For a moment, Anora almost felt bad for the tone she used with Dan. But her day had been too weird for it to go beyond ‘almost.’
	Her brows rose when the man began to answer with painful vagueness. Her gaze followed his movements as he placed his hands in his lap, part of her expecting him to go for some sort of weapon. No matter how non-threatening this guy seemed, Ahllasta’s reaction to him had left its mark. Anora’s self-preservation side kept her on edge despite her exasperation and the exhaustion lurking at the edges of her body. 
	[i]Maybe the hounds were a bad idea…[/i]
	Anora glanced to Ahllasta when Dan mentioned the woman, her brows somehow managing to rise further beneath her bangs. That at least explained the monster-of-a-woman’s reaction. She really [i]was[/i] like a student caught skipping class by a teacher. 
	[i]Is he who her partner was on the phone with?[/i] Holding her breath at the thought, her attention quickly snapped back to Dan with a new uneasiness. She returned his seemingly empathetic action with eyes narrowed in suspicion. 
	Her mind wandered to the blouth at the mention of Earth having ‘a lot going on.’ She opened her mouth to ask what, exactly, he meant, but the snap of Darsby’s fingers made her jump in surprise. She held her breath at Dan’s reaction to the odd piece of paper Darsby presented. She glanced questioningly between the two men. Small puffs of purple mist licked at her fingers with her tension, fearing what Dan searched for in his pockets. 
	She watched the rest of the men’s exchange, blinking in surprise at how Darsby addressed Dan. Though “senior embassy representative” went over her head, it certainly sounded impressive. That mixed with Darsby’s reaction was proof enough he held a high rank. One of the ‘superiors’ Darsby had mentioned back on the rooftop, perhaps. But the way Dan acted made it seem like he was new to the whole thing, to put it lightly.
	“‘Celestial wizard?’” she repeated at the same time Dan interrupted Darsby’s introduction. 
	Anora took a deep breath, settling more against the back of the seat. Until Dan’s use of ‘us,’ she hadn’t fully thought about who she had made an agreement with. Sure, she had made the deal with Darsby, but it finally hit her that he was a part of some type of organization she knew nothing about.
	“Yeah,” she answered Dan’s question, the word slow. She glanced sideways at Ahllasta. Leashed or not by Dan, she’d already proven she would gladly betray the people she worked with. “Darsby agreed to teach me how to better use my powers. In return, I help him find some guy named Pahn. Something about a blood contract or something.”
	[i]Just another thing to add to the list of things I know nothing about,[/i] she thought, scowling. She exhaled through her nose quickly. She could scold herself for that later. Right now, she had a car filled with people from who-knew-where to deal with. With an even more mysterious destination ahead of them.
	She glanced quickly between the three otherworldly passengers. Her gaze settled on Dan, her eyes narrowing slightly. His easygoing demeanor made him a much easier target for her plethora of ever-growing questions.
	“If… she,” she stuck a thumb toward Ahllasta, “and her partner work under you, why the frick were they hunting us—Darsby—[i]whatever[/i]? Someone forget to cross a T or something? And who is this ‘Pahn,’ and what’s he mean to you, anyway? To… to whoever you work for?” she added, fishing for some hint as to who she was ultimately helping.
	Suddenly remembering the phone in her hand, she glanced to it. “Oh. And I think this is yours.” She reached forward, holding the flip-phone out to him.