Another day, another donut (or two) and another layer of snow. The night had covered the parking lot once more in a vast white blanket and Axelle was settling into the bland view when a familiar dark shape swanned into the reception area.

“You’re looking fine this morning, Axelle,” he said. Silk smooth.

“Morning, Sao.” The words jumped out a bit too quickly. And so, she thought, did her grin. “The mission continues?”

“That it does. I’ve been told you have some security footage for me or my supervisor.”

Axelle pressed the padded envelope over the desk and Sao took it, delicately. She saw slight shadows under his eyes, as if he’d had a late night. But he did not look nearly as rough as the man loitering by the entrance. That one had eyes ringed black as coal, visible from the a good distance away. He was brandishing two cups of coffee.

“We’ll be here a little longer than last time,” Sao said. “Asking some questions. Don’t worry, we’re not anticipating any trouble, no arrests. I don’t think we’re even permitted that. We’re just trying to clear a few things up about a patient.”

“Of course, of course. Cadmus said some detectives were coming...”

“There goes the surprise.”

“Sounds a bit less like a hostile takeover coming from you.”

He laughed, though she noted the smile, like in their initial meeting, his smile did not reach his eyes. “Actually, Axelle, I was hoping to ask you something. I’m curious about the hospital courier service. Do you have any members on hand today?”

“Today? I’m not sure. Oh. Would you prefer if we sent these kinds of documents straight to your office instead? We sometimes do for HQ, but the doctor said you were coming soo...”

“Well, my supervisor might. I don’t mind stretching my legs a little though, having some company.” He smiled again. “Is it common for the courier service to make house calls?”

“For medicine or medical equipment, of course. Anything else, well… that’s on a case-by-case basis. If the patient truly cannot come to retrieve their belongings, for instance, it might get sent over. Or if someone argues hard enough.” She tapped a pen against the desk. “Don’t go spreading this around, but that’s just how it works. The loudest voices get the best treatment. Sometimes they’re in the most pain, sometimes it’s just to get them to quiet down. Please don’t get any ideas.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

He was calm as the ocean, only slightly amused. Not one to get sanctimonious, then. Axelle leaned in. “It’s probably better to come in if you need anything. The couriers aren’t especially reliable.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s not only because we like seeing your smiling faces.” She beamed. “Maybe because they’re always getting shoved around, sometimes it’s hard to get a hold of the couriers. The ‘personal’ deliveries we get pushed into doing are not particularly well-documented. They’re more like favors.”

“I see.” The padded envelope disappeared into his coat. “My boss will likely ask this later, but can you help us grab the records for any deliveries that did happen the Sunday before last, and who made them?”

“No problem.”

It was then that Cadmus came sauntering in - Axelle had never seen anyone with a less casual gait - and peered around the lobby. He aimed a finger at Sao and waved him over. Then he gave a ‘hey’ - again, as stoic as a ‘hey’ could be - catching the attention of raccoon-eyes who was slouched by the entrance.

“Sorry to cut this short. It’s meeting time,” Sao said. His face was still solid, it hadn’t let up, it was like he couldn’t. Mid-morning and he looked exhausted.

“Hey,” Axelle said softly as he turned. She tossed him the tiny foil-wrapped caramel, one of several she had been stowing for a pre-lunch snack. “Good luck.”

This brought a warm light to his face. Nothing extreme, but it was enough.

Axelle fell back to her chair, watching the dark stranger - could they be called acquaintances now? - sailing off, feeling that the morning was made. The next batch of visitors would quickly annihilate that sentiment.

---

“Good to see you again,” Cadmus told Sao.

His fifth-floor office had a large window overlooking the extensive white parking lot. In front of the window was a well-used sofa, which Rai claimed. Cadmus pulled out a chair for Sao.

“I’m just sorry it isn’t in better circumstances,” Sao said.

To Cadmus’s frown, Rai put in, “the Flemings have you marked as a suspect in the deaths of Chiro and Kuro.” He had his arm over back of the sofa, but wasn’t particularly relaxed. “They put a lot of names down as potential enemies. Most of them have come to nothing, so this talk is just for gathering information.”

Sao considered that Rai was more afraid of Cadmus than he had ever been of Neon. From what he’d been told, Cadmus had essentially served as Rai’s guardian for years, and being several centuries old, Sao imagined Cadmus was hard to impress.

Dusting a pink petals from his skin, Cadmus took a seat behind his own desk and Sao was compelled to sit up straight and to attention. “You don’t have to soften it up, kid. Why do the Flemings think I would want to harm them?”

“I guess that’s what we want to know. You watched over Red Fleming while he was here, right? Any altercations? With you or any other staff, patients, visitors...”

“You’ll have to be more specific, unfortunately. They had an entire intensive care room for themselves, and we had to dance around occupying it without their approval. And they approved of nothing, claimed it all as a personal attack.” Cadmus scratched his temple. “Confidentially, you understand, we had no previous medical record to go on, and no permission to start a new one. The Flemings only checked in because their private doctor had retired, nobody was in touch. Art was extremely confrontational, she had medical excuses to keep her father out of anything but the most basic checkups. Chiro wreaked havoc in his own way, he picked a fight with anybody coming through the hallways. If they were female, he’d go the extra mile. Any response to their actions were taken as a personal, reasonless attack.” Cadmus crossed his arms. “Though I did not attend to them personally, I did step in a few times to break up arguments. I can deal with a bout of screaming children.”

He levelled a look at Rai. He did not catch Sao's own look of distaste.

Cadmus settled. “But it didn’t help much. They left when visiting hours were over, but not a moment before. Attempting to get them out just wound up in arguments that lasted until the day’s end. This went on for… six months, I think.”

Rai was facing the desk now. “Okay. I guess six months is a lot of time to make enemies. How about that one night, though? The one when the Sparrows roomed with them, and Red woke up.”

“That was a busy night. I didn’t actually see much of them until the end, though I got plenty of complaints. Most of the night I was upstairs, we had to move new arrivals there because the second floor was full. When I finally went down to confront the Flemings… it sounds like you got the gist of it. They were arguing with a gang, no physical confrontation, and suddenly Red woke up. It was...” Cadmus shook his head. “You had to be there.”

“Well, I wasn’t. What was the complaint that got you down there?”

“Noise, food by the bedside, the harassment.” Cadmus picked at the newly healed patches of his neck absently. “No, there was more. That night, I sent Plato, Cole and Trae upstairs. But the Flemings insisted on Plato coming back down to, of all things, move the other patients out of their room. Three stretchers, three coma patients just dumped in the hall. The nerve.”

Cadmus’s tone had not truly risen until that moment. He quickly reeled it back.

“Plato typically works that room, so he had the misfortune of the Flemings knowing his name. Cole too, I suppose, he’s a surgeon. Not that they ever let him operate. Would barely let us take blood when Red came in, we practically had to sneak the syringe in and out. We caught Art passing bribes for all sorts of things during that time - not to get anything, but to avoid treatments. For a half-year stay, we know very little about Red Fleming. They didn’t let us touch the old man in any way other than occasionally shifting him off the bedpan.”

Sao tried not to think of Red, the embodiment of the pride of the Fleming manor, being rolled off a bedpan.

“When I got to the room it was the same as usual,” Cadmus continued, “Bags and blankets all over the floor, Flemings in a cluster around Red’s bed. Sparrows were still in the room, presumably they were more difficult for the Flemings to extricate. I tried to make them lower their voices, and it wasn’t really working - the gang was heckling them - but everything went silent when we heard Red speak. And then...”

“And then…?” Rai repeated.

Cadmus spread his hands, sending skin flakes sprinkling for mysterious emphasis. “They cheered. Have you met the Flemings?”

“Yes…”

“‘Cheering’ is what it was, but the word is inadequate. The noise was... unbelievable. Karik Fleming, in particular, seems to double the noise of any situation where he is involved.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty loud.”

“You don’t understand,” Cadmus said, shaking his head, oddly reminiscent of Neon. “You weren’t there. It was the kind of noise that shakes your bones, makes you lightheaded. Leaves you feeling that the world is distorted. Completely bizarre coming from a hospital room.”

“Spiritually disturbing?” Rai asked.

“Excuse me?”

“I mean…” Rai tugged at the cuff of his glove. “Did you see or feel anything weird about the room, before or after Red woke up? Like was there anything in the room that shouldn’t have been?”

“I’m not sure what you’re looking for, but as I said, it was pretty much the same as it had been for months. A lot of food wrappers and crumbs. Once the Sparrows heard their injured member had passed away, the room vacated. Cole moved some patients down to there, had a quick cleanup. I heard it was foul. He mentioned something like wrappers stuck under the bed and chicken bones tucked into the covers, and to think Art Fleming said the children couldn’t have any dairy, meat, sugar--”

Rai stood. “Would we be able to talk to Cole?”

“I saw him earlier, I think he’s currently unoccupied. Is he also a suspect? I’ll need to warn him.”

“Go ahead.” Catching Cadmus’s acid glare full force, Rai corrected himself. “But this is really started to turn towards a certain other suspect, so he doesn’t have much to worry about.”

“I’ll ask him to meet you by reception if he’s still free.”

Rai nodded and Sao got to his feet too. “I have a quick question, Cadmus.”

“I was wondering why you were being so quiet.”

“Did you happen to notice any injuries on the Fleming triplets when you saw them? Particularly on their hands?”

“Much more pointed than Rai. But unfortunately, I can’t recall. I didn’t see the kids much, though I think I’d notice major injuries.” Cadmus frowned. It seemed like his natural response to everything. “Are you suspecting some abuse? The hospital didn’t get to inspect the body of the child that died. Was there something about him?”

“The police aren’t allowed to see him either. We just have blurry photos and a few young witnesses. I did see Karik for myself, though, and the Sparrows implied that Kris had a cut on her palm too...”

“A cut?” Cadmus pressed a finger to his chin. “Plato saw the the Flemings a little more than the rest of the staff, he’s probably the one to ask. He’s almost always around, on the second floor. If you need to speak to him, just ask the receptionist.”

“Thanks.” Sao gave a slight bow.

Rai was out the door, but Cadmus did not seem done. He had a schoolteachers’ look to him that kept Sao rooted.

“You met them. And you liked them, didn’t you?”

Sao wanted to groan. First the students, now the teacher, jeers and jabs, you liiiike someone, don’t you.

“That’s good. I can tell Rai doesn’t.”

Sao blinked.

“As much as I had to clash with the Flemings while they were here, I wouldn’t intentionally wish harm on them.”

“Oh, don’t worry, you’re not really a suspect.”

“Did you know, that Thursday night we had over a hundred arrivals, over a quarter in some kind of critical condition, and only lost two?” Cadmus gave a flat knife of a smile. “Two is still too many. It doesn’t matter who the person is, we don’t like losing people. I cannot believe anybody would want to take a life.”

Three hundred years old, and that’s what you think? Cadmus had him locked in such a solid stare he wondered if his mind was being read. Sao smiled as steadily as he could manage. “Of course.”

“And I’ve seen the articles, I can see why Rai picked this up. But if there is some sort of demonic magic as Rai thinks, then you aren’t simply trying to explain the two deaths. Rai just wants to chase ghosts, but the family could still be in danger. You are trying to save the ones that remain.” Cadmus picked up the phone. “He believes it, and you want to save them. That’s good.”

It sounded like he was trying to convince himself, too.

---

“You must be Rai. Heard a lot about you from Cadmus.” Cole tilted his head to Sao, “And you must be Sao.”

“Dr. Vorcet,” Rai said, uncertainly.

“Just Cole is fine.”

Cole the surgeon was a man with dark hair and a pale complexion, a keen look full of sharp contrasts that put Sao in the mind of a classic monochrome painting, though he had trouble keeping his hands still to secure that illusion. He evidently shared Axelle’s sweet tooth because he was unwrapping a familiar-looking hospital caramel at the reception desk when they came to meet him. He led them into an airy meeting room, chewing with vigor and crushing the wrapper into a smaller and smaller ball in his palm.

“Yes, for most of the night I was in surgery. Third floor. I was supposed to be supervising the floor but I couldn’t keep an eye on everything. Luckily nothing went wrong.” He crumpled the wrapper and aimed it perfectly at the trash can. “Pretty sure I was in the operating room when Red Fleming made his miraculous recovering. I think at the time I was working on the Sparrow kid, Zef.” He lowered his eyes. “He didn’t make it, though.” He shrugged.

“I’m sorry,” Sao said. “But I heard you saved a good number that night.”

“Yes. Only three deaths reported. Had even more than that yesterday.” He smiled, though not happily. Sao found it hard to respond in kind.

“Three? I heard-”

“Oh, two were patients who checked in that night. One who had been a longtime patient. Though, if we hadn’t been over capacity like that, we might have been able to help that one...” He stopped. “Guess I shouldn’t blame the newcomers.”

“So you didn’t see much of the Flemings before Red woke up, either?” Rai cut in.

“I met with them a few times last year, when they brought him in. They were strongly opposed to any kind of procedure. Not just invasive ones, they refused scans, IV, medication, the only blood sample we got was practically by accident. Only when his lungs started failing were we allowed to touch him, maybe we should have taken that opportunity to help a bit more, because after he was stabilized, it was back to the old grind. The five- no, six? Of them sitting around the bed all day, glaring at anyone who asked. Since they refused almost any medical treatment it fell on Cadmus to manage them when they got out of hand.”

“Did you see any of these times? Anyone they might have gotten into fights with?”

“See?” Cole’s movements came to a halt, he almost did resemble a painting then. “No, I didn’t see them much over the last three months. But I did hear them. Sometimes down the hall, sometimes menacing reception, sometimes a nurse screaming because of that damned uncle. Then there was the big night, though I suppose that wasn’t a fight per se. That Thursday, I was operating on the Sparrow kid when the floor started to shake. I thought it was an earthquake; we were all grabbing the trays and trying to secure the gurney to something, but then someone, maybe the anaesthesiologist, pointed out that it was voices.”

“They were cheering.”

“So you’ve heard the story. It’s hard for you to understand, if you weren’t there, but the walls were shaking.”

“We met them. They’re pretty loud.” Rai glanced at Sao, as if he somehow knew what they had missed. You weren't there. That was becoming a theme. “Did it have any negative effects on the surgery...?”

“Oh, no. It was just a few seconds of cheering. And the surgery was already over by then.” Cole laced his long fingers together, perplexed. “I know that sounds like a cover. But the Sparrow member Zef was stabbed multiple times in the stomach and it looked there there was a lot of moving around after it happened. Don’t know how he did it, but by the time he got to the hospital… what the Flemings were doing wouldn’t have made a difference. What serious effect could they have on a man in a locked room, a floor’s distance away?”

Sao thought Rai was about to leap into curses, but he admirably restrained it to, “was there anything usual left in the Fleming’s room once they left?”

“Cadmus must have told you about it. Yes, before we moved some new patients in, I had the place cleaned. The Flemings made it a huge ordeal to change Red’s sheets, they locked the staff out of the room once, so it definitely needed some treatment. I had to change some of the bedspreads myself, we were seriously short handed and it was…” Cole grimaced. “Aside from the stains, the Flemings left several pairs of Red’s pants there. As well as his watch. A lot of wrappers and… general food waste.”

“Bones?”

“Yes. Those probably qualify as unusual. When we pulled off the sheets, they all fell out. There were dozens of them, all different sizes. Animal bones. Some big ones, like steak bones, some small, maybe pet sized. It was…” He frowned. “Unsettling. Luckily they didn’t leave any permanent marks, or attract any insects.”

Sao thought he saw both Rai and Cole shudder.

“There were some half eaten chicken wings on the Sparrows’ side, which was awful, but luckily they were in a plastic bag. Bones really were a theme. Nearly all the rest from both the Fleming and Sparrow beds were semi-clean, washed, and some of the small ones were strung together.”

“Did you...” Rai bit his lip. “Did you keep any of the things you found in the room?”

“The pants and watch, yes. The Flemings called for them a day later and we sent them back by the courier. The bones, most of them were tossed, we kept a few of the stringed-together ones, in case the Flemings came down on us for those. Then we sanitized everything. Despite the Flemings’ treatment, 201 is a room for patients in serious condition, often on life support with compromised immune systems. Unidentified bones really shouldn’t be shoved into the sheets.”

“So the bones were never claimed?” Sao thought of Karik’s twine necklace.

“The Flemings never asked. Could be the kids stuck them there when the parents weren’t looking.”

Rai frowned. “The bones could have belonged to the Sparrow gang.”

“We considered that. There were a number of the necklace-type strings in their beds as well, but they didn’t call back either.” Cole crossed his arms, tapped his feet. “I read that something happened to the Flemings on the… independent news.”

Who hasn’t by now, thought Sao.

“They were talking curses and demons. Is that what this is about?”

“We… the police are looking into it.”

Unimpressed, Cole remained tapping away. “Chiro Fleming. The doctors downstairs. There were no unusual chemicals found in his blood but they couldn’t proceed with a full autopsy without the family’s approval. So it was declared a cardiac arrest. The media’s been interchanging that with heart attack, but they aren’t the same thing. A cardiac arrest is... sudden. A sudden malfunction. In any event, not a very impressive conclusion, but it didn’t seem intentional. Can magic really work like that?”

“You mean...” Rai hesitated, “can it really cause heart attacks?”

“Or cardiac arrest. Specific medical effects. If a curse really has influence on the heart, what should we be looking out for? What could we look for?”

Sao didn’t know. He wished that he did. But not nearly as much as Rai, who appeared to be suffering some malfunction of his own. As the supposed expert, he wanted to be able to say something. As the person that he was, he wanted to know.

Don’t worry about it, Sao wanted to tell him. None of us knows.

But somebody does. The one who did it.

“The bones we kept are in storage. Ask the visitor center. Lost and found,” Cole added, relieving them of his prior question. But Sao had the distinct feeling of the times where as a child he had gravely disappointed the teacher.

---

Plato Gainsboro was not a surgeon, nor was he a 300-year old administrator. He had an anxious face and a straggling wave of hair which he tied back. He several years younger than Sao and sat straight and attentive to his assumed superiors. But when he broke eye contact, disconnected himself from service, his cheeks seemed to hollow out and his eyes took on a tired, unfocused glaze.

“Sorry,” he said with a yawn. “I’ve been having trouble sleeping. My neighbors are renovating, and they have a new baby.”

“Condolences,” Sao said. “My upstairs neighbor recently had a new addition as well. The first few weeks can be difficult.”

Rai carefully deferred.

Plato relaxed slightly. With a crinkling noise he pulled out a hospital caramel and when Sao only smiled, he unwrapped it. “So you wanted to ask me about the Flemings? Any news about... I know about Chiro, but they say something happened to one of the kids?”

“Who’s saying this?”

“The news. Well, the tabloid-y news. The surgeons are always reading them. It’s scary the things that come up though, saying it’s demons or magic or something.” Plato bit at his caramel, sampling only a tiny piece. “Is it true, though?”

“We’re looking into any possibilities.”

“I mean, did something happen to the kids?”

“Kuro Fleming was found dead near the family home,” Rai said.

It looked for a second that Plato had stopped breathing.

“We heard from the other staff that you knew the family fairly well,” Sao said.

“Did you also hear that I was their personal attendant? Because that was pretty much true. 201 - that was their room for the last few months - I’m usually on that floor, in that hall, so they started to recognize me. And whenever they needed something, they would ask for me. Pinned a couple things on me too, saying I was the one who recommended extra mattresses for the kids, or I said it was okay to open the windows or turn up the heat.”

“And they got away with it?” Rai asked, clearly implying that the Flemings would never be so lucky with him.

“Cadmus took them on a few times. He could never throw them out permanently. And I couldn’t just ignore them. It didn’t do much good to argue.”

He remarked on this without bile, Sao noticed. “How were the kids, when you saw them?” Sao asked gently.

A distant smile crossed Plato’s face. “They were… a handful. But then, they couldn’t have been happy to be there - just having to sit there watching an old man sleep. It’s sad, of course but the parents and that uncle, they didn’t help. Kris in particular, was always bored. She always argued with her mother, I think Chiro and Carion were actually scared of her. Because she could hold her own against her mother.”

Sao thought of the girl at the top of the stairs, loudly proclaiming of wizards and curses before the family and smiled to himself.

“Kuro took after his father. Quiet. Not afraid, just quiet. He wasn’t really content to be there, though, and he snuck out of the room a lot. He and Kris both, actually. The parents went wild whenever it happened, charging down the halls, pointing fingers...” Plato’s hazy look returned. “Karik was different. His mother was always hovering over him, he would never have the chance to walk out. He has a… condition. Mind of a child half his age. He can walk and talk, but he doesn’t think. He would lie on the floor, and scream if anyone got near. Might have learned it from his mother. I can’t say I envy the amount of noise from that family...” he shook his head. “It’s a shame. He’ll probably be relying on his parents the rest of his life.”

Sao was surprised. Karik’s future was not something that had ever crossed his mind, or the future of the Flemings at all. Where would they go, curse or no? They could never be the way they were. But how well did he really know them?

Rai must have noticed Sao drowning himself in contemplation. “How were the children, physically? And the rest of the visiting family, for that matter?”

“Physically? They’re triplets. Identical in appearance. Though their personalities were completely different. The parents… well, they seemed in fine health, though Art often said they would catch something from the food or other patients if they weren’t careful. I think she believed it too. Hypochondria. The father, and even Chiro, never said otherwise, so maybe there really was something there.” Plato swallowed the last tiny bite of caramel. “They got one visitor. I think he was a lawyer - a tall, white-haired guy saying there was something up with the will.”

Rai drove onward. “We spoke to the man. That was a misunderstanding with their legal team. But did you ever see any injuries on Art or the kids?”

“Wait, are you suspecting some sort of abuse was going on? From Carion? Or Chiro?” Plato’s attentiveness returned. “Now that you say it, there were some marks on the kids. Their hands. Yeah, I saw, last week, when Kuro and Karik were here-”

“Last week?” Rai asked. “You saw the Flemings at the hospital last week?”

Plato stared. “Thursday, I think. One week since Red got out. I thought they were here about Chiro, but they didn’t go to view him, or anything. They were there for Red’s medication.”

“Did you speak to them?”

“Sort of. They recognized me, the kids did anyway. They came over and that’s when I saw their hands.” He frowned. “It was a short visit. Art called the kids back, and, well… I got out of there. Art was pretty upset with Axelle, I didn’t stop to say hi.”

“Did you hear what they were arguing about?”

“Not at all.” He grinned weakly. “A minor benefit of having been their manservant for half a year - I’ve been able to block out Art Fleming’s standard voice, and their most common complaints. By the end even Karik’s screaming didn’t bother me. Though I guess that’s not much to be proud of. It let me get the job done, though, when nobody else wanted to get close. There were other patients in that room who needed care.”

“And they were lucky to have you.”

Plato burst into short, choking laughter. “I doubt it, seeing as I couldn’t stop the Flemings.”

“As for them, I’m sure any support was appreciated, even if they weren’t particularly adept in showing it. You seem to have understood them well.”

Rai’s look grew scathing. Sao shifted onto an elbow so neither he nor Plato had to see it, for now.

“They were… very vocal,” Plato said, and for a moment Sao’s heart dropped. But he continued, “But I guess I know that situation isn’t easy. I had a brother in a similar place to Red’s, he was in a coma for months. I know the strain probably made me unbearable at times.”

Another curt, frigid laugh. Sao had a hard time imagining Plato arguing as loudly or heatedly as Art no matter how much he tried, but nodded. “It’s the strain itself that is unbearable.”

Rai looked rather strained himself.

“Yeah. Nobody should have to deal with that,” Plato said.

---

Sao could practically feel Rai pouring relief when they left the meeting room, heading for the visitor center on the ground floor.

“I thought you were going to make some kind of big confession that I shouldn’t be hearing. My mom and brother and sister and wife died just like that, or something.”

“I was trying to show empathy.”

“I guess it worked. On him.”

“It doesn’t have to work on you. From what I can tell, your acquaintances aren’t in the habit of dying.”

“What does that mean?”

“Life Fountains.”

Rai was so absorbed by this that Sao regretted speaking almost immediately. Luckily, the sign of the Lost and Found dropped into view and Rai became so distracted at the prospect of getting his glowing fingers on some bones that all was forgotten. But there were none, and he was diverted again, though with much less elation.

“What do you mean, they’re not here anymore?”

The clerk had her phone out and feet up over the keyboard. They shot back under the desk when Rai slammed his badge down, and leaned over with a glare Sao imagined could scrape out bones all on its own.

“T-they were just taken out. If you need them, I think the person might still be here. He just walked out. He-- let me get the name-- Carion Fleming...”

Sao found himself staring her down as well.

All three jumped at an echoing screech from the lobby, followed by a bawl of ‘Don’t you dare touch me!’ A full chorus of voices then erupted, followed by the blind scream of Karik, in affirmation of the Flemings’ arrival to the reception area.

Axelle was at the desk, having shrunk since Sao saw her, a phone in her shaking hand. Her small, quick words were lost in the commotion.

“Go ahead, call that worthless man up here,” Art Fleming bellowed down at her.

Sao peered around the corner, keeping a healthy distance from Rai, who had himself put a good distance more between him and the platoon of gray-suited figures streaming in through the front doors, interspersed with drafts of snow. The mens’ wet feet dragged across the tiles with squeaks and stamps. Sao inspected their shoes, and their faces. There were a few that seemed too sloppy for this to be a formal army or legal team.

“We’ll start with the room. Carion, take them there,” Red commanded.

“You can’t! There are patients in -- let’s wait for the doctor first,” Axelle pleaded.

“You don’t understand how serious this is,” Art shot back. “This is our lives we’re talking about. I don’t expect you to care, but you don’t have a say in this. Just sit back down there like a good girl.”

Axelle made a plea for entrance security, who were being cornered by several more suited figures, of the larger variety, and Sao noted these handlers in particular were wearing hoods. Someone in the scuffle raised their voice, and Karik, huddled in a corner, halfway across the room, gave an excited hoot.

Kris, standing beside him, slapped him across the face.

“Kris, honey,” Art said, “Please keep an eye on your brother.”

“I am. That’s the only way to shut him up, haven’t you figured it out?”

“Alright, alright, that’s enough!” Red shouted, his sound a presence filling the hall. “Remember what we’re here for. Carion, do you have the matches?”

“Mr. Fleming, please--” Axelle began again.

Sao closed his eyes, took a dozen or so step and thought he saw his life flash before him. Then he opened his eyes and smiled, waving although Carion could not possibly have missed him. “Morning, Mr. Fleming. What’s happening here?”

Carion’s eyes had always been an acidic hue, but today they were borderline nuclear.

“Officer, I’d advise you don’t interfere.”

“I’m not a police officer. And I have to admit, I’m not entirely sure what I’d be interfering with.”

“We’re purifying the place,” Red declared, nudging Carion aside. Sao stepped back instinctively. Without the warmth of his old wood house around to mute him, Red’s coloration, his flying beard and wild eyes, positively burned. “I’ve spoken to some consultants at the church and we all agreed, it was in our best interest to put a stop to all this by exorcising the place where this all began.”

“You have proof of a magic cause? Perhaps we can help-”

“No, I know how your kind are. I thought you were different but what use have you been? You’ll just want to write it all down, have a long think and put it in storage for a few years. By then we could all be dead. Would you prefer it?” Red’s beard and hair seemed to rise like flames with his breathing. “Unfortunately, I cannot stand for that. This is my family, and we’ve suffered enough. If there’s no curse, well and good, but I’m not taking chances. I’ve paid these people good money, and we won’t leave until this place is purified.”

About fifty pairs of eyes were now trained on him, some under hoods.

“What exactly will be done during this exorcism?” Rai had materialized nearby. Red Fleming regarded him with unmasked disgust.

Since Red was not prepared to answer, Carion did. “Laying some marks and amulets. Burning offerings and any cursed material, and recitations. Noise purification. There will be some disturbance-”

“No kidding, if it’s you guys.”

“Excuse me?”

“None of those methods are proven to work, anyway. It’s all folk garbage. Trying it out for fun, sure, but I can’t believe you’re paying for all this.” Rai crossed his arms.

Something was running through Carion that terrified Sao. The man was not moving a muscle, but the air around him seemed ready to detonate.

“Let’s discuss this with administration first, maybe you’ll get permission-” Sao started.

“The little bitch at the desk already tried that.” Art had descended. “That idiot they always call, he won’t approve anything. He doesn’t care if we live or die. Can’t even keep his own filthy skin on him, monsters like that shouldn’t have a say in people’s lives anyway. Let’s just burn the room and leave.”

Sao wanted to close his eyes again. “Mrs. Fleming, please remember, this is a hospital. They helped you. We all want to help you, but this may cause more trouble than it’s worth...”

“Trouble? Let me ask you, what have you been doing all this time, officer? You said you’d help, you said it was a curse, you tore up my house and you told my husband you’d do anything, and now you’re telling me to stop and talk? You don’t care about us. I don’t know where they dig you people up but here you are, you’re supposed to be helping us - shut up! - but you’re telling me to just die.”

“I am not-”

“You want me to die, my father, my kids, you’re like the rest of them. We’re trying to save our own lives here and you’re telling us to die. He wants you to die!” She turned to Karik. “This man - he says we should all die.”

Karik’s lungs were undergoing a warmup. Beside him, Kris was white as a sheet. “Mom, come on--”

Before Sao, there was the image of an unruly classroom. For some reason, this time, he was at the head of the class, and he was feeling rather old. All the tutors had been. Old, angry women. They would have been disgusted. So was he.

“Mrs. Fleming, do not speak to your children like that like that.”

Art wheeled on him, and so did Carion and Red, almost simultaneously. “What,” she snarled, “Did you say to me?”

“I’m saying, your tone is not helping your cause.”

“How dare you, I’ll make sure you-”

“I understand your urgency and maybe there is little recompense for this sort of behavior at home, but you need to know, you are are being entirely inappropriate. This is a public place, and you cannot simply take command of a facility that is responsible for lives - helped save the life of your own father - and cannot come to a halt over your paranoia.”

She went silent. An overgrown child that had only needed a bit of a push back. Unfortunately, Sao now had to pull them forward.

“So, let’s take the kids and… sit in the lobby while the doctor comes and decides where to go from here. There’s plenty for seats...”

With a sudden lunge, Art was in front of him, and with both hands on his chest, she shoved him. Carion caught him by the arm. Sao had just started forming words of thanks when Carion hurled him forward - not especially hard - but when he turned and saw the still, sullen look on the man’s face he knew there would be no remorse with a second blow, or a third or fourth. The figure who had shriveled by the snow-covered gate was gone, and here was a man who had lived among animals. The kind of man could actually love the Flemings.

There was a flash of blue. Rai did not touch Carion but thrust a hand forward, and Carion automatically backed away. Rai’s gloves were in his pockets. His glowing fingers stood between Carion and Sao in the hall, like a neon shield. Everyone in the room seemed to recede like shadows, the suited exorcists backing up like a wall of grey slats. Axelle ducked behind the desk, and Sao into the hall.

“I’d appreciate if you don’t touch my assistant. He has a condition,” Rai said. “And he’s right. This is completely inappropriate.”

“You’re one of them.”

“What?”

“One of the creatures,” Carion said, more contemplative than upset. Red pushed him aside to take Rai on himself.

“You,” Red Fleming hissed. “You dare come into my house -- I knew something was wrong with you. You’re not even human. You don’t care about us, I knew it. I knew it. Your kind know nothing about what it’s like to live and die.”

Rai took a step back just a moment too late. Red Fleming grabbed him by the wrist. “You know nothing!” he shouted. “And you dare try to talk to me about how to raise my own family? You don’t care if me or my poor grandson or little girl die! We could all be dead tomorrow for all you care! You just talk, talk, talk, but don’t lift a finger to help so don’t even try to tell me what I should be doing with my family!”

“I told you, dad!” Art screamed, “I told you!”

At this, Kris Fleming burst into tears, shoved Karik aside and ran for the large doors that led to the cafeteria hall.

“Kris-” Carion stammered, turning like a shaken puppet from his daughter to Rai, and back again.

“Look what you’ve done!” Art screamed. When one of the exorcists, hooded, turned toward the door after Kris, Art wheeled on him. “Nobody move! Nobody touch my daughter! Don’t even think about it! Don’t!”

Without Kris to stop him, Karik wound himself into a bloodcurdling scream.

Then Karik ran, wailing like a siren through the aisles of chairs. He ducked under a table of brochures, hands over his head, as a chunk of the gray-suited menagerie attempted to remove him. Rai was gouging at Red who was gesticulating back at him with rage, but neither seemed to hear each other. Behind them, Art was bawling at Carion, who for once seemed to be raising his voice in return, though all words there were turned to soup in the chaos. Sao thought he saw Plato come down the staircase, take one look at the disaster below, and speed back the way he came, taking the steps two at a time, backward. Papers were flying, a chair exploded into flames. Axelle dashed for an extinguisher.

A shower of pink flakes drifted through the hall, at first resembling snow, but then like some living swarm they clustered at the flaming bench, smothering it before the extinguisher could arrive. A dark ash began to fill the air.

Axelle stuttered an apology.

The crowd of grey suits gradually went still. Rai was the first person on their end of the hall to see the cause. He back away as if repelled by magnets, first from Red, past Carion and Art, then behind Sao. “Sorry, Cadmus,” he muttered.

Cadmus stood at the center of the hall. His face was red, and on closer inspection, it was the red of fresh blood. His skin was shedding in sheaths.

“We need to talk,” Cadmus told Red.

“There’s no time,” Red told him. “And stop that. It’s disgusting.”

“We need to talk,” Cadmus repeated, slower, though his shedding came to an abrupt halt. “Or you can leave.”

Before any option could be communicated, they had to wait for Karik to finish.

---

The Flemings had a talk with Cadmus after all. It was decided that they could perform a controlled exorcism - if they walked through the steps before beginning, and were supervised by a member of staff, taking only one room at a time. By the time the meeting had dispersed, the exorcisms were already underway without any consideration to the terms, so Cadmus did not have time to speak to Rai and Sao. A search for Kris began, and the Flemings were opposed to the idea of these two unruly policemen ‘helping’, and they weren’t even full officers (it was clarified) so they were simply thrown out.

Rai had picked up a paper mug of coffee before they exited and was slurping, staring out into the grey abyss of snowed-over parking lot.

“Wonder if they found the girl yet,” Rai asked the unmoving cars.

Sao, leaning against the wall behind him, said nothing.

“Wonder if I’ll get suspended?”

“For what happened back there?” Sao frowned. “You were hardly the first aggressor...”

“For punching an old man, probably. Assaulting his children, stomping on the corpse of his wife. Whatever they can come up with. I’m horrible at talking to rich people. I don’t like it, they don’t like me, I need something from them, but they hold all the power, it’s like beating my head against a wall.”

“There are cameras. Axelle was there, and the rest of the hospital knows what they’re like.” Sao watched the branches of the ragged ornamental trees wave, hypnotic. “Regardless of what they say, thank you for getting Carion off me.”

This was not the reaction Rai had been going for and he swiveled, trailing mist from his coffee. “I’ve seen worse. Do you still like them?”

“Who?”

“The Flemings. Don’t rub your face, it’s gonna come off.”

“Thanks.” Sao slouched lower against the wall. “I don’t know. It’s been hard to put any thoughts together on this.”

Rai returned to his observation of the unmoving cars. “The Sparrow situation is still suspicious. It definitely seems like the bones in the room came from them. Bones from a magician named Arilla, who just lost her boyfriend, and is conveniently missing.”

The wind wheezed across the lot.

“There’s also something bothering me about everyone we’ve talked to. It was always ‘you had to be there,’ ‘you wouldn’t understand’ regarding that night. The moment after Red woke up, there was apparently a lot of noise, but some feeling that we aren’t understanding. Something unfamiliar, difficult to explain because...”

“You think something magical was triggered?”

“Maybe. Or maybe a disturbance occurred in space-time from the Flemings actually being unanimously happy. You heard them when they’re upset, imagine the noise of this ‘cheering’ everyone’s talking about. I’ve never met such--”

The glass panel door beside them opened and a glamorous down coat emerged, sniffling. Over the voluminous furred collar, there was a tuft of familiar rosy hair tied with a ribbon.

“Axelle?” Sao asked.

The coat opened slightly, revealing its wearer. “Oh god, were you two out here all this time? You can wait inside, they’re all gone… gone upstairs...”

“We aren’t supposed to get involved with that. We were actually about to leave,” Rai said.

“Oh.”

“Sorry for all the trouble,” Sao said. “I can’t help but feel responsible for what broke out in there, completely unprofessional on our part...”

Rai did not correct him for including them both in that statement, but Axelle laughed, the long tufts of her coat shaking. “No, no, it’s not the worst we’ve seen. Though it was something - I mean, we’ve dealt with the Flemings, but never that many of them. Though these people were, did they say - church exorcists? And now they’re dumping water and sand on the beds upstairs, on the patients. Having these big chants and talking about a bonfire...” She shook her head, long hair spilling from the coat. “I’m sure Cadmus will handle it and we’ll all be laughing about it tomorrow.”

“How positive. I’ll be borrowing that one.”

“Cadmus doesn’t laugh,” Rai said.

Both Sao and Axelle turned to him as if he had just dropped from the sky.

“You didn’t come out here just for us, did you?” Sao asked, turning back to her. “Though that is a fantastic coat - you shouldn’t be out here in the cold on our account-”

“Oh, no… I was let out early. Cadmus thinks I need a rest, but it’s more likely because the Flemings keep getting distracted by me, eyeballing me like I took their daughter.” Her lip tightened. “Art Fleming doesn’t like me, I guess. I was hoping she wouldn’t remember me.”

“That reminds me.” Rai cut in again, “We heard that you met the Flemings again last week, a week after Red got out. Thursday?”

“Yes.” Her face loosened into a limp smile. “Art and the triplets - no, just Kuro and Karik, the boys. They came in for… medication, I think? It’s hard to recall. What I really remember is Art dragging me to the back room to scream at me for a little over an hour. For trying to give her children candy.”

“Candy?” Sao said dumbly.

“Art Fleming is pretty paranoid,” Rai said.

“I know I shouldn’t… dietary issues and such, but some people just look like they need it. The kids looked so sad, I guess it was because of their uncle died, but I didn’t know at the time. They were just so quiet, they seemed afraid. And we had the Flemings in so long, they happily ate oily and sugary snacks in their grandfather’s hospital room, I had snuck the one boy Kuro a chocolate before, he never passed out or tattled, so I thought it would be no harm to toss them some of those caramels we’ve been keeping...”

“And she blew up.”

Axelle smile waned. “I was caught. The kids were pretty upset too.”

“Who wouldn't? I could use one of those right caramels now.”

“Is that so?” Axelle’s hands shuffled around, unseen, inside her massive coat, then one emerged with a small foil wrapped shape, tossing it to Sao. “I wish there was more I could have done more for them. The kids, or even Art. Something happened to Kuro shortly after that, right? An accident? Is it related to this exorcist party they bought in today, or is that purely for Red’s sake? None of this makes sense.”

“You haven’t read the news?” Rai asked.

“I may not have kept up.”

“Entertainment news,” Sao clarified.

“The tabloids? Cole’s always got his face in them. That’s right, he was joking about the Flemings having some kind of curse. The doctors like hearing rumors of magic. I think it makes them feel important.” Axelle blushed under their incredulous looks. “Because magic hasn’t overtaken them yet.”

“It won’t,” Rai said.

“I guess that’s why they keep reading.” She turned toward the colorless sky. “I hear the entertainment news is the only place to learn about magical going-ons. I should try to keep up.”

“I wouldn’t bother.” Rai looked back out on unmoving the cars. “People like you are pretty rare.”

Sao laughed. “That’s a compliment, I think. Considering how he’s spoken to everyone who does read those articles.”

Axelle’s gaze travelled up the ragged side of Rai’s coat, to his arm, and landed on his gloved hands around a cup, the thin sliver of blue light peeking out above his sleeve, and she mouthed a round, “Oh. You’re Rai. You’re the supervisor. Cadmus’s friend… I’m sorry!”

“Why?”

“Magic is your thing, isn’t it? And Life Fountains really have brought so much to the hospital -- I didn’t mean to try to lecture you on what you already know-”

The next wind seemed to bend Rai’s composure, just slightly.

But you don’t know, do you?

Before Sao could toss in some witty save, Rai sighed, as loud and blustering as any winter wind and hunched deep into his coat. He rested his black-rimmed eyes on his assistant. “Hey, we’re done here. You head out early today too. Why don’t you both go get some coffee or tea or whatever it is you agree on? I have some things to finish at the office.”

“Thanks…” Axelle said.

“Thanks,” Sao echoed. He paused. “We’ll talk tomorrow. Take it easy.”

Rai nodded and started stamping through the snow to his car, taking the journey with as much difficulty as he could muster.