It was much quieteron their walk back. Despite the labored breathing, Kat and Stallion'sneed to lean on each other, and the overgrowth, it was not a longwalk to return to that small clearing. It surprised no one to find itempty. John and Gus hadn't returned after they fled and Alex Foxymade off with the remaining Quincy children. Kat still sank to herknees after releasing her friend. She either couldn't cry or refusedto. The hard look on her face did finally soften as she lay on herside and let out a rattled sigh.

Mouse watched herfor only a moment before turning to make her way in another directionof the woods.

"Hey, where areyou going?" Stallion called after her, taking a half step in herwake.

The young womanstopped, but continued to face the darkening wood. "My Master—GilesCopper. I left him a little ways in this direction. I'm going to tryand collect him before that thing does. I'll be back soon."

"Want any help?"

Mouse looked overher shoulder. Not at him, but at the woman who lay on the ground athis feet. "Better to keep an eye on things here. Like I said, beback soon."

She turned andthen ran. She disappeared long before the crashing sounds of herfootsteps ever did. Stallion watched the spot where she once stoodfor a long moment, suddenly wondering if he'd ever see her again. IfAlex Foxy really could smell Knowledge now the smart thing to dowould be to leave the Stalwart where he lay. Either Mouse was lyingand she was simply running away, or she was taking him and nevercoming back.

Either way, itwasn't really any of his business anymore. He had tried to save herwhen he felt she was in imminent danger, but they weren't tiedtogether by some mystical, awful power. And whatever life they hadtogether before that is one he still couldn't remember. They were nobetter than strangers of convenience, and that convenience ran drywhen Alex stole their power.

Stallion glanceddown at Kat and watched the slow rise and fall of her back. Was shealready asleep? Wouldn't surprise him. It had been a long day. Toolong.

Really, the smartthing to do would be to leave.

Picking out acomfortable enough looking tree, Stallion instead wandered over to itand sat with his back against it. He sat and watched his surroundingsas clouds began to obscure the moon. Seeing in the dark used to notreally be an issue. Even with partial moonlight he always knew wherehe was going. But in the darkness now he might as well have beenblind. Only the sounds of the rustling branches and the cold chill ofwind reminded him he was still there. Still grounded in reality.

With a sharpintake of breath through his nose, Stallion glanced over to the spotwhere Kat lay outside his limited field of vision.

"You wanna goafter him, right?"

No response. Maybeshe was still asleep. It was fine. This could just be practice.Stallion was still working out in his head how it was all comingtogether.

"Sonsetta, myMaster, she never did anything alone. She didn't catch the eye ofWildwood just because she could turn her body to any substance shetouched. It was her ability to lead, to convinceknow-nothing's—people to work together and with people withKnowledge. I met a lot of those people when I was her familiar.They're rough, selfish, and kind of twisted in the head, but Iwouldn't call them bad people. Not like the ones we need to stop."

Stallion lickedhis dry lips. He was rambling, but there was still no response fromhis friend. More time to work it out.

"Point is, thesepeople are connected. They know about the world and that it haspeople with Knowledge in it. I wasn't with Sonsetta long enough toknow everything about the goings on, but I know people we can talkto. Maybe they know more about where and what Whispermist is. Maybethey even know people from there. If I know Alex—and if he's justgoing to be following his nose—he's going to try and take the frontdoor approach. He might be able to get there first, but he'll getdelayed, he'll run into problems he can't just fight his way through.If we're smarter and if we can find a back way in we..."

Stallion stopped,the words catching in his throat.

"Say it,Georgie," a soft but firm voice whispered from the dark.

"We could getthe jump on him."

A pause. "Andthat won't interfere with what you want?"

Stallion shrugged,a humorless laugh rattling out of his dry throat. "I mean, shit,he's killing kids, Liz. I won't lie to you though, I'm well aware myidea is gonna take time, and I'm hoping its time he uses to kill theright sort of Knowers before we catch up to him. Maybe that makes mea monster too. I don't know."

"It's a goodplan," Kat said, her voice still soft but closer. "But I'll needyou there for it. Do you understand what I mean?"

Stallion's throattightened. Hands clenched together hard enough to hurt. But when helet out a breath it was resigned. "Yeah, I do. By his own admissionAlex gave us the best opportunity to run and hide. If I don't take itnow there isn't any going back."

"Whatever youneed to tell yourself."

Stallion flinchedwhen he felt a small, cold presence slip beside him against the tree.Even in the withered state she was in now, Kat always managed tosurprise him. He felt her head rest against his shoulder as shetucked her body in close for warmth.

"Either way, I'mglad you're still with me."

Wordlessly,Stallion wrapped a gentle hand around her. It wasn't long before shewas asleep for real. He could hear her soft snoring as her slightweight pressed entirely against him. He wasn't really sure what heshould be feeling in that moment. Pleasure. Guilt. Anger. None of itreally felt right.

Stallion pressedthe back of his head against the tree and stared up at the sky. Starswere flickering in between strands of clouds. He traced them one byone, connecting them together into patterns. Some made sense, othersbroke down quickly into hypnotic confusion. He began to imagine eachstar had a name, a face. People he could still remember. People hehad to talk to, people he had to kill, and how those interactionswould lead to the next person, and then the next, and then the next.He imagined how the scenarios would play out. How well they couldgo—how bad they could get. But at the end of each one the feelingwas the same.

It wouldn't beenough.

...

Mary wasn'tsurprised to find that Giles Copper wasn't alone. Partly it wasbecause she could hear the thoughts of his companions from severaldozen yards away. Partly it was the simple science of how Knowersoperate. Maybe even how humanity at large operated. When you were aminority, you flocked to your own kind. Seeking comfort with peoplelike you. Not realizing it just made you a bigger target.

John Bai andGustifer Frank were both sat beside the Stalwart. Neither spoke, butboth minds were alive with hyperactivity. Both were in a similarstate of adrenaline and fear, complaining about the cold and thepain. Listening too long to the looping nonsense made her own headache and she needed to be as sharp as possible. So she severed thelinks, pulling back the invisible tendrils that connected their mindsto hers.

Both boys jumpedwhen the sounds of her movement in the brush caught their attention.It had become much too dark to see properly, but Mary was quicklylearning to hone in on her other senses. Even without thesupernatural, she had still spent years of her life training andhunting in the wilds. That part of her could not be stolen so easily.

"Who's there!?"John demanded, his voice ringing somewhat hollow in the quietclearing.

Now that they hadheard her, Mary quieted her foot falls, careful to avoid the odddried leaf or fallen branch. As night swiftly fell, more and morelight from the stars were beginning to rise in the absence of thesun's glow. She had to keep to the closely grown trees to avoid beingseen, but it also allowed her to see the two of them now standingbeside her Master, though all she could see were dark outlines. HerMaster was not moving, but she judged based on the boy's defensiveactions that he was still alive enough to benefit as a hostage.

Maryquietly picked out a size-able rock from the collection in her otherhand and tossed it a distance from where she stood. When it crashedinto the foliage, Gus immediately let out a yelp and turned to look,but John kept his composure, only glancing in the sound's directionfor a moment.

"I-It's foundus!" Gus whisper shouted.

"Can you seeit?" John snapped back, he raised some dark shape that looked toMouse like a thick branch in his hands. "Can you see what—?"

"No!" Gussaid in a shrill voice. "I can't see it, and even if I could—!"

"Alright! It'salright." John moved so he was standing a little in front of Gus,shielding the other boy as best as he could. "Could just be ananimal. It brought a lot of them with it."

Mary smiled. Ifthey had been listening more carefully, they could tell thedifference between an animal's footfalls and a person's. It alsodidn't seem like John's 'shadow' was around. Maybe it couldn'tmanifest in an area as pitch dark as it was. That wouldn't be thecase forever. The clouds would part eventually. Soon enough, therewould be shadows aplenty.

No time tohesitate.

Carefully, Maryslipped her own stick out of her empty belt loop. It wasn't as big asthe one John seemed to hold, but she guessed hers was a lot sharperafter the pruning she had done ahead of time. She stepped carefullyout past the trees, crouching low as she mapped out the clearest pathbetween her and her target. Then, with a burst of speed, she chargedforward. As predicted, the shapes of the two boy's turned to face herand Mary flung her fistful of rocks in their direction. It was toodark to see where they all landed, but they pulled up their arms toprotect their faces as Gus cried out in pain.

This was themoment. No time for hesitation. No sympathy. No remorse.

When Mary reachedthe form of John Bai, she planted her feet hard into the earth,gripped the sharpened stick in both hands and shot her arms upward,aiming to catch him in the neck or up under the jaw. It was adifficult target to hit in the dark, but Mary was trained, practiced,and professional. The point of the stick plunged into John's throatand went through. And then her hands went through too. Then her arms.Mouse watched in horror as the momentum sent her body through a JohnBai that was never there. Shuddering against the absolute chill, shefell into and out of that dark, dark form.

Mary hit theground hard, but she managed to turn the fall into a sloppy roll,carrying the momentum until she was on her knees and facing the formsthat weren't John, Gus, or her Master. The figures stood and lay intheir usual spots for just a moment before folding in on themselvesand pooling together into a singular, dark humanoid shape that soonrose to take their place. No arms, no legs, but topped with a smallershape meant to resemble a head. It stood like a void, darker than thenight that surrounded it.

"Shit," Marycursed.

"Impressivemovements," thevoid responded with an incline of its head. "Youcould teach the boy much."

"Happyto," Mary said with a half-smile. She remained in her crouchedposition, but scanned the woods around them, searching in vain. "Andwhere would he be? Same place as my Master?"

"Theyare safe,"it returned before the shape crouched, hunching over so it could bemore at 'eye-level' with her. "But not forlong, I suspect. There is something in the woods with us now.Something that means my boys great harm."

"I'maware. And you should be aware that flaunting your power might drawhis attention."

"Thatwould be ideal. I believe, if it were to come to violence, I would bethe victor. But I also believe that it will not come this way. It hastaken what it wanted and it will be moving on very soon."

Mary'seyes furrowed. Carefully, she pulled herself into a standingposition, useless stick still clenched firmly in her hand. The shadowmirrored her movements, unbending itself so that their faces would belevel.

"And how are you so sure? Monstrous minds think alike?"

"Notquite."

A soft disturbance. The gentle decompression of grass. Subtle, butit was enough to cause Mouse to leap to the side and away from it. Itdid not pursue her. Instead, the now more substantial form ofGustifer Frank stood still at the edge of the strangled clearing. Aslight from the moon and stars trailed over him, Mouse began tounderstand how she fell into the Shadow's trap.

The young man appeared as more of a standing corpse. His skin waspaler than it should be, almost gray in complexion but it could havebeen made worse by the poor lighting. What could not be explainedaway was the crisscrossing of sharp black lines that ran like veinsjust beneath the surface of his sickly skin. He stood with mouthagape and eyes bulging wide, but Mouse could not be certain if he wasconscious of his surroundings or not. She was certain what she wouldsee if she tried to read his thoughts again.

"Neat trick," Mouse quipped, trying and most likely failing tokeep her voice level. She backed away another few steps, keeping boththe Shadow and its thrall in her field of vision. "John trading upto slaves now?"

"The boy cannot be involved, I'm afraid," theShadow slunk closer to her while Gustifer remained in his standingstupor. "But I continue to evolve and adapt and improve. Witha little more assistance, I believe we can solve or mutual problem."

Another few steps back towards the thickened line oftrees. But Mouse knew there was no escape. No fighting a thing likethis. Her only option was to gamble.

"And which of my many problems are you referring to?"

The Shadow paused in its approach of her. As if answering an unheardsummons, another rustling of grasses and tree limbs came from theopposite end of the clearing. An old man stepped into the moonlightbeside Gustifer. Messy white hair splayed out around a shriveled facedotted with patchy, equally white facial hair. In all appearances itshould have been a man Mouse did not recognize, a man she did notcare for. But the soft scar over his right eye was the same. Thebaggy trench coat that made his small body appear even smaller wasthe same. And the gentle blue of his eyes, although paled by age, wasthe same.

He was hers. Her last connection to a world torn asunder and drivenmad.

"You came to this place for this man, did you not?" theShadow asked her.

"I did," she answered, no longer noticing the dark shapeapproaching her as her eyes took in the old man.

"You care for a being whose life is threatened by the beastthat now stalks these woods, do you not?"

"I do."

Mouse could feel the presence of it now, even though she still didnot look towards it. A noticeable drop in temperature. A darkening atthe edges of her vision. It had grown stronger in the short timesince she had last seen John Bai. Perhaps, as it suggested, it wasmore the Master now than the Knower who birthed it.

"Aid me, familiar to the Stalwart of Wildwood. With ourabilities combined, we can remove the threat to those we care for."

The cold had reached her bodily. A growing numbnessthat started at her feet and worked up her shaking legs. There werenot options left to her. No fighting. No escape. All that was leftwas a gamble.

  "Sure," Mouse said, reining in her emotions as she stared fullyat the dark shape that loomed both over and within her. "On onecondition."