Mod never had to worry about having employees, not before the pizzeria. Before that, it was him and his bakery. Of course, the pixies still hung out in the bakery. They were his friends. Plus, he gave them free food. Then he changed his business model, added pizza to his menu, and hired those friends as employees.

It was a lot of fun working with his friends. Even so, it created a lot of stress when they didn’t show up to work. In the case of Pete and Zoey, he worried more than usual because they lived in the pizzeria. And neither had been there in the last twenty-four hours. They’d already missed one rush shift. He didn’t know if they’d miss another. Of course, he worried more about their well-being than the store.

He'd heard about the scuffle they’d been in with Roger during Harvestfest. He wondered if Roger might have used his influence to chase them out of town.

Mod hoped that wasn’t the case, but he couldn’t think of many other scenarios. It was out of character for Pete and Zoey to leave for no reason. They wouldn’t move to Futuretown and open a rival pizzeria, would they? No, he knew they wouldn’t do that. But where were they? He hoped they were okay.

To top things off, the triplets hadn’t shown. They were going to help Mod with the prep work before the rush shift. If they didn’t show up, he’d follow up with their parents to ensure they were okay.

The bell at the bakery’s front door rang, and Mod looked up to see Rumpke walking through. Rumpke froze in place. “Where is Zoey?”

“I haven’t seen her today,” Mod replied from the counter, where he kneaded a bowl of pizza dough. “I haven’t seen her, Pete, or the triplets. They’re all supposed to be here. Can you ask around town…find out if anyone has seen them? If they are missing, we need to get Nick and the city guard involved.”

“I’ll ask around.” Rumpke agreed. “Nick might be busy, though. He’s been dealing with a soul eater sighting…near table rock…” Rumpke’s eyes widened. “You don’t think the triplets, Pete, and Zoey came across the soul eater, do you?”

Mod’s heart sank at the suggestion. His worry for his friends grew as he admitted. “In the past, they’ve spent time up there farming the nightshade terrors for tomatoes. If you find out anything, can you come back to me and let me know?”

“Will do.” Rumpke spun and hurried out the door.

* * *

Rumpke wasn’t sure where Nick might be. His best guess was he’d find Nick at the mayor’s office. As such, Rumpke hurried in that direction, moving as a raccoon does. He weaved around people, hopping up and over things with boundless agility, and dipping through openings under fences. He had not grown used to walking around Greenlake in the plain light of day. It felt unnatural to him…wrong. At night, shadow and darkness cloaked all the houses. In the day, they were all so…bright…and cheery… He didn’t like it. If he ever owned a house in town, he’d paint it gray. He'd frame the windows to look like sad faces.

Me? Own a house in town? He chuckled at the prospect. Then his laughter stopped as a thought struck him. If things with him and Rosie worked out. Would they have a family one day? If they did, they’d want to raise the little ones in town. No, he shook away the thought. Warlords don’t live in happy towns. Then again…it wouldn’t be so bad if they did.

He reached the large yellow municipal building and moved to the wooden front doors. He pushed them open and slid inside. His feet pattered over the tile as he turned left and headed toward the mayor’s office. When he saw Nick and the mayor inside the office with the triplets’ parents, he went from a fast walk to a run. When he reached the office, he hid outside the door, squishing himself against the wall and spying on the conversation.

“They didn’t come home yesterday.” The triplets’ mother said. “We looked all over for them. We don’t know where they went. Today, we told them they could go see the dungeon portal. They might have gone yesterday. We don’t know.”

“We’ll do everything we can to find them,” Nick assured.

“In the meantime,” Mayor Yam Hopler spoke. She always spoke fast with few spaces between words. Even so, she seemed to talk faster than usual. No doubt it was because she was nervous about the triplets. “Why don’t you go home. Get some rest. They might even be back home, waiting for you as we speak.”

“You’re right.” The triplets’ father agreed.

The triplets’ parents fluttered toward the office’s door, and Nick escorted them. He offered them words of encouragement. When the pixies left the office, they hovered past Rumpke without noticing him and continued down the hall.

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Nick stopped next to Rumpke, looked down at him, and then back at the parents. Seconds after they’d left the hallway, Rumpke heard the building’s front doors open. Once they’d gone, Nick asked. “How much did you hear.”

“All of it,” Rumpke said. “It’s the same reason I’m hear. Mod had told me they didn’t show up to work. Pete and Zoey are missing, too.”

“Pete and Zoey?” Nick grumbled a few inaudible thoughts to himself before saying. “At least they’re adults. They should be able to take care of themselves. For the time being, I must prioritize the triplets.”

“Agreed,” Rumpke said. “Where do we start?”

Nick turned his eyes down to the Raccoon. “You know there’s a soul eater in the forest. All my guard force is out looking for it. If the triplets were in the forest, we would have found them.”

“Have you found the soul eater?” Rumpke asked.

Nick grumbled an angry sound which Rumpke took to mean, ‘no.’

“If they haven’t found the soul eater, it means the triplets might still be out there,” Rumpke said.

“I supposed,” Nick agreed. “I’ll let the search teams know to look for the triplets too. I have a different theory about what happened, though.”

“What’s that?” Rumpke asked.

“The triplets are a curious bunch.” The mayor stepped between them, speaking as fast as ever. “And as you know, there was a brief period when the portal was unguarded.” She scanned her eyes back and forth, side-eyeing both Rumpke and Nick. They hung their heads. “Nick believes the triplets might have entered the portal then.”

“Of course, they didn’t understand the rules about dungeons,” Nick explained. “Like how they wouldn’t be able to leave the dungeon until someone defeated the dungeon boss.”

“You think they are alone in a dungeon?” Rumpke asked.

Nick nodded and grunted in the affirmative.

The mayor added. “We’ve asked the Adventurer’s Guild to investigate, but they are processing the request. They say it can take days before they send someone.”

“We asked Roger Escaron for help, too.” Nick hung his head.

“What he say?” Rumpke asked.

Nick shook his head in disappointment before answering. “He said…and I quote…’I’ve never cleared a dungeon before. Are you crazy? Do you know how dangerous that is? There are bosses in there. Those pixies are as good as dead. There’s no sense in getting myself killed too.”

“So we have to wait?” Rumpke asked.

“I have a friend who is an adventurer,” Nick explained. “Three days ago, he visited the Adventurer’s Guild in Futuretown. He goes by the name of Introvice. If I can track him down, he’ll help us.”

Rumpke heard the doors to the municipal building open. Seconds later, an Adventurer Guild guard appeared. Rumpke recognized him as one of the guards who had shown up at the portal the day before. The guard marched up to Nick and the mayor, stopped, and saluted. Once Nick had saluted back, the guard relaxed and asked. “You requested adventurers to enter the dungeon, correct?”

“Yes,” Nick said.

“This was to rescue children pixies with adventurer passes?”

“Yes,” The mayor said.

The man took a deep breath. Rumpke didn’t like it. It was the kind of breath someone takes before they give bad news. “As a preliminary step to process your request, we scanned the portal. When we did, we confirmed the entry of seven separate beings into the portal. Three of them are adventurers registered with the guild. They go by Introvice, Fredalic, and Flowerbeard.” Rumpke noticed Nick perk up at the mention of Introvice. “Three were pixies who are not registered with the guild. I suspect those are the children.” The man hung his head.

“What is it?” Nick asked. “Who was the seventh person to enter?”

The Adventurer’s Guild representative forced his eyes up to meet Nick’s. They seemed apologetic. “About that…I’m afraid I have some bad news. The seventh entity to enter went in seconds after the pixies. It’s like it was chasing them.”

“The soul eater?” Rumpke guessed, anxiety building in his core.

“No,” the representative said. “It was a vampire.”

In unison, the mayor, Nick, and Rumpke exhaled with relief the air they’d been holding in their lungs.

“You aren’t worried?” The representative asked.

“No,” Nick said. “We have a resident vampire. She is a friend of the pixies. If they were with a vampire, it was likely her. She’s tough enough to keep them safe… So long as they don’t try to clear the dungeon, they’ll be fine.”

“She’ll keep them safe or die trying…” Rumpke wrinkled his forehead in confusion. “…un-die trying? What’s the correct term for when something undead dies?”

“Let’s loop back to that question.” The mayor removed the triangular hat from her head with her right hand and scratched her temple with the left. “As it stands, things are better than we could have hoped for. Zoey is a paladin…”

“Wait,” the Adventurer’s Guild representative interrupted. “She’s a vampire and a paladin?”

“Yes,” the mayor answered.

“How did that happen?” The representative asked.

“About that,” Nick crossed his arms over his chest. “To put it in simple terms…we don’t know. But she is a paladin and a vampire.”

“Okay…understood…” the representative couldn’t hide the surprise from his voice. “Please, continue.”

“As I was about to say,” the mayor returned her hat to her head. “Zoey is a capable paladin, and being a vampire makes her extra tough. If they meet up with Introvice inside the dungeon, I like their chances.”

“I’m glad you feel that way.” The representative said. “Even so, I will expedite your request for assistance. By the end of the day tomorrow, we should have adventurers inside the dungeon.”

“Thank you.” Nick saluted.

The guard saluted back before returning the way from where he’d come. They heard the municipal building doors open and shut as he left. “I’ll go tell the triplets’ parents what we’ve discovered. We still have two other problems to worry about.” He scanned his eyes over to Rumpke. “The supposed soul eater that only your people have seen…I’m still not convinced it isn’t a prank.”

“It’s not a prank,” Rumpke assured. “It’s a legitimate problem.”

“Right,” Nick stroked his mustache one time.

“If there is a soul eater in the woods, the guards and Adventurers Guild will find it. It’s a matter of time. That leaves us with one more problem.”

“What is that?” Rumpke asked.

“Well, son.” Nick put his hand on Rumpke’s shoulder. “We know where the triplets are. We know where Zoey is. But there is one person who remains lost.”

Rumpke nodded his understanding, saying. “Right, we still need to find Pete.”