The fog was getting colder.

Susan suppressed a shudder as she thought, This elf is trying to confuse me with his words. I know it’s incredible that I am even saying this to myself, but I have to believe that his words are true! The problem is how he is presenting them. He’s trying to goad me into making a brash decision by proving myself a warrior to my son.

Patrick doesn’t need any reminders of my fury. He has faced enough groundings and shouting matches with me to know that I am serious and not to be trifled with. No, I think I was on the right path with considering what I can imagine will help him and Naomi.

“Your children are fulfilling the covenant you made,” she said, repeating the elf’s words. “Can I ask what the covenant is? And with whom did you seal this pact?”

“Ah, you are thinking wisely,” the elf commended. “I am impressed, Susan Brown. You are as hot tempered as your son is compulsive. And yet you have retained all your faculties nicely, I wonder if it is the environment that is helping you keep a cool head. As a turn of human phrase, of course.”

“Please stay on the topic at hand,” Susan said.

This was a common interrogation practice. The person under the spotlight would try and derail the interrogation by changing the subject through other questions or giving impertinent information. The key was to keep asking the same question and drill it home that you wanted an answer, and that there were specific answers you were digging for. Eventually she would get where she wanted.

She repeated, “What is the covenant your children are carrying out? And with whom did you make the pact?”

The elf gave her frank look, but otherwise did not betray any hint of annoyance. “The covenant is to give the ones known as sports players a chance to overcome all their rivals in trials of dance. Should they win, they will be granted the power to impose any rule upon their house of learning as they see fit, to reorganize all social hierarchies and steal the magic we firstly imparted on our helpers in coming to the Origin.”

Susan thought about what he had said. They had made an agreement to help sports players take over the school through trials of dance. She figured that this meant that the school’s jocks were the ones he was referring to. And it sounded like they not only wanted to take over rule of the school, but also set up a new social status within their school by using fae magic.

Now this is something I would not have guessed on my own! All those intricate and random clues left for Conturbatio and the police were extremely artistic and complex, not something most high school jocks are known for. But then again, if they were able to puzzle out how to communicate with this guy and his so-called children, then there must be a lt of smart ones in the bunch!

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I mean, there are always intelligent sports stars. They have to be if they intend on making it big in their prefered sport, but this is on a whole new level! And if that is the case, then Patrick and Naomi might be in even greater danger!

Sure, they had their D&D sheets, but that was assuming they could even use them in this situation! And there were too many unknown factors for her to be comforted by pieces of paper delivered to them by a dragon called World Eater!

“What you are describing to me sounds like the plot for a very bad 80s teen drama,” she remarked dryly.

The elf laughed. “Ah, yes. Indeed, working with human teenagers has been a very amusing and frustrating prospect. They seek out, as they see them, the most inventive and humiliating ways to destroy one another. But they take very little thought for long term consequences.”

“Because they lack imagination?”

“Hmm, yes, you could say that,” the elf answered with a shrug.

“So, if we are going to solve this whole problem, then we need to be inventive, imaginative, and long-term in our ways of thinking,” Susan concluded.

“Ah, remember that this is a covenant against which you struggle,” the elf reminded her. “And one enforced by the magic of my people. It is not so easily broken. Indeed, it can only be broken by those from either party who have made it. No matter how creative you are, you lack the means of breaking the promise which was made.”

“Possibly,” Susan reluctantly admitted to herself. “But that is no reason to give up! There must still be a way to do what I can to hep Patrick and Naomi. Is there any way I can communicate with them?”

The elf serenely answered, “None that you have.”

“But certainly you possess such a means.”

“Most certainly,” the elf said with a smile.

Susan swallowed and asked, “And how can I borrow or use your method of communicating with my son?”

“An agreement,” the elf answered, his smile widening. “We will make an arrangement between us. One that is legally binding in your world by granting me and my own power over your life.”

“And this is the power that will allow you to stay in the Origin and carry out your desires,” Susan confirmed.

“Indeed,” the elf replied.

Susan thought about it. The trap was obvious. This elf could get everything that he wanted from her right now by playing on her desires to help her son. Should she just back out of it now and trust everything to Patrick and Naomi?

No, that did not feel right. This elf was too self-assured for this to be the best way out. She had a very strong impression that she could not allow the fae to get their way. Making a deal with the elf right now would provide the power they needed, and that could endanger the entire world!

But her parental instincts screeched that she had to do something. She felt so helpless being unable to come to her son’s aid. That was also unacceptable. There had to be a way to fix all of this! For once, she wished that she could have Conturbatio and Miles with her to talk her ears off with suggestions and strategies. But that was not to be. She even wondered if the elves had planned for this precise circumstance.

Susan sat on the freezing ground for a moment, which quickened her thinking as a sharp pain shot up her spine. But that was exactly what she needed. It brought things into focus for her.

Trials by dances.

A covenant to change the rules of the world.

The power for this covenant was dependant upon both parties keeping up their end of the bargain.

Imagination was power.

And thinking ahead was key.

Susan closed her eyes and began formulating how she would tell all of this to Patrick if he were right in front of him. How could she make him understand? She finally got up and began pacing. The elf’s eyes followed her.

Finally, she turned to the elf and said, “Alright, let’s make a deal.”

“Ah, you believe you have found a solution?”

“Yes, I want you to deliver a letter to my son for me, and these will be the details of our arrangement…”