Phantom Violet Chapter 4

 CHAPTER 4: LIFE ON THE SHELF

July 7, 1999

Seth wasn’t sure if he liked working the mid-week shift at the Triboro Mall United Artists Theater. On one hand, it was usually fairly slow even during the summer, and unless the manager on duty got the itch to be a petty tyrant & force everyone to clean some random spot, it was generally pretty relaxing. Sure, some of the customers would be more prone to complaining than the weekend clientele (and he got quite a bit of it regarding concession prices), but at least his department didn’t have to field the complaints about movie content & issue refunds. On the other hand, being slow sometimes made the day go longer, or even worse - it left him alone with his thoughts.

It had been about four months since his step-sisters had departed, both separately called away to some otherworldly fight in a strange sparkly all-girl floral-themed army. He had known about Val, having seen her transform & defeat a monster in person, and she had been given the chance to say goodbye to their family. It was the angry calls the next day from their mother that revealed Jenn had held a similar role in her corner of suburban Illinois. That was thoroughly unexpected. His stepfather could barely handle it, and the inability to communicate with either girl once they had left had rendered him a nervous wreck. It was the uncertainty of it all that made the situation so difficult.

And it was that uncertainty that Seth felt returning as he watched the attract mode of the Darkstalkers 3 cabinet in the lobby. Val loved those kinds of games; she had always made a point to arrive early enough to movies that she could play a little bit before showtime. Like so many other small things, this cabinet had gone from ordinary to uncomfortable simply due to her departure.

The sightings & attacks of those monsters had finally stopped. That was the purpose of them leaving, right? To put an end to those things at whatever was their source? That was what the older Japanese girl had said. So since the attacks had stopped, that must have meant that they were succeeding in their goal. At minimum, they had managed to contain the creatures. Surely it wouldn’t be too long till they were back home.

Seth wanted some semblance of calm back in his household. For the unhinged phone calls to stop, for his stepfather to stop being so upset all of the time, for his mother to get a break from stopping her husband from stressing himself into illness. For his step-sisters to come back safe & sound and everything to go back to normal. But even if they did come back, that probably wouldn’t happen.

It stung more than Seth was willing to admit. Val refused to talk to him, to hug him goodbye, or to even look at him. What happened wasn’t his fault; he had done what she asked and talked to Erick about getting Deanna to stop. She shouldn’t hold him responsible if they decided to keep going, right? But maybe she already saw what he never realized until the June blow-up - they never really respected him. It truly never hit Seth until Erick did, after all. He really thought they would at least consider hearing him out about leaving her alone. Maybe if he had been more assertive? Still, at the time, he was unaware of all of this, so he simply did what he’d been asked to do.

Seth glanced at the game cabinet again; an ominous villain was shown on-screen, as debris taking his form in quick flashes. He mused whether someone like that was the opponent the twins had been drafted to fight, some maker of monsters only just within the boundaries of human comprehension. Maybe he’d hear about it once they were home.

She’ll have to talk to me, Seth thought. Once she hears what happened, she’ll understand it’s not my fault.

—---------

Present

It probably wasn’t the best idea to go to an emergency meeting with a head full of steam, but the way Seth saw the situation, that was the better option. The other one was to drive around the Triboro looking for some sign that Val had been there, and he knew from experience that she was good at hiding. She had even secured the one thing that could give her away by leaving her cat with him. And even a clever cat wasn’t reliable when it came to caring about its owners, let alone tracking them.

He knew in his gut that they had upset her, had gone behind his back & made her uncomfortable. At minimum. That lack of respect, for both his and Arthur’s wishes, made him angrier than he had been for a long, long time. All that anger did was stew on the drive to the Foundation headquarters, ferment on the elevator ride, and finally reach its peak as he trudged into the special meeting room. He didn’t care who was there for what their role was - as far as Seth was concerned, they were all guilty of hurting his stepsister.

The yelling started almost immediately.

“Which of you did this?!” Seth shouted. “Huh?! C’mon, who?! Who’s the asshole, huh?!”

Most of the small crowd of personnel backed away and made gestures of denial, trying to give Seth a wide berth. One person, however, calmly stood up and raised his hands in front of his body as he cut off Seth’s path. Most people would have seen him and thought that he was an unpaid intern, but longtime Foundation employees recognized him as Allan’s adopted son, Jon Vernon. He was a tall & naturally athletic boy, just on the brink of being college age, with dusty blond hair & hazel eyes; he was still dressed in his pajamas, and he had forgotten his glasses in his haste. Even though Seth stopped his approach once he reached Jon, he kept looking past him at the others, face flushed with anger.

“Well?! Was it the hearing test?” Seth angrily asked, ignoring the surprisingly calm young man directly in front of him. “Some ultrasound you had to do?! Out with it!”

“Mr. Newman, please,” Jon said, politely yet firmly. “Wait till Allan’s here.”

Seth panted in anger for a beat, then lowered his voice to address Jon. “You’re here cuz you know something, right?” Jon nodded.

This ever so slightly soothed Seth. It was common knowledge in the Foundation that Allan’s adoption of Jon was a matter of legal convenience at its best. While Jon did feel a measure of gratitude towards Allen, he held no real loyalty to him; if anything, the young man had been growing to resent his guardian as he clearly started to weary of his captivity. It was only because Jon was a smart and reasonable person that there hadn’t been the sorts of heated arguments that might be expected in such a situation. So if Jon had witnessed anything done to Val, he wouldn’t cover for the perpetrators. Seth sighed heavily, letting himself lose some of his angry energy.

“Did you see anything?” Seth asked him.

“No, but I heard something,” Jon replied. “Nothing bad - unless you really hate cats.”

Seth laughed wearily as he sat down in a nearby chair. “Course it’s that cat…”

“Newman!”

Allan marched briskly into the room, his expression worried. Seth sighed - of course he would have heard everything, even if the full details of what he had said weren’t clear. Before he could say anything to defend his actions, Jon rushed over to the doorway.

“It’s okay, Allan, it’s okay,” Jon said. “He’s just upset cuz he’s worried.”

“That’s what that was?” Allan asked incredulously.

“Yeah, he was afraid someone hurt her, that’s all,” Jon explained.

“Sorry…,” Seth said with a heavy sigh. That sour, burnt out feeling that always followed a moment of anger started to fester within him. He looked at the other personnel - a couple of medics and one security guard - and felt it spike as he spoke to them. “Sorry, everyone.”

“Jesus, man,” one of the medics said. “We get you’re worried, but don’t come in like that.”

“I know, I just-” Seth caught himself. He knew better than to fall back on excuses by now. “I’m sorry…”

Everyone, let’s focus on the issue at hand,” Allan said as he took his traditional head seat. “We need to figure out how Ms. Pollard escaped and where she might go.”

“She left me this, said she’s staying in town,” Seth said as he reached into his jacket pocket and passed Val’s note to Allan. He watched Allan expressionlessly read it for a beat. “You can make a copy, but I want that back.”

“I don’t know why she’d say we’re not trustworthy,” Allan said as he placed the note on the table and lightly pushed it towards Seth. “We haven’t made her do anything she doesn’t want to do-”

“She hears,” Seth blurted out in a firm tone. “She can hear so much more than we can now. That’s why she wanted to skip the hearing test. So she heard something that made her feel unsafe.”

“I can assure you that no one involved has been saying or doing anything that would pose a threat to Val’s safety,” Allan responded.

“Well… we wanted to test for some late onset variation of congenital analgesia,” the second medic stated. “But we knew you’d veto it because of the testing required.”

“You could just ask if she feels pain, since she did before this,” Seth counted.

“Maybe she thought she’d be held here indefinitely against her will,” Jon added in a weary, knowing manner. “Don’t  know where she’d get that idea…” He stared pointedly at Allan.

“Not now, Jonathan,” Allan replied with equal weariness. “We can explain our aims to her once we find her.” He turned his attention to the security guard. “Did you see anything?”

“The most I saw in the hall to the gardens,” he said. “I heard something fall on the west side, nothing big, but then I heard the east side exit alarm go off. And the cameras only showed a blur.”

“Hmm… Did anyone else see or hear anything?”

“I did,” Jon replied. “I’d just gotten back from the gym and was starting dinner when I heard something by the front door. So I look down and see a cat’s paw, just reaching under the door. Before I could open it, the cat made a little squeak sound, and I heard footsteps running off - human ones. That was around… I wanna say… 6:30.”

“My dog started alerting me around quarter of seven,” Seth added. “Val dropped her cat off for me. In a box.”

Allan furrowed his brow as he wrote down the information he had been given. “So she went from the fifth floor to your house in Independence in fifteen minutes. On foot. That’s not possible.”

“It is for Val!” Seth responded. “You even look at her test results?! She’s not just a- … an average person anymore.”

One of the medics piped in. “It’s true. She’s really something else now. She broke our stress test treadmill cuz it was too slow for her.”

That probably didn’t help her feel better, Seth thought to himself.

She left her phone in her suite, too,” the other medic added. “It was pretty low, though, so even if she took it with her, it’d be dead soon.”

“She probably didn’t know to charge it,” Seth said. Or she did that on purpose. “I’m hoping no one injected her with any kind of tracking device…”

“Of course not,” the first medic replied, audibly insulted. “Our branch has never done those things!”

“There’s a first for everything, though,” Seth warily countered.

“Well, it probably wouldn’t be Val in that case,” Jon added in a droll, knowing tone.

Allan sighed, deliberately ignoring his ward’s comments. “Well, at least she’s staying in the area, if her note’s right. Do you have any ideas where she might go?”

Seth sighed heavily and slowly shook his head. “Unless there’s another empty place no one goes she can use as a base, I have no clue.”

“We’ll have to stay on alert for any unusual activity that might be connected to her, then,” Allan said. “Once we have some sightings, we can plan a search strategy.” He stood up from the table. “For now, let’s call it a night.”

The guard and medics silently walked out of the room; Seth deliberately avoided looking at them - or anyone else in the room. This was, in his eyes, worse than being back at square one. The anxious anger from earlier had curdled into a queasy mix of embarrassment, helplessness, and what bordered on grief. He had lost his last relative again. He was alone again. He wordlessly stewed in this pool of thought until a hand on his shoulder yanked him back to reality.

“Mr. Newman?” The voice and hand belonged to Jon, who greeted Seth with a sincere, gentle smile. “I’m sure we’ll find her. Believe me, it’s important not to just give up.”

“Thanks,” Seth muttered. He managed to smile in reply and waved slightly as Jon left the room.

After a long weighted pause, Allan broke the silence. “Look - I know you’re worried about Val, but-”

“She’s not well,” Seth responded.

“She’s in better health than most.”

“That's not what I mean! She’s not well!” Seth angrily pointed at the side of his head for emphasis, hoping Allan would finally understand. “And living rough’ll only make that worse!”

“But there’s nothing we can do until she or one of those people targeting her resurface again. You know that.” Allan sat in the chair directly next to Seth and stared at him directly in the eye. “Look, Seth… we’ll handle the field work. You take some time off and get everything ready. This is… it’s too much to handle right now for you, so you just concentrate on getting ready to be a family again.”

Seth slowly shook his head as Allan spoke, then waited. “I promised Dad I’d do this… and Inez wants to interview for the case file…”

“Then do the interview,” Allan said. “I’ll have someone else do the file maintenance after that. I try to have people connected to the cases handle them, but I think that was a bad idea for this one.”

“Just let me find Val, and we’ll talk about this ten,” Seth said as he slowly rose to his feet. Every movement felt strangely heavy. “I gotta go home.”

—----------

The next twelve hours of Seth’s life were spent on mental autopilot. He walked Beefy out of habit for them both; he forced himself to go to bed even though he barely slept; he only bothered getting dressed in the morning because he couldn’t do his dog’s morning walk in his pajamas. It was a deep, abiding numbness that he hadn’t felt in years, one that robbed him of the vaguest semblance of motivation. He had lost his family - again. His continued presence was once more a reminder of how much he had failed them and his own lack of responsibility towards them. He had tried to keep Val calm & comfortable, yet all he had done was drive her away for a second time. Clearly he wasn’t someone others felt they could depend on, at least by Seth’s own estimation. How long until he couldn’t even depend on himself at this rate?

A low, grumbly whine pulled Seth’s attention out of his wallow. Beefy was trying to get his attention as he sat by Seth’s chair in the kitchen. Seth sighed and stroked the top of his dog’s broad head.

“All I got is toast, buddy,” he told him. “You don’t want that. And you ate already.”

Beefy grumble-whined again, tapping his front feet against the linoleum.

“You want out?” Seth asked. Beefy looked at the kitchen doorway, then back at Seth. “What’s wrong?”

Seth looked around at the doorway, then at the rest of the kitchen Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Beefy’s empty steel bowl was sitting on the counter; his leash had been hung on the rack next to the basement door. His water dish was full and clean as well. Then, a small bright blue object on the counter that Seth had overlooked caught his eye - a can of cat food.

“Oh shit,” Seth muttered. “Where’s the cat?” He rushed from his chair and hurried through the house.

There were entirely too many things in Seth’s house that a cat could get into and even more places that it could hide. Nothing about his home was cat-proofed, and Owen would no doubt find a way to get into trouble. He had already managed to hide inside of the box spring of Seth’s bed, refusing to come out asn only giving away his presence with forlorn meowing at random intervals. Seth had seen him quickly slink out of his room earlier, when Owen thought that he wouldn’t be noticed, but he hadn’t spotted him since. The prospect of letting Val’s cat get hurt or get loose in her absence instantly smothered any lingering self-pity Seth was feeling and replaced it with terrified anxiety.

“Owen! Here, kitty kitty!” Seth called as he rushed room from room. His tone grew more frantic as he received no reply. “C’mon, Owen, pspspsps…”

Finally, a single baleful meow echoed from the second floor. Seth ran up the stairs and followed its source. Owen was laying on the bed in Val’s old room, his head pressed low and his tail curled against his back leg; he eyed Seth with a mix of fear and resentment, ignoring the large dog that had found him first. Seth sighed heavily and put a hand against his chest, then sat on the bed next to him.

“Of course you’re here,” Seth mumbled. He briefly raised a hand to pet the cat but lowered it the moment he saw the look he was getting. “Kinda surprised… didn’t think it’d still smell like her or anything…”

Owen stared him briefly in the eyes. “Mwaoooo…,” he angrily whined.

“Yeah, I know you hate… I don’t blame ya…” Beefy walked over and rested his head on Seth’s knee, prompting another petting. “You don’t hate anyone, ‘cept maybe solicitors. Can’t blame you there…”

Seth sat on the bed, idly petting his dog while he surveyed the room. He knew Allan was right - he just had to be patient. Once those strange ladies - or maybe a monster like in the old days - showed up, Val would as well to stop them. Her note said as much, and he knew that she had taken her duties as a protector very seriously in the past. Hopefully that dedication hadn’t faded with time. But Seth had grown too old and too tired to be patient forever. He couldn’t live with that feeling again, especially now that he was alone. He needed to think of a course of action. As he glanced at the sour cat next to him, then to his loyal & loving canine, a tiny germ of an idea started to form. It might ultimately be futile, but to him, it was better than doing nothing.

—------------

Many things had changed about the Triboro since Val left, but one thing remained consistent - there was absolutely nothing to do. If anything, the mall’s closure had only exacerbated the problem; thanks to her, there weren’t even ruins left to explore. Shopping was relatively limited, the schools remained the same, and the only place with crowds to blend into was nearby Teabury. Until she saw evidence of the Traitors showing up there, she couldn’t justify leaving their known stomping grounds. About the only area in the Triboro where she could conceivably hide was in the forest; in the decades she was away, it had been expanded by letting several orchards go undeveloped (probably for health reasons more than anything) and become intensely overgrown aside from clearly marked paths. That was probably her only recourse, but Val wanted to wait until evening to make her way there.

She just wasn’t sure why. Was she being sentimental? She never thought of herself as such, especially for a hometown that had made her unhappy so frequently. She stayed to fight the Traitors out of a sense of duty more than anything; if ordinary weapons had been unable to even scratch Seeded Beasts, they would be utterly worthless against fallen Blossoms. If she was derelict in her duties, people would be killed. Plus, she wanted some modicum of vengeance. Nothing about her motives was truly pure in her eyes - she was operating largely out of obligation, not nobility. Obligation and just a little spite.

By afternoon, Val had wandered through most of the Triboro. She wasn’t quite mentally ready to retreat to the woods just yet, but she had found herself so low on places to linger that she was on the remnants of Independence’s main street. It was only a block & a half, but the collection of old brick & stonework buildings had been the former town’s hub. Now, however, it was half vacant and fading from enforced neglect. The Independence area had always used “historical” concerns to render any renovations nearly impossible, and the effect of that was reflected nicely by the pathetic state of its shops. The small strip of stores was largely empty on the first floor, aside from the barber shop eternally present on the end; the sub shop & other first story occupants were long gone, as were their unfamiliar replacements. The second story was occupied by offices, but those also had more than a few openings. The art deco bank, later a tea room, was now inhabited by some sort of nebulous tech company. The once elegant Victorian homes had become visibly weathered thanks to the historical board’s standards being too expensive to be implemented. It was almost a ghost town, as much of a ruin as the mall had been.

However, one structure was thriving. The old post office, already closed to the public in Val’s time, had retained its front facade of late 1940s burnt orange brickwork. The old copper name plate was still there and had even been restored slightly, with the thicker corrosion cleaned away; beneath it was a more modern sign that read “TRIBORO GYM” in block letters. New windows and entrances had been added, all done while taking care to maintain the original appearance as much as possible. The lot next to it had quite a few cars, and as Val approached it, her keen hearing could pick up music & multiple voices, none of which would be audible to anyone else outside of the structure.

This strange bastion of activity had piqued Val’s curiosity. She walked over to the plastic box labeled, “Info - Curious what we’ve got? Check out our flyers & call for a tour!” and gently removed one of the pamphlets. Photos of fitness equipment & classes were placed between lists of offered services; everything from general gym use to children’s martial arts to private trainings were available. The prices seemed high to her, but most prices Val had seen for pretty much everything since returning struck her as exorbitant, so she couldn’t really judge if this gym was a luxury-level facility. Val couldn’t help but wonder what it looked like, even though she knew that she couldn’t just stroll in to gawk at everything. She had to find an alternative.

After a brief survey of the area, Val found her spectating spot. She snuck over to one of the thicker-trunked box elder trees along the undeveloped side of the building, careful not to be spotted. With a jump, she gripped one of the sturdier branches even with the gym’s newly added windows; after pulling herself up onto the body of the branch, she slid down until her view was just clear enough to see through the window, then sat as comfortably as she could. Hopefully the other trees’ branches would obscure her from any potential witnesses. The Triboro wasn’t exactly known for an abundance of young women in pajamas roosting in trees.

Time went by as she idly studied the gym. It seemed clean and well-equipped, with a variety of curious machines as well as standbys like treadmills & stationary bikes. There were multiple dedicated rooms along the walls, as well as locker rooms and a designated rest area. Music blared, even though multiple large TVs had been installed; Val felt such a setup was designed for sensory overload, even for those with normal senses. For most of her viewing time, this was the state of the gym, with various patrons coming & going. It was pretty much what she had expected, but at least it was something to watch.

As the afternoon rolled in, however, the gym began to change. The music was lowered, and an open space near the back was covered with mats & framed with folding chairs. The people visiting for the machines tapered off, only those going to the rooms or to the mats were arriving, and the latter of those groups appeared to be families with children waiting for the setup to finish. A slight pang of jealousy hit Val once it clicked - this was for the “children’s martial arts” listed in the flyer. She had always wanted to attend one of those classes, but her family never had the money for it. The closest she ever got was Iris’s impromptu training back in the Atrium. The children appeared so happy & excited for their class, however, so she couldn’t hold it against them. A slight sad smile crept onto her face.

The instant she saw the instructor, however, it faded.

Even with the passage of time, there would be people Val would recognize anywhere. Palmer had been one, and while she hadn’t wanted to admit it, so had Seth. But they were rare good examples; what she saw in the gym was one of the negative ones. The instructor beamed at the class of children as they exchanged greetings, her smile showing a few extra expected creases by her brown eyes. Her dirty blonde hair was shorter & straighter now, but that one curl to the side of her face was still there. That was Meghan.

Meghan Staub. Deanna’s “enforcer”. The tall, athletic, imposing girl who backed up any threats her friend made with at minimum intimidation. Val clearly remembered when Meghan had kicked, pushed, & punched her, all so Deanna could belittle & rob her. Standing wordlessly behind her boos until needed, always with the same arrogant smirk. The only time Val had seen Meghan express an emotion other than echoing Deanna was when she had her breakdown. The girl who had left bruises on her back and cut her lip looked like, for once in her life, she knew fear. Neither expression was one Val ever wanted to see again, simply because she never wanted to see Meghan again.

Yet there Meghan was, smiles and happy greetings all around her. Working a job she clearly enjoyed. As though nothing she had put Val through mattered in the slightest. Val found herself digging her fingers into the tree branch, breaking the bark. Her mind unconsciously drifted back to that last encounter.

Why?! Why should I do anything for you?! Huh?! You do all this and for what?! For fun?! And it’s all cool?! Tell me - why should I protect you?! Why should I bother with any of you?! Tell me!

That sight was the answer to those long-ago questions. Val pulled her grip free of the branch, ignoring the splinters dotting her fingers. She’d seen enough. She wasn’t going to leave the Triboro - she still had a duty to fulfill - but she no longer had a place around people. She probably never did. She dropped to her feet onto the ground and walked away unnoticed.

—------------

Deep within the reclaimed forest area was a shed. Its glass windows had been shattered, its door had fallen off, and the only amenity it had was a roof, but it was still standing even after all of the other structures that had once stood around it were gone. Val had decided that this shed would be her new home base. She had already stumbled on it once, shortly before her… awkward reunion Palmer, and it remained in her memory solely because she was surprised that it was still standing. It wasn’t like she’d be adversely affected by the weather, but she still liked having a shelter of some sort. She had come to appreciate it after having to live rough for a few weeks, and as much as she missed Owen’s company, it’d be easier for her to be alone. With no need to find food or water and no worries about predators or exposure, it’d be simple to set up camp in that shed.

But first, she had to reach it. The woods had grown surprisingly dense in her absence, and she had no desire to sprint or high jump her way to it. She wanted a leisurely walk. Unfortunately, the forest had decided to make that trickier than she had planned. Large broken limbs and trees toppled at the still-exposed roots littered the ground; viney cover and layers of moss grew over them, along with mingling with the blanket of composting leaves on the forest floor. The glorified pajamas Val had been given by her former hosts weren’t built for this expedition. The loose pants were a little too thin, as was the long-sleeved tee, and the soles of the slip-on sneakers were entirely too flat to grip the mossy surfaces. These were not clothes for hiking. But once Val set her mind to something, she was going to do it, even if it meant enduring a long, uncomfortable walk in the woods.

At least it’s quiet out here, Val mused, enjoying the increasing distance between herself and the ever-present car traffic sounds & others’ conversations.

That was when the pain hit. As the ache on the right side of Val’s head throbbed, she realized that she had effectively jinxed herself. One of the Traitors was here. She steadied herself against a thick tree and waited for the initial pain to subside; whichever one was here either was unaware of her presence or was avoiding her, so she decided to stay silent and formulate a plan. Val just didn’t feel like a fight, even if she couldn’t pinpoint why. And besides, if she knew why they were here, she’d be able to better protect the town from them. She could use the intensity of her “alert system” to find out which one was here and maybe their location. She turned to the right and started to walk.

Finally, after a few paces, the pain spiked. Instead of the usual sensory overload, however, she saw something that she’d never seen on Earth before - the Murasilva. The wall of churning colors that served as a barrier between humanity and the subdimensions, she had only been able to see it while in the Atrium. It had stretched on seemingly into infinity while she was there, as immeasurable as the heavens. Here, though, it appeared to be more… finite. More of a dome-like shape than the eternal horizon she remembered. Scattered clusters of black spots would appear on it, only to be swept clean by one of the ever-changing curls of radiant color. Was that what she had been feeling, the Aegror leaking through the Murasilva? Why was it here? As her pain gave way to confusion, it faded from view back into the familiar early evening sky.

A heavy rustling sound from behind her pulled Val back to reality. She pivoted around just in time to see a hazy ripple darting into the treetops, an indistinct blur that mimicked the colors of whatever it touched; it was just about the shape of a human being, too. Instantly, Val knew who was here.

“Hydrangea!” she called out. The blur froze against a tree trunk but didn’t speak. “I know you’re here. I don’t want a fight.”

The blur leapt higher into the branches, robbing Val of what little she could see of it. “Well, neither do I,” Hydrangea responded, her voice echoing in her elevated position. Val furrowed her brow; this was a deliberate effort to obscure her location. “I just need to find an offering, and then I’ll go. It’s nothing to do with you, and it’s nothing you’ll want.”

The rushed speed at which Hydrangea was talking caught Val’s attention as much as what she had said. It almost sounded like she was nervous - or scared. Was it something to do with that “offering”? Or was it something else entirely? What even was an “offering”? If it was something one of the Twelve Traitors wanted, it couldn’t possibly be good. Val had to get more information about this, to better combat it.

“Maybe I can help you find it,” Val offered.

“No, no, it’s fine,” Hydrangea replied, her tone still rushed. “It’s something I have to find on my own. So… I’ll be going.”

A cluster of branches jerked suddenly to Val’s right in an unnatural manner; for the briefest of moments, the hazy shape of Hydrangea was visible before darting into the trees again. Val wasn’t about to let her just leave like that. She hurried along the ground, using a combination of the warning pangs’ strength & her hearing to track her path. Finally, she saw the shimmery shape stop atop a barren tree along the edge of the creek. Using a burst of speed, Val shoulder checked the tree, knocking Hydrangea to the ground; before she could escape, Val pounced on her, twisting her arm behind her back and forcing her to her feet.

“Now tell me what you’re after,” Val demanded. Hydrangea tried to grab at her belts with her free arm, but Val quickly grasped her wrist and wrenched it away from reach.

“Please! Please don’t, stop this!” Hydrangea pleaded. “I don’t have it anymore, so leave me alone!”

“What?”

“My Atrium Seed! I know you wanna steal it, but I don’t have it, okay?” Hydrangea answered in a panic.

Val felt something click. What Hydrangea was scared of was her, and it was entirely because of her own stupid moment of panic. No one had ever heard of someone actually stealing someone else’s Atrium Seed, let alone using it. Even under the banner of their old enemy, Hydrangea still had enough respect for what the Seeds were to be appalled by Val’s action. Any sense of disgust Val had at herself quickly was funneled into anger towards this Traitor, this person who had killed good people yet thought was still a better person than Val. Then an idea hit her - if Hydrangea was that scared of her, she could use that.

“Are you sure?” Val said. “You seem to be pretty insistent for someone who doesn’t have one…”

“I swear! I gave it to the Great Aegror! That’s why I need an offering!” Hydrangea worriedly replied, trying and failing to twist free. She stomped her feet wildly, missing every attempt to hit Val’s. “What’s it even matter to you who I offer? You’re not any better than me - at least I gave up my Atrium Seed willingly instead of stealing one!”

“It matters cuz this is my home, and I am its protector!” Val said angrily, wrenching Hydrangea’s arms. “You have no idea what I’ve been through, and I won’t let you hurt anyone except me!”

Now that she got the gist of what an offering was, Val was an entirely new level of angry. They came to her home, were specifically restricted to it by the Murasilva no less, just to use the populace as human sacrifices. That alone was enough to upset Val; her sole worth in returning was to be a protector, and the prospect of having to face the people who backstabbed her to do so made the task extremely onerous. But to act like it was different than a church tithe? And to treat her as the morally empty one? That set off Val’s temper in a way she couldn’t fully control.

Unfortunately, getting angry also meant getting sloppy. Hydrangea finally landed a stomp on Val’s foot, then smoothly kicked her leg out from under her. Reflexively, Val’s grip loosened; Hydrangea pulled herself free, then elbowed her hard in the stomach. The combined blows knocked Val onto the ground, her head impacting a sizable fallen branch. For a moment, her vision faded into an indistinct whirl of gray tones. Suddenly, the sounds that had been so crisp and abundant seemed muffled and distant. As this daze started to fade and she struggled to sit up, Val heard something she hadn’t expected.

“Hydrangea Halation!”

That was a Phantom Garden attack - no one without an Atrium Seed should have been able to use one. Those that willingly gave their Seeds to the Aegror - that gave away a piece of their souls - definitely shouldn’t have use of them. Yet the ring of shifting colors around her showed otherwise. The forest now swirled into a churning, restless abstract palette that obscured any recognizable features, even which areas were trees and which were ground cover. This wasn’t quite the Phantom Garden attack Val had seen in the past; this was more like an imprecise - yet effective - copy of it. She warily watched it as she patted the back of her head.

Yep, blood, Val thought. That wasn’t helping her perception any in this situation. She shook the blood from her hand and got to her feet. It was hard, but she had to try & concentrate. To find a path between the abstractions.

After several tense minutes, it looked like she could see the gap. She took off running at full sprint - and smashed face-first into one of the more solid trees. It shook from the impact but stayed standing, which was more than Val could do. She fell roughly onto the ground, more blood streaming from her forehead & nose. As she sat fuming and trying to feel for any new breaks on her face, she could hear laughter.

“You left a mark on that,” Hydrangea said from somewhere beyond the undulating wall of colors. “Give it another shot - if you wind up on your ass again, maybe you can be my offering!”

Val stared at the palmful of blood on her hand. Between the injuries and Hydrangea’s powers, her senses were no help in locating her opponent. Her thoughts had been reduced to a furious cacophony. How dare she, now she’s all brave and cocky, I know what she did, I saw it, how dare she, how dare they, how dare they come here, how dare they not just leave me alone, enough is enough is enough is enough is-

“Enough,” Val spat, her voice strangely low and quiet. She got to her feet and stared at the abstraction; her eyes had gone steely cold again, staring with laser focused fury. “You wanna be scared of me? I will give you a reason…”

Val grabbed the fallen bough she had struck, digging her grip deep into the wood to pull it free from the years of soil that had settled around it. Mustering all of the strength and focused anger she had, she swung it as hard as she could against the illusory wall. The impact of the bough against a sturdy tree obscure from her sight shook her body; she staggered slightly on her feet, then braced herself and pushed the bough as she stood. The sound of ground cover being disturbed and branches striking one another quickly escalated into a racket of destruction. Trees toppled against each other in a ripple effect, some falling entirely while others bent or dropped roughly severed branches. The abstraction faded away like dissipating steam, leaving a ring of devastation visible.

Wordlessly, Val dropped the bough and turned in the opposite direction. Climbing from the debris was Hydrangea, stunned and shaken. Val strode towards her, grabbed her by the top of her dress, and pulled her up to be eye-to-eye.

“... How did- …?” Hydrangea asked.

Val stared at her. Her entire body was burning; it was a rage she had only felt twice in her life, and she didn’t want to let it consume her a third time. All of her inner strength was in use to keep herself from crying, screaming, attacking at random. Yes, even with a focused plan, she had caused collateral damage. She might have looked controlled, but she was just as panicked & pathetic as that last night at the Mall. But she had to do this. She had to scare the Traitors away before they could hurt anyone. So she couldn’t let her facade slip at any cost.

She tightened her grip on Hydrangea’s shirt and stared as harshly as she could. “Viola Sororia,” Val said in an even tone, finally transforming. She roughly tossed her foe onto the toppled branches and summoned her bow, glaring at Hydrangea the entire time. “Got it now?”

Hydrangea stammered out a few non-verbal whimpers, eyes on the brink of tears. She was too terrified to move, let alone take her eyes off of Val. Normally, Val didn’t like it at all when people looked at her with fear, but this was different. This was one of the Traitors. This was the one who led Tulip & her unit to their gruesome deaths, all to save herself. The mind of someone who would do that was far more frightful in Val’s estimation than anything she could be. The fury - the raw animal desire to wail on her foe until nothing was left - was still boiling within her, but she refused to give into it. She was a protector, she had her principles, and most importantly, she was not the creature her mother said she was.

“You’re coming with me,” Val coldly instructed Hydrangea. “And you’re gonna tell me everything that’s going on.”

“You’re… you’re not gonna kill me…?” Hydrangea shakily asked.

“Not if you cooperate.” She pointedly tightened her grip on her bow.

“Enough of this,” an unfamiliar voice said from behind Val.

Before Val could full finish turning around to look at the new speaker, a heavy wet glob of opaque black fluid smacked her in the face. It quickly engulfed the front of her head, blinding her and cutting off her air. The bow in her hand dissipated reflexively; she needed both hands to pull this stuff as soon as possible. Unfortunately, each handful she succeeded in removing only regenerated nearly immediately. Worse, the removed clumps started to stick to her arms instead of landing on the ground. She fell to her knees as her choking grew worse. Yet, at least she could still hear.

“Dahlia!” Hydrangea cried out. “I- thank you, I just-”

“No time for that,” the unseen stranger - Dahlia - coolly said. “We have an emergency. It’s Juniper. I need both of you to help me immediately.”

“Of course, of course…”

Whether due to the Traitors’ departure or to her own consciousness fading, Val found herself alone in a deep, dark silence.

—----------

“Woooaaaaaaa…” *skritch, skritch, skritch* “MEEER!” *thump, thump* “Waaaooooeeeerrr…” *skritch, skritch*

“I know you’re upset, kitty,” Seth said as he watched Owen wailing and attacking the front door. “But I can’t let you out yet…”

For most of the day, Owen had avoided Seth. He seemed to tolerate Beefy and would emerge for food & such, but other than necessities, he stayed in Val’s old room. Then, abruptly, he stopped doing the feline equivalent of a sulk and charged the front door. Loud wailing meows punctuated efforts to scratch through the wood or body-check it out of the way. When Seth first saw this, he was initially worried; even with what little he knew about cats, this seemed like odd behavior. But then it clicked - Owen was reacting to Val. Seth had hoped that he was doing this because she was nearby, but a quick check around both the property & the neighborhood dashed that thought. Still, this was proof that his idea might work, if he could just get the right equipment.

It had been 40 minutes since Seth had made the call to Inez. He knew that it would take her a while to get there, but his patience with Owen’s demands to escape confinement was wearing a tad thin. This was the best evidence he had seen of a theory he had been forming. Every time Owen was separate from Val, he reacted like this; every time she was upset by something, he rushed to be with her. Even if he had no way to know that she was distressed, such as in the infirmary, he still wanted to get to her as soon as possible. It was something Seth had never witnessed in an animal before, let alone in a cat. It was a level of connection & devotion that was almost supernatural. Given everything about Val, that made a certain sense - of course she’d have some sort of familiar. So once he got what he needed and finished his prep work, Seth would let Owen lead him to Val.

But like anyone, Seth’s patience was finite. He was reaching his limit with the steady chorus of yowling & attacks on the door. When he heard a knock at the back door at long last, he practically ran in response to open it.

“Come in, come in, hurry,” Seth said in a rush. “Don’t want the cat to sneak out.”

“O-okay…,” Inez said as she quickly stepped into the kitchen, closing the door behind herself. She held a small white cardboard box, no bigger than a ring box, in her left hand and had a patchwork plaid purse strapped across her body.

“Thanks for getting here,” Seth said. He gestured towards the kitchen table for Inez to sit. “And thanks for bringing the kit.”

“Oh, no problem,” Inez responded as she sat down, placing the box on the table. She listened to Owen’s caterwauling for a moment. “How long has he been doing that?”

“Not quite an hour.” Seth reached into his pocket and pulled out a reflective hot pink cat collar with a strange clasp on it. “I’m gonna attach the tracker to this like a tag. He shouldn’t be able to get this kind off.”

Inez took the collar and placed it alongside the box. “Do you have a nametag for him?”

“I was gonna let Val pick it out.”

“Oh. Well, I’ll just get this set up for you then…”

She opened the box, revealing a tiny blue square; it was no larger than a shred of

confetti and had a texture akin to a heavier sticker. Yet, it was reflective in a different manner than the collar, and in the right light, an intricate web of lines & chips became visible. She then reached into her purse to pull out a specialized reader remote and a pair of tweezers. Carefully, she picked up the square in the tweezers and placed it on the inside of the collar. Once satisfied with its placement, she pulled a larger box out of her bag and took a clear thin sheet & a bottle of spray from it. Using the tips of the tweezers like cutters, she sliced a piece of the clear covering just large enough to cover the square; she then sprayed the square with the bottle and pressed the slice over it, rubbing it with her thumb to make sure it was free of air bubbles. Finally, she pressed the reader remote against it until a loud beep sounded.

“There,” Inez said as she placed the collar on the table. “Just need your phone, and we’ll be done. You have the Foundation app on it, right?”

“Of course,” Seth said, handing her his phone after unlocking it.

Inez fiddled with the phone a bit, then held up the tracker on the collar to the camera. A chime sounded, which prompted a bit more fiddling. Finally, she passed it back to Seth.

“There, all ready,” she said. She started to clean up the kit.” Um… you know that cats aren’t exactly Lassie, right?”

Seth paused; the chorus of yowling, scratching, and thumping continued from the front room. “Yeah, I know,” he answered with a sigh. “But he seems to just know where Val is and if she needs help. He snuck out of my office and got all the way to the infirmary when she was in there. And until he started doing this, he was just sleeping. I… don’t think he’s a normal cat.”

“He’s still a cat, though. They’re not the brightest bulbs…”

“Even if he leads me in circles chasing birds, so long as he eventually leads me to Val, it’s okay.” Seth picked up the collar and examined the tracker, then studied the extra secure clasp. “Don’t think he’ll get this off, at least…”

“Well, good luck…,” Inez said with a muted sigh. She picked up her purse and stood up from her seat. “Look, I can wait on the interview. This needs to be sorted out first, and me whining about stupid high school drama isn’t gonna help.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it, and I appreciate you coming out here, but it still needs to be done. It’s not just about the twins - it’s about getting as much info about all of the girls involved with this case.”

“Hmm… I’ll have to remember that.”

Seth said his goodbyes to Inez and watched her pull away, waving until she was out of view. He then looked at the cat collar in his hand. Maybe it was stupid to put so much faith in this plan; it wasn’t like Owen even liked him, and as Inez had said, cats just aren’t that smart. But he’d seen this particular cat bolt out of an office in an unfamiliar building, run up a stairwell that required him to wait for humans to open doors, and then camp outside of the closed infirmary door. He knew Val was there, with no familiarity with the building or its inhabitants or any of its functions, and he went straight to her. Maybe it was a lot to ask for it to happen again, but it was the only lead Seth had left.

*skritch, skritch, skritch* “WAOOOHH…” *skritch, skritch* *thump, thump, thump* “MEEER!”

“Owen, got a present for you,” Seth said in his friendliest tone. It was time to put this plan into action before his front door was destroyed.

—------------

After the fourth cycle of waking up, choking, and blacking out from the inky mass on her face, Val lost count. It didn’t stop until it had dissolved away into a pile of ashen flakes next to her head that looked unwelcomely familiar. She had seen them every time she had defeated a Seeded Beast, and during her last clearly remembered battle, they rained down like heavy snow. Once she was sure that she was awake for good, she blew the ash away with an irritated puff before sitting up. A few minutes of silent rest later, Val was ready to resume her initial plan.

The fight - or more accurately, the fit - had left a ring of downed trees in its wake. Some had been fully uprooted from the soil, some had fallen until propped up against a sturdier neighbor, and some were split or divested of large branches. It was another mess left in Val’s wake, just like the Mall; and just like that, it was entirely because she had been weak or desperate. Out of disgust & shame, she hurried to get away from the scene and find the old shed. Even in the middle of the woods, someone was bound to notice a thing like that.

After a short hike, she found it just as she had expected - a former storage shed. Its door & glass windows were long gone, and the elements had worn away anything that once protected or decorated the now bare and beaten wood. The roof was covered in a thick layer of visible green moss, but at least it appeared to still be intact underneath it. Who once owned it and its original purpose were lost to time; all Val really knew or cared about was that she could shelter here in peace. After checking the dirt for any remnants of glass or fallen nails, she settled into the corner of the shed. Being tucked into a corner or against a wall always made her feel slightly more secure somehow, even in a ruin. After a brief moment of quiet, she took a thin but firm stick and wrote three things in the soil:

Traitors

Offerings

Murasilva

“Why is it here?” Val said aloud, tapping the stick next to ‘Murasilva’. “I thought it was gone. Same with the Aegror, but…” She tapped it limply between ‘Traitors’ and ‘Offerings’. “... If it's really gone, they wouldn’t need to feed it…” She sighed and threw the stick to the opposite end of the shed; she leaned her head back awkwardly into the corner and stared at the shed roof. “Was it really all for nothing?”

Listen to me, talking to myself, Val thought in disgust. First that tree stunt, now this… I really must be losing it. Maybe I never really had it…

She puffed up her cheeks and exhaled in such a way that her lips audibly quivered like a horse, eyes on the water stained interior of the roof. “I miss Owen,” she said quietly. Logically, she knew that he’d be better off with Seth in a nice safe house, but he was her only companion & sounding board until now. He was the only one she could trust wholeheartedly; with a cat, you always knew where you stood with them or what they wanted. By her own stupid volition, Val was now completely on her own.

The fog from her injuries had long since cleared, so once again Val’s obnoxiously strong hearing was back. Even through the ambient sounds of the forest, she could hear car radios as they rushed by from the distant road. Each song melded into a melange of indistinguishable alien sounds; she wasn’t sure if she could judge them in any way, but all they were doing was reminding her just how estranged from the world she was. All she had left was a mission to protect the people of a world that had happily consigned her to the past.

She found herself thinking of the look on Palmer’s face. It had been a shock to see him, both as a resident of the Triboro and as someone so much older than the guy she remembered. He’d gone pale when he saw her and had even dropped the strange metal pen he’d been chewing after their eyes met. It wasn’t until she touched his face that he reacted, and that was with disbelief. The kindly Southern quasi-punk she’d known had grown into someone who looked like one of her father’s more eccentric friends. He was a living reminder that even those that remembered her - and that she wanted to do so fondly - that were still here had long, long since moved past her.

Val sighed and stared at her direct-scratch list. ‘Murasilva’ was the only matter that she could address at this time. She stood up, walked out of the shed, and stared at the darkening sky. It wasn’t as visible as it had been earlier, possibly because she wasn’t on alert, but she could still see the telltale ripples that only a member of the Phantom Garden would recognize. So it’s still there…, Val thought, equally curious and peeved. Let’s do a little test…

“Viola Sororia!”

She held out her left hand, almost an automatic motion post-transformation, and summoned her bow; immediately after, she summoned a single energy arrow in her right. Wordlessly, she notched the arrow on the ethereal string, aimed it as close to straight up from her position as she could get, and let it fly. It soared higher than a tangible arrow could, only stopping once it struck an unseen obstacle. A ring of concentric circles rippled away from where it seemingly hovered in the open sky. Val frowned slightly. It had hit the upper portion of the Murasilva, and that meant that any kind of otherworldly activity would be limited to its boundaries. At minimum, the Traitors or anything they sent would be unable to fly out of her region. Now she just had to see how far it extended on land.

Val dissolved her bow and pointed at the arrow - a regular pointing gesture instead of her attacking pose. “Violet Voltage,” she said somewhat flatly.

The arrow crackled, then seemingly was absorbed into the spot where it had hit. A wave of lavender energy in a solid ring expanded out from the impact point, until it went to the reaches of the horizon beyond Val’s forest-obstructed view. This confirmed it - the Murasilva had domed her & her enemies within a set area. While part of her was relieved that there wouldn’t be a repeat of the global chaos that she & the rest of the Garden had fought, another part resented this revelation. She sighed again.

“It’s just never gonna end for me, is it?” Val muttered to herself as she de-transformed. She shook her head and returned to the shed.

Maybe it was boredom. Maybe it was loneliness. Maybe it was a general feeling of being dispirited. Maybe it was the dim light and rustling foliage. But Val felt an overwhelming urge to do something that she had tried to avoid doing since she returned, simply because doing it seemed more depressing to her than any alternative. She settled awkwardly into the corner of the shed again, propped her head in the corner, and drifted off to sleep.

—-----------

“Wait.”

Phantom Iris held her right arm out as a barrier, her trident adding extra length. Her seven juniors all slowed to a stop behind her. They were used to her coming across as stern when in the field, but this reaction was something else. There was a barely concealed shock to her tone; her body language seemed more tense, ready to act more on instinct than on any sort of training. The girls exchanged anxious glances among themselves - except for one.

“I remember this,” Val muttered. She turned away and pushed her closed fists against the sides of her head. “C’mon, brain, I don’t wanna see this again… I just want one little nap…”

After shaking her head for a bit, she looked up and returned to the scene. Once again, everything had gone gray and still around her. She turned to Jenn, who was frozen staring ahead at Iris’s arm; gently, Val tapped her shoulder, but her twin remained part of the tableau and didn’t react. She then decided to walk forward and rest a hand on Iris’s arm, but the results were the same. A sliver of color was visible just beyond the thicket of the Atrium’s growth, where Val knew what dreadful sight was waiting for them. Where she was being directed to go. She made a noise somewhere between a sigh and a growl, then stepped around Iris’s left side to approach it. She gingerly reached towards the thicket to push it aside.

“Wait, Violet!”

Val jumped and turned towards the group again. While nearly everyone remained frozen in place and dulled in color, Phantom Osmanthus was suddenly bright and vibrant. She walked towards Val with a determined stride.

“Osma…?” Val asked, confused and just a little alarmed.

Osmanthus put her hands on Val’s shoulders and looked down firmly at her due to her half-foot height difference. “Violet. Valerie. Please, I know you remember what you saw,” Osmanthus said. “You remember, don’t you?”

Val nodded slightly. “I remember… it was a trap,” she said quietly. “Hydrangea was bait for Tulip and the others. They trusted her, and… and she let them kill them all. That was her offering, right?”

“Right,” Osmanthus said. “You already know the stakes. You know you can’t just retreat, though. We have a duty to prevent this from ever happening again. Please, give me your word, Amazon to Amazon.”

“I’ll stop them, I promise,” Val replied. “Anything to finally stop this and have some peace. That’s what Amazons do, like you said.”

A soft smile appeared on Osmanthus’s face; she pulled Val in for a hug, patting her back. The familiar scent of her namesake flower, clusters of which adorned her short grass green ringlets, wafted around the two. As Val reached to return the hug, the others faded around her; no sound, no visual residue, they were just… gone from view. Even Osmanthus had vanished. The brief sense of security that Val had felt abruptly evaporated. She looked over to the thicket; it still glowed from behind, waiting for her to see its deceptively cruel display.

Val took a deep breath. “Like Osma said, we’re Amazons. This is what we do,” Val muttered to herself. “We are Amazons.”

She took a few strides towards the thicket. Then, sharply and painfully, everything went red.

—------------

Once Seth got the emergency notice from the Foundation, he rushed to respond. It directed him to go to the Triboro Gym as soon as possible. That he did, but he wasn’t about to abandon his own plan; in fact, he was pretty sure that he could work on both at once. After hastily cramming Owen into the pet carrier and driving to the scene, he saw a sizable crowd gathered outside on the gym’s stone steps. Allan stood talking to the local police, while several clearly distressed people huddled behind them. Among their number was Palmer, who looked equally terrified and panicked. Before Seth could finish closing his car door, Palmer rushed over to him.

“Are you here to help?” Palmer asked.

“Yeah, yeah, got the call from my boss,” Seth replied, gesturing vaguely towards Allen. “What happened?”

“This - this crazy lady attacked the karate teacher and stole a couple of the kids,” Palmer explained in a breathless rush. “She took my baby girl, and I told Trina I'd find her, but I don’t even know what to do…” He held the sides of his head, as though trying to force his thoughts from straying to any dark paths.

“Mr. McElroy?” a familiar voice asked gently. Jon stepped into view, wearing a reflective orange vest and holding two similar ones. He held out one of the vests to Palmer. “We’re gonna start the search soon. Here. Allan wants to talk with you, if that’s okay.”

“Yeah…,” Palmer said as he took the vest. He took a deep breath to gather his bearings. “Thank you.”

Seth watched as he walked towards Allen, then turned to Jon. “You’re helping?” he asked in mild surprise.

Jon nodded. “They said they needed any Foundation personnel they could get, and I guess Allan couldn’t argue about it for once.” He handed Seth the other vest he held. “We gotta get going.”

“I’ll be right there. Thanks.”

Seth took the vest and looked at the latches on it. From the open window of his car, he could hear Owen yowling and trying to break the walls of his plastic crate. He wasn’t about to abandon his plan, but he still wanted to pull his weight. If what these attackers had done to Val back at the mall was any indicator, they were a very serious threat; two children definitely wouldn’t be able to protect themselves from those strange women. He was also pretty sure that Val would as she said and show up to help them, so that meant his cat plan could be effectively deployed. Once he got a chance, he’d explain it to Allan. Even if he wasn’t given clearance, he was still going to do it, and he wanted to make that clear. It was the best way to make sure everyone got home safely.

—-----------

Of all the ways to wake up…, Val thought as she wearily walked to the shed’s entrance. For a brief moment, she glanced with disgust towards the dusky sky; the faint ripples of the Murasilva were still tauntingly visible. The realization clicked - this whole setup was a double-edged sword. On one hand, the Traitors would be forced to stay within easy reach of her and couldn’t pose a threat to anyone anywhere else. On the other hand, it also meant that Val herself would never have any real peace until they were stopped. And worse, innocent people could get caught in the middle again. She shook the last lingering bits of sleepiness from her head and forced herself to focus.

The voices were muted and just out of visibility range. One woman’s voice, high pitched and trying too hard to sound sweet, and two crying children’s voices.

“Now we’re gonna play a super fun game,” the woman’s voice said. “It’s called Bunny Hunt! You’re the bunnies, so you run and hide, and then I’ll hunt you! But the rules are, you stay in the woods, or else that’s cheating. And cheaters get to watch me hunt their mommies and daddies. Are you ready?”

The two children tried to speak, but they were both far too upset to do much beyond crying. It was so much worse than any time Val had seen a distressed child scared by a Seeded Beast.

“Leeettttt’s gooo!” the woman cheered. “Run, bunnies, run! Yay!” She broke down into a chorus of mad laughter as footsteps desperately surged through the dried brush.

Val took a deep breath and began to walk in the direction of the footsteps. It was time for her to fulfill her duties.