I thanked Black ICE then made my excuses, feeling the heady thrill of triumph wash over my suddenly wide awake and animated body. My fingers blitzed across the keyboard and – despite being unable to touch type – every finger found its place as they danced over the ivory and obsidian dance floor of my key board. It felt… Right. I gained access, a long stretch of carefully crafted security measures bypassed for just a moment, a secret door held ajar just prior to a slam. I observed the site and felt deflated. No pictures, just text and a search bar, black on white. At the bottom, like the engraving on a tombstone lay a message from the sites founder

"To those loving souls who keep this place alive and secret, keep my brainchild from the hands of those businessmen, and our creatures from both discover and doom.

Yours, Tim-Berners-Lee, Phoenix companion"

The name stirred memories of half listened to history classes and the mutterings of geeks in the hallowed halls of the IT block.

"Ahh, What do I care" I muttered absent mindedly, before tapping "sound" into the archaic search bar. Three results appeared

Sirens : A creature that features in many, many legends. Often depicted luring sailors to their watery graves, wheras they were in fact defending their nests from the ships. This led to widespread hunting… The Sound eminating from Sirens is said to be the most beautiful song in the world, but only the few siren companions have heard it…

Weather Giants: … Many weather giants specialise in the art of sound or sonic manipulations. These giants are often reffered to as sound tunnlers or thunder clappers.

Banshees: Banshees are known for their wailing, a sound so filled with anger and pity . It inflicts physical pain and even kill those who encounter without the benefit of companionship or a …

I pressed the final option and began to realise I'd somehow harnessed the power of such a creature. This was getting weirder and more convoluted by the minute. Then I thought of something. I tapped out some more letters, markedly less fluently than before. "Kullervo" appeared in the search bar

Kullervo: A shapeshifter with incredible and mysterious powers, he/it has it's roots set in Iceland where it attempted to abduct one of the first universals. This failed after the abductee…

I read the paragragh and realised that I didn't need to know about whatever was inside my head, I'd probably have to add about 20 more sessions of therapy.

I read and read, scrolled and scrolled, typed and typed.

Then it hit me

"Oh shit" I bemoaned, eyes wide. I logged off and wrenched my computer the wall and pulled out the hardrived. I pushed it into the microwave, set it to full power and infinite time. I listened to the crackle of exploding electronics as a backing track as I pushed all my belongings near me during The Incident.

I sat on the edge of my bed and rubbed my hands through my hair as I contemplated my options.

Turn myself in – No, didn't fancy going to juvvie

Ask Kullervo for help – Might involve the selling of my soul and or life, Maybe

Pack Up, Prepare, Piss off – Yeah, that sounds about right

I began to pack immediately; BB gun, Knife, Survival Kit, clothes, money, fake ID. Anything useful. A mad scramble for useful items. Kullervo talked a few times, advising, plotting, sometimes just laughing maniacally.

"He seems like hes done this before" I lamented absent mindedly. He probably had. I listened. Hey? I reasoned, What did I have to lose?

Soon all I could do was think about where to go. I'd never make it to International Waters and I had no family or friends to speak of. So what of the Trustees? Maybe but I believe they'd turn me in. That left one person.

Connie

She Was going to help me.