I waved at Rill and then pointed her at the departing teens. She gave them and me a dirty look, but shrugged in resignation and followed along behind the teens. Snagging two of the other armed Verco along the way.

Really hoping that meant she was going to keep a eye on the brats when they hit the store.

I turned to Miss Teixeira. "Could you gather up a few of your kids and do a inventory of the store. Maybe translate the names of everything edible for Shom." I turned to the Hazak. "She can hook you up with a note pad and some pens so you can take notes on everything in your language since the translator doesn't work for written words."

He nodded and wandered over the teacher who was giving her students a inquiring look.

I looked them over myself. "I could use a few guys with some strong backs to gather up anything burnable from some fallen trees. Then keep a real smoky fire going all day."

Looking around I located the Abb and headed over. "The new guy mentioned a entire village of people who didn't seem too friendly, but if the two of us can convince fifty or so of them to come visit. They might count toward the next level of sanctity even if they just turn around and leave right afterwards."

A cold nose poked me in the back of my leg so I turned to give the pooch a few head scratches as Chloe walked up behind me, shaking her head. "Nope. What if we loose the whole no demon fly zone if anything happens to you? They're going to be gunning for you sooner or later. I'll go, you stay and keep the way too excited teenage boys from burning down the forest."

The Abb made his chokings sound behind me as I protested. "But then this would be the perfect time to head out, they can't know how the Sanctity works yet. this might be my last chance for a while to go out and do something."

Chloe just crossed her arms and stared me down.

I sighed in defeat and pointed out to where I had seen the column of smoke the day before. "I'm guessing Locklear's cabin was that a way, so the village would be somewhere in between." I gave her a fake glare. "So go ahead, go have a adventure while I try to deal with teenage idiots trying to kill or maim themselves with a chainsaw."

She grinned at me. "Better you then me. Have fun."

Then she was heading out towards the door. The Abb stopped long enough to pat me on the shoulder. "I will send someone with the healing ability to stand ready. Worst come to worst, they are young enough to regrow a limb. All you need to do is stop the bleeding." Then he was off, chokeling to himself.

Vern wandered in from somewhere, and for a moment I considered sending him after Chloe and the Abb to help direct them to the village the guy had described. But then I had a better thought.

I waved him over. "Hey Vern, are you familiar with power tools."

A few minutes later he was heading out with a several teens, mostly boys, following along behind him like duckling. I led the mob out to the shed, opening the door and pulling out a Dollar store shopping cart someone had used to transport the tools back to the shed the day before.

All without cleaning them. Something I would have to remember to do that night if no one else got around to it. I would probably sharpen them too.

Turning to the group, I tried to establish a pecking order. "This is Mr. Locklear. He will be in charge of keeping all of you from maiming yourselves. You job is to chop up wood and put it in the shopping carts. Or gather up leaves and twigs and put it in the shopping carts. After all of that is done and Mr. Locklear says you have enough wood and leaves for a signal fire, you can ask Miss Teixeira to take you to the store for a ration of junk food and a something to drink."

I pointed at Vern. "That is, if Mr. Locklear says you did a good job. Screw around and you can go eat fruit."

"Questions?"

The moment I asked, I knew I had made a mistake. "Is he a Indian? He looks native American?"

I turned to look at Vern, who did in fact look like what I though of as native. He shot me a dirty look to which I shrugged in return. "Guess you guys got to ask him."

He sighed and gave the smirking kid a glare. "I'm native Canadian."

As the brats started asking about his tribe and if he had a Indian name. I headed off but could hear the answers to the first two questions as. "Manitoban", which didn't sound right, and "Vern Locklear, I'm native, and that's my name." I didn't hear the next one question but I heard most of the answer as he was pretty loud. "Okay, called me "Doesn't give two fu..." then I was out of earshot.

So I had ended up kind of trapped within a hundred foot radius of the Alter. But had managed to foster off all the jobs to other people. It was good to be the Rector. I nodded as Mr. Patel and one of the older Verco as they sat on the front steps and headed into the Church, plans for crawling back to bed in mind.

Instead I headed back upstairs and fired up my computer, not to do anything on the internet, which I no longer had, or to play a game. But to use one of the powers I had been given, and hadn't been taking advantage of.

"Director. Who is the director?"

The knowledge that he was a appendage of someone called the Habitual Vortex, and that his job was keeping all of us alive, popped into my head.

"Who is the Habitual Vortex?"

"What is a higher being?"

"What are the higher realms?"

I pretty much got the big picture, but mostly I got...

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I did learn the the little red guys with the horns were called Ifrit, and could create fire at will. As well as throw it around. But that was it for details. But I hoping the Hazak Remnants would try something with them first, let's see how you like it furball when someone go all pyro on you."

Humans got, "Dangerous in groups." Hazak, "Not easily riled." and the Verco, "The unarmed ones are the most dangerous" …guess that's something to think about.

The Contex is limiting what the Information system shows to everyone, except for the controllers.

They are unaware of the problem.

I can not inform them myself.

The Contex has been led to believe that limiting useful information is a necessity.

I nearly fell out of my chair. "Ah, what's happening now?"

I must remain Cryptic.

As someone who can tell you everything you need to know, the Contex has limited what I can say.

So three things.

The Ifrit are useless to you.

Look to the waters for more people.

Not everyone who has come to you, can be trusted.

Sorry, I am pretty much required to go no contact with you for a while to maximize the frustration.

Stay alert,

Stay safe,

Stay alive.

Everything may depend on you.

The Fallen

Well. That happened.

"What the hell? The Fallen, I'm supposed to trust someone called the fallen? When I'm the Catholic church guy?"

I leaned back in my chair, and after a moment began to type in some notes on my computer for other people to review. Off in the distance I could hear the intermittent sound of the chainsaw being used for short bursts of noisy wood cutting. After a bit I realized I my bed was currently free and still had my sheets on it.

I didn't really get a nap, but it was nice to just lie there. Letting my mind go still and not have to be in charge for a bit, which of course didn't last as within only a few minutes my mind began going off.

Within the radius of the protected zone, and the shoreline of the lake, I had about thirty feet of lake front that I could walk along. I could go looking for something to do and stay within my limits.

So did the Fallen mean that there were people in the lake, on the lake, or across the lake. I hadn't seen a shore on the other side of the water, but then I hadn't done anything more then look out that way from only a bit above the height of the water.

If I got up somewhere high. Then who knows what I could see.

I rolled out of bed and took the time to wad up my sheets and stuff them back into my white plastic "Hit the fan" bag before heading down to room C.

On one particularly boring evening I had meticulously looked through everything down there, and after only several minutes I found the bag with the binoculars in them. It was only a times four magnification. Really only suitable for bird watching, but it's what I had.

Now I just had to get to a height to see if I could see anything across the lake. Something like the bell tower. The bell tower I had bribed the most annoying of the teens to go stand guard in so I wouldn't have to deal with her.

Great.

From the ground floor I could hear them from the top of the tower five stories up. The girls anyways. By the time I got to the fourth floor I was huffing, and dreading what awaited me above.

Neither the less, I had to go up there. Wishing for earplugs, and possibly a taser, I pushed pass the layered plastic meat locker curtain on the landing and made by way up the stairs. To face the cold stares of four of the five teens. The fifth was nowhere to be seen.

Didn't ask. Didn't want to know. The mini Karen gave me a dubious stare, and proceeded to tell me anyways. "What? Are you checking up on us or something? Carlos just had to go to the toilet and I wouldn't let him pee off the roof." I stared at her blankly, trying to figure out how to get out of the conversation. "The very idea of it was gross, and it's a church. You don't pee on a church.

I nodded as she tried to make eye contact. "Are we going to get to eat something pretty soon? It's been hours." I glanced at the bags of chips, cookie packages and only slightly emptied jar of pickles. Then just turned my back on them while I slipped the binoculars out of the bag, held them to my eyes and started to adjust the lances."

"Are those binoculars? Why didn't you give those to us hours ago. We're supposed to be on watch, and those could have helped a lot."

"Are you even listening to me?"

I absentmindedly checked the lenses, then looked out again. Something was out there on what may very well be a sea. Something white just on the edge of my vision with the binoculars.

Mini K looked like she was ready to stomp her feet as she started in on me. "I don't know who you think..." I interrupted her by holding out the binoculars. "Here. There's something out there, but I can't make it out. Your eyes are younger."

She hesitated until one of her boyfriends started for the glasses, then she snapped them out of my hand and began fiddling with them. She muttered something about them being times four magnification, before putting them up against he eyes and looking around the horizon. She finally pulled them away from her face several minutes later. "I think the horizon is father away, doesn't that mean this planet is bigger?"

I kind of grunted at her in answer before she began looking out again, and came to a stop. "It's a boat, a big white boat. Like, way bigger then a yacht. Maybe a cruise liner?"

I remembered what the Fallen had said. "Look to the waters."

She turned and gave me a odd look. "Huh."

I nodded like she had answered a question. "Yes, well done. Can you tell if they have power, are they moving, or anything?"

She glared at me but still answered, can't ask for more then that. "I can barely make out that's it a ship and not a oil derrick. it's big, it's white, it's pointy at one end and has a smoke stack. That's all I can tell."

Pointing at the glasses, I suggested that, "Let's keep those up here from now one, and try passing it around to everyone up here, to see if anyone else can see things better."

As they passed it around I used the camera setting on my phone to try to focus in on the ship, and take a picture. Sadly all the phone showed was some pixel slightly whiter then the surrounding water.

"Now I just have to figure out how to either get out there, or get a message to them.