Despite the arming events Silva had gone through, the following week was peaceful. At the back of her head, she worried she would be found. But there was only so much emotional investment Silva could make. She could not spend her days only feeding her high-strung nerves.

  For now, she had found peace in the streets of Oldsteel, just wandering around.

  In addition, the past week had been monotonous. Not quite in the same way as in the past, though. Now she had friends. Even when they could not meet, she still had the three-person chatroom they had made.

  Mika, for example, had found time to meet Silva - despite Mika’s parents wanting her to come home earlier as they were renovating one of the rooms. Steven, however, had his hands full with whatever he was doing in his free time. He had not specified what it was. Silva only knew that he had his football club and some other business after.

  Today was the first time since, what felt like forever, all three of them had time to meet up. Mika had pnned to let Silva and Steven have some alone time before her arrival. It was time for him to finally tell her about his situation.

  And it wasn’t the only topic they had to discuss. Because Silva’s week had been rgely uneventful, she had spent quite a bit of time online. And her search had turned out to be fruitful, too much so.

  Before the wolf appeared in the vicinity of Oldsteel, Silva had not noticed it, but… Simir sightings of different, mysterious animals had been happening for a while.

  They dated back several years, maybe even longer. Now that everyone had a good camera wherever they went, these kinds of video proofs seemed to pop up now and then.

  But despite her expectations, cases like what had happened with the wolf were extremely scarce. Not only was there a victim, but the video proof even went as far as to appear on TV.

  In fact, they were so scarce that despite her and Mika’s search, they had found only a couple other cases where such videos had gone on air on national TV. Cases where the video was too clear to be simply dismissed as fake.

  There was a case in America a couple of years ago when a traffic camera witnessed a boar ramming a driving car. The car was trashed, and a family of four died. The size of the boar was nothing unusual, but the force with which it had collided was massive. And the worst part was that it had just walked away from the crash.

  Then there was another case in South America st year, where locals had recorded an assault on their livestock by what seemed to be an alligator. The report said that there were more than fifty dead cattle - no human victims in this case. The beast had eaten almost all of his haul.

  But the two abnormal animals had vanished after making the news. They had poofed out of existence, becoming local legends.

  So when a couple of hours earlier the wolf was found again, it was something new.

  Eyewitnesses cimed it had taken a whole sheep and ran off to the mountains. It was hard to imagine how such a big creature could hide from the search parties. The size alone should make it impossible for it to hide.

  But it had managed to. A helicopter search would be conducted, as the council of Oldsteel had announced almost right after the incident itself. ‘’At least they are doing something...’’ Silva sourly thought to herself.

  As for the Refugees, Silva tried her best to avoid any contact with them. Or, to be more precise, she avoided people even more than she usually did. There had been a case where she had seen a familiar face. One of the guys that she had seen at the Refuge and he and his friends seemed to be looking for someone.

  Silva happened to overhear them as she was exiting a shop. She knew that someone they were looking for was more than likely her. She swiftly left the pce, not taking any risks. At least this proved that they still did not know who broke into their base that night, which was comforting.

  Finally, as Silva was getting tired of waiting, she received a call from Steven, and after a short verbal spar, which she decisively lost, they agreed to meet up at ‘Shan-Tea’.

  While it was the spot where all three of them had their first real conversations, she still had a split opinion about the pce. She only hoped that Steven would not order anything for them and leave the choice to her.

  When Silva arrived at the pce, she found Steven sitting at the table sipping what, from his expression, seemed to be his favourite tea. When he noticed her, he waved at her enthusiastically.

  Silva gave him a small wave back, and seeing that Steven had the common sense not to order anything for her, she went to make an order.

  With a freshly acquired strawberry tea, she headed to Steven’s table and sat at it. She still could not stomach how Steven could drink those strange-tasting teas. Or how he could tolerate the horrid decorations this pce had.

  Admittedly, this establishment certainly did not make her bored, but if she risked looking at one spot for too long, she could become blind from all the colours that assaulted her senses.

  This pce also had the habit of adding new decorations, as every time Steven got them to come here, there was a new gaudy addition to the palette. For example, the new painting on the wall of what seemed to be a monkey with all of its proportions done wrong. It also was bright yellow.

  The nice thing about Steven was that Silva never had to start the conversation. “Hi, hi! I heard Mika will be joining us ter. She lectured me about being more open with my friends because they said friends did dangerous things otherwise.” Steven started. “So I guess we are doing that now.”

  “Um, yes, if you want to… I know Mika is kind of forcing you, so…” Silva felt guilty about her friend’s insistence.

  “Yeah, well, what can we do? You suck at talking, and she got dirt on me, so I can’t say no.”

  “Huh, that’s terrible! I-I’ll speak with her! I will ask her to stop doing that!” Silva was surprised by Steven’s cim. She reached for her phone, eager to sort the situation out.

  “Wait, no, that’s a joke!” Steven immediately stopped her. “Though it would be interesting watching Mika squirm under your scolding… But the consequences would be too dire. For both of us.”

  “You should not joke like that.” Silva gave him the most condemning look she could manage.

  It did not have any effect. “Whatever! Still, I have to say you have some balls. I did not expect you to break into a den of muscle-headed men for a vague hope of helping me. I am grateful, but...”

  Silva winced. She had reflected on it properly, and there were no excuses for her actions.

  “I am truly sorry.” Silva apologised.

  “You how worried you made me feel? One moment, you are the silent, mysterious type. The next, you try to usurp my position in the group as the courageous daredevil. That is my shtick, I tell you. I’ll fight you for it if necessary!” Steven compined, making Silva feel silly for apologising.

  “I certainly did not try that.” Silva decided to not feel insulted. That’s how magnanimous she was.

  “What did you even do afterwards that night?” Steven was curious. “Mika said that you met her and what you had done and what you had found, but she eluded anything else.”

  “She did not tell that I stayed over at her pce?” Silva was puzzled. “I-.” But she was interrupted.

  “Wait, wait, wait! You stayed at Mika’s house?” Steven excitedly asked.

  “Yes?”

  “For the whole night?” Steven inquired again.

  “Doesn’t that what staying over means?” Silva was confused.

  "Oh! Oh! Ho-ho-ho, really now!" Steven started to rub his hands in glee. "And what happened next? What did Mika do?"

  “Do? She helped me get ready for sleep, and when we woke up, she made breakfast, and then we watched a movie. Oh, we also saw that wolf video while we were eating.” Silva did not see where Steven was going with this.

  “Same room?”

  “No, I was sleeping in the living room.”

  “And that’s it?” Steven seemed disappointed.

  “Should there be anything else?”

  “Apparently not!” Steven threw his hands in the air. “I’ll have to grill Mika after this.” He muttered afterwards.

  “Speaking of Mika, did she say when she will come?” Silva asked. It was not that she hated to be alone with Steven, but the implications of seeing a boy and a girl together like this made her feel restless.

  “Nah, not really.” Steven sipped on his tea again. “Say, Silva, have you thought what we should do?”

  “About what?” Silva had a foreboding feeling that she would not like the answer.

  “You see, we are clearly people of quality. We can do so much good. We only need an outlet which to pour our abilities into. So, I was thinking…”

  “Uh-oh!”

  “That we should see if we could hunt down that wolf! Well, of course, only if no one else manages to.” Steven finished, looking very pleased with his idea.

  “Are you insane? No, don’t answer.” Silva stared at Steven, full of disbelief.

  “I don’t want to be told that by you!” Steven pouted. “I still can't believe you got me beat in the craziness.”

  “That is your reasoning?” Silva barely restrained herself from the rising voice. Normally, she did not have problems with her temper, but right at this moment, she understood why Mika was sometimes so harsh on Steven. “And I am nowhere as bad as you!”

  “But I need to trump your move somehow!” Steven whined.

  For the next fifteen minutes, they argued back and forth. When they finally ran out of tea and went to get more, Silva finally found a chance to ask Steven the question they had presumably arrived to discuss.

  “So, can you tell me why those ‘Refuge’ guys are after you? As I said, only if you are ready to tell…” Silva trailed off.

  "Eh, well, I did not want to be a downer, and we did not know each other that well before, so… You know..." Steven then took a short pause. Silva knew she was grateful for how quickly they had accepted her, but it was no wonder that there were still some hiccups in their friendship. They had not known each other for all that long.

  After the pause, Steven was ready to speak.

  "It's because of my father... He… The whole family is in debt to some unsavoury people. My father… is not a very likeable person… Violent, too."

  Silva did not really know how to react. She had thought that the problem was caused by Steven being himself. Now, it seemed it was much more serious. She felt uncomfortable in her seat but managed to not fidget and listen carefully.

  "He likes to posture, to have a better car than his co-workers, to eat in a better restaurant than his peers. To gamble more money when visiting a casino. He likes the casino. Dad said that it makes him feel like a winner." Steven smiled bitterly. “And also to have his kids excel at sports, have good grades, not be too noisy. The same extends to my mother. She is a weak woman, but she loves my father.” he sadly shook his head. “I can’t really get away too. My siblings and mother need me. Otherwise, I would have long been gone from that house.”

  “That is-”

  “Tragic, right?”

  "Yes." Silva agreed, feeling even worse now and regretting asking. "Is there anything-"

  “No!” Steven again shook his head. “If there was something you could do, Mika would have already done it. And no offence, but you sometimes get the strangest ideas, so I’ll repeat myself. It is fine. I can manage.” Steven reassured her. “And those Refugee guys are not even bad. They all know me. Well, I assume they do. There is only a couple that comes to pick a fight with me. And you know me, I am very durable. No, those guys are fine. It’s those who come with legal means that are scary.” Steven grimaced, apparently remembering something unpleasant.

  They sat for a few minutes in silence, only disturbed by a message from Mika, who was finally heading over. Steven seemed to be deep into his own thoughts. The silence continued until Steven drank the st drop of the current cup.

  It seemed he had finished his brooding by then, and Silva rushed to take this chance to speak.

  “Thank you for telling me.”

  “Well, we had to get this over with sooner or ter.” Steven still had a bitter look on his face. “And Mika will be here in a moment. I’ll go and grab some more tea for us.”

  “Bckberry one for me.” Silva requested.

  “Sure, and the good old ‘Pound’s bottom’ for my pal Mika.” Steven left to make another order, seemingly brightening up. Silva did not risk asking what ‘Pound’s bottom’ was. Silva could not hold the quiet ugh that escaped her. Maybe it will be funny.

  --

  It wasn’t.

  “So,” Mika gave them both a scathing look. “Whose idea it was to get me this stinky shit?” her eyes moving from Steven to Silva. “And why the other one did not stop the perpetrator from carrying out his vile pn?”

  Silva saw a sweat bead roll down Steven’s forehead. It made her realise that she, too, was suddenly very sweaty. It appeared that Mika was not in a good mood.

  “It was Silva’s idea!” Steven suddenly succumbed under Mika’s pressure and pointed at Silva.

  “No! It was his!” The sudden accusation could not go unanswered. “He thought it would be funny!” Silva returned.

  “It was funny! You ughed!” Steven panicked.

  “I-I did not!” Silva’s voice turned high-pitched in panic.

  “I heard you did!”

  "There is no way! I did not do it that loudly!" Silva then realised that she had made a mistake. She felt Mika's attention settling on her. Then Mika sat down and pushed the horrid-smelling tea towards her.

  “Any st words?” Mika asked sweetly. Her lips had a delightful smile, but her eyes reminded Silva of arctic gciers. These eyes could solve global warming.

  Silva wanted to say no, but under the petrifying gaze, she grabbed the cup instead. After a deep breath and a mouthful of the tea, she discovered that the horrid stench had a taste. How such a brew could be produced was beyond Silva’s imagination. She could only imagine that it involved sacrifices to the elder gods to concoct it.

  Silva felt a tear rolling down her cheek, and then it was over. Only a dull, unfeeling tongue was left after the brutal assault.

  “You actually drank it?” Mika showed her disbelief, but after a brief moment, she pushed the ‘Pound’s bottom’ to Steven. “That means you have to finish it!”

  Steven, who was sharing Mika’s shock, withdrew his eyes from Silva’s face to make a plea. "M-m-my queen! I beseech you! Have leniency for this humble one! It's too much for such as I to have the honour of emptying this vessel of its otherworldly beverage!" Steven looked in horror at the almost full cup. “Have mercy on this poor soul! Forgive my wrongdoings!”

  Silva could almost feel Mika's hesitation, but when her friend took another look at her face, she steeled her heart. With a sway of her head, she dashed all of Steven's hopes.

  “Drink it.”

  Seeing no way to escape, Steven finally grasped the cup and brought it to his trembling lips. With a quick swing, he emptied the cup. Under Silva's compassionate look, he colpsed in his seat. His empty, unblinking gaze directed at ceilings told Silva a story of dread and cruelty.

  “Good! Now, how have you been, Silva?” Mika sent a smile her way.

  Silva let out a sigh. She did not know how the tea had upset Mika so much, but it seemed like the storm was over. She gnced at Steven, who still had an out-of-body experience. He did not seem like he would be coming back anytime soon. So, Silva decided to repeat their earlier conversation to see if Mika had anything else to add.

  Enkiari