On one hand, Moffitt was glad to be handling a Lee-Enfield rifle again, as he had carried one while the Scots Greys were still using horses in the early days of World War II. On the other, he understood why shotguns were preferable for bird-hunting. Hitting a fast-moving target was difficult with a rifle. Fortunately, with Troy's jackals, the strix were being brought closer to the ground, making it easier to dispatch them.

It also would have been preferable to be working with horses that could handle this type of situation, but Moffitt did the best he could with what he remembered training with Snowstripe. There hadn't exactly been adequate time to bombproof Andridis's animals, and Moffitt couldn't exactly blame the horses for panicking each time a strix flew at them. He wished there had been a better way, but the terrain was too rough for vehicles, and going on foot would have been costly of time and energy. He could tell by some of Sendoa's features that at least one of his ancestors was an Arabian, but that meant nothing if he wasn't trained to hone the traits that came with the breed.

Being adaptable was an important skill in life. It was one Moffitt had struggled with from time to time, but one he was getting better at. Here, he had no choice but to adapt. Flying back to Britain to retrieve his own shotgun and his own horses was out of the question. He would make do with what he had.

When he watched Troy disappear into the mountains, Moffitt thought back to the dreams he had been having over the last several days. If an avalanche was going to happen, it would be here. It had to be here. He wasn't sure if Troy had similar dreams. It wasn't like Troy discussed his dreams very often. Troy had mentioned having "cold" dreams on their first night in Greece, but that was it. Moffitt wasn't sure how to interpret that, especially since Troy had said that the dream felt very vague. It could have been anything.

Regardless, Moffitt wasn't about to let Troy get caught in an avalanche. On one hand, Moffitt was the one who gave the order for the others to stay back and lay down fire to keep the strix from escaping the mountains. On the other, he knew better than anyone not to dismiss the warnings of a dream. He urged Sendoa forward, galloping into the same pass that Troy had gone into.

"What are you doing, dear?!" Anah shouted. "We are supposed to stay back!"

"I'm not letting Troy get caught in an avalanche!" Moffitt said.

"What avalanche?"

"I've been having dreams about one!"

Anah didn't look sure whether to argue or not, but Moffitt didn't feel there was time for debate. He continued heading into the pass, occasionally having to shoot incoming strix. He ducked and pulled Sendoa abruptly to his left when a shrieking bird dove at him. Images of the magpies' castle flashed across his mind. Moffitt raised his rifle, hardly pausing to aim before shooting and knocking the strix to the ground.

The strix kept coming. How many were there? Moffitt wasn't sure he wanted to know. He slowed Sendoa to a canter in order to better aim at the strix, only breaking into a gallop to make quicker getaways and move into better positions to shoot the birds. He found Troy in another pass, one that looked eerily familiar despite Moffitt having never been there before. His blood chilled when he recognized the pass from his avalanche dreams.

He hadn't gone unnoticed by Troy, who called out, "Get back to your position, Moffitt!"

Not without you with me. Moffitt shouted back, "Get out of the pass, Troy!"

Troy seemed to think about it for a moment, then continued heading down the pass, away from Moffitt.

"What is he doing?!" Moffitt hissed.

"What he thinks is best," Anah said.

"And sometimes that's not always truly best." Moffitt tried to swallow his frustration. He moved to tell Sendoa to go into the pass. He was going to drag Troy out if he had to.

His frustration turned into outright terror when a strix swooped down to attack Troy. There was a great flash of light, and a spectral jackal appeared between them, its teeth sunk into the strix. The two animals seemed frozen in midair for what felt like minutes, then the jackal's energy began to collapse. Troy was expelling too much of his own energy into it. In the brightness of the two magical beings, it was easy to see the dark red of blood beginning to run from his nose. Cracks had appeared over the jackal's form, then the strix, excited at the sight and scent of blood, made a vicious attempt to get to Troy.

Sendoa reared up, neighing in fright before turning to run off without Moffitt's instruction. Moffitt was nearly thrown from the horse's back. He swiftly pulled himself back up into the saddle, then heard the boom of the spirit jackal's total collapse as he managed to lead Sendoa away, avoiding the worst of the shockwave. He could feel the wave consisted of magical energy, and Anah felt it, too. She wrapped around his shoulders tightly, wincing and whimpering in pain as the energy coursed through her. Moffitt abruptly sat upright, trembling and feeling as though a hundred bright lights suddenly turned in his brain. For a moment, he was opening communication with every snake in the area involuntarily. He frantically tried to sever it before the sudden rush of voices could send him into a seizure, but it was like he was trying to turn off a hundred individual lights with a hundred individual switches. He shuddered as he felt a horrid buzzing in his brain, and prepared to fall off the horse. Then all at once, the buzzing stopped.

Moffitt looked down at himself, making sure he hadn't blacked out. He was still in Sendoa's saddle. Anah was still around his shoulders, and Sendoa was still trying to run back out of the mountains. Moffitt shook his head, feeling in control again, and quickly turned the horse back to the pass. He needed to make sure Troy was alright. Cold horror gripped Moffitt when he began to sense the minute vibrations, gradually getting stronger as time went on. When he returned to the pass, he shouted, "Troy! Get out of there!"

It was clear that Sendoa had enough. The vibrations of the ensuing avalanche weren't helping. He was pawing at the rocky ground, snorting and neighing. Moffitt patted the side of the horse's neck, doing his best to reassure him. He was beginning to wonder if he had made a mistake, if he should have pursued Troy on foot instead. "Bloody hell, Sendoa, I'm sorry for making you do this," Moffitt said. He, Anah, and Sendoa were all anxious from the vibrations and the steadily increasing rumbling, but the last thing Moffitt wanted to do was leave Troy behind. A huge crack was heard, and Moffitt looked up at the source of the sound.

Snow from two of the peaks that lined the pass was crashing down, taking anything not firmly anchored to the ground with it. Troy looked to be having a hard time staying upright as he tried getting to Moffitt. He stumbled several times, prompting Moffitt to urge Sendoa to run into the pass, against all the horse's—and his own—instincts. Huge piles of snow and ice began filling the pass rapidly, continuing a rampage of nature that didn't care what was in its path. Moffitt knew they would all be buried if he kept going. He couldn't outrun the avalanche if he kept going forward. He realized he needed to make a decision, and he needed to make a decision fast. There's a chance I can rescue Troy later. Tears began choking him as he turned Sendoa away, finally letting the horse follow his instincts and galloping as fast as he could out of the pass and away from the encroaching avalanche.

"Dear, what are you doing?!" Anah cried. "You cannot leave Troy behind!"

Moffitt didn't respond. Time seemed to slow around him. The snow was pouring out of the pass behind him, but had significantly lost momentum.

"Are you listening to me?!" Anah was practically screaming now.

Left… behind… Like me. Moffitt looked over his shoulder. I can't save him. He couldn't save me. Not right then and there. He had to come back later. Like I do now. His memories of what occurred when Troy tried rescuing him when he was about to be executed by the Germans for espionage in North Africa were hazy, except in his dreams. It didn't really occur to him until afterward that he had been briefly left behind. After all, Troy and the others came back for him. It took some effort, but he was eventually back with his team. He was never angry at Troy over his initial failure to save him.

There was no telling what could have happened to Moffitt after the rest of the Rats fled the German camp. It could have been certain death. There was no telling what was going to happen to Troy now. It could be certain death. People had survived avalanches in the past, but the degree of uncertainty was about the same here. Where Troy was able to stop and come up with a plan to rescue Moffitt, Moffitt was feeling guilt surge inside over leaving Troy behind, no matter how many times he tried to stop panicking and reassure himself that everything was going to be okay.

One pass and part of another was now blocked with snow. There was a lot to dig through, which fueled uncomfortable memories of when Moffitt had been trapped in a necromancer temple by an SS officer in the desert, forced to dig by hand for an artifact that neither of them knew was even in there. This was different. Moffitt wasn't going to stop until he found Troy. No matter what. Even if he suffered a panic attack from his memories. He wouldn't stop. First, he headed back out of the mountains to give Sendoa a break.

"What happened? Where is Samuel?" Vasilakis asked.

"He was buried in the avalanche," Moffitt said, dismounting from the horse. "I'm going to find him."

"With the strix around?"

"Yes! I'm not leaving him if there's a chance he's alive. Stay here." Moffitt took as much ammunition as he could from pouches on Sendoa's saddle, made sure his rifle had a full magazine, then sprinted back to the mountain pass. "Anah, I'm going to need your help."

"This never should have happened in the first place!" the cobra snapped.

Moffitt's patience had worn thin, and he turned to glare at her. "No. I'm not going to tolerate this from you. I didn't want to leave Troy behind. You think I would?"

"There was time for you to get to him!"

"How was I supposed to know that? What's done is done. Besides, I'm not the one who told Troy to keep going through the bloody pass. Heaven knows what he was doing."

Anah still looked furious. Eventually, she seemed to relax. "Fine. What do you need me to do?"

When they got to the wall of snow, Moffitt first tested how stable the snow was for climbing. He held up Anah, asking her to test the stability of the snow at the top of the avalanche's final resting place. She slithered off his arm, and studied the snow around her. "There are some areas with hard snow and ice," she said. "This way, dear."

Moffitt slung his rifle over his shoulder before climbing up the snow. He sank a little at the top, then crawled over to a more tightly packed spot with Anah. He remained on his hands and knees, looking for something—anything—that could give him a hint as to where Troy was.

Digging around for a little while revealed many dead strix. Moffitt was struggling to contain his desperation, and began digging more frantically until Anah said, "Dear, look. These look like tracks."

Moffitt looked at what Anah was seeing. There were small holes in the snow, consistent with the gait of a four-legged animal, leading away from a much larger hole. They cautiously made their way over to the hole. The tan color of a slouch hat could be seen poking through the snow. Moffitt began digging once more, breathlessly. "Troy? Troy! Come on—" Once he freed most of Troy's torso, Moffitt moved to pull him out, but stopped when he considered the idea that Troy might have a serious injury. He went slow, brushing away more snow in the process and occasionally gently pressing on Troy's back and neck to feel for broken bones. He couldn't feel any signs of life, but he dismissed that as being due to him wearing gloves.

"Come on, Troy." Moffitt hauled his friend out onto a stable spot. "Anah, we should get him warm."

They went back the same way they came. Moffitt was able to stand, though he sank in some spots, in order to better carry Troy. Fear and anxiety gripped him when he noticed how limp Troy felt. "No… no, no, no, no…" When they got off the remains of the avalanche, Moffitt set Troy down, and yanked off his gloves. "Troy, don't do this. Don't do this, please." He pressed Troy's neck, and felt the faint throbbing of a vein. Finding a pulse should have been relieving, but something felt wrong. "This is going to be what happened at the magpie castle all over again."

"Dear?" Anah's voice broke.

Moffitt wasn't listening. He forced open Troy's eyes, and a chill shot through him. There was no life, no vibrance. Nothing. They were still blue, but had become the dullest blue Moffitt had ever seen.

Anah drew in a breath. "I cannot sense his soul, dear. It is… It is like it vanished."

"That can't be possible. Is he at the river?"

"I have no idea."

"He has to be at the river. W-What do we do?"

"Get him to a hospital."

"Can we? What about the strix?" Moffitt swallowed, and felt blood drain from his face. "I should try and help him." He unslung his rifle, checked that a round was chambered, and turned it around so the muzzle was pointing at his own stomach.

"Dear, NO!" Anah shot forward to yank the rifle away from him. "Think about what you are doing! Stop! Take a deep breath! If Troy is at the river, he can handle it! Have some faith in him!"

"But Dietrich—"

"That was different! Dietrich was able to help him so he could deal with this if it ever happened again. Give Troy a chance."

"I did this to him!" Moffitt cried. "I should've gone after him despite the risk to myself! It's my fault he's hurt!"

"No, it is not! And do not think for one second that hurting yourself is the answer! It is not! It never is!" Anah sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "Please, dear, don't you dare! Please!"

Moffitt felt his adrenaline start to come down. His hands were shaking as he began to process what he had just been thinking of doing, and he was horrified that he had other reasons, other excuses, lined up to keep arguing. He stopped thinking, focusing only on the distraught snake in front of him, and picked her up to hug her as best he could. "Anah, I'm sorry—"

"I love you," Anah sobbed. Her voice was muffled by Moffitt's coat. "There are so many others who love you, too."

"I know. It's okay, Anah. I'm not going to do it. I promise. Shh… Don't cry. It's okay. We'll figure out something else." He was gentle with squeezing her, and held on for another moment before taking a breath and saying, "Let's… Let's get Troy back to the others. We need to figure out what to do next." He put the rifle back over his shoulder, and lifted up Troy to bring him out of the mountain pass.

When he found the three Greeks, Moffitt saw their expressions of shock, horror, and grief. Vasilakis was the first to run up to him. "What happened? Is he—"

"He's not dead. Not physically. Anah said his… his soul is no longer in his body," Moffitt said.

"How can that be?" Vasilakis uttered a string of curses. "That is about the same as death."

"If I had answers, I would tell you."

"I have never seen this before," Anah said, her voice still wavering from what just happened.

"What about the vulture? He must know!" Vasilakis said.

"We didn't see him in the mountains," Moffitt replied. "Let's build a fire. Try to keep Troy warm."

"What about the strix?" Kappoulis asked.

"They have not come after us since Samuel went into the mountains," Andridis said. "Do you think they have been defeated?"

"I don't bloody know, alright?!" Moffitt snapped.

Everyone around him went silent.

"My apologies, Jack," Andridis whispered. He knelt when Moffitt set Troy on the ground. "Whatever this means… Actually, no, I… I am not going to accept this, not if there is a chance we can save our cousin's life." He took off his coat to wrap Troy in it. "Loukas, Jack, start gathering wood. Alekos, hold Samuel. Use your own body heat until we have a fire going."

Moffitt headed off with Kappoulis in search of dry wood to use in a fire. He hoped they could bring Troy back, and he especially hoped they didn't have to resort to sending someone to the river in order to do so.

Troy expected to freeze, having gone from a place of water back to the cold, dry air of the Greek mountains. Instead, while he was cold, he was also dry. The water had been something else. It wasn't the river. If it wasn't the river, what was it? Did that matter? He was out now. Back in the real world.

He stumbled, but not from his concussion. He didn't even feel he had a concussion anymore. His entire body felt awkward, in a way he couldn't quite describe. The strangeness was concerning, yet it was vaguely familiar. The world looked a little bigger around him. He felt much lower to the ground, like he was crawling on all fours, but he didn't quite feel like he was crawling. It had begun to snow a little, and he could feel it landing and starting to accumulate on his back and head. Involuntarily, he shook.

Something's not right. Something's really not right. Troy looked down, expecting to see his boots, but instead saw white paws. Oh, no… Oh, no. He lifted his right arm. The paw went with it. Oh, you have got to be kidding me. He looked around, gradually finding the true reason he had been feeling so strange for the last several minutes. Am I a jackal? Have I been turned into a jackal? Oh, this can't be happening… He bit his right paw, giving a yelp of pain. This isn't a dream. No, no, no… This has to be a dream.

No matter what he did, he wasn't turning back. Worse yet, when he tried to call for help, he couldn't speak, only howl. Overcome with terror and disbelief, he lay in the snow, covering his face.

A shadow passed over him. Troy looked up, seeing Kavi flying down toward him. The vulture landed in front of him, saying, "Use telepathy. That is the only way you can speak in this form."

"Wait… you know about this? How? Why didn't you say something?!"

Kavi didn't look sure how to answer. He looked down, sighing a little. "This was a great error on my part. I should have discussed this sooner. I was worried about how you would take this knowledge."

Rage surged through Troy. He charged at the vulture, flying at him and pinning him against the rough trunk of a conifer, snarling at the bird for a moment before making an attempt to gather his bearings. It wasn't much of an attempt. "You didn't think I would want to know about this beforehand?! What the hell possessed you think this wouldn't be important to know?! I've turned into a damn jackal!"

"No, no, you haven't 'turned into' a jackal!" Kavi said, trying to struggle out of Troy's grip.

"Then what happened to me?"

"This part of your spirit has been detached from your body."

"I don't want it detached! Put it back!"

"Only you can do that, but this was part of the seer's vision. It is the last phase of your training. The last thing you must accept."

"No! This is where I draw the line! I want my own body back! Don't force this on me!"

"Please, Troy, listen to me. This is not permanent. You will be able to return to your own body, but right now, you have been injured, and cannot focus. The strix are going to return any moment. They have an idea of what they are up against now. They will not be expecting this, though. You can take them by surprise. Everything I helped you understand over the last several days, you can still do now, and possibly even more."

"You're the one who hid this crap from me. I'm sure you know what all I can do." Troy got in the vulture's face, growling. "I trusted you, you know that? You made it seem like you were going to be completely honest with me, and you weren't. You lied to me. You had oh-so much faith in me—until you didn't. You didn't have the gall to tell me about this, because you were afraid. But you know what? I can't blame you. Everyone's afraid to tell me the truth for one reason or another." Troy let go of Kavi. "So, who's the real problem? Everyone else, or me?"

"That's not a question that can be answered easily," Kavi replied. "I debated endlessly on how to bring this up, how to tell you the truth. Frankly, I wasn't even sure if this would happen. What do you remember from when you were unconscious?"

"There was… water. Water everywhere. It was pitch-black. I fell in, and saw something white swimming up to me. Then this jackal climbed up me and pushed me underwater, and I… came to, I guess." Thoughts and memories hit Troy all at once. "The water dreams and the blue-white thingy I kept seeing… That was this thing. Me. The jackal thing. And the reason it always felt like something was pulling the inside of my chest… was because it was part of me the whole time."

"You are correct."

"Why is this happening now?"

"Because you have finally allowed the spirit of the jackal to connect with you. You are now intertwined, as one. There's no turning back now."

Troy looked around himself again, noting now the faint blue glow around his body. "What happens when this is over? That's what I'm more worried about."

"You will have control over this when you are unconscious or in a truly relaxed state. Dietrich may be able to help you induce it with hypnosis if you wish. In that state, you will encounter this form again, but you will be able to choose whether or not to let it come out."

"So it sounds like not a lot of opportunities will come up where I would need this."

"That depends. Right now is a bit unusual, but it will not be the norm."

"I guess that's reassuring."

"It will not just happen when you least expect it."

"I would have listened to you if you told me all this earlier."

"Your past says otherwise."

"Of course it does."

"It would have taken you time to accept it. Time we didn't have. That is one thing I've always found interesting about you. You are severely impatient with most things, but painfully slow with others."

"Gee, like I didn't know that myself." Troy rolled his eyes. As much as a part of him wanted to lay down in the snow and sulk, he knew that wouldn't get anything done. His mind turned to his cousins, Moffitt, Anah, and Vasilakis. They all had to be worried. He turned away from Kavi and dashed back to where the avalanche occurred to find his own body, and whether or not Moffitt and the others knew where he was. He detected the iron-rich scent of blood, but learned quickly that the stronger the smell of blood was, the more likely it was that he had found another dead strix.

After a few minutes of searching he picked up a pair of scents. One smelled distinctly of tea, and Troy couldn't help making a face of disgust. That was certainly one disadvantage to this particular form—everything smelled stronger, especially tea. But, tea equaled Moffitt. Troy found a space within the snow where it looked like Moffitt had been trying to dig something out. Anah's much sweeter and more pleasant scent was present as well. Troy followed both of them down to where the snow dumped by the avalanche ended. He recognized the pass here, and took off running to find the others.

Troy found them gathered around a fire. The horses were all grazing nearby. Another strange feeling came over Troy when he saw his own lifeless body, wrapped in jackets and a horse blanket. Oh, this really does feel like the most ridiculous fever dream I've ever had. He trotted up to Moffitt, and briefly forgot he couldn't speak with normal language, so his attempts at calling came out as high-pitched barks instead.

Moffitt turned. "Blimey, a white jackal! Is this one of Troy's?"

"It is Troy," Kavi's voice said from behind. The vulture had landed a few feet away from the campsite.

"Wait—" Moffitt looked at the body by the fire, then the jackal. "This little fellow is Troy?"

"Sort of. It's part of his spirit, detached from his body."

"His spirit. Detached from his body." Moffitt glanced at the three Greeks and Anah. "Alright, well, not the strangest thing I've ever heard of." He breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to Kavi. "Is he stuck like this forever?"

"Fortunately, no. He will be able to return to his body. I've already talked with him about this."

"He must be really angry."

"At first, yes. He was furious."

Moffitt turned to face Troy, then glanced at Kavi. "Can I ask… how this happened?"

While Kavi explained what occurred, Troy was tired of everyone staring at him. He grew tired of looking at his unconscious body by the fire. This is the stupid magpie castle all over again. Except I'm not by the river and Dietrich didn't go get bit by a black mamba.

"So, this has nothing to do with the river?" Moffitt asked, interrupting Troy's thoughts.

"No. He never went to the river," Kavi replied.

"Oh." Moffitt's face paled. He exchanged a look with Anah. "I… I see. This is something different."

Troy was curious as to why Moffitt looked anxious—well, more anxious than usual. Wasn't this better than the river? It didn't mean death, after all.

"Is everyone rested?" Kavi asked. "The strix will likely return soon."

"I think we're as rested as we're going to get." Moffitt looked back at Troy. "Don't worry. We'll… We'll finish this." An expression of curiosity crossed Moffitt's face. He reached out, then pulled his hand back.

Please don't tell me you're going to do what I think you're going to do. Troy inwardly let out a sigh, then was promptly given a good scratch on the head.

"As undignified as this might seem, I couldn't resist," Moffitt said.

"Troy? Dignified?" Anah gave him a look. "Troy was never dignified, dear. At all."

"You're right." Moffitt smirked. "We can all blame Millington for this. He's the one who made me look after his daughter's blasted husky this past summer and made me a little more accepting of dogs."

"The fact that you went and adopted Livna a few weeks ago says you are a lot more than just 'a little more' accepting of dogs."

"Oh, bother you." Moffitt looked back at Troy, then at Anah. "I think I've humiliated him. What do you think?"

"The expression alone is telling me that this jackal is indeed Troy."

Troy's expression only grew more sour as he began plotting all the ways he was going to get back at Moffitt and Anah for this when he was able to return to his proper body. He also pre-emptively began plotting pranks against Dietrich, since he knew Moffitt was going to tell Dietrich everything. His expression softened when Anah slithered over to nuzzle his lower jaw.

"Everything will work out, dear," she said.

It would have been easy to get more frustrated, but getting frustrated wouldn't do anything. Troy accepted the affection, and touched Anah's snout with his. She disappeared briefly, then returned with his slouch hat balanced on her tail. She gave him a warm smile before setting the hat on his back, as it was a little big to fit on his head as a jackal.

"Can he understand us in this state?" Kappoulis asked.

"Perfectly well. His intelligence and personality remain the same," Kavi said.

"Alright. If everyone is in agreement, we will head back to the mountains and finish what we started."

Troy stood. "Kavi, tell them that I'm going back alone."

The vulture glanced at him, then back at Kappoulis and the others. "Troy has told me that he wishes to go back into the mountains alone."

"Is that a good idea?" Moffitt asked.

"He is not weaker like this," Kavi explained. "It wouldn't be a terrible idea."

"Someone still has to stay behind to keep the strix from venturing beyond this point," Andridis said. "I volunteer."

"Alright. I will stay as well," Kappoulis said. "Alekos?"

"I will go with Samuel," Vasilakis said.

"I'm coming, too." Moffitt stood.

"I will keep a lookout for everyone overhead," Kavi said.

"Then it's settled." Kappoulis picked up his rifle. "Let's finish this before the strix do."