resemblance to his original features. She looked to the surgeon, and her face was slightly longer with cheekbones to kill for. Damn.

Mick sighed. "Keep an eye on our sleeping beauties out here while I go in to get more assistance for carrying them back inside." Yablonski nodded as she left.

Inside, she found the group had moved to the lobby's seating area. General Baines was storming into the chamber with murder in his eyes and the marine at his heels.

"Where is he?" the General barked.

"Who, General?" Mick said as she saluted the man. She relaxed slightly as she saw Colonel Crane entering the lobby with the others.

"The man with the ability to open doorways to other worlds! The biggest security risk this world faces," the man snapped.

"He's not your biggest risk at the moment."

Mick turned to see the large red-bearded man standing a few feet behind her. Next to him was a blonde beauty who hadn't been part of the group she'd met at the elevators earlier.

"Would that be you, then?" Baines snarled.

The redhead snorted. "Not by a long shot. Your biggest opponent just landed her castle atop a twenty-story office tower in lower Manhattan."

The General paused as the words made no sense to him. "What? Landed her castle? It flies?"

"No, it... teleports from one spot to another, but this time, it was beginning to tip and fall at its point of departure. It brought that angular momentum to its destination. No idea how much damage its arrival caused to the office tower. I understand a British Air Force jet just unleashed a series of missiles against the tiny offshore island in Ireland—"

"Carrickhesk," added the lovely blonde joining him.

The big man nodded to her, then looked to the General. "This destroyed the foundations, so she had to quickly move her home to its alternate location, which is here in Manhattan. You can confirm these activities in both locations. Just don't get too close to the castle here. She's insane and extremely powerful."

Crane caught up to the General and gave him an annoyed look before looking at Mick. She offered him a nod to indicate all was good and saw him relax a little.

"I'm Colonel Crane, and this is General Baines of the US Army. There've been some unusual developments tonight, and they all seem connected to VRL."

Mick saw his eyes veer from the big man to someone approaching from the elevator lobby. The bold click of heels against polished granite made Mick turn to look as well, and her eyes widened to see an absolutely gorgeous woman in a tailored business suit approaching them. Something about her eyes drew your attention, but it was her lips flashing a brilliant smile that captured it.

It clicked in her mind. This was the black-latex-skinned woman who'd had the axe wound!

"Welcome to VRL, gentlemen. I'm Camila Villamor, the CEO. Maybe we could take this conversation to my office where it's more comfortable?"

"I'm not sure if that's such a good idea," Crane managed to say, and Mick's respect for the man skyrocketed.

"Colonel, I can vouch for Ms. Villamor's character and integrity, and so can Mr. Dawes here," Hugh said as he entered the lobby with the Director of Homeland Security. Dawes looked to the CEO, and his eyes widened, as did his smile. Mick turned back to gaze at Camila and approached her suspiciously.

"I bear no ill intent. I'm wearing my Human appearance for comfort alone. Their attraction is just part of my nature," Camila said quietly. "The Colonel is particularly impressive, though, isn't he."

Feeling somewhat reassured, Mick nodded to the woman with a slight smile.

Camila turned to the others waiting by the seating area. "Sigrid, would you collect Henry and carry him to my office?" The tall blonde nodded as the CEO looked at Mick. "Could some of your people bring the others as well? They're likely to sleep awhile longer."

Roy joined them. "Full disclosure time?" Camila nodded as the young blonde woman left Roy's side to join her.

Camila pulled the blonde into an embrace, pressing her lips to her temple. "This is Marisa, my daughter," she said in introduction. Then she looked into Marisa's eyes. "Henry saved me, but his energy is so much stronger now that it gave me a bit of a buzz!"

"Did you drain him completely?" Marisa asked.

"Apparently, I didn't, as he was able to heal the burns on the other woman and charged the two Vampires beyond their limit before he wore himself out and collapsed." At Marisa's worried look, Camila touched her arm. "I checked on him before I came inside. He's just sleeping peacefully." The young woman sighed gently and nodded.

Camila moved closer and turned her daughter to face the men who'd just arrived. "What do you see, Marisa?"

The younger woman looked uncomfortable, but she nodded and closed her eyes momentarily. When they opened, Mick saw they were glowing gently. The young woman looked towards the men. She sucked in a sharp breath and closed her eyes once more. She opened them to look at Camila. "The General is radiating fear, and his paths contain a lot of pain and violence. Mr. Dawes is surrounded by bleak, cold, and grim paths. It's impossible to read—" she glanced at Camila, then continued, "the tall man, but the Colonel's paths are the most hopeful."

"Are you reading their futures?" Mick asked cautiously.

Marisa smiled and shook her head. "No, I just see potentials. Many, many potentials, so the best I can do is give my impression of the people I read. I have no training, so it's by no means perfect." She paused as she looked at Mick, eyes glowing, then smiled widely as her eyes panned to take in the other Silver People.

"What? What did you see?" Mick asked nervously.

"Nothing! I can't read you or any of the Silver People at all! It's wonderful! Such a load off my mind," Marisa sighed.

Mick was disappointed, then gave herself a shake. Not knowing is always a healthier attitude.

"The General is frightened of change, and he's about to get pushed into a world full of it," Camila sighed.

Chapter 39

"So this... Mab is a master-level witch who can manipulate magic, a form of energy we cannot currently detect, to manifest changes in the physical world. She's also a psychotic killer who now has access to a much more powerful energy source," Crane clarified. "And she just crash-landed her castle into an office tower in Manhattan."

Camila nodded in satisfaction as she rested back against the cushions of the sofa in her office. Chairs had been set up in a circle facing the couch. Cots had been placed against the windows behind her desk so the unconscious could recover in peace, with the exception of Henry, who was resting on the sofa with his head on Camila's lap and his feet up on Sigrid's.

After the introductions had been made, everyone else took seats, Camila, Henry, and Sigrid facing General Baines, Colonel Crane, Stephen Dawes, and Huehuecoyotl or Hugh, as he'd introduced himself.

Roy, Mary, and Sam, representing his four, were next to Sigrid, while Nuru sat next to Camila with her attendants behind her. Investigator Kashellion was scowling beside the Succubi leader, with Marisa on her other side.

Meixiu and Siobhan were sitting with their sleeping guests, keeping an eye on them.

For once, Camila's office was not feeling very spacious, but with the boardroom a burned-out wreck, they couldn't use the larger room.

The Humans facing the sofa had an equal number of Silver and Human soldiers lining the office walls, though only the Human ones carried weapons.

Camila ignored the show of force and continued. "Last September, Mab hosted a party in her castle atop the same office tower. That was the night she kidnapped all those celebrities. You may recall the news story regarding that. Her magic door made those abductions possible."

The General scowled. "She can access any place she wants, bypassing all security measures? She could open a door into the Oval Office and take out our President with no way to stop her?"

Camila looked him in the eye as she shook her head gently. "That would be a rather overdramatic and meaningless gesture. Going after the leaders of countries is counterproductive. No, it's highly unlikely she would do that, as it's too small. Her goal is extinction." She shook her head. "Her last weapon was biological. It would have used the green light you see outside as the vector for worldwide distribution. She wants to wipe out the Fae as she believes they betrayed her. Then she'll kill off the rest of us. She especially wants Humanity dead as your actions are befouling the world we live in. This is actually her second attempt to eradicate the Human population that we're aware of."

The General was becoming agitated in his frustration. "If we were to accept your word about how much of a threat Mab is, why couldn't we just fire some missiles at her castle and take her out once and for all!"

Camila gestured to her daughter, who nodded and picked up the story. "Mab's castle was originally resting atop a small stone island in the North Atlantic just off Ireland's shore. It was surrounded by a dome of energy that could easily deflect any class of missiles you could bring to bear against it. A jet fired missiles that managed to strike the island because the energy field was lifted. This made a large sea-level gap for the weapons to reach the castle's support. Mab won't fall for the same trick twice. The next energy field won't be a dome. It will be a sphere entirely surrounding the castle."

"I call bullshit! Energy fields, my ass!" Baines snapped as he rose to his feet, his frustration boiling over.

Marisa stared at him and sighed. She was still exhausted from the battle in the boardroom but had some energy left. "I'm not a wielder, but I do have access to a personal field. I'm pretty worn out now, so it's not very strong, but I can give a demonstration if you'd like. You'll just have to imagine a field thousands if not millions of times stronger."

He gave a stiff nod, and she stood to step back to give herself some open space. She enabled the shield and felt it surround her. It was definitely not up to blocking anything major. A tennis ball would be a threat. "Okay."

General Baines walked towards the young woman and bounced back. He stared at her in surprise as he reached out a hand to discover what had pushed back. When he touched the field, he pulled his hand back as it prickled with electricity. His eyes widened, and he moved behind her to reach for her while she couldn't see him. He encountered the field again. He looked angrily at the others watching him. "You all have this protection?"

"No, but I wish we did," Roy said. "Please understand, even if we did, we couldn't use it in the presence of a Human as it would give us away."

"Yes, the point is, energy fields exist, and Mab's power compares to mine like the sun to a candle," Marisa said as she retook her seat.

With a dissatisfied expression, Baines moved back to his chair as well. There was a knock on the door, and one of the soldiers there let in another of the General's men. He handed a sheet of paper to the officer, then left quickly. Baines' face showed his growing agitation.

"Don't leave us in the dark, General. Feel free to share the bad news," Hugh suggested.

Throwing a glare at the man, Baines finally nodded. "I have a report of building debris at ground level at the address you gave us for the office tower. Our man confirms the presence of a five-story stone structure atop the building." He cast a baleful gaze towards Camila.

"Also, the British Royal Air Force is reporting the theft of one of their jet fighters by a US airman who took it out for a joyride while it was loaded with a full complement of missiles. He shot said missiles at a small island off the north-western coast of Ireland, completely destroying this island. Then he returned the jet to the base, where he was arrested. The pilot in question was Major Thomas, who'd been in custody just hours earlier in a Canadian holding cell awaiting extradition to the States for stealing a US jet and flying it to the other country." He fixed his eyes on Camila again. "Are you going to tell me this Mab used her magic door to spring the pilot to shoot the island her castle was using as its foundation?"

Camila shook her head. "No. She played no part in that. That had to be Henry. He must have collected the pilot from his prison cell and somehow convinced him to fire on the island. We'll have to ask him when he wakes."

"You said he was incarcerated in the facility in New Jersey!" the General snapped.

"General, please," Crane said to calm the man. "We're trying to get a clear picture of the events, and they're telling us what they know. Let's try to remain calm." He looked at Camila and nodded for her to continue.

"Thank you. Henry was trapped in the containment center, but they drugged him unconscious. We've discovered he has out-of-body experiences when he's in this state. Not only does his mind leave his body, but he can interact with the world in ways we've never imagined. Recently, he became able to tap into the energy much the way Mab can, but he's used it to prevent her actions, such as when he blocked her from adding her weaponized biological payload to the green light that fell from the sky. He freed one of the other inmates from the containment facility. We'll have to ask him if he communicated with the pilot and enlisted his aid in disabling Mab's fortress."

"Wake him, ask him now!" Baines insisted.

Roy scowled at the man. "Henry's our best defense against the witch now that he's developed the ability to block her magic. He needs his rest. We need him fresh for what's to come. What we need to do now is create a plan! Mab launched the first attack, but Henry managed to stop her in time. He kept her off balance with the attack on her castle, and she's currently in a vulnerable state, but that won't last for long. We have to be ready to move and move quickly."

"I'm not going to be rushed into a war just on your say so! We have no idea who this Mab is or if she really is as much of a threat as you make her out to be. All I've heard are a lot of fantastic stories and exaggerations, but I've seen no proof."

Camila shared a look with Sigrid and Roy, who ran his hands over his scalp in frustration.

The CEO looked to Colonel Crane and saw a sympathetic expression but knew he couldn't overrule his superior officer. She sighed. "Fair enough. It's true. All we can do is share our experiences. This is the fallout of remaining hidden from you. We're complete strangers, and you have no reason to trust us. So, we can't rely on you to assist us in this mission."

"What mission? There is no mission. You're all remaining in our custody until we can make some sense out of this," the General insisted.

Roy snorted. "We don't have time for you to try to grasp something so far outside your realm of experience. You've no frame of reference. We're facing the extinction of Humanity and Non-Human life. Mab's already taking steps to achieve that goal. We were fortunate Henry was able to stop her when he did." He could see the General's expression close up. "Your inability to comprehend the danger places everyone at risk. We didn't and don't need your assistance, but now you're actively interfering with efforts to save the bloody world!" he snarled.

Sigrid reached out and seized Roy's hand as she could see his agitation was leading to an attack.

The death of Humanity wasn't going to begin here.

-=-

"What's happening?" Eleanor quietly asked as she sat up. She froze as her voice sounded different to her, smoother and a little deeper. She looked at her hands and was startled to see how much paler her skin looked. Her fingers were longer, too!

Meixiu knelt down next to the cot she was sitting on and touched her knee. "You went through a transformation from overfeeding on Wild Magic. The same happened to me and to Raymond."

"Raymond!" she gasped and spun to see a white-haired version of her husband resting on the next cot. "Oh my god! He's..." she sighed. It felt odd to be so attracted to a man who looked like her husband but sexier. A pang of strange guilt flashed through her then her rational mind scolded her. This was her husband, and thinking he was sexy was okay!

She reached out to touch his hand. His eyes fluttered open, then turned to her. He smiled when he saw the wonder in her eyes. "Hello, beautiful," he said.

Eleanor smiled at how much sexier his voice was as well. "You're one to talk— Oh!" She suddenly realized they would need to change identities once more, as there was no way to explain this change.

Raymond nodded as his mind was following the same path. He glanced over to the gathering. "Are we missing something?"

Meixiu shot an angry look over to the Humans. "The General is being a jerk!"

Mick chuckled as she arrived to overhear Meixiu's assessment. She looked at the two platinum blondes. "How are you two feeling?"

They smiled back at her. "Amazing!" Eleanor gushed.

Raymond nodded at her assessment. "Yes, I feel lighter yet more powerful. I'm not sure what that means yet, but I'm not complaining."

Eleanor saw Camila was up and showed no distress after her operation. She turned her head to look at Minkah. Her shirt and jacket's shoulder were scorched and melted away, but her skin underneath no longer resembled that. It was smooth and unblemished. She turned her head to look at Raymond. "He healed her?" she asked incredulously.

Her husband nodded. "And she bit him savagely while he did, but he didn't stop. When she passed out, he just asked me to heal the punctures. Then I woke up like this."

They all looked over at Henry, sleeping peacefully on Camila's lap. They could see she was running her fingers through his hair.

Meixiu sat on the end of Eleanor's cot and looked into the surgeon's eyes. "I do not believe in fate, but powerful witches are playing us all like we are chess pieces. I don't like it."

Eleanor nodded, and Raymond's expression was grim. "We can only do the best we can," he added.

"If we hadn't met, and you hadn't joined me to find Henry, and you hadn't been shot, and Eleanor hadn't asked Henry for help operating on you, he wouldn't have linked to the Global Healing Spell in time to stop Mab from killing off the Fae. The chain of actions leading to this moment frightens me, but I cannot determine who benefits from this. My mind tells me Baba is powerful enough and clever enough to think this through, but she has no love for anyone, so she wouldn't have tried to save the Fae."

"Who is Baba?" Mick asked.

Raymond answered. "Baba Yaga. She's possibly the most powerful witch in history. She's a master tactician who plays the long game." He looked to Eleanor wistfully. "We've never met her nor been involved in her schemes to date."

Meixiu nodded. "She's deeply involved with events around Henry as she raised him from a child. Recently, though, she's been avoiding him."

The Sergeant frowned. "Shouldn't the General be told about Baba Yaga?"

Meixiu shook her head. "His nerve is already failing him when dealing with one witch. Telling him about another wouldn't help him."

"It sounds like he's falling back on the familiar when confronted with the unknown," Raymond agreed. "Protocols and process, neither of which we can afford."

"AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"

They jumped as Minkah came out of her slumber with a scream. Everyone turned to look at her as she struggled to her feet, looking around wildly at the unfamiliar room.

Eleanor stood to face her and spoke softly to the panting woman. "It's okay. You're healed. Henry healed you. You're all better now. Take some deep breaths."

Minkah shuddered from the memory of the pain, then focused on the doctor, and confusion showed in her eyes. "Who are you?"

"Oh! I suppose I do look different! I'm Eleanor King, and this is my husband, Raymond. We were there when Henry was rescued. We've been changed by the Wild Magic, as were you," she said calmly.

Minkah shook her head as she didn't feel different. She looked down at herself, and besides feeling so good, she couldn't see the difference.

"Your eyes are both blue now, a deep and stunning blue!" Eleanor sighed with a smile.

Minkah sucked in a shocked gasp. The genetic flaw was gone?

Across the room, Roy stood quickly as he listened to something. Minkah instinctively listened as well and picked up a deep rumble from below, likely street level. Something heavy was approaching.

"We're about to come under attack. General, it looks like your people will get firsthand experience fighting Mab's troops. A platoon of Ogres are running up the street and will soon be at the building's front door," Roy insisted, then looked to Camila. "Sleep time is over for the boy. Wake him." She nodded.

Minkah felt a rush as the thought of combat sent a thrill through her. She was a trained assassin and took great pride in her work. She hadn't had an opportunity to do that work recently. Ogres were challenging due to their toughness, tenacity, and sheer brute strength.

"I'll help."

Roy looked over at her and nodded.

She was going to war.

-=-

Gordon Crane almost sighed with relief as Roy mentioned they were under attack. He wasn't sure what he was going to do to break through the General's mental paralysis. Now, he had something concrete to get them moving in the direction they should be.

"Ogres, what do they look like?" he asked Roy.

"Big, tough as hell, and ugly with tusks in their lower jaw—"

"Giants," Mick said, and eyes turned her way. "We fought two of them at the New Jersey containment center. Seemingly impervious to bullets. Really hard to put down. With both the werewolves and us attacking them, we barely managed to take them out."

"Ogres. The two at the prison were Ogres," Henry said as he groggily sat up. He glanced at Camila and Sigrid with an embarrassed smile when he realized he'd been sleeping on them.

"How many in a platoon?" Crane asked.

"Roughly twenty," Roy said. "Did you fellas bring anything bigger than those pop guns?" he asked, looking over at the Human soldiers.

"What's required?" Baines asked. Now, he was back in familiar territory.

"Fifty caliber or better," Roy replied. "Grenade launchers would be useful. Ogres don't stop until you or they are dead." He looked towards the security camera in the ceiling. "Protocol Z9."

"What was that?" Baines snapped.

"I have a contingency plan in place for repelling such an invading force. I just ordered a squad of my men to collect the high-caliber weapons from the armory and to engage the enemy before they reach the building," Roy explained. "Please tell your people to not shoot the Weres carrying the oversized weapons coming up from the basement." The General scowled but sent one of his men out to notify the others.

Henry stood and walked over to hug Roy. The big redhead looked embarrassed. "Henry, this isn't the time—OH!" He stopped talking when he felt the energy flowing into him. Henry pulled back with a red face as he moved to Sigrid, standing and grinning with her arms thrown wide. She hugged him and giggled as Henry sent Wild Magic pouring into her as well.

"This doesn't drain you?" she asked, pulling back from the hug.

"Uh, no. This energy is just passing through me. It doesn't come from me. I do use a little of mine to direct the stream from the breach inside me to you," he explained quietly.

"It's good, but I prefer the more traditional method, too," Sigrid said softly, and Henry's face warmed up again.

"Are we done with the warm and fuzzy shit?" General Baines barked, then listened to another of his soldiers who'd just entered to give a report. He turned to face Roy, and his expression was sour. "They're almost here."

"Let's go kill some enemies, General," Roy said.

Sigrid and Minkah joined Roy, and Mary moved to go with them. The General made to protest, but Roy spoke before he could. "Mary can hold her own against an Ogre."

The General's eyebrows rose as she smiled at him confidently. He snorted and gestured for Crane to join them, then looked to Dawes and Hugh. "These soldiers will remain with you."

"My people are coming with us as they have direct experience fighting these Ogres," Crane said, and Baines looked like he wanted to argue, but he just nodded.

Gordon allowed himself to relax a little as they followed the big redhead and his group out of the office and down the hall to the elevator lobby. All of the doors opened, and they split up to ride down to the main floor. After they stepped out, they moved to the atrium.

The Colonel got his first glimpse of a Werewolf as three entered the lobby from a stairwell door. The large beasts carried rifles with modified trigger guards for their bigger hands. They nodded to their leader and rushed out the front door as the Human soldiers just watched.

Mick joined him. "None of the Werewolves in New Jersey were carrying weapons like these. They weren't very disciplined, either."

Roy overheard the last comment as he strode by. He paused to address them. "They were led by a miserable piece of shit who knew nothing about team building and who didn't care if they lived or died. None of them were given any training. Are they dead?"

"No. We sent them home," Mick replied.

Roy smiled and nodded at them. "Good. Thank you." He looked towards the boom of the big guns firing. "Time to earn my keep." He trotted to the front door, and once outside, he dropped his glamor. In his place was a huge, vicious-looking beast, larger than the other Weres. Mary was right next to him. He picked her up in his big paw and moved out of view to the right while Sigrid and Minkah turned left to flank the enemy.

Mick led the team out the door and sent half after the two women as she led the rest toward the oncoming attackers.

The four mid-western Silver People walked up to the Colonel with smiles. He nodded to them.

"We're not fighters, so we're gonna head home instead. Your team knows where that is and can reach us when the dust settles."

"I'm not sure I should thank you for changing my squad into Silver People, but I can't deny they're happy and enjoying their new state. So, I will thank you for supporting them through the process."

Jake leaned forward. "Something I need to mention. That strike zone in the Washington Mall. It was supercharged by the lightning strike, and plants were growing like crazy in it."

"Right, Mick mentioned that," Gordon said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, well, the same kind of lightning strikes the fields back home a lot, and where it does, the crops grow really tall and healthy afterward," Jake continued, and Crane nodded. "Those plants seem to hold the Wild Magic charge, and we pick up energy running through it. Maybe, just maybe, people are getting charged up too when they eat food made from those crops."

The Colonel was caught by the concept and wondered if other food plants, like rice grown worldwide, were similarly affected. Without a means to detect the energy in these crops, there was no way to know if it was present in the final products made from them. He would have to send some people to grocery stores to collect samples for testing and have his soldiers be the energy detectors. Lost in the potential complexities of these new thoughts, he barely registered and responded to Sam and the others smiling, waving, and zipping away.

Corporal Delane appeared at Crane's elbow. "What now, sir?"

He jolted from his thoughts and snorted. "As we're the only humans left in the squad, our job is to stay out of their way and stay alive."

"I like that plan, sir."

"Me too."

-=-

Nate was flying over the fields of red prairie grasses as he tried to shake the residue of his latest nightmare. The sun hadn't come up yet, but he had no problems seeing as the full moon cast its reflected pale orange light over the land below.

While he loved the tranquility of this world and the gentle nature of its new inhabitants and thanked Henry daily for sending him here, he wasn't sleeping well at all. What that bitch—

He closed his eyes and beat his wings hard to rise higher in the sky. The effort soon had him panting, so he spread his wings and allowed himself to glide as he enjoyed the view.

While he'd been warned to avoid the flying ribbons with teeth, he'd discovered they all fled from him when they heard him coming. Perhaps there was another predator that sounded like he did? The Glass People hadn't reported seeing anything dangerous other than the ribbons.

He could see the lava fields' glow and the occasional silver flash as the Silver People ran here and there in the distance. They never seemed to sleep, and recently, he was envious of that.

He banked left and flew closer to the lava fields. The rising thermals would get him extra altitude with less effort.

Nate was really getting the hang of flying, and Eden was perfect for it, as he didn't need to worry about being seen by a human or a camera. He loved the freedom of soaring through the skies!

Additionally, his wings were quickly becoming stronger as the world seemed to keep him topped up with energy.

As he got closer to the lava's glow, he began to hear something—a whispering voice with unintelligible words. Its volume was so low he almost dismissed it as wind noise or sounds from the flow. The closer he got to the lava field, the more insistent the whispering became. He began to feel anxious and increased his speed.

He caught sight of something burning on the edge of the lava flow, maybe three feet from the flowing molten rock. It likely ignited just from being so close to the radiant heat.

Nate set down a good twenty feet back and folded his wings to protect them from the heat. He could finally see what was burning, and his stomach turned. It was a body. Broken and burned badly. Its left arm was outstretched, pointing away from the lava.

He slowly walked closer, testing the ground as he went, but it was just dried-up dirt. Grass wouldn't grow this close to the flow, but the soil looked dark and rich. If the lava ever stopped and cooled, this land would immediately burst with plant life.

He stopped to examine the body from a tolerable distance away, and his eye caught sight of something in the hand pointing towards him that he'd never expected to see again.

Mab's dagger.

The one she'd used on him.

When the shock faded, he discovered he was trembling and a few feet farther away. He glanced around, but Mab was nowhere to be seen. He looked again at the hand clinging to the weapon. Even in death, the corpse was refusing to release the cursed weapon.

How had it gotten here?

He thought of how Henry had dropped him into the world. What if... what if the body was someone else Henry dropped here, but this time from a great height?

His eyes were drawn once more to the dagger. Mab had told him of her rise to power and how this blade had assisted her efforts. Then she made him feel its bite, and he experienced it drinking... him. He realized the weapon probably still had his essence stored in it as Mab said it only released the energy to the wielder once the victim was dead.

Nate rushed forward and knelt down next to the burning body, doing his best to keep it between him and the lava to reduce his exposure to the radiant heat. Still, it was almost unbearable. He grabbed the hand at the wrist, but it still wouldn't let go of the dagger. Finally, he yanked hard, and the wrist separated from the forearm with a wet pop. He scrambled away from the lava, clinging to his gory prize. When he reached the cool red grasses, he dropped himself onto his back and stared up at the stars as he caught his breath. Shudders ran down his spine as he could feel the grisly object in his grip. He sat up and stared at it in disgust. Why did he do that?

He bent the fingers back one at a time until he could extract the weapon from the grip. He dropped the hand and wrapped his own fingers around the handle.

He sucked in a sharp breath as he felt his energy and confidence soak back into his body. He now had back what he'd lost to Mab's cruel games! He felt more like himself than he had in months!

Looking down, he knelt to pick up the hand. This was going into the molten river, along with the rest of the body. Henry had to have dropped it here, and Nate owed him for his freedom and now for getting the dagger to him. He smiled as he recalled a meme covering this situation.

A good friend helps dispose of the body. A best friend doesn't ask why there is a body.

When he returned to assess the task, he soon realized it wouldn't be easy as he couldn't get very close. How he'd managed it the first time was a mystery. Finally, he flew to the nearest grove of trees and returned with a long, straight branch he cut for himself. Then he got as close as he could on his belly and used the branch to push the body over the edge into the lava. When he was done, he also threw the hand and the long branch into the molten river.

As he flew back to the Glass People's village, he knew what he had to do next. He was going back to New York, and he would help Henry, in any way he could, to defeat Mab.

He also needed a little payback for what she'd done to him. He took a deep breath as he was able to think of his revenge without immediately falling apart.

He glanced to the horizon and saw the beginnings of dawn. The sun would be up soon. He'd speak with Xiong about opening a tear for him to go home. He smiled as that idea made him feel so much better.

What he wanted most at this moment was to get back to Marisa. He knew everything would be better once he was in her arms again.

-=-

Stephen Dawes was glaring at Henry. "So, is the firewall you created all smoke and mirrors, too?" he asked sharply as he sat forward on his chair in Camila's office.

Henry shook his head. "No! That's genuine science and technology at work. I'm proud of that."

"Henry's ability to get the most out of hardware is almost supernatural, and he can detect faulty components far quicker and more accurately than anyone I've met, but that's the extent of his magic with computers," Marisa stated categorically.

Henry smiled at her.

"Enough!" Nuru pushed the cowl back on her cloak and watched the two men look her way. She ignored the smirk on Huehuecoyotl's face and the repressed lust on the Human's. She looked at Camila. "You have preserved your glamor even though you were exposed to the Wild Magic. How will we get our glamors back?"

Camila smiled and nodded. "I was exposed to smaller doses. The... light-fall is saturated with Wild Magic." She looked at Keshellion. "You have the knowledge of how to implant glamors?"

"But my abilities are being suppressed by the cursed Wild Magic!" the old Fae snapped.

"Camila, there's a chance glamors aren't going to be sufficient after tonight," Henry suggested, and expressions became grim.

"On that happy note, the pregnant lady needs to use the little girl's room," Marisa said as she made her way to the door. The soldier positioned there looked to Dawes for permission and got it. When he opened the office door, he froze in shock. Instead of seeing the small outer office, he faced a vast dark chamber. A young woman stood there with a wicked grin on her face, lit by candlelight.

She flicked her wrist, and the soldier flew backward to crash into his three squadmates, taking them all down. She made a second gesture, and Marisa squeaked as she was lifted off her feet and pulled through the doorway.

Henry was already on his feet, charging the door, when Mab began to laugh. He arrived just as it slammed shut. He frantically yanked it open, but the other side just showed the reception area again.

He didn't stop to explain or ask permission. He simply opened a tear and jumped through into the red grasses of Eden as it snapped shut behind him. Beautiful morning sunshine lit the hillside he stood on and gleamed off the sides of the Glass People collected a short distance further uphill. He saw Xiong and the others turning to face him as he dropped his glamor. Connecting his mind to theirs through the magic, he sent them a quick flash of what was happening before he opened another tear and leapt through.

Henry's hooves landed in the white gravel on the office tower's roof deck as he looked up at Mab's castle. It was tilting at least ten degrees, and under it were the crushed remains of the antenna arrays that originally resided on the rooftop. Unlike the mirror castle from her party, her real one couldn't share the space. One side of the stone building had smashed through the roof's structure, and the iron beams pierced the castle's wall. He moved closer and saw the damaged area was blackened, and the stain was slowly spreading outwards like a bruise, discoloring the stone.

He walked around to the front doors. They were double-wide with huge ornate stained glass flankers. Each window was a priceless work of art. The entrance was shut, but he knew the doors would open to his touch. Mab wanted him to come inside. That didn't mean he was going to make it easy for her.

As he approached the door, he lifted one big hoof and slammed it against the stained glass. While there was a protection spell on the window, it was no match for an enraged Satyr's fury and will. It exploded into a rainbow of small shards of glass. A few more kicks were all it took to make the rest fall away. He carefully stepped through the opening and looked around.

"You MONSTER!!!" Mab's voice shrieked from all around. "That panel was created by a master artist millennia ago!"

"You are the very definition of a monster," Henry growled as he pulled a spear-tipped halberd from the grip of a set of medieval armor in the entranceway and used the metal-capped butt of the shaft to smash out the second panel of stained glass. He then proceeded to slash every painting on his way down the hallway towards the stairs. Mab's screams of incoherent rage were music to his ears. He knew he had to keep her concentrated on him. It might make her forget Marisa.

He had no idea what he would do when he reached her. He was a complete novice when it came to magic while she was the reigning heavyweight champion.

The foolishness of his headlong rush after Mab was becoming abundantly clear to him, but no matter what happened to him tonight, he was going to end her.

-=-

Nate looked at Xiong in confusion as he rested his human hand on the shoulder of the Glass Being. He could barely pick up Xiong's thoughts, but what he saw was that Henry had appeared moments ago, gave them a message, then jumped back to Earth. It was the message that Nate was having trouble deciphering.

The Glass People seemed to be evolving while living on Eden. They no longer vocalized during communication. It was far faster and more precise to share experiences mind-to-mind. The Silver People were following this path as well. This just made it a little more difficult for Nate.

"Can you slow it down?" he asked.

The memory suddenly replayed, but now he clearly saw Marisa being pulled through the doorway. He clearly heard Mab's sick laughter and caught the flash of a castle atop the office tower in Manhattan.

Nate yanked his hand back and fell on his ass as he stumbled away from Xiong in fright. Mab's laughter echoed in his ears.

"She-she has Marisa! I've got to—" he began, then his tongue locked up. He was too terrified to complete the sentence. He knew what he had to do, but his mind was shying away from the idea.

"Fuck!" he snapped at himself. After finding the dagger, he'd been so sure of himself this morning. Then, just seeing a memory of Mab sent his nerve racing away. He knew Henry wasn't hesitating. How could he do less! It was Marisa at risk, for fuck's sake!

He pushed himself to his feet and dusted off the clothes he'd made for his glamor. The dagger was safely tucked into the inner pocket of his jacket. He reached inside and gripped the handle. His resolve firmed up once more. He could do this!

"I need to get back to Manhattan. Can you open the way for me?" he asked after placing his hand on Xiong's shoulder.

He saw an image of Henry approaching an office tower. Likely a memory they had from Henry. Maybe it was the building Henry was running to!

"Yes, there!" he exclaimed.

He picked up from Xiong that he'd have to jump through as opening a gate was draining. He nodded and stepped back as Xiong and another of his group stood a short distance apart and faced one another. A tear snapped open, and the moment the opening was large enough, Nate leapt through into a green ground fog. He immediately picked up the tingle of Wild Magic swirling around him. Gentle music was coming from it.

Hands grabbed his arms to pin him in place, and he gaped in surprise at the two Silver People in tattered US military uniforms.

"Nate?"

He turned his head to look over his shoulder and saw Roy and Mary approaching, the latter covered in blood and gore while Roy's glamor was clean. "What-what happened?" he asked as the Silver Soldiers released his arms, allowing him to turn and face the group. His eyes widened further to see more of the soldiers.

"Mab sent a squad of Ogres at us. Tough bastards!" Roy growled.

"Not so tough," Mary scoffed and got a grin from Roy.

Roy turned to Nate. "Weren't you on Eden?"

"Yeah, Henry sent me to Eden. Listen, he just shot through on his way to attack Mab at her castle," Nate said anxiously. He was still shaky about it.

"What?!?" Roy roared. He reached for his cell but saw Camila and the others rushing out of VRL's front door.

"Mab opened her magic door in my office. She has Marisa, and Henry went after her!" Camila cried out.

"That bloody fool!" Roy snapped.

"What's happened?" Sigrid asked anxiously as she and Minkah rushed up to join them. Again, Sigrid was spotless, but Minkah had a few blood streaks on her, though she had no visible injuries, so the blood wasn't likely hers.

"Mab grabbed Marisa, and Henry went after her alone!" Meixiu exclaimed. "We must help him!"

A black SUV pulled up to the entrance, and the back window rolled down. Mahati looked out at the gathered people nervously. "Camila? Can I speak with you?"

Camila rushed over to the car. "Mahati! What are you doing here? You can't be out in this!"

"I'm afraid it's a little too late for that. I went to our building's lobby to check for mail and saw Lorelei standing outside. I opened the door for her, and she told me what was happening. We called for a car. I had to walk through the light to get to the car. I-I've lost my glamor. Where's Henry?" she asked, looking around nervously.

"He's gone after Mab. She took Marisa," Camila said with a shaky voice.

"Let's go get them!" Mahati insisted.

"No one is going anywhere!" a Human military officer barked as he approached the car. "This night has gone from strange to freak show! I mean, what the fuck were those things we just killed?" He pointed down the street. Then he spun to point that finger at Mary. "No one can survive getting beaten so brutally, and they certainly don't get back up and tear their way through their opponents barehanded! What the fuck are you?"

"Just a New York City beat cop who now works for VRL!" Mary said with a wide grin, still riding a high from the energy she'd absorbed. She realized she was perfectly adapted to fighting the huge brutes.

Roy approached the General. "We've already been through this, General. We don't have time. You don't have time. The Ogres were a feint, a ploy to distract us while she went after her target. The only one who can potentially keep her from killing everyone! We need to help Henry stop Mab. Now."

"No, no one leaves—"

"General Baines, may I have a word?" Hugh said as he strolled up to the man, who looked at him in annoyance. They took a few steps to the side, where they spoke quietly. The General looked at the taller man in surprise and received a nod.

"Colonel Crane. I'm putting you in charge of this operation. I'm needed back in Washington. I'll be bringing my squad with me. Gunny is staying with you."

"Understood, General," Crane answered in surprise.

"I'll go back with you, General," the Director of Homeland Security quickly added and got a nod from the distracted man.

With a final worried glance at Hugh, the General rushed off and began issuing orders. Dawes followed. Gunny went back into VRL and returned with the remaining Human troops from the lobby. Troop carriers arrived, as did the General's car. The marine rejoined Crane's squad.

Soon, Colonel Crane was the senior officer on site. He looked to Roy. "Where is this office tower with the castle on top?"

Roy smiled in relief at him and looked at Hugh. "Thank you."

The tall man nodded. "I've played my part. It's time for me to leave, as well."

"You're one of them, aren't you," Crane blurted, his eyes fixed on Hugh's face.

Huehuecoyotyl's face burst into an amused smile as he relaxed his disguise just a little, showing a hint of his true self. He nodded in satisfaction when the Colonel didn't stumble back in fear. "I was right about you." He faded and disappeared.

Gordon looked over to Roy. "Do you ever get used to that?"

Roy snorted. "I'll let you know when it happens. Let's go do our part!" Eight more black SUVs stopped at the curb, and Roy's team began climbing inside.

Camila turned to Siobhan. "Please take Nuru, her attendants, and Investigator Keshellion to the second-floor lounge."

"Wait a minute! I won't stand on the sidelines while the world's ending!" Nuru exclaimed.

"The same goes for me!" Siobhan insisted.

Camila threw her hands in the air and jumped into Mahati's SUV. Everyone ran for one of the trucks and piled in.

Roy was in the lead vehicle and got them going. There was very little traffic on the main avenue, and the cars that were there quickly pulled over to let their speeding procession pass by, especially with the Silver Soldiers running alongside.

It took a few minutes to arrive at the road leading to the old office building, nestled between the taller, modern towers. A new problem presented itself. The road was blocked by a row of police cruisers with their lights flashing.

Roy got out and held up his hand to indicate the others should remain in the vehicles. He walked over to one of the officers, who watched him approach with suspicion as his eyes took in the silver escorts who remained vigilant.

"What's the situation, Officer?" Roy asked firmly.

The cop focused on Roy once more. "Road's closed. Something big down there, roasting people alive!"

Roy frowned as he looked towards the shadows between the buildings. The streetlights were all out, and something appeared to be blocking the light from the next avenue. Colonel Crane joined him.

"We need a little reconnaissance. A quick in, get some pictures, and out," Roy said to the Colonel, who nodded as he gestured for one of his soldiers. He spoke to the man, who smiled and raced away, leaping over the police car to disappear down the street like a silver streak. There was a distant flash of the camera taking a flash shot, and the soldier returned to stop in front of Crane.

"It's big! Terrifying!" the soldier said with wide eyes. He held up the cell and brought up the picture. They peered at the screen, but all it showed was blackness with sparkles here and there. Roy's expression showed his annoyance. He touched his mic. "Please have Siobhan join us."

Moments later, the lovely brunette rushed up to look at Roy curiously.

"They're saying something large and dangerous is down the road, but take a look at the photo, then look down the road and tell me what you see," Roy asked, emphasizing the last word.

She caught his request, so she looked at the picture and opened her magic sight as she looked into the darkness.

"Oh! It's not big at all! It's very small, but so many!" she exclaimed softly.

Roy nodded grimly. "Thank you, Siobhan. Please wait in the vehicle."

She looked at him, and he was glowing softly from the Wild Magic radiating from inside, so she pulled back on her sight until it was a minimal translucent overlay. She nodded and headed back to her SUV.

Roy leaned closer to the Colonel. "It's Sprites. Nasty little buggers. They project illusions and mess with your mind and emotions. They've been known to kill with fear."

"Shit. How do we fight that?" Gordon growled.

Roy looked over at the Silver Soldiers, and a slow smile came to his lips. "I know just the thing."

-=-

Mick held hands with six volunteers as they jogged down the road toward the super creepy shadows.

"So, there really is no big fire-breathing monster down here?" Yablonski asked nervously.

"That's right. There are many little fuckers projecting the experience of seeing, hearing, smelling, and feeling a big monster. They're floating in a swarm in the air in front of the target. They have no offensive capabilities outside of projecting illusions: really good ones but fake experiences. We need to disable this threat so the others can reach the building," Mick explained.

Their perceptions were racing ahead, so when the growl came out of the shadows, it was low and drawn out, robbing it of some of its power. Baleful glowing eyes slowly opened two stories up, and a huge maw began to open. An orange glow showed behind large, pointy teeth, smoke curling out from the jaws.

Mick felt Yablonski's nerve begin to slip as she felt the fingers of fear slowly sinking into her own mind. She began to laugh, obnoxiously loud and silly.

The other soldiers looked at her, and she smiled at them. "We're gonna fuck them up so good!"

Yablonski chuckled, then realized that felt good. He barked a laugh in relief, and this triggered the others. Soon, they were all laughing boldly, and the fear was pushed back.

Mick saw they were in front of the target's entrance. Stonework, glass shards, and other debris from the broken rooftop littered the street around the building.

"Showtime, my bastards!" she called out.

Yablonski grinned as they formed a wide circle facing inwards and began to windmill their arms faster and faster, hands cupped to push the air down into the center of their group. Quickly, their arms became a loud humming blur, and little glowing lights began to get sucked down in the massive vortex they were creating in the street. More and more lights were dragged out of the sky to smash against the pavement or splat against the spinning arms. It didn't take long to dissipate the false shadows clinging to the air in the dark street, and then there were no more sparkling lights. Mick was the first to stop, and the others quickly followed suit.

They looked at the carnage on the ground before them. The sprites looked like insects and badly mangled ones at that. Thankfully, nothing stuck to them.

"Fuck! Anyone got a shovel or a power washer?" Yablonski asked.

"Go tell the Colonel, it's all clear," Mick told him, and he nodded before racing away.

Mick looked up at the building and sighed as she hated running up stairwells. Somewhere up there was the Satyr. She hoped he wasn't facing anything bigger than the sprites.

Chapter 40

Henry slowly walked down the hallway on the fourth floor of Mab's castle, just one staircase away from Mab's private chamber. He'd searched for her on each floor, but he knew eventually, he'd have to face her in the room where her greatest crime took place. He'd discovered an Ogre waiting for him with a mace in its big fist on the second floor.

Taking on one of these big warriors in hand-to-hand combat wasn't on Henry's to-do list, but he was given no choice when the creature bellowed its war cry and charged him. He barely snapped up his spear in time to drive its point into the chest of the onrushing attacker. The butt of the shaft hit the wall behind Henry, driving the spear point deep into the Ogre's heart. He watched the life quickly leave the being's eyes as it dropped to its knees and keeled over.

He'd been unable to free the spear, so he'd picked up the mace.

The third floor had two Ogres patrolling, which he tried to avoid, but he made a noise while hiding. They came charging back, and he was forced to swing the deadly weapon just as the first charged into the room. Henry's Satyr strength, combined with the heavy spiked weight, crushed the Ogre's head in a spray of blood and gore. As Henry watched the body fall in horror, the second Ogre rushed into the room and swung his own weapon. If the creature's aim hadn't been fouled by his slipping on the bloody floor, Henry's head would have been crushed as well. Instead, the club glanced off his forehead hard enough to rock him back and break through his paralysis. He sloppily swung the mace again and caught the fallen Ogre's temple as it struggled to stand. It fell and went still. Dead.

His mace was covered in blood and brain matter, so he dropped it and picked up the club to continue up to the fourth floor.

As he topped the stairs, the building shuddered and tilted another degree. Henry's hooves actually left the ground for a moment, then he was bracing himself against the stone wall. He heard the stone building's dying moans. He snatched his hand back as he stared at the stone closer. Thin veins of black rot were creeping upward. He recalled the blackening of the rock where the office tower's iron skeleton had pierced it. Was the castle dying?

He reached out and placed his hand against the stone once more. He opened his perceptions and heard more than one voice crying out in pain and taking its last gasp. He pulled his hand away. What had Mab done to bind these people to the building? Mab was mad and surrounded herself with madness, so why was he surprised that the very stones of her castle shared in that?

He shook his head and knew he had to escape the castle as quickly as possible, but not without Marisa.

So, here he was, just one level to go, plodding heavily down the beautifully paneled hall, keeping his eyes on the staircase at the end.

He couldn't hear his footsteps.

Something about that triggered a memory of his first visit.

The bedroom he'd been assigned. The room with the sound-deadening floors. Silence to not disturb neighboring guests. Silence to hide Mab's approaching footsteps.

He suddenly swung the heavy club in an arc around himself and felt its impact against at least three bodies. They squealed in pain as their invisibility dropped. Hairless, wrinkled skin the color of ashes, furless goat legs, upwards pointed ears, small dark eyes, and wide mouths of sharp teeth. Goblins!

As the illusion of invisibility dropped, he discovered he was surrounded by the smaller creatures. His memory of their vicious cruelty flashed through his mind, and he swung the club again and again. Some managed to nick him with their blades, but his club always answered by breaking their bones and crushing their skulls. He lost his grip on the club, and the remaining Goblins cheered until he waded into their midst with his fists and hooves, his rage building. The final three tried to flee, but Henry took them down against the base of the last staircase, crushing them under his hooves.

Mab unleashed another scream of rage from the floor above when he'd extinguished the life of her last Goblin thug. He glanced up in exhaustion, but she didn't appear on the landing. He looked back down the hallway, and there had to be at least two dozen of the grey bastards. All dead. He looked at his hands and saw the green blood on them. His body was streaked with it as well.

While he'd avoided any delays, he needed to recharge himself. He reached inside to the tear to the realm of Wild Magic and found Mab there desperately trying to seal it. He tried to seize her mind, but she fled with a shriek at being discovered. He was stunned that he'd almost missed her infiltration. It had to have happened while he was distracted by fighting the Goblins.

As he pondered how it might have turned out, he tapped into the energy streaming through the opening. It proved exceptionally difficult to direct the energy towards his needs, but he did feel a little better.

He turned back to the stairs and began to climb. He smiled grimly. He'd have reached the big boss level if this was a video game. Unfortunately, he had no experience with video games either.

He was about to discover whether that would prove to be a benefit or led to his doom.

-=-

Looking through the front doors of the old office tower, they could see the feet of the night security man sticking out from behind his desk. He wasn't likely to be sleeping, so he was probably dead, a victim of the Sprites. The doors were thick and secure with ornate brass plated scrollwork over the tough glass.

Colonel Crane contemplated what it might take to cut the door and realized they probably didn't have the time. He looked to Roy. "Explosives?"

The big redhead shook his head and gestured to a pretty, young Asian woman in a white gown. Roy addressed her. "Meixiu, can you get the keys from the man behind the desk and unlock this door?

She nodded and suddenly turned to smoke, slipping through a gap in the door to reform into her original shape inside the lobby. Gordon stared at her as she rushed over to the security desk. "What is she again?"

"Vampire," Roy said absentmindedly as he watched Meixiu dip behind the desk and rush back with a ring of keys. It took some trial and error, but she found the key for the lock on the front door. They went inside, and Eleanor moved forward to check on the security guard, but it was too late for the older man.

"Sergeant, quickly inspect the top floor and let us know if there's a way to the roof. Be careful," Crane said, holding the woman's eyes. She smiled and nodded before pointing to five of her team and heading into the stairwell.

"Can we use the elevators?" Nuru asked, stepping forward.

Roy shook his head. "The elevator room would have been crushed by the castle.

A few minutes later, Mick returned on her own and reported to the Colonel. "It's a mess up there, sir. The castle has collapsed part of the building's structure. The tower also seems to have damaged the castle. Stonework has fallen into the floor below. There are gaps in the castle wall. There was... a being made of stone. She might have fallen out of the broken room into the floor below. She was crying and standing before the broken windows."

A massive boom rocked the building, and windows shattered at street level.

The stairwell burst open, and Specialist Green stopped in the doorway, gaping at everyone on the floor.

"What the fuck was that?" Roy barked as he pushed himself back to his feet. "Is the castle collapsing?"

"The rock lady jumped!" Green called out. "I tried getting downstairs in time to warn everyone, but..." He gave an embarrassed shrug.

Those closest to the door rushed outside. The sidewalk was even more littered with debris, thrown from the impact crater a few yards east of the building's front door. Roy and Sigrid rushed to the edge while Nate and Siobhan stopped further back as others joined them.

A figure stirred and began to climb from the pit. It was shaped like a woman, but that was their only clue.

"Are ya all right?" Roy asked cautiously.

The stone woman glanced up at him, and they could see tears in her eyes. She watched them timidly.

"You didn't expect to survive," Sigrid guessed, and the woman looked to her, then shook her head sadly. Sigrid held out her hand. "You're amongst friends. This is Roy, and I'm Sigrid. What's your name?"

"Ver-Veronica."

Her voice was rough and quiet, but Nate froze as he recognized it immediately. "Ronnie?" he gasped almost silently through a tight throat. His feet began to move him backward through the gathered people. Siobhan watched him leave with a puzzled expression.

He knew the woman getting to her feet before Sigrid, but back then, they'd both just been human, or at least she'd been, and he thought he was.

Veronica Henderson. Nate grew up across the street from the cute brunette. They were friends from a young age and sought each other out when hormones were busy turning them into adults. His parents had ensured he kept things innocent as her parents were religious fundamentalists, and things would get very bad for the girl if they weren't careful. Then came the day Ronnie was fed up with her parents' restrictions and no longer wanted to play it safe. She'd tugged down his zipper and got more than a little playful. He'd never experienced anything so wonderful and wasn't prepared for his orgasm.

The Wild Magic she'd ingested had an immediate and frightening effect on her physiology. He'd thought it was an allergy at the time, but he never got to ask as her parents took her and moved away.

Nate dropped his glamor and leapt into the sky, beating his black wings to gain elevation and distance himself from his sin. The woman whose life he'd fucked up so badly she'd just tried to kill herself.

Sigrid watched Nate flying up and spotted a shadow circling the rooftop. "Shit! Demons." She looked to Roy. "I have to go after Nate." Roy nodded, so Sigrid stepped back, then leapt upwards, her wings and armor flashing into view, lighting up the street like daylight as she chased Nate's inky blackness into the dark sky.

The stone woman was watching the flying people with undisguised shock and awe. Then she realized she was the focus of a lot of attention.

Camila moved up beside Roy and read the stone woman's body language. She was shrinking from all the eyes aimed her way. This gave her an idea. "I'm Camila. We must rescue our friend at the top of this building, but we can take you to a place the locals call Eden once that's done. It's a world without Humans. It's very peaceful, I understand."

Veronica's eyes looked into Camila's. "W-who lives there?"

Camila smiled. "Currently, only some Glass People and some Silver People," she gestured back toward the soldiers behind her. "But civilian Silver People," she corrected with a gentle smile.

The stone woman nodded. "That would be good."

"Good. You can get into any of our trucks and make yourself comfortable. We'll be back," the CEO suggested as she pointed a short distance up the street where their rides waited. She got a nod from the woman, so she turned to touch Roy's arm. They faced the others to gesture for everyone to return to the building.

They had rescuing to do.

-=-

Sigrid was cursing under her breath as she raced closer to Nate, who was tiring in his efforts to reach the roof. She'd definitely caught sight of at least two demons flying around the castle. Nate didn't seem to be aware of them.

"Wait!" she finally called out, and he lurched to the side as he turned his head to look back at her.

The demon diving at him missed and shot by, slamming into Sigrid's shield with a sickening crack. It continued to the ground, broken and spiraling to its doom.

Sigrid saw Nate was aware of his surroundings again, so she flew past, directing her course toward the spot where she'd last seen the demons patrolling the sky.

Their attack came from both sides but did not catch her unaware as they'd planned. She deflected the spear thrust from her left with her shield and knocked the one from her right with her own spear as she sliced the demon's throat with its tip. It squealed and fled as Sigrid switched weapons to her sword to cut through her left opponent's second spear thrust.

It shrieked its rage as it switched to a sword as well. Sigrid was impressed with the savagery of its swordplay, which barely managed to keep her blade at bay. A black streak shot past her back, and she bashed the sword-bearing demon back with her shield as she spun to face the second opponent, but the demon Nate had struck on his way by no longer had a head. She saw it tumbling to the ground as its body followed. She immediately re-engaged with her other opponent, sliced through its arm, and gutted it on the return stroke. She listened to its death rattle as she scanned the sky for her next target. She could no longer see Nate, but she saw the Silver Soldiers begin to move onto the office tower's roof. She flew over to land next to them and put away her weapons, armor, and wings.

Mick approached her. "You're an Angel?" she asked with a trembling voice.

Sigrid smiled. "Thank you, but no. I'm a Valkyrie."

"They're the same thing to me," Yablonski said with awe.

One of the Silver Soldiers raced away to check for an entrance. He returned immediately. "There's a big set of doors around the corner, but it looks like someone busted through the flankers instead.

Sigrid smiled. "The doors are likely boobytrapped. Smart, Henry."

She turned to the gap in the roof and helped the soldiers lift the others onto the roof. She glanced out into the darkness around the building, but Nate was nowhere to be seen. She owed him for taking out that demon sneaking up on her. She hoped he was all right.

-=-

Nate was kneeling on the next building's roof, dry heaving over the gravel surface. Nausea, cramps, and dread filled him, but nothing was coming out.

He knew he had to act when he'd spotted the demon gliding up to Sigrid's back as she battled another. He was above them, so he beat his wings hard to go into a dive and snapped them in tight at the last second as he drew Mab's dagger. He slashed at the demon's neck and was surprised to see he'd cut the head cleanly from its body.

Opening his wings again, he took the strain to swing back up into the air and land on the neighboring roof, a good twenty stories higher than the office tower hosting Mab's castle.

The moment his feet touched the surface, the cursed blade released the life force it had ripped from the demon into Nate.

He was immediately overwhelmed by a barrage of sickening sensations assailing his sense of taste, smell, and touch. It felt like he'd been kicked into a city's human waste treatment tank with a few dozen bloated corpses thrown in to spice it up. He dropped forward onto his hands and knees and heaved but gained no relief.

When he finally regained control, he looked at the dagger resting on the stones like a viper about to strike. He didn't want to pick it up again but knew he had to save Henry from Mab.

Thoughts of the evil Queen caused a surge of rage to flash through his mind. He needed to kill that bitch! He glanced down and saw the dagger was in his hand once more. He vowed not to put it down until it had sucked the life from her body. He didn't even pause to wonder at his rapid change of heart regarding the dagger or the intensity of his need for vengeance.

He leapt off the roof, a new eagerness coursing through him and a feeling of power he hadn't experienced before. It felt good, which was a relief after feeling so awful.

Nate looked forward to the joy he'd feel once Mab was dead.

-=-

Roy was staring at a dead body, the first casualty in their assault on Mab's castle. It had a devastating effect on the upbeat attitudes of the Silver Soldiers as it was one of theirs.

Once they were all inside the building, Specialist Green ran forward to do a quick check on the ground floor level but hadn't returned. The castle wasn't that large, so he should have returned instantly. Roy and the Colonel managed to keep the other soldiers from rushing ahead to find him.

They moved as a group and took in the damage they assumed Henry had inflicted upon Mab's art collection. This would have driven the Fae Queen into an absolute rage.

When they came around the corner to face the stairs leading up to the second floor, they saw Green was down. Crane snapped at his people to stop as several made to run forward. They could see the specialist was frozen mid-run, but his head and the top of his shoulders had been sheared off his body. Something had cut through the soldier cleanly. Green's frozen expression of shock looked back at them, lifeless.

"Mary, move forward... slowly," Roy said.

She nodded to him and stepped lightly as she moved closer to the body. She was ten feet from it when she stopped and stepped back. "Something here." She touched her neck and saw blood on her fingers. That surprised and frightened her. Eleanor moved beside her and examined her skin, which had already resealed. The surgeon pulled a tissue from her pocket and held it out before her until she saw a thin red line of Mary's blood appear on the tissue. She draped it over the ultra-thin wire strung across the hall and stepped back. They couldn't see the wire, but it held up the tissue.

Roy looked to Mick. "He hit the wire at speed, and it went right through him. It must be exceptionally strong and thin if it can cut through Mary's skin."

Mahati moved up to the wire and gestured with all four of her hands before it. The thread began to vibrate like a plucked guitar string. "It's metallic and under high stress. It can be compromised with intense heat." Her hands moved again, and a vertical bar of white-hot light moved up the hallway. The tissue ignited, and the wire broke with a sharp ping, shredding the paper as it snapped back to its anchor points on the sides of the hallway, the wood panels splintering under the impact.

"How are you able to use your magic after you lost your glamor to the Wild Magic!" Investigator Keshellion complained.

Mahati turned to give the old Fae a haughty look. "I'm a Nāga. We are magic."

She moved forward and launched her wire-burning spell again as they reached the stairs. Every second step had a wire at ankle height.

"I'd like to strangle Mab with these wires," Roy growled. Crane nodded as he bent to touch Specialist Green's head gently.

Each member of his squad paid their respects as the group proceeded up the stairs.

"STOP!"

Mahati froze and looked back at Siobhan, who was staring wide-eyed at something up the hallway.

"What is it?" Roy asked.

Siobhan shook her head. "I don't know what it means, but there's no magic in this hallway... at all. It's a big dead zone. Magic is avoiding this space."

"It's a sinkhole. Any being supported by magic will be incapacitated in this area. There will be focal points to draw the energy away," Keshellion offered.

"What do the focal points look like?" Crane asked.

"Miniature glass orbs," the Investigator explained.

Gordon nodded and stepped forward until a hand caught his sleeve. He looked back at Corporal Dulane. "Sir, I believe I should be doing this, not you."

The Colonel looked at his driver and saw the serious look in his eye. He finally nodded.

The soldier moved forward into the hallway and spotted what looked like a marble stuck to the wood paneling. He used his knife to pry it loose, and the orb turned black. He glanced back and saw the pretty brunette smiling at him. She was so beautiful, and her Irish accent gave him butterflies in his stomach. He fantasized briefly about asking her out once all this craziness was over.

The fact that she could see magic told him she wasn't human. It made him wonder if her appearance was an illusion hiding something terrifying. This made him look to the others.

Dulane saw the urgency on their faces, so he stopped wondering about the beauty and sped up his efforts, moving down one side of the hall and working his way back up the other. Siobhan called out encouragement as she observed how the dead zone filled in with magic as he worked.

A deep boom shook through the castle, the sound seeming to come from above, and the chandeliers down the hall exploded, casting everyone into darkness.

"The dead zone is gone, but we now have company!" Siobhan cried as she saw the outline of beings rushing down the hall towards them. The Corporal was invisible to her.

"Dulane! Run toward my voice!" the Colonel called out.

Mick and Yablonski caught the running man before he could slam into their boss. "We've got you," Mick said quietly. "Colonel, we've got this. We can see."

The Silver Soldiers shot forward and quickly dealt with the troop of Goblins. With the loss of Green, they didn't hold back their need for vengeance. The marine was particularly savage, and the last grey-skinned creatures died within the first ten seconds of battle. It took another ten for the soldiers to stop. The Marine took another five before Mick told him enough.

To clear a path, they kicked the bodies against the walls and then shook off the gore. Luckily, nothing stuck to their new skin. Their clothes were another story. Aside from the Sergeant, they removed their soiled uniforms and left them over the bodies.

Mick had to keep her uniform as it had pockets. She rushed back to the Colonel. "Hostiles dealt with, sir."

"I could bring out my armor," Sigrid suggested.

"No, too bright," Roy asserted.

Mahati created a ball of white light hovering above her, lighting the area around them. She led them forward with Siobhan at her side, watching for strange patterns in the ambient magic.

"I-I think the castle is beginning to die," she said hesitantly.

"It's due to the iron piercing its foundations. It's broken the bindings between the castle and its magic," Keshellion remarked from the rear.

Nuru looked up at the ceiling. "Are we in danger of the castle collapsing on us?"

The old Fae scowled at her. "It wasn't magic that built this castle, and it isn't magic that holds it together. There were layers upon layers of magic bound to its walls and foundation, but their function is to support the spells cast within them."

"Stone castles are not meant to be tilted," Gordon Crane insisted.

The Fae paused and nodded to him. "Yes, that's unfortunately true."

Sigrid made an impatient sound. "Then let's get Henry and Marisa and get the hell out!"

"Is no one else going to ask about that boom?" Camila asked.

"There's no point in conjecture. Let's get upstairs and find out!" Roy growled as he moved beside Mahati and encouraged her to move faster.

Rounding the corner, they could see the stairs up and the dead body of an Ogre with a spear through its chest.

As she passed the corpse, Minkah cast an evaluating glance at the placement of the spear. "A skilled attack."

Roy snorted. "This is Henry we're talking about. He's not a fighter. That was luck."

"You don't think he has it in him to be a killer?" Minkah asked curiously, watching Roy share uncomfortable glances with Camila and Sigrid. "What? What did I miss?"

Roy looked back at the assassin. "Henry can kill. Henry has killed. It's just... the boy isn't mentally wired to understand its necessity in particular circumstances. He has a difficult time with it."

Mahati checked the stairs again but found no more wires. They rushed to the third floor and were relieved the lights worked on this level. Mahati released the light orb. After confirming there were no booby traps, they hustled down the hall.

In one of the chambers off the hallway, they spotted two more ogres, this time with their skulls crushed.

"Luck, you say?" Minkah said with a smirk.

On the fourth, they stepped over the bodies of the Goblins Henry killed as they rushed forward.

"I take it back," Roy said. "He's managing quite well."

Another massive boom shook the castle, and it was definitely much louder on this floor, so it had to be coming from Mab's chamber upstairs. The stairs at the end of the hall suddenly collapsed, and massive stone slabs fell from the ceiling further up the corridor. Through the large gap, they spotted Henry surrounded by a bright green aura. More stones began falling from the ceiling, and Henry turned to lock eyes with Roy.

The floor suddenly dropped under everyone's feet as the castle collapsed further into the office tower. They were thrown from their feet and fell a short distance to land softly in tall red grasses.

Roy scrambled to his feet, but above him was only orange sky. He looked around and saw others from the rescue party poking their heads up from the grasses in surprise. The look of awe on Raymond and Eleanor's faces indicated their delight. They were certainly being exposed to new and exciting experiences.

"Did... did Henry just dump us in Eden?" Camila asked incredulously.

Sigrid stood and screamed her frustration. Everyone shielded their eyes from the flash of white light.

"Hey! Put it away!" Roy snapped, equally frustrated.

"How are we supposed to rescue him if he keeps protecting us!" she yelled. She struggled to calm herself as she hid her armor and weapons.

"Did everyone make it?" Gordon asked as he quickly scanned the group with his eyes, looking for his squad first.

A quick headcount showed some were missing. Mick, Yablonski, Gunnery Sergeant Endale, Dulane, Lorelei, Investigator Keshellion, and Nuru's two attendants had all been at the back of their party and may have been out of Henry's sightline. Nuru was present and had been standing just before her people.

"How do we get back?" the Succubi leader asked nervously.

Sigrid pointed up the field towards the sparkling people watching them from the forest's edge. "The Glass People can open tears too."

Several Silver People ran down the hill to stop in front of them. Specialist Feinberg, one of the Colonel's squad, reached forward to grasp the offered hand. After a moment, they released, and the new Silver People ran back up the hill.

"What did he say, David?" Gordon asked.

"I shared images as he didn't speak English. He's going to speak to the Glass People to let them know we're coming and need immediate passage back home," the specialist explained.

"Excellent! Thank you, David." Crane looked to the others. "Let's go."

Henry was still alive and managed to save them from the collapsing building. Camila prayed Marisa was safe, too.

As she followed the others through the tall grasses towards the Glass People's gathering spot, she failed to notice the sleeping beauty in the grasses a few yards away.

-=-

Mick, Yablonski, and Endale stood on the staircase, holding Dulane, Keshellion, and Lorelei, respectively. Their charges had some bruising from being grabbed and yanked back, but they'd been spared the fate of the two Succubi who'd been crushed under a falling stone slab.

"Are the others dead?" Yablonski cried.

"No, I saw them falling through those tears the Satyr creates," the Investigator gasped quietly as her ribs ached.

"What the fuck do we do now?" Yablonski whispered as he looked at the base of the stairs, which were impassible, the top of the stairs, which were also blocked, and upward, where the rippling glow of lights could be seen through the gap of a missing stone slab.

Lorelei patted Endale's big hand to catch his attention and to get him to release his grip. "Can you lift me up so I can see what we're facing up there?" she asked quietly.

The marine nodded and cupped his hands for her to step in. Then, he easily lifted her until she could peek over the stone's edge into the chamber above. She stifled a gasp as she was looking into the floor above.

Just a few feet beyond the stone she was peering over, the floor dropped away. The fourth level had collapsed into the third and had taken it down to the second. Up and ahead, she could see an intact span of the fifth floor being held up by a few damaged columns and sections of the outer walls.

On that span of the fifth floor, Lorelei could see Henry kneeling, his head dropped forward in exhaustion, the green aura around him fed by a thread of light coming down from the aurora borealis in the sky above. The green light was back in the sky?!?

Behind Henry, standing before a partially broken picture window, a young and pretty woman panted from some severe effort. She still had enough energy to sneer at Henry with an expression of glee.

"This is why you are weak! This is why you lose again and again! You waste your energy on those unworthy of it. They are meaningless!" the young beauty crowed.

"No, Mab. They're my friends, and they mean everything!" Henry growled, but his voice was strained.

"You can't protect them. They're all going to die! Whether you're there or not, I will see them all die. This world, my world, needs a fresh start with new life. None who exist today are worthy of living in my new world!" Mab exclaimed.

Looking around her, Lorelei saw there was room to stand and enough shadows to be hidden from the goings-on above.

She looked down at the marine. "Higher, we need everyone out of that hole."

He lifted her higher until she was able to kneel on the edge and reach down. "Next."

She helped Keshellion out of the hole and Dulane, who took over once he was out.

Soon, they were all on an intact section of the fourth floor.

"How can we help him?" Mick asked.

"You can't. Do not try."

Lorelei squeaked in fright as a crone stepped out of the shadows behind them. Her eyes immediately went to the child in the old woman's arms. She saw blue eyes, full of joy. She instantly wanted to hold the baby, and she'd never felt that way before about a child.

Then, the old woman's voice pulled up Lorelei's memories, and she locked eyes with the witch. "You!"

"Another disappointment," Baba snapped.

Lorelei rocked back from the verbal slap, and her voice stuck in her throat. She wanted to sing a song about this miserable creature's death, but her anger blocked her. Her face flushed, and her mouth worked, but she realized how powerful the woman was when she made a gesture, and all three Silver Soldiers fell back into the hole above the stairwell.

Her mouth snapped shut in a well-timed surge of self-preservation.

Baba stepped to the edge of the pit over the remains of the fourth and third floors and hopped over to a stone sticking out of the wall. She leapt from stone to stone, making her way around the perimeter until she could land on the remains of the fifth floor.

The sergeant rejoined Lorelei on the platform and immediately pulled out her cell to record the events above them. Lorelei noticed Mab no longer appeared confident, though she looked down her nose at the old woman.

She hoped Baba was here for more than intimidation tactics.

-=-

Henry was aching from the beating he'd taken so far and tired from the drain caused by using magic.

He'd made it to Mab's floor and kicked the doors down. This had the bonus effect of stunning the two Ogres hiding behind them. He'd picked up a dropped mace and stomped the skull of its owner. The other managed to land a few glancing blows with his weapon until Henry leapt forward, breaking the Ogre's ankle with a sharp kick. They grappled on the ground, the Ogre getting in a few more punches until Henry got behind him with an arm wrapped around its neck.

He'd squeezed until he heard its death rattle.

Staggering onto his hooves, he barely managed to avoid the fireball Mab shot at him. He saw she was still having trouble forcing the Wild Magic to obey. He'd stalked forward until he collided with a force field she'd thrown between them. Henry had pounded on the field and felt it weakening with each blow. It was exhausting, but it was working.

When the field fell, it did so with an enormous boom and a backblast, which also tossed Henry back. He'd forced himself up and rushed her again, only to strike a second field.

His fists were a bloody mess, so he'd pulled on the healing spell and felt its sluggish refusal to budge, so he'd pulled harder and harder until it suddenly came loose and rushed from the surface to fly up into the sky once more. Henry could see out the window behind Mab and saw the swirling green light rise and thin out to its usual invisible state in the upper atmosphere.

Calling it to heal his injuries was far easier now, and working with magic was becoming second nature. Once his fists were better, he'd wrapped them in the green light and began pounding on the next shield as Mab snarled at him from behind it.

Henry saw Marisa was bound to an overly complicated death trap Mab had devised to terrify Henry into submission. The unconscious blonde was strapped to a table with deadly blades positioned above and to her sides, ready to begin dicing her into cubes as vials of nasty caustic liquids prepared to dissolve her remains. As he brutally pounded his fists against Mab's shield, his mind was busy creating a body profile shield for Marisa and a variant of his exploded view spell for Mab's Rube Goldberg death machine.

When the second field fell, he saw they'd done serious damage as the castle tilted further and began to collapse.

With Mab temporarily distracted, he launched his spells as he opened a tear on the surface of the table below the blonde. The trap sprung, but the pieces flew everywhere but at Marisa. As she slid down into a soft grassy landing, the shield protected her from the stray droplets of the caustic liquids.

Mab wasn't so lucky and shrieked as a spray of acid splashed against her leg. Henry was knicked by one of the blades spinning past his shoulder.

When the floor behind him began to go, he'd spotted Roy one level down. In his panic, he'd opened multiple tears and dropped everyone he could see into Eden.

When the last tear snapped shut, he'd collapsed in exhaustion. He'd been lucky Mab was occupied, keeping a large portion of her floor mostly intact.

He pulled on the energy from the rift within himself and felt his strength slowly returning.

When Baba arrived, his eyes locked on his daughter. Nothing else existed in the world for him at that moment. Their eyes met, and he felt an immediate connection. Her eyes twinkled happily as he smiled at her.

"You've come to interfere again?" Mab hissed.

Baba knelt on a plush area rug and gently laid the babe down, touching her cheek affectionately. Then, she quickly stood and backed away from the child as she made some hand gestures. Henry's head rocked back as he felt a snapping sensation in his horns.

"No. I'm not here to interfere," Baba said softly as she watched Henry sadly.

He watched her with a puzzled expression. This gave way to dread as Baba stepped back into a shadow and disappeared. He looked to Mab and saw the insane glee flare in her green eyes once more.

Henry moved first and got his body between Mab and his daughter. Her hastily flung fireball scorched his left side, but he protected the baby.

The pain was excruciating, and Henry immediately triggered his spell to repair the damage. He barely managed to stay on his hooves as the burnt flesh fell away, and new growth began.

Mab watched his agony with a feverish intensity. His torturous pain seemed to sexually excite her as he clearly saw the impression of her nipples against her clothes. He felt ill from how her face twisted into the most revolting expression. He hated that she was using the face his daughter should have had. He stumbled forward and grabbed her shoulders. Her fingers clawed at the fresh skin on his side, and he lurched forward as she laughed.

The sound cut short as his forehead bumped against hers painfully. He pulled back and saw Mab was struggling to remain conscious. His skull was far denser than hers due to his horns. He jolted back when he noticed the silver thread connecting his horns to the top of Mab's head. He looked back and saw a second thread reaching out and touching the baby's head. He felt the three-way connection activate as a shock, and Mab's eyes flew wide as the thread began to accelerate.

Suddenly, the window behind Mab exploded inwards as Nate pulled his wings in and landed on his feet to run closer.

"HOLD HER, HENRY! HOLD HER!" he yelled, his voice high and tight with tension as he fought his own terror. Nate crashed into Mab's back, and she screamed. Henry looked down and saw the tip of Mab's cursed dagger sticking out of her chest.

When Mab's eyes locked on his, he saw them change from mad green to an innocent blue, filled with pain and confusion.

"NO! NO! NATE, STOP!" Henry yelled, but Nate wrapped his wings around them to keep the dagger in Mab's back. The look on his face was a mix of terror and righteous joy.

Henry watched in horror as the light faded in the innocent blue eyes, and her body shrank and quickly became an infant once again. The silver threads snapped as the process was over.

Nate lurched back and dropped the dagger as the innocent life flooded into him. "What? What? N-n-n-no!" he gasped and shook his head as the gravity of what he'd just done sank into his mind.

Henry sank to his knees, holding the tiny body tenderly against his chest. His mind couldn't contain his grief, and he just made quiet, keening noises.

Now back in her old body, Mab chuckled and reached out her hand. The dagger leapt from the floor to her, the grip slapping against her palm.

"My darling Nate! You've returned my beloved blade to me! Thank you!" she purred with a wide grin.

He turned toward her, his expression twisting between terror and rage. He turned and leapt out the broken window.

"Henry, Henry, Henry. Dry your tears. This was always destined to happen. The child had only one purpose, and even that failed. The truth is, ultimately, everyone ends up disappointing you, even your beloved Baba." She ran her fingers down her body, and she was suddenly wearing a very provocative skin tight dress. "It feels so good to be in a body linked to magic that obeys!"

Henry was lost. His daughter was dead. She'd died in his hands. His heart felt like it might shrivel up and die.

He opened up a small rift on the floor before him, and Xiong looked up at him in surprise. Henry gently lowered the little body into the hands of the glass being and spoke to him through the magic they shared. "She was my daughter, and I failed her. Please lay her to rest... someplace beautiful."

The sadness returning from Xiong almost shattered Henry's control. The elder accepted the small bundle and nodded. Henry closed the tear.

He stood slowly to face Mab. The only thing left for him to do was kill this evil creature. Nothing else mattered.

Mab's expression of delighted surprise wasn't what he expected to see, but she quickly clued him in.

"Oh, Baba, you shouldn't have! This is too delicious!" she burst into manic giggles as Henry stared at her.

She looked up at him with tears of joy in her eyes. "My sweet Henry, or should I say... Stanley."

She held her right hand up, and Henry finally understood the scope of Baba's final betrayal.

The ring.

Mab was wearing the cursed ring.

"Time to say goodbye to your retched Humanity!" she giggled with supreme delight.

He watched her wide smile as she spun the ring one way around.

Henry couldn't cross the space between them in time to stop her.

Time!

He had no idea how to activate the temporal energy stored in his horns, but he focused all of his will on them with one simple command: Stop.

Mab's evil grin was filled with her madness as she spun the ring back, slowly, then slower still until she just froze.

Henry tried to surge forward but couldn't move, though his mind was still active.

"Didn't I tell you not to mess with time magic?" Baba growled as she walked into view from behind him.

"You need to stop her!" Henry exclaimed and realized he was standing outside of his body. This felt familiar, as he'd been outside his body so often. He immediately moved to Mab's side and tried to pull her fingers away from the ring, but it was like pushing a mountain. He turned to look back at Mab. "Help me!"

"What makes you think I can do what you cannot?" she asked scornfully. "What makes you think I'd want to if I could?"

He frowned at her. "You can do things no one else can. You reached back in time and pulled me forward like you did the others!"

Baba shook her head. "I did nothing of the sort. You can't go back in time. That's proven to be impossible, even for me. You can go forward, though. I pushed you and the others forward to my present self, who knew when and where to collect you from the time stream. That your horns would collect the temporal energy surprised me."

Henry shook his head. "Right, the temporal energy in my horns. I've seen it age and de-age someone. Isn't that going forward and backward in time?"

"Don't be stupid! Those are only local area effect spells modifying the state of an object or person within the field. It follows the stored memory in cells to revert to previous states and predictive algorithms to project their future states. Only temporal energy can power that spell," Baba snapped. She looked to Mab. "She used it to good effect at her party."

He sighed as this wasn't what he wanted to talk about now. "What's stopping me from preventing her from spinning the ring?"

"You are. You've moved into a state where you perceive this one moment in time. Changing the state of an object or a person is not possible without involving time. Truthfully, you can't stop time as that's impossible too."

"So, if I unfreeze my perception of time, she completes her action, and I die. Stanley Garin will flash into and out of being," he said softly.

"Yes, along with Humankind," she concluded.

"I'm doing my best to keep from asking the question you won't answer," Henry said with a frown and sighed. "What do you have against Humans?"

Baba held his eyes. "Nothing at all. I used to be one long ago. Now, they're just part of a bargain I need to be free from," she said wearily.

At Henry's exasperated look, she sighed. "Henry, how old do you think I am?"

He frowned. "You know I can't accurately guess stuff like that."

She nodded with the smallest smile. "Let's just say I'm one of the originals." She looked to Henry to see if he would protest the vague answer, but he just watched her.

"I once had a son. He got sick. He was dying. I... made an arrangement. He would survive, and I would live and remember. I watched him grow up, get old, and die. I was cast out when I outlived so many. I learned many things and grew in power. Gaining so many years means losing much as well. Important things, so I made a plan." She nodded in satisfaction.

Henry watched her carefully and saw the weariness in her eyes. This was the most open she'd ever been with him, ever. He suspected this was only because she saw her release from her unnaturally extended life once he released his hold on the moment.

As if reading his mind, she frowned at him. "Your moment is almost up. Time is moving forward regardless of your wishes," Baba scolded him gently.

He watched her. "Thank you, Baba."

She looked at him in surprise.

"Thank you for taking care of me... to the best of your abilities," he said gently.

She snorted softly as she gave him a troubled look.

"No, I understand now I was just a part of your exit strategy... but my life had more good moments than bad, and ultimately, I found love. That's a treasure for me," he explained.

Baba stared at him, and her lip twitched. She nodded, and that looked like a twitch as well. "You're too soft-hearted. That's why you refused to willingly spin the ring when you were given the opportunity to end this."

He smiled at her. "Perhaps, but I stand by that decision. There are too many beautiful and loving people in the world. People who would do anything to protect their loved ones. That's the most profound demonstration of love."

Baba's tick was back. "I said I wouldn't interfere..."

He felt it. The moment passed, and the ring's turning sequence was complete. Henry released his hold on his perception of time, and as his observation of it slowed to real-time, he felt the beginnings of the dragon bone glamor activating. Reality twisted, but this time, he felt himself tearing apart. He'd never felt this kind of pain before during a transition. He was being peeled apart! He felt a thinning of his being, a hollowing out of his core, and a sensation like being dragged across a cheese grater.

The torture wasn't just physical. He wasn't ready to go. Images of Sandy, Tish, and Dayshia flashed through his mind, and he wanted to hold them again. Camila, Sigrid, and Marisa appeared in his last thoughts. Roy, his surrogate dad. Meixiu, Mahati, and Siobhan. His child with Tish who would never meet her father as he'd missed out on his own.

It wasn't fair.

A shock shot from his scalp to his toes, leaving him lightheaded.

Time froze once more, but this time, he saw Baba doing it, pulling him into the bubble of her moment.

She was also streaming energy into him, and his head felt like a balloon being overfilled until there was a flash, a pop, and he was back. Implanted images flickered past the back of his eyes quicker than he could comprehend them, but they seemed intensely important. His muscles twitched like they were reacting to the images.

Then everything went still.

Henry was facing Mab, but behind her, in the shadows, stood Baba.

Standing next to her was someone he never expected to see again.

Stanley.

A shock went through Henry's body as he locked eyes with his former self. Their minds instantly linked, and they realized what Baba had done. Henry had no memories before returning from Ireland, and Stanley had no memories of what happened after. Stanley was completely Human, while Henry was one hundred percent Satyr. She'd split them so Henry could live on.

Henry knew they had less than a moment, so he plunged his mind into Stanley's memories, imprinting a copy in his mind as he shared everything he was in return.

Stanley suddenly pushed him from his mind as he smiled weakly. "Goodbye—"

He was gone.

Henry looked to Baba and saw her old eyes closing with a look of absolute peace, something he'd never seen in them before.

Then she was gone, too.

The frozen moment ended, and reality slammed into Henry, making him stumble.

Mab's smile was ripped away as she looked at Henry with incredulous outrage. "No... NO! You were supposed to disappear! All of Humanity was supposed to DIE!"

Reeling from losing a significant and important part of himself, Henry struggled to focus on Mab. She glared at her finger as she spun the ring repeatedly. Except, it no longer functioned. The curse had been triggered, and there was no provision for his existence afterward.

Henry rocked with the horror of what that meant.

Humanity was gone?

-=-

Gunnery Sergeant Chris Endale stood on the small section of intact flooring, watching the confusing shit happening on the floor a level above and ahead of them. His mind wasn't tracking what was happening at all. This was impossible shit. People couldn't just appear and disappear in shadows. People couldn't grow from baby to adult in seconds, either. It was making his skin crawl.

The freak who pushed him into the other world was crying over the dead body of a child and lowered it through the floor. His nerves frayed from witnessing yet another impossible act. He grit his teeth in a feral snarl.

The hot redhead woman on the upper level was babbling nonsense about saying goodbye to humanity as she did something with her hands.

Dulane was standing between Endale and Yablonski behind the three women. When the only fully human member of their group vanished, only the two silver men witnessed his empty uniform fall quietly to the floor. They stared, stunned by the finality and cruelty of this impossible act, and it was just too much for Chris.

He lifted his eyes to look into the shocked and enraged expression of the other Silver Soldier. They shared a look, and Endale made hand gestures indicating the outer walls. Yablonski nodded stiffly, and they prepared their attack.

-=-

Henry caught sight of a silver streak running along the wall's intact remains behind Mab. It leapt across a gap to land on the floor close to her. It was the marine, and he was in a rage. He surged forward, and for the briefest second, Mab faded slightly as she spun with the dagger. The marine grabbed her as he raced by, but his hands passed through her instead. Her blade slashed through the man's wide neck. He stumbled wildly, and his momentum carried him into the path of a second Silver Soldier rushing around from the other side. They collided, and both went out the window at speed.

Henry looked to where they must have come from and saw a third Silver Soldier turning to kneel before an empty army uniform. The image was etched indelibly in his mind as proof the curse had worked.

His eyes went to Lorelei, watching him with a wide-eyed, terrified expression. Then he saw the old Fae on her hands and knees, mumbling and watching Mab with murder in her eyes. Her hands were glowing slightly.

Henry knew he wasn't done. Mab planned to kill everyone. He had to stop that.

He moved toward her, and Mab pointed the dagger at him. His eyes focused on the weapon that drank his daughter's life. He surged forward.

Mab tried to run forward, too, but realized her feet were stuck to the floor. She flicked a glance at the Investigator, who was using the last of her strength and magic to cast a binding spell. She'd deal with the traitor later.

She focused back on Henry, who was almost in range but making no effort to protect himself. Stupid and sloppy! He wasn't a fighter. Once he was too close to avoid it, she thrust the deadly blade at his heart.

Its edge never touched his skin. Henry opened a small tear directly before the point of Mab's blade and her hand followed the cursed weapon as it plunged into molten rock. He immediately released the tear, severing the hand from her now burning wrist.

She screamed until his big hands grabbed her shoulders once more in a bruising grip. Her eyes flew wide as he yanked her forward to ram his forehead against hers, with all his strength this time.

Old bone shattered under the intense impact, and Mab's body stiffened, then went completely lax as he threw her to the floor at his hooves. Curling his lip in disgust, he stepped back before he dropped her body into another lava flow on Eden. He strained to hold the rift open long enough to watch the molten rock consume her corpse in the roaring flames.

Once the tear snapped closed, the building shifted again, the last of the magic that kept it together quickly draining away without Mab to maintain it. Henry flung out a hand to open a tear next to Lorelei and the soldier, red grasses showing below. The soldier had the presence of mind to tackle the tall brunette as she leapt through the tear before the floor collapsed, taking the dying Fae Investigator down into the darkness.

Henry was done. Mab was dead. He hadn't been able to stop her from killing off Humanity. That weighed tremendously on his soul, but he'd saved the rest. He stumbled back and watched the enormous stone slabs fall from the ceiling above. The cascade had begun from the center of the building but was rapidly getting closer as he staggered back.

Maybe... maybe being buried under the stones of a magic castle was the proper conclusion for the man who'd failed to save Humanity.

The impact of the stone which swung down from above, struck his horns and pitched him out the open window behind him. Dazed, he felt the sharp pain of hitting the roof's edge, then the gentle caress of the wind as he fell. His consciousness mercifully slipped away well before he reached his final destination of the street below.

Epilogue

The horrors of the Skyfall Event would never be forgotten by the survivors.

What surprised most people in the days that followed was how little panic and chaos resulted from it. Not that there weren't some localized outbursts of fear and violence. But even these were short-lived, and calm returned quickly as if the people had no stomach for it after so much loss.

This reserved behavior made it possible for life to move forward and a semblance of normality to return to the lives of those left behind.

But not everything remained as it was before.

Answers are needed when an estimated three billion human beings suddenly and simultaneously disappear, leaving their clothes, watches, and jewelry behind.

The evangelicals immediately exclaimed it was the Rapture, the worthy being taken to heaven, while those that remained were unworthy.

On the opposite side of the crazy coin were the UFO enthusiasts/Alien abduction conspiracy theorists who claimed the missing were now enslaved on far-off planets.

The rationalists didn't know what to believe, which somehow seemed worse.

Regardless of what was believed, three billion people were gone, and that number was a rough estimate as a new census would be required for an accurate count.

To add a spritz of lemon juice to that wound, some people were no longer... people. Initially, the number was small, but as the days passed, people succumbed in increasing numbers to a strange ailment. They would spontaneously lose consciousness and transform before the eyes of onlookers. These transformed people's new shapes and sizes were often shocking and could have led to panic amongst the populace, but again, somehow didn't. Sociology pundits theorized it was potentially because people knew they could be next, and behaving positively instead gave people comfort and hope.

Generally, treatment for the recently transformed was surprisingly considerate and gentle. They were taken to the nearest hospital to check their health. There, they would be met by a government-appointed counselor who often matched their new shape. These trained officials eased new beings through the change. In very rare cases, the transformed succumbed to a fatal ailment at the hospital, but officials took care of these red-eyed souls.

With a global presence and representation in every country, it was the most ambitious and well-managed public health program ever orchestrated.

The world's governments were demanding answers on what exactly happened, but they hadn't made much progress in the following months. The investigation focused on the odd and seemingly disconnected events that transpired in the months, weeks, days, and hours leading to the Skyfall. Every phenomenon outside the norm was recorded and cross-referenced to find the patterns.

Disgraced US Air Force officer Major Thomas was enjoying another moment of celebrity while remaining in custody in London, England, as once again, he awaited extradition to the US. Somehow, a statement from him was leaked to the press. In it, he claimed to have been freed from his Canadian holding cell for the specific mission of destroying the small Irish island to flush out the mastermind of a plan to kill humanity.

Two facts lent his story some strange credibility. A collapsed Irish castle's remains rested upon the roof of a Manhattan office tower and on the street below. Its foundation stones bore scorch marks from a rocket attack. Officials were remaining silent about this.

Then came the Tennison Clip.

While the clip was definitely from the cell of US Army Sergeant Michelle Tennison, she wasn't the source of the leak. That was discovered to be a nosy junior tech in the Army's Intelligence Division, who should never have even seen the video but caught wind of the clip being circulated at the highest levels. He managed to obtain a copy from a secure mail server before it was delivered. When he saw the timestamp incorporated into the file and heard the red-haired woman's words, he got a little excited and made a copy for himself. While he didn't understand the significance of the actions taking place in the video, the dialog and timing lined up exactly to the moment people disappeared, and the big brass were all over this video. He realized he was looking at something equal to or exceeding the significance of the Zapruder film.

He posted it anonymously to his favorite clip aggregator website. Within twenty-four hours, the video was on the front page of every significant social media site, while the junior tech was sitting in a cell in a military prison as his apartment and life were being turned inside out.

Most contentious were the last five seconds of the video, which showed a tear in space appearing next to a woman whose face did not appear in the video. The camera tumbled through the rift in space into tall red grasses, and the last frame shows the morning sunlight touching the tips of red mountains in the far distance.

Never has a brief video clip been more analyzed, scrutinized, and dissected frame by frame in high definition, aside from the Zapruder footage. Experts from every nation demanded access to the source file.

They were also calling for the identity of this being named Henry.

But no one came forward.

-=-

Roy adjusted the collar of his dress shirt one more time, and Mary gently slapped his elbow.

"Stop that," she said quietly as her eyes panned over the grim expressions on the faces of the politicians sitting up on the raised dais. She'd been before a police review board before, but she'd never faced a special congressional investigatory committee in the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

The floor space between the congress representatives and them was filled with cameras from every media outlet and major network. Mary felt a little odd being under the microscope, so to speak.

She looked to Roy's other side and smiled at Mahati, who looked calm and prepared like she attended these every day. She had her glamor back, though she'd told no one how she managed to do it aside from saying Nāga are magic.

"I have more important things to do today than this!" Roy grumbled. Mary snorted as she knew he was eager to return to his new duties as Interim Minister of Security for the Hidden Races Council. Chancellor Mugawee announced to Roy that the Assembly authorized him to offer the position to Roy upon hearing of Lise-Anne's demise and how painlessly Roy handled the redistribution of the Louisiana territories in just ten days.

When the previous Minister of Security woke in VRL's destroyed boardroom, she'd attempted to burn her way free from the cactus thorn trap but perished in flames instead. She'd destroyed the room's fire detectors during her initial attack, so they failed to extinguish the fire until it began to spread, tripping alarms in the outer hall.

One of Roy's first acts was reinstating Michelle Beaumont to her former position with all penalties reversed with the incident expunged from her work history. He'd need Michelle's vast knowledge of their archives for his intended work.

He also canceled all outstanding hit contracts. Lorelei could breathe easier once she heard that news.

News of Roger Jensen's demise at the hands of Sandy and Kesini was received with shock and concern, and they received many hugs from the group for the ordeal they went through. Roy contacted the Chancellor to assure him the threat had been dealt with. They decided to let the mystery die with the three billion other souls.

Sigrid spearheaded the Global Transformation Support Program through the Hidden Races Council, and it rolled out with very few hiccups. Very few people refused aid and support given in a time of crisis from people who spoke with authority and compassion and asked for nothing in return. The program was easing the transition of so many new members to each race. While the Council remained invisible to the general populace, select individuals interfaced with them through Sigrid, which worked well.

Camila was back to running VRL, with Marisa filling in as Interim CIO from home as she cared for her baby girl.

A gavel banged on the podium, drawing Mary's attention to the committee chairman as he called the meeting to order. In the center seat, Congressman Marvin Cressman was a gaunt older man with a shock of white hair and wore a dark blue suit, a crisp white shirt, and a blood-red tie. He introduced himself as chair and had each congressional representative introduce themself. Then he began.

"This select committee was formed to investigate what is now being called the Aurora Skyfall event, which took place six months ago on June tenth, and the subsequent crisis which transpired in Manhattan, New York in the early hours of June eleventh to determine their part, if any, in the massive loss of lives experienced all over the world. The committee members sitting with me were given access to the Tennison Clip. This video recording was taken by US Army Sergeant Michelle Tennison on June eleventh. After multiple viewing and an in-depth review, we are left with more questions than answers. We were informed that the video contained proof of who was responsible for those deaths, but the video looks like the work of one of Hollywood's big special effects houses. Aside from the pretty redhead's outburst about killing Humanity and the timestamp on the video, we didn't see anything that clearly connects the film's events to the sudden loss of what might be billions of lives."

There was a sudden emotional outburst from the gallery as this was likely one of the first public acknowledgments of the scope of the loss.

Cressman banged the gavel to quiet the room as Roy glanced back, seeing the fear and rage in the eyes of people looking for someone to blame for the deaths.

When the room settled, the chairman focused on Roy. "Please state your name and occupation for the record."

"Roy Duncan. Head of Security for VRL Investments in Manhattan, New York."

"Yesterday, we heard testimony from US Army Brigadier General Gordon Crane that you worked closely with VRL Investments CIO Henry Gable, the same Henry Gable who wrote firewall application software that our government's largest security departments have now deployed."

Roy nodded. "Yes."

"May we assume you've seen the Tennison Clip?"

"Yes."

"We have also heard testimony that the being called Henry in the Tennison Clip is, somehow, the same Henry Gable. Is this the case?"

Roy sighed. "Yes."

"The final moments of the video show the beginning of the collapse of the rooftop castle. The last remaining persons alive in the castle were Henry Gable, the unknown woman, and Sergeant Tennison."

Roy cleared his tight throat. "To my knowledge, that was the case."

Cressman stared at Roy with a pensive expression.

"Did Henry Gable die inside that building?"

"No, he did not."

"So, where is—"

Roy cleared his throat again to open it, and the mic squealed slightly. "Sorry. During the event, when the castle began to fall apart, most of the group I was with were dumped from the castle's fourth floor into Eden, a planet in an alternate dimension. It took a little time to arrange it, but the Glass People there prepared to open a rift to bring us back. Sergeant Tennison joined us on Eden and had them open the rift further up the street from the building where our vehicles were due to the castle's collapse and debris falling from the building. When we stepped back onto Earth, we found Henry on the roadway. The body of his friend Nathan Walker was nearby.

A witness on the scene indicated Nathan caught Henry as he fell from the roof and attempted to carry him to the ground, but he was too heavy. He managed to slow them until his wings broke, at which time he spun them to break Henry's landing. They struck the ground hard." Roy took some deep breaths and then continued. "Both sustained critical injuries from the fall, and neither showed life signs when we arrived. The witness, a transformed woman who'd been waiting for us to open a way to Eden, carried Henry's body through the open rift, which the Glass People then closed."

The committee members shared grim looks. "We had hoped to speak to him dir—" The man squinted as orange light suddenly shone on his face.

Roy stood as he spun to face the tear opening at the beginning of the aisle in the gallery. Two Glass People slowly walked through and stepped to the sides. Next came two identical, red-skinned, black-eyed Succubi—with wings! The clothes they wore were little more than bikini tops and short shorts. The only feral Succubi twins Roy was aware of were the ones Baba Yaga took from Mab, and these looked... different, aside from the inclusion of wings.

A large shape followed them through, silhouetted against the sunset light.

Stepping through the rift was a sight Roy's brain couldn't comprehend.

Henry, in his Satyr form.

Roy leapt forward to pull him into a hug, feeling the reality and solidity of this apparition. It wasn't just wishful thinking. He held Henry out at arm's length to stare him in the eye. "Henry? You died! How..."

Henry's smile was brittle. "Yes..." Something slipped past the back of his eyes, something dark he was trying to forget, and his relieved smile returned as he clung to Roy. "But... I didn't cross over. I came back. I won't abandon my family." His body shuddered, and tears welled up in his eyes but didn't fall. "I was pretty busted up, so I had to repair my body. It took... so long." He shook his head as his eyes lost focus momentarily, then looked at Roy again. "As to how?" He shrugged. "It's one of the last tricks Baba Yaga taught me. One star. Would not recommend." He tried to crack a smile.

Henry looked back and waved to them, and the Glass People stepped back through the tear before it snapped shut.

Mary gave him a firm hug, and Mahati was right behind her. When she released him, Henry pointed to the chairs. "Is anyone sitting in that chair? Did I mention there are no chairs on Eden?"

Roy put his hand on Henry's shoulder and realized his body was trembling. He helped him over to a chair and frowned in worry as he picked up that Henry was limping. Considering how shattered his legs had been, the limp was the least he'd expected. Mary and Mahati added an additional chair behind the table.

Henry turned to Roy. "How long have I been out?" he asked hesitantly.

"Six months," Roy said.

"Tish and Marisa?" he asked.

Roy smiled. "Baby girls. All are healthy, and they'll be happier now that you're back! You are back, right?"

Henry snorted quietly, infinitely relieved to hear the news. "Yeah, I'm back." Mary and Mahati were grinning happily at him in return.

Only then did Roy, Mary, and Mahati realize the congressional representatives were missing, and secret service agents were in their places, covering them with drawn weapons. Roy noticed the two Succubi sitting on the floor in front of the table before Henry. He'd ask about them later as they seemed remarkably calm at the moment. The press, brave enough to remain in place before their table, were busy getting footage never before seen anywhere.

Roy raised his voice and called out so he'd be heard by the congresspeople hiding in the next room. "You wanted to ask Henry Gable questions, and he's returned from the dead to do it. The least you could do is ask them and not waste his time!"

Congressman Crestline was the first to push his way back onto the raised dais and gape down at the group.

"Henry Gable," Roy said with a big smile as he gestured to the big Satyr in the chair.

Crestline nodded, called out for the agents to put their weapons away, and gestured for them to get the other congresspeople to return.

It took at least ten minutes to find and convince them there was no danger, but soon enough, they were all in their seats staring at the large horned man and the lovely red-skinned ladies sitting at his... hooves.

Then, they were ready to ask their questions.

-=-

Once Tish and Marisa settled their babies for their afternoon nap in the crib at Tish's place, they joined the others in the living room. The big TV was tuned to the special report on the congressional committee meeting as they all wanted to see their friends. They watched Roy fidgeting with his shirt collar and Mary slapping his elbow. Camila and Sigrid chuckled at the frustrated look on Roy's face.

Sandy was cuddled in next to Dayshia. The two of them were doing their best to raise the spirits of the other. Sandy's parents and most of their friends had disappeared while they slept. She hadn't gone home to settle affairs, though she knew she would have to soon. She also missed Henry terribly.

Dayshia was sad because she'd missed her chance to tell Henry how she felt, and now she was worried she'd never find love. In the interim, she'd taken a break from dating for a while.

Meixiu was in deep discussion with Michelle and Eleanor as Raymond spoke softly with Lorelei and Siobhan. Lorelei's group had been working on new daily music dispatches since the night of the crisis. Raymond had the heart of a poet and worked closely with Lorelei to work out a series of messages to ease the populace's hearts and minds. They were having a subtle but profound effect on the survivors.

Siobhan's part was uploading the completed music to multiple content aggregator websites and managing their trending. The demand for the recordings had become so high that they hit these sites' front page within minutes of upload. The big Media outlets were always just a step behind these newer media distribution channels, but their reach was much broader.

Tish smiled at the gathering, then sat on the couch next to her besties. Her place had become a kind of unofficial hang-out for everyone. VRL was paying the mortgage payments, and Camila assured her that would continue for as long as Tish and her baby lived there. Camila was completely infatuated with the child she had with Henry.

She glanced at the TV and saw Roy had begun speaking. The room went quiet as he described finding Henry after the castle collapsed. It was a hard memory for all of them, and tears welled up.

When the orange light suddenly bathed the face of Congressman Crestline, Sigrid and Meixiu both blurted a blunt exclamation of sound as their memories took them back to an evening behind Meixiu's inherited mansion.

The Glass People stepped through, and the group held their breath.

The arrival of the feral twins pulled a gasp from Camila as she knew Baba Yaga had stolen them away. What were they doing on Eden? Then she saw differences hinting that they'd evolved, one of them being major. "WINGS!" she cried.

Then everyone was screaming and crying, except Eleanor and Raymond, who watched the reactions with shock.

They watched Roy hugging Henry's impossible image and saw how shaky the younger being was as Roy guided him to a chair.

"Henry! Oh my god! It's Henry!" Camila cried.

Sigrid shushed everyone fiercely so they could hear.

-=-

The committee meeting lasted four hours, and by the end, Henry was almost ready to slip back into a coma. With the promise to return on Monday, giving Henry the weekend to recover, they adjourned. Roy and Mary supported Henry as they made their way up the gallery aisle to the doors at the back of the large chamber. Mahati walked behind the two Succubi who were watching Henry anxiously.

"Roy, do you remember Mab's magic door?" Henry asked.

"Aye," Roy said cautiously.

"Would you mind if I used one to get us home?"

Roy looked at him sharply. "How do you propose to do that? That's old realm magic."

Henry smiled weakly. "Mab had my finger with the cursed ring. I have hers. The bone is linked to the old realm. It's like... it's like I'm carrying a reliquary. I can feel it. And I have... Baba's knowledge of magic. I can open a door. Please, I just want to go home."

Roy traded a look with Mary and Mahati. "Sure, lad. If that's what you need."

They reached the back of the large chamber and faced the doors. Henry asked them to release him. He stood swaying on his hooves but reached out a hand to touch the door with his right ring finger as his lips moved silently.

When he pulled his hand back, he knocked on the door. Within seconds, it opened to show the hallway of his condo and the shocked and tear-streaked faces of the ones he loved. Tish pulled him into her arms, and he was gently guided back through the hall as the rest of his group followed.

Mahati was last to cross the threshold and looked back to see the cameras were still focused on them. She smiled and waved before closing the door. She felt the magic dissipate, so she opened the door once more to see their condo building's hallway. The Capitol Hill meeting room was no longer there. She closed and locked the door with a smile.

The ladies guided him towards the bedroom as they could see he was out on his feet, but he insisted on seeing the babies. Tish and Marisa guided him up to the crib's side, and he looked down at the two sleeping angels.

"They're so beautiful! I missed their births. I'm so sorry," Henry said quietly with tears on his cheeks.

Marisa gently stroked his arm. "You were coming back to us. It's forgiven."

"They're so beautiful!" he sighed.

The ladies smiled, then guided him back into the hall where the others waited. He hugged and kissed his way through the gauntlet of friends, surprising Mahati and Lorelei with a kiss that caused them both to blush.

Finally, the twin Succubi took his arms and pulled him into the bedroom to ease him down on the bed. They curled up against his sides while keeping a watchful eye on the people staring back at them. Henry was out.

Tish smiled back at the hallway of people. "They seem very protective of him."

Roy nodded. "Yes, let's move back and let the boy sleep. He's performed enough miracles today. We have the weekend to catch up with him."

Tish shut the door, and the group returned to the living room.

Camila sighed. "Speaking of over-protective females, have any of you been accosted by Minkah Meskhenet recently? She's been hanging around VRL, asking about Henry. She had that meltdown that night," Many nodded as they recalled her panic and rage when the stone woman carried Henry through the rift, and it closed behind her. "She's been insisting he was alive ever since. I don't know what senses or abilities Bastets have, but now we know she was right. We're going to have to let her know he's back."

Roy snorted. "If she's anywhere near a TV, it's highly likely she already knows."

Eleanor addressed the group. "How is it possible for him to be alive? I examined him that night. He had no life signs, and his injuries were too severe to sustain life!"

Roy shook his head. "It wasn't his first time, dying, I mean. When he was severely burned by the lightning strike in Washington, he told us he died but returned and healed his body. I can't imagine how much willpower it would take to deny death itself."

They were quiet for a time as they considered that.

Meixiu suddenly stood. "I believe Henry will be very hungry when he wakes. We should purchase the ingredients for a few meals."

Smiles appeared on the faces of the friends, and Sigrid nodded.

"Let's make a party out of it!" Tish said as she hugged Sandy and Dayshia, both beaming with brilliant smiles. Kesini wrapped herself around all three and hugged them.

"Does anyone else feel like they've already eaten a full meal and gotten a good night's sleep?" Raymond asked, curious. Eleanor nodded with a wide-eyed smile.

Siobhan grinned. Her sight had picked up the fact that Henry was leaking Wild Magic energy like never before. "It's Henry. The flow of energy passing through him is incredible!"

"You know what that means, don't you? He's going to trigger transformations like gasoline thrown on a bonfire," Roy suggested.

Sigrid nodded. "Yeah, that's likely. You might want to warn the Congressional Committee."

"Ach, screw those stuffy bastards. I was thinking about our people at VRL!" Roy growled.

Camila smiled and nodded. "Maybe Henry will need to work from home for a bit."

Siobhan was looking back towards the hallway. "I think Henry will need to work outside the city for a while. The energy is leaking into the living room now." Much more slowly, it was soaking through the concrete floors and walls.

"He can work from my mansion!" Meixiu exclaimed, thinking of her home on the border of Connecticut, which she hadn't parted with yet.

That raised a few smiles as the idea had merit since it was very secluded. With Henry's Magic Door trick, he could work from there and go anywhere instantly.

Sigrid looked to Meixiu. "Why don't you and I head up to the mansion tonight? On the way, we'll pick up groceries to stock the fridges for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, then freshen up the place. Tomorrow, Henry can open a door from here to the mansion so everyone can join us through that."

Meixiu saw the happy looks on the faces of the others, so she nodded to Sigrid. Then she looked at the others. "Everyone should bring an overnight kit with a change of clothes and sleepwear if you'd like to stay overnight tomorrow. There are plenty of bedrooms in the house."

With a party weekend plan in place, everyone stood, and hugs were shared. There was a new feeling of hope and excitement, which was such a relief.

Those who had to leave the building were first to go, with Sigrid and Meixiu in the lead as they had the most to do. The others promised to return to Tish's place by nine the following morning to have breakfast together at the mansion.

Lorelei recalled Henry owed her a date. She was going to remind him of that promise this weekend.

She left with Siobhan so they could produce the next song, which would contain an extra dash of hope and joy because of Henry's return. Raymond and Eleanor left to share an elevator with them.

Marisa collected her daughter, and Camila picked up the bag with all her baby stuff. She turned to the new mother before they left. "Can you imagine the peace of mind of knowing it doesn't matter if you left something behind because you can just open a door and be where you left it?" she giggled, triggering the others. They waved and were out the door.

Sandy was almost vibrating with joy. "I doubt I'm going to be able to sleep tonight! I'm too excited about Henry being back!"

Dayshia was nodding quickly as she shared a grin with Sandy and Michelle.

They hugged Tish and left with promises to return in the morning.

Tish placed her hand on Mahati's arm to make her pause before heading home.

"Has there been any word about Kali?" she asked gently.

Mahati shook her head. "She's been known to disappear occasionally, but this is the longest she's ever been away without contacting me."

Tish gave her a hug and walked her to the door.

Then, she was alone in the condo. A thrilled smile appeared on her face, and she danced in place for a second because Henry was back. She quietly made her way to the bedroom door and slowly opened it.

"Croo?"

She saw two faces lift from the pillows to look towards the door curiously. Henry was snoring softly, and she smiled at how much comfort she got from that sound.

"It's okay. Sleep," she said softly. After a moment, the heads settled down again, so she closed the door.

Tish would sleep on the sofa tonight. She'd speak with Henry tomorrow to work out the sleeping arrangements for their new guests.

-=-

In the early morning hours, Henry woke in his bed between the Succubi twins' soft and warm bodies. In the past couple of weeks, he'd been aware of this sensation when he'd healed sufficiently to hover at the edge of consciousness. They took as much comfort from it as they gave.

Abandoned by Baba Yaga on Eden, they'd wandered until they'd picked up his scent, tracked it back to the Glass People village, and found him healing.

When he stirred they immediately woke and looked to him. He touched their cheeks, and they leaned into the touch.

"Sleep," he whispered, and they both faded back into a restful state. It was the same spell Baba used on him for his entire childhood, now at his disposal.

He eased himself from the bed and switched to his human glamor with PJ bottoms for decency as he watched the twins sleep. Carefully walking to the door, he slipped out silently and walked down the hall slowly. His left leg wasn't one hundred percent yet, so small spikes of pain shot through it into his hip as he put weight on it.

Glancing forward, he saw snow on the balcony. That was jarring as it reminded him how long he'd been away.

He padded into the baby's room and over to the crib, where he watched his daughter sleep. A tear slipped down his cheek, but this one came from joy. She truly was perfect. He vowed to do anything and everything in his power to protect her. He knew he couldn't control everything, but what he could, he would.

He felt someone watching him and smiled as he knew it was Tish.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" he whispered.

She crossed the room, switching to her Human glamor as well. When she stood before him, she reached out tentatively to touch his chest. The breath she'd been holding came out in a gasp, and then she was in his arms, kissing him desperately. He gently but firmly held her face as he slowed their kisses until they were sweet and tender. Her arms wrapped around him, pressing her body tightly to his.

When the kiss broke, he held her trembling body close as the tears came. He said nothing but embraced her until her breathing returned to normal.

"I'm sorry I couldn't contact you and let you know I was alive. I fully woke and was sufficiently healed just a day or so ago. My time sense is still messed up," he said quietly next to her ear.

"You—you were dead," she choked out.

"My body was smashed up pretty bad. It didn't want to function, but I... refused to leave it. I had to come back. For her. For you. For Sandy, Dayshia, and the others." He looked at the crib. "But mostly for her."

She pulled back to look into his eyes with only the nightlight to see by. "I keep thinking this is impossible as I've seen so many victims of accidents at the hospital. They don't come back when they're as bad as you looked that night."

He frowned and looked away. "Yes. It's not something I want to ever do again. This time... wasn't like the first. Coming back was... so much harder. I don't think I could endure it again. I can't describe it as my mind won't focus on it."

They held each other as they watched their daughter sleep.

"Why did Baba do this? The complexity of the trap tells me it was her," Tish reasoned.

He nodded with a small smile, pleased she'd figured it out. "She wanted to die. To stop remembering everything. If Humanity died, she'd be free."

"Did it work?" Tish asked.

Henry shrugged. She'd put so much knowledge of magic in his head that he wondered if she'd been collecting it while looking for a way to escape her bargain. Many spells were beneficial and simple, like healing and magic doors. Others, he refused to look upon as they reeked of evil. Some were so alien in nature that he feared he might go insane if he examined them more closely. In his gut, he knew these last ones were somehow linked to the ancient beings Baba had made a deal with to save her son. She'd had no fear of keeping these in her head, but now Henry was carrying that burden.

He hadn't seen Baba since that night and in his mind, he could still see the expression of complete peace on her face as she disappeared with Stanley.

However, there was no smoking gun to confirm her plan worked.

Henry's stomach chose that moment to give out a plaintive squealing gurgle.

Tish slapped her hand over her mouth to snuff out her laugh. He pouted as he looked at her. "Hey, I haven't eaten in months!"

"I'll go make you some sandwiches," Tish said as she spun and pranced away. Even in her Human form, she moved with the grace of a faun.

Henry moved slowly to the doorway as he soaked in the warm and welcoming ambiance of the baby's room. He wondered if he'd had a room this sweet when he was a baby with his parents. Likely not.

He stopped in the door and closed his eyes as he reviewed Stanley's memories of growing up in Baba's cottage. He felt a twinge of sentimentality and pushed it away with a snort. She hadn't raised him to be a mopey dreamer.

"Good night, Baba," he whispered automatically to the darkened room.

He paused as he didn't know where that came from. He turned and walked away.

"Fuck," the room whispered back.