I do not remember when I started screaming, but I could not stop. Not until it felt like the inside of my throat was ravaged beyond repair and I was face down in the ground, coughing and hacking up blood.

Something hit the ground next to me. I sucked in a breath and met the eyes of my friend. Half closed, staring off into the sky. Blood stained the bottom part of his face, streaks of it running up his cheeks and into those unfocused eyes. I didn't want to follow where the blood led. I didn't want to see what remained of his neck.

I reached out and placed my hand on the side of his face. I was almost surprised by how warm it was. Even more so when those unfocused eyes slowly drifted to me.

I was torn away from him by a renewed feeling of heat that touched my skin. What remained of Wolf had turned away from us, facing the new stream of fire pushing into him, and the young girl it poured out from.

"Deep beneath," Maple hissed, dark and low, "the meadow grove."

Kat stood nearby, and she seemed rooted to the spot. There was emotion in her face again as she stared at Mutt. Paleness in her skin, eyes wide open. My rapid breathing fought with the never ending coughing as her eyes slowly shifted to me. I followed the tears as they streamed out of her one, green eye.

Our moment was blown away when Wolf suddenly lurched forward. Moving through the plume of fire like it wasn't there. Kat reacted instantly, wrapping herself around the burning girl moments before the black skeleton lashed out. The familiar and her Master were knocked into the air and sent crashing through burnt out trees. I did not see where they landed.

But the fire died away. All of it, like it had never been there in the first place. The only thing left behind was its devastation. Black and leafless trees, ground barren of grass, and some monstrosity that stood in the middle of it all. Flesh and fur eaten away. Bones blackened with muscle and guts dangling and hanging through the exposed spaces.

"Foxy?" a voice called out. A voice so weak and pitiable that I almost answered it.

Instead, I crawled until I was laying on top of Mutt. Using my body to protect what I could of the smaller boy.

"Are you still alive?" the voice asked as Wolf's remains hobbled around the clearing. "Did I save you?"

The hollow skull of the creature passed over me as it searched and I got a clear view of its emptied out eye sockets. Whatever this thing was, it could no longer see, hear, or think. There was nothing left of it, but still it moved. It looked for me.

I said nothing. I hovered over Mutt and waited for whatever this thing was to finally die.

"Please, answer me." The bone and muscle seemed to collapse, unable to move any further as more and more fell away. "I need to know that you are okay."

I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. If I had the chance, I would have finished him off myself.

"Please..."

My body tensed. It was Wolf's voice, but strangled. Hurting. Crying.

"I don't want to be alone anymore."

I jumped off Mutt and fell backwards. I tried to scramble away, but couldn't get far with my burning foot and ravaged back. Not that I would get far regardless. Not when up against something like this.

Wolf was standing back up. Back on muscle regrowing around the black bones. Muscle that was being hidden away by layers of fresh, pink skin. Something was being born before my very eyes and all I could think was to run. Right up until I knew it was futile. Until I knew this new thing was to be my end.

No hair grew to cover the skin and I was left staring at something entirely alien. A gangly creation with smooth, pink flesh, black claws, and blank white orbs for eyes. It stood there for a moment, seemingly basking in what it had become, before it looked up.

"I hear you."

I moved before it could. I stumbled over my smoldering foot and fell back on top of Mutt. He barely fidgeted, and I held him as close as I could, hoping beyond all hope the monster would kill me instead of him.

But it never came. Not for me and not for Mutt.

"This is her, isn't it?"

I knew what was happening without having to see, but I pushed myself off of Mutt and looked up regardless. I forced myself to face the truth. What was left of Wolf had his arms around Lady Louise. A claw around her head.

Of course, Lady Louise had to choose this time to wake up. Or, maybe, she had been awake for awhile. She certainly acted like she had been caught up to what was going on for awhile now as she calmly looked between me and the thing that held her life, quite literally, in its claws.

"Put her down." I stood up, using the tips of my toes for the burnt foot, in order to properly face my end. "If you don't, I swear I will kill you."

Besides the general shape, there was nothing left that reminded me of Wolf's face. No thick mess of black hair. No dark and intense eyes. Even the old wounds and scars were gone, replaced by the flawless, discomforting peach skin.

Only his voice remained the same.

"There is still so much I have to learn. So much you need to teach me."

I started walking towards Wolf. Limping when I had to, enduring the pain when I could.

"Put her down. I won't ask you again."

"I just wanted to thank you, kid. For everything you've done for me." A mouth opened where I didn't see a mouth. Wolf still had teeth. Horrible, black teeth. Teeth I had seen before.

I started running. As fast as my injuries would take me. Faster. If I was going to die, there wasn't any time to worry about being hurt. It all fell away when I saw Wolf's teeth start to close around Lady Louise's neck.

And the witch. The mother. My friend. She looked right at me. She smiled.

"It is going to be okay," she told me.

Then she closed her eyes, dug her fingers into Wolf's pink arm, and shouted.

"CHANGE!"

I jumped just as she cried. I opened my mouth, aiming for the thick neck as I felt my body shrink. I knew it wouldn't be enough. I knew it was futile. But if I was going to die, I would do it as a familiar.

I sunk my renewed, sharpened teeth into skin. I closed my eyes and waited for my end.

I nearly choked on the rush of blood as it poured down my throat. Hands gripped my body, but they weren't claws. They lacked the strength to tear me off.

When I opened my eyes, I thought I had made a terrible mistake. I was biting into the neck of a man. An old man. He was pulling at my body, trying to yank me off, but I saw Lady Louise lying at his feet and I knew the truth. I bit down as hard as I could, until I could hear the gurgles. Until I could see the blood pour out his mouth.

The old man fell onto his back, but I didn't let go until I felt his hands fall away from me. Even then, I remained standing on his chest, ready to finish him if he tried anything.

He didn't. The old man just laid there, staring up into the blue sky. I growled when one of his hands started to rise, but stopped when it fell limply on the top of my head. I froze when this old man's dark and intense eyes fell on me.

He had tan skin, with wrinkles like deep crevices carved into his face. Salt and pepper hair splayed out in long strands around him. He was ancient. At least a hundred years old, if not older. He had to be.

The only thing that made me second guess that were his eyes. They held the youth the rest of his appearance let go of a long time ago. I could see just how strong he was by how he never looked away. Yet, the regret spelled out easily in the tears that trailed out and followed the many branching paths in his cheeks. 

"Hey," this old man said, and a cough released a splash of blood that decorated his chin. "What...do I...look like?"

He smiled, and I could see where he got all the wrinkles. This was a man who used to smile a lot.

But I couldn't answer him, even if I wanted to. And I didn't know what to feel. As I watched the last of his youth drain away from his eyes, I didn't know what to think. When he finally stopped breathing, it felt like I had stopped, too.

Lady Louise was getting up as I stepped off what remained of Wolf. She told me to change, and I did. She asked me to come with her, but I limped towards Mutt instead.

"Rosetta isn't far," I said, pointing in the direction where I left her. "She was attacked by Wolf, but you might be able to save her if you go now."

"Come with me," Lady Louise said. Not an order. Or, maybe it was, and I didn't have to follow any longer. I didn't want to look and see if she was surprised or not.

"No, I think I'm done." I fell to my knees beside Mutt and placed a hand on his face. He was still breathing, still looking. But it was the same look Wolf had. "Actually, do you think you could save my friend?"

I didn't look back when I heard Lady Louise approach. I didn't breath when she said nothing for a few seconds too long.

"There isn't much I can do," she said slowly, carefully. Watching each and every word she said. "What I can do...it only takes away what was once there. If I focus, I can bend the rules a bit, but I can't give back something that was completely taken away. He's lost blood, Alex. A lot of it—"

"Too much of it," I finished.

"I'm so sorry."

She meant it. I could hear it in her voice. But I didn't want to hear anymore.

Everything honed in on the dying boy. On Mutt. Every detail. I didn't miss when his cloudy, half-closed eyes drifted to something behind me.

"Take..."

"Mutt?!" I fell over him, hands on his shoulders, staring down at his face. But his eyes did not move.

"Is he saying something?" Lady Louise asked.

"Take...away..."

I followed Mutt's eyes and found myself looking at the Lady's concerned expression. When our eyes met, I immediately stared at the ground.

"Alex?"

"He's asking you to take something away," I said.

"But, I..."

Lady Louise fell silent, and I followed her eyes back to Mutt. And then Mutt's to the body of Wolf.

"Like him."

I didn't know what to say. My body felt numb. Useless. I could only look back at Lady Louise. This all powerful witch. The Master I had completely and utterly failed.

She watched me, her face serious, her eyes focused. Like she was the one waiting.

"It's up to you, Alex," she said, as if to confirm my thoughts. "What do you want me to do?"

One of my hands had not left Mutt's shoulder. He was burning hot to the touch, but I never moved it. Could he feel it? Did he even know I was there for him in his last moments?

"Whatever he wants," I said as the tears finally came. I didn't want them, but I didn't fight them, either.

Lady Louise nodded and knelt on the opposite side of Mutt. She placed a hand on his chest and closed her eyes.

Mutt's body tensed almost immediately. My hand unconsciously clenched his shoulder while the other kept me braced against the ground. I was fighting a losing battle as I watched my friend contort beneath me. Most of his muscle shrank as he writhed, his jaw less wide, his lips less full. Mutt became someone else in less than a second. A boy I did not recognize. Everything different.

Everything except the eyes.

They were wide open. Staring out into the woods, but also at something else entirely. Something neither I nor Lady Louise could see. His breathing became less rapid as he choked on the fresh blood that spilled out his mouth.

I lifted the frail boy so he was sitting up, but the blood did not stop, merely draining down his chest and stomach. He had become so pale. I didn't know if that was the Lady or the blood. He remained limp against me as I held him--as I shook him.

"Mutt, hey! Stay with me!" I stopped shaking him when he closed his eyes and just held him close. I couldn't hear or feel him breathing. Just the burning hot skin. "Please. Don't leave me."

"Thank you, Foxy."

His head fell away from mine and dangled off my arm. I tried to lift it back up, but it was just dead weight.

Just dead.

Dead.

Dead.

I laid the boy back on the ground as one, single, ragged breath escaped my body. It took with it all my tears. All feeling. Each breath that came after it was automatic. Something I couldn't feel. Something I couldn't control.

"Alex," Lady Louise said. She sounded just as lost.

"Rosetta is still out there," I said without looking away from my friend. "She still needs you."

Lady Louise was silent for only a few seconds. "I'm coming back for you."

I listened to the soft cracking of dead grass as the Lady ran across them. When those fell silent, I was left alone for just another minute or so. In that time, I continued to not think or feel anything as I knelt beside Mutt. I kept a hand on his burning hot forehead and waited.

Somehow, I knew what was coming next.

Footsteps. A pair of them.

"All of that, just to kill him here?"

Maple and Kat. Both a tattered mess. Maple bleeding from her forehead, Kat with a limp, possibly dislocated arm. They stood in the clearing a short distance away. Maple with a twisted smile, Kat with a knife in her good hand.

"Not that I'm going to try and pretend to understand your thoughts or motivations. Or care, really. I've made too many mistakes already."

"Maple," Kat said. Her voice came out slow, like she was in pain. Or she was fighting to get the words out. "He didn't—"

"Shut-up," Maple growled, immediately losing her smile. After Kat was sufficiently silenced, it didn't come back when she turned to me. "I gave you a chance to run, didn't I? I told you what would happen if you came back."

Some old, familiar things clawed at my brain and at my heart. Fighting to breath life into the organs again. But I stared back down at Mutt and nothing fought anymore.

"If you are going to kill me, then do it yourself."

A moment's pause, and then a short, bark of a laugh. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? Feeling justified in your hatred of me. Thinking that I'm the one that's done you wrong. No. I won't let you have that. You killed Meadow. You made Gust go back to that cabin. You took away what family I had left. You may not remember, but, in your final moments, I'll make you see that this is deserved."

"Ma...ple..." Kat groaned.

I looked up to see Maple pointing at me. No smile. No dancing, burning insanity. Not even rage.

Just the black, empty void.

"Kill him."

There were renewed tears in Kat's eyes as she walked over to me. Biting her lip, choking on shallow breath. It was a Kat I had never seen before. Broken. Defeated. Looking down at me so helplessly as she raised the knife over her head.

"Foxy, please," she said when she stood in front of me, with only Mutt's body in between us.

"It's okay, Kat," I said, and smiled so she could see that I meant it. "I'm ready."

Kat's one, good eye widened. I took in all that I could of her beautiful face before closing my eyes and lowering my head. Maybe that would make it easier for her. Maybe she could pretend it was someone el—

There was a scream. Not my scream. Not Kat's. I opened my eyes and saw Maple, bug-eyed with a hand over her mouth. And then I saw Kat, hunched over with a knife in her stomach.

"Why?!" Maple shouted. "Why would you do that?!"

I was on my feet and jumping, managing to catch Kat in my arms just before she fell over. She was breathing really heavy then. The knife was in all the way to the hilt. Deep inside her guts, blood already oozing from around the wound.

"Get your hands off of her, fo—"

"You get any closer and I'll kill you, Maple." I pressed my hands around the injury, trying to stop what blood I could. As I did, I glared up at the girl while she stared at me in wonder. "I don't want to, but I will if you make me. If you so much as say another word to Kat, I'll tear you apart."

"Wh..." Maple shook her head, as if to clear away her bewilderment. "What do you care? She doesn't care about you! She doesn't care about anything! She..."

Maple lost her voice when her eyes fell to the familiar in my arms. Kat was looking right at her, smiling and crying.

"I'm sorry, Maple," she said, letting blood drain from the corners of her mouth. "I tried to help you, but I failed. I failed you. It should never have been me. It should have never happened this way. I'm sorry."

Kat seemed to have wanted to say more, but her words were lost in coughs and groans. I focused my attention on trying to stop the bleeding. On saying words I thought were encouraging and comforting. I didn't want to think of them as empty lies. 

"Hey, you have to pull the knife out first," Kat said. She was wincing, but still able to smile up at me. "You're just sort of making it worse right now."

"Shit, sorry!" I threw my hands up. Kat brought hers to the hilt of the knife, but stopped when mine fell over them. "You sure? Wont this make it worse?"

"Just need to wrap something around the wound to stop the bleeding. My body will take care of the rest."

"Great, but wrap it up with what?"

Kat glanced down at the lower end of my body. "One of us is still wearing clothes, right?"

Once the knife was out, I made quick work of tearing off Kat's ruined slacks and tying them around her stomach. There was a lot of groaning and muffled screams, but she was still breathing. Alive. And continued to be so once the task was done.

As soon as the moment passed, and Kat was catching her breath on the ground while I knelt there, my hands coated in her blood, I was reminded of someone who should have been saying or shouting a lot of things during all of this.

"She ran off awhile ago," Kat said, as though answering my thoughts. "No, I didn't see where and, no, she isn't trying to talk to me right now. She still doesn't know how to talk like that."

Well, most of them.

"Why did you do that?" I asked her, looking down at the improvised bandage already drenched in her blood. "You could have..."

I didn't want to finish. Not with Mutt lying right next to us.

"Better than the alternative." Kat lost any trace of a smile. "Why were you going to let that happen?"

I looked away from her. "Better than the alternative."

We were both silent then. Silent for a few minutes, trying to let our bodies catch up with everything, when there was a knock on a door.

Kat sighed. "Guess it's not over yet."

Son, Stallion, Mr. Copper, Mary, and a woman with dark skin and a stern face that I didn't recognize all stepped out from a black door carved into one of the burnt out trees that surrounded us. All of them but Stallion had guns at the ready, while Stallion himself had a concerned expression that washed away to horror when his eyes fell on us.

"Guys?" he said, then his eyes drifted to Mutt and the horror fell away to something altogether different. "Mutt?"

"Foxy, Kat? What's going on here? Where are your Masters?" Mr. Copper asked, his eyes trained on the woods around us as he made his way slowly in our direction. Mary was quiet, but only had eyes for me.

"Lady Louise went after her daughter," she said, pointing with her gun the exact direction I had shown the Lady to go. "They are both injured. Shouldn't be far."

            "I'm going after them. Giles, stay here with the familiars," the stern woman said before taking off into the woods. She did not spare Kat or I a single glance.

            "What about Kat's Master?" Mr. Copper asked his familiar as they both stepped closer.

            Kat and Mary locked gazes. "She ran off, too. Doesn't look like she knows where."

            "What happened here?" The Stalwart was now directing his questions at us again as his eyes went from me, to Kat, to Mutt. "You may as well tell me the truth now..."

            He trailed off when his single eye fell on Mutt and stayed there. His pale skin grew even paler and I could see the sweat shine on his forehead when he turned back to me. "You—"

            "It wasn't Foxy," Kat answered, and I flinched when I felt her hand on my arm. She was looking at the other body lying in the clearing. "It was whoever that was."

            Son was standing over the body of the old man, using the toe of her boot to nudge his head around while she kept her gun trained on his face.

            "Son?" Mr. Copper called, a noticeable crack in his voice.

            "Dunno," Son said with a shrug as she stepped away from him. "But whoever he was, he's dead now."

            "He was a familiar," I answered, ready to meet the Stalwart's searching eye when it fell back on me. "A wolf."

            Something like recognition shone in that single orb, but before Mr. Copper could say anything back Son's shout interrupted us. "Hey, Stallion! Where you going in such a hurry?"

  Stallion was going in a direct path to Mutt. Hands at his side and his eyes seeing nothing and no one else. Not until Mary holstered her gun and walked up beside him, placing a halting hand on his arm. "Maybe this isn't the best time—"

            Mr. Copper had his gun pointed and ready when Stallion turned and put his hands on Mary. But the familiar didn't do anything further. Just stared down at the girl almost half his size until she released him. Without a word, he walked the rest of the way to Mutt.

            "Son!" Mr. Copper shouted, his gun still trained on Stallion. "Call him off!"

            But Son didn't call him off. She didn't say a word.  Like the rest of us, she watched Stallion fall to his knees and cradle the small boy in his arms. Watched as he slowly pulled the body against his chest and held it there. It was only when the nearly grown man started to weep that she said anything.

            "You said they wouldn't remember each other."

            Mr. Copper tensed as he knew it was directed at him. Almost reluctantly, he turned away from the scene to face her. "I did."

            "Then what the hell is that?" Son asked, pointing a finger at her familiar. "Cause to me it looks like an awful lot of remembering is going on right now."

            Mr. Copper opened his mouth, and then closed it. He looked from Stallion and Mutt, to his own familiar, who just watched him without an expression on her face. When his searching eye finally fell on me, I found that I had no words to offer him. Nothing to say that he couldn't see for himself.

            "Something isn't adding up," he said, softly, as if to himself.

            "I'll say." Son walked over to him while touching a necklace she was wearing. In a flash, the Stalwart and his familiar had their guns trained on the woman whose hand was beginning to turn to metal. "You promised me a capable and unfeeling monster who would do anything I commanded, and what do I get? Some kid who doesn't have the stomach for violence. Some headache with a heart and conscience who continually got in the way of my business. And now this? You and your people have a lot to answer for, Giles." 

            "I don't mean to add more to yall's plate, but there's somethin' else that needs your attention."     

            Mr. Copper talked on like he hadn't heard the new voice, using his go to "I assure you's" and "we will sort this out's", but his familiar's head snapped to the far side of the clearing. There, a lone German Shepherd was limping towards our small group. Burnt and beaten, but very much alive.

            "Master," Mary said. She waited for Mr. Copper to turn her way before nudging with her chin in Shepherd's direction. "Madame Terrebonne's other familiar."

            "Shepherd? Where is your Master?" the Stalwart called, keeping his gun lowered, but ready.

            The dog with the missing ear stopped a few meters away. He surveyed the scene. I couldn't meet his eyes when they trailed over me. I couldn't even look at him when he stopped on Stallion, who was still cradling Mutt. It was quiet for a few moments too long.

            "Mouse, tell your Master that Madame Terrebonne's Knowledge has been reawakened. There hasn't been an incident yet, but I will need his help to keep it from becoming one."

            Mary's eyes widened, but that was the extension of the emotion she chose to convey. She laid out Shepherd's message for Mr. Copper almost word for word in monotone. Her Master, meanwhile, seemed to be feeling for the both of them the way he cursed under his breath as his paleness and sweating intensified.

            "Mouse, I need you to stay here and watch them," Mr. Copper said as he ran a hand through his hair.

            Mouse only offered him back a nod, which gave her Master pause. The two watched each other for a moment, and the latter looked to say something before a loud clearing of the throat grabbed his attention.

            "Sonsetta, if you help me here, I give you my word that I will get answers from the Overseer himself. Please, just help Mouse watch them while I am gone."

            Son kept her metal arms folded. When she rapped her fingers, it sounded like clinking of glass. "Why? You don't trust your pet to stay in line either?"

            "No, I do," Mr. Copper said without breaking a sweat. I tensed when his sole eye found its way back to me. "It's the others that have me on edge."

            Son glared between him and I for a moment more before sighing. "Sure, fine, whatever. But I wanna be there when you grill him."

            Mr. Copper nodded once before walking towards Shepherd, gun still at the ready. "Lead on."

            Shepherd's eyes trailed over all of us one more time. I didn't look up from the soaked bandage on Kat's stomach. I closed my eyes when I felt his hover over me longer than the others.

            "See you around, fox."

            I looked up in time to see the dog and the man run off into the woods. It had felt like so long since Terrebonne had run off in that same direction, I doubted they would be able to catch her. And even if they did, what could the two of them do against whatever it was the witch had become?

            In the end, it didn't really matter. It wasn't my problem anymore. None of this was.

            "You sure about that?" Mary asked. She was looking at me. Right at me. Kat's hand tightened on my arm as my body tensed again.

            "Hey, you getting uppity now too—?" Son cut herself off when Mouse raised her gun in the witch's direction.

            "Say or do anything else and I'll send metal to your brain faster than you can," Mary hissed.

            Son did not say or do anything else.

            "Just what are you expecting is going to happen?" Mary asked, keeping her eyes on Son, but directing the question back at me. "Wildwood isn't doing the whole 'tolerate free-witches' thing anymore. If Lady Louise or her daughter are still alive, they belong to the Community now. Same for Madame Terrebonne and Kat's Master when we find them. Same for Sonsetta when she stops thinking she has us by the tail and realizes it's the other way around."

            Son opened her mouth, looked at the gun, and closed it again. Mary still wasn't done.

            "And when that happens, you all will be their property again, too. But, whoops, between Kat and Stallion's rebellious displays and you, Alex, going completely off the rails, they are going to see that you all are more trouble than you are worth. They'll replace you, or, more likely, just forgo the whole familiar thing all together and let it waste away as a regrettable mistake."

            Kat was leering at her. The more Mary talked, the more lines I saw. The more it was building up. Before she could open her mouth and say something she might regret, I opened mine and said it first.

            "Stop dancing around and just say it, Mary." I looked away from Kat who was glaring at me only to have to look away from Stallion who was not watching any of us. "This isn't the time for one of your displays."

            "'Displays'?" Mary's white-hot eyes danced between Son and I for a moment. "I'm trying to give you the big picture, asshole. Before you make the wrong choice like you always do."

            "What's the right choice, then?"

            "Run away," Mary said. "Fight me and beat me down to make it look legit and then you guys just go. Run as far and as fast as you can."

            "That's the best choice?" I shot. "Really? Mary, if we run, you're coming with us. I'm never going to—"

            "Big picture, Alex!" Mary's eyes flashed to me and me alone. "If you want to make any life for yourself last for longer than a week, you need someone keeping your pursuers off your trail. Stallion and Kat are already on their shit list, but I tried my damned hardest to be the perfect little servant. That was for you. It was all for you. Everything I've ever done was for you, asshole."

            My mouth moved, but words didn't come at first. Not with my friend glaring at me with such burning, yet moist eyes. Not when her whole small frame trembled. Especially not with Kat, Son, and now Stallion watching me so closely.

            But, eventually, the words did come.

            "Why?" I asked. I kept eye level with her glaring, despite the intense desire to look away. It was the least I could do, after everything. "You said it yourself, I never chose you. I'm not worth all of this."

            "No, you are definitely not." Mary smiled—chuckled. I was, again, lost for words. "But you still don't get it. I chose you. I knew almost right away what ulterior motives you had when you approached me. You weren't very good at hiding your guilt, you know."

            I couldn't hold her eyes any longer. The anger was gone, but I had reached my breaking point. Instead, I found myself looking down at Kat, who was looking back up at me in turn. Quietly, curiously.

            "But it was that same guilt that drew me to you. I saw that there was something good in you, something genuine. So, yes, I could have turned you down and continued to make my own way. Maybe Mallard and the others would have turned to other, less subtle, methods to reign me back, but with you and you alone I had a choice. Maybe it was the wrong one. Actually, I'm pretty sure that it was. But it was mine. After everything that was thrust upon me and after everyone who forced me to do what they wanted, you came along and gave me that choice."

            Mary sucked in a breath. Before I could think of what to do, Kat reached out and pushed my chin upwards, making me see the small girl with a gun in her hand and brown eyes watching me ever so seriously.

            "So, now, I'm returning the favor. After this, consider us square, asshole."

            Mary smiled, and I started to chuckle. Started to, until I glanced back down and saw Kat's still bleeding stomach. Until I looked around and saw Wolf's dead body, Stallion's serious expression, and the small boy he still held in his arms.

            "I'm not going to fight you or try to beat you down, Mary. If that means I can't run away, then I am fine with it."

            Mary's smile fell away. "Fine with it? There's a very good chance that they will kill you, Alex!"

            Mutt, Wolf, maybe Rosetta.

            Hornroot, Meadow, Dr. Quincy.

            I had enough blood on my hands.

            "I'm fine with it."

            Mary stared, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, at me until looking between Kat and Stallion. "What about them? There's still a good chance Wildwood would try to get rid of them, too."

            "I'm fine with it," Kat said, giving me a glance and a sad smile. Stallion said nothing.

            Mary's eyes flashed between all of us. She was biting her lip and seemed to be wracking her brains for anything that could be said.

            "It just has to be one punch," she blurted out. "I think just one punch would do it."

            "Then allow me."

            Mary was knocked off her feet after a metallic fist came crashing into the side of her head. I was up on aching feet before she hit the ground, but, surprisingly, Kat was up faster. She was using one hand to clutch her stomach, but the other held her knife at the ready.

            "Damn, still hurts like a bitch," Son grumbled, shaking out the metal appendage and making a low ringing sound that bounced around in my head. When she turned to us, she quickly had her hands in the air. "Whoa, hey, no need to make this serious."

            "Did you kill her?" I asked, hands ready to tear into what flesh I could find.

            "No." Son glanced once at Mary, who did not move. "Shouldn't have, anyways. I've knocked around your friend there a good bit before and she turned out just fine.

            Kat nodded to confirm this. "Unless she knocked Mary's head off, she'll live."

            "Okay, then, why'd you do that?" I kept my body tense. Ready. "Whose side are you on?"

            Son held out a finger. "One moment," she said before looking Stallion's way. "Yo, big guy. You've been quiet."

            Stallion blinked. He blinked quite a few times as he looked around, almost as though he had forgotten where he was. His arms and hands hadn't slackened at all.

            "That your friend you're holding?" Son asked.

            Stallion looked at her, then down at Mutt. A shaky sigh escaped him as he nodded.

            "And the other three, they your friends too?"

            Her familiar took longer to answer as his eyes drifted over Mary, Kat, and finally falling to rest on me. The dark eyes he had now were so vastly different than the ones he had as a horse. I could see everything in them.

            "Yeah," he answered. His voice was rough and dry. Like he had forgotten how to use it.

            "Then I'll leave it up to you," Son said, folding her arms and appearing ready to wait it out. "I'd say take your time, but I don't know how much longer my boys can keep Stalwart and the Wall busy." Stallion's eyes widened a fraction, to which his Master shrugged. "I'm not as stupid as the little mouse wants me to be. I knew war was coming, sooner or later."

The big teen swallowed before looking back at us. He seemed to struggle with what he wanted to say. From what his Master was saying, time was of the essence, but nothing in the world would make me rush him now.

            "You guys running?" he finally asked.

            Kat immediately looked to me. I wished she wouldn't. She knew just as well as I what the best choice was now.

            "Might as well not let what happened to Mary go to waste," I said, before glaring Son's way. "But if I hear you laid a hand on her again, I'll come back."

            "Threat noted," Son replied, then continued when I took a step towards her. "It all points to us being on the same side. As long as it stays that way, there wont be any problems."

            "Then, yes, Stallion, I'm leaving. Don't know where. Don't know how. But I am."

            "I'm with you," Kat assured, a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Always."

            "Ooh, I don't know, big guy. Looks like if you went you might just be the awkward third wheel."

             Son deftly ignored the theoretical daggers Kat sent her way while I focused my attention on Stallion. "I want you to come with us, Stallion. We want you to."

            "And don't think that if you decide to stay that you can just keep clinging on me," Son called. "I don't need your nancy self getting in my way anymore."

            "Enough," Kat said, low and sinister. The witch held up her hands in defeat.

            "We should stick together," I said, then tried to swallow the sudden lump in my throat. "That's all I was trying to do. I thought we'd be happier if it was just all of us, together."

            "It can't be that way anymore," Stallion said.

            I looked at the burnt grass at my burnt feet. "I know."

            "Did you kill him?"

            I closed my eyes.

            "Stallion—" Kat started.

            "Did you kill him?" Stallion pressed, his eyes boring into the top of my head.

            "He was trying to show me how to be a good familiar," I said, refusing to meet those eyes. "When he thought he failed at that, he said he'd join me. Neither of us saw it in time. If I did, I would have—"

            "Damnit, Foxy, quit screwing with me and just tell me—"

            "It wasn't him, Stallion," Kat spat. I opened my eyes to see her pointing at the dead body of the old man. "It was him, when he was a monster. He killed Mutt and Foxy killed him. It's over, Georgie. There's no one left to blame."

            Stallion seemed momentarily stunned by Kat's choice of name, but quickly got over it to level me with a threatening glare. "There's more to it then that. There's always more to it. And you are going to tell me all of it somewhere down the line. But sooner rather than latter."

            "Oh, so you're going with them after all?" Son asked.

            "On two conditions," her familiar said back. "You change me back to a horse," he kept his eyes moving slowly between Kat and I, as if daring us to say anything, "and we take Mutt with us."

            There was, of course, a million things I wanted to say or ask, but that look told me to keep quiet. Neither Kat nor I were going to go against him. Not after everything he was sacrificing to stay with us.

            Thankfully, Son was under no such obligation.

            "A horse, huh? Didn't know you liked the 'benefits' that much."

            "I don't!" Stallion snapped, his voice a slightly higher pitch. He quickly shook his head and the deadly serious look took back over. "It's just the smart thing to do. Since none of us know how to drive cars, it's the fastest way to move around. It's as simple as that."

            "It's never as simple as that." Son sighed and shook her head, a hopeless smile on her face. "But have it your way, big guy. Change."

...

            Stallion's choice did turn out to be a smart one. The burnt out clearing was left far behind. There was no sign of witches, or dogs, or wolves. But the dark horse said not a word as we moved through dense woods and over sprawling mountains.

The half-burned girl slept with her arms wrapped around my waist and head resting on my back. I was closer to her than I could have ever dreamed to be, but our shared failures still lurked somewhere out in the shadows. Waiting to tear apart what we had just started to build.

And not a sound came from the dead boy in my arms. His body was growing colder and colder as time passed, and I wanted to suggest burying him, but the words wouldn't come out.

For I was quiet, too. Nothing but the mechanical in and out of my breathing. I knew talking would come again. And from that talking I would feel angry again, and hurt, and lost. But, for now, I enjoyed the silence for as long as I could. I let it wash over me and inside me.

            And, from that silence, I came to a realization.

            About the shadows of my failures that lurked everywhere. About the people who supported me and then were abandoned by me. About witches, familiars, Knowledge, and everything that came with it.

            I was done.

            If we kept running. If we never stopped. If we never let them catch up to us, it would be over. We wouldn't have to be a part of their world any longer. We could make one for ourselves.

            So, I didn't say anything. No one said a word. We kept moving through the woods and the silence until we believed everything and everyone still attached to us was far behind. Until we wrongly believed that our troubles were over.

            I held Mutt close to me and tried to give him what warmth I had in my body. What warmth Kat and Stallion provided to me. But no matter how hard I squeezed, he remained as cold as ice. As cold as the ponds that dotted the apple tree forest. As cold as the chains that wrapped around my neck. As cold as I felt when his life drained away in my arms.

            I held Mutt close to me as the first noise besides breathing escaped me. Stallion and Kat kept quiet as I wept. They knew how I felt.

            Witches. Familiars. Knowledge.

            I've had enough.

...

*Author's Note*

Bravo, my dear reader. You've done it. You made it through Alex Foxy's latest harrowing journey. The dangers were worse, the losses more in number, but you made it.

Could things get worse for our remaining familiars, or have they finally earned themselves a break? The journey may be over in this story, but there is still so much left to tell.

Be sure to be around next Friday. And thank you all from the bottom of my cold heart for sticking it through till the end. You all are a great part in what keeps this story from having a truly sad end, and that is no end at all!

Until next time, my foxy ones.