"We need to talk."

Karen doesn't grab me by the arm like Amanda does, when she needs something, but it's harder to break her grip even if she uses no physical contact.

"Is it important?" I ask. "I promised Amanda I'd watch her." I point to the 'sparring arena', which we're currently on the edge of. Amanda and Garrett are going paintbrush to halberd (my life is so weird) and given that Garrett only needs to open a small portal to stick a weapon through it and that Amanda is Amanda, they're pretty evenly matched. She's no longer using acid paint, but rather an oil-esque material in appearance that seems to have some kind of explosive properties, which she is fortunately not using to blow Garrett to smithereens.

Amanda scares me.

Karen frowns, partially disturbed by my profound lack of ability to pay attention. "Yes it's important."

"Shiloh might need us?"

"Shiloh! We're going to duck out for a few seconds." Karen yells.

The ferret's purple eyes blink open and he looks up from his bench, nodding to us. "Be right back!" His grin is a little unnerving, especially with his oddly canine teeth, but hey, Shiloh tries. Given that he's an alien whose conceptions of emotion and likely even thought processes are different from ours, I decide to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Karen leads me upstairs, towards our individual rooms. The four rooms are located around the four corners of the upper floor of the lair Shiloh's set up for us, while the sparring room is on the bottom floor, as is the exit back into the Veins. It's cozy, like one of those elegant, expensive log cabins in the woods, and it even has wooden pillars. It just so happens to be a log cabin with a sparring arena at its heart, no kitchen, and no actual wood, given that it's a projection created by our desires and some magic by Shiloh.

I think. He might've mentioned it being a pocket dimension at one point?

"I need to show you something." Karen says, pulling me aside.

"Cool, but why are we in Garrett's room?"

"Because he's the only one of us who's enough of a screen hog to literally place a TV in his magical pocket dimension mancave." Karen says. She places a hand to the box below the TV, which is more or less useless because we don't have reception down in the Veins, and it whirrs to life, the TV screen blinking to life with it. "See?"

"I don't get it."

"I'm a technopath. I can manipulate electronics."

"Oh!" I say, "Wait, how much can you do?"

"Right now, I can turn it on and off. I didn't expect to learn the language in a week. I only just figured out there was a language, or that I could speak it at all."

"But what you're saying is that you could do a lot more than short circuit machinery."

Karen nods stiffly, a faraway look in her eyes.

Never mind. All the girls scare me.

"Karen, you could actually take out the government if you got a handle on something like this."

"Well, thank goodness I'm not under the 'corrupting influence' of a Diosite shard-" she looks at me, sizing me up, "In theory."

I nod, but my clothes feel tight and I can feel myself shaking. "Have you told the others?"

"I've told Garrett." she says, "Amanda's busy right now, but hey, I'll talk to her. She's the creative type, so she probably has some ideas... you know, it's not like I'd hide crucial information from the group. Not much to hide." Lightning arcs between her fingers.

What? I nod again, halfheartedly, and she smiles before getting to her feet,  disappearing back down the steps and out the door into our world.

I don't know if I'm supposed to be intimidated, afraid, or impressed, but regardless, she succeeded. She doesn't think I'm lying about how much Shiloh's told me, does she... 

She totally does.

Amanda grins when I get back, waving from above Garrett, who is sprawled out on the floor with his halberd. "Hey Will! Don't mind me, I'm just winning. Right, Garrett?"

"I surrender." Garrett says. "Please get the brush bristles out of my face."

Amanda concedes, twirling the brush up and away from his face and snapping it straight upwards, in hand. "Whatever you say. Will, are you up for a round?"

"Not tonight. I think I might head home soon." I say.

"Oh. Us too, I guess." Amanda says, waiting for me to exit.

"You can go." I say.

Amanda and I stare each other down, and Garrett adjusts his glasses and says, "You two are so weird. See you later." He exits, and Amanda, with a shrug, exits as well.

Shiloh yawns.

"Alright," I say, fists clenched. "Now's the time."

Shiloh watches me near the other exit, towards the unopened portal that leads to the woods near Ignatius's house. "You shouldn't be doing this."

"You could stop me right now." I suggest.

Shiloh dips his head and opens the portal himself, the hole cutting two lines and expanding in a four-pointed star shape until it swells into a circle.

"Great." I choke.

"You could step down." Shiloh says.

"No," I say, reaching a hand towards the portal. I'll never get around how bizarre it is for my hand to disappear into the black cosmic hole, or the dissociation that comes with it. "I really can't." I emerge into the cold night air behind the Hazel Groves neighborhood. The air is cold and the moon above shines pitilessly down on me. My hand clenches into a fist and the other grabs the shield, filling me with strength.

The woods are deeper than I expected, likely due to Shiloh's inability to teleport me inner closer, but there's always that light in the distance and somehow, I just know where the Diosite is, like how birds know which way is south when they migrate.

Cool.

The closer I get, the stronger the pull is, but there's also a building dread in my stomach. Butterflies don't even come close to covering it- it's more like an entire insect zoo, and it is absolutely as gross and uncomfortable as that sounds. I almost kneel over onto the grass, but that's when I realize wait- this is grass, and this is Ignatius's house.

I sneak around front, just because I don't want him to realize we'd planned to come in the back, and I ring the doorbell. The shield is cold as ever beneath my grip, but I can't let go.

"Just you this time?" Ignatius asks.

"I don't want to fight. I want to talk." I say. "Please... don't hurt me."

He looks to my shield, then back to me, with one eyebrow raised. "I'm not the one who's fully armed, but alright." He opens the door wide, and I follow him into the den. As I do, I notice some of the subtler touches of the house- for one thing, he has succulents everywhere. There's a wide selection of old movies and a few familiar animated titles stored beneath his TV, which is small and has no cable box, and one of the windows has what looks like a fresh slice through it.

The last one doesn't inspire confidence.

"You've been trapped." Ignatius informs me as I sit down, pinching both my arms so that I shake less. The pain is also a great distraction from the mind-numbing fear.

"I- I- uh, what?" I ask, in a stunning display of coherence.

"You're bound by the conventions of polite conversation."he smiles. "To that point, please don't throw your shield at me. I guarantee it will be one of the last bad decisions you make tonight."

"I just wanted to know what you plan to do with th-the Diosite." I say, moving one hand from my arm towards the shield. It's a subtle gesture, and I don't make it all at once, but I can tell he's noticed.

"Well, er- what should I call you?" Ignatius asks, but I bite my tongue hard enough to make it bleed. He sighs, "Admittedly I didn't expect that to work. As I'm sure you're well aware, the 'Diosite', as you've now informed me it's called, is a material from another world, possibly even another universe. It doesn't make any sense by conventional physics- it seems to be undergoing a constant process that creates energy, seemingly from nothing, without any change to the original material. Of course, that's where we take a dive off the deep end, because, well, it speaks to me."

It's not a cherub he's talking to. It's echoes of his own mind and information stored in the crystal- the untamed shards, not harnessed by a cherub, are under no real control by anyone but the user. It compounds their own thoughts and desires back on them, twists and subverts them, until it drives them insane.

Thanks, Shiloh.

"Speaks to you." I repeat, nodding. "Interesting."

"Does yours?"

"You don't know I have one."

"Where else would your powers have come from? How else would you have known where to find me? The shards communicate. You- the lot of you- collectively likely have the amount I have. It's not hard to understand why you'd come after me. If you could steal my shard from me, you could super-boost your own abilities."

If he reaches any further he's going to dislocate his shoulder. I can safely tell you this is false. Shiloh continues, sounding almost upset.

What do I do? Should I play along with it? Correct him? I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm kind of panicking here.

Ignatius continues, "People are lawless animals. Your friends were willing to steal from me and ransack my house just to boost your own abilities. The news is always filled with tragedy. The same woman parks in the handicap spot across the street every day when I now for a fact that she's perfectly healthy and plays tennis at our court even though she doesn't belong to it and has never paid for membership. The world is filled with small tragedies that could be remedied if there was only the right... push."

He might as well have bound me to the seat, because I'm not moving.

"That's why I'm going to take over the local government."

"Oh." I choke. There is no way to respond to this.

"Anyways, I unfortunately can't have the lot of you running around, especially when you have Diosite I could use on your person.You seem like a good kid, which is why I suggest you get out. You know, while you still can."

I spring to my feet before I even know what's happening. My resolve has abandoned me. Every muscle in my body begs me to get out of this house. "So you're letting me go."

"No, you'll be back, and when you are, I will crush you."

***

He's not wrong.

This time, we don't hesitate, but he doesn't bother with the cheerful, innocent (if a bit unnerving) facade. Instead, he rushes into the basement, locking the door behind him, and Karen and Garrett spend about five seconds debating the merits of blowing a stranger's door down before Karen blows it off its hinges.

Garrett almost yells her name before I slam my hand over his mouth.

"Look, I don't want to do this either, but in case you haven't noticed, we're kind of in danger here and-" Karen starts before a thick ivy vine slams around her neck. She makes an awful gasping noise, and then the vine slams to the floor, bringing her with it.

Amanda, who arguably has the fastest reaction time out of the group, flings acidic paint down into the darkness and hits the vine. Ignatius comes out into the light, adorned in a white labcoat which is clasped near the top by the Diosite.

While our clothes seem to be more of a cosmetic change, like very elaborate costumes, it kind of looks like Ignatius's Diosite is changing him, from the curve of the labccoat towards the dormant stone or the green on his fingers. His face is flecked with it, too, and I think I catch unnatural, inhuman teeth glinting in the darkness. Even the flowers braided into his ponytail are sort of unnerving, lying half-dead and dormant in the folds of his hair.

"So did we miss a transformation sequence, or is he just a really fast changer?" jokes Amanda.

"Don't think you can change into that." Garrett argues.

"Watch out-" Karen chokes, and I block another vine with my shield.

"Well I guess we figured he got something, right? Right?" Amanda asks. "Dude, you're going to destroy your house."

"Won't be a problem for you. You won't be around to see it." he says, and Garrett opens a portal and jumps for it.

Karen mutters a string of profanities under her breath, and Amanda's trying to hold off Ignatius, one on one. I block what I can with the shield, but in the distance I hear a slinking noise followed by dozens of smaller clicking ones.

It's the succulents.

"We're falling back." I say. "Now."

Amanda swings the brush in a wide arc, silver paint manifesting into an energy shield, and she ducks in, too. It doesn't hold long, and I grab Karen's hand and dash for the portal.

"You can come back and try again, anytime. I'll be ready." he taunts.

Karen aims directly for his head and he dodges, leaving a blackened sear in the wall behind him. He looks shocked, like he can't believe it missed either.

We disappear.

"He's such a creep. He's such a fucking creep. We're literally children and he's treating this like it's an anime or something. No normal person would ever react like that." Karen rants, back in the lair, where Shiloh is treating her wounds.

"I can't believe we lost to him again." Amanda says, glumly. "At least we get to keep the powers a little longer."

"Forget about that. We know he's going to try to take over the local government and we can't tell anyone because if this gets to anyone with so much as a shred of power, we're soooo screwed." Karen says. "While we're on the topic of being screwed, Garrett, what the hell is your problem?"

"Sorry, I didn't feel like dying."

"You can fucking leave. No one cares and no one is stopping you." Karen says, sharply. "Will?"

I'm already leaving. I get to my feet and escape through the portal without looking back.

I stumble out of the churchyard and back towards my house, wiping off blood from my face. I hadn't noticed, but my lip is cut open, and there's a long, stinging burn on my arm.

Crap.

I try to run upstairs, but Adam's on the couch doing homework, and he catches me first. I try to suck my lip in, but he raises an eyebrow.

"Who beat you up?" Adam asks.

I sit down next to him, and he doesn't tense or flinch like he usually does when he wants me to leave. "No one. I fell."

"Will?" he asks, which is twin code for seriously, bro.

I shuffle my arms, trying to shield him from the wound I just sustained there only to remember I have sleeves on (thank goodness). "Why do you care? I honestly fell into a tree on the way back from Amanda's. Whatever. Look, this isn't your problem. You don't even talk to me anymore."

"Things have been pretty crazy. You know, with... school." Adam says, voice rising defensively.

"Sure. School." I scoff.

"And I mean, we don't have many classes together, so when you moved to Amanda's table..." He continues (and now it's my fault).

"And all those Naval Brigade meetings." I add.

"How could I forget? Anyways, it's technically not our faults. It's just circumstance."

"If something's up, though, we could talk about it."

"Yeah. But nothing's up with you, right?"

I can already feel Shiloh's presence buzzing at the back of my mind, ready to restrain me, but he doesn't need to. This is my battle, not Adam's, and maybe... maybe I can't trust him with this, anyways. "Nope."

Adam says, brusquely, "Me neither. Nothing to talk about."

I get to my feet and practically throw myself onto my bed, staring at the ceiling. These will work well enough as pajamas, and for some reason I'm still scared someone will roll up my sleeve and see the still burning mark on my arm.