Young Writers Society

This kid. . . Maahes looked so harmless, but hearing him say that he could kill someone trying to kill him, Hali felt as though the natural order of things was completely messed up. One thing was for sure, Hali wouldn't get on Maahes' bad side.

"So about earlier," he began, turning to James. "Do you know why you had a hallucination? You don't have a, um," he tried to think of a softer wording, "troubled mind, do you?" Then he looked at Maahes again. "And who's Odris?"

James finally got to his feet, breathing heavy. He sent Hali a glare. "I'm sane," he said stiffly. "And I've never had hallucinations before."

"Odris is my, uh, my..." He wanted to say summoner, but that wouldn't work because he was supposed to be a lot like the Alterans, and the Alterans didn't get summoned. He couldn't lie and say that Odris was his dad, either. Which mean he'd have to say that Odris was his supervisor - he did work for him, after all! "Odris is my supervisor," he told Hali, then spun around again to face James. Only he had to look up this time, because James was standing up again and was way taller than this guise now.

"Maybe it's an illusion!" Maahes cheerfully said. He knew all about illusions, and how tricky they could be. "Oooh, or a hologram, James! I haven't seen a hologram in awhile. But we'd all see the hologram if it was there, so it's probably an illusion."

James was beginning to feel like him and Maahes were from very very different worlds and realities, because he had no grid for what a hologram was, and he had a feeling that Maahes had something different in mind when he thought of the word illusion. But he nodded slightly, as if he understood.

"I suppose," he said weakly, hoping that maybe those were an explanation for what he saw and experienced. But he found the reason lacking, because it did little to calm his still fast-beating heart. "I would prefer to think... it's not because I'm going crazy."

Hali thought that he had tried to sound as gentle and kind when asking, but he supposed that wouldn't be enough for the subject. "I didn't mean to offend you," he said, casting a flickering glance at James.

James's slowly turned his eyes to Hali.

"It's - it's fine," he said quickly, lower in volume. "Don't worry about it."

There was a movement in the woods.

The vampire spun and his eyes flashed with an unnatural metallic hue as he scanned the trees and searched for the offending figure. They weren't hard to locate. A man, dressed all in black, with fur-lined boots and a mask that was greenish-silver and all too familiar.

"Please tell me this isn't real."

Maahes followed Kratzer's gaze, narrowing his eyes as he tried to make out what he could possibly be looking at. He didn't see anything funny - just a bunch of trees. Frowning, he turned his attention back to Kratzer and tugged on his sleeve. (He really missed his taller guises right now.) "Kratzer, there's nothing there." He thought for a moment, then asked, "Are you seeing things, too?"

Kratzer had to be seeing things as well, because there was nothing there. But why were they both hallucinating? Was something in the air? Was it because of that thing that healed their wounds?

He put a hand on Kratzer's shoulder. "It's not real. We don't see it."

"Ooo-kaay, I'm going to take a bit of a leap here and say that unless we both suddenly became chronically schizophrenic, there's probably a bit more to this place than meets the eye...on a lot of levels," Kratzer says slowly, fighting to keep the fearful edge out of his voice as he watched another individual step out from behind the masked figure. That one was a woman, and the moment her emerald gaze met his, he felt his heart pick up speed and his stomach drop as he froze.

"What is with this place?" mused Hali, turning in a circle to observe their surroundings. "Everything looks normal . . . but somehow, it's not."

Maahes pulled his arm away from Kratzer's sleeve. Crossing both of his arms, he adopted a look of deep concentration on his face - though it didn't last for long. After a moment of thinking, he eagerly suggested, "Maybe it's magic!"

James didn't like the idea of it being magic, but only because he knew it would be something he couldn't control, or fully understand. What kind of magic was it?

"It... probably is," he admitted in agreement.

Kratzer clenched his fingers, knuckles turning white under the strain. "Ja...magic," he concurs.

"But if it's magic, why can't I use my own?" Hali looked down at his hands helplessly. "I can't shift forms, no matter how hard I try."

"That's because you belong to me."

Hali whipped around, chills going down his spine. Behind him was that man with the hungry smile. The Collector. "You can't do anything unless I say you can." The man lifted the chain in his hand, and to Hali's horror, his eyes could only follow it all the way back to--

He screamed as he frantically clawed at the collar around his throat. It wouldn't come off, he had to get it off.

"Stop fighting, little dragon," said the man, his grin growing crueler. "All treasures and rare things come into my possession now or later. Just surrender."

"No!" yelled Hali and he lunged forward at the figure.