Pavel heard the doorbell and went to get it. Errant and Sonya were conducting tests

and they didn’t need him at the moment. As long as nothing happened with the girls,

he didn’t have anything to worry about.

He doubted Errant would let monsters overrun the city while he was standing there

and could try to prevent it.

Pavel checked the porch with a window next to the door before opening it. The

monster hunter had returned with his partner.

“Master Konstantin,” said Jason. “This is my partner, Arlo Pike.”

The man refused to look up from the porch floor. He merely nodded at the

introduction.

Pavel stepped out of the way so they could enter the house.

“They are still doing tests in the parlor,” he said. He waved at the partners to follow

him back to the parlor.

Pavel heard whispering behind him. He supposed Pike could see something wrong

in the way the house was set up. He made a shrugging motion with his head. The

house was how Sonya liked it.

She had expanded the inside to suit their needs after arriving back in the city from the

battles they had fought. The additions had been put up later to help improve their

comfort in their declining years.

Pavel opened the parlor for them and they stepped inside. He nodded at the sky above

and the grass floor of the room. It seemed like the real thing instead of a room in a

house.

“Arlo, this is Mistress Konstantin, Errant, Debra Shrike, Leticia Falcon, Laverne

Gato, and Maureen Kelpie, and Woody,” said Jason. “This is my partner, Arlo Pike.”

The rest nodded at the introductions. Woody barked once.

“Arlo and I are going to look for our Alvas friend,” said Jason. “Is there anything we

need to know before we leave.”

“Sonya and I think we have a cure,” said Errant. “Of course, we will need to test it

and make sure, but we are convinced that we can pull out the incubation parts without

killing anyone.”

“If we are wrong, we will kill everyone close by,” said Sonya. She made a face at the

thought.

“What do you think, Woody?,” asked Pavel.

The wooden dog barked once, and then sneezed.

“That is an idea,” said Errant. “Are you sure?”

The dog barked again.

“I am not a dunderhead,” said Errant. “Containment could be useful. I should have

thought of it before.”

Woody barked in agreement.

“I think I will go with these two since you don’t need me,” said Pavel. “Be careful

with the putting things in jars.”

“You be careful, Husband,” said Sonya.

“We’re going to need you to help out with the incubators, Tilda,” said Jason. “They’ll

need your muscle if things go wrong.”

“What makes you say that?,” said Tilda. “This man caused the Crater Desert.”

“Because if things go wrong, we expect you to try to get the girls out of here,” said

Jason. “And save the city if possible.”

“I think you’re trying to cut me out on the action,” said Tilda. “Again.”

“There’s not going to be any action,” said Jason. “If there were, we wouldn’t take

Master Konstatin with us.”

“Pavel,” said Pavel. “Let me get my coat, and axe. I will be right back.”

Pavel left the parlor and the argument and walked down to the storage closet they had

put in. He opened it up and pulled out his old axe. He rarely used it anymore, but now

seemed like the time it would be most handy. He strapped it on so the handle could

be pulled easily. He pulled on his coat over it for concealment.

He returned to the parlor and went to kiss his wife. She held his face with both hands.

“Be safe, husband,” said Sonya.

“I will be safer than you,” said Pavel. He hugged her. “I will be mad if something bad

happens, Woody. I expect you to keep an eye on things.”

The dog barked in reply. He knew his responsibilities.

“Let us go, gentlemen,” said Pavel. “Let us conduct our search before I change my

mind.”

“We’ll have to start where the Alvas was last seen,” said Pike. He still refused to look

up. “We can expand our search from there if he is here in this reality and not in a

private space somewhere.”

“We last saw him in the alley next to the alchemist shop up the street,” said Jason.

“Let’s go and look around,” said Pike. “Maybe he left something we can use to find

him.”

Pavel led the way back through the house. He locked the front door behind them

before leading the way to the street. He took a moment to take in his surroundings.

He didn’t see anything unusual.

“If he is watching the house, he’s not visible,” said Pike. “Where is this alley?”

“It’s this way,” said Jason. “How did you meet your wife, Pavel?”

“It was on a train bound to nowhere,” said Pavel. “I thought monster hunters worked

alone.”

“I failed my actual hunt examinations,” said Jason. “It was determined that while I

could kill monsters when I came across them, I couldn’t find them except by chance.

So I decided to find someone who could hunt the monsters for me so I would have an

easier time of things.”

“Sounds reasonable,” said Pavel.

Pavel watched Pike go about his business. The man glanced around, frowning at

the buildings, but mainly kept his eyes pointed at the ground. He wondered if there

was a drawback to the skill.

Pike paused in the alley. He inspected the floor, moving across the stone slowly. He

stopped at the end, running his hand over a wall.

“He went into the wall here,” said Pike. He pulled out a piece of chalk from a bag

under his jacket. He marked the spot with his initials.

“Teleportation?,” asked Jason.

“I think it was a sideways room like we talked about,” said Pike. “Let’s go to the

school. Maybe there’s something there we can use.”

Jason led the way out of the alley. He turned and headed north. Pavel noted they were

passing close to the bank he worked at as they walked along.

“Any thoughts, Arlo?,” asked Jason as they walked.

“I need to look things over,” said Pike. “We could be wrong about the secret room.”

“Secret room,” asked Pavel.

“Arlo thinks our Alvas has a place sideways to the city,” said Jason. “If he’s right,

we have been thinking of strategies to deal with it.”

“Why did the girls consult you, Master Konstantin?,” asked Pike. “Jason wasn’t clear

other than your wife uses magic, and this Errant I met blew up Mim’s tower.”

“We’re involved because of my old friend, Ivanoviska,” said Pavel. He smiled

ruefully. “I don’t think your friend heard the story with so much going on so I will tell

it to you while we travel to this school.”

He explained about encountering his friend as a ghost, investigating what had killed

him, and how they had encountered one of the witches the girls had signed up to

fight. The girls and the wife arrived. There was gnashing of teeth and lightning

thrown around, and at the end the wife asked for the girls to come eat with them

because they were growing things inside of them.

“And then you and Errant showed up to make my day complete,” said Pavel, with a

smile.

“Did Errant blow up Mim’s tower?,” asked Jason.

“Probably,” said Pavel. “It is more likely that he asked Mim to stand down, and

the Alvas did not and attacked with his magic power. And that was probably reflected

somewhere delicate and the tower collapsed.”

“Is that possible?,” asked Jason. “I have never heard of anyone being able to do that.”

“I don’t know,” admitted Pavel. “The wife and I talked about it while escaping.

She was of the opinion then that he had ruptured part of the membrane holding

the magic around the tower in place. And it rushed into that split.”

“And that caused the explosion and resulted in the peace with the Alvas,” said Jason.

“It forced them to reevaluate what the cost of an invasion would be,” said Pavel. “The

Alvas do not like to throw assets away if they can’t get what they want just so.”

“This Alvas appears to be different,” said Jason.

“He is not getting his way now that the wife is involved,” said Pavel. “She has already

decided.”

“I wonder if he knows Errant,” said Jason. “That might make him change his

strategy.”

“He might decide that growing witches is taking too long?,” said Pavel. He

considered the implications.

“He might decide to come out in the open and show us what he can really do,” said

Jason.

“I think that would be a bad move on his part,” said Pavel.

“What do you think, Arlo?,” asked Jason. He glanced at his silent partner.

“He is thinking that he might have to come right at us,” said Pike. “We’re making

it where that is his only choice. The question is when.”

“I would assume while we are looking for his way around the city, and his lair,” said

Pavel.

“He might wait for a bit to see what we’re doing,” said Pike. “None of us are magical

so we’re not a serious threat. Eventually, he will try to stop Errant by taking hostages.

That’s his only real move.”

“That won’t work,” said Pavel. “Errant doesn’t care about us except in an abstract

way.”

“He would tell the Alvas to work his way on us to prevent a future problem,” said

Jason. “I understand that.”

“His answer to the demand would be explosive,” said Pavel.

“That’s why he blew up Mim’s tower, isn’t it?,” said Pike.

“It was a contributing factor,” said Pavel. “He might not care about us, but using us

for blackmail is a bad idea if he gets close.”

“I noticed the dog,” said Pike. “Magic?”

“Probably, but Woody is Errant’s constant companion,” said Pavel. “And he is as

dangerous in his own way as the man.”

“There is the school,” said Jason. “Where do we start, Arlo?”

“Take me to where you last saw the Alvas,” said Pike. “I’ll have a look around.”

The trio covered the grounds. Pike led the way. They discovered a small ritual site

along with several places marked down for doors to other places.

The search led them back to the main gate. Pike looked over their search area again,

frowning at the scene.

“I want you two to wait here for a bit,” said Pike. “I want to walk over the grounds

one more time before we head back to the house.”

“Did you find something?,” asked Pavel.

“No,” said Pike. “I just want one look by myself. I’ll be right back.”

Jason was about to argue against it, but Pavel shook his head. He put his hands in

his coat.

“Go ahead,” he said. “We will wait on you to return.”

Pike disappeared in the darkness, head down, looking for something not there.

“He found something,” said Jason.

“Perhaps,” said Pavel.