"Waaiiitttt."

Dania wasn't sure why she listened. Maybe it was surprise that the monster spoke… although come to think of it, it had spoken in her room as well, addressing her as "Deckbearer." She lifted her chin and stared into the glowing pits of black light that made up the monster's eyes.

"Why?" she asked, holding her bear still with a thought. Her cards hovered in front of her chest: her second Scimitar Cat, a Dire Wolf Tracker, and her Fossil Bloom card.

"Let usssss ssssspeak," the monster—Hush, Dania remembered, glancing once again at the stats that hovered over its grinning face. "You interesssst meee."

"Mantled up," Jake murmured behind her, his voice deeper, more mature sounding.

"Stay sharp," Dania whispered back, and then fixed her gaze on Hush's face once more. "Why?" she asked. "Why do I interest you? What do you want?"

"To knnnnnowwww." Hush seemed unable to speak in anything more than a whisper. It sidled closer and Dania held up a hand.

"Come closer and this conversation is over," she said. "Just tell me what you want to know."

"Youuuuu."

Dania shook her head, impatience rising within her. "Yeah, no. You can go ahead and fuck right off, monster."

"Youuuu drreeeeam about the boyyy. Nyx's deckkbearrrerrrr."

Dania froze, and behind the monster, her Short-Faced Bear checked his swing at her thought.

"How do you know that?" she whispered.

"I wasss in your dreeeeaaam. I llllive in dreeeammmss. Youuu feeearrrr forrr him. He bearrrs the mantle of Nyxxx. Whyyy fearrr?"

Something icy cold closed around the inside of Dania's throat, and despite herself, she whispered the answer. "He is my family. I have to protect him. He is mine."

Hush bent toward her, one clawed shadow hand reaching out to her face. Behind her, Jake shouted a warning and Machairi's blades glinted in the moonlight from the windows, but the monster simply ran one clawed finger down the side of Dania's face, his shadowed face splitting into a grin that featured pointed teeth glowing with the same purple light as his eyes.

Then, between one breath and the next, Hush vanished, disappearing beneath Jake's bed as if sucked under by a vacuum. Machairi rolled underneath as well, but emerged from the other side with a shrug.

"It's gone," he said, regret in his echoing voice. "The room is clear."

Jake's arms came hard around Dania, and he pressed his forehead between her shoulder blades. Dania took a moment to just sit and breathe as her bear dissolved into tawny light and flowed back to her deck. She blinked and pressed her lips together, trying to wrap her brain around everything that had just happened.

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"You okay, kiddo?" she asked softly after a moment, reaching up to cover one of his hands with her own.

"Yeah, now," he said. "When that other thing was in here… it was like I couldn't move."

Right. There had been two overland monsters in their cabin tonight. Dania swallowed and patted Jake's hand, then pulled free of his grasp and walked over to where a single card edged in black light lay in the middle of the bedroom floor. As she touched it, the black faded to a familiar, tawny brown.

#

Dire Wolf Best Beta

Common Tier-1 Beast [Canine, Extinct, Ice Age, North America]

1 Beast, 1 Any power

Health: 12

Attack: 5

Defense: 7

Magical Attack: N/A

Magical Defense: 5

Special: Pack Favorite: Every other [Canine] card in the deck gains Speedy (this card may be cast as an extra play each 30 seconds)

Special: Canine Buddy: +2 attack to the highest Attack of any allied [Canine] card

Special: Faux unique: Only one copy of this card may ever be in a deck

“Every alpha needs that one bro wolf that covers his every play.”

#

Dania took the card over to Jake and showed it to him. He glanced at it, and then up at her.

"What are you going to do with this one?"

"Not sure yet," she said. "I'm too tired to think straight. Let's figure it out in the morning, okay?"

"Okay, but… Dani, what the fuck?"

Dania raised her eyebrows at Jake, but then shook her head and laughed. He didn't usually swear in front of her, but she was under no illusions about the relative cleanliness of his vocabulary when adults weren't around. Kids were kids all over, and Dania herself made good use of the F-bomb on occasion.

"I don't know, kid. Like I said, we can figure it out in the morning. But those were both Overland Monsters, right? So that means… well. I'm not entirely sure what it means, but like everything else in this fucked-up Great Game, it's dangerous, so it's probably an opportunity of some kind." She smiled and reached out to ruffle his hair.

"Listen," she added after a second's thought. "I want you to leave Machairi out, okay? You don't need to sleep, do you, Creepy?"

"I do not," Machairi said. "I can watch."

Jake nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. I should have left him out anyway, but…" He looked sheepishly down at the blankets covering his lap. "We kinda got into a fight."

Dania's eyebrows went up. "A fight?" she asked mildly, flicking her gaze to Machairi, who merely grinned at her in his psychotic way.

"Yeah," Jake mumbled. "I—I know he's my companion, but I felt a little weird having him come in while I was showering, so I yelled at him and dismissed him back to the deck. And then I was annoyed, so I left him there."

Dania briefly closed her eyes and inhaled slowly, then stared sternly at Machairi.

"Listen, Creepy," she said. "I know you're Jake's companion, but trust me on this one, a fourteen-year old kid needs his privacy. You can wait outside the bathroom while he's in there, got it?"

"Yes, Guardian," Machairi said. "But why—?"

"I am one hundred percent not going to answer that question. Just take it on faith, got it?" She turned back to Jake. "So, yeah. Leave Machairi out of the deck from now on, okay? He's your best card, and the best chance you've got against something attacking you in the dark. If we're going to have more of these overland monsters attacking us, he can keep them off of you long enough for you to pull your deck, all right?"

"I can do more than that," Machairi said, his grin growing. "Stealth is in my nature, but I can be loud if necessary. I can wake you, Guardian, if another monster should appear."

"Or the same one," Dania muttered. But then she nodded. "Good enough," she said. "I'm going back to bed, kiddo. Unless you need me to stay in here for a while?"

"N-No," Jake said, lying down and pulling his blankets up. "I'll be fine with Machairi… but…"

"Don't worry about me," she said with a smile. She turned and grabbed the empty Walther from the floor, and headed back to her room. "I've got plenty of ammo. I'll be fine, too."