This chapter is a little longer and is in a new POV. Let me know what you think. :) I hope you all enjoy!

*Tom's POV*

I sighed in frustration as I closed the book I had been staring blankly at for the past hour. I couldn't even remember the name of the stupid thing. I put it back on its dusty shelf as I looked out one of the library's windows. The starry midnight sky lay over the slumbering city of Urulu, moonlight making the sandstone rooftops glow faintly against the darkness of the desert. The club and bar district was the only section of the city with lights still lit, aside from our room in the upper level of the library. Even the librarian had left what felt like hours ago. He remembered Mot from when he was younger, and had told my alternate to lock up when he was done. Apparently Mot had spent a good deal of time here hiding out or doing research for Dianite before he disappeared 10 years ago. How long have they been at it? I just want to go sleep!

I turned back to see Mot staring at a map spread across one of the tables with a few books holding the curled edges down as if it held the answer to a very important question. I wondered if being trusted and involved in managing Dianite's trade network was really worth it. Mot looked like a cocktail of worn out, sad, and frustrated. He had absentmindedly run a hand through his green hair like two hours ago. I noted with a smirk and a shake of my headthat he still hadn't fixed it.

He had gotten back from his latest scouting mission earlier today. He had been gone for a whole week this time and was waiting for me back at my tree after my race with Wag, knowing Dianite wouldn't be far behind me. Sometimes that Mot dude has the worst timing. I didn't even get to rub it in Wag's face that I'd beat him. I'll have to call him up tomorrow.

Mot had hurriedly told us that his mission—which had been to track down some of Dianite's old trading partners—was a failure. The pirate smugglers he'd set out to find had been caught by Mianite's navy years ago, and no one had heard from them since. We could only assume the worst. Images of Inertia floated through my mind, causing me to shudder. I'd never be able to forget the blood stains on the floor and the pitiful cries for help echoing off the steel corridors. Yeah, the Dianite in our old world had been a sadistic dude, but the mind that came up with the Inertia prison was something else entirely.

Dianite had teleported Mot and I to Urulu to look over some of the world maps they had in the library. They had started talking trade routes and other contacts they might pursue before I had spaced out entirely. All I'd caught after that was that whatever contacts were still alive were too afraid of Mianite—if they hadn't outright converted to his side—to trade with Dianite openly again. Cowards.

Dianite and Mot had been trying to get me interested in the business, but so far it looked like the only place I might fit in their scheme was as a body guard. I could fight, threaten, and blackmail, but I was not one for delicate negotiations. Guarding valuable shipments of goods was a far cry from the assassinations I had become so proficient at in the old world as my Dianite's champion. This Dianite claimed both Mot and I as his champions, but it was clear to anyone with eyes who his favorite was and that Dianite was more than glad to have him back after his long absence.

Even so, I couldn't bring myself to hate Mot. I'd only met the guy a month or two ago, and he already felt like the big brother I'd never had. Looking at him stifle a yawn behind his red scarf, I wondered when the last time he'd slept was. "Mot, when was the last time you got a decent sleep?"

Stunned that I had spoken for the first time in hours, and that I wasn't whining about how late it was, he stared at me for a moment before answering, "I slept at an inn before heading back here."

"And when was that?" He hadn't answered the question.

He had to think about it a long time before answering, "A day and a half ago, maybe two days. Why?"

Maybe you have to be willing to run yourself into the ground to do well in business. Or maybe he works so hard at this because he loves his Dianite. "Dianite, can we finish this another day? Mot looks like he's about to fall asleep where he stands. He'll be able to think more clearly to help you plan once he's rested and eaten something."

I don't think either of them had noticed how long we'd been in the library until then. The sun had still been high in the sky when they'd lost me with all their talk of business and the names of places I'd never heard of. I'd snuck out to get some food at one point, but Mot had never left. Mot turned to look out the window at my words and see just how late it was. The annoyance on his face disappeared when he saw stars in the black sky. He seemed mesmerized by the sight.

"You might be right there, boyo. We do get a bit enthusiastic about our work, and sometimes I forget that mortals need rest," Dianite replied with a deep chuckle that echoed off the library walls. "We'll come back to this tomorrow with a fresh perspective. I'll teleport you two back to Syndy's tree once you clean up."

I groaned. There are maps and sea charts everywhere! Why does Ruxomar have to be so big? Grumbling under my breath, I started rolling up the map on the table nearest me, shaking a few smaller charts from on top of it. Mot tore his eyes away from the skyline of his old home and started re-shelving the books that had been holding down the corners of the map I was rolling. Mot re-filed the rest of the papers after I rolled them, cause hell if I knew how any of these maps were organized before we got to them. Mot seemed to have the place memorized. How much of his life did he spend in here?

After Mot filed the last roll in its place on the honeycombed scroll rack, we headed down to the library's main entrance, turning off lights as we went. As I closed the front door behind us, Mot bent over and moved a potted sago palm that sat next to the door. Before I could ask him what he thought he was doing, he reached into a crack in the wall the pot had hidden and pulled out a key. After locking the doors, he put the key and the sago back in place.

"You staying at your place here tonight?" I asked Mot as we started walking down the empty street towards the city's gate. We wouldn't want any of the gossips to see Dianite teleport us away; they already had enough rumors to start.

"Nah. It just doesn't feel like home without Alyssa here. If it's all the same to you, I'll camp out in one of the spare rooms at your place. I'd go back to my place at the priest's house, but we'll just have to meet up again in the morning anyways."

The wizards did give me way more space than I needed when they renovated. "Sure, man," I replied as we walked past the guards at the gate. They gave us both strange looks before closing the gate behind us. Once we were safely out of sight behind a sand dune, I called out, "Yo, Dianite, hook us up with a tp, would ya?"

I felt the familiar falling sensation that came with being teleported as the desert disappeared. Using ender pearls was fine, but teleporting always made me feel a little sick. I had gotten used to the feeling and hid it well (my Dianite had not tolerated any sign of weakness), but I still didn't like it. I don't get how Sparklez was never fazed by teleporting to begin with. I can understand it not bothering Mot; I mean, he has a literal bombproof stomach, I thought as we re-appeared in front of my tree. I winced slightly at the sudden drop of my stomach before shaking it off.

As I turned to say goodnight to Mot, I heard the most ungodly sound. I saw a dark blur race past me and up one of my silverwood trees, Doughnut 2.0 hot on the heels of whatever it was, barking viciously. "What the f*ck?" I'd never seen Doughnut 2.0—or 1.0, for that matter—so worked into a frenzy before. The shaggy brown dog was now jumping and snapping at something just out of reach in the branches when he wasn't barking.

I pulled out my light spell to see what Doughnut was trying to get at. As I fired a magical light at one of the lower branches, I noticed Mot twitching strangely beside me. "You okay, dude?" He better not be having a seizure or something. I am not carrying him all the way to Dec's place. Looking back to the now-illuminated tree, I was surprised to see a very big, very dirty cat blinking its eyes. I'd blinded the dark grey creature with the sudden light. Oh, Mot's part creeper. I turned to see the healthy side of his face blanch as he started backing further away from the tree, eyes not wavering from the feline.

Regaining its ability to see, the cat gave Doughnut a spitting hiss, which only infuriated him more. When the cat looked up from its tormentor and noticed us, its ears perked forward, and it started meowing loudly and caterwauling. I guessed the cat was wanting us to save it, but it was making me feel like my ears would bleed! "Doughnut! Bad dog! Heel!" I had to yell for him to hear me over the racket the cat was making and his own barking.

Reluctantly, he obeyed. Sitting by my side he continued to alternate between whining and growling at the cat he'd treed. I pulled a golden lasso from my bag and looped it around Doughnut's neck, making him vanish. The cat seemed to relax quickly and jumped down from the silverwood to walk towards me, meowing less obnoxiously.

As it walked past the flowerbed where my mandrakes were growing, a few of them started shuddering and screeching even though they were still in the ground. The cat scrambled a few feet away from them before it turned back to stare at the now quiet plants while breathing rapidly. "Haha. A literal scaredy cat."

"I wouldn't laugh, Syndy. There's something wrong with that cat. The mandrakes can sense it, and so can I. I can't quite tell what, but it feels like a curse or some other bad magic. I'd be careful if I were you."

The cat tilted its head and looked between me and Mot as Dianite spoke. It meowed in a pitiful tone before approaching me again. "Come on, it doesn't look that dangerous," I said to Dianite as I turned to look at Mot, who was now several yards behind me. His eyes suddenly widened, and he pointed at something back the way I'd been facing. Following his hand, I saw one of the mandrake plants the cat had walked by seconds before had shriveled up. "What?" The muddy cat was now sitting directly in front of me, staring at me with its orange eyes expectantly.

As the cat reached a paw up to poke my knee, Dianite shouted, "Don't let it touch you, Syndy; get rid of it! Whatever magic is on it is unstable!" A lightning bolt struck a few feet away from us, making both of us jump and scream.

"Okay; whatever you say, Dianite. No need to almost smite me!" The cat backed away from me and let out a sad, throaty meow that sounded surprisingly like "No". Who knew that cats could make so many different meows, and all of them equally annoying? I loosened my golden lasso and released an eager Doughnut. "Sic 'em boy!" All hell broke loose again as he started chasing the terrified feline around the yard. Mot quickly ducked into one of my buildings when the cat bolted past him. It sounded like someone was murdering the cat, not just trying to run it off. My poor ears!

Doughnut abruptly stopped as the cat leaped through the portal I always left active that linked back to my tree house over by Sonja's place. I rushed over and flipped the switch on the control, shutting down the portal and trapping the cat on the other side. Problem solved. I was kinda surprised that the cat had jumped through willingly; Doughnut was scared to death of the portal. Eh, maybe Doughnut's just a big wuss.

Doughnut snorted his approval and strutted around like he'd slain a lion rather than chased off a scared cat. I laughed at him and scratched behind his ears. "Good boy! Did you scare off the big, bad cat? He didn't hurt you, did he?" I asked as I gave him a quick once over to check for scratches or bites. It looked like the cat hadn't even fought back.

"Mot, you big pussy, the cat is gone! You can come back out now," I yelled toward the building Mot had hidden in. Doughnut rolled onto his back and begged for belly rubs as Mot cautiously eyed the yard from the doorway. Finally satisfied that the cat was gone, he came over us, scratching at the side of his neck with the creeper spores as he glared at me.

"I wasn't scared; cats just really make my skin crawl. Where did that cat even come from?" Mot asked, still acting a bit twitchy. "I thought only you and Farmer Steve lived over here, and Steve's been gone to the black market for a few weeks now."

"No clue, but it's gone now. Dianite, got any ideas?"

"I don't know..." Dianite sounded distracted as he started to answer. Before he got far my communicator beeped, signaling an incoming call. Looking at the display, I saw it was Sparklez. Dianite had stopped talking when the communicator went off, so I decided to pick up.

"Yo, Sparklez, what's up?" Mot waved to me and turned to head for one of the spare rooms to sleep. I waved back while waiting for Jordan's reply.

"Hey, Tom," His hesitant response immediately put me on edge. "Have you seen Wag today?" I recognized that strained pitch to his voice that he only had when he'd done something bad.

"Yeah, I saw him this morning. He was heading to the jungle near my place for some potion ingredients. Jordan, what's going on?" I asked with suspicion thick in my voice.

"I don't know what you're..."

"Jordan," I interrupted. "You're a horrible liar. Now spill it."

"I may have, you know, tested a witchery thing with one of his taglocks, and now I can't get ahold of him. I checked by his tower a few minutes ago, and he's not home. Tucker and Sonja haven't heard from him all day either."

Okay, now I was starting to get worried. "What exactly was this 'witchery thing' supposed to do?"

"Just your usual trolling type stuff: sporadic blindness, mining fatigue, etc. There was more in the book, but it was smudged pretty badly. I couldn't make it out," Jordan admitted sheepishly.

Before I could form a reply, Dianite interrupted my thoughts, Thomas, I can't sense Waglington.

Sh*t. "Jordan, I'm going to hang up and get a group call going with the others. Dianite can't find Wag either." I said quickly and hung up before Jordan could say anything. I started dialing in the group call setting as I headed indoors. As the line started ringing, I sat in one of the chairs at my table and stared at the spot I had dragged Wag to after his first Nvidia episode, when I had thought he might be dead. I think that was the most scared I've ever been, except maybe for the time I had to actually fight my Dianite in the old world.

I'm going to have to tell them, aren't I? I rubbed a hand across my face wondering if I should only tell them the truth about how frequent the blackouts had been and leave out the part about the migraines. Nah, I should just get this over with. If something else happens, I'll probably have to tell them anyways. Wag can turn me into a cicada afterwards if he wants to.

Jordan silently picked up first. I could hear his ME system beeping in the background. He's probably in his spectre dimension.

After a few more rings, a very grumpy Tucker and a sleepy Sonja picked up as well. "What, Tom? It's freaking late, man!" Tucker yelled into the group call.

"Tucker, not so loud. I'm not even awake yet." I could hear Sonja yawn shortly after scolding her man.

"Guys, Jordan told you earlier that he couldn't reach Wag on his communicator, right?" I asked. Mumbled yeses came back through the call. "Well, Dianite can't find him right now either."

"What!?" Tucker was fully paying attention now.

"What do you mean Dianite can't find him?" Sonja suddenly sounded awake and very worried.

I sighed. "Guys, I have to tell you something..."

I decided to give Tom a second dog. I still can't believe he killed Doughnut trying to get tongue of dog for a witchery thing. *shakes head*