The building had to be halfway burned down. By the time Stallion and I made it outside, it was mostly obscured by black smoke.

I was expecting even more people with guns and flashing cars, but it was just the two of us.

Well, us and a score of fresh bodies.

Men and women with twisted necks and broken limbs littered the ground around us. Their cars still cluttered the road, now empty and silent. Further beyond, I could see more and more bodies scattered across roads and sidewalks. I couldn't see a single living thing besides my friend and I.

Had Fawn done this? Did she do it without Mr. Copper somehow knowing? If he had been against the burning down of a town, no way would he have condoned this.

"Ah, there you are."

John's shadow rose up from one of the many shadows of bodies. It's head glanced up at the burning building. "I see you've been busy as well, Foxy."

The way he said those words sent a chill up my spine. I looked again at the corpses of the people, then back at the shadow who appeared all but unbothered by the massacre. "What are you doing here?"

"The witch is not far. She can answer any of your questions." The shadow waved us over as it turned and walked down a sidewalk. He walked effortlessly through the mangled bodies, more like a ghost than a shadow. "Follow me."

Stallion followed without a word, his legs apparently much stronger now. He didn't get far before turning his head back around at me.

"Foxy? Is something—?"

"Did you see where Lilly and Tusk went?" I asked the shadow.

"I do not know any Lilly, but the boar left the building shortly before you and there was a young girl riding him. They should both be with the witch now."

I nodded. Lilly's 'bandages' still held tight around my body. As long as they were there, then so was she.

I followed after Stallion and the shadow. But after a few blocks I was forced to clamber aboard my friend so we could keep pace. Though my body was slowly healing, I couldn't do much better than a pathetic hobble. It was shameful having to admit to continue needing help but I was literally falling apart not but a few minutes ago. It was really just a miracle I was even still alive.

"This is way overboard," Stallion muttered darkly. "Even for Fawn."

I didn't have to ask what he was referring to. Part of what kept John's shadow far ahead of us was Stallion having to tiptoe over and around bodies and debris. I thought I was pretty numbed to the whole thing, but even I had to look away when I saw the smaller bodies. My friend, unfortunately, couldn't afford such a luxury if he wanted to keep his hooves untarnished.

"You know what? Forget giving her a chance. Familiar or not, if she's going along with all this, then she's not even close to being one of us."

I grunted in response. I honestly couldn't even remember anymore how either of us used to feel on the matter, but now we were on the same page. She was in the way of our freedom. We gave her a chance to join us, but she chose to work against us instead.

"We could run now," Stallion suggested. "Convince the Mother and her new followers to just leave. We can go anywhere we want. With all of us together, even Wildwood can't stop us."

"What about your Master?" I asked.

I don't know why I asked. I fully expected for Stallion to continue giving me the cold shoulder on topics like that.

"I don't think Sonsetta really cared about me," my friend answered instead. "At least, not as anything more than someone useful to her. Just like all the other people who worked for her. You know what I mean, right?"

"What?" I said out-loud. Without meaning to.

"It's what you've been saying for years, man. Even before we met the witches. You knew better than the rest of us how we were going to be treated. That's why you fought so hard to free us."

"Yeah."

I wanted to be happy. If not happy, then at least self-righteous for having Stallion of all people finally understand. But all I could think about was Lady Louise saying she would come back for me. Or the way Rosetta held out her arms towards me, as if she wanted to embrace me.

"I guess there can be some exceptions, huh?" Stallion asked. I could almost see the twinkle in his eye when he looked back at me.

I turned away from him as I rubbed angrily at my traitorous eyes. "The sooner we stop being familiars, the better if you ask me. Just being able to have my own thoughts be my own thoughts would be a nice change."

"Hey, man, if you stopped thinking so loudly I wouldn't be able to hear them."

"And how do you go about 'not thinking so loudly'?"

"I don't know, but it sounds like you don't so much as have thoughts as you just talk to yourself in your head. I don't hear Kat, Mary, or the other familiars like I hear you, man. Honestly, now that I'm saying it out-loud, it's kind of weird."

"Don't try and make me feel more like a freak than I already am, Stallion."

"I'm just telling it like it is. If that makes you sound freakish you can't put that one me."

"You are being very quiet, Foxy," the shadow observed. "If I might ask, what happened since you left?"

His echoing voice pulled me out of whatever fantasy land that had me smiling as I talked with Stallion. One look at the twisted heads and smashed limbs around me made those nostalgic feelings go away. Immediately, I regretted ever being happy about anything.

"I'm just going to be saying the same thing to the witch soon. Why don't you just wait till then?"

The shadow nodded and turned its head away from us. It was leading us further and further out of the town. We walked for at least half an hour, but in none of that time did we see a single, living person. There was the occasional dog dragging a leash that wandered through the deserted town, but otherwise we were alone.

"Do they really think people won't find out about this?" Stallion wondered aloud.

"They plan on using Maple to burn it all down. But even then there are going to be questions. People are going to escape. But I don't think Edgar or Wildwood cares anymore. At least, that's the impression I got. Ovidia destroyed whatever secrecy they had."

"Maple, huh? Kat won't be too happy to hear that." Stallion looked behind us for a moment, then his dark eyes found me. "Did you ever find her? Ovidia?"

"Yeah. She was trying to escape with one of the twins, Leaf. When I showed up, she threatened to kill Lilly, the other twin, if I didn't let her escape."

"What happened?"

I could still feel the way her neck tightened in my hands. Still had the scratches in my face and arms where she tried to fight me off. I didn't look at her body until right before Maple burned it. Her eyes were wide open, mouth agape.

Then she was on fire. Her screams still rattled around inside my skull.

"I killed her."

Stallion did not say anything back right away. But he spoke up sooner than I expected.

"Sounds like she didn't give you much of a choice."

"No, she did. She just didn't know how much I wanted her dead."

"For using the kids?"

"For a lot of things, Stallion."

I hoped using his name and trying my damnedest not to think of what those other things were would be enough of a hint that I didn't want to go down this line of conversation anymore. It was done. It was behind us.

"So, you mentioned the other twin. Where are they? And, hey, where did Mouse go?"

"Fawn and Copper happened," I answered. "After telling Maple to clean up their mess, they took Leaf and Mary."

"And Maple just let them take her brother?"

"No, they gave her a choice and she—Look, you know I said what I said to the shadow thing so I wouldn't have to talk to it, but I really will be telling that witch most of what you're asking me and some of it I don't want to have to repeat."

"Right. Sorry, man. I've just been out of the loop for awhile now. I feel like I've been out of it since I got poisoned all those years ago. This is the first time in a while you've been so open to me. You know, for the most part."

I didn't know what to say. It was easier not to say anything as my face burned.

"I know that's mostly my fault. I know I've been acting kind of like a dick since Mutt—Well, yeah. I'm sorry, Foxy."

"Don't apologize," I said. I sealed my mouth closed when John's shadow turned its head, and kept it closed even after it looked away. "We've all said and done stupid things. All that matters is moving forward."

"Yeah. And what's moving forward for Alex Foxy mean?"

"You should remember. You were there when I announced it back at Edgar's place. I'm going to see the kids again. All of them, whatever it takes."

"You talkin' like busting back into said Edgar's place?"

I didn't hesitate. "Whatever it takes."

"Well, it's starting to look like you're going to have a lot of help with—."

"She lies just ahead," the shadow announced. We had stopped just before the field of tall grass that encircled the small town. Our guide point to a grey head and furry, white body that poked out near the center of the field. "She wishes to see you, Foxy."

Stallion kept silent as he walked past the shadow and into the biting, bladed grass. I winced and hissed at the occasional blade that scraped against my legs, but if they bothered my friend he didn't mention it.

The witch noticed us almost right away. Her stillness and patient smile only made my blood boil that much more heatedly. She knew what I knew, and yet she did not bat an eye.

"How did it go?" she asked as soon as Stallion stopped a few, respectable meters away. "I spoke with Tusk briefly, but he seemed more concerned making sure that child was safe."

"What are you trying to pull?" I asked back. Although my limbs practically trembled the longer I stared at her peaceful face, my voice came out much more controlled than I expected. "Whose side are you on, exactly?"

"Foxy? Hey, man, chill."

"What's that shadow doing here, huh? Fawn couldn't kill all those people by herself, could she? She needed help keeping them from escaping, right? It must be nice she can have someone like you to count on."

Stallion glanced between the two of us as the witch's smile fell. When she sighed, it was heavy. Like she was being bothered by having to explain herself.

"Keeping our people safe is bigger than any petty squabble prolonged amongst ourselves. It would spell ruin for everyone if even one of us were to be discovered by the know-nothing's en masse. Wildwood knows this, and I know this."

"It was Ovidia—it was Wildwood who ruined it," I shot, the calmness in my voice cracking. "They should be the ones to suffer. Not all those people."

"We all suffer for the mistakes of one, my dear fox. You. Your friends. Those children. Who is more important to you? Them? Or a couple hundred know-nothings? There are millions more of them then there are of us. We must do what is necessary to survive."

"Foxy."

It was Stallion who spoke next. Not a question this time. He said my name as though he wasn't sure he just said it. His voice sounded very far away, like he wasn't sure where he was anymore.

His dark eye met mine. "It was a mistake coming here, wasn't it?"

There was a rustle in the tall grass and then there was someone tackling me off of Stallion. It was Em. She was screaming as we wrestled amongst the slicing grass. I was only able to struggle until she found my wooden bandages. When she tore them apart and dug her dirty, jagged nails into them, my world exploded with white, hot pain. I couldn't think or feel except to scream loud enough to overwhelm her own savage howling. Loud enough to wipe out all sound except for a single, patient voice.

"There's no need to prolong his suffering, my dear."

Hands on my throat. Digging. Choking. I tried to grab them, to pull them off, but they only released long enough to strike the sides of my head. My world went spinning as they went back to strangling me.

My body went numb again, but faster. Instant. I was detached from myself. I could see with clear eyes the cloudless, blue sky that stretched on beyond the wild girl and her bleeding eyes. Compared to her facial muscles twitching and sweat dripping in droves down her face, the sky was calm. It was empty.

It must have been nice for Hornroot to be able to go so high up there. 

...

*Author's Note*

Foxy and his friends are in deep with the witches. If they want to escape, to secure their freedom, they'll have to do more than just run. 

But what else is there left? What can they do? Or, more importantly, what are they willing do to?

Whatvever your thoughts, I would love to hear them.