After Devi fell into a deep sleep, she awoke to loud banging. Leach! A voice called. It was low and authoritative. Remembering the restraints, Devi thought about screaming for help. Maybe whoever it was would see her tied up, injured, and would free her. But they could be less friendly than the man who had likely saved her from being eaten by the wolf.

She remained as quiet as possible and even shrunk down low to the bed as possible in case anyone tried peeking in the windows.

After a little while, she heard Leach was back. Outside there was a discussion too quiet for Devi to hear. Were they talking about her? Was Leach keeping her a secret from everyone else? Should she go ahead and scream after all?

And then something stopped her. It wasn't because she felt like she owed him anything for saving her. It might have been what she had seen when he brushed against her. Either way, she needed to be on her way back to the Seers overlook. Whether it was through sheer persuasion or force, she would find a way.

The voices outside went quiet. Leach returned. Devi scrambled into a sleeping position, pretending to be unaware.

Leach came in unapologetically, and he pushed in the door. Sweat coated his neck and arms. He was huffing and sighing. He seemed not to notice Devi until he said, "Wake up, you got to go." Devi leaned up in bed as she had just been asleep. She lifted her arm as high as she could, gesturing to the rope still securing her in place.

Leach was packing up a few things into a bag—a knife, personal valuables, and food. He grabbed a silver chain out of a drawer. It had a pendant that caught Devi's eye as he threw it around his neck.

"Are you okay to walk?" Leach asked as he slashed the rope with a knife. His eyes averted.

"I haven't tried yet." Devi stared, amused.

Leach held out his arm for Devi to grab and stand up. Devi knew better and stood up on her own. Underneath her long black hair, her head entertained a bout of dizziness. She stood still for a moment until it passed. Her wounds still felt open and vulnerable. The one on the back of her skull felt hot and stung. Her limbs felt like weights; she said, "how long have I been here—"

"Three nights," Leach answered. All the blood was rushing from Devi's head; she quickly grabbed onto the table for support knocking over a jar that fell and shattered on the ground. "Careful." Leach moved in closer, and Devi kept her distance, "you got a problem with accepting help, don't you?" Devi closed her eyes, focusing on the passing feeling. She didn't answer.

Three nights of bed rest had caught up to her, and three nights still hadn't been enough to recover. How would she defend herself? How would she manage to go unnoticed in this state? Her body was weak.

Outside, horse hooves beat the ground not too far away. Leach perked up, "quiet," he said, holding his finger up almost pressing it to her lips. A voice called, "over here."

Leach grabbed Devi by the arm, "what's going on?" Devi protested.

"I'll explain later. Right now, do as I say."

On the floor was a rug; he quickly threw it up, and below were the bare floorboards. At first, it didn't look like anything more; soon, Devi realized that the crack between them was slightly wider than all the rest. He stuck his hand between them and lifted one. Then two more. Below there was a crawl space. It was dark and filthy.

"We're hiding?"

"Quickly," he said, helping her down.

There was a ladder about seven feet. Once she was inside, she peered up at him, expecting that he'd be right behind her. Instead, he fixed the boards back together. And before he snapped the last one in place, he said with a tiny curl of his lip, "I promise I won't be gone as long as last time." Before she could climb back up, he had already closed her inside.

There was the sound of the rug brushing against the floor as he threw it back in place. There was a moan, snapping of bone, and a breath that turned into snarling.

Devi's eyes were blue light in the dark. She stood up frozen and fixated—listening, waiting, and anticipating. She kept quiet, her breaths carefully drawn out. There was a bang. Devi's heartbeat heavily to each sound.

Several footsteps smacked across the floor above. Men yelled and groaned. Growling persisted. It sounded like another beast had entered. There was low snarling. High-pitched yelping persisted. There was a turning of the beast once more. Then, It went quiet for a second. Until there was a low whisper, "You've betrayed us. You've betrayed 'the keep.'"

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

No response—just throat gurgling, ripping and tearing.

Devi knelt in the dark, and she rested. The paw prints she saw when his arm brushed her danced in her mind as she fell to sleep. Light crept in, the rug lifted again. Devi woke up, guarding her face and waiting. The boards raised, and Leach peered down. His long hair hung around his face. His eyebrows pinched together as he squinted down at her. She squinted back.

"Leach," she said.

"So you know my name now." She climbed up, grabbing for his arm, not forgetting what would happen. She saw everything. The transformation. The blood. The men ripped to shreds. The opposing beast and its demise—-just before turning back into a man. And what happened after that—

"You're not human?" She said after she pulled away from him. She was back on her feet.

Leach stepped back, crossing his arms. He was quiet.

"Stay away from me." She snapped.

"I know what you are." He responded, studying her with his eyes, "you're gifted. You can make things appear —you tricked me. You made me see something that wasn't there, and it disappeared into thin air."

She hadn't prepared for him to start catching on about her.

"A Muti oni. You're drafted for the war, and you could be sent to judgment for this."

Devi stepped back; she had to be careful what she said. Then she replied, "And you are interrupting my mission."

"Mission. You traveled alone —in the middle of a storm. You were headed for that cave. I know about the hidden entrance. If you were ordered, you wouldn't be trying to get into the seers' overlook in secret. And if you had, I would have known about it. I'm sworn to 'The keep’—was—and we are ordered to stop anyone from going in or out."

"You were the beast." Devi grimaced.

"Yes. I could have killed you—if I had wanted to—I could have ripped—"

He Stopped.

A long silence filled the room.

Devi looked around and realized nothing was left. Where did all of the bodies go? She shivered, recalling the blood shooting out of a throat, the shredded skin from claws like sharpened daggers, the screams. She could play out all of the details perfectly in her head. She remembered what the man had said. What would she do next? He knew some of what she could do, and it would be more difficult to escape from him now.

The cabin was calm, but Leach kept looking around. He tapped his fingers against his arm and paced.

"So what now—what are you planning to do about me?"

Leach shook his head and peered out the window. "That's not important to me anymore, and I'm now wanted. Bringing you down won't do me any good."

"My name is Devi," Devi said, "short for Develia LaFleur. I was born in the West Islands—My parents sent me away to Seers Overlook as a child to train my gifts", She smiled, "I summoned pigs to chase and scare the other children that bullied me for being small."

Leach tried not to laugh. A dimple appeared in his left cheek briefly and vanished.

Devi's long black hair hung around her light olive skin. All her features were sharp—she threw the hood of her cloak back over her head, "why do you not want me to call you by your name?"

"Because—" he said, "It's not my name."

"Then what is it?"

He looked at her now—with a look she had never seen a man give before. Not uncertainty. His face softened—"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I don't remember."

Outside, on the door, was a tiny rhythmical knock. Devi crept to the corner of the room. Leach tiptoed to the door and knocked back with a different pattern. Another knock echoed back—similarly, but different. He cracked the door open. In came a taller-than-average man, slender, with a long brown jacket that fell past his knees. The top of his head was bald. Everywhere that had been visible was covered with marks and deep scars. Some looked fresh; others looked ancient.

"Leach —"He said with a familiar deep tone, "It's good to see you made it in one piece." At first, he didn't notice, and then he caught her staring—wide-eyed. "My oh my —could it be?"

"It is —It's me," Devi said, running to him for an embrace. With his long arms, he held her close. Her tiny fingers reached up and ran across the scars on his cheek.

Leach scrunched his face and tilted his head, "Skarsgen, what am I missing here?"

"This is the daughter of my childhood friend.", he shook his head in disbelief. His face lit up and then went cold.

"Develia, what in saint's name are you doing here?"

She stepped back and spoke in a hushed voice, "I retrieved a memory —from an Arkyezin warrior who witnessed a cover-up. The Monarch had silenced him."

"What are you trying to say?"

"The Arkyezin Monarch planned the Invasion in Creotol. They slaughtered their own, and they wanted a reason to start the war. And some scheme on both sides—for one true Monarch—at the cost of thousands of lives."

Leach and Skarsgen met eyes.

"Develia, this is mad—and it still doesn't explain why you are here."

Devi shivered. "In one of the memories—I saw the face of the Muti Oni that slaughtered all those people. I can show you." On the top of his head, she placed her palm and closed her eyes; he closed his eyes, and a flood of imagery surfaced in his mind like a dream.

"And what exactly do you plan to do to stop this? Who will believe you?" he said after she snatched her hand away.

"The Muti Oni know what my abilities are. I can show the memory to the masters, and they will believe me. We can find who did this—rise against this plot."

"What then? How do you know that there not more a part of this?", Skarsgen lowered his voice, "These are more troubling times than I thought. We can trust only a few with this information. If the wrong person finds out—you know this—Develia— I fear—they will hunt you." She shrunk down—at a loss for what to say. The back of her skull ached.

"Well, one thing is for sure," Leach said.

Devi and Skarsgen both looked at him.

"We can't stay here." He finished.