Hi again!I decided to write some more 'bout stuff! The problem is, though, I don't know what exactly to write lately unless I think about it whilst I write this, so... It might be good, or it might be something that takes me days and days to write and come out sounding weird, if it doesn't already. Also, I just came back from a week long family reunion in P-Town in Cape Cod! So that explains some of the delay, though I must admit, the other weeks are all my own brains' fault... But I'm sure you guys don't mind... Right? Anyways... Continuation!

ch. 4

"Morgan..."

"Do not tempt me, Dresden. Either explain yourself, or you know what will happen."

"You can't even cut me a little slack, Morgan? After everything?"

"That's not a part of this arrangement. Speak."

Harry sighed. "Alright, but could you at least just back off some? So I don't need to stand here with my hands up like an idiot?"

Morgan considered this, but what he considered never showed up on his face. It remained blank, which, more or less, was probably a good thing. He lowered his sword, but barely backed off, so Harry stepped back instead. "I'm listening."

"Thank you. Look, the reason why I summoned those guys was because of a case. We needed to ask them some things."

"What could anyone possibly ask of a group of creatures like those?"

"It's about the murders that have been happening."

"The murders?"

"Yeah, those kids."

And that's when it hit him. The expression of complete confusion on Morgans' face. "What children?"

He stared. "You can't be serious."

"I don't often joke, Dresden. What children?"

Now both of them were staring at him in equal confusion. It was Bob who spoke first, though, although he usually preferred to wait until Morgan or anyone else of a higher position spoke to him first. "You mean to say that the Council knows nothing about what's going on? The children, the murdered children? You haven't heard?"

"No," Morgan said as Bob finished, "I haven't heard anything about this." He lowered part of his guard, though never the whole thing, and continued, concern lacing his voice. "You mean something has been going on off the radar?"

"Apparently," Harry said

"What exactly is it that makes this case one the Council should know about?"

Bob told him, with slight uncertainty as to whether or not he should, occasionally glancing in Harrys' direction. "There have been eight children murdered while they slept. All sings point to something of a magical nature, though what kind of magic is very difficult to ascertain."

"What kind of signs?"

"Look, Morgan," Harry began, "If you guys don't know anything about this, then just let me finish taking care of it, we can—"

"Absolutely not, Dresden. Not until I get an answer. Now tell me what's been going on."

Here Harry felt a bit annoyed with himself, but sighed and said, "We... Don't know. Exactly." Morgan took a breath through his nose and gave him a look, but before he could say anything, Harry interrupted him. "But we're trying to find out, alright? I only just got the files, I just got back from the scene a few hours ago, and I'm still working on it! Alright?"

Morgan looked between them and gave a one word demand. "Address."

"Morgan—"

"Give me the address, Harry."

With a disgruntled shrug, he said, "Why? I haven't even told you anything about it."

"So that I can make my own observations."

"Oh, so what're you gonna do, Morgan, huh? Just walk right into a crime scene? Right past the guards, the kids' mom? You gonna just, just tell them you're a cop?"

"I have ways of being undetected, Dresden, as you well know."

"And you're gonna go there and look things over before I've told you what I noticed."

"Fine. What have you noticed?"

He looked at him for a minute, continuing to be annoyed. Finally, he gave in. "Alright, well... Well, the blood says no known form of magic has been used, but a few things say that it was definitely some kind of magic."

"And?" Morgan was not pleasant to deal with when angered.

"And... It was definitely done through the kids' dreams. Or at least that's what the Sandmen suggested."

"And?"

"And... And that's, that's it right now."

"Harry, if you're keeping something from me, I will not be pleased."

"Look, you wanted to draw your own conclusions, draw them, okay? I told you everything important, and you'll probably figure it all out when you get there, you want the address? Here," he said, and gave him the address. "Go figure it out. Although if the Council doesn't know about it, then it might be something smaller than it appears, or you aren't going to find anything out on your own."

"If you are suggesting we work together on this case..."

"I'm not suggesting anything like that, Morgan, but if you think so, then we might as well, shouldn't we? Being in the position I'm in right now, it should be easier for me to get info than it would be for you, right?"

Morgan looked at him for a very long time, before stating simply, "I will make my own decisions about that."

"Morgan—"

But he was gone.

"Does he have to keep doing that?"

"Well, everyone has their perks," Bob said, and sighed. "What do you propose we do now?"

Harry shrugged. "I... I dunno, I guess we should just keep going over evidence?"

"Then lets do."

"Okay, right, then, let's keep doing that." Together they went back to the lab and continued to pour over what information they had gotten from both the police files and the Sandmen, adding in what Harry had discovered at the scene.

"So. We know that at least there does seem to be something supernatural going on here, we just can't pinpoint what it is exactly."

"Yes, but it does seem to have something to do with the dream plains, though that has yet to be determined as well, if we are to trust the Sandmen."

"Well, there isn't anything that says they can't be trusted."

"Hm, and nothing to say they can be either, so—" Bob stopped talking suddenly, and slowly straightened up from the position he'd been in, bent over the crime scene photos again. He looked slightly uncomfortable all of a sudden, his brow furrowed. He even looked as though he couldn't stand straight. Blinking, he shook his head, the way one does to clear it when they unexpectedly feel dizzy.

"Bob?" Harry said, concern in his tone. He held out his hands to steady him, feeling useless when he remembered he couldn't really do that.

But the feeling seemed to have passed. "I'm... Sorry, Harry, I... Felt sort of foggy there for a moment."

"Foggy? Like, what, you're gonna pass out or something? Can that happen to you?"

"Apparently, although I must admit, it's never happened before... Er, in any case, where were we?"

But Harry couldn't stop looking at his friend. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Of course, Harry, nothing to worry about. It's probably simply some sort of after effect caused by the Sandmen being here or some such thing." He smiled. "No need to panic."

"Okay..." Harry said, though he still felt unsure. "Uh... Well, I think we should trust them and it'll be fine. They don't exactly have any reason to lie to us."

"No, I suppose not... By the way, did you notice anything particularly unusual there? Anything Morgan might notice?"

Harry thought for a minute. "Oh, yeah. I forgot about that." He went to the crystal and picked it up, looking at it, and then holding it up casually by the string attached to it. "For some reason, while I was in there this started ringing. It didn't glow or anything like that, it just started humming. It started when I was near the closet, so I went inside there, and it kept humming even louder the closer I got to the back wall." He stopped and thought for a second. "Actually, come to think of it, I don't think it stopped even after I put it back in my pocket, when Murphy showed up. But she didn't mention it."

"Perhaps she couldn't hear it? Odd..."

"Yeah... What made you think of that, anyways?"

"Hm? Oh, just a... Casual question, is all. After all, Morgan has just gone off to the scene."

"Right..." Harry looked carefully at Bob again, who simply looked back. "Are you absolutely sure you're alright?"

"Harry, I appreciate the concern, but I really am quite fine."

"Okay... Look, I'm gonna go find out if I can find someone who can help us out with some things here. I think I'm gonna see if Chris is in town, get him to check the Archives just in case we're missing something, okay?"

"Yes, alright."

"'Kay. See if you can think of some things, too." He grabbed his coat, and was just about to leave when Bob spoke again.

"Harry? Please be careful." His voice was oddly soft.

He looked at him in confusion. It might not have been so confusing if this had been said to him before in such a simple and completely non-threatening situation. But he wasn't running out the door in pursuit of something big and nasty, there had been no threats made... In this type of scenario, no. That had never been said. "What?"

"Just... In case. You know Chris keeps odd company."

Well, that was certainly true, but even so... "Sure. Okay." And, still confused, he slowly went out the door, paused outside it, shook his head, and moved on.

Inside, Bob finally let his expression go back to the same confused one he had worn when he had gone, as he had told Harry, foggy. Something had triggered a reaction in him that he had never before had as a... whatever he was now. He felt he was never quite dead, but never quite alive, either, and he was certianly no form of undead... A proper word had never seemed to cross his mind.

But what he had felt had caused something else to happen as well. All outside sound had muffled. His vision had gone not quite black, but too dark to be called gray. And there had been another voice drifting to him. He could not understand what it had said, but it certainly wasn't Harrys' voice...

In fact, it had sounded startlingly like a voice he had not heard in, quite literally, ages.

He stood in the room, and was very suddenly, well... afraid.

Oh, God, he thought. If this is to happen again, please don't harm Harry... Please...