[quote] He laid the spear on the sofa in front of the fireplace and whipped his pen out and started writing the sigils required to absorb a soul and improve the weapon. Upon completion of the sigils he prepared Randy's soul and put the entire thing into the spear.

He licked his lips and grinned excitedly. "Thank you for your sacrifice, Randy. How about we go hunting for Grit?"[/quote]

"I'd rather not," said the spear.

The voice filled the room -- everywhere but nowhere -- and it sounded very much like Randy himself. The spear, counter to common assumption, did not glow, was not warm or cold to the touch, made no significant indication following the initial imbuement of Randy's soul that it was at all different from any other heirloom weapon. Vincent, however, would feel an unexplainable heaviness and a sense of great importance upon holding it.

"I expect you plan on swinging me about like a monkey with a stick, hoping to smack something. I expect you'll feel proud of yourself while I do all the work. I expect you'll get yourself into deep shit and assume I'll dig you out of it. On the contrary, your dad's not around and I have no more use for a paycheck or this job. I quit."

The spear gave no indication that he was in the least upset that he'd lost his body, or that his soul now resided in a piece of wood and metal, or that the city now depended on his cooperation. In fact, he felt much better to have finally given Vincent a piece of his mind.

Something moved in the bushes; Vincent might hear the scratch and slurp of something licking the blood off the outside wall. After a moment, a gigantic snake slid over the windowsill and into the library; it had the disarming and haunting face of a sheep and the black spines of a fish, and its long body was twice as round as Vincent's. It slithered slickly across the floor and ducked between the shelves at the far end of the library; it had not yet noticed Vincent, but was winding its way closer to the pool of blood at Vincent's feet.

[hr]
[quote]“With that said I suppose the rest of us had better stick together. Don’t suppose anyone saw which way Vincent ran off to?” Berry was already fiddling with the map as she asked. “Goodness I do hope he’s okay…the other dot is getting very close to…him.” Berry’s voice dropped off into a petrified silence.

“Good heavens it’s right on top of him!”[/quote]

Roy had been listening attentively, nodding every once in awhile, truly impressed at Berry's assessment of the situation. Find the intruder! Secure the mansion! Keep this area safe for rescuees! He was very much keen on following Berry's leadership, and was on his way to the door closest to the anomaly intruder when Berry exclaimed.

"I'll find him, Miss Berry!" he promised. "Don't you worry." He took a glance over her shoulder at her map, then dashed off across the shining ballroom floor and disappeared through the door through which Vincent had gone.

The door fell slowly shut behind him. The click of the lock echoed ominously.

Everything fell silent.

The statue of the servant on the stage lay pathetically on its side, still clutching the book that he had given his life for. The servant's soulstone was missing.

A flash of lights passed by the farthest window. According to Berry's map, a single grit glided past the mansion and continued on toward the Spire.

Berry could see everything on her map: Vincent's dot was accompanied by a second dot of the same color, which identified that he carried a soulstone with him -- or that someone else was with him. She saw a grit come in through the window and wind haphazardly through the library, getting closer to Vincent's dot, which appeared for the moment not to have noticed the intruder.

Meanwhile, Roy's dot sprinted up the stairs and made a beeline for the library -- but he stopped suddenly in the hallway and didn't move again.

Roy's dot appeared suspended in the upstairs corridor -- the robot was at this moment pinned to the ceiling, caught by one of Vincent's father's booby traps made to protect his secrets -- and the Grit was getting closer to Vincent.

Another Grit appeared on the map -- close to Berry herself -- as if it had just materialized out of nothing. The dot indicated this new threat was on the stage, behind the half-closed curtain. It didn't move.

Everything remained still and silent.

[hr]

The portal closed behind Berry, and the Queen released a slow breath. Her fingers stiffly clasped the ruffles of her dress. She lowered her head, her shoulders slumped, and forbade herself from crying.

She knew what had caused all of this. She knew that most -- if not all -- of her people would never breathe again. She knew all of it was her own fault.

A sound of shuffling and breathing drew up her head again. Someone was still here. Someone had stayed behind while the others traversed the deadly streets where the Grit roamed. A scent like sugar wafted through the empty cold cavern where the floating gems glowed crimson.

She turned around and gave Maria a smile. "Are you all right?" she asked gently, and she took a step forward. Her hands were still secured to her dress, subconsciously stuck there. She tipped her head. "I feel like I've met you before. A candy shop, maybe?" She glanced back at the sigil drawn on the wall, where a softly glowing dot pulsed at the location of Vincent's home. "I'm sure they'll be all right." She wasn't at all confident.