A pale-faced Thunder burst through the dining-room door with a five-foot long wooden staff in her hands.

“We’ve got company,” she warned.

She threw the staff across the room toward Maeve who caught it gingerly in one hand just as she stood from her seat at the opposite side of the long table.

“I don’t see why you look so surprised, Sarah, when I’ve been telling you trouble was coming all morning,” Maeve replied in that all-knowing tone she had.

“Seers,” Thunder sighed. “This is why I never throw you a surprise party...”

Sam was also quick to rise to his feet. He crossed the length of the rectangular room and moved over to Thunder’s side while she peeked through the crack in the door that she’d left open.

“What are we dealing with?” he asked.

“Three nasty looking horrors,” she reported. “Low-level Boars from the look of them... Probably around delta-level.”

Sam knew the designation ‘Boar’ was given to a horror born out of extreme hunger. They were big and extremely slow. Well, most of the time. There was the other kind of ‘Boar’ that Sam hoped he never had to meet, the kind Thunder would never have called low-level.

“There’s a bald man in a maroon suit leading them too,” Thunder added. “His polka-dot tie’s a little goofy.”

She spared Sam a glance.

“This is your Trickster, isn’t it?” she asked.

Sam nodded wordlessly. So, that bastard really did survive his own explosion...

A chill ran up Sam’s spine as he thought of his next question. “Does he... does he have the bow?”

Thunder shook her head.

“He’s waving a knife around like the lunatic you said he was, but,” she frowned, “they’re on the move... we have to go.”

Sam was eager to follow Thunder’s order. He knew from experience that the Trickster was bad enough on his own, and Sam didn’t even want to think about the damage the villain could cause with three horrors in tow.

Control over three Boars... Whoever’s backing the Trickster has some serious power behind it, Sam thought. Let’s exit through the back entrance...”

“We can’t,” Maeve said.

She was looking out the window with a face bathed in a reddish glow.

“The break-in triggered my security system, and the barrier that rose over the house is strong enough to keep even you at bay for a long while, Sarah,” Maeve explained.

Sam followed Maeve’s line of sight and was surprised to find that the sky now had a rosy tinge to it, almost like he was looking up at it from behind a red-tinted window.

“Damn you and your paranoia, Maeve,” Thunder snapped as she joined them by the window.

“Paranoia comes with the territory of being a seer, Sarah,” Maeve replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

Thunder went back to the door and took a peek at what was happening outside of it. She then reported that the Trickster had moved to the area left of the staircase while one of the Boars went to the right and over to the door that came before theirs.

“It’ll find the kitchens,” Maeve said. “And if I know Boars, it’ll take its sweet time gorging on the food in my fridge before it continues the search.”

Thunder then explained that one Boar had gone up the staircase while the last of the large horrors remained by the door.

“Probably there to make sure we don’t escape through the front,” she added. “Not like we can thanks to Maeve’s barrier...”

“How do we shut it off?” Sam asked.

Somehow, he already knew that he was not going to like whatever Maeve’s answer would be, and the feeling of anxiety in his chest only got heavier when she proved him right.

“We need to break the barrier’s arcane array,” Maeve explained. “It’s on an altar stashed in a hidden compartment behind my bedroom mirror...”

“Is there any other way up besides the main staircase?” Sam asked.

“No,” Thunder answered for her. “Maeve’s paranoia ensured there was only one way up to where she slept... the staircase full of traps for the unsuspecting intruder.”

No sooner had Thunder said this when the sound of something metallic crashing into something heavy reached their ears. This was followed by the loud grunt of a beast, and then a peel of laughter that Sam was now very familiar with.

“Not that your traps would work on a Boar,” Thunder added. “Even the low-level ones are damn tank-y.”

“The wrecking ball falling off the ceiling would have worked on any other burglar or assassin,” Maeve said defensively. “But, you’re right... the thick hides on a Boar will protect it even from the laser crystals mounted on my chandelier.”

“Your chandelier can fire lasers at people?” Sam asked, his face a mixture of amazement and concern. “I was under that thing, you know...”

Thunder peeked through the door one more time.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to make it up the stairs and break your array before they’re onto us,” Thunder deduced, and Sam could see her ball her hands into fists. “If I wasn’t sick... I’d mow these horrors down with a snap of my fingers...”

Sam reached out for her fist. His fingers pried her fingers free from the knot they were in while he felt how cold she was to touch. It reminded him of Nurse Ortega’s last warning.

“She can’t get agitated or overly excited because that’ll trigger an episode,” Nurse Ortega had warned. “And watch out for her temperature and get her warm the moment you feel it dropping...”

Sam’s brow furrowed now that he noticed how Thunder’s forehead glistened with sweat.

“I’ll handle it,” he said.

Thunder’s face softened when she glanced at him. Then it quickly reverted back to the all-business look she’d been sporting since the intruders arrived.

“How will you get up there?” she asked.

Sam jerked a thumb back at the window. “Climbing walls was a basic for hero training, remember?”

Although Sam had never gone to a school that offered hero training for young gifted, he did undergo the basic training the Wardens provided after he’d decided to become a hero the first time. It was also when he’d met his original mentor.

“Sam,” Thunder frowned, “you can’t go alone—”

“—It isn’t a bad idea,” Maeve cut in. “Sarah and I will head to the training room,” she pointed the tip of her staff at the door on the other end of the dining room, “and grab things we’ll need to make our escape once you’ve deactivated the barrier.”

Sam didn’t look back at Thunder because he didn’t want to see the doubt or worry on her face. He knew now was the time to show her that he was the hero she thought he could be.

“My bedroom’s at the end of the hallway on the left side,” Maeve said. “The password’s 34-25-36, which is incidentally also my—”

“—Shut it, you damn cougar,” Thunder chided.

Sam moved over to the window, pulled it open, and then climbed out of it with a traditional hero phrase on his lips, “I’ll be back.”

Climbing up to the second floor of Maeve’s mansion wasn’t difficult at all since Gothic houses had that flaw of wall designs which could easily be turned into handholds by an experienced parkour athlete. And although he was no Spider-Man, Sam was pretty good at scaling up a wall.

“This would have been way easier if I’d brought my gear,” he said as he climbed into the conveniently open window that led into one of the bedrooms on the house’s second floor. “Note to self, never leave your gear at home when there’s a villain on the loose...”

It’s not like he could have brought his stuff with him though as he had to send all of them to the cleaners. Yes, even his hammer had to get cleaned as it also smelled of sewer.

The bedroom Sam found himself in was a square room with a single bed shoved against the wooden paneled wall. There was an unused desk opposite the bed.

“No mirror,” he said. “Wrong room...”

Sam moved over to the door and opened it a crack so he could peer into the hallway outside.

The hallway was dark, but what little light filtered up from the chandelier by the stairway was enough for Sam to see that it was clear on his left. The right side, however, was definitely not clear.

“Styx, it’s huge,” Sam whispered.

The Boar had its back to Sam, but its monstrous figure was so big that its sides scraped against the walls. The worst thing about it though was the rotten smell coming off its thick gray hide. It was so bad that Sam was immediately reminded of last night’s dip into the sewer.

“Oh, gods,” he was trying not to gag, “that stinks...”

Luckily for Sam, the door to Maeve’s bedroom was on the opposite side of the hallway to where the Boar was. Still, this particular horror was known to have heightened senses, and so Sam decided it was time to dial up his stealth settings.

Sam pulled the door open as gently as he could and then tiptoed out of the guest room. He’d made it about halfway to Maeve’s bedroom when his arm brushed against the wooden table to his right, causing the lamp on top of it to rattle.

A half-second was all he had to slide behind the white couch pressed against the wall on his left.

Merciful silence was all that greeted his blunder, but Sam still held a hand over his mouth for he was afraid that his breath would give him away.

Then he heard something heavy shifting around in the hallway behind him, and Sam shut his eyes in frustration. Styx... Sam, you klutz.