Izzy’s fists tightened, ever careful to not grip her staff too hard, as the Wolf began speaking again. But then it revealed the extent of its connection with Trevor. Izzy’s gaze snapped up to meet the Wolf’s with a gasp, her fist loosening in surprise. Her face, shock and panic gleaming in her eyes, paled. [i]You’ll just have to kill us both[/i] repeated through her head in a malevolent echo.
	She flinched at its laugh, then scowled at its farewell. She stared at the place the Wolf had stood for a long moment, her hands once more clenched. Anger bubbled inside her, her fear for Trevor, her family, and herself only fueling it. Riley had to have known how dire the situation had become. Whatever his reason for concealing it, it made her glower murderously at the empty air as if it would read her desires and fix everything if she could only intimidated it enough.
	But of course, it could not fix anything. For the umpteenth time, she tried to think of something, [i]anything[/I] she could do. She took a deep, shaky breath and slowly sat on the now stationary merry-go-round. She leaned her staff beside her, placed her elbows on her knees, and dropped her head into her hands.
	She closed her eyes, hoping the darkness would help her think as she ran through the situation, and what it needed. She needed something to separate supernatural from human.
	[i]Wonder if there’s a spell out there for that that Trevor wouldn’t have thought of.[/i] She smirked dismally at the seeming impossibility of that. [i]Or an amulet. Or better yet, a…[/i] She did not finish the thought before her head popped up. Her shoulders slumped as she groaned and ran a hand down her face until the palm rested over her mouth and chin. If not a spell, then something tangible, some sort of weapon that could tell the difference between Trevor and the Wolf, and destroy only the Wolf.
	She needed the Aberration Slayer.
	As far as Izzy was aware, there were only two people in the world who knew of the epithet’s true origin: her, and the once grand Cerasus. And only one of them knew where it had first been lost, its secret stored away in the silence of a brooding vampire child.
	[i]Well, [u]this[/u] is going to be fun,[/i] she thought, standing. She grabbed her walking staff, and took a slow breath. [i]Something tells me bribery by donuts isn’t going to work for this.[/i]
	Turning, she sprinted back through the park to the main road. She stopped only once she reached her house. Careful to avoid anyone who may have remained home, she switched out her walking staff for her bike, and headed to the abandoned school as fast as the tires would take her.