"We've danced around the subject for too long," Mr. York said. "We ignored it, made excuses for it, and now it's blown up in our face. The familiars need to go."

            "This is bigger than just the familiars, Ivor," Mr. Copper argued, one elbow on the table, and appearing angrier than I had yet to see him. "This stems from an age old conflict between Lady Loretta and Madame Terrebonne and we've done nothing but fuel that fire. Punishing the familiars will not get us to the root of the problem."        

"And what will, Mr. Copper?" Ms. Abigail asked. "We eliminate our two greatest financial contributions? You believe our situation is dire now. Our Community is already struggling under Whispermist's heavy gaze. Without them, we are all but lost."

"Not 'eliminate'," Mr. Copper stressed, but already appearing to lose his edge as he sank back into his chair. "Subdue."

"And how—"

"You're intentions are sensible," Mr. Crooster cut in before Ms. Abigail could interrogate any further, "but, as they are now, we would be unable to bring them into our fold without some casualties on both sides. While I agree we have allowed them too much freedom, we cannot have any more Knower casualties. We are few in number as it is."

"But eliminating the familiars is fine?"

"Madame Terrebonne is demanding blood," Mr. York said. "It is believed that both of her familiars are dead at the hands of Lady Louise and her familiars."

  "The details don't line up," Mr. Copper insisted. "Son reported that Lady Louise was in her city at the time of the attack. Though her currently being on the run does not dismiss her involvement, we cannot jump to conclusions here—"

"What about that bitch with the fire?!" Ms. Esser exclaimed, slamming her small hands down on the table. "She burned down Terrebonne's mansion less than a week after...after Jamie's school got burnt down. That isn't a coincidence. That crazy bitch is targeting us, trying to get back her stupid siblings! Who cares about those dumb free witches and their even dumber familiars? They'll take each other out. She—Maple should be our priority."

"Maple agreed to a truce with Wildwood by accepting her familiar," Abigail said. "As you said, we have her siblings. She knows what's at stake if she try and betray us."

"Bullshit. You can't expect something like her to think clearly. She is going to literally burn this whole shit storm to the ground if we don't do something about her!"

"She is on Mr. Copper's list," Mr. Crooster chimed in. "But we have many problems and we must prioritize them by most volatile. I believe Madame Terrebonne's concerns fall under that category."

No one said anything to that right away. On some level, they probably all agreed.

"This is what I propose," Mr. Crooster continued, "Mr. Copper and his familiar continue to pursue Lady Louise, which would both address Madame Terrebonne's concerns and hopefully address a few others once she is apprehended. Meanwhile—"

"Forgive me for my interruption, but there is something I must share before this goes any further."

It was my first time to smile in quite a long while. The room practically chilled at her words. Every person of power stiffened and turned their collective eyes to the small girl who stood to the left of Mr. Copper.

"Mouse...?" her Master said. More of an unbelieving mutter than a question.

"I was there, when Maple assaulted Madame Terrebonne's home. She was far from alone. August, Rosetta, and Rosetta's familiar were there too."

Mr. Copper's one good eye widened beyond imagining. I was really enjoying his new expression. "How—"

"Son of a bitch!" Ms. Esser exclaimed. "That little—!"

"Enough," Mr. Crooster commanded in a voice that sent a chill down my spine. I really liked when he used that voice. His not-pretending-to-be-a-child-any-longer voice. His dark eyes remained locked on the familiar. "Continue."

"Rosetta and her familiar, as well as August, helped Maple reach the mansion. Once she began laying siege, August took Rosetta and appeared to flee into his storm. I did not see where he ran off to."

The little mouse paused, but no one dared to speak up. Not when Death was hanging on to every word.

"And Alex Foxy?" He asked, voicing what everyone else was thinking. "What of him?"

"He beat Madame Terrebonne's newest familiar to near death and then...ran off with him."

"You say this now?!" Mr. York practically roared.

"I was commanded to keep silent while the Knowers were deliberating," the familiar said while shooting Mr. York a hard glare. Her Master could only continue to stare in disbelief.

My grin widened. I liked this one. She was feisty.

"And yet you speak," Mr. Crooster observed.

"I resisted the command."

"You resisted?" Ms. Abigail repeated, astonishment in her own words. I liked that. Usually she sounded so sure of everything.

"It was important," the familiar insisted, turning her attention back to Mr. Crooster. "We have a bead on everyone else; their motivations, their desires, and a general idea of where they are or are trying to go. Rosetta's familiar is the only unknown. He abandoned his Master and ran off with an enemy. If you would have my Master and I—"

"I believe that is enough," Mr. Crooster said, holding up a silencing hand. "The new information is graciously received, but you and Mr. Copper have a job already. Besides, what you just described sounds to me like a familiar gone rouge. We have something for that already."

Oh, I could not stop from smiling big then. It was okay. Even if every person in the room turned their attention to me, they wouldn't see it. Not many did. Ms. Esser, Mr. Crooster, and the familiar. Everyone else, I'm sure, preferred to keep pretending I wasn't there.

"My dear Hunter, I believe we have a new job for you. I would like the boy alive, if possible."

"Overseer," the familiar began, "please—"

"Mouse!" Mr. Copper said in a high pitched voice, his face a few shades paler. "Stop this! What has gotten into you?"

"Perhaps it is time for another session with Mr. York?" Mr. Crooster suggested. But not really a suggestion, not in the way he looked at the Master and his familiar.

And Mr. York and Mr. Copper stood up at once at their Overseer's words. The familiar appeared ready to say something, but bit her lip and hung her head instead. A bit disappointing. I was hoping for more.

"Come, then," Mr. York said in his rough and commanding way.

Mr. Copper made to leave the room, not looking at or speaking to his familiar again. His little Mouse walked with shoulders squared and head still facing the floor. They both had to walk behind me to follow Mr. York out the door. I could practically feel the tension in the Stalwart's body as he slipped by.

Not his familiar.

She slowed her walk, just a fraction, just as she was moving past me. In a voice low enough so only I could hear, she whispered, "Please, make his death painless."

Then she, Mr. Copper, and Mr. York had left the room. And, oh, how I wanted to laugh. But my body wouldn't let me, the lungs, the throat unused to the sensation. They seized up and all I could manage was a few light coughs. And, of course, the coughing only brought up memories that weren't worth laughing about.

But, no, no, push those aside. Remember the girl. The familiar. Oh, she will be fun. When the time came to hunt her, she would be the most fun of them all.

"I believe this decides it then," Mr. Crooster continued once they had left. "Once the Stalwart's familiar is back in working order, he shall continue his search of Lady Louise. Meanwhile, our Hunter will pursue the fox and the dog."

Ms. Esser didn't take her eyes off me. Ms. Abigail looked at anything but me and cleared her throat once. "Are we going to continue leaving Jonathan in the dark?" she asked as her eyes fell to rest on one of the torches of blue fire.

"The current situation would make things far too personal for him," Mr. Crooster answered without missing a beat. "If we continue to allow personal feelings and emotions cloud our judgement, we will simply end up where this all began."

Ms. Abigail nodded. "If that is all then, I have the children to attend to."

"Yes, that is all. Thank you for your time."

Mr. Crooster turned his attention to me as Ms. Abigail left the room. "You have your mission, Hunter. I urge you to complete it as soon as possible, unless there is something you'd like to say?"

The corners of his thin, pale mouth turned upwards, slightly. Funny. I stood up from my chair and left.

I walked the dimly lit halls and tunnels for a time, nearing the exit, when Ms. Esser caught up to me.

"Let me come with you."

She was panting, her face flush and red. Had she ran to come find me in time? I had never seen her like this before. So desperate. It made me cough.

"If what the familiar brat said is true, that fox is working with the fire bitch. We find him, we find her, we avenge Jamie."

Is that truly all you seek? I wanted to ask her. But, really, I didn't need to. I had seen her eyes, the way she watched me. Envied me. She wanted to see how I operated, search for weaknesses.

I shook my head.

"What?" Ms. Esser said, her fists clenching. "You won't let me come with you? You're denying me?"

I nodded. Sorry, but I liked where my life was right now. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than being dead.

"You're going to regret that," she hissed. Strangely, it didn't sound like a threat. "You think you are all powerful, that you don't need anyone. You think you got where you are just because of you? J—Jamie pushed people away, pushed me away, and look where it got her. If you don't take me with you, you'll end up just like her."

A disconcerting thought, but also a nice try. Pretty words didn't cover your true desires. Didn't hide away the dark storm of insanity building in your eyes. If I was to ever have an ally, it would not be this girl.

So, I waved off Ms. Esser and she cursed me. "You're going to regret this," she yelled after me as I left. "I promise you that!"

Maybe it was a threat. I smiled at the thought. I had yet to have the chance to hunt another witch.

...

How long had I been running? It was hard to tell. Everything was dark clouds, tall trees, and the forever falling of the rain, rain, rain.

I only stopped to rest my arms, but even then it was maybe for only a minute or two. Mutt never moved and never spoke. He was breathing, if only barely, and that was enough to keep me from leaving him. But damnit he was heavy. For someone so small, someone missing half his leg, it felt like I was carrying the weight of the world in my burning arms.

For a time, I wasn't even sure who I was running from. Was Maple really giving me a chance to escape, or just giving me a head start before she sent Kat after us? Maybe Madame Terrebonne was after me. I never saw her at the mansion, maybe she was never there.

But she left Mutt there. Left him there to die. Did she really think he could stand up to us all on his own? Had she even been thinking? I still knew next to nothing about why she and Lady Louise were going after each other so recklessly, but it almost got their familiars killed.

No, that was you, Alex.

My hands were getting better, but they still ached as they clutched Mutt. Mutt's face was getting better, but the nose was still in a funny shape, the eyes were still swollen, the cheeks still dis-colored.

You almost killed him, Foxy.

Where was I even going? Who was I running from? The more I ran, the muddier everything became.

This was just like the last time. Only, if Kat found me again, she'd try to kill me, not convince me to stay.

I still had no idea how long I had been running when my leg caught something. It was thin, like a thread, and I felt it snap just moments before a great weight came crashing down against my side.

My shoulder dislocated, I screamed, and Mutt fell from my hands in the same instant before we crashed into the ground. More screams threatened to escaped, but I held them back with a groan as I felt my shoulder. It was only a minor dislocation. It hurt like crap, but I had dealt with more than a few training with Fawn.

Holding in my breathing, I gripped the injury and thrusted it back in place with a burst of strength. A low wine escaped my mouth as a white flash filled my vision. Pain was still there, but lessened, manageable.

I quickly scanned for the source of the attack as I scooped Mutt back up in one arm. It was a log. A damn log tied to a rope, still swinging in place from where it had made contact with me.

"The hell...?" I said between gasps of breath.

With Mutt secured in my arms, I was off running again. But it was less of a run, and more of a limping jog. The log did more than just dislocate my shoulder. I could feel new injuries in my side and leg, which only reminded me of how winded I already was.

And that was before I ran into the second thread.

It snapped, and I fell forwards, tucking my friend in against me. A splintering of wood exploded from right above my head, littering my back with bark and chips of spiky debris. I had seen it a fraction before it happened, two logs had collided, and I had almost been in the middle.

"Shit...shit..."

I was on the ground again, and my injuries flared to life. My body didn't want me to get up, didn't want to keep going. My arms had become all but muscles on fire. Mutt lay underneath me, unmoving, but still breathing.

This wasn't going to work.

Through all my pain and weakness, that one phrase stuck out. If there were more traps like this, I wasn't going to make it out of here with Mutt. I wasn't going to make it out alive.

This was never going to work.

I bit my tongue as I wrapped my near useless arms back around the small familiar. I couldn't stand with him, but I could drag him. I could crawl on my knees.

What had I been thinking?

There were thick bushes all around us. I managed to drag Mutt to the closest one. Though my arms continued to protest, I pulled away at enough of the thin brambles—ignoring the biting stab of their thorns—until there was enough of a pocket to place him into. I had to curl him up, the brambles squeezed tight against his bare skin, but he fit. He was hidden.

"This was all screwed from the start, huh?"

I wiped at my eyes. Not that it mattered much if I cried. The rain drenched my face, it made everything cry.

"I thought I could do something. I thought I could help you guys, like you all once helped me. Who was I kidding, right? I've never helped anyone before, just made things worse."

"Foxy..."

It was a low noise. I only heard it because I was still so close. Somehow, I managed a smile. "You wake up now? Bad timing, Mutt."

"What...Doing?"

His body still did not move. His face was so swollen and bruised I could not tell if his eyes were open. Maybe he was still unconscious.

"I'm leaving you here," I said. "There's something hunting us and I'm going out to face it. Whenever you can move again, you can keep running or go back to your Master. I don't think it matters much anymore."

"Don't...go."

My words caught in my throat, for a moment. Hadn't someone told me that before? Hadn't I said that once?

"I have to. See, I can't do much on my own. I'm weak, reckless, and headstrong. It was arrogant of me to think I could save you all when I still needed saving, in the end. I put you guys through all this, the least I can do is make sure no one else pays for it but me, right?"

At some point, I had closed my eyes, but I reopened them when I felt a hand on mine. It was dark, rough, and bruised, like mine. But, unlike mine, it could not move enough to grip completely. Just enough to let me know it was there.

"Stay," Mutt said.

"That won't work on me, remember?" I gripped his weakened hand and returned it to his side. "I've never been good at taking orders."

I turned and ran in the opposite direction. Before Mutt could whisper out any words, before I made a liar out of myself.

I wasn't running for long before I found him.

I heard him first. A frantic flapping of wings, high pitched screeching. Even through the thunder and rain, I heard it. I wish I had known how I knew who it was.

"Hornroot!" I shouted in my head. Maybe it didn't work now that I was no longer a fox, but I had to try.

"Foolish boy!" Hornroot's voice immediately returned. "So you are here after all!"

"Where are you?" I asked as I continued to run. "I can hear you, but it'd be faster if—"

"No! Do not follow those sounds! I am not making them, not intentionally."

"What are you..."

But I trailed off as my searching led to a clearing. A small outcropping amidst the trees where a large, tawny owl frantically fought to free itself from some strange net that had fallen around it.

"Hey, hey! I'm here, I've got you!"

"No, boy!" Hornroot shouted as I reached him. My own shout left my mouth when I tried to grab the net. I stepped back with hands coated in blood. The netting was metallic and razor sharp.

I only noticed then the shape the owl was in. Many of its feathers had been torn from its body, the exposed skin cut up and bloody. Despite this, Hornroot continued to flap and panic which allowed the netting to shred across his small frame.

"Stop that!" I shouted. "Relax and we can figure this out!"

"I cannot!" Hornroot returned. "My body is no longer mine to control. You are wasting your time here. Our Lady sent me to retrieve you. You must return to her at once. You—"

"Cut the crap! You want me to leave you here? That isn't—"

"Listen to me," Hornroot said in a trembling voice that made me pause. "You do not realize the danger you are in. Wildwood has sent the Hunter after you. If he catches you, your life is over, as mine is. I allowed you freedom to liberate your friends and protect the life of one miserable girl who needs you. Are you going to throw that all away for this?"

"You are one of those friends I'm trying to liberate." I knelt down and held out a hand that hovered just above the net. "Besides, how am I going to do anything right without old Horny being there to lecture me?"

"You are a fool." In the midst of his flailing, the old owl's yellow eyes somehow found mine. "I am no longer—Get down!"

There was a bang. Hornroot threw his body to one side, catching my extended hand by mistake. I stood up, making to grab at the injury, and was instead flown backwards as something sharp and heavy made contact with my chest.

The wind was knocked out of me but, even as I gasped, it did not come back. The sharp pain was still in my chest, and spreading. I looked down and chocked on my lack of air.

Holes. Five deep holes dotted my chest, blood pouring down from each one. I tried to reach out to touch one, but my arms wouldn't move. Nothing would.

"It wasn't..."

Hornroot's voice. I looked up to see him still struggling. But there was also someone else there, someone dressed in a dark coat, wide rimmed hat, and some sort of mask with large black holes for eyes and no mouth.

"H..."

            I tried to speak, but all that came out was wheezing air. All it did was pull at the dark corners of my eyes. Pull and stretch them out until all I could see was the owl in its net and the dark figure stepping up behind it.

            "Foxy, whatever happens next," the owl stopped struggling when the man in the mask put a leather booted foot down on top of it, pressing Hornroot against the ground, "remember your promise, remember your conviction. You still—"

            Bang. That noise again, coming from the long, metallic object in the masked man's hand. Like a gun, but bigger.

            The darkness was almost all I could see. Among it was a red splattering of blood, a chaotic dance of brown feathers and pieces of pink skin and flesh, and the white mask with it's lack of mouth and the black, black eyes.