It felt like we had been running over an hour, but the map showed there was yet another mile to the main road. My legs burned, reminding me I wasn't the super-agent I played in video games. Aurie and I had gathered the first aid kit and other supplies. They weighed me down. My shirt was plastered to my back.

A raven flapped out of the bushes, and it seemed like a bad omen. One for sorrow. I was scared shitless.

I tried to move faster as I dug out the burner phone. "Come on, Tegan, come on!" I groaned. She wouldn't answer my calls. Arms pumping, I fired off a pre-made text: "The cabin is compromised." She knew to meet us at the rendezvous point further down the road. If she didn't show up by the time Aurie and I made it there, we would have to accept she had abandoned us.

"Slow down. I think we're far enough," Aurie said at the sight of me flailing.

"No, we have to keep going, Yokai. From what we witnessed back at the cabin the Council of Overlay Affairs thinks Zyr committed a crime. They won't stop until they get him."

"Mys, you can't keep pushing yourself like this. We have to take a break, babe." Aurie gripped my arm.

Halting, I locked my hands behind my head and took deep breaths. "They could have drones," I said. As I struggled for air, I shook sweat-soaked hair from my face and blinked up at the sky that was getting more overcast by the minute. It had to be after four o'clock, but it looked later in the evening because of the storm. My stomach pitched from overexertion, but I took off walking again. We were nearing the main road.

"Do you see or hear any drones? Because I don't." Aurie had no choice but to fall in step, but she gestured back the way we had come. "You know what? Maybe I should let them find me. My testimony against Darcy Cyprian could clear Zyr's name," she suggested.

Stopping again, I cupped her cheeks and locked us in an all-consuming staring contest to be sure she was listening. "Darcy Cyprian is behind this. He's trying to use the Council to get you defenseless. As long as he's a member, we can't trust them. You saw how they used Zyr's brother against him."

I squeezed my eyes shut. They had dangled the powerful lure of freeing Yazeed's mother before him. I knew how he must've felt. I covered my face and took a moment to process what was happening to us. It hurt. It hurt, it hurt, and I felt like I should go back for Zyr. Only, I couldn't. I had to get Aurie to safety.

My ears pricked at the sound of a car engine idling somewhere close. Grabbing Aurie, I jerked her into a crouching position. Aurie and I backtracked deeper into the woods for our safety, but I stopped at a familiar voice. "It's Tegan," I mouthed. Aurie nodded as we lay pressed to the ground, my nose in a damp clump of pine needles. We both listened.

"I haven't had a drink. Would you stop? God!" she exclaimed. There was a pause. My eyes met my companion's. It sounded like Tegan was on the phone. "I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing...Yeah, you explain how it works then, jerk! No, I'm sorry...I didn't mean that. My nerves are just shot!"

Wrinkling my nose, I felt a sneeze coming on. I tried to suppress it. There was no use. The involuntary reflex erupted in a quiet snort. Aurie's eyes widened as we registered that Tegan was no longer talking; a car door was slamming. I raised a fist close to the ground in the 'holding' gesture to signal my friend to prepare to make a break for it if we had to.

"Mys? Is that you?" the woman called out. I didn't dare respond because a new thought occurred to me. Though it sounded like Tegan, Darcy kept nasty tricks up his sleeves. I cautioned Aurie not to say anything. I needed to see to believe.

"Please, tell me it's you." The woman's voice quavered. Whoever it was, the person was leaving the road and struggling through the thicket. Worried, I fondled my gun as I cast a net of Empathy. "...I, uh, got your text when I was halfway to the cabin, and I turned around...So, if it's not you..."

My consciousness brushed up against the tell-tale walking lust machine that was Tegan Stoney. Chafing inwardly, I rose to my feet. She whipped in my direction with her gun drawn, eyes saucers in her pale, freckled face.

"Relax. It's us!" I shouted.

"Oh!" Tegan gasped, laughing as she quickly lowered the weapon. "My gosh! I almost shot you. Why'd you take so long to respond?

"We had to make sure it was you," I replied.

"Of course, it's me. Is Aurie with you? What happened at the cabin?" she asked.

"I'll explain everything on the road. We have to go." I grabbed Aurie's hand and tried to usher us toward Tegan's hidden car, but the redhead dug in her heels.

"Where's Zyr?" Tegan demanded to know.

I looked down, in pain. "They've got him," I said. When I lifted my gaze, her blue orbs had dimmed at the realization not all of us had escaped. "We're not giving up on him. We'll implement Plan B and appeal to the Humanity Embassy for asylum where Aurie can get an audience with the Council to try to free him. She'll need the ambassador's help, otherwise she could be arrested for accessory."

"Accessory to what? None of this makes any sense."

"Aurie's one of us, Tegan. She's a ghost, which means she and I can be charged for concealing the fact Zyr is going feral. Her only protection is the embassy for crimes against her when she was human," I explained anxiously, eyeing the direction to the cabin. "We can't stay here. We have to keep moving."

"Alright, I'll get you out of here, but there's one thing that's been plaguing me since my arrival. How does one become a ghost, Mys." The detective lifted her chin as if she wouldn't budge without a crash-course in supernatural lore and laws.

I stared at her in disbelief. "You die, Tegan. Some people have unfinished business or die horrific deaths that leave a confused soul stuck between the Real World and the next, but it's not rocket science. You expire."

"That's what I thought." Tegan's expression smoothed. She reached in her pocket, and I stiffened until she brought out an old medicine bottle made of blue-green glass that matched her eyes. "I found this at the gas station," she said, popping the cork.

I had no clue what the bottle could do for us. It was as if the thought of Zyr being taken was too much for her lovelorn brain to process. "I don't want to be callous," I replied, "but there are OA security forces on our tail. We can talk souvenirs later. Shall we go?" I hiked a thumb at the road.

"How do I know you're not trying to trick me to save your own ass?" Tegan queried.

Aurie glared at her. "Is she delusional?" she asked.

"Do you need to return to the cabin and see them arresting Zyr for yourself, Tegan?" I snapped.

"No, I believe you about the detective, but how do I know Aurie is with us? I have to be certain because I made a promise to Zyr." Tegan scanned the clearing where we stood, and she held up the bottle. "Ms. Edison, if you're present, will you take this bottle and hold it like this?" She made a fist around the bottle with her thumb where the cork should be.

Aurie muttered under her breath at how bizarre the request was. I crossed my arms, resisting the urge to throttle Zyr's partner. Grief did strange things to people, and Tegan was grieving. I sensed it. It was the only other emotion I sensed beneath the cloying miasma of her love and lust for Zyr.

"Go ahead, Yokai." I nodded. Aurie accepted the glass bottle exactly as Tegan requested. "Yep. Like that," I said. At my response, Tegan swiped out a hand and came away with the glass, and suddenly Aurie was gone. Snap. Poof. Gone. I turned stone with horror. "What did you do?!" I yelled.

Tegan held up the re-corked vessel. "I put her away for safe-keeping."

"N-not possible," I stammered. The shades and hues of Aurie's trapped Soul grazed my consciousness, and my Empathy screamed. Tegan was telling the truth.

"Oh, it's quite possible to catch a ghost," she explained in a soft-spoken, treacherous voice. "I learned it from an old folk-custom passed down by slaves. The trick is to throw the needle when they're over the lip of the bottle. The point stabs right through the Soul and drags them down. Isn't that fascinating?"

"Let her out, Tegan!" I surged toward her.

Yanking back, the madwoman grinned. "I have to admit I didn't think it would work, but I can tell by your reaction that I shouldn't have worried. Same as when I heard you could sense emotions. You were easier to fool. A few well-placed fantasies, and you were out of my head."

I suddenly realized my mistake. My mistake. Gods. I had been such a fool. No one was so enthralled that they thought of one person every waking hour. No one! Her obsession with Zyr had been a screen to hide her real motivations. I lifted my gun, and she smiled too knowing of a smile.

"Remember who brought the supplies, now," Tegan said in that New Orleans drawl. In horror, I checked the chamber and realized there were no bullets. I trembled with rage as I lowered my useless weapon. Meanwhile, Tegan lifted Zyr's silver and black Glock. At the last minute, she inclined her head with a touch of regret. "I wish I could tell you this isn't personal, but we both know better."

"Fuck you, Tegan!" I launched the full force of my wrath at her. Then the world went black.