Scarlett Muse here! I'm psyched to have gotten my first few reviews! And even more psyched that they were positive! =D Remember, reviews are the lifeblood of most writers…they're like the cheap cups of ramen soup that fill our bellies and keep us awake while we pore over the blaring screen of our laptops/desktops trying to find the right words to say. Or maybe that's just me…o.O

Anyway, enjoy chapter two!

HallelujahTheCreator, thank you so much for being my first reviewer! =D And I'm so psyched that you liked it! I hope that you find this chapter to be as good as the first one!

Carlie, thanks for being my second reviewer! This story is going to get a LOT more tense, I promise. Scout's honor and all that jazz! And I won't take a month to update, perish the thought. I'm thinking maybe once or twice a week should be sufficient, hopefully?

The next chapter has already been written but I'm staving off on posting it until the weekend. I want it to be perfect. =) Until Saturday then…

-Scarlett Muse


"A cook you are not," remarked Tabitha as she tried to salvage what was left of dinner.

No matter how she positioned the 'salmon', it still looked like a burnt log of cinders. With a sigh, she flipped open the trash can lid and dropped the decimated fish into the bin. Turning to Irene, she handed the greasy platter back to her (how did she get grease on it if the fish was completely dried out…?), and motioned to the sink.

"Start washing," Tabitha ordered. "I'll try to pull together some soup and salad. It'll have to do for tonight at any rate."

"But I was only supposed to be on cooking duty," complained Irene with a pout.

"Which, by the way, I was meaning to ask…?"

"How I managed to get back on cooking duty after the last fiasco?" finished Irene.

Both women remembered with a cringe, Irene's last attempt at trying to cook dinner for the pack. It ended in several second-degree burns, a completely devastated kitchen, ruined kitchen appliances and many, many disgruntled pack members muttering obscenities at the idiot who had allowed Irene into the kitchen in the first place.

Irene was the pack's historian and librarian. Ask her to find you information on the ribbed back beetle of the Himalayas or the obscure rites of passage ritual conducted by a tribe somewhere in the middle of the Amazon and she would do you one better and not only find you the books and papers you needed but compile a summarized report on it as well. On the other hand, ask her to pour you a bowl of cereal and somehow you found yourself calling the local fire newts to help quell a five alarm blaze.

Tabitha frowned and nodded. "Yes. Didn't Yuri ban you from all kitchen-related duties?"

"Yes, Yuri did, but Cora had a personal emergency she had to take care of and since I was the only one around at the time, she asked me to fill in for her."

Tabitha and Irene exchanged knowing looks and then sighed. Yuri, who had sauntered into the kitchen to inspect the damage done, overheard their conversation and frowned. Cora had gone AWOL again? Yuri couldn't help but rub her chin in thought over the woman's suspicious behavior. She made a mental note to ask Cora to explain herself before returning her attention to the two women in front of her.

"Irene?"

Irene jumped, not having noticed the presence of her Alpha. "Y-Yuri?"

"There is a pile of reports on my desk that I need taken care of," explained Yuri. "Would you mind?"

"Of course not!" Irene all but threw down the plate that she was holding and the apron she was wearing before hurrying off to Yuri's office, glad that she was finally being tossed a ball in her ball park. Yuri chuckled. It was certainly fitting that the woman's animal form was that of an owl.

Taking Irene's place at the sink, Yuri picked up where the historian had left off. At first Tabitha began to protest but Yuri shrugged before she could say anything.

"If we're going to eat anything respectable tonight, I should probably help," said Yuri with a smile.

"I can find someone else to help," suggested Tabitha. "One of the younger ones could…"

"Don't worry," interrupted Yuri. "As Alpha, I'm not afraid to get my hands a little dirty. You just make something edible and all will be right with the world."

Tabitha bowed her head in acknowledgement, a small, approving smile gracing her normally severe features. She felt happy knowing that Yuri was her pack's leader. The woman had her stern moments (didn't all the upper echelon shifters have theirs?) and sometimes she could be quite demanding. However, unlike most Alphas, she was often open to suggestions and comments from her pack and she wasn't above menial labor. Whenever she found spare time, she helped with the chores around the compound, especially now that they were understaffed. Most of the pack had been sent off to try and stem the swell of rebel activity. In their absence, Yuri had assumed some of their roles so that the compound continued to run smoothly.

"After dinner, would you like to take a walk? I haven't had one in ages."

Tabitha smiled at her Alpha. "Certainly. Perhaps we can take a stroll around the lake? The sirens shouldn't be too bad at this time of the year and sometimes I find their voices to be…"

"Soothing? Me too." They both shared a smile as they continued their work.

Tabitha expertly chopped up lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and cheese and set the oil on the stove to heat up so she could fry up some chicken to top off the salad. She set the beef broth to boil next to the chicken before she began chopping up the mushrooms and leeks that would later go into the soup.

Yuri watched appreciatively as the older woman moved quickly and deftly. By the time she was finished washing pots and plates, the kitchen was permeated with delicious, mouth watering smells. Yuri's nose twitched as the scents wafted around her nose. If she listened hard enough, she swore she could hear the house take a collective sigh of relief.

"Soup's done," said Tabitha, putting her hands on her hips and smiling proudly. Then she frowned. "I just wish we had some dessert…"

"Pie's here," said Taylor, swooping into the kitchen carrying an armload of pastries. "And cookies. And cake. Really, I kind of just bought everything Remy had. Is the dinner disaster resolved?"

Yuri grinned as she reached up to kiss her mate on the cheek gratefully. "Disaster averted. We didn't even have to call any fire newts. Thanks for going shopping on such short notice."

"Anything to help…though I ran into Cora on the way back. She doesn't look too hot. I offered to give her a ride back but she didn't want to come home."

Yuri frowned. What could possibly be ailing Cora? Yuri looked at Tabitha who was already pulling at her apron strings. "I can go and check on her…"

"Stay," ordered Yuri. "I'll find her and bring her back myself. Just make sure you leave some dinner for me and Cora."

"We'll be sure not to 'wolf' it all down," said Taylor with a wink.

Yuri shook her head at her mate's poor pun before taking off for the Cherry Blossom Path. It was in this direction that most of the creatures of the forest set up shop. Remy's popular stall was in that direction and if Yuri was lucky, she'd probably find Cora still around the area.


Cora pulled back the hood of her cloak, rustling her reddish brown hair as she did so and taking a deep breath. Her chubby cheeks were pink with exertion at having to run for so long. The minute she had overheard Yuri's talk with Taylor, she had found and pinned Irene with her chores in exchange for peach turnovers being delivered to her study later that night. Then she had found her crimson running cloak and had made a slap dash run halfway across all of Avalon, finally making it to the gnarled entrance of an old, ashen willow tree. It was unusually large, like many of the trees in Avalon and its gaping hole was large enough to admit a small giant.

Knocking twice, the door swung open and an ogre with a sneer on his face admitted her in.

"Cora," grunted the ogre in greeting.

"Bane," returned Cora with a nod. "How are you?"

"I could be better," rumbled the huge creature, rubbing the surface of his dented helmet with his large, green, calloused hand. "The wife and children loved the almond cookies you sent, by the by. Delectable, they called it."

"Of course, Bane. It is my cooking after all." Cora smiled and squeezed the ogre's arm warmly. "I know you don't really like…er…our kind of food, but it's nice of you try it anyway. Is Luster here?"

Bane nodded, closing the door and locking it. He leaned against the heavy wooden construct, causing it to creak and nodded towards the inner depths of the house. "I suppose it's rebellion business, is it?"

"You shouldn't make any suppositions, Bane," said Cora softly. "It'll keep you out of trouble if any of the Guard discovered this place. If you don't know anything then you'll be safe."

The sneer on the ogre's face intensified. "Is that so? I'm an ogre, Cora. They'll find something to lock me up for. If Luster didn't take me in, I wouldn't have no way to take care of my little Apple and Thorne. Curse the Guards and curse the Council. 'Sides…unless you're a card carrying member of the rebellion, you can't even see this place."

Cora chuckled. "If that's how you want to put it."

Card carrying member, indeed! All members of the rebellion were tattooed on approval with a small, inconspicuous phoenix with its wings curled around itself. The tattoo remained invisible unless in the presence of another rebel member or when you were near a rebel safe house.

Cora had chosen to have hers on the side of her stomach. Even now, she felt a small tingle in the area of the mark as she walked the vast passages of Luster Hall. Hearing music, she concluded that Luster was probably in the concert hall. After walking down a flight of steps, she arrived at the level where Luster usually practiced with his instruments. Pushing open the dark double doors, she found the mage sitting on a stool conducting floating instruments. As she strode in, she recognized the music from the classic human thriller, Jaws.

Duh duh. Duh duh. Duh-duh-duh duh.

The violins screeched as she drew closer. She frowned as she finally came to Luster's side and said, "Oh, hush."

Luster set down his wand, causing all of the instruments to float to the floor and settle. Turning in his seat, he beamed up at his friend and said, "Cora! So nice to see you here! Did you bring any food with you? Bane is as bad a cook as I am, you see. We're pretty much living on twigs and berries. You know, the usual bachelor's diet."

"Oh, I'm sorry Luster," said Cora, looking genuinely apologetic. "I was in such a rush…Listen, there's something important for you to do."

Luster raised an eyebrow. "Does it involve food? Cause really, we are starving here. I wasn't kidding about that. I looked at Bane yesterday and instead of seeing him, I saw a fantastically roasted chicken with all the trimmings…Don't tell him I said that though. He already thinks me plenty queer as it is. Though it's easy for him think such. He goes home to the missus every weekend. I would ask him to bring something with him, but I'm not exactly keen on the ogre diet. Slugs and moss and all that, you know?"

Cora rolled her eyes and cupped Luster's cheeks in her hand. "When I come back next time, I'll bring you the biggest feast you can imagine. Freshly baked honey bread, hot lemon and butter trout, a warm apple pie, chunky beef stew, chilled cordial…"

Luster licked his lips and said dreamily, "For such a treat, I would go to the moon and back for you."

"Good, I just need you to go to the human world."

Luster pulled back, Cora's spell of tasty concoctions completely broken. "Why? What do you have up your sleeve, Cora dear?"

Luster shifted studying his friend his short, curvy friend with a questioning look. Cora smiled. Because of all of Luster's 'eccentricities', people enjoyed underestimating the wily mage. Truth be told, he didn't look very menacing. He looked more like an overgrown child then anything, his tall frame bent over in his stool with his knees pulled up beneath his chin and his innocent blue eyes watching her movements intently from under a cloud of puffy blond hair.

However, they had been friends since they were kids and Cora had been witness to his cunning many, many times. His quick talking and wild ideas had gotten them in and out of trouble on multiple occasions, always leaving them better off than when they had began. When Cora had fixed her mind on joining Alexander's rebel group, it had been Luster who had led them into thwarting a surprise raid on rebel headquarters and it was also his idea of using tattoos to gain access to them afterwards that had cemented their position with Alexander.

Cora placed a loving hand on her friend's shoulder and looked him in the eyes as she said, "Because…there's something there that could be the key to the rebellion's success."

"And that would be?"

"There's a boy who's turning soon. A boy in the human world."

"In the human world?" Luster let his eyes drift up in thought. "Rare…but it happens. Especially during the Magical Inquisition. Who knows how many children are running around out there with latent magical ability? And even though the general consensus is that the Inquisition is over…who knows? The Council can be shady sometimes. Bane is an example of that. Why should this boy be important at all?"

"This boy managed to contact and befriend the People," explained Cora, grinning when she saw the awe spread across Luster's face. It was all falling into place in his head now.

"The People? Really?"

"Yes. Until now, we've kept our distance from the faeries because we had no idea how they would react to us or our plans…and Yuri has us on such close surveillance, I doubt we'd be able to make contact anyway. However, I believe that she sent only three trackers to scout him out and possibly even recruit him…"

"But if I made it to him first," said Luster slowly, "and I had him sympathize with us…we could use him to get to the People. And with the People's aid and technology, we could finally solidify our stance as an army…more people would join us…we'd be a rolling stone building up enough momentum to finally realize our goals! Oh, brilliant, Cora! You're not just a genius with a whisk but you're simply a genius!"

"Oh, I know," said Cora, even though she blushed somewhat. "I'll have to inform Alexander of our movements though. I wonder how I'll manage that! Yuri is already sniffing at me."

"While I'm away, I can always send Bane to run the message for us," offered Luster.

"What message?" asked Bane as he stepped into the room. He had to bend a bit to get through the smaller door frame but once through, he stood at his usual height which was somewhere around eight feet. He carried a small wicker basket under one of his arms and he looked curiously at the two.

When neither of them said anything, he sighed, "Right. Rebel business. Mum's the word. Anyway, before I forget, Thorne wanted you guys to try this. It'll be our thanks for being such wonderful friends."

Bane flipped the lid to the basket and both Cora and Luster exchanged looks.

He's your bodyguard, Cora's face seemed to say.

He's your friend, was Luster's response. I pay him. What do you do?

Noticing the look of dismay beginning to creep onto Bane's face, Cora sighed. She reached into the basket with a false smile on her lips as she said, "Thanks, Bane. That was such a wonderful thing to do…"


An hour later, Cora was stumbling along Cherry Blossom, trying to keep the bile down. She already tasted the slug going in…she didn't want to taste it on its way back out again. She would've been home sooner if she had simply turned down Bane's proffered gift of pickled slugs but she didn't want to hurt his feelings. For a big, 'scary' ogre, Bane was pretty sensitive.

"Cora! Hey, Cora!"

Damn.

Pasting a smile on her face, Cora turned around to see her Alpha's mate trotting towards her. Taylor slowed down and stopped a few feet away, concern clear on his face.

"Cora? Are you okay? You look a little green…"

Is that why ogres were green? Because the food they ate made them sick? Cora shook her head and tried to focus on answering without spewing all over the tall, handsome man.

"I'm fine," she managed to groan. Good, maybe a little steadier in the voice and she could've convinced him that she wasn't about to die.

"Maybe I should take you home," suggested Taylor, reaching forward to steady her.

Cora stumbled out of his reach and shook her head. "Fine…I mean…I'm…urk…fine. I think I should stay out for a little more…it'll make me feel better."

Cora didn't want Taylor to get any closer. A keen sense of smell would catch the scent of ogre and slugs. Any closer and, even though they were surrounded by stalls that sold strong-smelling fish, meats and spices, Taylor would've picked up on her scent.

"In fact," said Cora. "I think I'll go for a…urp…swim."

"Huh, okay," said Taylor, clearly not convinced. "But hurry home, okay? Somehow, Irene got into the kitchen and…well you know what happens after that. So I'm picking up stuff from Remy's. Actually, now that I think about it…aren't you usually the one who's cooking?"

Cora looked at him through watery eyes and Taylor nodded. "Right. I wouldn't want to be cooped up in a kitchen in that condition either. I'll see you at home."

Cora watched Taylor walk further down the path and disappear into a maple tree with a stand full of fruits and veggies in front. It was a popular stand and even now, at this late hour, people were milling outside of it, selecting fruits and vegetables to take home. Cora continued on, taking a side path that led to a fringe of forest that bordered Feallie Lake.

A quick bath would wash her clean of any suspect smells and then she'd probably just walk around until someone came looking for her. Finally making it to the lake, she noted the soft hum of the sirens. In spring, everyone avoided the lake because of them. It was when they were at their loudest and most treacherous. Their song could spell someone into a trance and have them drowning in the middle of the lake before they realized it. As it were, their song was entrancing, but not loud enough to pull Cora closer to them.

Cora stripped and dipped her toes in the water. It was nearing the end of summer but the water was still a little warm. After centuries of absorbing the songs of the sirens, the water had a naturally relaxing effect. She draped her clothes in a nearby patch of flowers and returned to the side of the lake. Sinking into the dark waters, she soaked up the calming sound of the sirens and the soothing water. Mmm…the People. What a change that would make for the rebels…

So far, the rebels weren't taken very seriously by anyone outside of Council-run groups. With small numbers and pretty much the entire Council against them, no one wanted to join what they viewed to be a sinking ship. So far, the group had to be content with small acts of terrorism and vandalism. However, every time they started a fire, caused an earthquake, incited a flood, sparked a plague…whatever they did, Yuri and the other leaders on the Council had been swift to cover all traces of magic and to lessen casualties and damage. It was a battle and the rebels were fighting on a slippery slope.

However, if they could somehow contact the People and persuade them to take up arms…the People were significantly advanced when it came to technology. With their tech and the rebels' magic, they could do a lot more damage than before. And Cora suspected that if the People joined them, they'd find a lot more followers in the magical counties across the world. They would no longer be a bunch of 'crazed blood thirsty hooligans' but an actual threat. Magical creatures would rally together under the possibility of reclaiming the earth from the filthy, filthy humans.

The Council could pretend that they cared about the Mud Men but deep down, she knew that each and every one of them had an intense dislike for the species. If they weren't still running with their tail between their legs from the first war with the humans, Cora surmised they would've joined the rebel cause a long time ago…

Cora lost herself in her thoughts for a while before she realized it was getting late. Eventually she rose up, wringed out her hair and dressed. She didn't have to wait long till Yuri found her.

"Cora, I heard from Taylor you were sick?" asked Yuri, gripping Cora's shoulders and studying her face. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," murmured Cora, failing to meet her Alpha's eyes. "I'm sorry for missing dinner. I was feeling… ill."

"Hush. Don't worry about it. Tabitha and I managed to pull something together…though I wish you would've found a more suitable replacement than Irene, I understand that you were sick. Come on, let's go home. I told Tabitha to save some food for us but you know what our pack is like. I can't guarantee that there's a thimble left of food for us to share."

Cora nodded and followed her Alpha obediently. Luster, it's up to you now. Don't fail.


Mid-Hollow, Dead Zone

There were concerned murmurs and whispers permeating the dark, empty space. Little motes of light drifted lazily around, each with their own occupant voice muttering their concerns. Among this bevy of confusion stood two floating figures, one belonging to a boy and the other to a girl, both looking barely over the age of eight. They both stood over the empty space, listening to the voices. Any normal being would've been driven mad by how many different voices penetrated and possessed their thoughts, each fighting for dominance and eventually each disappearing altogether. Fortunately, neither of them were normal beings.

They were both pale with silver hair and silver eyes. They both wore white flowing clothing that shifted around their bodies eerily despite the absence of wind in the dead space and they both radiated a soft glowing light. They were both also frowning over the disturbance that was taking place before them.

"There is something," began the girl.

"Very wrong," finished the boy.

"The boy…"

"Must not be…"

"Compromised."

"The time stream…"

"Must not be…"

"Broken."

"And the events…"

"Must not be…"

"Thrown off…"

"The path they have taken."

"We must…"

"Intervene."


Bum, bum, BUM!

Next Chapter: The Transformation Begins?

The fever takes a turn for the worse…is Artemis ready to finish his transformation? What is he becoming? Will Luster be able to get rid of Melody and company and convince Artemis to join the rebellion? Who…or what…is planning to intervene? And how? What events are they talking about? The whole thing rings of suspicious activity to me…

Sorry, I always did want to do one of those wrap up scenes that they have at the end of an anime show, lol. I kind of like it. It's fun. Anyway, REVIEW! Please! It's what keeps me going, knowing that people out there are actually interested in what I have to write. Review and I promise that I'll go it J.K. Rowling style and write this out tirelessly on everything I can find. Napkins, books, walls, body parts, my friend's face! (Though I doubt she'd appreciate that…) I'll put in the time if you put in the effort to review. Hoo-ah!

-Scarlett Muse