The wind's banshee-like howling dispelled all doubts that any hiatus in the Wild Hunt was over now. Swarms of black dots swam in the white-gold light of the full moon like thousands of little shadows.

I made out shapes among these mote-sized figures. Humans, canines, deers; all of them resembled tiny, dancing shadows that covered the moon like an eclipse.

Since most of them were camouflaged against the wine-black sky, I had no idea how many of them were there in total. But given that we were likely dealing with an A-ranked threat, the tiny swarm I saw before barely even qualified as a prelude.

If I didn't hurry to get to the library, I was going to get blown away. Windspeeds of roughly forty miles per hour were, from what I read, the fastest in which a human could walk at all and the wind was quickly approaching this limit.

Luckily, the PPE Library lay adjacent to the park. With its squad and sturdy exterior, it had an easy time withstanding even the harshest winds.

The rusty fence and the yellow police tape had been blown away which might have been more of an advantage than a disadvantage. It was technically illegal to enter the building, but this was not why the building was empty.

It was empty because the madness started here. The Witch of Summer Hill and the Nuckelavee left marks.

Stepping past the door and the rest of the entrance hall, one was greeted by torn-apart shelves and traces of the goo from the monster we had slain. Wooden planks covered the holes torn into the ceiling by the Nuckelavee.

No madman was fearless enough to seek shelter in a place so cursed. Expect those four who did.

A scene of devastation met my eyes as I looked behind the toppled-over shelves. Darcy, Isa, and Simon had climbed on a skeleton of a book frame to avoid being mauled by the red fox prowling the ground.

The same red fox Isa went after during the Sluagh's attack charred the wood by rubbing air molecules around it to create a spark that set the frame on fire. Yes, I paid attention during the Academy. Most familiars had an affinity to a particular phase of matter, be it gas, liquids, solids, or plasma. I didn't know what Siris' was, but Darcy told me that Lyfa was good with gases before her skills at elemental magic atrophied from lacking practice.

Yet, this fire fox wasn't a threat to anyone. It stopped as Isa spread out her hand and shouted. "Mozilla, no!"

Mozilla? Really?

Isa was wearing the same red bodice dress she had worn during the dance and considering how worn it looked, she probably hadn't switched out of it in mean the meantime.

Simon also kept his blue astrologer's robe with the pointy hat, only that this time, he had a crow sleeping on his sleeve like a pirate's parrot. I did vaguely remember having seen that familiar in the Sluagh swarm, too.

The two were practitioners now and they noticed me. For the first time since I met them, we watched each other at eye level. They were apprentices, too, now, with only two months less experience than I did. The fox must have filled Isa in on every knowledge gap she had.

Except for the monster, sorry, angel in my head.

All that fear I didn't feel when I destroyed the school now came back to me. I had to explain myself and I had to do so without being able to tell the full story.

"So," I said, "I wrecked a building."

"That, I can live with," Isa said, "but running away and leaving us worried was a crime. Don't do that again!"

I nodded. "How did you find me?" I asked.

"Darcy chose a doll that looked like you, gave it a tag with your name, held it underwater, and then I could see on the surface where you were," Simon said. "She said it attracted spirits or whatever and I found that pretty cool."

"You want to make divination your specialty?" I asked.

"Why not? Imagine how overpowered it is to know your enemy's moves ahead of time! We even did levitation tests. C in range, D in power, and F in shaping."

"It's nice to see that this interests you," Darcy said, "but we should not address the elephant in the room."

"My new powers?" The Evil Angel of Damocles hung above my mind as I waited for her to claim she was talking about something else. "I can't tell you this."

"Why?" Darcy asked.

"There are a few extra rules you don't know about."

"What rules?"

"Don't pressure her!" Isa said.

"This isn't pressure," Darcy said. "I'm not here to punish her. I'm here to make sure something like this never happens again!"

I looked down. Darcy didn't antagonize me as much as the last time we were at this place. She had learned her lesson. She didn't ask me out of anger or out of malice, but because it was her duty as the mage who had "found" me and introduced me to this world. I should have answered, but I didn't know how much I could divulge before I met my doom at the hands of a force worse than the Veil. "I have-"

"A monster in her head," Dad completed as he arrived from behind a bookshelf. "She can't describe it, but it is very much real."

He was perhaps the only one of us five who was allowed to be here legally. He stood near a table with my cauldron, a few potions, and food for me. A radio which might have been brought here or naturally part of the building lay juxtaposed to the other items. The sheer fact that he went into my basement to pick up my stuff hit me as hard as learning that Simon and Isa were practitioners now.

I quivered. "How long did you know?"

"I had my suspicions," he said. "After you told me about the monster in your head, I had a rough idea what you were talking about."

"You did," I said more as an affirmation than anything else. "What happened after the attack?"

"Everyone fell asleep and forgot what happened," he explained. "Some teachers and students are missing. One is dead. There are no missing reports yet and the school will probably be closed. Meteorologists predict that there is going to be a storm with the strength of Superstorm Sandy soon and everyone is focused on how to get people to safety once that happens."

"Y-you would have never allowed me to join the Society, would you?" I said.

"No," he said. "but you are old enough to make your own choices. I already told you about my less-than savory-past. It was only thanks to your mother that I left behind the clutches. It was worth becoming a better person just for her."

I know. It was very inspiring when she first introduced me to the supernatural ten years ago.

"Can you describe that mental monster he mentioned?" Darcy asked.

"I can't," I said. "And it's not the problem. I wasn't brainwashed into destroying the school or anything. I did it out of my own free will. It made me feel more powerful. I didn't think of collateral damage.

"And it wasn't just what I did at the moment. Our Cunning Folk Academy teachers told us we shouldn't make potions from monster parts because it'd make our brains like theirs. I still did it." I looked at Darcy in particular. "I now understand what you said about the Veil. It's not just there for monsters, but also for magic. People suck when you give them power"

Mozilla gnawed at the foot of a bookshelf, but Isa made no effort to stop it. Noone did. Simon played around with the radio as an excuse to avoid eye contact while Dad helped him. Darcy and Isa gave me the same vacant look as if expecting me to continue further.

"But I'm aware that there's no coming back," I said. "I'm a living myth now. I can't change what happened, but I can change if I'll be remembered as a monster or as a hero."

"Why not both?" Isa asked. "You can be a monster to the bad guys and a hero to the good guys."

"Which is my plan," I said.

"And what certainty do we have that you won't lose yourself again?" Darcy asked.

"Only death and taxes are certain," I said. "And the fact that we'll all die if we don't fight back."

I needed to explain to them what I found out about the Erlking and I needed to do it in ways that this angel couldn't prevent. After all, if she was anything like the Veil, she was probably bound by a rigid set of rules and couldn't just block anything I did willy-nilly.

How could I do this? Could I just show them what I found out and let them conclude? Or could I call someone who maybe knew as much as I did?

"And you're planning what?" Simon asked. "Do you even want to tell it or are you afraid that telling it would only spoil everything?"

"No," I said. "I'll tell it right here and now. Step one, I eat the food on the table. Step two, we call Nathan."

"Nathan?" Darcy asked.

"You want to call an older boy?" Dad asked.

"He's just here to help!" I said. "He knows a powerful fairy who might give us insight about our enemy."

"And who might tear your head off if you mess up the negotiation," Darcy added.

"She wants the bargain," I said. "We're in a good starting position."

"Not against a being who's thousands of years old!"

"They might be with us! Remember what Nathan did last time we were here?"

"Pointing a gun at your face?"

"That, too, but what did he do after this? He called the Erlking a scumbag. He hates that guy's guts and he'll help us."

"I hope you know what you're doing," Dad said, "because I now need to go."

My gaze turned from Darcy to him. "Why?"

"Work," he said. "The FBI has questions for you and someone needs to keep them busy."

Oh.

"It will only be for a short time. We don't keep secrets anymore. You'll know what I'll be doing. I trust you now that you and your friends know what's best and that they can take care of you."

I tried not to look at Isa or the Leaf siblings. It felt embarrassing, to have Dad talk in front of my friends. Yet, I didn't care.

He pulled me into a hug and I let him.

"I love you, Dad," I said.

"I love you, too, honey."

And with that said, we started planning.