Hekkatomb sat alone in the snow. His back was propped up against a log cabin.

He was talking into his flip phone. "I can fly you know. Well, almost. You get my point. Just let me look for her. I bet she's-"

"You follow those three." Malachi interrupted.

"But I could spot her out a passenger jet-" Hekkatomb protested.

"I've watched them. I'm very aware of what they're capable of, just as I am with you." Malachi explained. "Do what has to be done and dispose of the evidence. That's not so hard to understand, is it?"

"Yeah I know, but-" Hekkatomb blurted.

"Shut up or I'll have you demoted." commanded Malachi. "Good day."

Malachi hung up. Hekkatomb sighed.

He hung his head in shame and stared at his knees for half a minute while inwardly seething with resentment. He'd been Malachi's loyal right hand man for who knows how long and this was how he treated him. He shook, not from the cold, but from the rage coursing through his body. Then an idea formed in his head. For a while he rolled around in the snow, practiced his facial expressions, and feigned shivering. Then he shakily staggered over to the front of the cabin and banged weakly at the wooden door.

"Help..." groaned Hekkatomb.

"That's awful..." Raku-Tak said to Carter.

"...Don't worry, we'll help you find her." said Chou. "We promise."

Akai felt bad too, but now was hardly the time to remind them the fruit was their main priority.

Raku-Tak stood up. "Tell you what, if you have anything that belongs to your sister I can use it to find her."

"If you say so." Carter agreed, hesitantly.

This time they barely heard a faint voice over the wind: "Help!"

"What was that?" Carter said.

"Help me, it's so cold!" shouted Hekkatomb.

Everyone in the cabin turned their heads towards the door.

Carter reached for her musket. She signaled for the three strangers to back away as she loaded it. "Doppelganger. Stay put. Raku-Tak. Open the door."

Raku-Tak reached over with his tail. Slowly, Raku opened the door. The hinges squeaked ever so quietly. A vividly red face could be seen through the gap, brightly contrasting against the snow. Carter's breath hastened and she pulled the trigger. A loud bang and a bright flash filled the room, followed by a grey cloud of smoke.

A sudden pain spread through Hekkatomb's midsection. The bullet had bounced off him and landed somewhere else but it still stung. He wanted to yell in pain but decided it would be better to pretend she'd missed.

"Aaaah! Don't shoot me!" Hekkatomb wailed, collapsing to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

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"Put the gun down, Carter!" Chou said.

"Oh, I'm sorry-" Carter apologized. "Are you from outside?"

"Where am I?"

This was a question recent events had rendered completely meaningless. It was a bit much for Carter. She couldn't quite process the idea of an outside world that wasn't an endless boreal wilderness.

So all she could manage to say was: "You're in the village. Our... village."

"I was sleeping in my tent when a pack of bears killed everyone else in camp." Explained Hekkatomb. "I woke up just to hear them scream as they were picked off one by one. I barely made it out alive. It's been, how long, four days-"

Carter could not take her eyes off the stick figure's narrow frame. "You-you look like you need something to eat.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much-" Hekkatomb said, carefully manipulating his voice to sound as if he were holding back tears of gratitude. His acting was so good that to his disgust a few actual tears came out. Unsurprisingly all three fell for it hook, line and sinker.

"I don't have much food in here so I hope you don't mind these," said Carter as he walked across and reached into a cupboard. He returned with a clay jar which she opened for him.

Hekkatomb reached a trembling hand into the slimy muck and shoveled it the pickled onions into his mouth as if it were manna from heaven, licking it off his fingers with feigned gusto. He detested every second of this pantomime with every fiber of his being. It brought him to the verge of throwing up. He itched for the moment he could maul them like a rabid honey badger on cocaine.

"It's okay..." Hekkatomb whimpered.

He was gonna smash Malachi's kneecaps with a hammer for making him do this.

"Do you mind if we go looking for your sister while you help this guy?" Raku said.

"No-" interrupted Akai. "How about we get this fella to hospital first."

Then Akai turned a bloodshot eye towards his two fellow party members. They just were too altruistic - and scatterbrained - for their own good. One of these days it could get them hurt or killed. Or at least horribly disappointed.

"Then after we find your sister we can find our fruit." mumbled Akai through gritted teeth.

"Damn you!" thought Hekkatomb. "All this for nothing."

"Up north there's a road to Tsacaval City." Akai announced. "We'll call him an ambulance. Once he's none of our business we'll hope nobody got the fruit first."

"Akai, there's no reception there." Chou replied.

"Let's dump him by the side of the road." said Akai. "If he can walk through the snow for four days he can hitchhike just fine."

Chou's eyes narrowed in disbelief. "Akai-"

Hekkatomb fought back a chuckle and a grin. As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't help but respect the kid with the cat ears. No matter who it was coming from, you had to respect that kind of resolve.

"Hey, man-" Raku-Tak protested.

"C'mon." Akai tilted his head towards Raku-Tak's direction. "Let's stop messing around."

...

It was late in the evening. A worn leather boot stood surrounded by candles in the middle of the cabin. Raku-Tak concluded his incantations as he lit the last one. As silence fell his scaly hands met together. All eight candles went out at once.

Carter watched from the corner, eyes filled with terror and intrigue with equal measure. She'd never seen anything like this. But she'd heard of it. And unlike how she had mistaken Chou for a witch and Akai and Raku for her familiars, she knew for a fact this was exactly what she thought it was. Witchcraft.

Guilt weighed down on her. She felt dirty letting this serpent-headed magician work his deviltry on her sister's shoe. The morality plays she'd watched in church had well acquainted her with the fate of all those who meddled with dark forces. Carter's participation had sealed her fate, now her soul was damned to eternal torture. Yet if that was the price to pay, then so be it.

An ember glowed in one of the candles. The wick re-lit itself and the candle burned a ghostly blue flame. At Carter's dinner table Akai glared at it intently. He consulted a compass, angled his map to match, pinpointed their location, laid a ruler on top, and drew a straight line to the northwest.

"Just our luck. If we go in this direction we're on State Highway 33." said Akai. "Let's go."

"You know-" said Raku-Tak, "I dabble a bit in psychometry. I think I might know why your sister left."

"Let's just go already!" mouthed Akai. While doing so he opened his mouth so wide you could see his catlike fangs.

"She left?" Carter said.

"Yeah-" Raku said, only to be cut off by Akai.

"He can explain in the car. Let's go." Akai said abruptly.