Eve had a guilty pleasure: princess movies. She did prefer the more kickass type of princess movies, but she was just as much of a sucker for "Sleeping Beauty" as "Brave." The newest movie, "Moana," was out, and since there were no immediate threats to the Library or its Librarians, she was going to see it. Flynn refused to go with her, citing the fact that he had actually met Maui the demigod and wasn't interested in seeing him in musical form. That was fine with Eve – she was happy to have a night to herself.

Checking her purse one last time (yes, she had her wallet, keys, chap stick, and gun), she went to lean over her boyfriend's shoulder. "You'll be okay without me, right?"

"Yes, yes, go have your fun," Flynn said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek without looking up. He was laser-focused on the board game between him and Jake.

"What are you playing?" Eve asked, curious.

"This is the oldest board game known to man," Jake informed her, his eyes lighting up at the opportunity to give his Guardian a history lesson. "First played in China over two thousand years ago. Considered to be one of the most complex games the world has ever–"

The Back Door swung open, and Ezekiel swaggered in. He was holding a six-pack of beer in one hand and a box of video games in the other. When he saw Flynn and Jake, he stopped in his tracks. "Oh, no," he protested. "No, no, no. When you said 'game night,' please tell me you did not mean 'games that were invented by the dinosaurs.'"

Jake glared at him. "Go may be ancient, but the game possesses more possibilities than the total number of atoms–"

Ezekiel interrupted him. "Don't care. Are we going to play Mass Affect or not?"

"Soon, Jones," Flynn said, still staring at the game board. "After I show Stone who's the real Go master around here."

Eve slipped out the back as Jake and Flynn started arguing and Ezekiel went to make popcorn. She didn't need the Back Door to go see a movie – she was just going down the block. She ran into Cassandra on her way out. "Oh, Eve!" the redhead exclaimed. "Are you off to see your movie?"

"Yep. You sure you don't want to come?"

Cassie shook her head, grinning. "I'm going to a children's museum."

Eve raised an eyebrow at her. "You're going to what now?"

"Every once in awhile they have these 'Night Life' events, where adults can come and drink and experience the museum without all the kids running around," Cassie explained. "They're fundraisers."

"Well, have fun." Eve smiled at the Librarian and went on her way.

She made it all the way to the movie theater, bought her ticket, and was just about to sit down in the back row when her phone rang. Making a face and muttering apologies to those sitting near her, she hit "accept call" and put the phone to her ear. "This is Colonel Baird."

"Um, so, you know how I told you about the fundraiser at the children's museum?"

Eve sighed and started heading out of the movie theater. She didn't need to hear any more to know she wasn't going to be seeing "Moana" tonight. "Yes..."

"I think one of the attendees is a demon."

"Of course they are," she replied. "Why wouldn't there be a demon at a children's museum? Send me the address. I'll pick up the boys on the way."

"No, let them have their game night," Cassie insisted. "It's just one demon. We should be able to handle it, right?"

Eve pictured the three male Librarians back in the Annex. They did deserve a night off, and if she and Cassandra needed any help, they would only be a phone call and a Back Door away. "All right. Where's the museum?"

The children's museum was packed with people. Eve was grateful for Cassandra's distinctive hair; it allowed her to find the Librarian quickly in the crowd. She politely, but firmly, shoved her way through to join her. "So where's this demon?" she asked.

In response, Cassandra gestured towards the tables of food. "I don't know for sure if 'demon' is the right word," she demurred. "But it's definitely something magical."

There were dozens of people grabbing snacks and drinks, but Eve could tell which person Cassie meant. A young man was stuffing himself with fresh fish, ignoring the plates and earning the irritated glances of the servers. He was a normal human being – brown hair, pale skin, about five feet tall – until you looked down at his bare feet.

"Does he have webbing between his toes?"

Cassandra nodded. "And those aren't toes. Those are claws."

"How is no one else seeing this?"

"He must be using some kind of glamour. Since we're around magic so much..."

"It doesn't affect us," Eve finished. "All right. Got any idea what he is?"

"Not a clue."

They looked at each other for a minute. Neither of them wanted to say it; finally, Cassie gave in. "We should probably call Flynn."

"Yeah, yeah," Eve grumbled, pulling her phone from her purse. "So much for figuring this out on our own."

"Just ask him about the webbed feet and the claws," Cassie urged. "He doesn't have to come out. He can still have his night off."

Eve nodded and hit Flynn's speed dial, holding the phone to her ear.

Flynn's phone rang, making him jump and Ezekiel and Jake shoot him furious looks. "Sorry, sorry," he whispered, taking it out and checking the caller ID. "It's Eve," he mouthed to them, pointing to the phone. "You know how she is – I'd better answer it. Hold on."

Crawling out from behind the sergeant's desk over to a pillar, Flynn hit "accept call" and held the phone to his ear. "Eve! Are you talking during your movie? You know I consider that one of the seven deadly sins."

He could hear the amused smile in her tone. It always made him feel warm inside. "No, I decided tonight wasn't a movie night after all."

"What are you up to?" There was a bang from the other side of the pillar. He flinched, hoping she hadn't heard it. When she answered his question without comment, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm at a museum with Cassandra. We just had a quick question. Do you know of any magical creatures who look perfectly normal, except for having webbed feet with claws for toes?"

He looked up at the ceiling tiles, temporarily forgetting the situation behind him as he thought. "Hm. Does this creature have an affinity for any particular food?"

"Fish," Cassandra put in. "Definitely fish."

"Sounds like it could be a shapeshifter of some kind. Maybe a Kushtaka."

"Come again?"

"A Kushtaka," he repeated. Glancing behind him, he saw his two comrades urgently beckoning him forward. He began to speak at record speed. "Native to southeastern Alaska, drowned by evil land otters and turned into shapeshifting land otters themselves. Usually the Kushtaka are less evil than the land otters themselves, able to help the people in their former villages by catching seafood."

"Usually?"

"Usually," Flynn agreed. "Eve, why–"

"Thanks, Flynn. Have fun at game night!" There was a click. Flynn looked down at his phone, puzzled, then shrugged and crawled back over to Stone and Jones.

"So, possibly evil shapeshifting otter," Eve summarized. They had moved to a wall where they could easily watch the Kushtaka devour platters of fish. He was on his third.

"And possibly not evil," Cassie reminded her. "Flynn said they're usually less evil than the land otters."

"'Less evil' is not comforting," Eve replied. "But at the moment, he's not hurting anyone but the fish."

"And the servers' feelings," Cassie added. "They do not look happy."

Eve agreed with her. Three servers were standing a few feet away from the Kushtaka, clearly talking about him. One of them broke off, she guessed to find a manager. "We should probably get him out of here before he causes any more problems," she mused.

The Kushtaka finished his third platter of fish and threw it across the room, hitting one of the servers in the chest. It shouldn't have had much force, but the server was bowled off her feet and into a nearby pillar. As Eve and Cassie watched, horrified, the pillar started to crack.

"Too late," Cassie commented drily.

"Let's go!" Eve pulled her gun, keeping it concealed in her jacket. "You distract it, I'll take it out." Before she could get more than a few steps, however, Cassie drew her back.

"Look at its face," she said quickly. "I don't think it meant to do that. Knock it out if you can, okay? It looks... scared."

Eve saw what Cassie meant. The Kushtaka was backing away from the pillar, eyes wide, face even paler than before. "I'll do my best. Now go."

The museum staff were herding everyone towards the exits, trying to keep their screaming down, while several security guards made their way through the crowd towards the Kushtaka. Eve had to stop them before they got to him. Trusting that Cassie would distract him, Eve ran towards one of the guards. "NATO Counter-Terrorism," she told him, holding out her badge. "Get everyone out of here. This is a matter of national security."

He looked startled, but he obeyed. He waved the other guards to follow him, and they began to help the museum staff. Eve breathed a sigh of relief and returned her attention to the Kushtaka.

"Hey, buddy." Cassie was taking careful steps towards him. "Are you still hungry?"

The young man hesitated, then nodded. He pointed to the empty platter on the floor. "Fish," he said sadly.

"I know, buddy. They're all out of fish."

"Hungry," he said, sliding down to sit on the floor. Cassie knelt down in front of him. Eve kept out of his sightline, trying to get close without being spotted.

"Why don't we go somewhere that has some fish?" Cassie suggested.

"Fish?" he asked hopefully.

"That's right. There's a river just a few–"

Eve jumped in front of Cassie just as he roared and threw the platter at her. It hit Eve in the stomach, driving her and Cassandra back towards the already-cracked pillar. The Kushtaka roared again and ran out the back entrance of the museum.

"Eve?" Cassie asked.

"I'm fine," she gasped, feeling her chest for injury. "I'll just have a bruise. We've got to go." She tried to get to her feet and winced.

"Eve–"

"We'll lose him soon," she insisted.

Cassie didn't look like she approved of this plan, but she stood and pulled Eve up. "He went west," she informed her Guardian. "Let's go."

They couldn't move fast, but they didn't need to: the Kushtaka left a trail of knocked-over trash cans and terrified citizens in his wake. As they jogged after him, Cassie began to speculate. "I was getting through to him until I mentioned going to the river," she said. "Maybe Kushtaka are sea otter shapeshifter-y things, and have some weird aversion to rivers?"

"We could use that," Eve replied. "Try to either get it to a river and disable it somehow, or get it to the ocean. That might be what it's looking for."

"It could be lost," Cassie agreed. Stopping for a moment, she held up her hands and spread them apart. Eve couldn't see anything, but she knew Cassie saw plenty. She halted next to the Librarian to listen. "The ocean is exactly 85.76 miles from here, and at his current rate, the Kushtaka would get there in one hour and two minutes. He would, however, have to cross eleven or twelve rivers, depending on his route... or is it root? Root beer, root beer... floats... Mm, ice cream." She lowered her hands and smiled at Eve. "If he's going to the ocean–"

"We can either stop him or help him at the next river," Eve finished. "And if we're going to beat him there–"

"We need a Door."

The Annex phone rang, startling everyone. Jenkins calmly walked over and picked it up. "Yes?"

"Jenkins, quick question. What's the nearest river from here, headed west?"

Jenkins rolled the phone over to the Back Door, ignoring the frustrated looks and mutterings of the three male Librarians. "That would be the Tualatin."

"Can you engineer a Door from where we are to somewhere near that river?"

"I can certainly try." He adjusted the Back Door contraption, pressing a few buttons and switching a couple of levers. Closing the contraption, he said into the phone, "There should be a Door to your left."

"Thanks, Jenkins!"

The caretaker hung up the phone and turned back to Ezekiel, Jake, and Flynn, who were coated head-to-toe with dust. "Now, where were we?"

Eve and Cassandra emerged through the Door into a park pavilion. They hurried outside, where they found themselves between a forest and the Tualatin River. "What do you think the odds are that he'll come through right here?" Eve asked.

As if in answer, the Kushtaka burst through the trees. Eve pulled her weapon, but he didn't appear to be in a fighting mood; at the sight of the river, he stumbled to a stop.

"Hey, buddy," Cassie said quickly, stepping around Eve and holding out her hands to him. "I know. You don't like rivers, huh?"

He shook his head. "Bad," he whispered.

"Are you trying to get to the ocean?" He nodded. "Can we help you?" Another nod, with an anxious look at Eve, who holstered her gun and showed him her empty hands.

"We don't want to hurt you," Eve said. "We just don't want you to hurt anyone else, either."

The Kushtaka sat on a tree stump, shaking. Slowly he whispered, "Don't want to hurt. Just... hungry."

"We understand," Cassie told him. "We'll help you get to the ocean, and then you can find all the fish you want." She gestured behind them to the pavilion. "My friend, he can make it so that building there goes straight to the ocean. Does that sound good?"

He brightened. "Ocean?"

"That's right, buddy."

Eve pulled out her phone again and dialed Jenkins while Cassie continued to talk to the Kushtaka in calm, soothing tones. When the Door was set, Eve tapped her on the shoulder.

"Okay, buddy, time to go," the redhead said, holding out a hand. The Kushtaka took it and followed her meekly into the pavilion. Eve came after them, thinking that maybe she could get to a late showing of "Moana" after all.

When they emerged on the other side of the door, she changed her mind.

At least two dozen land otters stood between them and the ocean. These were not the mostly-human type like their "buddy" Kushtaka, but a wilder-looking version. They were naked, though it didn't mean much when their lower halves were entirely otter. They were all holding sharp wooden spears – "Don't let those spears touch you," Eve whispered to Cassie. "The tips are probably poisoned." The Librarian nodded, staying close to her Guardian's side.

Their "buddy" Kushtaka didn't look happy to see the new arrivals. He cowered behind Cassie, muttering and growling under his breath. With a look at Eve, who nodded, Cassie knelt down and took his hands. "It's okay," she murmured. "We won't let them hurt you."

"Do you speak English?" Eve asked the rest of the land otters.

One of them stepped forward, brandishing his spear at the Guardian. "Release our prisoner, and we will consider not drowning you," he said, baring all his teeth at her in a hunter's grin.

"What has he done to you?" Eve shifted until she was in front of both Cassie and the Kushtaka.

"The Kooshda need not explain themselves to you," the leader said. He leaned forward until he was breathing into Eve's face. "We need not spare you, either, but we will – possibly."

Eve didn't bother replying. She slammed her fist into his face, sending him sprawling amid his fellows. "Run!" She turned to the Door, but the light around it was gone – whatever Jenkins had done to set it there had worn off. She grabbed Cassie and the Kushtaka by the collars and ran east towards a cabin, away from the ocean and the land otters. Kooshda, was that what they had called themselves?

She needed to call Flynn again. "Cassie, get him to that cabin and call Jenkins," she ordered. "If I'm not there in three minutes, have him get you a Door the hell out of here. Got it?"

"Got it," Cassandra replied. She took the Kushtaka's hand and pulled him towards the cabin. Eve turned to face the Kooshda, holding her phone in one hand and her gun in the other. Seeing the weapon, the land otters slowed. She seized the opportunity and hit Flynn's speed dial.

"What's the difference between a Kooshda and a Kushtaka?"

"Kooshda, they're the original land otters," Flynn panted as he ran through the dark streets of downtown Portland. "Kushtaka are the people they drowned and turned into land otters. Kushtaka can shapeshift, Kooshda can't. Any other questions?"

"Yeah, any idea why Kooshda would want to hurt a Kushtaka?"

"If a Kushtaka refused to help them in their drownings, the Kooshda might take offense and want to punish them." Flynn stopped behind a tree and asked, "Why are you so interested in–"

"Any way you know of disarming or killing Kooshda?"

"Well, they don't like rivers–"

"Yeah, I got that," Eve interrupted. "Is river water toxic for them or something?"

"Yeah, fresh water makes them sick."

"Got it. Thanks Flynn!" There was a click. Flynn hurriedly returned his phone to his pocket and sprinted after Ezekiel and Jake.

"Thanks for waiting for me!" he called. "I love you too!"

Eve tucked her phone back into her pocket and grinned at the Kooshda coming towards her. She noticed a few trying to sneak around her and shot in their direction. They froze.

"That's better." Eve held up her gun. There was a rustle behind her, but she recognized the gait. "I don't want to hurt you, and you seem to only kind of want to hurt me. So why don't we both walk away?"

The leader struggled to his feet – paws? – and snarled, "I don't think so. You will drown tonight, human."

"I doubt that." Eve smiled. "I have a Librarian."

The leader cocked his head. "A what?"

A stream of water rushed past Eve to strike the lead Kooshda. He whimpered and ran, diving into the ocean. The water, from a hose held by a jubilant Cassie, swept back and forth over the beach, causing all of the other Kooshda to follow suit.

When all of the land otters were gone, Eve turned to Cassandra. "How did you know?"

"Educated guess," she replied. She set down the hose and looked around. "Come on out, buddy, we won't use it on you."

The Kushtaka's head popped up from a window in the cabin. When he saw that the Kooshda had vanished, he laughed and ran out to join them. "They are gone!" he said.

"Yeah, buddy, they're gone." Cassie patted him on the shoulder. "They won't hurt you anymore."

"Do you think it's safe for you to go into the ocean here?" Eve asked. "They might still be nearby."

The Kushtaka nodded. "I am... faster... in ocean." He sprinted towards the ocean, for all the world like a child excited to play. When he reached the water, he stopped and turned around. "Thank you," he said.

"You're welcome, buddy," Cassie replied. "Go find some fish."

He smiled and nodded. Then he leaped into the air. A light made Cassandra and Eve cover their eyes; when they looked out again, there was an otter swimming into the night.

"A good night's work," Cassie said with a happy sigh.

"A weird night's work," Eve retorted. She checked her watch. "Maybe I'll go see 'Moana' tomorrow."

"I'll go with you." They turned and started back up the beach. "I don't think the museum will be open."

Back in the Annex, they found the boys sitting around the table, drinking beers and laughing. "I can't believe she fell for it," Flynn was saying. "Can you believe she fell for that old trick?"

"It's because I played it so well," Ezekiel replied.

"You – you played it so well?" Jake's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. "I played it well, you mean. If I hadn't set it up for you–"

"Yeah, yeah, it's always you, isn't it?" Ezekiel complained.

Eve and Cassandra rolled their eyes at each other. "Boys and their video games," they said in unison.