Mina looked up at the sky. It was easy to tell she was far away from civilization; the stars were shining brighter than she could ever remember, even with the light clouds. That included Martin's memories. Apart from the stars and a new moon, there were no other light sources she could see.

Even with the celestial light, she had to constantly watch where she stepped to not stumble on the uneven dirt road. The dense forest surrounding the road didn't help I'm that regard, but at least it provided some cover against the wind.

Mina could really understand how people throughout history had come up with all manner of myths about the forest. The swaying branches, the howling wind and the occasional activity at the edge of her vision… Despite knowing the only dangers here were getting lost and freezing to death, she still felt uneasy.

Wait, did she actually know that? If people could awaken, perhaps animals could too? Or maybe people could awaken as werewolves, which hunted in the night…

Not helpful thoughts. Even if there were dangers here, she could do nothing about it except keep walking. Besides, Karin and Camille would not have sent her here if they thought it’d lead to her death. Britney…? No, she wouldn’t either. There was a clear sense of dislike from her, not hatred.

She was so busy watching the ground she almost walked into the road barrier, the third one so far. It was only designed to stop cars, so she had no trouble walking around it. Like the last one, there was a sign with a telephone number to call if you were stuck there. Even reading that much was hard with so little light. The first road block also had a sign with “Dawnhill” and private property. It was more interesting what was not written there. No mention of Dawnhill Academy. Fortunately also no mention of deadly force against uninvited guests.

It seemed secrecy was the name of the game here. Maybe writing the part about deadly force would make the place inviting to a special brand of curious people. She had not seen any fence or other barrier intending to keep people away, just cars. The road barrier wouldn't stop a dedicated intruder, though maybe they were there just to discourage or delay.

Following that train it thought; If they were there to delay, there had to be some mechanism to detect intruders. There were plenty of possibilities; a camera, an infrared sensor, a pressure plate, a hidden outpost watching the road or even magical detection of some kind. Not that it mattered much to her current course of actions. Whether they knew she was on her way or not, she had no choice but to keep walking.

Her muscles hurt all over. They were sore from the work in the stables. Her shoulder was barely hanging on. Camille had provided her with a bag of clothes, with a shoulder strap. Despite her best attempts at switching sides, it felt like it was digging her skin in no time at all. She shouldn’t complain about something she received for free, but still… good gods, she hated this bag right now.

A flash of light behind the trees caught her attention. The road forward was curved along the hillside, so maybe the light hadn’t come from the actual forest. She didn’t have to wait long before she spotted the light again. Soon enough, two bright headlights came right towards her. She waved her arms. The car stopped, only to turn on some even brighter lights. Compared to the darkness of the night, it felt like staring into the sun. She shielded her eyes as best she could.

She picked up the sound of a car door opening, followed by a shout: “Don’t move!”

Well, she was obviously not going to move. She stood still and listened, since she wasn’t able to see anything past the bright lights. A figure approached her. She could make out a rough silhouette through the glare.

“What are you doing here alone, girl?” the voice continued in a rather hostile tone. She picked up a good amount of suspicion and wariness, but fortunately no maliciousness.

“I seek admittance at the Dawnhill Academy,” she replied.

“In the middle of the bloody night? You’re pulling my leg.”

“No, it’s true. I also seek refuge. Which is kind of urgent, hence why I am here right now, ‘in the middle of the bloody night’.”

A small laughter.

“You got spunk, I’ll give you that. Not many are willing to give me lip. Put down your hands, let me have a good look at you.”

Mina complied, and waited.

“How old are you, lass?”

“I don’t know exactly. Around eleven, maybe?”

“You don’t know? When were you born?”

“I don’t know.”

“What, your parents never told you?”

“I don’t have any.”

“Well, that’s either a very convincing lie or I might almost pity you.”

Mina heard him shifting his feet.

“Wait here a bit. I need to talk with my partner.”

As she had no reason to create trouble, she waited. There was the sound of a car door again, and some mute discussion. Finally the extra lights were turned off, leaving only the two normal front lights. She was still practically blind from the earlier lights. The forest looked ink black.

“Okay, come over here,” the voice called to her.

She moved forward until another male voice suddenly called out “Stop!”

Unlike the first voice, the second was laced with hostility. She froze, not wanting to agitate the person.

“Hand over the bag,” a man demanded. She still couldn’t make out any details, except that he was much taller than her. Not exactly surprising considering she was somewhat short, but this one was tall even compared to the first one.

The man took the bag back to the car, probably to check it. After a minute, he came back and demanded her jacket, too. Taking it off left her cold, but she was not going to argue. When he next returned, he demanded her cell phone, which she didn’t have. He didn’t seem to believe her.

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“Okay, move forward and put your hands on the car.”

Someone had seen too many cop movies. She wasn’t the only one who thought that. The first guy asked if this really was necessary. Two rough hands started patting her down. It felt extremely uncomfortable, particularly since the man clearly had no interest in her well-being. At least he was uninterested in feeling her up. Small comforts. She shuddered. Was this extra bad because she was a girl, or would it feel bad regardless?

It seemed she finally passed the inspection. Either that or he had run out of ways to legitimately harass her. "Okay. Get in," he mumbled.

"Eh. Don't mind him, he's just grouchy," the first voice tried excusing his actions. Now that she was allowed to walk past the headlights, she could finally get a good look at the car and the men.

The first man was older, about the age of Martin. A cap was almost hiding his lack of hair. He had a well trimmed beard, and looked like a pretty agreeable guy. The one thing detracting from that was the gun he was carrying, probably a shotgun.

The other guy was younger, somewhere between thirty and forty. Unless he was born with a constant scowl, he seriously disliked her. Whether it was because of her skin color or how she messed up his schedule for the night or something different, she couldn't tell. In addition, he carried at least two guns. One handgun barely visible in the shoulder holster under his jacket, and a rifle that the other guy held for him while he patted her.

The car was a pickup. That was about the extent of her knowledge regarding cars. Martin hadn’t been much into cars, either. It had two rows of seats.

The older guy asked her to get in the back seat. It came as a depressing surprise to see that the bag had been emptied, leaving all her clothes scattered on the back seat, some of it even on the floor. Granted, she had owned them for less than a day, but she was not happy to see them tossed around everywhere. She hurriedly crammed them back into the bag before someone got angry with her.

There was barely enough time for her to fasten her seatbelt before the grumpy driver turned the car around. It was not a delicate operation, he just drove off the road and reversed back on to it, facing the other direction.

Then they were on their way, with Grumpy keeping an eye on her through the back mirror. At least it was warm in the car, and she no longer had to carry her bag. The older guy, sitting in the passenger seat, dialed a number on his cell phone.

"Yes, it's me. We found a girl, alone. Bringing her back now… Yes, I'm certain… No, only one... Around eleven years old… hmm? I'll ask."

He turned towards her. "Hey lass, what's your name?"

"Mina"

"Last name?"

Last name? She needed one, quickly. Not Schneider or Kinsley, she didn't want any obvious connection between herself and Martin.

"Smith"

It was the first thing that she could think of. Hopefully Karin wouldn't mind. Besides, Smith was a fairly common name, which was a good thing. If she wanted a more unique name, she could always add a funky middle name, like Rainbowrider or Hulk. Or maybe not.

“Mina Smith,” the man repeated into the phone. “She’s asking for admittance and refuge”

“.…”

“From your mom, obviously.”

“...”

“I don't know, I figure that's your job to find out.”

“...”

“No, nothing obvious at least.”

“...”

“Yeah, last time I checked it was part of my job description.”

“...”

“Hey, you're the one asking stupid questions.”

“...”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“…”

“Okay, I will. Anything else?”

“...”

“Goodbye."

The only thing Mina really learned from the conversation was that this was a classic funny guy. As in a guy who thinks he is funny, and is occasionally right. Maybe dad jokes would work on him.

He turned to her. "Sorry, forgot to introduce myself. I'm Victor, and this sourpuss is Daniel."

"Nice to meet you," Mina greeted back, "I'll try to arrive during office hours next time I'm on the run."

He grinned. "Good plan, lass. So, who are you running from?"

"I'd rather not say, if it's all the same to you."

"No hairs off my chest. Our job is to escort you, not interrogate you."

"That's almost disappointing. You make such a great good cop, bad cop duo."

"We do, don't we?" He nudged Grumpy. While his name may be Daniel, she'd forever think of him as Grumpy. Grumpy just glared at her in the mirror, saying nothing.

"Well, if you change your mind, I've been told I'm a pretty good listener," Victor said.

"Maybe you can listen to some questions of mine instead?"

"Sure, go ahead and ask. Can't promise I'll answer everything, but maybe you're in luck."

"I'm feeling quite lucky, punk. Say, are you two awakened?"

"Oh no, what gave me away? My magic charm? My supernatural charisma?"

"Your paranormal sense of humor, obviously."

"Ah, it was so obvious in hindsight."

He nudged Grumpy again. It was pretty obvious that he didn't like it, and equally obvious Victor didn't care.

"Hear that? Someone gets it."

He leaned over the seat.

"For you and your silver tongue, I suppose I can share my secrets. I can sense and differentiate lifeforms in a wide radius. How we found you, lass."

Mina nodded.

"Remind me not to play hide and seek with you, then."

"Ah, memories. I used to win that game so hard even before I really awakened."

Mina turned to the driver: "How about you, Grumpy? What's your power?"

"Hah, Grumpy," Victor laughed, "Good one. Guess what's your new nickname."

Grumpy turned around and looked at her. That was the last thing she saw before the earth swallowed her and darkness engulfed her. Though she could see nothing, she could feel countless teeth tearing her violently apart. There was not even time for regrets.

Hmm? Why was she hearing strange, unintelligible sounds? Wasn't she dead? Also, something was… touching her? Making her sway back and forth. What…?

She tried to focus on the sounds. They gradually coalesced into words.

"... much trouble."

"...sked for it."

"...ck you... nuclear on her."

"..."

"...on, wake up."

The movement resumed. It was quick and rhythmic. Like… someone was shaking her. The voice that spoke to her was heavy with concern. That was probably a good sign.

She raised her head. Somehow, after being swallowed and torn to shreds, she was back in the pickup. The seatbelt was keeping her more or less sitting upright. Pearls of sweat ran down her face. She was sitting on a wet patch.

All the information was collected in her mind, but struggled to really register. Everything felt so numb. She briefly met the concerned man's eyes, but it was too straining to maintain eye contact. He seemed to lighten up a bit.

"Glad you're still with us. Daniel's nightmare has literally stopped hearts in the past."

Again, the words failed to properly register. She attempted to nod, before her head just slipped to the side, yielding against gravity.

The two in front kept talking with lots of angry words. Mina didn't bother trying to parse it. She was vaguely aware that the wet spot came from her and that she ought to be embarrassed about it, but she was just too numb to care.

The car stopped. The concerned man; Victor, that was his name, opened the door and helped her out. He led her through some doors and into a room. The fog was gradually lifting from her mind, allowing her to actually understand what he was saying. He suggested she take a shower and go to bed, and that there was a button to press in case she needed help.

She walked into the bathroom, dropped all clothes to the ground and cherished the warm water. Minutes later, she was asleep in the bed.