When they got back to the inn, there was no sign of either Benny or the kids.

They went back to their room so Sirius could get changed into some clothes that hadn’t just been for a swim in the surf.

“I don’t suppose there’s a tracer spell in that old spell book?” Sirius wondered as he threw on a new black short-sleeved t-shirt that looked identical to the one he had just taken off. He wasn’t too worried about Benny or the kids yet, but thoughts of how to find them if they didn’t turn up crossed his mind.

Amanda sat on the bed and laughed. “It’s your book.”

“My father’s book, and you’ve read it more than me.”

She grinned and shook her head. “Well there’s no tracer spells in that book, so we’re out of luck there, unless Katrina brought some other spell books as well.”

“See you do know what’s in it.” He paused and frowned. “What is in it out of interest?”

“Are you sure you want to know?”

“I know my father wasn’t the greatest person. Whatever’s in there won’t surprise me.”

“Are you sure you want to know what Katrina’s been reading?”

“What is it?”

“Mind magic mostly, and the ilk. Dreamwalking, empath spells, lie detection.”

“I guess I’m not surprised about the dreamwalking.”

Amanda smiled ruefully. “I figured that’s why she’s reading it, maybe hoping for tips on how to better use your sister’s magic. I don’t think she can do any of the other spells. A lot of them are beyond me even. Except the lie detection one.”

“I didn’t think you needed magic for that,” he quipped.

Amanda grinned. She was a pro at bluffing games, no magic required. None of the crew would play her at cards anymore. Her grin turned to a grimace. “There’s some dirty magic in that book though. I was kind of hoping it would put her off a bit, but...” Amanda trailed off with a sigh.

“Mmm,” he replied noncommittally.

She glanced his way. “Are you ready?”

He nodded.

“So where to?”

They were just heading out the door of the inn to look for everyone, when they encountered Benny coming in.

“Benny!” Amanda remarked. “Where have you been?”

“I went to go see where the kids had gotten to, and then the local brewer roped me into a mead tasting.” He stumbled on his feet a little.

Amanda raised an amused eyebrow at his unsteadiness. Sirius frowned.

“Did you find them?” she asked. “The kids?”

“Yeah, they were headed out toward that hot spring they went to yesterday. Said they were going to find a friend. Said they’d be back for lunch later.”

“Have you eaten?” she asked.

“Yeah, the meadary’s got a whole cafe attached to it. You should check it out.”

Amanda raised an eyebrow at Sirius. “We might as well.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s good stuff,” Benny replied as he slipped back inside the inn.

Amanda laughed and turned back to Sirius with a smile. “The kids can eat when they get back.”

He sighed, he could see the twinkle in her eyes at the prospect of something new, and possibly also the desire for some more mead, the latter of which he did not approve of. “As long you don’t plan on having as much drink as he’s obviously had.”

Amanda held up a hand. “One beer.”

10 minutes later, Sirius was regretting not specifying the size of one beer, as Amanda ran her finger down the pricing for jugs at the meadary.

He leaned in close. “How about two beers and you stick to the ones in the regular sized bottles?”

Amanda considered it.

Sirius added to his argument, “I thought you wanted to make it north of the tundras this week so you could get those pegasi? If we want to do that we need to come up with a way to get that ship off the beach, which means I need you clear headed.”

“Well, Shiv’s right, sometimes a little beer helps the thinking,” she replied with a wry smile.

“I don’t think beer ever helps the thinking.”

She nodded and conceded, holding up both hands, “But fine, two beers and I’ll stick to the small bottles.”

He grunted in relief just as one of the staff waved a hand in front of them and then pointed at at sign on the wall that read, ‘No talking.’

Amanda caught Sirius’s eye and they shared a smile. Evidently this place was a little more restrictive than the inn had been. But, respectfully, they stayed silent as they waited for their food to arrive.

Part way through their meal, Amanda tapped Sirius on the hand and spun her beer bottle to show him what the label said.

It read, ‘Beer so good you could sing.’

He raised an amused eyebrow and then then mouthed mischievously, “Go on then.”

She grinned and silently shook her head.

Toward the north someone else was singing though, and doing so very loudly. Sasha skipped along the well-trodden path ahead of the others, filling the forest with the sound of her sweet voice. It was causing Salem a great amount of discomfort, and not just because he thought it was a terrible song. At the look of apathy on his other siblings faces, he decided he did not want to be the one to voice his fears. Not of a silly pop song. And so Sasha sung on, while around them the wind picked up, something which had thus far gone unnoticed.

“It don’t matter what you wear on your feet,

It only matters how you stroll through the street.

Kickin’ up my hooves,

Feelin’ the beat!

Who sir?

Flame burnin! Head turnin!

Appaloosa!

I strut my stuff all through the week.

I toss my mane, I don't need to speak.

Cause everyone's rockin’

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

To the sound of my beat!

If you can’t keep up,

Then go take a seat!

Just the other day I was sleepin’ on hay,

Walkin’ and feedin’ and neigh neigh neigh!

But now I’m livin’

And dancin’ all day!

Who sir?

Fine filly! Blaze burnin’

Appaloosa!

Got a lot of plans, and I’m here to stay!

All the good things are coming my way!

I just shake my rump,

And sway sway sway!

Who sir?

Fine tunin! Beat stompin!

Appaloosa!

I get my vibe from carrots and wheat.

I’m anything but indiscreet.

Got a rhythm going,

That’s sweet sweet sweet!

So you’ll never say,

I’m obsolete!

Who sir?

Appa, appa, appa,

Appa-loooosa!”

Sasha sang for several more rounds, repeating different variations of the appaloosa chorus in between each new verse.

Salem dragged his feet so much that eventually Bobby noticed and, after a word to Gemma, fell back to talk to him.

“What’s up?” Bobby asked.

“Nothing,” Salem mumbled.

“Nothing?” Bobby repeated, then after a pause said, “Alright,” and then nothing else. But he stayed walking along beside Salem, shooting him a curious look every now and again.

Salem watched Sasha skipping and singing with a frown. Eventually he sighed. “It’s just, I always wanted to have some kind of adventure you know. I wanted something exciting to happen. But I didn’t think it would be quite like this.”

“Like this?” Bobby asked.

“So... scary,” Salem replied in a voice so low Bobby had to strain to hear him.

“Ah.”

“I always thought it’d be like in the games, that it’d be easy to be brave. I mean all you have to do is not run or hide. And there’s nothing dangerous out there right? Logically it’s probably just some weird animal. We haven’t seen anything, not really, right? But when it sang or howled, it reminded me of back on the boat.”

“The sirens?”

Salem nodded.

“Well, I think you’d be stupid if you weren’t scared of sirens. They’re dangerous creatures, and fear is what keeps us alive.”

“You and Katrina seem all fine about it though.”

Bobby shook his head. “You were right at the edge of jumping in. Katrina and I only got a little way down the hall. And I don’t know how Katrina feels about it but they do scare me. I wouldn’t want to meet them sailing on my own. But see, thing is, we don’t go sailing on our own at sea, and that crew is practiced and they look out for each other, just like we look out for each other.”

“I don’t think I can do it though.”

“Do what?”

“Be brave.”

“Dude, you are brave, you’re out here with us even though you’re scared. I’m sure, when it matters, you’ll be as brave as a lion.”

“L-like that lion?” Salem stammered. He pointed to the corner up ahead.

“That’s a cheetah...” Bobby replied with a frown, and before he’d fully grasped the situation.

Sasha had just opened her mouth, about to start the next verse of her song when the giant wildcat suddenly burst from around the corner up ahead. It was moving very quickly and it ran directly toward them.

When it saw them, it skidded to a sudden halt.

For a full second no one moved, not even the cheetah.

Then it’s shoulders hunched and it’s limbs stretched. It’s body shifted and changed.

A moment later, Tolly was standing right where the cheetah had been. She was breathing hard.

“You have to run! I saw them! I saw them! They’re coming this way!”

All five kids stood stock still and just stared at her in a stunned silence.

“What?” Bobby asked.

“The creatures,” she replied in between gasping breaths. “The ones from the dunes. They’re ghosts, or like ghosts. But with teeth, and snouts, and one of them touched me, and it wasn’t, it wasn’t real. But it was. It’s like it was made of the earth itself, and I put my arm right through it. We gotta run!” She shifted back into cheetah form and took off again.

A particularly strong wind blew a gust along the path. The kids looked at one another in confusion.

The wind increased. It stirred up the dust. They blinked to keep it out of their eyes. The trees around them rustled and shook. And something that sounded like a howl, played in the distance.

Salem wasted no time. He took off after Tolly.

Sasha backed up until she was standing between Gemma and Bobby. Her gaze travelled uncertainly from one to the other, waiting to see what they would do.

Katrina glanced between her remaining siblings and the empty path that Salem and Tolly had taken back toward town. The wind tugged at her dark hair and pricked at her skin like sudden icicles. “Well, I’m not waiting around to find out,” she told the others, and she took off after Salem.

Sasha made her decision. “Me neither,” and she followed Katrina.

Gemma squared her shoulders and took a step further along the path, one hand resting over the sword she had tied at her hip. The other hand formed a fireball. But no sooner had she created it, than the wind blew it right out. She frowned at her empty hand. Further on, the rustling in the bushes grew louder and the wind grew stronger. Gemma shook her head and had to raise her hands to try to pin down her hair as it flew across her vision like burning flames.

Bobby grabbed her wrist and tugged her into a run back along the path they just trodden. “Come on!”

They ran like their lives depended on it. All the way back to the edge of forest and then some. They skidded around corners and leapt over roots and rocks. They reached the edge of town and there they collapsed, all breathing heavily, as the wind finally died down and stopped chasing them. They panted and watched the woods with apprehension.

Gemma, who was the fittest, stood at the front of the group again, determined look back on her face, ready to face down whatever might emerge from between the trees. She was barely panting.

“Is it gone? Did we lose it?” gasped Tolly.

They waited in complete silence. Nothing came.

“What was it?” Bobby whispered, as his heartbeat slowly returned to normal.

Katrina stood bent over, chest pounding, hands on her knees, wishing that she’d trained a little more, and feeling painfully reminded of the sorcerer’s warning about physical entry requirements to sorcery school. She hadn’t the breath for any words.

Salem was sprawled on the ground, arms splayed, equally as repentant of not spending more time outside. Assured that they were out of the woods now, both literally and figuratively, he mumbled between breaths, “I’ve never run so hard in my whole life.”

Sasha sat on the ground next to Salem, giving a sigh every few seconds.

Tolly sat next to them, eyes wide.

Gemma turned to Tolly. “You saw it?”

Tolly nodded rapidly.

“Was Seraphina with you?” Bobby asked, struck with a sudden panic that the creature might have gotten her and that’s why she had never showed.

Tolly shook her head.

Gemma continued her questioning. “What did it look like?”

“It wasn’t one thing. It was like, like a wolf, sort of, but it’s like it was made of the wind itself, or bits of things, the earth and the wind. Like a ghost wolf, but kind of more hunched and more solid. I don’t know. It shifted form. It was singing, or howling. I thought they were going to take me away, or chew me to pieces.” She put her hands to her head and scrunched them in her hair.

Gemma frowned. She hadn’t heard of any creature like that in biology class. “Does that sound like anything to you guys?” she asked the others.

They all shook their heads, except Bobby, who had other concerns.

“And you haven’t seen Seraphina all morning?” he asked Tolly.

She shook her head. “No, not since last night. We were supposed to go berry picking this afternoon but then yesterday just before we all split, she asked if we could do it another day. I think she wanted to hang out with you.” Tolly gave a shy smile as if she wasn’t sure if she should be sharing such things. A moment of thought later though, her smile disappeared. “Wait, you haven’t seen her today?” she asked in a worried tone.

Bobby shook his head. “You don’t think she went with her father do you? To the slaughterhouse?”

Tolly shook her head. “No, he leaves in the afternoon. He’d have been gone by the time we got back from the springs.”

“You don’t think that creature got her do you?” Katrina asked in a hushed voice.

Bobby looked worriedly at the forest they had all just fled from. “No, no way,” he replied, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself.

Everyone was silent.

Gemma took charge. In a confident voice she said, “I think we should visit her house. Find out exactly when her mum last saw her. Then we can narrow down a time frame in which she went missing. Maybe we’ll even find her there. She could just be stuck doing chores.”

Bobby nodded. Having a plan and other possibilities presented, reassured him, but worry still tugged at his heart.

Katrina looked less sure, but she didn’t say anything. Salem just eyed the forest warily. Even Sasha looked concerned as she glanced sympathetically toward Bobby.

“Tolly, can you take us to Seraphina’s house?” Gemma asked.

Tolly bit her lip. “Oh, I’m supposed to be home for lunch already. I’ll get in trouble if I’m not, and I don’t want them to go looking for me and find those things.” With a look toward the forest, she shuddered. “But, it’s easy to find. It’s right at the edge of town. The house is painted yellow and it has a blue door. If you go that way as the crow flies,” she pointed, “Then you should see it.”

Gemma nodded as Tolly scrambled to her feet.

“Good luck,” Tolly called as she ran off. “Let me know when you find her or if you need help looking later. I live down near the beach, green door, next to the doctor’s.”

Tolly was right. The house was easy to find. The five of them pushed their way through the small white picket gate.

“Do you think her stepmum really killed her last husband and kids?” Salem whispered “Like how grandpa killed grandma when dad was a kid.”

“You’re not supposed to talk about that,” Katrina whispered back. “And what do you mean her stepmum killed her last husband and kids?”

“It’s what the kids at the hot springs were telling us,” Bobby explained. “Probably just another town rumour,” He turned to Gemma, “Right?”

“Well, most murders are committed by a family member,” Gemma remarked.

“That’s not making me feel any better,” Bobby hissed.

“Do you think it’s safe to go in there?” Sasha asked.

Gemma gave it barely a thought. “Well, there’s five of us vs one stepmum. If she turns out to be one of the evil kind, I think we can take her.” She reached up and rapped on the blue door with it’s brass knocker.

“But those other kids said she was a mindwalker,” Salem replied.

Katrina’s eyes widened at that and she glanced fearfully at the front door. But as approaching footsteps could be heard from within the house, another thought stirred. A curiosity. A temptation. She’d never met a mindwalker before. She’d never tried borrowing mindwalking powers. It was the dream though. The ultimate power. The closest she’d ever gotten was dreamwalking, the practice of entering and controlling dreams. Now, here was a new possibility.

The door to the cottage opened.