“Remember, keep your hands and legs to yourselves at all times, do not address anyone else, there is to be no touching or exchange of items one way or-”

“I know the routine!” Cross snapped with a scowl and a glare at the guard.

“Uh, right. Y-You have o-one hour.” he said, and led them into the room. There was a table, with three free chairs on the side, with two armed guards behind the door. It was highly unusual for a prisoner to receive visitors after hours, but the level of clearance the Unknown Agency had was scary.

They shuffled in and took their seats, Amber and Leo to the side, Cross in the middle, seated directly across from the prisoner. Amber had barely said a word on the drive to here from the mental hospital, and couldn’t keep her eyes off of the prisoner. Bess Clearfield, one of Stephanie’s coven, stared straight ahead at Cross.

Bess had changed since her death and resurrection. Her once-long hair had been cut short to her shoulders, and a prison diet had greatly reduced the slight chubbiness she had once possessed. There was a new look in her eyes as well, a look of hardness, reflection, and aged, suffered wisdom.

“Detective. It’s been some time.” Bess said evenly, ignoring Amber staring at her.

“Miss Clearfield. It’s been ten months since the incident. The reports say you’ve been a model prisoner.” Cross said.

“Death has a way of making you reflect on what your life means, and how you wish to live it.” she said solemnly. “But enough with the pleasantries. It’s after eight, visiting hours are over. What did you want from me?”

“I’ll be frank. We’re in a tough situation, and need all the help we can get. In exchange for a full pardon, we require your expertise. Have you heard anything about what’s going on outside?” Cross asked.

“I’m afraid I don’t pay much attention to what little news we get in here. What do you need me for, that you can’t get from that necromancer of yours?” she asked dryly, and Amber looked down.

“Unfortunately, Scott’s out of the equation.” Leo spoke up, “Last week, there was a terrorist attack on the headquarters of Metatech Pharmaceuticals, and Scott was part of it.” He eyed the guards, then lowered his voice and leaned in. “It was a sanctioned operation from the agency we’re working with, but that’s not the official story circulating. Scott lost his life in the attempt. The killer is the author of the book you learned your tricks from.”

“Author? Of the Arcana?” she asked, brow furrowed.

“You may know him better as the Calaminous Ruination, the Serpent, or the Poisonous Thoughts.” Amber said quietly, and Bess flinched as if stung.

“W-What!? Are you serious!?” she hissed.

“As the grave.” Cross said, then sighed as she realized it and they all stared at her. “I know, I heard it myself. Consider it a tribute to the kid’s memory.”

“Metatech has been manufacturing the party drug called Taboo, you’ve heard of it?” Leo continued.

“Bits and pieces. I’ve heard rumors from the newer inmates.” Bess said, shaken.

“It actually does give you magic powers, apparently they’ve been coating it in liquid pages form that book and selling it to kids. Also, we know at least one daemon is working with them.” he explained.

“That’s-hell, that’s bad.” Bess said. “And…and you want me to fight them!?”

“We’ve recently learned of an objective they must obtain for their overarching goal, my partner is looking into it now. But we’re currently down a very valuable magician, and you’re literally the only one we know of with any magical knowledge whatsoever. We still don’t know what their overall scheme is, but we do know it’s bad for everyone else.” Cross said plainly, laying her cards on the table.

“But…I-I don’t know that much myself. Stephanie was the one with the book, she’s the one who taught us the mystic arts. It was hard, and we didn’t have much time, so she taught us all different spells, a small variety, that we could all work together for greater effect and to shore up individual weaknesses.” she said hesitantly. Cross frowned.

“Hmm. That’s disheartening, but at this point anything is better than nothing. We need a magical edge, even if you only have a cursory knowledge of what we’re up against. I realize I’m asking a lot, but we need all available personnel to pull together. Since the kid’s gone, we’ve got Leo, who knows a little bit about the creatures we might be facing, and if we add whatever you might know and can do to our forces it might tip the balance. What do you say?”

“I…I don’t know. I mean, this is…”

“Please.” Amber cut in, begging with her eyes. “We need you. We’re down on anyone who can identify and use whatever magic we’re going to fight. I don’t know much about the Last Alarm, but I know whatever he wants he shouldn’t get. He’s been called into this world. We have to do everything we can.” she pleaded to Bess’s frightened face.

“What? H-He’s...but that…oh crap, oh jeez, this’s bad. He’s actually summoned?” Bess asked, hoping desperately, futilely, that this was a dream, or an elaborate practical joke.

“He’s real, and he’s here. I heard him talking to the kid as he made him roofdive.” Cross said. Bess cursed.

“Then what are we waiting for?” With a harsh, guttural intonation she stood up, the handcuffs falling off her wrists. The guards started forward but she raised a hand, orange slime oozing down her arm and extending into a tendril that scrutinized them with a single foreboding eye. “Don’t even think about it.” she said, the tentacle glaring. Leo raised an eyebrow.

“Huh. You could’ve escaped at any time you wanted. Why didn’t you?” he asked as they stood up, Cross explaining to the guards that Bess was now fully pardoned and in their custody, flashing the Agency badge that would allow her to do so.

“Scott made me promise I wouldn’t, and he had the power to enforce it, not them. But Amber was right. I did need to live, and reexamine my existence, and what I have done. The last few months have been…enlightening.” she explained, banishing the tendril. “If you found me, have you found the other members of the coven? They would be able to help, too.”

“Unfortunately not. Carla and Courtney are still at large, presumably laying low. We’ve actually found Stephanie, but with her current mental state she’s not fit for recruitment. Besides, she’s proven almost pathologically incapable of trying not to kill Amber, and I don’t need my team tearing itself apart.” Cross said.

“But that doesn’t mean we won’t be getting any reinforcement. I messaged him before we got here, he’ll be here as soon as he can. Still can’t believe no one got his phone number.” Leo piped up.

“Really? That’s great! He’ll be a big help!” Amber said excitedly. “But he kinda left in a hurry, so we didn’t think of it. How’d you get ahold of him?”

“I’m friends with him on Facebook. Did, did no one else think of that?” Leo asked, confused.

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I haven’t been on in weeks, people’ll have been wondering where I’ve been, oh god, Joy’ll be flipping out.” she said aghast as they left. Bess regarded them with a raised eyebrow.

“You do know the whole planet could be in danger, right? Should you really be so…flippant?” she asked. They looked at her.

“Would constantly stressing and worrying help?” Leo asked in response.

“Well, no but-”

“Trust me, it’s too hard to be freaked all the time under a threat, you kind of get used to it. I mean, the first time we squared up against an evil god with an army of vampires, things were pretty rough.” Amber said, to Bess’s alarm.

“What?”

“To be fair, once those ghouls showed up and Scott unleashed the giant three-headed dog, things did get better, even if I was dead.” Leo said, finger on his chin.

“What!?”

“I say it’s because you’re a bunch of godless immature teenagers, but what would I know.” Cross said sourly.

“But…I do have a god. He gave me a flaming sword and everything, even if he does have more tentacles than I was expecting.” Leo pointed out.

“And the uylata spider’s pretty okay too, even if she does have to abduct mortals for the collective. The powers are neat, although my skin turning white is a tad hard to coordinate with.” Amber said, enjoying watching Bess nearly explode.

“WHAT!?” she shouted. Cross put a long-suffering arm around her shoulders.

“Get used to it, kid. Get used to it.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vanessa stealthily slipped through the door as thunder boomed overhead, the light rain turning harder. She heard her parents chatting in the kitchen, chuckling as she went past them, unseen. She didn’t really need to sneak around, but it felt more appropriate. Right now, it sounded like they were having a late-night snack with her and Riley. She peeked in, watching them eat cheesecake. Riley wasn’t present, but they still had four places. She sighed; she hoped they weren’t throwing the uneaten slices away, there was no reason to waste good food, even if they had been trapped in an illusion that everything was normal for the past two weeks.

It wasn’t that she wanted to bewitch her parents, but it was infinitely easier to move around if they thought she was usually home and around. Nigel had been right, like usual. The illusion spell was perfect, they’d think everything going on in their house was fine, and wouldn’t even register Vanessa or anything she did unless she wanted them to. Very useful, considering she was at the Society headquarters nearly sixteen hours a day now, often sleeping there. She did wonder if Riley was still preoccupied with Conner.

She didn’t bother hiding anymore once she checked her control was absolute as she walked up the stairs to her room, absently noting Riley’s lights were out. Weird, she usually tried to stay up later during the summer. There was a flickering glow coming from underneath the door, and strange growling sounds. She was just watching a movie or something. Anyway, Vanessa had to hurry and pack!

Vanessa entered her room and pulled out her suitcase. Nigel had said this would definitely be an overnight trip, and that if everything was successful she might not be coming back to this house again. The new world was almost at hand. She shivered, nervous but determined. She began throwing clothes and toiletries in her bag.

BANG!

There was a loud thump, and Vanessa looked up to see Riley panting, back against the door looking freaked.

“Riley?” Vanessa asked.

“What? Everything’s fine, everything’s ok!” she said quickly, opening the door a crack and breathing a sigh of relief. “Phew...yeah, everything’s good, no reason to panic at all. So, uh, how are you?” she said casually, leaning against the bookshelf and wiping the sweat from her forehead.

“What were you-”

“Nothing! Nothing at all, j-just a harmless little game, that’s all!” Riley said, cutting her off. Vanessa looked at her strangely.

“Okayyyyy….”

“So anyway-are mom and dad alright? They’ve uh, seemed pretty out of it lately. Know what’s up with that? I thought I saw ‘em in the kitchen, they’re acting kinda weird. I, uh, had to catch my show, so I didn’t stop when I got a soda.” Riley said, desperately changing the subject.

“Oh, um, th-they’re adults, who knows what’s going on in their heads.” Vanessa said unconvincingly, causing Riley to raise her eyebrow this time.

“Alriiiiiight…”

“Yeah, probably just some kind of game they’re playing, you know how long-time couples are.” Vanessa kept going. Riley blinked.

“N-No, not really.” she said flatly. Vanessa grinned and pounced on the opportunity.

“Really? So I guess that Connor’s not anything to you then?”

“Huh?”

“Oh, c’mon. I’ve seen you running around, you’re spending all your free time with him.” she wheedled, resuming packing. “Tell the truth, sis. Is he really just a friend?”

“What? No, that’s-he…I…” Riley stammered, turning red. “He’s a boy!”

“And you’re a girl.” Vanessa said, softening her expression. This might be the last time she was able to see her sister, and even if the brat was annoying Vanessa still cared for her. “I’m serious. Do you like him? Do you even know what that means?”

“Y-Yeah, I’m not dumb!” Riley asserted loudly. “But boys are dumb, and they’re gross!”

“But is Connor dumb and gross?” Vanessa asked. Riley looked down.

“Well, no…”

“And he’s a boy, so they’re not all dumb and gross. You’re just too young to really see it yet, but boys aren’t any better or worse than girls are. Usually.” she added, recalling some of Janet, and even her past boyfriends. “Trust me, in a few years you’ll get what I mean.” Riley still looked confused, but unconvinced. Vanessa giggled. “I went through the same thing. Now tell me. Do you think he’s cute?”

“No way.” Riley scoffed.

“But is he bad looking?” Vanessa said, putting her hairbrush and other accessories away, along with a small purse.

“No, but-” A small bottle fell out of the bundle Vanessa was packing to the floor. Riley stared at the red pills. They looked extremely familiar. “What’re those?”

“Nothing. Just some medicine.” Vanessa said, quickly, trying to snatch it up but Riley getting there first.

“You don’t have any perscriptions-” she froze as she saw the pills up close. Bright crimson, with no stamp or markings. Her mind flashed to the sample Scott was working on in the lab. “What? Is…is this-?”

“That’s nothing you need to worry about.” Vanessa snapped, tearing it out of her hand. Riley stared at her, wide-eyed.

“V-Vanessa…is that…Taboo?” Vanessa froze herself, turning mechanically to her sister.

“How do you know about Taboo?” There was a flash of lightning and a roll of thunder, the rain driving against the roof and window as they stared at each other in silence.

“This-this’s the same stuff that Scott’s girlfriend took and was turned into a spider, or something. He told me it was real bad. Why’re you taking stuff that’s real bad?” Riley said, face hardening and heart thumping in her small chest.

“‘Scott?’ Who’s Scott? I don’t know any Scott, why’d he tell you it was bad? Look, it’s not what you think, this stuff helps you expand your horizons. It’s just a tool that allows me to focus, and lets me think about and prepare for the future better. There’s going to be some changes, big ones, coming soon, and I’m going to be a part of it. I know you were told drugs were bad in school, but that’s ‘cause you’re too young to understand better. It’s more complex than that, there’s a lot of issues my friends and I have to worry about, and the Taboo helps us get through it. It-”

“-gives you forbidden knowledge of magic?” Riley said quietly, her tiny voice cutting through Vanessa’s hurried explanations. There was another moment of silence as Vanessa gaped at her little sister, and that was all the confirmation that Riley needed. “I’m right, right? You got magic powers, by taking these drugs! That’s why Mom and Dad’re weird, because you did something to ‘em, didn’t you?”

“No, that’s not…I, I didn’t…” Vanessa stuttered.

“And you’re packing. Why? Where are you going? Why are you taking so much stuff? Does this have anything to do with the Taboo? With your friends? Is that why I’ve never seen you at home lately?” Riley said, connections forming and pieces falling into place in her mind.

“You…I…how did you…” Vanessa said weakly, fidgeting nervously. This little brat! She was always dumb as a post, when did she get so sharp? How the hell did she even know what Taboo was, unless-she didn’t have some herself, did she!? “I get it, this Scott told you about Taboo.” she said venomously, growing agitated, and Riley flinched at the name she spat. Vanessa narrowed her eyes. “I’m right. Did you take any? Is he supplying you? Do you have any here? Give it to me. Now!” She drew herself up over the nine-year-old, but Riley didn’t appear intimidated, staring back at her with shining brown eyes.

“Yeah, he told me all about it, but he’d never give it to me. He said it gives you power, but the chemical competition makes you weird and insane.”

“Composition.” Vanessa corrected, glaring at her.

“Right, chemical composition.” Riley said, glaring back. “He said it makes your brain unstable, and if you’ve got magical powers who knows the damage you could cause. He made me swear never to touch it. Vanessa, I’ve never seen you act like this. You gotta quit it.”

“No, you don’t understand. I’ve never felt better in my life. I have new friends, and a boyfriend who really gets me, and teaches me so many wonderful new things. It’s all thanks to Taboo. I’ve never acted like this because I was so full of fear before. But now I am loved, and I have power. I can stand up to anything. I love this power, this feeling. And no one is taking it from me.” Vanessa said coldly, flexing her fingers. Riley shook her head, surreptitiously reaching into her pocket for the piece of chalk she always carried now. Scott’s lab had plenty.

“Well maybe you won’t listen to me. And maybe you did something weird to them, but I bet you’ll listen to Mom and Dad.” She backed up towards the door. Vanessa saw it in her face; no matter what, Riley would try to stop her now. She always was stubborn.

“I don’t think so. K’eashgg.” She waved her hand, and Riley started as the door vanished, becoming as smooth as the wall.

“What!?”

“Little sister, it’s past your bedtime. Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just going to make everything normal again. Zgk’lssh-avvana. Zgk’lssh-avvana. Zgk’lssh-avvana.” She began chanting, growing in size to twelve feet tall. Riley screamed, but no one came. “No sound will escape this room. There’s nothing to worry about, anyway. With one touch, you’ll see the world like Mom and Dad.” Her skin had faded to a dull grey, and her face and teeth had become long and sharp. She slowly stretched an impossibly long hand out, ready to engulf Riley’s head and erase her perception of reality.

“Nooooo!” she shrieked, frozen in terror. “Help! Connor! Scott! Nooo!”The paltry spells she knew wouldn’t even come to mind. Her sister was bigger and stronger than her normally, let alone magically. She was trapped in a corner, unable to move. It was over. Lightning cracked as her tears fell like the rain. She was alone and helpless. There was nothing she could do.

In the next room, the Necronomicon trembled, shook, and flipped open.

There was a small, dark foresty green flicker in Riley’s eyes, and she suddenly recalled Scott’s advice when fighting fellow magic users: ‘First rule is: don’t. You don’t know what they have, or what they’re willing to do. So if you wanna fight that, good luck. Running’s your best bet. But if you can’t, you gotta use what’s between your ears. Always remember everything has a weakness. Even a seemingly all-powerful ancient deity can be banished back home, with the right spell. Now necromancy’s not really suited for a straight-up confrontation without an army of corpses at your back, so you gotta think about what you have, and what you can do with that. But there’s one spell that doesn’t need sigils, or a long incantation, making it perfect for combat. Remember, necrotic energy, the force of the dead, isn’t an absence of life energy. Life energy is made of the positive: happiness, calm, serenity, light, health, innocence, love, anything you wanna slap a good adjective on. Necrotic is comprised of pure negativity: sadness, fear, anger, hate, rot, corruption, malice. So if you need to fight, it’s the perfect spell to harm or even kill your enemy, depending on how much you put into it. Remember this spell, it could save your life. Remember-’

“SEKH!” Riley’s brown eyes blazed a dark foresty green, swinging her hand at her sister’s. The magic of illusion met the dark force of decay, the powers colliding and warping. Vanessa had more skill and experience in using her magical knowledge, so the outcome was obvious. Ordinarily. But Riley was terrified out of her wits, running on instinct and launching a desperate gamble. The necrotic energy responded well to such a strong negative emotion, and tore through the hallucinogenic spell like a steel beam through plaster.

“Augh!” Vanessa recoiled in pain, the piercing, burning sensation as her flesh began to rot just beginning to turn her hand black as the room snapped back to normal, her concentration shattered. She wiped it off, undamaged, but looked up as her door slammed.

“You…! Little rat! I knew you were taking Taboo! Get back here!” Vanessa furiously chanted and threw her door open, reality roiling and shifting as she chased Riley, riding on billowing smoke that obscured the view in the hallway that was lengthening to infinity before Riley’s eyes. Riley ran as fast as she could, but her increasingly growing and witchlike sister would be on her in a heartbeat.

“H-Help!” she cried. Out of the shifting, smoky walls a door opened up, revealing a skeleton standing in a normal room. Unless the various mad chalk scribblings, ritual circle and candles counted as normal. She dove into the space and hugged the calcific undead. “Thank you, thank you!”

“I’ve got you now-” Vanessa had caught up to the speedy child, ready to throw enough illusions so hard and fast and real it would rend her mind into pieces. Her hand was raised with a bolt of pure trauma, and then she saw Riley grinning and glaring with glowing green eyes at her.

“Get ‘er, Bones!” Vanessa stared, the incantation dying on her lips. The spectral shifting of reality in the hall faded into the normal grey-black of night as she saw her nightmares come to unlife.

Bones marched, clacking on the hardwood as he went, a grinning skull stripped of all flesh, empty sockets staring into her saucer-wide eyes. Her blood chilled, freezing in abject fear.

“N-No.” she moaned softly, taking a step back. Bones was almost in arm’s length. No. No! NOOOOOOO!” She screamed and fell, scrabbling backwards as she was assaulted by the memories of previous undead, breaking into her home right in front of her eyes, dragging an unnatural intruder out and tearing him apart like vicious dogs. “No! S-Stay away!” She gathered her wits and held up a machine gun, unloading two hundred rounds a minute into the skeleton. Bones didn’t flinch. He had his orders, and the dead weren’t bothered by pain or fear. It was like trying to trick a statue. “Go away! Aiiiieee!” Vanessa threw herself back and clapped her hands together, bringing the walls to smash the skeletal zombie. He kept walking, unfazed. Riley watched in amazement. It was obvious by now Vanessa was using illusions, demonstrated as she created holes in the floor. Bones hesitated, trying to find a way around.

“Keep going! No matter what!” she shouted, and Bones strode forward on nothing.

“Get away! Stop! D-Don’t come any closer!” Vanessa chanted desperately, conjuring walls, fog, strange gibbering and scary creatures to attack the skeleton. He kept going forward, mindlessly. “No! I-I can’t…aaaaaauuugghhhh!” Vanessa screamed, tears running down her face. Her back hit the wall. There was nowhere else for her to run. All her power, all her skill, useless in the rotted face of this monster. “G-GET AWAY!”

BOOM!

The hallway exploded into a blast of flame, as bright as the sun and hot as a volcano. Riley ducked into her room, shielding her eyes. She knew she should be alright, and in fact there was no heat, but the sheer overwhelming flames felt like they should be melting her. The hallway looked like a molten steel factory, Vanessa huffing as she focused on the fiery column centered on the skeleton. A boney hand reached through the conflagration and wrapped itself around her throat.

“Urk-!” Bones stepped out of the flames, unaffected in the slightest. He grabbed her right arm and pulled it out so she couldn’t use it as she tried to flail desperately, unable to overpower the dark magics animating his form, the phalanges restricting her air supply and restoring reality to normal. Riley crept forward, watching her sister try to struggle and slowly lose consciousness, weeping.

“Let her go.” she said quietly, and Bones obeyed. Vanessa dropped to the floor and curled up in a ball, unmoving, sobbing. Riley let her go for awhile, then laid a hand on her shoulder. “Hey. Hey.” Vanessa glanced up at her, then at the skeleton in fear. “Bones, give us some space.” Bones took a couple steps back, though easily within reaction distance.

“What are you doing, how are you doing this, why do you have that thing?” Vanessa whimpered. Riley sighed and threw an arm around her shoulders, kneeling down beside her. Vanessa may have been dumb, but she was still her sister, and did try to look out for her. Now it was her turn.

“I told you, I didn’t take any Taboo, but I met someone a few weeks ago who’s been giving me lessons in the best magical subject of all: necromancy.” She gestured to the undead behind her. “It’s real cool. I’m not too good at it yet, but I’m learning. Scott’s the one…was the one who taught me. He…he died, last week. He was researching the Taboo for the government, an’ they went on a mission to stop it, and he died.”

Vanessa listened to the story in amazement. Her sister was being taught magic? And it sounded like he was Scott Havenbrook, an infamous creepy loser form school who went crazy and went on a crusade against Metatech.

“But…but why zombies?” she asked, glancing at the motionless skeleton. “Why, out of all the things you could do, why choose…necromancy? It’s horrible! It’s gross and creepy, playing around with dead bodies!” Riley glared at her.

“Yeah, it’s hard, and gross, but necromancy’s the best! We wouldn’t be here without it! That bad guy that broke in last year, Scott killed him! There was a daemonic invasion, and Scott raised the cemetery to stop it! Zombies aren’t evil or bad, they just do what you want ‘em to. If you’re bad, yeah they’ll do bad, but if you’re good you can use ‘em to save people! Zombies are the coolest!” she proclaimed, passionately jumping up, her fist in the air. Vanessa stared at her baby sister.

“You’re nuts, you know that.”

“And you’re being a villain!” Riley countered, pointing an accusing finger at her. “Taboo’s bad! It makes you go crazy, and with magic powers you’ll end up hurting people!”

“M-Maybe some irresponsible users, but the Third Eye Society encourages Taboo use to expand one’s mind, to gain the power to help ourselves and others, to-”

“-make my brain weird like you did to Mom and Dad?” Riley asked. Vanessa fell silent. “I don’t care what you were thinking, you tried to use bad magic on me!”

“That’s…that’s not…” Vanessa struggled weakly. “I-I mean, we’ve occasionally had to s-steal some stuff, b-but it was only to get enough resources to build a better future! For us, and for you! Th-The adults stole our chances at a happy life, w-we’re just taking it back!” she defended, clenching her fists.

“By using bad magic on me? If that’s the case, I don’t want anything you give me. Sorry, but that’s crazy. You’re crazy, and your friends are crazy. You know that, right?” Riley tossed back at her. Vanessa flinched. “C’mon sis, I can see this, you gotta know all this better than I do! Unless you don’t think you’re smarter than a nine year old?”

Vanessa spent a long time staring in awkward silence at her sister, then down at her own hands. Was this really what she wanted to be? Someone who would turn violent against a child, her own blood, and couldn’t deny her points? Was the bright future she was working towards really worth doing such things? Would she be able to live with herself afterwards?

“…I think I made a big mistake.” she said at last, her stomach falling to her shoes.

“Freaking duh!” Riley said, rolling her eyes. “Now, gimme your cell phone.” Vanessa handed it over numbly, and Riley started typing quickly. “I’m texting Connor. He can help. If the Taboo’s still around, it’s my duty as a Necromancy Apprentice to stop it!” she said, standing as tall as her three-foot frame allowed. “Just gotta figure out what to do next. Connor’s good at that.”

“Err, yeah…” Vanessa said uncertainly. How was all this happening? Her mind began to replay the events leading up to this, then she gasped as she remembered why she was packing. “Oh, no! We’re gonna go to New York tomorrow, we were gonna steal something from this guy’s place, Nigel said it was almost the last step to the new world we were making!”

“Then that’s something I gotta stop. I-” The front door burst open and Connor ran in, out of breath.

“I (huff) got your (huff) message!” he gasped. “Y-Your sister!? A Taboo cult!?”

“Hey, it’s not a cult!” Vanessa protested reflexively. Riley glared at her disapprovingly, and even Bones’s black eye sockets seemed to look at her with distain. “Okay. It might be a cult.” Connor shook his head.

“This…this is serious.” he said.

“Right. Especially if these guys’re gonna steal something that’ll complete their nefurrious plans.” Riley said, stroking her chin. Sometimes she wished she had a beard.

“Nefarious.” Connor and Vanessa said.

“Whatever!” She locked eyes with Connor, and they both knew. The time had come, to unleash the seal on the forbidden text. “Yup. This’s officially too big for us. I don’t think we can do this.” Connor gulped and nodded, pulling out his phone. He pulled up the number Scott insisted he have, and forbade them to use it except in the most dire of circumstances. “We’ve got no choice.”

“I know. Here goes.” He joined the girls upstairs and pushed the dial button. After a moment of ringing, the other end picked up.

“Hello?” Agent Cross answered.