The Secret-Keepers

Mapleview, North Carolina.
December 17th, 1988.
4:51 P.M.

Just after Vincent stepped through the dark, quivering mass that hovered in the spacious interior of the south wing—he found himself directly face to face with the cold metal garage door, standing in the pitch-blackness and reaching over to the right.

He hit a switch on the wall’s inner side, and the mechanisms suddenly shifted—the door slowly rising up and opening before him, revealing the wide-open room with the dimly-lit ambiance that he’d just wandered through a short while ago.

Vincent stepped out of the supernatural darkness, taking a quick glance around and adjusting his hat, lowering its brim over his eyes. He noticed no one was around, and he hit the button on the wall, the garage door lowering and sealing the rift shut behind him.

He then broke into a brisk stride, marching down the dark, narrow hallways of the lab until he reached the west wing—and he stopped at the room that resided at the very end of the hallway, his own living quarters, one of the few rooms that hadn’t been entirely changed since the lab’s initial destruction. He pushed the door open, stepping across his messy living room area and stopping at the cluttered kitchenette to his left, plucking a small pair of sleek purple sunglasses from the counter before he walked back out to the hallway.

Just when he closed the door to his living quarters and locked it, he turned to walk off—and he found himself facing both Valek and Victoria, who were strolling down the hall toward him.

“Ahhh… there he is, man of the hour,” Valek smirked. “Looking a right sight better than you did an hour or so ago, I must say.”

Vincent paused, pushing up the sunglasses with his knuckle and making a nod. “Just needed a rest, I guess. What have I missed?”

Valek stopped in front of him, hands pocketed in his black overcoat, his matching hat slightly crooked atop his head. He was quiet for a second, his eyes narrowing, surveying his son.

“Well… before we get back to it, I thought I’d, uh… check on you,” the demon said. “You’re not usually still awake by the time all of that is over. I found that a bit… unusual.”

Vincent stared at him expressionlessly for a moment, not responding right away. His mind was still a vague, bleary fog with everything that had led up to this point in time—but, judging by the way Valek spoke, it seemed that the man most assuredly was accustomed to putting his own son through the procedure on some kind of routine basis.

Vincent felt a spark of anger at noticing this, but he swallowed and masked it best he could. Still, he wasn’t entirely sure how to reply, and quite honestly, he had no idea how he usually responded to these things. He felt strange; before, everything always seemed to unfold like a long, dark movie, with many scenes and events in between completely blank or distant, disjointed, and faded—but now, everything in the world looked and felt crisp, sharp, incredibly clear, bright, and detailed, as if he truly had been living inside of a dream until now.

He hardly remembered how he normally acted as his old demonic self—and he knew that version of him was what Valek expected to see.

“Couldn’t tell you much,” Vincent said with a shrug. “I just remember waking up feeling like hell… and by the way, what the hell did you do here?”

He pointed up and down the scarred half of his face.

Valek chuckled. “That was just a lesson, son… and… potentially a bit of a… precaution.”

Vincent lowered his hand, giving him a questioning look.

“You’d been straying a bit too much,” Valek explained. “I just needed to put you right again. Don’t think too hard about it.”

“Why’re you wearing sunglasses?” Victoria asked, folding her arms and giving him a snarky sort of smirk. “You know it’s snowing outside, don’t you?”

“And you know there’s still a sun outside, don’t you?” Vincent replied curtly.

“Now, now, children… don’t start quarreling like an old married couple,” Valek laughed. “I have some news that I’m sure you’ll both be excited to hear.”

Vincent and Victoria both turned to him expectantly.

“Construction is done. New security measures are in place. So…” Valek said with a knowing smile, planting his hands together. “I think we are just about ready to start running little reconnaissance missions on our rifts through time.”

“Ooo,” Victoria grinned. “Finally, something exciting to do.”

“I think what we’ll do is… we will each pick the most capable member of our unit, prepare them for a little trip, and accompany them through whatever rift that particular unit is assigned to explore,” Valek explained. “The two-man team will run reconnaissance, take plenty of notes, collect whatever they can find to determine the date and time on the other side, and then they will come back here and catalog that information. We’ll be able to label all of our little gateways with precise dates and times when we’re all done… and we’ll be working on three rifts at a time as well, one rift per unit.”

“Sounds good,” Vincent said.

“Okay, but how do we assign which unit gets which rifts?” Victoria inquired.

“Well… doesn’t really matter, does it?” Valek replied. “We can simply sweep the building from one end to the other, and whichever unit moves on the fastest gets to explore whatever rift comes next, first come first serve sort of thing.”

“Okay,” Victoria nodded. “So… sweep it east to west? North to south? What?”

“I’d say north to south,” Vincent proposed. “Easy for everyone to remember the movements that way.”

Valek snapped and pointed at him. “Then north to south it is… so that big garage door in the south wing will be the finish line, last one we hit.”

“How ‘bout that,” Vincent uttered.

“Aw… I wanted to be the one to go through the garage door,” Victoria frowned, crossing her arms again. “That’s the biggest rift here. You just know it’s gotta go somewhere interesting.”

“You very well might get to explore it, Victoria,” Valek told her. “It all depends on who works their way back to the south wing first.”

Vincent and Victoria glanced at each other, Victoria smirking, Vincent eyeing her challengingly.

“Now, remember… for the time being, this is just reconnaissance, nothing more,” Valek reminded them. “We’re not actually going out looking for our little runaways yet… but, if you do happen to see them, then that would be worth adding to your notes so we can plan accordingly later.”

“Gotcha,” Victoria agreed.

“Duly noted,” Vincent affirmed.

“And.” Valek raised a finger, his eyes shifting between the two of them. “Absolutely no wandering through the rifts before the reconnaissance missions are done. Reconnaissance is done first for a reason. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that, son.”

Vincent made a face, his eyes narrowing. “And… why are you directing that at me?”

“Oh… come, now. You must know,” Valek replied with a peculiar smile.

There was a pause.

The father and son stared at one another, Victoria glancing between them, looking lost.

Vincent began to feel the slightest bit unnerved, but he didn’t show a hint of it.

Valek stared for a moment longer, examining his son very intensely now.

“Blimey,” he rasped seconds later. “Do you remember nothing from the Royal Navy? I’m fairly certain that reconnaissance was something that they drilled into your bloody head.”

Vincent didn’t speak, his eyes wandering down as he paused for a moment to think. It took him a second to realize what his father was talking about; Vincent was—a very long time ago—a part of the British military, a fact that he’d apparently forgotten about himself, until his father reminded him just now.

“Well… no… I suppose you wouldn’t remember at this point,” Valek realized, scratching along his brow. “Ah well. In any case… we’ll just divide ourselves based on the east, middle, and west portions of the facility, and we will all work our way back to the south wing. All right?”

“I’ll take the east,” Vincent volunteered.

“I’ll go west,” Victoria shrugged.

“Then I’ll be front and center,” Valek determined. “All right… I’ll leave you two alone to start organizing things, and pick out whichever member of your unit you’d like to take with you. I’ll be off to do much the same.”

He turned and walked down the hall, and Victoria gave Vincent a smile and a wink before sauntering off as well.

Vincent stared after them for a moment, taking a deep, angry breath and feeling agitated by several things at once, but he forced them all into the back of his mind before he broke into a brisk stride himself.

As he walked across the facility, striding beneath the long fluorescent lights in its narrow hallways, his mind began racing at once. Planning, connecting things, and arranging situations was a skill of his, and he was always a master at his craft—but now, his every thought felt clearer, not alluding him or becoming lost to a fog of forgetfulness, not causing him any sense of confusion. Every connection running through his mind was suddenly sharp and precise, and none of them escaped his mind by the time he reached his office on the east side of the north wing, stepping into the room and swinging the door shut behind him.

His office was in the north corner, giving him a window that faced the front of the property, though there wasn’t much to see outside other than the expanse of woodlands and a few of the organization’s black cars with the tinted windows glistening beneath the afternoon sun. In front of this window was his over-cluttered desk, a clipboard and several papers in the center, a white coffee mug off to the side, a single reading lamp, and a cup containing pens and pencils near the edge. Along the right wall were a few tall filing cabinets, a black clock on the wall above them, and on the left wall was an old, framed portrait of a ship from WW2.

Vincent paused in front of his desk, pressed his fingers to his temples, and let out a large cloud of breath, his mind still positively racing.

Then, he walked over to the filing cabinets and grabbed the Mapleview phonebook from the top of them, sitting in his rolling chair and smacking the thick book down onto the desk’s surface. He flipped it open and began swiping the pages aside with one hand, only stopping when he spotted what he was looking for—the name and the phone number of a business called Mapleview Eyeglass & Contacts .

He pressed his finger to it, tapping it twice, then reached over and pulled his clipboard closer, plucking a pen from his pencil cup and writing rather quickly. In a fast series of swipes, he impulsively jotted down; east side, two rifts, seven days, 3 days each rift.

Vincent paused, staring down at his sloppy cursive writing and thinking to add something else beneath it. He also wrote out; Daniel Whittaker .

Yes, Daniel Whittaker was probably the sharpest and most competent member of his unit—and with the use of that man, he was certain he could clear the two rifts between here and the south wing rather swiftly, taking no more than 3 days to do each one. He could stop by Mapleview Eyeglass & Contacts tomorrow and purchase a contact lens that would make his right eye appear darker—and, if he timed everything correctly, then his final reconnaissance mission this week would take him directly through the garage door, just when he was meant to meet Amory.

After all—Vincent Hawthorn was one of only a scarce few people in Canterbury Lab who knew the full reality of the procedures they ran here, and he knew for certain that every single employee here was required to undergo the procedure upon the hiring process.

This meant that every member of the organization had been exposed to demons.

And—if Vincent were to escort Daniel Whittaker to the other side of the garage door, where Amory resided—then perhaps that man could be rid of his demonic afflictions, just in the same way Vincent himself had been.

This would be the beginning.

Vincent wasn’t entirely sure when or how he would be able to do the same for the rest of his unit—but this was the surest way to begin the process of breaking his own portion of Canterbury Lab away from the rest of the wicked people here.

And—if he was truly going to take the fight to his father someday—then he most assuredly needed as many people on his side as he could possibly get.

As he’d said—this was where he operated best, and this was the playground that he knew how to play in. He absolutely wanted to keep it; he wanted to keep his comfort zone intact, to keep his skillset in use, and to gather as much support against his father as he could. Besides—several unknowingly possessed people could be saved and liberated from everything the lab had done to them, and that would be a fantastic accomplishment as well.

All of it would come together when the time came.

Vincent leaned far back in his seat and propped his feet on the edge of his desk, crossing one leg over the other. He pulled out another one of his menthols, lit it, and pocketed his lighter, inhaling from his cigarette and releasing a gentle cloud of smoke up into the air.

“Well’p,” he said with a sly, devilish smirk. “Now we’re playing the long game…”

Mapleview, North Carolina.
October 10th, 2025.
4:09 P.M.

Amory and Zyon suddenly appeared in the driveway of Evervale Manor—Amory staggering slightly on the gravel, feeling disoriented at having someone else transport him.

After gathering his bearings, he traded a glance with Zyon, then the two of them began strolling up to the stoop, neither of them paying mind to the two white trucks in the driveway, both with beds that were filled with building supplies, meaning that the construction crew was here again. They both pushed the front doors open and walked inside, crossing the enormous main room and heading toward the long back hall, hearing voices from the kitchen.

“I’m going upstairs to sleep,” Zyon said, patting him on the back. “Have a nice afternoon.”

“Okay,” Amory nodded. “Have a nice nap… again. Seeya in a week or two.”

Zyon gave him a flattened sort of smile before turning and marching away.

Amory laughed and walked through the wide doorway of the kitchen, and he noticed many things all at once.

Across this spacious room were the many big windows depicting the massive expanse of the backyard. The windows were open, allowing the fresh air to breeze inside, and he was able to see and hear everything out back, the tall grass, the many concrete walkways, the autumn leaves, the trees, and the men in yellow vests standing at the base of the largest tree, talking and gesturing up at the top of it as they continued to plan for the treehouse. Crowe and Raven were standing outside as well, talking to the construction crew and telling them exactly how they wanted the treehouse to be made—and farther to the left, Iggy was by his lonesome on one of the concrete paths, fighting a never-ending battle with the thick and endless blankets of autumn leaves all around him. He was holding a rake, and he was trying his best to clear the walkway of all the leaves, but the mounds of leaves simply continued spilling off of the tall grass and coating the pavement over and over again.

Elaine was standing at the kitchen counter, cooking something wonderful-smelling on the stove, and Xena was seated at the bar, using her laptop with Aravali hovering over her shoulder, staring interestingly at it—but Amory’s attention was on the outside, and he strolled across the kitchen and approached the nearest window, eyeballing Iggy in bewilderment.

“Hey!” Amory shouted out at him. “Iggy! Iggyyyyyy! What’re you doing?!”

Iggy straightened up and raised his eyebrows at him, then held out the rake and motioned to the oceans of leaves in every direction.

“I’m, aaah… tryinna make it walkable out here, boss!” he responded, his voice hoarser when he yelled.

Amory was laughing breathlessly, shaking his head at him. “You know you don’t have to do that, right…?”

“Mmm… m’yeah… but there’s people walkin’ out here,” Iggy said, swatting loosely over in the general direction of the construction crew.

“But you don’t have to do it like that,” Amory snickered in amusement, raising his arm and making a flourishing motion at the backyard.

At once—all of the leaves near Iggy suddenly went flying backward, scattering far across the open land and fluttering toward the back of the yard in a great gust of reds and oranges. Iggy reeled back and shielded his face as the leaves washed over him—and the five construction men all turned around, watching in befuddlement as the huge wave of leaves soared across the backyard and whizzed far away from them all.

A moment of silence fell after the leaves were gone, Iggy lowering his arms and his rake, the construction men all staring at the back of the yard where a great mess of leaves were now covering the bushes and the fence in the far distance, a few of them muttering things like “Now what in the holy hell was that?”

Iggy glanced around at the suddenly cleared walkways, then blew a raspberry, tossed the rake into the tall grass, and simply walked away.

Amory continued listening to the baffled remarks of the construction crew for a second, laughing even harder and grinning like a child. Then, he turned away from the window and approached the bar, sitting on a stool beside Xena and peeking over at her laptop screen.

Xena was taking a test in her online psychology course, and she had just ended up on a multiple choice page. Aravali was reading the questions from over her shoulder, his hand resting on the bar as the two of them traded conversation.

“What section are we at now?” Aravali asked.

“This is the part where I basically have to match the disorders with their descriptions,” Xena replied, pointing at her screen. “It gives me a description of a disorder, and I have to pick which disorder it’s describing.”

“All right… what’s this one say?” Aravali leaned closer, reading the description aloud. “A dissociative disorder characterized by the presence of at least two personality states or ‘alters’ resulting from childhood trauma.”

“A, Bipolar Disorder—B, Schizophrenia—C, Dissociative Identity Disorder—or D, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,” Xena listed.

Aravali stared at the four choices, making a strange face. “Okay… I think that’s a trick question, because the correct answer isn’t on there.”

“Yeah it is,” Xena said.

“No… no, I’m fairly certain it’s describing Multiple-Personality Disorder,” Aravali explained. “But that isn’t listed as an option.”

“Yeah it is—it’s right there,” Xena insisted, tapping on the screen and pointing at option C. “Dissociative Identity Disorder is Multiple-Personality Disorder. They’re the same thing. Multiple-Personality Disorder was renamed in 1994.”

“Oooh,” Aravali nodded with understanding. “Okay… well… then yes. Pick that one.”

Xena clicked on C, then turned and spotted Amory sitting beside her, leaning on the bar with folded arms and simply smiling at her.

“Well… hey, stranger,” Xena said with a smirk. “You kinda worried me.”

“I know… I’m sorry,” Amory replied, still smiling. “But I’m glad to be home.”

Xena squinted curiously at him. “What’re you so happy about?”

Amory made a sideways nod, not knowing exactly how to reply. In all honesty, he was delighted; he’d discovered that Vincent was still alive, he’d saved the man’s life, and now, Vincent Hawthorn was his friend again, even working as a double agent for him. He’d gotten Zyon to agree to the whole thing—the angel was genuinely proud of him for what he had done—and now, he had returned home on a cozy Friday afternoon, where his friends all lived, enjoying the outdoors, making a delicious dinner, and working on their projects together, a wonderful, peaceful life like he never thought he could have. Amory truly did feel happier than ever now.

“Just am,” he shrugged.

Xena returned his smile, glancing at her laptop screen and giving the next question a quick read before she selected an answer.

“Well… I’m guessing you didn’t find anything bad out there,” she muttered absentmindedly as she continued to answer her test questions. “That’s good…”

Aravali spared Amory a thoughtful glimpse, then looked to Xena again, watching as she clicked through the questions with no difficulty.

“You seem to have the hang of it now,” the doctor said.

“Yeah… I think I got this,” Xena nodded, turning and giving him a smile. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Aravali replied, facing Amory. “Well? Ready?”

Amory blinked and stared at him. “Ready…?”

“Yes… you chose Friday afternoons, remember?” Aravali reminded him, pulling up the end of his sleeve and tapping on his watch. “Session time.”

“Oooh… oh, yeah, okay,” Amory nodded, sliding off his stool. “Yeah, let’s go.”

“Dinner should be ready by the time you’re done,” Elaine announced from the stove, mixing a large pot of chili.

Aravali nodded at her, then he and Amory walked out of the room. The two of them trekked up the stairs, entered the second floor hallway, and strolled past the doctor’s bedroom, opening the room next to it and entering what was now the office of Aravali Chavan.

The door swung shut, and Aravali seated himself behind his large desk, intertwining his fingers as Amory sat in the recliner across from him.

“So. Anything new to tell me?” Aravali asked. “Any update about the nightmares…?”

“Oh… no… actually, they were already starting to get better, but I think… I honestly think they’re gonna stop altogether now,” Amory replied.

“Yeah?” Aravali said. “Why’s that?”

Amory looked down, flashing a faint smile and hesitating before he answered. He’d had a few frightful nightmares about Vincent’s death over the past couple of weeks, but now, he felt certain that he wouldn’t be bothered by this anymore.

Aravali read his expression astutely. “Now… why do I get the feeling there’s something you’re not telling me?”

Amory glanced at him and instantly looked away, fidgeting with his sleeve. “I’unno…”

“Well… looks like it might actually be good news, whatever it is,” Aravali observed. “Why don’t you just go ahead and tell me? This is all confidential, you know.”

“I know… I just don’t think you’d be happy about it like I am,” Amory suspected. “And I kinda don’t wanna hear a lecture about Stockholm Syndrome again…”

Aravali stared, his brow hardening, examining him intently.

“Where did you go today?” the doctor inquired.

Amory bit his lip, staring off to the side again.

“Amory,” Aravali said, raising his eyebrows at him. “Did you time-travel today?”

“No… I didn’t,” Amory promised. “I honestly didn’t.”

“Then where did you go?” Aravali asked again. “And why does it sound like you’ve done something potentially dangerous that you don’t want to tell me about?”

Amory stared at him with conflict, sighing heavily.

He still felt very strongly that he shouldn’t tell his friends about Vincent—but, admittedly, Aravali was the most level-headed one of the bunch, and if the doctor truly kept everything confidential, then he wouldn’t go and tell the others. He knew Aravali probably wouldn’t be happy about the arrangement—but perhaps he would at least understand it, and he would certainly approach the issue with more clarity than Crowe or Raven would.

“Okay… you know how Crowe calls us Manchurian Candidates?” Amory said.

Aravali made a nod. “Yes… but he’s only joking, you know. Manchurian Candidates aren’t exactly like what Canterbury patients are. They’re more like…”

“Brainwashed sleeper-cells,” Amory understood. “Yeah… I know. Well… it turns out… that kind of… is what some of the Canterbury people are. And… Vincent was one of them.”

Aravali fell silent, giving him a long, deep stare.

“But… but with demons,” Amory added, waving loosely around his own head. “They brainwash people into being sleeper-cell super-soldiers… and they use demons. That’s what they did with Vincent, and he didn’t remember everything he did, and it screwed him up in the head… and it doesn’t help that his dad is a demon… but… um… anyway, I think… I might have… fixed that.”

Aravali continued staring at him.

“Amory,” he said softly moments later, leaning slightly closer. “How could you have… fixed that? Vincent is dead , is he not?”

Amory met his gaze, making a slow, halfhearted shrug.

Aravali cocked his head, eyeing him very closely. “If that man survived somehow… and if you have actually seen him… then that is a very serious issue that needs to be discussed.”

“Hey… hey, don’t worry about it,” Amory said, raising his hand and trying to sound comforting, but the doctor looked incredibly grave and intense now. “I already talked to Zyon about it. We’re not in danger or anything. I just… ran into Vincent today… that’s all.”

“That’s all …?” Aravali muttered in astonishment. “Oh good Lord. So many parts of that need explaining, I don’t even know where to start…”

Amory nodded, took a deep breath, and started talking—and he spoke for almost ten straight minutes, explaining every single detail of what had happened today when he visited the ruins of the lab. Finally, he finished his entire story and stopped talking, and Aravali fad fallen deathly still and quiet in his seat, his hands intertwined atop his desk, and his eyes gazing down at it, his face devoid of feeling.

Nearly another full minute passed before he responded.

“Okay…” Aravali sighed and closed his eyes, making a wincing sort of expression and massaging his temples. “Okay… you’re saying you… cleansed him?”

“Yeah,” Amory answered nonchalantly, as if he was talking about something totally normal.

“So you believe he’s not evil anymore,” Aravali tried to clarify.

“Yeah,” Amory affirmed. “Well, I mean… he wasn’t evil , he was just… okay, well, he was doing a lot of evil stuff , but… oh God, this is so weird. I don’t know how to explain it…”

“You understand that this was the same man who opened fire on Crowe, and Raven, and myself,” Aravali said stoically. “And who threatened the entire staff of Moonvale away from the facility, and tried to do the same with Elaine—right?”

“I know… I get it, trust me, I really do,” Amory replied, scooting to the edge of his seat. “But you don’t know him like I do. There’s something so different going on with him now. It’s like he’s the person I know again… like that other side of him just… went away!”

Aravali gave him a skeptical look. “And how do you know that shift in personality was genuine? This man is a master manipulator. I imagine he’s well-practiced in putting on an act.”

Amory paused, glancing down for a second and making a sideways nod. “Yeah, well… I would’ve thought the same thing if not for what happened right beforehand. He was dying. He was desperate. He was weak, and shaking, and writhing, and just tearing apart inside… and all he wanted was for me to kill him. That wasn’t an act… that was real , and it really seemed like he just… flourished after that was over.”

Aravali hesitated, still looking unconvinced.

“And Zyon knows about all this?” the doctor asked.

“Yeah!” Amory grinned. “He said I actually fixed a Cambion! He was totally blown away by that! Vincent’s own father is a demon—and I still pulled all of the demon out of him! His eyes even changed! His dark eye isn’t dark anymore!”

Aravali paused again, nodding mildly down at his desk. “All right, well… if Zyon is on-board and aware, then that does set my mind at ease a bit. I’m not going to pretend to understand the science of the supernatural, but I believe Zyon understands all of that fairly well, and if he thinks that this whole thing is genuine, then…”

“Oh, he knows it is,” Amory smirked and nodded. “And he was still worried, too—he didn’t want me to trust Vincent too much too fast—but it’s okay! I know what I’m doing! I’m just happy he can have a second chance now!”

Aravali fell silent once more, his eyes flickering up to Amory, and his expression still troubled.

The doctor looked down, opening the small drawer in his desk and staring into it.

The handgun that Crowe had given him was sitting tucked in the drawer, just on top of a small pile of folders and papers.

Aravali gazed down at it for a second, then slid the drawer shut and returned his attention to his patient, sliding his fingers together again.

“You said Vincent was deemed to have abilities like you,” he muttered, nodding once at him.

“Yeah,” Amory confirmed.

“But he doesn’t know about them yet,” Aravali said. “He has no clue he has abilities, or what his abilities might be. Correct?”

“Yup,” Amory agreed.

Aravali glimpsed down, thumping his hands lightly against his chin as he briefly lost himself to his thoughts.

“So he’d fall pretty easily to a bullet,” he murmured.

Amory stared, his smile vanishing.

Aravali’s eyes wandered back up to him, his face notably darker than before.

“Hypothetically,” the doctor added. “If the circumstance arose that required some kind of action be taken against him.”

“I mean… yes?” Amory muttered. “A bullet would kill any of us, honestly…”

“Well, sure… but you seemed to be able to deflect them,” Aravali remarked. “I do remember that. You may not be bulletproof, but people with abilities like yours can mitigate the threat of gunfire if it doesn’t happen to sneak up on you. I just thought it was worth making a mental note that Vincent Hawthorn wouldn’t be able to do that himself.”

Amory was quiet, swallowing roughly and looking perturbed.

“And… no… I’m not about to go looking for that situation,” Aravali clarified, reading his expression. “But I also don’t thing it’s necessarily a good idea for you to wander out there a week from now and meet with him by yourself.”

“I have to go by myself,” Amory murmured.

“No… you really don’t,” Aravali uttered, shaking his head. “And you shouldn’t. You’ve given him the perfect opportunity to spring a trap, you know.”

“That’s exactly why I have to go by myself,” Amory argued. “I’m willing to take a leap of faith on this whole plan, here—but I wasn’t gonna take anyone with me when I did that.”

“Well…” Aravali shrugged. “Then you never should have told me about it.”

Amory scoffed and gave him an incredulous look. “Oh, come on… you’re supposed to be my shrink. I’m supposed to feel like I can talk to you.”

“And you can,” Aravali replied simply. “I will give you honest support, and I will keep everything between us strictly confidential. I’m not obligated to refrain from getting involved, though. Especially not when something poses an obvious physical danger.”

“Well… just… Ari… no offense… but what are you really gonna do? ” Amory asked, trying to sound as polite as possible. “Let’s say Vincent does turn bad again, and he comes out with a whole bunch of armed guys. What are you really gonna do to fight them?”

“Fight them?” Aravali laughed. “No, I wouldn’t just outright fight them… I would count on you to deflect their gunfire until they expend their ammunition, and then I would return fire on them. I imagine this could work out quite well if you put up your forcefield whenever I have to reload, or whenever they’re still shooting—and you simply let it down when it’s my turn to shoot. It really wouldn’t be a fight. It would be an admittedly unfair series of turn-taking wherein I’m essentially just shooting fish in an unprotected barrel, and you could also use your abilities to stagger them and break their roots. Then they’d be much easier to execute on the spot.”

Amory stared at him in surprise, not expecting to hear such a detailed plan of attack from him.

Aravali cracked a smirk. “I have actually thought this kind of scenario through a number of times over the past couple of weeks. I don’t intend to let those people do what they did before… and I also don’t much care for the idea of my patients being forced to take lives. So, it only seemed natural to devise plans that involve all of you playing defense.”

“Jesus,” Amory breathed. “You don’t have to do all that. It’s easier for us to do it.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Aravali said flatly. “None of you should have to.”

“Okay, but… you shouldn’t have to,” Amory told him.

“Well… ideally, none of us should,” Aravali chuckled. “But if it’s between me and my patients, I’d rather it be me… even if it is more difficult for me to do.”

Amory gazed at him uncertainly. “Are y… are you really sure you wanna…”

“Yes,” Aravali affirmed. “I do not want you going out there to meet with him by yourself.”

“I mean… I can always just… zap away,” Amory suggested. “Like, if something goes wrong…”

“Yes… but these people have already managed to sneak up on and tranquilize an actual angel before,” Aravali pointed out. “All it takes is for them to do something quick and unexpected. They could very well get the upper hand on you before you can react. You might not be able to zap away fast enough, depending on the circumstances. Besides… and I mean you no offense when I say this… but I think an objective party needs to be there in order to observe anything that you might accidentally overlook.”

Amory squinted at him in confusion.

“You might want a little too badly to be able to trust him,” Aravali said seriously. “Someone with no connection to him at all should be there with you, just to catch any red flag behaviors that you might miss.”

Amory paused, then made a loose shrug and nod. “Well, that… okay, that’s fair…”

“And I want to make something very clear to you beforehand,” Aravali said pointedly, raising a finger. “This man has already tried to threaten and strong-arm Elaine and I both away from everyone else from Moonvale… and I will not allow that series of events to unfold in that way again. I am all for giving him a second chance if he really has just miraculously woken up from some demonic Manchurian nightmare… but the second that he starts exhibiting behaviors like the ones he’s shown us already, then he will just be considered another enemy to us, and he will be treated accordingly. He’s already tried to kill me once, and I have absolutely no problem doing just the same to him… nor… would Crowe.”

Amory sighed, frowning down at his lap.

“And I don’t want Crowe killing anyone. I don’t want him involved with any of this anymore if we can help it,” Aravali said. “But if I think for one moment that Vincent is going to be the same type of threat that he was before… then I will call in the heavy artillery if I have to.”

“I know,” Amory mumbled. “I understand…”

Aravali let out a breath, feeling more or less satisfied now.

“And I’m certainly not attacking you in saying that, either,” the doctor added. “I honestly think you’re doing something that is both noble and practical… especially if he actually does turn out to work as a double-agent and gather up some useful information for us. I do completely understand why you’re doing what you’re doing… I just need you to understand what’s going to happen if that plan doesn’t work out. All right?”

Amory nodded quietly.

“Just, please don’t…” he uttered seconds later. “ Please don’t tell Crowe…”

Aravali narrowed his eyes at him. “Don’t tell him…?”

“No,” Amory insisted, shaking his head. “Don’t tell him. Don’t tell anyone yet… but especially not him. Please.”

Aravali eyed him with intrigue. “Why especially not him?”

“Because, he… he’s not gonna understand,” Amory sighed. “He never did. Vincent did try to be there for Crowe too, when we were kids… but Crowe always just told him to piss off and go away. He has kind of a problem with authority, and he never liked Vincent in the first place. But now… oh man… now, he has a lot more reasons to lose his temper… especially after everything that’s happened since we all left. Crowe isn’t gonna care about the whole brainwashing thing. He’s just gonna wanna kill Vincent because Vincent almost killed his best friend. That’s how he is.”

“Well…he didn’t exactly try kill you,” Aravali said, nodding sideways. “He did try to use a lot of disturbing and manipulative fear tactics on you, but…”

“No, I wasn’t talking about me,” Amory corrected him. “I meant you. You’re Crowe’s best friend—and Vincent almost killed you.”

Aravali opened his mouth to reply, but he fell momentarily speechless. Then, he cleared his throat and gave him another curious look.

“What makes you say I’m his best friend?” the doctor inquired.

“Because… you are,” Amory shrugged. “I mean… I know I kind of am too, but… I don’t know… it’s not really the same. I was his childhood best friend… but you’re the person he actually sought out and chose as a friend once he left and moved on with his life. Y’know?”

Aravali stared at him for a second, then straightened up in his seat. “All right… let’s put a pin in all of this unpleasant talk, and let’s get to some actual therapy… because I’m curious about the wording you just used, there. You emphasized the word chose when you talked about him being friends with me. Do you think that he didn’t choose you?”

“Well…” Amory let out a frustrated cloud of breath, sinking deeper into his seat and glancing away for a moment. “I don’t know… I don’t even remember who started talking to who first. Me and Crowe and Raven all just ended up together because nobody else really liked us, and Raven was my sister. It didn’t seem like any of us chose each other… we just… ended up with each other.”

“Okay… then let me ask you this,” Aravali replied. “When you were all children, did you ever make plans together? Like… plans to meet up, or go somewhere, or do something…?”

“Yeah… we did that all the time,” Amory said. “That’s all we ever did…”

“Well… then I’ve got news for you,” Aravali remarked, flashing a knowing half-smile. “That was you choosing each other. All three of you.”

Amory hesitated, pondering on this and making an agreeing nod. “I guess so, yeah… but I still think he likes you better than me anymore…”

“Oh my God , you’re a dumb fuckin’ prat,” someone grumbled from behind the door.

Aravali and Amory both paused, turning and eyeing the door strangely. Amory had twisted halfway around in his seat, his heart jolting just when he’d heard Crowe’s voice.

“This is a private session, Crowe,” Aravali announced loudly at the door across the room from him. “Not something to be eavesdropped on.”

“Bite me,” Crowe griped from the other side.

Aravali and Amory traded glances, then Amory stood from his seat, huffing out a breath and swatting once at the door. It suddenly flew open—and Crowe marched inside, his hands pocketed in his black leather jacket, and his eyes shifting intently between both of them.

“How long have you been standing out there?” Amory asked anxiously. “What did you hear…?”

“Oh… I came along right around the time you said I wasn’t your best friend anymore,” Crowe snarked in response.

Amory gaped at him. “That’s not what I said!”

“Riiight… the floor of the treehouse is pretty much done, by the way,” Crowe informed. “And I only came up here because Miss Morgan wanted me to tell you both that dinner’s ready. I’ll let you two get back to your gossip session now.”

“Hey—don’t just walk off after you say some backhanded crap like that, you stupid guilt-tripping wasteoid,” Amory chided, slapping him on the arm. “All I said was I think you like Ari better nowadays—and yeah—no offense, but you kinda act like you do!”

Crowe opened his mouth, looking like he was about to unleash a slew of retorts, but he stopped and fell silent, releasing a sigh and pausing for a moment. He glimpsed between the two of them, and then, his eyes landed on the doctor.

“All right… all right, Ari, you remember the first time we talked in Moonvale?” Crowe asked, wagging a finger at him. “You remember all the things I was asking you?”

Aravali fell still in his seat, his eyes flickering between both of them. “Oh, I really don’t want to be in the middle of this…”

“Too bad. You’re our doctor,” Crowe quipped in response. “D’you remember everything I was asking you the first time we talked? The first time we really talked?”

Aravali paused for a moment to think. “I… do vaguely remember being asked a lot about aliens and martians…”

“The other stuff,” Crowe grumbled, smacking his palm. “I asked you—what would you do if some men in black showed up to Moonvale someday to kill us? What would you do if they tried to hurt you and scare you off? I asked you all that—and I called it a test of character.”

“Ohhh… right,” Aravali uttered, nodding in response. “I actually do remember that…”

“Yeah… and you said you’d stay and try to protect us,” Crowe stated. “And then I said something snidey like ‘well you’re better than some friends of mine’ or something like that… but I didn’t really mean that, I was still just pissed that Amory was gone. The truth is… it was a test of character… and whose character d’you think I use as a basis for comparison?”

He turned around and gave a hard, open-palmed smack to Amory’s chest.

“ You ,” Crowe growled at him. “Ya’ stupid fuckin’ moron.”

Amory took back, almost staggering after Crowe had smashed his palm into him. He simply stared, unsure of how to reply.

“And I know I played tough, and played bodyguard, and played vigilante all the live-long day when we were kids—but I’m not fuckin’ blind, and I know you protected me a lot too,” Crowe ranted at him. “And you damn sure protected Raven a lot more than you even realistically could. You have that overprotective shit just engrained in you—and I had to make sure Ari was the same way before I could let myself be friends with him. You’re the fuckin’ reason I ever trusted him in the first place, Amory—because Ari is just like you!”

Amory gazed at him in slight surprise, still unable to respond.

“You think I didn’t choose you?” Crowe scoffed mockingly at him. “ Fuck you—you were the first fuckin’ friend I chose! And you’re the standard that every other fuckin’ wanker that I might choose always has to meet! When I make friends out of a bloke at the bar, I think to myself—hmm, is this guy at least as good as Amory? If not, then oh well, they’re never gonna be a close friend of mine! Fuck ‘em! Because you— you —you stupid fuckin’ bleeding-heart shit — you’re the only reason I even know what a friend is supposed to be!”

He jabbed his finger into Amory’s chest harder and harder with every word he spoke, seeming to yell louder and grow angrier the more he opened up.

“And y’know what else? Hm? Y’know what I really think?!” Crowe hollered, perking his brow at him. “I think—we both just get really fuckin’ annoyed when either one of us makes a close friend out of anyone outside our little trio. It happened with you being friends with Feathers—and it happened with me being friends with Ari. See? See?!”

He hammered his finger into Amory’s chest even harder.

“Because that’s just the kind of stupid dumb insecure bullshit that me and you both do,” Crowe rambled. “I get it—I’m a hypocrite, and I know, and I admit it—because I couldn’t stand you running off and clinging onto Vincent like he was your long-lost father, and I fuckin’ hated you always rushing to go to bed at eight o’clock at night every day just so you could fall asleep and hang out with your angel friend! You did all of that for them—but you never wanted to go with me whenever I’d leave Canterbury! Not even for a night! Not even for a few hours! Not even to come see me and my band play, or anything! It really seemed like you were just sick of being friends with me—and it seemed like that for a bloody long time! ”

Amory still said nothing, wearing an empathetic frown.

“So yeah—take it from me—I know how you feel,” Crowe nodded, swatting over at Aravali. “I know how it makes you feel because I’ve felt that for years and fuckin’ years now—and it all just exploded outta me when you finally came back. But lemme ask you something—you being buddies with Zyon, or Xena, or anyone else—does that actually stop you from being friends with me? Does that actually change anything that we are? Hm? Does it?”

Amory’s mouth slowly drifted open, barely beginning to shake his head.

“No—it fuckin’ doesn’t,” Crowe snapped, smacking him on the arm. “And me being friends with Ari doesn’t change a fuckin’ thing, either—so I don’t wanna hear that shit. Don’t you ever make it out like I’m just replacing you with him—because I’m damn well not! Fuck you! I can be best mates with both of you if I fuckin’ want to! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck you both! ”

At once—he wheeled around and stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

There was a long, strange silence in the air after his departure.

Amory slowly turned back to the desk, raising his eyebrows at the doctor.

“Well… that certainly put that issue to rest, didn’t it?” Aravali said with a smirk.

Amory sputtered out a laugh, nodding and sinking back into his seat. “He’s so dramatic…”

“Yes… talking about feelings does get him rather enraged,” Aravali remarked. “I’ve come to accept that he’s just one of those guys who likes to pretend feelings don’t exist, until they all eventually erupt out of him like a violent volcano.”

Amory found himself snickering breathlessly, thinking of several more instances wherein Crowe behaved like his own emotions were positively infuriating.

“There was… there was this one time,” Amory muttered between laughs. “When we were kids… and Raven fell down, and she scraped her knee really bad, and she started crying… and… Crowe gave her a big hug to make her feel better. Raven hugged him back, and she said she loved him… and then, his whole face, just… turned bright freaking red. I started laughing without thinking about it, and then he just flew up and started punching me over and over again…”

Aravali chuckled. “Some things never change, I’m afraid.”

“He got so mad… for like… no reason,” Amory sniggered.

Aravali let out another laugh, glimpsing down at his desk, another curious thought only just occurring to him. With all of the frantic and drastic things that had been going on, he hadn’t spared the time to ponder on it at all—but now, thinking back to how Crowe and Raven always interacted in Moonvale, he couldn’t help but wonder.

“Amory,” Aravali said, intertwining his fingers once more. “I have an odd question for you… and feel free not to answer, if it crosses any boundaries or anything.”

Amory swallowed and quieted himself, straightening up in his seat and nodding.

“What exactly is your… dating history?” Aravali asked him. “I only just realized… none of you three have ever really talked about that before.”

“Oh… um…” Amory bit his lip and made a thoughtful face. “Well… we don’t really… have a dating history. I mean… I don’t. Raven and Crowe have been out in the world a lot more than I have, so… I don’t know what all they’ve done…”

Aravali eyed him interestingly. “Did none of you ever date anyone in Canterbury?”

“No… we weren’t allowed to,” Amory muttered, shaking his head. “There was this one girl there I liked about five years ago, but she wasn’t there very long. None of the other people there really stayed long enough for me to get to know them very well. It seemed like I was the only person who was just kind of… sentenced to stay. There was also this lady who worked there… Victoria… and I always thought she was pretty… but she was also kind of… weird. She gave me a weird feeling, and she acted kind of… flirty. Kind of… really flirty. It made me think she was doing stuff with a lot of people there…”

“Ah. So, you never… did… stuff?” Aravali asked.

Amory laughed. “No… I never did anything.”

Aravali blinked. “Anything…?”

“Nope,” Amory affirmed. “I never even had a first kiss.”

Aravali stared at him for a few seconds, then blew a raspberry and shook his head once.

“What?” Amory uttered. “Is that bad…?”

“No… it’s not bad,” Aravali replied. “It’s just a bit surprising. I’m honestly shocked to have found someone in this world who’s even more sheltered in that way than I am…”

Amory laughed. “What, are you and Miss Morgan not dating?”

“Hey.” Aravali raised his eyebrows and thrusted a finger at him. “This isn’t my therapy session—it’s yours. All right?”

Amory snickered again.

Aravali lowered his hand, giving him another thoughtful look.

“So you don’t know how much dating Crowe and Raven have done, huh,” the doctor muttered.

“No… well, I mean, I know a little bit of what Crowe did when he was getting gigs like all the time,” Amory answered. “Last year, he was busting out of Canterbury almost every day because he had like back-to-back gigs for seven months straight. He was getting a lot of attention then, and he dated a couple of people… but then, the last couple months I was in Canterbury, he started getting less gigs, and he stopped talking about whatever girl he was dating at the time…”

“Right around the time Raven came back to town,” Aravali figured. “That’s interesting.”

“Oh… yeah, that’s right,” Amory mumbled, waving a finger at him. “He’d been looking around for her for a long time…”

“And he eventually pinpointed her at Moonvale,” Aravali murmured with a nod.

“Yeah… he didn’t actually tell me he found her until the last day I was at the lab,” Amory recalled. “I guess he found her right before I left there…”

“Mmm… well, the way Elaine tells it, Crowe had already been visiting Moonvale for weeks at that point,” Aravali replied. “Before eventually just admitting himself there… and then… recruiting me to be his taxi driver whenever he wanted to take Raven somewhere and arrange a little date out on the town…”

Amory gazed down at the edge of the desk for a moment, not seeming to register what the doctor had said. Then, seconds later, he blinked and raised his head, giving him a strange look.

Aravali spotted his expression change and smirked at him. “There it is…”

Amory ogled him, his mouth drifting agape, and his brow hardening, leaning closer and scooting to the edge of his seat. “ What did you say…?”

Aravali stared at him, unable to hide a growing smile.

“I apologize in advance if I laugh,” the doctor said. “I am trying very hard not to…”

“Did he—did Crowe— did he try to put the moves on my little sister? !” Amory gasped.

“All right… to be fair… it… seemed like it was going to go that way,” Aravali admitted, making a wincing sort of face and a sideways nod. “But… well… then everything else started happening… and, after that… whatever little date-night vibe was in the air suddenly disappeared. Besides… that’s just what it seemed like to me at the time, before I got to know any of you better. I didn’t know he and her had so much history. He may have just wanted to reconnect with his childhood friend.”

Amory let out a massive breath of relief, flopping back against the recliner and combing his fingers back through his hair.

“Oh… God… I don’t like this,” he groaned, running his hands down his face.

“Well… I’m not so sure it was romantic. I think it’s entirely possible that Crowe just wanted to reconnect. But… it’s worth mentioning that, um… your sister probably is gonna end up dating someone sooner or later in life,” Aravali remarked. “So… you may have to get used to that someday…”

“No… I don’t like it,” Amory grumped, sinking deeper into the chair. “I don’t like this. I don’t wanna talk about this anymore. Can we talk about the haunted house?”

“What haunted house…?”

“The haunted house event thing we’re gonna do for Halloween,” Amory explained, suddenly sitting fuly upright again and revealing his signature childlike smile. “I haven’t had the grass out back cut yet because I’m gonna use the backyard as a haunted maze! Ooo—and we can set up a whole system of of jump scares in the front yard! And the actual party is gonna be inside! That’s why we haven’t put any furniture in that big main room yet—I’m gonna design it when I’m designing everything for Halloween. It’s gonna be awesome!”

“Right,” Aravali chuckled. “So… this is an event people will pay to attend? Have you thought about how you’re going to advertise for it?”

“No. Yes. Kind of,” Amory stammered. “Mikey—Mikey’s gonna do that for me. After we decorate, we’re gonna take pictures of everything and he’s gonna make ads out of it and post it all over the internet. He knows how to do all that kind of stuff. I asked him to tell people at his school, too, but he doesn’t go to school anymore. Apparently he’s homeschooled, and he does all that through the internet, too.”

“Good Lord. It’s a wonder people even leave their houses anymore if everything can be done through the computer,” Aravali muttered.

Amory nodded, and the two of them were quiet for a moment.

“All right… well… I think we’ve had a fairly productive session,” Aravali determined. “And… as far as your plans for a week from now… I do expect to go with you. Don’t even think about going out there on your own, all right?”

“Okay,” Amory agreed.

“This will be our little secret for now,” Aravali disclosed, standing from his chair. “And we’ll see if that needs to change or not in a week’s time.”

Amory gave him a nod and reached his feet as well.

They walked out of the room, traveled downstairs, and joined everyone else in the kitchen—where Raven, Crowe, Iggy, Elaine, Xena, and Mikey were all gathered and standing in a crooked line near the stove, taking turns filling up several bowls with hot fresh chili, some of them sprinkling cheese on top.

Everyone gathered their dinners, sat across the bar, ate together, and shared laughs and conversation as the evening set in.

After dark—Amory found himself in Xena’s bedroom, where two large and brand new bean bag chairs had just been placed against the foot of the bed, facing her big new television. Xena, Mikey, and Amory plopped down on the bean bag chairs, and Xena navigated through her various streaming platforms until she found the first 90s movie that would begin their marathon, the one suggested by Mikey, Home Alone.

The three watched movies well into the later hours, and, for a nice, peaceful span of time, Amory found himself far from his troubling worries of whatever next week would bring.