We're reaching the end. About two more chapters to go. As usual, feedback is much appreciated!


"Selby Wagner," read Murphy over the phone. "There's a record of him coming into the station three months ago."

"For what?" asked Harry, wiping off a crystal.

"His mother had gone missing. He filed a missing persons report with us."

"Did he find her?"

"A few days later. She'd been carjacked. Her body was found two miles outside of the city."

"Did you catch the guy who did it?"

"Yeah, it was just some kid. He said in his statement he hadn't meant to kill her. Things just got out of hand. What does he have to do with my case?"

"I think Selby's on some sort of vigilante kick. Murdering people who he thinks are going to commit a crime at some point in their future."

"How do you know that?" asked Murphy. When a pause followed, she sighed. "I should know better than to ask at this point."

"It might be worth checking out his house," Harry instructed. The cryptic nature of their conversation was all too familiar for Murphy. Something that made her want to punch Dresden as soon as profusely thank him.

"Do I have any legal evidence to warrant a search?" she asked, feeling like it was a useless question.

"Well…"

"Nevermind. I'll figure it out. What are you going to do?"

Harry glanced at the remnants of his scrying and the map that now sported a bright red circle he'd drawn on. "Going to find you some evidence," he replied.


Laura Miller rubbed an eye as she pressed her cell phone to her cheek. She loved her brother dearly, but at times he got on her last nerve.

"Just have the guy send the papers over to me, I'll take a look at them in the morning."

"You're awesome, Laura."

"No, I'm an idiot for not charging you."

"You can't charge me. You LOVE me," he replied. She could hear the grin in his voice.

"Less and less everyday, Nick," she stated with more humor than anger. "I'll call you tomorrow."

Her cell phone chirped as she ended her call with her brother, indicating low battery. Rummaging through her bag, she pulled out the charger and plugged it into the socket on her landing when the doorbell rang.

"Hey Laura," greeted the person from behind the screen door.

"What…?"

"Are you going to let me in or what?" he smiled.

Laura blinked. It was her brother. But somehow he looked wrong. "Nick…what? Are you messing around with me?"

"What are going on about?" he asked, the smile remaining.

"Nick, I…" She frowned. Something was making her heart beat faster and cause a cold sweat to break out. It almost looked like a different man was wearing a Nick Mask. But that sounded insane. "I just talked to you on the phone…" she said, turning to gesture toward the kitchen where she had left her cell.

The screen door suddenly banged open, smashing heavily into her face. Laura lay stunned on the floor from the impact and felt blood spurt from her nose. A hand grabbed the front of her hair.

Crying out, she swung out a disoriented arm, only to have it easily batted away. The hand wrenched at her hair, forcing her to look up. Her brother's eyes stared down at her and then his face seemed to melt.

I have a concussion, she reasoned. I'm having a bad dream, she even hoped.

"This would be a lot easier for you if you didn't struggle," he spoke. That definitely wasn't her brother.

"What….what do you want?" she sobbed, blood mixing in her mouth.

"For you to shut up," he ordered.

Laura heard a click and noticed the gun in his hand.

"Please," she begged. "Please, take whatever you want but please, don't hurt me."

"I'm not here to steal from you," he snapped. He jerked her head, giving her a better angle of gun.

"Oh, god! Please don't kill me! I haven't done anything! Please!" she cried.

"I said, SHUT UP!" he bellowed. The volume of his own voice seemed to cause him pain and he clutched his head momentarily. Using the small distraction, Laura kicked out with her foot. It connected satisfyingly with his leg. Scrambling up amidst his howl of pain, she made a break for the back of her house. She'd gone as far as the hallway when she felt his hand grab her shoulder once again. Before she could react, something hard and metal smacked her across the back of her head.


A battered Jeep eased itself across the street from Laura Miller's house. Harry had just about crossed the walkway, keeping quiet to try and remain undetected when he heard a scream and crash coming from the house.

Screw this.

Clutching the hockey stick, he ran full speed through the unlocked front door and screen. He burst in to see a man standing over the prone figure of who he guessed was Laura Miller. Blood covered her face and for a second, Harry thought he was too late. Then he heard a faint moan coming from her.

Her attacker quickly grabbed her limp form, pressing the barrel of his gun to her forehead as he faced the wizard. "Stay back!" he shouted.

"Selby, calm down," Harry eased, though he didn't lower the hockey stick. "Just calm down."

Selby Wagner shoved the gun closer to Laura's temple. "I mean it! Keep away now!"

Despite having won the physical fight with Laura, Selby looked a mess. The sickly pallor of his skin was only highlighted by the gaunt planes of face. As he his eyes widened, the wizard noticed one was a normal brown while the other was a brilliant shade of blue. Both were currently trained on him. Harry sized his options. He could try and take Selby out with a well aimed blast, but in the time it took him to do so, Selby could easily pull the trigger.

"Okay, look," said Harry, backing up one step. "I'm keeping away. There's no need to hurt anyone, okay? Especially her. She hasn't done anything."

Selby laughed and the sound made the wizard's skin crawl for some reason. "Do you have any idea of what she'll do in a year if I let her live?" he demanded.

"I don't know what you think, Selby," began Harry. "But the future isn't set. You don't know if what you saw is her only future," he argued.

"What do you know?" demanded Selby. "You don't know what I've seen. The millions and millions of ways people everywhere are going to turn around and kill someone! For a lousy pile of cash! You don't know anything!"

"I do know that using the Eye is killing you," said Harry, levelly. Selby's eyes darted up to him. He looked momentarily scared. "You're not supposed to be using it. You can't handle it. No human can."

"You…know about it?" asked Selby, sounding genuinely surprised. "How can you know about it? No one does."

"I just do," insisted the wizard. "And it's making you sick."

Selby opened his mouth as if to reply. But quickly the curious expression melted into a hardened one. "Get in here!" he shouted to an unseen person. "Get in here, NOW! We had a deal!"

There was a flash of fire and trickster appeared by Selby's side. He spotted Harry, still standing across the room with his hockey stick.

"You have GOT to be kidding me?" the trickster exclaimed, exasperated. "Don't you ever take a hint?"

"Get rid of him," Selby ordered.

The trickster looked mildly surprised. "What?"

"Get rid of him! We have a deal. You get rid of him or the Eye remains mine!"

"Actually," the trickster corrected. "The deal is that I help you get rid of seven would be killers for the Eye. And as far as I can see, you're one trigger finger away from that goal. I don't see Dresden here manhandling you down so just blow her brains out already and let's move this along."

"Selby, don't!" Harry shouted.

"Dresden, keep your damn trap shut, will you?" demanded the trickster.

Selby's eyes flicked back to Harry, his eyes narrowing as he studied the wizard. "Dresden…" he murmured, as if trying to place the name. He seemed to study the wizard more carefully this time. Recognition slowly bled into his face. "It's you," he said, softly. "I've seen you."

Selby's one blue eye shimmered and glowed in the dim lights of the house. Harry fought the urge to look away from the probing iris and lost. He stared down somewhere to right of Selby, but felt the man's gaze penetrating through him.

"Whatever killed mom," Selby intoned, quietly. "I'm going to find it." Harry's own eyes widened at the words. "And when I do. I'm gonna rip its heart out." The wizard had a brief flash of memory. Of his father soothing away another nightmare. Of being given his mother's bracelet and being told how she had not been wearing it the day she died. Of vowing to one day find her killer and dolling out punishment. Selby saw it. And now he knew.

"Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden," Selby listed. "Mother dead, killer unknown…at least to you. Father dead, murdered by your uncle."

"Well, he's got your number," the trickster remarked.

Harry finally dragged his eyes up to at least Selby's face if not his gaze. He saw that his nose was bleeding. "Selby, you have to stop."

"Uncle Justin, I want to thank you for everything."

"Selby..."

"I am everything I am today because of…you."

"Stop!"

Blood dripped from Selby's nose and splattered on Laura's shoulder. He didn't seem to notice. But the light in his one eye dimmed all the same. He blinked, seemingly seeing Harry again rather than his past. "It's you," said Selby. "I saw you in one of my futures. This future. This…this is my future as I saw it."

"You have to let Laura go," Harry said. "She hasn't done anything yet. She might not ever do anything."

Selby kept his bi-colored eyes trained on the wizard, as he continued to hold the unconscious woman in front of him. But he addressed the trickster, who looked more impatient than tense. "Just like our arrangement," he said. "After I get rid of the seventh killer, the Eye is yours."

"A deal's a deal," the trickster agreed.

Blood now dripped from Selby's ear, mixing with the stains already made by the blood from his nose. Tears slid down from his brown eye. "You were right," he said to Harry. "The others did have other futures, but I couldn't just stand by and leave it to chance. Not after what happened to my mother. Not after knowing someone else would feel the way I did when she died," he said, trembling. "But this. This is one of my futures. I saw you in it. And I know how it ends."

"Don't do this," Harry pleaded. He lifted his hockey stick again, looking for an opportunity to fire without hitting Laura.

"The last killer," Selby promised. And pulled the trigger.

"No!"

Laura's body fell forward where Selby had pushed her. She landed on the carpeted floor, the jolt of the impact eliciting a groan from her. A few inches away lay Selby. Blood pouring out from the self-inflicted gunshot wound under his chin and the top of his skull. Harry stared at the body, horrified. His lowered hockey stick hung limply from his fingers as he stood frozen. The trickster moved around and crouched down next to Selby's head.

The dead man's eyes were open, though only the brown eye seemed dimmed. Reaching out, the trickster pressed a finger just under the blue eye. It popped out of Selby's socket, rolling easily into the trickster's hand like a bright marble. "Ohhhh, yes," he said, happily. He gave Selby a smile. "Thanks for the business."

"Wait," began Harry, shaking himself out of the paralysis.

"Sorry, delivery to make."

And before the wizard could make a move to detain him, the trickster vanished.