“I think there’s a person in here!”

That got Amanda’s attention. She turned. “Don’t touch it.”

Cat hadn’t been intending too, but she took a step back at Amanda’s warning anyway.

“Is it them?” Zephyr asked.

Amanda shot him a worried look then turned to Coal.

Seeing she was eyeing his sword, Coal nodded, and started to cut away some of the roots, being careful not to hit whoever was inside. His blade was sharp and he made easy work of it.

As he stripped away the roots near the face, Amanda’s expression fell. It was a man, but it wasn’t Sirius. This man was wearing a suit and was of a smaller stature than Sirius.

“Anybody recognise him?” Cat asked with a bored tone.

The man might have been handsome once. It was hard to tell. His skin was dry and wrinkled, and his face sunken in.

“I think he’s been here awhile,” Coal remarked. Then he reached forward and brushed some of the roots with his hand.

Nothing happened.

He raised an eyebrow at Amanda.

She let out the breath she’d been holding, and gave him a disapproving look.

“Check his pockets,” Cat suggested.

Both she and Coal, searched the man, each picking a side. Coal fished out a small, leather wallet, and handed it to Cat triumphantly.

Cat flipped it open. “Tony Ridgehorn.”

“That’s Kass’s coworker,” Indi said.

“Well I guess we know what happened to him,” Amanda replied with a glance around the rest of the room. She noted several other nests of tightly knitted root cocoons, and given what they’d just found in this one, the sheer number of them and the small size of some of them chilled her to the bone. But there was also a spark of hope. She doubted the plant could have killed Sirius and Kass yet. It had only just taken them. And if they had found others here then Sirius and Kass must be close.

“Do you think Kass will be sad?” Indi asked.

“I don’t think she liked him very much,” Cat replied.

Indi pouted and looked sadly at the dead man.

“Oh, shit.” Coal remarked in almost a whisper.

Amanda turned and saw that he was now giving the rest of the room a proper look. He’d probably noticed the same thing she had. He met her eyes and they shared a knowing look.

“What?” Cat asked, still managing to sound bored.

She looked at Coal. He nodded at the rest of the room.

It took Cat a few seconds to register what they were looking at. She heard both Zephyr and Indi exclaim different variations of the same thing before it clicked. “Oh,” was all she said once she realised.

“We need to get them out!” Indi cried. She started forward but Coal held up and arm. “Whoa, hold up. Those ones might still be feeding.”

“So?”

“So, if we touch them we might alert it to our presence.”

“I’m pretty sure it already knows we’re here,” Cat remarked. “If it didn’t feel the vibrations of our footsteps then I’m sure it feels our voices, or when you touched those roots.”

“Those roots were already dead,” Coal replied.

“I think it’s waiting until we get closer,” Amanda remarked.

“But we need to free them all,” Indi whispered, nodding at all the root cocoons.

“Perhaps it’s waiting for us to use magic,” Coal suggested.

Amanda nodded. “Fan out, watch your feet, see if you can find Sirius and Kass.”

“How do we kill it?” Cat asked.

“We don’t,” Amanda replied.

“They can’t be killed, only starved,” Coal replied.

“As in the starving kills them or they just go dormant?” Zephyr asked.

“The latter I think.” Coal was following Indi to the right hand side of the room.

Zephyr went with Cat to the left wall.

Amanda walked straight toward the end. As she got further in the room expanded out toward the left in an ‘L’ shape. Some of the walls had been knocked down and she could see beams wrapped with thick green vines. Along those vines, grew black and red flowers. It almost looked like the plant was holding up the house. There were some unsettling cracks in the foundation. She could see the entrance to another room in the far corner, it’s doorway covered in vines. That end of the area was bathed in sunlight. It came pouring through some small windows nestled up near the ceiling. There was one last doorway at the end of this room. It had no actual door, most of these rooms down here didn’t, but it looked far darker than it should have. That was the room where the thickest vines were coming from. Amanda paused, not wanting to get too close.

Coal, sliced away roots, while Indi watched. Each root cocoon held a person, some of them children.

“Most of them seem dead,” he called to the others. He frowned at Amanda who had stopped and was staring at the dark doorway at the end of the room.

“I thought we were being quiet,” Cat drawled back. She’d been using the axe to hack away roots on her side of the room. “I think this one’s still alive.”

They regrouped by Cat, who was cutting away the last of some actively wriggling roots to reveal the face of a sleeping girl. She was young, very young. She couldn’t have been even half way through high school. She had pale blond hair, and a slender face. Her breathing was slow but steady. She looked fast asleep.

Cat paused suddenly, then looked towards the darkened room. “I can feel something.”

“What?” Coal asked.

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Cat didn’t answer. Instead she handed Coal the axe, and walked towards the back of the room.

“Cat!” Amanda warned.

Cat held back a hand to calm them but she remained focused on the dark doorway and what was beyond.

“No, magic,” Coal reminded her.

Cat dodged to the side then stumbled back several feet as she narrowly avoided being grasped by a large vine that had shot out of the room.

As she retreated it fell suddenly to the floor and was quiet.

“What did I say?” Coal asked in a deep voice.

“I think it’s using the dreamworld,” Cat replied.

“What?” Amanda asked.

Indi glanced back the way they had come from, checking their exit was clear and nothing was sneaking up behind them. Nothing was, but it prompted Zephyr to perform the same check. He inched closer to Indi since she was nearby and further from the wall than he was.

“What do you mean?” Coal repeated Amanda’s question.

Cat had returned to the group by this point. “I think, it’s feeding off the dreamworld. I think the weaver is stuck.”

“It caught a dreamweaver?” Amanda asked.

Cat nodded.

“What would that do?”

Cat shrugged.

“How is that possible?” Coal asked.

Cat shrugged again. “I dunno, but I can feel it. If I use a little more I can probably figure out which one Sirius and Kass are in.”

At their looks of objection Cat continued. “Look, I just need a second, a small amount. I think it’s mostly focused on the weaver, but I could feel it before, in there too. A short look. We just have to dodge whatever comes out.”

“We should get her out first.” Coal nodded at the unconscious girl. “It’ll weaken the plant.”

Cat was already shaking her head. “It’ll weaken it’s hold on the dreamweaver too, and we need it focused on that. It’s through them that it’s doing it. We break too much of that bond then we’ll have the plant’s full attention. We need to be ready when we break them out. And...” she glanced around the room, eyeing the broken vine-wrapped beams, “...I’m not sure about the structural intregrity of this place if we wake that plant up too much. I think if we’re going to get them out we need to do it fast.”

Coal looked to Amanda

Amanda held her hands up. “So you want to do what exactly?” she asked for clarification.

“Dreamwalk, just for a short period. I’ll be able to figure out who in these webs, or roots, or whatever is still alive, and I’ll know exactly where Sirius and Kass are.” She nodded at the dark door at the end of the room. “We don’t want to go in that room unless we have too. We’re not quite close enough and it seems tired at the moment. You guys just have to fight whatever comes out until I’m back.”

Amanda looked from the darkened door, to Coal, to Cat, and finally back at Zephyr and Indi.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Zephyr replied with strong conviction. Indi looked less sure, but she didn’t argue. She just looked toward the dark room with trepidation and gave her glasses a push up her nose.

Cat clicked her fingers to draw Amanda’s attention back to her. “Time is ticking.”

Amanda gave a nod. “Fine. As fast as you can.”

Cat returned her nod, then she walked forwards, putting Coal and Amanda between her and the dark room. “They’re probably going to come for me so...”

She trailed off and both Coal and Amanda nodded.

The group pulled in tighter, surrounding Cat as she closed her eyes.

“Um...” Indi started, unsure what she should do if the plant attacked. They couldn’t move Cat and they couldn’t use magic.

Coal handed Zephyr his sword, keeping the axe for himself. “Here, this’ll be easier to use.”

“Thanks,” Zephyr replied. Then he glanced at Indi, “Don’t worry, just keep the plants from dragging Cat away. And make sure she doesn’t fall over. And if you really need to you can probably borrow her gun.” He nodded at the holster at Cat’s hip, then moved Indi so she was standing next to Cat. He positioned himself in behind her and Cat, keeping watch mostly on the rear of the group, with the occasional glance the other direction.

Amanda and Coal stood to the left and right of Cat, and a little in front.

Indi watched Cat.

Cat’s shoulders relaxed and her eyelids fluttered. She swayed a little but she stayed standing.

For a little while nothing seemed like it was happening. Then a large vine slowly wound its way out of the dark room. It moved slow at first and Indi almost relaxed, thinking that was all there was going to be. But then more vines came.

Smaller, and faster, and from all directions.

Zephyr slashed at some smaller ones with the sword. He did alright, better than Indi had thought he’d do. The cut vines shrunk back, while newer vines seemed to take a wider berth. They weren’t quick enough to avoid Zephyr’s strikes however.

Amanda had her knife in her hand. A larger vine came for her. She slashed at it but the vine was too thick. She backed away several paces, drawing it away from Cat with a small fireball of her own. It took the bait. Not just that vine, but every vine started to move in her direction.

Coal managed to get up closer to the door, dodging the reach of grasping tendrils as he danced across the floor. He swung his axe into the largest one. But when he went to pull it out it stack fast.

“You know killing something with an axe is not like in the movies,” he remarked as he managed to get it stuck a second time and almost got himself caught in the clutches of several sneaky snake-like vines. He had not used an axe many times in his life. He was used to the sword.

As the vines moved away from Cat and towards Amanda, Zephyr found himself free from attack. Looking back he noticed Coal struggling with the axe.

Coal swore as the axe got stuck a third time. This was not like using a sword at all.

“Here, trade back.”

Coal looked up to see Zephyr at his side offering up the sword. Coal pulled the axe free with one almighty tug, then handed it back to Zephyr, taking the sword in return.

Coal turned and in one swift movement he sliced clean through where he had been struggling before. He then noticed that the smaller vines didn’t seem to be attacking anymore.

A quick glance around the room revealed the problem. They were all focused on one person.

Amanda was backed up against a wall. Vines wrapped around her ankles and pinned her hands. Her knife was almost useless, as she struggled to push back against the writhing heap of plant. It’s weight was slowly crushing her. She found herself struggling to get a breath in.

They watched as she clenched one fist. The knife fell from her other hand. Coal could see the wild desperate look in her eyes. He knew in that moment what she was thinking of trying.

“Don’t do it!” he warned. But it was too late.

In a flare of last resort she summoned her fire. Flames encased the creature from floor to ceiling. Wild and hot. They burned nothing.

The heat was absorbed into the pulsating plant, as it grew in double size.

“Oh, boy!” Zephyr remarked breathlessly from beside Coal.

Coal rushed forward, sword in hand. He wasted no time in severing as many slithering tendrils as he could. It was almost beautiful to watch. He movements were well practiced, and far more fluid than when he had been wielding an axe.

He ran right up to the flames. “Amanda! Stop!”

From somewhere inside, even though she could feel the air being squeezed from her lungs. Even though the plant was wrapped so tightly around her that she could not expand her chest out in order to take another breath in. Even though she knew her fire was all she had left. Knew that maybe, just maybe if she burned hot enough she could take the plant out with her. She did not want to take out anyone else.

Hearing Coal so close, reminded her of how delicate any attempt at incinerating the plant might be. She could not see that the plant had grown, that she had no chance. All she knew was that she didn’t want to hurt anyone else. She pulled her fire back inside and prepared for the inevitable.

But Coal was there, slashing, with Zephyr not far behind.

Indi stood still, not sure how to help. With nothing sharp to cut with, she racked her brain instead.

Cat was still in the dreamworld, unaware of what was going on around her. As Indi glanced toward Cat, wishing she were awake to help, she noticed the knife at Cat’s hip.

With Amanda’s fire now gone some of the vines turned their attention back toward Cat.

It gave Coal and Zephyr the opening they needed to free Amanda but it left Indi and Cat in a precarious position.

Zephyr hacked through the larger vine while Coal cut away the one’s around Amanda’s face and body until she fell forward gasping for breath.

Indi gripped the knife in her hand, watching the approaching vines, her brain still working overtime, trying to think of a solution that didn’t involve magic. Then an idea struck.

She leapt forwards, nearly tripping over vines in her rush to get out of the room.

“Indi!” she heard someone cry out as she ran through the door. There was no time to explain.

As vines descended on Cat, the others found they could spare no one to go chasing after Indi.

Zephyr was starting to sweat. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep this up.

“We need to wake her up!” Coal remarked.

“On it!” Amanda replied in a raspy voice, but a vine grabbed her ankle and she went tumbling to the floor.

Zephyr cut it clean in two with the axe, while Coal sliced one that reached out for Zephyr.

Amanda struggled to her feet, finding help from Coal, who offered her a hand up while he struck out at the plant with his other free arm.

The vines were inching their way up Cat’s legs, one had gotten in underneath her dark jeans.

Coal and Zephyr struggled to keep on top of them. Coal had one around his waist already.

Amanda reached Cat. She grabbed one arm. “I’m sorry about this.” She used her fire again, just a little, not with the intent to incinerate like earlier. This time she burned Cat, just lightly, not enough to cause permanent damage, but enough to hurt, enough to get her attention, even from within the dreamworld.