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[quote=Simon]While still holding on to the old lady he turned his head but Simon couldn't see anything at all in the very small distance that he could see.[/quote]

The beast in the dark smacked its mouth, and it snuffled at Simon's hair with great huffs.

"Don't mind Reus," the old lady assured Simon. "He's just a big puppy. Reus, cut it out, leave the boy alone."

The big dark wolf huffed again but backed away from Simon obediently. But then, suddenly, the wolf began to howl.

[i]AAAAAAWWWWOOOOOOOOOWWWWW![/i]

The sound was low and deafening at such close proximity. Yurei put her hands over her ears. The wolf whined pathetically, then ran off into the forest, bushes rustling behind him. "Who knows what [i]that's[/i] about," the old woman muttered, and she shuffled onward through the forest, leading Simon even deeper through the woods.

Soon there were fireflies all around -- but the fireflies parted to allow the old woman to pass, and moved far away from her to avoid touching her. In the light of the fireflies, an old owl's eyes glimmered above. The owl sat on a tree branch, staring down at them haughtily. Yurei waved her hands at it. "Scat! Shoo!" she shouted angrily. "If I find you here again you'll be owl soup. Git!" The owl appeared to glare at her condescendingly before it spread its wings and flapped away through the forest.

"Damnnaggin kith," Yurei muttered, and she moved forward into a grassy clearing, where there was water trickling somewhere in the darkness. "They think they own the place. Boy! Simon, was your name? Boy, don't ever trust a kith, no matter what they tell you. You see an owl, or those damned fireflies, or anybody with a mask on, you put your hands over your ears and you keep on walking, you hear? Ah, here we are."

They had come to a small cottage -- which, in the darkness, was only visible because there was a very dim blue glow shining from inside the window. Yurei stopped at the door to the cottage, and she paused.

"Boy, something isn't right," she murmured. After a moment, she stepped aside and smacked Simon on the back. "Here, why don't you go in first? You can see, can't you? Make sure there's nothing amiss." She pushed him toward the door of the cottage -- where, inside, Arin was hiding underneath the table, and blood dripped from the counter.

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