“What?!”

“He said we’re in deep shit, and I agree.” Riley declares while leaning on the table.

“So what happened? I only remember being hit by a Death Beam and waking up in a hospital bed.”

Steve sighs, “Well, everything started when I brought you here...”

...Steve's PoV...

Fuck that hurts!

I feel a sharp pain in my ankle as I emerge from the shadows.

Shit, I bumped into the table!

My blood freeze when I see a vase fall off the table. It crashes on the ground and turns into a million broken pieces.

“Fuck,” I mumble to myself as I readjust the man I am carrying on my shoulders.

I need to find someone, I’m about to pass out… Shadow Walking this much wasn’t a good idea.

My knees buckles and I slam against another table and destroy two other vases. I giggle at the sight of the broken pottery: The robed guy failed to kill me but Mom will gladly finish his job now.

I stifle a groan and strain my legs as much as possible to get up. Each step is a herculean effort, but I keep going, I need to find someone!

I glance at John: He looks fine but a Death Beam of this magnitude definitely hurt him. So I need to find help.

Really, why did this guy save me? It’s not like we were friends...

I click my tongue and take another step. My foot slamming into the floor makes the walls tremble as I topple forward. Sweat is pouring from my forehead and my vision blurs. I only have a few minutes of consciousness left so I hasten my steps.

Staying upright takes more and more efforts, but at least I am out of the living room. My ears twitch when I hear some muffled shouts coming from my back.

“… what..–ned?! Are…” I barely hear the voice as I turn around.

“He took a fucking Death Beam to the face! So take care of him!” I shout as loudly as I can before I throw John towards the blurry figure and fall unconscious.

I am woken up with a kick in the ribs that takes the air out of my lungs. The first thing I see is a vision out of my worst nightmares: My angry mother who's seething with rage.

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW EXPENSIVE THOSE VASES WERE?! You fucking imbecile! How many times did I tell you?! Do not fucking Shadow Walk in the goddamn house!”

A strained smile is all I can muster as I roll on my back, “It’s nice to see you Mom, and you are looking lovely today!”

My face is kicked into the wall.

I get up while massaging my painful cranium. This woman is way too violent with her children!

“Calm down!” I say just as she’s about to strike again, “I had a good reason!”

“In my office. Now!” she orders before turning her heels.

“…and that’s what happened.”

My mother had listened to my report, which conveniently didn’t mention John’s involvement, without moving a single muscle.

The way she looks at me with narrowed eyes tells me I have to expect the worst.

“Now…” she mumbles and looks through the window of her office. I feel a drop of cold sweat on my back as I prepare myself to be sent flying through that same window she’s looking through.

It happened far too many times in the past, and it looks like it will happen again. Or maybe it’s going to be worse. I know my mother well: Being yelled at and slammed into a wall wasn’t pleasant, but it ended there. But I had to worry about my safety when she gave me the silent treatment.

“What am I going to do with you?” she says almost tenderly as she locks her piercing gray eyes with mines.

Oh boy.

I close my eyes and tense up, convinced that I will get a nice mouthful of dirt for dinner.

“You did the right thing, I’m proud of you.”

Huh?!

My jaw drop at the unexpected praise, I feel a huge weight being lifted off my chest. Finally, my efforts are recognized by this old witch!

"But," she says with furrowed brows. The killing intent seeping from this single word is so thick that it could knock out a bear.

My shoulders slumps, at least it was nice while it lasted.

“You still failed. I compiled a list of every Outsider that was present and pulled people from other operations to dispense the Eraser to stop news about this from spreading. Meanwhile, the news about the attack is already all over the HiddenNet.”

She slams her fist on the desk, “Do you have any idea how bad this makes us look?! First the disappearances and now an outright attack, right on our home turf?! The other Families are having a field day with this! Some are already questioning our abilities! Do you have any idea how this will affect our position in the next Council?!”

I grit my teeth, “And what was I supposed to do! Should I’ve let all those people die so you could play your petty politics?! Aren’t we supposed to protect people?!”

Lightning courses through her hands and she grips her desk so tightly that cracks appear, “Those petty politics like you call them are what’s keeping us alive! You’re just like your father, completely unable to see the big picture!”

“At least Dad wasn’t an insufferable bitch!”

...John's PoV...

“… And that’s when she blasted me out of her office.” Steve sighs as he ends his recollection of the events that transpired during my coma.

Damn… This family is insane.

However, my opinions on Riley's family aren’t important. What matters is why we teleported into this decrepit looking room and why the two Werewolves act like they are pursued.

Voicing my concerns causes Riley, who stayed silent during the whole ordeal, to speak up.

“Well… Rumors on the HiddenNet are spreading about two Werewolves and a human storming the lecture hall and assaulting the rogue mage. So it’s only a matter of time before our mother hears of it. Then she’ll investigate and she’ll find out about your existence.”

Oh.

This doesn’t sound good.

“And that means she’ll either force you to take a fatal dose of Eraser or just outright kill you.”

My heart skips a beat when Riley finishes his sentence. Steve’s story shows that she’s someone who’s powerful on her own, and that's not counting her position that gives her access to an entire family of trained killers.

And the worst of it is that I can’t Rewind my way out of this situation, so I have to find a way to save my ass since I can't fight their mother.

“But why would she do that?! And I saved you two, so this has to count for something, right?!” I ask with a trembling voice.

The two brothers look at each other and sigh.

“True, normally we could have a slim chance to convince her to use her influence to make all the rumors disappear. She could even turn you into a more legitimate denizen of the Hidden World…” Riley lowers his head before continuing, "But this is the worst timing possible, with the recent disappearances and the upcoming Council... She's forced to show she still has things under control. Otherwise, the Council might accuse her of negligence and that isn't good news for our Family."

“But I could just hide somewhere, right?!” I ask my friend while shaking his collar.

“You can’t hide from Enforcers. They would detect you no matter where you hid on this planet. They will corner you as soon as you try to step through an Interdimensional Gate. And, even if you fled to another planet, the Enforcers there would just drag you back here to be judged.”

I let go of him and look at the ground. The world grinds to a halt as the realization dawns on me.

I’m going die. And there’s nothing I can do about it.

My knees give out, and tears fill my eyes.

So all this hardship was all for nothing! All the hours I wasted-

"But," I see an extended hand and I am surprised to see it’s Steve's. "We still have a way to save you. However you must trust us, so can you do that?” the Werewolf smile at me.

I have nothing to lose, so I grab the hand to pull myself up.

"Good," says Riley, "Now, before we begin, you have to know that what we're doing is illegal since we're disobeying direct orders, so we must operate in the utmost secrecy."

I nod, “Now, I don’t know how much time we have because they’ll eventually find you. But I think we have between two to three days before they track you down. And maybe a day after that if we hide well.”

“So what’s the plan?” I ask while trying to ignore the anxiety welling up in my stomach.

“Our mother told us to not pursue the mage but we will do it anyway. The plan is to get you to kill this guy. And we need to make it as shocking and public as possible to gain the support of the people. This will tie up the hands of the Council since the people will lose the trust they have in them if they execute you.”

Steve continues, “Right now we have little in the way of leads. But Riley tracked the mage’s Shadow Walking to an empty warehouse before his trail suddenly disappeared. So we will investigate the location first, to see if we find any clues.”

He then produces three phone-sized squares. The polished black material seems to distort the surrounding air, and I can hear a faint humming coming from the devices.

“This is a Mana Detector,” he says as he hands one device to me, “I already configured them to track the mage’s mana signature so it should be ready to go. Just wave it around and the screen should tell you all you want to know.”

I nod and store the Detector in my pocket.

“Now,” Steve says while turning towards me. “We’re also going down if this operation fucks up so I would like to know who, and what you are.”

I furrow my brows at the question. What did they mean by that? They can’t possibly know about the Rewinder so it has to be something else.

“So? I never saw something like the way you handled the Death Beam. Even our regeneration isn’t as fast as what you displayed back there.” Riley crosses his arms and ask.

“What do you mean? I thought my shield saved me?”

“John, please tell us the truth. We won’t denounce you or anything like that, you have my word.” the Werewolf reassures.

I shrug, “I have no idea about what you’re talking about. I just remember pushing Steve away from the beam. Then I got pinned to the wall and woke up in your house.”

The two brothers exchange a glance, “So you remember nothing after that, no idea on how you survived the Death Beam at all?”

My negative answer causes the two Werewolves to look at each other again and sigh.

"All right, we'll believe you for now since you really look like you don't know. But please answer this question: How on Earth are you able to gather information that even we don’t have? We found no records about Jason’s uncle, but you knew that he would attack me. And this death-wielding mage, we never heard anything like it… Yet you knew he would attack. So who are you really?”

Shit, this isn’t good. They are looking serious so I doubt a half-assed answer will fool them. I don’t want Enforcers to be aware of the Rewinder's existence since they might take it away from me. Or force me to use it for their benefit.

I have to find something that sounds plausible, something that could explain why I knew about unpredictable situations.

“It’s hard to explain but… I sometimes have cryptic visions in my dreams. Most of the time they are complete nonsense, but sometimes they are clear enough to somewhat predict an event.”

A bead of sweat roll on my forehead as the two Werewolves cup their chins while nodding to themselves.

I shouldn’t lie to my friends, especially in a situation like this. But the Rewinder is, as far as I know, the only way of traveling through time. So it’s invaluable, and I don’t doubt that I will be pursued for the rest of my life if its existence is to be known by anyone other than me.

“I see…” Riley mumbles, “That would explain things. It sounds like Divination. What do you think?”

“I’m not good with this kind of thing so I can’t say for sure, but I thought Divination was just a rumor?” his brother reply.

"True, but that's the only thing I can think of that resembles what John describes… Anyway, it doesn't matter right now. We need to head to that warehouse."

I can't believe it worked!

My friend grips my arm and his brother’s before smiling at me, “I still have questions but they can wait, thank you for being honest with us.” he says before we sink into the shadows.

I’ll be honest, I kind of feel like an asshole for lying now.

But I must protect the Rewinder at all cost, even if it might cost me my friendships. And I hope the situation with Riley won’t ever reach the point where I have to choose between him and the Rewinder.

Our arrival into a dusty warehouse put a stop on my gloomy thoughts. I pull out my pistol while Riley and Steve transform. Each step we take kicks up an impressive amount of dust and it quickly got to the point where the two Werewolves are forced to protect their sensitive noses with a tissue.

I tighten my grip on my weapon as we check if the area is clear of enemies, which it thankfully is.

“It looks like we’re the only ones here," Riley says as he turns back to a human. "Man, the dust here is awful," he mutters between two coughs.

I nod in agreement. Even I can feel irritation in my nose so I can’t imagine what it’s like for them.

A lingering scent of rot mixed with the stale air floating around makes me regret not buying a gas mask before coming here.

"Now let's see if this bastard left any clues," Steve says as he pulls out the Mana Detector from his pocket.

I also pull out my own device and press my finger on the control rune I spot at the bottom of the screen. A faint blue light appears in the middle of the screen.

“So how does this works?” I ask.

Riley turns on his own device, “It works a bit like a Geiger counter, just wave it around until the light gets bigger.”

I nod and we go to work. Each one of us is scanning the area without saying a word. The silence is only broken by the wind howling through cracks in the walls and the faint hum produced by the Detectors.

And still nothing…

I take a deep breath, only to regret my decision: The horrid stench that enters my nostrils make my eyes water. I cannot get used to this foul smell despite being in this warehouse for more than half an hour.

My companions aren’t faring too well in their research either: Riley keeps a poker face while he scans each nook and crannies but Steve can’t hide his queasiness.

I remember reading somewhere that Werewolves have a very developed sense of smell so this must be horrible for them.

"Guys, I found something!" Steve's excited voice breaks the heavy silence.

“Be careful, there could be-”

Riley is interrupted by a sudden cracking sound soon followed by a pained growl. We hurry to the room Steve is checking out and-

The Werewolf is buried under a pile of broken crates.

It looks like they contained fish before. But it had long since rotten and turned into black sludge, very slimy and smelly black sludge.

"AAH! This is horrible! Get this thing off me!" Steve wails as he shakes off the crates, revealing his form now soaked in half decomposed fish.

Trying to no vomit when you are laughing is harder than it looks.

“Have you two finished laughing yet?!”

I wipe the tears from the corners of my eyes and approach Steve, who points at the light on his detector.

The blue light flickers when he points the detector towards a large rusted out shelf. He carefully approaches the construct while avoiding the remaining crates.

“Like I said before there could be traps hidden somewhere, so be careful.” Riley reminds as he scans the shelf, and I follow suit.

Poking around the shelf is scarier than I expected since the surrounding crates wobble each time we graze them. And Steve’s accident made us very wary of this deadly hazard.

But we finally find the area where the light is the biggest. Riley tells us to back off while he pulls a pen and multiple vials out of his pockets.

"What's he doing?" I ask Steve while my friend is drawing complicated figures on the ground and sometimes pours the contents of a vial on his drawings.

“He’s tracking the mana trail left behind by that mage’s Shadow Walk,” the Enforcer explains, “If we’re lucky then we can find where that bastard is hiding.”

I nod and watch Riley work: The runes he draws on the dirty floor are more complicated than anything I have ever seen before. And the way he weaves the liquids with the ink make my heating rune look like the drawings of a toddler by comparison.

We watch in silence as the drawing on the ground grows in size and complexity. I am amazed by the quality of the work while Steve… is playing on his phone. I sigh, and Riley pours the content of the last vial a few minutes later.

“Now stand back and cover your eyes, I hope this works.”

He walks in the center of a large control rune and closes his eyes. The markings on the ground glow with an ominous green light.