Eliah and Damien were already out on the prowl, looking for the little miscreants, goaded by our Mr Waverly.

“And you find them better find them this time.”

They had been searching high and low without finding them and as they sat in their car discussing where their next effort should take them Elias said.

“Brother Damien, a point of observation only.”

“Yes brother Eliah?”

“The fuel indicator, it hasn’t moved at all?”

He had a point there. The meter had been down on the reserve for the whole day and Damien clearly remembered that the last time they had filled up the tank was three days ago.

“Could be broke.” He suggested not really interested.

Car's were just one more of those incredibly boring mundane constructs one had to bear with, to be human was clearly a overstated idea, he sometimes wondered why he had allowed himself to become involved with it at all. Then he remembered, ah yes, the rewards of success, slaves and pillage was it? Mostly those promises weren't enough for his kin, but then again, he had always been of this poetic adventurous nature. 'To prone to romance.' he thought bitterly. 'That's my fault, romance and adventure, I'm just a natural cursed softie.'

“I don’t think so brother, perhaps we should find us a filling station? It would be an embarrassment finding us unable to move.”

As Damien thought it over he had to agree. Not that he enjoyed cars, there were better ways of travel, but as long as they were here they better behave like humans. Starting the car they started to look for a gas station. Finding themselves an automatic they stopped to top up the car.

“Brother, it doesn’t work.” Said Eliah as he tried to insert money in it.

As Damien came to investigate he saw that Eliah was right. It looked normal but when they tried to insert the money in the opening it showed up to be only a narrow slit without any depth or continuity to it.

“Strange, isn’t it brother?”

“Indeed it is, perhaps we should investigate a little further.”

They walked to the door and opened it, as they came in they found that the goods they had seen from the outside also were props, looking exactly as the real thing but without any real substance to it. As they left Damien grinned, showing his perfect dentition again.

“Brother, it feels almost like home.”

Thinking of the possibilities that this might have with it he missed how the air seemed to coagulate around them, sinking them further into a red mist. Lulled by the sound of the engine they stopped talking, staring without seeing, just as the automata’s they were. Disappearing into the emptiness growing in front of them, as the houses and streets slowly dissolved into the fog.
==

Mr Waverly was still trying to wake his errant wife, but no matter how he tried she wouldn’t respond, and what was more, his beatings seemed to make no marks on her, regardless of how hard he hit her. In the end he tired on his game, giving her a last kick with his boot.

“Damned slut, you can rest in hell.” He growled as he left her, still unsatisfied.

He thought he heard the phone ring but as he went to the room, lifting his special one all he got was humming sound, as if it had been disconnected. He happened to look out the window and as he did he saw that it had become dark again. He couldn’t understand it, It couldn’t be more than midday. Looking at his watch he realized that it had stopped working.

“Nothing works anymore.” He swore to himself as he lifted his other phone, waiting for it to connect.

“Mr Waverly.” Came a weak voice from it, as if coming from an immense distance.

“Mr Waverly, we enjoy you. And we appreciate your straightforward handling of obstacles. Could we interest you in changing employer?”

He looked at the phone. He hadn’t called anyone yet, he had just lifted it to dial.

“Hallo, who is this?”

“Mr. Waverly, don’t you worry about a thing. We will be in contact with you. Your former employers are already negotiating. We however have found ourselves somewhat disappointed with their unwillingness to conform. But that won’t be a problem with you, will it Mr. Waverly?”

As he looked outside the window listening he realized that what he had thought to be darkness instead was a dark red fog, strangely enough not permeating his room even though his window was fully open, instead it seemed satisfied with billowing just outside it . As he kept on looking into it he slowly found himself losing control, staring into the red mist. Seeing shapes and forms taking substance and form, beckoning him, only to disappear again as he tried to focus, leaving him at the same time vaguely dissatisfied and eager for more.

“That’s right Mr Waverly, keep looking. What you need will be found, your innermost dreams fulfilled.” The disembodied voice lilted , as weak and distant as before. “We will be with you in just a minute. We are just arranging for a suitable shell.”

Had he been able to see inside the other room he would have seen the comatose form of his wife slowly dissolving, altering, leaving only that blood red mist to be seen. And, if we would have been there watching it, then seeing it slowly solidify again, but by this time more reminding of an animated corpse than of anything living. Her spirit had long gone by now, fleeing to what peace it could find.
===

With a growing feeling of disappointment Amy Andersen sat before her scrying bowl. Nothing seemed as she had expected and all her efforts to scry those magicians that somehow had forced them outside was coming to a nothing. All she got was that unhealthy red glow coloring the bowl, and reluctance, as if she was staring down in the depths of hell.

Not that she believed in hell, but then, on the other hand she didn’t disbelieve in it either. Good and evil seemed to exist and hell was thought to be the origin of one, or was it the recipient perhaps? Forcing herself to look away she sighed.

“I can’t see.”

Katrine who was sitting beside her seemed to wake up at her voice, looking around as if she had lost all track of where she was.

“What happened?” She asked bewildered. “I can’t remember a thing since sitting down beside you?”

“Nothing happened Katrine, nothing at all. It’s not right, there is something stopping me from seeing here and I don’t like it a bit.”

As she realized what Katrine had said she looked at her concerned.

“Are you okay girl, it shouldn’t have affected you.”

“I don’t know, it feels as if I’d gone asleep or something.”

She looked at Amy beseechingly. “and it was as if I was talking with someone, or listening. Why can’t I remember Amy?”

As Amy listened she decided that Anna wasn’t the only one having psychic abilities. She didn’t like the sound of what Katrine was telling her either.”

“Don’t worry Katrine, we will sort it out.” She said comfortingly, promising herself to be more watchful next time. She realized that she had forgotten all about Katrine as she was scrying, not considering her touched by her administrations.

“Let’s go see the others.”

As they came into the living room they found them all collected there around Andrew’s sickbed playing scrabble. The children all seemed happy with their circumstances but as Amy looked out through the window she could see nothing more than a dark red haze that seemed to slowly lover itself over her little tract of land, not able to penetrate her wards but incessantly searching for weaknesses.

She had started to question her earlier conclusions now, perhaps this wasn’t what she first had thought, those planes she knew through her lore. Or, if it was, there were new dangers hiding in them. Normally the planes were much more adherent to the travelers needs, adapting and helping them, but this was different. It was as if something consciously fought her every time she tried to reach out, sapping her energy constantly. As she looked at Anna and Amanda she decided that they all needed to strengthen their wards.

Leaving them be for the moment being she turned to her cupboard starting to collect the potions and diverse constituents needed for making her tract of land as protected as possible. Luckily enough she had the paraphernalia intact, inherited from her grandmother together with the wolves jawbone, not that she ever had thought herself to need it. In the shamanistic tradition there were good things as well as evil, but most of the practices fell somewhere in between. Her grandmother had instructed her into the use of the old amulet made from a wolfs jaw, explaining that the magic contained and stored into it was of the old kind, before Christianity.

“Remember child, when speaking with your helpers you better know what you want. There can be no hesitance, no double meanings. Those helpers you will find there are of the old kind, some all too prone to pranks and mischief. So know what you are doing.”

As she finished her preparations the she turned back to them saying.

“I don’t like the way the darkness have arrived, much too early. I will need some help to strengthen our defenses Anna. If you and Amanda come with me I will explain. Don’t worry Katrine, they will come to no harm, not as long as I can protect them.”

At least she hoped it to be so, but she wasn’t sure. It all depended on what it was hindering her from her scrying. But they had no choice here as she saw it, they needed to find out as much as possible and as quickly as possible too. As she explained the others looked out. Seeing the strange mist moving outside Amy’s hedge, still unable to trespass they all felt a little chilled. Katrine looked at Anna, worrying for her, but she also knew that Anna would never forgive herself if there was something that she could do to help Amy and them that she backed of on. And especially when knowing that Amanda never even would consider backing of.

“Do what you must do Amy. But take care please.” She answered at last, trying to smile encouragingly at Anna.

Amy took them back to the kitchen sitting down with them starting to arrange what they would need, leaving the inscripted jawbone resting on a small bronze platter in the middle of the kitchen table, she turned to Anna saying.

“I will tell you two what we need to do. Listen most carefully both of you.”

As she saw them sit more straight concentrating on her she nodded, satisfied with having caught their undivided attention. She lifted a little drum, just a ring made out of bone having a stretched skin over it, explaining.

“This is my drum, it’s called a ‘goavddis’ or ‘trolltrumma’ and it will help us come into contact with those able to guide us. This drum is old and comes all the way from Lapland. I inherited it from my grandmother together with the talisman. They belong together, and used together they are said to be immensely strong. We will meet guides and those may take many shapes, and some of the travel may be underground. It is easy to loose yourself there so we must do our best to keep us together, and you need to remember that too. If all goes as I hope we will all get a helper with us and good advice.”

She looked at Adam, thoughtfully studying the way he sat, impatiently waiting for her to finish so that he could throw himself headlong into this new adventure. As she looked he seemed to realize his impatience himself and smiling sheepishly he turned to Anna whispering.

“Don’t let go of me Anna. Whatever happens.”

As Anna nodded Amy continued.

“The talisman and drum are said to both come from the same wolf, pure, wild and fierce of spirit. This one was said to be especially so, slaying both reindeer's and men. To control it one has to be as pure as it once was, but on that I have no doubt children.”

She smiled at them warmly before cautioning them, saying.

“But one also needs to keep in mind what one seeks. What we seek is advice how to protect ourselves and those in our care, also how to find our way back. There is something more than just that cabal of evil here. Something both stronger and stranger have stopped my scrying. So before doing this you need to set your mind to it, and persevere. I don’t know what resistance we will meet, and what forms it may take. But as long as you trust in yourself and your friend beside you I know that we will push through. Don’t care for what phantasies you may meet, this is a journey of the spirit and little that can harm your body. And remember our purpose. Anna?”

“You said that we needed to know how to protect ourselves and those in our care, and how to find our way back Amy.”

“Good, and as Adam said. Keep together as good as you can. Not all guides will be benevolent, some of them might want to have some fun on us, not that they are evil in the biblical sense, more like Loki, the Norse trickster. So remember caution, look before you walk and think before you ask.”

As it was Anna had heard about the Nordic mythology from Therese who had been fascinated by the Norse deity’s, and Adam knew of them too. Amy smiled to herself, a grim smile of satisfaction as she saw how the children seemed to gird themselves for the confrontation, looking at each other, wordlessly telling each other how much they cared.

“Good.” She said again, slowly starting to drum.

As she picked up the pace the children slowly came into a trance with Amy carefully judging and controlling their descent. After a while it was as if the drum kept the rhythm for itself, without Amy needing to touch it. But as they came into the other side they were meet by something mostly reminding them of a wall, Adam still holding hands with Anna. As he looked around he saw no sign of Amy but he could still hear the drum beat somewhere far away. The wall seemed to impede all further traveling but as they stood there they suddenly seemed to shrink, or maybe it was the wall growing, Adam couldn’t say.

Suddenly they were falling through the ground, as if it had turned into some sort of quicksand. Anna first became scared but as she felt Adams hand in hers she relaxed a little finding that she still could breathe and see. After a while they seemed to come into a tunnel system traveling at a tremendous pace, at last being delivered out into a clearing, mossy with little grass, just beside a pond. There was small fishes swimming in it and the land around it was woody, and over them the sun was shining, warming them. As Anna looked around she thought it felt as home, just as real, ‘it’s very strange’ she thought as she turned to Adam.

“Do you know where Amy is?” she asked, happy to see him still with her.

“No, we seem to have lost her, but I can still hear the drum. Can’t you?”

As she tried to listen she thought she could hear something, but after a while she wasn’t sure if it was her own heartbeats.

“I don’t know really.” She admitted. “It looks so real Adam, are you sure it's only a dream?”

“No Anna, no dream. But our bodies isn’t here, just our minds. At least I think so?” he added, suddenly uncertain himself.

He felt just the same and his body was also the same, down to the smallest detail as his skirt and Mary Jane’s. ‘for a simply spiritual journey I sure seem to have gotten myself a taste for crossdressing’ he thought a little worried as he studied himself in the pond.
===