As soon as Kat hit the sand, Gust and Lilly were up and running. They slid to their knees beside her fallen body and shook and yelled at her, but the familiar was not stirring.

            Lilly raced to grab handfuls of cold ocean water while Gust shot to his feet. He scanned the border of the forest but all he could see were the dancing grass and the stretching trees. No one could make it through there without drawing attention. The boy turned around until it was only softly churning ocean waves that stretched out before him. No one.

            Gust stared down at Kat in time to see Lilly splashing her face with water. Her remaining brow furrowed and she hissed in pain as the water trickled down the lines of her burned flesh, but she wasn't waking up.

            "Sorry, Elizabeth, I'm sorry!" Lilly exclaimed as she desperately tried to dry Kat's face with her moth-eaten sleeves. "Gust, what do we do? What happened to them?"

            Gust looked frantically between Kat and Stallion. There were no fresh wounds on either of them. No blood. Was this Wildwood? Were they found out?

            "We need to leave, Lilly," the boy said as he marched to his sister. He grabbed her arm before she could say anything. "Now!"

            Lilly stared at him with wide eyes. He felt his tree-arm begin to whip and twist in anticipation. It wanted to fight, but he couldn't take that chance. They couldn't afford to be captured again.

            "We can't do anything for them," Gust pressed before beginning to tug at Lilly's arm. "Come on. Can you try to control your Knowledge enough for me to break a way out of here?"

            Lilly only looked back at Kat for a moment before locking eyes with him again. His own fear was reflected perfectly in her face, but she nodded all the same. "I can try."

            "Oh, what's happened here?"

            The siblings flinched, Gust spinning around and Lilly jumping to her feet in the same instant. Standing behind them, as if it had always been standing there, was the shadow.

            "Did you do this?" Gust snapped.

            "Did I do what?"

            "They aren't waking up," Lilly said.

            The shadow was quiet, and the brother and sister began to subtly shift their bodies and calm their minds. They glanced at one another for only a moment. To confirm what the other was thinking. If it was going to be another fight, then they were ready.

            "A change of plans, then."

            Gust threw out his tree arm before the shadow could move, but the great limb did little more than slide through it. Like the shadow wasn't even there. But Gust did feel it in that instant. A terrible cold. A numbness that sunk into the bark like a vicious bite.

            "I'd be careful," the shadow said. "You might lose that arm."

            Gust and Lilly fell back towards the ocean as the creature suddenly expanded. It grew. It widened. A darkness like a deep, black hole was spreading out in front of them in a matter of seconds. Neither could see the forest that lay behind it. It was a void of nothing.

            "You may come, Ninovan."

            Very little was able to process through either child's mind as the terrible, monstrous wolf stepped out from that darkness. The very same monster that had almost killed them just days ago. Behind her came others. A mixture of monsters and humans. But neither Gust or Lilly paid them much mind. It was Ninovan who posed the biggest threat. It was Ninovan who stalked towards them on her hind legs, allowing her to tower over both children.

            Her piercing yellow eyes looked away from them for only a moment. Long enough to see Kat and Stallion lying there. Still motionless. Still not waking up.

            "What have you done to my children?" the wolf monster snarled.

            If Gust or Lilly took another step back, they'd be standing in the water. Occasionally, the waves would reach out far enough to lap over their feet, and it would be bitterly cold. They knew they wouldn't make it far trying to swim.

            But when the Quincy's looked to their left and their right it was either a dark haired boy or a girl caked in mud that blocked their path. The boy looked weaker than the girl, but Gust knew he wouldn't have the time or opportunity to strike him down before the others were upon him. He and Lilly had both seen how she had pounced on that man and ripped off his head like it was nothing—

            "We were attacked!" Lilly exclaimed. "It was a witch from Wildwood! She put them to sleep and tried to do the same to us, but my brother fought them off."

            Gust tried to keep a stoic face when the monster turned her eyes to him. "It wasn't that long ago. We can probably still catch up to her."

            "We?" Ninovan said with a growl.

            "You need us to show you the way," Lilly said, reining back the desperation mounting in her voice.

            "If such a person did exist, I would smell them." Ninovan moved closer while the children backed away deeper into the ocean. "All I smell are liars."

            "Sh-She was covered in mud and stuff, like that girl there," Gust tried, pointing at said girl who snarled at him in response. "Neither Kat or Stallion noticed her until she was right on top of us."

            "Oh?" Ninovan stopped her approach, glancing only for a moment at the shadow that remained silent behind everyone. When she focused back on them, it was with a toothy smile that made Gust's heart grow cold and Lilly whimper. "I don't see how that does me any good then."

            "I could find her!" Lilly insisted. "If she's within or near any sort of plant-life, I will know."

            The wolf monster paused and appeared to consider their lie for a moment while the children began to shiver in the ankle deep water. The dark boy and the filthy girl now stood on either side of their Master, waiting to strike should the Quincy's try and do anything.

            "That is quite the humorous tale you two have weaved in such a short time," Ninovan said. "I'm sure such talents served you well within that hornet's nest. But, even if it was true, that only means one of you is of any use to me."

            Gust was already throwing back his tree-arm as the wolf monster curled inwards. The shout of terror had hardly left Lilly's mouth before someone else spoke.

            "Well, that would make them upset, right?"

            Ninovan stopped and looked to the boy with the dark hair and clothes. Gust had to dig his fingers into his shoulder to stop the tree-arm from striking. Attacking wouldn't work here, even if she was distracted. Only when there was no other option. Until then, he had to work with whatever new opportunities presented themselves.

            "What?" he said when the monster said nothing.

            The older boy looked at him with eyes that were listless and a stance that was anything but ready for an attack. Maybe if Ninovan cared for her 'children' as much as she claimed, Gust thought, he could use this weak kid as a hostage when the moment came.

            "Well, I don't really get what's going on here," the boy continued, his voice as dull as his eyes, "but Kat and Stallion ran away with you guys, right? They wouldn't do that unless they cared about you. Maybe as much as Tusk cared."

            At that name, both Lilly and Gust noticed Ninovan's teeth bare. "Watch what you say, Crow," she warned with a snarl. "You did not know him as I knew him."

            Crow appeared unfazed by death literally feet away. He met her eyes like he was challenging her. "How many more of us are you willing to lose, mother?"

...

            Kat awoke with her bare face lying on something cold and smooth. Dark eyes hidden behind glasses met hers. Georgie was lying beside her on a freshly polished hallway, rows of red lockers lining up behind him.

            "Elizabeth?" he asked, his voice breaking as though he was on the cusp of puberty.

            Because he was. Barely fifteen, wearing a bulky sweater in an obvious attempt to hide his lingering baby fat. This was not Stallion.

            "Georgie," Kat said as an unconscious smile graced her lips.

            Both familiars rose to their feet as they looked around at the familiar surroundings. There was no doubt that they were back in that old school. Kat was almost bracing herself for the ringing of a bell that would signal a bursting of doors and flooding of students, but of course it would never come. It was deadly silent in that hallway and looking out the windows was pointless. Each one was heavily choked with vines and ferns.

            "I am sorry to do this," Ash said, suddenly appearing between the two children, "but I must discuss something very urgent with the both of you."

            Georgie fell back until he hit one of the lockers while Kat's whole body tensed, her hands clenching reflexively. The Ash that stood before them appeared much younger then she remembered, dressed in casual jeans and sweatshirt with a backpack slung lazily over one shoulder.

            "Wuh-What's happening?" Georgie said with a stutter. "Are we dreaming?"

            "What do you want?" Kat snapped before gasping when a sudden thought hit her. "Wait, have you spoken to Foxy? Do you know where he is?"

            "Elizabeth?" Georgie said in a breathless voice. His eyes were wide and searching behind those glasses. "Who's Foxy?"

            "What are you doing to him?" Kat glared at the young Ash, fists still ready for a fight. "Why is he like this?"

            "Just a figment. Not real," Ash said, and with a casual wave of her hand Georgie vanished into thin air. "No time to bridge the gap between you and the real one so I am talking to both of you separately. I have spoken to Foxy, yes, but I can no longer do so. At first I believed the drug had simply worn out but you and Stallion had taken it at the same time and I can still clearly speak with you. This has never happened to me before and I am afraid that—"

            "Wait, wait, slow down," Kat said while holding up a hand. Ash was talking faster and more frantic than she had ever heard her. "You can't talk to him? You mean you can't enter his dreams?"

            Ash nodded. Kat tried to ignore how far up her heart had suddenly climbed in her throat.

            "He...They could have his Master. She can stop Knowledge. Maybe she was stopping his..."

            "I can enter the dreams of those who have no Knowledge, Kat."

            "Maybe she stopped yours!"

            "I would know if anyone was near me. I was alone when my contact with Foxy was suddenly cut. He sounded very afraid before it happened. He was asking for my help. I believe he was in fear for his own life."

            Kat had to close her eyes and turn her head. She couldn't look at Ash. She couldn't look at anything right then. It was taking everything to keep it bottled in.

            "Kat—"

            "Stop," Kat interrupted, hating how broken her voice sounded but pressing on all the same. "Don't say it."

            "I had to say something. You and Stallion need to know the danger. I do not believe Wildwood intends to spare any of you."

            "They did not kill Foxy," Kat said to Ash, finally opening her eyes to give the morose woman her full attention. "I am going to save him. Thanks for the warning, Ashling, but it's time to let me wake up now."

            "Kat, please, do not do anything reckless. Without Foxy there are only three of you now who—"

            "Wake me up, Ash," Kat pressed as she took a step towards the witch. "Please."

            For the first time, Kat saw something in Ash beyond the veil of somberness she kept around herself. There was clear pleading in her pale blue eyes. A desire.

            "If you want to help, keep trying to talk to him and then tell me if anything changes. Otherwise, stay out of my way."

            Ash's face slowly fell into the more familiar passive, observational expression Kat had grown accustomed to. What she did not expect were the final words the witch left for her to ache over.

            "Alex Foxy told me something similar not too long ago. I have seen it play out over and over again in the world I can no longer reach. If you follow his path—If you choose to push everyone away, you too will die alone."

...

            When Kat returned to that world Ashling could no longer reach she was greeted by many chaotic sights, smells, and sounds. Sweat, blood, and the bittersweet scent of the woods swirled around her as Ninovan and her ilk towered over and surrounded two scared and desperate children. They were all shouting and saying things that weren't registering in her head. Instead, she focused on the dull ring that had started in her ears. On the ache that had settled in the back of her head. On the conversation and revelation Ashling had chosen to let her remember.

            This didn't matter. Whatever Ninovan wanted from her didn't matter. Whatever reasons why John, Jack, and the others stayed with her didn't matter. What mattered was the ringing in her ears. The ache of her head.

            What mattered was that her children were in danger.

            So Kat did not think any further as she pulled out her knife and leapt up from the sand in one smooth motion. The pain of her broken arm was nothing. Being outnumbered was nothing. Everything became second nature as the feral familiar fell upon Ninovan and her followers.