“You can’t simply rush into the forest like that!” Dr. Blake shouted angrily. “What if they saw you!?”

He had been in the middle of lunch when Anna pulled him away from his table to sit with us and brief him about our discovery at the lake. While he did show concern about having intruders so close to us, he remained calm until she mentioned her trip into the woods.

“They had no way of knowing! We would’ve seen them way before they noticed our presence.” She yelled at him.

By this moment, both of them were on their feet whilst the rest of us remained seated, watching in silence.

“Really? Then how come they knew when to hide? What if they had one of those hearing aids wildlife observers use? If they did, they probably had other stuff to help them spot you. They could’ve followed you here without you knowing. Did your flawless plan take that into account?”

“Yeah? Well, I… uh.” She sighed and looked down. “Okay, you’re right, I didn’t consider that. Sorry. I really don’t think they followed me, though.”

“You’re too impulsive,” he grumbled.

Alex cleared his throat, getting everyone’s attention. “I don’t mean to spoil your father-daughter moment, but there’s a potential threat out there, doing gods know what, whilst we’re getting sidetracked.”

“Right. Sorry about that,” Dr. Blake sighed and returned to his seat. “I think the timing is suspicious. Is there any chance it could be those... spirits, was it?”

“Spectres,” Alex corrected. “And no, I don’t think so. First of all, even if they were aware we survived, they had no way of knowing this was our destination. We made sure to cover our tracks, too.

“Now, from what Keith, our keeper, told us, I have no doubt that they would use all sorts of technology to locate their target, but the rest doesn’t make any sense. While I’m unsure of whether they would hide in the presence of your rangers or not, I can guarantee that they wouldn’t give away their position so easily, let alone stop to play an instrument in the middle of a hunt.”

“Let’s assume they aren’t as clever as you say,” Dr. Blake added, “Are there no chances Keith sold you out?”

“Not at all. Why would he let us run when he had the perfect chance to permanently silence us?”

“Could it be the monster hunters who followed you then?” I asked, hoping to be wrong. It still scared me to think Kelpont’s incident could be repeated here.

“That’s also unlikely. Even if they’re not disciplined like the Spectres, those hunters wouldn’t voluntarily announce their presence when their potential prey might be doing so already. If it was either of those groups, they would have done what Anna did and sneak their way towards the source, not initiate a long distance duet.”

“That also discards the possibility of wildlife observers then,” Anna commented. “Since they wouldn’t want to scare the animals away.”

“Unless they were taking a break and wanted to have some fun.”

Alex shook his head. “No, trust me, Rex. Those guys wouldn’t risk scaring a rare species.”

“Then who could it be, Alex?” the dwarf asked with a darting gaze.

“I can only think of three possibilities. The first is a stray group of campers that ended up there by mistake and coincidentally played the same musical pieces at the same time. Highly improbable, but hey, it could happen. The second is that Anna here is going mad.”

“Hey!”

Alex smirked, only to get his arm smacked immediately. “It’s still an option.” He dusted off his sleeve, not showing any signs of pain. “No matter how good your hearing might be when compared to ours, the fact that no one else heard anything, and that neither us nor your rangers found the culprit could mean it was all in your head. For all we know, your ears picked up some echo and made you jump to those conclusions. In all honesty, I strongly believe that’s what happened.”

Anna stayed silent. We all did. I didn’t believe that was the case, but she did become rather obsessed with it. It couldn’t be discarded just yet, and a part of me actually wished it was just that.

“The third possibility would involve a person or group we know nothing about. Someone who isn’t hunting us nor wants to be found, but at the same time, confident enough to play an instrument and copy Nora’s music after listening to it from a ridiculous distance.”

“What if they want to be found?” I asked.

If stares could kill…

“I mean, what if they play because they want someone to meet them, but they hide when the wrong person shows up?”

Alex took some time to think about what I said before he answered, “If we take into account that they’re doing so within a restricted area in the middle of the forest, and that they are probably aware of it, then the question would be, who are they expecting to see?”

No one had an answer. The more we thought about it, the stranger the situation became. Eventually, we decided to drop the topic and continued eating. There was nothing else we could do but wait and see if the rangers found something. If they didn’t, chances were that the trespassers left, or that Alex was right. Maybe it was all in Anna’s head. Just in case, Dr. Blake forbade us from going outside and told us to cover our windows for the rest of the day.

---<>----------<>----------<>---

After eating, Dr. Blake stood up and walked towards his office, taking both newcomers with him. Sylvia decided it had been too much excitement for the day and went to her room to rest. Finally, Anna went back to the lab to get some work done with Lily following behind her.

I was planning to stay at the table and chat with Allison at first. That was until I remembered there was something rather important I needed to do after eating. I felt bad for leaving Allison alone, so I apologised to her before I ran, catching up to Sylvia on her way to the living quarters.

After wishing Sylvia a good sleep, I went inside my own room and peeked through the corner of the window to make sure the coast was clear. Seeing nothing, I closed the curtains as Dr. Blake instructed and took out my phone to call Mom. The phone had only rung once when she picked up.

<What is wrong with you!? Do you have any idea of how worried you had me all this time!?>

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

<I only asked for one thing. One simple thing! To send me a message and let me know you’re doing well. Was it too much for you!?>

“I said I’m sorry, okay? There was so much going on that it slipped my mind.”

<Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure getting involved with terrorists and drinking as a minor are more important than giving your mother some peace of mind.>

I froze after her statement. My mouth kept opening and closing as I tried to process what I heard.

“I… What?”

<Am I wrong? That’s what you said in your message, didn’t you? Were you too intoxicated to remember? I can’t believe they let you do something like that!>

What kind of message did I send her?

I couldn’t remember. I was in such a hurry to disconnect myself from everything that I didn’t actually pay attention to what I was writing.

“Um, Mom. I don’t know what I said yesterday, but I think you misunderstood something.”

She remained silent for several seconds. I was about to ask if she was still there when she spoke again.

<Okay.> Her tone was more calm than before. <Explain it to me then.>

“Remember the vampire we saw on the news a few days ago?”

<I wish I didn’t. What does she have to do with this?>

“Well… Turns out some people weren’t satisfied with her death, and they discovered the investigation centre they had in Kelpont while searching for more. They burned down the place and everyone they found inside.”

There was silence again.

“Mom?”

<Are you safe? Should we go get you?>

“I… I don’t know if I’m safe or not, Mom.” I couldn’t lie to her. “But I don’t think it will be any better if I go back home. At least this place is hidden.”

<Wasn’t Kelpont’s?>

“Anna told me it wasn’t. Kelpont doesn’t have any forests, so I think she was telling the truth.”

<So what now? Are we supposed to stay there and hope no one ever finds you?>

I decided not to tell her about the events of this morning. It was better not to deepen her concerns even more with something not even we were sure about yet.

“You can still visit me. Anna told me they’ll grant you access through an alternate route and give you a security pass the next time you come.”

<What if someone sees us?>

“She told me it will be fine if you bring camping equipment as a disguise and stay at least one night. I don’t know what the rest of the staff will do about it, but they seem to have it under control.”

Mom groaned as she pondered about the solution. <I don’t know. I’d like to discuss it with her and Dr. Blake before we come to a decision. Speaking of which, is there any reason why he isn’t answering his phone lately?>

My brow furrowed. I wasn’t that surprised to hear she already had a way to contact him. She was that kind of mother, after all. I found it weird that he didn’t answer, though. He seemed to carry his phone everywhere.

“Did you try calling yesterday, or just the day before?”

<I kept calling both of you until I got your message.>

Yeah, I should’ve seen that one coming.

<If it weren’t for your dad and Allen, I would’ve been there already. I was really worried.>

“Again, sorry, Mom. Also, there was a long staff meeting after the attack, so he probably turned off his phone back then. I don’t know why he didn’t pick up after that, though. Maybe he forgot to turn it on. I’ll ask next time I see him.”

<Please do, sweetie.>

“I will. Well, now that everything is solved-”

<Oh no, we’re not done here, young lady. You still have a lot of explaining to do. What’s this about a chicken popsicle and getting drunk?>

I really messed up with my message, didn’t I?

“Right… So we were out in the forest, and a hawk tried to eat Lily, so I kinda froze it by accident.”

<You… you froze it? Lily is your fairy friend, right? Did any of you get hurt?>

“Not at all. Lily is safe, and I think I’m resistant to my own magic, which I can now use, in case it wasn’t obvious. And since I’m the first one to use this kind of spell, Dr. Blake wanted me to run a few tests. They went well, but I ran out of mana. You remember what that is, right?”

<No, I don’t. Is that what you drank?>

I rolled my eyes. “No! I didn’t drink anything! Seriously, Mom, you need to play games with us more often. Anyway, let’s just say it’s magic fuel my body produces. The feeling I get when I run out of mana is apparently very similar to getting drunk, which is what I meant to say yesterday. Anna told me it was a way for my body to stop me from overdoing it.”

<You’re not lying to me, are you?>

“Come on, Mom. You know I rarely drank alcohol before. Why would I start now that I look like this? I swear it’s the truth.”

She sighed. <Okay, I trust you. But I don’t want this to happen again, you hear? A daily text, that’s all I ask for.>

I smiled. “Yeah, I promise.”

<Thanks, sweetie. I’ll let you go so you can rest now. Love you!>

“Love you too, Mommy.”

<Take care!>

“I will.”

<Bye.>

I ended the call before it got annoying. She loved having the last word whenever she used the phone, or any other communication device for that matter. After the exhausting call, all I wanted to do was to slump on my bed for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, my body had a different idea. I was still full of energy, making it impossible for me to sleep.

Focused on finding something to do, I grabbed my backpack and walked out of my room. I wanted to find someone to talk to. Allison was my first choice, of course. Maybe it was because of her obsession with me, but she always made me feel welcome.

Not that I felt rejected by anyone, but Dr. Blake and Anna were too busy lately. Jack wasn’t even around until the monster hunter issue got solved, and wherever Anna went, Lily followed like her personal guardian fairy.

Sylvia was difficult to read. She was cheerful at times and gloomy or distracted at others. She clearly had a lot to think about. Most importantly, I could tell she wasn’t being completely honest with me. It was something I really hoped to improve, but she was probably sleeping already. It would need to wait.

Reginn and Alexander were another option. They looked like decent people, and I somewhat knew Rex from spending so much time playing together. They were still new, though, and the child within me felt shy just thinking about staying alone with two adult strangers.

The rest of the staff, on the other hand, didn’t really interact with me. They still greeted me when they saw me and were polite enough, so I didn’t mind. I preferred that over their condescending tone some of them kept using. Although, now that we had more active non-humans around, I could confirm they kept their distance from everyone who wasn’t an employee.

On that topic, I noticed, as I walked through the building, that the number of assistants and other minor staff members had decreased considerably. Most of those who stayed were people who had a room in the living quarters, so I assumed the security of this investigation centre had something to do with that. Fewer people coming and going every day meant it was easier for us to stay out of sight. Some of them may have even bailed when they learned what happened.

Arriving at the modified living quarters, I softly knocked on Allison’s door, but there was no answer. I placed my ear on the wooden surface to hear her faint breathing on the other side.

So much for fixing her sleeping schedule.

Giving up on my original idea, I shrugged and made my way to the cafeteria, sat down at the usual table, and pulled my tablet out. The first thing I did then was read the message that caused me so much trouble. What I saw was a poorly made summary of what happened. It was rushed and with plenty of typos, so I wasn’t surprised Mom reacted to it the way she did.

Aside from my mother’s barrage of messages, Allen had also sent me a reminder of the promise I made to him, and Mary simply asked how I was doing. There was nothing else. Considering my situation, I wasn’t expecting anything, anyway. After sending a proper reply to both, I logged into Mysterium’s forums and other similar sites, hoping to find a clue about the identity of our unexpected visitors.

Monster hunter group threads, rumours of our forest, creature sightings, anything that could give me some indication of what we were dealing with, if it was actually real, was welcome. Alas, I found nothing regarding Eredel. It was good to see we were still hidden to the world, but it didn’t help solve the mystery. I did find interesting posts, though.

One that immediately caught my attention listed multiple new reports of a mysterious nocturnal thief in the black forest. It only fueled the already existing stories about the cryptids that supposedly inhabited that area. I always thought people imagined things because of the darkness of those woods, but now I wondered if what Anna heard was somehow related to that. The thought of a paranormal being playing the same pieces I did was both flattering and terrifying.

Vampire sightings and attacks were still popping up globally, although something told me that most of those were probably fake. It didn’t make sense for them to increase from a handful to hundreds in mere days, especially when the government probably supplied them with blood to stop them from heading out. I also doubted there were that many vampires to begin with.

The MAV itself was already making an appearance on the news, too. It wasn’t portrayed as what we all knew it to be, but as the same lethal pandemic I saw in the pamphlets the other day. Because of its selectiveness, they gave it the unofficial name of ‘The Culling’. A bit of a lazy name, but still better than the actual one.

The rest of the articles consisted of the usual conspiracy theories, fake reports of monster sightings, and even one guy suggesting a raid to Varazt Island in search of aliens. There were also a lot of fairy tales, which I read to kill time whilst I waited for dinner. As I read them, I wondered if any of those stories were real, like ‘Jake the Giant Slayer’.

This story told about a young man named Jake, who joined an expedition to slay a group of giants so he could get enough money to cure his sick mother.

The giants described in this story were somewhat different to what Alex said earlier since they were as big as houses, but it could’ve been a simple exaggeration. It felt the same as when fishermen tell their tales about catching the ‘biggest fish they’ve ever seen’.

The part I found most suspicious about this story was that the protagonist, as well as all the members of his posse, took the giants down by using firearms. Guns were an uncommon element of a fantasy narrative, but they actually matched with what Alex told us about the skeletons he discovered.

“So this is where you were.”

I looked up to see Anna and Lily next to me. “Done with today’s work?” I asked.

“Not yet. My father wants to know if you could come and go through another magic test.”

I turned my tablet off and stood up. “Sure.”

---<>----------<>----------<>---

The laboratory was less crowded than last time, although Dr. Blake’s team was the same as before. The giant screen behind them showed thermal images, and the camera that captured them stood a couple of metres away from the table. A second one was placed right in front of it, and the monitor it was linked to displayed pure black. Other machines I couldn’t recognise were present as well.

“Welcome, Nora,” Dr. Blake said with open arms. “Are you ready for today’s test?”

I nodded. “What do you need me to do?”

“As you can see, we brought some equipment to help us understand what happens when you use your freezing magic. Anna told me you’re somewhat familiar with thermodynamics, is that right?”

I gave him a wry smile. “When you say it like that, it actually makes me nervous.”

They all laughed at my comment.

“Don’t worry about it, this may be a test, but we won’t actually ask you to solve anything. That’s our job, after all. All we need from you is to do your magic once, and we’ll take care of the rest. Knowing what is happening is simply a good bonus, and apparently you did show some basic knowledge yesterday.”

“Well, I did go to highschool. I’d be worried if I didn’t learn anything.”

This earned me another laugh from everyone.

“Yes, you’re right. It’s been a while since I went through that, so I forget sometimes. Anyway, let’s begin. Your task this time is quite simple. All we need you to do is to freeze the beaker with distilled water you see on that table. We’re going to record it, so wait until I say so.”

“Okay.”

With my confirmation, everyone assumed their positions and gave Dr. Blake their thumbs up. He nodded at them and turned to me. “Please walk towards the sample until you see yourself on the thermal screen.”

I did as he asked and stood a couple of metres away from the glass of water before I raised my arm.

“Good. You may proceed.”

I concentrated on my mental image and let the mana flow towards the tips of my fingers. The familiar mist showed up and dissipated seconds later to reveal the frozen water inside the container. Same as the day before, everyone applauded briefly. It made me feel like a golf player.

“Thank you, Nora.” Dr. Blake brushed his beard with his fingers, never moving his sight from the repeating sequences on the screen.

In one of them, I could see myself as a mix of reds and yellows extending a hand towards the glass of water. The surrounding air showed a mostly green colouration. The moment I cast my magic, however, there was a greenish-blue line that emerged from my hand and shot into the water. The surrounding air went back to a darker green shortly, but the water remained blue.

The second screen didn’t show much. It remained pitch black except for a small line that appeared suddenly and followed the same path as the magic did in the first one. I assumed that the camera was capable of recording mana as colourful lights.

“Play them again in slow motion.” Dr. Blake requested.

Gary did as he asked, and the image repeated. This time, the slowed down video let us see something we had missed. During the first seconds of my magic, we could see that the heat present in the air and water flowed towards the centre of the path created by my mana, forming a thin red line that gradually disappeared into the deep blue colour. Once again, something similar happened with the mana I projected.

Dr. Blake raked his fingers along his hair as he continued observing the sequence. “Very interesting. It appears that both the mana and the water absorb the heat in the same way Jack does when he feeds on the environment, but unlike with him, this energy doesn’t seem to be converted into anything. It just vanishes!”

“I thought that was impossible.” I commented.

“It should be. It’s a bit early to jump into conclusions, but my first impressions after this test are that your magic just broke the law of conservation of energy. We’ll review the data we obtained to make sure we didn’t miss anything.”

Anna’s phone rang at that moment. We waited in silence until she ended the call. “We’ve got new patients.”

“What is it this time?” Dr. Blake asked. All the excitement had faded from his face in an instant.

“It seems a cat went crazy and attacked its owners. The parents are unharmed, though it bit both of their kids before they captured it.”

“When are they coming?” asked Dr. Blake.

“The patrolling team should bring them here within the hour. They have the cat with them as well. And please, turn on your phone. They tried getting to you twice already.”

“Oh, silly me,” he muttered with a chuckle before turning it on. After checking the time, he looked at me. “It’s almost dinnertime. Would you mind telling the others to go to the cafeteria and stay there until it’s safe, Nora?”

“Sure, let me know if you need anything else.”

---<>----------<>----------<>---

Ninety minutes went by. We were already done eating when Anna barged through the doors of the cafeteria and rushed to our table. She looked anxious.

“I need you to come with me, Nora.”

“What’s going on?” I asked, confused.

She pulled my hand, forcing me to stand up. “We need you to prove that my father isn’t crazy.”

I stifled a laugh. “He really needs to work on his speeches.”

“I agree, but it’ll have to wait. Things will go bad if we don’t hurry.”

“Right, sorry. What about you, though?”

Anna kept dragging me all the way into the living quarters. “They said my ears are easy to alter with surgery. That’s why we need you; You’re a lot harder to fake.”

Once we were close enough, I could hear yelling coming from one of the rooms. We continued running until we reached our destination and opened the door.

The scene inside was that of a woman pulling her husband’s arm as he threatened to beat Dr. Blake into a pulp. Two children, a boy and a girl, laid motionless on top of the bed. From the looks of it, they were twins of about eight years old. A cat with cinnamon fur sat in a cage by a corner of the room.”

The parents froze when they saw me, and Dr. Blake took that as his queue to regain his standing. He cleared his throat and spoke to them. “Here’s your proof, Mr. Malin. This is Nora, another one of our patients.”

I could only look down as he introduced me to them. I knew it was necessary, but I hated being used this way.

“No, no, no, this has to be a joke, this can’t be real! Please tell me it isn’t real!” The man dropped to the floor and bawled. His hands gripped his hair tight.

The woman cried as well, though she quickly recovered her composure and crouched to rub her husband’s back. She looked up and asked, “Is there really nothing we can do? Surgery perhaps?”

The doctor shook his head. “Even if we removed the animal parts, many things would remain out of place, and there’s nothing we can do about their eyes. Keep in mind that they’ll change on a genetic level, so anything we try will only make things worse.”

She bit her lip and looked at her mess of a husband. Realising his mental state wasn’t the best, she left him on the floor and stood up, taking a deep breath before asking, “Can we get infected too?” The man’s eyes locked on hers, yet he remained speechless.

“Given your age, it’s possible.” Dr. Blake answered. “Since your children contracted it, at least one of you will be compatible as well, and I have my reasons to believe it will be you, Mrs. Malin. Whether your husband is compatible or not is up to luck. I must warn you, society may not be ready for your new selves, and with things as they are, we won’t be able to keep you a secret for long either. Is that really what you want?”

“I’ll do it!” She looked down at her husband. “What do you say, dear?”

He snapped at her. “You can’t be serious!”

“We can’t let our kids go through this alone, Tom! If the doctor says we can do it, then at least I will.”

He looked at her, and then at his kids. He closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. “Sure, let’s do it. For them.”

“Well, there you have it. What do we need to do, doctor? Do we just stick our arms in the cage?”

“Yes, one bite is all it takes. I apologise for not being able to offer you a less painful alternative. Voluntary infection is not something we considered so far.”

She nodded, biting her lip once more. “Then what?”

“We’ll run a blood sample to determine if it worked or not. Should either of you remain awake, you’ll be free to go home or stay here. Just beware not to reveal this to anyone. Not even those close to you. Any leak could bring danger to everyone here, including your kids. If you leave, you won’t be admitted back until the process is complete in about two weeks. Finally, the government plans to make a formal announcement soon, but we don’t expect it to happen for at least a whole month. For security reasons, those who transform won’t be allowed to leave until further notice. Are you still willing to proceed?”

They looked at each other and nodded before they walked to the cage and reached inside for their cat to bite them. And so it did. I could only feel admiration towards them. Once the deed was done, and their wounds were taken care of, Dr. Blake ushered Anna and me outside. He closed the door behind him as he walked out and led us down the stairs so we could take the samples to the laboratory and give the family some time alone.