A loud stomping sound jerked Claire from a restless state of half-sleep, and nearly sent her toppling down the narrow stairs to the basement below. She wasn't sure how long she had been curled up against the door, but her body felt stiff, and a dull throb in the back of her head reminded her that the day's events were not a dream.

In her hand she still clutched the strange pendant she'd found in the dust. While she had no conclusive evidence as to where it had come from, she clung to the hope that Alek had left it behind. All she had to do was figure out why.

Another crashing bang reminded Claire of what had startled her to begin with, and she pressed her ear to the door. Was Sevik back? Had he gotten what he wanted from Alek? Claire had no idea how much time had passed, whether it had been minutes, or hours, but the lack of light filtering down from above suggested darkness had fallen.

She could faintly make out the sounds of people walking, of things getting tossed over, and muffled voices drifting through the rooms overhead. In her hand, the pendant began to glow a warm, pulsating pink light that filled the narrow space where she sat.

"I see a light!" A voice called out excitedly.

Claire quickly clamped her other hand over the pendant, still uncertain as to whether the new arrivals were friend or foe. Despite her best efforts, it was too late, the light had attracted their attention and Claire heard hurried footsteps drawing closer. Without warning the door upon which she'd been leaning was pulled open and Claire tumbled out with a startled cry. She spilled gracelessly across the floor at the feet of her unwitting rescuers.

"I found her!" It was the same excited voice from before and Claire nearly wept with relief.

"Arabella?" she croaked, her throat dry and scratchy.

"Damn it, Claire! You had us scared half to death!" Draz shouted angrily before gathering her up into a tight hug. Claire clung to him, finding comfort in his arms once again. The tears she'd been fighting spilled freely now. She barely noticed as Arabella swept past her and down into the basement.

For a brief moment, Claire was brought back to instance on the train when Draz had saved her from being consumed by the shade. This time there was no awkwardness in his embrace, only relief.

"There's no one else here," Arabella announced upon her return.

"Where is Alek?" Draz asked. The question nearly brought her to tears again.

Where indeed.

"He's gone, Draz," she gasped, her heart aching. "I'm sorry, Ara. I tried to save him but I... Sevik is after whatever is in that bag. Alek promised to take him to it if he let me go. But Sevik locked me in here, and took Alek somewhere. We have to find him!"

Claire tried to stand, but Draz restrained her.

"Whoa, Claire, calm down," Draz insisted. "First of all, who is Sevik?"

"He's the one behind all of this, last night at the ball, the man in black," Claire said, frantically motioning with her hand to the space around them. "I wouldn't tell him anything, no matter what he did to me."

"Did to you...?" Draz questioned before he took hold of her shoulders and pushed her back so he could examine her. His eyes swept across her face, and then lower until they settled the array of tiny cuts that decorated the sweeping curve of her throat.

Arabella gasped and a hot flash of anger crossed Draz's face, flaring in his eyes like dying embers imbued with new life. "I'll kill him. I swear I'm going to tear that bastard limb from limb."

"That's not important right now, Draz!" Claire protested. "We have to find Alek!"

"Who do you think I intend to kill?" Draz growled. "This is his fault!"

"The only thing that matters, is that we save Alek," Claire insisted.

Draz scowled and released his hold on her before rising. He looked like he wanted to argue, but took a deep breath instead. When he looked down at her, she could see he had regained control of his anger.

"How did that idiot get himself caught to begin with?" He asked as reached down to help her up. Claire took his hand and rose to her feet.

"There were these things, glowing shapes, glyphs I think is what Sevik called them," Claire explained. "Anyway, they were hidden and Alek was distracted because..."

Of me.

No matter what Alek said, it was her fault, Claire knew it, but she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.

"I'm sure Alek doesn't blame you," Arabella offered softly, sensing the reason behind her hesitation.

"Yeah, I'm sure he doesn't," Claire agreed, forcing a faint smile to her face.

"What's that in your hand, Claire?" Arabella asked.

"Oh, I think he left this behind, it's the only clue we have." She showed the pendant which was still glowing faintly in the palm of her hand.

"Clever bastard," Draz smirked, taking the pendant in his hand.

"What is it?" Claire asked impatiently. "What does it mean?"

"The pendant itself is meaningless, you can buy cheap baubles like this from any tinker, but the charm on it is a powerful one," Draz explained before handing it back to her. "It's a tracking charm. There is another pendant, a partner to this one, that is also enchanted. The brighter the light, the closer the twin."

"So we can find him with this?" Claire asked excitedly.

"Yes, we can. Well, we can find the other pendant," Draz said thoughtfully. "As long as he still has it, we'll find him."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Arabella asked.

"We? What is this we? You are going home," Draz declared. "I'm already going to be in enough trouble if Alek finds out I brought you here."

"I'm a big girl, Draz, I can take care of myself," Arabella protested. "Besides, he's my brother which makes him more important to me than to either of you. I'm going."

"No, you're not," Draz snapped, "The only place--"

"Enough!" Claire interrupted. "It doesn't matter now. All that matters is getting to Alek before it's too late."

Claire started towards the door at the far end of what appeared to be a ruined kitchen. The glass fronted cabinets had all been smashed, glass littered the floor and glittered like diamonds in the moonlight that filtered in through the open window. A wooden table had been flipped over and cracked down the middle, the chairs lay in pieces through the room and Claire had to step carefully to avoid stepping on upturned nails and other sharp debris.

"Claire, wait," Draz called after her.

Claire didn't stop, not until she had made it through the doorless opening and into the cool evening air. Draz and Arabella joined her a moment later.

"I know you're scared," Draz said. "We at least need to consider what we're getting into."

"There is no time for that, Alek could be..."

Claire couldn't even bring herself to say the words.

"He's not," Draz replied.

"How can you be so confident?"

"Because," Draz assured her. "If anyone is going to kill that ginger haired bastard it's going to be me."

"What are we going to do?" Claire asked as that sense of hopelessness began to rise within her once more.

"Tell us all you remember about Sevik, Claire," Arabella asked, "even if it doesn't seem important, tell us anyway."

"He uh... he called himself the shadow master," Claire said, trying to remember the specifics. "He mentioned a place called.. Wintersbend.. Winters... something."

"Wintershold?" Draz asked.

"Yes, Wintershold," Claire said. "And that he served a queen. Someone named Eira."

Draz groaned. "What exactly have you gotten yourself into, Drosselmeyer?"

"What is it, Draz?" Arabella asked.

"This Sevik controls the shades," Draz explained.

"Someone... controls those things?" Claire asked incredulously.

"I got a feeling this is going to be a real party," Draz sighed. "I guess we will have to find him first, and then figure out how to get to him. If what you say is true, Claire is right, we don't have much time."

Stepping from the abandoned lot and onto the street was like stepping into a warped reality of a world Claire was still struggling to grasp. Gone were the pristine sidewalks and neat, manicured lawns of Viridian Street. Instead, Claire found herself confronted with gnarled, twisted trees that reached towards the night sky like bony hands thrusting from rotting soil. The tall, elegant houses were replaced by squatting, ramshackled row houses that seemed to tilt in every direction but straight up.

As they passed by boarded windows of houses that should have been condemned, Claire swore they were being watched. Were the watchers local denizens curious about the intruders in their midst, or were they spies reporting back to Sevik?

Either way, Claire felt uneasy and found herself moving closer to Draz as they progressed through a maze of narrow alleys and broken, cobblestone streets.

As though sensing her discomfort, Draz wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "Don't be afraid," he said quietly.

"Where are we?" Claire asked, her gaze sweeping over the rusted wrought iron fences and overgrown yards.

"The lower district," Draz replied. "The locals call it the Den and it's not a place you want to spend a lot of time in. A lot of what happens here, happens outside of the law."

"You know an awful lot about this place, Draz," Arabella stated causing Draz to smirk but offer no insight as to why.

"Ara," Claire asked, "what are you still doing here? I heard you and your mother leave this morning."

"Well, you see, my mother is very curious about you," Arabella explained, "I promised her that if she let me stay, I would give her updates on you and my brother."

"What?" Claire exclaimed.

"Oh, don't get excited," Arabella said, "of course I won't give her any real details."

"Can we focus please?" Draz snapped. "Claire, where does the pendent say we should go next?"

Claire nodded and held the pendent out in front of her, as it had each time before, the pendant began to swing back and forth like a pendulum, stopping only when it was pointing in the right direction.

"That way," Claire said, motioning straight ahead.

Eventually, their journey brought them to the outskirts of the lower district to an abandoned shell of a warehouse. It was obvious even in the moon lit darkness that the building had suffered a catastrophic blaze at one point in its life. The fire was likely the reason it fell into disuse. Half of it was blackened and scorched, with nothing but tall iron beams jutting skyward like bones from a long dead carcass.

As they neared the dilapidated structure, the pendant began to pulsate steadily, the bright pinkish-white light fading in and out, in and out.

"This must be the place," Draz said. "I'm not sure if you should-"

"I'm going in, Draz," Claire interrupted. "I don't care how dangerous it is. I'm going to get him out of there."

Draz nodded and Claire felt relief sweep over her. The last thing she had wanted to do was fight with Draz over this. It was something she had to do and whether or not he agreed didn't matter. She wasn't going to stand by this time and do nothing.

"It's safe to assume this place is crawling with shades," Draz said. "Arabella, I'd like you to stay here and keep watch. This is going to be our way out once we have Alek. It needs to be clear of obstacles. There is a good chance we're going to be in a hurry."

Arabella looked like she wanted to argue.

"Arabella, please," Draz insisted at which point she nodded resolutely.

"Claire, we're going to go in and you are going to stay close to me," Draz stated. "No matter what happens, no matter what you see or hear, you have to stay with me. Alek would kill me if I let something happen to you."

"I promise," Claire replied, her impatience getting the better of her. "Lets go."