Eugene hauled the tavern master up by his lapels. "It's not too late," he said. Part of him believed he'd never seen Mack so broken except that felt false. There was something eerily familiar about the hollow expression in the man's eyes that rang all his inner alarms.

"Mack! Snap out of it or I will bloody bite you!"

The absurdity of the threat made the man shake his head. His vacant gaze slowly came into focus. "He's there. Jacob's at the heart."

Not good, but the universe wasn't cracking apart at the seams yet. "Can he get to it?"

Mack went silent, his eyes tracking something beyond Eugene's senses. "No, not yet, he needs--" He cut his words off, his gaze shifting to Calponia kneeling beside the fallen Eleni.

"Like hell," Eugene muttered. His body hummed with anger at the very thought, an answering darkness curling in the pit of his stomach. The vial of blood hung around his neck, curiously warm; blood that no longer burned him. That was a troubling development, though he couldn't deny it was a welcome one. He shoved the mystery aside. There were other priorities, such as preventing that idiot Henderson from destroying reality. His grip tightened, nearly lifting the tavern master off his feet.

"What do we need, Mack? How do we stop him?"

"I--I--Hume, we need to get to Hume." Mack closed his eyes, that cool confidence slowly reasserting itself. "Stop rumpling my coat, vampire."

Eugene bit back on a sigh of relief. "Stop acting like a helpless nancy then," he said, releasing the man's lapels. Mack scowled, sobering quickly as his gaze shifted to Eleni's body.

"There are wounded and fallen here," he said, glancing up at the smoking ruin of Infra. "Untold damage to the city."

Ravelock rested a hand on the tavern master's shoulder. "Which I will attend to."

Calponia looked up at that, tears on her face. Eugene's fist curled tight. His desire to shred Henderson intensified to a yawning ache.

"We can't just leave. What if there are more Krakens? What if--"

"Priorities, lass," said Ravelock, with a sad smile. "The Edgewise needs help and I'll want a drink after dealing with this mess. My crew and I can handle things on this end."

Mack still hesitated, staring at Eleni's still form.

"Mourn her, honor her, but don't muck up now," said the Captain. "I can't settle my tab if there is no bar to return to."

The tavern master nodded, gently pulling Calponia to her feet. He eyed Eugene. "Coming?"

As if he would leave her side now? Eugene raised a brow. "He said they've got this."

Mack nodded. He lifted a hand, etching a glowing doorway on the air. Calponia moved back a step and slipped her hand into Eugene's. He glanced down at her, wishing he had the right words to comfort her, but he was terribly inept with grief.

The tavern master stepped through the a doorway so brilliant it seared his eyes. Eugene held tight onto Calponia's hand, following on Mack's heels. The passage wasn't smooth, leaving him singed. He grit his teeth, smoke curling off his arms as he emerged into Hume. The light didn't settle, but intensified. He blinked hard, blinded, literally; he could feel the damage to his retinas. Calponia sucked in a breath.

His vision slowly cleared as his eyes healed. He checked her over first, worried Mack overestimated her adaptability, but Cal was fine, her expression one of awe. Eugene squinted against the brilliance, but understood the awe as the world of Hume filtered into focus.

A world of neon and fluorescence, a million miniature suns clustered together in vast towers, streaking past on light etched tracks, flashing and bursting like a living tapestry of synapses. An electric hum throbbed against his temples, enough to give him an immediate splitting headache. Eugene closed his eyes, gritting his teeth as the pressure increased.

"Oh," said Mack. He could barely hear the tavern master through the pressure. Something landed on his head, cutting off the sensation so fast he nearly lost his balance. Mack held him upright by whatever device he'd place on Eugene's head.

He opened his eyes, the brilliance subdued to tolerable shades of gray.

Calponia loomed closer, peering at him. "A bike helmet?"

Mack snorted. "Please, motorcycle helmet. It's sensory overload for his breed here. This will keep his brain from liquefying."

Calponia whirled on the tavern master, punching him in the chest. "Why would you put him in danger like that!"

"It was an oversight," Mack snapped. "I had other things on my mind!"

"I'm okay now," said Eugene, rapping his knuckles on the side of the helm for good measure. It was a half truth. The helm shut off the awful pressure but also muffled his senses, leaving him with a disjointed free falling sensation. He grabbed Calponia's hand again, anchored by her grip. "Priorities," he said, "What are we here for?"

"More a who than a what," said Mack, smoothing his hands down the front of his coat. Under the hyper lit atmosphere of Hume, the leather duster had seen better days, the wear and tear as evident as the weariness on the tavern master's features. That made Eugene nervous.

"Fine, lead the way."

Mack shrugged. "Oh, they'll find us."

Eugene wasn't sure what to make of them when the lights sputtered, a cluster drawing toward them in intermittent pulses that coalesced in a solid being. A woman stood before them. Even through the filter of the helm, Eugene could tell her coloring was odd, but her exasperated expression was familiar enough.She definitely knew Mack. The perfect symmetry of her face gave her an eerie artificial complexion. Lights continued to ripple under the surface of her skin, Eugene realized she was artificial, a living machine.

<It's been awhile, Macklemore. What favor has dragged you to our realm this time?>

A voice of echoes and static that sank directly into his mind. Calponia's fingers tightened on his. The strange woman glanced at the two of them and froze. Her dark angular brows lifted in evident surprise. Her lips parted. <Impossible.> She took a step forward, the ground lighting under her feet. Eugene tensed, a spike of irrational fear rising through his throttled senses.

The woman's gaze held the same ancient sadness Eugene often saw in the tavern master's as she reached for Calponia. Her fingertips left glowing streaks on Cal's chin, slowly fading. The woman searched Cal's face, her eyes backlit by those pulsing lights.

Cal leaned away from the stranger, obviously unnerved. "Do you know me?"

The woman tilted her perfectly made face. A lock of hair fell across her forehead, no, not hair, a wire, emitting faint sparks of electricity. <How could we when you don't know who you are?>

"But you do," said Mack, his expression grim.

The woman reached up to brush her fingers along his cheek. <We see. You've forgotten something important.>

"I need you to hack my mind, Charette," said Mack.

Charette shook her head, faint sparks of light gliding over her skin. <No, Macklemore, not yours.> She turned to Calponia. <Hers.>

Calponia was a confused bucket of jumbled thoughts, her mind so much mush she would have tripped and fallen if not for Eugene's grip keeping her tethered to the present. The Edgewise was in Danger, capitol D Danger and here they were traipsing through another wondrous world. Okay, that wasn't quite true since they didn't move at all. Rather, the world of Hume moved around them. The scattered lights shifted and coalesced into an enclosed space and suddenly they stood in a cozy if small home, comprised of smooth rounded walls like the inside of egg...designed by H.R. Giger. Wires curled down from the ceiling. One wall was made up entirely of glass plates, flickering with constantly changing images. A chair rose from the middle of the floor, as if it grew from it, the rounded insides lined with white fibers threaded with light.

<Welcome to our home.> Charette's freaky voice popped in her head, making her flinch. <At least, as close an approximation as we could create for your senses.> There was nothing condescending in her voice. Calponia realized she was being polite, but her speech was unnerving.

"What do you mean 'our' home?"

Mack cleared his throat. "Calponia, this is Charette, a collective consciousness entity native to Hume."

Collective consciousness? "How many of you are in there?"

Charette smiled. <We are not so odd, considering you should not exist.>

Calponia felt the tightness in her shoulders winch up to a solid ten. "Excuse me?" Eugene went still next to her. She could practically feel his anger rub against her like an insistent cat. The bête noire purred in response. She shook herself, startled by the reaction.

Charette held up her hands. Their hands? <We mean no offense. We see more threads of reality than most species. We see your true nature, though we do not understand how this came to be.>

"What came to be? Are you talking about the--" Calponia's voice dropped low. "The bête noire?"

Another held tilt, only this time, Calponia could feel that collective consciousness brush against her own, thousands and thousands of mind, synced to one another, studying her. She shuddered.

<We know of the bête noire, though we have never seen it given form.>

Calponia's skin prickled. Charette's words stoked the coals of existential dread. Mack looked back and forth between them, clearly at as much of a loss as she was.

"She's human," said Eugene. It was hard to discern the tone of his muffled voice but anger still bruised the air around him.

<We are afraid we must disagree. None of her components are human.>

Mack jerked as if he'd been slapped. "Oh gods."

Calponia wished he'd share whatever revelation he just had because she felt nothing but lost. And scared. She was downright terrified. She shifted behind Eugene. Her head hurt, her pulse thundered between her ears. "No," she whispered, her voice small. She started shaking.

Mack's expression crumpled. "Cal, I need you to trust me."

How could he ask her that? Her lungs were trapped in a vise. She gulped air in quick sharp pants as panic rose, prickling at the edges of her vision like a film strip catching fire.

"No," she rasped. Eugene caught her as her legs gave out. She felt cold all over. The bête noire stirred, feeding on her panic but it didn't lash out. She was going to be sick.

"Cal," Eugene murmured, one hand framing her face. "Easy. It's okay. I won't let you go."

Her breath stuttered. She blinked through her tears up at him, catching his red gaze through the visor of the helmet. "Promise?" She sniffled.

She couldn't read his expression through that ridiculous helmet but she could read the tension in body as he pulled her close, glaring at Charette over her shoulder. He hung onto his control for her. She sucked in a bracing breath, threading her fingers into his coat. She brushed something warm and metal against his chest. A frisson of awareness passed between them. His thumb swiped along the base of her spine.

"No matter what," he whispered for her alone, but she could feel Charette's intent gaze on them.

Easing out of Eugene's grip she turned to her mentor and friend. "What do I have to do?"

Mack stepped close, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Will you let Charette in? If you don't want this, I won't force you."

She knew he wouldn't but they were down to the wire, no pun intended. Did she want this? None of it made sense. She was Calponia Anders, klutzy and cursed, bearer of the bête noire but she was human. She remembered her parents, her childhood. It was real. She was real. "I'm scared."

"So am I," said Mack.

Calponia turned to Charette. "Go for it."

<Please, sit. It helps to close your eyes.>

Charette gestured to the lit fibrous chair. Calponia shuffled forward, her legs so very heavy, and gingerly sat in the chair. She made a small noise as the fibers sank painlessly into her skin.

<We promise that part doesn't hurt.>

That implied another part would. She looked around nervously. Eugene and Mack stood on either side, silent sentinels. The wall of glass panes went blank. A grainy picture formed, pulsing in time to her heart beat. Her back teeth began to buzz. Calponia seized, gripping the sides of the chair as her nerves caught fire. She opened her mouth in a soundless scream as her vision went black.