"Can…can I help you?" the girl asked them.

"We wouldn't bother you this late if it wasn't extremely important—"

"We could hear you as you walked up, sorry. I suggest, however, that we hold off on conversation until we're indoors. Please, go on inside while I finish clearing this up." She motioned all of them behind the fabric partition, behind which were arranged a small table, two chairs, and a lamp in front of a door. "It's one of the many apartments held specifically for traveling acts. The stall is actually hinged on the walls."

Edward, Alphonse, and the girl carried the furniture into a simple front room. "I would offer food, but the gypsies eat meals together. I do have some tea, though," the girl apologized.

"That's okay," said the older woman, "we brought a little something as a…gift of sorts. For your troubles."

Edward's stomach growled insistently. The women smiled and passed out buttered scones, dried fruit, and salted pork to everyone.

"Th-that's okay, I'm not hungry right now. Maybe later," Alphonse waved it away. The girl shot him a curious look. They ate in silence for a few minutes.

"Okay, so what's this all about?" the girl finally asked, clearing the table so she sat directly opposite the women.

The younger woman hung her head. "We thought we could get away from all this if we just moved. In another few weeks, we would have been able to get to Central…"

"It's her husband, miss," said the older woman. "Anna hasn't seen him since he left for work the day before last. She thinks he might—"

"Don't, Yeslie. I…I need to say it for myself." With what seemed like a lot of effort, Anna finally made eye contact with the girl. "I think he was taken away, like the others people whisper of. They never come back. I need to know…if he's…gone."

"So many people they knew in Terekor have been missing for years," added Yeslie.

"I couldn't feel safe there anymore, of all people even feisty Kaleb Proctor dis—"

The girl leapt backward as if Anna had breathed fire, nearly toppling Edward from his chair as well. "You—you knew—him? I—you—impossib…Excuse me for a moment. I-I think…must've eaten too fast." She stalked out as if willing herself not to run with everything she had.

"Oh dear." Yeslie clapped a hand to her mouth. Anna apparently came to the same conclusion, and buried her face in her hands.

"What's wrong?" Alphonse cried, shocked by everyone's behavior.

"I was a fool not to realize…how could I…poor thing…you see, Kaleb Proctor was a widower struggling to raise his only child…a child surrounded by strange happenings, before running away some years ago. Not too long afterward, the wandering Spirit Child started gaining a reputation all through the southern towns. How did I not see…"

"But it's not your fault."

Edward went after the girl. It turned out she hadn't gone past the light post not far from her door. Her eyes were hidden. For nearly a minute, they just stood in the darkening street.

"You know she didn't do it on purpose, um…um…"

"Angel. My name is Angel." The girl swallowed hard. "Dad avoided it, like everything else about me. Reminded him too much of Mom, as if it was my fault she died in childbirth. The interest in alchemy, the talent I had with it, everything, right down to how I wore my hair." She gripped both wrists with the opposing hand, the waves of her hair falling around her face. "He hated what I could do. I can't decide if I'm hurt or actually relieved he's gone. It wasn't like I had it any easier!"

"Angel, what is it that you do, exactly?"

She glanced back at the door. "It's easier to show you…although I don't know if I can go back…" Edward noticed for the first time that her eyes were a cloudy blue-grey, like unearthly mist that he imagined surrounded the dead she conjured so often.

"Look, if you can call up the dead or whatever it is you do, you have the chance to help this woman—possibly everyone who has had a loved one taken. You can make a difference in a way the military won't. Besides, Al and I might have a hunch or two as to what's going on."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Remember, I'm a State Alchemist. Unfortunately I've seen some crazy stuff before." He reached for her arm; she let him take it, and lead her back indoors. The women both had worried expressions. Alphonse would have looked the same if he could form expressions.

"I apologize for upsetting you," Anna begged. "Please forgive me."

"It's alright. I just wasn't expecting it. Dad and I haven't…talked…in awhile. Here." Angel reached over the table to take her hand. There was a moment's silence in the little room. "What was your husband's name?"

"Resvol."

"I don't sense him. Wherever he is, he hasn't gone to the other side."

Yeslie joined Anna in a huge sigh of relief, joining hands as well. Angel's expression changed.

"You…your daughter was taken, wasn't she?"

Yeslie froze. "Yes. About two years ago."

"I sense her…I'm sorry."

Now it was Anna's turn to be the comforter. Edward and Alphonse were in shock at the whole proceeding. How did she do that? But regardless of how they got the information, it confirmed their suspicions. Regular disappearings, those who disappeared earlier were dead, the correlation with rumblings about the military—they all could point to the lab Mustang thought was out here.

"Would you like to see her?" asked Angel. She momentarily let go, fiddling under the table with the cloth around her right wrist.

"No, no, that's fine. We've intruded enough," Yeslie replied. "Goodnight, and be safe. We'll leave the food for you, at least."

"Thank you," Edward spoke up. "You should take some time to recover from the news yourselves. I can look into the matter as a State Alchemist. The rumors are actually the reason Al and I are here."

Yeslie took this information in. "It seems I wouldn't be able to stop you if I tried anyway. Please, get to the bottom of this. So many families have been fractured." Once the two women left, the room was completely silent. No one made any movement to eat again.

"Brother, do you really think it's all connected?" ventured Alphonse.

"It has to be. We can't let them get away this time," Edward muttered. "All this misuse of human life, of alchemy, it's making me sick." He reached up to massage his temples, drawing Angel's attention back to his mismatched arms.

"I guess we all have stories to tell, don't we?" she commented pointedly.

"What? Oh, that. Well, if we tell ours, will you tell yours?"

She shrugged. "Whatever. What do you want to know?"

"Everything!" Edward suddenly blurted. "How do you do it? Is it difficult to learn? How have you managed to keep it a secret from the military? What kind of ingredients do you use—"

"Ed, calm down!" chided Alphonse. "You'll just get her mad at you again. Why don't we just start with how you got into alchemy?"

"My mom," Angel replied, weighing the situation carefully. "She was one of the few women who achieved state certification. Learning alchemy made me feel closer to her."

"But you're not certified. How come you have an alchemist's name?"

"It's just a nickname the locals gave me, knowing alchemists go by them. I've always lived in this area. We don't get many visits from real State Alchemists, though, so it's never been a problem."

"Yeslie and some others also called you the 'Spirit Child.' What's up with that?" Edward chimed in, quieter this time.

"It's a gift, I suppose. Or a curse. They didn't know what else to call it. I guess you could say it's the secret to what I do. But I don't just pan it out to anyone, even State Alchemists. Not that you could replicate it."

"We're not just any State Alchemists. We've spent several years researching human transmutation. The only thing we weren't able to figure out is incorporating the soul into it. And I've learned a lot of things that were supposed to be impossible for my age, or any age."

"Well, you've finally met your match. This isn't something you can learn." Angel removed the cloth scraps from her wrists at last. Edward gaped at the left one, the one he had made bleed earlier. A number of thin but ugly gashes crisscrossed it, in various stages of healing. On the right was an even more surprising sight—a simplified human transmutation circle appeared to be burned into her skin. A couple smears of dried blood remained on it as well.