Disappearances and Departures

It’s been a while, hasn’t it?  There’s really no excuse for why I’ve been so quiet.  I haven’t been somehow incapacitated, and it’s not like nothing notable has happened.  In fact, something pretty notable has happened recently.  But still, I’ve been fairly content, and I didn’t want to mess that up.  Blogging always tends to bring up depressing thoughts and memories.  I came here to get out of the cold—and not just metaphorically.  Some fellowship each day keeps the Cold Boy at bay or something along those lines.

I’ve left Rogue Shadow’s place, which will of course need some explanation.  I’ve mentioned that there’s something that seems a bit…off about him.  That’s probably because there is.

A few weeks ago, we were all outside in Shadow’s yard.  I’ve been spending most of my time training.  I haven’t been improving much, but I don’t have a lot of time to practice while traveling and just brushing up on my technique helps a lot.  That’s what I was doing at the time.  Keikan was talking to Merciful, and Shadow was on a laptop.  Then, without warning, Shadow stood up.

“I’m afraid I have to go,” he announced.  “It would appear that a runner needs my help.”

And that’s when weird things started happening.  He held up a hand and a sort of…portal opened up.  At first I thought it was the Path of Black Leaves.  I’ve never actually seen the Path, which is why I thought that’s what he was using at first.  However, after just a few seconds of looking at it, I could tell that it was pretty clearly not the Path.  The accounts I’ve seen and heard differ, but from my understanding the Path of Black Leaves is a somewhat spooky place and contains, at the very least, Black Leaves.  Beyond the portal Shadow created was a meadow.  A bright, perfectly healthy-looking meadow with a few perfectly normal trees.  Not the Path.

Then he stepped through it, it closed behind him, and he was gone.  Just like that.

I’ll admit, the three of us freaked out a little bit.  We were still on edge in the weeks he didn’t return, but we managed to keep calm enough to carry on.  We continued with what we had been doing.  Nothing really changed in our schedules, except for the fact that Shadow was just gone.

That lasted for about two weeks.  After that, I couldn’t stay anymore.  I can’t take advantage of someone else’s hospitality when he’s not actually there.  I just don’t feel right squatting.

I let Keikan and Merciful know what I was planning on doing.  They decided to stay for a bit longer yet.  But before I could leave, a man showed up to greet us. Tall, suited—but he definitely had a face.  A kind one, too.  Older man with grey hair and wrinkles starting to form around his grey eyes.

He introduced himself as Marcus, the estate’s butler.  That’s when I noticed something that hadn’t really occurred to me before: the grounds had been empty apart from us and Rogue Shadow.  This shouldn’t really have been that notable, but it’s a pretty big estate, and Shadow certainly has some amount of affluence.  Even now I’m wondering why exactly they aren’t around.  I could think of several widely different reasons, but none of them had particularly good implications, and it only made me want to get out sooner.

“You are Mr. Mortel, yes?” he said.

“Kenny, yeah.”

“I’m here with an explanation from the young master.  He’s a bit preoccupied right now.  He’s over in, ah, in England.”  He smiled at my reaction.  “It’s a long story.”

“Would you mind sharing?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have many details, but I might be able to fill in a few gaps about the master himself.”

“Please do.”

“Oh dear, where do I begin…?  Well, his father passed away shortly after his birth.  His mother is rarely home.  So the young master spent most of his childhood alone in the state, playing with what I had assumed was an imaginary friend.”  He nodded when he saw my eyebrows raise at the phrase.  “Indeed.  Well.  Last year, he was attending a private school.  On his way home, a girl ran into him—quite literally, actually.  She was hurt, but refused to go to a hospital.  So he brought her here to be treated.  By the time they arrived, however, the injury to her shoulder had healed.

“The young master, naturally, demanded an explanation.  After some hesitation, she explained that she was a runner, and that her name was Clair.  As for the shoulder, well, she admitted to being what she called a magic user.  He was skeptical—who wouldn’t be?—but agreed to let her stay at the estate.  Things were fine for a few weeks until she saw his ‘imaginary friend’ and bolted.  When the young master caught up to her, she told him it was something called the Cold Boy.”

I froze (er, bad choice of words.  Seized up?) at the name.  Marcus noticed.  “Ah.  You’re familiar with it, then?”

“Unfortunately.  Go on.”

“Yes, of course.  Anyway, she explained these ‘Fears’ to him.  The young master asked if there was any way they could be stopped and, as I’m sure you know, she said they couldn’t.  He asked if there was any way to stand a chance, and she offered to teach him what magic she knew.  Over the next few months, she began to teach him magic, and a bit of a relationship started forming.  I’m not one to pry, so I don’t know how close they were, but…”

He paused.  I could tell the story wasn’t going to be happy much longer.  “They had been sitting on the back lawn, facing the woods.  She had been, I believe, teaching him about charming an item?  I don’t quite remember.  But then, the Fear…the Fear that had been chasing miss Clair appeared in the doorway.”

He paused again.  I took a guess.  “The Slender Man?”

He nodded.  “The Slender Man,” he said.  “They ran to the woods, or he chased them there—I didn’t see.  When I didn’t see them outside, I thought they had maybe come in before I heard the screams from the woods.  I went looking for the master but…by the time I found them…”

Silence.  “That’s always how it is,” I said quietly.  “No one ever arrives soon enough.”

He nodded.  “The young master had large gashes all across his back.  But miss Clair, well…he was crying over her body.  It had made him watch, he said.  We buried her on a hill, not too far from the estate.  The young master spent time recovering, but once he had, he isolated himself.  Continuously studied as many blogs as he could, searching for anything he could use.  Tried astral projection, hoping he could find something there.  After he finished, he seemed…different, somehow.  Like he had found something important.  His magic became more skilled in ways Clair never could have taught him.

“He told me he would be opening up the estate to Runners who needed help, and then told the few of us working at the estate to take a reprieve.  Wait until he called for us to come back.  The young master…he seemed so lost.  So much more alone than ever before.”

Suddenly, he gave a small smile.  Not a wry smile, a genuine one.  Something that seemed out of place for the story he just told.  “But then he called me a few days ago.  He explained that he was in England and needed me to take over the estate.  He sounded…better.”

“So why is he in England?  He told us that a runner needed his help.  Do you know anything else?”

His smiled widened.  “A runner?  Interesting.  To me, his exact words were ‘I have found my reason to fight again.’”

I thanked him for his explanation and explained that I’d be taking off.  It was pretty much necessary at that point.  The story had reopened a few wounds, and I didn’t think I could stay without the Cold Boy showing up.  Before I left, I asked him to point me to where Claire was buried.

I stopped by the hill.  There was already someone there by the grave.  A man in a long brown coat.  “I thought you’d come here,” he said.  He was, for the first time I’d ever seen him, solemn.

“Last of the Last, isn’t it?”

He nodded.  “Just call me Last.  And relax.  I know you don’t have much reason to at this point, but I need you to trust me.  I’m a friend.”

“Who are you?”

He shook his head.  “I’m not ready to tell you yet.  I will.  Eventually.  But not today.”

We both stood looking at the grave for a moment.  “How did you know I’d be here?”

“Part instinct.  I hoped you wouldn’t take off before Marcus showed up, and I figured he’d mention Clair.”

“How do you know Marcus?”

She shrugged.  “I make it my business to know everyone.  I have a lot of contacts.  You of all people should know how important both friends and intelligence are.  Both keep you alive.”

“And you just guessed I’d show up at Clair’s grave, too?  Awfully big assumption.”

Last shook his head.  “That part I knew.  There’s no way you wouldn’t.  After all…we all have at least one Lily.”

We let that hang in the air for a while, staring at Clair’s grave.  “How did you know when I’d show up?” I asked him.

“I didn’t.  I’ve been here for over a week now.  Keeping tabs on the estate to make sure you didn’t leave without me noticing, of course.  But I didn’t know when.”

“Awfully long time to wait by a grave.”

“You visited here to pay your respects to more than just Clair, didn’t you?”  He nodded at Lily in my hand.  “I wasn’t waiting here just for you.  I…have a lot of people to pay respects to.”

We were silent for a long time.  “I’m sorry,” I said.  He didn’t respond.

“So why are you here?” I finally asked.

“To pay my respects.  And to finally meet you under better circumstances.”

“And?”

He gave me a sly smile.  “Am I that obvious?  All right, you caught me.  I do have a few ulterior motives.”  He handed me an envelope.  “Bus fare and a destination.  Don’t worry, it’s somewhere that’s still nice and warm.  And more arid, if this southern humidity is driving you crazy.”

“Why do you get to choose where I go?”

“Because you chose last time with Rogue Shadow.  It’s my turn.”

“But—”

“Kenny, trust me.  I have a plan.  That’s about all I have anymore.  I have a plan, and I’m good at staying alive.”

“What’s the plan?”

He grinned.  “Keep you alive.”

“Last time you sent me somewhere, I watched the Choir melt a girl’s eyes out and ran into Scarlet-marked and Greyskin hybrids.”

“No, I hooked you up with Wayward.  Lyron was your idea, and the hostel was her idea.  I can’t be held responsible for that, and keep in mind that I was the one who saved you.”

“Edwin Canis was the one that saved me.”

“Hey, I saved you first.”

“By the way,” I asked him, “Are you going to be sending Shadow money like you have been with the other people I’ve visited?”

“The other runners.  Moth only gets a free pass because he saved your life.”  He thought for a moment.  “I’m not sure about Shadow.  I should, but he doesn’t really need it…I don’t know.  We’ll talk.  If he can come up with a good use for it, maybe.”

I thought about all the places I had been.  Not just the good, safe places, but the uncomfortable, crappy ones as well.  And idea started forming.  “I might have a suggestion for him.”

He smiled.  “Good.  Now go on, you’ve got a bus to catch.”

I looked at him.  “You not coming?”

She shook his head.  “No.  I want to stay here just a little longer.  I still need to pay respects to, um…to her.  My Lily.  My Clair.”  Neither of us turned to look at each other as I left, but he did speak up at one point.

“I’ll see you later, Kenny.  Good luck.”

Rogue Shadow

As I've said before, I've been on my way to visit Rogue Shadow.  Well, today I finally arrived.

I had sent him an e-mail letting him know when I was close, but I wasn't expecting what happened when I arrived.  When I got to the address, he was already there, standing rigidly at the end of the driveway, hands clasped behind his back.

He was dressed all in black.  Black shirt, black pants, black trenchcoat, black boots.  His blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail.  Now, I don't like forming first impressions, but something about how he was standing and how he was dressed made a bit uncomfortable.  I also wasn't sure how long he had been standing there waiting for me, and the thought that he may have been standing there like that all day was a little unnerving.

"Hey.  Shadow, right?"

He nodded.  "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Mr. Mortel."  He held out his hand, and I took it to shake.

"Yeah.  Nice to meet you."

"If you follow me, I'll take you to your room, then introduce you to the others."

Shadow's got a pretty expansive estate.  It took a bit to get to the house and down the hall, and the room he showed me was pretty well-furnished.  "This is where you'll be staying," he told me.  "I imagine you're tired from your journey, so I'll let you get some rest. The bathroom is across the hall, and dinner will be at 7:00. Let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks," I said.  "That'd be great. I'll see you then, and thank you so much for taking me in like this."

 I took a shower then, followed by a nap.  The shower was great, the bed was warm, and I almost slept through the alarm I had set for 6:55.  Dinner was chicken Parmesan, garlic bread, and salad.  That's where I met Keikan and Merciful.  I'd tell you more about them but it's been an exhausting day so I'll save it for the next post.

Shadow, though...he's kind of strange.  He's got this almost robotic or military manner about him.  Always perfect posture.  Always composed.  I asked Keikan afterwards if he felt like there was something just a bit...off about him.  He and Merciful noticed it too, but apparently he's shown them nothing but kindness.

So I guess that, for now, I'll just have to wait and see what exactly is up with my host.

New Year's Reflections

And so the New Year passes.

My resolution is obvious.  It's the same resolution that all runners have.  Probably the same resolution that all proxies have, too.  Just a simple "stay alive."

After my encounter with Whisper, I decided it would be best to lay low for a bit, especially since anyone who reads my blog knows where I'm heading: to visit Rogue Shadow.  So I've let him know that I'll be a bit delayed since I'm moving slowly and more erratically.  I don't trust hitchhiking at this point anymore, so it's traveling on foot, or public transportation.

I have my driver's license license and savings from my parents.  It might almost be worth looking into getting a car of my own.  Maybe.

I've also decided that I should cut off contact with Canis.  It's maybe not a smart move, and I know that he's not going to be happy about it, but I don't fully trust him.  I've been thinking about the Ten Masks.  They mentioned their names, and after thinking about it a while, I thing I've figured out what they meant.

Magpie.  Gabe.  Phones.  Crimson.
A Bird.  Short for Gabriel.  Relating to sound.  A shade of red.
The Convocation.  The Archangel.  The Choir.  The Red Cap.

Canis.  Wolf.

The Black Dog.

I don't know if he's a Mask or not.  He acts like he's hunting them.  But both he and the Masks have shown an incredible ability to track me down.  And his saving me from Gabe was a huge coincidence.

There are no coincidences.

I don't know what he's up to.  I'd like to think that he's on my side because he hasn't made any attempts to kill me.  But I also don't know what the Masks are up to.  Maybe it's some crazy gambit and they've got some purpose for making me think Canis is going up against them.

There's also the fact that I checked out the post Moth put up about how he saved me.  The man who gave him instructions to where I was--that sounded a lot like Last of the Last, which means that he's "A Friend," as he likes to call himself.

He caused me to encounter Wayward.  He saved me at the Hostel.  He sent Moth to help me.  And if that tells me one thing, it's this: he understands at least some of what's going on.  And since Canis and the Ten Masks are being tight-lipped, he's my best bet at figuring out what that is.

I should go now, though.  I'll let you know when I get to Shadow's.

Abduction and Escape

A lot's happened in the past few days.  I'm going to try to start from the beginning the best I can.

After leaving Magpie and Crimson, I started heading down south somewhere warmer.  I had invitations from a few places around Georgia and Florida, and wandering is always more tolerable with a destination.

I think it was somewhere in Tennessee that I got picked up.  It was a car.  The driver was a woman with bright red hair who was probably in her late twenties, with a black-haired young girl in the backseat.

"Hey, thanks for stopping," I told her.  "I'm heading somewhat southeast.  Does that work for you?"

"No problem," she said.  "Do unto others, right?  I wouldn't want to be ignored.  We're going as far as Murfreesboro.  Is that all right?"

I nodded, but to be honest, I had no clue where Murfreesboro was.  That's how things go sometimes.  I wonder if other hitchhikers familiarize themselves with cities and the like beforehand.  "Yeah, as far as you can go would be great.  I'm Jason," I told her, using a random name.  I never use my real name when dealing with strangers unless I have to.

"I'm Sierra," she said, offering her hand to shake.  "That's my sister Rei."

"Nice to meet you," I told her.  We fell silent as she drove off.  Shortly after that, I felt Rei kicking the back of my seat.  I tried to ignore it.

"Rei, sweetie, please stop that."

"No!"

"It's okay, ma'am," I told her.  I've had worse.  I really had, and it's always best to err on the side of politeness.

"That doesn't make it okay," Sierra told her

"You never said hello to me!" Rei said.

I turned around and let out a mock gasp.  "Oh no!  I am so sorry, Rei.  Hi.  I'm Jason."

"Goodbye Mr. Jason!"  Then she pushed a cloth against my face, and that's the last thing I remember.

When I woke up, realizations dawned slowly.  It was slowly and without fully understanding what was going on that I found out that I was strapped to one of those James Bond-esque tables.  You know, the ones that restrain you while the inevitable laser beam starts slowly inching upwards to cut you in two?  My senses were dulled from the drugs, which is probably the only reason I was able to not panic.  I thought as quickly and furiously as I could for a suitable opener.

"...Hello."

Rei (though I'm not sure if that was her real name) was sitting in the the lap of a man in a suit that must have been really fancy-looking once but was currently worn and bloodstained.  There were a few others standing around, all in masks, all looking down at me.

The man in the suit smiled, and Rei giggled and let out a "Hi, Mr. Jason!"  Then the man leaned down and whispered something in her ear.  Any joy on Rei's face instantly disappeared and she looked pained, like she might start crying.  "Y-yes...h-hello there...Kenny..." she stammered quietly.

"So...I guess I'm not exactly the guest of honor here, am I?"

The suited man whispered something else in her ear.  "On the...c-c-contrary.  You're the v-very special g-g...guest of honor."

I was getting a lot of Bond Villain vibes.  It really didn't make my situation feel any better.  "Right.  That sort of guest of honor."

He whispered in her ear again, and it was at this point that I caught on that he was talking through her for some reason.  "S-so many people w-want you.... M-my lord would...see y-you for his own.... C-curious results from your...examin...ations...."

I was still in the dark, so I tried to get them to talk more.  If they were acting like Bond Villains, maybe I could get them to monologue like them.  "So since you people are probably going to kill me anyway, would you mind telling me who you are and what you want from me?"

"W-we w-want you bec-cause others want you.... W-we certainly won't b-be k-k-k-kill...."  Rei started sobbing, unable to go on through the tears.  The suited man started holding her like he was comforting her, but it looked more like he was just going through the motions, like he was petting a cat instead of trying to console a human being.  His eyes were locked on me.  Cold.  Mechanical.  Calculating.

"Why are you speaking through her?" I asked, not sure what was making her sob so hard.  He opened his mouth to say something, but I never heard what came out.  There was too much pain.  My head felt like someone was slicing into it with a knife made of fire.  Almost like hearing the Choir, but different.  It wasn't the man in the suit, but myself and the other proxies in the room who I heard speak:

"Because."

"Wh...who do you work for?" I managed through lungfuls of air.

He went back to speaking in Rei's ear again.  I could only imagine the hell she was going through.  "F-father."  The Slender Man, most likely.

"And why me?"

"E-everyone wants you.  Supply...and d-demand."

I thought about it.  "All right.  So you don't want me dead.  And you don't even know why you want me other than 'everyone else does.'  So what do you hope to accomplish with this?  What are you even planning on doing with me?"

"M-make you...a p-proxy."

Oh.  Of course.  How stupid of me.  "It's not going to happen," I said.

"That's what the...other n-nine p-people in this room said."

I really didn't have a comeback for that.  I knew he was right.  If they wanted to brute-force me into it, they probably had ways.  So I fell silent and waited.  There wasn't anything else I could do.

The man in the suit leaned down and started whispering in my ear.  I couldn't hear the words, but it was like he was speaking images directly into my head.  There were a lot of things and I don't remember them all but there was Lily.  Lily was there beside me and she was alive only it wasn't really her because it only looked like her and she wasn't the same girl that I loved and she took out a reverse-blade katana like the one Kenshin uses and started beating me with it over and over and over and over

And then there was a crash and everything stopped.  I thought they had finished at first, until I saw that every single one of the people in the room was unconscious.  Rei and the suited man had vanished, and there was a masked man standing in the room that hadn't been there before.  His mask was cracked in the top corner, and the break ran down into the face of the mask, though I never got a good enough look at the face behind it.  He pulled a glass-covered blanked off of himself and dropped it to the ground as he undid the straps holding me to the table.  I looked over and saw that the window was broken--he must have come through there.

"There really aren't words to describe my thanks," I told him, "but, um...thank you."

He held up a finger and shook his head, then removed a pair of earplugs.  I thanked him again as he started searching around the room until he found a tub containing my bag and Lily.

"Thanks again," I said, admittedly a bit lamely, as he handed them to me.  "Uh, who are you?"

He made a zipping motion across his lips, but it lacked the urgency of a command to be quiet.  The gesture must have meant something different....

"...Moth?"  He nodded.  I had actually been heading to visit the mute proxy and his partner Picasso.  Proxies, yes, but...relatively good people despite their loyalty to the Slender Man. They seem to keep their enemies limited only to those they have an order against--and their old boss, Fracture.  But I had been planning on meeting the pair in Florida.  Moth had managed to find me in Tennessee and save me when I most needed saving.  Crimson's words came back to me: there are no coincidences.

He beckoned me over to the window and gestured out to some vans in the distance heading in our general direction.  "Who are they?  Backup?"  He nodded and opened the window.  "We should probably get out of here, then, huh?  You have any ideas?"

He headed out the window and I followed him to a nearby ATV, which he drove into the woods until he reached a truck. "I thought you were supposed to be in Florida," I told him when we finally stopped and after he had loaded the ATV onto the back.  We had been e-mailing each other for a while and I had made plans to visit him.  He pulled out a laptop and showed me the most recent post on his blog.  Apparently their location had been compromised and Picasso's location was currently under siege by Fracture and his men.  He was on his way to bail her out.

"So you're on the move.  But how'd you find me?"  He pulled out an envelope that had instructions to my location and a quick briefing on what to expect.  Apparently the man in the suit was called "Whisper."  Fitting.  The instructions were simply signed "a friend."  That caught my eye.  Someone had left Raggedy a sizable sum of money after I left for keeping an eye on him and had used that exact signature.  "Who gave this to you?"

He pulled out a notepad and wrote something down.  "A stranger."  It figured.  Things are never  that easy.

"So...do you want me to come with you?"  He looked at me seriously and scrawled "Rogue Shadow" on the paper.  "Well yeah, I mean...I guess he's waiting.  It's just...I was planning on visiting you anyway.  Another time, maybe?"

He nodded and pulled something out of his bag.  "What is it?" I asked as he handed it to me.  I unwrapped the cloth around it to reveal a spearhead.

"Oh...n-no," I told him as he gestured at Lily.  "I'm not...I don't know if I want to turn it into something more lethal.  I've...still never killed anyone you know."

He shook his head and indicated that he wanted to spar.  We did for a few moments, and he demonstrated how to use it non-lethally: with the spearhead as a dangerous diversion, and the blunt end as a non-lethal alternative.

"Okay...that makes sense.  But I'm still not sure. I'll think about it.  Is that fair?"  He shrugged.  I didn't feel like telling him the real reason: Lily was a pacifist, and I wasn't sure I wanted to disrespect that by turning the staff named after her into a lethal weapon.

"Well..." I said after a bit, "I guess this is goodbye, huh?  Would you let Picasso know I say hi?"  He nodded.  "Um...good luck with that."

He nodded again and opened his arms for a hug.  I was...admittedly kind of taken aback at first.  I've been alone for a while now.  And while I've spent time with Raggedy and Canis and Wayward and Lyron and Magpie and Crimson, I've...never had anyone make a gesture of affection like that.  It was just a hug, but the fact that he was even offering it meant the world to me.  It didn't matter that he was a proxy.  He saved my life, so I didn't feel like he was about to knife me.  I trudged forward and let him put his arms around me.

It took everything I had not to cry.

After a few seconds I broke the hug.  "Well," I said, secretly relieved at how composed I was, "I guess...I'll see you later, maybe."  He nodded, and I turned to leave.  I didn't turn back.  Couldn't.  Just started walking and let the tears flow.

A Christmas Encounter: Part 2

Crimson and Magpie took me to a small apartment filled with cheery Christmas decorations.  "Sorry we didn't get you any presents," Magpie told me.  "We figured that a nice meal and a warm bed would be hospitable enough."

"Christmas truce," Crimson said, echoing Magpie's earlier words.

I turned to him and looked him up and down.  "So what's your schtick."

He gave me a sly grin.  "I'm very, very pretty."

"Crimson's not going to be coming after you," Maggie said.  "He's not much of a fighter."

Crimson nodded.  "I'm the brains here.  Sure, the boss is the one with the plan, but I'm the one who helps him figure out how to run it."

"The Slender Man takes orders from you?" I asked flatly.  He and Magpie both burst out laughing.

"Not 'The Boss,' Kenny," Magpie said.  "Just...our boss.  The man behind the Ten Masks.  Come on.  Have a seat and we'll have a nice warm meal, okay?  We'll explain a few things over that."

We ate in silence for a bit.  They were taking the same food as me, so I trusted that it wasn't poisoned.  After I had eaten a bit, I spoke.

"So why are you doing this?"

"Boss's orders," Crimson said.  "None of us have anything personal against you, not even our boss.  And as you might have guessed--we're not really trying to kill you.  In fact, most of us are actually pretty fond of you."  He winked at that.

"Could have fooled me."

"We're mostly just testing your strength.  At least for now," Magpie said.  "If you can beat us, great.  If you get killed, well--then you're maybe not the guy we're looking for."

"Looking for?"

Crimson spoke up.  "The boss has a plan.  He needs you, or maybe someone like you, to pull it off.  Don't worry, you'll still get to make the choice of whether or not to go along with it, so it's not like you're just some puppet."  He paused, flinching a bit at his own word choice as he remembered what had almost happened with the Wooden Girl.  "That reminds me, though.  Mags, it looks like the Wooden Girl and Cold Boy are working together."

"Good," she said, nodding.  "The boss'll be happy."

"Happy?  About what?  What exactly is going on?"  As the conversation went on, I was feeling more and more in the dark. 

Magpie took a deep breath.  "All right, listen, Kenny.  There's a storm coming.  It's been building up for a long time and hell's going to start breaking out really soon.  Any preconceived notions you have, toss them out right now.  Things have changed since the Fears started entering the picture.  It's no longer light vs. dark.  Runners vs. proxies.  Everyone vs. the Slender Man and his cronies.  This is going to be hard to believe, but...we're the good guys.  And we'll need your help, but we can't tell you how.  Not yet.  You're not ready."

"It sure is taking a long time to prepare him," Crimson said.

"Yes, and we're all trying to move this along a little, aren't we?  We were hoping you'd have met at least seven of us by now.  Or at least enough of us to catch on to our names."

"What do you mean?"

She snorted.  "Really, Kenny.  Magpie, Gabe, Crimson, Phones--"

"He doesn't know Phones's name yet," Crimson cut in.

"Oh, right, he doesn't.  Yeah, Kenny, that guy in the red hoodie you met earlier?  We call him Phones."

"Oh yeah!  The Redlight knockoff?"

They laughed a bit again.  "I'm pretty sure he's never even heard of Redlight.  All just one of those funny coincidences."

"Yeah, there seem to be a lot of coincidences everywhere around me lately."

They grew silent.  Crimson spoke first.  "Kenny, I want you to remember this.  Even if you don't trust a word we're saying, you have to remember this one thing: there are no coincidences.  If something seems too good to be true, it probably is."

"You rescuing me from the Fears and giving me a place to spend the night seems too good to be true."

Magpie screeched in laughter.  Crimson just smiled.  "Yes, but we willingly admit that we have shadowy ulterior motive that we're hiding from you.  We rescued you because we want you alive for our own purposes."

"That, and we can't just let a cute boy like you freeze to death on Christmas."

"Very true.  Special provisions can be made for cute boys."  They both had wicked grins on their faces at that point.

After that, they started conversing more casually.  I tried to turn the conversation back to the earlier topics, but they always stopped me with "we'll reveal more when it's the right time."  I spent the night and then left as soon as possible in the morning.

I've been moving on since then.  There are still a few more months of winter and I'd like to head somewhere warmer.  I stopped to watch Les Miserables, though.  I don't watch many movies, but Lily loved the musical, so I figured that I should at least try to find out what it was about.

I hate to admit it, but Crimson and Magpie really saved me from the Cold Boy there.  In more ways than one.  Say what you want about the quality of the company I was keeping, but after I left, I had to admit that I was much more in the Christmas spirit.

A Christmas Encounter: Part 1

I messed up.  Got caught in northern states when winter hit, so I got hit with snow.  Lily hated snow.  I hated snow too.  I still do, actually.

First of all, though, Wayward and Lyron are alive and okay.  I'm not going to say that everyone at the hostel is fine since they're not.  The situation has been resolved, but at the expense of some death and Fear possession.  I should have been there.  I should have been involved.  Tried to help them somehow.

So I was alone, a homeless kid trying to catch a ride in the height of Christmas shopping season.  No one picked me up.  It doesn't matter.  I wouldn't have gotten far if they did, since so many were shoppers who hadn't come from very far.  I found a few homeless shelters to spend the night.  The nice thing about Christmas is that people suddenly remember that charity makes them look good, so there were some nice meals and plenty of volunteers to keep the place staffed.

Still, it was hard not to feel disconnected from it all.  There was no one I could share my story with without putting them in danger.  That's probably why I started to head out of the city on the 24th.  It was hard to be in the Christmas spirit.

I bought some heavier clothes, but wasn't quite expecting the weather I got.  I'm pretty sure the weather got below zero.  Then it started snowing.  I ducked into an alley to try to get out of the wind some and just sat against the wall, huddling up.  I just knew that I was going to be one of those bums killed by the winter cold on Christmas.  The world has a biting sense of humor like that.  That's when I heard the singing.

"Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetop
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall
And down will come baby, cradle and all"

I looked up then, realizing what was happening.  A little pale towheaded boy dressed in tattered clothes was standing right in front of me.  The Cold Boy I expected.  His companion I didn't.

"So," a cool, measured, silky voice said.  "This is Kenny.  Poor boy...he looks so cold."  The speaker was hovering sideways in midair behind him.  She looked...surprisingly human, considering that her entire body was made of wood.  "He certainly doesn't look like much."  She shrugged, and it was like her wrists were the only part of her arms that actually moved, as if she controlled her body with invisible wires instead of muscles.

The Wooden Girl.

"He'd certainly be a fun doll," she said.  The Cold Boy just giggled.  The cold was making my head murky (though something about the Fears' presence made everything they did feel extremely vivid), so it took me a  bit to realize that my body was moving of its own accord.  I screamed and pulled against it, and though I couldn't see anything, it felt like I was struggling against strings.

I should have been gone then, too.  But that's when he showed up.  "Hey!" he yelled and held up a lit blowtorch.  "If you don't want to get charred or melted, you'll back off now."  The tension on my body slacked and the air felt warmer almost instantly.  The Cold Boy and Wooden Girl exchanged a glance.

"Let's get out of here, Frosty," she said.  "We can deal with this one later."

I looked at the guy.  He was probably about my age and the only way I can describe him is "bishonen."  I have to admit, with the snow in the air, it looked like he was literally sparkling for a second.  Interestingly, the majority of his clothing was in shades of red.

He offered a hand to help me to my feet.  "Hey.  Call me Crimson."

I shook his hand.  "Kenny.  Thanks, Crimson.  I really owe you one.  You don't know how glad I am to meet you."

"And I believe we're already acquainted," came a familiar voice behind me.  A hand landed on my shoulder and I turned to see Magpie.  She grinned and spoke before I could relax.  "Relax, Kenny.  Let's call this a Christmas truce.  C'mon, let's get you out of the cold.  We've got a few things to discuss."

Lockdown

A few days ago, someone who's been commenting on my blog under the name "Last of the Last" told me that I should read up on the scarlet-marked.  I didn't know why exactly he was suggesting it, but I did what he said.  Here's how I understand it: the Red Cap, the Fear of sex and sexuality, has two types of servants/proxies/etc, which seems to be the general trend.  There are the scarlet-marked, those who worship her (him? it?) and serve her willingly, and the "blood vessels," people the Red Cap has possessed.

I've been reading the hostel's blog, Notes from the Underground, and they've been having issues with a certain scarlet-marked called Ruby Tuesday.  Wayward, Lyron, and I had some issues with the greyskins and the Choir.  And then, both attacked at once.

We had been about to leave.  Lyron and I had both been reading the blog and found that the protection against the Fears they had originally had was gone.  We were so close, but right as we were leaving, there was this noise.  Have you ever heard of the "brown note?"  It's a rumored low-pitch frequency that gets its name from the fact that it allegedly causes you to lose control of your bowels.  The concept behind the brown note, though?  That a noise on a certain frequency can actually damage your body?  That's what it was like, hearing the Choir.  It felt like my gut was turning inside out, like my head was exploding, like my skin was going to melt off.  And I hadn't even stepped outside.  Wayward and Lyron had, and they were both vomiting when I pulled them back in.

Wayward told the staff about the Choir, and they put the entire hostel into lockdown.  No one comes in.  No one goes out.  Tensions rose.  Rumors started flying around.  Greyskins were on their way.  Ruby Tuesday may have been involved.  Both turned out to be true.  Whether the Choir and Red Cap had called a truce or the greyskins were also blood vessels or both, Ruby Tuesday showed up with a sizable number of reinforcements.  They surrounded he hostel and laid siege to it.  We were all locked into some supernatural Mexican Standoff.

And then the word got out that one of the hostel guests had left for a day or two.  A girl named Sandy.  Getting some time away from the place.  They said that it happens on occasion.  I'd believe it, since staying cooped up in the hostel was frustrating even before the siege.  But she was on her way back and would be walking into a trap.  She'd be killed or tortured or turned or used as a bargaining chip if she got caught.

She was smarter than anyone gave her credit for, though.  She was a runner, and we runners have to be smart.  A few of us crowded around to watch the hostel's security cameras as she came back.  She realized something was wrong early on.  Approached cautiously.  Surveyed the situation.  Found alternative paths.  Managed to make it back to the hostel undetected, only to find that there was no way in.  She wouldn't be able to slip past all of the greyskins undetected.

That's when I decided to do something stupid.  There was an opening.  A line of defense weaker than the others.  If I could get out there to her, the two of us might be able to fight our way back.  It was a stupid idea, obviously, but I couldn't just leave her out there to die.  I didn't tell anyone what I was planning because they would have tried stopping me.  I grabbed my bag.  Grabbed Lily.  Took a pair of Wayward's headphones and headed out the back door.

It was a dumber move than I had thought.  The greyskins noticed me almost instantly and came straight after me.  That's when Sandy made her dumb move.  She realized what I was doing and came out of hiding to help.  She was unprepared.  Shadows appeared on the wall of the hostel.  They looked like human silhouettes made of flame.  The Choir. 

Then, there was a small break in the shadows as mouth-like shapes appeared on their faces and opened to scream.  My vision turned red.  I coughed and spat blood out of my throat.  Every orifice on my face started bleeding.  Even the greyskins were affected, falling  the ground and clutching their ears.  Only the headphones and my brief prior encounter with the Choir braced me enough to pull through.  I looked up when the scream ended and saw Sandy lying on the ground.  Her eyes had melted out of their sockets.  I didn't have to look twice to know she was dead.

The shadows on the wall had vanished, but the greyskins were recovering.  I tried to stand but couldn't find my balance.  I couldn't run.  I was doomed.  Dead.  Done for.  And that's when he appeared.

I had seen him before, immediately before I had met Wayward.  He had stolen my backpack and I had missed my bus because of it.  He stood over my body with is back to me, wearing the same long brown coat and ponytail that he had worn that day, which is how I recognized him.  He held a wooden staff in his hands and I thought he had grabbed Lily before I realized I was still holding her.

He felled the last greyskin of the wave and turned to me so that I got my first good glimpse of his face.  The features were sort of mousey, and everything about his appearance and expression screamed "clever little scamp."  He extended a hand and pulled me to my feet.  "Last of the Last," he yelled over the noise of the headphones.  "I'd love to chat more, but you need to get out of here.  Run!"

He gave me a shove and I took off on unsteady feet.  My head was still swimming and the damage to my ears was still messing with my balance.  I managed to make it probably two hundred meters before before I toppled to the ground.  I closed my eyes and waited for death to come as the greyskins started approaching.

That's when I heard gunfire right beside me.  Not directed at me, directed at the greyskins.  I pulled myself to my hands and knees and started groggily looking back and forth.

"What the hell were you thinking?" a familiar voice hissed.  Edwin Canis hauled me to my feet.  "Tell me where you're going before you leave next time, and don't try playing the hero so much.  Let's go.  I'm getting you out of here."

I heard more gunfire then and twisted around to see a man standing on the roof of the hostel.  He wore a long brown duster and a bowler hat, and I wondered who he was until he turned.  The gun he held was a sniper rifle, and his face was covered by a gas mask.  Between those two, I managed to connect the dots: the Archangel.  But what was he doing here?  And why was he gunning down the greyskins?

"Move, Kenny!" Edwin shouted, practically dragging me to his police cruiser.  He started the engine and pulled away from the hostel, leaving everyone else behind.

"Wait!  What about the others!"

He shook his head.  "Forget about them, Kenny.  There's no time."

"Go back!  They're still in danger!"

"I can't, Kenny!  Getting you was hard enough.  There's no way they would even let me in.  Besides, the Archangel is there now, and he's evening up the odds."

"How do you know that he's not going to just turn on them?"

He was quiet for a second.  "I don't."  I tried to grab the wheel from him at that, and he reached over with one hand and pressed his fingers somewhere on my neck.  I lost consciousness almost instantly.

When I woke up again, I was in a hotel bed.  Canis left a note.  He had paid for the room but didn't have time to stick around.  There was an apology for leaving everyone at the hostel, accompanied with a warning to play things safer from now on.  Don't try playing hero, because playing hero isn't what keeps you alive.  I threw the note away.

And now I'm on my own again.  Nowhere to go, no one to talk to.  It was nice while it lasted, I guess.  Back to wandering.  I've got questions, of course.  Who exactly is Last?  What was the Archangel doing at the hostel?  Is everyone at the hostel still okay?  I don't know.  Hopefully some answers will show up soon.