"What are you doing here, Maus?" I question, taken aback by the sudden reappearance of my rodent "friend". I had never given Maus my new address with Paul. Neither had Maus given any indication that she wanted to keep us her association with me. My gut feeling is telling me on thing loud and clear though. Maus is bad news. I shouldn't be associating with her any more than any regular, non talking, disease carrying vermin.

"So cold, Robert." Maus sniffs, "Is this how you greet the mouse who saved your life?"

"How did you even know that I'm staying here?" I question, looking about cautiously. The last thing I want is the maids thinking I've gone bonkers by talking with a rat.

"I've explained it before." Maus hops onto the pile of books, using it as a makeshift stage, ""I keep tabs on you Robert. You're a landmark of sorts regarding the start of the purge cycle."

"Well, I avoided my fate of an early death." I get up from my seat and shut the room's door, giving me and Maus some privacy, "You don't need to butt into my business anymore."

"Oh my, isn't someone snobbish." Maus laughs, "And its been only a month since we parted."

"Are you here just to give me attitude?" I scowl at how difficult the talking rat has become.

"Let's start the conversation over then." Maus settles comfortably on her haunches, "How have you been doing so far, Robert?"

I peer warily at Maus, expecting another insult out of her but she waves me on encouragingly.

"I'm curious Robert. Truly." the talking rat says, "Your survival to this date is uncharted territory for me as well."

"Things are good." I nod back, somewhat mollified, "Paul's got a pretty sweet pad and I'm doing well, all things considered."

"Everything's going great?" Maus lolls about, idly reading one of my notes before I cover it up.

"There's some complications, nothing I can't handle." I explain, "And there could be trouble in the future."

"You plan on getting involved in Paul's troubles?" Maus sits back up, her coal black eyes glinting with cunning.

"Its the right thing to do." I frown at the implied disapproval in Maus's squeaks, "Paul has always done right by me."

"You do remember my earlier advise to you, correct?" Maus glares straight at me, "We live solitary and quiet lives. We do not rock the boat."

"And I remember you admitting that you're not my mother." I fold my arms and look down on the rodent, "This is my choice to make, not yours. Deal."

"And what makes you think that you can survive the choice you're about to make?" Maus's queries with amusement, "Keep in mind, Paul's enemies have hit squads on speed dial."

"I've got something up my sleeves." my answer is vague, "I'm not stupid Maus. I wouldn't do this if there wasn't a fighting chance involved."

"Hm. Never took you for a vampire." Maus chuckles.

"Damn it." I curse and reflexively clench at the phial of blood more tightly. Of course Maus knows of my inheritance. As she said, she's been keeping track of my movements.

"But it is convenient, isn't it?" Maus continues her questioning, "That you would have the ideal solution to your problem so readily at hand."

"Don't look down on the research I did." I point out all the books lying scattered about, "Plenty of sweat and tears were shed on my part."

"Did you find all these books Robert?" Maus hops on to the window, tired of craning her neck up while talking to me.

"I had help." I answer defensively.

"Of course you did." Maus nods sagaciously, "Your fuck mommy brought you all these books while you loafed about at home."

"What the hell?" I snap at Maus, "What's your problem? Why are you insulting Yvonne?"

"You react like I insulted your woman Robert." Maus snorts, "Is that what Yvonne is?"

"Get to the point rat." I scowl, "I know you came here for a reason."

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"My point, Robert," Maus sighs in an exasperated tone, "Is that you seem to have no sense of pattern recognition."

I shake my head in confusion and gesture at Maus to keep talking.

"Immediately after your near death experience," Maus starts to lecture, "you receive an upgrade to your living arrangements, going from a cheap apartment to this palatial mansion in the sky."

"What about it?" I shrug.

"Let me continue, please." Maus frowns at the interruption, "In said mansion in the sky, you meet with a woman. Said woman, for some unknown reason, finds a delinquent who is still in school inexplicably attractive and wants to mate with him at the earliest opportunity."

"You're just jealous of my charm." I roll my eyes at Maus.

"I'm a woman as well, Robert." Maus deadpans, "I can assure you, we do not find men with poor prospects desirable mating partners."

"I've got prospects!" I nearly shout in anger but manage to control my voice in time.

"Yes. I'm getting to that." Maus makes a shushing motion with her paws, "Your distant grandfather then contacts you, offering an unimaginable inheritance you had no prior knowledge of. How am I doing so far?"

"You're a good peeping tom, I'll admit that." I grimace, "But what's the point you're trying to make?"

"Don't you see, Robert?" Maus is obviously annoyed now, "Everything has been sliding into place smoothly for you."

"And that's a bad thing?" I shake my head, "Not everyone likes eating trash like you."

"Be honest Robert. If not with me, at least with yourself." Maus presses on, "A month ago, would you have a chance with Yvonne?"

"Well ..." I shrug uncomfortably.

"No, of course not." Maus grunts, "Yvonne is completely out of your league. She's richer and more successful. As Paul's major domo, she undoubtedly meets men of higher social status than you."

"Opposites attract. And we're not in normal circumstances right now." I object but Maus has hit on a sore point I had been ruminating on. The reason why I don't feel completely comfortable around Yvonne. I can't explain why she's so into me.

"And let's talk about your mysterious inheritance," Maus continues, "before meeting with Vekselberg, you never heard about your grandfather's secret, correct?"

"That's what a secret's meant to be. Secret." I peer at the phial, offended that Maus would cast doubt on it.

"Let me tell you a secret then," Maus climbs on my shoulder, "There's no lawyer called Vekselberg, no lawyer's office in the building you visited. Its a derelict shell."

"You're lying." I hiss, "I know what my eyes saw."

"You saw what the world wanted you to see." Maus insists, "Robert, I came here to warn you."

"Warn me?" I try shaking Maus off but she's got an iron grip on my shoulder, "All you're doing is casting insults and aspersions."

"Aspersions? Someone's broadened his vocabulary." Maus raises whatever passes for an eyebrow.

"I've been brushing up my speech while talking to Yvonne." I tiredly explain.

"You're freshly conscious. No different from a new born baby." Maus squeaks with conviction, "The will of the world has taken notice of you. Robert, you are being led on."

"Then let's visit Vekselberg's office. That will prove whether you're correct or full of shit, right?" I grin triumphantly.

"Wouldn't work. You would see what the world wants you to see." Maus dismisses my challenge, "Your senses haven't fully matured."

"Sounds more like you're trying to get out of being called out." I snort.

"I didn't expect the world to react so quickly to you going off the rails." Maus muses, "There should have been some breathing space for you to acclimatize yourself to the new situation."

Seeing my jeering expression, Maus nevertheless presses her case.

"Listen to what logic tells you. Is it normal that the first person you meet after the terror attack sets you up in a luxury penthouse with no questions asked? Is it normal for a desirable, attractive woman to offer herself to a teenager she barely knows? And what a strange coincidence that you also gain an inheritance that provides a massive boost in personal power and social status."

Seeing me stay silent, Maus keeps talking.

"Coincidence after coincidence. A string of inexplicable good luck. Or perhaps the most obvious answer is the correct one. Someone is manipulating you, Robert."

I bite my lip, uneasy at the implications of Maus's contentions. Still, she hasn't explained the most important thing.

"So what?" I shoot back, "You said before that the will of the world is capable of showing love. Maybe I'm receiving that love right now. It would balance things out since I kept dying right at the start of every previous bloody purge cycle."

"I also said the will was a capricious thing." Maus states solemnly, "Only a fool would put his fate in the hands of such an entity."

"Its my life and my choices." I respond, "You don't get a say in this."

"Wrong, Robert." Maus rears up on her hindlegs, "I didn't want to do this but it is time to demonstrate how much say you really have over your life."

I tense, expecting trouble from the talking rat. Maus squeaks out an arcane word of power and there's a sudden tugging force on the phial still held in my hand.

"What the fuck!" I clench my fist with all my strength against the invisible crowbar prying it open.

"Mage Hand. Beginner tier magic." Maus snorts disdainfully, "How can you claim to be in charge of anything when you're this weak?"

My fingers are wrenched open and the phial is sent flying out of the window. I nearly shriek in horror before catching myself.

"You bastard!" I growl and swing my fist down on Maus who easily dodges by scampering to the floor, "What gives you the right to do this?"

"The same right an adult has when stopping a child from eating crayons." Maus says, "I don't need your permission to do the right thing, Robert."

"Get out of my sight." I growl and try to track where the phial fell from the window.

"I'll be staying here for awhile." Maus calmly states, "If you need me, I'll be rooting through the garbage for a tasty morsel."

"The hell you will," I snap back, "I'm going to make sure the maids drive your disease ridden ass out of here."

"Again Robert, I'm not asking for your permission." Maus gives me a hard look, "I'll be rooting through the garbage because no one in this penthouse can stop me from doing so."

Those coal black eyes draw me in, a grinding combination of dismissal and righteousness reflected in them.

"That is what true power is. Power that is your own, that no one can take away from you."

I'm speechless at how up her own ass Maus is as she disappears from sight. But her voice still lingers in the room.

Mocking.

Judging.