My eyes fluttered audiobook set with the pitch blackness of night that crowned around the moon. A full moon, I noted. Then I noticed something strange. The gray clouds appeared to flicker now and then as if they were shot from a weakening projector. I raised my head in confusion, and it was only then that I noticed that I was laying in my back in a grassy field peppered with trees. Strangely. Confusion racked my brain. The last thing I remembered what the crash and Sherrif Dawson telling me I was going to jail. So why was I now in a grassy field? Maybe I was dreaming? I quickly walked over to a nearby tree, reared back a fist, and punched it. Pain jolted through my arm as I fell back. It sure didn’t feel like a dream. Then again, Zhou did say that dream spirits could make dreams practically indistinguishable from reality except for small defects. Maybe the flickering clouds were just that: defects.

But if this was a dream, where was my dream spirit?  I slowly got back to my feet, clutching my leg. I looked for Bob. I quickly found him about 30 feet behind me, lying face down in the field, glistening purple mist, seeping from his back. I called out to him. No response. Suddenly, this faint and beautiful wail emanated from the air. It didn’t seem to be coming from any direct object, just from the air around me. Suddenly, an orange orb exploded into existence right in front of me. The light was so Intense, I fell to my knees and slammed my eyes shut. When I felt the light die down a bit, I slowly opened my eyes to two enormous, beautiful white wings in front of me. The wings were pretty much 20 feet tall, and about two feet wide. However, moments after I saw the wings, I realized two horrible facts.

The first was that the wings were sticking out of a pale woman, whose skin appeared to constantly break off and reform lying on her knees. The second was that the wings appeared fractured. I could see the butts of bullets stuck in the wings glow gold in the moonlight. Blood flowed from the bullet holes and stained the wings before pooling on the grass. Bloodstained feathers slowly drifted over to me. The skin on the woman's arms appeared to be forcefully ripped off, as if by a hatchet or ax. It was clear to me that whatever the woman was, she didn't have much time left. her eyes quickly grew bloodshot and appeared to dart around the ground and the surrounding frequently before landing on me. Since merely looking at her sorrow-filled eyes make my stomach lurch, I turned my head to the grass, which was drenched with blood.

The metallic scent of blood rocketed into my nose, my heart was practically breaking out of my chest, and at the same time, chills ran up my spine like a cocaine-filled squirrel up a tree. After about a minute of heavy breathing, I managed to calm down enough to look back at the woman,  only to see nothing there. I blinked in confusion and looked around for her. I quickly found her sitting next to Bob, her hands digging into his wound. She was going to kill him! I quickly ran over to her and threw a clean punch right at her jaw. However, the instant my knuckle touched her cheek, the woman's wings lifted me into the air and threw me face-first into a tree. it had happened so fast I barely had time to blink before I went from facing the woman to crashing into the bark. For a brief moment, I saw nothing but flashing blue and red as I slid down the tree and crumpled to the ground. I weakly got back on my feet, and through my blurry vision, I could see that not only did the woman have flowing blonde hair, but said blonde hair also appeared to be draped across her lower body like a cloak.

I had no idea how I hadn't recognized it before. The woman looked over me a bit before turning back to Bob and resuming her digging, and I had a strange feeling l wash over me. I almost felt like I had made a mistake by attacking her in the first place and not just because she kicked my ass. I suddenly felt like she was trying to help Bob, although it wasn't my thought, it was more like that thought was inserted into me by some strange force, kind of like what happened in the bus. Her eyes were still focusing on me. Then, in a low guttural voice, she gurgled the words: "He must pay" slowly at first, but at the time ran on, and her body began to grow more and more unstable, her voice got louder and quicker, to the point where it reached about so many decibels of force  I felt like my eardrums were going to explode. Then she got even louder, repeating: "HE MUST PAY" over and over like some wicked mantra. her wings began to harden and crack, but still, she continued. "HEMUSTPAYHEMUSTPAYHE MUST PAYHEMUSTPAYHEMUSTPAYHEMUSTPATHEMUSTPAYHEMUST. . .HE MUST-Urk!"

She was cut off forever as her skin hardened and cracked, before crumbling away in the wind, leaving nothing more than a wickedly brutalized corpse that fell to the ground in a way that could only be described as majestic, her head facing me, and her eye-sockets appeared to pierce every fiber of my being. Her body quickly crumpled to the ground soon after, wings first. confusion and sadness swirled in my head like multiple fish in a  small bowl. I turned to Bob and gasped in shock. his wound was almost completely gone. No sooner than the instant I recognized that fact, Bob exploded to his feet. clutching his body like he was still in pain, eyes solemn. "Where is she?" he growled, his fingers morphing into knives. it took me a while to recognize he was talking about the old woman from yesterday. "I-I don't know Bob," I stammered, struggling to take in everything that happened in the last few minutes.

"All I remembered was the weird hand attacking me and that monster-" I paused briefly, the instant I mentioned the creature I flashed back to the dream, and saw its eyes, redder than the sun, and its cryptic insect-like wings and quickly wiped the thought from my mind and continued. "I thought they had killed you. what happened after I left the dream?"  Bob's fingers snaked back to normal and strummed the wrinkles in his forehead like a guitar, perhaps to clear his head, ease some pain he was still feeling from the battle, or a combination of the two. Bob strummed for about a minute straight before talking again. "Well, shortly after you left, the entire dream ended, I felt partially dead, like how you probably did when Plasmeus sent you to the beach and-!" "How'd you know about that?" I interrupted. "Well,  dream spirits can see the memories of their mage," Bob said matter of factly. "Anyway, I felt dead,  and then suddenly I found myself in this field, in severe pain. I felt these loving, cold, calm hands touch my wound, and weird as it sounds, the hands sewed everything back together with a needle that felt hot at sin. And when I say everything I mean it, the hands made me feel like my organs and blood were paper if that makes sense. Does it?"

It didn't make sense but I nodded anyway, curious to see where Bob was going. "I think whoever was healing me was weakened."He boomed. Weakened would be the understatement of the century, maybe even the millennium but I still listened respectfully as Bob finished, in part because of curiosity, and also in part with angering a man who could make me die in my sleep if he wanted to was not on my to-do list. Bob looked around and eventually spotted the woman's corpse. His eyes widened and he rushed over to her, raking his hand through her hair. "Dear God..." Bob trailed off, slowly turning his face to me. "You didn't kill her, she's far too powerful for you. so who did..." Bob muttered through gritted teeth, tears flowing down his cheeks. "Who is she?" I asked. Bob didn't answer. a ruff voice muttered: "Just wake up-operative, and everything will be okay" 

I slowly recognized it to be Dawson, and my eyes rocketed open, regrettably so. I was immediately met with extreme coldness and two beady blue eyes staring me down with pure menace and disdain from across a shiny steel table.  Behind Dawson was a rectangular mirror sitting on a grimy wall.  in the corner of the ceiling, I saw a camera aimed directly at me. Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I realized where I was, an interrogation room! And presumably, Snidely was in one too. Dawson grinned devilishly. The predator had just caught his prey. I needed to get out of here. I reared back my arm and threw a fierce jab at Dawson, aiming for his throat. My arm soared through the air and quickly stopped a few inches away from his Adam's apple with a loud echoing rattle. I looked down to see both my hands cuffed firmly to the table. I quickly Imagined firing a rope of lightning out of my thumb and forcing it upwards so that it rose above the chain of the cuffs like a serpent, before striking and through the cuffs like a blowtorch through butter. Nothing happened. I tried again and the second same-same the first,  nothing happened. After several more attempts, I began wondering if I was still dreaming and began looking for defects. "Those cuffs have Lethal liquid in their slits," Dawson said, his voice low, "You can't count on magic to save you now." 

Dawson's eyes widened as I pushed myself off my chair, and ran for the door, my movements partially slowed by the cuffs. Dawson erupted into laughter as I bum-rushed the door only for the pain to quake through my shoulder for the second time in the last 10 minutes, Dawson chuckled. I looked at the door and through my blurred vision, I could barely make out a hand scanner. I groaned. Only an officer could leave the room. This was probably the most secure interrogation room In the world. I needed nothing short of blind luck to get out of this place. Dawson pulled the table back into place, and me along with it, and threw my body back into the chair, all within two seconds.

Pain and nausea flashed through my body but I didn't care. I had a mission to complete, a sister to save. I had to escape the room, Dawson is dammed. The sheriff placed his hand on my shoulder, and I could feel soothingly cold water shoot out from his palm and spread across my skin but never touched my clothes. My heartbeat slowed, as comfort surged through me like fire through dry wood. As soon as I felt calm, the water evaporated with a low hiss,  and steam wafted out of my collar and leggings. The sheriff smiled briefly before changing back to a neutral face. "What the hell do you think you're doing."He growled, his eyes staring daggers into my very soul, " I know Lazarus don't really care about the well being of children, but they at least trained their operatives pretty well. So why the hell, did you guys crash the don? "We weren't the ones trying to capture the bus!" I said.  The room suddenly grew very cold. I began to shiver and see my breath.  I could feel bits of frost cling to my face.  Dawson appeared perfectly fine and continued staring. suddenly "It only gets colder if you lie boy" the sheriff grumbled, with emphasis on "boy" I groaned.  "I'll ask you again, why were you trying to take over the bus?  And while I'm at it, where's the other operative?" Another operative? I was confused.

It was just me and Snidely the bus. I played the events of the crash in my head over and over. I saw the bus, crashed through it, got attacked by a creature, then Snidely took over the bus and crashed it into a rock, resulting in my death, then I went back in time briefly, before Dawson shot out the tires, went into the bus and scared the piss out of me before I passed out. Maybe Dawson was just trying to screw with me to get a confession. But there was a nagging feeling that he was right. I went over the events one more time before I realized Dawson was right. There was another operative during the crash. It was a boy. It was Brent. That explained the time loop. I would've facepalmed myself for not recognizing sooner if I wasn't cuffed to the table. I'd have to tell Snidely once I'd see him again.  Beads of sweat began to pepper my forehead as I made the realization. I couldn't tell Dawson, that'd risk the mission even more than it already was. Id has to tell Dawson what he'd like to hear. I thought a few seconds for a convincing lie

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

. "We were searching for an undercover changeling that took the role of a time mage." It was a perfect lie. It explained the time loop and whatever weird thing grabbed my neck. Dawson's eyes squinted briefly. "Your little teleporter said the same thing"  he muttered,  stroking his beard gracefully. My heart settled.  At least now Dawson might believe me. "However..." He began and from his tone and wicked smile,  he had an ace up his sleeve, a way to destroy both mine and Snidely's arguments. can't copy magic though. something that both you and your  friend would've known and  If you add that to the creature choking you  clearly being a spriggan  your piss poor skills at combat and staying hidden,  it's pretty obvious you people aren't fully trained." My heart skipped a beat. I was so shocked, I hadn't even noticed he called Snidely my friend. "Well, the thing about that is.....you see...umm" I stammered, trying my damnedest to up a good lie only to crash and burn.

"I take it that means you two are just rogues now. Maybe you guys just finally figured out how brutal and uncaring, Lazarus truly is, and how they don't really mind sending children off to fight terrorists. Which would mean I was wrong about you guys. You're not spies. Just  rogues right?" I nodded vigorously, hoping he would let me go. He didn't. "Well then now I guess that clears that up. Too bad it doesn't explain the time loop. or you trying to take over the bus. "You just said a spriggan attacked me, is it too much of a stretch to guess that's what took over the bus" "it would be if it wasn't for the fact  that  there was a knife found in the driver and spriggans don't really need weapons to kill, plus the knife belonged to a  creature far smarter than a spriggan since the blade tore right through the spine and put a hole in the stomach linen and let the acid break down his intestines." I grimaced at the mental image Dawson was giving. The room went even colder. The sweat froze to my forehead.  My teeth chattered so quickly they sounded like gigawatt counter going off. I noticed that the camera in the ceiling had frozen over, fell to the ground,  and shattered. Dawson didn't notice.

Just then, the door slid open, letting warm air wafting in. A figure entered the room,  panting heavily and almost slipping on the snow-coated frost. It was a lanky man with needle-like fingers, a brown shirt,  yellow jeans, and horn-rimmed glasses. He was carrying a half-empty water bottle."He's actually...still...a...spy" the man mumbled, through shivers. "Are you sure?" Dawson asked. "Yes...so is the other one.  They're both lying. They do know  who the third operative is." The man answered, twiddling with his thumbs. "Then quit standing there and tell me what's going on," Dawson said,  exploding to his feet. Dawson walked over to the man, opened the door, and threw him out the room so fast, his thermos slipped out of his back pocket and clattered to the ground, the noise bouncing off the walls.

Then Dawson left, and the moment he did so, all the frost that was freezing the room, spontaneously boiled, and within mere moments, the entire room was stuffed with I thick ball of steam and an eerily long hiss. Seconds later the door snapped shut with a loud clang and thermos rolled over to my feet. Curiously, I kicked the thermos into my lap and then plopped it awkwardly on the table, making a faint sloshing sound. Curious, I uncapped the thermos just enough to barely peek in, and was met with sparkling water. I suddenly remembered when Plasmeus used water to get Snidely off the coiling. Maybe it could help with the cuffs. I carefully poured the water in the small slits of the cuffs, and with a small gurgle, the Lethal Liquid ebbed away. After that,  I fired a small rope of lightning from my thumb and slashed through cuffs, and they exploded, sending jagged, burning, shards of metal scattered all over the room, one even slammed through the mirror and I could see it ripple through someone's computer screen from the other side.

Screams rang out. I cursed. Now I had to move! Suddenly the door snapped open and Dawson rushed in, but before he fully entered the room, I leaped through the two-way mirror, using the table as launching pad. I felt the glass shatter on my forehead, shoulders, and knees. And to make things even worse, I rolled my arm when I crashed into the floor. Luckily though, My adrenaline rush had already started. I scrambled to my feet and ran aimlessly, dodging grapples, and magical attacks from the other police officers. Eventually,  I found a monitor that showed a particular blonde boy sitting in an interrogation room. And right behind the monitor was the hallway. I swerved unto the hallway,  narrowly escaping a flood of golden knives as they shredded into the wall behind me. Up ahead I could see two doors.

One on the left wall that had words "Observation room" written above it and the second door which was where the hallway ended had the words "Interrogation room on it. I ran over to the observation room and kicked the door open. and was swiftly met with 10 people raising their weapons at me. 5 had revolvers and  5 had weird sticks with cryptic symbols etched into them. I had no time to think, only time to act, and so I fired dual blasts of lightning right at the officers.  two were able to jump out of the way, but the rest clearly was too slow and were slammed into the walls, their limbs spasming violently and on fire. I walked to the cop closest to me and fished through his pockets for keys. After a few seconds,  I found a single brass key.  I walked over to the interrogation room and headed for Snidely. His face snapped over to mine,   and his eyes widened. I jammed the key into the lock and turned. A delightful pop rang out as the cuffs blew open. 

Snidely exploded to his feet and before I could even say anything, teleported away. " Dammit" I cursed, to no one in particular. "Where had he gotten now?" Suddenly, I heard the shrill rasps of machinegun fire from far away. Fearing the worst, I ran to the sound.  The sound grew heavier and heavier, and what started as a simple rasp, grew into a horrible noise, like thousands of drums being pounded at once! Eventually, I came to the cause of a sound, a 7-foot tall Eurasian man in a studded leather jacket shooting at the police with a machine gun. Officers dived behind tables, clutching their pistols. Suddenly, I saw a head poke out from behind the shooter's right pant leg. It was Snidely! He didn't seem to mind the shooter and beckoned I me over with his finger.

Instead of doing as Snidely wanted, I fired a  lightning disc right at the shooter-watched in confusion as It faded through his body and didn't even phase him-and grimaced when the disc slammed into a police officer coming across a corner, and set his chest on fire and sent him flying across the room! The police officer smacked into a wall with a grisly crunch. Snidely ran out from behind the shooter, and I noticed that he now wore the backpack and carried one of the weird sticks that the people in the observation room had,  and a scowl laid on his face.  Suddenly the shooter disintegrated out of existence with a low rattle. Snidely immediately began sprinting to the elevator. I followed.  out the corners of my eyes, I could see officers getting up from cover and locking down on us with their weapons. The elevator snapped open and we raced inside. 

I quickly noticed that the floors went into the negatives. Snidely noticed it too and facepalmed.  We were underground. Who knew how long it would take for these cops to call for help? It would be mere moments before we were overwhelmed. Snidely reached into the backpack, and after a few seconds pulled out some mind wipe pebbles. We were apparently on the negative fifth floor. Snidely was just about to press the button for the first floor when Officer Dawson suddenly barreled into view!  "Damn" Snidely yelled, digging into the bag and ripping out a few pebbles. Dawson began running, his steps making no sound just like on the bus. If I hadn't seen him,  would be no way to know the officer was even there.

Snidely reared back his arm and hurled the pebbles. Unfortunately,  the pebbles nearly hit,  fortunately, they slammed into the forehead of the guy behind Dawson, the same guy I saw in my interrogation, and exploded into thick green smoke,  sending the presumed officer slamming into the wall and sliding to the ground, violently coughing the whole time. That was one down. Dawson continued running,  and I could see his muscles bulge through his coat. He wasn't going kill us...probably,  but he sure as hell looked like he would.  It would take something sudden and powerful to take down Dawson. Something like the lethal Liquid in our own backpacks.

I yanked the backpack from Snidely and without looking rummaged around until I felt something squishy and soft. And with a sly grin, I whipped out the mustard packet and flung it right at Dawson...only it wasn't a mustard packet filled with physics-defying of Lethal Liquid.   It was that dammed leech!  The creature glided through the air and latched right onto his arm and began digging into his veins. Dawson yelled and fell his knees briefly,  staring at his own blood as it oozed down his arm and splashed onto the floor. Then Dawson gave me a glare so brutal, I forgot to breathe or even move for a few moments and then he began sprinting! I pressed the button to close the door, and with a small hum, doors began to close. Dawson was fifty feet away, and gaining speed fast. I was too stressed to shoot lightning,  so  I balled a tight fist. Snidely did the same.  

Now Dawson was 40 feet away,  and his arm kept shaking, spilling blood everywhere. His movements were getting more frantic and wild.  He was in pain. And an animal is most deadly when cornered. I gritted my teeth.  The doors were half-closed now. Dawson slowed drastically. The potent combo of the leech and the run had been too much for him. His face was twisted into a morbid scowl. The doors were a few inches apart now,  and I could barely see Dawson. And when it looked like he couldn't move anymore, The officer jumped right at us!  I and Snidely jumped back as Dawson snapped the elevator doors open. I closed my eyes, too tired to fight anymore.  Our mission was over. Then, I heard a wet smack.

I opened one eye cautiously, and when I saw Dawson laying flat on his back, eyes rolled into their Sockets, I let out a twenty-second long exhale. He was out cold.  Snidely closed the elevator and picked out an illusion pebble from the backpack, whispered something into it, and clenched it tightly.  The pebble exploded and Snidely disintegrated into the image of that timid officer he threw the pebbles at seconds earlier.  I picked up a mind pebble and put it to my lips. "Officer Dawson" I whispered. Then I crushed the pebble and waited...I didn't feel any different but looking in my reflection, I saw that I indeed did look like Dawson, handlebar mustache and all. We climbed up to the first floor, and then casually waltzed out. After a few minutes spent aimlessly walking, the adrenaline faded and my everything began to ache,  soon every step was painful, and I had to rest against a brick wall.  Out of the corner my eye, I noticed a taxi. I walked to the taxi, stopping every few seconds out of pain,  and saw that Snidely was already there,  telling the driver to take us to the orphanage.  The price was seventy bucks originally, but Snidely quickly haggled the price to fifteen dollars in mere seconds.  that, we sat in the car,  bloodied dazed, and stressed as the car glided down the street all the down to the orphanage.  Now our mission could finally begin.