Spoilers: Story takes place after Pale Demon. This is a series of stories set in the same AU, but mostly stand apart. The first was Out of the Darkness followed by A Dish Best Served Cold.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hollows or any of the characters associated with it, nor am I associated with KH or her publishing company. I'm just playing in the sandbox.
Chapter 2 – Stranger in a Strange Land
I wish that they would hurry the Turn up and go somewhere!
I had been laying here on the stairs, watching them argue over something, for at least 10 minutes. I wasn't in the most comfortable position; my legs were starting to cramp a little from the situation they found themselves in. I didn't dare move; while none of them were looking directly at me, any movement might be caught in the corner of an eye. I didn't trust I could run fast enough, especially now. I might get one with my spindled up chi, but the others were packing serious firepower that could easily take me down.
One of them, the tall skinnyish man with really short hair, was carrying what looked to be a pump action shotgun. He had been arguing with the football player guy. You know the type: huge upper body with strong legs. He was bald, which was not surprising; it had become the latest trend for men's hair. I definitely would have found him attractive in a normal setting, but this was anything but. Football guy was sporting an AK-47. That I could easily recognize, having had one pointed at me on one too many occasions than I cared for. The third guy was staying out of the fight. He was a bit smaller than the other two; I was probably taller than him as well. He was carrying a compound bow with a quiver of arrows on his back. His hair, too, was very short. I briefly wondered why they all had little hair, but quickly tossed that thought to the side. It was the least of my worries. In addition, all three had handguns attached to their waists. I was completely outgunned.
As far as I could tell, they were arguing over where to go. I couldn't make out the specifics, but skinny man kept pointing to the northeast, in the direction of Eden Park, but football guy kept shaking his head and arguing back. Neither was raising their voice too loudly, which is why I couldn't hear them. Still, it seemed like they had been arguing for an eternity. I wasn't so out of shape that I couldn't stay in positions for hours as needed, but I didn't really have time to find that right position before settling down. Now I was afraid to make the slightest movement, as I really didn't their attention off of each other. As long as they kept looking away from me, I was golden.
Skinny man stopped talking, looking really upset. He stomped off, in the direction that I had recently came from. It was obvious that he wasn't getting his way; I had to wonder if he was the type as a child to declare that he was taking his ball and going home when he wasn't winning. The thought brought a smile to my face, as I continued observing the other two. Football guy was shaking his head silently, while shorty was finally speaking a few words. I'm guessing that he was regularly silent, waiting for the fight to be over with. Still, I wouldn't want to mess with football guy right now, unless I was prepared to take him down completely, so it reasons that skinny man wasn't either. Well, at least not yet…
I was thankful that they seemed to be moving off, as the dust that I had stirred up was beginning to settle. I was feeling the effects of breathing it in on my nose; I was attempting to stifle it before it became a sneeze. I could already feel the tickle coming on, so I needed to distract myself long enough until they were out of range of the noise. I let my mind wander, but not overly much; I still needed to be cognizant enough that any movement by the trio would be noted. I started thinking of Ivy; the night before I left for the Ever After with Al, Ivy treated me to page 137 of Cormel's book, A Guide to Dating Vampires. When she first offered to use the book in our lovemaking sessions a few weeks ago, I was a little leery. I had no doubt that a sturdier race, like vampires or maybe weres, could easily survive the intense sessions that I had viewed in the book. I quickly became a fan after that first time; I should have realized that Ivy would never suggest anything that might be harmful to me. Page 137…
I quickly realized that my breath had become faster, as I was panting; I was starting to stir up more dust, which was the complete opposite of what I had been attempting. I slowly moved my arm over, using my sleeve to cover my nose, in hopes that it would filter out the dust from the room as well as dampen any sounds I might make if I sneeze. I unfortunately did not have little ladylike sneezes; I got my mother's genes for that. (I was about to make a comment on how my father sneezed, then I remembered he wasn't genetically my father. I had no idea how Takata…I mean Donald, sneezed; it seemed a little weird to ask questions like these when around him now.)
Thankfully, the men started moving out towards Fountain Square, skinny man taking an early lead due to his stomping off. Shorty took middle while football guy was last. I waited until they had passed beyond my sight before even beginning to move; I needed to work out some kinks before starting a full walk again. Luckily, it didn't take too long for the kinks to disappear; all the extra time spent at the zoo, running, had made them stronger and more resilient than ever. I grabbed my bags, checked to make sure that no one was within sight of my hiding place, and exited out. I turned towards the bridge, building up a charge of ley line energy. Once I was over water, my connection to the line would be shot, so I needed to fuel up now before crossing.
I had just made it onto the bridge when I heard a shout from behind. I quickly turned around, seeing Shorty running towards the bridge, and me consequently. He was still a distance away, but there was no mistaking his direction. Knowing that I should assume he saw me, I turned around and started running down the bridge as fast as I could. Luckily, I had a bit of a head start on him; I would need it on the other side. Once I was down on the streets in the Hollows, I could find a place to hunker down.
My bag was slowing me down, but I knew that I couldn't drop it. With the apparent scarcity of goods, I needed all that I could get. The same couldn't be said for Shorty, though. He was only carrying the bow and quiver of arrows, which wasn't encumbering him to any amount. Still, I didn't dare look behind me to check on his progress; too much debris and too many, well, skeletons on the ground were sources of danger when going all out. I hoped that my runner legs would be enough to maintain the distance between us.
Thankfully the bridge wasn't long, not even a quarter mile. I easily crossed it in minutes; despite the circumstances, I was a bit miffed on how long it took to make it to the Hollows side of the river. I was proud of my athletic body, with all the work I had put into it. Shoving that thought to the side, I started moving to the northeastern side of the Hollows, which was primarily residential. I felt I had a better chance at hiding in a house than in the numerous office buildings and stores on the other side. I was moving away from the church, but I felt that I could make up that distance later. After all, I was only a few miles away from home…and Ivy.
I took a chance and looked back, to see that Shorty had held back to wait for his friends, which was pretty smart. I'd have done the same, not knowing the capabilities of the target. Still, they looked like they were halfway across the bridge, so I darted down the street. Two blocks down, I found a house with an open front door. I offered thanks to the Goddess or whomever might be looking out for my witchy butt and bolted inside. I quickly closed the door, locking it in place. The foyer was filled with boxes and a few suitcases; I guess that the occupants had to flee too quickly to carry this along. The foyer led to a hallway with a door to the right and one at the end. Based on the mess that was scattered around, people had already gone through it to find anything of value. There were several smashed frames with photographs of a young couple with a small but very adorable child. Whatever happened had already happened, so my hopes that they made it out safely might have been in vain, but still I wished them well.
I moved into the adjacent room, which was the family room. A torn up couch and chairs were placed with favorable angles to the mounted flat screen TV, which had also suffered from the apparent destruction. Nothing appeared to have escaped the notice of the vandals who had visited this home. The blinds were already drawn, which was good and bad. The good part was that they couldn't see easily into the home and notice me, but the bad side was that I couldn't see them. While this house did have a second floor, I was very reluctant to move up there, despite the vantage point that I would have. I didn't want to be trapped in an upper level, so downstairs I stayed.
I gently eased my bag off my shoulder onto the floor, taking the time to ensure that I did not make any loud noises. I sat down with my back to the door, hoping that I would hear them before they tried the door, giving me ample time to react. I dug a pack of cookies out of my bag, along with one of the water bottles. I needed to stay hydrated and fueled, even if the food was subpar. At least what I had would ease any hunger pains while I waited and planned my next move. I knew that this was only temporary; I would need to relocate to another home to avoid my hunters. I wanted to keep moving to places that they had already checked, but I wasn't sure if this would work. It really depended on how well these guys planned.
I eventually heard them calling out, but it appeared to be a street or two over. While the lack of noise pollution made their calls clearer than normal, there were some ambient noises that were affecting my hearing: birds calling, the wind blowing through some leafless trees, the nearby Ohio River merrily bubbling along its way. Still, I could tell what direction the voices were generally; I just needed to wait for further calls to determine their movement. In an ideal situation, they would all be together, meaning it would be easier to avoid them. For all I knew, they could have split up, with only two of the three making noise. The third would be silent, waiting for me to make a mistake and show myself to him. I knew that this would work, as Ivy, Jenks and I had pulled this before while on runs. Jenks was the silent one; with his speed and stealth, he could easily find our target after we had flushed him out. I knew I was taking a chance, but I couldn't think of any other plan right now. I wasn't the planner; that was Ivy. Even months after getting together, I still was a by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of girl, despite Ivy's attempts to plan out my every run. Still, the fact that I even had somewhat of a plan showed how Ivy's persistence in this matter had actually done some good.
The sounds appeared to be getting closer. I moved up into a crouching position; this allowed me to minimize how easy it might be to see me, but still allow me to move quickly as needed. The voices were coming from the street over to the back of the house where I was hiding…Damn it to the Turn! I completely forgot to check the back door to see if it was locked or not. I moved down the hallway, still bent over to try and avoid detection if I could. Luckily the room at the end of the hall was the kitchen with the doorway to the back yard. It looked locked but I went and tested the door to verify that it was. There were no shades or curtains here in the kitchen, so I retreated back to the front door.
The occasional calls from the men were getting louder, but still seemed a small distance off. I was hoping that they would move onto this home's street, which would allow me the opportunity to sneak out the back and move away from them. I was still concerned that I was only hearing two different voices; I had to wonder what the third one was doing. The idea that the two were only flushing me out for the third to prey on me had already flashed through my mine; still I was nervous. I took a moment to take deep breaths; stress on what might be would only be problematic, so I needed to release those thoughts. My plan was good; hopefully it would work.
Eventually the calls moved onto this street, one on either end. I grabbed my bag and moved back into the kitchen, glancing out the windows there. It was a normal backyard; a playset for kids and a shed which undoubtedly held various gardening and lawn maintenance tools. I didn't see anyone, so I unlocked the door and slowly opened it. I didn't want any rusty hinges announcing my position. They did make some slight creaks and grunts as they were forced open, but the sound wasn't loud, thankfully. I eased my way out, slowly closing the door behind me. I moved slowly away from the house, in the direction of the next street over. There was a small fence separating the properties, but it was easily scalable.
I was trying to move as quickly and as stealthily as I could. I went up to the car parked in the neighbor's yard, trying to see if the third person was hanging back. I waited for a few minutes, but didn't see movement in either direction. I could still hear them calling to me, entreating me to show myself. Feeling satisfied that I was safe, I started to stand up when I saw a shadow detach itself from a house three down on the opposite side of the street. I quickly ducked back, watching it move into the open. It was Shorty; he was waiting to see if I showed myself. He wasn't moving fast and didn't react as if he had spotted me. He was crossing the street to go behind the houses. I waited until he had disappeared from sight before moving in front of the car, still crouching. I waited a few more minutes before deciding to take a chance. The longer I sat there, the greater the chance I would be spotted. I started moving quickly across the street, taking care not to hit any of the debris in the street. All the streets seemed to have scattered remnants of daily life before whatever happened here.
I crossed successfully without any apparent notice. I crouched again by a nearby jeep; I waited to see if Shorty was stilling watching this street and was about to announce my presence. Minutes went by; my legs were starting to ache from the awkward positions I had them in in a short amount of time. Finally, I decided it was safe to move on. I crossed over to the next street by going through the backyard yards. I went three streets over before I started moving again in the direction of the church. It looked to be close to midafternoon; I planned on hunkering somewhere a little bit closer to the church until near to nightfall. I figured that moving around at dusk would be easier on avoiding notice. Well, unless they were vampires and werewolves. Sometimes it just sucked that some species got better senses than witches. Of course, I could do earth magic and work ley lines, but it seemed like I was always in a position where somebody had the advantage because of their superior senses.
After several blocks of travel, I made it to the Cathedral. I had passed by several restaurants and delis on my way here; I'd say that the smell coming from them was disgusting, but disgusting was just too limited a word to describe that odor. The same destruction I witnessed in downtown Cincy was present here in the Hollows area as well. I figured that the Cathedral was as safe a spot to wait for dusk as any right now, and should be a little less on the abysmal range.
Pushing my way passed the broken entranceway, I was shocked to see the inside of the Cathedral. The way I remembered it was vastly different than what I was seeing. Of course, it wasn't shocking that the same destruction that had hit homes and stores would visit here, but it seemed so much worse for the vandalism to strike here of all places. I certainly wasn't one to worship any human god, but I recognized that this was a sacred place for some and should be treated accordingly. That's why the damage done here was so…well, sacrilegious.
Everything here in the Basilica had been touched by the wave of desolation that had hit the city. The stained glass windows had been shattered. The altar, once a setting of hope and spirituality, was now adorned with graffiti like the side of railroad cars. The pews were upended, the inner doors smashed beyond belief. Even the church bell that once rang out on the hour its clear ringing tone, had been torn out and tossed into the congregation seating.
I briefly thought of my time here during Trent's rehearsal and wedding. A little smile made its way to my face while thinking of arresting him during the nuptials. It just made my day to do that to him. Best not dwell too long on the past. I just needed a place to stay until nightfall, which I felt was a better time to travel. I hoped the moon would be bright enough to show me the way, as I didn't have the vision of a werewolf or a vampire. I also hoped that the three hunters were human and not some Inderlander. If even one of them was a vampire or werewolf, I had no chance of getting away from them cleanly. I doubted they were, as they should have picked up on my scent where I was hiding previously. Luck may be on my side right now, but I sure didn't want to tempt it any further than I needed to do. Nightfall was the best time to move out.
I sat down on the steps leading to the altar area. The carpet here wasn't pulled up or damaged in any way, which was good for me right now. The whole church smelled like mold, so the roof must have been compromised to allow water in. The smell wasn't bad enough to make me change my mind on hiding spots, so I tried to ignore it best as I could. I grabbed a water bottle and a bag of nuts from my bag. While I didn't really feel like eating, I knew I needed to eat when I could. Quiet times might come few and far between, so take them when you can. I chewed in silence, really noticing how quiet it was getting. In some ways it was soothing, a gentle reminder of how life is when humans aren't around doing their best to destroy it. In other ways, the silence was terrifying. I'd seen way too many horrors movies growing up to know that, when the movie gets silent, something bad was about to happen. I started having the feeling that I was being watched, but I was out of the line of sight of any windows; only someone at the front door would have been able to see me. I didn't see anyone there, so I brushed off the paranoid-like feeling that I was having. I settled myself against the altar, glad to have a little down time before starting back up.
Jerking awake, I realized that I had dozed off. Apparently I was a little more tired than I thought; it was now past dusk and well into almost dark. It'd had been a couple of stressful days; not knowing what the Turn was going on and being afraid for Ivy had really been vexing me. The sooner I got home, the sooner I would hopefully get some answers. I stood up and stretched; I wanted to warm up the muscles before I started on the last leg of the trip. After a few exercises I grabbed my bag and headed to the door. I was really missing my splat gun; I took for granted how its cool plastic handle soothed me in times of crisis.
I took a peek out the door before opening it. I didn't see anything in the dim light provided by the waning moon. The same darkness that might be hiding any sort of enemy was also giving me the advantage of stealth. As long as I stayed off the main streets and to the backyards of the houses between home and me, I should be fine. Of course, knowing my luck, something totally unexpected would happen.
I followed MLK Jr Boulevard for a few blocks, trying my best to stay hidden in the deeper shadows present. I made it over the railroad tracks easily, leaving behind the business section of the Hollows and entered into the more residential areas. A lot of these houses had been emptied after the Turn; moving into the safety of inner Cincy had become a priority for almost all of the humans that had lived here. I couldn't really blame them; first a devastating plague then to have all of the nightmare creatures from your childhood turn out to be real would probably shake anyone. Still, despite the many years since the Turn, most humans were still hesitant to do business with Inderlanders, let alone live near them. Of course, humans really aren't known for tolerating those different from you; history is full of examples of the travesties that humanity inflicted on those they thought were inferior.
Shaking my head, I realized that I had drifted off into thought while walking, which was a dangerous precedent. I refocused on the task at hand, feeling a little more wary because of my lapse in attention. I stepped into a dark shadow, taking the time to scan the area around me. I didn't want to have someone following me due to my lack of concentration on the matters at hand. I waited for roughly ten minutes, not seeing any kind of movement. I was only hearing the ambient noises that regularly occurred at night: crickets chirping, the distant river, the occasional cry of an owl. I felt pretty confident that there was no one there; only a vamp would be able to avoid my attention, but there was nothing I could really do about them until they showed themselves. My only course of action was to treat it as if there were no vamps; I would deal with it if one made a move on me.
I crossed the boulevard over into the backyard between two houses. As I went, I discovered various levels of fences arranged around each backyard. Some I was able to clamber over, whether easily or with some work. I sometimes had to make my way to the front of the house and cross over there. Despite this slowing my progress, I was more concerned with getting home safely than quickly right now. I didn't want to be bringing trouble home with me. I didn't even know what was waiting me there, so one less nebulous thing is one too many.
As I was getting closer to the church, I noticed that more and more of the houses had backyards that had been completely dedicated to gardens. While I had seen gardens in many backyards (the church had a garden as did Keasley), this was even more than just the small gardening plot most city dwellers had. It seemed that every square inch of the backyard was dedicated to growing crops. Well, specifically, one kind of crop. The one I was in seemed to be growing potatoes as was the houses around it. I had passed one with high stakes in the ground, with decaying vine or climbing plants on it. It could have been tomatoes or peas; I wasn't versed well enough in crops to recognize the plant for sure. It was just odd that any homeowner would have done this to such an extreme, that I suspected this had been done after whatever had happened. Going by what appeared to have happened, I guessed that this was someone's livelihood now in a time of low supply.
Once again, I felt that nebulous feeling of being watched. I scanned the area around me; the moon was higher in the sky, so what little light it gave was at its most effective. Still, I could see nothing or no one that seemed out of place. Still, Ivy had driven in me time after time to trust my instincts in these instances; while my senses are inferior to that of a vampire or a werewolf, I still had better than human ones. Again, no obviously incongruous sounds were present, despite me straining my hearing as best as I could. I started moving again but ducked around the corner of the next house I passed. I waited for another ten minutes at least before I felt satisfied that there was nothing there. Well, nothing that I could do anything about right now, anyway.
I had made it to 17th Street, which ran along the far end of the church plot of land. It was only a couple blocks away, so I figured that I could get over the fence on this side, putting me on safer ground at least. I travelled down 17th Street, the nearness of the church putting energy in my step. I made it to the surrounding street to the lot when I stopped suddenly. The fence around the church was at least 8 feet tall and had barbed wire at the top. I could see through the fence, noting that the entire lot appeared to have been converted to gardens. Some of the grave markers or crypts that had been present in the back lot no longer appeared to be present. Stunned by these changes, I slowly started walking towards the front, no longer sure what I could expect when I went into that place I had called home for the past 3 years.
I shouldn't have been surprised to see changes to the back of the church as well. Several changes were evident here; there was what appeared to be a cellar door just to the left of the back door. In addition, there was a fire pit with a nearby covered charcoal grill. I could see a large pile of chopped wood along the nearest side of the church. Light twinkled in reflection at me; I looked up to see that there were solar panels attached to the roof, reflecting the sparse moonlight back to me. Whomever was living in the church had certainly equipped it to be as self-sufficient as possible.
I moved around to the front of the church, seeing that higher fence made its way completely around the church lot. There was a gated double door in front of the car port as well as a gate door leading to the walkway to the church entrance. Both were locked; a simple tug on both had determined that it would not be so easy to get in. I crouched down to look at the locking mechanism; I knew before I even looked that I would not be able to pick it. If I had my picklock set, I would have a decent chance to do so, but it was unfortunately sitting in my regular bag back at Al's, provided it hadn't been destroyed in the fight that going on when I left.
I was about to stand up when my instincts all of a sudden screamed at me in warning. I quickly reached out to my line and started drawing power in, while standing and turning around as quick as I could. I had barely made it to my feet when I saw and then felt a punch being thrown at me. I barely registered my face screaming in pain before darkness overtook my senses.
Waking up to breakfast in bed is great. Waking up to your lover nibbling on you is even better. Waking up in pain? Not even in the top ten.
The first thing I noticed was the stinging sensation in my left cheek; undoubtedly a leftover favor from the gift I received earlier. As I slowly started coming to my senses, I realized that I was tied to a chair with what felt like synthetic rope. There was a blindfold over my eyes, which seemed ridiculous considering it was nighttime. Well, at least it was before I got the knuckle sandwich order. Still, I could sense movement in the room, so I knew whomever gave me the certainly large bruise on my face was still here. They seemed to be pacing back and forth, but no sound was being made by their footsteps. It was only my instincts telling me that they were there, wearing a hole in the rug.
I felt the heat of a nearby candle, so it made sense that it was still dark. I wiggled a little to test the ropes, which didn't help me and just seemed to have alerted my captor that I was awake. I could tell that they stopped pacing, obvious watching me. Figuring it was useless to try to play possum, I decided that the direct approach might be best.
"Ivy? Is that you? I know someone is there; it'd be really nice if we could, you know, talk face to face?"
Silence was my only answer. There was no further pacing; I could only imagine that they were trying to decide what to do. I should be patient and let them make the first move but I really suck at waiting. If it was Ivy, I really wanted to know why she'd blindfolded me without permission (excepting page 84 – not the time, Morgan!) and why she wasn't talking. We'd played games with each other enough to be comfortable with them, but this really didn't seem the proper setting for such games. Besides, Ivy knew how much I loved the grey silk quality of her voice, so she never passed the chance to use it in our bedroom fun time. So, if it was Ivy, something was seriously wrong. At this point, I wasn't sure if I wanted it to be Ivy or not.
I couldn't smell anything besides the scent of what seemed to be a stupid aromatherapy candle that was burning nearby, so that didn't help any. I was beginning to run out of ideas and the thought that this wasn't Ivy was becoming more and more prominent in my mind. Just to be safe, I reached out for the ley line, spindling a little energy as a just in case. However, as soon as I started to pull energy into me, I felt the wind of my captor's movement, quickly followed by a slap to my left cheek. Pain blossomed as my cheek once again declared its resentment at being treated as such. My hold on the line dropped, which I am sure is the reason my captor slapped me. I shook my head a little, trying to get the pain a little more under control. It was then that I first heard my captor.
"Don't."
The voice was so familiar but the tone was something different. I had heard this voice for the past 5 years, and, even though it was not raised in loving tones right now, I easily recognized the most important voice in my life right now.
"Ivy? Why are you doing this? What's going on? Please, just take off my blindfold, we can talk about this. I know I've been gone for a while, but it's still me. Please Ivy, I still love you."
A gasp came from her at that last statement, which I could understand. I mean, I went to the Ever After in June, came back in October or November; I'm sure that she had a lot of doubts about my and her feelings, whether I had left her or not. Another sense of quick movement found my blindfold removed with what I believed to be Ivy hanging at the edge of the light. I couldn't see her clearly; I just knew her presence was there.
"Who are you?" Ivy demanded of me. It was definitely Ivy; I've heard her voice yelling at me plenty enough times to fully recognize it. "Why are you disguised as her? It's not making your chances of staying alive very high. Talk!"
I was bewildered. I had no idea what to say to this; I was not expecting to be grilled about who I was.
"Ivy, it's me. It's Rachel. I'm sorry I was gone for so long, but it wasn't me. I know I say that a lot, but it's really true this time. I got into a fight between demons, tried to come back here to you, but I woke up in Fountain Square. I'm sorry about that, but I have no…"
Ivy stepped into the light, rage showing completely over her face. " . .MORGAN! I will kill you if you don't tell me who you are and take that damned disguise off!"
I was stunned; more importantly, I was feeling a little scared, which was probably feeding Ivy's rage and bloodlust. I took a quick few breaths, trying to center myself. I needed to act calmly and rationally here; anything further might set Ivy off.
"Ivy, it's really me. I met you when we worked in the IS together. We both quit at the same time right after I tagged that leprechaun. We moved into this church; you were here first but I moved in right after leaving the IS. We've been through so much together, from Piscary to stupid Nick to Kisten's death. You've saved me more times that I can count. You've always been there for me. No matter how I poorly treated you, you only showed caring and love for me. It's why I finally fell in love with you. Don't you remember any of this?"
Ivy came up and got directly in my face. I've never seen the hatred on her face now ever before. "You're a damned liar! If you knew anything, you'd know that Rachel Morgan died 5 years ago in Mackinaw! You picked the wrong witch to impersonate, you bastard! Now take off that fucking disguise!"
I died?
Author's Notes:
Yeah, I suck. I apologize for the length of time since my last posting; life has been pretty harsh to me recently. I am dealing with physical health issues, which make me have emotional health issues. All in all, 2019 was a very rough year for me. I hope that things will improve with this New Year.
I am looking forward to Kim Harrison's new book in June, even though the Ravy ship has sailed. I love Ivy so much, I would buy the book just to see her interacting with Rachel. It will never be enough, but it's something.
Hopefully you enjoyed this part. I am already at work on chapter 3; I have it mostly drawn up and ready to write. Chapter 4 is also in planning stages. Please, please, please let me know what you liked, what you didn't, etc. I want the feedback! Even just a thumbs up is thankfully received.