 
### The Last Inn

Rachel Gay

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2014

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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The Last Inn originally ran as a web serial from June 2013 to July of 2014. The complete serial is presented here in this single ebook to allow for offline reading in multiple formats and the original run will continue to be available online for free.

### Entry 1: New Owner

"The place has seen better years, I suppose," Mayor Geld said as he fumbled with a large ring of keys. They jangled in his shaking hands, the only sound aside from the creak of the wooden porch beneath their feet.

Erin did not reply. She just looked over the rather short mayor's head at what supposedly passed for a building while her heart sank. It had been a while since she came out this way, the inn being so close to the forest and all, but she never expected this.

Dark windows looked down on them from the upper story while shutters coated in peeling green paint covered the ground floor windows. That is, those shutters still attached to the building, unlike those which now lay among the patches of weeds and tall grass that might have been mistaken for a yard. Her eyes caught the pieces of rotting wood here and there that would have to be replaced, as well as the shingles on the roof which threatened to fall with even the slightest breeze.

The mayor finally found the correct key and inserted it into the rusted lock where, after a few grunts and rams with his shoulder, the door gave way. They coughed and waved away the dust that swirled around as they entered the spacious front end of the inn. Shadows scattered around the room hinted at tables and chairs as well as a front desk.

"There's a kitchen in the back as well as a room I believe Mr. Sollis stayed in," Geld said. He pulled out a handkerchief and covered the lower half of his face with it to ward away the smell and to cover his own coughing. "Upstairs there's the guest rooms, of course, and an attic he used for storage, I believe. Shall I show you around?"

Erin nodded, as she could not see how this could get any worse. Of course, that was before they encountered the kitchen, and whatever was growing in the corner cabinet. Geld hurriedly shut the door on the disturbing sight and led the retreat out the back door for some fresh air.

"There are some stables over there, no horses of course," Geld said once he recovered his breath.

"I hope not!" Erin gestured at the dilapidated building, which looked no better from this side either. At least the stable seemed to be in better condition, as in it did not look likely to fall over if anyone looked at it wrong. "Hasn't anyone been in that place since...?"

"I suppose not," Geld said. "In retrospect, I suppose we should have sent someone to clean out the perishables, but Mr. Sollis's passing took us all by surprise."

Erin found herself nodding. The man must have been ancient, but he never acted like it. Everyone in town said he built the inn himself, and this place at least showed every year it had been through. He would have been considered scandalous in town for all the strange people his inn attracted, not to mention the rumors that went around every now and then, if not for the fact that he had been there so long that Sollis and his inn seemed as much a fixture as the clock tower in the middle of town. Now he was gone, and all that was left of the inn was a dirty wreck of a building.

"Well, let's take a look at those rooms at least," Geld said and put on his bravest face before covering it once again with his handkerchief. Erin thought the prim little fellow looked like a man preparing to go into a combat zone the way he charged in through the back door. He did not dare to slow down in the kitchen, and managed to keep his pace all the way up the stairs. At the top, they found a dimly lit hallway which split and went back the other way with a parallel set of doors on either side. Geld marched up to the nearest door and opened it onto a dark room.

He reached out for a light switch out of habit and his questing hand found one. The single light in flickered once or twice and then lit up the narrow room with a brightness that surprised Erin and received a grunt of approval from the mayor.

"This place has power?" she asked. Most of the town just installed electricity a couple of years ago, and then only after a big push from the capital of the empire. Most people around here did not take well to change. Then she saw the state of the room and said, "Oh!"

Gleaming floorboards greeted them under an old but beautiful rug. The single bed looked freshly made, and no speck of dust lay on the nightstand or dresser, even though the downstairs area probably had enough dust for three abandoned buildings.

Geld retreated from the room and checked the rooms to the right and to the left.

"At least this part is up to shape, eh?" he said somewhat weakly after finding the other guest rooms in the same condition.

There did not seem to be anything else to say about it, so Erin just nodded and followed the mayor down the stairs to the main room.

"Are you sure about this?" Geld asked, not for the first time.

Erin looked around at the cobwebs coating the walls and the strata of dust, the floorboards coming up and the flakes of ceiling coming down, and thought of all the work it would take to get this place running again. Then she considered the alternative.

"I'm sure," she said with a conviction that surprised the mayor.

He passed her the ring of keys and said, "As I said earlier, I can let you have it for three months rent-free, to get things going. We'll have to discuss it again then, but..."

He hesitated and said, "You do know that this is far too much for one person, don't you? You can't run this place by yourself, even if it was in any condition!"

"Mr. Sollis did," Erin said.

"Yes, but that was him."

"I'll..." Erin hesitated and settled on, "I'm sure I can find a partner."

The mayor hid his doubt fairly well as Erin saw him out of the inn. As he walked away she heard a creak and a snap and looked up to see the sign above the door dangling by one end. Through the layer of dirt and grime one could just barely make out the words: _The Last Inn._

### Entry 2: Unexpected Guest

In the gray light before dawn, a dark figure raced out from the forest and across the field to the building that stood apart from the rest of the small town, only pausing at the top of the steps to hammer on the front door.

After a brief pause, the person knocked again just before a thump and a muffled swear came from within and the door jerked open.

"What?"

The young man on the front porch stepped back at the appearance of a disheveled Erin, who rubbed her stubbed toe. Her dark hair fell in a tangled mat around her face, and she had clearly slept in her clothes from yesterday, but it was the scowl on her face that caused the young man to realize he might have made a mistake.

"Sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to wake you....This is the Last Inn, isn't it?"

"That's what the sign says, right?" Erin snapped and pointed up.

The young man glanced up at the faded sign that dangled from one corner thanks to a broken chain over his head and noticed the pink streaks in the sky signaling dawn.

"Can I help you?" Erin said, and he turned away from the troubling sight.

"I was hoping to speak to the owner, Master Sollis," he said and with another glance at the sky. "It's urgent."

"Oh," Erin said and her expression changed. "Mr. Sollis passed away, months ago."

"I see." The young man said, unable to find any other words.

"Did you know him?" Erin asked.

"No, I never met the man," he answered and his gaze fell. To his surprise, the ground had not dropped out from beneath his feet, even if it felt like it.

"Oh," she said again, and the young man missed the brief look of relief that crossed her face before he looked up again. He did catch her stare that took in his threadbare clothes and the slim bag over his shoulder. His long, uncut brown hair covered the left side of his face, but that portion of it she could see received the most attention, and he self-consciously patted down his hair to make sure it still covered his left eye.

"Are you the new owner of this inn?" he asked.

"Well, yes," she said and bit her lip as if the thought bothered her.

The young man rubbed his red-rimmed eye and looked at the horizon again. It would be daylight soon, and now that he thought about it he could not remember the last time he had slept, much less with a roof over his head. Reaching a decision, he said, "Could I rent a room for the night? Or the day at least?"

"What?" Erin said.

"Well, this is an inn," he said, pointing up at the sign. "Inns take in guests, right?"

"The thing is, I just got here yesterday, and there's still a lot of cleaning and renovations that need to be done before we're ready to take in guests," Erin said, a little too quickly.

He stared at her for longer than she seemed comfortable with and then pulled some money out of his pocket.

"I'm sure that I've seen worse. Would this cover it?"

Erin glanced at the money being thrust into her hand and visibly swallowed. He wondered if it was too much, but in his experience people rarely complained if that was the case. After an inner struggle she nodded.

"Yeah, I think that will be enough," she said, her voice breaking slightly as she took the money. "Come on in, and just remember that I warned you."

The young man followed her inside the dark common room, which looked little better when she found the light switch. The hours Erin had spent in haphazard attempts at cleaning resulted in a few bare patches of floor with broad swathes of dust and cobwebs standing in small piles here and there around the tables, which still bore signs of wipe marks and soap residue. A strong aroma of disinfectant and lemon managed to nearly drown out the musty smell that permeated the inn.

To his credit, the young man barely reacted, except to say, "Believe it or not, I really have seen worse. So far."

"The rooms are much better," Erin said quickly and led him up the creaking stairs, after pulling a random guest key from one of the line hanging behind the front desk.

Opening the door to room 1D she asked, "Is this all right?"

The young man stepped inside and looked around at the narrow bed and the door that led to a personal bath. He nodded and waited until Erin gave him the key and left before dropping his bag on the floor and striding over to the window. He looked out at the rising sun and swiftly shut the thick curtains, blocking out all of the light.

### Entry 3: Rumors and Doubts

Erin pulled her yellow metal monster of a bike out of the weeds beside the stable and wheeled it to the road, cursing the inn's first guest every step of the way. She couldn't even remember the last time she had to get up this early, but going back to sleep had proven impossible.

The young man's money felt heavy in her pocket as she rode into the town proper, and she did feel a pang of guilt for the way she had spoken to him this morning. He had given her enough money to rent three rooms for a week at Sollis's old rate after all, even if he looked like a beggar.

The streets were nearly empty at this early hour, and she fought back a yawn as she rode over the bridge and into the center of town, where the road encircled the clock tower.

She pulled to a screeching halt outside of the grocer's shop just as two women passed by, and Erin's head whipped around when she heard one woman mutter something and the other whisper in reply. They caught her stare and hurried away, but not before she heard the muffled laughter. She had no idea what they could be laughing about, and when her stomach growled she could care less.

Inside the grocer's, she passed a somewhat long list to the clerk behind the counter and impatiently waited while he gathered everything together. The young man's money would help the inn provide board for the first couple of guests, at least. That is, if any other guests would be willing to stay in a place like that.

Erin's shoulders slumped and she took her time putting the groceries in the basket of her bike, dreading going back and seeing the place again in the light of day. What was she doing?

Just as she started to get on the bike, the smell of baking bread found her and pulled her down the street to the bakery. She took a deep breath and knew that she would have to go in now when her mouth started to water.

Only one other customer stood at the counter, but there were a few people seated at one of the small square tables. Every single one of them looked at Erin as she walked in just as the conversation died and then started back with a few halting, uncertain words.

Erin hesitated and then walked to the counter, her back straight and her gaze not straying to look at the others. It did not take a genius to figure out they had been talking about her, and her mind worked furiously, scattering memories left and right in search of some reason why.

The boy behind the counter gave her a flash of a smile before passing the old woman in front of her a bundle that smelled of fresh bread and cinnamon.

"Here you go, Mrs. Grimsby."

Erin fought back a sigh. Of course it would be old Mrs. Grimsby. The woman knew everyone in town, or at least everyone's business. People said that sometimes she knew every detail of a scandal before the people involved even knew there was one, and could spread the news just as fast.

"Thank you," Mrs. Grimsby said, but her eyes were on Erin. "I didn't expect to see you here, dear. How are you doing today?"

"Um, good," Erin said and in reply to the boy's questioning look she pointed at the glass and said, "One of those, please."

"Good, good," Grimsby said, nodding her head as a sly smile crept over his face. "And how's the inn?"

Erin froze. She could practically hear the other customers' ears straining to hear.

"Oh, you know," she said, trying to keep her face blank. "It won't be long before the inn's as busy as it used to be."

One of the seated listeners snorted into his coffee at that.

Grimsby's nose wrinkled and she said, "I don't know about that, dear. You may not remember, but the inn used to attract...Well, not our sort of people at all."

"If you could even call them people," the not so quiet listener said, exchanging smirks with the others.

"Not unless the capital is defining the word," Grimsby said and there were murmurs around the room. The empire was growing every week it seemed, and strange people often passed through on their way to the capital. Some of them were not, strictly speaking, human, but the latest emperor had a lenient view toward that sort of thing. She clucked her tongue and said to Erin, "Dear girl, what did you do to get saddled with that horrible place?"

Her face flooded red and Erin stuttered a reply before fleeing the bakery with as much dignity as she could muster, which failed when she heard the laughter. It rang in her ears all the way back to the Last Inn, where she managed to slam the front door open, an impressive feat when both of her arms were full with groceries. At the foot of the stairs the young man jumped, startled at the noise and even more so by her expression.

She bit her lip. Oh right, this guy.

"Do you need some help?" he asked.

"Does it look like it?" she said and stormed toward the kitchen.

He met her halfway across the common room and without a word took the bags from her and went back into the kitchen. Flustered, Erin looked around and noticed that shutters still covered every window in the common room. The dark air sweltered in the summer heat, and she almost gagged on the smell.

With a series of bangs, Erin went around and threw open every shutter and window in the hope of enticing a passing breeze.

The kitchen door opened again just as she finished with the last window. Erin turned around to find the room completely changed with the introduction of sunlight. For one thing, it now had a wolf in it.

### Entry 4: The Wolf in the Room

It was the biggest wolf Erin had ever seen, not that she had seen many. To her terrified eyes it filled the room, or at least the way to the nearest exit. The breath caught in her throat and she grabbed the nearest object – a broom – and swung it as hard as she could, fearing that those massive jaws would come snapping at her at any moment.

The broom caught the wolf several times around the snout and shoulders, driving the beast back into the kitchen from whence it came. Erin thought she heard a whimper, but that might have come from her. She hardly knew what she was doing; no thought seemed to be getting through the sheer terror and desire to get the animal as far away from her as possible while keeping all of her limbs intact.

The wolf retreated, back into the dim kitchen and Erin watched in horror as the creature turned back into the young man the moment he stepped out of the direct sunlight.

"Please, calm down," he said, just before Erin whacked him with the broom again. "Will you stop that, already?"

"What are you, some kind of demon?" Erin yelled the words, and her voice betrayed her near hysteria. "Get away from me!"

The young man stopped trying to make some kind of calming gesture and settled for grabbing the broom handle just before she could hit him again.

"It's just a curse," he said. "That's all."

"That's all? That's all?" Erin's shoulders started to tremble and she tried to pull the broom out of the young man's grip. "How is that ever 'just all'? You turned into a wolf!"

He released the broom so quickly that Erin almost fell backward and raised his hands in surrender.

"Just watch," he said and slowly stepped around Erin and back into the sunlight streaming in through one of the windows. Almost immediately he turned back into a wolf, and Erin felt her stomach lurch at the swift but disturbing sight. Her fists clenched around the broom again and the wolf stepped back and laid down, so that he looked up at her with the same brown eyes of the young man.

Erin waited, but he didn't seem to be on the verge of leaping at any second. She stared at the wolf and he stared back. Dimly she noticed the ribs that poked out of the wolf's sides through the mass of gray, tan, and white fur, but her eyes went to the mark over the wolf's left eye. It burned red and orange in comparison and looked for all the world like a sunburst, as if someone had been stupid enough to try and tattoo a wolf.

"What is that?" she asked, pointing at the mark.

The wolf's ears went up and he walked around her again, being careful not to stray within striking distance. Back in the kitchen, the young man straightened up.

"I can't talk when I'm like that," he explained. He pushed back the hair that covered his left eye and pointed at the identical mark there. "This is the mark of my curse, I guess you'd call it. The sun is the trigger, the light turns me into the wolf and I can't change back until I'm inside or in a decent amount of shade. Any other questions?"

"Why didn't you tell me? How did you get cursed? Does it hurt? Why are clothes still there when you change back? Have you ever..." Erin stopped and made a gesture with her hand.

"Attacked someone? No, I haven't," he answered. The young man smiled and said, "At least, not yet. And do you really expect me to go around telling people about this? Would you?"

"Well, no, I guess not," Erin said.

"For all I know, this town would run me out the second anyone found out, at the least. I'm surprised you're not running for help right now, honestly," the young man said, and Erin tightened her grip on the broom. "Not that I'm complaining. If you want me to leave, I'll go. Not much reason for me to stay around, anyways."

"Why did you even come here?"

The young man tilted his head at that and stared at Erin, as if trying to figure out how she meant that question.

"A witch told me that Master Sollis, the keeper of the Last Inn, would show me the way to breaking the curse. Obviously, that's not going to happen now," he said. "Unless you know of another Sollis in the area? A relative, maybe?"

Erin shook her head and he deflated with a sigh. Not that there was much of him to deflate, she noticed again. Pitiful, in every sense of the word.

"A witch?" she asked as she walked over to the counter where the young man had left the groceries.

"Yeah, I worked for a witch for a while," He shrugged his narrow shoulders and said, "Cleaning, mostly. Sweeping, dusting, washing dishes, that sort of thing. Sometimes helped with the cooking, if the cook wanted someone to talk to. In exchange, she told me how to break the curse. Or at least, she was supposed to."

"Well, there isn't anyone around here who would know about that kind of stuff. I don't think even Sollis did. Want a sandwich?"

The young man looked at her with obvious surprise and said, "Are you serious?"

"What, you have something against sandwiches?" Erin asked defensively.

"No, it's just...." He stopped and said, "Thank you, that sounds good."

"What's your name, anyways?" Erin asked. "My name's Erin Smith."

"Kota," he answered, after a long second.

Erin frowned down at the bread but didn't say anything about that. Instead, she said over her shoulder as she piled the sandwich ingredients onto a tray, "Look, you can stay here for another night if you want, but after that you're on your own."

"Thank you," Kota said again. "I don't want to cause any problems for you or the other guests."

Erin scoffed as she dropped the tray onto the single table in the kitchen. "What other guests? Look at this place! Everyone's right, the inn should just stay closed. There's no way I can do this by myself."

Kota stood by the door and closed his eyes for nearly a minute, his thoughts and face unreadable. Just as Erin started to worry again he opened his eyes and said, "I can help with that."

### Entry 5: The Smith's Deal

"What do you mean, help?" Erin asked.

Kota shrugged and brushed his hair out of his face. Now that she knew it was there, Erin's eyes kept straying back to the sunburst mark above his eye.

"I passed a caravan of merchants on the way here. They're probably on their way to the capital, but no doubt they're going to want to stop here and do some trading. Are there any other inns in town?"

"Well, no," Erin answered. "We're so small, and most people don't stay long. Everyone wants to get to the city."

He noted the bitterness in her voice, and said, "So you're going to have more than enough guests within a couple of days. Wait until they leave, and then make up your mind about this place."

Erin sighed but didn't bother to argue. They passed an awkward few minutes making and eating sandwiches with as little conversation as possible, during which Kota did his best to ignore the constant glances and how she jumped every time he moved.

"Thank you for the meal," he said over the clatter of Erin's chair falling back when he stood up. "I'll get my things ready, but if you don't mind I'll wait until sunset before I leave. People don't try to shoot me as much when I travel at night."

"Uh, right."

Kota went to the kitchen door but froze when the walls of the room shook to the pounding at the front door. Erin pushed past him to the door before it could collapse under the thundering blows and opened it on a pair of men. She almost didn't notice Mayor Geld, who was nearly eclipsed by the tall, broad-shouldered man who lowered his fist and glared down at her beneath a bushy set of eyebrows set in a brick red face.

With a voice that came down like that of an irate furnace god, the man said, "Erin Lydia Smith. Explain yourself."

"Hi, Dad," Erin said weakly. "So I guess you heard about the inn?"

"Not until Joe Farmer comes by my forge to tell me one of _my_ daughters has taken it into her head to try and reopen an accident waiting to happen. Without a single word to her own father, at that."

Erin shrugged and said, "I'm an adult now. Besides, I told Mom, she was one of my referrals."

Eli Smith's jaw worked as he turned his response over in his head and finally said, "Why this place?"

"I...just thought someone should try to do it," she answered, not quite looking her father in the eye. "Besides, the town needs an inn, right, Mayor Geld?"

The mayor stuttered and said, "W-well, I must admit the business it would bring if travelers had a place to stay..."

The smith turned his gaze on Geld, who immediately stepped back and added, "It's true Eli. Plus, I've been getting some...suggestions from the city about the place, and you know what the capital is like! If we don't do something, they'll send their own people to run the place. Why not let one of the town's own give it a chance?"

Eli crossed his thick arms, a maneuver that normally deterred even the most determined of hagglers. "Even if I was okay with this, it doesn't matter. How do you expect one person to take care of all of this?"

"Mr. Sollis did," Erin said.

"That was Daniel. This is you."

Father and daughter stared at each other in brittle silence. That is, until Geld coughed and said, "I'm afraid he has a point, Erin. If you had a partner, it would be a different story, but as it is now..."

Eli nodded and Erin thought fast.

"So if I could find a partner, I can keep the Last Inn?"

"Well, as long as you pay the rent on time," Geld said, but he looked to Smith for confirmation.

Eli laughed and said, "No one in town would agree to that. Why do you think this place has stayed empty for so long?"

"Kota's not from around here, so I guess you're right," Erin answered and enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing the men's reactions.

"Who?" Geld said.

"Kota. He arrived this morning, and after talking with him he said he would help," Erin said. She shrugged and added, "I thought, maybe there would be a trial run, but if he doesn't work out I'm sure I can always find someone else."

Eli's expression grew darker. "Where is this Kota?"

"He's...back in the kitchen," Erin said and felt her certainty drop. This was such a bad idea, but she needed to stall for time and Kota was there.

"I think I'll meet him," Smith said.

"As should I," Geld piped in and Erin nodded, trying not to bite her lip as she led them back through the common room to the kitchen.

Erin knew Kota had been listening to every word when they found him hovering near the back door in the kitchen. He cringed when they came in, probably wishing that he made a run for it when he had the chance. She clasped her hands and made a pleading gesture where the other men couldn't see and he gave the barest of nods, to her genuine surprise.

"Hello," he said.

Kota stumbled through a conversation with Geld, accompanied by Erin's quick answers that often tripped him up even more. All the while, Eli stared at the young man until Kota self-consciously touched his hair to make sure it still covered his mark.

"I can see you two need to work on the details," Geld said and, after looking at Eli for confirmation, "But I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Erin beamed and showed them out while Kota exhaled and leaned against the kitchen counter, trying to still the shaking in his hands. It wasn't until the men were some distance away from the inn that Eli spoke again, in response to the mayor's question about his sudden change in mood.

"Please. If he's still here a month from now, I'll repair that sign over the door myself."

### Entry 6: Find the Floor

Erin turned away from the front door in time to see the kitchen door swing shut and a gray shape race up the stairs.

"Kota?" She walked up the stairs, after pausing to retrieve the broom, and found the door to the young man's room standing open. He paused in the act of gathering his few possessions into his small bag.

"What, are you going to beat me with the broom again?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh, no," Erin said and shifted her grip on the broom. "I was going to, um, sweep up here."

"I see," Kota said, his gaze dropping to the polished floorboards visible beneath the rug. "Strange how different this floor is from down below."

Erin shrugged. "Thank you for covering for me down there."

"Your father is..." Kota paused, but could find no other way to say it. "He's terrifying, actually."

"Yeah, a lot of people say that. Or they would, if, you know, they weren't so scared."

"Is that why you didn't tell him about the inn?"

Erin started and said, "No, I'm not scared of him, but you saw how the mayor acted. If my dad had said something before now, there's no way Geld would ever let me take this place. I'm just lucky you were here, to pretend to be my partner."

Kota closed his bag and said, "And I am lucky you did not tell them what I am, if you want to call it luck. Thank you again."

He started to walk toward the door and Erin immediately raised the broom in self-defense.

"Really?" he asked.

"Sorry, it's just the whole wolf thing..."

Kota rubbed the back of his head and didn't respond. Erin watched him head down the stairs and followed him down. Now that the sun was no longer shining directly into the common room he didn't seem to worry about turning back into the wolf.

"You're leaving?"

The young man stopped and turned around.

"Do you enjoy stating the obvious?" he asked, without any malice or sarcasm as far as Erin could tell. "Yes, I am leaving. Maybe I can..."

He trailed off and Erin said, "It's just that, if you're gone my dad's just going to say I can't do this by myself again. I mean, I think I can, but you said you used to clean and stuff for the–for the witch, and if you wanted to stay around a little longer and help out around here I could let you keep the room and eat here, then I could have more time to find a real partner or something—"

"Wow, that's a really long sentence," Kota said, his eyes widening in the face of the torrent.

"Well, yes or no?" Erin said crossly.

"What about the 'wolf thing'?" Kota asked.

"You said you've got it under control, right?" Erin asked and Kota quickly nodded. "And if you don't, well, you've met my dad."

Kota winced at the barely veiled threat, but he'd heard worse working for the witch.

"Well, I suppose I could always handle the night shift," he said, cracking a smile that Erin didn't return. "Although if you do expect me to clean, you're going to have to let go of that broom sometime so I can use it."

"Fine then," Erin said and tossed him the broom. "Put your bag up and get to work. Oh, and just so we're clear the partner thing is just for my dad and the mayor. You work for me, got that?"

"I think I can understand that," Kota answered with a straight face. "So I get to go from working for a witch to working for a girl with a broom. At least I don't have to worry about you testing out spells on me."

"I can learn!" Erin yelled behind him as he ran up the stairs.

By the time Kota came back down she had already returned to the kitchen to clean up in there, so he industriously began sweeping. The thick layer of dust crumbled beneath the broom and after some time gave way to another, more surprising layer.

"Sawdust?" Kota muttered to himself. He looked around the room, taking in the tables and chairs and the mantle above the fireplace, all of which seemed to have the normal amount of dust for a building that had stood empty for so many months. Then there were the halls and rooms upstairs, all suspiciously clean while it looked like someone went out of their way to cover the floor of the common room.

He began to sweep much more slowly and carefully, as if expecting to uncover something hidden beneath the trash and sawdust, but after going over the whole room he only ended up with a pile of dirt and bare floorboards. He noticed a stain here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary for a place that had seen more than a few less than careful guests.

He left the pile of dirt by the door to take care of after the sun went down and went back over the floor again with the broom. Erin returned and whistled at the sight.

"So that's what the floor looks like," she said.

"I'm just about to mop in here, should make the place look much better," Kota said. "Um, Erin, when you said that Sollis passed away recently...How did that happen?"

"Oh," Erin said, and then, "Oh. He didn't... No, I mean, I heard he was working outside when it happened. They said it might have been a heart attack, or just old age. Why?"

"I'm sorry, it just crossed my mind and I thought I would ask," Kota said quickly. "I'll get the water ready and finish this, then wipe down the tables."

Erin nodded and took the broom to take care of the sweepings. Kota waited until she walked outside before taking another look at the nearly faded stains. It was just a thought, but one too hard to shake.

### Entry 7: Haggling

Erin and Kota settled into a rhythm over the next couple of days, albeit a strange one. Because of Kota's "condition" he declared that he would take over the night shift whenever the guests began to arrive, a prospect that seemed dimmer every day to Erin. Until then, they spent what felt like every minute cleaning and making what repairs they could to the Last Inn, with Erin taking over the outside details such as the yard and cleaning the windows.

More than once she turned around to find one of the regulars around town passing by, even those who rarely strayed beyond their homes. Every one of them craned their necks to look at the building, only to look away as soon as they caught her stare. Kota also noticed and questioned Erin about it one afternoon.

She shrugged and said, "They're curious. Not much happens around here, in case you haven't noticed, and word spreads fast around town."

She didn't mention that part of that word was more than likely about the stranger known to be staying at the inn. Kota always seemed jumpy whenever he found someone looking in, and she wondered more than once how he would handle it when real guests arrived.

That answer came sooner than she expected, that evening in fact. With a noise that heralded their arrival before they even cleared the forest, a line of wagons came rumbling over the dirt road, kicking up a steady cloud of dust that hung around even as they pulled to a stop in the field next to the inn.

Inside the inn, Erin raced to the door while Kota barely glanced out the window.

"That would be the merchants," he said calmly. "They arrived sooner than I thought they would."

After some shouting, a group of five approached the building while the others attended to the horses. Erin hovered near the door, not wanting to appear too desperate as the men and women sized up the building and muttered to one another.

One, dressed in rich, bright colors, looked up at Erin and said, "Where is the innkeeper?"

"That would be me," Erin replied, and received some blank stares in return. "Mr. Sollis passed away, and I am the new innkeeper."

Another man, dressed in more practical clothes that together with the sword at his side screamed "mercenary," bowed and said, "We are sorry to hear of your loss. Sollis was a good man."

Behind him the merchants gathered again and spoke in more urgent whispers.

"You knew him?" Erin asked, but her eyes were on the merchants. She had seen this kind before working for her father.

"Yes. I travel with the caravans often," he said. For a moment that seemed to be all until, with a glance over his shoulder at the merchants, "Do you know what he used to charge?"

"Twelve full pieces per room, per night," Erin answered, and the mercenary nodded. It was five more than what Sollis charged.

"That much?" The merchant who served as speaker for the others spun around and said, "That's nigh-on robbery! We spoke, and we will only pay five."

"We've been doing some much-needed repairs, and that money has to come from somewhere," Erin said. "Twenty-three for two rooms."

"I am afraid that we can only go to five full and one partial," the merchant responded.

Erin planted her feet like she'd seen her father do many times before, a stance that told the haggler she could go all night. The mercenary stood by and waited while the process went on for what seemed like forever to Erin before they finally settled on the price of ten full pieces for each room, along with food and the use of the stable. The merchants shook their heads as they paid for the first night and went back to the wagons for their belongings, while the mercenary hovered behind.

"Not bad," he remarked and walked away to bark orders at the guards.

Erin nodded, her mind still revolving around the money in her hand. The guards would be staying with the wagon of course, but none of the merchants were about to share rooms no matter how much they complained about the price. She went inside to find Kota hovering near the door.

"Someone has a fan," he joked, earning a scowl from Erin.

"You could have helped, you know."

"I'm not the money person," Kota replied with a shrug. "You may want to put that somewhere safe, by the way. Now if you'll excuse me, there is cooking to be done since someone left the pot boiling."

"I can't take care of everything!"

Kota bowed just like the mercenary and went in the back just as the guards entered with the merchants' luggage. Erin retrieved the keys from behind the counter and directed them up the stairs. As much as she hated the cleaning, especially the way Kota nagged her whenever she tried to cut corners, it was a relief now. She didn't doubt that if they had seen it three days ago, not one of these well-dressed, prim merchants would have even bothered to stop.

The mercenary came up the stairs last, waiting until the merchants checked out their rooms before dropping his own bag at the room he chose for himself, the one situated at the end of the hall next to the stairs. Without even pausing to look at his own room he strolled the length of the hall and back, and Erin thought he might be counting beneath his breath.

"It's a habit," he explained when he caught Erin's stare. "I don't like surprises."

Not knowing how to respond to that, Erin just nodded and went downstairs where the merchants had already gathered around the tables at the promise of food. When Kota entered the room with trays laden with food and a cheer went up around the common room, Erin found herself thinking for the first time that this might actually work.

### Entry 8: Accusations

The next morning, Erin woke up in her bedroom to the smell of breakfast cooking. She dragged herself out of bed and dressed in between jaw-cracking yawns and rubbing her eyes.

"Morning," Kota said as Erin walked out of her bedroom and into the maelstrom of activity going on in the kitchen. "Sorry if I woke you, the merchants were already awake and expecting breakfast so I thought I would put something together."

"How long have you been up?" Erin asked as she watched Kota neatly break open a handful of eggs over the sizzling pan without dropping a single shell.

"Night shift, remember?" Kota said over his shoulder as he piled up toast on a plate along with a stack of bacon. "Speaking of which, could you take this food out to them? I'm afraid they opened the shutters."

"What? Oh, right, the sun." Erin cracked the door open and looked out on the men and women talking around a couple of tables. "How are you going to get back to your room?"

"They're going to head into town soon for some trading and selling," Kota replied, stifling a yawn as he lifted the cooked eggs onto a platter and placed it with the other food. "I think I can hold out for that long."

"Right," Erin muttered as she went through the door with the food.

While the guests were eating, Erin went out the front door and looked around. The morning sun hovered just above the tree line in front of her, and to her left the guards in charge of the caravans were busy preparing for the day under the direction of the mercenary.

"Hey, Erin!"

An older man dressed in working clothes that looked as if they'd already seen a day's use strolled up to the porch where Erin stood and smiled up at her.

"Hi, Joe," she said, breaking out into a real smile. The farmer and his family had been a regular fixture in her life growing up, and he could often be found around her father's forge on rainy days. "What are you doing around here?"

"Oh, same as everybody else, checking to see what's going on," he said in that slow voice of his. "Looks like you're busy today."

"Yeah, a caravan arrived yesterday," she said and Joe nodded.

"Good to hear. Always good for business," he said. He hesitated and rubbed his neck before saying, "So, how's that new partner of yours working out?"

"My dad asked you to come by, didn't he?" Erin said and Joe grinned. "Well, you can tell him we're doing fine, and the inn is running smoothly. You can see how many guests we already have."

The farmer shrugged. "You don't have to prove anything to me. But while I'm here, I did want to warn you to watch out for wild animals this close to the forest. Something's been bothering my chickens, and we lost a cow last night."

"A cow?"

"Yeah, it was pretty bad. I told Delilah she couldn't go out into the field until we could take care of it, don't want her getting upset again." Joe sighed.

"Do you know what did it?"

Erin and Joe looked around to find the mercenary standing by, his permanently intense eyes on them.

"No, there weren't any tracks," Joe said. "The cow looked like a bear's work, but we don't get them around here anymore."

The mercenary thought for a moment and said, "Well, some of the men reported seeing a large wolf hanging around the wagons on our way here. Probably not the same one, but if you have wolves around then one of them might be desperate enough to go after livestock."

"Huh. Still doesn't explain the chickens," Joe said. "We went over the whole coop and still don't know how it got in. I swear there wasn't a hole there big enough for a skinny mouse, and I'd hate to meet the wolf that could get in and out like that."

"Yeah, me too," Erin said quietly. The two men talked for a bit longer before she finally made an excuse to go back in and said goodbye to the farmer.

Inside, she gathered the empty plates from the chatting guests and went back into the kitchen with a vague plan on what to say. The young man's back was to her, his attention on washing up the breakfast dishes.

"Are they still here?" Kota asked.

"Yeah," Erin said. She put the plates down on the counter a little harder than necessary and said, "I thought you said you were going to watch the inn at night."

"What? I did," Kota said. "Not much happened. One of the guards came in to ask about–"

"Then what were you doing at Joe's farm!"

"Who?"

"The Farmers, they own the big farm just over the hill, and someone has been attacking their animals!"

"And you think it's me?" Kota asked.

"Well, they think it's a wolf, and I know one who wouldn't have much trouble with doors," Erin said.

"Could you please keep your voice down?" Kota asked, casting a glance at the door. "When did this happen?"

"Joe said his chickens have been going missing over the past couple of days," Erin answered. The mercenary had been interested in the details as well. "And apparently one of the cows got out last night and something got it in the field. You said you could control this whole wolf thing! This doesn't sound like having it under control!"

Kota sighed and put the dish rag down. "Erin, I turn into a wolf in the sunlight, remember? I couldn't attack a cow at night as a wolf, and if I tried to do it like I am now, it would probably just sit on me or whatever it is cows do. I haven't left this inn in days."

"Oh." Erin paused as Kota's logic sank in.

She was saved from apologizing when one of the merchants knocked on the kitchen door and leaned in to say, "Just wanted to let you know we're heading out. Thanks for the breakfast."

Erin stammered a reply and Kota nodded.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to get some sleep," Kota said once the merchants had finished parading out.

He walked out and Erin heard the distinct sound of claws clicking across the wooden floor and up the stairs. She sighed and turned to finish the dishes alone.

A few hours later, while Erin was in the front yard picking up the trash the careless guards had left behind, Kota slipped out the back door.

### Entry 9: Sniffing for Clues

The wolf darted through the tall grass, looking left and right as he made his way over the hill. Kota's heart sped up every time he heard the grass shift or the sounds of the town drifting across the field, the individual sounds indistinct even to his sharp hearing in this shape.

The Farmers' place was farther from the inn than he expected, and much larger. A huge tract of land was dotted with various crops, all in neat little rows, and a series of fields surrounded by fences were set aside for the animals that sent up their own obvious aroma. A house sat in the middle of it all, the doors and windows thrown open as a small woman went in and out about some business. Kota also spotted more than a few farmhands working in the fields and around the barn.

A small whine escaped from the wolf and he froze for more than a few minutes before slowly making his way down the hill and around the outskirts of the Farmers' land, where the wild grass grew tall enough to hide him from view. A wide circle brought him around to one of the pastures, where a murder of crows were already at work. After checking to make sure that the coast was clear of even the other farm animals, Kota slipped through the fence and as close to the crows as he dared.

One croaked at him and he growled in return, only to be greeted by a fierce shrieking from the other birds. Kota sighed and sniffed around, trying to ignore the insulting scavengers as well as the other, more pervasive smell that drilled through his senses.

A look around the field showed no sign of any tracks, aside from those of the farmer and all of the others who had come into the area to look upon the grisly sight. If there had been any markings, they would have been obliterated by the apparent mob, and as far out as he went from the center he could see nothing and his nose found no trace of anything other than the humans and livestock that made such a deep imprint on the field, in more ways than one.

After working up his nerve, Kota dashed straight into the middle of the crows, sending them flying up into the air with a flurry of greasy black feathers and enough squawking to set the chickens going off in the distance. It wouldn't be long before someone came to see what scared the crows off, or to deal with what was left of the poor dairy cow.

Kota's nose was overwhelmed by the smell. Even with the unmistakable scent of crow hanging around, the cow's blood hammered on his sinuses. Whatever had done this had not been careful or choosy in its work, and had been hungry. Even keeping in mind the crows, over half of the cow was gone, including a few bones.

The wolf moved away from the cow, searching in an ever widening circle with his nose pressed against the ground until he found the smell of the cow after the fact breaking away and moving toward the barn.

A shout broke his concentration and Kota looked up to find a young man on the other side of the field, with more of the farmhands running up at his call.

Kota's legs started moving without waiting for directions from his brain, propelling him in a straight line toward the forest in the distance. More shouts followed in his wake, and he thought he saw more than one man trying to block him off from the other fields, as if he would actually try to go after a chicken at a time like this. Or, he realized a little too late, steering him in a particular direction.

He turned his head and caught a flash of silver before hitting the ground with his paws over his head. A whistle between his shoulders followed by a crack in the fence and a curse from the man holding the gun told him it was safe to start running again. Even the most advanced guns in the empire took nearly a minute to reload, and that was in the hands of an expert. This fool had wasted his one shot, and judging from the yells of the others he had not earned much favor for it.

Kota leapt over the last fence in his way, and the final stretch gave way before his madly racing limbs, which did not slow until he was well within the shelter of the trees and far beyond being followed by the farmhands, who had hesitated at the tree line. Even then he kept running, at an angle that took him so far into the deep woods that the thickly wooded areas blocked out the sun entirely, and then Kota stumbled along on two legs as he tried to readjust to his human shape.

He slowed, taking in deep breaths as he walked in the general direction of the inn. Something told him that could have gone better, but at least none of the men saw anything beyond a wolf hanging around. Of course, once word got back to Erin he would probably be out of a job and a place to live, at the very least.

Kota sighed to himself as he neared the edge of the forest and caught sight of the inn. There had to be some way to prove that another animal was doing this, or at least a different wolf.

The thought hung heavy on Kota's mind and he never noticed the watcher in the deep woods, present from the moment he dashed away from the farm to when he broke from the cover of trees and fled to the Last Inn.

### Entry 10: Smile

Erin did not see Kota return, breathless and covered in sweat after his escape from the farm. She even smiled at him when he came down the stairs a few hours later, after some uneasy rest.

"Hello," he said warily, wondering if she had not heard about the wolf running around the Farmers' place or if she was trying to get him to drop his guard.

"Hey, do you think you can watch this place while I take care of some errands in town?" Erin asked. "It won't be for long, I just need to get a few things before the stores close."

"But what if..." Kota glanced in the direction of the merchants who were sprawled around the common room, relaxing after the business of the day and lowered his voice. "What if someone needs me to go outside? There's a few more hours before the sun goes down."

"Well, you're just going to have to think of something then. I'm not going to be gone that long," she said, and walked out the door despite Kota's continuing protests.

Kota wondered how fast news traveled in such a small town. He then wondered if he should go ahead and pack now, or wait until Erin returned with the mob before sneaking out the back door. Then one of the guests asked him about the broken shower head in the bathroom, and he found himself fixing that along with the toilet that kept clogging up and the door that wouldn't unlock, which turned out to be a problem of not knowing which way to turn the key. Then there was dinner, for a group of hungry guests who couldn't agree on what they wanted. By the time he had more than a few seconds to string together another thought, Erin was trudging in the back door under the weight of several bags and packages.

Kota looked in the kitchen at the sound of the door slamming and almost managed to back out again.

"Don't you dare. Come back in here, right now." Erin's level voice was betrayed by the way she dropped the bags on the counter and spun around on him. "I heard about the farm."

"Oh." Kota bit his lip and waited, but Erin's stare drove him into speaking. "After what you said this morning, about something attacking the farmer's livestock—"

"About you attacking them!" Erin's finger came out and struck Kota's chest. "What, you heard about the cow and thought you'd go for a snack? Free meat?"

"No! I was trying to figure out what did it, but I couldn't find anything," Kota said. "No tracks, no scent, just the remains of a cow that looked like it had run into something much worse than some bear or wolf."

"You're not helping your case there," Erin replied.

Kota frowned and for a moment, shorter than a breath, his expression darkened and his mouth thinned as it tried to hold back what he wanted to say.

Erin ignored the warning signs and added, "Do you know, they're talking about starting a hunt back in town? They say that if a wolf is willing to risk getting that close to humans in broad daylight for food, it won't be worried about attacking humans."

"Well then, it's a good thing it's not a wolf, and it's not looking for food," Kota answered.

"You don't understand! They're looking for you now, and if anyone sees you, if they figure out what you are—"

"Then it won't be any different than if they figured it out before." Kota turned and left the kitchen.

Erin used one of the words her father saved for the forge and started emptying the bags for something to do. Her hands shook and she had to force herself to stop and calm down after she kept dropping everything. The image of Kota, that stick-thin young man who always looked like he was cowering from the world, turning into the wolf kept running through her head. She felt sick, but she couldn't tell if it was from fear or worry.

When she finally left the kitchen, Erin found the common room empty except for Kota, slowly sweeping his way around the room.

He looked up and said, "The guests have all gone to their rooms."

Kota hesitated and then added, "I'm sorry to have caused you trouble, Erin. I only meant to help."

Erin flushed red, but her acidic reply was cut off by a knock at the door.

They looked at each other and then Kota walked over and opened the door to find what appeared to be a well-dressed young man with bright blue eyes and strawberry-tinted blonde hair standing in the dark outside with a wide smile.

"Hello," he said in a rich voice that lingered on the ears. "May I come in?"

"No," Kota said and swiftly shut the door in his face.

"Kota!" Shocked, Erin pushed him out of the way and opened the door, where the young man still stood with a slightly more fixed smile. "I'm so sorry about that. Please, come in, and welcome to the Last Inn."

Kota facepalmed as the young man walked in and said, "Thank you. So, the name of this place really is the Last Inn? Why is that?"

"Well, the previous owner chose the name and I'm not really sure—what is it, Kota?" Erin asked, pushing him away when he tried to pull her to the side.

"Why did you invite him in?" Kota asked, not even bothering to keep his voice down.

"Why did you shut the door on a guest?" Erin replied. She smiled at the young man and said, "I'm sorry, he's really not like this most of the time."

"Yes, well, I'm sure I can understand," the young man said. He was still smiling, but to Kota it seemed to be mocking him. "Although I am impressed. Most people can't recognize a vampire that quickly."

### Entry 11: The Inspector

The revelation that their latest guest was a vampire did not get the reaction from Erin that Kota expected. There was some surprise, and a brief expression of unease, but the young woman recovered quickly.

"You're registered, right?" she said.

"Of course," the vampire said and pulled a set of documents out of the side pocket of his bag, which he handed over for Erin's inspection.

"Oh, so your name's Miles?" Erin said as she skimmed over the legalese.

Kota looked from Erin to Miles and back again, but when no explanation came he said, "Registered?"

"All vampires were required to register with the government a decade ago," Miles answered, not even trying to hide his smile at Kota's discomfort. "Rather than trying to hunt us down, the emperor decided to put us to some use. I'm actually here on government business right now."

"This says here that you're a bounty hunter," Erin said, the sound of the pages turning loud in the following quiet.

"That's one way of putting it, yes," Miles said. "More like I go and retrieve people for the government, take them to the capital for one thing or another."

"Even if they don't want to come?" Kota asked.

Miles shrugged. "When does anyone want to deal with the government? But at the moment I'm just here to inspect the inn, look around, and wait until my next assignment."

Erin nearly dropped the papers. "Inspect the inn? Why?"

"Well, originally I was supposed to come here and look it over before a replacement for Daniel Sollis could be found to take over the place, but then your mayor sent word that someone finally reopened the inn." The vampire noticed their confusion. "Didn't you know? The capital's been putting pressure on your mayor to find a replacement for months. It's a hindrance to travelers and to business. A town this close to the capital trying to shut itself off from the rest of the empire? I don't think so."

He scuffed his leather shoe on the floor and walked around the common room, looking up at the walls while this sank in.

Erin spoke first. "Well, you can see for yourself that the Last Inn is open. We have several guests here at the moment, actually—"

"And one more," Miles interrupted. "Did you know there's something living in this chimney? You may want to deal with that before winter."

"What?" Erin shot a terrified look at the dark space under the mantel, now populated by a horde of creatures thanks to her imagination.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll pay upfront," Miles said. "This should cover a week, right?"

Erin squeaked at the sight of the money and Miles nodded.

"That's it?" Kota asked. "You just show some papers and money, and we're supposed to ignore the whole vampire thing?"

"Well, it is a lot of money," Erin said. She pulled Kota to the side when that failed to sway him and whispered, "Look, that's just the way it is. Didn't you hear him? He's here to inspect us, and one of those papers says he has the authority to turn the ownership of the inn over to someone else 'with enough reason.' I swear, if you lose this place for me..."

Kota nodded, his eyes still locked on the vampire casually examining the available room keys.

"Good," Erin replied. "And you're on night shift, so you take him to his room and make him comfortable, got it? Tomorrow we'll talk about whatever is in that chimney."

Kota swallowed back a growl and they walked over to Miles, who held up a key.

"I think I shall take this room, if that's okay with Miss Smith," he said.

"Sure, sure," Erin said quickly. "I hope you enjoy your stay here. If you need anything tonight, just ask Kota."

Miles bowed and wished Erin a good night while Kota mimed gagging behind him. When the vampire turned around, Kota stopped and Erin returned the gesture with one of her own that warned him to watch it.

"Please follow me," Kota said. He waited until they were halfway up the stairs and Erin was in her own room before asking, "How did you know Erin's last name?"

"It was in the report the mayor sent," Miles replied. "Tell me, why is it that you did not know about registered vampires?"

Kota's reply did not come as fast, and it failed to come before they reached the room, 1F. By this point it did not surprise him to find the room was next to his own.

Miles spoke then, taking his time about unlocking the door. "Of course, someone who didn't grow up in the empire wouldn't necessarily know about that sort of thing. Where are you from, Kota...?"

The door clicked open and Kota bowed. "Is the room to your liking, sir?"

"Now that's just rude," Miles said, and chuckled. "Fine, I won't push. Will you at least let me show you something?"

He gestured and then placed a hand on Kota's shoulder and steered him into the room when he failed to go. The vampire carefully placed his bag on the bed and pulled out the case that filled most of the space inside, which he reverentially laid on the desk.

"In the capital more than a few blood banks are willing to sell to registered vampires, and donors can always be found for the right price," he explained. "Since I work for the government, I receive an allowance."

He opened the case to reveal three packed and sealed vials, the contents of which Kota did not have to guess at.

"One of these can sustain me for a month," Miles said. "And if there's an emergency, my status means that I can go to any farm or butcher for my needs."

Kota struggled to look away from the case. "Why tell me this?"

"So you'll understand that I am not here to harm you or the girl. Believe me, you're not worth the paperwork."

Miles shut the case and turned on Kota. His hand moved up and out, and before Kota could react the vampire pushed back the hair covering the left side of his face and examined the mark emblazoned there like a sunburst.

"Besides, it seems to me you have so much more to be worried about, wolf."

### Entry 12: Just Curious

Kota and Miles stepped back at the same time and the vampire shook his hand while Kota fumbled with the doorknob. He opened the door only for Miles to shut it before he could escape.

"Stick around, won't you?" he said and shook the hand not holding the door closed again. "Geez, I didn't expect it to be hot like that."

"What?"

"That thing on your face, it felt like it was on fire," Miles said. He blew on his hand and shrugged. "Stop pulling on the handle like that, you'll break the door before you get it open."

Kota released the door handle and stepped away from the door. His eyes flickered toward the window.

"Really? We're on the second floor, man."

"How did you know about this?" Kota asked, pointing at his mark. "And about..."

"The turning into a wolf thing? Easy, I saw you." In response to Kota's surprise, he shrugged and said, "I was in the deep woods today, doing what little traveling I can during the day when a wolf runs by with three men on its tail. I followed, just to see what would happen, but the others gave up before the big reveal. What did you do to them?"

Kota hesitated and then explained about his little field trip to the farm. Miles listened, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile when he heard about the cow and then again with the shotgun.

"So, does your girlfriend know about the wolf?" Miles asked once Kota finished.

"She's not my girlfriend," Kota said.

"Oh, that's good. You're not really her type, you know."

Kota decided not to ask. "I arrived around a week ago, looking for Master Sollis. Erin offered me a job here when that didn't work out."

"Thank you for not answering my question there." Miles leaned against the door and crossed his arms. "Will you at least tell me why you were looking for Sollis?"

Kota considered it for a moment and then said, "A witch told me the innkeeper held the key to breaking my curse."

"Not up on current events though, was she? And the curse?"

Miles drummed on the wood behind him with his fingers while he waited, and continued to do so even when it became apparent Kota wasn't going to answer.

"What do you want?" Kota asked quietly.

"Me? Oh, I'm just curious." Miles marked the disbelief on Kota's face and said, "I'm just here to inspect the inn, remember? I don't have any active assignments aside from that."

The vampire stepped away from the door and opened it.

"Go on, then, if you have nothing else to say."

Kota hesitated and then walked out of the room. He did catch one passing remark from Miles before the door closed:

"Of course, if I find out that you have stepped out of line, in any way, then that will change."

The threat didn't bother Kota much. Miles would be hard-pressed to beat Erin to the punch if that happened.

Downstairs in her own room, Erin checked her door and window again to make sure that both were still locked. She knew the law, but there were stories, about vampires who couldn't take the ban anymore, who just snapped...

Erin shuddered and pulled her blanket up and over her head. Of course, they were just stories. She kept telling herself that until she finally drifted off to sleep, and then again every time one of the small night sounds woke her up.

She ended up oversleeping, and when she finally dragged herself out to the front desk Kota looked up from his game of cards and said, "Wow, you look awful."

"Thanks a lot," Erin muttered. "Where's everybody else?"

"The sellers are doing the last of their business today. I think they're planning on leaving tonight or tomorrow morning, since the others have been packing up all day. Your vampire's still up in his room," Kota said. He flipped over a card and carefully laid it on a stack of others. "Guess he didn't feel like breakfast."

"Are you going to be like this the whole time he's here?" Erin asked, in between muffling yawns.

"Probably."

Erin sighed and looked around the room, her gaze eventually stopping on the fireplace.

"I think I know what you can do today."

Kota soon found himself standing in front of the fireplace, armed with a broom, a trash can, and a bundle of handkerchiefs. Erin stood by, or at least stood on the stairs and looked down over the banister at him.

"Are you sure about this?" Kota asked.

"Yeah, everyone else is gone, so this is the best time to do it," Erin replied. "Just get whatever is living in there out, okay?"

"And what are you going to be doing?"

"I'm...uh...."

"She'll be showing me around the inn, of course."

Erin and Kota turned to look at Miles, who stood a few steps above Erin on the stairs with a fresh, crisp attitude.

"I will?"

"Well, the parts of it that are on the inside, of course," Miles said. "Why don't we start at the top and work our way down?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess that will work," Erin said before she realized what he meant. The attic, the one place in the inn she and Kota hadn't ventured into yet.

Kota watched them go up the stairs and turned back to the task at hand. He cautiously stuck the broom in, stick first, and froze when he heard a hiss.

Up the stairs and around the bend in the hall to the smaller staircase that led up into the attic, Erin tried to hint to Miles that she had no idea what was up there without using those exact words while she found the key to the door and unlocked it.

The door opened with an ominous creak and a wave of warm air came down, bringing with it a strange smell of neglect, dust, and a vague hint of lemons.

Behind her, Miles said, "Well, this looks promising."

### Entry 13: The Attic

Erin's hand immediately reached out for a light switch and found a cobweb instead.

"Ugh!"

"Here, let me look around," Miles said and brushed past her. Erin watched the vampire walk into the attic, unfazed by the dim lighting. He soon returned with an old candle and some matches. "Here, you can use this."

"Thanks." She took the candle and held it, if somewhat unsteadily, while Miles lit it. "What are you looking for up here, anyways?"

"Looking for?" Miles blew out the match and stepped back. "I'm not looking for anything. I'm just here to inspect."

"Right." Erin walked out into the dim attic, candle in hand. It illuminated the immediate area, revealing a small walkway that went the length of the attic and branched off here and there. On either side a strange assortment of items piled one atop another covered the rest of the available space. "What is all of this stuff?"

"I heard that the previous innkeeper took in a lot of...interesting guests, not the sort of people who carry money on them," Miles said. He flipped open the lid of a box which proved to be full of seashells. "They probably paid him in other ways, with food and stuff that he could sell to the traders. People in the capital will buy just about anything."

"Oh." Erin looked around and bit her lip. "What are we supposed to do with all of this stuff then?"

"I don't know. Yard sale?" Miles closed the lid of the box and set off across the attic. "I guess you should look around and see what it is, first."

Erin sighed. Maybe they could just leave it all up here and let the next innkeeper deal with it. What would someone want with a patched-up tailor's mannequin? Or with a stuffed bear with one arm and three eyes?

She moved across the attic and down one of the rows, looking through the piles while trying to avoid touching anything for fear of sending it all toppling down. Near the east corner she bent down and picked up a book lying alone in the middle of the cleared space. As soon as she touched it something rustled in the darkness and Erin jumped back and into a pile of instruments which fell with a loud, discordant crash all around her. The candle hit the floor and went out.

"Ow..."

"Erin? Are you okay?" Miles called from the other side of the attic.

"I think I'm sitting on a trombone."

Erin stood up with a few jarring notes and nearly fell back down again when she found Miles standing far too close for comfort. She hadn't even heard him move, and being this close to a vampire in the dark made her skin crawl.

"What happened?"

"I thought I heard something," Erin said, trying to hide her unease. "Do you think you could back up?"

"Uh..." Miles looked over his shoulder and carefully sidestepped around her, keeping his eyes on a patch of sunlight that was leaking through a hole in the roof. "You might want to fix that."

Erin looked up at the hole and sighed. One more thing to take care of.

"Well, I don't hear anything now." Miles turned his head this way and that and Erin thought she saw his ears move a little. "What's that in your hand?"

Erin looked down and realized she still had the book, its red, leather bound cover smooth in her hand. She held it under the sunlight and found the pages covered in a slanted scrawl.

"It looks like a diary or something," Erin said. She checked the front cover and added, "Yeah, it used to belong to Sollis."

"Should make for some interesting reading," Miles said and saw her blanch. "Or maybe not. You're not curious about the guy who used to run this place at all? There could be some useful advice in there."

"Look, I've got the place running, which is more than everyone else said was possible. The inn's bringing in money, and soon I'll have enough to—" Erin hesitated and saw that Miles was watching her with a thin, knowing smile.

"Let me guess: you want to make enough money to leave town, go to the capital, get a real life, that sort of thing?"

"Er, yeah." She wouldn't have put it like that, but it was close enough to the point. "I only picked the inn because anywhere else in town I would have had to agree to an apprenticeship, and it takes years to get out of one of those."

"Plus you get to be your own boss here."

Erin nodded, unashamed. "I figured it would be good practice for living on my own, and if I messed up no one would really be that surprised."

Miles poked around in the pile of instruments for a couple of minutes without replying and too late she realized that she had told the inspector, of all people, this. He would be sending out for a replacement as soon as they went downstairs.

"Huh, this guitar just needs a new string," he said and straightened up. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take a look at the guest rooms next, then the kitchen."

"Uh, sure," Erin said and followed Miles to the door. He took a circuitous route to avoid the patches of sunlight, giving enough time for Erin to gather up the courage and say, "It's not like I'm just going to run out one day. Once I have the money, I can stick around until you find a replacement."

"I know." Miles stopped at the door and glanced at his wrist, where a strap held a small, square box in place. "Huh. It's supposed to cloud over this afternoon. Perhaps the three of us could take a tour around town then."

Erin wondered if the device predicted the weather. "The three of us?"

"Yes, you, me, and Kota. You haven't forgotten him, have you?"

A crash came from downstairs followed by a shrill yell and the sound of tables turning over.

"What was that?!"

Miles tilted his head at the noise. "Sounds like Kota got that nest of squirrels out of the chimney."

### Entry 14: Ashes

Miles insisted on stopping to check the vacant guest rooms before going down to the common room, in spite of Kota's persistent shouts and the sound of tables and chairs turning over amid the barking and screeching of the wild animals. By the time they reached the foot of the stairs, Kota slammed the front door shut and slid down to the floor with his back against the wood. Behind him the former residents of the nest that lay in tatters around the fireplace chattered through the wood before running away.

A trail of ash and soot showed the path the chaos had taken before Kota prevailed against the surprisingly vicious squirrels. It ran from the fireplace, across the once clean floors, over more than a few tables, one of which lay on its side, and finally out the door where the young man now sat, his clothes and skin covered in soot and several scratches to remind him of the battle.

"I'll clean that up in a minute," he said before he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "How was the attic?"

"The roof needs some work and there's half a century's worth of odds and ends to go through," Miles answered and Kota groaned.

Erin looked down at Sollis's journal, not sure why she bothered to bring it down. The idea of ever being bored enough to go through the thing appalled her, but she stopped by the reception desk and stuck it in all the same. By the time she righted the fallen table and started pushing the chairs back in place the journal was already forgotten.

Miles watched her progress across the room before saying to Kota, "And Erin and I have decided that the three of us will go into town this afternoon."

"What?" Kota bounced back up on his feet so fast it looked he had springs attached to his shoes. "But the sun! I mean, you're a vampire."

His eyes shifted between Erin and Miles.

Miles pulled the device that Erin had noticed earlier off of his wrist and showed it to Kota as he said, "This is a combox, it allows me to receive messages from my dispatcher. That's the person who tells me where I'm supposed to go next. She writes on her tablet and it shows up here, or something like that. Today I received a message that the weather will be cloudy enough that I should be able to walk around without too much of a problem, see? No sun, no ash, which is more than I can say for you."

Kota looked down at his shirt and brushed off a cloud of black dust that swirled in the air before resettling in about the same spot.

"There were some old clothes up in the attic," Miles said. "I'm sure Miss Erin here would not mind lending them to you, if they fit."

"Oh, right," Erin said. There were probably enough clothes up there to fit out a regiment and supply one of the traveling troupes with the costumes to put on a full play.

"Thank you, but I think I will just stay here," Kota said, picking the broom up off the ground where he'd dropped it when one of the squirrels latched on to the back of his head. "We shouldn't just leave the inn unattended, right?"

"I could get my little brother to watch it." Erin shrugged when they looked at her and said, "Today's his day off, and I bet he wouldn't mind a chance to get away from home."

"You have a brother?" Kota asked.

"Three, and one sister."

"I think I see why he might want to get out," Miles muttered and then said in his more usual, cheerful tone, "Then it's settled. Miss Erin's brother will watch the inn and we'll go out for a little walk. Won't that be nice? Where do you think we should go first, Kota?"

Kota returned the question with a baffled stare and Miles caught him looking at Erin for some kind of answer.

"What?" The vampire tilted his head. "You have been in town before, haven't you?"

"Not really," Kota admitted. Except for his one excursion out to the farm, he had not stepped beyond the walls of the Last Inn, and considering how that turned out he wasn't in the mood to try again.

The muscles around Miles's mouth tightened for a brief second and then he smiled again. "Then we really do need to go. But first things first."

He tapped the broom and pointed to the floor emphatically. Kota didn't even bother to argue; he just rubbed at one of his scratches and started to sweep.

Erin shook her head and said, "Well, I'll go ahead and ask Art about coming by later. You two be good, okay?"

She opened the door and Miles and Kota both moved away from the patch of sunlight that came in before she shut it behind her.

"'Be good?' Did she just talk to us like we were children?" Miles asked.

"I think it's a habit," Kota said. He corralled the ash and soot up and sighed when he saw the streaks left behind. He went back into the kitchen to wet a rag and missed Miles's snort.

"A habit she picked up around you, I'm sure." The vampire checked his combox again and reread the latest message. It had been a pain to get the weather mages to make this allowance for him, and he had no intentions of wasting it.

Over the next couple of hours the clouds rolled in over town and Miles waited impatiently for Erin and Kota to get ready. The moment Arthur, Erin's younger brother arrived, he ushered them out the door without waiting to get to know the boy beyond a brief introduction. There was so much to be done, and so little time.

### Entry 15: Around Town

The short walk into town seemed all the shorter to Kota, who kept trying to press his hair down to better cover the mark on his face and looking up at the sky as if expecting the dark clouds overhead to break cover at any moment and leave him exposed to the sun.

"You fuss with your hair more than a teenage girl," Miles said. "No offense, Miss Erin."

"Really? How old do you think I am?" Erin asked. "And just Erin is fine. Where do you two want to go first? I mean, there's really not that much to see, besides the clock tower and the river, maybe, and some people like to see the church – oh."

"What? I won't burst into flames if I go in." Miles paused on the paved road that separated the houses on either side to consider this. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I won't. Hasn't happened yet, right?"

Erin decided to lead them along the main road, which happened to be the only road. The rest of the side streets were little more than dirt paths, and while it was possible to go just about anywhere in town using the alleys the view lacked anything remotely interesting. That said, the most interesting view in town today seemed to be the two strangers, if the many, many looks Miles and Kota received from the townspeople was any indication. A few even turned around to watch them walk by, and faces looked out from some of the store windows.

"You don't get many visitors around here, do you?" Kota asked. His head ducked down when a nearby couple whispered and he seemed to be making a bid to hide behind himself.

"Well, no, but..." Erin looked at the others and coughed before saying, "Word travels fast around here, you see, and the merchants apparently like to talk a lot while they're selling and trading."

"Ah," Miles said.

"Ah what?" The moment they reached the bridge Kota latched onto one of the railings and looked down into the river below to avoid the stares. The sound of the water combined with the croaking of frogs and the quacking ducks splashing in the water helped, and if he closed his eyes he could almost forget they were in the middle of town.

"Ah, they know there's a vampire staying at the inn, right?"

Erin nodded and for Kota's benefit said, "Yes, and people have been asking about Kota every time I come into town. They're just curious, that's all."

Kota just nodded with his eyes clenched shut. When he failed to move or otherwise respond for five whole minutes, Miles and Erin looked at each other and without speaking grabbed each of Kota's arms. Together they managed to pry him away from the bridge and walk him into the center of town, where a large multistory clock tower dominated the area.

"Why couldn't I have just stayed at the inn?" Kota asked, and Erin swore she heard the hint of a whimper in his voice.

"Don't you like your walkie?" Miles said in the most patronizing way possible. "Come on Kota, it won't kill you to look around."

He grabbed Kota's arm again and pulled him around the circle of stores, pointing out the patch of green at the foot of the tower and the squirrel in the tree who hissed at Kota.

Erin decided to hang back and let them run around, so she couldn't hear what Kota muttered in a steady stream under his voice at Miles but she did see the young man give a few fleeting smiles after a while. She wondered what could make someone so scared of other people like that. He walked around like he expected the world to kick him. Did it have something to do with his curse, or had Kota always been like this?

"Well, well, look who's got two boys hanging on her arms," said a familiar voice.

Afterwards Erin looked back on this moment and felt a strong surge of pride for managing to keep her face expressionless as she turned and said, "Hello, Mrs. Grimsby. Out for a walk today?"

"Oh, yes," the little old woman said with a smile that suggested something. Erin wasn't entirely sure what it suggested, but she thought it was probably dirty. "Doctor says I need to get out more, you know. I see you're getting out of that stuffy old inn today. Tell me, is that the partner I've heard so much about?"

Erin wondered how much Grimsby could have really heard as she said, "Yes, that's Kota. Art's taking care of the inn so I could show them around town."

"And that other one," Grimsby's voice lowered and she leaned in closer to Erin as she said, "The scrawny one dressed like a scarecrow, he's the capital's vampire?"

She misinterpreted the surprise on Erin's face and chuckled. "Don't be so surprised, those traders have been talking about it all morning. Just like the emperor to send one of them here."

Mrs. Grimsby continued on, chattering about the country today with the occasional thinly veiled barb toward those "bats" as she called them, but Erin paid little attention. She looked at Kota, still rake-thin and dressed in cast-off clothes from the attic that hung on him like a sack, with dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep (did he ever sleep?). Compared to Miles she could more than understand Grimsby's mistake.

Before she could correct her, Miles and Kota returned and the vampire gave Grimsby a deep bow and a smile that made the woman cluck.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. Do you mind if we take back our guide?"

"Of course not," Grimsby said. She beamed at Miles and gave Erin a brief wink as she said, "You two should go by the forge and see Erin's father. The man's been worried sick you know. I'd warn you about walking around outside town alone, but with this one around I don't think you'll have to worry, eh Erin?"

She chuckled at Erin's discomfort and walked away, after making a discreet gesture in Kota's direction designed to ward off evil.

### Entry 16: Magic Follows Magic

Erin tried to ignore Miles's incessant smirk as she said, "Well, we've seen most of the town now, why don't we head back to the inn?"

"Yes, please," Kota said quickly but Miles spoke over him.

"Why stop now? We still have time, and we haven't even been to the other side of this place yet." Miles paused and then said, "That is, unless you're avoiding a certain forge. Afraid of Daddy, are we?"

"No, I just don't think going by there is such a good idea." Erin crossed her arms and glared at the vampire. "Why do you want to go so bad, anyways?"

"Well, it is my job to look into the new owner of the inn, after all. I should think that would include meeting her family, references and so on." Miles brushed his blonde hair out of his face. "Of course, I could always find the place myself. Shouldn't be too hard, after all."

Miles turned and walked away. Erin watched him pass by the clock tower and cross the rest of the town center before she sighed and said, "Really? Come on, Kota!"

She grabbed his arm and dragged him behind her as she ran, managing to catch up with Miles about halfway down the street.

"Worried?" he asked.

"About how my dad will react when a vampire walks into his forge? Yeah, a little," Erin snapped back. "I don't want to explain to the capital why someone has to be sent to scrape up your ashes."

"Ouch."

The blacksmith had set up shop near the edge of town, in a large building attached to his home. Chopped wood lay in neat stacks around the outside, and a spire of smoke rose from the cutaway in the roof. Its set of wide double doors stood open, allowing a breeze to come in and a steady ring of hammer meeting hot metal to come out, sometimes punctuated with an oath or a yell.

Erin led them into the smithy and Kota and Miles looked around, taking in the tools and materials stacked or hanging on the walls. Kota looked around and up to find the customary horseshoe hanging above his head for luck, gleaming in the light of the fire.

A young man looked up from pumping the fire on the far side of the room and said, "Erin! About time you showed up."

Yet another one of Erin's brothers if Kota had to guess, as he had the same pointed face as the younger brother currently watching the inn for them as well as Erin's chestnut hair. He also had the broad shoulders and build that marked her father, an easy comparison to make as the man looked up from his work and scowled at them.

"Stay there," Eli Smith said. He finished his current project, some kind of tool that Kota did not recognize, and left it to cool as he straightened up to his full height and faced them. His eyes flickered toward Kota and rested on Miles, and his frown became even more chiseled than usual. "You must be the vampire the capital sent. What's your business here?"

Miles, visibly flustered in the presence of the overbearing personality that bore down from every line of the smithy, cleared his throat and said, "Yes, sir, my name is Miles. I am here to inspect the inn and make sure that it's in capable hands."

"Well, as you can see this is not the inn," Eli answered. "Marcus, go fetch some more wood for the fire."

The young man nodded and scurried out. Kota watched him leave and wished he had an excuse to get out of there too.

"Look," Eli said to Erin once his son left the forge, "I clearly can't stop you from playing around with this inn business, but don't drag Arthur into it."

"Art was off today, I didn't drag him away from the shop," Erin protested. "Besides, he wanted to do it, and he needed the extra money. You know they don't pay him nearly enough for everything he does for that place."

"He's an apprentice, he's there to learn," her father said. "It will pay off in time. That inn, on the other hand? You're so worried about Art, but you're sinking your time and energy into that beaten, broken wreck of a building. Look what it did to Daniel, the man spent his whole life keeping the place up and six months later it looks like no one's stepped in there in years."

Kota frowned as the memory of the guest rooms flickered in his mind from his first day at the inn. Clean, neat, with fresh sheets even, someone had to have taken care of them. Aside from the usual wear and tear of age, only the ground floor bore any signs of neglect. He remembered the thick layer of sawdust covering the common room floor beneath a light layer of dust and wondered if 'neglect' was even the right word.

"Well, if Erin and Kota refuse the inn or fail in their duties someone else will just have to be brought in," Miles said, earning a scowl from Erin that rivaled her father's. "But so far they seem to be handling it. The current guests have already told me they intend to return at some point, as well as tell others about it. Soon your little town will have more than enough visitors, which should be good news for you."

"What kind of visitors though?" Eli said to himself, but Miles caught the small sound.

"What do you mean?"

"You should know," Eli said. "Sollis opened his doors to anyone and everyone, as well as everything. Those forests hold strange peoples and creatures, and more than once some monster followed their heels and terrorized this town."

"Well, I did see the complaints on file," Miles admitted. "But those incidents happened years ago—"

"Years ago? Look at what's happening with Joe's livestock now! I don't care what they say they saw, no normal wolf could have done anything to a horse like what I saw this morning. Magic follows magic, everyone knows that. It will only get worse with time."

His stare caught everyone except for Kota, who kept his gaze firmly riveted on the floor and resisted the urge to make sure his hair still hid the curse mark emblazoned above his left eye.

### Entry 17: Observations

Erin and her father stared each other down across the forge until Marcus returned with his arms full of firewood.

"Where's Mom?" Erin asked her brother.

"Oh, she's over at the Farmers' place," Marcus said after he dropped the wood next to the fire and fed it a few pieces. "She wanted to talk to Delilah, help get her mind off things."

"Thanks," Erin turned and spoke to Miles and Kota, "We're going to the farm next, okay?"

They nodded, both more than ready to leave the forge, but Eli spoke.

"Your mother put together some things you left behind, if you want to get them now." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked away. "I was going to send one of your brothers to take it to you, but now I think you would just recruit them to work in the inn."

Erin looked surprised for a moment and then said, "Oh, okay. I'll be right back."

She went through the door that connected to the house and Marcus excused himself as well, not even waiting until they were out of earshot before eagerly talking to his sister about something to do with one of the neighbors.

Eli looked at the other two and allowed the silence to stretch beyond the bounds of awkward before he turned and pumped the fire with the bellows.

"I think I'm going to go outside," Miles said once the blacksmith's eyes were off him and he slipped out without another sound.

"Hold on there."

Kota stopped in his tracks, so close to the door that he considered bolting before he turned around and said, "Yes, sir?"

"You've lasted longer than I thought you would," Eli said. He used a pair of tongs to pick up a piece of iron and place it within the fire.

"Sir?" It wasn't the best response, but Kota couldn't think of anything else to fill up the void in the conversation. As far as he could remember, the man had not said a single word to him before now.

"How is the inn going? Really?"

Kota cleared his throat and managed to say, without too much stuttering, "We've done some repairs, but the roof needs work and the place could use some paint. We've cleaned everything except for the attic, which the way Erin describes it we'll need about three weeks and a bonfire to take care of that. The government sent Miles, who you've already met, to inspect the inn. I think you can guess how that's going."

Eli pulled the iron out of the fire, examined it, and thrust it back in. He retrieved another iron from the fire that had been waiting and placed it on the anvil before picking up a hammer.

"...Your daughter," Kota said, after swallowing and working up the nerve, "She, er, is doing a good job. With some help and time, Erin really can get the Last Inn running again. Would...Would that really bother you so much?"

The smith brought the hammer down on the iron again and again, molding it with several quick, calculated hits that rang out and hurt Kota's ears. When the iron finally cooled and the smith had to return it to the fire, Kota rubbed his ears and nearly missed what he said next.

"You really don't know, do you?" He turned and stared down at Kota. "I don't know why you're here, boy, but you don't have to tell me about Erin. I know exactly what's she planning. What about you, what are you after?"

"After?" Kota hesitated and then smiled as he prepared to lie through his teeth, but at that moment Erin and Marcus returned with a couple of bags crammed full of stuff.

"I can't believe I forgot my red shirt!" She smiled at her dad, the first time Kota had seen her do so, and said, "Thank you. You want me to tell Mom anything?"

"You can tell her I've got supper handled," Eli muttered. He tugged on his short beard and returned to his work.

Erin pressed one of the bags into Kota's arms and said, "I'll come back next week, okay? Come on, Kota, let's go before it gets dark."

She waved and pulled Kota along behind her.

"Do you really need to do that?" Kota asked, pulling his arm free of her grip once they were outside. "You seem to have forgiven your father quickly."

"Eh, I wasn't really that mad," Erin said.

"That was you not really that mad?" Miles said, his eyebrows going up as he stopped leaning against the wall of the forge. "What does angry Erin sound like?"

"You don't want to know." Erin missed Kota's agreeing nod as she led the way down the street, back the way they came.

"Your father is..." Miles hesitated.

"Terrifying?" Kota supplied.

"He would make a good hunter," Miles conceded. "He has the eye. I'm surprised he hasn't spotted Kota for what he is already."

"Say it a little louder, why don't you?" Kota said, looking around to make sure no one was listening.

"Okay," Miles said and took a deep breath before Kota shoved him.

Erin laughed a little and said, "You should meet my mom."

They passed through the center of town and reached the river within a few minutes. It couldn't be more than a mile from one side of the town to the other, along the main road. A fisherman standing out in the reeds with the water up to the tops of his waders looked up and waved at them.

Kota returned the wave, glad to see at least one friendly face among those of the townspeople who stared and whispered every time he caught their eye. The stares weren't that much better when they reached the Farmers' place, where more than one of the workers carried a weapon of some sort and kept shooting wary glances at the forest edge.

Miles whistled and at least one stable hand jumped. "Wow. What happened here? I haven't seen people this jumpy since that little incident in Rolden."

"What—" Kota started to ask, but his head whipped around when he caught a familiar scent on the breeze that swept over the farm. It should have promised a welcome rain after a long summer, but the smell of blood marred it. He swallowed and said, "I think we're about to find out what happened to that horse."

### Entry 18: Back to the Farm

Miles inhaled, taking in the various smells normally associated with farms: the grass, the freshly turned dirt out in the fields where the crops were standing strong and tall, the even fresher fertilizer, the sweat from the workers busy at one task or another. Then there were those not so normal smells: the fear reeking from the animals, penned up in the stable in spite of the humid heat forewarning a storm to come, along with that coming off of the workers, and the scent of blood that laced everything.

The vampire exhaled slowly and opened his eyes to look at a pair of workers who smelled the strongest of both the fear and the blood. "You there!"

The men were both dressed in durable clothing that looked like it had been dragged through a pile of dirt. They turned around and stared as Miles, followed by Erin and Kota, approached.

"What do you want?" One of the men looked Miles over suspiciously, and turned the same stare on Kota and Erin until memory kicked in. "Erin! Is that you?"

"Yeah," Erin replied. "Jeremy, right?"

He nodded and Miles rolled his eyes before saying, "Good, you know each other. Mind telling me where you've been digging, Jeremy?"

Jeremy looked down at his now brown pants and shoes and said, "Oh, that? We had to dig a hole for the horse, all the way out in the waste where nothing grows."

"At least what was left of it," the other man muttered ominously. "Butcher wouldn't even take it for dog food."

Kota, upon a closer look, recognized him as the same man who shot at him the last time he tried to look around the farm. He recognized that grimace and those sharp, bright eyes that thankfully had not helped his aim. When everyone looked at him, Kota realized that he must have made an involuntary sound and turned it into a cough while he tried to remind himself that the man would have a hard time recognizing him as the wolf from the other day.

"What happened to the horse?" Miles asked.

Jeremy looked at Erin.

"What? I want to know too," Erin said to the unspoken reply and Jeremy shrugged.

"We don't really know. Probably the same thing that happened to the cows and to those chickens. Something's attacking the animals, but we can't find any trace of it."

"If you don't count half an animal sprawled over as much field a trace," the other man said. "At first the only thing left of the chickens was a couple of feathers, and the first cow was nearly gone. Since then, more of the animal's stayed behind and the results...are messier."

He said this last part with another look askance at Erin, as if debating with himself over whether to go into more detail.

"Thank you for that," Miles said. He brushed some hair out of his face and sniffed the air again. "Do you mind if we take a look around?"

"You should probably ask Joe about that," Jeremy replied. He pointed to a field near the stables and said, "He should be over that way. All of this trouble is making us fall behind with the harvest, so he may not be in much of a mood to talk."

"Do you know where my mom is?" Erin asked.

Jeremy looked to the other man who jerked a thumb in the direction of the house in the middle of the property and said, "Still in there with Delilah, I would think."

"Do you two mind if I go talk to her first?" Erin asked. Without waiting for an answer, she started to walk toward the house and called over her shoulder, "Meet you in the stables in a few, okay?"

"In a few what?" Kota asked, but Erin just waved her hand and went inside.

"Well, looks like we get to go talk to the boss man," Miles said. He started to walk toward the field Jeremy pointed out and Kota reluctantly fell in step with him. After they were out of earshot of the workers, Miles asked Kota, "Did what he say match what you saw the other day?"

Kota shrugged. "By the time I got there the crows had already started picking at it, but over half of the cow was gone. I'm sure some of the bones were also eaten or taken, but other than that it wasn't any 'messier' than anything a normal predator would do. Although it would be a lot of meat for just one animal."

"And did you smell anything unusual?" Miles asked, his voice dropping lower to avoid being overheard.

Kota shook his head. "Nothing at all. I went over the area, but the smell coming off the cow was distracting. If I could have had more time, maybe I could have found something, but..."

"Yes, yes, it's hard to concentrate when people are shooting, I know," Miles said. He leaned on the fence around the field and looked out over the rows of crops at the heads bobbing here and there, occasionally looking up at the sky to check on the rolling clouds. "Which one of these is Farmer?"

Kota scanned the faces and found Joe Farmer in the midst of the tomatoes, a basket at his side as he picked those ready to come off the vine with an experienced hand.

Farmer looked up when Miles and Kota approached and straightened his back with a crack that made Kota wince.

"Can I help you?" he asked. "We're busy at the moment, you see. Got to get all of this in before the rain comes, if we can."

"We're here to look into this creature that's been attacking your livestock," Miles said. "With your permission, of course."

Farmer wiped his brow and looked both of them over, apparently not impressed by what he saw.

"We don't need someone to 'look into it,'" Farmer said. "We need someone to kill this monster, before it gets worse."

"Monster?" Kota asked. "Last I heard you thought it was some kind of wild animal."

"Ah, that's what we thought at first," Farmer said, his frown growing more pronounced.

"And what do you think it is now?" Miles asked.

"We know what it is, we saw it the other day when it came back for the rest of its kill," Farmer said and Kota knew where this was going before he even said, "A great wolf, skinny as a rack, with a blazing mark on its face that glowed like the sun they said. You can't tell me that was a normal animal."

Kota tried to keep his face perfectly blank while Miles nodded and solemnly said, "No, I can't."

### Entry 19: The Empty Stall

With Joe Farmer's permission to go over most of the farm, so long as they didn't get in anyone's way, Kota and Miles decided to start in the fields where the most recent attacks occurred. There wasn't much to see there, and the way Miles kept sniffing at the rancid smell that lingered in the area just served to get on Kota's nerves until he suggested they go and take a look at the animals themselves.

"Sure, if you think that would help anything," Miles said.

The chicken coops were all shut and the vampire tapped on the new lock on the nearest one.

"What, did he think the monster would use the door?"

"Erin said that was one of the things that bothered Farmer," Kota answered as he walked around the outside of the coop. He could hear the chickens inside, who did not sound thrilled about missing their time in the yard. He checked the other coops to be sure, but even the oldest among them had been well-made and there were no holes he could find or any sign of recent repairs to cover up a break in the defense. "I think even a snake would have a hard time worming its way through these cracks. There's no way a normal wolf could get in here."

"It might have just been a normal thief or vandal," Miles said. He shrugged and pulled at the lock again. "It would explain why they moved on to cows after they put on the locks."

"Let's take a look around the barn then," Kota said.

A woman loading a cart with baskets of crops pointed them to the milking shed, explaining, "That's where we keep the dairy cows."

"What about the steers?" Kota asked.

"Nah, we have to keep them in another barn. They haven't been bothered by the monster, just the dairy cows for some reason. We've lost two of them already."

Miles waited until they left her to her work and entered the dairy shed before saying, "See? Who would want to mess with a bull when there's an easier alternative?"

"I guess that would explain why I didn't smell another animal around," Kota admitted. He walked around the middle of the floor, noting the empty stall on the end. "There were so many people around by the time I got there, and I doubt they would have noticed another set of footprints. They were looking for a wild animal, after all."

"I don't think so," Erin said from the door. "No one around here would do something like that. They said something ate those animals and tore them apart! Who would do something like that?"

"You'd be surprised what some people are willing and ready to do," Miles said. He leaned against the wall of one of the stalls and stroked the head of the cow inside who barely acknowledged him. "I've seen much worse, and that's from normal humans. Irregulars like me and Kota just add more fun to the mix."

"There's really not much to see here," Kota noted. "With so many people on guard now, I doubt whatever or whoever is doing it could go on for much longer without being noticed anyways."

"You think they weren't paying attention before?" Erin asked. "Delilah says that they've had some of the workers on night patrols for the past couple of days and they still didn't see what happened. The horse was attacked inside the stable, and they wouldn't have even noticed anything if it hadn't screamed."

"Which building was this?" Kota asked.

"I guess I could show you, if they don't have it locked already," Erin said as they walked outside. "I think they said they moved the other horses to another building to keep them from panicking anymore, it's causing some real space issues."

The stable proved to be locked, but after a quick look around and a motion to Erin to keep watch Kota climbed through an open window and came out a few minutes later coughing and more than a little green around the face. He refused to talk to Erin about what he saw inside, just that they had cleaned it recently and the smell bothered him. He didn't stop Erin from trying to look inside, but she could see little for the dark and the only thing she could smell was the strong cleaner they had apparently washed the whole building down with.

Kota walked away to clear his head and spotted Miles coming out of the dairy shed, wiping his mouth. "Oh, tell me you didn't," he said.

"What? It was only a little sip, it won't hurt the cow in the long run," Miles said. When that failed to wipe the disapproving look off of Kota's face he added, "It's better than taking a nip off of humans, but if you're willing to volunteer just say the word."

"I don't think so."

"Then don't complain so much." He patted Kota on the shoulder and looked at the device on his wrist when it beeped. "Uh-oh."

"What's wrong?" Erin asked, having finally given up on trying to get a look in the stable when Joe Farmer caught her at it.

"Weather report," Miles said by way of answer. "Thank you for allowing us to look around your farm, Mr. Farmer, but I'm afraid I need to run."

"What? Why?" Kota asked.

Miles pointed up at the swiftly moving clouds and said, "The winds are changing, delaying the storm, and the sun will be back out soon."

"That's some good news," Farmer said, brightening up for the first time today. "That should give us enough time to get everything ready."

"Wonderful, I'm sure," Miles said, his eyes still on the sky. He thumped Kota on the back of the head and took off running, calling over his shoulder, "Race you back to the inn!"

"Ow! That's it!" Kota took off running after the vampire, his thoughts more on retaliating than on outrunning the sun.

Erin and Joe shook their heads and she said her goodbyes before following them, all three unaware of the other presence that shadowed their steps.

### Entry 20: Bad Cow

Kota slowed to a walk once they were out of sight of the farm and let Miles run ahead. There was a stiff wind blowing now, pushing the dark clouds overhead with it. By the time he reached the Last Inn, he could even see the break in the clouds approaching, letting the sun through to heat things up some more before tonight's storm.

"Hello?" He called as he opened the door, but there was no sign of Miles.

Erin's brother, Art, started awake and quickly took his feet off of the front desk and sat up in the seat. "Oh, hey. Kota, right?"

Kota nodded, his eyes going to the windows. The boy had opened the shutters and even one of the windows to let in a breeze.

"Is Erin on her way?"

"Yes, she was right behind me," Kota answered. "Did anything happen while we were gone?"

"Nah. Oh, those traders who were here finally left, but Erin said they'd already settled up."

Kota wondered how long it would be before anyone else would want to stay at the inn. Miles talked like people would come flooding in any moment, but he probably only said that to get Eli Smith to back off.

Speaking of which, Kota asked, "Did you see Miles come in?"

Before Art could answer, a thump came from in the kitchen followed by Miles muttering dire things at the chair for tripping him up

"Never mind," Kota said just as Erin walked in and pulled the door shut against the wind. "I'll just go check on him."

Erin saw Kota go into the kitchen and bit back her warning about the sun to say instead, "Hey Art, guess who I saw in town today?"

She told him about how things went with their dad while he gathered his stuff together.

"So he's probably going to be in a bad mood. Again." Art sighed and ran a hand through his short, dark brown hair. "You know, more than the permanent bad mood he's been in since you moved into this creepy place. You could have warned me how much the walls creak."

"Sorry?" Erin shrugged. "He'll get over it eventually. Just think of this as a trial run before I move to the city."

"A head's up about that would be great, by the way. I can be sure to be out of town that month." Art pushed his chair back into place. "Well, I'm going to head home before this storm comes in. See you around."

"See you." Erin held the door for him and started to shut it when he was out of sight until she noticed something strange.

"Uh, guys?" she called over her shoulder, and then again in a louder voice when Kota and Miles failed to show up.

"What is it?" Kota asked once they finally came out of the kitchen.

"I think someone followed us here," she said, pointing.

They looked out at the cow standing in the middle of the yard in front of the inn, who stared back at them silently.

"How did she get out?" Miles asked. He started to walk out and then stopped short and slammed the door shut as the sun broke free of the clouds at last. "Sorry about that, reflex."

"We should tell someone," Erin said. "Joe's going to think another cow's been attacked."

"Wait." Kota pressed his hand against the door to stop her from opening it. "Don't you think it's a bit strange that a cow could get past all of those people without being noticed, much less get this far this soon? They're not exactly the fastest animals around."

"You've obviously never seen a stampede," Miles said, but he didn't sound so sure anymore. He went to one of the other windows and risked looking out again to find that the cow had moved. She was now going around the perimeter of the inn, her nose pressed to the ground and visibly sniffing like a dog after a trail. "Well, that doesn't look normal."

Kota paced the floor, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose while he thought. He stopped and turned to face them as he said, "A cannishift."

"A what?" Erin wondered if the lack of sleep was finally getting to Kota, but beside her Miles groaned and put his hand over his face. "What is that?"

"There are stories where I come from," Kota said. "Of careless farmers who, when winter came, did not notice there was an extra chicken in their coop. Then, as time passed the other chickens would start to disappear until there was just one left, the cannishift."

Miles said, "Cannishifts will take on the appearance of an animal to blend in with the group, and then lure them away one by one to eat them. That's the reason why shepherds in remote areas won't take in a stray sheep. I've never heard of one this far south, though."

"But it fits, right? No tracks, no strange sm— Erm, no one would notice an extra animal if they're disappearing left and right, and a lock wouldn't matter if the cannishift is already inside the building."

"So how can you tell if it's one of those whatevers?" Erin asked. She looked out the window again, but the cow had moved out of sight. They heard a thump come from the kitchen, near the back door.

Miles and Kota shrugged.

"But if Kota is right, this one has been moving up, from chickens to larger animals," Miles said. He remembered the horse, or rather what everyone avoided saying about the horse. "And become more violent, wasteful even."

"I have heard that cannishift are very territorial." Kota's head turned when they heard another thump that shook the back door. "They'll take out other predators if they think they're a threat."

A third thump was followed by a bang and the very definite sound of splintering wood.

Kota looked at Miles and said, "You just had to bite the cow, didn't you?"

### Entry 21: Take This

Erin winced when she heard the door groan and creak as the cow rammed it again. "Look, I don't care why it's here but we need to get rid of this cannishift thing before it gets inside! Do you know what kind of damage a cow could do in here?"

Kota and Miles looked at each other, but neither said what they were thinking.

"Well, I can't do anything about it unless it comes inside," Miles said with a shrug. "Sun, vampire, poof of dust, remember? Kota?"

Kota picked up the broom and handed it to Erin as he said, "It's dangerous to go alone. Take this."

Erin took the broom and Kota did not duck in time. He shook his head until the ringing cleared and he could hear Erin speaking.

"–You go out there and run that thing off! What do you think I pay you for?"

"You pay me?" Kota rubbed his ear and winced. "Geez, you whack that thing once and I don't think we'll have to worry about it anymore."

Miles grinned and said, "Come on, Kota, be a gent. What kind of man tries to send someone else to do his job?"

Kota tried to protest that this was exactly what Miles was doing right now, but between them Erin and Miles shoved him out the front door. The second he stepped into the full sunlight the young man collapsed to all fours as a wolf.

"Oh, right, that kind of man," Miles said.

The wolf growled at them and Erin hefted the broom again as she said, "Come on, Kota! One look at you and it'll run for sure!"

Kota sighed and trotted around the house as Miles and Erin followed him on the inside, watching his movement through the windows.

"It must be a bother, having a partner with his kind of condition," Miles said.

Erin froze and realized that she had never told him about Kota. Had Kota said something to the vampire? He must have; she couldn't see even Miles not batting an eye at that.

"Of course, at times like this it's a useful trick, eh?" he said.

They looked at the window in the kitchen when they heard another growl. The wolf stood out in the yard, hackles raised as he slowly approached the cannishift cow standing at the back door while being careful to leave a clear escape route.

The cow turned around and stared down at Kota with wide, brown eyes that narrowed with a distinctively un-cowlike attitude. It gave a loud bellow and Kota visibly stopped himself from backing up. As they watched the cow's body shifted and twisted until the cannishift took on the appearance of a large, dark gray wolf that rivaled Kota in size. Unlike Kota, this wolf did not look like it was constantly prepared to run at the slightest provocation, unless it was to chase down its prey.

The cannishift growled, a deep, rumbling growl that shook its whole body as the fur on its back stood up in a long line.

Miles swallowed and said, "Do you remember what we said about cannishifts being territorial?"

"Y-yes," Erin said. "Why?"

Kota whimpered and bolted, becoming a gray and white blur as he raced across the yard of the inn and leaped through the gap in the fence that separated the inn from the grass plains that surrounded the town.

The cannishift followed right on his tail, matching him stride for stride until they were out of sight.

"What do we do?" Erin asked. She ran to another window, but it was no use; they were nowhere to be seen now.

"If he has any sense he won't run into the forest," Miles said. "That thing won't stop just because he changes shape again. What else is near here?"

"Just the town and the Farmer's place." Erin corrected herself and said, "Well, there's the wastes, but Kota may not know about them. He's not been out of the inn much since he got here, and I don't think he came from the capital."

"No, I wouldn't think so." Miles leaned as close to the window as he dared and looked up at the sky, but there was no sign that it would change soon. "Well, if he runs to the farm they'll be ready for them."

"What?" Realization sank in and Erin ran to the door, swearing when it became evident how much damage the cannishift had done there. Something else to add to the to-do list, but she couldn't be bothered with that right now.

"What are you going to do?" Miles asked. He didn't sound like he was going to try and stop her so much as he was just curious.

"If those idiots shoot Kota I won't have a partner anymore!" Erin paused outside and wondered if that sounded as selfish as she thought it did. She added, "I promised I would help him if I could, right?"

Miles didn't answer, or at least she didn't hear him as she followed the trail the wolves took, over the back fence and across the way to the Farmer's place. By the time she reached the gate she was already out of breath, holding the stitch in her side, and wishing she had thought to take her bike before it was too late to go back. She slowed down when she spotted Joe walking out of a shed and noticed that all of the workers were still taking care of the crops, hardly the activity of those who'd recently seen wolves running around.

"Erin?" Joe waved and took off his wide brimmed hat to wipe the sweat off of his brow. "Back again? Your mom left a few minutes ago, if you're looking for her."

"No, I—" Erin hesitated as she tried to think of an excuse for her red face and harsh breathing, but before she could think of something a shot rang out, loud and clear. A second and a third shot followed before Erin realized that they were in the distance. "Where is that coming from?"

Joe tilted his head and said, "The wastes, I think? We don't have anyone over there. Peter, Jeremy!"

The two men Erin and the others had spoken to earlier dropped what they were doing and came over.

"You two go to the wastes and see what's going on. Take your gun and just look, understood? If those traders that have been hanging around have run into trouble, you can go back to the town for help if they need it."

Peter and Jeremy nodded and Peter ran to get his shotgun.

"I should...probably get back to the inn," Erin said, and refused Joe's offers to send someone to escort her back. She left, careful to get out of sight of the farm before she turned back and circled around to head into the wastes. She had to know.

### Entry 22: Run, Kota, Run

Kota was barely aware of his paws hitting the ground after he cleared the fence. The sound of the cannishift right behind him competed for space in his mind with the imperative to run, run, run. Where he was running to hadn't quite registered yet, but he'd always found that sort of thing sorted itself out after he'd made some distance between him and what he was running from.

The only problem was that he could not shake the cannishift, which as a wolf matched him for every step no matter which way he went. They passed through one of Farmer's outlying fields, empty now with all of the other animals locked up and the workers staying close to the center of the farm. He spotted a pond in the middle of the field and steered toward it, but it had dried up so much that his paws felt merely damp after running straight through it.

Behind him the cannishift snarled and Kota found a new burst of speed that took him off of Farmer's field and beyond, over ground that grew hard and cracked where even weeds struggled to grow and the occasional wind threw up a cloud of dust that stuck in Kota's throat and made him choke.

The wind wasn't the only thing throwing up dust, as Kota and the cannishift found out for themselves when they cleared a particularly bad cloud and Kota nearly ran straight under a horse pulling a familiar wagon.

Kota's paws shot out from under him as he tried to stop while the horse reared up onto its hind legs, snapping the shaft of the wagon as it kicked out with its flailing hooves. Men and women shouted on every side as the caravan of merchants swiftly fell into disarray, but Kota was only aware of the cannishift's weight bearing down on his back, pushing him to the ground as a set of powerful jaws clamped down on the back of his neck.

The air cracked with the sound of a shot being fired and the cannishift yelped as its weight shifted on Kota's back. He looked up to see the mercenary who accompanied the caravan guards standing nearby, calmly reloading another bullet into the smallest gun Kota had ever seen, small enough to be held in one hand. The mercenary's eyes were locked onto his face, taking in the mark over his left eye.

Behind him another gun fired and the cannishift's body went limp as Kota dragged himself up and started running again. The cannishift fell off of his shoulders when he darted under the wheels of the stopped wagon and came out the other side, the shouts and screams falling behind while he found his second wind. The bullet that hit the ground not far from his back paw didn't slow him down either as he scrambled over the ridge and out of sight.

***

The sound of the three shots fired reached Erin as she spoke to Joe Farmer and Miles heard them at the Last Inn. He briefly looked up before putting Kota's meager belongings back into the only bag he had brought with him to the inn, except for one small item that he turned over in his hand a few times before carefully returning it to its spot under the lining of the bag. A small, golden pin in the shape of a sunburst, much like the mark on Kota's own face. Well, it was something to go on. Now Miles just had to hope Kota wouldn't go and get himself shot or eaten in the meantime.

***

Erin caught up with the caravan at about the same time as Jeremy and Peter, in time to see the crowd still gathered in a ring around something lying on the ground. She could hardly breathe as she pushed her way through the traders and guards until she got close enough to see the body.

The cannishift still had the body of a wolf, but in its death throes it had apparently tried to change into too many different things in a futile attempt to save itself. Its back legs looked like they belonged to a chicken of all things, and a pair of bull horns seemed out of place on the top of a feline head. The cannishift's front legs were so out of proportion to the rest of the creature and twisted that Erin could not place them for anything.

Not that she really wanted to. It was enough to see only one body, and one that clearly belonged to the cannishift.

Amid the murmuring behind her as those familiar with the creature identified it for others, Erin caught the mercenary saying, "The other wasn't a cannishift. I told you, it had a mark on it, bright yellow and orange. Cannishifts don't go for markings, makes them too easy to identify."

"A wolf, right?" Jeremy said, closer to Erin than she expected. She moved to make sure they wouldn't notice her and send her home while staying close enough to overhear. "That thing was at the farm the other day, it's been attacking our animals!"

"I don't think that was your problem," one of the guards said. He kicked the cannishift on the ground and started to explain what it was to Jeremy, but Erin kept her eyes on the mercenary.

He frowned and looked at the ridge that followed the road for a second before coming to a decision. He checked his gun, one of the capital pistols, and loped away without a word. After a moment of indecision, Erin followed him over the ridge and through the wastes, trying to stay back as he constantly stopped to check the ground and followed a trail invisible to Erin's eyes that took them back around in the direction of Farmer's place until it veered off under the trees.

Erin had not been aware of the darkening sky overhead until the first raindrop hit her head. Thunder rumbled in the distance and she realized that Kota, wherever he was at, would be back to his normal self by now just as the mercenary bent down to look at something on the ground: a set of wolf tracks that changed, mid-step, into boot prints.

### Entry 23: End to a Long Day

"What was that thing?"

Erin and the mercenary both turned to find that Peter had followed them and spotted the strange tracks.

"Those aren't wolf tracks," he added. "Did that thing...Did it...?"

"If I had to guess, it's some kind of shapeshifter," the mercenary said with a shrug of his shoulders. He stood up and brushed off the knee of his pants. "Not a cannishift like the thing that I shot, and not a werewolf. Full moon's not until next week."

"You keep track of that sort of thing?" Erin asked.

"You would if you had ever had to deal with one of them." The mercenary looked at them, but his mind was clearly still on the wolf. "It had a strange mark. I wonder if—"

He broke off when a shout came from in the distance and swore. "I've got to get back to the caravan, they lose their heads at the first sign of trouble. You two should get back with your other friend."

"Wait, what are we supposed to do about this monster running around?" Peter asked. "That thing's been hanging around the farm, who knows if it wasn't the thing attacking the animals?"

"Well a few days should answer your question. If the animals make it, then it was the cannishift. If they don't, it was the wolf shifter, or both. Simple enough." The mercenary looked to the forest, his gray eyes following the trail. Erin could nearly see how much he wanted to keep going, but another shout broke his gaze.

"But that wolf! Look at those tracks, it clearly turned into a human! What do we do about something like that?" Peter dogged the mercenary's steps as he headed back toward the caravan and Erin trailed behind to hear his answer.

"Tell the town then. They can go on a hunt if they think that'll help. You do have hunters here, don't you?"

"Well..." Peter trailed off and Erin knew what he was thinking. There were a few hunters in town, but most of the locals would never dare to go into the forest alone. Those who did went in large groups, and never that far in. All Kota would have to do is go a few miles in to lose them if he ever had to.

"I'm going to head back to the inn," Erin announced. The large raindrops were falling faster now, but if she ran she might make it back before she got drenched.

"Alone?" The mercenary asked. "What about the wolf?"

"I doubt he's going to do anything today, after everything else," Erin said. Kota would be either in the forest or back at the inn licking his wounds by now. "Besides, it's not that far."

The mercenary looked at Peter, but the man ignored him and kept walking, intent on getting Jeremy and heading back to the farm before the bottom fell out of this storm. He came to a decision and said, "The others can wait a little longer. Come on."

Erin protested but when the mercenary showed no sign of leaving she gave up and started walking. They didn't say much, and the walk seemed to take forever in the quiet despite their swift pace.

The Last Inn came into view just as they heard a shout. Kota came running up through the now fiercely falling rain and stopped in front of them, out of breath and red in the face.

"Miles said you went... You were out, and with the rain and everything else," Kota said, stumbling over his words as he looked from Erin to the mercenary. "I, uh, just wanted to make sure you got back okay."

"Wow, you're soaked! Did you run out to the farm looking for me?" Erin smiled as if joking, but she caught the way the mercenary took in the mud coating his shoes and the leaves sticking out of his wet hair that, plastered down from the rain, barely covered the mark on his face. "Well, thank you for walking me this far, but I can go back with Kota from here."

"What? Oh, right." The mercenary smiled at Erin and gave her the same bow as the first day he arrived at the inn. "I look forward to returning here soon. Please send word to the capital if that wolf continues to trouble you. Forgive me for saying it, but I doubt your town knows how to deal with such things."

"Uh, sure, thank you," Erin said while Kota rolled his eyes. "We look forward to having you again."

She and Kota did not wait around to see the mercenary off. They ran back to the Last Inn, their arms over their heads to shield themselves from the torrent while they urged each other on. Behind them, the mercenary remained for a second longer, watching Kota's muddy footsteps fill with rainwater.

"Yes, I doubt 'he' will do anything else today too," he murmured to himself. He turned away and jogged back in the direction of the caravan, sure that he would hear more than enough about his absence to last all the way back to the capital.

Miles stood waiting at the entrance to the inn, holding the door open as they ran in, laughing and leaving a trail of rain and mud in their wake.

"Have fun, did you?" he asked as he shut the door on the raging storm.

"Well, I didn't get shot, so I'd consider this a good day," Kota replied. "And the cannishift has been taken care of, in case you were wondering."

Miles patted Kota's head and said, "Good dog. Now don't go shaking yourself inside, you hear?"

Kota pushed him away and Erin said, "So...You already knew about Kota?"

"We discussed it," Miles said while Kota sat down in a chair and fought to pull his boots off. "You two really should talk more. And dry off."

Erin pulled off her own shoes and noticed the line of mud and water on the floor. She groaned and said, "Great, as if we already didn't have enough to do."

"I'll—" Kota broke off for a large yawn and continued, "take care of it, after I change."

Erin tore the mop from his hands and asked, "When was the last time you slept?"

"I...Uh..."

"Uh huh. Go ahead and get some sleep, I can take care of this." Erin prodded him with the handle of the mop until he went up the stairs and then turned around to stare at the mess and sigh. When she returned in some dry clothes, Miles looked up from his seat and smiled.

"Long day?"

"Tell me about it." Erin set down the bucket of mop water and started cleaning. "Kota has no idea how close he came to getting caught, and now it won't be long before the whole town's looking for him."

"What?"

Erin explained about the tracks and what the mercenary had said while she mopped and the smile on Miles's face became replaced by a more thoughtful expression.

"News does travel fast around here, doesn't it? Maybe if he left town for a little while..."

"He can't leave! If I don't have a partner, Dad and Geld won't let me run the inn!"

Miles and Erin looked at each other until Erin had the decency to blush and add, "And he said he's looking for something around here, right? Something that will break the curse?"

Miles snorted and watched Erin take the mop and bucket back into the kitchen. "As if it were that easy."

"What?" Erin said as she came back in.

"Would you like me to watch the inn tonight so you can get some sleep?" Miles asked, his smile returning. "I'm going to be up writing my report anyways, and I doubt there will be anymore guests coming in tonight."

Erin listened to the storm, which was almost drowned out by the creaking and groaning of the inn under the rain and wind, and had to admit that Miles had a point, not that she felt like arguing. Sleep sounded great right about now.

### Miles Report

[The following report has been recovered from File Codename: Northern Sun]

Talia,

Thank you again for sending me to this little hick town. Did I really mess up that badly? No, don't answer that. It's been more interesting than I expected, so you are forgiven.

I got here, what, last night? That doesn't sound right, but then again time seems to crawl on its knees around here. The Last Inn is worse than you expected, even if it does look like the new owner is trying to make repairs. Still, there was a leak in my room, and I don't like the smell of lemons. She also has failed to take advantage of the opportunity to change the name, but I haven't given up on making some subtle hints. The innkeeper this Mayor Geld has dug up, some girl called Erin Smith, was clearly a last ditch effort on his part. Her "partner" is little more than a bellboy/janitor who seems to have no spine to speak of. I've met braver yowlings, and they run at the sound of a door opening.

As for Smith, she has no experience or any qualifications that I can see, except for an astonishing amount of anger and the willingness to put it to good use. If a guest ever attempts to take advantage of this inn's hospitality, I hope I'm there to watch. That said, the girl has no attachment to the inn and could walk away at any moment if a better opportunity showed itself. She does know how to get the most out of it though, which reminds me: you owe me for this little trip, and my fee [...]

[Portion of the report regarding pay has been misplaced]

[...] [T]ell the weather mage he knows his stuff. Everything came right on cue, although I could have used some more warning about the sunlight. That was not a five minute headstart, whatever he says. Despite that I was able to find what I was looking for, and if you come through on that research I will be grateful enough to keep quiet about that little "incident." You know the one. Just keep it off the record for now, until I'm sure. There's no reason for word to get out if either of us is wrong, right?

The capital may receive word of a monster or creature in the area soon, which you can disregard. One of the local farms had some problems with a cannishift, but that won't be a problem anymore. I don't know what brought it this far south, and considering the level of ignorance this place does its best to hold on to I doubt any of the townspeople can give an answer. It could have been hiding out here for months before it found the chance to settle in on the farm, and the way these people were going about it the cannishift would have taken out all of the livestock before they thought to check out the last animal standing.

As for reports of a strange wolf, I have looked into it and believe it to be nothing to worry about for now. Even if it does become a problem, he's nothing that I can't handle. Since the capital intends to maintain tabs on this place anyways, I will graciously volunteer to keep an eye on both issues in between taking care of the bounties. It should be more interesting than doing any more of that paperwork. Seriously, how do you stay sane working in that place? That much boredom and stress cannot be healthy.

You can tell the powers that be that after consideration, I have found the Last Inn to be in capable hands, although follow up shall be necessary to ensure repairs, quality of service, self-financing, and so on. Fluff that up into something nice for me and turn it in to the chief, will you? I'm not sending anymore direct reports to him if he keeps insisting on ridiculous formalities.

I have received your message and will begin the journey to Circa tomorrow night. You're welcome.

Miles

### Entry 24: New Signs

When Erin walked into the main room of the inn the next morning, yawning and rubbing her eyes, she thought she had woken up far earlier than she meant to. With all of the windows and shutters closed, the overhead lights could only make a dent in the gloom that pervaded the room. She stumbled over a chair and made for one of the windows.

"Please don't."

Erin jumped and whirled around. Following the sound of his voice, she finally spotted Miles sitting with his feet propped up on the reception desk.

"Or at least let me get a head start," he added. "This time of the morning, the sun shines right in this room. Must be nice for the early birds."

"Right now you're our only guest," Erin said. She paced around the room to hide her unease at not noticing the vampire until then and stopped to fiddle with one of the metal brackets over the fireplace where something must have hung once. After a moment or two she gave in and mentioned the thing that had kept her from falling asleep at once last night. "When you said you had to write a report..."

"Oh, more like a letter," Miles said. He smiled, his white teeth gleaming in the dim light. "Ah, don't look so worried. I'm not about to close this place, not yet. In fact, I'll be coming back after my next little job to look in on you."

"So we passed the inspection?"

A beaming smile lit up Erin's own face when Miles nodded, and didn't even go out when he added, "For now. I've made a list of renovations and repairs that should be made, goals to be met. No point in keeping this place open if no one wants to stay here."

Erin nodded, hardly listening. She couldn't wait to tell her dad and Mayor Geld, and rub it in their faces.

"You and Kota will be busy, if you want to make a start before the fall rush starts."

"Fall rush?" Erin asked, snapping out of her reverie a little.

"Yeah, you should know. Traders and merchants traveling and selling stuff to make it through the winter, along with travelers trying to get to the capital or wherever they're headed before the snow and ice lock them down." Miles sat up in his seat and put down a sheet of paper he'd been reading. "You'll want to stock up and save money and supplies to make it through the winter yourselves."

Erin bit her lip. They had been getting by so far on a day to day basis, living off what the latest guest had paid for room and board. Even with all of the money from the merchants, it would be tough to stretch it out for longer than a few weeks, and that was without guessing at how much all of these repairs would cost. She remembered that Miles had paid for a week and said, "You sound like you're planning on leaving soon."

"Tonight," he said. "Can't really travel by day unless the weather and land cooperates, you know. Consider the rest of my payment as a down payment for my room when I return."

"You're coming back?" Kota asked, aghast, from the top of the stairs. He came down in his bare feet, his brown hair a mess and his mark showing. "I thought this inspection was a one-time thing."

Miles sprang up and threw an arm around Kota's shoulders even though the young man flinched away. "Afraid not. You know how they are, can't find a decent field agent so they're making me pull double duty. In between my usual headhunting, I'll be staying around here."

Kota frowned and Erin briefly wondered who Miles was leaving to go after next. It was bad enough to have a bounty hunter after you, but for it to be a vampire too? She'd rather turn herself in.

"Any plans for today?" she asked. "Oh, but you'd probably want to sleep since you've been up all night—Oh."

Miles shrugged and Kota used that as an opportunity to escape and stand on the far side of the room. "Haven't had to sleep much, but thanks for asking. I don't know about you two, but I'm starving. No, no, it was a joke!"

He laughed when both hurriedly stepped back and Erin and Kota both tried to smile in return without quite managing it. Erin had to admit to herself, later that night, that it was a relief to see the vampire go. Not that she would say anything like it to Kota, who seemed to breathe easier once he saw Miles walk out the door and take the road outside the inn that led into the deep woods. He even waved back at the retreating figure before shutting the door and sliding the bolt home.

"What?" he said when Erin looked at him. "If anyone comes, they can knock."

Not that anyone came, that night or the next. A few more days passed without incident, except for Erin and Kota arguing about how to paint the inn when Kota could hardly go outside and paint with his paws, or the long nights that Kota spent on the roof, hammering on new tiles and saying strange swear words that Erin had never heard before when he hit his thumb in the dark despite the light that Erin had out for them.

One thing of note did happen, in between the haphazard repairs and frequent, if rarely ever that serious, arguing. At some point, whether at night or during the day neither of them could be sure, the old, broken sign above the front door disappeared, along with the rusted old chains holding it up. In its place someone had put up a new sign on gleaming hooks, and in bright paint were the clear words: The Last Inn.

Erin and Kota barely had time to theorize on this discovery before the next guests arrived, and then they barely had time for anything at all.

### Entry 25: Madam Elzwig

One baking hot morning late in the summer, every door and window on the ground floor of the Last Inn stood open in an attempt to tempt in a nonexistent passing breeze. Kota, in the form of a wolf, lay sprawled out on the floor of the common room. Erin looked over when he snored and went back to going through the little notebook she had started to use to keep track of the inn's records.

Not that there was much to keep track of. Since Miles left, not a single guest had come by, and the roads to and from town were disturbingly empty. The side of the page that noted their expenses was getting longer by the day, with the cost of food and repairs. They barely had enough to get the two of them through the end of the week, even with Kota's small appetite. The only reason they had that much was because Erin had been buying discount, the bread from the bakery that had started to harden and other food that was on its way out. It was a good thing Kota knew how to work with less than stellar materials.

Erin bit her lip and tapped her pen on the page. It wouldn't be long before the mayor started talking about paying rent, too.

Lost in these unwelcome thoughts, she missed the sound of horses clopping their way down the road over wheels rattling, or the snorts as they were reined in outside of the inn. Kota's ears twitched at the sound of boots hitting the ground, and when the steps leading to the front door creaked he went from asleep to darting into the kitchen in the space of a second.

Erin looked at the kitchen door as it swung shut and then back at the front door when a man knocked on the door frame and poked his head inside. He was tall, so that his head almost touched the top of the frame, but Erin could still see an imperious coach drawn by two tall horses waiting outside. One glance at the coat of arms, a shield with an eye in the middle of interlocking vines, told her that they must have come straight from the capital.

"Yes, sir?" she said, trying to ignore the pattering of claws on the kitchen floor as Kota paced around, no doubt wishing that he had gone up the stairs and wondering if he should go out the back door. "Er, welcome to the Last Inn, is there...there any way I can assist you?"

She did wish that Kota would knock it off already.

"Yes," the man said, looking down at her. "Madam Elzwig wishes to know if this place serves drinks, and food. If so, we wish to procure some for an early lunch before we continue on."

"Oh, yes, of course," Erin said quickly. Drinks were not a problem, as Kota had discovered a well-stocked wine cellar while cleaning in the storage room off the kitchen and they would probably go for that, or water. Food, on the other hand... She heard the distinct sound of the kitchen window closing as well as the door, followed by cupboard doors opening and closing. "Please tell Madam Elzwig that we'd be delighted to serve her. I'll just go and...have a talk with the cook."

The tall servant stepped forward and lowered his voice, as if afraid that the coach would overhear. "She prefers a wide spread, if you understand me. Red wine, preferably from the year of the Dancer, and no onions. The coachman and I will just have water. And she does not like to wait."

"O-okay," Erin said but the servant was already walking back to the coach with long, loping strides. She hurried back to the kitchen to find Kota back in his regular shape and what little food they had gathered on the island in the middle of the room. "I guess you heard."

"I think I can pull something together," Kota remarked as he turned over a packet of bacon and sniffed something in a jar. He shuddered and tossed that into the trash. "But we may be going without."

"If she pays half as well as that coach suggests, we can buy some more," Erin said, but her nerves were jangling. She had seen that coat of arms before, but no matter how hard she tried she just could not remember where. "Do we have any of that wine?"

Kota shrugged and she went down into the cellar herself and returned a few minutes later with a dust-covered bottle she found in the corner to sizzling skillets and a flurry of activity. She stared at this until Kota gave her a sign to put the bottle down on the counter and attend to the guests.

She arrived back into the common room in time to see the servant opening the door to the coach and hold out his hand to assist Madam Elzwig down. She was almost as tall as him, and so large that she was nearly round. Expensive clothes did their best to hide it, but the coach noticeably rose a few inches when she stepped off the ground.

"So it is still open," she said. Her round face tilted up toward the sign, and Erin felt a flood of relief that they had spent all that time cleaning and repairing until she added, "Just as shabby as ever, I see."

Erin fought to keep the smile from sliding off of her face as she led them inside, where the servant pulled out a chair that put up a feeble protest when the madam sat down in it. He stepped back, put both arms behind his back, and seemed ready to stand there the whole time.

This was off-putting enough, but when Erin returned with the salad and wine and orders from Kota to stall until the rest was ready, Madam Elzwig began to ask questions.

The first was innocent enough, as her sharp, prying eyes roamed over the room, "Tell me, girl, how long have you been running this place?"

"Oh, just over a month," Erin said, surprising herself with how long it had been. Then again, it seemed like she had been here forever at the same time.

"You must be poor Daniel Sollis's granddaughter, right?" There was a pitying tone in her voice now, and Erin blushed.

"No, ma'am, I don't think Mr. Sollis had any family." She wondered how often the madam had come here before. Maybe that was where she had seen the coat of arms, from a previous visit.

"Oh? Then how did you come by this place?" Madam Elzwig turned over some lettuce and Erin held her breath until she took another bite of the salad.

Erin explained how she had volunteered to take on the inn, which then led Elzwig to ask about the mayor, then Kota. Erin went carefully here, and felt that she gave the impression that Kota was just another young man from the area, and the questions soon turned to the town, and Sollis, one right after the other until Erin felt as picked over as the salad.

It came as a great relief when she was able to take the empty bowl back into the kitchen and deposit it into the sink.

Kota put the last plate onto an enormous tray, loaded with what seemed to be all of the food they had left. Erin wondered if it would be enough as she stared longingly at the last pastry from the bakery that she had been saving for herself.

"Be careful," he said in a low voice. "Should you really be telling her so much?"

"She just asks a lot of questions," Erin said with a shrug, thinking of Mrs. Grimsby. "Just like any other gossip."

"Or like an inquisitor," Kota remarked dryly as he started to put the dirty dishes into the sink. With his back to her he could not see the sudden change in Erin's expression as she remembered where she had seen the coach's insignia before.

### Entry 26: Judged

Erin walked back into the common room without saying a word to Kota. Her legs shook from nerves and her arms trembled under the weight of the enormous tray piled with a myriad of plates, but fortunately Madam Elzwig's servant moved into action and took it from her. He passed the plates out with a precision that spoke of years of experience, placing them in a neat array around the madam's table and setting aside the two glasses of water that he had requested.

"Would you mind if I took these outside?" he asked, motioning toward the glasses. "Nothing will persuade the coachman to leave his horses, I'm afraid."

Erin nodded and Madam Elzwig asked, "Are you sure you two would not like something to eat?"

The servant bowed and said, "No, Madam, but thank you. We wish to wait until we arrive in Wichel."

Erin knew Wichel, it was the port city to the southeast that many of the foreign traders came from. With their coach and fresh horses, they could have made it to the city before nightfall if they had not chosen to stop at the inn.

The servant left and Erin wondered if she should go back to the kitchen as well until Madam Elzwig fixed her with a steady, bright eye and said, "Please, sit down, girl."

She said it in a way that sounded more like a command than a request, and Erin found herself pulling up a chair and sitting down on the opposite side of the table. Silence fell in the inn, except for the sound of the madam's fork scraping across plates and her steady chewing.

It put Erin on edge, waiting for her to say something, anything. She kept thinking of that insignia, the eye surrounded by vines. It wasn't a family crest, it was the insignia of an imperial post. A Judge.

Capital Judges oversaw the highest courts in the entire empire. They investigated cases on their own, and were known to interrogate people through various methods to get to the truth. Very few people could overturn one of the Judge's sentences and even fewer laws applied to them when they were on the case.

"Have you ever been to Wichel?" Elzwig asked, with barely a pause in her eating. When Erin shook her head, she said, "You should go, it's a beautiful place this time of the year. Shame I'm going on business."

"You're a Judge, right?" Erin asked, unable to hold the question in any longer.

"That I am," Elzwig said. She took up a knife and began on the side of beef. "Got a man the bounty hunters brought in on a charge of murder back at the capital, bad business. I have to go and check up on it, of course."

Erin nodded, and when the madam allowed the silence to return for an even longer stretch, Erin felt the need to fill the void by saying, "We had a bounty hunter here, a few weeks ago. Do you know Miles?"

The corners of Elzwig's mouth turned down and she firmly placed her fork and knife down. She delicately wiped her mouth with her napkin while her eyes bored into Erin before she said, "Yes, I know the vampire. What business did he have here?"

"He came as an inspector," Erin said slowly, wondering if she should have kept her mouth shut.

"Hmph." Elzwig lifted her fork again just when Erin was wondering if she had finally stopped eating. "An inspector, you say? They must have wanted an excuse to get him out of the capital, not that I blame the office. What did you think of him?"

Erin knew that the madam clearly had something against the vampire, though she could not guess what. She decided to go for the safe answer and said, "I didn't get much of an impression before he had to leave on another job."

Madam Elzwig sniffed and asked no more questions. Erin sat there, her mouth firmly clamped shut, and watched as she went through every single place, scraping the last one clean before she sat back with a contented sigh. The chair gave another groan but held up to Erin's relief.

"I simply must give my compliments to the chef," Madam Elzwig declared.

Erin thought of what would happen when Kota stepped into the sunlit room and said, "I'm sorry, Kota is...shy. I'm sure he'll be glad to hear that you liked it, though."

The servant returned just as Madam Elzwig levered herself onto her feet and declared, "We must be off. Neil, pay them for the excellent meal. I look forward to more of your Kota's work when we return the day after tomorrow to stay the night."

Erin barely had time to process this before Neil pressed the money into her hand and placed two empty glasses on the table with all of the other scraped clean dishes. She waited while Madam Elzwig climbed back into the coach and the coachman urged the horses on before she ran back into the kitchen where Kota was washing dishes.

"Well, at least we'll have one guest this week," Kota said as she tried to explain about Elzwig.

"But you don't understand," Erin said, but she was interrupted by a knock at the front door of the inn. They looked at each other and she asked, "Do you think they came back for something?"

They heard a loud, high-pitched laugh that did not belong to Elzwig and certainly not to her companions. Kota peeked out of the kitchen and said, "Or maybe not."

### Entry 27: Strange Business

A large group of about fifteen or twenty people walked in, all of them taller than Kota and Erin by about a foot and dressed in outlandish green and gold clothes. After a heated argument behind the kitchen door, Erin walked out to meet the group, many of whom were already straying around the inn's common room, taking in the fireplace and decor (or lack thereof) and chatting in high, lilting voices.

"Hello," Erin said to the room in general, unsure which of them to address. "Welcome to the Last Inn."

She felt ridiculous the moment the words passed her lips, and even more so when a giggle came from one of the people roaming around.

"Can I help you?" Erin continued, a little more coldly.

"Yes, we'd like some rooms for the next couple of days," one of the tall men said. "We have some business in the area."

"Business?" Erin tried not to sound too surprised, but she couldn't help looking at their strange clothes. "What kind of—"

A loud cough from the kitchen interrupted her.

"How many rooms would you like?" Erin said without missing a beat.

The tall man considered this and a woman with braided waist-length hair drifted to his side and said, "At least ten if they're available, and evening meals only."

"Ah?" Well, that was a relief, Erin thought to herself when she remembered the empty cupboards in the kitchen. "Yes, that's okay. As for the price..."

The tall woman reached around the back of her head and pulled a slip of money out of one of the ties in her braid, which she handed to Erin. "Is that enough for the first night?"

"Oh, yes," Erin said, but she looked at the money uncertainly. "I thought you said you wanted to stay a couple of days though?"

The woman smiled and the tall man laughed and said, "We never know how long we'll stay in one place, but don't worry, we always pay each day as it comes."

Erin nodded and the tall man gave a low whistle. At the signal, all of the tall people turned his way and he took the keys to the rooms from Erin's fumbling hands and started tossing them around the room. Silver keys jangled and flashed in the air before hands clapped over them and, in twos and threes, the people ran up the stairs to put away their bags.

When he was down to just one key, the tall man turned back to Erin and said, "Thank you. We must run now, but we'll be back in a few hours."

He dashed up the stairs as well and then seconds later the whole, laughing mob of them came crashing and whooping down the stairs and out the front door. When the door shut behind them it felt like a tornado had just left the room and Erin breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are they gone?" Kota opened the kitchen door a crack and peered in.

"Yeah. Hey, did you interrupt me on purpose?" Erin asked. She sighed when she saw Kota was not about to leave the kitchen and started closing shutters around the common room, blocking out the sunlight.

"You shouldn't inquire too much into those people's business," Kota said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Kota shrugged and waited until the last shutter was closed before walking out into the common room and looking at the empty hooks on the room key rack. "If you didn't notice, then maybe it's nothing. How are we going to feed them?"

"Well, I guess I'll go and get groceries, like always," Erin said. "That Judge paid well, and we've got payment for ten rooms."

"For one night," Kota said. "And we have to feed at least twenty people, not including ourselves, for who knows how long."

"I'll figure it out." Erin stuck the money in her pocket, but she did feel a little worried. If anything, knowing that Madame Elzwig would be back in a few days meant that they needed to be ready for that too. "Write out a list of stuff that we need and I'll pick it up, okay? We should be able to get by if I'm careful with the money."

Kota tilted his head, reminding Erin a lot of a dog considering something, but said nothing. Instead, he took up a pencil and a scrap of paper off the desk and came up with a list faster than she expected.

"That's not a lot of meat," she said, looking over his shoulder at his strange, slanted writing.

"Meat is expensive, and I can make this work." Kota started to write something else and hesitated. "No, I think that's it. Can you find all of this in town?"

"Sure, I'll get it." Erin sighed and said, "I wish I could just send you out to do the shopping once in a while. This starts to get really boring really fast, you know?"

"Take some time, talk to a few people then." Kota gave a small smile and said, "Your people will have something new to talk about. A Judge and our other guests, all on the same day."

Erin imagined the havoc that laughing crowd would make on her sleepy little town and found herself smiling at the thought as she left the Last Inn and climbed onto her bike. However, when she pulled into town and started asking around while she picked up the groceries, she found that no one had seen the Judge's carriage nor any sign of the tall people.

When the butcher suggested that he thought she was making it all up, Erin huffed and nearly walked out without her packages.

That man had said they had some kind of business in the area, but where else could they be? A strange thought occurred to Erin as she rode over the bridge in town and she stopped to look at the far trees of the forest, just visible over the lower buildings.

A movement caught out of the corner of her eye made Erin turn her head just in time to see the old fisherman standing in the water in knee-high waders shield his eyes, look out at those same trees, and shake his head.

### Entry 28: Wayfarers

By the time Erin returned to the inn with all of the groceries Kota had asked for, her bike wobbling under the weight in the front basket, the sun had nearly set. She rode around to the back of the inn and knocked on the kitchen door until Kota opened it, careful to stand out of the light.

"Help me with these, would you?" she said. Her arms were already straining to keep the bike from falling over.

He looked around, as if anyone would be watching, before walking outside and turning into a wolf with a sigh. He didn't seem any more enthused about it when Erin laughed at the sight of the wolf taking the handles of the bags she handed him in his mouth, careful not to bite down so hard that the paper ripped.

"Good boy," Erin said and Kota's ears drooped against his head as he ran back inside. She could get the rest, and left her bike by the open door as she walked in.

Kota stood up on his own two legs and took the bags out of his mouth. "So I take it everything went well in town?"

"I guess so. We had enough money, but nobody believed me when I told them about the Judge, or those other strange people."

"Well, Madame Elzwig didn't go that way, did she? And neither did the others." Kota opened and shut his mouth a few times and rubbed at his jaw. "One of those bags tasted weird."

"So they really did go into the forest?" Erin stopped in the middle of emptying the bags, but Kota just shrugged.

"Yes, I suppose that's the nearest place for them. Do you think you could shut the door?"

"What?" It took Erin a second to realize that Kota stood in the farthest corner of the kitchen, where the sunlight could not reach through the open door. She shut it and he audibly breathed out before beginning to empty the grocery bags. "Does it really bother you to change that much?"

"It's not pleasant, and it does make a conversation harder," Kota admitted. He took out some greens and sniffed them appreciatively. "Oh, this is nice. Did you get this from the Farmers?"

"What did you mean when you said that's 'the nearest place for them?'" Erin asked. She stared at Kota, wondering how his mind could wander off so easily. Who cared where she got the broccoli from? "No one goes into the forest, that place is dangerous! They say there are monsters and beasts in there, and the forest itself will twist and turn around you so that you can't find your way back out again if you go too far in."

"There's a road that goes straight through it, more or less," Kota pointed out.

"And no one ever leaves it, for good reason."

"So then how would they know if the forest tries to keep people in?" Kota put the green vegetables in the sink and started washing them. "I came through the forest, and it never tried to stop me from leaving. Some of the people in there were very helpful, actually."

"There are people in the forest?"

"Well, maybe not 'people' as you're used to the term," Kota admitted. "The only human I met in the forest was the witch I used to work for, Olgytha, many miles from here."

Erin thought about this while they put away the food, except for the stuff Kota set aside for tonight's dinner. What other sort of people were there? Did he mean vampires, like Miles, or something else? She couldn't see Kota taking directions from a vampire, even in their own home.

It wasn't until she was helping him cook (mostly just by doing some of the chopping and peeling) that she thought to say, "You still haven't said why you think they would go there. Do you know something about those people or not?"

Kota stirred the sauce cooking on the stove and tapped the spoon on the side of the pot before answering. "They have many names, I think, but the one I know is 'Wayfarer.' Olgytha said they walked the roads and the forgotten paths, keeping them alive for travelers."

"Alive? How is a road alive?"

Kota looked over his shoulder and smiled at her with a little shrug. "How should I know? She was always saying things like that. I just know that they are a strange people, and it is best not to delve into their business. Something you may want to keep in mind while they are here."

Erin pressed him for more details, but Kota would say no more and she became tired of his constant changes of topic. It almost came as a relief to hear the front door of the inn open and have an excuse to go out and greet the wayfarers as they came in. A crisp breeze snuck in with them before the last one shut the door behind him and hinted of the autumn to come, but the room soon became far too crowded and warm for her.

"Ah, there is our hostess!" the one she thought of as the leader of the group cried when he spotted her. He sniffed the air and said, "Did we make it just in time?"

"The food is almost ready," Erin said and the statement was greeted with a cheer. The group pulled around tables and chairs with a great deal of scraping and talking.

Erin took the opportunity to get a good look at these so-called wayfarers while they were too busy to notice, and felt a little disappointed. Aside from their height and voices, they did not seem so different from the people back in town. Well, in appearance at least. They laughed a lot more than the townspeople did, and there was a constant air or feeling around them that time was moving differently. By the time they finished moving everything around and Erin returned to the kitchen, she felt as if she had been gone not for five minutes, but more like five hours or only five seconds.

She shook her head and wondered if Kota had made up what he'd said about them. People from out of town were bound to be a little strange, she thought to herself as she watched him put the finishing touches on the food.

Together they took out the plates and the cups, and put the dishes in the middle for each to serve themselves with. It wasn't until they had put out all of the food that Erin realized it was all fruits and vegetables and cheeses, all variously cooked or raw, without a single piece of meat in sight.

Not that the wayfarers seemed to notice, as they dug into the food nearly as heartily as Madame Elzwig did earlier. Kota and Erin were kept busy for some time refilling drinks, for it seemed as soon as they filled one glass another would be emptied, and by the time they turned around the first would be empty again. They drank more than Erin thought possible, and became louder and more talkative with each glass no matter what the drink.

A woman grabbed Kota's arm as he passed by and stared up at him, both of their faces red for very different reasons.

"What do we have here?" she cried out, her grip tightening. Kota's face went from red to pale as his eyes found Erin's across the room and silently pleaded for help.

### Entry 29: Stories and Paths

For one wild second Erin thought the woman had seen Kota's mark and her mind immediately sought for some kind of distraction. Her mouth opened and she found herself saying, "Have you all heard the story of how the sun met the moon?"

All eyes turned to her and Erin's face flushed scarlet, but it was too late to take back her words now. Especially as one of the wayfarers broke into a wide smile and said, "No, do tell."

They pulled her and Kota down into chairs and, after some encouragement, Erin found herself talking about when the sun rose too early and the moon strayed too late, and they ran into each other. They fell in love, of course, and they left their places in the sky to dance across the earth and over the seas. Without them, one by one the stars grew dim and the sky turned dark, and the people begged them to return to the sky. Reluctantly they agreed, but even now when the sun and moon cross paths they stray together and the world grows dim in their short absence.

As Erin spoke, she was uncomfortably aware that the wayfarers were hanging onto her every word. It would have been better if they had been bored, because then they would have talked about something else, instead of calling her to tell another story as soon as she finished the first.

So she told another story, and another, until one of the wayfarers poured her and Kota drinks and asked, "Where did you hear these stories?"

"Oh, uh..." Erin's tongue felt tied. She had heard that particular story here in this very inn, which she supposed explained why it had come to mind first. Some of the others she'd heard, sitting by the river in town on lazy Sunday afternoons when she was a kid, but the idea of telling these people about that only made her feel more embarrassed. "I just heard a lot of stories when I was a kid."

Across the table from her, Kota sniffed the drink he'd been offered and started to warn Erin but the woman sitting next to him laughed and pushed the drink to his mouth until he coughed and choked it down. Erin found her own drink being pushed into her hand by the wayfarer sitting far too close beside her, and she drank as well.

The drink was sweet and bubbly, and Erin was sure it wasn't anything she and Kota had put out. She tried to put it down, but the wayfarers kept chatting at her and pushing the drink to her lips when she was distracted.

Before long, everything felt distant and surreal. Erin saw Kota slump down in his chair and fall asleep with his head on the table and his mark visibly showing, but it did not seem to matter anymore if anyone noticed. She found herself laughing and chatting just as loudly as the rest of them, and when they all stood up and raced to the door, it felt only natural to follow them and leave the remains of their supper and Kota snoring softly to head out into the night.

Outside, one wayfarer started to sing and the others soon took up the strange tune. Even Erin found herself singing along, the words coming to her and slipping away before she ever really understood what she was saying. The humming chant started in her chest and spread down to her feet, and she felt it go further, down into the ground beneath. Before them lay the road that led into town, and to Erin's eyes it seemed to glow with a strange light.

She could feel the road in a strange way, as if it was a part of her. It stretched away and she could sense every bump, every twist and turn, every meandering path that lay within the forest in the other direction, and beyond that. The wayfarers' tune changed as they marched in the dusty lane between the buildings, but Erin hardly noticed; she could feel the entire empire and beyond spreading beneath her feet, and an aching she hardly knew to go to the places she did not know existed before now grew with every step.

Several split away, and one took charge of Erin and guided her over what felt like every alley and side street until they all returned to the center of town at the same moment. Before them lay the circle around the clock tower, and nearly every road around them lay lit and glowing with life. Laughing and calling to one another, the wayfarers split into groups and began to dance around the clock tower to the sound of their own song.

Erin's feet found the rhythm on their own, and between them and the wayfarers she danced along while her mind fumbled behind, lost in a waking dream. She did not know how long they spent, walking and dancing and singing, whether it was for seconds or months or years, but she never wanted it to end.

Back at the inn, Kota woke with a start and looked around at the abandoned dishes and empty chairs. He groaned and put a hand to his aching head until he suddenly stood up, knocking over his chair in his hurry.

"Erin? Erin!" He called as he ran to the kitchen and Erin's room, and then up and down the stairs, but there was no sign of her in the inn. He ran outside into the gray light before dawn and saw the glowing road that led straight into town.

Kota cursed and ran around to the back of the inn where he pushed Erin's bike upright and threw a leg over it. With a few false starts he managed to get it going, careful to stay on the grassy verge to the side of the road.

He rode into the silent town as the light changed around him, and reached the center of town just as the sky began to turn pink.

"Erin!" The bike swayed and crashed to the ground as he struggled to separate himself from it and run over to the wild, dancing mass that made another lap around the clock tower.

A wayfarer tried to slip her arm around his own, but he brushed her off and walked straight toward the leader of the group who was dancing with Erin. Her eyes were glassy and dim, reflecting the light of the road beneath their feet.

"You had no call to take her with you," Kota said.

The leader laughed and said, "Who wouldn't want to come with us? To walk the roads and see the forgotten ways? Isn't that right, Erin?"

Erin nodded, a blank smile on her face.

"To never stop, never have a home or a family to call your own?" Kota countered.

"And what do you know of home, or family?" The leader laughed again, but this time it sounded colder to Kota's ears. "Do you think we couldn't see it in your eyes, and in hers? To leave this place behind, and find an entire world stretching out to meet you?"

"Do you really want that?" Kota said, this time speaking directly to Erin. He placed a shaking hand on her shoulder and said, "You wanted to go to the city, yes, but never to return? To never see your mother, or your father, or your brothers and sister again?"

"We always return," the wayfarer said quickly, but the smile faded from Erin's face and the glassiness faded at Kota's words.

"Yes, in your own time. After those who are here are long gone. What do the ancient roads know of the people who walk on them? Days, years, centuries can pass before you return. Do you really want that, Erin?"

Erin shook her head and pulled away from the wayfarer. Her legs shook beneath her with fatigue and effort, and she ran a hand over her aching eyes. "Kota?"

Kota started to move toward her but the wayfarer leader threw out a hand and laughed.

"Come now," he said, pushing Kota lightly so that he took a step back. "I have heard of wayfarers traveling with pets. We'll take you, man or wolf."

Behind Kota the sun rose and its light found him standing in the center of town. The wayfarer bent down toward the wolf in his place and said, "Do you think the people here will say the same?"

### Entry 30: Warning

The wolf crouched low to the ground as if hoping to disappear under the pavement beneath him as the wayfarers laughed and Erin looked on in horror.

"Let's see if you won't change your mind," the wayfarer said and gestured to the others. With a cry and a shout they scattered, but not before one of them screamed so loud that Erin and Kota jumped and cried, "A wolf! There's a wolf after Erin!"

The houses and buildings all along the street came alive with motion as the last wayfarer ran down a side street.

Erin had regained her senses enough to yell, "Run!" before a couple of men came running, one of them armed with what looked like the butcher's cleaver while the other grabbed Erin's arm and pulled her behind him.

Kota stopped cowering and took off down the street, easily dodging the man who was not so eager to get close to the large wolf. It would have been a straight shot out of town if a group of people had not come out of an alley and blocked his way.

Paws skidding on paving stones, Kota came to a stop and turned only to find the way back to the town center blocked by another group. Among the townspeople he could see a couple of wayfarers, and it was a high, clear voice that followed him down the side street, "Quick, before it attacks someone else!"

The dawn light did not reach all the way in the alleys and back ways of the town, and pockets of shadow covered some areas. The townspeople, most of them already muddled by jumping out of bed so early in the morning, did not know how to handle the clear, echoing sounds of claws clattering over paving stones turning mid-step into footsteps, but the wayfarers knew how to urge them on with cries of a beast and a monster.

Heart pounding and breath racing, Kota raced down one alley after another, changing shapes so often that his hands soon became dirty and scratched from trying to run on all fours as a human. No matter which way he turned there seemed to be more people closing in, and the terror only built as he imagined what would happen if he ran into a dead end.

His foot caught on a trash can and he stumbled with a crash that let everyone around know where he was. Kota scrambled up and into the sunlight as his paws met grass instead of stone and pavement. The sound of the river in front of him could not block out the shouting behind him, and without thinking Kota dove under the bridge and hid in the shadows beneath.

He curled himself up into a ball and hid his head under his arms, unable to even watch as the townspeople emerged from between the buildings, armed with whatever makeshift weapon came to hand.

They muttered and stamped as they looked around, and another group emerged on the other side of the river.

"It must be around here somewhere," Kota thought he heard someone say. He curled in on himself tighter, unable to stop the trembling.

Then a voice that sounded like Erin's called out, "I saw it! It went upriver, toward the wastelands!"

The following minutes lasted far too long, as the people discussed what to do next. Despite a few protests from the wayfarers hidden among them, the townspeople finally decided to send a smaller group to follow the wolf while a guard was put around the town. Slowly they dispersed, some even walking on the bridge over Kota's head.

After what felt like a lifetime, Kota uncurled and looked up, to see the old fisherman standing not ten feet away on the riverbank with his pole in the water. His brown face looked up and a pair of bright eyes met Kota's own.

The fisherman put a finger to his lips and went back to staring at the bobber on the water as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world. Beside him, a duck looked at Kota and ruffled its feathers huffily before turning its back on him.

Kota opened his mouth, but his mouth and throat felt so dry that he could not even make a sound. A fortunate thing, as the bridge creaked overhead and a man called out, "Okay there?"

The old fisherman nodded, and a small smile crept over his face.

"Did you see the beast? They said it came this way."

A shake of the head this time, and the man on the bridge sighed and muttered something about old fools before walking away.

Eventually the fisherman looked up again and said to Kota, "That's the same place young Daniel hid when the people of the road came for him, you know."

"Daniel?" Kota's voice was barely above a whisper, and sounded thin and scratchy at that.

"Sollis, the last innkeeper," the fisherman said as he reeled his line in a little. "People who live on the edges are easier to recruit, and the Last Inn is one of the few edges this town has."

"They tried to take Erin," Kota said.

The fisherman's face hardened and the ducks around his feet quacked irritably. "Yes. They also tried to take you."

Kota swallowed, remembering the wayfarer's words. If he had been the one to walk the roads last night, and not Erin...

"The road will call them on soon, but until then you two must be careful," the fisherman said. "Your days draw short enough without their help, young son."

Kota started at his words, and then again when he heard something move in the dark under the bridge, far too close to him for comfort.

"Oh, forgive Dell. He's not used to sharing his bridge with others."

Kota made out a dim, shaggy shape and what looked like rounded ram horns as a very pointed face looked back at him and smiled with an even more pointed smile.

"Ah," Kota said, but it came out more as a squeak. Finding a troll sitting next to you in the dark under a bridge can do that to a person.

"You should go now," the fisherman said. He shifted his weight and the mud beneath his feet made gulping noises. "And remember the witch's words."

"What?"

"Go!" The fisherman said with such urgency that Kota's feet obeyed without waiting for his head to catch up. He stumbled out into the sunlight and raced over the bridge so fast that he nearly did not see the horses and carriage coming, or stop in time to avoid being trampled.

"There it is!" A wayfarer shouted, above the horses' protests and the shouts of the driver. A few people came running as Kota stared up at the eye surrounded by vines emblazoned on the door of the carriage that opened as he watched and looked for a way to escape.

"What is the meaning of this?" Madame Elzwig said, not to Kota but to the men who came running up with fire pokers and knives in hand. "Stop waving those around this instant, you look ridiculous."

"It's that beast," one of the men tried to explain, but the Judge barely spared the wolf half a glance. Her eyes went over the people around them and took in the wayfarers, who were quickly trying to blend in.

"Oh, I see," she said, her voice a low purr as her eyes narrowed. "What kind of fools are you?"

"Fools?" The man did not seem to take kindly to this, and neither did the people around him, but Madame Elzwig managed to shout over all of them. Before long they were all arguing fiercely, and it took a while before anyone thought to look around and wonder what had become of the wolf. Before that happened, Kota was already walking into the Last Inn.

### Entry 31: Back at the Inn

Kota found the door to the inn standing half open when he arrived, and he warily looked inside. With all of the shutters closed from the night before, the only light came in through the open door and showed the table still set, and all of the chairs sitting around except for the one that Kota had knocked over in his hurry.

The light also showed Erin, who turned at the sound of the porch creaking and spotted the wolf looking in.

"Kota!"

Relief crossed her face, hiding what had been there a second before as Kota came in and leaned against the shut door as a human.

"Is anyone else here?" he asked.

"No, I think everyone is still looking around town and the wastes for you," Erin said. "I mean, for the wolf. Did anyone see...?"

Kota shook his head. "I don't think so, but I can't be sure. There were so many close calls, and by now the wayfarers have probably let it slip to someone."

Erin scowled. "Why did they do that? Why did they drag me out with them last night, I didn't want--"

She stopped, but Kota did not say anything. She had wanted to go, so bad that she didn't even give a second thought to leaving the town, her family, everything behind.

"I didn't...I—" She stumbled for words, but all Erin could think was that this was all her fault. She ran a hand over her face and steadied herself by holding onto the back of one of the chairs.

"They make it hard to say no, don't they?" Kota smiled weakly and gestured at the table. "Not to mention, I'm sure they slipped something into our drinks."

Erin walked over to the table and picked up a glass. She sniffed it, but if there was something there she couldn't tell. Erin slammed the glass back down on the table so hard that its contents splashed over her hand. "Why, though?"

"Recruiting," Kota said, recalling the fisherman's words. "But they probably won't be staying for much longer. As long as we stay away from them and don't let them pull anything like last night, we should be okay."

"But what about the wolf?" Erin asked. "Everyone saw it running around town, and they saw enough to know there was something going on! I heard people talking about it turning into a man and back!"

Kota bit his lip and said, "Quick, clean off the tables."

"What?"

Kota piled up the dishes into a great stack and carried them to the kitchen without responding. After a minute, Erin thought she caught on and helped to carry the rest to the kitchen sink. While Kota turned on the water to soak the dishes, she ran back and wiped down the tables and reset the chairs. A sudden thought had her run to the desk and pull out some papers someone had drawn some doodles on, probably Miles, and spread them out over the table.

When, a few minutes later, the front door shot open and Eli Smith thundered in, he saw Erin sitting at one of the tables idly drawing as Kota looked in, wiping his wet hands off with a dishcloth.

"Can we help you, sir?" Kota asked, sounding so calm that it surprised Erin. She knew he must be trembling on the inside, even more than she was.

Relief crossed Eli's face before his usual anger returned. "Where have you been all morning?"

Kota and Erin exchanged glances and she said, "Here, of course. Why, what's wrong?"

"Half the town's been yelling that you were attacked by a monster! A giant wolf's been running all over town, they say," said a voice behind Eli. The smith stepped aside, revealing the mayor standing behind him and gasping for breath. "We've been looking all over for you."

"Like I said, I've been here all morning," Erin lied without batting an eye. "I was just telling Kota I was thinking about going into town today, since it's so quiet here."

Kota nodded, using the dishcloth to hide his shaking hands. "You said something about a giant wolf?"

"Yeah," Eli said, turning his stare on him. "Some weird stories they're telling back in town. You heard anything about it?"

Kota and Erin both shook their heads, almost in unison, as Geld tugged at his collar and said, "Terrible stuff, some people have even got it in their heads that the beast is magic or something. Can't tell you how many people have come to me talking about how it kept changing shape."

"Like that thing they found over by the farm?" Kota asked.

"Yes, I suppose so," the mayor said, but he did not look too pleased at that idea. "Bad business. They said the mercenary with that trader caravan killed the thing, right in front of all of them. Word like that gets around."

Eli frowned and said, "If there's another of those things around, something needs to be done. This one was running around in town, not hiding out in a barn."

Kota spotted Eli's eyes flicker over toward Erin as he spoke. Erin did not seem to notice, as she glanced at Kota before she said, "Maybe it was just a wolf. If these are the same people talking about me being attacked by it, then I bet they didn't even see the thing. Remember that whole thing when everyone thought there was a monster under the bridge?"

Kota shifted uneasily at this, but luckily no one noticed.

Geld sighed and said, "All the same, we're setting up a patrol around town. Perhaps it would be better if you two did not stay here. It's so far from town and the farms, and if something were to happen—"

"Hey, that wasn't the deal!" Erin jumped up so fast that her chair fell back behind her. "You said we could keep the inn open, and I'm not going back just because of some rumor. Kota's here, and I don't think any monster will be coming in the front door."

"Yes, the handles are hard to use without hands," Kota said quietly, and Erin glared at him.

Geld hesitated and looked up at Eli, whose perpetual frown did little to show what he thought.

"I suppose, as long as the beast doesn't show up again," he said slowly, and when the smith failed to interrupt him he continued, "You two may stay here, as agreed."

Eli spoke, and the mayor tensed. "Yes, and in the original agreement there was something about rent. How are you going to pay that, exactly?"

Erin thought of the empty rooms upstairs, and the little money they had left from the wayfarers. "We'll handle it. When is the first payment due?"

"End of the month," Geld said promptly, not needing to consult on that one, even if he should have.

Erin nodded without correcting him and said, "Got it," with enough conviction that Eli's eyebrows went up. "As long as you don't try to run us out over this wolf thing."

Geld tugged at his chin and muttered, "Yes, something will have to be done about that," but no one paid him much attention as a familiar carriage rolled up in front of the inn. Before its wheels stopped turning, the footman jumped down to open the carriage door for Madame Elzwig.

### Entry 32: A Note

Mayor Geld paled at the sight of the Judge's seal but swiftly put a smile on his face and strolled out to the carriage with his arms spread in welcome. "Madame Elzwig! It is a pleasure to see you here. Not on business, I hope?"

Madame Elzwig stepped down with the assistance of her servant and looked down at Geld, who halted about halfway when he saw the expression on her face.

"Should I be?" she asked. "I found half the town in an uproar over some monster, waving around kitchen implements and cavorting with wayfarers. Care to explain, Geld?"

"Wayfarers?" Eli Smith asked, as beside him the mayor murmured a stream of "Oh, dears" before managing to say, "I'm terribly sorry, we just had a little false alarm this morning. Surely nothing an esteemed Judge such as yourself should be concerned with."

"Oh, so you caught it, then?" Madame Elzwig said. She motioned to her servant, who passed the two men on the steps and went to Erin looking out around the door frame.

While the mayor stammered for a response, the servant said, "Madame wished for me to apologize about the early arrival. Are there still rooms available for the night?"

"Y-yes," Erin said. Even counting the wayfarers' rooms they still had space, although she did not think they would be claiming them tonight.

"And is there somewhere we can put the horses? I'm afraid they have had an exciting morning, and the driver..."

He paused to look over his shoulder, and Erin saw the carriage driver patting the horses and murmuring to them.

"We have a stable around back," Erin said. "But I don't think we have anything to feed them."

"Ah, we'll take care of that," the servant said. He was back down the steps in an instant to speak to Elzwig and the driver.

Erin looked back inside the inn, but Kota appeared to have used the distraction to slip away, probably back into the kitchen or up to his room. She sighed, realizing he wouldn't have been much help anyways, and went out to help the servant unload the carriage. There must have been at least three cases for Madame Elzwig alone, heavy, leather things that dragged Erin's arms to the ground.

She spotted her dad watching and said, "Kota's running around, getting the rooms ready."

"Of course he is," Eli said, frowning. He turned his attention back to the mayor, who was trying to explain to the Judge what had happened this morning when he really had no clue himself. He was baffled enough to find out that she had seen the wolf.

"Well, what does it matter if it had a strange mark?" Geld said as Erin passed by a second time. "It's still just a wolf, right?"

"Don't you think I know a curse when I see it?" Madame Elzwig said in a loud, booming tone. "You need to nip this in the bud, Geld."

Erin nearly dropped the luggage on her foot, very aware of the servant waiting behind her as she fumbled to get a better hold on the bag. When she couldn't stall any longer, Erin went up the stairs, puffing under the weight of the luggage but still finding enough breath to ask the servant, "Did you see the wolf too?"

"Just a glimpse," he said, not even slightly out of breath. "Did you?"

"No, no, Kota and I have been here at the inn all day," Erin lied. No reason to change their story now.

"I see. Is this the room?"

Erin had found the biggest room for Madame Elzwig, even though she knew the Judge would be used to better than the sparsely decorated room that smelled faintly of lemons. Being a corner room, it did have windows on two walls that looked out over the front yard of the inn and out toward the town, but the extra light did it few favors.

They left the Judge's luggage there, and the servant went into the room next door to put his own things down. From what he had explained to Erin, the driver would be staying out in the stables for the night, but they would still be paying for his room and board. She didn't get it, but wasn't about to start asking questions.

Back outside, Madame Elzwig was waving Geld away. "Fine, fine, you don't want my help. Just don't say I never offered."

"It's not that we don't value your help," the mayor said, and waffled for a way to finish that sentence before coming up with, "I would just hate to waste your time."

Madame Elzwig put a hand to her mouth to hide a yawn and said, "Well, if you do change your mind, I can at least give you the names of some specialists, but if you will excuse me I need to rest. We traveled all night to get here, you see."

"Ah, of course," Mayor Geld said. He spoke with Madame Elzwig all the way to the door, but she did not seem to be listening. Erin could see the red in her eyes and wondered why they did not just stay at Wichel.

Eli Smith stopped Erin and said, "Be careful around the Judge, okay? You and the boy. She has a lot of power and sway, and not just in the capital."

"Yeah, I know, Dad," Erin said. She could still hear the mayor trying not to put his foot in his mouth. "She's been here before."

"She has?" Eli's head turned back toward the inn. He sighed and ran a hand over his face, and for a moment looked even more tired than Madame Elzwig. "Well, just be careful. Your mother was worried about you, with...with everything this morning."

"Oh." Erin couldn't think of anything else to say, even as she watched her dad and the mayor walk away. She just wished she could get her hands on the wayfarer that had spread that rumor.

After Madame Elzwig made her way to bed and the servant and the driver went to find some feed for the horses, Erin went around the inn and finally found Kota, asleep on his own bed.

She couldn't even think about sleep right now, after everything that had happened. Erin wandered back downstairs and noticed the doodles from the desk still sitting on the table. As she shuffled the papers together, she noticed among the stick figures and really bad attempts at drawing trees a familiar symbol. There, in black and white instead of the vibrant color of the original, was the same mark as the one on Kota's face.

Erin paled, wondering if the Judge had noticed it. She started to ball up the page, but stopped and looked on both sides to see what else was there. On the back there was a stream of meaningless notes, all written in the same loose handwriting that varied in size, but one word in particular caught Erin's eye: _Cure?_

### Entry 33: An Offer

Erin stared at the page, turning it over a few times and reading over the barely legible scrawls for anything else, but it all seemed to be nonsense. Still, the drawing of Kota's mark, combined with that single word, made it impossible to ignore. She went and found the grocery list from yesterday in the trash, but Kota's handwriting did not even slightly match the writing on the note.

She chewed on her lip until it occurred to her: Miles. Of course, the vampire must have done it. She imagined him sitting at the desk, procrastinating writing his report, and scrawling on this scrap piece of paper while he thought.

Cure? Well, Erin thought she knew what that referred to as she turned on the stove and used it to set the corner of the paper on fire before dropping it in the sink. As she watched the paper burn and then turned on the water to wash away the ashes, she wondered if there really was a way to cure Kota. Why did the witch send him here in the first place?

She turned the thought over all day, and by the time evening was coming on the only idea she could come up with was that the witch probably just wanted to get rid of Kota. That, and to go through the wayfarers' rooms and get all of their stuff out. She piled up everything in the backyard, figuring that if they wanted it that bad they could come and get it themselves.

It was as Erin tossed the last of the bags onto the surprisingly small heap that she heard voices around the front of the inn. Thinking it was the wayfarers back again, Erin ran inside and through the inn to the front door, ready to lock it if need be as she looked around the door.

"Y'all open?" asked a burly man with a pack on his back nearly as big as him. Around him stood a couple of other people with backpacks, all of them with the look of people who had been walking for days, or weeks.

They certainly didn't look like wayfarers, but all the same Erin warily answered, "Yes, we are. Are you looking for rooms?"

"Yeah, and food if yeh've got it," the man answered. His stomach rumbled in unison and the others laughed and kidded him about it, but none of them sounded like wayfarers.

Erin opened the door all the way and told them the rate as they came in, stomping their feet on the welcome mat to get the dust off their boots and looking around.

"How far is the capital from this place?" asked another of the backpackers, whose face barely peeked out between a bushy beard and a mass of hair.

"I think most people make it in about two or three days, walking," Erin said and the travelers broke out into grins and slapped each other on the shoulder.

"Not far at all!"

"Far enough," Erin muttered to herself. She turned at the sound of footsteps on the stairs and saw Kota looking down over the railing, pushing his hair down to cover his mark. "Kota, we have some more guests. You feel up to cooking yet?"

"Er, sure," Kota said. Aware of the travelers looking his way, the young man nearly ran down the stairs with his shoulders hunched almost to his ears and muttered something before darting into the kitchen.

"Not a big talker, eh?" said the burly man as he pulled off his backpack and started rooting around in it. "Come on, I'm not footing yehr bill."

After they paid and went up to their rooms to clean up, Erin put the money away and looked at the hooks for the keys, most of which were bare. She was not looking forward to explaining to her dad why they would need new locks and keys, but she doubted the wayfarers were likely to return theirs.

"Hey, Kota?" she called, staring at the hooks. "You need any help in there?"

Kota leaned into the room and asked, "How many am I cooking for this time?"

"Um, seven, no, eight, not including me and you," Erin said. "Do we have enough food?"

Kota smiled. "I think we can make it work."

By the time they had everything cooked, the travelers were sitting around one of the smaller tables in the common room and even Madame Elzwig had made an appearance, sitting at her own table with her servant at hand and watching the fire someone had started in the fireplace.

Erin put out the food for the guests herself and ate in the kitchen with Kota. While they didn't say it, neither of them were eager to spend too long in the common room after last night, and Erin settled for just going to check on the guests occasionally.

"Oh, good, more shopping tomorrow," Erin said, eyeing the empty bags and containers still sitting on the counter. "What are we going to do about breakfast?"

"I...think I have an idea for that," Kota said, but would not go into any details. Erin found herself looking at him occasionally, the note still on her mind. Did he still think about finding a cure? He'd never said anything, but Erin had to admit that he never talked about anything unless she pried it out of him.

"I'll take care of the dishes this time," Erin offered and sighed when Kota just shrugged and took out the trash. Maybe she could get a decent conversation out of one of the travelers.

Erin distantly heard the front door open and shut, but she didn't think anything about it until after she finished the dishes and realized she was still alone in the kitchen.

"Kota?" She walked out into the common room and Madame Elzwig's servant looked up from the game of cards he'd started with the other guests to say, "Madame requested his presence at her room, to deal with a maintenance issue I believe."

"Oh," Erin said, wondering what the problem was this time. She hoped it didn't have anything to do with the plumbing as she went up the stairs and down the hall.

She stopped short outside the Judge's room when she heard the woman's imperious voice coming through the door.

"—wonderful meal. It's not often you can find a decent cook out in a place like this, and I don't think I've ever tasted anything like those grilled mushrooms."

"They grow wild around here," Kota said. Two sharp bangs followed by a scraping noise nearly made Erin jump. "There, I think that should do it for the window."

"Fantastic." The creak of wood signaled that the Judge had taken a seat. "Tell me...Kota, right? How long have you been working here at the inn?"

"A month or two, maybe?" A pause followed and Erin could almost imagine Kota shrugging and smiling. "I'm not very good at keeping track of that sort of thing. If there's nothing else—"

"I want to hire you, boy," Madame Elzwig said, and Erin had to cover her mouth to stop a sound from coming out. "As a chef, mainly, but I am willing to pay extra for additional services."

When Kota was slow to answer, she added, "How much are you paid, here? I can assure you that I can more than match it." Madame Elzwig named a price that made Erin's jaw drop, and added, "As well as room and board at my residence in the capital. I must admit that there are also many perks working for a Judge."

"Yes, I suppose so," Kota admitted. "But I would rather stay here."

By the sound of it, Madame Elzwig drummed her fingers on the desk for a tense minute before saying, "Well, my offer will stand. Take a night and think it over."

Erin heard Kota walking toward the door and darted down the hall before he could see that she had been eavesdropping. She waited on the stairs where the guests downstairs could not see her and pretended to walk up just as Kota came out of Madame Elzwig's room.

"Oh, there you are, Kota," she said, faking a smile and hoping that she did not sound too strange. "Do you want me to take the night shift?"

"No, I had plenty of sleep today," Kota said. He gave her a crooked smile and said, "I think I can find a way to pass the time."

### Entry 34: The Pig

Early in the morning, so early that all was still dark outside of the inn, Kota turned off the sink in the kitchen with dripping hands and strained his ears. The sound came again, quiet but distinct in the silence: the high laugh of a wayfarer.

Kota turned off the light in the kitchen and stood to the side of the window as he looked out. Dark shapes moved in the yard, around the pile of bags that Erin tossed out earlier.

Just as he checked to make sure he'd locked the door behind him and considered barring it with a chair, Kota heard a knocking at the front door which grew louder with every repetition. Casting a look around, he grabbed the nearest thing and ran to the front.

He intended to open the door only a crack, but as soon as the knob turned in his hand Miles came barging in, nearly pushing him out of the way.

"Sorry, got to put this thing down before I throw it," he said and dropped a large cage in the center of the room. A disgruntled squeal came out of it before the vampire hit it with his hand. "Doing some late-night cleaning?"

Kota put aside his broom, staring at Miles and the cage. There seemed no good place to start with the questions, so he just went with, "What's in there?"

"My latest catch," Miles said. He frowned at the cage and looked ready to kick it. "Did you know that there are people surrounding this place?"

"They're wayfarers," Kota said and Miles hissed sharply. "Here for their stuff, and just that I hope."

"You let them stay here?" Miles asked as he walked across the common room and went into the kitchen. As Kota followed him, he saw the vampire look out the window. "I'm surprised you're not out there with them. How long have they been here?"

"They came for some rooms yesterday, and tried to leave with Erin."

Miles looked at Kota. "Tried?"

"It's a long story," Kota said.

When he failed to go into detail, Miles nodded as if he had and said, "Right. Well, I think it's time they took the hint and moved on."

"What?" Kota tried to stop Miles, but he walked out and the figures in the yard visibly stopped and turned to face him. Miles crossed his arms and said something to the wayfarers, but Kota could not hear the actual words and was not about to open the door or window. He did see one of the wayfarers point at the inn and make a gesture that he did not understand, to which Miles responded violently.

The vampire charged at the wayfarers, but the group divided and ran, fading into the shadows beyond the inn as easily as they blended into the crowds back in town. Miles stalked around the yard and the inn a few times, but he returned within a few minutes.

"Do you think they'll be back?" Kota asked.

"They always come back, but wayfarers can't stay away from the road too long," Miles said. He seemed distracted, and his nostrils started to flare. "What is that smell?"

The vampire leaned toward Kota and sniffed, and his pupils started to dilate. "Is that blood?"

"Deer," Kota said, stepping back all the same. "We needed the meat."

Miles pinched the bridge of his nose. "So you were out there while they were wandering around? Did it ever...Did you even think..."

He sighed, unable to even finish. "Look, do you mind if I leave the pig where she's at now? I don't want her in my room."

"It, er, she should be fine in the stables, with the horses," Kota said, but Miles shook his head.

"No, you are not going back out there again, and I don't trust her to be alone for too long." Miles sniffed again and looked inside the fridge. He came out with one of the carefully wrapped packages of raw deer meat and said, "So she can stay there then? If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat in my room."

"Please don't," Kota said, but Miles paid as much attention to him as he expected. He went out into the common room, but the pig kept giving him strange looks that made him feel uncomfortable.

It seemed forever before the sun came up, and even longer before Erin and the guests emerged with various states of bedhead and found breakfast waiting for them on the table, with covers to keep the food warm. Miles came down the stairs last and stopped short when he saw Madame Elzwig pulling up a chair at the table with a satisfied smile.

Erin noticed the vampire first and said, "Miles! When did you get here?"

The Judge's smile slipped away and she looked at Miles, who returned the stare with his own stony expression. A tense silence followed until Madame Elzwig said, "Yes, when did you get here?"

"This morning," Miles answered. "And you?"

"Yesterday. We wished to stop and rest before returning to the capital city." Madame Elzwig and Miles were both talking civilly, but their words had all the warmth of icicles. "Out on another one of your hunts?"

Miles nodded and said, "If you will excuse me?"

He nodded to everyone at the table and went back to the kitchen, pausing to pick up the pig's cage on the way.

"You could have warned me that she was here," Miles said once the kitchen door shut behind him. Kota looked up from his seat at the table, but before he could even ask the vampire said, "Elzwig! You know that woman tried to have me staked?"

"No," Kota said, but Miles was too worked up to hear.

"'The letter of the law says,'" he said in a smarmy imitation of the Judge's voice. "Just because I became a vampire too close to the timing of the registration, not that she was a fan of that to start with."

He continued on for some time, ranting about the Judge's policy on what Miles called "irregulars," until Kota said, "What's with the pig?"

Miles stopped talking and stared at Kota, breathing heavily. "What?"

"What is she?"

Miles looked at the pig and then back at Kota, whose expression was blank. "Well, she used to be a sorceress in Circa, a little village you've probably never heard of. People kept disappearing in the area, and it turned out someone had a thing for luring in strangers and turning them into animals once she was tired of them."

He kicked the cage and the pig grunted and stared at him with mean little eyes.

"I take it you were one of them?" Kota said.

"Too close," Miles said. "Someone got too cocky though, and her spell turned back on her. Now she's a pig, and I have to lug her to the capital so the wizards there can have a look and see how she did it, so they can fix the others."

"You left them there? As animals?"

"I've got someone watching them," Miles said. He hunted around in the fridge, shaking his head at the meager offerings before taking what was left from making breakfast and tossing it to the pig. "And if anything happens to them, there will be bacon."

The pig stopped snuffling through the food to turn a particularly evil stare on the vampire.

Kota frowned but did not say anything to the vampire, who took a seat on the other side of the table.

"You know," he said, leaning on the table, "If you came to the capital with me, I could get one of the wizards to take a look at...your little problem."

He spared a glance at the cage, but the pig was eating as if she had not seen food in weeks. He looked back at Kota when the young man said, "No, thank you."

"What?"

"I want to stay here," Kota said simply.

"Look, Kota, you're just going to have to face the fact that the witch was wrong," Miles said, leaning closer and lowering his voice. "There is nothing for you here except for getting caught by one of those nice people in town and getting yourself killed."

He did not answer, and made no move to tell Miles about how close he came to that just yesterday morning.

"Just think about it, won't you?" Miles said, and became surprised when Kota cracked a smile.

"That's the same thing Miss Elzwig said last night," he explained. "She asked me to go to the capital with her as well."

"She did?" Miles's eyes darted toward the door and back to Kota, but he could no more read the young man's expression than before. "Why?"

"She claims that she likes my cooking," Kota said mildly as he stood up and began cleaning the kitchen.

"I'm sure she did," Miles muttered. He watched Kota and tilted his head as something occurred to him. "Wait, she compliments you on your cooking and you give the Judge venison? The Judge who guzzles wine like it's water and only eats the finest foods?"

"Oh, was that wrong?" Kota said. He looked over his shoulder and Miles stared at him, speechless.

### Entry 35: Payday

Kota and Miles turned at the creak of the door and Erin stopped halfway inside the kitchen. She glanced at the cage on the floor when the pig gave a snort, frowned, and said, "Either of you going to explain why there's an animal in my kitchen?"

"That depends," Miles said, eyeing the open door, "Are you going to explain why that animal is out there?"

It took a second for Erin to register what he said, and then her face flushed red and she shut the door. "What's with you and the Judge? The look on her face when you walked in, it's making the other guests nervous!"

"She doesn't look like that all of the time?" Miles smiled, but when Erin's expression failed to change he sighed and said, "Look, we just don't get along. No reason to go into details, except one: when is she leaving?"

Erin shrugged. "How should I know? They only paid for the one night, so I guess she'll be leaving before long."

"Hm." The vampire drew his legs up into his chair and sat there, hunched over and thinking this over. When it became evident that he would not be adding anything else to the conversation anytime soon, Erin shook her head and looked at Kota.

"Are you okay?"

Kota stopped in the act of a taking a sip of his drink, the glass a few inches from his mouth. "What? Oh, sure, why wouldn't I be?"

"I mean...You must have had a long night, with nothing to do and all," Erin said.

Kota glanced at Miles out of the corner of his eye and said, "Boring enough, I suppose. How was breakfast?"

"Oh, the guests liked it, and Madame Elzwig is raving as usual." Erin walked around the kitchen, picking things up only to set them back down again. She fiddled with the egg carton and said, "I, um, wanted to give you this. It's not much, but with what we got from the hikers, and Elzwig..."

Kota looked at the money she handed him with surprise and a touch of confusion. "You're paying me?"

"Well, you don't have to say it like that." Erin tapped her fingers on the counter and did not quite look at Kota. "I just thought you might want it for something."

"Why?" Kota looked at the money and then back at Erin. "Do you want me to start paying for the room again?"

"What? No!" Erin shot a glare at Miles, but his face remained locked in a deadpan, thoughtful expression. "I don't know, buy something for yourself, get some decent clothes, save it, whatever. It's your money, okay?"

She went out of the room at just short of a run, but kept enough presence of mind not to slam the door behind her.

Kota looked at the money and back at the door, then over to Miles. "That was strange, right? It wasn't just me?"

Miles snapped out of whatever thought he was in and jumped out of the chair. "I need to write a letter."

He walked out without another word, leaving Kota sitting at the table alone. At a sound he leaned over and looked at the pig in the cage, who stared back at him with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah, I'm not asking you," he said and stood up. Before he could reach the door, it opened again and Madame Elzwig's servant bowed at him.

"Madame wished for me to inform you that we are leaving within the hour," he said.

"Oh?" Kota had to fight to keep his eyes on the man and not look at the doors or windows to the room.

The tall man had slicked back hair and his clothes were impeccable, without a sign of a single wrinkle or blemish, but he didn't leave much of an impression. Everything about him was carefully tailored to suggest servant or butler, even the way he spoke.

"She wishes to know if you have reconsidered her offer," the servant said.

They both looked at the sound of a thump and saw Erin in the middle of the common room, picking up a chair and apologizing to one of the hikers.

Kota cleared his throat and said, "You can tell her that my answer's still the same. I want to stay here, at the inn."

The servant gave him a small, brisk smile and said, "Exactly as she thought. Ah, while I'm here, I would like to take a look at the wine cellar. It's a little passion of mine, would that be possible?"

"Er, sure, it's this way," Kota said. He went to the corner alcove next to Erin's room and pulled up the ring in the floor to reveal a set of steps leading down. He considered telling the servant about how they found the cellar door under a layer of grime, but by the time he worked up to saying something the servant spoke again, in a different tone of voice.

"Paget told me about the wayfarers, how your...friend chased them away from this place last night."

"Paget?"

"The driver," the servant said. He picked up a dusty bottle and turned it over in his hands. He held it to the light for further examination as he said, "Terrible things they said about you, those wayfarers."

Overhead the floorboards creaked beneath the distant murmur of voices.

"Fortunately, empire law does not consider the testimony of such people valid." The servant replaced the bottle with care and walked further into the cellar. "Otherwise, Madame might be required to look into some of their accusations."

"They would say anything though, wouldn't they? If it meant they could get their hands on someone else," Kota said. He could feel himself shaking, and leaned against the cool stone wall of the cellar to hide it.

"Thus why we don't listen to them." The servant stepped around a pallet and out of sight, but his voice still carried through the cellar. "But one does have to question why they are so interested in you, Master Kota."

"Just," Kota started and swallowed before continuing, "Just Kota. I've heard the stories. The wayfarers target people with few attachments, outsiders, strangers—"

"I was given to understand from Miss Erin that you were from the area," the servant said. Kota scanned the gloom, trying to find where he was at now. "Your clothes, and that accent would suggest otherwise, though."

"Accent?"

"Northern. I say the lowlands, but Madame Elzwig has it pinned to the mountains of the borderlands."

Kota edged toward the door in slow increments. The second he was on those steps the servant would hear and could give a warning, but by the time anyone responded he could be out the door. He already knew how long it took to get to the forest from the inn, and then—

The servant stepped out from behind a wine rack, precisely halfway between Kota and the door. "I don't suppose you would be willing to settle that for us? No? Then may I just say that it would be prudent if you kept Madame's offer in mind. A Judge's hand reaches far, as does her protection."

"And do I need protecting?" Kota asked.

"How should I know?" The servant absentmindedly turned a bottle so that its label faced up. "But considering the attention you've been getting lately, I wouldn't burn any bridges. Here is Madame's card. If you're ever in the city, or need any help, do consider it."

"But I don't—" Kota looked up from the little white card to see that the servant was already going up the stairs. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose until his headache and the shaking passed.

### Entry 36: Locked

Erin saw Kota sneak out of the kitchen and up to his room without saying a word, but did not think anything of it. It was almost typical behavior for him, and it wasn't like he would have been much help when it came to loading the bags back onto the Judge's carriage. As she passed the last of the dark suitcases to Madame Elzwig's servant, she wondered why they bothered to drag the things inside if they were just going to put them back the next morning.

"Thank you," the servant, Neil, said. He heaved the suitcase into the rack built into the back of the carriage and shut the door on it, careful to lock it with a key that he slipped into his chest pocket. "I know that some of Madame's workings can get heavy."

Erin stopped rubbing her arm. "Workings?"

"Yes. Some of those cases are filled to the brim with files," he remarked. "She insists on keeping them nearby at all times."

She sensed from his tone that lugging those cases around could get old very fast. She looked at the door and found herself saying, "If they're that important, you'll probably want to get a better lock then."

Neil smiled and said, "I assure you, that lock was created by a master craftsman. There is only one key for it."

"Well, yeah, but you wouldn't need a key to open it, would you?" Spurred on by the servant's condescending smile, Erin looked around and picked up a stick around the right size off the ground. "Watch."

She slid the slim stick into the crack just below the lock and, after a little maneuvering, the door slowly swung open with a gaping hole where the lock had popped out of place. Neil's hand went to his mouth and it slid down his face while Erin held the piece of metal up for inspection.

"Oh," was all he could manage to say.

"My dad showed me that trick," Erin explained as she passed the lock to the servant. She sighed, thinking about the keys the wayfarers had walked off with. She really couldn't put off changing the locks, not while she still had the money.

She left Neil showing the popped lock to the carriage driver and went inside, where the hikers had maps strewn out over one of the tables and were arguing over the best paths to take to get to the city. Miles and Madame Elzwig were sitting as far away from each other as possible, Miles in the darkest corner and the Judge in the middle of a pool of sunlight coming in through an open window.

"Is everything ready?" Madame Elzwig asked.

"Er, I think something's come up," Erin said, a little guiltily. "The lock on the luggage compartment, it's, uh, a little faulty."

Madame Elzwig frowned and stood up in a massive movement that startled Erin. "If you will excuse me for a moment."

She swept out of the room, causing a moment of silence as the hikers looked up and then went back to their maps.

Erin winced and thought that it might be a good idea to go to town now. She looked around and walked over to Miles, who was pouting.

"Kota still upstairs?" she asked.

"He's probably asleep," Miles said. "When is she leaving?"

"Who, the Judge?" Erin paused and realized that was a stupid question. "Well, I think they were about to, but there's something wrong with the lock on their carriage."

"Why, what's wrong?"

"It's not there anymore." Erin shook her head. "Look, I'll tell you about it later. I just need to get Kota to watch the inn so I can run into town. Promise you won't bite Elzwig while I'm gone?"

Miles grimaced. "Like I would want to."

Erin went up the stairs and knocked on Kota's door. When there was no reply, she knocked again and called, "Kota?"

"I told you, he's probably asleep," Miles said behind her, causing Erin to jump. "You know, I could watch the place for you."

"Really?"

The vampire shrugged. "If you'll do something for me."

He saw the expression on Erin's face and quickly said, "No, I mean, no, I just want to‒" Miles had to stop and start again. "Look, the stores in town, they stay open after dark, right?"

"Yeah, since it started getting darker earlier," Erin said. "They don't really change their hours for the season."

"Then let me take Kota to town tonight, as soon as the sun sets," Miles said.

"Why?"

"People are more likely to let me in if I'm not alone," Miles said. He tapped one of his fangs and said, "I guess they feel safer when there are others around. Besides, Kota needs to get out more."

"Well, I guess as long as you can talk him into it," Erin said. Secretly, she thought there was no way Kota would go anywhere alone with the vampire, but she didn't want to say that if he was willing to keep an eye on the inn for her. "I shouldn't be gone long, okay?"

They walked down the stairs together, Erin giving Miles a string of instructions while he nodded along without any sign that he was even listening. She looked and saw Madame Elzwig outside, examining the carriage while her servant and driver stood by looking like boys caught at doing something wrong, and decided to leave through the kitchen instead, which now had a definite smell of pig. Erin looked at Miles.

"Yeah, I'll move her somewhere else," he said without being asked.

Erin stopped at the back door with her hand on the doorknob. "Hey, Miles? Do you really think there's some kind of cure for Kota here?"

The vampire stiffened, and took a moment to answer. "He seems to think there is one."

Erin turned around. "But what do you think?"

They both turned their head at the sound of raised voices coming from the common room. It sounded like the hikers were having another argument, and with visible relief Miles said, "I'll go and take care of that then? We can talk about this later."

He left before Erin could say anything and she gave up, for the moment. Outside she looked around for her bike, but there was no sign of it. She groaned as the memory of Kota riding up on it in the middle of town resurfaced, fuzzy like most of her memories of her time with the wayfarers. She'd completely forgotten about it with everything else, and she knew Kota had other things on his mind at the time.

She would have had plenty of time to grumble on the walk into town if Madame Elzwig's carriage had not pulled up alongside her a few minutes later. The servant, Neil, opened the door and looked out.

"Ah, Miss Erin. Going into town?" he asked.

"Y-yeah, I'm going to see my dad," she said.

"The blacksmith?" he smiled and said, "How fortuitous. We have some business for him, it seems."

"Oh. Right, sorry about that," Erin said. She glanced at the dark interior of the carriage. "Is Madame Elzwig with you?"

"No, she decided to remain at the inn while we made the commission," he said, and Erin bit her lip. She wondered how Miles felt about that, and just had to hope there wouldn't be any bloodshed. Maybe leaving him in charge hadn't been the greatest idea after all. "She wishes to send her gratitude, for pointing out the lock's flaw. We'll have to have a word with our man when we return to the city."

Erin just nodded.

Neil gestured to the other seat in the carriage and said, "Since we're going the same way, you can ride with us."

Erin hesitated, but when she couldn't think of a good excuse not to she climbed into the Judge's carriage.

### Entry 37: Keys

Erin slid back in the cushioned seat of the carriage as it started again with a barely noticeable jump. It was surprisingly roomy, although now that she thought about it she couldn't see Madame Elzwig settling for some cramped box that jolted around at every bump and hole in the road. The wheels sounded as if they glided over the ground more than anything. The windows on either side were strangely shaped so that Erin could look out but the people the carriage passed on the town streets could not look in, no matter how much they stared.

"Is this your first time in a carriage?" Neil asked.

"In one like this? Yes," Erin said, looking around. "Is that a light on the ceiling?"

"Yes, for Madame to read by." Neil sat painfully straight in his seat, his hands carefully folded over each other. "May I ask, how is it to be the keeper of the Last Inn? Do you enjoy it?"

"It's...interesting." Erin thought that word summed it up best. It was hard to concentrate, when she kept wanting to look out the window at the streets and people they passed. She could hear the people talking, if not what they said, but from the grumbling she thought they probably recognized the carriage from yesterday.

"Busy?" Neil asked.

"Sometimes," Erin admitted. "We've been making repairs, and Miles said business will probably be picking up soon so we've been getting ready for that."

"Ah, yes, the traveling season is starting, isn't it?" The servant smiled, but it looked as stiff as the way he sat. "I suppose you're glad to have Kota to assist you. And Miles too, it seems?"

"Um, Miles is just helping out today, that's all," Erin said. She did not want to make that a regular thing. "But yes, I couldn't keep the place open without Kota."

True enough, but she blushed at how she sounded as she said it. This guy worked for the Judge, and she was not about to let him think they could just hire Kota out from underneath her.

"I see."

That was all he said, but the silence did not have a chance to become uncomfortable by the time the carriage pulled to a stop in front of the smithy. Neil popped up like a cork and opened the door for Erin before she was even half out of the seat.

"Thank you," she said as she stepped down.

A noise made her look around and she spotted her older brother, Marcus, standing at the door to the forge and staring at her in obvious horror. Erin quickly walked over to him and pulled him off to the side where Neil and the driver could not hear.

Just in time it seemed, as he gasped out, "That's the Judge's coach! What were you doing in there?"

"They just gave me a ride," Erin said. "Go tell Dad they're here, okay? They're looking for a new lock, tell him that. And stop staring, would you?"

Marcus nodded and ran in as Neil approached. Erin did not know what he said to get Eli to the door so fast, but the smith had that look in his eye that promised trouble.

"The Judge in there?" he asked without any greeting or introduction.

"No, sir, she is still at the inn. We have a commission for you, if you're interested," Neil said, seemingly unfazed by Eli's thunderous expression. He explained about the lock as they walked around to take a look at the back of the carriage, but Erin did not feel up to listening to that.

She walked into the forge and Marcus looked up from stoking the fire.

"I wouldn't stick around if I were you," Marcus said. "Dad's not happy."

"When is he ever?" Erin asked, turning over some of the tools on the workbench. She looked at Marcus and realized that here was the solution to her problem. "Hey, could you make some new keys for the inn? Some of the last guests walked off with theirs."

"Me?" Marcus frowned. "Even if I did it, we'd need to change out the locks, probably all of them so that you would just have the one master key. You realize how much that would cost?"

Erin sighed. "I know. I suppose it's too much to hope for a family discount?"

They both jumped as a bunch of keys crashed onto the bench next to Erin and a far from happy laugh came from the door.

"Or you could save a lot of money and just get the original keys back," Eli said. He walked over to the far wall and dug around in the box of scraps there while Erin and Marcus stared at the keys. They were all obviously from the inn, and a quick count proved that all ten of the wayfarers' keys were there.

"How did you get these?" Erin asked.

"Search crews looking for that monster wolf found them outside of town, along with that," Eli said. He pointed to the corner and Erin thought she might be sick at the sight of her yellow bike waiting there for her.

Erin started to explain, or at least to give a believable lie, but her father gave her a look and a signal to stay quiet just as Neil walked in.

"This is the material I was talking about," Eli said, showing the metal to the servant. "We can have it ready by tomorrow."

"We were planning on leaving today," Neil said. He thought about it and said, "I suppose Madame might be willing to have Miles bring it in when he returns to the city tomorrow night. Would that be acceptable?"

Eli and Neil discussed the details while Marcus and Erin stood by, trying not to look at each other or the keys on the bench. It seemed an eternity before Eli showed the servant to the door with receipt of purchase in hand.

As soon as the carriage pulled away, Eli turned and said, "Explain. Now."

"Some guests at the inn ran out on the bill without returning their keys. They must have tossed them when they thought they were far enough away," Erin said, the explanation ready thanks to the time to think.

"And the bike?" Eli asked.

"I must have left it somewhere by accident," Erin said, adding truthfully, "I haven't ridden it in days, not since the last time I came to town for groceries."

"Funny, because it was left in the middle of the street. Alandale found it, and he said it hadn't been there the night before when he walked home." Eli crossed his thick arms. "Care to explain how you left your bike in town yesterday morning without leaving the inn?"

"I didn't leave it there," Erin said. She crossed her arms and frowned in imitation of him. "Look, thank you for finding the keys and the bike, but don't treat me like I've done something wrong. Why can't you just believe me for once?"

"Tell me then, did you let those wayfarers stay in the inn?"

Erin bit her lip and said, "Yes, but I didn't know what they were."

Eli threw his hands up and stomped away while Marcus looked from one to the other in confusion. "Wayfarers! Really Erin?"

"How was I supposed to know?" Erin asked. "How do you even know about them?"

"The Judge mentioned them, remember?" Eli said. Before Erin could protest that this wasn't what she meant, he said, "Are they still here?"

"No, Miles said they left the area last night," Erin said.

"Miles. The vampire?" Marcus asked, latching on to the conversation even though Erin wished he wouldn't.

"Yes, him. Dad, I need to get some things and get back to the inn before dark. Is there anything else you want?"

Eli shook his head and she took that as a sign to grab the keys and wheel her bike out of the forge before he could change his mind.

### Entry 38: Tension

The hikers left the inn at speed. Miles suspected their sudden departure had more to do with getting away from the tension that had descended on the common room than with the time. He couldn't blame them, but now it was just him and the Judge. Sitting in the same room as Madame Elzwig was enough to set his teeth on edge, but then she turned her stare on him and actually spoke.

"Why are you here?"

Miles kept his eyes on the fireplace and said, "I could ask you the same thing. Shouldn't you be in the city?"

"I am traveling, on business," Elzwig declared, catching the slight shift in the vampire's gaze before he could stop it. "We just returned from Wichel."

Wichel. That meant she could have made it back to the capital last night, if she had made the effort. Miles never knew Elzwig to leave the city for longer than she had to. Anyone familiar with the Judge knew how much she hated traveling.

"You still have not said why you are here," Elzwig prodded.

"Well, the sun dictates how far I can travel, doesn't it?" Miles retorted. The muscles in his hands and face were starting to ache from the effort of not moving or showing any expression. "Some of us don't have a private carriage to ride around in."

Madame Elzwig stood up and began to slowly pace around the room. "I thought your kind had your own methods of travel. Flying and all that?"

"Who has the energy for that?" Miles asked. She was blocking his view of the fireplace now, so he turned his stare on the front desk sitting in front of him instead. It occurred to him that Erin really shouldn't leave inn records sitting in the open like this, but it gave him something to look at as he spoke. "A broken lock. Aren't there locksmiths in the city?"

"Not one that can teach his daughter how to get around one of the best locks our people can make," Elzwig said. "If he knows the fault, then shouldn't he know how to avoid it?"

Miles had been trying so hard to ignore the sound of her pacing around the room that he did not realize she had stopped until the Judge spoke again, so close behind him that it took all of his effort not to react.

"And of course, a little delay gives Kota more time to reconsider my offer."

"What offer would that be?" Miles asked, and the Judge laughed. He ground his teeth at the sound of that blaring laugh.

"Please, don't play coy," Elzwig said. She placed her hands on the back of his chair and leaned closer. "We both know what he is, don't we?"

Miles practically leapt out of the chair, but he tried to play it off by grabbing the inn's budget and walking to the fire as if to read it better. He peered at the several lines of red intermixed with black and said, "Oh, do tell."

"When I heard about a man who could turn into a wolf, I must admit my first thought was werewolf," Madame Elzwig admitted. Miles did not turn around, but he thought he heard the shifting of paper coming from the desk. "Of course, the moon wasn't right, so that left either shapeshifter or some form of curse. Going by the events of yesterday, it's quite obvious now that it is a curse, although I must say I haven't discovered the parameters yet."

Miles's hand went to his mouth and then he let it drop. Amid his spinning thoughts, he wondered what happened yesterday. How did she know? His first thought was of the wayfarers from last night, but they wouldn't go to a Judge, even if the timing was right.

"Really? And here I thought you had it all figured out," Miles said. He breathed out slowly and asked, "What are you going to do when he doesn't go? He won't, you know."

"Do?" Miles turned around in time to see the Judge shrug her expansive shoulders and give a little smile. "What can I do? Until he crosses the law, I can't officially 'do' anything, same as you."

Miles crossed his arms. "Officially, yes. But a lot of things happen off the record, don't they?"

Madame Elzwig laughed again and Miles gripped the mantel over the fireplace to keep himself from doing something he would regret.

"Oh, where do you get these ideas, Miles?" She walked up and patted him on the face, which turned a shade paler. "You'll keep an eye on them then?"

"Them?"

Madame Elzwig turned her head at the sound of her servant knocking on the door before entering and sighed. "How did it go?"

"Master Smith said that it would take a day to create the new lock, and had one of his sons attach a temporary one that should suffice until then." The servant adjusted his jacket and said, "Since it would be another day, I made so bold as to request that they give the lock to Miles to deliver when he returns to the city. I hope that is alright?"

"Of course it is," Elzwig said before Miles could answer. "It looks like we have no reason to delay any longer. The emperor does tend to worry if I stay away too long. Please, do let Kota know that my door is always open for him."

She smiled at Miles and walked out with her servant tailing her like a second shadow. The second the door shut behind them Miles swore, and then swore again for good measure. The third time was because he dropped the inn's budget in the fire and burnt his hand pulling it out.

He slammed the smoking piece of paper down on the table and went upstairs.

"Kota!" He knocked on the door and, when he didn't answer, opened it and stared at the empty room. The bed was made with neat precision, the curtain over the window pulled to block even the slightest bit of light. The young man's bag was under the table, but Miles knew that didn't mean anything.

He sniffed the air and opened the closet door. There were no clothes there, nothing except for a neatly folded blanket lying on the floor. Miles stared at this and then shook his head. Now wasn't the time.

Miles ran out of the room and looked up and down the hallway before going around the bend and stopping short when Kota, sitting sprawled out on the steps leading up to the attic, waved his hand and motioned for him to be quiet.

In between Kota and the attic door lay a bowl, full of milk by the smell of it. A small, gray ball of fur with long, draggly ears stopped with a point that might have been a nose stretched out toward the bowl, and large, milky blue eyes stared at Miles.

Kota made a small, calming noise and the little creature slowly inched toward the bowl and began to lap it up with a catlike tongue. When he gently stroked the top of its head, it barely paused in its guzzling.

"I found him in the attic a few weeks ago," Kota said, quietly so as not to disturb the creature. "I think he's the one that's been eating the dust on this floor."

"Great, you've found yourself a pet dust bunny," Miles said, too exasperated to be curious.

Kota managed to pull his attention away from the creature and look at Miles. "Is something wrong?"

"We need to talk. Now."

"About what?"

Miles rubbed his eyes. "Let's start with what happened yesterday."

### Entry 39: Bruised Apples

Erin arrived back at the inn just as the sun was starting to set. Shadows nearly hid the back door, and she almost fell off of her bike when it hit a hole in the yard.

Kota opened the kitchen door in time to see Erin kick the bike in the middle of a pile of spilled grocery bags.

"Need some help?" he asked, glancing up at the sky before stepping out.

"What do you think?" Erin snapped, kicking the bike again for good measure. The sight of Kota scurrying around her, dusting off apples and picking up bags while trying so hard not to get in the way, only annoyed her more. "Did Elzwig finally leave?"

"Hours ago, I think," Kota said. He straightened up, his chin on top of a heap of bags to keep them from sliding out of his arms, and led the way back into the kitchen. There Miles sat at one of the chairs around the kitchen table, facing the door with his arms crossed.

"About time you got back," he said.

"What?" Erin looked over her shoulder to be sure and said, "What's that supposed to mean? The sun is still out, you two couldn't have left any earlier."

"Kota told me what happened yesterday, with the wayfarers," Miles said. He glanced at Kota as he walked around the kitchen, apparently absorbed in putting away the groceries and washing off everything that had hit the ground. "Or at least, as much as he tells me anything."

"So not much," Erin said and Miles nodded. She threw a handful of keys down on the table and said, "Well, I think they're gone, for now at least."

She told them about someone in town finding the keys while searching for Kota and Miles visibly stiffened.

"So they saw him change?"

Erin looked at Kota and wondered how much he had left out. "They saw enough to know something was going on, and now Peter from the farm is going around telling everyone he can about the trail of prints the mercenary found, the day he killed the cannishift."

"Pawprints turning into footprints," Miles said, and this time it was Erin's turn to nod. "Well, Kota, looks like it won't be long before everyone knows your little secret."

They both turned at the pattering sound of now severely bruised apples hitting the ground.

"Sorry," Kota murmured as he bent down to pick them up and wash them again.

"Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to just tell people," Erin said. "Let them know before someone hurts Kota thinking he's some kind of monster. I mean, one look at him and anyone could tell he's not dangerous."

Kota's shoulders hunched at the sense of their stares on him, and he said nothing.

Miles looked back at Erin and said, "And do you really believe they won't do anything to him then?"

Erin could not answer, but she knew Miles was thinking the same thing. No matter how people reacted, Kota would run as soon as they learned of his curse.

"The mercenary," Miles said suddenly, thumping his hand on the table. "That's how Elzwig found out!"

"Elzwig knows?" Erin said, turning a shade paler. "So when she asked Kota to come work for her?"

Miles shrugged. "She has something on everyone who works for her, so it might have been a legitimate offer. She's also not above using people for leverage or whatever other scheme she has going on right now, so it's hard to tell."

Erin kept looking back at Kota, worried by his continued silence. At the moment he was still running the apples under the water, staring at them with a quiet intensity that suggested he was thinking about something else entirely.

"Kota?" she said.

He turned off the water and put the apples off to the side where they could dry. "I think that I'm going to—"

"Nope," Miles declared. He stood up and clamped a hand on Kota's shoulder, smiling at his surprise. "Whatever you think you're going to do, you're wrong. You and I are going to go to town tonight."

"What?" Kota and Erin said simultaneously, and Erin continued, "You're really going to go, after everything that's happened?"

"Of course," Miles said. "Like you said, one look at Kota and anyone would think he's harmless. What better way to deflect suspicion than to let people get to know him?"

"This is a bad idea," Kota said. He tried to pull the vampire's hand off of his shoulder and failed. "Tell him, Erin."

"Oh, she already gave me permission to take you," Miles said. He not too gently led Kota to the door and pushed him out of it when he tried to brace himself on the door frame.

"And neither of you thought to ask me how I felt about this?" Kota said, but Erin shrugged as Miles dragged him across the yard to the road into town. He started to struggle and pushed the vampire away. "Let go of me already!"

"Don't make me get the leash," Miles said, and Kota scowled at him. Miles rolled his eyes and said, "Scary. Look, this is for your own good. The longer you stay cooped up in that inn, the more people around here will begin to think there's something wrong with you."

"There is something wrong with me."

"Yes, but they don't need to know that," Miles answered. He threw an arm around Kota's shoulders, the friendly gesture covering how he practically had to pull the young man into town. "Lighten up, it's not going to kill you to talk to other people. Do you still have that money Erin gave you?"

"Yes," Kota said, grudgingly. He looked at the houses they passed, each with their windows alight and the sound of people laughing, talking, scolding, and everything else they did with family and friends coming out muffled but still identifiable.

Miles frowned as he had to put more effort into dragging Kota along. "Then I know our first stop."

### Entry 40: Dressing the Scarecrow

Kota blinked in the light of the shop and looked around at the mannequins staged around the room in various poses, each clad in the style of clothes they seemed to favor around here, as well as the latest fashions from the city: lots of vibrant colors and prints that hurt his eyes.

"Clothes?" he said, just before a pair of harpies descended upon him.

"What is this?" one of the women cried as she tugged at his shirt.

"An absolute disgrace to the idea of fabric," the other woman declared as she shook her head at his baggy pants, tied around his waist with a spare piece of rope he'd found while helping Erin to fix up the inn.

"Well, they're, ah," Kota said, tripping over his words and glancing to Miles for help. He'd changed after the comment from Elzwig's servant about his clothes, which left him with the stuff he'd found in the attic, all of which fit him about as well as they did a scarecrow.

"You should see what he normally wears," Miles said, stepping back so that the women could circle him and give the occasional cry of shame. "Think you two have something for him?"

"Well, we could always burn them," said the shorter of the two women, who had blonde, curly hair swept up into a bun on top of her head. She had a roll of fabric absentmindedly thrown over her shoulder, and after looking him over she said, "Some gray or black would help that skinny frame..."

She murmured to herself as she walked away while the other woman flipped out a tape measure and began to take Kota's measurements. Jotting a few notes, she said over her shoulder, "Look for some grays and blues too, Agatha."

"I know, I know," came the reply from the back of the shop.

Kota stood by uneasily as they bustled around, holding up roll after roll of fabric to him that he barely got a look at before they whisked it away. Miles threw in the occasional suggestion, and before long the tailors pulled him around to a space behind the dividers and made him take off his clothes and put on the ones that they passed around to him.

When they finally led him back around, Miles whistled. Dressed in a suit made up of black and various shades of gray, he looked like a completely different person. "Wow, Kota, you look almost human now."

Kota glared at him and said, "I think these are little too dressy for working at the inn, aren't they?"

"Oh, you're Erin's boy!" crowed Agatha, and both women had a laugh at the look on Kota's face. "Well, they'll be good if you two run off to the city together, won't they?"

Kota's face flushed red and he tried to ignore Miles's smile.

"Of course, we'll have to take them in a bit for you," the measuring lady said. "You'd look even better if you got some of that hair out of your face."

Kota quickly but gently took the hand that she reached out to brush the hair out of his face and said, "No, thank you. Do you have some other clothes that might be better suited for work?"

After what felt like an eternity, he had the receipt for the clothes in hand, including the suit. It was the only way to get the vampire to be quiet about it. Miles had flirted with the tailors the whole time, dragging the ordeal out even longer, but Kota did have to admit they got a good price on their clothes.

"Do you mind coming to pick them up tomorrow morning at the earliest?" Agatha said. "Normally we would offer to have someone take it to you, but with that monster fiasco everyone's scared to walk around town, much less go to that inn."

"Is that so? Well, I'll be sure to keep Kota safe when we come back tomorrow," Miles said, flashing them a smile that made the women giggle and Kota shake his head. "Is that why the streets are so empty?"

"A lot of people are home, but I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't see everyone else in the town circle trying to get their word in with the mayor." Agatha shared a look with the other woman and said, "He's been shut up in his office all day, sending out letters across the empire by the sound of it."

"Really?" Miles chatted some more as they left, but the moment they walked out of the tailors' shop his expression changed. "Not that way, Kota. We need to go to the town circle."

"You mean walk toward all of the people who want to kill me," Kota said. "That sounds lovely."

"Good," Miles said without listening and walked off down the street.

After a moment of hesitation, Kota sighed and followed, if only to avoid being dragged along. It did not take long to figure out what Agatha was talking about. In spite of the chill in the air, a group of people were gathered beneath the clock tower in the center of town, speaking in far from friendly murmurs as they kept glancing at one of the official-looking buildings across the street.

"Ah, a mob." Miles hesitated, surprising Kota. Before he could decide what to do, the main door of the building opened and they had a glimpse of the short figure of the mayor before the group of people descended upon him and all tried to talk at once. "Quick, let's get over there."

Miles sidled up to the group until he blended in, but Kota stayed at a distance, scanning the crowd and noticing a few familiar faces from yesterday morning, as well as that of Peter, the farmhand who nearly shot him.

"Quiet! Quiet!" Mayor Geld bellowed, the tips of his fingers just appearing over the heads of the others as he raised and lowered his arms to get some space.

Kota noticed a movement across the street and spotted one of Erin's brothers, Art he thought she called him, standing at the corner and visibly straining to hear while trying not to be seen by the crowd.

"I know that you're all upset over the incident with the wolf—"

Geld was interrupted by a cry of "Monster, more like!"

"We have no proof that this was not just an ordinary wolf," the mayor said. He had to raise his voice again to be heard over the muttering and murmurs. "All the same, we cannot allow a potentially dangerous wild animal to roam around town, supernatural or not. As such, under the advice of one of our esteemed Judges, Madame Leviette Elzwig, I have sent out for professional help to deal with this nuisance."

Waving off the barrage of questions, Mayor Geld said, "Until then, I must ask that all of you take proper precautions. Avoid going out alone, especially after dark. A curfew will be issued for the children, and any of you who are willing and able to do so may sign up for a temporary volunteer guard to patrol the town. I am sure that Eli Smith will allow us to work out the details in his forge, where it is warmer."

A few laughs came from the crowd, possibly at some gesture that Kota could not see. He did not wait around for the people to separate, many of them headed home while a smaller group followed Mayor Geld in the other direction. Like Art on the other side of the street, he slipped away before the others could see him and walked as far as the bridge.

He stopped there, expecting Miles to catch up at any moment, and stared out over the river, which gleamed now that the moon had risen.

"You do have a way of getting this town worked up, don't you?"

### Entry 41: Shame

Kota came close to falling over the railing, and would have if the fisherman had not reached out a hand and grabbed him.

"Sorry," he said, letting go of Kota's arm. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's...I..." Kota looked around and, seeing that they were alone, said, "Thank you again for your help yesterday, Mr..."

"Wen. Just Wen." The old man leaned his fishing pole against the railing of the bridge and added, "Again? I don't recall a first time."

"Sorry," Kota said. "And thank you. You saved my life."

"Did I?" Wen shook his head. "No, you look the sort to stay alive. You mean I saved your secret."

Kota tightened his grip on the railing of the bridge, feeling the rust crinkle under his hand, and did not know what to say.

"The wayfarers are gone," Wen said, propping his elbows on the railing and looking out over the water.

Kota nodded, not bothering to ask how he knew. A silence settled around them, the fisherman apparently content to stay in the same place all night while everything from the last two days ran through Kota's mind until he said, "If they knew..."

He did not finish the thought, but Wen looked at him with an understanding that surprised Kota, tinged with sadness. "If you're asking for advice, I'm not the one to go to. But I can tell you that history is not on your side there, when it comes to this town."

Kota sighed and turned his head at the sound of Miles calling his name. "I should go," he said, thinking that it would not be good to let the vampire get frustrated. "Thank you, for yesterday."

Wen nodded and stared out over the water. As Kota came to the end of the bridge, a thought occurred to him and he looked at the darkness under the bridge and said, "Thank you, too."

A grunt came from the troll, which was probably about the best he could have expected. Kota followed the sound of Miles's voice until he found him down one of the town's side streets, peering behind some trash cans.

"Miles?"

The vampire dropped something small, which scurried away, and wiped his mouth before turning to face Kota. "Ah, there you are. Ready to return to the inn?"

He saw Kota's expression and sighed. "Look, I get hungry when I have a lot on my mind. I'm a stress drinker."

"And chasing down rats helps with that?" Kota asked.

"Again, unless you're offering, don't criticize," Miles said. He flipped up the collar on his shirt and said, "Come on, let's get back before the patrol volunteers get too eager for some hunting."

They walked back to the inn in silence, Miles unusually silent and Kota still thinking about what Wen said. Erin looked up when they walked into the inn and Miles slammed the door behind him before dropping down into a chair.

"Did it go that bad?" Erin asked.

"The mayor's calling in hunters, and there'll be a patrol in town now," Miles said. "Under Elzwig's advice, of course."

"Hunters?"

"Well, he said 'professionals,' but Elzwig tends to go for the straight shot." Miles scowled. "What is she playing at?"

Erin looked at the two of them and wondered why Miles seemed to be more upset about this news. Kota sat down at the table with the two of them and stared at nothing in particular, his face blank and his eyes unfocused.

"Are you okay, Kota?" she asked, when this went on for a little too long.

"What? Oh, yes." Kota shook his head and, seeing the two of them staring, felt that he should say something more. "I bought some clothes with the money you gave me."

"Good?" She looked to Miles for help, but the vampire just gave her a shrug and a look that said he had no idea what was going through Kota's head. "Are you worried about what the mayor said?"

"Him? No, not really." Kota rubbed his eyes. "I've been expecting it, since yesterday. But why call in a professional? Are there no hunters here?"

"Wouldn't complain too much when they throw you a bone," Miles muttered.

Erin shifted uneasily and said, "I don't think anyone around here does that sort of thing anymore. There are a few guys who go into the forest and wastes to hunt, but always in a group and never that far. I can't see any of them going after some kind of 'monster,' no matter how tough they act."

Kota thought of Peter holding that gun and the patrol forming at her father's forge right now and thought Erin wasn't quite right on that point, but did not argue. He ran a hand through his hair, unintentionally sweeping his hair out of his face enough to reveal the mark there above his left eye.

It seemed brighter than ever to Erin, or maybe that was just because of the bags under his eyes. Now that she looked, his face seemed paler than ever, and the livid mark practically shined in the dim light of the inn. Across the table, Miles's eyes studied the mark, perhaps thinking the same thing.

"I've got some stuff that I need to do, so I can watch the inn if you want to get some sleep," she said.

"What do you need to do?" Kota asked. "I can—"

"I think I can handle it," Erin cut in. "I don't need your help to do everything around here, you know. Go and get a few hours of sleep before you're totally useless."

Kota stared and then got up and went upstairs without another word. Erin leaned forward and buried her head in her arms.

"Can't take a hint, can he?" Miles said, staring up the stairs after him. He looked at Erin with her head still on the table and decided to test his luck. "He'd probably do anything if you told him to, though. Wouldn't he?"

Erin turned so one eye could look at him through her hair and said, "I don't know about anything, but he doesn't put up much of a fight. Sometimes I wish he would stand up for himself more. It's a little..."

She broke off, but Miles nodded and said, "Unsettling. He's very attached to this inn, you know."

"Like I said, he thinks there's some kind of cure here thanks to that stupid witch." Erin sighed, blowing a few wisps of her hair up into the air. "What kind of person makes up something like that?"

"So you think she made it up?"

"It's the only thing I can think of. How would Mr. Sollis know anything about how to fix him? He never left the inn if he could help it."

Erin fell silent, and Miles waited a full minute before saying, as carefully as he could, "Then maybe you should tell Kota to give up."

"What?" Erin sat up and gave him a fierce look worthy of her father. "Why would I do something like that?"

"As opposed to letting him chase after a fool's dream until some hunter arrives and puts an end to him?" Miles's eyes flashed, perhaps as a trick of the light from the fireplace. "He won't listen to reason! If I could just get him to a capital wizard, but no!"

He slammed his hand on the table, palm down, and Erin's heart hammered.

"I've given him every chance, even that Elzwig has in her own way, and he's determined to stay in this wretched little inn until someone kills him. He might listen to you, but you don't want him to leave because that would be inconvenient." He spat out the last word and Erin winced, if only because it hit home.

He stood up, the chair scraping behind him, and walked out the front door with a declaration that he needed some air. Erin heard the door slam behind him but did not turn her head. She just sat there, her hands curled up into balls that shook as tears of shame rolled down her face.

### Entry 42: Leaving?

"Erin?"

Erin jerked awake and looked up at Kota with bleary eyes. It was dark in the inn, but she knew that didn't mean much. Rubbing her eyes, she asked, "What time is it?"

"Um, morning," Kota said, glancing uneasily at the clock on the wall. Neither of them trusted the thing, as its pendulum tended to stick halfway through the swing, and the big hand would occasionally do a quick spin around the face when they weren't looking directly at it. "Are you okay?"

Erin rubbed her eyes and felt the mark on her face from sleeping at the table. "I'm..."

She sighed and looked up at Kota. "We need to talk."

Kota pulled up a chair and sat down, his head tilted in that way that reminded Erin of a curious dog. "About what?"

"You know...Um..." She hesitated and Miles's words from last night ran through her mind. "Do you remember back when you first came here?"

"Yes. You hit me with a broom."

Erin studied Kota's face, but it was as deadpan as the tone of his voice. "Er, but do you remember when you found out Mr. Sollis wasn't here anymore, and you were ready to leave?"

Kota nodded.

"It's just...do you really think there's a cure for you here?" Erin asked.

"The witch said Master Sollis—"

"I know, I know, but what if she was wrong? She didn't even know he was dead!" Erin took a deep breath. "The point is, you only stayed because I asked you to. So, with everything going on, I was thinking, maybe....you should go."

Kota's eyes widened. "What?"

Erin swallowed and continued, "Maybe it would be good if you went with Miles. He thinks someone in the city could help you, right?"

"But what about the inn? Your father and the mayor only let you open it because they thought you had a partner," Kota said, with the desperation of clinging to straws. "If I leave—"

"I can find someone else," Erin said, crossing her arms and looking away so that she didn't have to see Kota's reaction. "It shouldn't be that hard, now that we've proven the inn can be reopened."

"Oh." Kota sat back in his chair and a silence fell between them.

They sat there, Erin didn't know how long, the lie leaving a bitter taste in her mouth that did not help at all, before the front door opened and Miles walked in. Behind him the sky was overcast and gray, doing little to lighten the mood in the room.

"What's going on?" he asked, as if he didn't know.

"Erin suggested that I go with you to the city," Kota said, his voice flat and expressionless.

"Well, today would be a good day to go," Miles said casually. He placed some packages wrapped in wax paper to keep them dry on the table, his hand slipping to Erin's shoulder briefly. "With the weather like this, I was able to go and pick up our clothes as well as the lock Elzwig requested. It's supposed to stay like this all day too, so we could make it to the city by tonight if we go now."

"Now?" Erin said, her voice faltering.

Kota looked from her to Miles and said, "I would need to get my stuff together. Oh, and Erin should get to know Voi before I go. The dust bunny?"

"Oh, right," Miles said, while Erin just looked confused. He knew Kota had nothing to pack, but he could see he wanted to talk to Erin alone. "I'll just get the pig ready, shall I?"

"You two are weird," Erin muttered without her usual enthusiasm as Kota led her upstairs after going into the kitchen for a saucer of milk.

Kota put a finger to his lips as they rounded the corner and placed the saucer on the third step. He made a clicking sound with his tongue and called softly, and just as Erin was wondering if there was a point to this the small ball of dirty gray fur he called Voi squeezed through a crack in the wall about half its size and scurried over to the saucer.

"What is that thing?" Erin said, clapping a hand over her own mouth when it jumped and started to tremble. Speaking softer, she said, "Oh, I'm sorry."

"Shh," Kota hushed the squeaking creature and gently stroked the top of its head. "Erin, this is Voi. His kind love places like this, where they can eat all the dust they want. He's been keeping this floor clean while Sollis was gone."

"It eats dust?" Erin stared at the thing, and after a motion from Kota reached out and stroked what she thought was the top of its head. Its fur was smoother than she expected, and closer to she was surprised to find that Voi smelled vaguely of lemons.

"And likes the occasional saucer of milk, it seems," Kota said, smiling. He watched Erin pet the little creature for a moment or so.

Voi was just so soft, like a rabbit Erin thought. She watched him lap up the milk with fascination and asked, "But what is he?"

There was no answer, even when Erin asked the question again. She looked around, but the hallway was empty except for her and Voi.

"Kota?" She stood up and Voi lifted one of his long, trailing ears before scurrying back to the wall. She called his name again as she went to his room, but stopped short when she saw the door standing open.

Inside, the bed was as neatly made as the day she showed the room to him. His only bag was gone, and there was nothing out of place except for his room key, lying on the little bedside table.

Erin raced down the stairs and nearly fell over Miles, who was setting down the cage with the pig in it.

"Whoa!" He straightened up as Erin caught herself and rounded on him. "What are you in such a hurry for?"

"He's gone!"

"What?" Miles caught her before she could run out the door. "Kota left?"

"Yes, he took his bag and everything while I wasn't looking," Erin babbled, struggling to get to the door. "I thought you said he would go with you, but he's run away!"

Miles pulled her into a chair and put both hands on her shoulders. "Calm down. I'm going after him, you stay here in case he comes back. Got it?"

"It's my fault," Erin said, not looking at him.

"Listen to me, stay here Erin." Miles ran to the door, only pausing to add, "And don't let the pig out of her cage!"

He hesitated on the road in front of the inn. Which way would Kota go?

Not to the north. Too close to the city, and there was too much open space in the wastes. Too easy to find. Same for the plains. The only cover around was in town and to the east. Miles sniffed and a faint scent confirmed it: Kota had run straight into the forest.

### Entry 43: Instinct

Miles ran between the trees and bushes, fending off branches and thorns while he cursed himself for his stupid bright idea. Kota had a head start on him, but not by much. He could still smell traces of him, and if the vampire had bothered to slow down he could have seen the broken branches and other signs that someone had been through here not long ago.

The communicator on his wrist started to beep shrilly and Miles swore, slapping at the thing. He had no time for them now. If Kota got away, it would be impossible to predict where he would go next. He probably didn't even know himself.

At the thought Miles groaned and sped up. Of course he wouldn't know. Kota's time at the Last Inn was probably the longest he'd spent in any one place since he got the curse, and who knew how long ago that happened?

The vampire ran on, unaware of the change in the wind. He did not see the clouds begin to break and shift, and did not see the sun emerging until it was too late.

Miles staggered and fell, his scream unheard by his own ears as he rolled on the ground. Even here, in the shade beneath the trees, the sunlight was agonizing and filled a private world of pain. Eyes clenched shut, he curled in on himself and pressed his sweating brow to the ground for the little relief it provided.

Footsteps. Something moving.

Acting on instinct, Miles threw himself toward the movement. His hands found a furry body, which he heaved up and slammed against the nearest tree trunk at the right height for him.

A bare inch away, with fangs bared, Miles stopped and sniffed, just as a whine met his ears. He risked opening his eyes and could almost make out the wolf pinned to the tree and the vivid mark on its face.

"Oh, God," Miles muttered and dropped the hound on the ground. He staggered and caught himself on the tree trunk.

Another whine, and the vampire felt a set of teeth grip the sleeve of his jacket and pull. Even that little tug was enough to set him off balance, and he stumbled along after the wolf, deeper into the woods.

It felt like they walked forever to Miles, who could go at little faster than a stumbling trot. More than once Kota had to wait after the vampire tripped so he could drag himself back onto his feet again. Each time it took longer, and Miles knew it was only a matter of time before he would not be able to get back up again, or fight back the instinct that made his hand tremble every time the wolf grabbed his sleeve.

He slipped on some dead leaves and started to slide and roll down a slope, branches and briars tugging at his face and clothes, but he did not slow to a stop until the bottom of the hill. Miles did not even have the strength to fend off the wolf as it dragged him along, or the hands that pulled him deeper into the shade until he was completely sheltered from the sun.

"...-les...wake up..." Kota's voice came in and out, and Miles dimly heard him say, "Stay here."

Kota's footsteps faded over the leaves and the vampire laid there where he left him, too weak to move. After the exposure to the sun, all of his senses were fighting for control. He could smell the dirt and even the cold underside of the rock outcropping overhead which blocked the sunlight. He felt like he could hear and smell everything for miles, every heartbeat and breath taunting him as he began to shake uncontrollably.

He tried once or twice to open his eyes, but everything was too bright, even the shadows under the rock. If he dared to look out, the colors of the dying leaves glared in his eyes and swirled so fast he felt sick.

"No," he groaned when he heard the leaves start sliding again. Kota was coming back.

He grit his teeth and tried to block out the sound, but he could feel the animal getting closer. Too close.

The leaves stirred outside of his nook of cave and Miles lashed out on instinct. His arms wrapped around the writhing animal and he bit down before he could stop himself. The struggling slowed, as did the breathing and the heartbeat.

The vampire wrenched himself away and gasped. He stared down at the stag lying in his arms and looked up to see the wolf sitting on the other side of the dell. The stag made a feeble movement and Miles finished it off before it could suffer anymore.

Miles pushed the animal away and laid back down. Already he could feel the effect, and he sighed with relief.

"Thank you," he said, staring up at the rock overhead. He glanced at Kota, but the wolf had not moved. "It's safe to come over here now."

The wolf approached, but stopped just short of the shade provided by the rock. Disconcerted, Miles added, "Hard to talk to you when you're like this, you know."

The wolf just stared at him and the vampire closed his eyes with a sigh. His head was spinning, and it was hard to concentrate, but he could figure out that Kota was mad at him.

"You know the girl really doesn't want you to leave, don't you?" Talking hurt, but this might be his only chance. If Kota ran now, there was no way he would be able to stop him. "I talked her into saying those things. Didn't think you would take it so hard, really."

The only response was a low growl.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm the bad guy for wanting to help you. Forgive me," Miles said, rolling his eyes. "Look, you and I both know she can't keep that inn up by herself, even if her father didn't already know you were leaving."

Another growl, this time louder.

"Okay, I might have said a little more than I meant to when I went to get the lock this morning." Miles hesitated, realizing that somehow this one-sided conversation was getting away from him. "Point is, she was willing to risk giving that up if it meant you had a chance to get rid of that curse. If you really don't want to come with me, then at least go back to the inn. For Erin?"

It was a cheap shot, and Miles was okay with that. He counted to ten and turned his head to see Kota, still as a wolf, sigh and curl up in the sun to wait.

The vampire closed his eyes and let go of the breath he had been holding in.

He woke up to Kota shaking his shoulder.

"Come on," he said. "It's clouded over again. I think we can make it back to the inn now."

Miles tried to stand up and his knees nearly gave out underneath him.

"Do you need some more?" Kota asked, a bit tactlessly to Miles's mind considering how close he was standing.

"I've got some of my ration back at the inn," Miles muttered. Now that he looked, the stag was gone and he briefly wondered what the young man, or maybe the wolf, did with it.

Kota pulled him up onto his feet and threw the vampire's arm over his shoulder. It was his turn to practically drag Miles along, up the hill and through the trees on the long trek back to the inn.

### Entry 44: Into the Forest

Erin thought Miles telling her to stay in the inn was probably the worst thing he could have done after everything else that had happened. She watched him run into the woods through one of the windows, and spent the next hour pacing, pulling back all of the shutters on the ground floor so she could see out no matter where she was at, and doing every little thing that came to mind to keep from thinking about Kota.

After catching herself staring at the line of trees for the tenth time in as many minutes, Erin went to the front desk and started sorting the papers, balling up the trash and throwing them as hard as she could at the fireplace. She stopped when picking up one of the receipts uncovered the red leather bound cover of Sollis's journal.

Erin picked it up and briefly considered hurling it into the fire with the other trash. After a moment of hesitation she sat down in the nearest chair and opened the journal. Any kind of distraction was better than this.

The musty pages crinkled under her touch and stuck together in chunks that she had to pry apart, and more than half were covered in small, loose writing that was thankfully easier to read than Miles's. Flipping through page after page, Erin was a little disappointed to see that most of it was just a record of the inn's guests and expenses. Some days just mentioned how many, but there were also names and notes on some guests.

Thumbing through the pages, she stopped and went back at a familiar name and read: _Mdm. Elzwig. Complained about the food again. Nosy as ever._ She smiled and noticed that some of the other guests that day tried to slip Sollis some bad money, and one unnamed guest, _"prob. mer"_ paid in chel shells, whatever those were.

A snort from the other corner of the room made Erin jump. She looked at the pig, who scrunched up her snout and made a terrible sound.

"Ugh. I guess you're hungry or thirsty or something." Erin wondered if Miles remembered animals needed to eat more than he did. Probably not. She dragged the pig's cage into the kitchen and found a bucket to fill with water.

The only problem was that the pig barely had any room for itself in the cage, much less for the bucket. Groaning, Erin dragged the cage again, this time through the back door and across the yard toward the stable. She had to stop a few times to catch her breath, as the pig was no lightweight.

During one of these pauses, the pig grunted and started slamming against the door of the cage.

"Stop it!" Erin yelled, but the pig took no notice of her. The cage rocked and nearly tipped over, and Erin grabbed the other end of the cage and pulled it into the stable and over to one of the stalls.

She slammed the stall door harder than she meant to and came back a minute later with the bucket of water and some scraps of food. Placing those in the stall, she unlocked the cage door and quickly stepped back through the stall door.

The pig immediately crashed out of the cage and tackled the stall door, and Erin had to lean and put all of her weight on it to get the latch to shut.

"Stupid pig," she muttered and crouched down with her back to the stall door. Sighing she stared at the patch of sunlight on the floor while the pig hit the door a few more times before turning on the food and water.

Sunlight? It took a moment for what she was seeing to sink in, and then Erin's expression turned to one of horror.

Had the sun been out before? Erin tried to remember, but fighting with that pig meant she didn't have time to think about that kind of thing. Even now she couldn't think straight as she ran out of the stable and to the inn, then back out the front door when a quick search proved that Kota and Miles were still out.

She was halfway to the forest before reason caught up with her, causing her to slow down until she stopped a fair distance away from the first trees. The path led on, but she doubted Kota would have bothered to stick to it.

Erin scanned the line of trees and bushes, but even if she could tell which way they went it would not have made going in any easier. Every snap of a twig, every trill of birdsong, even the wind rustling the branches of the trees made her take a step back whenever she tried to get closer.

She tried to remind herself about what Kota said, that the forest wasn't like what everyone said, but she couldn't help thinking that he did not have the same ideas about what was dangerous. The guy had a habit of turning into a wolf, after all.

The clouds gathering overhead did not register to Erin as she took a deep breath and followed the path into the forest. Her chest and shoulders were tight with tension, her steps little more than shuffling, but slowly she made her way along the path, eyes straining to see as far as possible in the dimming light.

A bird shrieked overhead and a squirrel chattered so close that Erin's nerve nearly broke.

She bit her lip. Stupid, she thought, and took a deep breath. Steeling herself, she broke into a run, deeper into the woods. The only thing keeping her terror down was the constant thought that the sooner she found the others, the sooner she could get out of this place.

So determined was she, Erin missed the sound of footsteps in the distance. She did not even see Miles and Kota up ahead until she rounded the curve in the path and almost ran into both of them.

"Erin!" Kota lost his grip on Miles when Erin threw her arms around him.

"Oh, thank God you're okay!"

"Yes, let's worry about the guy who could have died later," Miles said from the ground.

Erin quickly let go of Kota and stumbled out an excuse while he helped the vampire back up onto his feet.

"I'm starting to think you like running into me," Miles muttered. Now that Erin looked, she could see that the vampire was pale and feverish, not to mention trembling more than Kota in town.

"We need to get him back to the inn," Kota said. "Do you mind helping?"

Erin took Miles's other arm and between them they managed to haul the vampire all the way to the inn, with him muttering most of the way. One particularly bad moment came when they cleared the last of the trees and Miles turned his head to look at Erin and say, "I thought I told you to stay at the inn."

"You might have said something like that," Erin admitted.

"I also might have said something about a certain pig," Miles said. He sniffed and Erin wished she could move farther away. "What did you do?"

"Just moved it to the stables," Erin said, leaning as far away from him as possible while still supporting his weight. "I put her in one of the stalls with some food and water."

Miles groaned. "You mean the stalls with the incredibly easy to open latches?"

"Er..." Erin could not answer before the vampire suddenly surged forward, dragging the other two along for support.

He struggled with the door until Erin opened it for him, and all three stared at the sight of the pig, or at least the half of her they could see stuck in the small gap between the bottom of the stall door and the floor.

Miles took one look at the scene and laughed. "Really, Melanie? You thought you could get through there?"

The pig huffed and looked as embarrassed as a pig could manage. It took Kota a while to get her unstuck, and then even longer to get her back into the cage.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who doesn't want to go to the city," Kota remarked.

Miles felt Erin tense up next to him and he had to steady himself. Speaking around the hand he put to his mouth, he said, "Kota. Inn. Now."

### Entry 45: The Journal

Kota took one look at Miles and jumped up, taking the trembling vampire's other arm. "Please excuse us for a moment, Erin."

Erin stared as they went back to the inn as fast as Miles's legs would allow. Behind her the pig made a squealing snort and she said, "Oh, shut up."

Kota managed to get Miles as far as the common room before he had to drop him in a chair. "Blood, right?" he asked.

Miles nodded. "You know where it is."

The young man ran upstairs and returned less than a minute later with the case Miles had shown him the first night he stayed at the inn. He slowed at the table and set it down carefully before opening it.

"Oh," Kota said, looking at the three vials inside. Two of them were empty, and the third had less than half of its original contents left.

"It's enough," Miles said, grabbing the vial. He wrenched the top off and gripped the table, forcing himself to drink the rest slowly instead of gulping it all down. It did not last nearly long enough, but Miles finished it with a satisfied sigh. Catching sight of Kota's face, he said, "Don't give me that look. Better this than—"

He broke off when they heard the kitchen door open and put the last vial back in the case, shutting it before Erin entered the room.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yes," Kota said, at the same time Miles answered, "Better."

They glanced at each other uneasily and Kota said, "I take it you're still planning on going to the capital?"

"If I can," Miles said. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face, which did have a healthier tone to it now. "Bad enough that I have to get that pig in, now I have Elzwig waiting for me too."

Kota nodded and started to walk toward the door but he was stopped in his tracks when both Erin and Miles called out, the vampire half-rising out of his chair.

"What?" he said. "I'm just going to see if anyone around here has a horse you can borrow. You can't walk there with the pig, not if you want to make it before daylight tomorrow."

"Oh," Miles said, sinking back into the chair.

"Maybe I should—" Erin started, but Kota just gave her a half-hearted smile and walked out.

"Sorry about that," Miles said when the door shut behind him.

"Sorry about what?" Erin asked. She glanced at the fireplace and saw that the fire had died out. "I'm going to get some more wood. It's supposed to get cold tonight."

She went through the kitchen to get to the back door and Miles shook his head. He looked at the combox on his wrist and for the first time read the urgent message that had arrived while he had been chasing after Kota.

Erin came back with an armful of wood in time to see the vampire rip the strap off his wrist and toss the small box across the table.

"Figures!" he snarled. "'Oh, by the way, the sun's coming out. Hope you're not outside.'"

Erin wondered who he was trying to mimic with that smarmy tone, but said, "Thank you, for bringing Kota back."

"More like he brought me back." Miles scratched at the table with one of his nails and then rubbed at the spot. "Who knew he had it in him?"

"What did you think he would do, leave you in the sun to die?" Erin asked. She set the wood down next to the fireplace in time to turn around and see the expression on his face. "You did, didn't you!"

"He's not fond of vampires, and I haven't exactly given him much reason to love me." Miles shrugged and added, "To be honest, it probably would have saved him a lot of trouble in the long run if he just left me there."

Erin shook her head. "He's not like that."

"And how would you know?" Miles made a "tsk" sound out of the side of his mouth and wished he had saved more of that ration. Between dealing with Elzwig and the sun, he needed a drink. "Who knows what he was like before he came here?"

Erin shifted uneasily and quickly thought of an excuse to leave the room again. Fortunately, one presented itself quickly and she said, "I'll be...I just need to run back to the stables, I left something there."

"Don't let the pig out!" Miles yelled after her.

Erin took her time walking over to the stables and found the red journal lying on the group under a heap of hay. She flipped through it as she walked back across the yard with the thought of hanging out in the kitchen until Kota returned.

To her dismay, Miles had moved into there and was digging through the fridge. He opened a packet and sniffed the meat inside before Erin turned away and sat down at the table with her back to him.

She opened the journal to a random page and tried to read while ignoring the sounds behind her.

Martin, second night. Need to warn him about the cards.

Cyra sang, had to wear earplugs.

More refugees from Heron.

Saw Erin at the river again.

Erin stared at the page, at her name. She started to blink rapidly and had to put the book face down on the table and breathe.

"You shouldn't do that, it's bad for the spine," Miles said behind her. He reached out for the book and she snatched it up and flipped to another of the unstuck section so he could not see what she was looking at.

"And it's bad to read over someone's shoulder," she snapped. She started to turn the page, but Miles shot out a hand and stopped her.

"Wait, what is that?" he asked. He looked down and saw Erin sitting frozen, glaring at his hand, and released her. "Yeah, yeah, sorry. Look, right there, he's drawn something."

Erin looked at the drawing and shrugged. "That? It's some kind of town emblem, I think. There's one on the clock tower, and on the bridge in town. The old inn sign had one too, but it was so faded you couldn't see it unless you knew to look for it."

Miles frowned at the emblem, which showed a sun and moon crossed with each other. He scanned the rest of the page and said, "Then why did he write, 'He's getting depressed again. Where is it? Searched forest, Walkers would not help. Even the little ones refuse to get involved now. Mer checked river, no luck.'"

He skimmed down the page, but it was clear that Sollis had been writing out his thoughts with no thought to reading them, as the rest was nearly incomprehensible.

"Town, wastes, burrows of the plains..." Miles murmured. "What was he searching for that he would go to Walkers and the fair folk for help? And a mer, they don't do anything for humans since the Wichel fiasco."

"The what?" Erin shifted in her seat to get a little more space between her and Miles and said, "No, look, this can't be right. Mr. Sollis never did anything like this, he barely left the inn. Why would he be trying to get all of these...all of these people to try and find something?"

She could see Miles thinking, possibly in loops, and suspected that the smile that spread across his face was not entirely about what he said next.

"I'm not sure, but it might be worth you and Kota looking into."

### Entry 46: Dashed Hopes

Kota looked up anxiously at the gray sky overhead as he walked down the road, wondering if the sun would show its face again today. He turned at the sound of footsteps and a look of dismay crossed his face before he could stop it when he saw Erin's father coming his way. Even worse, Eli seemed to be smiling.

The blacksmith caught sight of him around the same time, and it worried Kota more than a little that his smile did not diminish. If anything, it grew a little wider as Eli said, "Well, well, didn't expect to run into you. Where are you headed?"

"Er, back to the inn," Kota said, unsure of how to deal with this friendly version of Eli. "I told Miles–"

"That would be the vampire, right?" Eli interrupted. "Yeah, he came by my forge earlier today."

"Oh," Kota said, and then, "Oh."

He knew now why Eli looked so happy. Miles had told him that Kota was leaving today.

"I was heading that way myself," the blacksmith said, and Kota nodded. That sounded like his luck.

They started to walk toward the inn as an awkward silence grew between them, until Kota realized that here was the perfect opportunity to ask the blacksmith a few questions. He doubted he would ever see the man in a better mood.

"Are you going to see Erin?" he asked. He thought it would be best to start with an easy question, but as soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them.

"Yes." Eli's smile faded and he seemed more like his flint self. "If you're leaving, then there's no excuse for keeping up this charade any longer."

"She could always find someone else to help her with the inn," Kota offered, but the blacksmith snorted.

"Like anyone with any sense would deal with that place."

Kota coughed and Eli quickly amended himself. "That is, anyone who knew better... No, it's just... Not the place for her, you see?"

Kota stared, fascinated. Eli had more in common with Erin than he thought. He took a chance and said, "Is it because she wants to go to the city?"

"No, no," Eli said quickly. "Her mother did the same thing when she was younger. I just think there are better places where she could earn the money. The bakery's always looking for workers, and Lord knows Geld could use some help in the office."

"So why not the inn?"

Eli's smile was completely gone now, and a scowl started to take its place. "That place is almost as bad as the forest now. I don't know how Daniel could stand it, knowing what he did."

"What happened there?" Kota asked, knowing the blacksmith's answer before he even said it.

"You wouldn't understand, boy."

And like that, Eli was completely closed off again, as unapproachable as ever before with his face set into that frown that came so naturally and his eyes brooding as he watched the inn come into sight. Kota looked at the inn and tried one last ditch effort.

"If you're so against the inn, then why did you make us the new sign?"

Eli looked at him and Kota's steps took a slight curve that moved him a little farther away. "You noticed that, did you?"

"Well, considering the old one was about to fall off–"

"I lost a bet, that's all," Eli said, interrupting him. "Although now it looks like I was right. What time are you and the vampire leaving?"

Kota coughed and muttered something before opening the door to the inn and calling, "Erin, your father's here."

He darted inside past the astonished girl, who watched him run over to where Miles sat in the corner nursing what was left of the deer meat and begin berating the vampire in a low voice that neither of the Smiths could hear.

Erin looked back at her dad and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to help you pack," he said, with even less tact than usual.

"Pack?" It did not take even half a second for Erin to connect the dots. "You think I'm coming home? Look, Dad, if it's about that wolf again–"

"No, it's about him," he said, nodding toward Kota. "He leaves, you have no partner, and that was part of our deal. No partner, no inn."

"He..." Erin hesitated, realizing that Kota had never actually said he would be staying. "Even if Kota left, I could always find someone else in town."

"Funny thing. That vampire over there asked around, and it seems no one's interested." Eli looked over Erin's head at Miles and said, "Isn't that right?"

"Well, yes," Miles admitted. He even tried to bribe a few, but he wasn't about to say that out loud. "But, sir–"

He was interrupted by the sound of a cart pulling up in front of the inn, most it loaded down with crates of fruits and vegetables, although someone had left a space at the very back. One of the men sitting up front waved and called, "Ready to go? We can't wait all day!"

"Farmer said he had a delivery going to the capital," Kota explained. "So I asked him if they would be willing to take a couple of passengers along, and he agreed."

"Well, it looks like you're already packed," Eli said, eyeing the bag on Kota's back.

"Oh," Kota said, just now remembering it. He had taken a detour back into the forest to retrieve it, having dropped it in his hurry to get to Miles. "Actually–"

"Could you give us a second, sir?" This time it was Miles's turn to interrupt, and Eli stared as Erin and Miles pulled Kota into the kitchen and shut the door behind them.

"Are you rethinking going to the city?" Miles asked, and Erin frowned at the hopeful tone in his voice.

That hope quickly died when Kota shook his head and said, "No, why?"

"Well, you said a couple of passengers..."

"Yes, you and the pig lady," Kota said.

"Oh." Miles blinked and they were sure that he had completely forgotten about the pig.

Erin breathed a sigh of relief, but knowing that could easily mean Kota planned to just run off again she said, "While you were gone, we noticed something in Sollis's journal."

She showed him the passages, which Kota looked at with a wooden expression while she explained how they thought whatever Sollis had been looking for might be connected to a cure.

Kota examined the sun and moon emblem, personally thinking that the jotted notes were so vague they could refer to anything.

"Miles said he thought it might be worth looking into," Erin said, as if sensing his hesitation. "Right?"

Kota looked up at Miles and saw that they both knew what the vampire was trying to do. Miles smiled and shrugged, completely unashamed. Kota looked at Erin, completely oblivious to the gesture as she turned pages and kept pointing out passages that referred to Sollis's search.

Kota placed a hand on the journal to stop her and smiled. "Then I can keep working for you?"

"Partner," Erin corrected. "But only if Miles agrees to be the one to break the news to Dad."

They both turned on the vampire, whose smile quickly faded. "Oh, dear. Can't I just go back out in the sun?"

Miles Report II

[The following report has been recovered from File Codename: Northern Sun]

Talia,

Sometimes I believe that you have the worst timing. Really, the one time you step out of the office and you miss me. Someone would almost believe you planned it that way.

Sorry that I couldn't wait around for you to get back from whatever it is you do, but it seems someone is eager to get me out of the city. The Madame is overplaying her hand again. No doubt she hopes a trip to the mountains will put me out of the way for the rest of the winter, but I'm afraid I will have to disappoint her.

I noticed that your weather mage stepped out as well. Probably for the best. I can't afford another strike on my record at the moment, but I think I left a clear enough message sprayed across the floor of his workroom. If he has any sense, he will stay out of my way until these burns heal, and even then I better not hear any of that "weather is unpredictable" nonsense again.

I left the Circa sorceress with the wizards. They said they should be able to undo whatever spell she's under after a little trial and error, but you may want to keep an eye on them all the same. The woman does not waste time, and unless the chief is looking to start a petting zoo he may not like what he finds. Once they figure it out, you will need to send one of the wizards to Circa to take care of the others.

[Omitted: address of the guardian of the sorceress's victims]

The man has trust issues, especially when magic is involved. That's the main reason I chose him to look after the woman's "pets," but whoever you send is going to have an interesting time. I suggest Douglas.

Too bad it won't help with that other problem. From what the wizards who were willing to talk to me said, it sounds like her spell is probably just a twist on some generic one. Apparently, even that's complicated enough to undo, yet more proof that magic is not worth the effort. I suppose you were right about looking into other options until we can get some cooperation on the other end.

I found the other reports. Made for some interesting reading, but are you sure? Some of these witnesses sound as if they could not identify a wolf if it sat in front of them and howled the tune to "The Soldier's Dandelion." There are at least six that claim to have seen it at night, so those can be tossed out, as well as the one from Circa. I met the man, and he would have a hard time seeing anything if it wasn't in the bottom of his glass.

Only three of them sound close enough to be our mark. I put them under the basket of apples on your desk. Got them for free on my ride back to the city, and I know how much you love apples. Those three should be enough to give me something to look into while I'm tracking down this hatter.

If you find anything else, send it to my com. Use the Barren code, just to be safe. Oh, and sorry about the drawings on those papers, I hope they weren't important. Be a dear and scrap them for me, would you? Unless you get bored and want something to look into, of course.

Next time I'm in the city, you can call in a few favors of your own.

Miles

### Entry 47: Fall Rush

The day after Miles left the inn, Erin and Kota met the first of the "fall rush" he had told them about nearly a month ago. In ones, twos, or groups of as many as ten at a time, travelers passed through the small town, often staying a night or more at the Last Inn. Most of them proved to be traders, and were willing enough to do what business they could in town before moving on to the capital or toward the coast. The rest came and went for other reasons, but after what happened with the wayfarers, Erin found that she did not want to ask any questions.

They came from every direction, dressed in outlandish clothes and speaking with strange accents, but no one was heading north with winter coming on. Those willing to talk told Erin about blizzards in the north, and the highest mountain villages that were already snowed in for the rest of the year.

With all of these people coming and going, Erin and Kota went back to their agreed routine with Erin watching the inn by day and Kota at night. While Erin kept busy enough, she noticed that most mornings Kota would leave a note for her telling about guests that arrived in the late hours of the night or who had left so early in the morning that the sun had not risen yet.

They had enough money to pay off the rent for the month, and Erin thought the look on Mayor Geld's face when she gave him the money well worth it, with even enough left over to feed all of these people and themselves.

Unfortunately, they had little time for anything else. Erin could barely start reading Sollis's journal before someone else would walk in, or they would have to fix whatever the guests had broken this time. She knew Kota hadn't looked at it, and more than once wondered if he even cared. It was his curse they were trying to break, but every time she tried to bring it up with him he would make some kind of excuse to go running off or try to change the subject.

At least he handled the barrage of people surprisingly well. When Erin asked him about it once, he shrugged and said, "It's not like they're going to be around long enough to notice anything. Everyone's trying to get somewhere else."

She supposed that made enough sense. People passed through town, they didn't stay there. Kota must have been unique in that he actually set out with the place as his destination, and not just a stop on the way to somewhere else.

That is, until the hunter arrived.

One night, a band of men with swords at their side arrived on the front step of the inn. Erin thought Kota might pass out when she opened the door and welcomed them in, but he hovered around the door to the kitchen where he could listen to what they said as she asked, "Staying the night?"

"I guess," one of the men said, his disdain obvious both from his tone and the contemptuous look he threw at the room. "This the only inn in town?"

"Yes," Erin said, and for once wished it wasn't. She would have been glad to tell these guys they could go somewhere else.

"Figures," one of the others muttered.

They paid, after more grumbling, and settled around the tables right in the center of the room. The rest of the guests took one look at them and either moved further into the corners or decided to turn in for the night.

Erin went back into the kitchen with Kota to get the sandwiches and drinks which they had not asked for so much as demanded.

"Do I have to let them stay?" Erin groaned. Two minutes in the room with the men had not improved her initial impression. They smelled, like they hadn't bathed or showered in weeks.

"They might cause more problems if you don't," Kota said. He put together the last of the sandwiches and put them all on a platter. "They'll leave soon enough."

"But what if these are the hunters Geld hired?" Erin whispered.

Kota actually laughed at the idea, the sound surprising Erin for more than one reason. He helped her carry the food and drinks out to the table in time to see the door open again and let in another group, this one of young men from the town.

"Ah, the patrol," Kota said, sounding less certain now.

This was not the first time people from town had stopped by the inn. While they weren't looking for rooms, they were willing to buy some food once word of Kota's cooking got around. As an extra bonus, they could get a good look at the latest strangers and get some new fuel for the town's gossip mill. Building on Miles's idea to let the townspeople get used to Kota, Erin usually dragged him out and tried to encourage him to chat and get to know them. This made for some awkward talk when the regulars on the town patrol started talking about the "beast," but otherwise Erin thought things seemed to be going well.

The two groups quickly fell into talking while they demolished the platter of sandwiches between them, and it did not take long before the baker's son asked the question that Erin had been dying to know.

"So, are you here after the beast that's been running around?"

"What beast would that be, a rabbit?" one of the men asked, and his friends were quick to laugh.

"No, a giant wolf monster, with a big scar over its eye," one of the patrol said, gesturing at the wrong side of his face. Kota started to correct him, but Erin elbowed him.

"Oh, another one?" the swordsman grinned and leaned back in his chair. "Let me guess, you haven't seen it since?"

"Well, no," the baker's son admitted. "We think the patrols are scaring it off, honestly. Probably hiding out in the forest, waiting to take out anyone that comes near its den."

"Yeah, right. You know how many people claim to have seen some monster wolf? And every time it just so happens to 'disappear' whenever someone looks into it. We don't chase ghosts, right boys?"

There was agreement from around the table, along with a "not on the rate your man pays" thrown in.

"See?" Kota murmured to Erin before he stepped up to refill one of the glasses. "Need anything else, guys?"

"I'd like to hear a bit more about this wolf."

Everyone's head turned toward the door, where a tall, broad shouldered man nearly filled the frame. He walked in with a strange, loping gait that reminded Erin more of how a cat walked than a person. An unstrung bow in his hand and the quiver of arrows on his back next to his bag were sign enough without the look that Kota gave her as well.

The hunter smiled and added, "A room would be nice, too."

### Entry 48: Tracking

One of the swordsmen sitting around the table looked up at the hunter and said, "You really believe there's some kind of monster wolf running around?"

The man shrugged, the arrows in his quiver rattling at the gesture. "Like you said, the story's been getting around, right? Seems like most of the villages I've been to lately have somebody who has claimed to see the thing."

He started to pull up a chair but stopped and looked at Kota and Erin with a questioning look. Kota immediately pressed the hair down over his left eye while pretending to be occupied with cleaning off the other tables.

"Right, you mind if I ask you a few questions about the room later?" he said to Erin.

"Er, sure," Erin said. She hesitated and then asked, "What do you mean, other villages have been talking about the wolf? I mean, what are the chances it's the same one?"

The hunter put his stuff down and took a seat. "Well, it would be different if people just talked about a big wolf, wouldn't it? Wolves are common enough, and villagers love a good werewolf story."

"I saw it though," the baker's boy interrupted. "Running right through town, bigger than me and Tommy here together."

"That's not saying much," one of the swordsmen said with a chuckle. "So you admit it yourself, this is probably just some animal desperate for food. Speaking of which..."

He looked at the empty platter and back at Erin, with a pointed stare. Kota, seeing a chance to escape from the room, quickly said, "I'll make some more then, shall I?"

As he bent over the table, the hunter replied, "If it's a normal wolf, then why is it that every eyewitness claims the beast has some kind of marking on its face?"

Kota straightened up and resisted the urge to make sure his left eye was still covered.

"What's so special about a scar?" one of the men asked as Kota started back toward the kitchen. He gave Erin a reassuring smile, but she could see that the platter shook in his hands.

"Not a scar," the hunter corrected. "A mark, red and orange like a sun or a flame. Show me the blade that could leave a mark like that."

"That's right," the baker's son said. "Who told you about that?"

"No one had to," the hunter declared. "I saw it myself, in the far mountains back at the beginning of the year. I've been tracking it ever since."

Erin looked for Kota, but he had already disappeared into the kitchen.

"You're telling me you've been chasing the beast for nearly a year?" The swordsmen laughed, and one of them said, "Not much of a tracker then are you?"

The hunter placidly stared at them until the laughter died away on its own and then said, "Not chasing. Just keeping tabs on it. Not much use killing it if I'm not going to be paid, right?"

He grinned and the other men nodded. Erin noticed that the members of the town patrol were staring at him with outright awe, which grew even greater as he changed the subject and began to tell about his exploits, such as how he slew the fire-breathing ram that had terrorized a group of shepherds in the uplands.

The hunter could tell a story, that was for sure. He knew just when to lower his voice to get the others to lean in, or to bellow a line that sent at least one of the boys flying backwards in his chair. It did not take long before the entire room had gathered around to listen in, and Erin only knew that Kota had returned at all when she took a sandwich from the refilled platter.

After the tale of the "Stalking Terror" of Ninea, the town patrol suddenly remembered that they needed to go, and even the swordsmen seemed subdued as they and the other guests retreated to their rooms for what would no doubt be a sleepless night. Soon the room seemed darker and quieter than ever, making the howling wind outside that much more noticeable.

Erin already knew she would have a hard time going out at night after that one as she began to gather the plates and dishes. She nearly dropped the whole lot when the hunter suddenly spoke out of the quiet.

"I meant to ask, how much for a room?"

"For one night?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"That works. Tomorrow I'll make an arrangement with your mayor to pay for the rest of my stay." The hunter followed Erin to the desk, where he exchanged the money for a room key. "Have you seen the wolf?"

"Er..." Erin struggled for too long to remember if she should have seen it or not. "No, no I don't think so. I saw the cannishift a few months ago, but it was, um..."

"Yes, the mayor told me about that in his letter. He thought it might be the same thing this time," the hunter said. To Erin's surprise, he looked over in the corner behind the desk and said, "What about you, have you seen it?"

Kota shifted in the shadows, the movement alerting Erin that he was even there. "Can't say that I have. I was going to tell you, Erin, I could handle the dishes if you want to go to bed. I think it's my shift now."

"Right, of course," Erin said, but she suspected that Kota had really been hiding. "So, Mr.."

"Terra," the hunter said. He smiled and rubbed his jaw. "And you two are Erin Smith and Koda, right? The mayor said you two ran the inn."

"Kota," Kota corrected, surprised that the mayor had even got it that close. "So you're the hunter Madame Elzwig told the mayor about?"

"Ah, so that's how he heard of me!" Terra laughed and ran a hand through his short, dark hair. "I wondered, I don't normally work this area. But yes, I have helped the Judge with a few jobs, when the Empire bounty hunters couldn't be called in. I don't charge as much as they do, as long as the work's good."

"Good?" Erin asked.

"You know, fun, a challenge. Take this wolf. One look at that mark, and I knew I should keep an eye on this thing. This is going to be interesting."

Kota sighed and said, "I'm afraid so."

He showed Terra up to his room while Erin put the money away in the lockbox. When she went back to her room, she could hear Kota pacing the floor of the common room, back and forth. By the time she fell asleep, she could still hear him, back and forth and back and forth, with no sign of stopping soon.

### Entry 49: Lay of the Land

The hunter, Terra, made no noise as he left his room and walked down the hall. No one else seemed to be moving at this hour, and the snoring coming from the last room on the left more than covered his footsteps on the stairs.

That did not stop Kota from looking around, half-rising from his seat at one of the tables by the window.

"Can I help you?" he asked, trying to block Terra's view of the table.

The hunter stopped and stared. "What is that?"

He walked closer and the small, dusty gray animal perched on the table disappeared with a twitch of its nose.

"That was, uh..."

Terra bent over to see if it had disappeared underneath the table and noticed the nearly empty saucer of milk. Putting two and two together with a speed that frightened Kota, he straightened up and said, "That was a house spirit!"

Kota saw the wisp of gray near the top of the stairs and looked back at the hunter. With a shrug he said, "I call him Voi."

"But they never...You were..." Terra stared at Kota, his expressive face wavering between disbelief and curiosity. "You're keeping it as a pet?"

"What, Voi? No, no, he just likes milk," Kota said. He looked back at the window, noting that it was still dark outside with only the barest hints of a dawn coming. "Did you want something?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess it is early." He grinned and said, "Habit, I guess. I doubt the mayor would be willing to see me just yet, huh?'

Kota shook his head and stared as the hunter pulled out a seat and sat down.

"Well, while I've got you here, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" Terra asked, motioning toward the seat opposite him.

Kota looked at the seat and thought of many, many things he would rather do instead. He settled for saying, "I should get started on breakfast. What would you like?"

"I would like some information." Terra pointed at the seat again. "Like I said, it's early. We've got time before you need to worry about your eggs and bacon."

Kota sighed and sat down. He crossed his arms on the table in front of him and gave the hunter a blank, expressionless stare.

"You're not from around here, right?"

Kota shook his head. The mayor's letter probably said as much.

"But you've been here for a while," Terra said, confirming that thought. "What can you tell me about this Geld guy?"

"The mayor?" Kota said, not hiding his surprise. When Terra nodded, he shrugged and said, "He's short? I don't really know the man that well. Erin could probably tell you more."

Terra leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table between them. "Why is he getting a Judge's help on taking care of this wolf? By the sound of it, no one in town is even looking for the thing!"

Kota shrugged again. "The townspeople believe it is hiding in the forest. They do not go there if they can help it, even before the wolf arrived."

"What? They have to go into the woods at some point though, for lumber and game and that sort of thing, don't they?"

"Never that far in," Kota said. The hunter stared at him with such disbelief that he added, "From what I understand, they go in groups, never alone. They think that this place is too close to the trees for comfort. You saw how worried the patrol was last night when they realized the time."

"What are they afraid of?" Terra asked, but it sounded more like a rhetorical question. "From the sound of it, the cannishift and this wolf are the most excitement they've had in decades. At least in other villages, they're afraid of the world outside because they know what's waiting outside their walls. This place is right in the heart of the empire!"

Kota said nothing to this.

Terra drummed his fingers on the table while he thought and then said, "I guess I can ask the man himself later, as well as anyone else who will talk to me. I'm guessing this place isn't big on strangers?"

"They tend to stare a lot," Kota said. "You're not going after the wolf today?"

"I like to know the lay of the land," Terra said. He traced a circle on the table with his finger as he said, "The wolf hasn't been seen in weeks, according to what those boys said last night. If it's anything like the other reports, it may have already moved on."

Kota tried not to look too hopeful at this suggestion. "You mean you might have to tell the mayor that it's gone?"

"Or laying low," Terra said. "Even a normal animal knows that seasons change. It has to stay near some kind of food source to survive the winter, doesn't it?"

"Maybe it went to the coast like everyone else," Kota said, but without much conviction. Making sure the hunter found no sign of the wolf was as simple as staying out of the sunlight, but Terra could easily convince the mayor to allow him to stay through the whole winter as a precaution. The longer he stayed, the harder it would be to prevent him from noticing anything. Even one good look at the mark on Kota's face would be too much.

He made an excuse about breakfast and left Terra sitting at the table, watching the sun rise over the forest in the distance. The only light in the kitchen came from the one he turned on himself before lighting the stove and retrieving the food from the cabinets and fridge. He started everything on autopilot and stood there with his hands braced on the counter while an overloaded pan sizzled on the stove.

Erin found him that way when she came out of her room, after he had made enough to satisfy the first wave of guests that would soon be up.

"Kota?" she said, disturbed by the utterly blank expression on his face. Having seen him like this before did not make it any better, not even when he blinked and whatever thoughts were on his mind at times like this disappeared for the moment.

"Oh, good morning."

"Morning," she said. At her suggestion, Kota went upstairs, but as she put out the food she wondered if sleep would help. Erin actually found herself wishing that Miles was still here, if only because it helped to have someone else around that she could talk to about Kota.

"Something wrong?" Terra asked when he noticed that her mind seemed to be elsewhere by the way she nearly dumped a plate of scrambled eggs in his lap.

"Sorry," she said, but made no move to answer his question. He was the last person she could talk to.

So it did not help when he smiled and said, "It's Kota, right?"

She stammered and said, "N-no, I just... He just has a lot on his mind, and I'm worried about him is all."

That sounded like an innocent enough answer, and Terra nodded as if he understood. "It's hard being in a strange place, I should know. Shy, isn't he?"

"Er, yeah," Erin said, figuring that was one way to describe the young man.

Terra nodded. "I used to be the same way."

Erin had a hard time imagining that. Judging by last night, the hunter thrived in groups, and there seemed to be no connection between him and the way that Kota had a hard time fitting in even in a group that consisted entirely of himself.

"Ah, don't worry, all he needs is to get out a little," Terra said. "I'll see if I can't get him to open up when I'm not dealing with this wolf business. Sound good?"

Erin honestly had no idea how to answer that.

### Entry 50: Go Fish

Within an hour or two Erin had the Last Inn to herself, as all of the guests left to either continue on their way or, like Terra, go into town. She roamed around for a while, but what little there was to do did not take long. Practice made changing the sheets on the newly emptied rooms easy enough, and she told herself the laundry could wait another day, or until Kota got around to doing it. If today was like the past couple of days, she knew not to expect anyone to come to the inn until late in the afternoon.

They still had enough food to last a few days, and even then she had made arrangements with the butcher, baker, and Mr. Farmer about regular deliveries for the usual stuff as long as the current traffic kept up, so there wasn't an excuse to go out.

Eventually, when she could no other reason not to, Erin pulled Sollis's journal out of the desk and settled into a chair at the same table where Kota and Terra had their earlier chat. There, in the morning sunlight, she turned the crackling pages over and began to read.

At least, she tried to read. Just like every other time she picked up the journal, she found herself skimming and skipping over entire pages in increasing frustration. Not once, not once did the old man mention exactly what it was he had been searching for, just oblique references to "it," and even an occasional "he" or "him."

Sollis had been looking for something for somebody, but he obviously did not think he would need to explain it to himself or never thought anyone else would be reading his journal.

_He's getting depressed again_ , Erin read, and thought of Kota. She remembered reading the line before, and wondered if that was why she made the jump to thinking the writing could possibly have anything to do with his curse.

She read on: _Searched forest. Walkers would not help. Even the little ones refused to get involved now. Mer checked river, no luck._

Erin blinked and read the passage again, several times, as an idea slowly began to form. She could not ask Sollis what he had been searching for, but he had told someone else. Several someones, by the look of it.

She jumped up and ran up the stairs before she could second guess herself. Skidding to a stop outside of room 1D, she banged on the door until Kota opened it.

He had clearly run to the door, and his eyes were wide open with the alertness of someone who had went straight from sleeping to waking with no in between steps. In his hurry, he had even forgotten to cover his mark.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Erin said, realizing a little too late that she may have made the wrong impression. When he sagged against the doorframe she quickly added, "What do you know about mer?"

"The water people?" Kota hid a yawn behind his hand and ran a hand over his face to keep himself awake now that the adrenaline was fading. "Not much, why?"

"Mr. Sollis mentioned one in his journal, and I was curious," Erin replied. "Water people, you mean like the river in town?"

"All bodies of water are one to them, but yes, they prefer running water or the sea," Kota said, his words slurring together a little. "Couldn't this have waited?"

"Sorry," Erin said. "Last question, how do you find them?"

He took so long to answer that Erin wondered if he had fallen asleep slumped against the doorframe, but eventually he said, "The witch would toss a handful of chel shells into the water to summon one."

"Chel shells?"

Kota rubbed his eyes and said, "Please, can't this wait?"

"Oh, right, sorry," Erin said. "Go ahead and go back to sleep. I'll–"

Kota nodded and shut the door, not quite in her face. Erin fidgeted and opened Sollis's journal again right there in the hallway, this time looking for a particular passage. It took a while, but she finally found the mention of chel shells. One of the guests had paid for their stay in the shells, and in what she thought of as a flash of brilliance, she knew just where to find them.

Around the corner of the hall she went, and up the stairs to the attic door. It opened with a loud creak that she hoped did not wake Kota back up, revealing a room even darker and more cluttered than she remembered. Her flash of brilliance had not included going back for a candle and matches.

She stepped into the dark with her arms thrown out to keep from running into anything. After a few fumbles she found what she was looking for near the door, and retreated to the hallway with a decorated box that upon opening proved to still be full of seashells.

Erin picked up one of the tiny shells and examined it, but she had about as much experience with normal seashells as with chel shells. She did know one way to find out which she had though.

She left a note on the desk just in case, but she figured she could get to the river and back hours before anyone else showed up. Her bike put up its usual protest as she steered it out of the yard and rode north, past the outskirts of town and as close to the wastes as she dared to go alone before veering off the road and down the bank to the river, where thick reeds grew and the hill behind her would shelter her from the sight of anyone passing by on the road.

Taking the box out of the basket, Erin stepped through the clinging mud, which squelched underfoot and threatened to not let go of her shoes. It helped that there was no one around, she thought to herself as she opened the box and took a handful of shells. Feeling more than a little foolish, she tossed the shells out over the water.

They glinted and danced in the water, but before the current had a chance to take them away the shells began to swirl, as if caught in a spiral. They spun around and around until they clustered together in the center of the small whirlpool, and then bobbed underwater as suddenly as if someone had reached out and grabbed them.

The whirlpool stopped at the same moment and the river continued on as normal as ever. Only a shadow under the water at Erin's feet marked any difference, and as she watched it shifted and took on the face of a person staring out at her with the reflection of light on the water for eyes.

"Why do you call me, child?"

### Entry 51: Water and Shadow

Erin hastily took a step back from the water, or tried to do so, but her shoes had formed a bond with the mud. If she wasn't careful, she would be going back to the inn in her socks.

The shadow in the water moved at the same time, at the same place where her own reflection should have been.

"I... Are you a mer?" she asked, stalling for time. She hadn't thought this far ahead, mostly because she really didn't think the shells would work.

"Do not waste my time, child." This time the voice sounded impatient, but Erin could not tell if it was male or female. "How came you by those shells?"

"A mer gave them to Mr. Sollis, and since I, uh, the Last Inn is, um..."

"Do stop that," the mer said with a sigh that sounded like water rippling. The river stirred around the shadow and a head emerged from the water. Around a solemn round face floated fine hair that was not so much blonde as entirely colorless. The mer's eyes above water appeared gray and just as devoid of color as its skin and lips. "You say you are Sollis's heir? The Smith's daughter?"

Erin flushed at the chuckle that accompanied those words. "How do you know who I am?"

"You played often by the river as a child, did you not? But you have never called for my kind before. What has happened?"

Erin bit her lip and tried to tell herself this just meant less to explain, but she suspected it would be a long time before she went swimming in the river again. She cleared her throat and said, "I was wondering if Mr. Sollis ever came to you or one of the other mer looking for something?"

"That?" The mer's tone changed, sounding more human than river now. "He came to us, yes, but it is beyond our reach. We told him, only human hands may hold it."

"Hold what?" Erin asked.

"You do not know?" The mer shifted uneasily in the water, but that may have been due to the wind picking up. "It is the key to breaking the chain."

"What chain?" Erin shuddered and crossed her arms. It was getting colder now that she thought about it, and she was starting to wish this mer would give her a straight answer. "He wrote about somebody in the journal, too. This key thing, was it to help them?"

"The chain is a curse, powerful and deep. I cannot say anymore; human hands must break what human hands have wrought."

"Did you come up with that just now or have you been sitting on that piece of wisdom for a while?" Erin pouted, but already that bit about the curse had her mind turning. "Can't you tell me anything about how to find it?"

The mer smiled. "Always a cheeky child. Why do I need to tell you what you already know?"

"But I don't–"

"I must go," the mer said with a shudder. The once colorless face now seemed to be taking on a blue tone. "It is too cold!"

Without even a single goodbye, the mer dove back under the water and the shadow disappeared. Erin stared down into the river and considered throwing some more chel shells in, but she figured the mer wouldn't tell her anything else, if it even bothered to return.

Instead, she climbed back up the hill with more than one slip in the clinging mud and put the box back in the basket of her bike. On the ride back to the inn, Erin kept breaking out into a smile at the thought of the look on Kota's face when she told him what she had been up to while he'd been sleeping.

Behind the inn, Erin parked her bike in the usual spot and used the water pump to wash the mud off of her shoes. She was so focused on trying to get the slimy stuff off that she did not notice there was someone else in the yard until Terra spoke.

"Hiking through mud?"

"Uh, sort of," Erin said, after recovering from the shock. "I just...you know, taking a ride, getting some fresh air while the inn's quiet."

"Yeah, I couldn't stand being cooped up in that place all the time," Terra said, jerking a thumb in the direction of the inn. He frowned and added, "But you're not scared of the wolf?"

"Well..." Erin nearly panicked, but managed to give him a small smile and say, "It's the middle of the day, isn't it? And it's not like I went into the forest or something."

"Yeah, about that," Terra started, but he was cut off by a scream coming from the direction of the tree line.

Terra and Erin both ran around the building, the hunter outpacing her with his long strides, in time to see a horse race out from underneath the trees, kicking up spurts of stones and dirt beneath its hooves as its rider urged it on.

Rider and horse cleared half the distance between the woods and the inn before several dark shapes emerged from among the brush.

"What are those things?" Erin asked.

Terra narrowed his eyes and apparently could see more of the low bodies speeding across the ground than her because he said, "Get inside, now!"

The rider pulled her horse to a stop outside of the inn and looked over her shoulder. Seeing the creatures following behind, her face paled and she gasped out, "Iron!"

"I know," Terra snapped as he strung his bow and selected an arrow from his quiver. "Erin, is there any iron in the inn?"

"Iron?"

"A horseshoe, a nail, anything!" Terra cast a glance at the horse beside him but shook his head.

"No, I– Wait, hold on a minute," she said and ran inside the inn.

Behind her, Terra said, "We don't have a minute," and yelled something at the rider. When Erin returned from her room, the rider, a young woman so wrapped up in a cloak that only her face was visible, came running in and started to bar the door.

She wanted to ask her what the dark, shadowy shapes that were zigzagging their way up the road were, but there was no time. Erin ran past the rider and out into the yard.

"Will this work?" she asked Terra, holding out a badly made horseshoe.

He took one look at it and grinned. "Perfect. Go back inside and put it over the door, it will keep them from coming in."

"What are they?" Erin asked, unable to hold the question in any longer.

"Shadows, that's all," Terra said, and she noticed that he was trying to sound much more soothing about it than he should have been. He readied an arrow and peered down its shaft at the approaching shapes.

Now that they were closer, Erin could see that they _were_ shadows, bizarre and out of place without anything to cast them as they moved under the bright, sunlit sky, flitting across the ground and moving in random bursts of speed. They changed shape and size several times, and as hard as she stared she could not figure out how many of them there were before they shot forward again.

"Get inside," Terra said again, and this time Erin listened. She turned and managed to take two steps before she saw something move out of the corner of her eye. She blinked and stared at the space between them and the front door of the inn, which was now suddenly occupied.

"These things don't like iron, right?" she said, trying to sound calm.

"Yes," Terra said. His hand moved and an arrow flew straight into one of the shadowy creatures, and right out the other side. The hole where the arrow pierced it closed itself, and the shadow continued to come closer without even missing a beat.

"How long do you think a horseshoe can hold them off?" she asked.

Terra risked glancing over his shoulder and saw that some of the shadows, in their deceptively strange movements, had slipped past without him seeing it. They were surrounded, with no way back to the inn.

### Entry 52: Iron and Light

Erin and Terra kept moving away from the approaching shadow creatures until they were back-to-back with nowhere else to go. The shadows were dark and dense despite the sun overhead, and as they came closer they took on vaguely human shapes that towered over the two. They moved in with absolute silence.

Erin swallowed as she stared up into the nearest blank face and held out the horseshoe in her hand like a poor excuse for a shield.

The shadow halted in its tracks and wavered. Despite the fact that it had no eyes, she thought she could sense the thing's attention turning to the small piece of iron.

Terra turned and put one hand on her shoulder and the other on the hand holding the horseshoe. "Follow my lead," he said.

Erin's immediate instinct to knock Terra's hands away faltered as she realized that she could not even work up the nerve to move an inch closer to these things. They took one hesitating step, and before the outstretched horseshoe the shadows slowly retreated.

Terra breathed out. "This might work."

"You mean it might not have?" Erin's hand shook and she tightened her grip on the horseshoe.

Together, they slowly and steadily moved toward the inn. The shadows shifted and stirred, their absolute silence allowing Erin to hear her heartbeat roaring in her ears. She felt Terra tense, but did not see the shadow behind them move until the hunter pushed her away.

The shadow fell upon the hunter, as a split in its head opened to reveal a great, gaping hole rimmed with innumerable teeth. Still it made no sound, until Erin swung her fist with iron in hand and connected with the creature.

An earsplitting shriek filled the air as the shadow split and dispersed, and then all of the shadows leapt.

Utter darkness surrounded Erin, cutting out all light. As much as she swung the horseshoe around and the shrieks of the shadows pierced her ears, there seemed no stopping them. She could not see the ground beneath her feet, much less Terra, and something latched onto her elbow at the same time as the disturbingly heavy weight of the shadows pulled her down.

Immediately, all of the feeling besides a searing pain disappeared from her arm down to her hand, and Erin realized she could not tell if she still had the horseshoe or not. She screamed, but the sound was drowned out by a long, haunting howl unlike the shrieks of the shadows.

The shadows split and fled, blinding Erin by the sudden return of the sun. She blinked away the tears streaming in her eyes and saw the shadows lurching across the yard of the inn in every direction, chased by a gray and white blur.

She rubbed her eyes and blinked some more, and the blur became a large wolf with a yellow and orange mark blazing over one eye and a gleaming piece of metal in its mouth. One by one the shadows shrieked and disappeared when the iron touched them, none of them making it any farther than the fence.

It wasn't until the wolf slowed to a stop and dropped the horseshoe on the ground that Erin remembered Terra, and only thought of him then when she heard the distinct sound of an arrow being pulled from a quiver.

The wolf turned at the sound and saw the hunter sighting along the shaft. Both stood absolutely still, neither daring to move.

"Terra," Erin said quietly, afraid that even that small noise would startle one or the other into action.

"Did you see that?" the hunter said, his lips hardly moving and his eyes still locked on Kota. "I knew we weren't dealing with a normal animal!"

It was only a matter of time before one or the other did something, and Erin could not wait for that to happen. She tried to think of something, anything, to distract the hunter, but the pain in her arm flared up so suddenly that she could only gasp.

Terra's eyes darted toward her and the wolf's ears picked up. It started to take a step forward and the hunter hastily fired a shot without aiming.

Before the arrow even pierced the ground by the wolf's front paw, Terra had another arrow in his hand, but before either one could make another move something else pierced the air: a long, low note that turned into a quick, eager melody.

The wolf snarled, and even Erin took a step back as it shook its head and then took off running, toward the woods. Terra started to aim another arrow, but stopped with a frustrated sigh before remembering Erin.

"Are you okay?" he asked, returning arrow to quiver and turning to her with open concern.

She shook her head and ran her hand over her arm again, shuddering at the radiating pain through which she could feel nothing else.

"It will wear off." This came from the rider standing at the front door of the inn. "Just worry about bandaging that wound."

Erin looked at the flute in the rider's hand but said, "Why were those things chasing you?"

"They were a warning, that's all." The rider pulled back the hood of her cloak, fully revealing a beautiful face and dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her large, bright eyes drilled into Erin even as she smiled and said, "I have a tendency to annoy the wrong people in my line of work."

"Just a warning?" Terra said. "Yeah, I guess so, since they attacked everyone else but you. Here, let's put something on that bite."

This last bit he said to Erin as he led her inside the inn past the rider, who watched them with the same little smile on her face.

"That was certainly an interesting creature out there," the rider said, following them to the table where Erin sat down. "I would have loved to get a closer look at it."

"Then why did you scare it off?" Terra snapped as he searched behind the desk for the bandages Erin thought were back there.

"Why do you think I was trying to scare it away?"

The hunter thumped the first aid box down on the table and glared at her. "That music you played? You're a tamer, aren't you?"

"No use denying it, is there?"

At this Erin stared at the young woman. She had heard of tamers before, but she usually thought of them in connection with traveling circuses and that sort of thing. People said tamers could control any animal, beast or monster with enough time or talent. At least one of the townsmen claimed to have seen a tamer make a dragon do tricks like a tame dog, but those traveling shows had never bothered to stop in her town for as long as she could remember.

"So you played your little pipe and ran off my wolf," Terra said.

"Your wolf?" The tamer laughed and leaned toward him with both of her hands splayed out on the table. "Funny, since I was the one hired to bring that wolf to heel."

### Entry 53: Stop the Noise

Kota rushed into the Inn's common room from the kitchen, out of breath and red in the face. He stopped and stared before asking, "What's going on?"

Erin looked up from bandaging her arm and shrugged. On either side of the table where she sat, Terra and a young woman that Kota did not know were yelling at each other so loud that it was impossible to hear what either one was saying.

Terra turned on him and yelled, "This tamer woman–"

He stopped when he saw Kota flinch and cleared his throat before continuing, in his inside voice, "She came here with some shadow creatures tailing her, and one of them bit Erin."

"What?" Kota did a good job of feigning disbelief as he stepped closer to look at Erin's arm. "When did this happen?"

"Just a few minutes ago," Erin said.

"When you say shadow creatures..." Kota started.

"Shadows," the rider said. She looked Kota up and down more than once as she explained, "Of the fair folk. Their master sent a few to make sure I kept my promise to leave their land."

"Ah," Kota said, but Erin doubted he was listening. He tilted his head and said, "I think I might have something in the kitchen that can help that bite, if you don't mind waiting a minute."

"Thank you," Erin said, for more than one reason. Her eyes had teared up a few times already from the pain, and she would take anything to dull it.

Kota walked back into the kitchen and opened and shut a few cupboards, just for the look of the thing. The herbs he'd gathered from the edge of the forest were already sitting on the counter, but he had to wait for the pan on the stove to come to a boil.

He could hear the others talking in the common room, but he only really started to listen when he heard his own name spoken.

"Kota? He's my partner, we run this inn together," Erin said, in answer to some question the tamer had asked. "Were you really in the land of the fair folk?"

"Just passing through," the woman said, followed by what Kota could only assume was a snort from Terra.

"Bit more than that, if those shadows have anything to say about it," the hunter said. "Look, lady, believe me when I say I'm sorry you came all this way, but your services won't be needed here."

"Lani."

"What?" Terra said.

"My name is Lani, and I don't plan on going anywhere without that wolf," she said, and in the kitchen Kota buried his face in his hands. Two of them?

The sound of water boiling on the stove presented a welcome distraction, and Kota spent the next few minutes washing and cutting up the herbs before dropping them into the bubbling water. He stared intently at the water, doing his best to focus on it and tune out the rising voices in the common room.

Soon the kitchen was full of a bittersweet smell, and Kota took the pan off the stove and carefully drained away the water in the sink until only a dark green mass was left at the bottom, which he spread over a cloth before returning to the common room.

"Try putting this on the bite," he said, handing the cloth to Erin while trying to ignore the raging argument going on.

Erin nodded and unwrapped the bandage around her arm. They both winced at the sight of the set of puncture marks surrounded by blackened skin, and Erin quickly draped the cloth over the wound so she didn't have to look at it anymore.

She sighed and gently added pressure to the cloth, smiling at the spreading relief. "Thank you, Kota."

Kota smiled, briefly, before the tamer, Lani, turned her attention on him again.

"Where did you say you were when the shadows were attacking?"

"I didn't," Kota answered with a shrug. "I was down in the cellar, moving some barrels around. The only reason I came up was because I heard all of the yelling going on."

"Which needs to stop," Erin filled in for him. "If it bothers you two that much, then why don't you go and see Geld about who he hired?

Terra and Lani both did not seem too thrilled with that idea, and after an awkward pause during which they stared at each other, daring the other to speak, Kota sighed.

"Honestly? He probably sent out requests to more than one hunter or tamer or whoever else Elzwig told him about. You two are either the only ones who responded, or the first ones to get here."

At that, Terra and Lani crossed stares again before turning to the door.

"I'll be back later," Terra said, making it out of the door before Lani only because she held back to say, "I told my horse to go on ahead to the stable, so if you could make sure he's well provided for that would be great. I'll pay for my room and board when I get back, okay?"

Without waiting for an answer, she ran out the door which slammed shut behind her and left Kota and Erin alone in the inn.

"Do you really think there's more coming?" Erin asked.

Kota pulled out a chair and sat down across from her with his legs sprawled out. "Probably not. Madame Elzwig seems like the sort of person who doesn't like redundancy. One job, one tool."

"So that means one of them isn't working for Geld?"

Kota shook his head. "No, it just means he did a little recruiting of his own. Can you blame him? There was no guarantee that the person he sent out for would show up, even if he or she did come with your Judge's recommendation."

"Huh." Erin sat back in her chair and looked at her arm as if just now noticing that the pain was gone. She removed the cloth to reveal a few small punctures, but otherwise normal, healthy skin. "Wow, what was in this stuff?"

"Just some plants from the forest," Kota said, shrugging again. He closed his eyes and sank further into his chair as if he might fall asleep right there and then.

Erin remembered Lani's horse and started to go and check on it, but another thought occurred to her and she asked, "Do you really think it was a good idea to tell them that though? Now they're out there and in an even bigger hurry to track down the wolf."

"Fine with me, as long as they stay out there," Kota answered without opening his eyes. He did not see Erin shake her head and walk out, but after a while he gave a deep, contented sigh in the quiet, dark inn.

### Entry 54: To Be Selfish

After tending to Lani's horse, Erin went back into the common room of the Last Inn and placed the box of chel shells on the table where Kota sat. She originally had the idea of waiting until Kota asked about the box, but soon realized they would be there all day. Instead she said, "Do you remember when I asked you about the mer?"

Kota glanced at her and opened the box. He sighed when he saw the shells inside, glittering in the light overhead, and asked, "So what did the mer say?"

"Sollis _was_ looking for something, something that could break a curse!"

The news did not have the expected effect on Kota, although Erin had to admit she wasn't sure what she expected. Surprise, for sure, maybe even a little bit of excitement, or even just a smile would have been a start.

She did not expect him to sigh and run a hand over his face, pushing the hair out of his eyes so he could look fully at her with an expression that looked a lot more like pity than relief.

"Erin, even if Master Sollis was looking for something to break a curse, there's no reason it should be able to help me. There are no cure-alls."

"But your witch said Sollis could help you," Erin said, putting as much emphasis on the words as she could. "She must have heard he was looking for this thing from one of the mer or the other people he asked for help, and sent you here for it! I mean, it can't just be a coincidence, can it?"

Kota sat back in his chair and sighed again. "Erin..."

"What's with you? Don't you care at all? This is your curse, your problem, and you're not doing a thing about it!" Erin bit her lip when she saw Kota bow his head and hunch his shoulders. "Don't do that!"

"Don't do what?" Kota asked, even as he sank lower in the chair.

"That! Hiding behind yourself, acting like you're scared, trying to make me feel bad just because I'm trying to help you."

"I'm not–" Kota started, but there was no stopping Erin now.

"Since you got here, you haven't done a single thing to help yourself. You haven't looked for a cure, you didn't even leave the inn until Miles and I forced you to, you ran away when he offered you a chance to get better, you hide from everyone and act like they're all out to get you," Erin said, and would have kept going for longer if she did not have to stop for a breath and Kota used the opportunity to get a word in.

"...Did the mer tell you anything else about this cure?"

"Not really. Just a roundabout way of saying only a human could find it, and then that I already knew how to find out, which I don't," Erin said, realizing that this bit of information did not help her case much. "But I don't think the mer was lying, not about the cure."

"I don't suppose Master Sollis ever said anything to you?" Kota asked.

Erin shook her head and then, because Kota's eyes were trained on the table, said, "No. I never really saw him that much. I mean, sometimes he would tell me stories, but they were just stories you would tell a kid. Nothing about curses, or 'chains' like the mer called it."

Kota ran his hand over his face again but this time stopped when his fingers touched the mark branded over his left eye. After a minute he let the hand drop and asked, "May I see the journal?"

"Sure," Erin said. She retrieved the journal from the desk and handed it to him just as a knock came at the front door.

Kota had just enough time to sweep his hair back down over his forehead to cover his mark before the door opened and a couple of guests walked in.

By the time Erin and Kota set them up with a room and helped them take their bags upstairs, more people were coming in, and then more after that, until it was time for Kota to start worrying about feeding all of these people. Erin saw Terra come in and immediately start up a conversation with a group of strangers, and sometime later spotted Lani sitting at her own table, surrounded by several men who were hanging on to her every word.

Part of her wanted to ask the two how their search for the wolf had gone, but when she tried to bring up the subject Terra just shook his head and muttered something about "muddled tracks" while Lani smiled and changed the subject.

She wondered why she bothered. Erin reminded herself of what she had said earlier: it was Kota's problem, his curse, not hers. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she was sick and tired of curses and wolves.

She thought about this the whole time she ferried dishes out to the guests and to those townspeople who had come for the food, and by the time the dirty plates were back in the kitchen she was more than ready to sit down at a table with some of the guys from the town patrol and a group of people on their way to the city.

"I'm from Valre, a village east of here," one of the young women with the group told Erin after she asked. "It's even smaller than this place."

"Really? Why are you going to the city?" Erin asked.

"For work," the girl said with a shrug. "The capital is always looking for new help, you know. Some of the factories and schools even send out recruiters, like the one who came to my village."

"You're all going to work at the same place?"

The girl laughed and the guy sitting next to her shook his head and said, "No, we're just traveling together for safety. A few of us were talking about getting a room together, but Lucy and some of the others don't have to worry about that. One of the perks of housework, I guess."

"Yes, sweeping and dusting is going to be wonderful," the girl said with as much sarcasm as she could muster.

Erin thought about this while the others talked. Recruiters never came to this town. She guessed they figured if anyone wanted to go to the city they would just do it, but no one ever left.

She wondered if she could just pack up and leave for the city. Moving to the inn was supposed to have been a trial run, after all, and a way to earn some money to get by on once she was there. She had never really planned on a certain time to leave, or even exactly what she would do once she got there. Now she was thinking it would be worth working for Madame Elzwig even if it meant getting out of here.

"Erin?"

Erin jumped at the sound of Kota's voice and looked around. Nearly everyone else had gone home or to their rooms, and the fire in the grate had died down while she wasn't paying attention.

"Why don't you go to bed?" he asked gently.

Erin stared up at him, wondering how he could act so nice after everything she had said to him earlier. Didn't he ever get mad, or have regrets, or do _anything_ just because he wanted to, and not because someone had asked or told him to do it? Why couldn't he be selfish, or even the least bit normal?

"What?" he asked, after the staring went on for a little too long.

"You're weird," she muttered, not expecting him to hear over the sound of the chair scraping back.

"I know," Kota answered with a smile that only frustrated Erin more.

### Entry 55: The Show Begins

Midnight found Kota sitting in a chair close to the low fire, which provided the only light in the inn's common room. Occasionally he would turn a page of Sollis's journal, but otherwise he stayed so still that an onlooker would have thought he had fallen asleep.

In fact, when his head dipped down again and the worn out journal started to slide out of his hands, there was someone watching, and she used the moment to ease her way down the stairs and walk up to his chair unnoticed.

"If you fall asleep like that, you'll wake up with a crick in your neck."

Kota's head snapped up and he nearly knocked his chair over trying to look around. Seeing Lani smiling down at him, he stood and said, "I'm sorry, did you want something?"

"I couldn't sleep," the young woman announced as she walked over to the fireplace and leaned against the mantel. "Do you always stay up like this?"

"Yes, usually," Kota said. He glanced at his chair but remained standing like Lani.

"It must get boring, sitting up all night." It was hard for Kota to read Lani's expression with the firelight behind her, casting a shadow over most of her face.

"I find ways to keep busy." Kota noticed that he still had Sollis's journal in his hand and moved it so that Lani would not notice. "Are you sure I couldn't get you something to drink?"

"No, I don't think a drink will help me get to sleep," she said, shaking her head. Her ponytail, now untidy, lost a few more strands of dark hair, one of which caught on the corner of her smile. "Would it be okay if I sat up with you, for a little while?"

"Er..." Kota hesitated, during which time she pulled a chair up next to his and sat down, patting the seat of his chair until he followed suit.

"This is cozy, isn't it?" Lani stretched her feet out toward the fire and sighed. "It's just so cold up in my room, you know?"

"I'm sorry," Kota said automatically. "I could find you some more blankets–"

Her hand grabbed his when he started to stand and Lani said, "Really, it can wait, Kota. That's your name right, Kota?"

Kota nodded and sank back into his chair.

"Everyone in town talks about your cooking," she said, propping her chin up so that she could sit and study his face.

"They do?"

"Oh, yes. The ladies say you might look like a scarecrow, but you sure know your way around a kitchen." Lani grinned at Kota's expression and added, "They say even Madame Elzwig herself tried to buy you out."

"Do people really talk about me that much?" Kota asked, failing to sound as casual about it as he meant to. "I'm sure they have better things to talk about."

"I'm sure they'll have more than enough to say about me and that hunter after today," Lani remarked. "They love their gossip, these people. They ate up the story about the wolf and those shadows."

"You told them about that?"

Her bright eyes examined Kota's face with an intensity that worried him as she said, "Why not? You tell people a little story, and they're more likely to tell you something in return."

Kota turned that over in his mind and nodded. "So you spent all day asking around after the wolf?"

"Oh, no, I don't need to ask around about that." Lani laughed, but quickly stopped when she realized how loud the sound was in the quiet inn. "No, that was before I made a few arrangements for tomorrow."

"What sort of arrangements?" Kota asked, not needing to fake his interest.

Lani leaned forward so that she was uncomfortably close to Kota and said, "Now why would I ruin the surprise? I just hope you'll be there to see it all this time, instead of the tail end of things."

Kota shrugged. "Well, I can't make any promises if I don't know what you're talking about, but if you need me..."

She reached out and brushed the side of Kota's face with her hand before he pulled away, coming unnervingly close to touching his mark. "I will."

Lani smiled again and stood up before stretching and faking a yawn. "Well, I suppose I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight, Kota."

Kota did not answer, not that she waited for him to do so. He heard her go up the stairs, and as soon as the sound of a door opening and shutting reached his ears he rubbed at his face to try and get rid of the feeling of her touch.

Lani did not wait long that next morning to put her plan, whatever it may be, into action. Just as the first guests prepared to head on their way after breakfast, she stood in the center of the room and declared, "Ladies and gentlemen, as you may or may not know, I am a tamer. If any of you would like to watch a demonstration of my abilities for free, please follow me to the edge of the forest."

"And just what are you going to do?" Terra asked from his place near the stairs, speaking over the other guests.

Lani smiled, her eyes finding Kota as she said, "I am going to summon the unnatural wolf that has been plaguing this village and put its exploits to rest."

Terra snorted and shook his head, but a murmuring started among the others. The inn soon emptied as a stream of followers trailed Lani toward the line of trees in the distance.

"You're not going?" Terra asked Erin and Kota as he paced across the floor, watching the group walk away through the windows.

"I, um..." Erin hesitated and glanced at Kota, who was sticking close to the kitchen door, out of the sunlight.

"I can stay here and watch the inn," Kota said, and Erin nodded. It gave him an excuse to stay behind, indoors. "Are you going, Terra?"

"I could walk Erin there," he said quickly. He stopped his pacing and added, "You know, since you don't like the forest and all."

"Thank you," Erin said, able to tell that more than one person needed an excuse. "I'll tell you what happens later, Kota, okay?"

Kota nodded and watched them leave, noting that whatever Terra thought of the tamer's abilities, he did grab his bow and arrows as he left. The moment they were far enough away, Kota bolted out the back door. It meant going far out of the way to the north and back around to come at the group from the side of the forest, in the shape of the wolf no less, but he had no intention of waiting around to see what Lani had planned.

By the time he came close enough to the group to hear what was going on without being spotted in the brush under the trees, Lani had already started into some grandiose speech, full of words designed to keep an audience guessing. Tamers, besides their own natural talent, were born and bred to thrill a crowd.

Just as she reached the point where the first of the guests would start to get antsy, Lani said, "Now for the summoning. I advise you to step back, as there is no guarantee what or how many fell-beasts may come."

Even the most skeptical of the people took a step back at this, leaving a wide ring around the tamer as she raised her golden flute to her lips and began to play.

In the forest, Kota's mind erupted into an explosion of noise and agony, in the process losing all control over what happened next.

### Entry 56: Taming

The sound that came from beneath the trees, like a growl and a snarl wrapped up in one and closer than anyone expected, made more than one person jump. Even Lani missed a note in the strange, complicated tune she was playing on her flute, but she recovered just as fast and did not stop playing.

As the music grew faster, the snarling came closer until it became a long, low rumble from the chest of the wolf who emerged from the bushes.

Erin gasped, but for a different reason than most of the others around her; this wolf seemed a far cry from the Kota she knew, the rake-thin wolf who cowered away when it could not run or hide. If not for the mark over its eye, she would never have connected him to this massive wolf, made even bigger by the ridge of fur standing along its back and wide, gaping jaws locked into a grimace.

The wolf shook its head but continued coming closer to Lani, drawn by the song of the flute. Beside Erin, Terra reached for an arrow even as the wolf's muscles tensed to leap, but he did not have the chance to shoot before Lani's preparations she had told Kota about became evident.

The tamer risked moving one hand from the flute to make a gesture, and at the sign a light flashed in the treetop overhead, just before a ball of fire swooped down over the wolf and curved back up into the air.

Terra swore, and ducked like the rest when the flame dove down again, so close to the wolf that the canine stumbled over itself trying to get out of the way. Erin watched, hand over her mouth for fear that she would call out and give Kota away, as the flying flame drove the wolf first one way, then another, until Lani nodded and blew a different note, this time long and shrill.

The wolf shook its head again and dropped to the ground, trying desperately to put its paws over its ears and block out the sound. It did not even see the dark brown shape that pounced on it, its wide, spade-like paws forcing the wolf to the ground.

Lani stopped playing the flute and bowed to the onlookers, or at least those that had been brave enough to stick around. "And that is how it is done, ladies and gentlemen."

The guests of the inn clapped, one or two giving a whistle, and Erin supposed she was the only one who heard Terra's teeth grinding. One lady asked, "What are you going to do with it now?"

"Tame it, of course," Lani said, rolling up her sleeves as she said it. "Like Arlo and Junta here. Arlo?"

The ball of fire swooped down again, and the same lady gave a shriek as it landed on Lani's shoulder. The fire disappeared, leaving in its place a beautiful bird that looked like a flame, or a flame that looked like a bird; it was hard to tell which, when the phoenix rustled its wings to steady itself.

Which made the creature pinning down Kota Junta, a creature about the same size as the wolf whose long, dark brown hair looked like it had been made out of mud. Its elongated face and small, round ears resembled that of a badger's, and overall it looked like something that had just popped up out of the ground.

"What does she mean, tame it?" Erin asked Terra out of the side of her mouth as she watched Lani bend down in front of the struggling wolf.

"Magic," Terra said, his face twisting at the word. When he saw Erin's reaction, he said, "What, you think those two listen to her because she gives them treats? Tamers control their beasts with spells and tricks. Like puppets."

"Whereas you just want to kill it for fun," Lani retorted, easily able to hear what the hunter said when he made no point of lowering his voice. "Do stop the high and mighty act, it's getting old."

Terra's face flushed as those around them laughed, but Erin had stopped listening. She stared in horror as the tamer placed her hand on the wolf's head, just above the ears, and tried desperately to think of a way to stop this.

She thought Kota might bite her, but the wolf merely struggled and whined to get away. Lani laughed and murmured something to the animal that Erin could not hear, but she could see the wolf's eyes widen as the tamer's hand began to glow softly.

She also saw the wolf open its jaws and bark, the sound not bothering Lani but having a definite impression on the bird on her shoulder. The phoenix gave an undignified squawk and tried to take off, bursting into flame as it did so. Junta, or the mud badger as Erin thought of it, jerked back to get away from the fire so close to it, and the wolf used the movement to spring up, toppling Junta off.

Lani screamed before she could stop it, and the wolf licked her face and ran as fast as it could into the woods, faster than any of the bystanders were coming forward to help the screaming, cursing tamer up off the ground. It would have outrun Terra's arrow as well, if the hunter could have stopped laughing long enough to shoot.

"Oh, shut up," Lani snapped at Terra as she dusted herself off. "I came closer than you ever will!"

Terra kept laughing, his face turning red as he fought to breathe, and the tamer's own face flushed scarlet when she heard a few chuckles among the other guests of the inn. She looked around and scowled when she saw the wolf was long gone.

"I'm not done yet," she said and ran back toward the inn with her mud badger following at a more sedate pace due to its short limbs and bowlegged walk.

Erin exhaled deeply as the other guests started to walk back toward the inn, talking and laughing among themselves about what they had just seen. No doubt they would be telling others about the marked wolf who outwitted a tamer wherever they went to next.

She rubbed her eyes and looked at Terra, who seemed to be getting a hold of himself. "Were you worried she was going to get the wolf before you could?"

"Me, worried? No, of course not," Terra said, proving that he was a terrible liar. That, or his voice always cracked and Erin just hadn't noticed it until now. "The pets were a surprise though, but I guess I should have expected them."

"They definitely surprised the wolf," Erin said, staring at the ground while they walked. She remembered the wolf coming out of the woods, massive and feral and completely unlike the Kota she knew, and she shuddered. Was it just Lani's flute that made such a difference?

"Too bad Kota missed all of the fun," Terra said, startling Erin. "I can't wait to tell him all about it."

His smile suggested that he planned to tell the story where Lani could hear him recount the whole thing, and Erin nodded before she remembered that it could be a while before Kota showed back up. "Maybe you should wait a while, until it slows down a bit?"

Terra could hardly argue when they came back into the inn and found that everyone was more than ready to leave now. Watching the tamer work had been fun and all, but as one of the women told Erin as she returned her keys, no one wanted to stick around and see if the wolf made a return appearance.

It wasn't until the last of the guest left her alone with Terra that Erin thought to wonder what could be keeping Kota so long, or where Lani had disappeared to after the failed taming.

### Entry 57: The Closet

Kota lay curled up in the dark, his arms over his head to block out the sounds coming from downstairs. Getting past Erin and the other guests had been simple enough; they were all too busy talking about the wolf to notice him as he slipped in through the kitchen and fled up the stairs to his room.

He replayed the incident at the edge of the forest over and over again in his head, but every time he remembered that moment when Lani started playing her flute he curled in further on himself to try and escape the shame.

How did it happen? Surely it couldn't have just been the music, but no other answer presented itself except for one he did not want to consider. Everything had become a red haze of anger and rage, and even now he wasn't entirely sure what he meant to do when he stepped out from beneath those trees.

Something small and fluffy maneuvered its way through his arms to look in at his face and squeak.

"Hey, Voi," he whispered, and rubbed the top of the dust bunny's head. He paused when he noticed the little creature was shaking.

With his head so close to the floor, he easily heard the light footstep in the hall before someone opened the door to his room without knocking.

"Kota?" Lani called softly. "Are you in here?"

Kota stiffened, suddenly aware that the closet felt fuller than it had a minute ago. Although he could see very little with just the light coming in from under the door, he had a feeling that various unseen...things were crowding in around him in the small space, and under his hand Voi trembled more than ever.

"Come out, come out," the tamer said as she paced around the room. Judging by the sound of her steps and the way her voice changed in pitch, Kota thought she was looking under the bed as she added, "What did you think, of our little show in the woods? Should we give the guests a little encore?"

She was walking toward the closet now. Kota silently reached up and grabbed the handle of the door just as the tamer tried to open it. He held it as tight as he could, and felt the unseen things move behind him, all of their attention riveted on his attempt to delay the inevitable.

"What are you doing in here?"

Kota had never been so happy to hear Erin's voice before.

Lani let go of the doorknob and said, "I was just worried about Kota. You haven't seen him around, have you?"

"So you went rummaging in his room?" Erin scoffed. "Look around, he's not in here. Now get out."

Lani took a long time to answer, but when she did her voice sounded different, less chirrupy sweet and more serious. "How well do you know Kota, Erin?"

"What? He's my partner, so I think I know him well enough." Erin paused and said, less certain now, "Are you...do you, you know..."

"Am I interested in him?" Lani asked, and chuckled. "Yes, you could say that. He's not taken, is he?"

"Huh? No, I...No, don't think so." Erin cleared her throat and said, "Still, you shouldn't be in here. I'm sure Kota's cleaning out the attic or doing the laundry or something. He can't stay still for anything."

"Oh, I'm sure I can teach him how to stay," Lani said before she walked out the door.

After a moment to give Lani time to get down the stairs, Kota fell out of the closet and almost landed on Erin's feet.

"Kota!" Erin clapped a hand over her mouth and checked to make sure Lani had not heard. "You were here the whole time?"

"Well, not the whole time," Kota said, turning over to stare back into the closet. The empty space looked back at him, as did Voi who sat nestled in one of the inn's blankets at the bottom of the closet. "I did take a little detour outside, but I guess you already knew that?"

"Were you..." Erin looked from the blanket on the floor of the closet and back to the immaculately made bed. "Do you sleep in there?"

"Less chance of an accident," Kota said, inclining his head toward the window whose curtains were closed so as not to let in even the merest hint of sunlight. He stood up and added, "Thank you for covering for me, Lani almost had the door open."

Erin looked at the blanket again, thinking that this looked like more than just trying to avoid the sun, but she said, "Why were you hiding from her? Just to avoid explaining that?"

"She knows."

That got Erin's full attention. She knew Kota wasn't talking about the closet. "Are you sure?"

"She called me by name, out there, but I think she knew before then." Kota ran a hand over his face and sighed. "Lani told me she had something planned for today; no doubt she hoped I would be curious enough to follow, and then..."

"Kota, what happened out there?" Erin studied his face closely for any sign of that wolf she had seen coming out of the trees.

"I don't know." Kota whispered the words as he stared at nothing in particular, his eyes like those of a lost child more than anything. "I couldn't think straight, I couldn't think at all, I was just so...so angry. I've never felt like that, not s-sure how it happened."

He recovered from the slip without even blinking, but Erin's mind went ahead and filled in the words that he meant to say: "not since."

"Has this happened before?" she asked.

"No, I've never run into a tamer before," he answered, turning to shut the closet door. Voi scurried out before it closed and disappeared down the hall, to wherever it was he went the rest of the time.

"That's not what I'm asking." Erin stepped closer to Kota and he backed up, the handle of the closet door pressing into the small of his back. "Have you ever lost control like that before?"

Kota stared down at her, both eyes and his mark clearly visible this close. He closed them so that he could not see her reaction when he said, "Yes, but not as the wolf."

### Entry 58: First Snow

Erin fumed as she went around the inn, slamming chairs into place only to move them back a minute later, or picking up the broom just to put it somewhere else when she realized that she would rather swing it at Kota's head than sweep the floor.

He had tossed her out of the room without a single explanation, not one! Well, politely asked her to leave and stood around awkwardly until she stormed out, but the intent was still the same. To admit that he had once been so angry that he lost control, and then not tell her anything else? It was...It was...

Well, it was suspicious, Erin thought to herself once she had calmed down enough for rational thought. Had he done something he was ashamed of? Something terrible?

Those remarks Miles and Lani kept making about how well she knew Kota chose this moment to replay through her head, and she wondered why she had never pressed him for answers. She knew Kota would just dodge the question like he always did, but maybe that should have been a warning in itself. What did he have to hide?

Terra left the inn as soon as he saw what kind of mood Erin was in, and Lani had disappeared again. Erin considered storming back upstairs and demanding an explanation from Kota, for everything, while there was no one else around to overhear, but it was the fact that she was alone that stopped her, in the end. With no possible witnesses to see him change, there was nothing to stop Kota from just running away again. That, and a small part of Erin thought that if he had done something once, then maybe she should have someone around, just in case. She didn't like thinking it, but the thought kept nagging her: how well did she know Kota, really?

Late that night, long after they could expect any more guests to arrive, Kota emerged from his room and slunk down the stairs without meeting anyone's eyes, least of all Erin's. Before she could get to him, Lani popped up from among a group of strangers from the east lakes and intercepted the young man.

Placing a hand on his arm, she asked, "Would you please step outside with me, just for a moment please?"

Kota hesitated and then nodded, casting a pleading look at Erin as the tamer pulled him out the door among a few catcalls from one or two guys who had been deep in their drinks. Erin scowled and wondered why she should help him, but she went out through the kitchen's back door all the same.

Outside her breath came out in thin wisps and she pulled her jacket closer. The little light shining out of the inn's windows caught something swirling in the air, and the ground was already covered in a light dusting of snow, the first of the year for the town. She shivered and grinned in spite of herself before she remembered the others, and followed the sound of Lani's voice around the inn.

She stopped at the corner and looked around to see the tamer move her hand up Kota's arm to brush the hair out of his face as she said, "How does it work?"

"It's a curse," Kota said, pushing her hand away with more impatience than Erin thought he could muster. "What do you want?"

"You heard me tell Terra, didn't you?" Lani's teeth flashed as she smiled, even in the dark. "I came here to tame the wolf, and that's what I'm going to do."

"Well, if you haven't noticed yet, I'm not a wolf," Kota said. "And I think I would have heard if tamer magic worked on humans."

"We can fix that, can't we? Tell you what, Kota, I'll give you a choice: come with me, or I do my thing with the wolf and you lose any choice at all in the matter."

Kota crossed his arms. "And just where do you want to go?"

"Here, there, everywhere," Lani said with a shrug. "I was just hired to get you away from the town. After that, the good mayor doesn't care, and I think we could put on quite the show anywhere in the empire."

"Ah, a freakshow."

"More like trained animals. Of course, that's just on the side. You would be surprised, how many people call me around so they can study Arlo and Junta, or to bring in a beast they just can be bothered to hunt down themselves." Lani put out a hand toward Kota again, and he stepped back this time. "More than one wizard would like to learn more about that curse, I bet. And that wolf would be handy in hunting too, hm?"

Kota shook his head, and it took him a long minute to answer. "To name one problem with your little plan, you need to get at the wolf to make me do anything, and that is not going to happen. Now if you don't mind, I need to go inside and wash the dishes before the food sticks."

Lani stepped in his path and made a gesture with her hand. A pile of dirt out in the inn's yard took on the bulky form of Junta, the mud badger, and a scarlet band drifting through the sky overhead was no doubt Arlo, circling around until Lani gave the next signal. Wherever the phoenix flew, it seemed to drizzle as the snow turned to rain. "So that is your choice?"

Around the corner of the inn, Erin's hands tightened into fists, but she stopped herself from moving. Surely Lani wouldn't actually try to hurt Kota? But if she tried anything with her pets, Erin could get more help than she needed out of the inn in seconds, with enough witnesses to prove the girl was crazy and unstable.

Kota did not seem any more worried than her. He just tilted his head and said, "That won't get you the wolf, you know."

"Oh, I know." Lani reached to her belt and pulled off the flute tied there. She raised it to her lips and began to play the same song from earlier, the fierce, complicated tune that raced away into the night while her eyes remained trained on Kota.

Erin smiled, thinking that the tamer clearly had no idea how the curse worked. Her smile quickly faded when Kota clapped his hands to the side of his head and dropped to his knees, his forehead almost touching the ground. She could not hear the long string of words he was saying, but she did hear the sound that rumbled behind them, growing louder every second: a long, low growl that did not match Kota's voice.

His body twisted and jerked in spasms as it changed, but this change was different than the one brought on by the sun. It was slower, and obviously more painful judging by the barely human sounds coming from the young man as he tried to fight it off.

Erin raced around the corner and tackled Lani as she cried, "Stop it!"

The music jerked to a stop as the two fought over the flute, but Kota continued to writhe on the ground. After a short struggle, Erin yanked the flute out of Lani's hands and snapped it clean in half before tossing the pieces on the ground.

Overhead, the phoenix Arlo gave a long, heartfelt cry before flying away, and Junta disappeared in a spray of dirt, leaving only a large hole in her place.

Lani whirled on Erin and snarled, "What did you do?"

"Something I wish she would have done earlier," said the man kneeling on the ground next to the shaking wolf, whose eyes were clenched shut. Both Lani and Erin stared at him, neither of them having noticed his arrival amid the fight. The man, or rather vampire, looked up at them and Miles asked, "Would you like to try to explain, or just get a running start?"

### Entry 59: Little Secret

Lani glared at Miles as he examined the wolf. "Who are you supposed to be?"

Miles glanced up at her, his stare unusually icy and his usual smile nowhere to be seen. "Name's Miles. Imperial bounty hunter, with occasional odd-job government work. I am also a very testy vampire who never has enough to drink, so I would advise you to stop looking for a way to run and keep your mouth shut until I'm ready to deal with you. Got it?"

Erin heard a sharp gasp from the tamer, whose face went as white as if Miles had hit her, but she didn't say anything else.

Miles lifted the upper half of the wolf and pulled back one of the eyelids to examine its eyes. A faint whine greeted him and he sighed with relief. "Kota, can you hear me?"

The wolf opened its eyes and gave a faint whimper before trying to pull away from the vampire's hands.

"Good to see you too," he said as he set the wolf down and stood up to face the others. Behind him, Kota's head sank back onto the ground and the wolf made one or two efforts to stand up before giving up on the idea. "You, with the flute. Explain."

Lani opened her mouth and he immediately put up his hand to stop her. "Never mind. Erin?"

"She's a tamer, hired by the mayor to catch the wolf," Erin said. She pointed at what remained of the flute and added, "She played some kind of song this morning and it made Kota act strange, and, well, you saw what happened this time."

He nodded, confirming Erin's idea that he had been watching everything too. "Common trick for tamers, using music as a long distance means to get at the beast. You used it to control the phoenix and the earth creature, right?"

Lani flung out a finger in Erin's direction and said, "And she snapped it in half! I was just doing my job, hired by the local government, mind you. The law is on my side."

"And what, exactly, does the law say about a tamer using her magic on a known shapeshifter?" Miles asked, his eyes narrowing. "Any being that, however temporarily, can attain the shape of a human cannot be controlled by a tamer against its will. There are a few exceptions, yeah, but I don't see any of them here."

"Oh, and what are you going to do, arrest me?" Lani asked. She stepped closer to Miles, to Erin either displaying a lot of bravery or a deathwish. "You know these two, you know what Kota is, but you haven't told anyone, have you? So that means you don't want anyone to find out their little secret, but if you arrest me you'll have to explain why."

Miles shrugged and grabbed Lani's hand. From his pocket he pulled out a set of cuffs that glimmered in what light there was out here and slapped them on the tamer's wrist. "Fine by me."

Behind him, Kota gave a low growl and managed to get up onto his paws, even though his legs were shaking so much beneath him that it was only a matter of time before they gave out again.

Miles looked over his shoulder and said, "Oh, come on. People are going to have to find out sometime."

"Miles," Erin said, and bit her lip when the vampire turned his stare on her. She swallowed back the bile at the idea of helping Lani and continued, "Her flute's broken, so she can't do anything else, right?"

"Except tell people the wolf is Kota." Miles said, locking the cuff around her other wrist. "If it's going to happen either way, I'd rather she go to jail."

Lani looked from one to the other. "Why would I tell somebody? Like you said, it's forbidden for me to use my talents on people. If I out Kota, I out myself."

Miles stared around at all of them and then swore. There was a click and Lani quickly stepped away. "Fine. Just remember that when you tell, I'll be more than happy to escort you to the Judges."

"You mean 'if,'" Lani said.

"No, I don't." Miles pocketed his cuffs and turned back to Kota when he collapsed to the ground. "Give it up before you hurt yourself, man. Erin, do you mind checking the inn to see if the coast is clear?"

Erin nodded and went inside. Miles checked Kota and saw that he had passed out from the effort of trying to stand.

"You said you were hired by the mayor?" he asked.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Lani nod. "He sent me a letter, just like the hunter."

"Hunter?"

"Oh, that's right, you don't know," Lani said, not even trying to hide the glee in her voice. "He hired a hunter too, and he's staying right here at this inn. I was the humane option. Still am, if you want to change your mind."

Miles did not waste the effort it took to hide his disgust as he said, "Pass."

Lani gave an obviously fake sigh. "Shame. He would make such a great pet, don't you think?"

Miles had her up off the ground before she could blink, her jacket knotted up in his hands. "I'll give you one warning: I don't care two bits about his little secret, and will still drag you to the capital right now if you give me one, just one, reason to do it."

He dropped her when the door opened and Erin stepped out.

"Everyone's headed upstairs to their rooms," she said.

Miles nodded and hefted the wolf up into his arms with a grunt. "Get the door, will you?"

Erin held the door for him and followed him upstairs to Kota's room, where she got the door again. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

"Don't know," Miles said. He stopped in the center of the room and looked around, as if unsure what to do now.

Erin opened the closet door and they stared down at the blanket on the floor. "He sleeps in here, apparently."

"He definitely will tonight," Miles said, unceremoniously dropping the wolf onto the blanket and rolling his shoulders with a faint popping sound. "You wouldn't think he'd be so heavy."

"Must be all the fur," Lani said from the door as she leaned against the frame.

Erin whirled on her and said, "Pack your things. You're going to turn in your key and leave, first thing in the morning."

"I am?"

"You are unless you want me to throw you out myself," Erin said.

"Do it now, I want to watch," Miles said and Erin glared at him. "Oh, like you want her to stay the night."

"She can leave in the morning, when she can explain to Mayor Geld she received a better offer to work somewhere else," Erin said as she closed the closet door on the sleeping wolf. "Or just leave, I don't really care."

Lani watched the door shut and did not put up a fight when they ushered her out of the room and into her own. Miles claimed the key to his own room, but as Erin went downstairs she had no doubt the vampire would sit up somewhere he could keep an eye on both the tamer and the wolf.

### Entry 60: Grasping at Straws

A thin layer of snow covered the ground when Erin looked outside the next morning, brilliantly white except for the dark trail left by the first lot of guests to check out. To her surprise, Lani was among them, and left without a single word. She did give Erin a small grin as she stepped out the door, which worried her more than anything the tamer could have done, but Erin watched her walk away amid a group of strangers until they disappeared out of sight on the road heading south.

"Kota sleeping in today?"

Erin turned away from the window and saw Terra walk across the room and lean against the other side of the window so that he could look out as well. "Yeah, he's been pulling a lot of all-nighters lately, so I guess he's earned it."

"Hm." Terra's eyes roved over the ground and he smiled. "Love snow. Makes tracking easier, if you know how to walk in it."

"Walk in it?"

"So you don't scare everything away," Terra said, and imitated a crunching noise. "No use if the animal knows you're coming, yeah?"

"Guess so." Erin watched a drift of snow slide off the roof and crash into the ground. "Don't think this stuff will be lasting long, though. Lani left this morning."

"Really?"

"Why do you look so disappointed?" Erin asked, turning on the hunter. "I thought you hated her."

"Oh, hate's a bit rough, but yeah. It just would've been more fun, seeing the look on her face when I caught the wolf." Terra shrugged and smiled at Erin. "I'll just have to settle for when she got licked by it."

Erin grinned a little and said, "If you don't mind, I'm going to check on something upstairs."

"No problem, I was planning to step out anyways," Terra said, absentmindedly waving Erin on as he went back to looking out. "Tamer distracted me, put me off schedule. I'll have to make up for that."

Erin fled up the stairs and, after looking to make sure that no one else was around, knocked on Kota's door before trying to open it, only to find someone had locked it. She knocked again, and was just about to turn around and get the master key when it opened and Miles peeked out. "Can I help you?"

"What are you doing in there?" Erin asked as the vampire stepped aside and let her in. A quick look around showed the room was otherwise empty. "Is he still in the closet?"

"Yes," Miles said, but stopped her from opening it. "I haven't actually checked on him yet, he's still asleep."

"How do you know if he's asleep if you haven't checked?"

Miles tapped his ear and said, "Different heartbeat. The girl left, yes?"

"Yeah, this morning. I saw her leave. Is Kota okay?"

Miles pulled her a little farther away from the closet and spoke in a lower voice. "I haven't checked yet, but...Well, let's say he wasn't. Maybe we should–"

"Maybe we shouldn't," Erin said, pushing past him and yanking open the closet door.

A groan greeted them from the bottom of the closet and Kota put a hand to his eyes as he sat up. Voi, who had been curled up in a ball on his chest, looked around and leapt off at the movement to scurry into the corner. "What time is it?"

"You're okay!" Erin flung her arms around the young man and pulled him up onto his feet.

"I am?" Kota swayed and steadied himself on the doorframe. "Then why does my head hurt so much?"

"Too much noise," Miles said, tugging on the back of Erin's shirt until she got the hint and let him go. Speaking louder, he added, "Good to see you again, by the way."

Kota groaned again and clapped his hands to his ears as he glared at the vampire. "When did you get here?"

"Last night, same time you had your little accident."

"Accident?" A look of panic crossed Kota's face. "What accident, where?"

"Ah, so you don't remember," Miles said as he leaned in closer to examine Kota's face, burning mark and all. "Tamer, flute, turning into a wolf, the savage attack?"

"What? No, no," Kota said, sparing a hand to stop the vampire. "I don't remember any of that."

"Oh, good, because that last bit didn't actually happen." Miles took a look in the closet and then around the rest of the bare room. "You don't go in much for decorating, do you? Not even a poster in your little hidey-hole. So depressing."

"Where is Lani?" Kota asked Erin, glancing at the door as if expecting her to come barging in at any moment.

"She left, Miles scared her off." Erin heard the vampire scoff behind her as he checked under the bed. "You don't remember any of it?"

"I think I remember music, and then..." For a fraction of a second, Kota's eyes widened before he squeezed them shut. "No, nothing else. What are you looking for?"

"Nothing," Miles said as he straightened up. He spotted the red journal sitting on the nightstand and flipped it open. "Oh, someone's been doing some reading. Anything interesting?"

"That's right!" Erin shouted and Kota pressed his hands even harder against his skull as she turned around. "A mer told me that Mr. Sollis was looking for something to break a curse!"

Miles could not quite hide his surprise and he said, "Really?" without thinking. At Erin's expression, he cleared his throat and said, "I mean, I can't believe you found a mer. Not very talkative people when it's cold out. Tell me more about this curse."

Erin hesitated. "Well, the mer just called it a 'chain' or something, and said Sollis was looking for the key to breaking it."

"Nothing else?"

"I tried asking how to find it," Erin said, trying hard not to look at Kota right now. "But the mer acted like I should already know."

Miles looked over her shoulder at Kota, staring hard at him as if looking for something before he went back to the journal. "The mer knew you had this, right? Did the old man say anything useful in here, any maps, anything?"

"No, just a lot of gossip about guests," Kota said behind her.

The vampire frowned and flipped through the pages so fast that Erin did not think he could have seen any of it, but he stopped and turned over the last couple before holding the book up so they could see the drawing of a sun and moon, interlocked.

"You said you had seen this before, right?" Miles said, looking now at Erin.

"Yeah, I told you, it's the town emblem." Erin sighed as she felt her hope draining away. "There's a couple of them around, at the bridge and the clock tower. It doesn't mean anything."

Miles glanced at Kota and Erin again, and to her it sounded as if he were grasping at straws when he smiled and said, "Who wants to go into town today?"

### Entry 61: The Clock Tower

Erin took her time returning to the inn with her brother, Art. She figured Kota would try to worm his way out of going into town, and it was nice to talk to Art for longer than a few minutes. They vented to each other, her about the guests at the inn and him about the shop. He surprised her when, as they passed the patrol going the other way, he said, "I wish I could work in the inn like you."

"You haven't been listening to me at all, have you?" she asked. She had literally just finished talking about how one of the guests from last night left his room completely trashed and somehow managed to stop up both the toilet and the shower. "Come on, working for Mr. Beyar can't be that bad."

Art snorted but didn't answer, and walked the rest of the way with his head bowed and his forehead scrunched up like he always did when he was thinking about something. Erin knew better than to bother him when he was in this sort of mood, and hoped he would be alright by himself when Kota and Miles surprised her by appearing at the door just as they walked up.

"About time," Miles said. He looked up at the sky, which was dark and overcast. "Do you really think someone is going to come while we're gone?"

"They might, if they want to stop before the snow starts again," Art said, looking up at the sky too. "Icy roads are bad for horses and wagons."

Erin barely had enough time to give him directions on what to do before Miles started to walk away, forcing her and Kota to follow along or be left behind.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Erin asked Kota as they started to pass the outlying homes.

"Yeah, I think so," he said, but he looked surprisingly like Art as he studied the ground while they walked.

Miles stopped on the bridge and nearly fell into the water trying to look over the side of the railing. "Ah, there's one. You said there's another at the clock tower?"

"Yes," Erin said as she stopped next to him and peered down at the engraving of the sun crossed with the moon. She saw that Kota was at the foot of the bridge, looking at something else and probably out of earshot, so she took the chance to ask, "Do you really think there's something there, or are you just guessing?"

"Bit of both." Miles shrugged at her expression and smiled. "What do we have to lose, eh?"

Needless to say, that did not fill Erin with much hope as they trekked to the center of town. She did notice that people stared as they went, but mostly at Miles, and she thought that at least he had been right about one thing. Most of the town patrol and more than a few others had become regulars at the inn, if only for the food, and one or two even smiled and waved at Kota as they passed. It certainly wasn't the reception he would have received if they even remotely thought he could be the same person they chased through the streets over a month ago.

They stopped again in the town circle, and all three looked up at the tall clock tower that rose up over the rest of the buildings. Miles scanned the tower, and Erin helped him out by pointing at the face of the clock. "Just beneath it, see?"

"Good eyes," Miles remarked, and beside him Kota nodded.

"Everyone knows it's there, we used to look for it when we were kids."

"There's a door down there." Kota gestured toward the base of the tower, where flowers and bushes dotted the circle of green around it. "Is it possible to go up?"

"Oh, good, you've decided to participate," Miles said dryly and Kota glared at him.

"I...don't know," Erin admitted. "I don't think I ever seen anyone go in there."

She looked around, but no one was paying them much attention at the moment. "I do know one way to find out, though."

She set off across the street and through the green up to the door. Erin tried the handle but was not surprised when she found it locked.

"Perhaps a key–" Miles started, before Erin slid a piece of metal out of her pocket and, after a little fiddling with the lock, it clicked open. "Or that. That works."

"Your father taught you how to do that too?" Kota asked as the door creaked open, releasing a wave of dust and the smell of old, old wood and grease.

"No, Marcus did." Erin hesitated at the door, but when she spoke it was to say, "Don't tell Dad, got it?"

"Oh, I'm blaming you for everything if we get caught," Miles said as he brushed past her into the dark. After a moment or so, a light went up and he returned with an old-fashioned torch which he used to light the one in the stand by the door. "Got to love a good fire hazard."

Erin and Kota went in, and Kota looked around before closing the door behind them. "I don't think anyone noticed, so maybe they won't mind if we look around."

The firelight cast shadows on the large round room, catching the edges of the stairs that circled up the tower to the upper floors where a steady, grinding noise was coming from. A few narrow slits along the stairs would have provided some light if not for the gloom outside, but even the brightest of days would have a hard time illuminating this place.

"Not much to see," Miles admitted as he paced the flagstone floor, occasionally stopping to nudge the debris on the ground with his foot. "Old parts no one bothered to throw away, trash, and dirt."

"Who takes care of the clock?"

Erin glanced at Kota, whose head was tilted all the way back as he stared up at the ceiling. "What do you mean?"

"A clock this big doesn't just run by itself," he said as he started for the stairs. "It has to be wound, right?"

Miles turned to see both Erin and Kota going up the stairs, their eyes trained on the ceiling, and followed suit. His light soon lost the ground as they climbed higher and higher, but as they went through the next floor it glanced off the bottom of a swinging pendulum, which they saw in full on the next floor up, connected to a box that, by the sound of it, hid a mass of mechanisms that turned the hands on the clock face.

"Well, it's not exact, but then these things never are," Miles remarked as he checked the box on his wrist. "Someone must check on it every now and then."

Erin wasn't so sure, and she glanced over at Kota to see what he thought. His head was craned all the way back to stare at the gleaming bells that hung between the wide openings in the walls, and she looked up to see what had captured his attention.

Miles turned when he heard Kota say, in an off-hand voice, "Well, someone's taken up residence, but I don't think Arlo's here to keep time.

### Entry 62: One Drop

In the rafters above the bells, a flame glimmered and Arlo shook his head before peering down at Erin, Kota, and Miles. The phoenix gave a short, low call before shaking out its wings with a rustle of embers and gliding down to the floor below. All three backed up, but the phoenix simply landed on the box that contained the clock's mechanisms and stared at them with first one eye and then another.

"Arlo?" Miles asked out of the corner of his mouth, not taking his eyes off of the bird.

"That's what Lani called him," Erin said. "I guess she really did lose control of him."

Arlo gave a chirruping sound and tilted his head at an angle that hurt Erin's neck to look at, and beside her Kota tilted his head and stared back.

"Good place for him," Kota said after a moment or so. "High place, mostly stone, and apparently no one comes around very often. It's not like phoenixes are normally aggressive."

"Just when someone's playing the 'make you go mad' song," Erin said, remembering Arlo swooping down at the wolf.

At the words, Arlo shifted his weight and took off again, flying around the bells just as the hour hand moved and they began to ring out, peal after peal that had the people down below clapping their hands over their ears. Miles made some kind of gesture and tried to shout over the noise, but he might as well have not bothered. Amid the ringing, Erin thought she could just make out another sound: the phoenix, singing along, but by the time the bells stopped the bird had fallen silent.

She could see Miles's mouth moving, but Erin just shook her head and hoped the ringing in her ears would also stop. The vampire looked up at the phoenix, but Arlo settled back onto his perch in the sure knowledge that they could not reach him even if they wanted to do so.

"Well, I doubt the last innkeeper was looking for a phoenix," Miles said once he figured they could hear him again. He walked around the room, careful to avoid the hole in the floor that allowed the pendulum and weights to pass through, and stopped by the clock face to look out at the town below.

"There's nothing else here," Erin murmured, but she was looking at Kota and wondering how he would take this disappointment. Sollis's journal was all that they had to go on, and so far everything had been one dead end after another.

If he was disappointed, Kota was doing a good of hiding it. His eyes narrowed and he went to the box that hid the mechanism for the clock. At least, that's what Erin thought should have been inside, but when he opened it there was nothing of the sort.

All of the cables and wires ran in a loop around a spool that slowly turned at the top of the box. Erin had no idea how the spool itself turned, but there were scrawling symbols drawn all over it. Beneath the spool there was another image of the sun and the moon carved into the wood and the rest of the box was bare.

"Huh," Miles said as he leaned over Erin's shoulder to look. "So I'm guessing your dad, Mr. 'Magic follows magic' doesn't know about this."

Erin edged away from him. "What is that?"

"Some sort of spell," Miles said as he used the now vacant space beside Kota to lean in for a closer look at the symbols. He sniffed and looked down at the bottom of the box. "Oh."

"Yeah, looks like something else used to be here," Kota said, bending down.

"How can you tell?"

Kota pointed at a dark spot on the bottom of the case, near the front. "See this spot? It's cut off, where it splashed against something. Blood?"

"Yes," Miles said. "Human, if you're curious."

"So someone took...something out of here, and they were bleeding," Erin said, and wished she hadn't. "I guess you can't tell whose it is?"

Miles glanced at her and she shrugged.

"No, I can't. It's old blood, been here for around a year if I had to guess. So we can't blame the bird." Miles looked up when Arlo made an irritated noise and shuffled his feathers, causing embers to come swirling down. "Oh, it was a joke, get over it."

"Do you think it was the key?" Erin asked, looking at Kota, but he was staring at the carving of the sun and moon as if trying to figure it out.

Miles put a hand over his mouth and thought for a moment, his eyes shifting from the box to the other two occasionally. Finally, he reached a decision and said, "Maybe. I think I can justify using the combox on this. The wizards back at the capital might be able to tell me something about this spell here, maybe even who made it."

"They can do that?" Kota asked, snapping out of whatever thought was currently occupying him.

"If I can keep them from being distracted by anything shiny, then it's possible," Miles said as he pulled the box off of his wrist and began fiddling with the dials. He looked up after a minute or so and saw that Kota and Erin were watching him, fascinated. "Yeah, this could take a while, and that's just to calibrate the blasted thing. You two should probably go on back to the inn."

"I kind of want to watch," Erin protested, but Miles spared a hand to shoo them away.

Kota stopped at the top of the stairs to ask, "Think you and Arlo can get along?"

"As long as the fire chicken doesn't start something," Miles said, before a squawk came from up in the rafters. "Oh, like you weren't thinking about it."

Arlo turned around and put a wing over his head, but a low, grumbling noise continued to come from his corner of the rafters.

Miles waved as they went down the stairs and turned his attention back to the combox, which started beeping and giving a low whine. Kota and Erin had barely reached the ground floor when they heard the vampire shout, "Busy? How can you possibly be too busy to answer?!"

"Now I don't feel so bad about leaving," Erin admitted as Kota put out the torch. He grinned and they stepped out of the clock tower and blinked.

Even though the sky was still overcast, their eyes still had to readjust after the gloom. As such, they did not notice the couple walking nearby on the green until they stopped and Eli Smith said, "What on earth were you two doing in there?"

### Entry 63: Volunteered

Erin and Kota froze, and the young man fought the instinct to hide at the sound of the blacksmith's voice.

"Well?" Eli said, crossing his arms and staring down at them. Beside him, a woman with rolls of chestnut hair and bright eyes raised a hand to her mouth to hide what looked suspiciously like a smile.

"We were...Um, taking a day off to look at the snow, and Kota was curious about the clock tower," Erin answered, jabbing Kota in the side with her elbow.

"Oh, yes, it's very interesting," Kota said, taking the cue and rubbing the bruise now forming on his ribs. "They built the town around it, right?"

"No, actually the town came first," answered the woman. "The river used to be the center of town, until it expanded away from the forest. So you're Kota?"

"Y-yes, I am." Kota backed away as the woman stepped closer and looked him over. "So, you're, uh..."

"Erin's mother," she said and smiled. "Naomi. And have you been hiding out in the inn this whole time?"

Kota could feel his face turning red, and was almost grateful when Eli distracted Naomi by saying, "Whatever you two were really doing, you should get back to the inn and send Art home before it gets dark. Yeah, I know where he's at."

This last bit was in response to Erin's surprise, and she said, "Sure, of course."

"Geld is asking everyone to stay indoors after dark now," Naomi said. Her face fell and she glanced at Eli before adding, "There was another attack last night."

"Another one?" Erin said. "Wait, they don't think it was the wolf, do they?"

"Well, something attacked Darren as he was walking home last night." The blacksmith shook his head. "Poor guy was cutting wood, didn't realize the time before it was already dark. Patrol found him this morning, too wounded to walk and half-mad from fear."

Erin and Kota looked at each other, but both could see that the other had no idea what to make of it.

"Has anyone told Terra?" Erin asked, and Kota nearly bit his lip in half when he heard the hunter reply, "Yes, they have."

Terra came striding across the faded grass with the mayor struggling to keep up. "Didn't expect to see you two in town. Finally got bored with the inn?"

"I wish," Eli muttered.

"Talking about the beast, eh?" Mayor Geld said, puffing a little from the slight exertion. "Terra and I just checked in on Darren, poor fool. Imagine, going into the forest alone!"

"Well, someone's got to do it," Naomi said, and looped her arm around her husband's. "Winter's coming on, and the people need to keep warm somehow."

"Yes, yes, of course," Geld said hastily. "Since my tamer seems to have left, I suppose there's only option left for dealing with the beast, eh?"

Kota stared at the faded grass as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

Terra caught Erin's eye and shrugged. "I know the place where they found the woodcutter, so from there I should be able to track down the beast, easily."

The mayor clapped his hand on the hunter's shoulder and said, "Attaboy."

"You're going out alone?" Naomi asked, and her keen eyes took in the hunter much like they had with Kota.

"Not like anyone else around here would go," Eli answered for him. When Terra started to protest, he said, "You've asked around, haven't you? The patrol, the apprentices, and what did they all say?"

Terra coughed and decided to change the subject by latching on to Erin and Kota. "You two are ready to head back to the inn, right?"

"Sure, I guess," Erin said, but her mother stopped the hunter before he could leave.

"You know it's not a good idea to go after something that you know nothing about by yourself," she said. "Geld, surely someone can be found."

The mayor looked about as happy as Terra to be put on the spot. "He is a professional, Naomi. You can see that for yourself."

Naomi turned on Kota and said, "What about you?"

"What?" Kota froze when he saw that everyone was now looking at him. "I, uh, that might not be the best idea, I mean, I watch the inn at night, I can't just go running off on Erin."

Eli looked at Erin. "You can't handle the inn one night by yourself?"

Erin's face flushed red and she said, "Of course I can! Who do you think I am?"

The blacksmith shrugged. "Okay then, so Kota can go with the hunter and they can keep each other out of trouble. Sounds settled to me."

"But–" Kota started, but the words failed when he realized he had no idea how to get out of the hunt without far too many questions being asked. He sighed and Terra smiled when he saw the young man was giving in.

"Great. We'll head back to the inn then and get ready. By tomorrow morning we'll put a stop to these attacks."

Kota and Erin were not so sure that would be how this night turned out, and the walk back to the inn was mostly a one-sided conversation as Terra listed off everything he and Kota would need.

After they returned, Terra pulled Kota to the side while Erin talked to her younger brother Art and said, "Don't worry. Just follow my instructions, and I'll handle everything. From the site of last night's attack it shouldn't take long to track down the beast. With any luck, we'll be back before morning."

"I don't have much luck," Kota admitted and Terra laughed.

They left within the hour, Terra with his bow and arrow and Kota bearing a pack with the few extra supplies the hunter thought they might possibly need. They talked little as they went around the border of the forest until they found the old, weed-patched footpath that the woodcutter had taken the night before. It wound on through the forest, but never went fully in. At all times they could see the bare fields beyond the thin line of trees. Kota thought of how Erin had whispered to him, when Terra wasn't looking, "If all else fails, give him the slip" and he smiled. That, at least, he thought he could handle.

Terra stopped and bent down to look at the ground, brushing aside the little patches of snow to reveal the red layer underneath, stained by the blood on the ground. "Well, I think we're getting close."

"This cold, the ground will be too hard to hold much of a mark," Kota said, and pulled his jacket a little closer. It had been the biggest one he could find in the attic, but he was starting to see why someone had left it behind.

"Yeah, that's right," Terra said, and Kota tried to ignore the surprise in the hunter's voice. "But the beast did manage to leave a trail."

He pointed off the path to the series of broken tree limbs and trampled bushes that, hidden as they might have been by the remaining snow, still marked the way into the path of the beast.

### Entry 64: The Beast of the Forest

The woods were full of little noises, from the creaking of trees to the drip, drip, dripping of melting snow, as well as the sudden, quick noises of small animals moving just out of sight, startled by the passing of the two young men. Terra walked in front, his eyes on the trail of devastation left by whatever beast had attacked the woodcutter, while Kota trailed behind, gazing up and around at the tall, dark trees and the patches of sky between the bare, reaching branches.

The gray sky became night, and a few stars managed to appear among the masses of clouds drifting overhead, but still they followed the trail. It was not hard to follow, and the stars provided enough light that Terra insisted on waiting to bring out a light until they were tripping over rocks and roots and Kota nearly walked into a tree.

"Fine, there should be one in the pack," Terra said, making Kota turn around so that he could open the one on his back. After some rummaging around, he passed Kota something and then turned on a tube that, after some adjusting, shot out a dim, greenish light. "Mage device. At this setting it shouldn't affect our night vision too bad if we need to turn it off."

"A knife?" Kota asked, looking at the thin blade Terra had given him.

"Just in case." Terra closed the pack and slapped Kota on the back. "Erin would kill me if I let anything happen to you, right?"

Kota did not know how to answer that, so he silently turned the blade over a few times before sticking it in his belt. He knew he would never use it, but figured it would make Terra feel better knowing he had it.

"What do you think attacked the woodcutter?" Terra asked as they continued walking.

"You don't think it was the wolf?"

"Does this really look like a wolf's doing?" Terra pointed at the wide trail. "Even if there was more than one, I doubt they would run this close together for so long. This is one creature, which clearly isn't trying to stay hidden."

"Or is too scared to care about anything following it."

Terra looked at Kota again, who rubbed the back of his head and looked away. The hunter waved the light over the ground and said, "It attacked someone."

"But didn't kill him," Kota said without thinking and flinched.

Terra froze, and Kota thought that he was thinking of a response to that, but when the hunter spoke he said, "Do you hear that?"

Kota strained his ears, and just barely made out the crackling of twigs and a rough, heavy breathing. He nodded at Terra, and the hunter moved closer so that he could whisper, "Okay, I'm going to go ahead and get a look at this thing, and, no offense, but you're going to get in that tree there and wait for me. Got it?"

Kota looked at the tree and back at Terra to see if he was serious. When the hunter failed to crack a smile, Kota shrugged and grabbed the lowest branch of the tree before swinging himself up with hardly a noise.

Terra nodded and tossed the light up to Kota before drawing an arrow to his bow and continuing on, his eyes searching this way and that. Kota leaned as far as he could and watched until Terra disappeared out of sight before sitting back against the trunk with a sigh. He supposed it was a good sign that the hunter thought so little of him, but it did little to soothe him as he shivered and pulled the jacket up to his ears to block out the sharp wind tugging at the tree.

Kota tilted his head, listening hard to hear the ragged breaths over the wind, but after a minute or so he was sure that it was getting closer every second. Even worse, it now seemed to be coming from the wrong direction. He tried to tell himself that it was just a trick of the wind, but he could not blame the wind for the silver silhouette that crashed through the brush underneath the tree.

"Oh, God," Kota murmured. He shifted his weight and watched the beast stagger over its own trail, noting the dark line over its long, arched neck.

Terra called from up ahead, his exact words drowned out by the noise below. Kota supposed he must have found where the trail circled around, but all of his attention was on the creature, which turned its head at the noise and pawed the ground with one of its bright, shining hooves.

Kota shouted at the same moment that the hunter came into sight, but the unicorn lowered its head and charged, ignoring the distraction. An arrow hit the trunk of the tree just as Kota swung himself to the ground, but he saw Terra hit the ground and roll out of the way of the trampling hooves.

The unicorn turned without slowing in its step, and Kota shouted and waved his arms until it went for him instead of the prone figure on the ground. He swallowed and waited until the last possible second before dodging and running alongside the unicorn, an easy task as the beast was flagging now, its breath coming in increasingly harsher gasps.

On the other side of the clearing, Terra sat up and saw Kota pull his knife out of his belt and grab something on the unicorn's neck without slowing his step. The beast ran on, dragging the young man in its wake as it tossed its head and tried to gore him with its long, pointed horn or throw him to the ground.

Terra glanced at his broken bow, swore, and pulled an arrow out of his quiver as he ran to Kota's aid. By the time he got there, the young man fell away and hit the ground without moving. The unicorn continued on for a few more steps before stopping and turning to look back at them. While its chest heaved, the ragged, hoarse breathing had stopped, and the eyes had lost the mad, panicked look from just before it tried to kill him.

When it failed to charge again, Terra dropped to one knee beside Kota, the arrow still ready as a last ditch weapon. "Kota?"

"Sorry," Kota murmured. He opened his raw and bleeding hands to reveal Terra's knife and a length of rusted barb wire. "I think I ruined your knife."

"You....That was on it?"

Kota pointed at his neck, and now that Terra looked he could see the red line around the unicorn's neck, in profile now as it slowly walked past them, one eye trained on the pair until it passed and continued on, deeper into the forest.

"Pain, couldn't breathe," Kota said, in between his own gasps, and Terra nodded. They both could imagine the unicorn's attempts to rid itself of the wire, only to drive it further in.

"And scared animals lash out," Terra finished for him, and Kota sighed. Upon closer inspection, he found that Kota had actually passed out. "Here we go, give me your pack."

He pulled the pack off of Kota and, after digging some strips of cloth out, put it on his own back, adjusting the quiver so that he could carry both. He tied the cloth around Kota's hands to stop the bleeding and heaved the young man onto the shoulder opposite the quiver with a grunt.

"Guess I owe you for saving my life," he muttered, and knew he would keep reminding himself of that on the long walk back to the inn. He looked up and saw that the clouds had cleared. With the sun due to come up any time now, at least it would be a beautiful day.

### Entry 65: Dawn

Erin leapt up when she heard the back door of the inn crash open and ran into the kitchen. She stopped short at the sight of Miles, leaning against the counter and looking over his shoulder at the sky out the window, which was changing colors as the sun began to rise.

"You don't have to look that disappointed," he said once he saw the expression on her face. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm sure there will come a day when I can't outrace the sun."

"No, it's not that!"

"Oh, good," Miles said, cracking a smile that faded when he saw Erin was serious. "What has Kota done now?"

"We ran into my parents and the mayor outside of the clock tower," Erin said, and explained about the beast that had attacked one of the townspeople while Miles put a hand to his face and tried not to interrupt.

When she got to the part about how they talked Kota into going hunting with Terra, he broke down and said, "But he said no, right?"

"He tried, but–"

"But Kota doesn't handle pressure very well," Miles finished and Erin nodded. "So he's out there, right now, with a hunter who thinks the wolf is the one attacking everyone."

They both looked out the window this time, and Miles flinched at the sight of dawn. He moved away from the window, even though the sun was rising on the other side of the inn.

"Kota's probably already given him the slip," Erin said with more conviction than she felt. "Running away is what he does, he's an expert at it. He'll probably hide out until the coast is clear and sneak back to the inn with some story about how they got separated or something."

"He's going to 'give the slip' to a hunter who is known across the empire for his ability to track anything and everything?"

Erin did not know how to answer that, but she was saved from figuring that out when they heard three loud thuds, like someone kicking at the front door. "Kota!"

She ran through the inn with Miles following more cautiously, his eyes on the windows, and threw open the front door only to recoil with horror.

"Little help here?" Terra grunted under the weight of the wolf on his shoulder combined with the pack, and he staggered into the inn and dropped it onto one of the chairs, where, out of the early morning sunlight, it changed back into Kota.

The hunter had no time to say anything else before Miles slammed him up against the nearest wall, his face less than an inch away from the vampire's.

"What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Terra said, as much as he could with the pressure on his neck. To Erin's surprise, he stared back into the snarling vampire's face without the slightest hint of fear. "Although it's pure luck I didn't shoot him before now, because not one of you thought to tell me that wolf was human."

"Luck?" Miles tightened his grip and the hunter gave a gurgling sound. "You knew there was something with the wolf."

"Madame Elzwig just told me to keep an eye on it," he said, wheezing. "To shoot if it attacked, but that was it, I swear."

Miles's eyes narrowed, but he looked away when he heard Kota cough and say, "Let him go already."

"You're bleeding," Miles said, only changing his grip enough that the hunter could breathe easily.

"Terra didn't..." Kota tried to rub his face and remembered the wounds on his hands too late. He shook his head and said, "Barbed wire, that's all."

Erin said, "He did carry him home, Miles."

The vampire, after some effort, let Terra go and said, "Can someone cover those blasted windows already?"

Erin ran around the room, closing all of the shutters before going back into the kitchen to get some real bandages, while Kota examined the lacerations on his hands.

"Unicorn blood?" Miles asked after a sniff.

Kota shrugged. "Long story. Should at least keep away infection."

Erin took his hands and spread the ointment from the first aid kit over the cuts, all the while trying to ignore Kota's attempts to hide his gasps of pain. While she carefully bandaged his hands, she asked Terra, "So you were working for Elzwig?"

"For the mayor, officially," Terra said with a shrug. He took the seat on the opposite side of the table and seemed to instantly regret it when Miles took the chair next to him. "The Judge simply added a few notes. I figured there was something going on, but..."

Kota shifted under his gaze, even though he was staring at the polished wooden floorboards. "Sawdust," he muttered.

Erin glanced down too and said, "You're not bleeding that much, and I think this should stop it. It's only a few drops, I can clean that up in just a minute."

Kota did not answer, but that was because his eyes were nearly shut now and his head was starting to sag forward.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Terra asked again, with a bit more force since he could actually breathe this time. "Do you realize how stupid this was, keeping this a secret?"

"We were afraid the people in town would..." Erin started.

"Would what?" Miles asked. "Run him out of town? Kill him? Exactly what problem does this town have with irregulars? I've never heard of anything happening here before."

"Well, no, we've never really dealt with anyone like this before," Erin said, but realized that wasn't true. Mr. Sollis had written about the guests that came into the inn, and at times nearly a third of them probably weren't even human. They just passed through the inn and never went into town, she supposed.

"Wen warned me, said this town had a bad history," Kota said, surprising Erin. She thought he had passed out again, but as she finished binding his hands and sat back she could see the small glimmer of his eyes.

"Why would he say that?" Erin asked, and Kota shrugged his limp shoulders.

"This Wen, whatever he remembers, it doesn't matter, does it?" Miles asked, leaning on the table so that he could get a better look at Kota. "You didn't want anyone to know long before he warned you."

"Can you blame me?" Kota said, drawing his legs up into his chair and resting his head on his knees. "I've lost count of how many times people have tried to kill me since I got this curse. That's part of how it works."

"No home and no sanctuary for the lone wolf," Miles said, and from her position Erin could see Kota's eyes widen in shock. "Only death awaits the one who abandons his pack."

Erin wasn't sure if Kota was even breathing anymore, and his face had paled. "Sorry, what was that?"

"A saying in the far northern mountains," Terra said, and this time it was Miles's turn to look surprised. "Wolves are common there, a real problem this time of year."

"A bit more than a saying in some places," Miles said, still staring so hard at Kota that Erin was sure the young man could feel it. "It's part of a curse in one small village outside the bounds of the empire. Although I think Solkotan here could tell us more about it than I ever could."

### Entry 66: How a Curse is Made

"Solkotan?" Erin said, and she and Terra both looked at Kota, who pulled his legs closer to his body and buried his face in his knees.

"Solkotan Volkov," Kota said, and chuckled in a way that did not sound like he was very happy. "That's my full name. But how do you know it?"

"I had a little free time up in the mountains, when I wasn't trying to track down a crazed hatter dealing illegal potions," Miles said. "Long story short, I asked a few questions and didn't get as many answers as I would have liked. I think it's time you told us how you got your curse, Solkotan."

"Kota," Kota snapped the word out, and his eyes flashed as he looked up at Miles for the first time. "Just...Kota, okay?"

He sighed and ran a bandaged hand over his face, stopping at the mark above his left eye before he began to speak.

"Well, like you said, I come from a small village, just outside of your Empire and too small to be noticed. There, in the mountains, it's similar to your forest. There's more than just wolves and deer to deal with. Spirits, beasts, 'irregulars' like you call them, and like here they're everywhere."

"No, they're in the forest," Erin said, ignoring the glare Miles sent her at the interruption.

"Really? You've seen Voi, and there's a lot more than him hanging around this old inn," Kota said. "You have a phoenix in your clock tower, a troll under your bridge, and I'm fairly sure there's more than a few spirits hanging around just your father's forge." Kota shrugged at Erin's expression. "You don't see them, but they're here all the same. In the village, the smaller spirits assist just about everywhere.

"It's the wild ones that they have more trouble with. Cut the wrong tree, stray into the barren rocks unbidden, or disrespect the mer, and it could bring trouble on you or even the whole village, and that was just the spirits. Creatures like the cannishifts, the worst sort of goblin, and griffins didn't need much of an excuse to play havoc with our lives."

Miles leaned back in his chair and said, "Of course, your village must have had a way of dealing with them. Hunters?"

"For some, yes, but we had...I suppose you would call them tamers," Kota stopped and chuckled. "Maybe not tamer, they weren't much like Lani. Our tamers could see the spirits and speak to them, in a way."

"You were a tamer," Erin said, thinking of how Voi came out only for Kota. Even the way Arlo and Kota looked at each other, it seemed like the two were thinking the same thing.

Kota nodded. "So was my father. There were a few others in the village, but none of them had the gift like him."

"They said he saved the village more times than anyone could count," Miles said, studying Kota's face closely. "Even the king of the mountain knew his name. They talked and talked about him, but you know, none of them would tell me how he died."

"Of course they wouldn't!" The anger that flashed across Kota's face reminded Erin fiercely of the wolf under Lani's spell. "You want to know how he died? Two years ago, on midwinter's eve, the leaders of the village went with him for the annual ritual in the barren stones. A beast, unlike anything they had seen before, had sheltered in the stones. It was hungry, and terrified, and lashed out at them, and the leaders fought back. My father tried to stop them, and he was hurt in the process. So what did they do? They left him there."

Shaking, Kota buried his head in his knees again, but continued to speak, "And they came back, and they lied to me, told me the beast had killed him, when they left him to freeze in the dark with no one to help."

"How did you find out the truth?" Miles asked, and it was Erin's turn to glare at him.

"I went to him, of course. The wound that killed him, all of them, came from weapons, not from that poor creature that had huddled with him, trying to keep each other warm enough to survive the night." Kota looked up, this time at Erin, with eyes red from holding back tears. "You remember when you asked when was the last time I was so angry I couldn't think?"

Erin nodded, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

"I don't even remember walking back to the village, or what I did. They said I would have killed someone if they hadn't been able to knock me out." Kota turned his gaze back to his knees. "That's when they gave me a choice."

"To stay in the village that abandoned your father, or live as an outcast under their curse." Kota nodded in response and Miles stood up and slowly walked around the table. "Easy to see which choice you made."

"This mark on my face once represented my family line," Kota said, touching it again. "Now I'm all that's left, and it's just a reminder of what that place took from me."

"That's not the choice they gave you though, is it?" Miles stopped in front of Kota's chair and crossed his arms as he looked down at him. "You're a tamer, and they need their tamers just to survive. I doubt they were about to give you up. So why did they put the curse on you?"

"In case I escaped," Kota whispered, and clenched his hands despite the pain from the cuts. "Once I left the village, the curse would start."

"And a curse like that would only have one way to break it," Miles said, this time glancing at Erin.

She had listened to this whole exchange in increasing horror, and thought she knew what Miles meant. "It would only stop if you went back."

Kota swallowed and nodded, unable to speak.

"You weren't afraid someone would kill you," Terra said, catching on. "You were afraid they would return you."

"We would never have done that," Erin protested. She put a hand on Kota's shaking shoulder. "I promise, I would never let someone do that to you."

"And if we've learned anything, it's that she's stubborn enough to keep her word," Miles said, earning a small, fleeting grin from Kota. "Erin, do you think you can help Kota get up to his room? I think he could use some rest."

"Yeah, sure," Erin said quickly. She really did have to help Kota stand, and together they staggered up the stairs to his room.

"Heartwarming," Terra said as they watched them go up. He turned back to Miles and added, "But you don't look so sure."

"Observant, aren't you?" Miles flopped down into Kota's vacant chair and let his head roll over to look at the hunter. "I got the villagers to tell me a little more about Kota's curse, after some persuading, and asked the wizards at the city about it last night while I had their attention. This sort of curse is made to escalate after a year, to force him to come back any way possible. Kota escaped from his village one year after his father's death, on last midwinter's day."

Terra groaned, already seeing where this was going. "Escalate how?"

Miles glanced back at the stairs to make sure Kota and Erin were still out of earshot. "I don't know, but if a cure is not found, Kota may have no choice but to return to his village by midwinter's day."

### Entry 67: Sawdust

When Erin came back downstairs a few minutes later, Terra and Miles jumped up, and quickly thought up excuses to leave.

"Gotta go and tell the mayor his 'beast' has been taken care of," Terra said, and ruefully looked down at his broken bow. "Guess I can see if he'll chalk this up to business expense."

"I don't know about you two, but some of us have a day to sleep away," Miles said before stretching and exaggerating a yawn.

"Oh, what did the wizards say about the drawing?" Erin asked.

Miles dropped his arms and shrugged. "Just that it's an old spell, probably cast when they built the clock tower. Very powerful stuff, maybe even draws on one of the old powers. Which I guess is fascinating enough for them, but not much use to us."

Erin sighed and missed the glance the other two passed each other before they went their respective ways. She had figured as much, but it was still disappointing to find yet another dead end.

Alone now, and with no guests on the way, Erin had little to look forward to as she wet a rag in the kitchen and returned to the common room with water and soap. Dropping to her knees, she scrubbed at the places where Kota had dripped blood and sighed with relief when it came up rather easily.

As she wiped the floor clean, Erin thought back to how nasty this floor looked when she first arrived and smiled. Even Mr. Sollis himself would have a hard time recognizing the place after all of the cleaning and so many repairs.

"Sawdust," Erin muttered, recalling Kota's word. There had been sawdust all over the place, hadn't there?

She stood and looked around at the floor. Mr. Sollis had never bothered to coat the floor with the stuff before then.

An itching started in Erin's head as she remembered the blood spot in the clock tower, and Kota's first thoughts when he uncovered all of the sawdust. You used the stuff to soak up spills, like oil and grease. And blood, Erin added to herself silently, and tried, and failed, to dismiss the thought.

Sollis had drawn the emblem in his journal. The idea, for whatever reason, had mattered enough to him that Erin could not imagine he would not think to go to the clock tower at least once if he even thought it had something to do with the key to breaking his curse, whoever the "he" was that Sollis kept writing about.

Erin paced the floor slowly, looking for a sign of something, anything. If Sollis went to the tower, then it wasn't that much of a stretch to think he was the one who took whatever had been at the bottom of the fake gear box. The blood there, if he had been bleeding or hurt, where would he have gone then?

Well, Erin knew the first place she or Kota would go. She stopped her pacing occasionally to tap the creaking floorboards with her feet, listening as hard as she could. Near the fireplace, she stopped and tapped again, and then dropped to her knees and rapped on the floor with her knuckles.

Even if Mr. Sollis had been bleeding, there would never have been a need to coat the entire floor with sawdust, not unless he was using it for another reason: to keep someone from looking at it too closely and noticing the clear marks where one of the boards by the fireplace had been ripped up and put back down again.

After struggling with the board a minute, Erin ran into the kitchen and came back with an old butter knife, which she used to lever the board up. In between the joists that supported the floor and the ceiling of the cellar, she could just make out a cloth-wrapped bundle.

Erin reached in, trying not to imagine what else could be under the floor, and grabbed the surprisingly heavy bundle.

"Well, isn't this convenient timing?"

Erin froze, staring down into the hole and wishing she did not recognize that voice.

"It's almost like I was waiting for just the right moment," Lani said with a breathy chuckle.

"What are you doing here?" Erin said as she turned around to face the tamer, careful to keep the bundle out of sight but not as careful to keep the disgust out of her voice.

Lani stood in the middle of the room, but she wasn't alone. A massive creature, its head coming up to her chest, paced the room behind her on wide, webbed paws that did not make a sound. Its matted fur barely covered a head that ended in a sharp, dangerous beak and did nothing to hide the ribs that stuck out from its sides. A pair of tattered things on its back might have been wings, but Erin doubted they could support anything, much less the creature, even as emaciated as it was.

"A griffin," Lani said, in response to her stare. "Lost its pride, I think. It was the best I could find in the little time I had, but I think she'll do."

"But how...I broke your flute," Erin said as she slowly got to her feet. The griffin's yellow eyes watched her every movement, but Erin's eyes went from it to the open door. She could not believe it managed to fit through the door, much less that she had completely failed to notice their coming in.

"That thing? It just amplified my talents, but don't you worry, I have her under control." Lani passed a hand over the griffin's matted head, and it seemed to briefly shine before she took it away. The griffin growled, a rumbling that shook the floor under Erin's feet.

"What do you want?" Erin asked, fighting the urge to back away or to look to the stairs. Had Miles or Kota heard that?

"To finish what I came here for," Lani said and slowly walked up to Erin until they were face to face. "I never did turn in my notice, you know."

"Leave Kota alone."

"Oh, yes, Kota." Lani grinned. "I'll deal with him later, and it will be delightful, but the wolf was always just a side job. Now, why don't you be a dear and hand over what you're hiding behind your back?"

Erin brought her hand around, as fast as she could, and leaned into the punch that knocked Lani right off her feet. Behind her, the griffin roared, shaking the rafters even after the sound died out, and leapt.

Erin dropped and rolled, the floor bouncing as the griffin landed and turned on her, but by then she was already up on her feet.

"Run!"

She obeyed the command without looking back, running through the kitchen because the griffin had the other door blocked and out through the back door. Erin dropped the package into the basket of her bicycle and took off on it, trying to put as much distance between her and the monster tearing its way through the kitchen as fast as she could.

Back at the inn, Lani looked up and smirked at Miles on the top of the stairs before running out the front door. Miles, without hesitation, jumped the stairs and made it as far as the front porch before he had to stagger back inside before the blinding sunlight and laid shivering on the bare floorboards. He barely registered the sound of footsteps clattering down the stairs and, after a pause to check the vampire, out the door as well.

### Entry 68: The Bike's Last Ride

Erin leaned over the handlebars, urging the bike to go faster as she pedaled as hard as she could, but she barely maintained a lead on the griffin. Her only thought was to get away, as fast as possible, somewhere the scraggly thing couldn't follow. The town and the Farmers' place were both too far away, even if the griffin couldn't just bash through the door like it did to the back door of the inn.

With no time to think, Erin swerved toward the nearest cover – the forest. She had barely made it to the shadow of the trees when the back wheel of her bike jerked and flailed underneath her, caught on the claws of the griffin, and then flipped over entirely.

Erin sat up and saw the starved creature shaking its huge paw fiercely, all of its attention devoted to freeing its claws from the rubber tire. It snarled and bit the wheel, with no success.

Erin's hand touched the bundle she had retrieved from under the floorboards, still wrapped tightly in the faded cloth, and she snapped out of her daze and grabbed it before running into the trees. Behind her, the griffin roared again and there was a scream of metal that suggested Erin's bike had met its untimely demise.

She darted around trees and through bushes, trying to pick the narrowest openings in the hopes of slowing the griffin down, but by the sound of wood tearing and brush snapping, it didn't seem to be working.

Unfortunately, it did slow one of them down when Erin's foot caught a root sticking up out of the ground and she was going too fast to stop herself from hitting the ground with what sounded like a crack from her ankle. The bundle hit the ground and rolled away while Erin curled in on her own personal world of pain that only doubled when she frantically tried to get back up.

The griffin pounded up toward her and stopped, its chest, even as caved in as it was, unable to fit into the haphazard ring of trees that surrounded Erin. She gasped and leaned away from the gnarled paw that slashed the air, and the griffin snarled again as it began to pace the trees, looking for any way in.

"Oh, you did make this so much harder than it needed to be, didn't you?"

Erin groaned and looked for a way to stand up as Lani approached the trees. How had she even caught up with them, Erin wondered as she gave up on a branch to support her weight and picked up a stone that looked heavy enough as she said, "What do you want?"

"I told you, that," Lani said, and pointed at the bundle that lay just out of Erin's reach. She stepped into the circle and just barely avoided the rock Erin threw at her. "Really? You've gone and broken your ankle. I think you might want to rethink fighting me on this."

"You still haven't said why you want it," Erin said, risking the pain to move forward and grab the bundle. "Do you even know what it is?"

"Do you?" Lani leaned over Erin and gently placed a foot on her ankle. "I was hired to do a job, and you're getting in my way. Please, hand it over."

Erin did not even have time to respond before Lani applied pressure, just for a second, and the pain nearly caused her to black out. She grabbed the tamer's leg and pushed as hard as she could, sending Lani stumbling backward.

A growl came from beyond the trees, and Erin had just enough time to realize that it did not come from the griffin before Kota, as a wolf, came darting through the opening in the trees, narrowly avoiding the griffin's slashing claws and beak.

"Look who's come to the rescue!" Lani laughed, and did not seem fazed at all by the snarling wolf that stood in front of her. "You think that's going to scare me?"

The wolf stopped growling and its ears went back, but Erin realized that it wasn't the tamer's reaction that surprised Kota, as he suddenly reared back onto two legs and took on the form of a young man. She looked up at the thin cloud that had, however temporarily, overshadowed the sun.

"No, I don't think I'm going to scare you," Kota said, and smiled. "You want this, right?"

Lani looked at the bundle and nodded, matching Kota's smile with one of her own. "That's a good boy. You hand that over, and my new pet and I will let you two leave. Promise and everything."

Kota knelt down in front of Erin and glanced at her ankle before he said, "Well?"

"Kota," Erin protested. She noticed that the bandages on Kota's hands were stained red and she swallowed before dropping her voice to a whisper that she didn't think Lani would be able to hear. "I think this is the key, the one Mr. Sollis wrote about. What if it could break your curse?"

His smile failed to change. "I know, but we can't exactly take it out of here, can we?"

"You know?" As soon as she said it, Erin remembered Kota staring at the floorboards back at the inn, when she thought he was falling asleep. He had put it together just as fast as she did, and had even given her a hint. "Then why didn't you say something?"

"Wasn't sure," he said with a shrug. "Didn't want to disappoint you then, don't want to see you get hurt now. So please?"

Erin stared at him and fought the urge to yell at him. How could he be so calm, so willing to just give up the one thing he had come here for? Finally, after an internal struggle not to throw it at his head, she passed him the bundle, which he immediately turned around and gave to Lani.

"Beautiful," she said as she pulled away the faded cloth and dropped it on the ground, revealing a perfectly round orb the size of her palm that glowed with a fiery light which flickered and burned like the sun had been sealed inside of it. "Every bit of what I imagined. Pleasure doing business with you, Kota. Don't suppose you would be willing to rethink my other proposition?"

Kota glared at her and she shrugged before raising her free hand in the air and snapping her fingers. Almost immediately, her griffin stopped its restless pacing and sat with the same upright bearing as a statue.

"If you ever rethink it, I'll be glad to come back around," Lani said, patting Kota on top of the head before walking away, the griffin obediently shadowing her steps.

Kota waited until Lani was out of eyesight before stooping down to look at Erin's ankle again. He hissed and said, "We're going to need a doctor for this."

"And how do you think we'll get to her?" Erin asked. She reached out and picked up the cloth that was all she had left from Kota's one possible cure. It was old and faded, but she thought she could just make out a starry pattern on what may once have been some kind of scarf or handkerchief. "It's not like anyone from town is about to come this far into the forest–"

She stopped, her breath catching at the words as her heart started pounding. They were in the forest. She had run straight in without thinking, and now her wide eyes stared around, terrified at what might be lurking just out of sight.

Kota noticed she was starting to panic and tried to distract her. "That stone, why do you think it was hidden in the clock tower?"

"No one in town likes magic," Erin said, as her fingers dug into the ground. "You heard my dad, it always causes trouble. And that thing had to be magic."

"It's okay," Kota said when Erin jumped at the sound of something stirring. "Why hide it though? Why there?"

"In case they needed it? I don't know, how are we going to get out of here?"

"So they left signs," Kota said, his eyes scanning the area as he came up with a plan, or at least that's what Erin hoped he was doing. "Sun and moon. Like that story you told the wayfarers."

"You remember that?" Erin asked, her face flushing red for a different reason now. "Yeah, that's just a story Wen told me when I was little."

Kota started and looked at her, but his gaze soon went up to the sky and he had just enough time to say, "Wait here," before the sun came back out and the wolf took over.

Erin gasped and cried out, but that was because the wolf turned and ran off, leaving her alone in the forest.

### Entry 69: Trees

Erin sat huddled over, her arms wrapped around her leg to try and fight off the throbbing pain emanating from her ankle, and stared at the last place she had seen Kota. Her hands trembled as she held onto the ragged piece of cloth that had covered the stone as if it could fight off whatever monsters lurked beyond the trees and asked herself, again and again, what she had been thinking when she ran into the forest.

A branch cracked and Erin moaned. "Just a squirrel, just a squirrel, just a squirrel..."

She trailed off when an old, crackling voice that came from somewhere far too close said, "Hope not. I hate squirrels."

Erin slowly turned her head, but whoever had spoken failed to show themselves. All that she could see were trees and the scraggly plants that grew in the light that managed to filter through the overgrowth.

"Tell me about it. Birds now, birds I like," said another voice that creaked and groaned with every word.

"Had a raccoon once," rumbled a third, low voice.

The voices continued to go on about animals, but Erin stared up and around and wondered if she was going crazy when there was still no sign of the speakers.

The first voice chuckled and the tree nearest to Erin swayed as if caught in a breeze she could not feel. "Oh, now that's good. Can you feel it?"

After a moment or so, Erin did feel something, a steady pounding coming up through the ground that turned into hoofbeats, steadily coming closer. She nearly screamed when the wolf burst through a nearby bush without warning, soon followed by something she had only seen pictures of.

"You've got to be kidding me," Erin said, and the unicorn snorted and shook its head.

The wolf walked over and nosed her hand before tugging on her jacket sleeve.

Erin looked from the wolf to the unicorn and back again. "You know each other?"

The wolf nodded and Erin tried to ignore the chuckle that came from one of the unseen speakers. The unicorn nodded its head as well and Erin tried desperately to scuttle backward away from the reaching horn that rapped her ankle.

"Shh, it's okay," Kota said, and Erin cried out again for a different reason. He pulled up her pants leg as the unicorn stepped back and said, "See?"

Her ankle swelling had already dropped by half, and the pain coming from it no longer threatened to overcome her. "It...my ankle..."

"They're healers, and this one happened to owe me," Kota said, and showed her his hands where thin white marks had taken the place of his cuts. "Once he gets back to his herd, one of the others can help him. Isn't that right?"

He stroked the unicorn's nose and rubbed the base of its horn. The unicorn snorted again and Erin noticed the jagged red line around its neck as she used the nearest tree to drag herself up onto her feet. She shuddered at the pain, but now at least she could bear it enough to stand, with Kota's assistance.

"Thank you," she said and, taking the opportunity with Kota being so close, whispered to him, "I know this sounds crazy, but I think the trees were talking."

"Oh, good, you heard them, too," Kota said and smiled at her expression. He glanced up at the sky and back at Erin, who clearly would not be able to get very far on her ankle just yet. "How far do you think I could stretch a favor?"

"What?" Erin looked from him to the unicorn. "No, I am not about to get on that thing."

"The other female and the catbird are going that way, toward your...oh, what is it called?" asked one of the trees, and another one which sounded suspiciously like the one Erin had used to stand up piped in, "Town, dear, they call it a town. Nasty things."

"They went into town?" Erin asked, before she realized she was talking to a tree. "Why?"

"How should I know?" the tree grumbled.

"If we go now, we could probably catch up with them," Erin said. When Kota frowned and looked at her ankle, she sighed. "It'll be okay. Kota, this could be our only chance!"

Kota stroked the unicorn's nose and said to it, "She does make it hard to argue, doesn't she?"

The unicorn snorted and turned its side toward them. Since she couldn't argue without risking Kota changing his mind or slowing them down, Erin bit her lip and climbed onto the unicorn with Kota's assistance. He started to say something but groaned and dropped to all fours as a wolf. The wolf sighed and nosed the unicorn before leading the way through the trees, careful to steer them through the widest gaps. As easy as the ride was, Erin clung to the unicorn's back and kept her eyes closed most of the way. Whenever she opened her eyes, she would see Kota keeping pace with the unicorn, either in the shape of a young man or as a wolf.

Outside of the forest, the wolf loped away and zigzagged around with its nose to the ground until it stumbled over paws that became hands and feet. He staggered upright and waved at them. "They came this way. The tree was right, they are going to town. It doesn't make any sense though, why would they–"

The sun came out again and Kota turned back into a wolf midsentence.

"Lani did say the stone was the main reason she came," Erin said over the wolf's grumbling. As they approached the town, she patted the unicorn's trembling side. She suspected it felt the same way about the town as she did the forest. "I think this is close enough."

The unicorn stopped with a sigh of relief and Erin dropped to the ground with only the barest of twinges from her ankle.

"Thank you," she said again, and the unicorn nosed her face and the wolf's before cantering back toward the forest. Erin looked at the wolf just in time to see it turn back into Kota. "Are you sure you're okay about going into town?"

He swallowed and nodded. "Worse comes to worst, I can always run and hide, right? It's what I'm good at."

Erin smiled, even though she felt as nervous as he looked, and they walked down the street together, looking for any sign of Lani or the uproar that should have followed the tamer walking into town with the griffin in tow. Yet all they saw were the usual townspeople going about their usual business.

"Back streets," Kota murmured to Erin as he kept one eye on the sky. "They're keeping out of sight for as long as possible, until Lani can drop off the stone and get her pay."

"But who would hire her? I mean, Mayor Geld was the one who sent for her, but that was for you," Erin started, and stopped even as Kota came to the same conclusion. "Why?"

"I think I might know one person who would have an idea," Kota said. "That story you told me, about the sun and the moon–"

He groaned and pulled Erin into the nearest shop, which happened to be the tailor's.

"Look who we have here!" crowed Agatha, and both of them winced.

Erin looked outside at the sunlight streaming across the street and said, "What were you saying Kota?"

"You need to find him," Kota said before the tailors swooped down on them. "No, I'm sorry, we're just looking for the moment. Uh, you two haven't seen a stranger in town today, have you?"

"Oh, do you mean that hunter?" the other tailor said, and the two shared a look and a flurry of giggles while Kota motioned Erin to go on ahead.

Erin nodded and went outside, but she hesitated and looked back at the shop where Kota was trying to keep the tailors talking until he could safely leave. He had mentioned the story back in the forest too, but there was only one person that Erin could think of when she thought of that story.

Erin raced down the street as fast as her ankle would allow, darting around surprised townspeople until she reached the bridge. Sliding down the bank of the river, she waved at the old man standing in the water up to the top of his rubber boots and yelled, "Wen!"

### Entry 70: Baiting a Griffin

Wen's weathered, tanned face broke out into a smile at the sight of Erin. "Well, isn't this a treat. What brings you all the way here from your inn?"

Erin couldn't help but smile in return before she remembered why she was here. How long had it been since she'd sat here by the river, feeding ducks while Wen told one of his stories? Well, not that long ago when she thought about it, but it felt like forever ago. "Wen, do you remember that story you told me a long time ago, about the sun and the moon?"

The smile faded, however briefly, from Wen's face and she thought she saw something else there before he could hide it. "Yes, I remember. What made you think of that?"

"I saw the drawing in Mr. Sollis's journal," she said. His eyebrows bunched together and she explained, or at least tried to, "The town emblem, the sun and the moon, I saw it there and above the stone from the tower–"

Wen's eyes widened and he stepped closer. "What?"

Erin had not meant to say that, but now she had the same feeling as when she put together where Sollis had hid the stone. "Mr. Sollis kept writing about someone in his journal, someone who was cursed."

Wen pulled his wide-brimmed hat low over his face and looked away. "I think that's enough, Miss Smith."

"You know something," Erin said, undeterred. "Who was he? Why was Mr. Sollis looking so hard for a cure? Something in that clock tower hurt him, and the first thing he did was hide that stone from somebody. Why?"

"Because he was my friend," Wen said, and looked back at Erin with teary eyes. "Because he found out who I am, what I am, and he wouldn't let it go. Please, don't make the same mistake."

Erin stared at his back, unable to think of anything to say. Old Wen, always there. Always ready with a story and a smile. He had as been as much a constant in her life as any other member of her family after he saved her from drowning in the river when she was a kid, and in all that time she had never seen anything like the hurt in his eyes before. His curse, and she knew exactly where to find the key to breaking it.

Wen did not turn around at the sound of Erin scrambling up the bank or racing over the bridge, but he did raise his head at the racing steps that followed a minute later and saw Kota pelting as fast as he could after her.

Erin only ran faster when she spotted the tamer standing in the town circle, just outside of the mayor's office. The man himself was shaking her hand, and he looked almost as surprised as her to see Erin slowing to a stop just a few feet away.

"Oh, look who didn't listen to my warning," Lani said. "Good recovery on that ankle."

"Shut up," Erin snapped.

"Erin? This is a bit of a personal matter," Geld said, his smile obviously forced. "If this is about the rent, maybe you could wait until later?"

"The stone," she said. "The one you sent Lani after, where is it?"

She saw the mayor's hand go to his pocket and stepped forward only for the tamer to block her way and say, "That's enough out of you, I think. Mr. Mayor, you want me to deal with this?"

"I told you to keep her and the boy out of this," Geld said, and looked baffled when Lani laughed. "It's bad enough Daniel got involved."

"Involved? Is that what you call killing someone over a stone?" Erin fought the urge to push the tamer out of the way and just take the stone, if only because she knew the griffin had to be somewhere nearby. When he started to protest, she said, "Blood at the clock tower, and you knew Mr. Sollis had found it. He never told anyone, never even had any time to write a note, but you knew where Lani should look, didn't you?"

"That was an accident," Geld said, eyeing the crowd of townspeople who were being attracted by the scene. "I mean, Sollis's death was just an accident. Everyone knows that."

"No, everyone knows he died from a heart attack out in the yard, because that's what you told everyone after you 'found' his body," Erin said, biting back the bile rising in her throat. Everything in the mayor's demeanor, from his shifty expression to his nervous rocking on his feet, confirmed every word she said even as he fumbled for an answer.

"Oh, you do know how to put your foot in it, don't you?" Lani said. "Just tell her you let the man die because you didn't realize he had managed to get to the stone until after she'd already set up in the inn and you couldn't look for it yourself. Not like she or wolf boy won't be able to connect the dots on their own."

"Wolf boy?" Geld asked, if only because he couldn't say what he wanted to with others listening.

"Oi, Erin!" Terra came running across the square, waving and smiling even as he scanned the growing crowd and no doubt spotted Lani. "Are you okay?"

"Well, this is just getting impossible," Lani said and rolled her eyes. "If it's all the same to you, Geld, I'll be taking my money and going now."

"No you don't," Geld hissed and grabbed her wrist. "You're going to help me blow this over, and now."

Lani stopped and glared at the little man. "Well, the easiest way to get people to forget something they might have heard is to distract them. Let me handle that."

She raised a hand to her mouth and gave a loud, piercing whistle. A loud roar came from the alley behind the inn and when the mayor turned, she twisted his hand until he released her wrist and ran. He cried out in pain and turned to yell after the tamer only to have his pocket picked by Erin.

"Her griffin," Erin told Terra just as the monster itself came tearing around the corner, its beak dripping as it looked around. It spotted Erin and, perhaps because it remembered the one who got away in the forest or just because she was closest, ran for her first.

The townspeople screamed and scattered, but Terra had enough presence of mind to push Erin out of the griffin's path. The griffin's claws scraped on the stone as it spun around and came for them again. Erin, Terra, and Geld, the only ones still left out in the open, ran for the mayor's office but as soon as Geld was inside he turned and flung the door shut in their faces.

"Wonderful man," Terra muttered as they turned and ran down the street.

"You don't know the half of it," Erin gasped out as they darted through one street after another. She was already starting to fall behind, and her ankle throbbed as if it had been broken again.

Terra looked over his shoulder and grabbed the nearest thing to hand, a broom left by the terrified shopkeeper now hiding behind his counter, and swung it at the griffin's head. With an undignified squawk, it backed away and then swatted at the hunter with one of its vast paws. A crack accompanied the broom's demise, leaving Terra holding two pieces of wood, one of which he threw at the griffin for all the good it did.

The griffin snarled but stumbled when Kota, as a wolf, tackled it. The wolf growled and snapped at the griffin's ears, before jumping back to avoid the griffin's beak.

"Attaboy," Terra said, before the wolf stumbled and Kota turned back into a man. Just as the griffin lurched toward him, the hunter used what remained of the broom to whack the griffin on its lion hindquarters.

Terra and Kota circled the griffin, keeping it turning and unable to focus on one or the other, but Erin knew this could only last for so long before someone got hurt. She looked around and, recognizing what street they were on, ran into a nearby shop and came back out a minute later with her arms full of badly wrapped packages.

She took one and threw it at the griffin's head, where it burst open and dropped a pile of raw meat onto the ground. The griffin immediately snapped it up and turned, searching for more.

"Kota!" Erin yelled and tossed him another package. "Lead it back to the town circle, the long way!"

Kota looked at her, baffled, but did not argue. He waved the meat in front of the griffin's beak and ran as fast as he could with it right on his tail while Erin went the direct way with Terra following behind.

They raced across the street and Erin opened the door of the clock tower and threw the rest of the meat into the center of the stone floor. She fumbled with the lock and, before Terra could ask, they heard the clatter of paws on the stone street above the sound of screams and shouts. She waved at the wolf running their way, the package of meat dangling from a string in its mouth.

"In here!" Erin yelled and, as soon as Kota was close enough, she grabbed the meat from him, waved it in the griffin's direction, and threw it into the clock tower. The griffin, acting on stomach alone, followed the meat into the tower and dove at the pile, oblivious to the sound of the heavy metal door clanging shut until it was too late.

"That might actually hold it," Terra said, and then glanced down at the wolf and the gathering townspeople. "But I think we have another problem now."

### Entry 71: The Sun and the Moon

Erin looked from the wolf to the approaching townspeople, more than a few of whom had armed themselves at the word that there was a monster running around town again. "Terra, do you think you could distract them?"

"Yeah, but–"

"Come on, Kota, we need to get to Wen."

The wolf nodded and Terra stared as they ran off before he remembered the crowd. He threw his hands up to get their attention and before Kota and Erin went out of earshot they heard him say, "Now, I know you're all wondering about the wolf, but what you really need to be thinking about is how to get a griffin out of a clock tower."

Erin laughed, if only because she couldn't think of anything else to do at this point. Everything had gone absolutely insane today, and she hardly even blinked at the gasps and stares they earned as Kota, without missing a step, went from wolf to himself again.

"You have the stone?" he asked and when she nodded that seemed to be answer enough.

They reached the bridge together and Kota just barely managed to stop Erin from plunging into the river as she slid down the bank again. The old man in the river looked up at them and his breath seemed to catch in his throat as he said, "You came back."

"You, the curse," Erin gasped out, but after all of the running she could barely string a sentence together.

Kota seemed to understand though as he looked at Wen with a new expression. "You're the one Sollis wrote about?"

Wen sighed and said, "Aye, I am. What was all of that racket in town?"

"Don't worry about it," Erin said quickly, trying not to think of the people already looking for them. "What curse? What happened?"

Wen pinched the bridge of his nose and then said, "Your friend there may want to sit under the bridge while I tell you a story."

Catching the hint, Kota and Erin immediately moved into the shade of the bridge, both being careful not to look too hard at the darker shape snuffling around the reeds.

"Once, long ago, this land was dry, and barren. No one lived here, no one even noticed it, until a...person saw it, and loved it, and asked that care of it be given to him. That care was granted, and this person channeled life into the land, forming a river and nourishing the ground so that it came forth. People came to the river, and this person loved them too, and the town that they built. Oh, he loved it, the life that they brought with them, and extended his care to protect them, to help them to grow and prosper. The years flowed by like the river, and one generation came to the next, and he watched over them all, until the day he found someone like him.

"She walked the borders and the in between and loved the forest in his care like he loved the town, lending her care to the creatures there. Between them, this land flourished beyond compare, and there was no one closer. The people of the town though, they were afraid that the person would forget them and let the land die because he loved this other. So they resented her, and her children.

"Then came the people from beyond the care, those who walk the roads and call to the forgotten and the outsider. They came to the people of the town, and they offered them a solution so that they might have the love of their caretaker all to themselves. The people of the town agreed, and lured their caretaker away so that the roadwalkers, the wayfarers, could have their way with the other, and they took her beyond his land.

"The caretaker found that she was gone, and would have followed, but the people of the land cried out that they would die without him. He tried to explain that this was not so, but they did not, would not listen. So they bound him to the land, unable to follow his beloved, and with time, forgot him who cared for them, who loved them and this land even then, even now."

Wen stopped and wiped his eyes, unable to look at the pair sitting under the bridge.

When they finally found the will to speak, Kota said, "So that story, the one you told Erin, about the Sun and the Moon, that was you and her."

"How could they do that?" Erin cried out as she jumped up. "Why don't you just leave or do something? Tell someone?"

"I could not tell anyone unless they already knew the curse existed, could not place my hand on the key to my freedom," Wen said. Now he turned his red-rimmed eyes to them. "That is how they forgot. There is one way to break my curse, but it is to break my care over the land."

"And it would just go back to how it was when you found it," Kota said and the old man nodded. "Even now, you'd still care for these people rather than go after her?"

"Sometimes...I wish I didn't," Wen said. He looked at Erin with a broken expression, filled with pain and sadness. "But you're still my people. My children. How could I face her again, knowing what it cost?"

Erin stepped out from under the bridge and threw her arms around Wen's shoulders. He hesitated and hugged her back, but his knees nearly gave out underneath when she whispered, "Human hands must break what human hands have wrought, right?"

She pulled the sun stone out of her pocket and placed it in Wen's trembling hands.

"No! What are you doing?!"

The three of them looked up at the silhouette of Mayor Geld leaning over the bridge, close to falling as he shouted down at them. "Free him and the whole land dies, he just told you!"

He pushed past the people crowded around the bridge and river and stopped at the foot of the water. "Someone, take it from him now!"

"You knew?" Erin said, advancing on the hopping mad mayor. "You knew about the curse and the stone, didn't you?"

"Of course I did, every leader of this town knew! Someone had to remember, someone had to make sure this town survived, and you went and destroyed us all, you little–"

"That's enough!"

It took Erin a second to recognize her own father's voice, if only because she had never heard that much anger and venom in it before. The blacksmith stepped out from among the crowd and said, "That is enough out of you, Geld. How could you?"

"Me? I did what had to be done, what everyone before me has done, what your ancestors did," Geld said, nearly foaming at the mouth in his rage. "And you, if you had any sense at all, would do."

"Oh, I know exactly what to do," Eli Smith said and, after a glance at Wen to be sure, took the stone from his hands and smashed it on the stones of the riverbank to the cheers of those watching.

From the broken stone the flame rose up and flowed into Wen's chest, filling him from the inside out with a burning light that, eventually, dimmed to a more bearable shade but did not fade entirely. With the light flowing from within, most of the lines and weather faded from his skin and bones, leaving him looking neither young nor old but ageless.

"Thank you," he whispered as a different kind of tears gather in his eyes. Eli pulled him close and clapped him on the back, whispering something in his ear that made Wen laugh. He looked to the people, which seemed to be the whole town gathered together, and began to explain that he would be leaving, if only for a short time.

"No!" Geld protested, but his interruption would prove to be very brief when something, no one was entirely sure what, pulled him under the bridge. There were gasps from among the crowd, but no one moved to help him, and even Wen turned his head away when he saw that it was too late to do anything. Instead, he sighed and began to address the townspeople.

With everyone's attention on Wen, who was reassuring the people about what was to come, Kota edged out from the other side of the bridge, and Erin followed him up the riverbank. No one made a move to stop them, and Terra slipped out of the crowd to join them on the silent walk back to the inn.

### The Last Entry

"Are you sure about this?" Terra asked Miles and Kota as they stood outside of the Last Inn in the growing twilight.

Miles looked at Kota, who shrugged silently, and said, "I suppose so. You'll pass the news on to her?"

"Do I have to?" Terra asked, and the vampire put a hand on his shoulder and wished him luck, as they both knew he would need it.

Four days after Wen had left town, and still no one had come to the inn looking for Kota. That is, except to seek help. With his assistance, along with some food, they managed to lure the griffin out of the clock tower, and she was already on her way to becoming something of a town mascot. Even Joe Farmer had sent some workers to ask him how to deal with the mud badger Junta that had taken up residence in one of his fields.

No one mentioned the wolf. It was as if they were all afraid to upset him, or more likely, incur the wrath of the blacksmith who had become something of an interim leader, or at least the one they all went to for advice until a new mayor could be found. Truth be told, the arrangement wasn't that much different than before, other than cutting out the middleman.

The hunter sighed and went back into the inn to keep an eye on the guests who had just arrived, only stopping to wave at them one last time before he closed the door behind him.

"Kota," Miles started, but he just shook his head.

"Let's go. You want to make it to the capital before sunrise, right?"

Kota started to walk away from the inn with his shoulders bowed under the light burden of his small pack that held all he had in the world. Miles watched him walk and sighed, but said nothing as he followed.

They made it some way down the road before Kota stopped and turned, narrowing his eyes so that he could better see the figure racing to catch up with them. He barely had time to brace himself before Erin ran into him and nearly knocked him off of his feet.

"How could you?" she yelled as she stepped back. "How could you just try and leave without saying a word?"

"I'm just going to take a little walk over there," Miles said, and edged away so that Erin could not turn her wrath upon him.

"I'm sorry, I–"

"If you were sorry, you wouldn't have done it."

Kota wilted under her accusing glare and said, "I don't want to leave, I swear. It's just...My time is running out, Erin. There's no cure to my curse here, whatever the witch said, and maybe someone in the capital really can help me."

"You're not scared to go anymore?" Erin asked, staring hard to make out his expression in the growing darkness.

"I'm scared to leave," he whispered, but Erin pushed him away.

"You could have said something, anything," she protested. "Instead, you just sneak away with Miles like I wouldn't care at all!"

"Please don't bring me into this," the vampire called from off in the distance.

"Then don't eavesdrop!" Erin yelled back.

Kota sighed and said, "I know. Look, I talked to your dad, and he said your brother Arthur could come to the inn with you and take my place. Terra even agreed to stay around for a while, in case Lani tries to come back around. Not that you need any help, of course. You can keep the inn open, you don't need me anymore. That's good, right?"

Erin groaned, and from out of the darkness Miles yelled, "It was never about the inn, you idiot!"

"What?"

Erin smiled at his baffled expression and said, "The inn can take care of itself, Kota. I can always go back, but if it's okay with you, I want to go with you and find a cure for your curse."

"It could take a while," Kota said, and winced when a pebble hit him from out of the darkness. "But, yes, if you'll come, then...."

He cleared his throat and noticed for the first time that Erin had a pack of her own on her back. "Wait, you knew?"

"I packed two days ago," Erin said. "And yes, I knew you would try and leave me behind."

"Well, this is great, isn't it?" Miles said as he suddenly reappeared on the trail in front of them. "The witch sent you for a cure and you ended up with a girl, which I suppose is a fair enough trade. And, if all else fails, we can always go back to your village and watch Erin knock a cure out of them with her broom, right?"

He avoided Erin's swing and chuckled as he walked ahead.

"Do we have to go with him?" Erin asked and Kota smiled.

"Thank you," he said.

Erin returned the smile. "Well, it's not like I can let my partner go running off by himself."

She leaned forward and kissed him, right on the mark.

About the Author

Rachel Gay is an Alabama native and a lover of stories. Her other books include _Tanil_ and its sequel, _Correst_.

Rachel Gay is a native of Alabama. Her other books include _Tanil_ and its sequel, _Correst_.
