Motivation. There were countless things that could motivate a person. Family, love, greed, anger. All of them could encourage people to do great things. If not, always good things. Some people respond better to the carrot, that possible raise for working extra hours, a child being tempted with a new toy if they got A's in school. Others responded better to the stick. Groundings for bad grades, the threat of being written up or fired. I found that the furious gaze of an octopus bigger than a mobile home was one hell of a stick.

I scrambled away from the door. My heart, which had started to slow, pounding in my chest like a drummer having a stroke. "Ben, we need to move now!" Ben looked at me for a second, then floated over to the door. He swore then flew back to me; his expression as panicked as mine. "Holy crap, she's coming fast!" I swore and dashed to the computers. I didn't own one, but I'd spent plenty of time around them in school. I started stomping on the computers, ignoring the monitors-- but anything else that looked electronic and important I did my best to smash as well. Once I had curb-stomped to the best of my ability, I ran over to the fridge in the corner and grabbed another bucket of fish. After dumping it out, I started gathering up the broken fragments of electronics and throwing them in the bucket.

I had crushed or torn away a lot of the computer's metal cases, but I couldn't be sure I had gotten everything. So, after running up to Thumper's tank, climbing up the ladder, and dumping the bucket into the filthy water, I rushed back and repeated the process with any of the cases I hadn't managed to break open or didn't think were damaged enough. "Is that going to be enough?" Ben asked as I dumped my last bucket into Thumper's tank.

The lobster was smart enough to know I wasn't dumping food into his tank, and he stared at me with disappointed eyes as I climbed down from the ladder. After giving the friendly lobster an unapologetic wave, I answered Ben. "Probably not, but I'm sure there was data stored on those." As I spoke, I headed towards the office room with the paper files.

As we entered the next room, Ben flew in front of me, frowning. "Isn't there some way to store information on the Internet, the fog, or something?" I nodded as I swept the room. If any of Trenton's people had run to this room, I doubted they would have stuck around, but it didn't hurt to be a little cautious. After not finding anyone, I answered. "The cloud, yeah, you can store information on it. But I don't think Trenton did." Ben's frown deepened as we looked for any file cabinets with names like "durability research" or "the growth effect." "Why wouldn't he use it?" I grunted as I attempted to pull one of the file cabinets across the room. It had wheels, but they were so tiny that it was a difficult process. But I got it moving. Call me the little engine that could.

I thought about Ben's words for a second. Over the squeaking of cabinets wheels, I could still hear the distant sounds of fighting, muffled from having to pass through two rooms. "Mages are kind of like old ghosts," I grunted. "They live for so long, and thus have so much time on their hands that the habits they form are harder to break than a rock. And the ruts in their thinking can grow deep."

I reached the trapdoor and was again hit with a wave of clicking, scuttling noise, and the smell of rotting fish and worse. "Plenty of older mages don't trust electronics. Especially the delicate ones that break when too much magic is thrown around. I have a feeling that Trenton isn't exactly the trusting sort. So, I doubt he would put data somewhere he couldn't easily access or destroy it." I pulled open the file cabinet and started dumping files through the trapdoor. "Since he would have to get someone else to operate the computer, whereas he can always just break the physical computer if he has to."

Ben nodded as he kept his eyes on the doorway. "Yeah, if this guy was paranoid enough to be worried about ghosts ratting him out, so paranoid that he actually made a soul cage. Then I don't think he's the trusting type either." I rushed around the room, dumping every file cabinet with anything remotely research related to the crab pit. I didn't stop to check through the cabinets thoroughly, just a brief glance to make sure I wasn't wasting my time before dumping. One of those glances made me stop for a second. Its label marked with "Employees." I shook my head and continued dumping other cabinets.

I had made it through a decent number of files when I felt something move closer in my aura. I turned to the door and grabbed the shotgun from its strap. If it was Cheryl, then I would want to strike while she was passing through the remainders of the steel door. I rushed towards the computer room, my breaths coming hard and fast. My hands felt sweaty against the shotgun's grip, and my heart was starting to pound again. If it was Cheryl, I would have one chance to shoot her while her guard was down. If that didn't work, I would have to run. And I wasn't exactly spoiled for choice when it came to escape options.

I paused and hastily reloaded. Then I stepped through the doorway. One massive eye was glaring at me as it moved through the other door. I fired immediately, but Cheryl had already been in motion. One tentacle came up over her eye in an attempt to block the shot. The slug blasted into her flesh, but her tentacles were so thick that it didn't penetrate all the way through. I fired again, blasting more flesh. But before I could get a third shot off, Cheryl moved another tentacle in front of her and twisted it so that the crab legs were facing me. Then she quickly crisscrossed them, doing the same thing on her other limb. Together it made a wall of chitin out of thousands of tiny legs. I was sure my shots would still punch through them, but it was yet another layer of protection between the slugs and her vitals.

Ben swore as I backed away. "Something that big being that smart is blatantly unfair." I backed up faster, almost stumbling over my own feet. "I'm gonna have to agree with you there!" My voice rose in pitch slightly as Cheryl continued to pull herself through the door. Her massive body compressing to slip through.

"Ben." "Yeah?" Once we passed through the door, I turned and ran, sprinting into the office room. I turned and met the taller man's eyes. "If I die, you need to get someone to contact a mage clan. Call in the Knoll clan. Try and get multiple people to do it, Trenton probably has some backers in the clan." Ben looked pained by the thought, but he nodded. I looked around, searching for anything I could use to slow Cheryl. I can push some desks in front of the door, piles, and file cabinets up against it too. But what would be the point of that? She had battered down the steel door. Sure, she was weaker now, missing multiple limbs and probably tired from combat. But I had a feeling she could still blast through anything I could put in her way.

I could always run for the crab pit, but that was dangerous all on its own. I didn't have that much ammo left, and I wasn't sure if I had an all-out sprint left in me. Falling and getting torn apart by crabs wasn't any better than getting torn apart by Cheryl. I was still considering what to do next when Trenton came out of the wall next to me. My instincts screamed, and I threw myself back into a roll.

The blast of supercondensed ice slammed into the ground, where I had been standing with a sound like a car compactor. Ice crunched and sprayed. My back lit up with agony and Trenton snarled. I hadn't been paying attention. If it weren't for my aura and my immediate reaction, I would have been reduced to an Alder shaped paste.

Trenton stood, his black hair twisting in an invisible wind, expression furious. Cold tendrils of power swirled around him before condensing into a point at his hand. "You're like a cockroach." Despite Trenton's expression, his voice was calm and cold. Instead of comforting me, it sent a wave of fear through me. That tone was like a cap holding back an eruption. "I stomp and stomp and stomp! But you just won't die!" The power gathering around his hand was dense and growing denser. I could feel the ambient magic around me, draining towards his hand.

The effect grew stronger until it felt like I was standing on an almost dry beach as the tide rolled out. "You cost me thousands of dollars. You kill my employees." "You killed some of your employees not twenty minutes ago!" I snapped as I climbed to my feet. I glared at the man. I didn't care how much magic the jackass was pulling in. I didn't need to sit here and listen to him rant.

Trenton glared back and continued speaking without pause. "You interrupt me. The list goes on and on." Ben looked between me and the furious ghost in front of us with an incredulous expression. I could see Ben was trying to siphon off some of the power Trenton was gathering, but Trenton was far more skilled than Ben when it came to magic.

From beyond the door, I could hear wet slaps and clacking. I had a furious ghost on one side and a furious octopus monster on the other. If I didn't do something right the hell now, I was going to end up as either an ice sculpture or food for a giant calamari platter. I could try and burn my shroud to batter past Trenton's defenses or send it hurtling at the soul cage. But the second Trenton felt my shroud ignite, he would cover this room with enough ice to make the white witch tell him he needed to dial it back a few steps. And I had virtually no options against Cheryl. A thought struck me, and I froze. Figuratively, Trenton didn't release any of his magic. I might not have any options against Cheryl, but Trenton did. His ice would hurt her since he could use magic as the fuel to create the ice. After that, it was just a block of ice.

Cheryl didn't have any more defense against that than she did against gunshots. The giant octopus had made a mistake when she followed me here. Outside of this room, Cheryl had space to dodge Trenton's ice, and she was immune to most of his attempts to grill her. But inside here, she was vulnerable. I suppose the pain of missing multiple limbs, plus her other injuries, combined with my presence had been enough to drive her into a rage.

I turned to Trenton, who I realized was still talking. I threw up both my hands in a pause gesture, and he actually stopped. His face Incredulous. "Did you just tell me to pause?" I shook my head violently, which sent some of my hair into my eyes, but I ignored it and started speaking. "We both know you can kill me, Trenton. You have an absolutely massive amount of magic gathered. But so what? I die, and then what? You still have to handle Cheryl, and when I die, chances are she's just going to skedaddle, and you'll have to chase her down all over again." Trenton's expression didn't soften any, but he also didn't turn me into an ice sculpture.

I kept talking. "When she squeezes through that door, you'll have an instant to attack her, she doesn't know you're in here, she isn't expecting it. After that, chances are she'll kill me. Probably brutally as well. And even if she doesn't, you'll still get a crack at me." Trenton's stare bored into me, and the magic in his hand swirled faster and faster until it was a twisting vortex of icy power.

I crossed my fingers and prayed. I wasn't sure if the big guy would send any help, maybe all the memories I carried tainted me by association. But now seemed like a good time to ask. Trenton's anger was obvious, but so was his cunning. The man was ruthless, and I hoped that he would view letting me live for a few minutes longer as a worthwhile trade-off to achieve his goals.

After a few seconds that stretched on for a few days, Trenton turned towards the door. "Fine!" I slumped in relief, and Ben did the same. He had moved over to the wall while I was talking, ready to zip over and distract Sarah at a moment's notice. "I can wait a few minutes, Trenton growled. By the sounds coming from beyond the doorway, it wouldn't be minutes. It would be seconds.

I looked around, trying to think of a way the situation could end without my violent death. I wasn't coming up with many options. If Trenton failed to kill Cheryl with his next shot that I didn't think he could do it all. The amount of power the man gathered was taking a toll on the magic around us, and I doubted he would be able to pull together another hit like this one.

Even if the ambient magic could support it, I didn't think Trenton could. He might be more skilled than your average ghost but magic still took a toll on the mind. He had been using a lot of it. If he failed to kill Cheryl, but that? I looked around again. I still didn't see anything I could use. The clicking was closer. She was in Thumper's room. My eyes landed on the trap door to the crab pit and stopped. Could I use that?

If I could somehow force Cheryl to go down there, injured and exhausted as she was, I was sure the crabs could swarm her. The problem with that plan was that I was fresh out of the industrial-sized bulldozer it would take to force Cheryl into the trap door. Think, Alder! Cheryl started pulling herself through the door. I was out of time. A black tentacle wrapped around the edge of the door frame. It's tip bigger than a bowling ball. Then the rest of her started crawling through. Watching her move was still as graceful as it was disturbing. She moved with far too much ease. As if she were gliding over ice. Yet, at the same time, the way her tentacle shifted and writhed made her motions seem chaotic and disorganized. It was a contradicting sight that hurt my eyes to look at.

The smell of bleach and other cleaners grew stronger, and I realized it was coming from her and Trenton. "Why did you think making something like this was a good idea? Did it never occur to you that she might escape?" Ben asked from beside me. He sounded as incredulous as I felt. Trenton glared back at us for a second before returning his gaze, Cheryl. "Of course, we planned for something like this." He snapped. I could tell that he and Ben were both making themselves invisible to normal senses. With my aura covering them, it felt like they were lights that had been switched to a filtered setting.

Ghosts making themselves invisible was actually their natural state, but channeling magic tended to interfere with that effect. That was the reason people often saw flickers of ghosts for brief moments while furniture was shaking, or books were flying. Trenton continued speaking as he raised his hand, bringing the magic with it. "We planted a bomb into her head. It was supposed to go off if she ever escaped." "But?" I couldn't see Trenton's face, but I knew he was scowling. "She gouged it out of her head." I blinked, then stared at the octopus, slowly dragging herself through the comparatively small doorway.

"She used her legs to dig it out. We had no idea how she managed it. She was drugged under when we implanted, and we gave her other drugs to numb the pain so she wouldn't notice." Trenton cut off as Cheryl's head slid through the door. She used the tentacle that she'd wrapped around the door frame to cover the eye that was facing us, once again locking her legs together to try and make a shield.

I shuddered slightly. She had been ready for me to try and ambush her and planned accordingly. I backed up further into the room. Trenton's best shot at her would be attacking her eyes. But she needed to lower her guard for that. I winced, but dropped the shotgun, leaving it to hang from its strap. I only had a few shots left anyway. Cheryl peaked slightly from behind her tentacle, the motion disturbingly human. When she saw that I had dropped my gun, she lowered the tentacle altogether and started scurrying towards me almost as fast as I could run. She only made it a few feet before Trenton struck.

The swirling magic he had gathered lashed forward in a howling gale that solidified less than a foot in front of Cheryl's eyes. Dozens of shards of ice as long as my hand materialized and flew towards Cheryl. They were too close for her to do anything but scream as both of her eyes were punctured. The shards hit other areas but were small enough to do little in the face of her bulk.

She screeched, and the sound made me cover my ears. It was a sound of pure, unadulterated agony. I couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for the giant monster. A moment later, a tentacle almost took my head off. My sympathy died as I jumped to the side. I retreated back, trying to put one of the desks between us.

Despite being blinded, Cheryl's struck out with the tentacles. It crashed down in a straight line towards me but came up short. Crunching the heavy wooden desk in front of me instead of my spine. How was she still finding me? I ran further back into the room and had to dodge again as she tried to hit me with a wide sweep. I almost stumbled into the crab pit but managed to catch myself before falling in.

Ben made himself visible and started yelling and flying around, trying his best to distract Cheryl. She was focused like a hunting dog, though, and only sent a single tentacle to swipe at Ben. Trenton wasn't going to help. The man looked like he was lamenting the fact he didn't have any popcorn to enjoy while he watched the show.

How was she finding me? She was blind! I froze in place. Then yelped and jumped back again, barely avoiding a thrashing tentacle. I was a grade-A dumb ass. I was questioning how she found me while I had my aura pushed out for hundreds of feet around me. I was practically holding her tentacles and guiding them towards me!

In an instant, I pulled my aura back, drawing it back in until it hugged my skin in the tightest avail I could manage. It actually took a few seconds to finish. I had never had my aura pushed out that far before. The second I placed my veil, Cheryl froze. The tentacles that have been rushing towards me stopped for a moment before they started creeping forward cautiously. I didn't sigh in relief; I didn't make any sound that she might pick up on. Though by right, she should have been deafened by the earlier explosions, I doubted I was that lucky.

I slowly stepped to the side, making sure to move as quietly as possible. I looked at the crab pit, then back to Cheryl. She couldn't do anything to me right now since she couldn't find me. But I couldn't kill her. Eventually, this stalemate would end. Either we would stall long enough for Trenton to regain some strength and step in, or Cheryl would start attacking everything in the room regardless of how I tried to dodge. She had enough reach, and enough remaining limbs, to do it.

My eyes flicked to the trapdoor again. I was so tired. My legs were beginning to tremble. I wasn't sure how much longer I could dodge. And I sure as hell couldn't sprint. There was no way I was making it through the crab pit; I was just too tired. As I looked between the giant octopus, the murderous ghost, Ben, and the pit, a plan started to form. An Incredibly stupid one true but a plan. Besides, it was only stupid if I had other options.

Otherwise, it was being resourceful, right? My gut clenched as I took a step towards the pit, and I froze. Was I insane? Cheryl slammed the tentacle down in the general area I had been a moment ago. Then she started slamming another tentacle down, sweeping it around, trying to find me. Possibly, but desperation can make anybody crazy.

I raised my hands, ignoring Barry shotgun for the moment, and focusing on its strap. Moving as slowly and as quietly as possible, I began to lengthen the strap. Fiddling with it until it was as long as I could make it. By the time I was done, the shotgun hung near my knees, and Cheryl's thrashing limbs had almost reached me half a dozen times.

My plan wasn't overly complicated. As things were, I couldn't kill Cheryl. She was currently guarding her face with two tentacles, so any attempt I made to shoot her wouldn't be lethal and would reveal my position. I had hoped that she'd died of blood loss, but I had checked the stumps of her severed tentacles, and they weren't bleeding. In fact, they looked scabbed and blackened. Either some of Trenton's fire blasts had gotten through, or she had intentionally used superheated areas Trenton had left behind to cauterize her own limbs. Christ. That left me with only one real option. Get Cheryl into the crab pit. Of course, that was easier said than done, and this plan was likely to get me killed anyway. But yet again, any other option I had would get me killed, no maybe about it.

So, I was going to be the thing Trenton had wanted me to be. Bait. The thought almost made me laugh, but I stopped myself from making any noise. I would climb down the ladder a little ways, then unveil my aura. As I shifted my foot back, it came down on a file that had fallen from a cabinet. My foot slipped. I started to fall, and quickly slammed my other foot down, barely managing to catch myself. I looked up just in time to see three tentacles rushing towards me, one from each direction. It took me a split second to realize I had nowhere safe to dodge. The instant before the limbs reached me, I threw myself back, straight through the trapdoor.