So, I'm enjoying Thanksgiving break back home. I mean, I would. But now I gotta balance it with demands for my schoolwork. Tough, isn't it?

Knuckles belongs to Sega Corporation. That's all for the characters I don't own.

(Imira's POV)

So, yeah, Knuckles once dated a monster hunter.

What else is new?

We ducked behind one of the doors, which led out into a separate hallway. I could catch some very elaborately painted wallpaper on the walls, which screamed I HAVE WAY TOO MUCH MONEY AND ZERO TASTE! HELP!

Two lines of Greek vases, like the ones we'd added to the Hangar (our main base) to refurbish, indicated the hall's length – spaced every two feet, evenly, and there were five (count 'em) pairs of vases, one on each side. The hall was plenty wide for our purposes, too. Four humans, an avatar and a naraka – I still didn't exactly know the meaning of that word – could fit comfortably here – especially with the latter's weapons knocking around.

Any one of the staff had every right to punt us out of here. I could see the doors leading to the kitchen and a couple of staff bedrooms – not places we were allowed to be under normal circumstances, even as invited guests. But the way things were going right now, angry servants were about to be the least of our problems.

Once we were out of the main ballroom, Chase turned to face us. "Define not safe."

Amos cracked up outright at the command. Once he started laughing, he couldn't seem to stop. To be fair, it was kind of a ridiculous question for her to ask, given the circumstances.

Finally, Amos just managed to wheeze, "We just survived a monster attack, and you're asking us to define 'not safe?'"

"Monster attack?" Chase frowned. "You mean you saw the draco?"

I didn't much like her tone. Too superior, as if she thought we couldn't possibly be able to see it. Like we weren't special enough to have the privilege of doing so. It took all my restraint not to punch her into the wallpaper.

"If you mean the monster that upset the ballroom, then yes." DJ's voice was dangerously calm, conveying the message, I would punch you, but it would be a bad idea in front of my team. I sympathized – very much.

"But how – that's–" Chase cut herself off abruptly, but I knew what she'd been about to say. I really hate it when people dodge an insult. It makes the insult even worse.

"Impossible?" I asked with a snort. "Girl, Amos Darvosky blowing up the draco was impossible, and he did it. And you might meet its fate yourself if you don't get your head out of your–"

"Okay, Imira, she gets it," DJ interrupted.

Chase didn't look too sure of herself. She glanced around at us, then at Knuckles. I got the message: are you going to tell me who your new friends are?

"Guys, this is Chase," Knuckles said. "Chase, these are some friends I picked up in the human world. DJ–" DJ curtsied – "Amos–" Amos finally stopped laughing and bent into a bow – "Imira–" I waved in response – "and Vinny Lee." Vinny Lee spun in a 360 and then dropped a question on her, because that's what he does.

"What's that on your belt?" he asked, pointing to the harpoon that had transformed from a spear. Out of everything she had on her belt, he had to ask about that?

"Oh, this?" The corners of Chase's mouth turned up in a smile. She unhooked the harpoon and twisted it, expanding it into the spear. "Only my training toy."

"Whoa, wicked!" Vinny Lee gaped in astonishment. "Do you have any other armas like that? What's with the rest of them?" He gestured at the belt and the quiver.

"Ah –" Chase hesitated, as if not sure how to phrase her reply. "They're all my accomplishments as a naraka. Each weapon, for us, has a story. It's either won or handed down among our families. They're… heirlooms, most of them."

That answer only whetted Vinny Lee's curiosity. "Dios. What's the story of that dagger? The one with the thick blade?"

Chase laughed, shrinking her spear back into the harpoon and fastening it to the belt. She then unsheathed the dirk in question and stroked the blade, somehow not cutting her fingers off in the process. "Won it in a battle with an Orongi. He was a worthy opponent. But not enough against my sword."

"What about that?" Vinny Lee pointed to a curved point on Chase's belt. From my past experience with him, I knew he wouldn't stop asking that question until he'd covered every single thing on Chase's belt – or until DJ stopped him. (I swear, DJ's the only one who can get him to calm down for a bit.)

"The stinger of a scorpio. I broke off the point and used it against it. The creature didn't stand a chance against its own venom!"

"Had one of those attack us at our base," I commented. "Not nice." In point of fact, the scorpio almost killed DJ before Amos did to it the exact same thing Chase was describing.

A bit out of character for him? You bet. But Amos hadn't been in his best state of mind at the time – to put it mildly. It was the first time I'd witnessed the rare phenomenon known as Amos's temper flares – when he got so mad he spun around and overall went completely berserk.

But I digress.

"What about the quiver?" Vinny Lee asked, continuing his query. "That's no ordinary quero that you used for it, is it?"

"Draco-hide leather," Chase said quietly, sheathing the dirk. "A minor draco was terrorizing Romania. I destroyed it with a poison arrow and got to keep the hide. A spoil of war, to last a lifetime."

"You guys are seriously big on spoils of war," Amos cut in. "That leather seems to suit you, though – Ow!"

I managed to punch him, good. No need for his comments.

"Back to the draco," DJ said quietly. "Yes, we saw it. But how did you know what it was?"

"Seems kinda obvious, doesn't it?" I replied, trying not to sound resentful. "She's fought it before. At least, her kind fights it."

"He rkind?" Amos frowned. "Meaning–"

"Narakai," Knuckles replied. (Thank you, avatar buddy!) "A tribe of invulnerable warriors who wander the world, fighting monsters wherever they go. It's a way of life for them."

"Way of life for them? That's our whole stinking life for us," I retorted. Although it did explain a lot – like her comments about us. I suppose if I spent most of my life slaying monsters, I'd be a little snooty about it too.

"And what about the draco?" DJ commented, trying to steer her way toward the subject at hand. "You said you slaughtered a minor draco for the hide–"

"Whoa, sick sword!" Vinny Lee cut in, examining the huge sword on the belt. (I was surprised he noticed it last. It was way more obvious than all the daggers.) "Did you win it in combat? Was it heredado? Do you still have the old one?"

Knuckles eyed the sword and frowned. "You still have Lionbiter?"

"It was my first sword! Give me a break!" Chase sounded exasperated. "Wouldn't you hang onto your own weapons?"

"If I could," Knuckles replied ruefully.

I decided not to push the question.

"Ooh, your first sword?" Vinny Lee bounced on his toes. "What was it like, handling it?"

"Vinny Lee, that's enough." DJ's voice was firm. "You're distracting her. And you know what that thing was, Chase? Can you give us more info on it?"

Chase nodded. "That was a keuranodraco. A lightning draco. There are two other dracos buried here–"

"Just what we need," I interrupted. "More enemies."

"Okay, just what are they, though?" Vinny Lee asked. At least the question was on topic this time. "Big dracos? Little dracos? Dracos with bladed wings? Conta me."

"Well, I already took you for the inquisitive type, Vinny Lee," Chase said with a light laugh. "I guess I didn't realize how much so. The other two are wind and water dracos. And the water draco is the worst of them. According to the elders' tales, he could take on the shape of anything he wished to–"

"Like water," Amos remarked.

"You're not helping," DJ told him off.

"Why are they here?" I asked Chase, resuming the conversation. "And please don't say it's because of you."

"It was because of the narakai elders," Chase continued. "When they were young, they subdued the three major dracos here, on this ground. They buried them deep in the earth."

"Um, I'm guessing wind, water and lightning – sounds like they're storm monsters," Amos remarked. "And, well, you can't really keep a storm down for long. That would require an act of God."

Man, he was way too good.

"So, they escaped?" DJ asked.

"They were going to–"

"Shut up, Darvosky," I snapped. I wasn't sure I wanted him dissing Chase's elders in front of her. (That generally wasn't a good practice. Besides, blunt was my job.)

"He's right, though," Chase said quietly. Her voice fluttered. I got the sense she wasn't used to criticizing the elders in her camp. "Their imprisonment wasn't foolproof. And major dracos don't die that easily, Imira. Although Amos's bit with the grenade did some real damage to it. And putting out its eye? Brilliant, Imira. Stupid, but brilliant all the same. I reckon it'll take… ah, fifty years for it to re-form from all that."

"Good to know." Something crawled up my back. I got a bad feeling almost immediately. Why did I get the sense something was about to sneak up on me?

"And there are other creatures," Chase said quietly, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Gonna repeat my previous comment," I said. "We needed more enemies."

"Perhaps they came here sensing the dracos. Perhaps they helped them out of the earth. Perhaps not. Whatever the case, it seems to have obscured the dracos from our senses."

I shrugged. "Fight monster aura with monster aura, huh?"

"The major dracos attract monsters. They like having their own servants. And their aura is so egregious it takes a lot more to properly keep them hidden."

"From everyone or just the humans?"

"That many monsters," Amos commented, a cloud coming over his face. "You'd think the guests would notice–" The cloud quickly shifted to panic. "The guests! We gotta check on them!"

"I'll give it a look first," DJ said. She was closest to the door. "If I can–" She opened the door and faltered. "Oh, that's not good."

What? I followed her out, with Knuckles behind me.

Turns out a lot had gone down while we were conferring in the back. The guests weren't so happy anymore. I could hear whispers as they went about.

Knuckles scanned around and cursed. "Anybody seen that Maude chick? I can't get her trace."

"It's like–" I faltered.

"Like what?" Amos asked, even though I could tell he didn't want the answer.

DJ turned to face us. "I saw Maude Dowager earlier. She was chatting with another guest. I've memorized her face, at least, and I'm not seeing it."

"What do you think?" Vinny Lee asked.

DJ bit her lip. "I think she vanished."

Where did she go? Not spoiling.

Verse for the update: Revelation 1:5.

Please review! No flames! Stay tuned to see what turns we have in the mystery next!