> Jen and Danny made their way out of the cave and through the woods, Jen leading the way like the experienced guide she was.
>
> "This is the quickest way back to town" Jen whispered. "But stay low, if any of dad's followers or the towns people see us they'll immediately rat us out."
>
> Danny nodded but Jen didn't stop to look back to see it.
>
> It didn't take long until they arrived at the edge of the woods and they crouched behind one of the larger trees. Right against the tree line was the back wall of a building with wooden siding, the paint peeling from it like thick scabs off a burn victim.
>
> "Back of the Sheriff's Office" Jen said. "But if I'm right the Sheriff will be with dad. At least I hope. Stay low."
>
> Suddenly Jen bolted towards the back of the building and lay flat against it. Danny followed. The paint flakes dug into his back and arms like tree bark.
>
> Jen peered around the corner and then after seeing it was clear, without warning, sprinted behind another nearby building. Danny quickly followed, remembering to stay low.
>
> This building was brick and was more like the kind of building you'd expect to see in an old downtown area of a small town.
>
> "This is the main strip on this side" she reported. "Every building is pretty much connected in a line with a couple of alley ways giving way to the street we'll have to watch when we cross so we aren't seen. Most of the buildings are abandoned and probably were before all this, although I'm sure some went when the economy crashed after the virus."
>
> She paused, taking a breath.
>
> "This way."
>
> Staying low, they moved fast across the ground like cock roaches, stopping at one alley, looking and then crossing. Then another.
>
> Jen pointed to a building ahead they could just see that was facing towards them. The grocery store was right there.
>
> "Archie will be there." Danny nodded.
>
> They begin to move but as they were about to pass by the last structure a backdoor opened in front of them and they quickly hid behind a rusted heap of a dumpster. Jen put a finger to her mouth.
>
> "Don't go far" a woman's voice called from inside. "Remember the rule: 6 feet. Don't talk to anyone. Just play with your toys around the dumpster for awhile and then I need you to help me with these flowers"
>
> "Mommy... that's silly" a child's voice replied. It was a boy. "No one cares about silly old flowers anymore."
>
> "Well Pumpkin', I do. We may not be in business anymore, but people still need flowers for funerals and I think there will be more soon."
>
> Danny noticed a sign above the back door. It was faded and unimpressive, made of wood.
>
> "Charlotte's Florist" it read.
>
> A boy of no more than 8 came scampering out and down a set up loud metal stairs.
>
> "Don't run!" his mom shouted, but the boy paid no mind and was soon on the ground with them.
>
> Dany looked down. He saw 4 or 5 plastic army men, a G.I. Joe figure and a rusty metal Tonka truck right below his feet.
>
> Fuck.
>
> The boy rounded the corner and walked right in front of them, but did not see them. Instead he kneeled into the ground and reached back, grabbing his truck as if by memory, and begin dragging it across the dirt, reenacting some sort of strange battle scene.
>
> Jen motioned for them to move and they did. They made it around the side of the dumpster when a voice carved into their back life a knife.
>
> "Who are you?"
>
> They turned. The boy was looking at him, his hand still on his truck, but soon stood, leaving the truck in the dirty running over the G.I. Joe.
>
> They looked at each other, speaking no words. Jen and Danny looked back at each other and the back at the kid who still seemed to be studying them.
>
> Danny, not knowing what else to do, put a finger to his lips.
>
> "Shhh..."
>
> He winked at the boy.
>
> The boy stood there for a moment, put a finger to his lips and did the same. He then resumed playing with his toys. Jen and Danny looked at each other with big eyes and then quickly made their way to the back of the grocery store.
>
> "I hope that worked" Jen said. "Otherwise we won't be able to stay long."
>
> "I hope Archie has some more money burning gibberish tricks up his sleeve"
>
> Jen nodded and rapped a melody on the door. It seemed something she had done before, although Danny didn't question it.
>
> The door flew open and in the door way stood a skinny mousy flat chested girl with a short brown hair, freckles and a mouth full of braces. She was wearing beat up Chuck Taylors and denim overalls.
>
> "Good, you're here" she said matter-of-a-factly. "He's expecting you."
>
> Both siblings followed the mousy girl to back of the store where Archie's office is located. Jen quickly tugs at Danny's sleeve with a serious look on her face.
>
> "When we get in there, whatever you do, don't stare, got it?" Jen warns her brother.
>
> "Stare?" Danny asks, confused, "Stare at what?"
>
> "Archie's sick." Jen explains, "It's not the virus, but he's still not a very pretty sight to look at. So don't go making a big deal about it."
>
> "Enter!" a cheerful voice announces as the trio approach the door of the office. The drab girl makes a vague gesture at the door before roaming off back into the depths of the store. Jen pushes the door open and leads the way into a cramped room filled with cabinets and files, as well as a large table loaded with pile of paper, presided over by an extraordinarily skinny man.
>
> Before the virus, Danny had taken on work as a medi-cab driver, ferrying patients from their homes to the hospital and back again. One patient in particular had become a regular of his, an old woman stricken by cancer that had to go for some hardcore chemo or radio therapy, Danny wasn't sure which. But what stuck with him were the effects the treatment had on the woman he was ferrying about. She grew progressively thinner, as if the cancer was devouring her from within. By the time he quit the gig, that woman resembled a dried up mummy more than a human.
>
> Archie resembled the woman almost to a tee, with his desperately skinny frame and bald head. Unlike the morose passenger, Archie at least seemed to be in good spirits, smiling at his pair of visitors.
>
> "Hello Jenzora." Archie says, "I thought you might be dropping by."
>
> "That girl you hire told us that we were expected," Jen asked, "how'd you know that? More of your magic?"
>
> "The magic of common sense my dear." Archie grins, "I'm the only friend you have in this town and both of you had pissed off the local potentate. It doesn't take a genius to work it out."
>
> "Well, thanks for the welcome." Jen replies before nudging Danny in the ribs.
>
> "Uh, yeah thanks for the biscuits the other day." Danny mutters, hypnotized by the skull face in front of him.
>
> "Danny! Stop staring!" Jen urges in exasperation.
>
> "Its fine." Archie waves his hand, "I'm aware of how I look. But, seriously Jenzora, if you're here for food, I can't spare much more. Sheriff Clay would start asking why I'm throwing so much out."
>
> "Its not about that." Jen continues, "We need answers Archie. About this town, and about Xir."
>
> "I'm not from around here." Archie frowns, "I'm a migrant, just like you. I don't know how much I can help with those questions."
>
> "But you did get here before us." Danny cuts in, "And Xir doesn't seem to be particularly interested in you. You must have at least learned something about this place."
>
> "That's true I suppose." Archie muses, "Both of you are not the first to show up in this town. Migrants like myself have been lured here, thanks to the stories of a haven from the virus in Maine. I would say almost half the current residents are out of towners like ourselves."
>
> "And when you got here, were you greeted by Xir as well?" Jen queries.
>
> "Precisely so. I was met at the fallen tree, just like everyone else." Archie agrees, "There were the usual dire warnings which no one ever takes seriously and after that I was allowed to enter the town. I've been making myself useful ever since, managing the store and so forth."
>
> If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
>
>
> "I don't get it," Danny grumbles, "If Xir wanted to trap people here, why do that whole ominous warning act right at the town's border?"
>
> "I have a suspicion, but ..." Archie starts speaking but cuts himself off, "never mind, its just speculation anyway."
>
> "You know something Archie." Jen pleads, "And you're not some regular guy. Share it with us. Even a scrap of info could be useful."
>
> "I'm just an old man Jen." Archie sighs, "You're putting way too much trust in me."
>
> "You know magic." Jen presses, "That trick with the cash. I tried it."
>
> "Did it work?" Archie asks expectantly.
>
> "Uh, no?" Danny replies doubtfully, "The cash just burned up."
>
> "Oh." Archie deflates, "Sorry about that kids. Guess my little tricks weren't much use after all."
>
> "You could make it up by telling us what you know?" Jen suggests.
>
> "OK. If you insist." Archie shrugs, "Xir does his rigmarole at the fallen tree to get potential victims willingly come in. I suspect he can't coerce anyone to enter the town. The trap requires a willing target that knows of the risks before it can be sprung. Think of it as an unfair contract that you've signed and can't back out of."
>
> "Is there a way to escape?" Danny asks, "That's the real question."
>
> "Would I still be here if there was?" Archie snorts but continues his explanation, "In theory yes, we could all escape anytime we wanted. But we would need to scale the Wall. And there's no way to do that."
>
> "The Wall?" Jen repeats.
>
> "Oh right." Archie nods, "In the Smithian tradition, the Wall is a point where the intangible meets reality. Xir has erected a barrier around the town. It doesn't exist physically, but our minds acknowledge its presence, preventing us from leaving."
>
> "How's that possible?" Jen presses, "Our feet would just carry us out of the town if the barrier does not actually exist."
>
> "The mind, my dear, the mind." Archie taps his head rhythmically, "Money is just pieces of paper, but before the virus everyone agreed it had some kind of power. That's the power of the Wall. It warps our common sense, changes the rules of our world."
>
> "And so what happened when I tried to leave the town then?" Danny asks, "I remember just appearing back where I started."
>
> "You would have just doubled back." Archie shrugs, "Your conscious mind rejected the nonsensical nature of your actions, but could not deny the Wall, so it suppressed the memory of your retreat."
>
> "There has to be a way to get out of here." Jen insists.
>
> "You need a force stronger than what Xir is exerting." Archie says, "A ladder taller than Xir's Wall so to speak. And that simply doesn't exist here. Or ..."
>
> "Or?" Jen leans forward eagerly.
>
> "Or I could slug both of you in the head." Archie smirks, "With luck that should kill enough of your brain cells, leaving both of you functionally impaired. With your conscious mind crippled, the Wall would have no power over you. You kids could walk right out with no problems."
>
> "Pass!" Danny jerks backwards, "I like being not retarded, thanks very much."
>
> "Thought so." Archie leans back into his chair, "Sorry, but if there was a way out, I would have escaped a long time ago."
>
> "But there is a way out." Jen insists, "We just need to find a power greater than Xir."
>
> "Which doesn't exist." Archie repeats.
>
> "You're talking about the cave right?" Danny exclaims, "Someone did try to take out Xir there."
>
> "Cave?" Archie blinks owlishly from behind his spectacles.
>
> "Yeah. Archie, we found a cave where someone performed a ritual." Jen takes up the thread, "I think it was a ritual to kill Xir."
>
> "But Xir is still alive." Archie points out.
>
> "We think Xir was hurt." Jen continues over Archie's unenthusiastic response, "Could this be a way for us to escape?"
>
> "Depends on the ritual." Archie concedes, "Could you tell me about it?"
>
> Jen quickly draws the pentagram the siblings saw in the cave on a piece of paper lying about on the desk and shows it to Archie.
>
> "Huh. Traditional European pentagram. Orthodox magecraft predating the smithian school would be my guess." Archie muses, "What was powering this ritual, did you find out?"
>
> "Uh, this place was special somehow?" Danny answers, "Something about it being significant to the natives."
>
> "I see. A local ley line." Archie hums, "Whomever tried to fight Xir probably used a cobbled together ritual, made from differing traditions. No surprise Xir survived."
>
> "What? Why?" Jen demands.
>
> "Ritual was probably botched." Archie scratches his chin, "Its a danger of combining traditions like that. But unfortunately common among lay practitioners without an experienced hand to guide them."
>
> "But you are an experienced practitioner." Jen presses her point, "You could help us with the ritual."
>
> "Look I don't know about this," Archie begins to sweat, "I'm not familiar with the local traditions even and don't want to get in trouble with Xir. We better abandon this topic."
>
> "We can do it by ourselves. We won't involve you." Danny reassures, "Just point us in the right direction."
>
> "Fine. But both of you are going down a dark path." Archie frowns, glaring fiercely at his guests, "Knowing all this, you still want my help?"
>
> "Stop being so wishy-washy." Jen grumbles, "You're worse than a girl, Archie."
>
> "We're down with this." Danny confirms, "You couldn't talk us out of it anyway."
>
> "Fine. Its your choice." Archie waves his hands about in defeat, "First you need to find out what made this place was so special to the natives. That would clue you in as to why Xir might be vulnerable here. I can't help with that though."
>
> "We could hit the town library." Jen mutters, "If its a historical thing, there probably would be books or pamphlets written about it."
>
> "We would need to break-in though." Danny complains, "We're not exactly upstanding citizens in dad's bizzaro new society."
>
> "Dad?" Archie asks in surprise.
>
> "Never mind." Jen quickly covers up Danny's slip up, "What else do we need to do?"
>
> "You need to disrupt Xir's power." Archie says, "That I can help with. Do you know about the Moonlight Lottery?" Both siblings shake their heads, so Archie takes up the explanation.
>
> "Every full moon, Xir's priests mark people to enter their ranks." Archie whispers, "First it was adults, but now children are being chosen. A month or two later, Xir does ... things ... to the marked at the town square."
>
> "Yeah. I saw what the beast does." Danny shudders, "It was ugly, really ugly."
>
> "The Moonlight Lottery is important to Xir." Archie continues, "I don't know why, but its always held, no matter what. We had a thunderstorm here once but the priests gathered everyone at the town square for the event anyway."
>
> "And if we mess this Lottery up, we mess Xir up as well?" Jen questions hopefully.
>
> "Probably?" Archie answers, "It wouldn't do Xir any good to be so publicly defied anyway. If people start thinking it wasn't infallible -"
>
> "Then the Wall begins to weaken." Danny completes the statement, "Yeah we get it."
>
> "I don't know when the next full moon will be." Archie nods, "so you'll need to be ready when the time comes."
>
> 'We will be." Jen begins to get up, "Thanks for the help Archie, you've given us plenty to work with."
>
> "Yeah. Thanks man." Danny agrees, "Really appreciate you going the distance for us."
>
> "No worries kids," Archie accepts the thanks graciously, "Especially since both of you agreed to what you're getting into ..."