Winader, IL

News of Judith's death spread like wildfire, and by lunch, everyone was talking about it.

"Did you hear?"

"At a diner..."

"Heard she was having breakfast..."

"And then a dog..."

"out of nowhere!"

Avery slouched in his seat, poking the suspicious looking green stuff that was supposed to be "green beans". Only the green was accurate...

Although he appeared disinterest, internally his mind was swirling. First Christie, then Judith? He wasn't friends with either, but it was still strange. And...wasn't there that one guy like a week ago who also died weirdly? He thought he had seen it late on the news one night...

For the first time, you're finally thinking about girls, eh? the voice taunted.

No... he thought back sullenly, staring down his chocolate milk before gulping the last of it.

You know, both of them were kinda cute...shoulda tapped that when you had the chance!

Shut up... he crumpled the cardboard pint in his fist, squeezing hard before flipping it onto the styrofoam tray.

Shoulda kissed it, but ya missed it...

Seriously. Shut up!

Jesus! Was this one of those weird, latent puberty things where you can't even control your own thoughts? Yeesh. He'd have to tell Mira about it...or maybe not. He wasn't sure what she'd say. But for now, the voice was quiet, and he dumped the food before returning to his solitary table, waiting for lunch period to finish. Bored, he pulled out a nail he had snitched from shop and started carving into the table.

"A...Keeper?"

Kaz smiled across the hall. Harley had backed off a bit, the lunch period emptying the space for them to talk.

Her chin lifted, nose tight. "They're dead."

Clapping his hands together once, he praised sarcastically, "You listen to gossip as well, very good."

Harley's eyebrows rose, still shocked by his very presence it seemed. Kaz grinned at her stares, enjoying the attention for a brief moment he rarely received. Most people sneered, jeered, turned away their ear, anything else that rhymed that was negative. Normally, it didn't bother him, but given his life for the past ten years, he was questioning whether he should try to assimilate more and gain more of a relational perspective about others. People and animals and such. He wasn't very big on associating with plants, though he enjoyed eating them.

Toes wiggling a little, he remembered the dead body. Harley's eyes flicked down to his bare feet and he grinned. Someone finally noticed.

"Whether you believe that I am what I am, you do know that I have knowledge. I know your name. I know about the girl. I have a good idea who's causing it."

"B-But..."

"You're a smart girl," Kaz commended, standing and approaching her. She backed away into the wall, letting out a shocked gasp. Her deep brown didn't read fear, but hyper curiosity. Kaz knew he was a rarity and that fact that she even knew what a Keeper was gave him a small surge of hope, but he pushed it down. More important situations, people, objects and even plants, needed attention. "We can work together on this and stop him once and for all."

"Harley!"

A man, bald and burly, came bounding up the hall, radio raised in his thick fist.

"There was another attack."

Kaz's eyebrows rose. "Well," he grinned down to Harley. "Off we go."

**

Broad daylight. It had attacked in front of watching human eyes. Kaz had never heard of such a thing. Drearies were secretive canines, very deceptive and stealthy. And from the looks of it, his actions got him killed. Letting out a low breath, Kaz backed away from Harley and her officer friend (his name slipping his mind easily even though he could have read it on him just as easily) and glanced around the street.

Police cars. Ambulance. Dead girl. No, Kaz corrected with a bending frown. A dead Viren.

He recognized her at once. Judith. The water surrounding her twisted into ribbons, covering her eyes and loosening her muscles so her spirit could pass. Of course, no one else could see the intricacies of Viren passing, but as a Keeper, Kaz had the privilege and nightmare of seeing such a young being pass before her time in a magically horrific way.

The water sank into her skin, blue against a pale peach and it clawed and sucked, carving into her being with such force and speed that Judith's bodily reactions could not be seen by the naked human eye. Kaz swallowed and raised two fingers, kissing the tips. Two, because this was not the first Viren death he had witnessed. The kiss an apology. He couldn't protect her. He thought he would have more time.

When he heard his voice, speaking to the police and answering harshly direct questions, Kaz recognized him.

Grant.

Striding forward, he gazed to the boy. Both Viren had been in the same vicinity eh? Interesting. They were already coming together, pairing up, grouping, and all within hours of delivering his message. Kaz itched to break-up the interrogation and snatch Grant away. He was vulnerable. They all were. And now Kaz had no idea who the water Viren was. He had to protect those that he could.

Given what Grant just witnessed however, Kaz wondered if barging in would be such a good idea...

The officer restated his question. "When did you arrive?" Grant hadn't answered at first. Kaz attributed it to shock. And the earth Viren didn't look about to answer either. So Kaz did what he could.

"Hello officer," he introduced himself, holding out his hand and balancing back on his bare heels. The officer started, not returning the handshake at all. Kaz huffed a little and withdrew. "I would like to take my young nephew home if that's not too much trouble," he said, gesturing to Grant and telling the Viren with his eyes to play along if he wanted to get out of here without a hassle. "He's obviously had a long day and he wasn't involved. An animal did it, if I'm hearing correctly."

"Yes...but he witnessed the attack. We need his..."

"Grant," he addressed the earth Viren directly. "Did you see anything else besides a wolf attacking the girl?"

Grant looked up. Some guy had just showed up claiming to be his uncle. He was giving him a sort of look that Grant didn't recognize, but he was too shocked to even note that the 'uncle' ploy would never work. When he asked about the attack, Grant just shook his head. "I just... That was a wolf? Looked like some kinda dog outta Hell..." He was a city boy at heart and had never even seen a picture of a wolf. Never really looked. He shook his head. The whole thing was getting to him. "Damn... No, it just came in and attacked her, then..." He gestured vaguely with his hands. "Poof. Vanished. I don't even know what..."

He shook his head. This whole thing was just way too much for him. What was that? Was that really what a wolf looked like? Way different from the cartoons, even the movies. Scarier. He looked up again at the man claiming to know him. This guy was pretending to be his uncle? Dude was white. Were they supposed to be related by marriage or something? Whatever. Right now he just wanted to get away from the police's questions. If that meant going with this guy, then Grant could fight his way out if he had to. "Can... Can I go now? I really just... I wanna go."

After a bit more hustle and bustle, or what the officers called "protocol," Kaz drew Grant aside and squinted into his eyes curiously, indeed seeing shock and confusion, but the underlying Viren inside. Not liking this stage, Kaz kept his mouth shut about it, not wanting to scare Grant either and simply asked, "Did you receive a letter this morning?"

**

Winader Bus Station. Hopping out and tossing the loose end of his scarf over his shoulder, the newcomer breathed in the air, not exactly fresh, and readjusted his thin black bag on his shoulder. Usually he contacted who he wanted to find beforehand. Made things easier, but interacting with a Keeper these days had to be handled with care.

Especially this one.

Brushing a lock of white-blonde hair aside, Viktor blinked his deep green eyes once and took out his GPS briefly to guide him in the right direction. If he was correct, the Keeper was staying in a bar. So Viktor found a motel just across the way and strolled his way there with a lean grace. It took an hour, but walking always suited Viktor because his thoughts ran on a constant rhythmic beat anyway. Beat. Beat. Beat. And walking provided a counterpart, a way to play with the constant metronome inside his head.

Once the room was paid for, Viktor waited, laptop up and eyes trained out the window to the bar across the street. He would give it a day. If he didn't see the Keeper, he would look elsewhere.

Viktor sniffed at a small bag of fries he had purchased earlier that day. Where he came from, such fried foods weren't allowed. He tasted one, winced, but ate another. Then tried the red ketchup sauce. Strange, but not bad.

He put his boots up on the opposite chair, green gaze fixed on the bar between the slits of his blinds.

Grant blinked. How did he know about that? "A letter?" He repeated dumbly. "Uh, yeah, said to go to the- Did you send that? What the hell is going on here? What was that thing, why did it- Why did it attack Jude?" His head was swimming with questions and no answers in sight, but this guy seemed to know a lot more than he was saying. Besides, while Grant knew about as much about wolves as you could learn from cartoons, he was pretty sure they didn't just turn into dust when they died. For that matter, they also didn't come to Chicago. And shouldn't someone have noticed a bigass hellhound running through the streets?

As expected, the Viren had questions. But they were questions he wanted to say only once. He had planned Saturday's meeting for that reason. "Yes, I sent it," he stated, guiding Grant further away from the crime scene. Kaz noted Harley and her friend weren't as keen to abandon any clues. Kaz already knew what happened, so didn't bother.

"I know you're confused," he began again, pulling at a piece of light hair. "But if you hear voices, see a uh...well, apparitions? Listen to him. Or her. Listen to them. Ask them questions. I...I have a uh...business. I have business."

His fingers locked together in a strange pattern, but his fingers weren't the issue. The issue remained that he needed to catch the owner of that Dreary, but with the Viren on target as well as innocent victims, well, it was hard just to cast Grant back out into the world without some sort of protection. He was living alone, or so it appeared. Kaz couldn't say for certain, though he was quite good at guessing these types of things.

"Grant...I...well...I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone. Would you mind accompanying me? On my...investigation?" Kaz sized him up, noting his build, his expression, the darkness swirling in dips and folds in his aura. "I'd like to keep an eye on you. You may be...a target as well."

Grant shook his head, clearing it of the shock. Or maybe it was just suppressed. Either way, all that occurred to him at the moment was that he was starting to get pissed. This guy just walks up, pretends to know him, then drops these vague hints and refuses to actually tell him anything. What the fuck? And the letter, the 'apparition', he was talking about Anastasya. Now he knew about her too, but again he wouldn't say anything, and somehow he now expected Grant to just follow him around.

"Hold up," the teenager said stubbornly. "You think I'm gonna just run around with you and not get any answers? How do you know all this? If I'm going anywhere, you're gonna tell me stuff - starting with what the hell is going on here." He set his gaze firmly on the mystery man's eyes. Grant's mother often told him he could be as stubborn as a rock in a raging river; he'd stand his ground until it dried up rather than get swept along. He wasn't much for the philosophy and never was a strong swimmer, but stubborn he could do. He would get his answers.

Briefly, Kaz smiled. The stubbornness of a teenager. One of the many things that fascinated him. But also, wasn't great at this moment in time.

"There's...a lot. Well...not a lot, but not a little either. It's...complicated?" Kaz brushed back hands into his hair and let out a puffing exhalation. "I suppose...I can't exactly not answer. Can I?" His eyes flicked to Grant. "Can I?" The Viren's face read no.

Glancing around, Kaz sighed and nodded. "All right...but first we should find the others. If I'm doing this now, I'm doing this once."

Mumbling about how he had plans for Saturday and that things never went to schedule and how he should have known this would happen, Kaz tugged a few pieces of paper from the waistband of his pants. Two were from a yellow legal pad. One was crumbled and torn at the bottom. One was a napkin.

"Let's visit...uh...who's closest to here?" Kaz looked up, turned around on the spot, then nodded. "Ms. Virelli. Yes. Tally ho then, and all that."

Kaz led the way in his sandals, all the while trying to strike up a conversation with Grant. The thing was, Kaz cared little for small talk, but knew human teenagers tended to need a way to distract from stress or confusion. "I'll explain everything," Kaz promised as they rounded the corner into a neighborhood. "What a Viren is. Who you are. It's all very complicated, like I said. I say it a lot. It's true, therefore I say it. But you must already know how complicated it is. You've heard the voice, I presume. You should have at least. Some hear it for years...even if they aren't called at all. It's rather...peculiar...in my opinion. The connections between Viren and the previous are..."

Kaz blinked, checked his paper, then pointed to the house they had paused at. "Ah, here we are."

Leaping up onto the porch, Kaz rapped his knuckles on the door and rang the doorbell to finish off his rhythm. He smiled to Grant, wondering if it looked genuine or not. He supposed not. He wasn't in the best of mood. He was actually quite nervous, which was odd for him. Nervous. Around a teenager. How very odd.

Grant was becoming increasingly convinced that this man was insane. He was rambling like a crazy person, making up words like a crazy person, smiling like a crazy person... Generally acting exactly like a crazy person. And he was talking about people who heard stuff. Grant was thinking maybe he heard a few too many voices himself. When the guy wasn't looking, he summoned a few nearby pebbles into his hands and slipped them inside his fingerless gloves, where they shifted and reformed into knuckle coverings. Give his punches a little more punch.

"I'ma warn you right now," he said once the ranting reached a pause. "If you turn out to be some crazy psycho stalker dude, I been beating up punks since I was seven. I ain't some wuss." That and he could hit the guy with a boulder. Probably just rip one up from the street or something. Turned out concrete was a rock. But Anastasya kept telling him to keep all rock-hurling powers on the DL, so leave that for a last resort. Still, despite his concerns, the situation did not come to blows. At least not before they reached a house where the mailbox outside said 'Virelli.' Wasn't that one of the words the dude made up? Maybe it was a name. Grant just got ready to find out.

No answer at the door. Not a splendid situation. Not with Grant being impatient and young and a Viren with strength and obvious anger. Kaz noted the warning from before, then turned on his heel off the porch, searching for another name to contact. He only had one. Judith was dead. Why did people have to go and die and make his life more complicated than it had to be and...

He had only taken two steps away from the house before he stopped and turned back to Grant.

"I'm going to do something," he informed him, both palms held up. "It won't hurt. It might tickle, I'm not sure, but I truly, truly, just need to use you for this. Judith is dead and you're...a Viren and have connections and...Hold still."

Placing his hands on Grant's shoulders, he stared into the boy's eyes hard, sifting through the rush, the initial pang of power balled up into an untapped energy, pulsing, growling. Kaz pushed further, took the ball into his mind and searched. Sweat expanded along his brow, body shaking. Reading Viren was always difficult with direct contact. Especially tapping into their connection with each other. This was the only way to find Judith's replacement though, the water Viren that had been called just this morning. Grant wouldn't have noticed the shift of connection, not yet in his early stage, but it was there, readable.

Kaz finally saw her face, saw her name.

He had only touched Grant for a minute, but felt exhausted. Pulling away, he gasped for breath and leaned against the porch railing, trying to ignore the snippets of the Viren's past he had stolen a glance of before finding the water Viren. Odette Crest.

"Found her," he grumbled, head splitting right between the eyes. He tried to play it off, pushing his hair back. "Avery is closer though. We'll head to him first."

The only thing that kept Grant from reacting with rock-assisted punching when this crazy guy grabbed his shoulders and went all creepy 'stare into my eyes' psychic or whatever was Anastasia appearing behind him and shaking her head, making 'stay calm' motions with her hands and generally discouraging any attempt to clock this guy. Now it's not that Grant was angry or even of a violent nature, but seriously: This dude was just so incredibly creepy he had to be a stalker or something. That's not to say he wasn't kind of mad after everything that had happened, but he didn't hit people just 'cause they made him mad. He hit them because they were bullies, or thugs, or creepy stalkers who may or may not be genuinely insane.

When it finished Grant felt the need to caution him, "Whatever that was, you ain't gonna do that again. Now what the hell was that? And who's Avery?" The name rang a bell, like he'd heard it somewhere before, but he couldn't figure where. Whatever, probably nothing.

School went by drearily, as it always did. Today, though, with the two deaths, there was an extra layer of doom and gloom. At least the voice seemed to have quieted down...

That is, until he left for home.

He could barely concentrate on where he was going, the stupid voice babbling about everything. Pedaling faster didn't change anything, and after he nearly crashed into a parked car he was forced to go slow.

Maybe I'm actually going crazy... he thought miserably at a red-light as the voice woo-hooed a couple ladies, This is ridiculous...

He finally reached his apartment building in one piece, yet the voice doubled in volume as he went inside.

THE MAILBOX! DUDE, CHECK THE MAILBOX! THE MAILBOX, YOU IDIOT! CHECKKKKKK IIIIIIIT!

"Okay, FINE!" Avery shouted, even though he was the only one there. Grumbling to himself, he walked over to the mailbox and pulled it open...

"Right," was all Kaz had to offer in response to Grant's questions. He needed a moment more to recuperate, but didn't have the moment. Or even a second. He started leading the way down the street again, huffing as he kicked off his sandals and left them in the gutter. Bare feet he preferred.

After a moment, he offered a bit more. "I read you, in a sense. I have the ability to uh...well...glean...information from others. I can usually learn a lot from simply looking at a person, the curse of being what I am and who I am at this moment in time. There aren't many like me. Not...anymore...anyway..." he trailed off for a bit, lost in thought. Then he snapped his fingers twice. "But yes! Avery is someone like you, though of course not exactly like you, not you in the slightest sense of your identity, but you share a common identity in that you both are Viren."

He wasn't sure why he kept talking. He was nervous, that was certain. He was always nervous when it came to Viren business, but he had sworn to only explain himself once and here he was, ready to spill the beans, as it were, to only one of them. The incident with Judith, something he should have prevented, ached inside his chest however. A dull ache. Stabbing memories back into the present.

"Basically," he sighed, turning a corner and pointing to the apartment building in the distance they were heading to. "You fight evil. Evil manifested as monsters, demons, creatures of the night, the bogeyman and the tooth fairy. Ech, fairies..."

They finally reached the apartment building, entering the lobby while Kaz tried to read which apartment they were looking for. when he found it, he was surprised to see Avery standing at the mailboxes for the building, conveniently placed and conveniently alone.

"Avery!"

He grabbed him, turned him about, grinned wide and laughed heartily. "Wonderful! You have to come with us. Now. Yes?"

What in the hell??

He didn't say anything, to shocked, and admittedly, frightened to curse. He tried to comprehend this strange man's words. Come with us? Now? No...

He felt himself grow warmer...with fear? Anger? No, he wasn't angry. But he was confused and wanted out. He heatedly twisted away from the man's grasp, abandoning his bicycle as he bolted up the stairs. He'd hate to lose his bike, but if it was that versus his life...

Halfway up, the voice in his head shouted: Wait!

Strangely, he stopped, halting on the stairs and breathing heavily, adrenaline still coursing through his veins. "What is it?" he snapped under his haggard breath. At that moment he prayed he wouldn't get an attack now. He remembered he had left his inhaler on his bike. There was a special compartment for it he had made in case he ever had an attack on a ride. And he didn't have his backpack with him...

Stop running away. I think....hmmm....that man seems familiar....I haven't seem him before, but....hmmm....

"What are you talking about? I've never seen him in my life!" Avery hissed.

Neither have I. By the way, you needn't talk out loud to me. People will think you're crazy.

"There is a voice talking to me in my head that isn't mine!" he shouted, frustrated and pissed off, "How isn't that crazy??"

Indeed, anyone who was walking down the stairs might have seen him as such. His eyes were wide, dark circles underneath more prominent, and he was clutching his head and pacing back and forth, mumbling to himself. Finally he collapsed onto a stair, head in hands and staring widely at his shoes. The man was still at least three floors beneath him. He'd hear if he started coming up the staircase. By any chance, did he have something to do with this?

Now that was really crazy talk.

Kaz followed him, bare feet cold on the stairs.

"Avery?" he called, hearing the boy's mumbling. When he finally found him, he sighed and bent down so they were eye level. "I'm not going to hurt you and no, you're not crazy. Hearing voices doesn't actually sound like that, just so you know. You have a distinct other person connected to you, not some manifested...well, I'm not getting technical or helping. I'm Kaz," he introduced, sticking out a hand. "And I am in need of your attention."

The kid looked spooked. Kaz didn't like spooking people. But he usually had that effect on others, so usually ignored it. But not with Viren, not with those he needed by his side. With his other hand, he smoothed his hair and then tried to put on a smile, wondering if it looked comforting.

Avery looked at the hand suspiciously. He had already said....what was his name...Kaz had already said he wouldn't hurt him...but shaking hands was a sign of friendliness. Apprehensive trust. And Avery was in no mood for that.

Ahhhh....KAZ... the voice interrupted, so that's what he looks like...hmmph....but anyways, he's right you know. You should go with him

"I..." he started to say, before catching himself. Thinking back while averting Kaz's eyes and weird smile, he thought: I don't trust anyone. Least of all you or him

That's a lie. the voice smirked, What about that hot sister of yours?

Mira.

Without another word, he ran back up the stairs as fast as he could, not once looking back until he reached his apartment. The door was unlocked, meaning she was home early. He burst inside, slamming the door shut and locking both locks quickly.

"Avery!" his sister exclaimed, "What the hell? The hell is your problem??"

"there...there's this guy," he said breathlessly, heading to the kitchen where she stood, apron tied and holding a vegetable knife. She had been chopping peppers. "If he comes up here, don't let him in. He's crazy."

She didn't look impressed. Hand on her hip, still wielding the knife, she asked, "You're not speaking in third person, are you?"

"No, Mira, listen! He...he wants to take me somewhere. I ran away before he could but he was weird and he said the voices I'm hearing are connected to me and I left my bicycle downstairs and...and..."

She still didn't look too impressed, but she did look worried. "Okay, okay, calm down before you give yourself an attack," she said, "If he does come up here, I'll let him know who's boss."

"Just don't let him in" Avery pleaded, but she didn't seem to listen.

Grant watched for a moment as this guy - Avery - reacted in the way he felt a sane, rational human being ought to react to this Kaz guy: He ran off without a word. Grant was starting to wonder why he hadn't just done that. Well, now Kaz the Creep was busy running off after someone else, he could easily make his getaway. Wouldn't even have to run, he could just walk around the corner and get lost in the crowd. Though that would mean leaving this Avery dude with the creepy, possibly-really-actually-insane Kaz guy. Grant could take care of himself, and take care of anyone who tried to mess with him, but that guy might not have the same experience...

Suddenly concerned, the teenager bolted into the apartment building after Kaz. Once inside, though, his plan hit a slight snag: He had no idea where they had both gone. He looked around frantically until he spotted Anastasya, who had as per usual appeared out of nowhere while he wasn't looking and was standing serenely by the corner. "Where'd they go?" He asked.

Anastasya pointed up the stairs. "You must follow the one called Kaz," she told him, "he has the-"

Grant cut her off. "I'm following him to stop him doing something crazy to that Avery guy," he said, bolting up the stairs. "I don't know if he's an earthbender too or something, but I know I can handle crazy people."

"You are not an earth-" Anastasya began to protest for maybe twelfth time that week, but it was pointless. Grant was already on the second floor and still moving.