[OP: "Titanium"--David Guetta ft. Sia]

The team took first a boat and then a rented van to get to the volcano.

It was actually a large tourist attraction, so it was more crowded than you'd think an active volcano would be.

Right now, it was somewhat overcast and misty around the top of it.

No one had recognized them, thankfully.

When they reached the volcano, Morph heard some tourists leaving it, saying they'd seen ghosts up on the trail.

"Sounds like the sajas are starting something," he told the others.

"Great." Rumi rubbed her face in exasperation. "Okay...so the plan? Do we all understand it?"

"We hold their attention by coming up the main roadway," Jinu said. "Morph and Raven sneak around as animals and find Celine and Bobby and free them, and maybe they can portal them away to make it faster. "

"If there's no interference, but I've been warned too many times about magic," Raven said. "Which, effectively, is what the sajas use."

"So you find them," Jinu said, "and then you signal us, and we know to try to make a big distraction to get the sajas to focus on us."

"But their plan could be more complicated anyway, I think," Rumi said. "So be on the lookout, and no one get separated. I don't think they're any match for us all if we stick together, but I doubt we can take on all three of them alone, and there will be more regular demons up there as well."

"I think we all get it," Mira said. She was on edge. "They just better not have harmed Bobby by now."

"Or Celine," Zoey said.

"Celine is too useful as a prisoner," Raven said. "Bobby makes more sense to off if the goal is just to hurt you. They could want her for other reasons. Ray Delray, or whoever he was, was way too set on using her from the sound of it."

"Can I point out that we're doing this for a woman who wants us all dead except for the girls?" Baby said. "And we're also trying to help the people who are using her against us."

"We helped you," Rumi said.

"But we didn't threaten anyone that close to you," Jinu said. "I feel like you would have ended us if we did."

"Probably," Rumi agreed.

"I hope Celine is at least smart enough not to provoke them," Raven remarked. "She likes to criticize demons too much..."

"I hope Bobby doesn't freak out and fall apart," Zoey said nervously. She was almost biting her nails. Only years of training to break the habit was stopping her.

"I'm killing every demon I see if it's not a saja," Mira said. "And if it's Ray, I'm not making any promises not to kill him."

"Isn't that murder?" Rumi asked. "I mean, did we settle where we are with that?"

"I think at this point, we're in a war," Mira said. "He's gone too far. The other two aren't looking  too good either, but we don't know for sure whose idea it was yet."

"I'm sure it was his idea," Morph said. "And I don't think the other two are fully aware of his plans. He seems to use them as a distraction so he can do what he wants. Let's try to be rational, Mira. Remember our real objective is to save their souls. Ray Delray is the most dangerous, though, and if you have to fight him, fine. Don't let him get close to you. Sounds like he's pretty powerful."

"Celine is not a full hunter anymore," Rumi said. "She's still good, but her strength and speed are not like ours. I don't think he'd have had such an easy time if it was one of us...but he still creeps me out, so I agree about not letting him get close. Ready?"

"No," Romance said. "But I'm not staying behind. They'd be waiting for us to do something like that..."

"If we're gonna die, might as well die together, right?" Abby said.

Mira gave him a look.

"I'm kidding." He held up his hands. "We're going to be fine. They can't beat all of us. No splitting up this time."

"Every time we say that, we still split up at some point," Raven said. "That happens, then run--do not try to fight. Down here, around so many civilians, they may not follow you. Don't forget that part." 

She gave Mystery a look there.

Mystery nodded.

"Let's do this." Rumi clenched a fist. "Come on."

She headed for one of the foot trails off the main road.

They had no idea where the sajas would hide the hostages, but they were hoping to see some sign of them soon.

Walking was not the best way to get there, but a car was too loud. 

But climbing up the mountain was torture for the boys, and they were soon huffing and puffing to keep up with the girls, who were, of course, agile and energized by the Honmoon.

"Come on," Rumi urged. She took Jinu's arm. "We need to move fast. I bet they know we're here by now."

"They're watching for us, so they knew before we even started up this path," Jinu wheezed. "It's just a matter of time..."

"Crap, no bars." Baby was checking his phone. "Raven and Morph can't tell us if they found them."

"They can signal us some other way, I'm sure," Rumi said. "Using their powers maybe."

They climbed for another several minutes. The overcast lingered, but it never started to rain, which was a little unusual for this island.

The mist got thicker as they went upward.

The boys really started to think they'd never make it to where the prisoners were.

Rumi was more worried that they hadn't heard from the mutants yet. They should have found something by now, unless...

How well hidden could they be?

Then she had a worse thought: What if they weren't here? What if the volcano itself was just a ruse to get them all to come to an isolated place, and the hostages were actually somewhere else entirely?

That seemed like something Ray Delray would do.

She wasn't sure whether to say this out loud or not, but it turned out it didn't matter because Jinu said the same thing only 5 minutes later.

"What?" Romance said. Then he sank onto a rock. "All this and we could be in the wrong place?"

"So this could be a trap?" Baby said. "I mean...more of one, and you didn't say that before?"

"I just thought of it now," Jinu said.

"Aren't you supposed to be the planning guy?" Abby was a bit curt, but he was tired and worried by now.

"So how do we know for sure?" Mira demanded.

"Well, we expected Raven and Morph to have found something by now, but it doesn't seem like they have..." Jinu worried.

"I was starting to think that too," Rumi admitted. "But we don't know...and we don't have any other lead."

"I guess...logically, there still would be demons here," Jinu said. "If we find those sajas, maybe you can make them tell us the truth."

They had all stopped to talk about this, not just Romance.

"Guys," Zoey said suddenly, "is it just me, or is this mist getting a lot thicker all of the sudden?"

They looked around.

The mist had been light and natural looking till now, but suddenly it had a greenish hue to it, and it was starting to look more like thick fog than mist.

"Best illusions are ones that already look like part of the landscape," Jinu muttered. "If it is an illusion... Could just be bad weather blowing in again."

"Either way, we're going to get lost up here if we don't stay on this path," Rumi said, biting her lip. That meant no wandering off the path to look for Bobby and Celine...which was the most likely place they would be, not in the direct line of sight of any tourists.

"I don't have a great feeling about this," Mira announced. "We're going to be exhausted by the time we find them anyway, and that's before fighting demons. We need a better way to find them."

"What I would give to have that 'search' ability Shine has right now," Romance said.

"Too bad Morph and Raven don't have it," Zoey said.

"Or...wait, do we have it?" Jinu looked at Romance and Mystery. "What about those glasses and that mirror? Couldn't they show if this was real mist?"

"We have a limited amount of uses," Romance said. "Mystery already used the glasses a couple times. They might stop working if he does it again, and using it to see if a fog is real? Isn't that a waste of energy?"

"On the other hand, they might also show us where to find Celine and Bobby," Jinu said.

"Not if they're not here," Romance protested.

"Do you have a better idea?" Jinu said, a bit more shortly.

Pause.

"No," Romance groaned.

He took out the hand mirror and held it up.

In its reflection, he didn't see fog.

"Maybe it's all not real." He looked back. 

But it all looked real outside the mirror.

"So it's not there?" Mystery asked him.

"No...not in the glass," Romance said. "Huh...so that's how it works. Okay, let me look around the whole area."

He slowly turned in a circle while tilting the glass.

He stopped suddenly as he saw something a little discolored.

He squinted into the mirror.

It was Eileen.

She had been hidden by the fog, and she was perched between two palm trees, leaning on one and watching them.

Other than that, she wasn't doing anything, but the fog was a magical illusion--it had to be her doing.

No other demons that he could see.

"There." He pointed behind him. "It's Eileen."

"What?" Baby turned.

Eileen's eyes got huge, and then she locked onto the mirror like she knew that was how he'd known.

Before Romance could move, she teleported to behind him and then jumped on him.

She was a lot stronger than her size implied, as Baby could have told him (Eileen was about the same height as Zoey, making her shorter than all of the guys, even Baby). She knocked Romance into the mud (for it was muddy here) easily.

Romance tried to struggle, expecting to be torn up by claws, but all she did was snatch the mirror out of his hand while he was distracted.

Then she vanished just before Jinu and Mystery could grab her.

"Hey!" Mira cried. "Blondie, where did you go?"

"Give me that back!" Romance cried, though it was no use.

A psychotic laugh from somewhere in the fog.

"What? Do you need your vanity that badly, Romeo?"

"Doesn't matter anyway," Baby called. "Mystery already has glasses that can see where you are."

Mystery was not wearing them at the moment and gave him a weird look.

"Oh?" Eileen said.

Suddenly she was by Mystery and jumping on his head.

"Hey!" Zoey cried.

But this was what Baby had wanted. He moved more quickly than anyone else had time to and used his baseball bat to hit Eileen in the shoulder, hard.

She screamed in pain and turned around and grabbed the bat.

Baby held on tight this time, more from pure spite than because he had much chance of stopping her this way.

"You did that on purpose!" Eileen cried, like that was somehow the surprising part.

"Oh, you think?" Baby was loving that it had worked so well.

"Quick, get her," Jinu told the others who were closer to her.

Mira moved forward.

Eileen looked up, and then she let go of the bat and disappeared again.

Then she appeared a few feet away.

Jinu recalled that, when he'd used this power, that it was hard to do so many times. Gwi-Ma only gave his servants a certain amount of energy, and doing it so many times in a row shortened the distance you could go. Plus, she must have been using energy to make the illusion.

Besides, she was totally outmatched now that they knew she was here.

Seeing that, he said, "Everyone just spread out in a circle. She can't teleport away, she'll be too tired after all this."

Eileen gave Jinu a look of pure hatred, though it was the sort that was from fear, not malice.

Jinu felt a little guilty.

She might be a demoniac--she was even showing her patterns right now after all that effort--but...something about her just looked too like a regular young girl. She just didn't seem like the emotionless sajas they'd all become.

Maybe she was too new; 15 years wasn't that long in the demon realm, all things considered... He felt like he was ganging up on a real human girl right now.

But it was necessary. Not the time to be stopped by her innocent look.

The others had done what he said, and now she was surrounded.

Still, with their vision obscured, she might be able to slip away unnoticed...if she was lucky.

Mira slashed to shove some of the fog away. "Give up."

Despite her harsh tone, Mira didn't want to hurt Eileen either... She felt weirder about the idea of killing sajas now that they knew they were humans. Especially a new one.

Eileen looked at all of them, and then suddenly she got a weird look and started to pull off her clothes.

All the guys were shocked and yelped, "Hey! What are you doing?!"

"Ew!" Baby looked away.

Eileen used that chance to push past him and run for the fog that led off the path into the foliage.

"Hey, no you don't!" Zoey had not covered her eyes. She went to an American highschool; seeing other girls take off their outer garments to change was nothing there, and she lunged after Eileen.

"Zoey, wait!" Rumi cried.

"Follow her." Mira ran after Zoey.

Eileen sprang through the bushes and trees, and Zoey was right behind. She darted over them with the skill of a hunter.

She threw a knife at the one nearest Eileen's face.

Eileen jumped in the other direction.

But she didn't stop. She ducked under more bushes.

Zoey followed her anyway. Mira was behind her.

Rumi came last of all, but she thought they should stay together... The fog soon cut off her vision.

It's not real, she thought. There has to be some way to... I'm sure once she gets too tired, she won't be able to keep this up, and we can find our way back, so it'll be fine. We just have to wear her down.

* * *

About this time, Celine and Bobby had been tied up for at least 3 hours.

Both of their legs were numb by now, and Bobby couldn't feel much of his arms either.

"Hmm, this is taking too long." Vladimir had been totally quiet for the last hour and half, other than muttering Russian folk songs once or twice.

Celine had half forgotten he was even there. She was more worried that Ray had not returned. The only reason he could have to stay away would be getting more demons ready. How long before this mountain became one living trap for the Hunters?

There had to be some way to warn them...right? But not if she couldn't get free.

It was also humid, and they'd been in the sun for a while before it finally sank too low.

"At this rate, prisoners won't be in condition to go anywhere," Vladimir mused.

He looked at them. "If I loosen your bonds, you not try to escape?"

"I'm pretty sure I can't escape," Bobby said.

He was in no shape to run far even if he tried.

"Not really worried about you." Vladimir knew it too. 

Celine glared at him.

"The pretty and cold one is not going to cooperate," Vladimir said. "Ray said not let her get away at all costs. Still, dead hunter is not very good bait."

He snapped his fingers. "I know. You will do it."

"Me?" Bobby said nervously. "Do what?"

"Human care," Vladimir said.

"Human care?" Bobby said.

"What do you call it in 21st century then?" Vladimir asked impatiently.

"Do you mean...like pet care or child care?" Baby was confused. "But for humans?"

"Da, so you did know what it meant. You like to waste time." Vladimir was cross.

"But what kind of human care?" Bobby didn't like the sound of it.

"Vladimir prepare for long wait time," Vladimir said.

"You keep referring to yourself in the third person," Bobby noted. "Why?"

"Trick to sound less intimidating," Vladimir said. "Use it use it to help get information out of stupid people."

Bobby winced at that idea.

But Vladimir did untie him after all.

"Have water," he said. "Now take long drink and then give some to other prisoner. I watch to make sure you don't have weapon. If you have weapon, you will be dead. Understand?"

"Uh...yes," Bobby stammered.

Celine couldn't believe this.

"I take gag off for this," Vladimir said, speaking as if she was a tiger in a cage. "Don't bite this time."

Bobby thought Celine would bite him anyway--and he was right. At least she tried to.

Vladimir pulled away faster this time though. "Predictable."

"Bobby, don't drink anything he gives you," Celine said. "Don't be a fool."

"You think it's drugged," Vladimir said, as if the idea was funny. "Please. Know how hard it is to steal drugs? Is way too much work for demons."

"Even if it's not drugged, where did you get that water from?" Celine frowned.

"From? Got it from 7/11." Vladimir pointed down the volcano. "Very easy to steal from. They never even look twice."

"I mean...we're already captured." Bobby was miserably thirsty by now anyway. "Why would he bother? It's probably fine..."

He drank it.

Nothing happened to him, to Celine's surprise.

"All right, now give Tiger Woman some. Boss will not like her fainting if he's making his big speech," Vladimir said disinterestedly.

Bobby offered some to Celine. "Might as well cooperate," he said. "Besides, what if he tries to force feed you if you don't?"

That would be worse.

Celine took it reluctantly.

But the water tasted normal, though it was warm.

"You're not as mean as I thought you would be," Bobby commented to Vladimir, before he could tie him up. Stalling really, since it was very uncomfortable.

"Eh, not really any reason to be. Torture only comes if we need faster results." Vladimir sat on a rock with a nonplussed expression.

"A spy who's somehow less willing to resort to torture than the game show host," Celine said. "Talk about irony." With disgust.

"Game show host?" Vladimir said. "Is that what he is? I thought he said he was in show business at some point."

"While we're talking about the radio show host, though," Bobby said, "did he ever mention not liking the hunters for that?"

"Yes, does the name Cheerful Chorus ring a bell?" Celine saw her chance to get more information about Ray.

"Cheerful Chorus..." Vladimir said strangely. "Hmm... yes...there was a group named that once... I was just a boy at time."

"A Russian boy listening to Korean radio?" Celine said. "In the 30s?"

"Didn't say I listen to it," Vladimir said, with some annoyance. "Da, I remember now. Music group, right? Didn't one of them win Miss Korea?"

[Fun fact: While this story is not necessarily on the same timeline as real history, there was a real Miss Korea and other beauty contest winners in the 1930's, so this would check out, possibly.]

"Actually yes." Celine now remembered that part. "But how did...?"

"Boss makes us read about all the hunter groups through the last 100 years," Vladimir said carelessly. "That one caught eye. Back in my time, I never heard of them. We cared about the Tsar's family back then."

Celine didn't want to hear about Russian history right now. "So what did Delray say about those hunters?"

"Nothing." Vladimir probably wouldn't have admitted it if he had. "Why sudden interest anyway?"

"Why...? He wants to kill me," Celine sputtered. "Did you miss that part? Aren't you helping him because you think this plan will work?"

"What does that have to do with past hunters? They too old to be your mentors, right?"

"Well, yes... They were the mentors of my mentors," Celine said.

This was true. The Cheerful Chorus had been the hunters for a very long time, for hunters, perhaps because the war had slowed down the next generation's birthrate and their protegees  had not come along till they were older.

Celine's mentor had been the hunter from the 60s-70s, and then the Sunlight Sisters had replaced them between the late 80s and early 90s, till they'd broken up. The Cheerful Chorus had been the hunters for the 30s-50s...a long stint for hunters to keep their voices...but she supposed it had been necessary.

That's what made this so strange. Ray Delray might have known about them back then, and he clearly hated hunters...so how had they lived so long? How had they done so much ,and he'd never done anything to stop them, it seemed like? It didn't add up.

She had tried to remember what her mentors had said about that group. They had been very strong. The wars had forged them in fire, trying to bring hope to people in such dark times. They had to be resilient...not easily swayed by disaster.

They had told her mentors to always put on a cheerful face and never show it if you were afraid. During the war time and subsequent hardships, that had been necessary.

And in turn, Celine's mentors had told her never to show weakness, that demons couldn't touch hunters who kept their composure and their conviction strong.

Celine and the other two sisters had translated this into never showing their faults or fears to anyone, especially after Celine had been left on her own to deal with all this. It had worked.

She thought of how Rumi, Mira, and Zoey were now critical of this way of thinking. It had stood the test of time, hadn't it?

But nothing about this helped her know why Ray had such a vendetta against the hunters.

"Your mentors' mentors, huh?" Vladimir seemed more interested in this. "I didn't know that. You know, Ray has refused to tell us exactly why he hates you so much. All I know is he said he knew your...daughter's father."

"Rumi--Wait, she is not my daughter," Celine said. "She's my friend's daughter."

"You adopt her, I thought." Vladimir seemed to think this detail didn't really matter.

"Yes..."

"So why does it matter?"

"Because I didn't have a relationship with a demon!" Celine said, with more venom than was wise when she was talking to one.

Vladimir didn't get extremely offended, but he did look a little miffed. "I see. And here I thought you all didn't think we were demons."

"The girls believe that. I am undecided." Celine couldn't believe she just said she was undecided to one of them...but it was not wise to sound too sure right now.

Bobby couldn't believe she'd said it too, as her blatant disgust with the girls' theory had not gone unnoticed by him.

Vladimir looked surprised to hear this as well. "Huh...interesting...even the oldest one... Strange generation of hunters."

"But...Delray knew her father?" Celine went back to the real topic. "How...? I mean, why...? So is ...is it revenge? I didn't kill him."

"Didn't you?" Vladimir said.

"No, I never touched him," Celine said. "I barely even spoke to him. Not that...I wouldn't have, probably, but, I had to take care of Rumi. I had no chance to. Ryu stopped me from even trying the only time I could have. She said I didn't understand... I guess I didn't. I didn't understand how she could do what she did...but still, I never killed him. So if it's about revenge, I'm afraid he has already taken it on the person responsible for it. She is gone." Bitterly.

"The other hunter...I see. But I don't think it is about revenge for him. At least not for that. I don't think he liked that girl's father at all. He said he was nice, but...what that really means, I don't know. It's not really my business. You should ask him yourself... He will give you chance soon."

"No, sir, I think I would rather hear it from you," Bobby said. "I'm not sure I would trust anything that guy said after the way he acted, from what I heard. But what do you have against the boys anyway? They just want to escape your...demon overlord. Can't you sympathize with them?"

"I can sympathize with them, but I don't think they really will escape him," Vladimir said. "They are fools. You don't escape...you survive. That is all."

"That is pathetic," Celine said.

"Do you think we can escape?" Vladimir challenged her.

She froze.

Then she looked down.

If she could have said yes...it probably wouldn't help that much, but would it increase their chances of getting away?

Yet could she really bring herself to say that when she still wasn't fully convinced?

Her silence said it all.

"Well, there you are," Vladimir said, but he almost sounded disappointed. "Then survival is only option."

"Gwi-Ma, does he know you think that?" Bobby asked.

"He knows," Vladimir said very darkly, and for a second Bobby could see his patterns more clearly over his human skin. "He has always known. He does not care if we know he knows we hate his voice. Is not the type of thing to care. Do demons feel pity for anyone?"

"Do you?" Celine asked tightly.

"Not anymore," Vladimir said. "If I did, it only be for other demons. Humans have it too easy."

"I'm not sure it's so easy if they're being attacked by demons," Bobby said tentatively.

"Hmm, maybe not, but, it's better than being one." Vladimir was so open about that fact, it was staggering.

Celine almost couldn't believe it... Was this really what they all thought?

"What about Delray?" she demanded. "Does he not want to be a demon anymore?"

"How should I know what he wants? He say very little...but it's not my guess." Vladimir looked to the side. "Enough talking.... Where is Eileen?"

"I hope they didn't kill her," Bobby said. "I'm sure the girls weren't going to, but...Baby sounded like he was very hostile to her."

"You hope so, huh?" Celine said. "Why should we care if they did?"

"I don't like the idea of killing a young girl if she's still got a human soul somewhere," Bobby said.

"Eileen?" Vladimir looked up. "Is not the boys who I worry would kill her, but she was to avoid the girls, so is not likely much will happen to her. The boys have no power to harm us, but I thought the Hunters knew that already."

"I know something else," Celine said. "I saw two of them kill demons only two days ago."

She worried it was not wise to say this, but, on the other hand, it might start to convince him that the boys were not the same as they were before--and it had to be her priority, because honestly, it was the only one that would buy them time.

To think she had to stoop to this...

But she got results.

"What?" Vladimir said, seeming to get mad for the first time. "You dare to lie to me? You think I would fall for that? I was not born yesterday, hunter!"

"As if I would waste my time lying to you," Celine said, narrowing her eyes. "Why would I want to admit it? I've always thought they aren't truly human again...and I still don't know if they are or not, but they can kill demons now. I saw it. I have no reason to want to think that if it is not true. It goes against everything I thought about how this works."

"I heard it too," Bobby said. "I didn't see it myself, but they've said they can now."

"It's not possible for demons to kill other demons," Vladimir said. "It's...what they call insurance for us. Hurt maybe, for short time, but not kill."

"They disappeared into smoke," Celine said. "I know what it's like to kill a demon, you idiot. They were dead."

"But how? Only hunter can summon weapons that can truly kill us." Vladimir narrowed his eyes again.

"They have something that works now," Celine said. "They seem to have acquired it, I don't know how."

Though they had told her, she didn't get the oil and gifts explanation.

Vladimir turned it over in his mind. "You say that they have weapons that can kill demons now...? And Eileen is supposed to find these boys? Ray didn't know this, obviously. That is dangerous idea to do alone."

"But he did know," Celine said. "He saw the entire thing. He was trying to choke me out at the time. There was no way he could have missed it. Even said that he'd have to make a new plan because he saw it."

So Ray truly had not mentioned it to them, she thought... He didn't care for their lives at all then.

Vladimir gave her a long look, as if trying to gauge whether she was lying or not.

She didn't blink.

"So...Ray send Eileen alone, without a horde of demons, to find boys who now can kill demons?" he said.

"It...sounds like it..." Bobby said, nervously. "That sounds kinda mean of him to do that. Not that they will kill her...I think. Is she a nice girl?"

"She is demon girl," Vladimir said. "And they do not like demons anymore... They seemed weak enough though...two of them..."

"Well, they were not the two who I saw do it," Celine said. 

"If you're lying about this," Vladimir said, "is big trouble if I believe you... If you're not lying, is big trouble if I don't."

"Are you worried about Eileen?" Bobby asked. "I mean...are you friends?"

"No, we are colleagues," Vladimir said, crisply. "Is not based on liking, or even trusting, each other... However, if she dies, Ray say he will replace her. I greatly dislike most other demons I have seen in realm. The women ones are the worst of all."

"How sexist of you," Celine said.

"You not say that if you saw what they look like," Vladimir said, with a shudder that was almost human-like. "I think the process must do more to women than men... Most of them are used as streetwalkers, from what I see."

"As...what?" Bobby said, blankly.

"That's repulsive," Celine said.

"Well, it's how Gwi-Ma lures in hapless fools." Vladimir was disinterested in this part--mostly since demons did not care much about that at all. "The point is, bringing any of them on our team would be greatly unpleasant for me. Eileen talks too much, but that is better than alternative. I must make sure she is not replaced."

"That is very nice of you," Bobby said. "I think... I'm not sure, actually. But...what about us then?"

"Da, you can't be trusted," Vladimir mused. "If I leave you here, you will escape... I can't take you either... Other demons I could get to watch you... Yes, but they might get impatient and try to eat you instead. Only solution is to knock you out first."

"What?" Bobby yelped.

"Don't touch me!" Celine cried.

"I will not touch you," Vladimir said, willingly.

He held up something that looked like a taser.

"Wait, that's worse!" Bobby said. "I've been tasered before."

"What?" Celine shot him a weird look.

"It was an accident," Bobby said. "But it really hurt!"

"Is not going to kill you," Vladimir said, like that made it all right.

And it didn't matter, as Celine couldn't dodge anyway, and Bobby was too slow. He knocked them both out easily.

[Better hope that wears off before Ray comes back. I don't trust him with an unconscious hunter.]

* * *

Zoey chased Eileen over more trees than she could count, but since the girl saja did not teleport, she must have been tired.

Mira nearly got ahead and headed her off, but Eileen jumped over a rock and off a ledge into some foliage below, disappearing from sight.

A drop that could have killed a normal person, or at least hurt really badly, but no doubt she would be fine.

Zoey and Mira could survive it also, and Zoey jumped after her.

Mira hesitated, not sure if they should go any farther--but then, if they didn't catch this girl, they might lose their chance.

She jumped.

She expected only to hit bushes and leaves, but instead she somehow ended up in a lot of vines that were a lot longer and thicker than anything she'd seen in the area.

She struggled to break free and suddenly noticed something moving beneath her.

It looked like a snake... No...it was crawling... A...bug of some kind.

"That's a giant centipede," Vladimir's voice suddenly caught her attention.

He was standing under a tree, eyeing her warily.

Mira pulled her Gok-do closer. "You think you can hold me with this?"

"I don't expect it to keep you for long, but long enough." Vladimir snapped his fingers.

More vines appeared in front of her and behind her...making a shape more like a net or web than anything natural.

They had to be solid summonings, like the things Ray had thrown at Zoey in the hospital attack.

Probably took more power though.

"Just be careful when you get down." Vladimir motioned at the centipedes. "I gather a lot of them, and they are venomous. Painful, from what I hear from locals, though I never experience it personally."

"What is the point of doing this?" Mira growled. "It won't kill me, and it's not helping you."

"I just needed to buy time. Do svidaniya." Vladimir poofed out of sight.

Mira wouldn't have admitted it to him, but she was one of those people who hated bugs, especially if they were huge, venomous bugs.

She wondered if her Gok-do would work on them... Maybe it would... They weren't human, right?

She tried to lower herself.

One of the centipedes crawled towards her.

She yelped and pulled herself higher again.

"Okay, Mira," she told herself. "Just...climbing into a different tree... Yeah...then jump...several yards away from the giant murder bugs."

[On record, I don't think they're actually lethal in most cases, just painful. And yeah, they are a real bug. I think I'd freak out if I saw them too.]

* * *

Zoey realized she'd lost Mira way too late. Everything looked different down here. Either it was a trick of the sajas, or the foliage was just too high for her to see.

It was getting darker now. It would soon be night fall. They'd cut it too close already.

She seemed to have lost Eileen also.