Alley headed back towards her original carriage as quickly as she could, given the cramped quarters on the train - and it wasn’t long before she bumped into Stephanie, who was coming towards her.   Hariko was nowhere in sight, for which Alley was thankful.

 

“Thank god!”  Alley said, giving Steph a firm hug.  “Where’s Hariko?”

 

“Uh... She went towards the back of the train.  Why?  What the hell is going on?  You left my purse and your laptop sitting there in the open.”  Stephanie asked all at once.

 

“Wha...?  We can’t exactly talk here – let’s get back to our seats and I’ll tell you everything.  If you see Hariko, be wary – she’s something different, and might be more powerful than us.”

 

Stephanie was worried, but couldn’t argue that talking about whatever was bothering Alley would perhaps better be done in private.   “Fine - well go back to our seats - and then you’ll tell me what the heck is going on, right?”

 

“As much as I can tell – I’m not sure what’s going on, dammit.”  Alley said, frustrated.

 

Stephanie was getting worried - it was obvious Alley was more than a little freaked out...  “Okay - back to seats, then tell me what happened.”   She helped escort Alley back to their usual seats, but when they got there, Stephanie noticed the Skinhead fellow was absent.   Not worrying much about it at the moment, she sat Alley down across from her, and sat herself.  Leaning forward, she whispered  “What the hell is going on?”

 

“Hariko might be one of us!”  Alley said. “She used some sort of power on me - like mind control!   She asked me what was I really doing in Germany - and I ended up telling her everything...  That I was here hunting monsters, I was Andrew a few days ago, and that I was a scion.”

 

“Holy shit, Alley!  Are you okay?”  Stephanie looked even more worried - and watched warily for Hariko’s return.

 

“Yeah - shaken, but okay.  It didn’t hurt - I just felt like a prisoner in my own head.  When I told her, she got a weird look on her face and said Go to the dining car and buy something - and don’t come back until you do - so I bought a toothpick and came back as soon as I could.”

 

“Why the hell would she care who we are, and what we’re doing?”  Steph wondered.  “Could she be one of those monsters who hunt people like us?”

 

“I don’t know.   I don’t know why she sent me away - or why she isn’t here, either.  I think I have some ability to look inside people to see if they’re good or bad, what they’re like, and if they have powers like us - you know, with ichor.   She looked way stronger than your or I do - like she could chew us up and spit us out.”   Alley looked concerned as well.  “If Hariko had such a powerful advantage, why did she run and why did she send me away?”

 

“Dammit, we need Billy or the Sprites here ASAP - and we can’t.  There’s too many people here.”  Steph said, frustrated.  “Well have to figure this out ourselves.   Did she try and hurt you at all?  Get you give her things like your relics, or money?”

 

“No – that’s just it - she didn’t tell me to give her anything, and she doesn’t intend to hurt me as far as I know.  She just got a weird look on her face, and told me to go buy something from the dining car, and don’t come back till you do.   I don’t get it.”  Alley looked seriously confused.   “What should we do?”

 

Stephanie thought a moment.  “Okay - you said you can see if a person’s good or bad, right?  Was she bad?”

 

“I don’t think so.  She was very powerful, and she’d do anything at all to survive another day - but she was not really evil, I think - and she was really focussed on being smart, and not too strong on duty.”  Alley thought a moment.  “Maybe she got scared of us?”

 

“What do you mean, hon?”  Steph asked.

 

“Well - people like us are supposed to hunt monsters, right?”  Alley said.

 

“I guess so - that seems to be what we’ve been doing so far.”

 

“Well, maybe she’s a monster - maybe not even a bad monster - just one that’s trying to survive.   If she was talking with someone and found out they were junior monster killers, what would she do?   Fight us - or run away as fast as she could?”

 

Stephanie pondered that a moment, and then countered.  “Maybe - but why would a monster be asking so many questions?  It might have been hunting and assumed we were tourists that no one would miss, right – that’s not so nice.   And why would she run if she was way more powerful than us?   The only thing I can think of is that she’s not a great warrior - I mean, she waited till I went to the bathroom to question you, so it stands to reason she isn’t confident she can deal with us both at once.”

 

“That makes sense, I think.”  Alley said.  “But if she’s afraid of us, do we try and find her to talk to her - and find out why she approached us in the first place - or do we leave her alone and let her stay away from us?   Or do we have to hunt her down - I mean, if she’s stalking travellers, that means she’s bad, right?”

 

“I’d prefer to talk if we find her - I don’t have powers or weapons, thank you - at least not yet.   But I think if we’re going to do our duty as Billy and the Sprites told us, we should at least look for her and see if she’s trying to hurt anyone - and stop her if she is.   Were supposed to protect people, right?”

 

Alley nodded.  “I suppose you’re right - but I have no idea how we can deal with her on a train full of people.”

 

“Me either, love.  Me either.   So what did the mind control feel like?”

 

Alley began to recount how exactly the mind control felt to her, and how helpless she felt while under its effects - and Stephanie laughed.  “It sounds exactly like the power mom used on me to get me to leave the office and come meet her for the first time - just way less powerful.  Maybe this is something we can learn too?”

 

“Maybe.”  Alley sat thinking for a bit.  Stephanie is right.  We need to at least find out why Hariko was stalking us.  Why?   Maybe it was just curiosity - or maybe she sensed our relics?  Either way we should at least try to see if we can find her.  She had me completely in her power - and she didn’t hurt me.  That counts for something as far as I’m concerned.

 

“I don’t think we should hurt her if we find her, hon.”  Alley said.  “She could have done way worse than make me leave the carriage - she could have had me jump off the train.   I don’t think she means us harm.”

 

“I don’t think she means us harm now that she knows that you’re a scion, hon.  If she thought we were normal people, she might have a different attitude.   But if that’s the tact you want to take, I’m down for it.  Let’s start searching for her back the opposite way you went - one of the other passengers said she went that way.”  Stephanie stood, holding out her hand for Alley to take.  “Either way I think we should stick together for the rest of this trip.”

 

“Agreed.”  Alley said.  “At least as girls it won’t be weird if we go to the bathroom together, right?”

 

Steph laughed.  “It might on a train, hon.  The bathrooms aren’t exactly large.”

 

Stephanie and Alley started searching the train for signs of Hariko - the train was a fairly big one, but there were only so many places Hariko could go.   They moved from train car to train car - and try as they might, they found no sign of her whatsoever.  It was as if she had simply vanished into thin air.   They searched the other direction as well, and found nothing.   Confused and worried, they returned to their seats.   About two to hours had passed.

 

“Now what?”  Alley asked, a bit worried. 

 

“I’m not sure, love.  We looked, and couldn’t find her.  Either she went invisible, teleported away, or she’s a shapeshifter like Mystique from the X-men.  Can you imagine how hard it would be to find her on a crowded train?  We’d lose her as soon as she was out of our line of sight.”

 

“We didn’t search the baggage cars.”  Alley countered.

 

“And she probably didn’t go into them - they were still locked, right?”  Stephanie answered.  “We have to put some limits on what we assume she can do, or otherwise well scare ourselves into doing nothing.  Either she’s gone, or she’s hiding - and if she’s hiding, she knows were looking for her.   I think we might have to let her go - and keep an eye out for her in the future, if we meet her again.”

 

“I guess.  Seems like we should do more, though.” Alley said.  “I did get the impression she was more curious about us than anything else.  Maybe she was just curious.  We do make an odd couple - at least at the moment.”

 

“I suppose we do.”  Stephanie sighed.  And I hope that changes soon!  She thought.   “It’s late.  Why don’t we go get lunch in the dining car, then come back here and enjoy the trip together – it’s not like we’ve got a ton of other things to do.”

 

“Yeah - sounds good, hon.”  Alley smiled.  “At least we tried, she thought.  Maybe we’ll meet Hariko again - I don’t think we’ve seen the last of her.”

 

*              *              *

 

Hariko cowered in the rearmost carriage of the train, waiting for them - Stephanie and Alley - to come for her.   In her disguise, she was fairly confident she wouldn’t be seen - but with scions one could never tell.  I don’t think Danu and her kin have anything against me, Hariko thought.  But it wouldn’t be the first time a mortal hero killed a kitsune - or tried to kill one - for little to no reason.

 

She remembered back, several hundred years ago - she was married to a local monk, named Shedo - and he, he was the monk at the local temple.  She had come to him in a dream and entranced him - but his bravery, courage, and honor had in turn entranced her.   Hariko had originally intended to make the monk Shedo fall in love with her, then leave and break his heart, teaching him a valuable lesson about connections to the world - but when her prank backfired, and she fell in love with him instead, her world changed.   They lived and loved together many years - until Shedo grew older, and less able - but Hariko was still youthful and beautiful. 

 

Then the Scion had come... Strong, proud - contemptuous!  Katsuro, son of Susano-o!  He came into the village - and without pause, nor without even speaking to anyone, confronted her, his sword drawn to strike her down.   Trickster!  He had called her.  Shapeshifter and demon!   He assumed the worst before she had a chance to explain - explain she wasn’t living in the village to harm nor trick - but to live with a mortal she had fallen in love with...  And when poor Shedo sacrificed himself to save her, her heart had broken.

 

Katsuro had lived to tell the tale - but Shedo, her love was dead - and Hariko was severely injured, and on the run - hunted like an animal by the very villagers her spells and powers had granted good rains and prosperity to for all these past years.   She escaped - and prayed for vengeance, for justice - to the Amatsukami, the gods of the Japanese.   All of them denied her - even Inari, her patron!  And so she left Japan, her homeland, never to return, and ever since she had been wary and mistrustful of the children of the gods.   She had vowed to serve the gods - and that had not changed... but trust them?  Never again.

 

If they try to take me, I swear I will kill them!  Hariko vowed.  I should have left well enough alone.  My curiosity will be the end of me, I swear!   It was at that moment the carriage door towards the front of the train opened, and Stephanie and Alley stepped inside.  It was obvious they were looking for her.   She gritted her teeth, grinding them in worry.   Will they see me?  Will they see me?   Her tails twitched nervously, and she had to shift and sit on them, wincing, to hold them still.   Stephanie and Alley looked worried, and nervous - but not angry, and neither bore weapons.

 

Maybe I’m out of the woods, Hariko wondered.  She watched them as closely as she could without giving away her disguise, and it seemed that perhaps they too were scared.  Maybe they were just visited, then?  She wondered.  Maybe they’re too new to their abilities to find me?   At last, some luck!

 

They walked past her - to the end of the train - and checked the locked door to the baggage cars.  When they found it locked, and Hariko not present, they turned around and left, conferring in the cubbyhole between carriages.  Then they were gone.  

 

Whew!  She muttered, wiping a few drops of sweat from her brow.  Maybe these ones are different - but I don’t care.  Being this close to a Scion is dangerous.   Hariko resolved to debark the train at its next stop, and figure out her next move from there.  Anywhere was safer than here - and she was lucky to still be breathing.  

 

*              *              *

 

Alley and Stephanie sat in their carriage, watching the sun go down over the German countryside.   Their lunch had been pretty nice - although it had cost an arm and a leg - and they quickly noticed that most people brought their own food with them from the many kiosks and stores that ran along the many train stations they stopped at to allow commuters and travellers on and off.  

 

“I wonder what Hariko wanted with us?”  Stephanie asked.  “Weird.  Weird that she ran as soon as you told her what was going on.  I wonder if she really was scared of us - and why?”

 

“Yeah, seriously.  I wonder too.”  Alley said.  “Maybe once we get to Trondheim and can summon our peeps, well figure it out.  Hell - if she was a shapeshifter, maybe she figured we were going to waste her!   I wouldn’t have - but she might not have know that.”

 

“I dunno, love.”  Stephanie said.  A few minutes passed, and some of the other passengers started to shift and make grabbing motions for their things.  “I think were about to hit Hamburg station soon.  Maybe we should get ready to disembark and grab our luggage?   We’ve got what, a 45 minute layover to wait for the next train?”

 

“Pretty much.”  Alley said.  “Let’s get ready.”

 

About then, the train lurched and began to slow - they were approaching the huge train station in Hamburg, the lights of the city twinkling in the near dark outside the trains windows.   The two’s afternoon, aside from the scare they had with Hariko, had been wonderful - but the notion they had been this close to a very dangerous foe and known nothing about it until too late still bothered both of them.

 

“There has got to be a way to resist that mind control.”  Steph said.  “We should ask.”

 

“Agreed.”  Alley said.

 

They debarked the train, and spent about twenty minutes retrieving their luggage.  The train station was busy - but not so busy as to be crowded.   It was about 7pm local time, and the two girls were tired, and hungry.  Gathering a bag of portable food and some drinks at a small family store nearby the terminal for the next leg of the trip took the balance of their time, and by the time they rushed back to the tracks, their train - the one that would take them to Copenhagen in Denmark - was arriving.   They checked their luggage with the baggage master, and went to sit down.  This train seemed newer and sleeker than the one from Stuttgart to Hamburg - but it also seemed less historic.  It was comfortable however, and they settled in their seats for a long evenings ride.  It would be about six to seven hours to get to Copenhagen - so they weren’t due to arrive until around two or three in the morning.

 

“Hard to believe what’s happened in the last ten days, isn’t it?”  Steph finally asked.   The train had pulled out of the station, and they were heading further north into Germany - a few hours later they would pass into Denmark.   “All this started on Friday October 10th - and now, ten days later - going on eleven - were halfway across the world, fighting monsters and getting mixed up with all manner of magical events.  Wow!”

 

“Tell me about it!”  Alley said.  “Aside from the obvious,” she said motioning to her new body, “I’ve got super-powers, or so I’m told, and you will have some soon - and apparently we’re gods-in-training.  Our entire world is FUBAR, Steph, seriously.”  Alley snickered.  ‘I mean, it’s not BAD – it’s just so far from normal that people would put us in a looney bin if we tried to explain it to them.”

 

“Yeah, I know.”  Steph said, smirking as well.  “You regret any of it?”

 

“No - not really.  Not at all, in fact.  You?”  Alley asked.

 

“Well, not yet.  But If I don’t get changed like you did, I’m going to have a hell of a time qualifying for SRS - no one to vouch for my real-world experience after all.”  Steph said.  “Hopefully it won’t be a problem.”

 

Alley nodded.  There wasn’t much to say to that, really.  “Too bad we won’t see much of Denmark.”

 

“Yeah - a few lights here and there, and that’s it.  We’ll probably be in Sweden, heading north by the time the sun comes up.”  Stephanie said.  “It would have been nice to see a windmill.”

 

“Next time?”  Alley asked.  “We can come back, right?”

 

“As long as the money holds out, sure.”  Steph smiled.  “We’ll come back someday.  It’s going to be a long trip honey - why don’t you crash, and let me keep watch - and I’ll wake you if I get tired.  We should keep one of us awake in case Hariko didn’t leave the train - or in case something else is here with us too.”

 

“Good idea love.”  Alley said.  “You’re not going to brood all night are you?”

 

“No, silly.  I’m going to borrow your tablet and beat the high score on Field runners, play Sudoku until my brains melt out my ears, and kill some pigs with very Angry Birds.   And when your battery dies and needs recharging, I’ll wake you up for your watch.”  Stephanie seemed like she was joking - but only partially.   She had spent the afternoon listening to Alley play on her tablet, and she figured it was her turn.  It was either that or dwell on the events of the day, and the events soon to come - and she felt like neither.

 

Alley nodded, and headed off to sleep, trying to get comfortable in the padded train chair.  Steph got settled as well, and concentrated on the glowing screen in front of her for quite some time before she too lost interest.  In the end, she spent the last two hours of the trip to Copenhagen just reading a few magazines...  For some reason she was really still enjoying the gardening and homemaking magazines.  What the hell has gotten into me?  Steph wondered.  I wouldn’t get within a mile of this stuff ten days ago - but now its super-interesting.  More to ask Billy, I guess.  Oh well.   As the train entered the station at Copenhagen, Stephanie gently shook Alley awake.  “Hey, hon - were here.  The train’s in Copenhagen.  Time to get up.”