I was still swearing internally as I left my Ethereal Domain. I understood why they'd all wanted to try to evacuate downtown; it was one of the first places I'd gone, too. The reality was that it was like evacuating people from one sinking ship to a different sinking ship. I needed help, and I just didn't have it in me to start over today. It was tempting to go hang out with the Gremlins. Spending time with them was almost as good for my flagging spirit as a pile of puppies all looking for pets, but I couldn't help but feel like time was slipping through my fingers.

"Goddammit, Sori, where are you?" The floating Eye had been scarce since I'd regained control of my shadow, despite a promise that it'd teach me how to create visual illusions. It'd also made me single-use shield charms that would have come in handy several times, and I needed to get it to make me more as well as fill me in on any other capabilities that could be useful.

I trusted Sori a lot less than I used to. Part of that, I assumed, was because it'd spent at least some of our time together using emotional glamors on me to make me friendlier. Even when I'd known that to be the case, I hadn't been especially bothered by it until it strong-armed me, using Nia as a hostage. It had hurt, and it had undermined our relationship.

In the absence of Sori, I could at least check in on Nia and Hands. Maybe Hands'd be willing to send some of his Dreamers out with me on a recruitment trip. He might even be willing to put an illusion on me. I might have been tricked into not learning illusions from anyone but Sori, but I could still benefit from them. Alice was still learning and could only place them on herself so far. Still, I knew from experience that Hands had more versatility with them, even if they weren't always as convincing as they could be. If he put an illusion on me, I'd probably end up concealing an extra arm or a third nostril or something, but as long as I ended up looking mostly human, I wouldn't complain.

I didn't know if Alice and company had immediately left or if they'd just gone elsewhere in the hospital to collect supplies. Either way, as I walked down the stairs to the first floor and walked through illusions of false walls and misleading doors, I didn't see them again.

When I walked into the Physical Therapy room, the pool churned with the motions of an albino Dolphin, a Dolphin I knew to have two human-looking arms growing out from the underside of its fins.

"Hands," I greeted the Dolphin as he popped his head up from the water. Steve and Larry, his ever-present guards, watched me warily despite the fact that we'd met before and even spoken casually.

"Guys," I added with a nod to them. They didn't take their hands off their holstered guns, which I supposed was fair. I'd had casual conversations with them before, but I'd also been in a gunfight with them. I wasn't carrying, but their caution wasn't wholly without merit.

A fit man wearing a pin-stripped business suit appeared standing between them, holding a small ornate glass of what looked like an amber liqueur. "Oberon," Hands said. "A surprise as always. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Oh, I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd check up on Nia and your other inhabitants," I answered nonchalantly.

"The girl is fine; I can bring her out if I must. As for the others, they aren't your concern or your business. I won't be satisfying your every curiosity." The gentleman illusion said, taking a sip of his illusory alcohol.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Why not? You wouldn't be hiding something, would you?"

"I'm hiding many things, but you're not so important that I'm hiding from you. Say instead that I'm not inclined to make myself subservient to your whims. But then, that's not just me, is it? I hear you're having some personnel issues." The Dolphin's avatar answered smugly.

I glared. I wasn't sure how he'd already heard that. Unless Alice's group had been talking openly about their plans and mine, where he might have heard, it had to just be a guess. Then again, I had no reason to think that their group would keep our disagreement quiet. Still, it seemed unlikely that would have happened in the scarce few minutes since we spoke. "I don't know what you heard, but none of them are my slaves or my servants. They're all free to do whatever they want."

"Inconvenient, though, when you have such a looming deadline," Hands said.

"Did you have a point?" I asked him. "Or are you just blowing smoke until Nia gets here?"

"Why not be truthful about your needs? It's clear the Eye hasn't given you lessons in creating illusions; it's equally as clear that your new recruits just joined and ran off with your old team, leaving you all alone."

I opened my mouth to reply, and the illusory man held up a hand to forestall my objections. "It is, of course, possible that this was simply part of the plan, but I think we both know that's not the case. Now, why not tell me why you're really here. No, wait, let me guess. You want my help finding more loyal recruits."

I considered dropping an emotional glamour on the Dolphin, but Sori had made that a more distasteful choice for me than it once was. I felt betrayed by him. Despite having always known he was manipulating my emotions, it wasn't until I saw him use the illusion on Nia that I realized how insidious it could be.

I'd used it only sparingly since. Still, Sori's backup wasn't exactly fully present, their minds mostly existing in a Dreamworld of Hands's design; they wouldn't be likely to notice if I dropped an emotional glamour on their dolphin boss.

"I could use an illusion to make me less threatening, and yes, if you have a couple people who'd be willing to be my door-to-door salesmen, I could use the help," I told him. I didn't fully trust Hands, but his motivations were clear and, at this point, all but obtained. He just wanted out of the city, and he held Nia as a guarantee that I'd uphold my part of the deal to abandon Forest Lake when my remaining 49 weeks were up.

Even if I disliked his methods, I could understand his desire to escape, especially given his life spent in captivity and his trauma of being trapped and unable to escape as the vortex closed off the town right before his eyes. I could trust him to be true to that desire. Helping me evacuate people would only make it more likely I would stick to the agreed-upon deadline. He'd guessed enough as it was that a little honesty shouldn't cost much.

Hands's illusion nodded. "I may be able to help. As it happens, you're also in a position to do me a favor."

My voice went hard and flat, that of a child's or not. "You don't say. And what exactly did you have in mind."

"Don't be so suspicious, Oberon. It's nothing too onerous. As it happens, I know of a method that will allow you to share your thoughts and convictions with others while showing them yours. Anyone you recruit will know your earnest belief and reasoning, and you'll understand their concerns, in turn, allowing for seamless teamwork."

"That sounds like more than what I need. I'm not trying to mind control anyone."

"What mind control? This is more like a melding of minds, from what I understand. Nobody will force you to use it, of course. Still, you should know it's already being used by a dangerous creature close to downtown— if outside the area immediately destroyed by the Kaiju. If you go take out the creature and his fledgling hive-mind, I'll send a small group with you as support and defense, and even lay an illusion on you to help you avoid attention for a while. Of course, the further you get from me, the easier that illusion will be to see through, it likely wont last all the way to the hotel, but it should get you there unbothered."

"Okay, and what's your interest?" I asked suspiciously. Hands might be willing to help me out to be sure I stuck to the bargain, but if that's all he wanted, he could just give me the help and illusion.

"The gang of misfits you'll be facing are holed up in a hotel with a large saltwater pool. I'm planning to relocate to somewhere with more room to breathe and more room for my Dreamers." Knowing Hands, that wasn't all of it, but whatever other advantage he got could be a concern for tomorrow.

"Fine, I'll clear out the hotel pool for you" I said, "Put up your illusions and send some of your people with me if you want, but I'll be handling things my way. Just tell me the hive mind you're talking about isn't Crowseph. I'm going to need more than a bit of help if it is."