I should have asked Phlegm for a bucket of black coffee rather than the measly mug he had given me. I placed the offering in front of Nora and carefully eased my bulk into the chair opposite her. She was a sight, to say the least. Half slumped over the table with only one hand smooshing the side of her face. Her hair looked like a bird's nest, especially because Frank had decided to roost in the tangle of curls and preen his glossy black feathers.

“I think… I’m dying,” Nora mumbled as she rubbed at her bloodshot eyes with her free hand.

“No kidding,” I said. “This is the price you pay when you drink a stupid amount of booze when you’re over thirty years old.”

“I’m never drinking again.”

“Uh-huh, sure. You just keep telling yourself that,” I said.

She groaned and let her head drop onto the table as she closed her eyes.

“Is she going to be okay?” Gabby whispered in my ear.

“Yeah, she’ll pull through eventually. She needs a few hours to recover.”

Gabby pulled a sour face and sat back in her chair. “I don’t have a couple of hours. I have to go now. Dad could still be out there. He could be in danger or injured. If he had to leave the Outsiders lair I’m sure he would have left me a note. I just have to find it.”

“Why don’t you and I go? The oldies can stay here until Nora feels like herself again,” Jacob said, sliding a bowl of honey-sweetened porridge toward Gabby.

Nora pointed an aggressive finger at the pair of them without lifting her head and said, her voice muffled by the table, “You can’t go on your own.”

“We’re not kids, Nora. We’ll be fine. Don’t forget, I went through the Umbra trial on my own,” Gabby said.

“No, she’s right. We shouldn’t separate,” I said.

“Oh?” Jacob growled. “So you two weren’t planning on disappearing back to Stanthorpe without us?”

I blanched. “Don’t say it like that. Nora and I want to build a base there. Somewhere for all of us to call home. A safe place. Is that so wrong?”

“We can’t think about that until we have Dad back. He is one of us, remember?”

I folded my arms over my chest and looked away from them, focusing my gaze on Stella instead. “I’m not so sure that’s true.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gabby snapped.

“Joe,” Nora said before taking a long draught from her mug. “Just tell them what you told me.”

And so I did. I talked until my throat hurt and my head began to ache. Not one of them said a single word as I spoke. Not even Gabby. There were no questions. No doubts. Just blank faces and silence aside from the sound of my own voice.

When I finally stopped and managed to coerce a free glass of water off Phlegm with my Golden Tongue skill I leaned back, waiting for the storm my story would no doubt unleash.

Gabby surprised me. She offered me a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes and pushed away from the table before turning for the door and marching away without a word.

Jacob cried out her name and chased after her. Nora leaped up from the table but dropped to her knees when a wave of green colored her face.

“Joe, go after her. It’s too dangerous!”

And I did, with a barking Stella at my heels. I caught them at the base of the stairs and grabbed her shoulders, spinning her around until I could look directly into her wet eyes.

“Gabby, don’t do this. Come with us. We’re your family.”

She smiled again but there was a hollowness in her gaze that had my heart rate thundering as panic began to fill me.

“He’s my family too Joe. No matter what he’s done, he is still my Dad. He deserves a chance to explain himself. I can’t just walk away.”

Jacob pulled his gun from his holster and held it steady in both hands. “She won’t go alone. Take Nora and go to Stanthorpe. We’ll meet you there when we’re done.”

“Argh,” I bellowed, lifting my hands to tear at the hair I had left. I could feel the strands breaking beneath my grip but I didn’t care. “This is not how I wanted this to go.”

Gabby reached out and gripped my arm with her small hand, her white wings stretching out behind her. “But it is how it has to be. Don’t worry. We’ll see each other again. I’m sure of it.”

I couldn’t seem to get enough air. My chest was heaving but my lungs were screaming and my brain was whirling, desperately seeking an answer that I just didn’t have.

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“We’ll all go,” I managed despite the fact the idea made my stomach turn. “We’ll all go find Theo. We’ll stay together.”

Gabby let out a forced laugh. “No. I don’t want to see you try to kill him. I know you can’t forgive him for what he did, but I think maybe I can. Go. Take care of Nora.” She turned to Jacob and her wings drooped. “You should go with them too, Jacob. Stay with the clan.”

Jacob squared his skinny shoulders as his stubbled face hardened. “No.”

“Jacob…”

“No.”

I stepped away and let out a sigh. A flicker of movement at the edges of my vision made me jump and flashbacks of a bright purple world of murder fill my brain. When I looked at the moving thing though I calmed when I recognized it. Kendrick hadn’t left like I thought he had in the early hours of the morning, leaving a perfectly good bed empty while I dozed uncomfortably on the floor. He was standing in the shadows of a broken building across the street, lounging back as he watched the show. All he was missing was a tub of popcorn the bastard.

Nora finally came barreling out of the tavern and threw herself at Gabby. “Do you really have to go?”

Gabby hugged the woman back with all her might. “Yes, I do.”

Nora sighed and pulled back, digging her hands deep into her pockets. She pulled out three bottles of red liquid and pressed them into Gabby’s hands. “Then go and find him. Kick his ass for being a moron and any other asses that get in your way. Make me proud, okay?”

Gabby’s smile was real this time as the bottles disappeared into her little leather satchel. “I will, I promise.”

I stepped away as Gabby and Jacob took off down the street at a quick lope. I turned my eyes up to the bird still clinging to Nora’s hair. “Go with them, Frank. If something bad happens, come and get us.”

“Shut the hell up!” Frank screeched before tugging out a few threads of Nora’s hair and flapping off after the pair.

Nora rubbed at her head. “Ouch, what the hell was that for?”

“It’s so he can find us again. I don’t know what kind of magic it is but it’s kind of cool.”

Nora lifted a brow at me. “The bird does magic?”

I just shrugged. Frank had never made a lot of sense to me. I wasn’t sure he ever really would.

Stella whined and let her head drop. Her tail lay flat and still on the cold street, not a single wag in sight. I rubbed her head and turned my eyes to Kendrick who was still standing right where I’d seen him before. I lifted a finger at the man until I was sure I had his attention before jabbing a pair toward my own eyes and then after Gabby and Jacob.

Kendrick fluttered his eyelids and cupped a hand around one of his ears. I ground my teeth for half a second before mouthing the word ‘please’. Kenrick beamed and looked away from me, waving a slack hand after the departing members of my clan. Sasye – or was it Captain Fluffers?– shot out of the darkened corner and chased Gabby and Jacob down the street and around a bend.

Knowing that the little fox would be watching over them gave me an odd sort of comfort, even though as far as I could tell the fox was just a fox. Granted, an odd kind of one that was somehow connected to my Goddess, but still, just a fox.

“What are you doing?” Nora asked, rubbing at her head.

My eyes flickered back toward Kendrick but he was gone. “Nothing.”

Nora turned and marched back up the stairs to the tavern. “I’m going back to bed. We’ll head out a little later, okay?”

“Alright. Feel better.”

Nora grunted and disappeared through the doors. I did a little spin in place, looking for either Kendrick or my clan members. The streets were empty. I smiled and felt bad for it. Should I really be smiling when my friends had just thrown themselves into mortal danger without me there to help them? I couldn’t stop it though. I had something new that I desperately wanted to try out.

I closed my eyes and when I opened them my Shadow Eye skill was revealing hundreds of spots filled with silver sparkles. It always seemed to be that way when I was in areas of extreme destruction. I don’t completely understand how but the more rubble there was, the more hiding places were available.

I found the nearest patch of sparkles to me and approached it, looking carefully at the glimmering lights. Whatever arrows Kendrick had been talking about, I couldn’t see them.

“Bloody liar,” I muttered to myself before turning back to the tavern.

I took one step before ramming into Kendrick. The man had materialized out of nowhere directly in my path.

“What the hell, man?”

Kendrick beamed at me and touched his chin. “Did you see them shining there just for you?”

I glared at him and said, “No. It’s only the sparkles. There are no arrows.”

Kendrick rolled his eyes and grabbed my shoulders, spinning me back around. “Look closer, you great big idiot. They’re right there.”

I did as he said, focusing harder on the sparkles but there was nothing in them to see. “I’m pretty sure you’re lying to me.”

Kendrick chuckled and reached around me, waving his hand in the sparkles like he was trying to shoo away an annoying bug. “See, right in the center. It’s glowing brighter than the ones around it.”

I looked. I swear I did. There was nothing there. “I give up. Clearly, I wasn’t made to be a Shadow Walker.”

“Oh for Pete's sake,” Kendrick said, forcing me to turn around to face him. “I didn’t want to have to do this but you leave me no choice. How a man with such a high Perception ability can be so blind I’ll never know.”

“What are…”

Before I could finish my sentence Kendrick reached back as far as his arm would go and, moving so fast I couldn’t see more than a blur where his arm should be, he smacked me right in the forehead.

I bellowed and stumbled back, clutching at the sore spot until it had settled a little. I drew my sword and pointed it at Kendrick’s chest, my hand shaking with pent-up fury.

“What the fuck was that for?” I barked.

Kendrick just smiled as he inspected his fingernails, not at all bothered by the sharp point of steel mere centimeters from his chest.

“Wait for it, sweetheart. It will come to you.”

Skill Upgraded: Enhanced Shadow Eye

Hiding spots shown as glimmering silver sparkles will now appear to you at a greater range. If you look deeper you’ll see more secrets than just places to hide. Unique or hidden loot will now appear as golden sparkles. Perception increased by 5 points when skill is active.

“Well damn,” I said, finding it hard to come up with anything that sounded even remotely grateful.