Irene held Seulgi tightly as they stumbled through the threshold, finally emerging from the Umbra and into the Wild beyond, the realm of the Spirits.

“We’re here, you’re safe now,” Irene murmured into Seulgi’s thick hair, even as her eyes darted all around, scanning for any sign of a threat. The Umbra was far more dangerous than the Wild, but even the domains of their patron spirits held little safety for visitors, and Ursa was unknown to her.

“I’m sorry,” Seulgi whispered back as her shivering calmed in Irene’s unflinching embrace. “I’m afraid I’m not much help.”

“That’s not true!” Wendy protested quietly as she came up to them, Jisoo and Yeri in tow. “I’m certain it’s because we’re with you that I was able to find this place so quickly.”

Irene slowly pulled away from Seulgi, testing how steady the girl seemed. “Don’t worry, we’re already here. Let us do the talking and then we’ll be able to leave.” Thankfully Seulgi seemed much calmer and was even able to give Irene a resolute nod.

The scene they had entered upon was in many ways different from the shadowy, ethereal realm in between worlds. They were standing in a wood whose trees reached up impossibly high and out of sight into a blanket of fog, thick as a bank of clouds hanging low above their heads. There was a stillness that slowly seeped into Seulgi’s skin and made her let out a small sigh as Irene rejoined their hands. This place felt old and empty, at once barren of souls, and yet possessing a soul of its own so potent and powerful that Seulgi could almost feel it through the bottom of her shoes, thrumming up through her calves with each step she took. It was a sacred place.

Wendy led the way again, though her focus wasn’t quite as intense as before, and she didn’t rush them along. A quiet settled amongst the four of them - everyone seemed to feel as Seulgi did, like this was not a place for haste, and they proceeded with an air of caution, Yeri and Seulgi in the middle as Irene followed behind.

Seulgi was surprised when Yeri reached back and took her other hand, though more surprising was the realization that their expressions matched, both filled with wonder and trepidation. Yeri may be one of them, but she was new to this half of herself, and in a strange way that was more comforting to Seulgi than the feeling had been of Irene’s sure arms around her.

Irene paused for a step, and almost at the same time, so did Wendy who held a hand back to the others, stopping them.

“She knows.”

Irene felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as she took a long, deep breath in through her nose, catching the wafting scent of moss and musk faint on the air. The silence stretched without relief as the group waited, and Irene’s eyes scanned the repeating images of tree trunks, with their grey, flaking bark, receding back into the mists, looking for any shape that might spell company, whether friend or foe.

What she noticed instead, though, finally urged her to speak. “Keep moving,” she growled in a voice barely above a whisper as she stared at the jagged, parallel lines of claw marks rending several of the trunks around them. Whatever made them was large, the breadth of the marks spanning nearly her full height.

Wendy bent low as she continued on ahead, Irene’s tone putting her on guard. It wasn’t long before Wendy stopped again, however, and all she had time to do was breathe a quiet, “Irene…” before several large figures loomed out of the fog and into view.

Irene quickly pushed to the front, pulling Wendy behind herself as three bear-like creatures stood up on their hind legs, their full height seemingly causing the tops of their massive heads to just touch that layer of fog that concealed the canopy of the forest from view. They wore necklaces of threaded bones, the skulls of other animals that Seulgi could readily guess at: great stags, guessing from the size of the antlers, and the femurs of long-legged beasts hanging around their thick necks. Across their bodies were belts and thongs of leather from which dangled pouches and bundles of dried plants, and one carried with them a long, thick staff carved from a sapling, sporting es of its own.

The bear stuck it into the ground in front of himself as he took another step forward, leaning on it to peer at them. “Garou.”

“Nay. I smell a human,” another rumbled from deep in his throat as his big golden-brown eyes stared down at Seulgi.

“Why are you here?” the third asked, still hanging back in the mist. “A child of Snow Leopard, that one,” he gestured towards Yeri with a massive paw, strapped with an embossed leather bracer.

“Aye, and one of Grandfather Thunder,” the first responded gazing down at Irene’s unflinching expression.

Though they loomed over her, at least five times her height, she didn’t lower her eyes as she gestured back at the others. “We have with us a child of Ursa.”

“A human is a child of Man,” the first replied as he leaned on his staff, eyes narrowing. “She carries no boon from the Great Mother.”

“What business have you in this realm,” the third asked as it finally emerged from the mists and into view. The girls could see a long red scar running from its brow down the side of its face all the way to the base of its neck, ending at the collar of a leather harness it wore across its chest.

Irene looked at Wendy, and caught the omega staring back at her, her eyes filled with assurance and trust. If Wendy felt no immediate danger, then perhaps Irene could try being honest.

“She may not have Ursa’s boon, but she carries the blood of her kin,” Irene tried. It had to be worth something; if she had dragged Seulgi through the Umbra for nothing… “We seek the wisdom of the Great Mother. To protect one who does have her boon,” she added.

“And you would drag a human into our realm, unwelcome,” the first bear growled, “in order to protect one not of your own ilk?”

“Why should we believe you, Shadow Lord?” The second bear sniffed long and loudly. “You are rife with the stink of betrayal.” Though his gaze had initially addressed Irene, he glanced at them all in turn. “You, who also protect the Oathbreaker, one who sacrificed so many of your own kind for her own gain?”

Before Irene had a chance to piece together their cryptic argument, a low growl, a rumble they all felt deep in their chests rolled across the forest, and the three giant bears bowed their heads.

Once it had passed, the first bear let out a snort, his nostrils flaring. “... The Great Mother would see you.”

“Folly,” the third spat, his long scar twisting as the muscles in his neck flexed in anger.

As one, the three great bears turned and retreated into the mist, and Wendy hesitated, waiting for Irene to take the lead after them.

Sensing Wendy’s readiness, Irene nodded, and taking Seulgi’s hand in a sure grip, she led them after their hulking forms into the mist.

Seulgi scarcely had the presence of mind to note the subtle changes in their surroundings as they followed the three bears, but it seemed that night had fallen in the Wild as they trekked on. The mist cleared to reveal a shimmer of stars winking in and out of view between the great black spires of trees as they walked, and Seulgi was even more thankful of Irene’s hand as she sought sure footing through the underbrush.

A new fear rose in the back of her exhausted mind, flashes of being caught blind in a forest at night with the screams of her classmates ringing in her ears. Seulgi didn’t have any of the gifts of her kin, but she knew she would never be able to forget the smell of all that blood mixed in with the mud and geosmin.

“The human fears openly. The others hide their fear behind righteousness. Perhaps the human is the wisest of you all,” a ponderous, ambling voice sounded from the dark, warm despite its insinuations. The three great bears fell onto all fours and dispersed, leaving the four interlopers to the voice.

“Do not harbor ill will against my sons - the Wild is not what it once was. Where we Spirits were once the masters of our fate, and indeed the Fate of All, we are now merely actors - reactors - to the Chaos that constantly hungers.”

Seulgi, as silent as she had been since first stepping foot into the Wild, was awed as she saw a few stars from the mass shine brighter and more prominently through the column of trees. It seemed obvious to her now, as she drew the picture in her mind. It was the constellation Ursa Major, and as she lowered her gaze to the black of the forest, she spied a pair of massive golden eyes staring back at them, eclipsing all thought of the stars in their brilliance.

“Your hearts are laid bare before me. The Veil no longer shields your thoughts and desires. If you would speak, do so cautiously. I already know your purpose and will spare you some of your questions: my cub Daniel Oneclaw is fallen.”

“Dead?” Jisoo blurted out, taking a step forward. Irene held out a protective hand, a reflex more than a command to stand down.

“Fallen,” Ursa iterated. “Though I know this information does not surprise you. Not entirely.”

Irene remained silent in the prevailing pause. No, she wasn’t surprised Daniel was already dead. Or fallen, as Ursa had emphasized. Did that mean fallen to the Wyrm? Was he now an agent of Chaos? An enemy? If so, their mission may have changed. They were now duty-bound to seek him out and put him down. They could not allow a strayed Garou to roam free with all of their sept’s secrets and knowledge.

The large golden eyes narrowed shrewdly in the opaque darkness. “The Child of Grandfather Thunder is quick to realize her purpose. How easily her mind is changed from rescue to execution. She is truly one born under the Half Moon, the sign of Judgement. Do you have so little love in your heart for one of my children?”

Irene was cowed by the analysis. Her head hung a little as she finally responded. “He has a with him. We need to find him and get it back before the Wyrm can corrupt it. If he has fallen as you say, then there’s nothing we can do for him.”

“Nothing except end his suffering,” Ursa replied gravely. “The rules of the Garou are exacting, and with good reason,” the ponderous voice went on. “The item you seek, this , why do you not ask Cygnus its purpose?”

Irene sought Wendy’s gaze in the darkness, but she couldn’t gain anything from the faint glimmer of starlight in her omega’s eyes.

“You hesitate. The stories of your past deter you from your true path. You do not know if Cygnus will help those from such a traitorous sept. Yet you are brave enough to seek me out, though you hunt one of my own children.”

Was this a mistake? Irene felt immense pressure to perform, her pack was counting on her, yet had she led them down the wrong path? How much time and reputation had she wasted coming to Ursa only to learn that it was too late to find Daniel?

“Do not despair, fair alpha. Your quest is only beginning.” The pair of eyes rose up in the darkness - was Ursa sitting up to better regard them? Indeed Irene could only guess as to her size as her black shape obscured quite a bit of the starry sky beyond. “Though further time spent in the Wild may be wasted. Go to Cygnus if you wish, though you will find that the you seek has already found its master - or at least one of her ilk. You would do better to return to Gaia, for your quarry is closer than you realize. Indeed, this human you have brought before me may prove to be useful more in this next phase of your journey than in bringing her here.”

Irene’s mind was racing. The Compass had already found its master? Was it back with Taeyeon in the sept? Was all this for naught?

“Fear not, for I will not send you away empty-handed. You sought me out as a service to both my kind and yours. Your intentions were good, though you are too late to save Oneclaw from his fate. Let the human step forward.”

“No,” Seulgi barely whispered, Irene’s keen ears only just picking up her frightened breath beneath the rumble of Ursa’s command.

“I’m right here.” Irene summoned her courage to turn away from Ursa to face Seulgi, her face barely visible in the starlight. She gripped both her shoulders and gently pushed Seulgi forward. If this were Yeri meeting Snow Leopard, this meeting would have had great portent and been viewed as a Rite of Passage, but Seulgi was just a human. She was Kinfolk, destined only to carry the blood of potential True Born, nothing more than another link in the chain of the Kang family.

“No, please…”

“Your fear is appropriate, if misplaced, young human. The moment you stepped into my Realm, you were under my protection, and by extension, you protect your companions. My child, you are indeed one of my own. Have courage and approach.”

Seulgi had no one between her and those glowing eyes. She was before a visage so terrible and ancient, she could barely keep her senses and not turn and run in the opposite direction. Irene had a firm grip on her, though, and Seulgi focused on the feeling of her fingers digging into her shoulders as she faced the hulking darkness.

“Come, child. If you had ought to fear of me, you would have been slain the moment you tried to set foot in my realm.” That didn’t comfort Seulgi a bit. “Instead, I will reward you for your bravery. For your willingness to fight for Gaia, though you have not the gifts of the Garou to do so. I will change that.”

Irene stopped pushing Seulgi in surprise. What was Ursa saying? Was she going to grant Seulgi a boon?

“I know your heart, Kang Seulgi, and though you desire to help, you do not know how. Allow me to give you a tool to do so, a Gift of Ursa.”

Seulgi flinched as a shape rose in the darkness, a paw wider than her entire body was long, with five great claws curled towards the ground. Ursa reached out and touched the calloused pad of her great paw to Seulgi’s head, and though Irene’s instinct was to pull Seulgi back, she found herself supporting the Kinfolk who felt on the brink of collapse.

“Remember this place when you need a reservoir of strength. I don’t mean here,” the Great Mother indicated, with a claw against Seulgi’s bicep, “but here,” she clarified, resting its tip against Seulgi’s chest, where her hammering heart lay within.

“We have not Fenrir’s bloodthirst, nor Falcon’s rallying cry, but my children do not shirk their duty. Prove to me that you truly carry my blood, and I will help you fight.”

Ursa withdrew her massive paw, and starlight filled Seulgi’s vision once more. Those glowing yellow eyes blinked once in the darkness before they turned away.

“I’ve got you,” Irene whispered up to Seulgi, shifting her grip and holding her close across the shoulders. It was then that Seulgi realized she was trembling, but strangely, she no longer felt afraid, and after another beat her shivering ceased.

“We should go,” Wendy whispered, reaching out to them both. Irene turned and regarded her pack; she could barely make out the black shapes of Jisoo with her arm around Yeri.

“Lead us out,” she agreed, and pulled Seulgi in front of herself as she turned. She would be the last to leave, keeping the others in her sights as much as possible in the faint starlight, and into the Umbra beyond as they made their way back to the mortal world, right where they started.

+++

“Why are we here,” Krystal muttered as Amber pulled up to the fateful clearing. The emergency vehicles had cleared out days ago with the last of the victims - all that remained were the tracks leading this way and that in the crushed grass and pine needle beds, yet it chilled Krystal to the bone. This was a cursed place. “I said I believed you already.”

Amber killed the engine and sat back in her seat. “Yeah, I know, but there’s still so many questions left. I thought we’d do a little investigating of our own.”

Krystal had been afraid of this, ever since Amber had first came up to them in the high school’s parking lot with a camera swinging around her neck. Why, out of everyone, did it have to be her? “Why did you really come back here? Why not take a job near your school?”

Amber blinked at her. “Where did that come from? Is there something wrong with coming back here?” She felt defensive suddenly, like Krystal was seeking an argument.

Krystal sighed. “I just mean… you escaped. The rest of us, me, Seulgi…”

Amber let her head rest against the seat as her gaze swept across the forest. “Seulgi still?”

Krystal sat up, perplexed. “What are you talking about? Amber, there are things about this town you will never understand - things like this,” she waved around at the forest, almost smacking her hand against the window in her annoyance, “stuff like this is going to keep happening. It’s better to leave it all behind and stop digging in where you shouldn’t.”

Amber was stunned at the outburst. It was the most Krystal had said to her all week, but none of it made any sense. “Things I’ll never understand? This is my hometown, you’re the one who moved here… and you’re talking like I don’t know anything about it?”

“Because you don’t,” Krystal maintained with a huff as she stared at Amber. “And it’s better that way. It’s better if you don’t try to get involved.”

Amber turned in her seat to face Krystal. “Oh yeah? Well, what if I want to get involved? Are you going to keep pushing me away? You know, ever since we met-”

“Stop. That’s not what I mean. This isn’t about us-”

“I’ve been waiting for this chance, Krystal. If you don’t want to be here, then why not come with me? When the summer’s over, when I go back to school… Come with me.”

A tense silence stretched out between them. Krystal finally looked away and slumped in her seat.

“Do you really want to know why I came back?” Amber asked pointedly.

Krystal shook her head. “Don’t, Amber. I can’t leave.”

“Why not?” Amber asked exasperatedly.

“I just can’t. I can’t…” her voice cracked, and she finished in a whisper, “I can’t leave her.” She was already gone, but…

Amber opened her door and got out of the car without a word.

+++

Joy heard them arguing from her bedroom. Her parents were much older than the rest of her friends’, and though her father was supposedly retired, the recent situation had caused him to question his decision.

“But we would have done right by those kids!” her father insisted. “If it had been Joy-”

“Shh! God, what if she overheard you?” her mother admonished.

“... If it had been Joy, you’d want the service here, wouldn’t you?” he continued in a more measured voice. “You wouldn’t want to have to go out of town!”

There was a pause, but Joy couldn’t tell if her mom was answering or not.

“I didn’t think they’d close the place. Maybe I should talk to him.”

“What good would that do?” her mother asked.

“I don’t know… it just seems a shame. Maybe he’d let me take in some of the kids, or at least do the services there in the parlor-”

Joy shut her bedroom door. It must cut her father to pieces to have sold the funeral home just weeks before they were needed most.

She waited like that for a while, not wanting to emerge from her room and interrupt their conversation too soon, but when she heard a car start in the driveway, she opened her door again. “Mom?”

“Oh, hi honey, how are you feeling?”

“I’m ok. Where’s dad?” Joy asked pointedly.

“He’s just running an errand real quick, I’m sure he’ll be back before dinner.”

+++

After everything that had transpired, it was no wonder that Seulgi had fallen asleep. Irene only smirked as the kinfolk’s head lolled against her shoulder, and she adjusted until Seulgi was able to rest more comfortably against her.

“You seem to have taken quite a liking to her,” Wendy mused quietly from the driver’s seat as they cruised along back towards the town.

“I asked a lot of her today. She’s earned some rest,” was Irene’s stoic reply.

“What about me,” Yeri sighed as she prodded Seulgi like fluffing a pillow before settling in against the poor unconscious girl. “I feel like I’ve been awake for days.”

“That’s pretty accurate,” Wendy mused. “According to the weather station, it has been days. We were gone for a long time.”

Yeri sat back up with a jolt. “WHAT??”

Seulgi snorted and slowly opened her eyes. “Yerm…?”

“Yup, we left… let’s see, Saturday, right? Well, the weather station said it’s Tuesday now.”

“TUESDAY??”

“Tuesday?” Seulgi repeated groggily.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Irene murmured, and Seulgi straightened up in mortification.

“I told you, time works differently in the Umbra,” Wendy was explaining to a sputtering Yeri. “Sometimes you can spend days there, but only minutes pass here… and sometimes it’s the opposite.”

“What is the Umbra?” Yeri asked.

That brief moment of respite hadn’t been nearly enough to cure Seulgi of her exhaustion, and as the conversation continued, she felt herself slowly begin to drift off again.

“Uh, that’s a good question. I guess it’s kind of like… a… cocoon, sort of?”

“That covers the earth?” Yeri supplied. But Wendy shook her head.

“No… sorry, it’s not easy to explain. It’s not like a layer on top of our world or anything. It’s like… maybe you could think about it as another dimension. There’s a barrier that separates our world from the Umbra, and we call that ‘the veil’, or ‘the gauntlet’, or whatever, but once you pass through that, you’re in the Umbra.”

“Okaaay… but what is it?”

Wendy glanced over to Irene for help, but the alpha just smiled in amusement. “Go on, you’re the theurge. If anyone can explain it, it’s you.”

Wendy’s shoulders slumped as she realized no help was coming. “The Umbra is… like a crossroads. You can use it to go many places - other places in our world, or the Wild, or even the world of the dead. It goes on and on.” She paused for a moment, but before Yeri could speak, she quickly added, “And it’s very dangerous!”

“Because you can get lost?”

“No. Getting lost is just part of it. The Umbra can also lead to the Abyss, where they say the Wyrm is. We’re not the only ones who use the Umbra - the Wyrm’s minions, the Banes, also use it. And the Black Spiral Dancers.”

Irene saw Wendy’s white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel and broke her silence. “I think that’s enough for now. Let’s not fill her head with too many enemies all at once. We’ve still got our mission, and that’s plenty enough to worry about.” Though if Ursa’s words were true and Daniel was fallen, then perhaps a lesson on the Spirals would be pertinent.

Yeri was only silent for a beat before jumping in with another question. “Where are we going? Ursa said Seulgi’d be useful to us for the next step, but…” and she indicated the passed-out kinfolk with a nod.

“Back to her house?” Wendy offered, but Irene shook her head.

“I’m sure her father is livid after we basically kidnapped her, though we should probably have Seulgi call him before too much more time passes. Yeri, is there someplace else we could go where we’d be safe?”

Yeri thought for a moment. Not Joy’s… she still lived with her parents after all. “I have a friend - she lives alone so we should be safe!”

+++

“Seulgi. Seulgi, we’re here,” Irene murmured, brushing the kinfolk’s bangs away from her eyes. She carefully scooted out from under Seulgi and onto the paved driveway, holding up a hand to make sure the poor girl didn’t simply fall out of the truck before she had a chance to orient herself.

“Hmm?” Seulgi willed her eyes open, though it took her several blinks before she could make sense of what she was seeing. “Why are we here?”

“We’re just here for the night - you need rest, and frankly the rest of us could use some sleep as well,” Irene explained as she waited for Seulgi to disembark.

“But this is…”

“It was my idea, Seul,” Yeri explained as she followed out of the truck after Wendy. “I couldn’t lead them to Joy’s, now could I?” Joy may know about the Ones from the Lake, but she wasn’t Kinfolk. Exposing her to them might cause more harm than good.

As the Garou gathered near the front of the pickup, waiting for Jisoo to finish getting dressed, Yeri and Seulgi went up to the front door to explain themselves. Seulgi took it upon herself to knock, but when no answer came, she tried the knob to see if it was locked. “Not home?”

“I mean, her car’s not here,” Yeri muttered, glancing back at the driveway. When she realized the door wasn’t locked she urged Seulgi to open it and let them inside. “We can explain when she gets back - I’m sure she won’t mind… too much.”

Seulgi raised both her eyebrows at Yeri. “She won’t??”

“Come on, Seul, she’ll do it for you if you ask.”

Seulgi wasn’t so sure she wanted to try her luck, or impose with a bunch of werewolves in tow. Still, Irene had a point, they needed to rest, and there was no way her father would let them stay. “Alright, but I’m saying it was your idea.”

Krystal must have been at work, and at a 24-hour grocery store, that could mean anything, so Seulgi tried her best to make the werewolves comfortable in her best friend’s house. To no one’s surprise, however, she was the first to pass out once they were all settled on Krystal’s sparse furniture. Yeri was soon to follow, and Jisoo also reverted to her more comfortable lupus form to curl up on the floor.

That just left Wendy and Irene, and Irene could tell the omega had been waiting for this moment for some time. “What is it?” she prompted, once she sensed the others were asleep.

Wendy hesitated, worrying her lip. “... I don’t like this.”

“Staying here, in a kinfolk’s house?”

“That, too. It’s not safe, but did you hear Seulgi and Yeri? This is Krystal’s house.”

Irene knew what she was getting at. The home of the Kinfolk who didn’t have a scent. The home of Jessica’s little sister. “It’s just for the night. Where else would you have us go? We can’t take Seulgi to the sept - that’d be even more dangerous than staying here.”

“I know. But haven’t you noticed?”

Irene waited for Wendy to continue.

“This place… this place smells. It smells like Kinfolk.”

Irene tested the air - how had she missed it? She was so caught up worrying about her pack, and Yeri, and of course Seulgi, but now that she cleared her mind, she was hit with the faint scent of one more. This must be the scent Krystal was missing. But it was so thin, barely palpable even in the middle of the house, as Irene leaned against the arm of the chair to take a deep breath. The troubled look she wore when she sat up told Wendy she was already onto it. “It’s like she’s…”

“Dead.”

Irene shot Wendy a dangerous look. “No, how could that be possible? We both saw her in broad daylight - she looked completely normal.”

“But doesn’t it seem like she used to live here? How old does this smell seem to you? Weeks? Months maybe? You’re the expert.”

“If she’s some sort of ghost, then you would be the expert,” Irene countered, though she did test the air a few more times. “Definitely weeks old.”

A silence stretched between them as they meditated on the implications. Irene sank deeper into the chair she was occupying as her eyes fell to the Kinfolk in their midst. She wondered if Seulgi realized there was anything wrong with her supposed friend, but the girl seemed perfectly at ease, sound asleep on the couch with Yeri.

“You did good with her today,” Wendy observed quietly, following her alpha’s gaze.

Irene frowned and gave her omega a look. “She didn’t die, if that’s what you mean.”

Wendy almost laughed, but caught herself and chuckled quietly instead. “It definitely could have gone worse. And I think she likes you.”

“I think she’s not as adverse to the Garou as she was when we first met,” Irene conceded, though she wouldn’t deign to entertain Wendy’s teasing. “But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

Wendy shrugged as she got more comfortable, letting her eyes close. “Whatever you say.”

“We have more important things to worry about.”

“Irene, we’re Garou. We’ll always have more important things to worry about. Why…” she paused for a yawn, “let that stop us?”

Irene said no more as she was left alone to her thoughts, the four other girls sleeping peacefully around her.