Twisting hard, Kay yanked Arthur back by his hair again. There was hardly breath to say his name, much less sing, but she had to buy Mystery space somehow. Locking her leg around his left arm, she strained to break his hold. This was definitely not Arthur. Arthur she could beat in a game of arm wrestling, and had on some of their early dates. Whatever this was, she could barely restrain it.

"Release his body, siren child." His voice sounded like a horde of snakes slithering up his throat.

Gritting her teeth, she yanked back and sucked in enough breath to call, "Arthur!"

"I will flightstrip you, feather by feather, like your mother. Release his body."

Kay's talons dug into Arthur's scalp, her jaw clenching as she gave one mighty twist with her body, flipping them both off the bed and onto the floor. Mystery gasped for air, dragging himself to drop to the ground on the other side, the bed now between him and Arthur.

Arthur's elbow drove into her gut, loosening her grip on his hair and arm. He wrenched free, flipping over to pin her by the shoulders. His sclera were no longer white, but pitch black. His irises were green as poison, as was the rest of his skin, and his lips pulled back in a grin too wide for any human mouth.

"So, this is the siren's firstborn." He raised a finger to his temple, eyes drifting in thought. "And already informed of your fate. Pity. The bloom is that much more beautiful with shock. Foreknowledge dampens the fragrance."

Kay slid her leg out and brought it crashing into his ribs, toppling him onto his side. He rolled under the bed, crawling toward the other side.

"Mystery, look out!" she called, grabbing Arthur by the ankle. "Arthur, come back!" She couldn't think to form a song. What even would she sing? Had this thing destroyed Arthur, or was he still there?

He had to be there. He'd survived this once already. "Arthur!"

Hesitation. He hesitated, just long enough for her to yank him back to her side. He was still in there. She pounced, driving her knee into the small of his back and locking her arms around his from behind.

"I am going to particularly enjoy the fulfillment of your fate," Arthur growled. "In fact, I will see to it very personally."

"I'm not afraid of you," Kay seethed. "Whatever you are, Arthur and Vivi will find a way to take you down. You… you're the reason my brother died. You…" Rage trembled up her arms, and she fought the urge to wrench out the arms she restrained. It was Arthur's body, and he would suffer for it later if she didn't keep control. "You killed Lewis. You hurt Arthur. Were you the one that cursed us?"

"So she does not know all. Perhaps the answer is yes. Perhaps the answer is no. Perhaps it is a little bit of both. But let me assure you of something." He curled his legs up, hooking his ankles at her neck and yanking back with his legs, "You may not be afraid of me. But I know what you are afraid of."

Kay's head hit the floor, sending stars across her vision. Something else cracked as Arthur pulled himself to his feet and glanced across the room. "Ah. You. I remember you." He tilted his head, grinning. "You were there. You were watching."

"Deus, cui próprium est miseréri semper et párcere." Vivi's voice shook with rage as she bowled into Arthur shoulder-first, driving him back into the wall. "Súscipe deprecatiónem nostram!"

Arthur wheezed, laughing. "You must be joking. An exorcism prayer? Hardly enough."

"Ut hunc fámulum tuum, quem. Delictórum caténa constríngit, miserátio tuæ pietátis cleménter absólvat." Vivi flipped open a panel on Arthur's prosthetic, withdrawing a golden feather. Kay sucked in a breath. He'd kept it that close?

Vivi passed it in front of Arthur's face, glaring. "Whatever you are, nobody here wants you, including Squire. He's under the protection of everyone in this room, and you'd better let him go before I have to pull out the big guns."

"Big guns?" Arthur's head lolled to the side, laughter wrung from his lungs like a wet towel twisted too tight. "Big guns. Listen to that, Lewis. The mortal threatens me with 'big guns'."

"Stop talking to someone who's not here!" Vivi clapped the feather to the side of his face, hissing, "Kay, sing!"

Kay shut her eyes against the sight of Arthur and covered her ears against Vivi's renewed chanting. What was it Mystery said? Siren songs could be used to guide the lost. Arthur was buried a lot deeper this time, the song would have to reach farther than before. She reached for moments and memories to ground the song in.

Scents of oil and grease and the musical clank of half a dozen wrenches and ratchets ringing in the space of a single garage. An exuberant, jubilant shout of triumph over a particularly troublesome mechanical issue. A lift and spin of celebration, his face stretched with laughter. His name ran from her mouth like water, end to end to end until it was hardly a word anymore, strung along a desperate melody she flung out like a lifeline.

"You can stop now."

She knew that voice. Her jaw snapped shut and her eyes flew open. Lewis stood behind Vivi, his massive hands clamped over the sides of her head. Arthur sagged against Vivi, who struggled to hold him up. There was no longer any sign of green on him.

…..

A giant hand reached past Vivi, plucking the feather from her grasp and holding it up. "So. This was his talisman. I should have guessed." The feather disintegrated in a flash of pink flame.

Vivi staggered under Arthur's weight, glaring up at Lewis. "What are you doing here? I told you to go away. I told you not to follow me back."

"On this trip, Vivi, you couldn't keep me farther than a stone's throw. Perhaps you forgot the consequences of telling a siren to sing, but I haven't and I'm not ready to watch you die just yet, even if you seem hell-bent on it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped.

"It means that whatever you're getting yourself involved in, you're going up against the Shiker. I've already told you, you can't match him. I can't match him, and however powerful Mystery is, it seems he can't match the Shiker either, so unless you know someone even more powerful, this is a suicide mission."

"I don't care! And I don't want your help!" Vivi dropped Arthur, rising to her toes. "Ever since that night nothing in my world works right! Everything's a missing piece or a tipping point or a trigger! Everyone's out to kill the last few friends I have left! You wanna know one of several consequences of you killing off Squire?" She jabbed a finger at his suit, wincing as the motion tugged at her burns, but he stepped back. "Because even if you don't care about Kay anymore, I know you care about me. And let me tell you, Squire and Mystery are about all I have left. And guess what? I know Mystery will be perfectly fine without me."

Lewis stood stock still. "What are you saying, Vivi?"

"I'm saying your journal entries mention that you had to haul me off a set of train tracks."

"You wouldn't."

"I don't remember you!" Vivi shouted. "I don't remember your death! I can't grieve what I didn't lose, but I know Squire! And I can only take so much of this, Lewis!" Even as she said it, she knew it to be true. Arthur's death would put her over the edge again, dropping her into free fall.

The teeth on Lewis' skull sharpened, his eyes flashing. "You test my patience, Vivi! There is a right and a wrong here, a murderer and a victim, and you continue to stand in the way of justice."

"Did you just miss the full on possession?" Vivi snarled. "Oh, wait, let me guess. 'It doesn't matter, Vivi, he was planted there.' Well what if he was? Does that make it his fault?"

Lewis paused, and Vivi pressed on. "Assuming you're right and he was born and planted there for the sole purpose of being used as a tool of murder, does that make it his fault? I bet you had to do some pretty crummy things to survive whatever that creature did to you." Lewis flinched. "Ah, so your hands aren't so clean, are they? So where's the justice for you, huh?"

"It…" he faltered. "It wasn't my…"

"Wasn't your fault? Gee, where have I heard that before? Maybe if you stopped for two seconds and took the time to actually look at Squire, you'd realize he's been-"

A ragged cry interrupted her diatribe. She glanced over her shoulder to see Arthur, still lying on the ground, struggling with his shirt. He pulled it off and began fumbling with the straps that held his prosthetic in place.

"Squire?" She turned, her voice dropping lower as she crouched. "Squire, what is it?"

He pulled away, struggling with the straps. Once he'd clicked them free, he tore at the connection, unlocking each of the four latches and removing the arm. He hurled it across the room, making terrible rasping sounds in his throat.

"Calm down!" Vivi grabbed for his arms, but he jerked away. His head tilted back and he stared just over her head, before bursting out into grating laughter. He curled up on his side, winding his remaining arm around his head, and howled.

Vivi shut her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. Everything was right on the edge, ready to fall off any second. She could feel it. But she couldn't break down, not yet. "Kay, I need you over here. I know your jerk of a brother is here right now, but Squire… please. Just come here."

Feathers brushed her arm. She slid to the side, pulling Kay into her spot. "Please. Do what you can for him. Lewis and I are going to check on Mystery."

Lewis made no protest as Vivi grabbed him by the sleeve and dragged him to the limp form she'd rushed past on the way in. Dropping to her knees, she scooped Mystery into her arms.

"Talk to me, buddy. Anything. I don't care if you have to do the mind-thing or if you just bark. Give me something."

One eye cracked open, rolling around to fix on her. His tongue slid out, swiping slowly along her arm. She gave a small cry as his tongue hit her burns. Adrenaline had let her power through the pain, but now it built again, spiking at the touch.

A low growl rumbled in Mystery's chest, and he struggled to sit up in her lap. "What… what did you… do…" He caught sight of Lewis and bared his teeth. "Did… did he…"

Just a word, Vivi realized. All she had to do was say the word and Mystery would rid her of Lewis. This injury was proof enough he wasn't what everyone thought, and Mystery could wipe him out. Arthur would have one less target on his back. Kay wouldn't have to worry about Lewis using her voice. Vivi could focus on her main mission again without him breathing down her neck.

But it had been a moment. An inexcusable moment, but a moment. Every other moment Lewis had actively defended her, and even broke off his attack on Arthur both times she interfered.

"He'll never do it again," she said, ice in every word. "He had a little trouble controlling his temper, but he's going to learn real quick so it doesn't happen again. Isn't that right, Lewis?"

"Yes." She almost missed his response, it was so quiet.

"Which is good, because he's going to be rejoining us. Provided he can keep his hands off Arthur and promises to leave Kay alone."

Lewis stiffened, but Vivi cut him off. "You want to keep an eye on me? Fine. If you have to. But if that's the case, you don't get to touch them, you got me? If I can't make you see how Squire's not at fault, fine. I don't care. But you don't get to torch him or do death-by-song. If you really do still care about me, you won't deprive me of the last living human member of my team."

Lewis' shoulders sagged, and his skull turned aside. "Agreed," he said in the same quiet voice.

Mystery slumped back into Vivi's arms, and she massaged his jaw. "You gonna be alright?"

"He didn't… get it," Mystery panted. "But... Shiker knows where… I am."

Arthur moaned from across the room, and Vivi lifted Mystery up, laying him on the bed pillows. Grabbing the prosthetic off the ground, she scooted across, dropping back down to the other side where Kay once again held Arthur.

"Hey. Squire. Listen. I know everything's falling apart right now, but we can't. You can't. I need you. Lewis isn't going to touch you, I got that much from him. Take this."

Arthur kicked at the prosthetic, shrieking as he pointed with his remaining arm.

"Don't do this, Squire!" Vivi dodged his foot. "I need to know what's going on in your head. Signing isn't good enough, phone isn't good enough. Type it up, talk to us. What were you doing when the Shiker took you?"

"He was trying to go through the memory fragments," Kay murmured, keeping her eyes down. "To find out what happened to Lewis, and why he was so angry."

"Oh, so the murder thing wasn't obvious enough?" Lewis flared. "He had to go digging for another reason?"

"Stop. Talking." Kay's lips twisted around the words. "I don't want to hear from you."

"Kay, don't start this. Not now, I can't deal with multiple battle fronts." Vivi held Arthur's prosthetic. "Mystery, are you okay?"

"As 'okay' as I can be," he panted.

"Okay. Squire, you didn't kill Mystery. You didn't steal the Hoshi no Tama. And that wasn't you to begin with, you know it. Just like it wasn't you killing Lewis."

He pointed to the arm again, choking.

"I know, the same arm. But that creature had all of you this time, it wasn't just this arm. Please, we need to hear what was happening, and you need both arms to tell us unless you've magically regained the ability to speak."

Arthur shook his head.

"Maybe Kay could-" Arthur shook his head harder. "Okay, no siren orders right now. So that just leaves this. Come on, Squire. Double header, you get to talk to Lewis and tell us what happened just now." Vivi wiggled it in his face. "Don't make me strap you down and reattach it myself. Besides, you can't keep putting Kay through this. It's gotta be hard watching your boyfriend be shirtless this long without pulling a full-on make-out session."

Arthur stared at her, and Kay's jaw dropped.

"Well look at that, he's listening all of a sudden." Vivi shoved the prosthetic at him. "Shock factor works like a charm. Suit up, Squire. Like I've been saying for the past ten minutes, we have to talk."