As darkness began to creep its way over the ELU campus, it brought a wave of existential dread washing over Luke. His thoughts whirled through what they were about to do, what was being proposed; the sheer craziness of what his life had turned into over the last few days. Two weeks ago he'd been getting ready to enter an archery contest. And now?

Now he was about to break into university property, take those skills, and use them violently against other human beings.

Poachers, he reminded himself. Murderers. It made things just a tiny bit easier to remember that.

He wondered how the others must feel about all this. He'd seen more than any of them – he'd been face to face with DeVergne and knew exactly how far the man was willing to go. He'd faced down Gallie Parwood in the Karkadda compound. That world was real to him. Gabi and Kenny had had some time to adjust, but he could tell that Kyan and Aliyah were still shell-shocked by everything they'd seen. They were moving on autopilot right now, swept up in events they only loosely understood; like the whole thing was a train wreck they couldn't look away from.

The equipment store squatted moodily, waiting for them, lit up by the campus floodlights. A well-placed lie to Coach Gore requesting some last minute pointers before their regional contest had been all they needed to lure her out here. The others slunk off to hide on the far side of the building while Luke and Gabi tried to look innocent as they loitered at the entrance in the half-light.

They didn't have long wait. A couple of minutes later Coach Gore's wiry form loped into view, and she cracked a patronising smile as she approached them.

"You know," she said without preamble. "I wouldn't have thought you two would be struggling for confidence."

"First competition." Gabi shrugged. "We're freshman. I dunno – we don't want to screw it up."

"Well, I'm here for another hour. You can have some range time until then, but that's it, alright?" Gore smiled. "Some of us have lives to go to."

Luke returned the smile tightly but didn't trust himself to speak. To hear her speak so glibly when he knew full well just how involved she was in the carnage erupting in Lasquette Bay was almost more than he could handle. Gore turned away from them, pulling her keys from her pocket and approaching the door. Gabi and Luke stepped to the side, leaving more space than their coach really needed.

The lock clicked. The door swung open.

"So, is there anything specific you wanted to work on?"

Gore half turned before Kasper slammed into her.

The Karkadda came surging out of the shadows in a single, fearsome bound. Her panicked cry was smothered by his hand as he tackled her inside, sending her keys spinning across the floor. In a flash Luke and the others piled in after them, dragging the door to the equipment store shut with a bang. He looked around frantically before he spotted the glint of metal on the ground. Scooping the keys up, Luke slapped the switch inside the door frame.

"What the hell is going on?!" Gore shrieked as the lights burst into life, flailing around in Kasper's grip. With the noise now insulated by the building, he tossed her roughly into the room and straightened up, a grim expression on his face. She backed up into the centre of the equipment store, ringed on all sides by metal gear cages, lockers, and solid stone.

"This her?" Kasper grunted, glancing back.

Luke nodded. "Yeah, that's her."

"Arbor? Truong?" Gore looked at him uncomprehending. "What is this? What are you doing?"

"Sorry, coach," Luke said taking a step forward with his arms folded. "But you've been jerking us around a little too long now."

"I don't know-,"

"Know what, coach?" Gabi piped up, her voice sharp but tremoring with nerves as she tried to confront the reality of their situation. "Know about the Karkadda?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about!"

The lie came out too quickly, and the flicker of recognition on her face gave it all away. Luke felt anger rising in his blood.

"Cut the crap," he hissed. "We both saw you with Simon DeVergne, and we know he's the one who's been killing them. He's a god damn poacher and you've been telling him who to bag. Including me, right?"

Gore's mouth flapped as fear began to take over. She looked around the group, eyes widening when she realised she couldn't lie here way out of this, and that there was nowhere to go. Gulping down the lump in her throat, she shook her head.

"You don't understand, I only did what he told me to do."

"He was going to cut me to pieces in that little shed." Disgust rippled through him and he tried to contain himself, moving up alongside Kasper. "So you'll get exactly zero sympathy from me. Now, we know that Simon and his buddies set that fire, and we know they carted all the Karkadda they could find off somewhere to finish the job. We need to know where."

"I don't know where."

"And I don't believe you."

"Coach, c'mon, you know what's going on out there," Gabi pleaded. "They're gonna kill all those people if you don't help us."

"They're not people!" Gore blurted. "My god, what happened to you two? They're monsters. Things. Fairytale creatures!"

Gabi recoiled in horror. "What happened to us? What happened to you?! They walk and talk like you and me. So what if they've got horns and glow? Murder's murder."

"We're saving lives."

"Spare me," Luke snorted. "I got the speech from DeVergne already, and I'm not about to sit through it again. Just tell us where they took the Karkadda."

"Or what?" A hint of her usual brashness crept back into Gore's voice now that she'd had a moment to catch her breath. She straightened up, glaring at him. "Are you threatening me, Arbor?"

"Me? No." He rolled his eyes and gave Kasper a small nod. "You were right. This was a waste of time. Go ahead."

"What...?"

The changed washed over Kasper with startling fluidity. He didn't even break stride as a haze of roiling red burst across his skin. His viciously curving horn ripped its way into existence, his eyes burning wrathfully. Gore took a step back, but there was nothing but a brick wall behind her. Her eyes went wide in panic.

"No, wait, you can't d-,"

Her pleading was cut off when Kasper grabbed her by the throat with one vice-like hand and slammed her against the wall with a snarl. Luke flinched; Aliyah stifled a yelp by clamping a hand over her mouth as Coach Gore was almost knocked senseless by the impact, her hands pawing weakly at the Karkadda's wrist. Kasper was far from finished, however, and he hoisted her into the air, as though lifting a sack of feathers.

"Luke..." Kenny murmured. "You sure about this?"

Luke nodded. "Let him work. We need to know."

Gore gurgled desperately, legs kicking as Kasper crushed her against the wall of the equipment store. With a feral growl he twisted with startling speed and hurled her across the room, sending her crashing into one of the locked equipment cages. She cried out in pain and collapsed in a heap, trying to crawl towards the door.

Kasper crossed the room in two ferocious bounds and kicked her in the side with enough force to lift her off the ground. She slammed into the cage again and sagged unmoving on the floor, sobbing for breath.

"Luke!" Kyan hissed from further back. "He's gonna kill her, man!"

"So? She tried to get me killed."

Gabi placed a hand on his arm; shook her head. "C'mon, that's not Luke Arbor talking."

"You think so?"

"It's not the one I know."

He tensed, looking down at her. Part of him wanted to let Kasper do whatever the hell he wanted, so long as it meant getting Oaklynn back, but the look on Gabi's face jolted him out of that vengeful haze. She looked astonished. This was getting out of control.

Eventually, Luke nodded, and turned back.

"Kasper," he said reluctantly. "Take it easy."

The Karkadda shot him a blazing glance before returning his attention to Coach Gore's prone form. Taking a deep breath, he reached down and grabbed her by the hair, hauling her back into a standing position. Wheezing for breath, Gore staggered on unsteady legs, eyes bulging with terror as Kasper leaned close.

"If you don't tell me where they were taken, a lot of my people will die," he said, his voice low with menace. "And that means you'll never leave this room alive." Kasper jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards Luke and the others. "If I wanted to skewer you like a god damn pig there's no-one here that can stop me."

"Please..." Gore coughed. "Stop."

"Where did they take the Karkadda?" Luke asked again, trying to keep his voice calm. "Just tell him."

"I can't! If Simon knew-,"

"He's the least of your problems," Kasper rumbled, crimson fire swelling along the bones of his face.

In that moment self-preservation finally overrode whatever loyalty – or fear – Coach Gore had for her associate. She recoiled up against the wall, her face pinched with terror.

"Take the main road south," she babbled shrilly.

"We're going to need a little more than 'south'," Gabi said coldly.

"It's not signposted if that's what you're asking!" Gore snapped back. "Once you pass mile-marker four there should be a slip road on your right. It's not marked, but a dirt track takes you out into the forest. I haven't been to the building itself, but I know one of Simon's people owns a lodge up there. If they've taken the Karkadda anywhere, it must be there. It's the only place close enough where they could process that many..." She stopped suddenly, realising her mistake.

It was too late. With a shrill, snarl of anger Kasper backhanded her across the face with shocking force and Gore went spinning across the room until she crashed into another of the equipment lockers.

She dropped without a sound.

"Shit, man!" Kenny blurted, bounding forward and skidding to his knees by Gore's body. He half-reached for her, then shook his head and looked back, beckoning frantically. "Ally, get over here."

Aliyah hesitated for a moment, then scurried over to him, keeping a fearful eye on Kasper as she moved. She dropped down beside them and reached to touch Gore's neck, probing gently. A long, silent moment crackled in the air as they waited, until she blew out her cheeks in a sigh of relief and eased back onto her knees.

"She's alive."

"For now."

"Kasper, stop!" Luke shouted leaping between them. "She's not worth it. We need to go, now." He tossed the keys to Gabi. "Open up the cages – grab our stuff and let's get out of here." Turning back, he raised both hands to Kasper pleadingly. "You kill her and you're just gonna heap more trouble on us. DeVergne's the one you really want, okay?"

Kasper's mouth twitched in a snarl, but with a conscious effort he brought himself under control. Exhaling a deep breath, he relaxed his shoulders and closed his eyes. Slowly the Karkadda part of him began to recede. Bone melted away beneath skin; his horn sank away and when he opened his eyes they shone with bright aquamarine. He nodded.

A clank sounded as Gabi opened up the cages that contained the archery equipment and extracted Luke's Hawkshot bag. Handing it to him, she delved back inside to find the college gear she'd gotten used to using. Then she dragged two bags of arrows loose.

Watching them, Kyan shook his head in amazement. "You're really going to do this aren't you? This is all really... real, isn't it?"

Luke shrugged. "You saw it, man. I can't make you believe it, but you saw it."

"Yeah, I guess I did."

"I know it doesn't make a lot of sense right now, but we've got to do this." Luke unzipped the bag, sliding the Hawkshot loose before looking up at his friends. "I know you don't like Oaklynn – hell, you don't know her – nobody is expecting any more from you."

"Uh-huh." Kyan looked to Kasper. "So these... poachers, yeah? They're the ones offing people in the woods?"

"Yeah."

"So they caused... all this shit?"

"Pretty much." Kasper reached out a hand to him, his face earnest. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for the trouble with you and me. You didn't know what was happening. Maybe, now that you do, when this is done we can forget all that."

Kyan hesitated, brow furrowing, but slowly he relented, edging forward and extending an arm. He clasped Kasper's hand in his and the pair shook firmly. Luke watched in a kind of fascination, like he was watching the signing of a diplomatic treaty. They parted after a moment and Kyan pressed his lips together, his jaw clenched tightly as he stared at the Karkadda.

"God damn it," he said eventually. He closed his eyes for a moment, pressing the clenched fist of one hand into his palm. "Okay, yeah, I'm coming with you."

Aliyah rounded on him aghast. "You... what..." She shook her head, the unable to find the words to adequately express her disbelief. "Kyan, you just want to... dive into all this?!"

"No, I don't want to," he shot back. "I don't know what to think right now, but if I let you all go out there and something happens to you..." He shook his head. "Nah, nah, I'm not having that hanging over me for the rest of my damn life."

"Well... what about me?!" She looked at the others. "I-I-I want to help but I can't do this. I'm not-,"

"Ally, it's okay," Gabi said quickly, stepping over and gathering her into a tight embrace. "No-one's going to make you go out there."

"Some one should still call the cops," Kenny offered, standing up. "You know, in case this all goes sideways."

Extracting herself from Gabi's hug, Aliyah threw her hands up in dismay. "What exactly am I going to tell them?"

"Anything – just get them out to that lodge."

"Oh great."

Kenny tapped his temple with an index finger. "You're the smart one, Ally. You'll figure it out." He shifted his attention to Kyan. "You sure about this?"

"Probably about as sure as you are."

"Shit, I'll buy that." Kenny grinned. He stepped forward and the pair clasped hands, before yanking into a tight embrace. "Alright, I gotta get home and arm up."

Stepping back, he slid his phone from his pocket and started dialling. He turned away, raising his phone to his ear. A tinny, gruff voice was just audible in the room.

"Hey, dad? Yeah, yeah, it's me. No, I'm good, but I just realised I left some stuff at home – some books for class tomorrow. You think you could pick me up?" He grimaced; flashed the group a tentative thumbs up. "Absolutely – I'm cooking next time the guys come up. Hand on heart. Yeah, the drop off outside the admissions office. You're a saint, Pete Matlock."

Kenny hung up the phone, shuddered violently and took a deep breath before turning back to them. "Alright, I'll meet you guys out at that mile marker. Keep in touch."

"Kenny-,"

"No, no, don't do it." He wagged an admonishing finger. "I'll see you out there."

Then he was off, bounding into the night and leaving the others to raid their makeshift armoury. Rubbing his eyes with both hands, Luke returned his attention to stringing the Hawkshot up, checking the arrows and their fletchings were straight. Kyan wandered the cages for a moment, then held out a hand to Gabi. She tossed him the keys.

He opened up a locker and extracted a metal baseball bat. Moving out into some open space, he gave it a few experimental swings, creating sharp, thrumming sounds in the air. Luke had no doubts about the kind of damage the bat could do when driven by Kyan's powerful arms. The other boy twirled the bat once before resting it across his shoulder and nodding to them. He was ready.

Luke stood up, slinging the Hawkshot across his back. A few feet away Gabi pulled back on her bowstring with a critical eye, making sure it had the right tension.

He could see her hands shaking.

Moving across to her, he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

Gabi nodded, letting the bowstring twang. "Yeah, I just..." A smile flickered on her face. "Nobody came to college to do this, huh?"