"So Salem, are you going to introduce us?" Salem wipes the tears from my cheeks and gives his most reassuring smile.

"This is Joker, the owner of this shop, and this is-

-Rose Willow Reinhart, of course, I know who she is... How is your grandmother?" The question didn't surprise me much, but the familiarity slightly annoyed me.

"She's fine off hunting down my mother, who's on some kind of rampage." I tried to keep my tone as plain as possible, as I replied.

"Good, good, that sounds like something your mother would do... Now I'm guessing you're here to find your father? I will need proper compensation, so I hope your grandmother gave you something great to offer." I attempted to hide how nonplussed I had become and how willing I was to offer anything for this information. I stood, and Salem, who felt the air change, decided to step behind me as his attention shifted from Joker and me.

"She has given me nothing, but she sent me here to learn from you..." I held back the urgency as much as I could, hoping he would decide to help me for free or on my grandmother's behalf.

"To learn? From me, you say?" Joker leans on the standing desk, a devious smile unfurling on his face.

"And these are the exact words she used?" He inquired with a sinister tone. A chill ran down my spine, and for a moment, I thought one of his pupils became wide and goat-like.

"She said I would have to learn about this new world if I want to find my dad, and you would be the best to teach me." My recently returned voice had lost its strength as it shook slightly.

"Hmm, I see... And you have nothing to offer, is that right?" I shook my head no at the question, which seemed to widen his smile.

"Titch, come here!" As he called out as if appearing from nowhere, a jet-black cat with two tails lept into existence onto the standing desk. It walked along the desk length, purring and brushing against its master. Joker lovingly pets the cat as it sits properly and sets its eyes on me.

"I need you to find Ashe for me, please." The cat, not breaking its focus on me, meowed back in response, stared at me a moment longer, and disappeared as it jumped from the desk to the floor.

Joker pulled a pocket watch from his vest pocket and clicked it open, staring into it for a moment as we watched and waited. Soon, the silence of the room was chased away by the sounds of paws on stone and sporadic quiet meows that came from the pocket watch. Then, a quick succession of loud meows before it stopped, and the pocket watch fell silent.

"Hello? What do you want?" My grandmother's voice now came from the watch, so this was the power of magic, and maybe I could find my father, and it would be as simple as asking this cat.

"Nice to see you, Ashy. Are you in London right now? Fantastic! If it wouldn't be too much to ask of you to swing by the fae district and grab me a bottle of Banshee wails?" I could feel the irritation from my grandmother oozing from the pocket watch.

"No... I'm in Cardiff right now and a little too busy to be running errands. What do you want?" She spat the words through clenched teeth.

"Ah well, fine, I have your granddaughter here, and she has nothing to offer me and is asking to be taught magic and requesting I help find her papa, so I was calling to see if you were floating the bill." Silence returned to the room for a moment before my grandmother's angry response.

"What do you want?" Joker's devious smile was now ready to rip his face in half. I thought he couldn't smile harder if he tried.

"Can I have anything?" The shrewdness of his tone bugged me. I hated how he was toying with my grandmother but hated, even more, how hesitant she was in front of him when she usually was so calm and composed.

"Sure, just hurry up and name it already." A spark lit a light in Joker's eyes as they quickly flicked to me for a moment, then back to the pocket watch.

"I want her... She has to join the devil's advocates." A torrent of curses come pouring from the pocket watch, causing Joker to giggle to himself as they came.

"And why would you want her?!" My grandmother managed to get out between curses. That made the smile on Joker's face drop.

"Because I can't have you or your daughter." The seriousness of his voice was shocking. I looked at Salem, who seemed to have difficulty making eye contact as he stared at his shoes. Again, my grandmother hesitated, which called frustration upon me. I felt my temper boiling as they spoke about me like I wasn't even there.

"No, just like my daughter, you-

-it isn't her choice..." I interrupted, unable to hide the disdain in my voice.

"I'll join the Devil's advocates, and I'll find my father." My anxiety rang in my ears. I had no clue what I had just agreed to, and I was sure I couldn't rely on anyone to make these new decisions for me. Salem gripped my shoulder as he donned that warm, reassuring smile from earlier.

"Was that Rose? Did she speak?" My grandmother's voice was shaky. Joker shook his head at the pocket watch in affirmation.

"Okay... She's made up her mind. Take care of her, please." Her tone was almost pleading, making my face grow red with embarrassment.

"I promise you I will, Ashe, and I will make sure she can find her father." Joker's tone was still serious as he stared into the watch for a moment before closing it shut.

"Remember, Willow, from this point on. These decisions are yours and yours alone." His voice was soft, almost caring, as his new smile was less devious and seemed more sincere.

"Welcome to the Devil's Advocates, Willow!" Salem said, unable to hide his excitement. Grinning ear to ear, he gives me a bear hug that lifts me off the ground. "Yes, welcome, Willow, and because we don't have much time and I'll need to give you a crash course, we will have to skip over the more fun initiations." Joker snaps his finger, and all the doors and windows seem to lock. Drapes from the window close on their own, blocking all outside lights. The dim lamps in the room seem to grow brighter as if compensating for the lack of external light.

"Kairo, bring the ring of shadows to the front, please." Silence is all that comes from behind the black curtains, bringing frustration to Joker's brow.

"Kairo!! Could you-

-I fucking heard you!!" The voice from earlier interrupted Joker gritted his teeth at Kairo's blatant disrespect for him. Soon, a young man with white-rooted hair and dark brown tips shuffles from behind the curtains.

"Here's your bloody ring." He tosses an inky black ring that Joker somewhat struggles to catch. His gaze then lands on Salem, who waves sheepishly. He smiles sarcastically in reply and then notices me.

"Whos the new chick." He says as he takes a pack of rolling papers from his pocket, retrieves one, and then searches himself until he finds a hand full of green herbs with purple and orange markings. He closes the herbs tightly into one palm and lays the paper out on what had to be solid air as it hovers in front of him.

The closed palm then sprinkles what is now the grounded form of the herbs across the paper. With a snap of Kairos fingers, it rolls perfectly into a cigarette that he plucks from its suspension placed between his lips and lights with a fire that forms above his thumb.

"The new chick is Lady Ashes' granddaughter Willow." Salem said with an air of warning that brought a notable change to Kairo as he slightly began to shake.

"Nice to meet you. I am so sorry for calling you a chick." Kairo bowed hard, almost losing his joint in the process. Joker claps his hands to attain everyone's attention.

"Alright, if all the introductions are through, let's proceed. Joker makes his way from behind the desk, revealing the rest of his tall and slender frame. Salem and Kairo joined him on either side. All of their gazes focused on me. Joker signed and formed a couple of shapes with his hands and ended it with his right-hand pinky, making a circular motion at me.

For a moment, I thought I had caught a glimpse of a redheaded woman standing out of the corner of my vision. When I turned to look entirely, I found no one. The only one to notice this seemed to be Joker, who smiled his shady smile and outstretched his open hand to me.

"Put this on, please." In the center of his hand was an inky black ring that looked like it would melt into an oozy black mess. I glanced at Salem and Kairo, who both shook their heads at me to do it. My focus turns back to Joker, whose eyebrow raised slightly higher than the other to add to the provoking smile his face had. I quickly snatched the ring and held it with the tips of my fingers. It was cold and wet, but when I removed my finger to check if a black residue stained it, I found nothing.

I gripped the mercurial ring between two fingers and my thumb. Hesitating to slide it onto my finger, I quickly checked everyone's expressions. Salem watched me pensively while Kairo seemed to be preparing for something. Joker stood calmly, smiling as if anticipating a gift.

"What's going to happen when I do? Am I gonna explode?!" I couldn't help but genuinely feel distressed. All my experience with magic up until now had been traumatizing, to say the least, and now some devious magician wants me to slide a cold and creepy black ring onto my finger.

"Maybe." Kairo said, eyeing me up and down before taking a slight step behind Joker.

"Probably not..." Salem added sheepishly, also taking a quarter step behind Joker. I looked worriedly at Joker, whose expression slightly softened.

"Something amazing will happen, and as I promised Ashe, no harm will come to you, Willow." He held my gaze for a moment. There weren't any other options left for me, and this was the only step I knew I could take to find my father. I broke eye contact to look at the ring, and the more I did, the more unease nested in my stomach.

"A gift for courage..." The voice from early softly whispered over my shoulder, reminding me how my voice had returned and how the haze that weighed me down was now far away.

"Fine." I slip the ring on quickly, and as soon as I do, darkness rushes me, consuming the entire room up to a circular ring of light around me. A cylinder of illumination enclosed me in the center of the room. I could make out the slice of the rug I was standing on, and the circular piece of the ceiling still lit above me. The darkness seemed slightly ungulate. It resembled the ring in texture and behavior. Remembering the ring, I searched my hand and saw that the jet-black ring now glowed with a crimson iridescence, and instead of its liquid state, it was now velvety and warm... It was really warm and increasingly hotter as time passed. I gripped the ring and tugged, but not to my surprise, it didn't budge, and panic started to set in as I felt flesh searing.

"You need to plunge it into the shadow." Joker's voice barely escaped the darkness around me, I franticly searched with my eyes to find him, but the darkness proved too thick. Heeding his words, I outstretched my hand into the darkness around me. For a moment, the searing pain cooled significantly, and my composure slowly returned. I held my hand in the inky black wrist-deep, allowing everything past my wrist to be swallowed whole.

The darkness was cold, sticking to my fingers like oobleck as I waved them in it. Just for a moment, I felt something brush the tips of my finger before a sharp pain as if something had taken a nibble. I removed my hand so quickly that I stumbled over myself, landing on my ass, and almost falling out of the circle. "Something bit me!" I screeched into the darkness, hoping Joker would hear me.

"Yeah, you don't want to do that." I hear echoes from the darkness uselessly at me.

"No shit! What the hell am I supposed to be doing?" I demanded the frustration getting the better of me, and now I thought I could feel something circling me.

"Plunge the ring into your shadow." This time, it was Kario's voice chiming in. I looked at my feet and finally noticed the solid black shadow that reflected me on the floor. I make it back to my feet, and the shadow follows suit. It behaved more like a silhouetted reflection mimicking me from no light source I could see. The heat of the ring was steadily returning. I knelt, my shadow doing the same. I hesitantly placed my hand against the floor in the center of my shadow. The cool sensation returned, and as soon as it did, my arm slipped deep into my shadow until I was shoulder deep.

"You take my voice, and now you wish to steal my teeth and talons." The voice was unfamiliar and filled with contempt.

I tugged at my arm, trying to raise myself when the sensation of hands gripping me stopped me. The grip was firm and started pushing and pulling me deeper into my silhouette's chest. At this point, I was close enough to the floor. My hair barely scraped the ground, which I felt be tugged downward into their dark counterparts. The panic set in as I furiously pulled against the grasp of the silhouette. My shoulder emerged, then part of my arm, and finally, I could see what was holding me. Black shadowy hands, thin like tattoos, had twisted around my forearm. My strength waned for a moment, allowing the hands to pull me back into my shadow.

"Help me!!" I yelled, hoping this would end, and Joker would keep his word because clearly, I was in danger.

"You need to find it first." Joker's voice was strained and distant. My body started to feel heavy. I was weakening against the force of the hands.

"What's it, dammit!!" The hands had my shoulder almost completely submerged in the silhouette.

"You must reach as far into the shadow as possible and grab it." Kairos's voice was loud. I could make out how annoyed his tone was. I steadied myself, allowing the hand's force to pull me deeper. My head became slightly submerged, plunging me into darkness. I held my breath, searching through my abyssal depths, almost losing hope until I felt my fingers brush something solid.

A loud growl rang through the ichor-like substance, reverberating through my head. I reached deeper to find a solid handle-like object that radiated with a warmth similar to the ring.

"Noooo!" The voice cried out almost as if it was in pain. My lungs burned from being unable to exhale. I had finally found it but steadily lost all the strength to oppose the hands.

"PULL!" This time, the voice was Salems. I felt a tight grip on my free hand, pulling me from the silhouette. I pulled hard against the shadow hands with the rest of my energy. Soon, my head came free, prompting me to gasp greedily for air. I looked in the direction of my savior to find a humanoid arm covered in scales and drenched in flames.

"Keep pulling!" Salem's voice urged me back to focus, and as he did, I pulled at my wrist-deep hand, the handle of whatever this thing was firmly in my clutch.

"Don't!" I ignored my disembodied friend and pulled harder with the aid of the abnormal arm. The hands struggled, and faltered for a moment giving me the chance to rip myself and the item free, then the arm pulled me into the shadowy depths as the shadow hands receded into my silhouette that didn't seem to follow anymore. The last thing I noticed was a slightly protruding head from my disconnected shadow peeking at me like a gator who missed its meal.

For a moment, it was peaceful in the dark oobleck, almost serene even, and my body felt as if it would never touch the grown. I could still breathe, which I did slowly and calmly. There was enough comfort that I thought I could sleep if I tried. I couldn't remember when I was this relaxed, and for some reason, I felt I should try. I sank deeper into the inky blackness until I felt the rumble of a car around me. Soon the frigid blowing of A/C on my face slowly provoked my eyes to open to the night framing the outside of a windshield. I looked to the left to find the driver, who was my father, a little less grey than I remember last seeing him.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The unfamiliar scenery passed quickly, and in a blur, my father nervously rapped his fingers against the steering wheel before noticing my sturring. His face was dour, framed by morose remorse. His lips moved noiselessly once more, and I watched until I felt a tug at my ring finger and something slip free plunging me from the dream.

I fell quickly and crashed back into my body. The heaviness of gravity hurt as if I had been asleep for days. The room spun slowly. My eyes opened as I fought against the weight of the lids. Salem held me tightly by one arm that seemed to be charred black. He was on his back, unconscious. As I lay atop him, my eyes searched the room, which was in disarray. Something tore through wallpaper, tattered drapes fluttered in pieces, and shattered glass panes decorated the floor. I examined the arm holding me close, sure that it was the one covered in scales and flame. It was jet black, now charred up to the elbow.

"Is it over!?" Kairos's shaky voice came from behind the desk, followed by his head peeking around it. Joker jumps up quickly from behind the desk.

"Of course, it's over. Salem succeeded as always." Joker's reply was snide as he fixed his clothing and brushed off dust and debris. Kairo made his way over to us, examining the unconscious Salem.

"Salem?" Kairo called out to an unresponsive Salem. I made my way out of his grip and to my feet.

"Is he dead?" My voice was shaky as I tried to hide the threat of tears. Kairo walks over to Salem, kneels, and places two fingers on his neck before he can answer, though Salem lets out a lioness snore.

"He's fine." Kairo sighs and rolls his eyes. That's when he notices Salem's arm.

"That's not, though." He looks to Joker, who makes his way around the desk with a light of intrigue behind his eye when he notices the jet-black arm covered in that oobleck-like substance.

"Hmm, well, it's not, not okay," Joker says with a chuckle.

He makes a quick motion pointing to the ground and then to the ceiling, which causes Salem's body to respond in kind, lifting off the floor and floating in the center of the room. Joker points towards the back. Salem's floating body goes over the desk and through the black drapes.

"I'll take care of him while you two head to the edge of the Black Forest." Joker gave his most devious smile to Kairo, whose face replied with scorn.

"Why the fuck would I bring her three

-because her mother and grandmother are summoners, and I need to know how much of them are in her." Joker cut Kairo's sentence short while turning on his heels to make his way to wherever Salem floated off. Kairo shot me a look full of disdain.

"For free." Kairo spat, stopping Joker at the drapes for a moment, causing him to relinquish a sigh.

"I'll tell you where to find Clown if you take Willow to the edge of the Black Forest." After hearing this, Kairo seemed to relax slightly.

"Deal." Kairo stomped his way to the front door, exiting the shop. I stood hesitating for a moment. Joker noticed this, sported a warm smile, and waited for my question.

"I'm not sure what a summoner is, but you only mentioned my mother and grandma was my father, something else?" The question seemed to plunge Joker into his memories.

"That's something you'll have to ask him when you see him." That was the most disappointing answer I could receive, and I don't think I did a good job hiding it, noticing this Joker cleared his through before speaking again.

"A summoner can summon a plethora of mythical companions from the Black Forest or even further... Your mother and grandmother are a particular sort that seems to have excellent deviations in their powers as generations pass." Joker couldn't hide his excitement, and honestly, I felt myself enjoying it, too. I could summon mythical beasts! One of my favorite RPG characters was often summoners, and now I'm off to get my own fire-breathing salamander.

"Is that all, Miss Rose?" I shifted my weight at the question.

"Can Titch not find my father?" He seemed to be anticipating the question, taking a deep breath before answering.

"No, he can not. Titch can only find people who are alive and also want to be found." My heart fell to my feet. My head felt like it was spinning as the room swayed under my feet.

"It's alright, Rose, your father is alive... Your mother may not have mentioned this, but your father and I grew up together. His family raised me, and we were bonded while young. I still feel him alive out there... Ah, speaking of bonding, you'll need this." Joker searched his pocket for a moment before retrieving a colorless woven bracelet and tossing it in my direction. I caught the accessory, turning it over in my hand.

"Since you've joined the Devils Advocates, you will have to contact the other members. Kairo will help you with that." The bracelet didn't seem special, so I quickly slipped it onto my wrist. It was pretty big for my arm at first, but similar to the scarf my grandmother gave me, it resized itself. After the resize, the bands changed. Some took a reddish hue while others darkened until black, leaving a few still hueless. The magical bracelet began to grow a charm that resembled a short blade dripping with a black substance that vaguely covered a red rose.

"What's the charm represent?" Joker eyed the charm a moment from across the room.

"It's your shadow weapon you obtained from the ring. It'll come in handy protecting yourself on jobs." The sound of rustling and groans from the back acquired both of our attention.

"Salem seems to be coming to any other questions you may have, Kairo surely should be able to answer. I'll work on fixing Salem up. You focus on bringing me back something interesting, Miss Rose." That devious smile returned to his face before he slipped through the black curtain, leaving me alone in the lobby. I turned and made my way to the exit.

Outside, Kairo stood at the bottom of the porch, smoking and angrily grumbling to himself. I made it down the wooden steps, approaching him. He seemed to be arguing quietly with something that floated about his head, making him turn as if it had appeared and disappeared around him.

"Kairo? You alright?" I asked pensively, watching him turn back and forth and mumble incoherently. There was no reply as he seemed deep in thought. I approached closer, now directly in his line of sight. He appeared to gaze past me or to the air around me. His left eye swam with an orange light while the other remained a usual hazel. More and more, he resembled a sleepwalker stuck in a trance. I snapped in front of his face and shouted his name a couple of times, making sure not to disturb anyone in the early morning. Irritation got the better of me. I grabbed his hand to pull him from his stupor. As I did, words of light filled the air.

Must return

Chase the rabbit

Was I here?

She was there.

Beware the queen & Cats ensnare.

A sense of panic and dread crept into my chest while urgency coursed through my veins, causing my heart to beat erratically. More words of light flooded my senses, overwhelming me until I let go of Kairo's hand. We stumbled back from each other. He seemed dazed and confused but was aware of his surroundings again.

"What the hell was that?!" I shouted, feeling very frustrated by the bombardment of unexpected mystical mishaps of the day.

"Oi... Could you see that?" Kairo's voice was shaky. He looked as if tears threatened to escape his eyes as he anticipated my reply.

"Yeah, the words, right? Who was where? What queen and cat? And why do I feel like running?" I managed to say between catching my breath. I felt like I just had a panic attack as the tightness in my chest started to loosen. Kairo glared at me before reaching his hand outward, causing a hat to appear. He put it on and made his way past me.

"Where are you going?" I asked while the sensations from the visions subsided.

"We are going to catch a railcar." He said, not breaking his stride as he walked. I, not wanting to be left behind, followed sheepishly as we made it several blocks to the nearest subway station. Me, still following behind him, watched as Kairo disappeared down the flight of stairs I followed, quickly catching up to him at the card swipe turnstiles. Watching Kairo ahead of me take his phone out and approach the turnstiles to be scanned, the turnstile responds, giving him the green light to go as he passes the threshold though he vanishes from sight. I hurry to the entrance to the platform to find it devoid of anyone else. I even approached the turnstiles to wave my hand through the space after and found it was just regular air. As I pull back, Kairo's head pops out of nowhere.

"What are you doen?" Kario asked incredulously.

"You're the one that did the disappearing act!" I screamed, frustrated with his attitude towards the newest person to magic ever.

"You just let it scan your magic ID, and the gate will let you pass through..." I sat expressionlessly, gawking at him for a moment.

"You don't have a magic ID, right follow me." Kairo jumps the turnstile and heads towards a nearby wall in the station and takes a stance in front of it as if examining a map. He taps four seemingly random ceramic tiles that trigger the wall to split and open into a doorway that leads to a dark set of stairs. I followed Kairo into the cramped stairwell. A couple of steps down, the wall behind us slides closed, draining the last bit of illumination. I grip the walls as my eyes slowly try to adjust to the darkness.

Kairo, on the other hand, keeps his pace as he continues down the steps making his way to a bottom that essentially was a concrete corridor lined with cables that hummed with a fluorescent light every so often, giving us a glimpse of the length of the hallway at the end where the wires fed into was a door that glowed with a soft blue light.

Making it to the door slightly ahead of me, Kairo casually turns the knob, opens it, and walks through the threshold. As I catch up, I find that the soft glow is computer screens, hundreds and hundreds of screens showing different parts of the city at different angles. Sat in front of all those screens was a chair that had all the wires connected to it and the screens.

"Sup, Sol, I need a favor." Kairo stood next to the chair, watching all the screens. I caught up to see who him to see who sat in the chair. A woman in her twenties sat in the chair, legs crossed, watching every screen intently. Long strands of reddish-gold hair flowed from her head to the floor. She quickly glances in my direction and then back to the screens.

"You know how I feel about strangers, K." Her voice was surprisingly soft but indignant enough that Kairo seemed to soften his posture for a moment.

"Sorry, this is Willow, and she just joined the Devils Advocates... Well, the magical community in general, actually." Sol sighed hard, moving her hands in front of her. Underneath her fingers appeared a ghostly keyboard that she used to interact with one of the screens in front of her.

"Name, date of birth, and breed?" Sol asked in my general direction.

"Oh, um... Rose Willow Reinhart, December fifteenth ninety-six and breed?" I asked, looking at Kairo, who seemed unphased by the question.

"What are your parents?" Sol asked, growing impatient.

"I know my mother is a summoner, but I don't know what my father is..." This made Sol roll her eyes and type out a line of information.

"I'll just put hybrid, and I have your other information already, so I'm done." She finishes typing, and my phone receives a notification. I pull my phone out to see the Pulse application is asking for confirmation of the account update. I open the app to a text wall with a photo of my face. Underneath it was my name, birthday, and other information ending with agree or decline.

"Once you agree, you'll have your magical ID and will be allowed in any district that hasn't already band you." Sol said, leaning back into position. The screen returned to the part of the city it was showing earlier. I pressed agree, and a gust of wind enveloped me for a moment before ceasing as quickly as it started. The other two stared at me in awe for a moment before I couldn't take it any longer.

"What?!" I demanded Sol looked to Kairo, who regained his composure and shook his head in disagreement.

"You were just given access to the leprechauns district and high district. That's really rare..." Sol said eyeing me over.

"It's probably your connection to your grandmother for the lucky ones but the high district... You might be trouble." Kario mumbled before rummaging through his pockets and pulling a small leather bag from one.

"Your payment Sol and also imma send you a set of programs and runes for Pulse later." Sol brightens, snatching the bag from his hand, opening it over her mouth, and allowing a cloud of sparkling dust to fall into it. Her eyes lit up with ecstasy. The lights from the screen seem to grow brighter for a moment before it appears to wear off.

"Fine... I'll look at them, just make sure it's not too many. It drains me, trying to link too many of them."

"You could do more if you would just join the Black district and pledge yourself as its watcher." Sol sighed hard at this.

"You trust Clown, but I trust him as much as I trust Joker, you know this..." Kairo softened again and then turned to leave.

"It was nice to meet you, Sol." I say before trying to catch up to Kairo. Making our way out of the tunnel, we enter the subway and head to the platform. I hold my phone up to the scanner, and the Pulse app responds. This time as I take the turnstile, I get a feeling that can only be described as stepping off a moving sidewalk or escalator, and the usual platform I cross over, which was devoid of people, was now bustling with people who weren't there before. Kairo weaved his way through the crowd toward a booth in the middle of the platform. I tried to do the same, ensuring not to bump into any people waiting for their trains.

"Hey, ouch, watch it!" I felt a tug from under my foot that quickly made me lift it. I had stepped on someone's dress for sure, I thought.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to step on your dre-" my words caught in my throat. The woman I turned to apologize to wasn't holding a piece of her dress but a fluffy fox-like tail. Ouch? I thought to myself, slightly amazed by what I was seeing.

"You mean that things real?" I blurted out without thinking.

"By thing, I assume you mean my tail. Yes, it is very real, and it was what you stepped on, not my dress." She seemed a little annoyed, so I apologized profusely again.

"Alright, enough... I have been growing it out and forgot to keep it up, so I'm partially to blame." I noticed she was wearing a delicate dress, and she indeed had been growing the fur on her tail out. It was a golden color with frosty tips. It slowly swung side to side as she spoke. With my poor impulse control, I reached out to stroke it. Not to my surprise, it was the softest thing I had ever felt. I couldn't help but run my fingers along the length and grip the frosty-tipped end that seemed bushy than smooth.

"You are quite the audacious little girl, aren't you?" I look up to meet the gaze of the fox lady. Her features were flawless, and her eyes seemed to glow with a vermillion iridescence. Her golden hair now had two pointy ears that seemed to perk up whenever our eyes met. The brilliance of her eyes pulls me closer before I feel a tug on my scarf that yanks me away.

"Sorry about her, Lady Nari. She's new to magic." Kairo placed his hand on my head, making me bow.

"I hope she didn't inconvenience you any." Lady Nari dons a devious smile.

"And if she did, how would you provide recompense?" She asked with a devilish tone.

"What would the lady ask of me?" The grip on my head slightly tightened, prompting me to squirm.

"Allow me to take her... Just for the week, I'm returning to Japan for a holiday and I'm in need of a consort that's New." A chill ran down my spine with a similar feeling I had before like something slowly pulling me towards her.

"I'm sorry, my Lady, but she just joined the Devil's advocates, and I'm finishing her initiation." Nari bit her lower lip in frustration.

"Joker seems to have all the best fruit in town... Fine, when I return, I would like a visit from you both as recompense, understood?" Her tone was severe. I knew I had met someone similar to Joker. The grip on my head grew tighter.

"Mercy, mercy!" I pleaded. This made Lady Nari giggle. Her kind nature from earlier returned.

"Don't be too rough on her. She and her family have a thing for Therians, especially wolves and foxes... Give ash my regards." With that, she takes her leave, entering a train that appears on the tracks behind her.

"I was right. You are bloody trouble." Kairo spits out before turning and finding a bench to plop down on. I follow suit and sit next to him.

"So, who was that? And how did she know my grandmother?"

"That was Lady Nari, and she is one of the mistresses of the Midnight district. She owns one of the most famous brothels, and I assume your grandmother visits her from time to time." The ick grew in my chest and reached my mouth, but I managed to hold back the gagging.

"Alright, and so I'm going to have to give her my body for recompense." This made Kairo laugh hard, which I wasn't sure he could do until now.

"You're a part of the Devils Advocates now, which means you do jobs for the heads of districts... during the day, the district heads deal with each other and their issues the best they can in front of the public, while at night they come to us to fix their problems in a way that's less friendly to the public." While sitting, I notice others waiting on their trains, side-eyeing us as we wait for ours.

"Is that why people are staring at us..." Kairo takes a look around, causing the starers to look away swiftly.

"No, that's probably because..." Kairo grew silent, and his gaze grew past the station. I noticed then he had one amber eye, and the other was an ice blue

"Because?" I asked, yanking him from his thoughts.

"Oh right, three years ago, we lost our leader, and we've been kinda out of sorts ever since." His melancholy tone reminded me the world kept spinning for everyone as I spent the last three years looking for my father.

"I'm sorry to hear that. What were they like?" Kairo paused for a moment, really giving thought to the question.

"She was brutal, ruthless, but somehow, she always stayed kind to those who deserved it." A warm smile crept onto his lips as his fonder memories of her surfaced. I allowed him to sink into his thoughts as I switched to people-watching. All sorts hurried through the station on and off trains that I slowly realized were all different from time to time. I saw the usual city train car, but sometimes it was French or Japanese trains that showed up to spirit people away. Soon, the number of people dwindled, and then it was just us left.

"Did we miss ours?" I asked a dozing Kairo, spooking him back to life.

"Miss our what?" He looked dazed and confused as if he had been somewhere else just now.

"The train? To the black forest..." Realization slowly returned to his eyes as he looked around.

"Right, right, it shouldn't be much longer now." A cold chill rushed out from one of the tunnels.

"The train to the Black Forest is appearing." Played loudly over the intercom. A low rumble and the loud horn of a train followed the frigid air pouring from the tunnel.

"The Black Forest train is always the last one because of the chance of it bringing something torrid with it." Right then, a blur of mass and metal passes by us, kicking up more of the cold chill as it does. It comes to a slow, and I can finally make out what's in front of us. The train we had been waiting on consisted of many different trains from different times and styles. I watched as the patchwork train seemed to breathe, inhaling and exhaling slowly like a giant serpent. "Come on before something gets off." Kairo said, entering one of the more modern train cars. I follow behind him. Stepping onto the train felt like any other ordinary train car, nothing seemed to be out of order, or no new sensation had hit me as I sat opposite Kairo.

"This train was odd..." I said to Kairo, who seemed to be trying to doze off again.

"It's a train that takes us to the place of lost things, so the train itself consists of lost things." He rested his head on the back of the chair and tightly gripped the sidebar.

"The Black Forst train is disappearing. Nothing has surfaced." Once again, the lady's voice plays over the intercom.

"Appearing and disappearing? It's a train, shouldn't she say, approaching and departing?" Kairo smirked at my question.

"You should brace yourself." The train takes off without any warning. The force pushes me against the sidebars of the chair. I try to struggle against it, but the train's speed keeps rising. I peer through the car window to see the usual tunnels passing by in a haze. Right before my eyes, the tunnel begins to warp and crack, revealing cosmic light from behind until the entire image breaks away and a void of celestial hues replaces the ordinary brick tunnel.

"What is it?" I asked, awestruck by the beauty of this new world.

"People aren't really sure, but we refer to it as the Highway." I stare into the expanse exasperated by its endlessness but slowly I couldn't help but feel like someone or something began staring back. I quickly turned my attention back to the inside of the car because of this.

"Don't worry. Everyone feels that way, staring into this celestial expanse, whether it be the light or the abyss it calls to each of us."

"The abyss?" I asked, concerned about what new experience I was to be trusted into again.

"Oh, you might wanna really hold on. We should be hitting the abyss any moment now."

"What's that, and hold on to what, it's a train!?" As if just now remembering I'm new to this but also being slightly annoyed by this fact, he creates a couple of hand signs at me which form two straps of light across my chest, holding me against the seat.

"Please try not to scream." He asked before slumping into the seat. I looked out the window and noticed the train car had begun to tilt at a downward angle. A black liquid seemed to be engulfing us as we tipped more and more into the ground. I started to get the sinking feeling right before the drop of a roller coaster when you're at its peak.

"After we break through the surface, it's all downhil-" he didn't get to finish his sentence before the train entered free fall. My feet left the floor, and the only thing keeping me in place were the two bands of light across my chest. I gripped them with brutal white-knuckling strength as the force of the fall racked against my body.

A shrill scream escaped my lips as the free fall seemed never to end but almost as abrupt as it began it leveled out. The train seemed to swim slowly through a sea of darkness rather than chug on a straight railway. It slithered through the abyss towards the Black Forest like a snake submerged in oil.

"Sorry... For screaming." I couldn't help but feel the embarrassment burning on my cheeks.

"It's alright. Salem was sick his first time to the Black Forest. Everything he had for breakfast was all across his shoes." Kairo chuckled, which eased my nerves.

"So you all have been to the black forest?"

"Yup, Joker wanted to see if any of us could get a contract with a familiar only two of us were able, though."

"How many devils are in the Devils Advocates?" I asked, realizing I wasn't sure what kind of group I had joined.

"There's five of us. You'll be meeting them after this. I think if I can find the bloody drunken bastard Lonan, he'll be the first you meet if he isn't somewhere drinking someone dry."

"What's he like, a vampire?" I jokingly blurted.

"No, he's a leprechaun and a siren." Kairo replied plainly.

"So there is a vampire?" I asked, coming to grips with the fact that everything might actually exist.

"Yeah, that's Benni. You might swing by her club later."

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you, Kairo?" His eyebrows perked up as if surprised by the question.

"Right, you wouldn't know, would ya... I'm technically human and a sorcerer. My mother can do magic, but she wasn't born with it, and my father, the king of sorcerers, passed on his powers to me and my bro... my brother."

"You're the son of a king sorcerer?! Wow, that's amazing, and is your brother in the Devil's Advocates, too?" Kairo grew quiet at my question. The same glazed-over look from earlier appeared. I could have sworn I caught a glint from his one amber eye.

"Kairo?" The glint from his amber eye became a glow as the ethereal words from earlier appeared.

Who must wander?

Will pay the cost

For the key

to the Land of Lost

The words swirled around and around Kairo as he entered a hypnotic state. The bands of light restricted me, so I couldn't jolt him awake.

"The wa-ders requ-st now heading to th- -and of L-st." The intercom lady's voice was eerie and distorted. Panic ran down my spine as I furiously kicked against the straps of light.

"Kairo! KAIRO!" I screamed, hoping to break his trance.

Mare Mare

Mare Mare

The phrases changed to repeating this name in front of me. I feel the train curve change course and swim in another direction.

"Say it..." The voice in my head demands.

"Say it quickly!"

"Mare!" I scream, and this seems to break him from his trance. He stares at me again as if he can see me. The words slowly begin to fade away as his consciousness returns.

"Wanderer request recanted returning to usual course." The train changes the course again and smoothly resumes its swimming.

"What happened?" Kairo asked, still dazed.

"The words appeared again. It tried to steer the train somewhere." I cautiously watched Kairo. His melancholy expression was back in full force as he stared into the inky abyss.

"Who is Mare?" I ask sheepishly. Kairo doesn't react, keeping his gaze on the abyss.

"He's my brother... was my brother." Pain filled his voice.

"What happened to him?"

"He doesn't exist anymore...here or anywhere."

"How's that possible?"

"How indeed..." Kairo responds plainly. I could tell this wasn't the time to talk about his brother, so I dropped the subject and stared out my window. The abyss reminded me of when I put on the ring back at Trickster Trinkets. I peered into the ichor once more to try and glimpse what I could. As I did, my eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I could swear I saw an eye peer back before quickly swimming away. A pain shot through my hand, and it reminds me of the thing that took a nibble of it back then.

"Careful." Kairo warns.

"You stare too long, and you might invite something terrible into the car with us." He finishes returning his attention out the window, feeling defeated and unsafe, I lean my head against the chair and rest my eyes, allowing the exhaustion of the day to take me.

~End of Chapter 3