Well, tough break, isn't it? Thanksgiving break on me, and I'm stuck fixing my stuff.

Knuckles belongs to Sega Corporation, and I own everything else. On with the mystery! Happy upcoming Thanksgiving!

(Imira's POV)

"So, this is what you were warning me about?" Chase asked.

We wandered among the crowd. As it transpired, Maude wasn't the only guest missing. Another woman – Tessa, I heard – had sneaked off into the hallway and never been heard from since. And a man – the first one I had observed – by the name of Mr. Halloway had gone looking for her. He might never find her, I thought.

The more I heard out of the guests about missing people, the madder it made me. I didn't feel like I was doing anything, wandering around listening to people complain. I wanted to punch someone's face in for making Maude and Tessa disappear – be it Nep Wyvern, or the next draco that punched through the ballroom, or the next monster who threatened me.

I also couldn't stop wondering about Chase's reason for showing up here. The elders weren't ones to be disobeyed, that much I had gathered. But it sure was one Nar of a coincidence that this naraka had shown up to play monster exterminator just while we were investigating something completely different in the mansion.

Or were our missions so different? Now that I thought about her showing up at the same time we started on this, I wondered if the disappearances and the monster presence were connected. It was certainly another possibility to look out for.

Chase turned to us. "That's what you were here for?" she said to me. "Not the monsters?"

"No. Well – we were expecting those. Trouble always follows VLADJI. About as much as it follows the avatars."

"VLADJI?" Chase frowned. "Is that the name of your pack? Seems a little… poetic."

"Virtuous Lived Adolescents Dealing Justice Impartially," DJ cut in. "Believe me, it's a little easier to say VLADJI."

"And calling it a pack is kinda generous," Amos added. "We're more of a crime-fighting team meets monster fighters. Something like Kick-Ass and Teen Titans mixed together."

Chase stared at Knuckles. "What is he talking about?"

"Wow, you are just not up on pop culture, are you?" Vinny Lee said. "Presente, I'll explain."

He reached into his tote and pulled out four figurines that looked suspiciously like old fashioned Clue pawns. (I was afraid to ask where he'd gotten those. With Vinny Lee, it could've been anywhere, even around a dumpster. I don't get it either.) I identified Miss Scarlett, Mrs. Peacock, Colonel Mustard, and Professor Plum, which I suspected he'd pulled purely for the color.

He then pulled out another gizmo from his tote, which looked a lot like a flat square. He pressed a button in the middle of the square and it expanded into a wide, flat surface, sprouting table legs. At which point Vinny Lee set the table down in front of him.

"And everyone thought a portable table was a dumb idea," he said with a grin. He deposited the Clue pawns on the table, along with a map. I caught a picture of the United States, and the torn edges which suggested it had been ripped from an old atlas. Given what he regularly used to craft with, it would not have surprised me.

"Okay, so," Vinny Lee said, smoothing out the map, "we've been called into place by the Vortex."

Chase paused, then nodded. Apparently, her history with Knuckles meant the words the Vortex held some weight with her.

"We're a sort of liaison for the avatars," DJ said quietly to her, occasionally glancing over her shoulder to see whether anyone (read: Nep Wyvern) was eavesdropping. "The avatars were put in place originally as humanity's guardians. They served the Rainbow, who pretty much left them when the masters grew up. Problem is, humanity's still divided."

"Isn't it always?" Chase deadpanned.

"Ah – more than usual. And over things they should already know to be true, even if they don't agree on much. That's where we're put in. We help the avatars with the whole 'keeping the peace' thing because they don't like attacking humans. It wouldn't be fair then."

Judging from Chase's nod, she understood what DJ was talking about with fairness. "But you seem awfully… how do I put it… like a–"

"Mixed bag?" Amos put in. "Diverse group? That's what makes it so fun!"

"We are, kind of," Vinny Lee agreed. "DJ–" he grabbed Mrs. Peacock and put her down in the southern part of California – "came out here from Cali when her papa died."

"Can we please not bring that up?" DJ said. She didn't like talking about SoCal – certainly not about her father's death. I suppose I could understand the latter. Such subjects were pretty tough to deal with.

"She was a forastera there anyway. Pleased to be in Philadelphia – that's where we're based, right here." Vinny Lee pointed to said city. "She's pretty intuitive–"

"And skilled with the Forcecuff, I'll reckon," Chase cut in.

Knuckles stared at her. "How'd you know it was–"

"The elders were looking for it. They didn't want it winding up in the wrong hands. Do you realize what a powerful artifact you've got there, DJ?"

"The Vortex made that pretty clear when he gave it to me," DJ told her firmly. It was true – he'd told her the same thing Chase was telling us. "And it's not like it's leaving my wrist anytime soon."

Vinny Lee continued his spiel, setting down Colonel Mustard in Texas. "I used to live out in San Antonio but moved here a year back. Not on my own. Papa came with me."

"And your mother didn't?" Chase asked.

Vinny Lee developed a sudden interest in the port-a-table. The divorce was a touchy subject for him, like the death of DJ's father for our leader, especially since it involved his gender trouble (long, bad story).

"Divorce. Um, his parents split up, basically," I said, without elaborating. "Plus, he had some gender drama to deal with."

I didn't think there were any gender non-conformers in Chase's pack, but her bored expression told me she was not entirely unfamiliar with the phenomenon. Vinny Lee resumed his explanation – again.

"Imira–" he grabbed Miss Scarlet (I was now 95 percent sure he was grabbing them based on color and nothing else) – "and Amos–" he swiped up Professor Plum – "came from Philadelphia itself." He moved the two pawns over in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, then brought Colonel Mustard and Mrs. Peacock to join them.

"What's the deal with them?" Chase asked, pointing between me and Amos.

"A little… outside our faith," Vinny Lee said, glancing at DJ. Since I was Muslim, and Amos was Jewish, that always felt like an understatement, but I understood that he didn't want to break DJ's infamous Three Taboos – Religion, Race, and Politics.

"So… very diverse, got it." Chase said quietly. "And I get a sense for how you get along so well."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't catch the sarcasm," I responded. "And I think if you go through Nar and back with them, you know who'll stick by you, even if they don't agree with you sometimes."

"So, like a little family, then."

"Something like that. On to another thing. Those elders of yours – how good a job did they do on that security gate?"

Chase frowned. I wondered if I said something wrong.

"Don't mind her, Chase!" Knuckles said, too quickly. "She doesn't always think before she speaks."

"Kinda like you?" I retorted.

"Well," Chase said, "when I said lifetime– well, for a naraka, it can mean hundreds of years."

I stared at Chase, wondering how much of her hair was dyed to obscure any gray hairs. "And how old might–"

"Now, now, girl! I'm not that old! I'm only a hundred and fourteen!"

Amos coughed. "Say what?"

"Don't lose your cool, boy. That's still sixteen in human years. The dracos were imprisoned for five hundred years, at any rate."

DJ whistled. "I bet they were raring to go when they finally broke out. Five hundred years… that's a long time to be under, even for a monster."

"Hey, hold it down, guys," Knuckles said. "He's back."

I looked up at the balcony. And yes, indeed, there was the man.

In another time, Nep Wyvern probably would've been a handsome fellow. He looked in his forties, with the lined face to match. His hair was slicked back and so pure black I was positive he dyed it. His nose was the same hawklike shape as Amos's, too big on Nep's face but a decent size on Mr. Darvosky's. His eyes were cold and black and heartless as he scanned over the hallway, as if thinking, these guys aren't worth my time. Neither is this.

He wore a classic blue coat decorated with silver waves and trimmed with mink – honest-to-Allah mink. An older show of status back in the day, but quite pointless – and worthy of ticking off animal-rights advocates – in America. I had to wonder what country I was in. A white shirt and white tie completed his effect. I only saw him from the waist up, but I didn't really like what I saw. All in all, if Severus Snape decided to get into Hamilton cosplay, he would look like that guy.

He observed the chaos, and spoke, for the first time. "Quiet down!"

His voice was a sharp, stern baritone. I noticed the guests turning to acknowledge the host. And when did he acknowledge you? I thought.

"I know, there have been occurrences here that have been… unsettling," he said, his tone becoming soothing. I couldn't help noticing his hesitation on the word unsettling. I thought it an even bigger understatement than Vinny Lee's "a little outside our faith" comment. "I assure you we will take great care to investigate."

I translated that well enough: I know things aren't going well, but I will look into it later. My fists balled up. I hated inaction on the wealthy folks' part. Don't they have the money to do anything? The only problem is, they'll spend it in the wrong places.

"In the meantime – enjoy yourselves! There's plenty of things to do! Dance, food – as soon as we get the ballroom repaired – some games outside even. Don't worry."

He then left in a swirl, twirling out his coat as he did so. Always a flair for theatrics. I couldn't help wondering if he put it out for show.

And what was with the waves? As far as I knew, Wyvern was involved in ship affairs. Maybe he put waves on his coat to play that connection up. But I couldn't shake the crawling feeling I got whenever he showed up on that balcony – the same feeling I got whenever a monster came in.

The way he'd glanced at us still stuck with me. He was onto us. He knew we weren't here to enjoy ourselves. We were here to investigate his mansion – investigate him, and he thought us a threat. And we all were familiar with how rich people dealt with threats.

"We won't be able to stay long, will we?" I asked Chase.

She responded with a firm, "No. No, we won't."

Which was right when I heard another rumble. This one came from upstairs, just beyond the balcony.

The others snapped their eyes upstairs. They'd heard it too.

"Another draco?" DJ asked Chase. I knew what was going through DJ's mind. Chase knew more about this stuff than the rest of us. That didn't make it any less annoying when she defaulted to Chase.

"No," Chase said. "A different monster. And draco or not, I still intend to cleanse Norgate of its monsters. All of them."

Oh, now it should be a good battle sequence. Not spoiling further than that.

Verse for the update: Mark 10:9.

Please review! No flames! Stay tuned for more!