Natalie thought better than to ride Gwen straight into camp. She remembered from Rallsburg how people tended to react to a huge wolf, and there were way too many people around with guns to risk it. Gwen would stick to the outskirts, patrolling wide and avoiding people until Natalie needed her. Percy likewise went with her, needing to find some food after a long day staying with Natalie without hunting.

Instead, Malich led the way, as someone known to the defenders and still in some kind of uniform. His special operations outfit was a bit ragged and muddy after the fights, but he still cut a pretty strong figure in front of what could pass for an odd camping family… kind of. I mean, not that any of us look even a little bit related. Mitch and Kelsey maybe, but even that's a long stretch.

It does not matter. So long as we do not appear threatening, we can find who we need.

Despite her hopes, they got stopped just as soon as they reached the border of the camp. The soldiers were taking no chances with anyone, it seemed.

"Come on, man," said Malich impatiently.

"Names?"

"I'm Alexander Malich, lieutenant, Tacoma P.D. I'm on Special Agent Jeremy Ashe's personal team."

"Uh-huh," said the soldier, looking up and down Malich skeptically.

"Look, just call him or let us in, okay?"

"Don't got his number."

They want to be sure we are not with your father.

Oh. Well…

"Excuse me," said Natalie, feeling nervous in front of so many men with guns. She stepped forward and held up her hand, summoning a little ball of flame. Seeing her example, Lani did the same, and Riley did as well after a few moments reluctance.

"...All right then," said the soldier, taken aback.

The guards stepped aside. Malich looked a bit annoyed, but the rest of them walked past him. A military truck—a humvee, if Natalie remembered right from TV—rumbled past right in front of them, packed with more soldiers heading north. People sat in front of their tents in the dirt, shellshocked, scared. Natalie knew those looks, knew exactly how they were feeling.

It's Rallsburg all over again…

A couple soldiers emerged from the next tent, carrying bodies on a wide stretcher. They walked right past Natalie's little group. The stench nearly overwhelmed them. Mitch swore loudly. Kelsey made a painful, wounded sound. Tyler looked away, his face pinched up. Natalie felt for all of them, but she knew there was probably more to come.

"Come on," she murmured. "Don't look, just follow me."

"But…" said Kelsey uncomfortably, still staring at the stretchers.

"Just keep moving."

Riley nodded behind her. "There is nothing we can do for them. They have left this world."

"Oh my god…" said Kelsey. She pulled her arms in close and tucked them inside her sleeves, hugging herself as she walked. "This is insane."

They shouldn't have come with me. What was I thinking?

You need them more than you know. Think about what you have done so far. You had the confidence to act and you recovered where before you might have broken. Your friends are the support you need.

But they're in so much danger.

We will protect them.

"Jenny?"

Natalie looked around. It wasn't one of her friends… well, not the one she expected, anyway. Alden Bensen had just walked out of the medical tent, a bandage on his arm. Natalie rushed forward.

"Did you get shot?" she asked breathlessly.

He shook his head. "Just a cut. I tripped and landed in some glass."

"Oh."

"Hi again," he added, glancing at Natalie's friends… until he spotted Riley. He took several steps back. "...No."

Riley didn't move a muscle. Lani glanced at her, confused.

"Alden…" said Natalie slowly. "She's been helping us."

Alden shook his head. "I know what she's been doing. I know what she's done, too."

"It was unforgivable," said Riley shortly. "If you want me to leave, I will."

"Yeah, that sounds like a start."

"No," said Natalie. She stepped between the two of them—both much taller than her, but still, Natalie threw herself in the middle. "I want her to stay."

Alden hesitated. "...I don't like it, but if you say so, she can stay."

"What the heck is going on?" whispered Kelsey behind her. "What did she do?"

Natalie shook her head. "It doesn't matter anymore." And neither does what I did… Both of us just want a fresh start out here. Why can't we have it? She took a breath before continuing. "We're trying to find Ruby. I saw her with Hector earlier."

"Yeah, Cinza's here somewhere too," said Alden. He glanced around. "I dunno where they went though. I was with— hey, Jackie!"

Natalie's heart leapt. Sheriff Jackie had just walked out of a tent, accompanying her old friend Hector. She wanted to run to both of them, hug Hector like she always used to, steal Jackie's hat, everything… but of course, she couldn't anymore. All she offered was a little wave, a shadow of her old self.

Jackie's jaw fell open.

"My God…" she muttered, too low for anyone but Natalie to catch.

They hurried over. Hector moved as if to hug her, but Natalie took a step back.

"Hi…"

"It is you… right?" asked Hector uncomfortably. "What… what happened?"

"A lot." Natalie winced as their eyes did the usual scan of her scar. She changed the subject before they could start asking questions she didn't want to answer. "We're trying to find Cinza. Do you know where she is?"

"...Yeah," said Jackie, sounding a bit winded. She glanced around, as if trying to avoid looking at Natalie. "She and the guys went off to talk with the commander of the Guard here, plan out what to do next—Jesus Christ, is that Julian goddamn Black?"

Sure enough, Julian—covered in ash and sporting his own set of bandages—was stumbling toward their group, his trademark toothy grin slapped on his face. "Evenin', all," he said, with an attempt at cheerfulness.

"Where the hell have you been?"

"Runnin' this here camp, of course." He sighed. "Figures the moment I try to go legit, I get all kinds of hell on me."

"You were supposed to be up in B.C.!"

"Yeah, well…" He shrugged. "Too cold for me."

"It's the same damn climate!"

"Let's go," murmured Hector to Natalie, as Jackie and Julian got into an argument. "I know where they went."

The group trooped away. Natalie walked a bit ahead so she could talk to Hector in private, while her friends followed with Lani and Riley. Malich had wandered off to who-knew-where. They weaved through collapsed tents and bullet-ridden carts, past the temporary structures destroyed by golems and abandoned piles of goods waiting to be sold. Natalie saw a cache of gems she could certainly have used, but thought better of taking them.

I'm not a thief.

Hector seemed more jumpy than usual to Natalie. He'd always been a bit nervous and uncomfortable around most people, but this was a step way beyond the usual. After all, he used to run a grocery store, and interacted with most of the town on a regular basis. This was… something else. Natalie wondered if he'd been through something as awful as she had.

"When did you come back?" she asked.

Hector glanced down at her, looking a little bit sad. "Sunday. I was going to tell you, but… so much happened."

"Yeah, and the site went down."

"Where have you been, reinita? I heard you stopped living with the Laushires."

"I…" Natalie hesitated, but she quickly thought better of it. This was Hector, probably the adult she trusted most after her own father… and maybe not even him anymore… "I was living with my boyfriend's family. But then… they got scared of magic, and… and of me… and they told me I had to leave. So I decided to come home."

"Oh, mi pobre niña..." Hector looked like he might cry. Natalie tentatively reached out and took his hand. She felt the same reluctance she had with everyone else, but still, the look of relief on his face was worth the strain and discomfort. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," said Natalie, though she knew it really wasn't. "I needed to come home."

"I know how you feel…" Hector sighed. "I couldn't find another home either. This is the only place I've ever felt like I belonged since my Leticia passed on."

She wanted to ask what happened to him up north, but at the same time, Natalie knew she wouldn't want to answer the same question herself. Instead, she just squeezed his hand, and he squeezed hers back. Together, they walked forward through the ravaged camp toward the dark green military tents ahead, where awaited the leaders of their home.

The soldiers wouldn't let them in, of course. They weren't even allowed near the tent, with more than a hundred feet cordoned off in a wide circle. After a brief argument between Lani and the guard, balking at the group of children accompanying their odd group, Natalie finally had enough.

she shouted into the sky.

The hawk dove, coming down in a sharp arc and fluttering onto her shoulder. Natalie quickly sent him into the tent, above the confused soldiers. He flew a short circle inside before gliding back out again to perch on her once again.

A familiar echoing, ethereal voice called from within the tent. "Send her in!"

The soldiers, dumbfounded, let Natalie by—but only Natalie. She was about to argue more, but none of her friends moved to follow, while Hector, Riley, and Lani seemed equally reluctant. Natalie went in with only Percy on her shoulder to accompany her, bag strapped tight to keep it from bouncing and her jacket pulled in close to ward off the chill. She recast her warmth spell once again before walking in.

The tent seemed even larger on the inside than it had looked, so much so that Natalie actually felt out with magic to make sure it wasn't a pocket dimension or some other spell she wasn't familiar with. A row of computers with a man on a headset was set against the far wall, and the center was dominated by an illuminated screen table showing a map of their area. Two important-looking men with lots of medals on their camouflage uniforms were there, standing across from the silver-grey robes of Cinza and Ruby. Between the two, Josh and the FBI agent—Ashe, if Natalie remembered right—both looked like they were exhausted and really didn't want to be there.

Of course, the moment Natalie walked in, every single head snapped around to watch her.

One of the military guys, a bald man with a really ugly mustache, spoke first. "...What the fuck is tha—"

"I would not finish your sentence, if I were you," said Cinza coldly.

"...Hi," said Natalie nervously. She took the empty side of the square table, standing alone across from Josh and Agent Ashe.

"Who are you?" asked the other man, clean-shaven and much nicer looking.

"Linnethea," said Natalie quickly, before anyone else could answer. "I'm… uhh, I'm awakened."

"She knows this forest better than anyone in the world," added Cinza, immediately jumping to support her. "Her assistance will be invaluable."

"What are you even doing here?" asked Josh, still shocked—though thankfully, not by her appearance. Neither was Agent Ashe nor Ruby, since she had seen them all back at the funeral.

"I'm here to fight," said Natalie simply.

Nobody spoke for a full minute after her proclamation. Percy shuffled back and forth a little on her shoulder, his wings popping in and out to steady himself. Natalie reached up and stroked his head a few times to calm him down. Cinza looked oddly proud of her, while Ruby merely excited. Josh, on the other hand, seemed horrified, while Agent Ashe was mostly unreadable to her. The two guys from the military, though… simply looked skeptical.

"...You know we're in the middle of a battlefield, right?" asked Clean-shaven guy finally. "Do you know what that means?"

"I've been in battles before," said Natalie quietly, trying to force back the memories which came flooding in at the mere mention. "I've fought golems, too."

"She is the only one who can destroy them," said Cinza.

"Well, shit," said Moustache-guy. "So that was you with the lightning, then? We saw it comin' in."

Natalie nodded.

"Thought this magic shit still took real energy and effort. How's a kid like you able to pull off something that strong?"

"If we could answer that, we wouldn't ever need your help," said Ruby, a little bit smug.

"Captain," interjected Cinza, before either of them could respond, "with the assistance of Linnethea, I believe your plan might be more viable. She can track them back to their hideouts."

"We're more than capable of tracking a few men back to a hole in the woods," said Moustache-guy.

"Like hell we can," snorted Agent Ashe. "Couldn't do it for the last six months. The fuck do you think we can do now? Girl's got magic and a goddamn wolf, from what I hear. You two ain't got shit."

"She was speaking to me," said Clean-shaven guy with a frustrated glance at his side, "and if what I hear is true, she may be right."

"So we hit one of their hideouts, capture a few, hope to find shit on the rest of them, right?" asked Josh.

"Not just one," said Cinza.

"Huh?"

"If you only hit one," said Natalie, "the rest can get away, 'cause they'll all hear about it." She looked down nervously, not sure if she was supposed to speak up.

"...That's right," said Clean-shaven guy, vaguely impressed. "We think we have a solid lock on two of them now, but we'd like to find more. If… Linnethea here has the capabilities you say, combined with our manpower, we can target a far greater number simultaneously."

"We'd have to attack soon though," said Moustache-guy. "Before these fuckers all find their way out of the forest entirely and back into civilization."

"Why would that be a problem?" asked Ruby.

"Ain't cleared to operate in civilian territory," grunted Moustache-guy.

Clean-shaven guy nodded. "Our AO is the Olympic Forest, nothing more. Governor doesn't want to cause a further panic by having firefights in the suburbs."

"Yeah, we already did that once," said Agent Ashe, rolling his eyes. "Wouldn't want to upset the locals."

"That shit was on your girl, Ashe," said Moustache-guy.

Immediately, Agent Ashe was in the man's face. "Say that again, asshole. I fuckin' dare you."

"Jeremy..." said Josh.

"Don't even start. He takes that back or I'm puttin' him on the ground, right now."

"Try me, faggot."

A dry thud filled the tent. Jeremy's fist slammed into Moustache-guy's face, so fast even Natalie only had a split-second to see it.

The man tumbled to the ground. He looked truly shocked. Cinza and Ruby both stepped forward, while Josh's hand flew into his pockets, obviously grabbing for gemstones.

"I need two men in here, right now!" shouted Clean-shaven guy.

Moustache-guy was only just getting to his feet as a pair of soldiers hurried inside. He looked ready to fight more—and Jeremy certainly seemed eager to respond—but Clean-shaven guy did something none of them expected. He held out his hand, and spoke with a clear, firm voice.

"Lieutenant Arnold, your sidearm."

"The fuck?"

"You provoked the agent and disrupted battlefield command. You are endangering this operation." He raised his hand a little higher. "Give me your sidearm and leave with the MPs, before I have to make this official."

"Do as the man says, asshole," growled Jeremy.

Moustache-guy looked around, but he saw no support from the room. Everyone else seemed just as hostile, to Natalie's vague confusion. She knew the man had said something horrible, but she didn't understand what it meant—and wasn't really sure she wanted to, either. With great reluctance, he took his pistol out of its holster and handed it to Clean-shaven guy, before being marched out of the tent by the two soldiers.

Clean-shaven guy set the pistol down on the desk behind him, next to the dumbstruck radio operator, before returning to the table with the rest of the group.

"My sincerest apologies for the conduct of my lieutenant."

"Honestly?" said Jeremy, raising his eyebrows. He looked oddly impressed. "You're the first boss I've ever seen actually do something. You deserve a goddamn medal for that."

"I've gotten too many I didn't deserve… but thank you." Clean-shaven guy looked back at the map. "Let's move on?"

"Yes," said Cinza. "And by that, I mean I wish to move to my home."

"...This operation should be carried out as soon as possible," he said cautiously.

"It shall be. The Greywood is not far, and we have people we need to move there. In the meantime, Linnethea can help your men track down more locations to strike."

"How many do we need, though?" asked Josh, rubbing his chin as he stared down at the table. The map only had two marked on the big screen, while little icons continued to sweep back and forth. Natalie guessed the fast ones were helicopters, and the slow ones were people on the ground. "To really hurt him."

"As long as we hit multiple at once, it should intimidate his followers," said Cinza. "If we find Brian, all the better, but his following grows too strong and too confident."

"Capture them and show the world it's a bad idea to join up," said Clean-shaven guy, nodding.

"So no killing, right?" asked Natalie cautiously.

"...Right," said Clean-shaven guy, looking at her oddly. "We're just trying to arrest them, more or less, but we're bringing enough firepower to make them think fighting back is useless."

Thank god… if they found my dad…

We will find him first.

"Okay."