Kiyora woke up from a sleep she did not remember taking, feeling very tired still. She'd done a lot of things over days in the dream world. A lot of good deeds intermixed with checking up on William. Then they had found that village and everything had turned into a nightmare.

"Kiyora," said Gisora, shoving her. "Kiyora, wake up. We're here."

"Where?" asked Kiyora.

"The Department of Spiritual Defense," said Gisora. "Come on."

They were in a cop car outside a building made out of red brick that intertwined with Actovosh's roots. You had only a few windows with a good view of the surrounding area. Getting out of it, they were led into the station, to the front desk, and told to wait. After a few minutes, they were called into an office. It was sparsely decorated, with few ornaments or books or anything. However, there was a symbol of a tree with a shield in front of it on a blue background. That was the department's symbol; below it was a desk strewn with paper. At the desk was a woman with green hair. She was looking over paperwork and clad in white robes.

Kiyora and Gisora sat down, and she looked up. "Good day, Princess. I am Lieutenant Escalus of the Department of Spiritual Defense. I'm told you have information for me regarding the recent events at your school."

"Yes, we were late in getting out," said Gisora. "We were attacked by this... thing." She shuddered at the memory. Kiyora didn't blame her.

"Can you describe it?" asked Escalus.

"Not really," admitted Gisora. "It... it cast a long shadow, but it made me afraid. More afraid of anything in my life."

"I saw it," said Kiyora. She didn't realize how afraid Gisora had been.

"You? And what did it appear like?" asked Escalus.

"Looking at it hurt. It made me feel like my heart would burst in terror," said Kiyora. "I think he was slender, but his face... it was horrible." She looked to Gisora. "She was saying something when we found her. He is laughing. Everyone who sees him says that. I think it's like his calling card or something."

"I see," said Escalus, looking hard at her as she clenched a fist. "And you, what is your name?"

"I'm Kiyora Yagos, ma'am," said Kiyora.

"Describe everything you know about this creature. Start from the first time you met it to right now," said Escalus.

"Alright, but the story is much longer than you think," said Kiyora.

"Believe me, I have to hear it," said Escalus.

Kiyora explained everything. It took a long time, and she expected Escalus to dismiss her. However, the further on Kiyora went, the more severe Escalus looked. On and on the story went until, at last, Kiyora had finished.

"I see," said Escalus. "So, you've been seeing this monster in your dreams for months?"

"Yes," said Kiyora. "And I saw him this morning."

Escalus suddenly sat back in her chair and put both hands over her eyes in exhaustion. "...Not again."

"You already knew about him?" asked Kiyora.

"No!" snapped Escalus. "I believe you are blowing things out of proportion, and I suggest you return home. Our race sometimes exaggerates the trauma of nightmares in our minds. Sometimes, the innate connection all dream elves share causes this trauma to spread. In the worst of situations, it can cause panic on a massive scale.

"Still, it is all in hand now. You did well to bring this information to us. We'll see to this matter quickly. In the meantime, you should all go home."

"What," said Kiyora, "but we just-"

"Now!" snapped Escalus before pausing. "Oh, and I'll need both of you to give some blood."

"Why?" asked Gisora.

"It's merely to test your blood for toxins," said Esclus. "Nothing insidious, I assure you."

"But-" began Kiyora.

"I'm afraid I'll have to insist," said Escalus. "This is important."

"Yes, ma'am," said Kiyora.

And that was how they were led into a separate room and told to wait. They said nothing as they waited. There wasn't anything to say. The door opened, and a blonde-haired doctor entered. 'Hi, I'm just here to take a blood sample.'

"Hang on, I thought this was the Department of Spiritual Defense," said Kiyora. "Why do you have blood testing machine things?"

"We share the same building as the Department of Bloodlines," said the doctor. "Often, we find our areas of expertise overlap when it comes to dreamers."

"Oh, right," said Kiyora. "Okay."

The blood was taken, and band-aids were applied to the injury. Then, the doctor did the same to Gisora. "Okay, you are good to go."

"Thank you," said Kiyora before looking at Gisora. "Well, let's get going. My mom will be frantic when she finds out where I've been."

"Mine too," said Gisora.

As she walked back, Kiyora remembered what Felix had said. He'd seemed so certain that Laurus was behind this. But he needed to find out Laurus. Then again, Kiyora had only known him for a few months herself. But that was enough time to pick up if someone was an eldritch abomination. Even so, she had agreed to check.

When Kiyora arrived back, Mom was waiting for her. She hugged her at once. "Kiyora, thank goodness you are safe. What happened at school?"

"I don't want to talk about it," said Kiyora. "I need the phone, Mom."

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"Why?" asked Mom.

"I need to talk to Laurus," said Kiyora. "It's important, okay."

Her mother let her go, and Kiyora rushed to the kitchen. Taking the phone off the hook, she dialed Laurus's number and waited. And waited. Eventually, someone picked up.

"Hello?" asked a cold female voice.

"Hi, is Laurus there?" said Kiyora.

"Laurus, phone for you!" snarled the woman. "Make it quick!"

There was a moment of silence as the phone changed hands.

"Who is this?" asked Laurus.

"Hey Laurus, it's Kiyora." said Kiyora. How was she supposed to ask him if he was a magical psychopath? "I um... I wanted to ask if you noticed anything strange while evacuating the school?"

"Well, there were a couple of odd shadows," said Laurus. "Why do you ask?"

"I... do you feel any different, Laurus?" asked Kiyora. "Do you ever feel like you aren't in control?"

"Sometimes, but it passes," admitted Laurus. "Listen, I can't stay on the phone much longer. My mother is glaring at me. Gisora told me about what happened earlier today, and I have something I think you'll want to see. Meet me at the library, okay."

"That sounds fine; I'll be there," said Kiyora.

"Okay, see you then," said Laurus.

There was an audible click as the phone hung up. Kiyora put down her end of it and sighed. What could Laurus want to show her?

"Kiyora, is something wrong?" asked Mom.

"I saw him again, Mom," said Kiyora. "I saw Laughing Wraith in school. Could you drive me to the library? I need to do some research."

Mom remained silent. She looked like she wanted to say something. She opened her mouth but seemed to change her mind at the last minute. "If you want, Kiyora."

They got into the car and began to drive, rain arttling off the windshield. As they did so, Mom kept looking at her strangely, looking almost guilty. Kiyora, for her part, had found one of her favorite books in the car. She began rereading it to distract from her worries. She was sure Mom would tell her sooner or later.

Mom sighed.

"Kiyora, there is something I need to tell you," said Kiyora. "I didn't tell you before now because I didn't think it mattered, but it does."

"Mmmhmm?" asked Kiyora.

"You are part of the line of Emperor Ictargo," said Mom. "Sixteen generations removed."

Kiyora turned the page. "Hmm? Well, that would explain the lucid dreams."

"The Royal Family has always had a strong connection to the spirit world." continued Mom. "And the Department of Bloodlines is always breeding stronger dreamers."

"That's interesting, I guess," said Kiyora.

"Kiyora, could you put down your book and listen to me?" asked Mom in exasperation.

"Mom, there are forty bajillion branches to the Royal Family," said Kiyora. "How does any of this affect me?"

"Because I cut my ties with the family," said Mom. "I was supposed to marry into the harem group of someone who had been pre-chosen for me when I was a child. Instead, I married your father."

"Okay, so it does not affect me at all," said Kiyora.

"It does," said Mother. "They only allowed me to marry your father because he has an innate connection to the spirit realm. One very strong for a nonroyal. But his relationship is different from mine. The Royal Family can manipulate the spiritual realm far more than most dream. However, he can see into it much more rapidly.

"He doesn't just paint pictures of things he imagines, Kiyora. He paints portraits of things that exist. They are out there in the universe. That is a scarce talent. He wasn't looking for a wife; the Department of Bloodlines feared they would lose him.

"So they were willing to let me go since it helped them. But with all that has happened, I'm afraid they will want you for something. I don't know what, but I felt I must tell you so you know."

"Mmhmm," said Kiyora.

"Kiyora!" said Mom.

Kiyora laughed. "I'm just kidding, Mom. We'll deal with the face-eating eldritch abomination from my darkest nightmares. Then we'll worry about the Department of Bloodlines." She paused. "...Mom, the library is on your left."

"Oh right," said Mom. "Sorry."

Despite the missed turn, they managed to get in before closing hours. Kiyora went to the library while Mom went into the history section. Kiyora looked for Laurus and found him in the upstairs reading room.

He was sitting at a desk with a massive binder beneath him. He was flipping through the pages; many pictures and newspaper articles were on it. Kiyora approached. "Okay, Laurus, what was all this about?"

He looked up and smiled. He didn't smile much, and Kiyora didn't like the look of it. "Oh, glad you're here. Look at this, Kiyora." He motioned to the book.

Kiyora pulled up a seat and sat down by him. "What is it?"

"My big half-sister Remedia made this," said Laurus. "She's the one who got me into horror in the first place. It's a compilation of newspaper articles from thirty years ago. Look at this."

Kiyora did look reluctantly. She'd always been bold in reading the news. It was pretty boring. "It's just the opening to a playground, Laurus," said Kiyora, looking at the following article. "What's so special about-" Her eyes widened as she saw a photograph. "Oh."

"Yeah," said Laurus. "That indistinct figure? That appears in a whole bunch of other photographs. Those children you see in the playground, this is the last recorded sighting of them. They all disappeared, as detailed in this article.

"No one ever saw them again."

"That's creepy," said Kiyora.

"You haven't seen the half of it," said Laurus. "Look here, multiple reports of shadows moving, of strange creatures, and other disappearances. People were going insane and chanting the words 'he is laughing' repeatedly. Sometimes, they drew them on walls, like here.

"This guy wrote the words in his blood."

"How has no one heard about this before now?" asked Kiyora.

"Because the Department of Spiritual Defense didn't want anyone to know," said Laurus. "See, spiritual threats are affected by people believing in them. If no one knows they exist, it limits what they can do. That's why the DSD almost always finds nothing of note. Even if they did, they wouldn't tell us.

"At the end of it, they declared it had been a gang of thugs trying to scare people. And look at this: they launched a raid on all the news stations simultaneously. Officially, it was because of a bomb threat. I think they were trying to get rid of the evidence." He turned to the root computer. "Look over here. I looked up Laughing Wraith on a dozen search engines. Nothing. Zip. Natta. I probably would have been traced if I'd done it at home."

He typed in a search.

"He is Laughing. Same thing."

"Maybe they just didn't make any news articles on the branch about it," said Kiyora.

"Oh come on, Kiyora," said Laurus. "News stations always remove articles when they have a political motive. The DSD doesn't want anyone to know about this guy."

"So what do we do?" asked Kiyora.

"No idea. We're teenagers; we're not supposed to solve this kind of thing," said Laurus. "I figure the DSD can handle this."

"But I'm being stalked by that thing," said Kiyora.

"Want my advice?" asked Laurus. "Dye your hair blonde instead of blue. Then start wearing skirts that show off your legs and go around pretending to be super innocent. He'll kill you last."

"That's not funny," said Kiyora, laughing despite herself. Laurus had a black sense of humor, but she liked it.

"Whatever," said Laurus, shutting the binder. "I've got to get home before Remedia finds out I snatched this. See you tomorrow at school."

"The school is totaled," said Kiyora.

"Oh right, cool, guess we'll have the day off," said Laurus. "Let's hang out; I'll meet you and the others at the comic shop." And he made his way off humming. Kiyora watched him go.

"...He is in way too good a mood," said Kiyora.

She spent an hour or two reading fantasy. No sense in wasting the trip. When she was done, she found Mom, and they headed home. It had started to rain while they were in there. As Kiyora stared out the soaked window, she hoped Laurus hadn't gotten caught in the rain. If he had, his book might have been ruined.

And books were important.