The Hunters walked through the park. The longer they walked, the more normal Rafferty felt.

She must not have been the only one, because Cody had a question.

"Hey, when did you guys get here?" she asked.

"We've been here, Cody," said Sheridan.

"Oh. But then where did Fang Otter and Squiggly Face go?" Cody asked, her voice full of concern.

Sheridan opened her mouth, presumably to tell Cody the truth, but Rafferty cut her off.

"They had to go. They'll meet us later, after they finish searching all the cloud villages, remember?" Rafferty said.

It's worth a shot.

"Oh. Oh, right," said Cody, confusion dissolving into satisfaction.

A new bounce in her step, Cody marched ahead of the group. Rafferty didn't see the wire, she only looked up in time to watch Cody do an odd little dance step, and pitch forward on to her face. Rafferty started to laugh, she couldn't help herself, and was reaching to cover her mouth when she saw the Blue race down the wire, strung just below knee height.

Blaspheme!

The wire Blaspheme carried couldn't do much against anything but the smallest Gods, but it could scatter humans like gravel. It wasn't unheard of for Blaspheme to string it across J Hall, with Cody being her favorite target.

"Sheridan!" Rafferty called out as she leapt in the air, but it was too late. The wire erupted in a blue flash, sending Cody and Sheridan in opposite directions.

The height of Rafferty's jump had cleared the blast, and she landed in time to see Blaspheme descending from the roof of a nearby building. The ground beneath Rafferty's feet was still warm.

Blaspheme pointed her gun at Rafferty.

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"So you've decided to look like my friends, now? I didn't have a problem breaking my own perfect nose, so if you think this is gonna make me hesitate, you've got another thing coming," Blaspheme shouted.

This is going to be tougher than pretending to be an otter with flowers, isn't it?

Rafferty heard urgent footsteps on either side of her. Two dark shapes sped past her and hurled themselves at Blaspheme. The gun flashed blue a couple of times before the three separate figures became one scuffling pile. Rafferty heard Blaspheme's gun hit the ground, and saw it slide away.

It was only then that Rafferty realized she was looking at three Blasphemes.

She began to get a sense of what Blaspheme was talking about. Blaspheme had been waiting for these attackers, both of whom looked just like her. That's who she had set the trap for.

And one of them had a bloody, busted nose.

Which means that one definitely isn't Blaspheme.

Rafferty sprinted forward, twisting her wrist to activate the bracelets on her right arm. She veered to the left, bearing down on the Blaspheme with the broken nose. Her target took a step back to deliver a kick.

Perfect.

Fake Blaspheme turned her head just as Rafferty was upon her, presenting a crooked, red target for Rafferty's uppercut. The blow launched the impostor into the air. Rafferty watched as she, at least Rafferty assumed it was a she, landed with a fine thud against a red and white striped building.

Rafferty may have admired her work a moment too long, and she felt a stiff strike to her ribs. The second strike knocked her head back, and she was looking at the sky when the third crashed into her temple.

Ok, at least one of those was the real Blaspheme.

Rafferty hit the ground, and rolled away. She braced herself, expecting to be hit again. When she wasn't, she looked up, and saw that the Blasphemes had gone back to fighting each other.

The next few minutes did not go well. Rafferty didn't want to hurt Blaspheme, so she held back. On each approach, she took a strike for her trouble, usually one from each Blaspheme. Rafferty convinced herself that she would see something that would show her which was really Blaspheme, but it wasn't happening.

Rafferty saw blood on the ground. More than she was comfortable with. She checked herself for cuts, and found none. That meant it was fifty fifty that her friend was bleeding badly.

She stepped forward, determined to separate the Blasphemes, and took a kick to the knee. Rafferty slipped, just a little, but just enough. Her knee hit the ground, and she felt another kick. And another. And another.

Stupid blood or venom or drug or whatever the heck this is. If we could just see what was what and who was who, we'd win this thing easy.

A kick landed on her shoulder, and the next grazed her chin. If the first hadn't moved her a couple of inches, that last strike might have knocked her unconscious.

That's it. Three more kicks and I'm just killing them both. J Hall will be fine. Oscar already made a new Blaspheme. We can just use that.

Stupid place stupid darts stupid venom stupid blood stupid animals stupid signs stupid hot witch stupid Wonderland

Rafferty's deteriorating thoughts were interrupted by the flash of a knife. She reached for it, but another kick to the shoulder dropped her arm to her side.

Great. I finally know which Blaspheme is which. Just in time to get stabbed in the eye.

There was a door just behind the two Blasphemes. Rafferty hadn't noticed it before. Above it was a sign that said PROFESSOR PENGUIN'S ICE CREAM TREATS. HOME OF THE WADDLE CONE.

The door burst open, and Rafferty's Jack stepped out. Trevor looked briefly at the two Blaspheme's, and grabbed one from behind. It was the one with the knife, the one Rafferty was pretty sure wasn't Blaspheme.

Rafferty grabbed the other Blaspheme, the probable real Blaspheme, around both legs, and just held as tight as she could, as Trevor slid his arm up under his Blaspheme's chin and squeezed.

Trevor held her there until she stopped thrashing, and slid forward. Rafferty wasn't quite sure if she was unconscious or dead. That could be a question for later.

"Hi, Rafferty," he said.

Still holding a struggling Blaspheme, Rafferty asked him a question.

"You knew which was which. How?"

"Your Jack carries anti-Venom," he said.