Yeri was glad all four of them were rather small. The cabin of the old pickup was surprisingly spacious, though sitting in between two Garou who were all but strangers to her made Yeri feel a little claustrophobic. She tried to focus on the scenery, letting her mind wander beyond the windshield, distracted by the way her heightened sense of hearing could pick up the ubiquitous crunch of gravel under the roar of the engine, and the static-riddled music Wendy was singing along to.

The omega had been elected to drive once again, with Yeri squeezed in right beside her, the gear shift sticking up between her knees. Irene sat on Yeri’s right, completely disaffected by the cramped quarters, while Jisoo sat on the end, her frame pressed up against the door eagerly watching the trees pass.

“She doesn’t ride often,” Irene said, catching Yeri’s gaze as she observed Jisoo. “She prefers to run.” Yeri perhaps wasn’t as embarrassed to be caught staring as she should have been, though she turned her attention to Irene as she continued. “She’s a lupus,” the alpha stated.

Jisoo settled back in her seat and smirked at Yeri. “A fancy word for wolf,” she explained. Yeri was surprised how level her tone was for how excited she seemed just moments ago.

“It’s more than that,” Irene said, catching Jisoo’s eye and giving her a faint smile. “It means she was born a wolf. This human form is what’s unusual for her.”

“Wait…” Yeri broke in, trying to process. “Born a wolf? Like in a forest? Like hunting deer or whatever?” Yeri glanced away quickly, ashamed at herself for blurting all of that out, but Jisoo laughed.

“Yup, all of that,” she laughed.

“But if you're already a wolf, then... how did you… find out?”

Wendy let the truck roll to a stop at the end of the service road, looking both ways before turning onto the winding, two-lane highway that led to the secluded town. For a moment, the only noise in the cab was the crackling radio as it struggled to maintain a connection.

“No, it’s fine,” Jisoo murmured, and Yeri noticed Irene had placed a hand on Jisoo’s thigh. “At least no one died.”

Hungry. Jisoo rose from her place against her mother’s side and wandered out of their den. The other two yearling cubs of the pack were already sniffing around the picked-over corpse of their last kill, the two-day old exposed ribcage of a large elk. The forest floor was stained with its blood, but the only remnants of food that remained were strips of fleshy hide covered in dirt and pine needles from the scuffle of the feast.

The pack would need to hunt again soon.

One of the other pups snarled at her, placing himself between her and the bones as if there were even anything left to defend. Still, the challenge was clear and Jisoo returned the growl, stalking around the other pup in an arc. She didn’t know why the other wolves in the pack always made things especially difficult for her, testing her at every opportunity, but Jisoo always rose to the occasion. More than one wolf bore scars from her fangs.

They circled each other, their eyes never breaking contact as they both waited for the other to make the first move. But Jisoo was clever. She knew this gangly yearling and had tussled with him before. She knew to wait and let him make the first attack - he was too hot-headed to strategize.

Jisoo paused as she regarded him, knowing it would provoke an attack. True to form, he lept at her, claws outstretched, maw gaping to tear at her flesh. She sidestepped him, her movements silent and quick - a grace befitting one of the great cats of the wild more than a wolf - and she grabbed him by the neck with her teeth as he flew past her.

She tried to wrench him to the ground after he landed, but he struggled fiercely to keep his legs underneath himself. He knew he was in a compromising situation - another wrong move and the fight would be over. He panted for breath as her jaws crushed his windpipe, knowing he would have to get her to release him before he could even think about retaliating.

If Jisoo hadn’t had her face buried in the thick coat of the other pup’s neck, she might have noticed the other wolves from their pack silently gathering around. She strained against him, still trying to force him to the ground so she could make him submit and end this silly fight. Losing this challenge would lose her standing in the pack, and she was already pretty low in the ranking. She was vaguely aware that her mother had mated outside of the pack, but other than that, she didn’t understand why she was considered such an outcast. The only way to earn their respect had been through winning.

It irked her. Why was she always being picked on? Her mother too - she was always the last to be allowed to feed after a kill, even if she helped bring the animal down. It was so unfair. Jisoo snarled, a rumble deep in as she clamped down on the pup’s neck. If he wouldn’t submit, maybe she’d tear his jugular right out of his neck and end things permanently. Maybe she and her mother could run, and they could find a new pack where they’d be treated with more respect.

Maybe, she thought as she felt a renewed sense of strength wash through her, or maybe she’d just end them all.

She spread her paws in the dirt, searching for more traction and was surprised to find it, feeling her toes splay with a flexibility she had never experienced before. Before she could gain more ground, however, she felt herself being hit repeatedly against her side. That couldn’t be from the pup - were they all ganging up on her now? She held onto the other yearling’s neck a moment longer, almost tasting the way his strength was leaving him as she squeezed, but more hits against her side forced her to release her grip and back away.

The pup collapsed to the ground once he was free, wheezing and rasping as he tried to regain his breath. Jisoo looked around for her new assailant and saw that it was indeed the adults of the pack, surrounding her in a semicircle, having taken turns headbutting her until she stopped. It took her a moment to assess the new situation before realizing she was larger than them, hulking over them nearly twice their height. She glanced down at her paws and saw that her coat was longer, shaggier, wilder. Her limbs were stronger, more robust-looking, and her paws were massive with claws the size of a mountain lion’s - she no longer looked like the other wolves in the forest, she looked like the feral beasts of her nightmares.

And her body hurt. As the adrenaline of her fight began to wear off, she became aware of a ubiquitous ache in her bones and muscles, like her body were trying to tear itself apart. She thought she even heard a bone snap and move somewhere in her chest and she cried out, a sharp bark of a whine, and the pack closed in, tightening their semicircle.

What were they doing? Why weren’t they helping her? What was happening? This was all that yearling’s fault. She shuffled back, away from them as they advanced, pushing her out of the den’s common area. No… this was her mother’s fault. Jisoo’s breathing became labored under the strain as she fought against something inside herself, struggled to maintain control. If she hadn’t mated outside the pack, none of this would be happening. None of this would be… oh gods, what was happening?!

She pushed herself up onto her hind legs, her spine realigning itself in a most unnatural way, forcing her upright. And she screamed - a long, high, throaty howl that was very unlike her usual cry - and it scared her. She couldn’t stand it anymore. She couldn’t stand their keen, watchful eyes as they silently witnessed her gruesome transformation.

She ran.

She turned and charged sloppily through the underbrush on her two hind legs until she could no longer see them behind her, until the pains in her body were replaced with exhaustion, on and on until the new moon rose to replace the failing sun in the sky and all around her was darkness.

She came to on the bank of a small creek, and she immediately crawled to the water to slake her intense thirst. burned, though the water was ice cold - probably snowmelt from the mountains. She must be very far west of her pack’s hunting grounds. She dunked her whole head in the creek, feeling the sting of the frigid water cool her head. She blinked away the droplets that coursed down her face as she emerged, and was relieved to see her normal reflection staring back at her with her jet black fur and bright blue eyes.

She had probably given her pack such a scare that maybe they would regard her with a little more respect now. If they hadn’t stopped her, she definitely would have killed that other yearling, and perhaps several more of them before she was satisfied. She could feel it in the way her blood ran hot through her veins during the fight. She had wanted to kill, and she could tell she had the strength to do it. She raised her head and tested the air, relying on her instincts to help guide her back to her den, and forced her weary body back home.

It was quite a journey - she had run incredibly far during the course of the day and through the night it seemed. Her scent led off in strange directions, crisscrossing what she knew to be the direction leading back to her den. She must have been very confused and frightened at the sudden change that had befallen her. Perhaps it had just been a horrible hallucination in her rage? A parasite? A disease? But she was herself again, and she felt perfectly healthy, if a little tired and sore.

She didn’t reach their home until nearly nightfall. She approached the bare patch of forest that served as their communal feeding ground, the blood-stained ground around the rotting carcass of the deer blending in with the golden orange hue of the bed of pine needles in the failing evening light. She circled it once, sniffing intently for signs of activity, but the scents were stale - several hours old at best. Where was everyone?

Jisoo poked her head into the dens of the different wolves, breathing deeply for any trace of packmates, but it was the same everywhere she went. Everyone was just… gone. Perhaps they were out hunting? After all, their last kill was so old and well-picked over that its smell was becoming offensive. She was disappointed to be missing out, wondering if the others would use that as an excuse to keep her from having a share of the kill, but she couldn’t pick up the trail of where they might have went.

All she could do was wait.

“And I waited, and waited… but they never came back,” Jisoo ended matter-of-factly. Irene, who had taken her hand quite early in the story, gave it a gentle squeeze, and Jisoo smiled at them both. “I was on my own, and after a while, I left too. I wandered west, back to where I had run that night in my frenzy, and beyond, and that’s when I came upon the cairn.” She laughed, but everyone else in the truck was quite solemn. “I smelled so many wolves… or, well, creatures that were very close to wolves. I thought maybe they had room for one more. Or at least had some food.”

“Your new home,” Yeri murmured, surprising herself. Before she could apologize for interrupting, Jisoo agreed.

“That’s right! Something about the place… the Lake, you know? It felt… what’s the word? Profound. It felt like everything else I had experienced up until that point had just been a dream. Arriving at the Sept was like waking up,” she ended thoughtfully.

The cab of the truck fell silent after that, even the radio briefly losing its signal and giving over to a quiet, fuzzy static. As it sputtered back to life, picking up the end of some twenty-year-old country western release, Yeri let herself sink into her thoughts, digesting Jisoo’s story.

Belatedly, Yeri realized what a personal question she had asked, and was surprised that Jisoo had volunteered the story of her first change so readily. While it hadn’t been quite as traumatic as her own, the idea of being abandoned by her entire pack, even her own mother, left Yeri feeling raw. Jisoo had been born a wolf in the middle of the wilderness, but Yeri still felt a connection - the parallels were too much. There was no peace for any of them. Only pain. Pain and fear.

“Does she live in town?” Wendy asked, clearing .

Yeri was pulled out of her reverie and right back into her anxious reality. She turned to Wendy, then to Irene, though the alpha was staring straight ahead out the windshield, deep in her own thoughts. “Seulgi? Yeah, she lives up on the hill overlooking town.”

Wendy nodded in her peripheral vision, but that was all the acknowledgment Yeri received to her answer.

There was another long pause, and Yeri had almost settled back into her own thoughts when Irene finally spoke.

“She’s worried about you. She wants to make sure that you’re safe.”

Yeri couldn’t read Irene’s expression. She couldn’t tell if Irene was stating a fact, trying to make conversation, or asking some sort of question. But more than Irene’s demeanor, the idea that Seulgi wasn’t scared of her, wasn’t mad at her, filled her with an even stronger desire to see her. Maybe Jisoo’s story had colored her perception of the situation a little too darkly.

“Are you nervous?” Yeri was surprised at how kind Wendy's voice sounded. Very different from Irene’s flat tone.

“I guess. I’m not exactly used to being 'Public Enemy Number 1'.” The other three girls smiled to themselves. Irene wondered if this was Yeri’s coping mechanism, because she could definitely smell the fear coming off the cub in waves.

Wendy laughed, but it was brief. “Yeah. Sometimes it’s just not worth it. Going back, I mean.”

Yeri waited, but Wendy didn’t say any more. All of her young life Yeri had heard these kinds of stories, about the dangerous and often deadly realization when a Kinfolk had been “Born True” and had their first change. And for Yeri, there was a small, selfish part of her that was glad to know she wasn’t alone.

Perhaps it wasn’t the profound feeling of finding where she truly belonged, like what Jisoo had experienced, but it was something.

As Wendy racked her brain for something else to say - the mood in the cabin felt suffocating. If it were her, would feel incredibly anxious heading back to her hometown, especially the day after committing such a horrific act. “I wonder what your friend will be able to tell us about Daniel,” she started vaguely.

Yeri shrugged. She had never heard Seulgi even mention anyone named Daniel before. She knew Seulgi was Kinfolk, but as far as Yeri could guess, there hadn’t been a Garou born to her branch of the Kang bloodline in generations. “I dunno. I didn’t even know she had a cousin,” she confessed. She had been so eager to hop in the truck and see her friend again, she honestly hadn't cared what the excuse was. She just wanted to make sure Seulgi was okay.

“I’m more interested in where he went,” Jisoo said, her face nearly pressed against the window again, “and why he stole from Taeyeon.”

“What did he take, anyway?” Yeri asked.

“It’s called the Compass,” Irene answered. “But… I guess no one’s really told us what it points to.”

“Not north?” Yeri supposed it might not be terribly valuable to the Sept if it operated like an ordinary compass.

Irene shook her head, confirming Yeri’s supposition. “It only works in the Umbra, according to Yeeun, but… the whole thing seems…”

“... Suspicious,” Wendy interrupted darkly. Shaking herself out of whatever dark thoughts she had been pondering, she turned to the cub. “Okay, Yeri, where are we heading?”

Yeri faced the road once again, and realized she was home.

+++

Amber smiled to herself as Krystal ducked back into her car almost as soon as Seulgi had left. It had been a couple years since the three of them had graduated high school, but it seemed that some things still hadn’t changed. She watched the subaru pull out of the parking lot and pick up speed as it headed to the edge of town before she realized what she was doing, and shook her head. Things really hadn’t changed one bit.

She looped the strap of her camera around her neck and let it hang as she wiped her clammy hands on her pants, willing her gaze towards the school itself. She knew the local police were inside, running what was meant to be a crisis shelter in the auditorium. And she knew one of those officers was Deputy Shim.

There were no signs on the walls indicating where the crisis center was, but the radio had been pausing between songs to mention it all morning long, so she knew where to go. She could have walked to the auditorium blindfolded, and after a moment put a hand over her eyes to test the theory, blocking out the view of the rows of lockers that stretched down the linoleum hallway. There were more of them than there were students, and as she dropped her hand after a moment, she could see the same old chains looped through entire sections of them, keeping them locked against vandals. The classroom doors she passed still had congratulatory signs for the seniors taped up in the windows, though they seemed woefully inappropriate now. Amber wondered how many seniors were even left after last night, and what the future held for the survivors. By all accounts, the incident had been a massacre.

The school was small enough that she heard the low talking voices coming from the auditorium long before she reached it. She the strap of her camera, anticipating the coming struggle of being respectful of the mourners while also doing her journalistic duty of documenting the scene, but as she entered the large room, there were surprisingly few people gathered there. Amber tried to take a quick estimate: it seemed to be mostly high school students, and a few adults she recognized, and there in the center of a small group was Changmin, the Deputy - Yunho’s right hand.

Amber skirted the periphery of the room, analyzing angles and lighting. For the moment, she wasn’t Amber, an alumnus of this school. She was Amber the aspiring journalist. Or at least that’s what she tried to tell herself. She took a few test shots from eye level, then looked behind her, to the small stage that made up one end of the room, wondering if adding a little more height would make for a more dramatic shot. It wasn’t that she was trying to add more tragedy to an already traumatizing scene - she just wanted to make sure she was accurately capturing the severity of the situation.

A few more clicks and she could tell she had gained the attention of a few of the mourners - and Changmin himself. He broke away from the group he was speaking with and headed straight for her.

“... Amber?” he tested, his annoyed expression softening with recognition.

Amber sheepishly lowered her camera and flashed him a cheesy grin. “Max!”

It was curious how he had changed from the ‘cool upperclassman’ to the ‘cool adult with a steady job’. And maybe it was the current situation, where they were surrounded by grieving families and kids, but it made her wish that she had gotten to know him better back then. It made her want to be a better friend now.

“Are you… what’s with the camera?” he asked, gesturing.

“Oh, I’m working for the paper,” Amber explained. “They asked me to come get some statements.” She really didn’t want to get straight to business, but since he asked… “Do you know if there’s anyone who might be willing to talk to me?”

Changmin glanced back at the small clusters of people scattered about the room. He had spent the better part of the morning negotiating with the town’s only coffee shop to get them to deliver drinks and whatever food they could provide, the hospital and EMT units to provide blankets, the local radio station to play regular notices announcing the location of the crisis center, as well as playing the role of counselor himself to all of the victims who came wandering in seeking comfort. And now Amber wanted to talk to them to gather testimony for a story?

But she wasn’t exactly a stranger looking in on this situation. He ran a hand through his fluffy hair, revealing the large ears he had never quite grown into. “Well, you could start with me, I guess. I don’t know if any of them are ready to talk just yet. Especially the kids.”

Amber nodded, looking past him to the huddled groups. This wasn’t exactly fun for her either. “Okay,” she said with a deep breath, letting her camera hang so she could dig around in her coat pockets for her notepad. “It kinda reminds me of before, you know?” she mentioned, giving her pen a few test clicks and flipping to a blank page.

“Before?”

“You know…” Amber began, but then trailed off before regaining her confidence. “With Taeyeon?”

Changmin fell silent, his gaze slowly shifting away. “Yeah, sort of.”

Amber wondered if she had touched on a topic that was a little too sensitive given the current situation. After all, Taeyeon and Changmin had been classmates.

“She didn’t kill half of our class, though,” he said quietly, almost in a whisper. He looked over at her again, his hard gaze masking an old pain.

Amber had the grace to wince at his description of Yeri’s attack. “Still, I mean they are sisters. It could be related…”

But Changmin shook his head. “No, it’s too different. We’re still not sure how the Kims died - it's basically a cold case at this point.” There was an edge to his voice, an anger building behind his words the more he explained. “The violence, and then the fire, and then Yeri… she never told us- she never told the police what happened. We don’t even know if it was Taeyeon or not.” He paused and lowered his voice again, which had been rising in volume as he went on. “But with this… everyone has the same story: Yeri killed Johnny, and then there was... chaos.” And blood. So much blood. If Amber wanted to know more, maybe she should talk to the EMTs.

Amber hadn’t written down a single word as she listened, her own memories of the incident with the Kims coming back to her. “And now Yeri’s gone, too,” she said with her own sigh. Despite what Changmin had said, she still felt like the two incidents had to be related somehow. How could two sisters both end up becoming murderers? And how could Yeri have gone through something like that in her childhood and not be affected by it? But at the same time, she didn’t want to believe that the sweet, funny little girl she had grown to know could be hiding this part of herself. No. She wouldn’t believe it until she got the full story.

“She’s the primary suspect,” Changmin continued, interrupting her thoughts.

“Based on the testimony?” Amber asked, and he shot her a look.

“Let us be the ones to play detective, alright? I’m just saying if you see her…”

“To let you know?” she filled in.

Changmin nodded gratefully. “Before someone else finds her. There’s a lot of angry folks here, and they might not be willing to wait for justice to take its course.”

Amber squinted up at him. “Wait… you don’t believe she did it?”

“I… can’t comment on that.”

“Max.”

“Amber. I’m on the clock, alright?” He sighed. “But it just… doesn’t add up. One teenage girl...”

“What doesn’t add up?” she prompted, slipping her notepad back into her pocket.

He held her gaze for a moment. “If you saw it, you’d understand.”

“Saw…?”

“The site of the murder,” he said in a low voice. “It was a bloodbath.”

+++

“Some Compass this is,” Daniel muttered as he came to a halt. The swirling fog was so thick, he could barely see the trinket as he held it out in front of himself, a rusted nail several inches in length, hanging from a long loop of braided twine. He slowly turned in place, watching intently to see if the Compass would indicate which direction he should be heading, hoping that he could find the correct path before something else in the Umbra could find him.

It wasn’t safe to wander through the Space Between alone, especially knowing that his own patron spirit probably wouldn’t approve of his mission. It wasn’t that Ursa and Cygnus didn’t get along, exactly, but he knew the great bear spirit wouldn’t be keen on the fact that he stole an artifact from another Garou and was using it for this fool’s errand.

He smirked to himself. Yeah, if Ursa knew what he was up to, she’d probably kick his .

He stopped shuffling around, realizing he wasn’t quite sure where his circle had begun and which direction he was facing now. He growled in frustration. “Ugh, this stupid thing! Does it have to be attuned?” He held the Compass up a little higher until the nail was level with his gaze and watched it keenly. “Spin… point… do something!”

And then something did happen. Daniel felt the ground shift beneath his feet as he was pulled through the Umbra - it was a strange, dissociative sensation of being moved against his own volition. He quickly looped the twine around his neck and hid the Compass beneath his shirt as the fog dissipated, revealing a beaming sun. Daniel shielded his eyes from the sudden, brilliant light and squinting at his new surroundings: he had settled at the foot of a grassy hill, its verdant texture inviting him to lay a while and bask in the spring-like warmth of the sun.

This wasn't the Umbra... this was the Wild.

There was only one Spirit whose domain was as picturesque as this, and he watched her magnificent figure crest the hill above him, the light catching in her long platinum tresses and shining off her white, silken coat. It was Unicorn, the offspring of Gaia herself.

“Welcome, little cub,” her rich voice beckoned, and his footsteps betrayed him as he mounted the hill. He knew there was nothing to fear from Unicorn - one of the most powerful and resilient patron spirits of the Garou - but he still felt like he was being summoned by some maternal figure to be reprimanded.

“I’m Cliath now,” Daniel said proudly. “I went through the Rites and I’ve been accepted by the Garou Nation. Not a little cub anymore!”

Unicorn swished her tail and inclined her head, indicating the grassy patch next to her. “Sit with me. I know that you have been initiated; it was Sunmi Sunspeaker who performed the Rites, after all.”

Daniel felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach and he swallowed as he sat where bidden. That’s right - Unicorn was Sunmi’s patron spirit.

Unicorn laid herself down beside Daniel, and they looked out over her pristine domain from their elevated position. “But since you belong to Ursa, you will forever be a little cub to me.” She was silent for a moment, a respectful pause in case he had an objection, before continuing. “But are you aware of your new name in your Sept?” she asked.

“I… I have no Sept. I left.” He could only imagine what Taeyeon and the others were calling him after the way he had abandoned them.

“They call you Daniel Oneclaw.”

He didn’t know why that name made his eyes sting. Was it Unicorn’s warm and comforting voice? Was it how little malice was reflected in his new name? Was it how lonely it sounded? He put a hand over his face as he tried to reign in his emotions.

“They used to call me Twofists,” he breathed.

“I am aware. After you lost your pack-” she paused when she heard him in a sharp sob behind his hand. “... after the battle, Sunspeaker told me it was as if you had lost your strength.”

No. That was wrong. His strength remained, buried under the surface, like his muscles flexing just beneath his skin, waiting for the change. He had lost many things over the past couple months, but his strength, his will was not one of them.

“You are angry.”

“No,” he lied. Unicorn was silent, and after a moment Daniel lowered his hand and wiped at his eyes. “I’m just…”

“Lost?”

He felt the twine of the Compass itch his neck, the rusty nail hanging against his chest. “No, I just didn’t feel like there was anything for me back there at the sept. Everything… It’s all gone, so I left.” Another lie.

“You say you are not lost, yet you do not know where you are heading,” she observed. He smiled. “Your sept is looking for you, Oneclaw.”

He was sure they probably were. He suspected that’s why Unicorn had pulled him into her domain; it must have been Sunmi’s doing. “Is that why I’m here?” He felt the barest brush of Unicorn’s long tail against his back as she flicked it in thought.

“Sunspeaker thinks you took something before you left. She said it is a powerful from one of my ilk.”

Daniel could feel adrenaline begin to seep into his muscles. Even though Unicorn’s domain was the epitome of peace and serenity, he suddenly felt like a cornered animal. “I am… returning it to its rightful owner.” He didn’t see any point in denying that he had the Compass, but as soon as he spoke, he wished he hadn’t told such a weak lie.

“To Cygnus?”

He should go. He should run. His instincts were calling to him, telling him to escape. “... No.”

“Oneclaw-”

“Don’t call me that! … Please. I…” Unicorn watched him suddenly rise to his feet. “I have to go.”

“Daniel!” Sunmi cried out from the bottom of the hill.

His eyes widened as she suddenly appeared. Had Unicorn summoned her? He took a step away from Unicorn, no longer just feeling like a cornered animal, but looking like one.

“Daniel, wait!” Sunmi called out again, trotting up the hill.

Unicorn watched Daniel shrewdly with her large, dark eyes. “You should return to your sept. They are waiting for you.”

“No!” Daniel’s voice sounded strangled.

Sunmi stopped, a hurt expression marring her face. “But why?”

He opened his mouth as he looked between them.

“Come home,” Sunmi pleaded. "Whatever this is... we can figure it out together! Let us help you!"

“I can’t. I have to go… I have to go.” His voice was calmer, his expression more placid as he concentrated on stilling his emotions.

“Do not use it, Oneclaw,” Unicorn warned, pushing herself up onto her hooves. “You do not know where it leads.”

Ah, so that was how it worked. He brought a hand up to his chest, cupping the nail through the material of his shirt. “I think I have a pretty good idea where." Or rather, to whom. "Bye, Sunmi. Tell Taeyeon I’m sorry.” He took another slow step back, feeling himself push through the veil of the Umbra, back into the swirling darkness and fog.

“No, Daniel wait-!” But he was gone. Sunmi climbed the rest of the hill to stand beside Unicorn. “Where did he go? To Ursa?”

Unicorn raised her head, looking off into the distance, as if she could see through the Wild clear into Ursa’s domain, wherever it may lie. Maybe she could. Even Sunmi Sunspeaker didn’t know the full extent of the Spirits’ abilities.

“No. He has returned to Gaia - the mortal plane.”

Sunmi sat down next to Unicorn forlornly, hugging her knees to her chest in thought. After a long moment, she asked, “Where does the Compass lead?”

“I did not see the artifact myself, but it feels like Cygnus,” Unicorn said instead of answering. “Perhaps it houses another, lesser swan spirit. I suspect the artifact’s owner may know.”

“...Jessica?” Sunmi asked hesitantly.

“Taeyeon Oathbreaker.”

Sunmi sighed. Why did it feel like another storm was brewing?

+++

Seulgi was ready for sleep. She was so ready, she didn’t realize she was standing still, immobile in the middle of her living room, too tired to complete a thought, let alone drag herself to bed. She was too tired to feel - no, wait, she could definitely still feel, and she felt terrible. Her eyes burned from her fearful vigil the night before. Her limbs ached from fatigue and tension. Even taking off her shoes had seemed like an insurmountable task, though a knock at the door had her robotically crossing her living room to answer before she even realized what she was doing.

“Seulgi!” Yeri tore open the screen door and threw herself at Seulgi. “Oh god… oh, thank god…”

“Yeri?” Seulgi asked hesitantly, even as she hugged her back fiercely. “But how?”

“I did make a promise,” Irene muttered quietly from the bottom of the front steps.

It was only then that Seulgi realized there were three others gathered in front of her house. And at least two of them were from the Lake. She let Yeri continue to bury her face against her shoulder as she regarded the other women outside. “Thanks for bringing her back.”

Irene tried to soften her severe gaze. “She can’t stay. We’re here to talk to you.”

Seulgi had guessed Yeri wouldn’t be able to stay, but the surprise of seeing her again had given her a tiny bit of hope that the Ones from the Lake had made a mistake and maybe she wasn’t one of them… somehow. But she had long since accepted the events of last night as fact, and there was no going back to the way things were. She felt Yeri pulling away finally, and took a step back to look at her. “... Do you… want to shower?” The implication was pretty clear.

“Oh my god, yes please!” Yeri cried thankfully. Up until the moment Seulgi had mentioned it, a shower had been the furthest thing from her mind, but the thought of soap and hot water suddenly seemed heavenly. And she had to admit… she could use some… maintenance after everything that had transpired.

“Do you know where it is?” Seulgi asked with a knowing smile, surprised but happy at how lively Yeri seemed. “You can borrow anything you need,” she added, noticing how Yeri was dressed in an odd assemblage of old, poorly-fitting clothes. Yeri nodded and pushed past Seulgi, more than comfortable wandering around the older girl’s house.

That left Seulgi alone with the Ones from the Lake.

“I suppose we should probably talk inside,” Seulgi murmured, glancing around her yard. She was thankful her hilly neighborhood had prevented the houses from being built too close to each other, and the creeping forest shielded them from prying eyes, but Seulgi didn’t want to risk it after last night's events.

Jisoo was fascinated with Seulgi’s living room. There were certain items she had come to expect in such living spaces of course, like the aging couch, the tables with their lamps, even the curtains covering the yellowed windows were things she could recognize. But this glass box in the middle of the room, clearly electronic in nature? She couldn’t begin to guess its purpose. She passed it to the shelves lining the walls; they were full of photographs, and some were hanging on the wall. She was drawn to them, bending to analyze each one, noting whether its subject was a person, an object, or a landscape. How curious.

Seulgi watched her for a moment, but soon turned her attention to Irene and Wendy. It was instinct, prey keeping an eye on two predators.

“Your place is nice,” Wendy remarked politely, glancing around. "Homey."

Seulgi followed her gaze. “Oh, um… thanks. What was it you needed to talk to me about?” Of all people.

“Your cousin,” Irene began, trying not to be as obvious with her curiosity as the other two. “Daniel.”

The name reminded Seulgi of her first encounter with Irene. It was hard to believe that had only been hours ago. “What about him?” She didn’t mean to be so blunt, but she was already sure she wasn’t going to be able to provide them with much information.

Wendy passed between them, tiptoeing over to Jisoo to relieve her of a picture in a frame she had picked up. “Be careful…!”

“But look, it’s Yeri!” Jisoo pouted as Wendy put the picture back on its shelf. It was such an innocent statement, Seulgi didn’t have the heart to tell Jisoo to keep her hands to herself.

Irene forged ahead, trying to keep their conversation on track. “Daniel’s missing, and we need to find him. We… have almost nothing to go on, so we came here. Yeri helped lead the way.”

Yeri? What stake did she have in this? “Why do you need to find him? I thought he went rogue, or whatever you called it?”

“A ronin,” Irene corrected. “That’s what we call a… one of us who doesn’t have a home.”

“A werewolf, you can say it.”

The three Garou fell silent at the crude word used to describe their kind. Irene didn’t know why she was being so careful with Seulgi. Not only was she Kinfolk, but part of a fairly established lineage too, if not one that produced many Garou. “A 'werewolf' without a pack is one thing,” she explained, causing both Jisoo and Wendy to turn and look at her. “But one without a sept is considered homeless - no ties to other Garou, no sacred lands to protect… they’re dangerous, Seulgi. They have lost their purpose and it makes them act recklessly.”

“Their purpose?” Seulgi found herself asking. She had grown up with the vague knowledge that the Garou existed, but anything more than that remained a mystery to her. Irene's explanation seemed a little elaborate for their kind. What purpose did any other animal have? Though perhaps that was unkind. After all, what purpose did humans have? Her brain was too addled to tease it out any further.

But before Irene could elaborate, they heard a door open, and a little squeak from Yeri. “O-oh! Hi, Mr. Kang…”

“Yeri?” Seulgi heard him ask from down the hall. “What are you doing here?” His voice became dangerously low.

“Dad?” Seulgi called, breaking away from Irene and the others to intercept her father.

She saw him standing there in the middle of the hallway, watching Yeri in the doorway of the bathroom, clutching a towel around herself. “Dad, she’s just using the shower, can you move?”

“Careful, Seulbear, you stay back there,” he warned as he stuck a hand out to ward her off. “I almost lost you once, and if you think I’m gonna risk it now-”

“Dad, stop! She’s fine-!”

“She’s NOT fine,” he roared suddenly, making both Seulgi and Yeri flinch. “She’s a damned monster, just like the rest of them!” But then his voice became watery. “I always hoped it wouldn’t come to this. So rare for two in the same family to be 'Born True'. But I guess it’s different for the Kims.” He took a breath and his voice hardened again. “I’m sorry, Yeri, but I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

Seulgi was furious. “Now you care? You had all last night to worry about me, but now that it’s safe you want to try to protect me?”

He turned away from Yeri, giving Seulgi a shocked and hurt expression, one that quickly took on a shade of guilt. “You think this is safe? Having someone like her in our home?” But again, his tone changed. “You don’t understand, Seulbear… Last night I… I thought you were already dead,” he whispered.

“So you got drunk,” she bitterly retorted, recalling all the cans she had caught Krystal cleaning up. She looked past him to Yeri. “You can wear whatever you want; it’s all in my room,” she said, her voice carrying a note of exhaustion that could be felt by all present.

Her dad straightened and let Yeri pass, still watching her with wary eyes. He kept his head turned even as he came down the hall towards Seulgi and the living room, long after the bedroom door had clicked shut. “She should go after she’s dressed, okay? She doesn’t belong here anymore.”

“We won’t be long,” Irene said from where she stood in the middle of the room, her authoritative tone halting Seulgi’s father in his tracks.

“What the devil…” he cursed as he whipped around.

Seulgi almost wished he had remained in his own room, nursing his hangover. “They’re-”

“I know who they are!” he interrupted.

“-They’re taking care of Yeri,” Seulgi said over him, raising her voice. “And they just have some questions!”

“Please, Mr. Kang,” Wendy began. “You’re not in any danger. We’re just trying to help.” Oddly, that seemed to calm him down a bit and Seulgi looked at Wendy in wonder. She saw Wendy had her hand in her pocket, clutching something, and wondered if that statement about not being in any danger were actually true. A sharp inhale from her father distracted her before she could linger on that thought.

“Oh, yeah, your kind is real good at helping,” he grumbled. “What’s it got to do with us?”

Seulgi stepped closer, glad the tension seemed to have relaxed a bit. “They were asking about Daniel.”

“Of course,” he whispered bitterly, then looked up, regarding the pack. “Seulgi doesn’t know anything about him... about any of that. She’s not involved in it at all.” Seulgi blinked at him, but he ignored her, his gaze fixing on Irene. “She’s not like him. She’s not like you.”

Irene didn’t rise to the bait, countering his loathing stare with her natural poise. “Then maybe we can ask you. He is missing and we need to find him. Does he have any other family he might have contacted?”

He was silent for a moment, and Seulgi could feel the tension in the room rise once again. She watched him carefully, seeing the way his jaw flexed as he grit his teeth. “... No.”

“Lying,” Wendy whispered to Irene, but the room was so deadly quiet, they all heard it.

Irene narrowed her eyes as she stared him down. “What are you hiding?”

“Get out of my house,” he seethed, his shoulders shaking.

Irene glanced at Wendy, but Wendy only shrugged, pulling her hand out of her pocket. Irene pursed her lips and looked past Seulgi to Yeri standing in the doorway of the living room, fully dressed. “Come,” she said to the Garou. “Let’s regroup.”

They gathered at the front door, picking their way around the furniture and discarded shoes in the entryway, but when Seulgi moved to show them out, her father grabbed her roughly by the arm.

“Where are you going?” he asked urgently, but she shook him off.

“What’s wrong with you? I’m just showing them out!” The brief conversation had stirred up so many questions, and had shown her a side of her father she had never seen before. He was angry and desperate, he was scared. She couldn’t stand it and hoped that if the girls left, he would calm down, even if that meant saying goodbye to Yeri for now.

For now. The fact that Irene brought her here to begin with though gave Seulgi a sense of hope that perhaps they could see each other again.

Once they were all out in her driveway, Seulgi finally took a deep breath and apologized. “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect him to…” be lucid? Emerge from his bedroom? React so violently to their presence?

Irene put a hand on Seulgi’s wrist where it hung limply at her side. “It’s fine. We’re used to it.”

But Seulgi didn’t want them to be used to it. She didn’t want Yeri to have to get used to it. “It’s not right,” she mumbled, surprising Irene.

Wasn’t this the girl that spoken to her with such vitriol naught eight hours ago? Didn’t she hate the Garou and carrying the gene? Despite the situation, Irene felt a small smile creep across her face. The shift in empathy was remarkable, but welcome. Maybe Seulgi was more in tune with the Garou than she realized.

“Don’t worry, Seul,” Yeri said. “I don’t think your dad’s ever liked my family much, so it makes sense.”

“But he’s always liked you, before…”

“I know.” Yeri pulled Seulgi into a tight hug. “But as long as we’re still friends, I’m alright.”

“Of course we’re still friends!” Seulgi said, her voice muffled against her own clothes that Yeri was wearing. “I thought you were gone forever. I’m so happy I got to see you again.”

Irene looked away. It wasn’t often the Garou were allowed to interact with Kinfolk, especially the Kinfolk from their pasts. Their raging emotions were just too dangerous for their human friends and family. She glanced at Wendy, meeting her omega’s eyes for a moment.

“Maybe… you’d like to come with us?” Wendy asked Seulgi, though she held Irene’s gaze. Irene arched an eyebrow questioningly. It wasn’t like Wendy to suggest a plan without discussing it with her alpha first.

Seulgi was apprehensive, even as she held onto Yeri, rubbing her back. “Come with you? To the Lake?”

“Not that far,” Wendy said. “Well… okay, actually much farther than that.”

“Where exactly?” Irene asked.

Wendy shrugged. “To the only one who might actually be able to answer our questions about Daniel. Seulgi might be our ticket to seeing the patron spirit of the Kangs herself.”

“Ursa,” Irene whispered in shock.

“It’s worth a shot, isn’t it?” Wendy asked. “Yeeun told us to bring him back, and she didn’t exactly leave a lot of room for negotiation, so it’s either that or... “

Irene swung her gaze back to Seulgi, as she and Yeri finally separated. “Will Ursa even speak to Kinfolk?”

“The more important question is will Seulgi even be able to travel into the Wild,” Wendy muttered to herself as she appraised the Kinfolk. “The Umbra's one thing, but... I’m not saying it’ll work… and it’ll probably be dangerous since she could easily get lost, but we’ll be there to protect her.”

Seulgi didn’t even know where to begin. The Wild? The Umbra? Ursa… like a bear? She looked to Yeri for some insight, but she seemed to be fairly lost too.

“Even I haven’t been to the Wild yet. Are you sure this is a good idea?” the cub asked.

“Don’t worry,” Irene assured her. “You’re naturally attuned to it, even if you haven’t been through the Rites yet. That’ll probably come after all of this when we return to the sept. But as for Seulgi,” she continued, demanding the Kinfolk to meet her gaze with a serious stare, “we can only bring her if she’s willing to go.”

Seulgi opened in befuddlement, but couldn’t find an argument under Irene’s powerful gaze. Suddenly, she wanted to help them. She needed to help them. She wasn’t sure why, but with the way Irene was staring at her, it all somehow seemed to make sense: she would lead them to this Ursa, and they would finally get their answers about Daniel.

“I’ll do it,” she declared. Irene smirked, though it was faint.

Wendy looked between her alpha and the poor hypnotized Kinfolk, wondering if this was really going to work. Sure, Seulgi agreed now, under Irene's powerful gaze, but what about when they actually stepped into the Umbra?

Was Seulgi really ready to see the world beyond the Veil?