Shadow and the kids all froze, keeping as quiet as possible, not daring to make a move.

“You’d best all come out now, or you'll be 'n more trouble than ya are already!” The deep male voice boomed into the sawmill.

They all looked around at each other, no one wanting to break the silence.

“Don’t think I didn’t hear ya’ll laughin’ and makin’ noises in here! Don't make me come find ya!” he shouted, a warning in his tone.

They heard the man walking around up above them. His wandering brought him almost directly above the group. She could actually see his feet through small gaps in the floorboards.

She had no idea what to do. It was obvious the man knew they were in here. Maybe, if they kept hiding, he wouldn’t be able to find them? This place was pretty hidden all things considered. She could just use her shadow-fluff to hide everybody but… she glanced around at the kids. She wasn’t sure she was willing to do that yet.

She really didn’t want to risk them hating her.

“Hmm… maybe I just misheard…”

Oh yes, please that.

Shadow waited in tense anticipation. That would solve all the problems.

Just leave! Nobody’s here!

“Or maybe… I can see ya’lls lantern shinin’ up through the floorboards!” He said with a bellow and a thump.

Shadow suddenly found herself staring eye to eye with the man, his face pressed up against the floor, eye staring through a gap.

Her collar. It was glowing. Of course. He could see it through the gaps.

Stupid!

Her mistakes were going to get them killed! Or something! Hopefully, nothing that bad just yet!

The man’s eye widened, and he threw himself off the floor with a shout.

“What in the—!” Shadow heard him run—directly toward the access floor-door for the crawlspace.

Not a great start.

Shadow looked around in a panic. Should she just shadow-port away? The kids would definitely see! But she had to if the man was coming down to kill her! But she didn’t know that.

Just calm down… I’ll be okay…

“Mr. Clive! Wait! We’ll come out, you don’t have to come down!” Maggie yelled, shooting a worried look at Shadow, before rushing off toward the floor-door herself.

Ara was frozen in terror, whereas Roy was just standing there with wide eyes, looking confused and worried.

“Maggie!? That you? What the in the hells have ya done this time, girl!” The man shouted.

Shadow was currently debating whether or not she should turn off the collar and try to hide, but she figured that would be a poor choice at this point. ‘Mr. Clive’ (apparently) had already seen her, and turning off the collar would only make things worse. Maybe they could come up with some reasonable excuse for why she was here?

Then the floor-door crashed open and Mr. Clive started climbing down the short ladder on only three limbs, one hand was tied up holding his lantern.

Maggie motioned as if she might try to push him back up the ladder, not that she had anywhere near the strength for that.

“Wait, stop! We’ll come! Please don’t—!”

Mr. Clive spun around and surveyed the scene, his body hunched somewhat to fit below the ceiling.

His eyes locked on Shadow for a moment and then wandered around to survey the other children.

His face took on an incredulous cast.

“What did ya…?”

It quickly turned to anger.

“Ya’ll have gone too far this time. I don’ know how you’ve done it, but theft is no light matter!”

Wait. He thinks they stole me?

“No, we… uhh…” Shadow could practically hear Maggie’s thoughts churning in her head. Maggie shot a glance toward Shadow and grimaced before she started talking.

“I was gonna bring ‘er back! Ara ‘n Roy said it was a bad idea, but I just wanted to play with her a little more with only us there!”

Shadow noticed Ara relax a little as she took on a bit of confused look. Ara shared a glance with Roy, who looked dumfounded himself.

Shadow could see the moment when he caught on to whatever was happening here.

His face suddenly lit up, and then he started talking.

“Yea! She said uh… she said we’d be sissies if we didn’t help her! And she said… she said… um… that we’d be really big sisses! So, we had to!” Roy stated as if this somehow explained the whole situation.

Shadow was still lost. It was clear some sort of social thing was going on, but she must be missing some context.

Mr. Clive, for his part, did not look impressed.

“I don’t care. Y’ve all stole a magic collar and a uh… pet? From a merchant travelin’ through town! She could have y’alls hands! Yer ten now Maggie! This ain’t cute anymore! And you two!” He yelled, point over at the other kids, ”you should know better’n ta go along with her!” The man yelled at them.

He turned his burning gaze back to Maggie,

“Do ya understand!? She! Could! Have! Your! Hands!” He yelled again, punctuating his point by poking her in the chest with each word. Forcing her to stumble back a couple steps.

All the kids were wide-eyed, looking scared.

Shadow’s eyes narrowed a bit, and she padded forward, placing herself next to Maggie, shouldering her way slightly in front. Just in case. She put herself in a defensive posture, and gave the man a warning look, baring her teeth just a little.

She didn’t… entirely understand what was happening here, but the man was being very aggressive. She didn’t think he was planning to hurt the kids, but she wasn’t taking chances. It seemed like he was trying to make a point about Annie stealing their hands because of what they’d done? She personally didn’t think there was much to worry about on that front, but it’s not like she could say anything about it.

Hopefully, her doing this would be ok. She was supposed to be a guard dog, right? They protected people. Posturing like this should be alright.

The man took a step back at Shadow’s approach, looking at her, seeming a bit concerned.

His gaze moved to her collar, and his expression shifted a bit toward confusion.

“How did ya’ll get it here, anyway? The shady’s supposed ta be some sorta guard dog thing, right?” he said, waving his free hand at her. “It ain’t supposed ta head off in the night with some kids. How’d ya manage that exactly?” He asked, his calmer tone not hiding the angry gleam in his eyes.

Shadow stiffened. That was not a good line of questioning.

“Well, uh, we… we threw her some meat, and she… jumped out of the window for some more… and she liked us feeding her, so she followed us after that!” Maggie was almost smiling by the end of her fabrication.

The smile didn’t last long.

Mr. Clive looked at her and narrowed his eyes, shaking his head.

“Yer lyin’ to me girl. Ain’t no guard dog worth its salt getting lured out by some food, and this’uns supposed to be magic. Spit it out! How’d ya get ‘er out here!?”

“Uhh… um... well...” Maggie stammered, at a loss for words.

The man drew back a hand.

Shadow could read the motion.

She hissed at him.

The man reared back a bit, thumping the ceiling lightly with his head, and stopped. His stance wavered as he tried to decide what to do.

Ara whispered something, and Shadow shot her a scared look.

Mr. Clive glared over at her.

“Speak up!”

“I’ll.. I’ll tell ya what really happened Mr. Clive...” Ara said looking directly at the floor.

“Well, let’s have it!” he said, lowering his hand, shooting another glance at Shadow.

Shadow for her part was thinking of escape plans. If Ara told him, she would be in a lot of danger. The kids would.. probably be fine? She might need to run. Or shadow-port away. The man would probably be more concerned with her being some… dangerous... thing… …and catching her, rather than doing anything with the kids. She’d need to—

“I… overheard the merchant lady whisperin’ at Shadow. She thought no one could hear, but I could. My ears ‘r better'n most… She was sayin’ some strange words, and after, Shadow followed her orders real well. I thought maybe the words made ‘er listen to ya, and the merchant lady kept ‘em secret cause anybody could order ‘er around if they knew ‘em.”

Shadow was staring at Ara in shock. She sounded so… believable, the way she said it. If Shadow didn’t know that the story was definitely not true, she wouldn't have doubted it.

“So… Maggie had the idea…” She shot a guilty look at Maggie.” To, well… use it to get ‘er ta follow us ‘n play around. We… we went to the inn and got her attention, said the word, and it worked! And… well, now we’re here.” She stopped speaking, looking guilty, occasionally glancing at Mr. Clive but not maintaining eye contact.

Mr. Clive still looked suspicious, but Shadow saw as his eyes perk up as he had an idea.

“All right… So, what is this magic word that’ll make her obey?” he asked, giving Ara a look.

“Eshinyamere.” Ava stated.

Shadow blinked. That… didn’t sound like a normal word.

The man looked a little surprised himself.

“That’s… Elvish? Suppose it works...” Mr. Clive looked at Shadow.

“Eshinymer!”

Uhhhhhh…. That’s not the right word. Should I—?

“Shadow, heel!”

She figured it’d have to be close enough.

She snapped to the man’s side, getting into the perfect heeling position next to him. She forced down the aggression she was still feeling. She wouldn’t be the one to mess the ruse up.

“Roll over!”

She did so.

“Stand!”

Really?

She stood up on her hind legs.

“Hah! Damn, that’s jus’ as creepy as I heard!” the man said with a small smile.

She really wanted to bite him.

Eventually, he just shook his head.

“Heel.”

He looked back over at the kids. It seemed like he’d calmed down a little, but his gaze became hard again.

“We’ll be getting all your parents, explainin’ whatcha did, and you’ll all be goin’ back ta give the merchant back ‘er property.”

They all grimaced, but nodded in acceptance, each of them mumbling a “yes, sir.”

“I’ll also grab the headman, so he can properly charge ya.”

All of the kid’s heads shot up, looking scared again.

“What!?” Maggie shouted, panicked.

“Ya’ll’ve gone too far this time, I’ll see ya charged like real thieves. I’m sure it won’t be nothin’ permanent, shouldn’t come to that. Now come with me!” he said, turning around to move back to the ladder.

“No! Wait, please!” Maggie shouted, throwing herself forward and grabbing his leg.

Which made Mr. Clive stumble, and smack his lantern directly into the ladder, where it promptly shattered.

And then everything was on fire.