Azrail sat down next to the large bed. In the middle of the bed was Nugget.

"A chicken?" Azrail mused aloud as he rubbed his chin. "This grand bed reserved for a single chicken."

Nugget stirred slightly in her sleep. Almost as if she could sense that someone was offending her.

Azrail studied her with his eyes. "Her body is torn to shreds. Even her leg is missing," Azrail said calmly as he sat back in the wooden armchair. "Who would go out of their way for this creature? What is her significance?"

There were muffled noises from the floor below. It almost sounded like a dam had burst, and the area was flooding with rushing water. Azrail raised and eyebrow and leaned over the side of his chair to look at the floor underneath him.

But, as the sounds quickly faded and were replaced with muffled shouting. Although, that too quickly faded into what was effectively silence.

"From what I've seen. I have no doubt you're here because of Ted." Azrail told the sleeping hen.

He leaned forward in the chair and laced his fingers together. "But a chicken? What could that mean? He's ruled by emotions, especially fear, but he isn't that much of an idiot."

Azrail quickly stood up as he continued to monologue to himself. "No! It must be something...but what? What am I missing?"

Nugget stirred again, but remained asleep.

Azrail quieted down as the chicken moved on the bed. He stared at her, his eyes burning with questions.

He moved closer to her, and leaned over the bed. "What do you have on Ted? What are you to him?"

Azrail threw his arms up in frustration and paced towards the door. He stopped short of leaving, and slowed his breathing.

He let out a burst of air, and then breathed in slowly. He repeated this a few times as he closed his eyes.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"They said she is just a chicken, but was aggressive. Ted's voice had real fear in it. Was it fear of her? Or was it fear we'd see through his lies and discern the truth?" Azrail asked himself as he straightened his clothes and hair.

He took one last, long look at Nugget, and then, at last, left the room.

----------------------------------------

"Is it supposed to do that?" Lulu asked.

Narissa frowned. "That is not for you to worry about."

Lulu poked the strange silver substance. It wiggled at her prodding like jello, but besides the shaking, it retained its helix shape.

Narissa slapped Lulu's hand away. "Keep away from that! Do you want to lose your hand?"

"Well, how was I supposed to know if you don't tell me what to look out for?" Lulu asked as she shrugged. "I can't really avoid the trappings of the game if you don't tell me what they are."

"This isn't a game, this is..." Narissa stopped mid sentence and shook her head. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"It was only an analogy, figured you'd catch on to that." Lulu smirked as she eyed the strange helix structure.

"It's not...ugh," Narissa groaned in frustration. "I hope I wasn't this irritating when I was younger. Otherwise I could hardly blame those witches, but it's a bit late for any kind of forgiveness for them."

Narissa's eyes took on a distant shine as she grinned wickedly. "Yes," she said to herself. "No coming back from where they've been banished."

"Might not want to drift too far into the clouds there," Lulu warned. "That...thing looks a little...uh...wrong?"

"What are you..." Narissa came back to reality, and saw a black pot shaking and spinning on the brick stove.

She stared at it for a while. As Lulu saw she wasn't acting, she shrugged, and put on an oven mit on each hand. She walked past the strange jiggly helix, and several other oddities to the stove. She grabbed the pot's handles and moved it off the heat.

"Wait! Stop!" Narissa scolded.

"Huh?" Lulu asked. "It was going to boil over, you're just lucky I took care of it without asking for payment up front." Lulu said as she turned her head back to look at Narissa. "Of course, you do owe me for this. As for the price..."

Narissa shook her head as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I should just let her die, shouldn't I? It'd serve her right, wouldn't it?"

"What are you babbling about? If it's a way to avoid paying me, you should just..."

Gurgle blorp

Lulu whipped her head around, and crawling out of the pot that was still in her hands, was an amorphous form of glittering gems. All of the different colors, some shiny, some dull, twisted around each other.

She raised an inquisitive eyebrow, but in a flash the gems shot out in two chains as they wrapped around her heat proof mits. Which was good, as the hot gems touched the fabric, smoke rose up from them.

"It's her own fault," Narissa reassured herself. "I warned her, but she kept touching. Touching everything."

"Like I said, if you'd just explain how it's rigged, I could avoid all this trouble instead of working around it." Lulu explained as she stood next to Narissa.

Back at the pot, her mits were being wrapped tighter and tighter by the gems. But, her arms and hands were conspicuously absent.

Narissa nearly jumped back in surprise. "But, it had grabbed you?"

Lulu raised an eyebrow and held out her hand. "A-hem." She coughed. "I'm not exactly a newbie to trouble you know. But, you owe me for taking that off for you."

"What?" Narissa hissed. "Owe you? I didn't even want the mixture off of the heat! It's completely ruined now!"

Lulu shrugged. "Not my problem. I don't work without pay."

"I thought we were partners?" Narissa asked as her frustration clearly grew.

"Yeah, but that was extra work because you got distracted." Lulu explained. "Not partner work."

Narissa put her head in her hand and sighed. "You're impossible."

"I think I'm pretty darn clear on where I stand." Lulu shrugged. She pushed her open hand close and raised an eyebrow at Narissa again as she coughed. "A-HEM!"

"I really did overreact on those witches," Narissa mumbled. "I'd have turned her into ingredients too."