Stepping into Kato's room brought on a new slew of memory, buried and half-forgotten somewhere in the murky parts of her brain. Vee paused in the doorway, catching her breath as she looked around. She was bigger than she'd been last time she'd seen this room, but somehow it felt like it looked bigger than her memory allowed. The ceiling vaulted up higher than the rest of the house; from the front outside, you couldn't really tell because of the angle of the thatched roof. But it made the space feel cavernous. There was a fireplace against the wall, opposite the one that faced the living room on the other side, sharing the chimney that jutted from the middle of the cabin's roof. A great woven rug stretched across most of the room's floor; Vee wondered where he'd gotten such a large furnishing. It was clearly handmade, but she couldn't imagine anyone taking on such a massive task. Even with her shoes on, the material felt warm and inviting as she timidly stepped forth onto it.

The bed was a wonder to behold in itself. It was huge, for one, and comprised of the massive mattress set into a hand-carved frame covered in the motifs of blackberry vines and cords of ivy and lichen creeping out across the woodwork. The bed itself was made neatly, as if Kato had spent extra time tucking in the thick blankets and sheets to make it presentable before he left. Vee trailed her fingertips across the intricate carvings at the foot of the frame, her brow furrowing slightly as she wondered on that, before she looked to the opposite wall, the back of the cabin The wall was unlike any other in the house, a massive archway built into it that housed a huge door. Flanking it were windows that looked out over the back "yard" of the house, the empty garden plots and silent chicken coop laid neatly in the open grassy space that stretched a couple dozen yards until the treeline resumed, surrounding the property in that unbreakable wall of towering pines.

Vee dropped her duffel bag heavily onto the end of the bed, crossing to the door and taking hold of one heavy ironwrought knob, sliding the heavy bolt out of locked position. The door creaked and groaned as she pulled at it, but it was not too difficult to move, and she chased the pensive look from her face as she opened it to see Eli and Iron Man out on the deck that jutted from it, the house set on just enough of an incline that it was a steeper drop from this back door than it was from the more level front. "Hey, kiddo." She stepped outside with him, looking back and forth. Out to one side, she could see the dome of the water pump that sourced from a private well. She chewed her lip, something uneasy gnawing at the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite place what it was—

"Mom, look." Eli held up a hand, waving something at her. Distracted from her worried thoughts, Vee stepped closer to see, humming curiously as she eyed the small disc, perhaps a centimeter thick and maybe two inches wide, sitting in Eli's palm. "What is it? A rock?" She reached for the piece and picked it up, squinting as she studied it. The middle of the disc was a strange texture, porous like a pumice stone.

"It's from an antler." Eli spoke, confidently as he watched her inspect it. "The inside's where the blood vessels go." He nodded affirmatively, holding his hand out for her to delicately place the disc back into it.

"An antler, really?" She frowned, but more out of curiosity than anything else. She didn't doubt him—she agreed actually, the more she looked at it. A cross-section of an antler, and a big one at that. Cut clean and polished smooth, a deliberate act. "Where did you find it?"

"Right here. It was all alone." He gestured at the middle of the platform they sat on, just next to where Iron Man lay with his tongue lolling, his side heaving with happy, tired panting after having spent so long running around with his boy. Vee's gaze swept around the balcony slowly, looking for any signs of other similar discs. If Kato had made it—which seemed likely, because who else would?—then she couldn't imagine him only making one and leaving it at that. But the balcony was clear. If there were more, they were elsewhere. So why just the one left alone?

She was thinking too much, Vee scolded herself as she shook her head, before nodding toward the large, still-open door. "Is this what you wanted me to see? It goes into my bedroom, heh."

"Yeah! It's so big! And it's cool-looking, look at the carvings!" Eli grinned brightly, and Vee turned her gaze back to the door with a grunt of interest, realizing she hadn't actually taken the time to look at the outside of the entryway. She had to stifle a gasp when she looked at it, though; there in wood-carved relief, blatant and unmistakable, were more of those…things. Skull-mask faces beneath great branching antlers, powerful centaur-like bodies with strong arms and four beastly legs beneath. There were three of them on the door, circling a ring of odd shapes, each marked with different symbols. Runes, she thought, but not like those you'd see upon viking motifs. As she looked at the beasts again though, she realized they were not all the same. One had the thick forelegs of a bear and the short tail of a deer or elk, to match its hindquarters. Another had what looked like a cougar's forelimbs, and a long matching tail. The third, oddly enough, had front legs that looked like a bird's, the shaggy belt carved to look more feathery around its elbows and along its sides. The tail was more familiar, wolfish in appearance like that of the beast she'd drawn.

So much variety. Too much, she thought, swallowing back a wave of anxiety-born nausea. "Mom?" Eli spoke, drawing her focus back to him, his blue eyes wide and brow creased in concern beneath his sweat-slicked hair. "Are you okay? You changed color."

"Oh. Y-yeah, I'm fine, baby." Vee forced a smile, shaking herself with an exaggerated sigh to lighten the mood. "It's just warm out, huh? Been moving things a lot, I should take a break and drink some water. You should too, hm?" She waved him along. "Come on, let's go inside. Iron Man could use the break too, I think."

"Okay!" He got up, patting his hip and prompting Iron Man to scramble to his feet with a dramatic groan. They headed back through the carved doorway, Vee following them in order to haul it shut again, but just as she set her hand on the handle again she felt it. That odd, prickly feeling like she was being watched. Her heart raced, her breath quickening as she felt herself freeze, torn between confronting her fear and turning to face the woods, and just rushing inside to the safety of the house. Eventually, the latter option won out, and she shut the heavy door as hastily as she could behind her, exhaling roughly. The sensation cleared, and she managed to smile again as she heard Eli chattering down the hallway as he rummaged around for Iron Man's bowls. Kato just had a fondness for strange mythical wilderness motifs, clearly. She was being silly, letting it rattle her so. It was time to put that out of her mind and focus on what mattered: making this place comfortable and homey enough to make a proper vacation away from their troubles for the both of them.

They spent the rest of the day inside, occupied with putting things away and organizing, as well as familiarizing themselves with the stuff left behind. Kato had a TV, albeit a bit of an older model, a heavy set with a screen that felt fuzzy when it turned on. No cable, but there was an old VHS player set up, and a collection of movies. Vee was delighted to see some old Disney classics from her childhood nestled amid the nature documentaries and other randomly labeled tapes. She put those ones aside, unsure what to expect of their contents, but let Eli have his pick of the others after they finished dinner, laughing as he marveled at the now-obsolete technology of her youth. She washed the dishes while he lounged on the couch, dozing against Iron Man's side while Aristocats played, and Vee hummed along with the familiar tunes. Outside, the sky was still somewhat light beyond the trees but the sun could no longer reach over them or through, and so within the forest itself things had gone dark.

Vee kept her eyes pointedly on the dishes in the sink, though. She had pulled the curtain across the little window overlooking this part of the counter space in the kitchen, but that uneasy feeling had come back. Not only the paranoid sensation of being watched, but the vague unease from earlier. Only now it had a name, a source.

How did Kato have the money for all of these things? Installing a windmill wasn't cheap. Nor was maintaining a private well. And that door in the back of the house—nevermind the door itself, but the windows were clearly a custom job. Also not cheap. It felt greedy to wonder where the money was, in all this talk of inheritance, but it was a question she felt was valid nonetheless.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Unless the people of Woodwill had really gone out of their way to provide for him. Which seemed…bizarre, and illogical, and yet…the way Atkins talked about Kato, there was a sort of reverence in his voice. Something cryptic in his words that made Vee wonder…who exactly was Kato? What significance did he hold with the people of this tiny town? They were only a half-hour's drive from the nearest town of significance back up the highway, but it felt like an entirely different world out here. That was partly why it had appealed so much as a hideout, after all. But there was something…otherworldly about it, even so.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone rang. Fumbling to dry her hands, she wiped them roughly on her shirt before grabbing the device. Tess' name read across the screen, and she let out a breath of relief as she brought the phone to her ear. "Hey, Tess."

"Vee, what the hell." Tess' irritated tone was just a cover for her concern, Vee knew well enough by now. "You can't just take off like that. What happened?"

"Sorry, Tess, I know. It was…kind of a rushed choice." Vee winced a bit, crossing the room to look at the couch. Eli was snoozing, the light of the TV dancing off his features, and so she carefully redirected herself to head down the hall. "One second, let me get out of the way so I don't bother Eli. Okay." She sighed as she carefully shut the bedroom door behind her, crossing her free arm across her chest as she idly paced further into the large bedroom. "…Ryan found us, Tess."

"He what?" Tess' irritable tone faded in exchange for surprise. "That bastard, I should've known it was too good to be true that he's been quiet so long…what happened?"

"He was driving by, caught us walking back into the complex." Vee frowned, scuffing a foot lightly against the densely woven fiber of the rug. "He tried to run us down. Grabbed me, threatened me…I got away and got back to the apartment itself without him figuring out which one we're in, but…yeah." She chewed her lip. "I know it was really hasty of me, but I just…I had to get us out of there. Eli was so scared, Tess…"

"Where are you staying?" Tess asked, and Vee chewed harder, not answering immediately. That was the other part of the situation she hadn't gotten around to informing her lawyer about, after all. "…Vee?" Tess probed, and she sighed in defeat, giving up on her feeble effort to figure out a simple way to explain it.

"…We're at my grandfather's house. Or…my house now, I guess. He left it to me."

"What grandfather? You've never mentioned a grandfather." Tess sounded skeptical, and Vee could just picture the shrewd scowl on her face.

"I know." Vee grimaced. "I…it's a long story, okay?" Her gaze drifted to one of the large windows, focusing past the vague reflection to try and see through the dark settling outside. "Listen, we're in a little town called Woodwill. It's out in the Clatskanie region, just east of Mount Elden."

"Woodwill." Tess echoed absently. Vee could hear the clicking of a keyboard in the background and knew she was looking it up. "…Vee, this place barely exists. You should've called me first, you could've come stayed here."

"I know, I'm sorry. I wasn't really thinking clearly, and the last few days have been…strange." Vee sighed, lifting her free hand to rub at her eyes, finding the effort of trying to focus through the glass exhausting. "I just figured it would make a safe place to lay low for a couple days…give you a chance to see what the deal is on the legal end of things. Eli's suspended anyway, so—"

"He's what?" Tess cut in sharply and Vee winced, knowing she'd said the wrong thing. Not that it mattered; it wasn't like she could lie to Tess. "How did that happen?"

"It wasn't his fault. Just the school's zero-tolerance shit, he got in a fight trying to stop some asshole kid from mutilating a frog." Vee felt irritation creeping into her own voice as she rehashed the conversation with the principal in her mind.

Tess let out a long breath, and Vee could picture her pinching the bridge of her nose in the way she always did when she was trying to think logically, without letting her emotions get in the way. "…Of course. Poor kid. Look…I know it's getting late. I can imagine you've had a long day. I'll call you tomorrow and we can…figure out a game plan, okay?"

"Yeah…that sounds good." Vee nodded, her body already feeling heavier as she eyed the large bed. "I'll talk to you tomorrow then. Thanks, Tess."

"Mmhm." Tess grunted affirmatively, before the call ended. Vee tucked her phone away again, sighing as she rubbed her palms over her face. She made her way back out to the living room where Eli was still sleeping on the couch, and she turned the TV off before carefully scooping him up. He mumbled sleepily, leaning his head on her shoulder, but he didn't wake as she carried him down the hall to her old room. Iron Man padded at her heels, yawning, and as she settled Eli into the old bed the dog sprawled out beside it, just as he did back home. Vee gently fixed a couple unruly strands of hair on Eli's head, the boy mumbling again as he rolled over and resumed his quiet snoring, before she departed the room with the door closing quietly in her wake.

Returning to Kato's room—her room, she reminded herself, she sighed as she crossed to the bedside. She hadn't put her duffel bag away, but she didn't have the energy to bother now, simply setting it down on the floor before she pulled her shirt off over her head, only hesitating a moment before dropping her bra to join it on the floor. The big windows had no curtains, but she figured Kato must not have been worried about peepers out here. The woods weren't exactly easy to traverse in the dark, given how pitch-black the gaps beneath the trees had become even before the sun fully sank.

Stripping off her pants, she climbed into the bed in just her underwear, too tired to bother scavenging her pajama clothes from the bag tonight. The faint light still coloring the sky beyond the trees, thanks to the late-spring days lengthening, made it so the room wasn't TOO dark to navigate, but dark enough she had no trouble falling asleep almost the moment her head hit the pillow, before she could even fully appreciate how comfortable the bed was.

She was so tired, it was a wonder she had the mental energy left to dream at all. But dream she did. She was in the bed, in Kato's room, which by all accounts looked unchanged aside from the fact the walls were replaced with dark, rustling pine branches, needles scratching together as they swayed in an unknown breeze. That wasn't entirely right; not ALL the walls were replaced. The door remained. Just the door, no windows or wall to surround it. It loomed against the dark forest around her, an out-of-place portal amid a sea of sweet-smelling firs. She lay there in bed, her eyes open but her body heavy and still, as if paralyzed. No, not paralyzed—asleep. There was a strange sense of anticipation that wormed through her, as if she were expecting something. But what?

As if to answer her, the door suddenly creaked, the heavy iron handle turning slowly before it clicked free. Had she locked it earlier? Did it matter? The door opened slowly, swinging wide into the room, and outside it was just more forest. But a shadow stretched across the floor, slowly, backlit by some unseen light source. A towering shadow, crowned with a mighty set of antlers, the shaggy mane of fur that cascaded down its neck and over its broad shoulders obvious. Vee felt a thrill of fear run through her. But there was something else there too. Something like…yearning.

The shadow stretched closer, all the way to the bedside and onward, and she felt a chill run through her as the shadow engulfed her. But she couldn't move, and her eyes still saw nothing but the rustling branches around them, darkened by the shadow that lay across her. Then there was a slight pressure, as if something were leaning in close, and she felt something stir the hair on the back of her neck. A hot puff of air, a breath—

Vee's eyes snapped open and she lurched upright with a gasp, fighting her way free of the blankets as she caught herself. The sky outside was turning pale pink, the sun rising. Not yet high enough to crest the trees, but enough that the ambient light was seeping into the room. She rubbed her face, catching her breath. Just another bizarre dream. She stretched, shaking her hair out and wincing as she pulled it free of the ponytail she hadn't bothered undoing before bed, working her fingers through the left-behind tangles as she cast her gaze drowsily across the floor.

Her eyes stopped when she saw it. There, sitting directly in the middle of the span between the bed and the door. A round disc of bone. She blinked as she stared at it. Perhaps Eli had dropped it yesterday, when they came in. Except…no, because he'd been toying with it at dinner, and she knew it had been in his pocket when she took him to bed. Maybe he snuck in before she woke? But that wasn't like him, and he had no reason…but then…where had it come from?

She got up and paced over to the disc, staring down at it for a moment before she bent and picked it up. It was much like the first, cleanly-cut and polished smooth, save for the slightest roughness where the bone turned porous in the middle. She curled her fingers around it and looked out the window, chewing her lip pensively. Had someone snuck in during the night after all, only to leave no trace?

It was a mystery she didn't have the energy to puzzle through. No, there was no logic to it. She had to put it aside. It had been a long day yesterday. Perhaps the disc had been there all along, and they'd just happened to miss it. She moved over to the carved dresser set against the wall beside the bed, placing the disc on top with a soft click as she pressed it to the wood. She had enough of her grandfather's secrets to sort out without convincing herself of strange woodland superstitions on top of it all.