Where the Predators Prowl [Ch 51, 52, 53]

51: Deal with the Devil

Candace scrambled to her feet, her hotel robe falling open as she snatched her silver dress from a chair and wriggled into it with frantic speed. The laid-back atmosphere had evaporated, leaving behind the sharp, cold reality of a crisis.

My own mind was a maelstrom. Losing Nessy again. The thought wasn't rational; it was a primal, instinctual certainty that clawed at me from that deep, tree-like part of my soul. It was the same hollow ache I’d felt in those fragmented dreams, the echo of a loss so profound it had apparently survived the death of a universe. 

I wouldn't, couldn't, let it happen again.

The Krishna temple with its Astral-fungi infected monks was revealed to be a horrific problem far too big for a single human and his pack of four prads to handle.

There was only one move, one desperate gambit that had any chance of working. I grabbed my phone, fingers flying across the cracked screen to find Principal Kerberos's contact number, which Kristi added to my directory.

"What are you doing?" Adelle asked, now fully dressed and strapping her newly-bound armor over her outfit.

"Making a deal with a devil," I replied, pressing the call button.

The phone rang twice before a deep, familiar, deep voice of the old dog answered before I even said anything. "Mr. Foster. To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

"I have a proposition for you," I said.

"I'm listening," Kerberos replied.

"You want me to go on your Omnithornia field trip, yes?" I stated. "You want me to cooperate with you, endure more interviews from Omnicorp Agents?"

"An astute observation."

"Then you're going to help me. As much as you are able. Show me that you can be trusted," I took a deep breath. 

“Help you with?”

"My packmate, Nessy Whitepaw, is being held against her will by the Krishna monks at the LoomCo bookstore in Moonshard Plaza."

"And you wish for me to intervene?" Kerberos asked.

"I want you, Professor Fern and her TA to come there ASAP and assist me in taking back what belongs to my pack," I said firmly. "Use your authority. Get Fern to bring all of her Elementals. Use whatever power you have. Do that, and I'll go on your fieldtrip. I'll even smile for the promotional photos or whatever."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. I could almost picture the half-Omnid weighing his options.

"That is a... compelling offer, Mr. Foster," he said finally. "Lucky for you Miss Fern and her TA are in my office right now. We will meet you at the plaza in five minutes.”

I hung up and texted Kristi to get to the Moonshard Plaza asap as Nessy was in danger of being mind-wiped by Krishna monks and then looked up at the fox and cheetah. 

“Adelle, can you get us to Moonshard Plaza quickly?”

"I can shadowstep there, yeh,” she affirmed. “It’s not far.”

“Let's go!” I barked, holding the extradimensional bag open for Candace who was also now fully armored up. The fox quickly climbed inside without a word. I followed, snapping the flap closed. 

"Hold on to your butts!" Adelle's voice came from outside as she picked up the bag and took off.

The sensation of shadowstepping while being fully awake inside a dimensional bag was like being put in a blender set to 'cosmic horror.' Muffled sounds of Adelle's panting and the rhythmic thud of her paws hitting pavement were the only anchors to reality that was half void and half something else, possibly alive and possibly dead at the same time.

When the motion and the maddening hallucinations finally stopped, the bag was flung open. Adelle stood there, leaning against a storefront, her chest heaving. "We're here," she panted. “M’outta mana. Get out. Ness is still on the stage!”

Candace and I leapt out of the bag.

I hit the pavement running, Adelle and Candace at my side. We ran towards the edge of the lingering crowd.

Nessy stood at the edge of the gazebo, her back ramrod straight. Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides, her voice echoing like booming thunder, amplified with Riffweld. The monks holding onto Nessy seemed a bit confused, clearly not sure how to proceed.

"I am not a project to be fixed!" the husky snarled at Vivianne and Sage. "I'm not a child who needs you to decide what's best for me!”

"Nessy, come on, you're not thinking clearly," Sage attempted to reason. "You've been subjected to high-level binding magic. Your emotional state is compromised. We are simply trying to help you!"

"Help me?" Nessy barked. "How the fuck is using a nullifier on me 'helping' me? The Binding voicecast I had on to share my music with Alec is obviously disconnected now, you twat-knobs, and I'm still not changing my mind!”

"We were trying to free you!" Vivianne shot back, her orange fox tail bristling. "From that damned Binder and her human pet! They've twisted you around, made you think you're one of them!"

Sister Zheniya spoke up, still holding the nullifier pyramid. "Child, please. Let us not make a scene. Come inside the bookstore. We can have some calming tea and discuss this rationally without shouting in public."

“Rationally?! RATIONALLY?” The husky’s voice amplified even more, entwining with itself. “How about you GO FUCK YOURSELF! LET GO OF ME YOU! I DO NOT CONSENT!!!!”

Her scream, amplified by the mana pouring through the dragonheart laurel reached a new decibel. The windows of the LoomCo bookstore detonated. The plastic bookholders cracked, books spilling out. The wolf monks howled, letting go of the husky, clawing at their ears. 

The crowd wobbled, wincing in discomfort.

The nullifier crystal pyramid held by Sister Zheniya detonated, shattering into a hundred pieces.

The sound of Nessy's amplified scream was a physical thing, a shockwave of pure Riffweld power that sent a tremor through the flagstones of Moonshard Plaza. 

For a heartbeat, the world hung suspended in the ringing aftermath. 

Shattered glass from the LoomCo storefront glittered on the ground. Books lay scattered, their pages fluttering in the sudden, shocked silence.

The crowd, which had moments before been a murmuring sea of onlookers, was now a frozen painting of stunned faces. 

Into this frozen moment, we arrived, a rush of calvary down the cobblestone street.

Adelle, Candace, and I pushed through the stunned outer edges of the crowd like a single, determined unit. People parted before us, their eyes wide and uncomprehending. All they saw was a cheetah, a fox, and a human moving with a dangerous purpose.

Then Nessy saw me.

Her absolute fury that had shattered glass seemed to drain away, replaced by a singular, desperate focus. She didn't call my name. She didn't need to. She launched herself off the edge of the gazebo, a black-and-white blur of motion, and ran towards us before anyone could stop her.

The husky girl crashed into my arms with a force that nearly knocked me off my feet, burying her face in my chest and clinging to me as if I were the only solid thing in a world that had just tried to tear us apart. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her tight, my own fear and anger solidifying into a cold, hard knot of protective resolve.

"I've got you," I murmured into her hair. "You're safe."

Adelle and Candace moved to flank us without a word. The cheetah's knuckles cracked as she flexed her fists, her violet-blue eyes scanning the monks with undisguised hostility. Candace stood at my other side, a sly, dangerous smirk on her face, her gray eyes already alight with the silver gleam of her Binder magic. We were a fortress, with Nessy at our center.

Just as the crowd, monks and Nessy's friends began to recover their composure, a new sound ripped through the plaza—a high-pitched, ferocious hum that escalated into a deafening roar. Every head snapped upward as a sleek, single-person glider screamed out of the sky. It was a black, aggressive-looking machine, more weapon than vehicle, covered in sharp, triangular armored plates.

Kristi was at the controls, her expression a mask of cold fury. She was moving at well over a hundred kilometers per hour. The raptor girl pulled the glider into a tight spin directly above the LoomCo booths, the backwash from the electrogravitic engine blasting sideways into the Nessy-soundwave damaged shop, sending books flying. 

A wave of superheated air torched the top of the bookstore's decorative awning, causing the fabric to blacken and smolder. The shop's barrier shield activated, not allowing the rune-covered brickwork to be melted.

With a final, thunderous roar, Kristi brought the glider to a dead stop, hovering directly above us. The crowd flinched back from the noise of her arrival. Then everyone saw what she was holding.

It was a Tommy Gun. 

An actual, vintage, drum-magazine submachine gun, gleaming with magisteel and glowing with powerful enchantments. She held it in her dark claws, pointing it directly at the group of monks, her message clear and unambiguous, her feathery mane fully upright like an emerald crown.

“Get back from my packmates!” she growled. 

“Kristi?!” Katherine choked. “Have you lost your mind?! What the fuck are you doing?! That’s dad’s Nemesis glider! You can’t be riding that through town!”

“Sheeet,” Kira choked. “That’s grandfather’s Decimator railgun from the fireplace mantle!”

Another sound joined the chorus—the silent, powerful hum of a high-end luxury vehicle. A sleek, black flying car, the kind that whispered of old money and untouchable power, descended into the plaza, its anti-grav systems parting the crowd like the Red Sea.

The door hissed open, and Principal Kerberos stepped out, looking as calm and authoritative as if he were stepping into his own office.

The sky, which had been a placid twilight blue, began to darken. Not with clouds, but with a presence. Another glider, this one a more utilitarian, basic, open-topped, single rider model, descended from above. Professor Fern sat at the controls, her one burning eye sweeping across the scene.

As if to complete the ensemble, a third, comically large glider that looked like a flying, white tugboat waddled down from the sky. Marlena Shashorth stood inside its cockpit, waving cheerfully at the crowd below.

The plaza was now a stage, and we were at its center.

"What is the meaning of this nonsense?" Zheniya demanded as she stepped forward, flanked by the two massive wolf monks. 

"Nessy, what are you doing?! Get back here!" Vivianne cried out, her voice cracking with emotion. "They're manipulating you, don’t you get it! That fox is a drug-addicted Binder psychopath and her human is…!"

“Kristi, you have to bring that gun and bike back before dad finds out and flips his shit!” Kira yelled at her sister.

The scene looked like it was about to devolve into a full-blown brawl. 

I knew I had to take control.

"Candace," I said, "My voice. Amplify it. Now."

"On it, Alpha," she purred. Her paw touched my throat, and I felt a tingle as her Binding magic took hold. “Bind Loudness! Bind Authority!”

"ENOUGH!"

My voice boomed across the plaza, imbued with a magical resonance that cut through every other sound. It wasn't just loud; it carried weight and authority to it. Every head, pradavarian and human, snapped toward me. The arguments, chatter and demands died in their throats.

I gently moved Nessy behind me, stepping forward to face the monks and her former friends. "You want to talk about helping?" I began, my amplified voice ringing with cold fury. "Let's talk about the 'help' the Krishna temple TRULY offers."

I pointed a finger at Zheniya. "You prey on the confused and the vulnerable. You promise peace, but you deliver servitude. You speak of enlightenment, but you practice erasure. You have a goddamn Astral mushroom piloting your body, and you call it faith!"

A collective gasp went through the crowd. 

“What?” Zheniya choked.

"You call it a 'Well of Severance,'" I continued, my voice rising. "But it's a butcher shop for souls. You take memories, you take passion, you take love, and you feed it to your Astral fungus to grow stronger! You've been doing it to Nessy for years, trying to carve out the parts of her that make her who she is!"

My gaze shifted to Sage and Viv. "And you two idiots! You call yourselves her friends? You delivered her to them! You encouraged this! You saw a fire in her and instead of helping her tend it, you tried to smother it, helping these monsters steal her dreams."

Nessy clung to me fiercely from behind now, growling in agreement.

Something inside me snapped. Something long forgotten roared up like a dragon waking up from its thousand-year-old nap.

The branches of my infinite tree wobbled across the ocean of my soul. I saw the orange fox girl with aquamarine eyes holding onto my hand as her body slowly calcified into black and white tiles.

“Before the Earth was devoured by Systemfall entropy, before reality was unmade… I buried your body in the Superstore, Vivianne,” I said, looking at the orange fox. “I thought that you were my friend, a Ferguson ranger worthy of being in my pack!”

Viv flinched as if struck, blinking at me in utter confusion. Sage looked pale and shaken.

"Nessy doesn't belong to you," I declared, my voice echoing off the surrounding buildings. "She doesn't belong to your temple, or your bookstore, or your twisted idea of 'help.' She belongs to my pack. And her soul, her memories, her dreams—they belong to her!"

I took another step forward, my packmates moving with me in perfect synchronicity. The four of us stood as one, a wall of defiance, Kristi hovering above us, ready to fire monster-slaying bots at the monks at my command.

"This," I said, my voice dripping with dangerous, unwavering calm, "ends now. I want my mate’s songs and dreams back. Give back what you took!”

52: Corpse Seeker

For a moment, no one moved. The crowd, caught between the defiant pack of teenagers and the orange-robed monks, simply stared.

Then, the retreat began. It wasn't a panic, not a stampede. It was a slow, collective backing away, a widening of the circle. The prads were distancing themselves from the epicenter of a growing conflict. My words about astral fungus and soul-eating had been too bizarre to process, but the raw, unyielding power in my voice and the machine gun-toting Strand raptor above me was a language every delver understood.

"Friends, please," Zhenya called to the retreating crowd. "There is no need for alarm. This is merely a misunderstanding, born from youthful passion!” Her gaze settled on me, not with anger, but with a look of profound, patronizing pity. "This young man and his pack have clearly been through a great deal recently. They are tired, stressed, and they are lashing out at those who only wish to help the community. What you see is not malice, but a cry for guidance!"

She was good. In a few sentences, she had reframed the entire situation, painting us as troubled kids and herself as the benevolent authority figure trying to manage our emotional outburst. Several onlookers nodded, their expressions softening.

Sage seized on her narrative. "Nessy, see?" He pleaded. "The temple is trying to help! Just come back to us, and we can sort this all out!"

But I wasn't going to let them control the story. I ignored Zheniya, ignored Nessy’s distraught ex-packmates, and turned my full attention to the power that had just arrived.

"Principal Kerberos," I said. "Professor Fern. TA Shashorth. You put me into your program, you asked me to be a leader. You placed the well-being of my pack in my hands during the simulation. So I'm asking you now—are you going to stand by while a threat to your entire student body operates freely within this town?"

Kerberos’s eyebrow arched up, the only outward sign that my direct address had registered.

"These 'monks,'" I continued, "are not what they seem. They are hosts. Their bodies are piloted by Astral parasites—extradimensional beings that Candace identified as 'Archangels.' They feed on prohibition, on sacrifice of emotions, on the very souls of their followers. The Well of Severance of the Krishna Temple isn't a tool for spiritual healing; it's a feeding trough for some vile Outsider entity!"

The crowd gasped. I saw a flicker of something in Kerberos's ancient eyes. 

"These outsider-infected monks are a threat to Ferguson," I stated, my words ringing with absolute conviction. "A threat to every student at your school, to every family in this town. They offer a false peace in exchange for absolute servitude to their parasitic masters. Are you going to investigate this threat, or are you going to let them continue to 'help' students like Nessy by hollowing them out from the inside? The Omnicorps you assist in employee acquisition likely won’t appreciate the fact that the prospective talents they’re looking for are being eyed by another party as a food source!”

“Ignis,” I turned to the professor. “You and I have already uncovered one dastardly plot recently. This is another. I need your help. There is something akin to a dungeon in this town and these monks are its Sentinels.”

“Sentinels?!” Zhenya sputtered. “We are not dungeon Sentinels!”

Marlena shifted her weight. Her cheerful demeanor vanished, replaced by the focused readiness of a high-level combatant. Her large body, which had seemed endearingly clumsy before, now looked like a coiled spring of immense power. Water vapor began to condense in the air around her, forming small, swirling vortexes.

Kerberos remained still, but the air around him grew heavy. He didn't cast a spell I could see, but I felt it—a deep, probing scan that seemed to peel back the layers of reality itself, his shadow splitting into three.

Zheniya’s serene smile finally faltered. "Child, your imagination is running wild. These are baseless and insulting accusations—"

“Unbind Astral Concealment!” Candace barked, pointing both of her hands forward. A ripple of something sheared reality and just for a fraction of a second, silver, monstrous blooms seemed to come into existence above the monks.

The fox fell onto one knee, Adelle grabbing her before she completely toppled over from mana-overuse.

Professor Fern’s reaction was swift. Her one burning eye narrowed to a slit. She raised a hand and barked, “Identify!”

A spell left her hand, striking the monks.

A"By the Slayer..." Ignis gasped, the flames of her mane flaring violently. “What in the Abyss are those?!”

“What did you see, Ignis?” Marnela asked.

"Alec's right," Fern breathed, her entire body blazing with dragonfire flickers now. "They're... infested. All of them. There's a... a lattice of something inside their nervous systems!"

At Fern’s words the crowd of pradavarians seemed to turn against the monks, eyes igniting with silver, claws out, postures changing to attack mode.

Kerberos barked out an eerie, tripe-echo laugh. 

“You… you don’t understand!” Zheniya uttered, stepping back. “The path to Goloka Vrindavan is paved with sacrifice. We offer freedom, liberation from the pain of the infinite cycle! We… We help everyone in town…”

“Ah,” Kerberos slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a black keychain with a single button. “It seems my town has a bit of an infestation problem. And I do so hate outsider pests."

The world didn't so much as warp as it tore. The sleek black lines of the Principal’s luxury glider split along seams that shouldn't have existed, its pristine surface peeling back not like metal, but like the chitinous plates of some impossible insect. A low-frequency hum vibrated through the flagstones of the plaza, a sound felt more in the teeth and bones than heard with the ears. From the now-gaping hole where the passenger compartment used to be, a space that was clearly larger than the car itself, something unfolded.

It was a nightmare given crystalline form. A massive, blood-red, centipede-like monstrocity, easily fifty feet long, poured out into the plaza with a speed that defied physics. It didn't crawl; it flowed, a crimson blur of faceted ruby-like segments and countless needle-like legs that scrabbled against the stone. 

The air around it screamed, a high-pitched whine that was the sound of reality itself being displaced by its supersonic passage. Its head was a terrifyingly simple thing—a tapered, crystalline battering ram.

"Corpse Seeker," Kerberos said as if he was ordering some groceries at the market. "Contain the orangell-robed prads."

The command was all it took.

The creature moved. 

One moment it was coiled beside the car, the next it was a streak of red lightning cutting through the stunned monks. Zheniya's serene expression finally broke, her face a mask of pure terror as the creature was upon them. There was no struggle, no fight. There wasn't time. The Corpse Seeker's blood-red liquid crystal maw opened, and it scooped them up—Zheniya and every orange-robed figure at the booths—in a single, fluid motion, demolishing the booths into splinters, torn paper and flying scraps of cloth.

“Return,” Kerberos said.

The Corpse Seeker recoiled, inverted itself somehow, changing direction and coiling back to the Principal's side with the same unnatural motion made up of a hundred legs comprised from liquid crystals. 

The monks were simply gone from the front of the shop.

I saw what had become of them in another moment. All of them were suspended in the translucent, blood-red crystal of the thing's body like ancient insects trapped in amber. Their faces were frozen in silent screams, their limbs twisted at unnatural angles, their orange robes splayed out.

A collective, horrified gasp went through the crowd. 

Vivianne and Sage stood frozen in place, their faces ashen, the owl hyperventilating. 

Katherine and her sisters had flattened themselves against a storefront, their earlier arrogance completely evaporated, replaced by the primal fear of prey that had just seen the absolute, apex predator.

My own pack was reeling. Adelle, who had been ready to punch her way through the monks, was staring at the Corpse Seeker with wide, awestruck eyes, a low growl rumbling in her chest that was more respect than aggression. Kristi's gun was fixated on the floating figures within the creature's body. Nessy was clinging to my back like a steel clamp, her body trembling uncontrollably.

And Candace... Candace was staring at the Corpse Seeker not with fear, but with a kind of morbid, professional fascination. I could see the silver light flickering in her eyes as she tried to process the sheer magical complexity of what she was seeing. “Wow,” she uttered. “Now that's a serious war machine.”

"A simple sanitation measure," Kerberos announced. “All is well now. Go about your business. The Pradavarian Senate Administration will deal with this matter.”

The crowd began melting away, moving with a quiet, desperate urgency to be anywhere else. 

He turned his gaze to me, and for the first time, I felt I was seeing the real Kerberos—not a school principal, not a corporate recruiter, but an inhuman monster born of a cryptid mother from another dimension, who viewed our entire world as his personal property to be managed.

“Absolute barrier, 10 meters,” he said.

A barrier shield projected out of the corpse seeker, muting and dimming the world around us.

"Mr. Foster," he said, the too-wide smile returning to his face. "Your assistance in identifying this particular pestilence is greatly appreciated." 

I swallowed hard, the magnitude of what had just happened crashing down on me. I hadn't just made a deal with a devil. I had pointed Kerberos toward his enemies, and he had unmade them without a second thought.

"What happens to them now?" I asked, gesturing to the trapped monks.

"They will be... interrogated," Kerberos said pleasantly. "Their parasitic masters will be studied. If the pradavarian hosts cannot be saved, then they will be disposed of.”

“This is just some of them. There are more monks at the temple,” I said. “There’s a Well there that consumes souls, feeds on dreams. It took what belongs to my mate.”

"Your 'mate'?" the half-Omnid repeated, the word rolling off his tongue with a certain relish. "My, my, Mr. Foster. You do move quickly. Barely in town for two days and you've already established a pack, defeated a dungeon simulation, uncovered a parasitic infestation, and now you're making demands regarding soul-theft." He chuckled. "You are proving to be far more entertaining than your dossier suggested."

"This isn't entertainment," I said. "This is a rescue mission."

"Is it now?" The Principal tilted his head. "And you believe this... 'Well of Severance'... is a threat worthy of my personal attention?"

"It absolutely is," I stated. "It's a subtle poison that's been corrupting Ferguson for years, right under your nose. It’s the heart of their operation. You should deal with it, as you have dealt with the monks."

Kerberos's smile finally faded, replaced by a look of sharp, clinical interest. "Your proposition is... intriguing. Perhaps a Quest is in order."

[Quest: Pest Control]

[Objective: Assist the half-Omnid administrator in eliminating a rival parasitic entity.]

[Reward: The potential return of your mate's stolen memories and a slightly lower chance of being abducted by interdimensional corporations.]

[Warning: Your new ally is far more dangerous than your enemy. Try not to get 'sanitized.' Y/N]

I blinked the snarky notification away. "So you'll help us?"

"Hrmmm… No. I will provide my… oversight," Kerberos corrected. "The actual 'pest control' will be handled by your team. Consider it... an extracurricular practical examination." 

“What?” I sputtered. “What kind of a shit authority figure are you?”

“The kind whose job it is to evaluate the capabilities of prospective young delvers,” Kerberos smiled. “Yes, I certainly could send my Corpse Seeker to plow right through the wards and walls of the Krishna temple. But, that takes away an opportunity for… greater evaluation of your prowess.”

“Haven’t you fucking evaluated us enough at school?” I grumbled.

“Yes, I’ve seen what you’ve done at your delving sim,” the half-Omnid nodded. “But that was you facing a bunch of pradavarians pretending to be dungeon monsters. Now, I wish to see how you will deal with an outsider infestation, Mr. Foster.”

“Why?” I growled. “What happens if I refuse?”

“If you refuse, Mr. Foster?” the Principal’s voice was a placid sea over an abyss of monstrous intent. “Then the problem of the Well of Severance will no longer be your personal concern. It becomes an… Omnid administrative matter.”

“Meaning what?”

He let the words hang in the air. “My Corpse Seeker is not a surgical instrument, it is a single-minded machine, capable of retrieving physical objects or destroying whatever I point it at. The souls, the memories, the dreams you seek to reclaim for your mate?” He gestured vaguely toward the trapped figures within the creature’s translucent body. “They do not exist inside a physical body that can be recognized or fetched by my Seeker. There's a very high chance that the temple’s ward will resist the Corpse Seeker, which means that the temple, along with everything inside it, would be… set ablaze with dragonfire. Meaning that whatever Astral entity lives inside that Well will be destroyed along with your mate’s memories.”

53: The Cleaners

My blood ran cold. Kerberos wasn’t threatening me. He was simply offering me a choice between losing Nessy’s songs and doing things myself.

“You’ve established yourself as an Alpha,” Kerberos continued, his gaze flicking to where Nessy clung to me. “You claim this husky is your ‘mate.’ Are you prepared to fight for her? Or will you delegate her salvation to an authority you so clearly despise, and hope my… methods are gentle?” He added darkly. “Because, I assure you, they are not.”

This wasn’t a choice. It was a test. Another one.

“The trip to Omnithornia is a reward for demonstrating the capability of your entire team,” Kerberos said smoothly, linking everything together in one neat, manipulative package. “Once there, you will be contacted by Omnicorp Agents who might wish to… acquire your services. As your Omnid Guardian, I will advertise your team to the other Omnids, make sure that you are not taken advantage of.”

“No lifetime contracts,” I said.

“I will make sure that you're only offered part time work as a group then,” he said. “Now, show me you are worthy of my interest, Mr. Foster. Show me you can solve a problem… surgically. You have a talented Binder on hand to unbind whatever Astral essence it is you wish to retrieve from the well. I do not. You have an Astralscope while I have a nation-cleaving hammer.” The half-Omnid pointed at Candace and then at his Corpse Seeker. “Show me that you can wield your Binder like a surgeon's knife.”

I looked at Nessy sky blue eyes. She stared back at me with absolute trust and my decision solidified. There was no other path.

“Fine,” I said. “We’ll do it. I mentally summoned up the Quest from the Principal and accepted it.”

“Excellent.” Kerberos beamed. “I do so enjoy a well-motivated student. Do try not to disappoint me. I find disappointment so… inefficient. Barrier off.”

The absolute barrier shield faded away, revealing the damaged shop.

With a final, chillingly pleasant nod, the Principal and his crystalline horror turned and walked back into the distorted opening of the glider. The vehicle’s panels sealed shut, the eldritch seams vanishing as if they had never been there. With a silent hum, it lifted from the plaza and disappeared into the twilight sky, leaving a unnerving silence in its wake.

For a moment, we all just stood there, the reality of what had just transpired washing over us. The last of the crowd had vanished, leaving only my pack, the professors, Sage and Vivianne and Strand sisters staring at us with wide eyes.

“Nessy,” Sage began, looking at the husky through his und magistee frames now missing the glass lenses.

“No. Screw off,” Nessy growled at him. “Just fucking screw off, Sage! If you’re too stubborn to understand that I’ve chosen Alec as my mate, I'm done being your friend.”

“Kristi,” Katherine began. “You have to bring that glider and gun back home. Dad will…”

“Don’t give a flying fuck,” Kristi snapped at her sister. “Fuck off, Kat.”

The raw focused fury in her voice seemed enough to make Katherine fall silent for a moment. This wasn't the usual sibling rivalry; this was a line being drawn in the sand.

Vivianne, however, wasn't so easily deterred. She pushed past Sage, her aquamarine eyes pinning me with a look of raw… something, some edge of impossible recognition.

"What did you mean?" she demanded, her voice tight. "'I buried you.' 'I thought you were my friend.' What the hell was that about, Foster?"

I met her eyes, seeing not just anger, but a deep, unsettling fear. She didn't understand, and a part of her was terrified of what the answer might be.

"I'm not really sure," I said. "It's like... this isn't the first time any of us have been here." I looked from her to Nessy, then back again. "Maybe we were friends before. Maybe you both died in my arms in the Superstore. All I know is that when I saw you today, standing there, I felt, remembered awful grief, a terrible loss. Another life before this one, perhaps.”

Vivianne stared at me, her tough gunslinger facade cracking. For a moment, I saw the vulnerable girl beneath—the one who had tried to protect her best friend in the only way she knew how. She opened her mouth to say something, then seemed to think better of it. With a sharp, frustrated fox-growl, she grabbed Sage by the arm. "Fine. We're leaving."

"But Viv—" he started to protest.

"Now, Sage." Her words were final. She pulled him toward the shattered LoomCo storefront, not looking back.

Katherine, never one to be ignored, tried to regain control of the situation. "Kristi, I'm serious! If you don't return that glider—"

"Katherine Strand." Professor Fern boomed. The Instructor strode toward the raptor sisters, her one burning eye fixing them with a glare that promised nothing good. "This is no longer a school matter, or a family squabble. Team Foster is now operating under the direct authority of Ferguson's Administrative oversight of the Pradavarian Senate Executive representative Archmage Amadeus on a matter of critical importance to town security. Your presence here is no longer required."

She didn't raise her voice, but her words carried the weight of absolute command. It was a masterful move, framing our temple-raiding quest as an official, sanctioned mission, effectively shielding us from further interference.

"Now," Fern continued, her flaring eye sweeping over all the Strand sisters, "I suggest you and your packmates return home and reflect on the day's lessons. Unless you'd like to discuss your multiple failures in today's practical with me personally."

That was enough. Katherine shot me a look of pure venom, but she knew she was outmaneuvered. With a final, disgusted snort, she gathered her remaining sisters and stalked away, their retreat a storm of resentful muttering and ruffled feathers.

"Everyone," I called out. "To the TA's glider."

Marlena, who had been observing the entire drama with a placid, almost detached curiosity, gave a cheerful bark and popped open the hatch-door to her massive glider. "All aboard the fun tugboat!" she chirped.

I helped Adelle get the wobbling, exhausted Candace inside, helping her sit down on one of the bench seats. Nessy climbed in after, pressing close to my side.

"What a fucking day," she murmured against my shoulder.

"It's not over yet," I replied grimly, watching as Kristi's black Nemesis glider and Fern's utilitarian bike lifted off, taking up flanking positions on either side of us. We rose into the air, three vehicles moving as one, leaving the Moonshard Plaza behind.

“So, where are we going, Captain?” The seal asked, turning to me.

“Moonshard Inn,” I told her.

“Got it,” the TA nodded, spinning her ship’s wheel. The crowd of Elementals followed us like a sinister cloud.

"So," Candace said with a yawn, breaking the tense silence as we soared over the town. "We're really going to storm a temple full of magic mushroom monks and a soul-eating well?"

I looked at Nessy, whose head was resting on my chest, her breathing finally starting to even out. I looked at Candace now resting on Adele's lap. I thought of Kristi's fierce, protective rage and Adelle's loyalty.

This was my pack. My responsibility. My family.

"Yes," I said, my voice leaving no room for doubt. "We are."

. . .

Marlena picked up a magitek microphone, amplifying her voice outside of her ship. “Feel free to land on my deck, you two. We’ve got things to discuss with our Captain.”

Fern and Kristi landed their gliders on the wide deck of Marlena’s flying boat, dismounting and heading inside.

"You know, Alec dear," the seal girl turned to me, "you were quite something in my body. Very decisive! That steamroller maneuver was inspired! And that punch you gave poor Ignis? An absolute knockout!"

“How did you even know what I did?” I wondered.

“Watched the Astralcast of the whole thing with Fern and Kerb,” Marlena replied. “Absolutely hilarious. I give your piloting of my physical form a solid nine out of ten! You lose one point for not honking while you flattened everyone with my bod. Honking is key to psychological warfare."

"I was Arfing," I said.

Marlena barked a laugh.

"Which reminds me," she added, "I do believe this quest makes this pack an official team of seven now, doesn't it?"

We all stared at her. "Seven?" Adelle echoed.

"Well, of course!" Marlena declared. "There's you four, your lovely human Alpha… with whom Ignis is totally smitten now. Plus me, as I go wherever Igni goes as her TA. Yay, learning!”

"You can't just declare yourself part of our pack," Kristi commented as Ignis stiffened where she stood.

"Why not?" Marlena chirped. "I'm fun at parties! I always wanted to be in a pack, but people are too scared of how big I am. Ignis might not look it, but she’s definitely pleased to be part of the big action! Perhaps not a lifetime pack, but I’m totally down for a temp pack just for today to obliterate the Astral parasite infestation.”

The thought of the fearsome pyromancer being "pleased" about anything was a strange one. "Wait,” I said. “Kerberos was chatting about Omnids in front of you. Are you going to Omnithornia with us too?" I asked.

"Heck yeah I am!" Marlena confirmed. "Got my golden ticket from the old dog and everything. The principal was giving us the grand tour of his 'Omnid Superstate' PowerPoint presentation when your call came through. It was all very... corporate. Lots of boring charts about genetic compatibility and interdimensional trade agreements. I was about to fall asleep. Thanks for saving me from dying of boredom! I for one am mega-excited to punch some monks."

“I vote we keep the seal,” Adelle commented. “She makes a good couch.”

The Moonshard Inn's landing tower loomed ahead, its soft lights a welcome beacon. Marlena expertly guided her tugboat glider to a gentle stop on the main docking platform.

. . .

A few minutes later, we were all crowded back into the hotel suite. 

"Before we go assaulting any temples, I need noms," Candace declared. "Much carbs. And possibly something deep-fried. And mana wine. Gonna order takeout. Let me know what you all want. Ness, crown me so I don't pass out.”

Nessy took the dragonheart laurel from her head and put it onto the fox. I saw the silver fire return to the fox girl’s eyes as she absorbed the artifact's mana. 

Everyone listed their food of choices as Candace pulled out her phone, her thumb a blur as she navigated the Pawber Eats app. "Deluxe pizza platter, six raw steaks, three orders of dragon wings, garlic knots, and a case of Eldrossi wine."

While we waited for our noms to arrive, a new, more focused energy settled over the room. Adelle claimed a spot next to me and Nessy. Candace sat on my lap. Krisit sat behind me and wrapped her feathery hands around me, resting her chin on my shoulder. In minutes I was completely engulfed by prad girls.

Marlena let out another deep, barky laugh at us. “Ah, such possessive love!” 

She and Fern took seats on the opposite couch.

"Alright," Fern said. "The Omnid Administrator gave us a mission. We need a plan to breach the Krishna temple, navigate its defenses, neutralize its... leadership, and retrieve whatever was stolen from Nessy's soul. All without getting ourselves killed."

"Sounds easy enough," Marlena chirped, pulling a small bag of salted fish from a pocket in her hexasuit and offering it around. "Who wants a snack?"

Adelle immediately accepted the salted fish, chewing on it thoughtfully.

“How much time do we have?” I asked.

“If we want to surprise them, we have less than two hours,” Nessy said. “The book sale was supposed to end at sunset, at Eight PM.”

“What else?" Ignis asked.

All eyes turned to Nessy. "The temple has three levels," the husky said. "Ground floor is public—the refectory, meditation halls, gardens. The second floor has the dormitories and libraries. The Well... the Well is in the sub-level. In the heart of the catacombs, beneath the main prayer hall."

"Wards?" Fern pressed.

“No idea,” Nessy said. 

“Probably enough to hold off an army,” Candace said. “They’ve been fermenting in Ferguson for a while since the Slayer’s church moved to a new, bigger building with seats from that old temple in 2004.”

“How do we get in?” Addie asked.

“We pretend to require a cleansing after a traumatic event in town,” I said. “Let the monks take us to the well.”

“Ah,” the cheetah nodded. “And once we’re there we begin punching. Got it.”