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Chapter Text

It was a dreary, raining afternoon, and Unni Doorman furrowed her brow as she read the local newspaper’s latest headline on their website:

THREE CAMPERS REPORTED MISSING

The article went on to say, “The local Norwegian Police Service requests assistance in locating three missing persons from the local area. Bjørn Viestad (30), Greta Viestad (28) and Emma Hagen (26) of Kobberfjord were last seen on Saturday at their campsite by Iversen’s Mill. For the last few days, investigators have interviewed family members, friends, and acquaintances of the missing persons and followed up with leads, but to no avail.”

Unni’s eyes skimmed the descriptions of the missing persons before continuing to read, “According to family members and friends, the three always kept family and friends informed of their whereabouts and stayed in regular contact. After none of them returned from camping on Thursday, and none responded to phone calls or text messages, family and friends went to the campsite to check on them. While their camping supplies were found at the site, no sign of the campers themselves was discovered. Soon after, local police were notified, and a missing persons alert was issued.

“Anyone with any information concerning the whereabouts of Bjørn Viestad, Greta Viestad and Emma Hagen should immediately contact-”

With a frown, Unni closed the screen of her laptop, took a sip of her coffee, and gazed pensively out of the café window overlooking the fjord. Through the haze of the rain, Unni could see the stark silhouette of the mountains on the other side of the water. For years those mountains and the forests surrounding Kobberfjord had been natural wonders to the people of the village, and to the tourists who made the long bus rides out their way to experience rural Norway. It really was a beautiful place to visit, and a beautiful place to have grown up.

The mountains had also proved to be rich not just in aesthetic appeal, but also in copper. As the village’s name implied, Kobberfjord (that is, “Copper Fjord”) was a town that had been built upon the copper mining industry. In the late 1940’s after World War II, the JC Jensen Company came to have management over the mines in the mountains near the village, increasing their yield by an astonishing tenfold in the following decades. Most of the people in the remote village thus had some sort of ties to the Company, and it had formed the bulk of their local economy. However, this did not mean everyone had fond feelings about the Company, as there had been complaints over the years regarding the Company throwing its weight around in local affairs, as well as overseeing unsafe working conditions and various accidents.

One accident in particular had been especially devastating, and it nearly caused the Company to go belly-up as a result. It had occurred about twenty years ago, when Mine Shaft 9 had suffered some kind of internal explosion, and nearly the whole thing collapsed. Unni’s father, Khan Doorman, had been part of the rescue crew sent into Mine Shaft 9 that fateful day, and it was during this rescue mission that he met Unni’s mother, Nori, who was one of only two survivors found after that collapse. While the Company managed to stay in business after the accident, things were never quite the same again, and Mine Shaft 9 had been left abandoned to this day.

Unni sighed, recalling hearing about how shortly after that tragedy, some of the townsfolk began talking about how such misfortune may have been the work of the vaesen – the easily-offended magic folk who were said to live deep in the mountains, forests and waters of the region. Despite the fact that most of the townsfolk had given up believing in anything supernatural before the accident, conflicting reports about what exactly happened – plus strange sightings of things in the mountains – caused the vaesen to once again become a topic of conversation.

“Maybe one of the miners did something to anger them,” some would say. Or, “The Company must’ve dug too greedily, and they angered the Mountain King. They must’ve gotten too close to his treasure.” One of the local farmers even reported finding a handful of his cattle mysteriously torn to bits one morning, looking as if a pack of wolves had devoured them. Though no wolf packs had freely roamed this region of Norway for years... 

Unni felt a knot tighten in her stomach at these thoughts. It wouldn’t have bothered her too much if these stupid, superstitious assumptions had been left in the past, and had just been people’s way of trying to cope in the moment with the harsh reality of human ineptitude causing the deaths of those poor workers. But now, after this recent series of disappearances, rumors about the vaesen had begun to go around town again. Since evidence had been scarce regarding what happened to the missing persons (now totaling fifteen with this morning’s report), and no ransom notes had come forward, some of the local citizens had started to fear that those missing had been spirited away by some of the hostile creatures of old. Unni thought it was all BS, as she knew there must be a natural explanation for their disappearances, and to try to paint it any other way was just an idiotic cop-out.

Plus…when her own mother was one of the missing persons, it wasn’t easy for Unni to hear such dumb conclusions while her mother’s fate was yet unknown.

Taking another sip of coffee, Unni tried to swallow down the lump in her throat as she again thought about her mother. Like the other recent disappearances, Nori had just vanished one day without a trace. The only thing they found was her car abandoned by the side of the road in the woods, though there were no signs of a struggle. It was as if she’d pulled over, turned off the vehicle, walked away, and then never came back.

Unni knew her mother was…a bit of a wild card. Downright eccentric at times. But Unni had a hard time believing that her mother would’ve left her and her father without any warning. Unni wondered if her mother had actually gone to investigate the disappearances herself, but ended up becoming one of the victims in the process. Unni had wanted to investigate right away after Nori’s car was found, but her father insisted Unni stay at home while he went out with the police. Unni had reluctantly obeyed, since she didn’t want to agitate her father further, and she wanted to believe that his experience in the rescue field plus the help of the police would allow them to find something. But as the weeks continued on, nothing came up, and even the policemen’s tracking dogs weren’t able to go far before losing Nori’s trail in the forest.

About two weeks after Nori’s disappearance, Unni had managed to slip away long enough to trek out to where Nori’s car had been found, but Unni had been unable to find anything either. She had attempted to venture a ways up the road, into the woods, and by the river running nearby. Still nothing.

Unni lost track of how many nights she’d laid awake since then; wondering, worrying, and weeping quietly to herself, trying to stop her spiraling thoughts from imagining all of the awful possibilities of what might’ve gone wrong for her mother.

People don’t just disappear. Something had to have happened to her mother and others. The question now was, “What happened to them?”

After slurping down the last of her coffee angrily, Unni gathered up her things, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and headed out into the dreary afternoon grayness. After this latest report, Unni had finally made up her mind, and she fixed her eyes forward as she headed back to her house

“I will find you, Mom,” Unni said under her breath as the rain pattered down upon her head. “I’ll figure out what’s going on, and I’ll put a stop to this.”

Chapter Text

As Unni headed back towards her house, she began going over in her mind a plan to sneak away to have a look at Iversen’s Mill. Given how that was the site of the most recent set of disappearances, she figured it was the best place to start. Unni knew her father wouldn’t allow her to go investigate any of the disappearances, so she’d have to figure out how to get out there without him knowing.

“I could take the bus as far as the stop by the river,” she mused to herself. “From there it’s about an eight-minute walk up to the mill. I just have to time it right so it’s not suspicious for me to be away from the house for several hours on a Saturday. I just gotta think of a good excuse to tell Dad why I would be away for –”

“Hey, Unni!”

Unni jumped a little as her deep thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her name being called from behind her. Unni turned to see Thad – one of her classmates – jogging up to her holding an umbrella.

“Yeesh Unni, you’ll catch a cold in this weather if you’re not careful!” Thad said cheerfully, holding up his umbrella so it shielded them both from the rain. “Here, how about I walk you home the rest of the way?”

“O-oh,” Unni stammered, bashfully turning away and tucking one of her purple locks behind her ear. “Um, s-sure, I guess. Thanks.”

“No prob!” Thad replied, and the two began walking again, with Unni hoping desperately that her cheeks weren’t tinged pink as she made a conscious effort to not brush against Thad as they huddled under the umbrella.

Ever since she was little, Unni had a hard time fitting in with her peers. Granted, Unni was a bit of a loner, and she didn’t really make much effort to endear herself to other people. Even so, she knew her classmates had seen her as “the weird kid,” and even after they had grown up more, it was rare for any of them to offer much kindness in her direction. However, this last year, Thad had moved to Kobberfjord, and as such didn’t have the same long history with Unni as most of her other classmates. This meant, apparently, that he was more open to making his acquaintance with Unni, and had been amazingly kind to her since his first day. Unni supposed she liked it. (…Ok, she really liked it.) Though a large part of her also wasn’t sure how to respond, so she just usually opted for trying to act cool or casual about it.

“So,” Thad began after they had walked in some silence, “what were you doing out in the rain anyway?”

Unni shrugged, “Just…had been studying at the café. What about you?”

“Oh, I just got out of soccer practice,” Thad replied. “I think we have a good shot of getting into the playoffs this year! That is, if only Chad wouldn’t keep on trying to do a trick shot every five seconds. I swear! If we lose because that guy wants to show off for all his TikTok followers, I’m seriously gonna-!”

As Thad went on talking about the soccer team, Unni was only half listening as his voice was drowned out by her swirling thoughts. Unni would reply to his words with a periodic nod or, “Mhm,” as they went, but she couldn’t stop trying to think of how to get to Iversen’s Mill without her dad knowing. She still needed some excuse to be away.

…Then, an idea hit her.

“Oh, hey Thad,” Unni suddenly interrupted.

“Uh, yes?” Thad asked, clearly puzzled at Unni’s interruption, but listening nonetheless.

“Do you guys have a game tomorrow?” Unni asked.

“Oh, um, yeah. Yeah, we do actually!” said Thad. “Why? Were you thinking about coming? It would be great if you did! We always like having support out there on the field.”

“Oh, uh, well, maybe,” said Unni, feeling an inward cringe as she lied.

“Well, I hope you can come,” Thad said as they now walked up to Unni’s front door. “Anyway, I hope you have a good rest of the evening.”

“Yeah, thanks, you too,” said Unni. “And thanks again for walking me home, or, whatever.”

“No problem!” Thad replied, and waved over his shoulder as he walked away towards his own home. “See ya Unni!”

Unni waved her own good-bye as she turned and went inside her house, letting out a heavy sigh as she kicked off her wet shoes at the door. After looking around the place really quick, Unni saw that her father hadn’t come home yet. “Perfect,” she thought to herself, and took the opportunity to swap out her school things from her backpack with some hiking supplies. Her dad could be oblivious to certain things, but he would definitely know something was up if Unni packed things like a tangle of rope, a flashlight, and a small hatchet to go to a soccer game.

Once Unni had her backpack well-supplied, she put it in her room and then began making supper for herself and her dad. Unni wasn’t much for cooking, so she opted to just heat up a simple meal of leftover meatballs and potatoes in the oven. Shortly after putting them in, Unni sat down at the kitchen table while she doodled in her sketchbook, trying to calm her mind as she drew a few manga-style characters. A few minutes later she heard the front door open as Khan returned home.

“Unni, I’m home,” Khan announced as he too took off his wet shoes at the door. “So, how was school today?”

“Fine,” Unni replied in monotone.

“Ah, got supper going? Thanks, kiddo!” Khan continued as he noticed the oven on and the smell of the food cooking. “Had a long day at the Company today. Had to, er, get some safety protocols updated in Mine Shaft 4. Wouldn’t want anything to- …Anyway, I won’t bore you with it.”

“Uh huh,” Unni said, trying to avoid looking her father in the eye as an uncomfortable silence settled in (which had been a regular occurrence ever since Nori disappeared). Unni decided then to take the opportunity to tell Khan, “Oh, um, by the way, I was going to go watch our school’s soccer match tomorrow. Just wanted you to know. I’ll probably be out for a few hours.”

Khan paused at these words, looking at Unni in comical astonishment. “Really? I thought you didn’t like sports.”

“Y-yeah, well, I was invited, so…”

“Really?!” Khan asked (in an even greater astonishment that Unni found rather offensive) before his face lit up with a smile. “Hey! That’s great, kiddo! I hope you have a great time! Do you need me to take you there?”

“N-no! No!” Unni replied hastily. “I’m gonna walk over to Thad’s place and we’re gonna drive over with some of his friends.”

“Thad? Ah, he’s a nice kid. I’m glad to hear you’re making friends with him.”

Unni only groaned in response, sinking lower into her seat, partially out of embarrassment at her dad trying to hype her up, but also with no small amount of shame at lying. …A part of her even considered for a split-second ditching going to Iversen’s Mill tomorrow, and instead actually going to the soccer game. But no, she couldn’t pass up this opportunity. She had to investigate before the trail got too cold, and this was the perfect excuse for her to get away. She couldn’t stop now.

“Tomorrow,” Unni kept thinking to herself as the evening went on, trying her best to keep both anxiety and anticipation at bay as the hours ticked by. “Tomorrow, things will be different. I’ll find something. Anything. I have to!”

…Little did Unni know just how true that statement would turn out to be…

Chapter Text

Unni had a hard time sleeping that night as she thought over and over again about what her strategy would be once she got to Iversen’s Mill the next day. She tried to stave off that sinking feeling that kept creeping in whenever she thought of how the police were unable to find anything, despite all of their skill and resources. If they were unable to find anything, how was she supposed to do any better?

“It doesn’t matter,” she kept telling herself. “I have to try. Besides, even some of the best detectives still needed a normie to see things they didn’t sometimes. I might find something they missed…”

As the night went on, Unni came in and out of sleep; tossing, turning, snoozing, thinking, and repeating again until the first glow of sunlight began to lighten her room. With a groan, Unni finally opted to get up, and took a shower before breakfast. Afterward, as she went to the kitchen, Unni made sure her dad saw her putting a few snacks into her backpack. Khan may have questioned things if he saw Unni pack any hiking supplies, but seeing her pack some snacks to go to a game with friends wouldn’t be at all suspicious, and would help to sell the ruse that she had just been packing things away that morning, as opposed to the day before.

“Good morning, Unni!” Khan greeted her enthusiastically as he got his coffee. “You ready for a day out with your friends?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Unni replied in monotone, trying to act as natural as possible as she got her own breakfast ready, and trying to swallow down the nervousness that was building in her gut as she munched on her open-faced sandwich.

“Well, I hope you have a great time, kiddo!” Khan said. “What time will you be heading out?”

“Oh, uh, I’ll be heading to Thad’s in about fifteen minutes, and then we’ll drive out from there.”

“Sounds like a plan!” said Khan enthusiastically, to which Unni only rolled her eyes, and from there tried her best to seem normal (or, at least, what was normal for her) as Khan made a few more attempts at small talk while they ate.

Finally, the time came, and Unni headed for the front door. “I’ll see you later, Dad,” Unni called over her shoulder as she opened the door.

“Good-bye, kiddo!” Khan said back, raising his coffee mug in farewell. “Have fun!”

As Unni closed the door behind her, she let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding until that moment. Then, steeling her eyes forward, Unni took her first step forward into the new day, and towards her first destination – namely the bus stop. While Unni had anticipated that getting through breakfast and out the door would be the hardest phase of her plan, she also continued to be a bit on edge as she walked those few blocks to the corner where the bus stop was. It was agonizing to wait for the bus, as Unni dreaded the possibility that her dad could also go out at any moment and cross paths with her there for some reason. That would definitely ruin her plans.

Fortunately, by the time the bus came, there was no sign of her dad, and Unni quickly climbed aboard and sat in one of the seats that allowed her to tuck herself away from being easily spotted through the windows. For a second time, Unni let out a held breath as she slumped into her seat, and tried to calm herself a bit as she popped in her earbuds to listen to some Nightcore as she watched the streets go by outside.

Unni groaned and slumped further down into her seat as she watched the town of Kobberfjord go by, and several more passengers boarded the bus and got off at their respective stops along the way. Despite how pretty Kobberfjord was, and how Unni had lived there her whole life, it never really felt like home to her. She felt like a perpetual outsider, and she sometimes wondered if things would’ve felt different if her dad moved her and her mom to America, where he was originally from before the Company transferred him to Norway. But Unni wasn’t sure about that either, and she didn’t want to waste her time on theoretical “what ifs.”

“Besides,” she thought to herself, “they still have high school there. Hell, it probably would’ve been worse over there, given my luck.”

A few minutes later, the bus came towards the edge of town, and Uzi pressed the button to be let off at the next stop, which was by the bridge that connected to the trail leading to Iversen’s Mill. As she stood near the door waiting for the bus to pull up to the stop, Unni caught out of the corner of her eye the movement of the bus driver signaling for her to take out her earbuds. Unni frowned, puzzled, but obeyed.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“Er, um, listen, miss,” the bus driver said, clearly feeling awkward…and perhaps a bit afraid? “I know it’s not any of my business, but- …Well, are you heading for the trail leading into the woods?”

“….Yeeeeah,” Unni said, feeling another rock of dread begin to settle in her gut at the bus driver’s questioning. “Why?”

“Well, it’s just… I don’t know how much you’ve been keeping up with the news, but people have gone missing around here lately, and, well… Look, I can’t tell you what to do, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to be walking the trails right now. Not until the police have figured things out anyway.”

Unni paused, but managed to offer a small, feigned smile at this. Honestly, it was rather nice that a stranger would be concerned about her safety like that, but at the same time it also felt awkward having someone pry into her business. “Thanks, but I’ll be fine,” she tried to say as reassuringly as she could, though the bus driver still didn’t appear at all convinced. In fact, as he at last pulled up to the stop by the bridge, he glanced quickly at the other three passengers still on board before pulling something out of his pocket and holding it out for Unni.

“Here,” he said, and Unni looked to see that it was some sort of beaded charm with a crucifix and little golden bell on it. “Um, to help ward off… well, any of them.”

Unni blinked down at the trinket, and raised an eyebrow. “Seriously!? Him too, huh?” she thought to herself with renewed frustration and embarrassment, not daring to look to see if any of the other passengers were watching.

With as much cordiality as she could muster, Uzi simply looked back at the bus driver and repeated, “Thanks, but I’ll be fine,” and turned away and got off the bus, leaving the charm untouched in his hand.

“Miss, please! Be careful!” the bus driver called out as Unni exited the bus, but Unni only hunched her shoulders as she made her way across the bridge, still not turning back to look at him.

“I can’t turn back,” she thought to herself as she heard the bus at last drive away behind her as she crossed the bridge, and began to make her way up the trail to Iversen’s Mill. “There’s no going back now…”

As Unni steadily went up the path further into the woods, she was reminded of the times she and her parents went camping in the woods. Nori in particular was- …had been really fond of camping, and sometimes she would come home from work on a Friday and just announce that Khan and Unni better gather up their things quickly, because they were spending the weekend in the woods right now! From Nori, Unni had learned a lot about the art of bushcrafting, and knew how to build several temporary shelters, how to catch and clean fish (though cooking over a campfire still wasn’t one of her strong suits), and even a bit of tracking. Now, she hoped that any skill she had in tracking would help her today.

Despite all the tension from that morning, the walk to Iversen’s Mill was a rather pleasant one. While Unni still had an underlying feeling of dread – almost like she was being watched by someone (or by something… though not one of those somethings, thank you very much) – even she couldn’t help but breathe in the sweet, spring air, and notice the trilling of birds and the sound of the wind rustling the tree branches overhead. If only her errand hadn’t been so dire, Unni might’ve found herself almost enjoying it.

Soon enough, after a few minutes of walking, Unni crested a slope on the trail, and looked down to see Iversen’s Mill sitting there at the bottom of the trail. Or, more accurately, Unni saw what was left of Iversen’s Mill. For, naturally, it had been ages since any farmers in the area needed an old river wheel like Iverson’s to grind their grains, so the place had been closed down and abandoned long ago. As such, the building was slowly being overtaken by the nature around it, which made it look simultaneously beautiful, sad, and perhaps a bit haunted, thus making it a popular site to visit for the locals. It was no surprise that people opted to camp near it sometimes.

Though camping near there and then disappearing? That had not happened before.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Unni made her way down to the old mill. While the police had of course taken the remaining camping supplies from the site, Unni still wanted to have a look around to see if there was anything that by chance had been left behind. Unni frowned in both concentration and frustration as she scoured the place. She could see the footprints that remained from the police’s investigation, though even those were fainter now due to the rain yesterday. She also saw several animal tracks, and found a deer path leading further north, but not much beyond that.

Unni then turned to look inside the old mill itself. While the door was fasted shut with a lock and chains, and had a “No Trespassing” sign nailed to it, Unni disregarded these as she pulled a set of bolt cutters from her pack, and cut her way through the chains and opened the door. The door opened with a long, loud, whining creak, which made a shiver run up Unni’s back. She may not believe in hauntings, but it was an eerie sound all the same. Squinting in the dim light coming through the holes in the roof and between the slats in the walls, Unni began to have a look around. She felt her heart pounding in anticipation as she looked for anything that might help her.

“There has to be something,” she kept telling herself as she looked into an old crate, an old barrel, and checked to see if there was any secret trap door in the floorboards. “There has to be. There has to be!”

…But there was nothing.

“…Dammit!” Unni hissed as she kicked over an old stool, and stormed back out of the place. She looked again around the campsite. And again, and again. …Nothing.

Unni now wondered what she should do. She supposed she could increase the radius of her investigation around the campsite. She should perhaps even go further up into the woods, but in which direction? It had now been about an hour and a half since she left home, and while that wasn’t bad timing, Unni also didn’t want to waste any time going in the wrong direction. She looked again to see if there was any clue as to which direction she should take.

“Ok, if the campers from the other night were taken against their will,” she thought, “then perhaps they were taken in a vehicle of some kind.” With this in mind, Unni bent down to study the trail itself, to see if there were any tire tracks, or tracks from some sort of cart or wheelbarrow. But she didn’t see any signs of these either.

“Fine, if they were carried away, then it couldn’t have been over terrain too rough. Still makes the trail itself a possible direction.” Unni then looked to see if there were any footprints leading further up the trail. She saw that there were, though given the previous police presence and the rain, it was hard to tell much from them. Not knowing how else to progress, Unni figured she could at least go further along the trail for several yards and see if she found anything else. If that didn’t work… well, she’d think of something.

Again, Unni walked up the trail, her eyes scanning the ground and nearby foliage, looking for something, anything that might help.

“…Please,” Unni found herself wishing as a feeling of desperation began to grow inside her, and tears of frustration and helplessness began to prick at the corners of her eyes. “Please! Please! Let me find something! There has to be something! Please!”

…That was when she heard it.

Unni froze as she heard the sound. It was a voice, a female voice; sounding like it was both calling and singing, somewhere within a few miles of Unni’s position. It was both a beautiful and eerie sound, and it made Unni think of the herding calls that people in the old days used to use to call livestock home, or perhaps also the old art of the Sami yoiks. It probably was just someone doing a variation of either of those, but Unni didn’t recall any pastures being on this slope of the mountain. She was also puzzled further as she heard a response to this call sound through the forest; a more masculine voice this time.

…And that one sounded close by.

Unni’s head whipped round to where she heard the response come from. It seemed to be coming from near the river, a bit ahead of her and to the right, further into the woods. Unni felt her heart begin to pound hard inside of her again. It may be this had nothing to do with finding her mother…but what if it did?

What if those calling knew something about what had happened? …Or what if they were the ones who did the kidnapping? Or maybe they were just some crazy LARPers? In any case...

Yet again, Unni let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding, and after mulling things over briefly, she made up her mind. Unni quickly shuffled out of her pack the hatchet she brought with her (“Better be ready just in case,” she thought), and then, as stealthily as she could, Unni ventured through the foliage off the trail, and made her way towards where the sound had come from, hoping this time she would find some answers.

Chapter Text

As Unni made her way through the woods, the two voices did a couple more calls-and-response to one another, with a third one joining in briefly as well. While Unni could tell the calls must’ve carried some sort of meaning in their tones, the exact meaning eluded her. Again, the notes sounded rather beautiful, but also eerie as they echoed through the trees. Unni gripped the handle of her hatchet a bit tighter as she pressed on, trying to find her way to the closest voice.

At last, the direction of the masculine voice led Unni to a cliff by the river, dotted with rocks and roots protruding from the earthen wall. Unni stood and waited a moment at its base, knowing the owner of the voice had not been far from there, but also not sure exactly where he was now. After a couple moments of waiting, Unni heard the soft crescendo of a stringed instrument in the air overhead, and then heard a voice accompany the sound. Though this time, instead of using the calling sound from before, the voice was now simply singing along with the melody being played. Unni had a hard time making out all the words over the sound of the running water nearby, but from what words she could hear, Unni was surprised to find that the words she was hearing were in Swedish. Not that someone speaking (or singing) in Swedish was unheard of in those parts, but it also wasn’t what Unni had been expecting either. The words she could hear went something like:

“Far away in the forest, among the mossy mountains
There is a shelter from all the noise of the world
My lambs, my lambs, my dear little lambs,
There is a friend that I must never leave…”

“Hm…weird song,” Unni thought to herself as she looked up the cliff before her, now certain that the music and the voice were coming from somewhere beyond the top of it. Unni thought briefly about calling up to the owner of the voice and getting his attention, but what if he only ran away? And if he was Unni’s only possible lead regarding the missing persons, she couldn’t risk losing him in the forest.

With this in mind, Unni decided that if she was going to keep her cover before confronting this individual, she would need to climb up the rocky slope and sneak up on him. Furrowing her brow in concentration, Unni slung her hatchet into a loop on the side of her pack, and began to climb the face of the cliff, gripping onto the rocks, roots, and ledges as she went, trying her hardest to keep quiet. Fortunately, it seemed the singer was too distracted by his music to take much notice of anything else, and Unni heard him continue to play as she made her way up, not showing any sign that he was aware of her presence.

It was hard work, and by the time Unni got within a few feet of the top, her limbs were aching and had started to shake. She earnestly hoped they would hold out long enough for her to get up, as there was no going back down now. At last, after steeling herself for one more push, Unni slowly lifted herself up so she could peak over the edge of the cliff, and finally get a look at the strange individual through the leaves of the ferns that grew near the edge.

…And, indeed, “strange” had been a very apt description of him.

“Aw, crap!” Unni thought as her eyes landed on him. “He really IS a crazy LARPer after all!”

What gave Unni this impression was the young man’s rather fantastical appearance. He was sporting snow-white hair (which Unni assumed was either bleached that color, or was some kind of wig), and he wore an old-fashioned linen tunic with trousers; like those Unni had seen in some historical reenactments, or at a Renaissance Faire. The young man also wore a few pieces of simple but elegant jewelry, had long pointy ears, and had a long cow-like tail which was draped over the rock next to him as he sat playing and singing near the water’s edge.

Unni had to admit, it was an impressive cosplay on a technical level, and if the present circumstances weren’t so odd and urgent, Unni might’ve felt inclined to ask him about how he made his costume. But all of this was very odd, and while he might be just some peculiar cosplayer who meant no harm, Unni couldn’t be sure about that. And, again, she couldn’t be sure this stranger wouldn’t run away from her if he saw her approaching too soon. She had to figure out how to get to him without-

“…Wait, what?” Unni asked herself in puzzlement as she suddenly became aware of a curious thing happening. As the LARPer continued to play and sing his song, Unni then noticed several forest creatures had begun creeping out from the edges of the forest, and started to approach him. Unni saw a couple of hedgehogs, a fox, several birds, and even a doe with her fawn all wandered to the water’s edge, gathering in a loose group around the young man, as if charmed by his music.

“What the he-!” Unni found herself involuntarily whispering under her breath, feeling both amazed and unsettled as she watched. …But before Unni could finish her sentence-

“Aaaah!”

Unni let out a quick, involuntary scream as she suddenly felt part of the earthen ledge below her give way, and Unni’s hands flailed to grasp at the edge of the cliff. Unni silently cursed herself as she heard the man’s music immediately come to a halt at the sound, and Unni heard the sounds of the animals scampering and bounding away.

“NO!” Unni thought in desperation as she scrambled to get back up. “No no no!! Don’t let him get away-!”

As Unni pulled her head and shoulders back up over the cliff’s side, she now found her eyes meeting the stranger’s as he looked at her from where he sat. In that moment, two things happened that sent a chill down Unni’s spine. One was that as their eyes met, Unni saw that the young man’s eyes were a gold color. For a split second, Unni chalked this up to being another part of his intricate cosplay. After all, colored contacts were a thing.

But…that wasn’t it. Unni couldn’t say exactly how or why, but in that moment, as her eyes met his, Unni could tell those were his natural eyes. And something about his gaze…it wasn’t…human.

This feeling only sank in further for Unni as she then caught another glimpse of the man’s tail. Again, her brain wanted to think that it was simply advanced costume animatronics that made it curl and twitch and swish so naturally. …But in an equally split second, Unni also registered what she was really seeing.

His tail was real.

Unni’s eyes widened with horror for a moment…and then her vision of the stranger vanished as more of the cliff face gave way beneath her hands, slipping away beneath her grip due to being wet and unstable from the rain last night, and Unni felt herself go into a full free-fall, feeling the air rush passed her as she found herself looking up towards the sky as she went down, her ears filling with a horrible roar.

“I’m going to die…” Unni thought to herself as it felt like time went into slow-motion for a moment, and she was suddenly keenly aware of how high the cliff really had been, and remembered how hard the rocks were on the ground below. “I’m going to die…”

Unni didn’t want to get hurt. She didn’t want to die. She didn’t want to fail her mother. She didn’t want it to end like this. “Help-!” was all Unni could think in desperation as the fraction of a second passed.

Unni then hit the ground, and she knew no more.

Chapter Text

"All magic comes with a price..."
~ Rumplestiltskin, Once Upon a Time

For a split second, N thought he had been seeing things. For neither he nor any of the animals had detected a human being close by. Though, apparently, there had been a human climbing up the steep cliff, and this became painfully undeniable as N heard the sound of the human’s body falling and hitting the ground below with a harsh, “THWACK!”

“…O-oh!” N cried out in panic as his brain caught up with him. He dashed towards the cliff, quickly whipping his fiddle back into his holding place as he went; the instrument disappearing in a small burst of light behind his back. As N halted at the edge of the cliff, he looked down to see the human sprawled out on her back on the rocks below, unmoving.

N winced at the sight, feeling his heart sink inside of him. N had seen many creatures die in his lifetime, but seeing a human die was always particularly unsettling.

“Oh, biscuits! The poor thing,” N said under his breath before he began to leap and swing his way gracefully down the cliff face. He then landed next to the girl, frowning sadly at her, and feeling a pang of guilt in his gut.

“Some warden of the forest I am,” he thought to himself, wishing he had been aware of the young lady’s presence sooner. Then he might’ve been able to prevent this from happening, and he wouldn’t have to get an earful from J again.

“N, you’re worthless and terrible!” J had said to N on more than one occasion. N cringed at the memory (and at what would also likely be his future). “And if the Elders allowed it, I would drive you off this mountain myself!”

N sighed. It was a shame this had happened, but at least he could make sure the girl’s body was found. He could also make sure it wasn’t eaten by any wild-

“…Wait-!”

As N had begun to reach a hand underneath the girl’s body to pick her up, his senses picked up on the faint feeling of a pulse. Making sure this wasn’t a mistake, N gingerly pressed two fingers to the girl’s neck.

She was still alive!

A wave of relief washed over N…but the relief was short lived. N took a quick reading of her vitals with his magic, his hand glowing as it hovered over her, and he realized the girl was only barely alive. She probably only had moments left to live.

“Oh, no no no!” N said, his mind racing. “Don’t die, please! J-just hold on!” N almost called out to V and J for help, but he stopped. Both of them were better skilled at magic than he, and likely knew more powerful healing magic than himself, but if the girl only had moments left to live, neither would be able to get there in time.

It was up to him.

Recalling all he could about healing magic, N hovered both his hands over the girl’s form, concentrating hard as he began to sing an old healing spell. As he sang, N’s hands began to glow, and several swirling, glimmering patterns began to work their way up his forearms, across the body of the girl where she lay, and spread out from her onto the ground around them. It was nerve wracking work, and N tried hard not to falter as he could feel the magic working to bind up her wounds and repair damaged organs.

For a minute, it seemed as if N’s spell was working…but then he felt a shift happening in the magic, and he could feel the girl’s spirit begin to ebb away from her body.

He was going too slow! It wasn’t enough! He was losing her!

N kept going, feeling more and more desperate as the magic went slower as he grew tired. He was almost out of magic energy!

“Please!” N prayed as he struggled to maintain his song, and his vision came in and out of focus. “Please! Don’t let her die! Let me save her! There has to be something! Anything!!”

But the girl continued to slip away, and the magic continued to wane. In desperation, N reached deep to channel whatever magic energy was within him.

…Then suddenly, it came to him!

…And it hurt.

N let out a cry of pain as he felt himself tap into a well-spring of magic he didn’t even know he had inside of him. The effect was brief, but powerful, and N felt like it nearly knocked his own heart out as he was forced at last to let go of the flow of energy, and he slumped back onto the turf. N wasn’t sure if he’d lost consciousness somewhere in there, but the next thing he knew, he was slowly sitting back up, his head throbbing. N then felt something wet on his face, and as he wiped away at it, he found as he brought his hand away that his fingers were stained with blood. He’d had a nosebleed.

N then looked over at the girl before him. She was still unconscious, and rather pale, but N could see the steady rise and fall of her diaphragm as she breathed. He let out a sigh of relief as he realized she was going to live.

“Oh, thank goodness!” he breathed, and then carefully staggered around her to the edge of the stream where he washed his face and his hands.

Now that the emergency was over for now, N was left deciding what to do as he looked at the girl over his shoulder. He supposed he could leave her to just wake up and go home from there, but something about that didn’t sit right with him. While she may be stable, she might still be very weak. Plus…there had been odd rumblings in the forest lately; things which puzzled even V and J. If anything hostile was indeed out there in their forest, N couldn’t just leave the girl to be discovered by…whatever it might be.

N’s ears then twitched as they picked up on the sound of thunder in the distance. It seemed they would be getting more rain tonight.

…It also seemed that the thunder helped to make up N’s mind for him, for now he really couldn’t leave a girl in the forest on her own with a storm approaching.

N swallowed, took a deep breath, and then set about breaking many, many rules of his kind. As gently as he could, N pulled the girl up onto his back, turned towards the mountain on shaky legs, and began heading deep into the forest.

Chapter Text

Unni slowly opened her eyes, and found herself lying on her back and looking up into a vibrant night sky. It was filled with glimmering trails of stars, and streams of the Aurora dancing overhead. The moon shone bright, and Unni could feel and hear a gentle breeze wafting through the trees above.

Gingerly, Unni sat up, and looked around her. She appeared to be in some sort of clearing, encircled with tall trees and shrubbery. A small pool with a waterfall was located about a stone’s throw away, and fireflies hovered in clusters above the grass. She also thought she could hear faint, sweet music around her. It didn’t seem to come from any particular source. Rather, it was as if the music was part of the air itself; like the ambient music in a movie or video game.

Unni had no idea where she was or how she got there, but she wasn’t frightened. In fact, a part of her felt as if she’d always been there. There was no need for alarm. This was a friendly place – a familiar place.

…And yet…

Unni’s brow furrowed, feeling as if there was something she was forgetting. Slowly, she decided to stand, thinking perhaps walking about would help her remember. After taking a few steps, Unni heard a soft noise behind her. Whipping around, Unni saw a strange young man standing a few yards away, with snow-white hair, elfin ears, golden eyes and a long tail.

…Something about him seemed familiar too, like an old friend…

…And yet…

“Who are you?” Unni asked, feeling for the first time the smallest tinge of nervousness, though still not enough to shatter her inner peace. She also felt a memory knocking at the back of her brain, but she still couldn’t quite grasp it.

Meanwhile, the boy didn’t answer her question. Instead, he smiled kindly at her, and walked up to her. Unni remained still as he came up to her and extended a hand invitingly. Unni began to reach a hand out to his in return…but before she could grasp it, the stranger pulled his hand back, leaving Unni feeling oddly bereft at the lack of contact. Then, his expression changed into a pained one, and he began to back away.

“I’m sorry…” he said, before turning and running away into the woods.

“What-? Hey, wait!” Unni called out after him, chasing him through the bush. “Come back!”

Unni scrambled to keep up with the stranger as he dashed and leapt through the forest. As she ran after him, Unni slowly became aware of how the forest started to change around them, and the sweet music gradually faded away into an ominous droning sound. What had started off as comforting and welcoming gradually became dark and foreboding. Eventually, Unni found herself stumbling over clusters of brambles, wincing and cursing as they cut into her skin, and squinting in the increasing shadows. Suddenly, Unni found herself tumbling down into a dusty ditch that had sprawled out before her.

As Unni looked back up, spitting out dirt and rubbing at a sore wrist, she saw that she was now deep within a cave. While it was lit dimly by various glowing crystals in the walls, their light was not at all comforting. Instead, their amber light felt somehow heavy and smothering. Unni also saw that there was a tree at the center of the large chamber, which appeared to be made of stone, and a tar-like substance was spreading out from among its roots. As she looked closer, Unni also saw with horror that the stranger she had been chasing was being swallowed up into the tree, along with several other figures.

"Whoa! Hey!” Unni yelled, running forward to help them, but found her feet getting stuck in the tar-like substance in the process. She struggled to free herself, but it was no use. She only continued to sink further as she struggled.

“Aaah! No no no!” Unni cried as she tried to pull herself out of the muck.

“It’s no use, mortal.”

Unni felt her blood run cold as the mysterious voice echoed around the chamber, sounding cold and mocking. “It’s too late for you to save them. Now, join us.”

Unni then screamed as she felt herself get pulled under, the tar-like substance closing up over her head, and then-

Unni gasped, eyes snapping open as she awoke from her nightmare. For a moment, she just lay there panting in the dim light, confused and frightened as she began to take in her surroundings. The first thing Unni noticed was that she was lying on something soft (which was a good thing since she ached all over). She also noticed an earthy smell in the air, heard a soft crackling noise a few feet away to her right, and a kind of muffled rustling noise overhead.

Unni blinked again, rubbed her eyes, and slowly sat up, feeling a sheepskin blanket flop forward off her as she did so. Unni looked down at it in puzzlement, and then turned to look at the rest of the place she was in. It was an earthen chamber, a bit like one of the dugout shelters Unni’s mother had taught her how to make back in the day. Though this one was a bit bigger than any Unni had helped dig before, being about the size of a small one-room cabin. It was also fully furnished, as far as small cabins go anyway – featuring a stove (hence the crackling noise with its fire), a twin sized bed (which Unni was presently occupying), a few sconces and lanterns lighting the room, a trunk, a table and chairs-

“Oh good, you’re awake!”

Unni whipped round in alarm as a voice suddenly sounded nearby, and she saw a figure approaching her in the dim light, carrying something in his hands. “Here, this should hel-!”

SMACK!

With a cry, Unni swung a hand around and slapped the stranger across the face, causing him to stagger back and drop whatever he was holding with a small crash. Unni then leapt from the bed, and managed to grab the fire poker by the stove. Holding it between herself and the stranger, Unni began to make her way towards the door. “S-stay back!” Unni growled, glancing between the door and the stranger as she sidled her way over to it. “I’m warning you!”

The stranger, meanwhile, stayed where he was, rubbing his stinging face with one hand, and holding out the other defensively. “H-hey hey, easy! It’s ok!” he said, like someone trying to calm a feral animal. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Oh, bite me!” Unni snapped, reaching for the door handle. “Like you haven’t already-!”

Unni then stopped, her memory catching up to her again as she saw the figure more clearly in the lamplight, with his pointed ears and long tail. He was the same figure she had seen in her dream just now, and also at the cliff.

…The cliff… the one where she had-!

“Oh God…” Unni found herself saying in a near whisper as her head suddenly swam as the unbelievable, confusing reality began to sink in again, and she began to fall over.

“Whoa, whoa, steady-!” the stranger said, reaching out to help her, but Unni took another swing at him, forcing him to jump back.

“Stay away!” she snapped, and tried to fumble her way towards the door, but her limbs felt weak and heavy. She began pawing helplessly for the doorknob.

The stranger watched her with a frown. At last, with a sigh, he walked round her to the door, and placed a hand on the doorknob. Unni’s eyes snapped up to glare at him, as if daring him to try to stop her.

“Um, listen,” he tried, glancing between Unni’s flinty eyes and the floor nervously. “I…I won’t make you stay, but… Well, there is a storm out there right now, and I didn’t want to just leave you out there. I mean, you had a really bad fall and… Yeah, sure, I-I was able to save you from dying but- O-oh, yeah! I did that by the way! Heh heh! Um, i-in case you wanted to know. Though, you do still need to recover a bit. I wasn’t able to make it all better. I’m not that good a healer, but… A-anyway, just, will you at least wait until the storm’s over? Please? I’ll take you back to the human trails afterward, I promise!”

Unni blinked up at the weird stranger, her brain wrestling to process what he’d just said to her. As he had mentioned a storm outside, Unni recognized the muffled rustling she’d heard before was rain water hitting the roof and little windows of the shelter. She also began to recall more snippets of the moment before she fell from the cliff. She did indeed fall hard. At best, she should be suffering from broken bones and maybe a concussion and damaged organs right now. Though, most likely, she should be dead right now.

But Unni wasn’t dead. She wasn’t certain that the stranger’s story was true. He could be lying of course. But something about all this… She supposed that if the stranger had meant to do her any harm, he likely would’ve done it by now. Plus, he did say he would let her go; a bit of an odd move if he meant to keep her prisoner. Especially since she was rather weak at the moment, there wasn’t much need for him to feign friendliness.

“Unless he has some other plans he’s hiding from me,” Unni thought, her suspicions not yet fully dispelled. However, given the present circumstances, Unni also realized there wasn’t much she could do right now. It would be dangerous to go out in the storm, she felt too weak to travel far, and she had no idea where she was at present in relation to Kobberfjord. Not only that, but the whole reason Unni had climbed up the cliff in the first place was to confront the stranger about her mother and the other missing persons. This would all end up being a big waste of time if she just gave up now. She had to at least try to get some information out of this guy.

At last, Unni let out a defeated groan, and used the wall by the door to drag herself up onto her feet. The stranger began to move a hand to help her, but withdrew it as Unni waved it away.

[“Feeling oddly bereft at the lack of contact-”]

Unni shook her head to clear it, and then asked the stranger, “You promise you’ll bring me back when the storm’s over?”

“Oh, uh, yes! Absolutely!” Here the strange boy gave a salute, like he was some kind of officer or something. “You have my word as a huldrekall!”

Unni raised an eyebrow at this. Huldrekall – she recognized the word. Again, Unni felt dread and disbelief sink into her gut as she recalled what little she knew about them. They were supposed to be a particular species of…well, them. That is, more specifically, a huldrekall was the male variant of the species, a huldra was the female variant, and hulder was the plural term. They were said to be dryad-like creatures, that guarded the various forests, mountains and caves they called home. A bit like sirens or mermaids, the females tended to be more numerous in the stories, and had the reputation of luring unsuspecting men to their doom with their feminine charms. Meanwhile, not as much was known about the male hulder. Some said they were just as fair and charming as their feminine counterparts, while others said they were all as ugly as hobgoblins, and were jealous of the human men for being more desirable to their womenfolk.

In this particular case, Unni found neither account of a huldrekall to be fully accurate. On an objective level, if she would allow herself to be honest, there was no doubt the stranger before her was…well, rather handsome. Though Unni didn’t find herself utterly star-struck by his looks either, nor did she find him to be an irresistible charmer. In fact, Unni felt more like he gave off “awkward dork” vibes. This almost gave her hope that he was in fact just some sort of weird cosplayer, and any doubt she had about this was due to being hit a bit hard on the head.

But then Unni caught sight of his tail swishing again, and looked him in the eyes, and she knew this hope was in vain.

She had a real huldrekall standing right before her.

Unni felt her head begin to swim again. To make sure she didn’t take another tumble, Unni staggered over to one of the chairs around the small table, and seated herself into it, leaning her head against her hands.

“…Riiiight, so,” the stranger tried again after a moment’s awkward silence. “Um, c-can I get anything for you? Would you like to try some tea again or…?”

Unni glanced up at the stranger, and then looked over at the floor by the bedside, where she realized the stranger had dropped a cup of tea earlier after Unni had struck him in the face. Unni frowned, partially out of a moment’s guilt for hitting the stranger...but then suspicion creeped in again. Unni’s eyes narrowed as she remembered stories about the vaesen also putting curses and spells on people through the food they offered them. “Damn,” Unni thought to herself, as she felt her stomach growl at the idea of food. She couldn’t go without eating, but neither did she trust this guy’s food.

Fortunately, Unni caught sight of her backpack by the foot of the bed. While, yes, she couldn’t be sure that he hadn’t done anything to the food in her pack, she would sooner take that risk than accept any food made by the stranger.

“Thanks, but I think I’ll have something from my bag,” she insisted, reaching over to grab it.

“Oh, uh, s-sure. Fine! N-no problem!” the stranger replied, though Unni got the feeling he knew about her suspicions as he didn’t make eye contact with her, and instead set to cleaning up the spilled cup of tea as Unni reached into her pack for her own food. Unni did her best to ignore him as she pulled out a couple granola bars and a bottled water, making sure the packaging on all of them was still sealed. Sure, Unni didn’t know if the huldrekall’s magic could get through their packaging (ugh, she couldn’t believe she was even considering such ridiculous things), but she figured it was the best assurance she had at present. Tentatively, Unni began to munch on the granola bars and sip on her water.

After cleaning up the tea, the huldrekall sat opposite her at the table. “So, um, anything else I can do for you?” he asked.

“…Yes,” Unni replied as she swallowed a sip of water.

“Oh, uh, ok! What’s that?” the huldrekall asked with an attempt at a placative smile.

Unni then looked up at him with steely, determined eyes, which made the huldrekall’s smile vanish instantly. “You’re going to answer some questions for me.”

Chapter Text

As another rumble of thunder echoed across the fjord, Khan Doorman checked his watch for the dozenth time that evening.

22:17

It was starting to get late, and Khan hadn’t heard from Unni since she left the house that morning. He had texted her periodically throughout the afternoon to see how the game was going and when she was planning on coming home, but he’d received no response. Unni had also turned off the “read receipts” option on her phone some time ago, so Khan couldn’t even tell if she had seen his messages or not. Khan frowned. Was Unni deliberately ignoring him? He knew it wasn’t unusual for teenagers to try to save face in front of their friends and/or those they were trying to impress by ignoring their parents, but Khan still couldn’t help but get a sinking feeling at the thought.

“Or maybe she’s just having such a good time that she hasn’t even noticed I’ve sent her any messages,” he tried to tell himself optimistically, attempting to settle back down in his chair and concentrate on the book he’d been reading. “I mean, it’s possible…right?”

…22:23…

As the wind of the storm began to pick up more outside, Khan’s patience had finally run out. Putting his book down, he picked up his phone and called Unni directly, only to be met with his call being immediately directed to voicemail.

“Wha-…?” he asked himself in surprise, a feeling of dread now planting itself in his gut. Khan could perhaps understand Unni ignoring his texts, but would she really turn her phone off completely? Or maybe it was low on battery life? Or was it because of the storm?

Khan checked the bars on his own phone, and it showed adequate reception. Not sure whether he should start feeling angry or afraid now (or both), Khan quickly pulled up the online JC Jenson employee directory, and called Thad’s father’s phone. After a few rings, Khan heard Phineas pick up on the other end.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Phineas? This is Khan Doorman.”

“Oh, hello Khan! What’s going on?”

“Sorry to call you this late, but the storm is getting worse, and I was wondering if Thad knew where Unni was. She hasn’t come home yet, and I just wanted to know if he brought her back to your place after taking her to the soccer game today.”

There was a pause on the other end. “…Wait, Thad took Unni to the game today?”

“Yeees,” Khan replied, the feeling of dread now beginning to cut into his gut more sharply. “Can you ask him where she is for me, please?”

“Oh, uh, yes, of course. One second.”

Khan waited with baited breath as he listened hard from his end of the call. In the background, he could faintly hear Phineas ask Thad if he knew where Unni was. Khan could hear a muffled response from Thad in reply, and while Khan couldn’t make out the actual words, he thought he could detect a tone of confusion infused in the boy’s voice as he spoke. There were a couple more unintelligible words exchanged between the boy and his father before the phone was picked up again.

“Uh, hello? Khan?” It was Thad on the line now.

“Yes! Hello Thad! I’m looking for Unni since she hasn’t come home yet. Is she there hanging out with you?”

“Um, no,” Thad replied, definitely confused. “Why?”

“B-because she went with you to the game today. …Right?”

There was another pause. “I-I’m sorry Khan, but I haven’t seen Unni since I walked her home yesterday.”

Now the dread in Khan’s stomach blossomed into alarm. “What? But she told me she was going to walk to your house and go to the game with you from there.”

“I…I’m sorry Khan,” Thad said, “but Unni and I didn’t have plans to go to the game together. I mean, we didtalk about the game a little bit yesterday, and she did sound interested in coming, but she never asked to go with me, and I haven’t seen her since.”

It was now Khan’s turn to fall silent on the call, his mind racing. “Wh-where is she then? Did anyone else at the game see her?!”

“I don’t know, b-but I’ll tell you what – I’ll call some of our classmates and team members and see if anyone saw her, ok? I’ll let you know if I find out anything.”

“Oh, y-yes, please do Thad!” Khan replied. “And thank you!”

“Of course,” the boy said. “Will check back in a bit.”

As Thad hung up, Khan saw out of the corner of his vision a flash of lightning pierce the sky outside the window, and he felt another rumbling of thunder vibrate through the air and through the ground. Ordinarily, thunderstorms did not bother Khan much at all, but now it felt to him like a great, hostile, dark beast lurking around outside. And if Unni was out there in it…? If she was stranded somewhere…?

…Or if there really was a dark beast out there, and she-?

“No!” Khan told himself in desperation as he dialed Unni’s number again. “No! Not that! It can’t be that! It can’t! Unni wouldn’t-! I won’t lose her too! I’m sure everything’s fine! I’m sure she’s just-!”

Again, the call went to voicemail, and Khan felt himself shaking now.

“Unni-,” he found himself whispering with a slight whimper as he tried to keep his head, hoping with all his might that all this was some sort of simple misunderstanding, and that Unni was just in town somewhere waiting for the storm to let up, or would come walking through the front door any second now. Taking a couple deep breaths, Khan pulled up the Company’s directory again, and began to call anyone he could think of that might’ve seen her, hoping he would get some information before resorting to calling the police. But with the storm, could they even begin to look for her tonight?

What if-? What if-?

“Please,” Khan thought in a near panic as he dialed the next number. “Please, Unni! Where are you?!”

“…You’re going to answer some questions for me…”

Unni’s statement hung in the air between them for a moment as the huldrekall shifted awkwardly from his side of the table. “Um…Depends on the questions,” he replied, earning a raised eyebrow from Unni.

“Why? You got something to hide?” she asked boldly, taking a bite of granola.

“Well, I am one of the Hidden Folk!” the huldrekall replied with a small chuckle, attempting to deflect with a bit of humor. Though Unni wasn’t in the mood for jokes, so it fell rather flat as she simply stared back at him as she continued to chew, unamused. Seeing Unni’s displeasure, the huldrekall cleared his throat and changed his approach. “Ahem, but no, er, seriously, I…I might not be able to answer all of your questions. I mean, I don’t really know you, do I?”

Unni paused for a second at these words. So far in this whole situation, Unni had found herself assuming that if either one of them was entitled to be on the defensive, it was Unni herself (especially given the non-magical human vs. supernatural creature dynamic between them, and the fact they were on his home turf). It hadn’t even crossed her mind that the huldrekall might feel the need to be cautious around her as well.

“But why?” she wondered. “Wouldn’t supernatural creatures automatically be stronger than humans? Why should he be worried about anything I might do?”

Unni then recalled hearing tales about how the fae folk, despite their strengths, also had their weaknesses. Metals, holy items, bells and prayers were said to be some of the most common ways of repelling them (hence the bus driver’s charm, she supposed…and wondered for a brief moment what the steel of her hatchet might do to a vaesen, if things happened to go south), and of course many fairy tales centered around humans finding ways to thwart the faeries’ tricks. Perhaps Unni wasn’t actually so helpless in this situation after all…

“Still, better be careful,” Unni thought as she swallowed her bite of granola.

“…Fine, fair enough,” she at last replied, though of course not planning on giving up on the interrogation; just figuring she needed to change her tactics. “Let’s start off simple then. Who are you?”

[“Who are you?” Unni asked…a memory knocking at the back of her brain…]

She shook her head a little again to clear it. “Er, I mean, what’s your name?”

The huldrekall hesitated for a second before answering. “Well, um, y-you can call me N.”

“N?” Unni asked. “As in, like, the letter?”

“Yes, exactly! Just N! Ha ha! And I’m the warden of this side of the mountain. Nice to meet you!”

“Uh…right, sure,” Unni said, now trying to ignore the huldrekall’s tail wagging behind him like an excited puppy’s at meeting a new friend. Man this guy was odd.

“So, what can I call you?” the huldrekall- or, that is, N asked cheerfully.

“Uh, well, my name is-” Unni began, but was suddenly cutoff as N quickly clamped his hands over his ears and flinched away as he exclaimed, “Oh! Ah! Wait wait, stop!”

“What?” Unni asked, utterly baffled by N’s behavior.

“S-sorry,” N began, slowly bringing his hands away from his ears. “It’s just that, um, I-I should’ve clarified more. I don’t want your name. I just want to know what to call you. You know, like a nickname?”

Unni’s brow furrowed. “Okaaaay…Why?”

“Well, because…” Here N looked hesitant, but managed to explain. “You see, um, like I said, I don’t really know you, and, well…names can carry a lot of power when it comes to our kind, and it’s just more appropriate – and honestly safer too – to go by nicknames or aliases instead. At least at first.”

“Oh,” Unni said, still a bit puzzled, but sort of understanding the idea, though also feeling a bit troubled by it. She supposed this was really helpful information (especially if she happened to encounter any other vaesen, God forbid!), but it also made her suspicious. If names held such power over others in this guy’s world, why did he not want to know hers? Wouldn’t it give him an advantage over her to know her real name? Or was he really just that nice and didn’t want to hurt her? Or was this part of him trying to keep up a nice act? Or was it simply some kind of social taboo for them? Unni supposed that was possible. Even in the human world, honorifics or the lack thereof could vary between cultures, and certain ways of addressing people could be considered too casual or intimate depending on the relationship. Maybe this whole thing with true names and nicknames or whatever was like that for the fae?

In any event, whether this information was true or false, Unni supposed she should play along, if it meant being able to coax N into talking more. Plus, even outside of any cultural intricacies, it was probably wiser to not give a stranger her real name. Unni mentally kicked herself for almost doing so, but recovered herself as N interrupted her thoughts by asking, “So, um, what should I call you?”

“Oh, uh-” Unni’s mind worked fast as she tried to think of a nickname for herself. Given how short her real name was, there hadn’t really been much need for her to have an official nickname before. Whatever she picked, Unni didn’t want it to be something quaint or stupid. Her train of thought went through a couple of loop-dee-loops, jumped several tracks and came back again, but finally, at a quick random turn from her real name, Unni just grabbed for the word that popped into her head.

“Uzi,” she finally said. Sure, it didn’t sound all that different from her real name, but N wouldn’t know that. Plus, it was a bit edgy, and if it was just N who was going to know it and use it, she supposed she wouldn’t worry about it possibly being a bit cringe. “Just call me Uzi, or-or whatever. I don’t care.”

“Uzi…” N repeated, appearing pensive over the name for a moment before returning to his exuberant demeanor. “That’s a neat one! Nice to meet you, Uzi!”

“Sure, you too,” Uzi said in monotone, really hoping this was the end of the whole impromptu ice-breaking routine. Taking another sip of water, Uzi moved on to her next question. “Right, so, um, N, you said you’re the warden of this forest, or something. Is that like some sort of guardian, or…?”

“Y-yeah, something like that,” N said, scratching the back of his neck bashfully.

“Then do you know about everything that goes on around here?” Uzi questioned as casually as she could, trying to restrain herself from being too aggressive in her inquiry.

“Well, not everything,” said N. “The forest is a pretty big place after all, and I’m only a novice warden, so I can only attune myself to so much of it at one time. I do have two other novice hulder assigned to my team though, so that’s helpful!”

“Two?” Uzi thought, feeling a sense of apprehension at the idea of more hulder being out there on the mountain. Though she supposed it made sense, especially given the other voices she heard calling in the forest alongside N’s. She had also picked up on N’s use of the word “assigned” just now. “Assigned by whom?”she wondered. “Did he have other vaesen he was subordinate to?”

“Who are your other teammates?” Uzi continued. “Um, their nicknames I mean, of course.”

“Oh, they’re great!” N said…but in a tone that Uzi could tell had a slightly forced enthusiasm behind it, as if N was trying to convince himself of the validity of the statement. Perhaps not all was “faith, trust and pixie dust” amongst the faerie folk of the woods. Uzi wondered what sort of drama there could be between the vaesen.

“I wish you could meet them,” N continued, “though we aren’t actually supposed to show ourselves to any humans, and J especially is a stickler for the rules. V miiiight be willing to say hi, but she’d sooner try to pull tricks on people as opposed to really meet them.”

“V and J? Their names are letters too?”

“Yeah, it’s a bit of a gimmick for our team. Pretty fun, right? Ha ha!”

“Sure,” Uzi said, though feeling a sense of intrigue come into her head at these details. “So, did you guys pick those names yourselves, or were they assigned to you by your superiors?”

N suddenly stopped and blinked at Uzi in surprise. “How did you know about them?”

Uzi couldn’t help but give a smug smirk at this. This guy really was a dork. “Well, I didn’t know, but I assumed you must have some higher-ups after you had mentioned being ‘assigned’ to a team, and being given rules and stuff. And you just confirmed my assumption with how you reacted to my question about them.”

N blinked at her for a second, and then put a hand to his face in embarrassment. “Oh, biscuits! I’m gonna be in so much trouble! Ugh, stupid N! Stupid!”

Uzi’s triumphant smirk vanished into a frown at these words, and for a moment her suspicious nature was almost suspended. Uzi got the impression that N’s self-chastisement just now reflected the possibly strained relationship he had with his teammates and/or his superiors, and for a moment Uzi couldn’t help but feel her heart sink at the thought of N possibly being called things like “stupid” or being bullied.

Being seen as the weird one…

“…Hey,” Uzi tried again, a bit more gently than before as N looked back up at her as she spoke. “Um, are you going to be in trouble? Because of me I mean?”

N’s brow furrowed, and he looked down at the table, tracing a finger along the grain of the wood absentmindedly as he spoke. “Um, possibly,” he said. “If they find out.”

“Then, why did you help me?” Uzi asked.

“I couldn’t just let you die,” N said simply. “And I didn’t want to leave you out in the storm.”

Uzi’s frown deepened, and there was silence again between them for a time, broken only by the muffled sounds of the rain and thunder outside.

“…Why does he have to look so much like a kicked puppy?” Uzi thought to herself as she watched N continue to trace a finger along the table. She suddenly found herself involuntarily feeling a bit guilty – guilty about possibly getting N into trouble with his team and/or whoever was above him, as well as starting to realize she hadn’t exactly been a gracious guest up to this point. Granted, the last several hours had been rather a shock and disorienting, so one could hardly blame her for being defensive. But then again, if what N had said was true about saving her life…

“Well, um, th-thanks, I guess,” Uzi finally offered, hoping she sounded sincere. She was never very good at expressing gratitude, but she hoped she at least didn’t sound fake. “For going out of your way for me, I mean.”

N looked up at her, clearly not expecting to be thanked, and while he still looked a bit apprehensive, he managed a small smile in return. “You’re welcome. Though I wish I could’ve just stopped you from falling in the first place. Speaking of which, what were you doing up on that cliff anyway?”

It was now Uzi’s turn to look down as she went silent. She still wasn’t sure she trusted N, and she wasn’t sure how much she should be telling him, but by this point she was also tired of beating around the bush. “Might as well dive in now and see what happens,” she thought before taking a deep breath and saying, “I was looking for any signs of the people who have gone missing from town lately.”

N’s eyes widened a little in response, and he sat up a bit straighter. “Wait, people have been going missing?”

“Um, yes!” Uzi exclaimed. “What, you guys seriously didn’t know that?!”

“No,” N said, earning a very skeptical and piercing look from Uzi. “I-I mean, of course we knew something had been agitating you humans lately,” N interjected, waving his hands in front of him defensively. “We did notice the police had been in the woods more often than usual, and you guys kept on leaving your stuff lying around – which was making J very angry by the way –  but we weren’t one hundred percent sure what was going on. V overheard some of the officers talking about looking for someone, but she thought they might be after criminals on the run or something, especially seeing how quickly they left their things behind. But if it was missing persons they were looking for…?”

N got up and began pacing, now clearly agitated himself. Uzi sat there in silence, watching him, and trying to decide whether or not his response to her words was an honest one, or if he was putting on an act of some kind. Despite his apparent kindness, Uzi wasn’t sure she believed that N – or any of the other hulder for that matter – could’ve possibly missed over a dozen people going missing in the forest. He wasn’t off her suspect list just yet.

“And you’re sure someone took them?” N finally paused to ask. “Like, they didn’t just get lost or anything? Or simply leave without telling anyone?”

“Well, unless all fifteen people happened to get lost, or they all spontaneously decided to go on vacations for months straight without any contact,” Uzi said, a clear edge in her voice, “then I think it’s safe to assume they didn’t go missing by mere accident.”

“Fifteen?!” N gasped, his eyes showing even further alarm. “Wh-what about other people? I mean, could it have been other human beings doing the kidnappings, or whatever’s been going on?”

Uzi sat silent for a second. Technically, she wasn’t certain that other humans didn’t make the others disappear. Theoretically, other humans could’ve done the kidnapping, or even have kill- No! No, she wouldn’t let herself think that! – Uzi swallowed back the lump in her throat as she said, “I…I don’t know, but there haven’t been any signs of a usual human kidnapping. No signs of any struggle, no ransom notes have been submitted, n-nor have any bodies been-”

Here Uzi bit her bottom lip, her hands balling into fists at the fear she didn’t dare articulate fully, and turned away for a moment, hating the feeling of N’s eyes on her, and how vulnerable she felt. Uzi took a shaky breath, cleared her throat, and continued, “The police haven’t been able to find anything, and I was just trying to find something that might give me a lead. And that’s when I climbed up the cliff and found…”

Uzi’s voice trailed away, and she only risked a quick, steely glance up at N before looking away again, feeling herself shaking. She felt so tired and angry right now…

“…Do you think it was me?”

Uzi’s form stiffened at N’s question, but otherwise she didn’t move. Neither did she speak, though her silence spoke for itself. Of course, Uzi didn’t know if N had anything to do with the recent disappearances, but it did make sense, right? After all, there were many tales about the vaesen kidnapping people, and Uzi just happened to find N shortly after people had mysteriously disappeared? Sure, it was possible that it was all a coincidence, but how probable was that coincidence? Was it not more likely that Uzi found N precisely because he was connected to all this somehow? She wasn’t sure…

Uzi continued to remain still as she heard N take his seat again at the opposite side of the table, his hands clasped in front of him.

“Uzi,” he began softly, “I promise you – I haven’t taken any of your people.”

Uzi’s brow furrowed at these words, and she gave N a sideways glance. “And how can I know you’re being honest about that?”

N opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped, and went still himself as he became thoughtful. How was he supposed to prove to Uzi that he had nothing to do with the disappearances? Sure, there were truth spells and potions and things, but N didn’t have any in his possession at the moment. “Besides,” he thought, “I would have to prove to Uzi first that the truth charms were, well, truthful, and that would make things even more complicated. Hmm…How else am I supposed to reassure her?”

A heavy silence settled itself between the two of them as N pondered Uzi’s question, and Uzi’s mind tried to make sense of the current situation. At last, the tension was broken slightly as Uzi tried and failed to stifle a yawn.

“Oh, are you tired?” asked N, though he hardly needed to as it was obvious the poor girl was exhausted. Even so, Uzi waved a hand at him dismissively. “Bite me! I’m fine,” she said, though immediately after she let out another yawn, and couldn’t help but rub at her aching eyes. Before he could think to stop himself, N found himself involuntarily mirroring Uzi’s actions, yawning himself.

“Man, why are yawns so contagious?” he wondered aloud as he rubbed at his own eyes.

“Ugh, seriously!” Uzi found herself replying, then quickly turned away again as N looked at her with a glimmer of amusement in his eyes at the girl’s brief self-forgetfulness. N was tempted to try to say more, but he also now noticed the embers going down in the stove, and felt a slight chill in the air as the rain continued to patter against the shelter outside. “We both need to get some rest,” he thought as he knelt down to put a few more logs onto the little fire.

“Well,” N said as he got back up and turned to Uzi, “look, um, I know things are a bit awkward right now, and we haven’t sorted everything out, but like I said, I won’t make you stay here. Though, if you wanted to, the bed is all yours.” He then turned and headed for the front door himself, opening it up to the rainy night before offering a casual salute over his shoulder. “So, uh, good night then.”

“W-wait!” Uzi yelped, standing up herself now. “Hold on! You’re going to spend the night outside?”

N offered a smile over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. G’night.” And with that, he walked out and closed the door softly behind him.

Uzi stared at the door for a while, partially relieved that N would give her such space and privacy, but also feeling embarrassed that he gave up his space for her. And did he really intend to sleep outside in a storm? Uzi almost had half a mind to march out there and tell him to get back inside, but as her fingers closed around the doorknob, she stopped.

…No. Perhaps she didn’t actually want him around. For tonight at least. Plus, the whole dynamic was awkward enough as it was. Best to just leave it alone.

After giving the doorknob a small test turn to make sure she hadn’t been locked in, Uzi at last gave in, took off her shoes, and climbed into the bed. It didn’t take long before exhaustion overtook her, and Uzi drifted back into the dark blanket of sleep, dimly hoping that she would wake up to find this whole thing had been a dream.

Chapter Text

After several hours of deep, surprisingly peaceful sleep, Uzi was startled awake by the harsh sounds of buzzing and glitchy music. Sitting up with a gasp, Uzi fumbled her way to her backpack, fishing her cellphone out from one of the pockets as it blared her morning alarm. Though, to Uzi’s dismay, as she brought her phone up to her face, she saw that in addition to the speakers being on the fritz, her phone also had glitchy lines running up and down the screen. It took Uzi several tries before the device registered her hitting the off button on the touchscreen.

As it fell silent, Uzi let out a small sigh of relief, though her relief was short-lived. For as she looked around her, rubbing the remaining blur of sleep from her eyes, Uzi saw she was still in N’s little earthen shelter somewhere in the forest. For a moment, Uzi wanted to believe that she was still asleep, and tried to hold onto the hope that all this was still some sort of dream she would truly wake up from at any moment.

…But no, of course not. After taking a reality check, pinching herself, and counting to ten, Uzi came to the unfortunate conclusion that she was indeed awake.

“…Aw, frick,” she groaned as she laid back down, pulling the blankets back up over her head, feeling absolutely done with everything.

…Well, almost.

In the darkness under the covers, Uzi looked again at her phone. It then struck her that perhaps she could’ve used it to get a text or call through to get help yesterday after she had awoken after her fall. Uzi started to mentally kick herself for not thinking of this, but before she could go down that line of thinking for long, Uzi looked again the device’s reception. She saw that it was at zero.

“Of course,” she thought with an eyeroll. It wouldn’t have done her any good anyway even if she had tried to get a call or text through. Uzi also noticed how the battery life was only at twenty-three percent now, and the screen was still glitching. Perhaps it had gotten damaged in the fall yesterday?

…Uzi’s eyes then narrowed as a new idea occurred to her. “I wonder,” she thought, “can it still take pictures?”

Very cautiously, Uzi attempted to open the camera app on her device. It took several tries, but eventually she got the camera app to open. Perhaps she couldn’t get a call or text through right now, but maybe she could still take pictures for later as evidence? Uzi wondered if N knew about smartphones and cameras. Would he stop her if he knew what she was up to?

“Better test it first,” Uzi thought, as she carefully peeked out from under the covers to make sure she was indeed still alone in the shelter. When there was no sign of N, Uzi tried snapping a few pictures of the room, though growled in frustration as the camera struggled to focus, and the images came through with some pixelated patches, and with lines running across them. Uzi also felt her phone starting to run weirdly hot after a few pics, so to make sure it didn’t completely give up the ghost, Uzi left it at four pictures before closing the app and tucking her device away in her jacket pocket.

“Guess I should see where N’s gone,” Uzi thought to herself, not knowing what else to do as she finally pushed the covers off all the way and sat at the edge of the bed. As she did so, Uzi gave a small hiss through her teeth as she felt some of her stiff muscles twinge with her movements. Looks like she still hadn’t fully recovered from her injuries. After gingerly bending down to put her shoes back on, Uzi managed to stand and headed for the shelter door. As she reached for the doorknob, Uzi half expected it to be locked, but she let out a breath of relief as it turned smoothly in her hand, and Uzi stepped out into the morning daylight.

Blinking in the brightness, Uzi felt a cool, fresh breeze greet her as it stroked across her face, and with it she could smell the refreshing scents of the forest after a good rain shower. Uzi also heard the songs of various birds echoing through the wood, and all of the remaining raindrops on the tree branches, blades of grass, and foliage around the shelter glittered in the morning sunlight. For a second Uzi was transported back to those early camping mornings of her childhood. For a very brief moment, all was so quiet and lovely that Uzi almost forgot to be apprehensive about her current situation. But before this feeling could hold her for too long-

“Oh! Good morning, Uzi!”

Uzi was jolted back to the present as she heard N’s voice call out to her from a little to her right. Whipping round, Uzi saw N walking towards her, emerging from the nearby shrubbery and carrying a basket in one hand.

“So, um, did you sleep well?” he asked tentatively as he came up to her.

“Er, y-yeah,” Uzi replied, still not used to the fact that…well, that N existed, and tried to ignore the feeling of his elf-like eyes on her. “How about you?” she managed to ask N in return, thinking back to how he had opted to stay outside in the storm last night. “Did you sleep ok?”

“Oh, yup!” replied N. “In fact, I guess you could say I slept like a rock. Heh heh!”

Uzi only blinked and raised an eyebrow at this. N shifted awkwardly, realizing Uzi hadn’t understood the joke. “Ah, right, sorry. I meant I- … Well, I did sleep like a rock. …Like, literally I mean, so it’s all good.”

Uzi blinked again, then furrowed her brow. “…You mean…you turned into a rock to sleep?”

“Yup! N-not that I do that every night of course, but it works in a pinch if outside at night, especially in rough weather. Also helps with camouflage when needed, too.”

Uzi had no idea how to respond to this new detail. She’d heard about vaesen being able to shape-shift into different things and turn invisible and stuff to hide from humans, but she’d always assumed that was made up as an excuse for why nobody had ever gotten a good look at the non-existent creatures. But in her present situation… Well, she wasn’t sure what to believe now.

N shifted again under Uzi’s silent stare, himself not sure how to respond to it. “Um, d-do you want me to show you or…?”

“No! No, that’s fine,” Uzi exclaimed, waving her hands. While a part of her was curious to see N do some shape-shifting, a part of her also felt it was too early for any more weirdness. She already had enough to process as it was. Desperate to change the subject, Uzi instead looked down at the basket N had been carrying and saw it was filled with mushrooms. “Um, what’re those for?” she asked, pointing to the basket.

“Oh! These are for breakfast!” N replied, lifting up the basket cheerfully as he too seemed relieved about the change of subject. “That is, um, i-if you want any, of course.”

Uzi shifted from one foot to the other nervously. She could feel herself getting hungry again, but she still didn’t trust N enough to eat his food. “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass,” she replied.

“S-sure, that’s fine,” N said, scratching the back of his neck. “Though, um, you don’t mind if I…?” N then gestured to himself and the basket.

“N-no no, that’s fine,” Uzi said, and stepped aside as N headed into the shelter to cook his own breakfast, with Uzi following cautiously behind.

“Ok, once we’ve both had our breakfasts, then I’ll take you back to the trails, alright?” N asked over his shoulder as he set his basket down.

“Yeah, sure, I guess,” Uzi replied, pulling her pack towards her as she sat down at the table, and shuffled in it again for whatever food she had left that would be suitable for a breakfast, which ended up being a bruised apple and some crispbread with cheese. Meanwhile, N kindled a new fire in the stove, filled a kettle with water, and began looking about for a few more ingredients and cookery items for his own meal.

“Hmm, now, where did I put…?” N mused aloud to himself as Uzi began munching on her own food. N’s tail twitched pensively behind him as he looked around the shelves and hanging pots and pans. Then, he snapped his fingers as a look of remembering came over him. “Oh, right!”

What happened next caught Uzi completely off guard, and looked like something out of a cartoon or a video game. Quite unexpectedly, as Uzi watched, N reached behind his back, and with a small burst of light from behind him, N whipped out a skillet seemingly from nowhere. Uzi nearly choked on her bite of crispbread when she saw it.

N set the skillet on the stove and then turned to chop up some of the mushrooms and other herbs and vegetables he had collected. As he did so, he noticed Uzi was staring at him with wide eyes, and he paused as his gaze met hers.

“What?” he asked, noting her expression.

“How did you do that?” Uzi asked. “Th-the frying pan thing, I mean.”

N blinked at her. “…Oh, that!” he exclaimed. “Ah, right. Ha ha! S-sorry if that startled you. I didn’t think-  Anyway, don’t worry, it’s fine. It’s just a bit of holding magic is all.”

“‘Holding magic?’” Uzi repeated with a raised eyebrow.

“Y-yeah,” N said, then turned a bit bashful. “See, um, we hulder… Well… Did you know that we have holes in our backs?”

Uzi paused, then nodded slowly. She had seen pictures of hulder in books and online before, and in some illustrations the hulder were shown to have gaping holes in their backs where (on a human at least) their spinal cord ought to be. Needless to say, it made a rather unnerving picture (no pun intended). Some illustrations showed the hole in a huldra’s back lined with tree bark or moss, others showed it lined with rows of monstrous teeth, while others made it look like an inexplicable endless black void. Uzi dreaded to think what one might really look like (as N's shirt still covered his own).

“Well, um, those holes are a bit like a built-in backpack for us,” N explained. “They actually hold a kind of pocket dimension where we can magically store some inanimate things for later. Guess I left my skillet there from the last time I went on a trek in the woods. Heh heh!”

“That’s…neat,” Uzi replied, not sure how else to respond, and realizing that this was the first time she’d seen N do any magic. While he had told her he’d used a healing spell to save her life yesterday, she of course hadn’t seen him do it.

On that note…

“Um, can I ask you something? Again?” Uzi asked quietly.

“Again, depends on what it is,” said N, still trying to be polite, but clearly more apprehensive about Uzi’s questioning as he avoided eye contact with her now, and occupied himself with chopping and mixing his ingredients.

Uzi took a deep breath. “Would you be able to show me the healing spell you used on me?”

N paused for a second in his food preparation, glanced at Uzi, appeared to think for a moment, then went back to work as he answered, “I guess I could. Though, without someone or something to heal, you won’t really get to see it in action. Plus…” Here N looked a bit nervous. “I-I’m really not the best healer. Honestly…it was a miracle I was able to save you in the first place. In fact, if it hadn’t been for-”

N suddenly cut himself off, realizing he was starting to say too much again. Before Uzi could try to coax him to continue, he cleared his throat in dismissal. “Er, never mind. What I mean is, I could show you the song I used to save you, just don’t get your hopes up that it will be as spectacular or anything.”

“A…song?” Uzi asked curiously as N turned back to the stove and pulled some eggs from another basket, and began scrambling them in a small bowl.

“Yeah! It’s one of the ways we attune ourselves to the natural forces around us and channel them to do different things,” N explained, now pouring the egg mixture into the frying pan and reaching for his herb mixture. “Of course, we also have regular verbal spells and magic items and things, but singing is one of the most powerful ways for us to use magic. In fact, I had an elf once tell me that all the universe was made with a song, and that all other music is either in harmony with it or dissonant to it. To be honest, I’m not sure if I believe that. Plus…well, elves tend to not like us hulder very much, so she could’ve just been messing with me. Honestly, they can even be kinda mean sometimes. V thinks they’re all snobs, though I think J tries hard to impress them. They tend to hold a lot of sway in the faerie world, so it makes sense she would… Anyway, in either case, yeah! Song magic can be really powerful stuff if you know how to use it.”

Up to this point, Uzi had been listening intently to N, but her attention to N’s words was thrown for a moment as she happened to get a glance at what N was making, and the aroma of it reached her from where she sat. It was at this moment that Uzi’s thoughts slammed to a halt as she realized N was making himself a type of omelet as he flipped it with a spatula (which, thankfully, was just sitting in a bin nearby and didn’t need to be conjured from his back).

Somehow, Uzi had not been expecting this. Uzi didn’t know what she had been expecting, but seeing the huldrekall doing something so ordinary – dare she even say, something so human – for the first time while talking to Uzi about channeling magical forces after he himself had just done a bit of magic, and was going on about the drama between the hulder and the elves…well, it struck Uzi anew just how absurd her situation was.

Before she could think to stop herself, Uzi found herself breaking a little and began giggling.

Clearly not expecting the sound, N’s head whipped round to look at her as Uzi set her head in her hand and began rubbing at her eyes, like one who’d just had enough of…well, everything. “Hey, are you ok?” N asked, to which Uzi waved a hand dismissively.

“Probably not,” she said, earning a confused and concerned look from N. “It’s just…never mind,” Uzi said with a sigh as she looked away and went back to munching on her own meager breakfast.

“Um…o-ok,” N said, awkwardly turning back to the stove, and now opting for silence as he finished his own food preparations. When he was done, N finally sat down at the table opposite Uzi and began eating.

For a while, neither of them did any talking. N did his best to keep his eyes either on his plate or looking out one of the nearby windows. Likewise, Uzi tried her best to act natural while avoiding eye contact. Out of the corner of her vision, Uzi could see N glance at her a couple of times and open his mouth as if to try to start the conversation again, but each time he retreated, and instead reached to take a sip of tea instead. Meanwhile, Uzi also kept her gaze downward.

…Suddenly-

“Aah!” Uzi yelped as her phone went off with another alarm, this time telling her to take some of her medications. In a panic, Uzi fumbled with the device, switching it off as quickly as she could. When she looked to see N’s reaction to it, she saw his own eyes go wide in astonishment and a smile spread across his face.

“Oooh, you have one of those magic mirrors!” he cried, leaning forward for a better look at her phone.

“Uh…it’s not a mirror,” Uzi said.

“Oh, it’s not?” N asked, looking confused. “But I thought you humans liked to look at yourselves with them.”

Uzi found herself feeling involuntarily amused by N’s statement. At least she now knew that N had seen a cellphone before. “Perhaps he’d seen other campers using them while they were in his forest,” she thought. That would make sense. Though, clearly, he still hadn’t fully grasped the concept of them. She also felt a bit self-conscious, as she imagined N watching humans taking selfies while making funny faces and stuff.

“Well, I mean, yeah, sure,” Uzi managed to say, trying to figure out how to answer his question. “But, like, that’s not all they do.”

“Oh, right! You guys can scry with them too, right?” N exclaimed.

“…Um, sorry, ‘scry?’” asked Uzi.

N now frowned again with more confusion. “Y-yeah, you know? Casting a spell to see and communicate with someone somewhere else?”

“Oh, uh, right, of course,” Uzi stammered, not feeling like trying to correct N at present…and also seeing an opportunity present itself.

“Um, here, look, d-do you want me to show you how it works?” Uzi offered.

“Sure!” N said, looking both excited and apprehensive as Uzi got up and brought the phone over to him, showing him the screen.

“Oh, right, sorry,” Uzi said as the screen came up glitchy again. “I think it got damaged in the fall yesterday.”

“Ah, sorry about that,” N said, and watched with fascination as Uzi scrolled to her camera app. Once more, Uzi had to try a few times before it opened. As it did so, she flipped the camera so it showed both her and N on the screen.

Or, at least, that’s what would’ve happened if the phone was working properly, but while there was a vague semblance of the two of them on the screen, Uzi felt the device start to grow hot again in her hand, and the screen began to seriously flicker and pixelate. With a yelp, Uzi quickly snapped a single image before pulling the device back.

“Sorry,” she said, trying to cool the phone for a moment before slipping it back into her pocket. “Guess it’s really broken.”

“Oh, um, that’s ok,” said N. “I mean, not ok for your mirror- um, I mean, not-mirror thing, obviously. But ok as in, ‘I can try having a look at it another time when it isn’t broken.’”

“Sure,” Uzi said…then they both realized what was just said, and each of them looked away awkwardly.

“Er, that is, i-if I ever get the chance to again, I mean,” said N. “N-not that I expect to see you again after I bring you home.”

“N-no, of course not,” Uzi said. “Wouldn’t want to get you into more trouble with the higher-ups, am I right?”

“Y-yeah,” N stammered, and the two fell silent again. At last, N cleared his throat. “So, um, speaking of which, are you ready to head back or…?”

“Yes, yes! I’m ready,” said Uzi, hastily slinging her bag over her shoulder. She then remembered that she still needed to take her medications, which she fortunately had brought with her. Quickly, and again trying to ignore N’s eyes on her, Uzi swallowed them down quickly with some of the water still left in her water bottle. This done, Uzi opted to eat the rest of her apple along the way instead of sitting down to finish it as she turned to N, apple in hand.

“Alright then,” N said as he set his dishes in a wash bin for later, and then opened the door. “Let’s go!”

Uzi took a deep breath as the two of them stepped back out into the blessed sunshine, and they began to walk forward into the forest, with N taking a slight lead. Uzi took another bite from her apple, trying to swallow any uneasy feelings as she told herself, “We just have to get back to the trails. Then this will all be over, and everything can go back to normal. …I hope.”

A few minutes later, Uzi had gotten about halfway through her apple when N suddenly stopped, his ears and tail pricking up. He then extended an arm out in front of Uzi, signaling for her to stop as well. Uzi felt her blood begin to run cold at the gesture.

“What is-?” she began to ask, but N put a finger to his lips for her to be silent, his eyes fixing a bit to their left. Following his gaze, Uzi looked over in that direction as well. At first, she didn’t see anything unusual, but as a cloud came over the sun, casting their patch of forest into deeper shadow, Uzi saw it.

It was like something out of a horror film. In the shadow of one of the trees stood a ghost – a child-like ghost, wearing a tattered nightshirt and socks. Unlike most ghosts Uzi had seen in stories, this one didn’t glow white, but instead looked more like a patch of oily smoke or a wispy shadow upon the air. Somehow, this apparition was made easier to see in shadow, as sunlight seemed to go right through it (though did not appear to harm it otherwise). Its eyes were white, cloudy, and sad, and it stood there staring at N and Uzi with an unblinking gaze.

“You see him too?” N asked quietly over his shoulder to Uzi. She nodded, trying to stop herself from shaking. N frowned. “Alright, don’t panic. Just keep close to me, and we’ll slowly make our way to-”

N suddenly stopped again as the ghost child began to move. Both N and Uzi felt their hearts lodge into their throats as the child slowly moved to stand right in front of them, raised one arm, and then pointed a finger right at Uzi over N’s shoulder.

Chapter Text

Uzi felt her heart turn cold inside of her at the child’s gesture and gaze. “What does it want?” Uzi asked N as she reached for her hatchet with her free hand. She wasn’t sure if it would be effective against a ghost, but it was all she had.

N stood still for another moment, appearing to silently assess the situation. Though he may be the warden of these woods, it seemed even he was nervous about this ghost child and what it might be up to. N then began speaking to the ghost in a language Uzi didn’t understand. She heard the child respond to N in kind, though keeping its eyes fixed on Uzi instead of looking at N as it spoke. N appeared to be a bit puzzled by the ghost’s words, and seemed to ask the child again for some clarification. The boy repeated its previous statement, and pointed more earnestly at Uzi. N at last turned to Uzi.

“Well?” Uzi asked, feeling her palms getting sweaty. “What did it say?”

“Um, he says he wants your apple,” N replied.

“…What?” Uzi looked from the ghost child to the half-eaten bit of fruit in her hand and then to N again. “Are you sure?”

N shrugged. “That’s what he told me.”

“I mean, it’s half-eaten,” said Uzi. “Can he even eat apples?”

N shook his head. “No, he can’t eat them, but for whatever reason he wants it.”

Uzi looked again at the ghost child, and despite her fear of him, she also found herself feeling pity for the boy. Mustering her courage, Uzi cautiously stepped around from behind N. “Um, h-hey there,” Uzi began, and heard N translate for her from behind.

“Er, N said you wanted an apple,” Uzi said, trying her hardest to stop her voice from shaking as she put her half-eaten apple in her jacket pocket and slowly swung her pack down from off her shoulder, and began shuffling about in it for the one whole apple she still had left. N continued to translate for her as she spoke. “I have a fresh one here you can have.”

However, Uzi froze in her efforts to find a fresh apple as the child made a soft, displeased sound and pointed to the bulge in Uzi’s jacket. “Um, are you sure?” asked Uzi as she pulled the sad-looking fruit back out. “I’ve already eaten most of it.” But, again, the child pointed insistently at it. Uzi looked back at N over her shoulder, but the huldrekall only responded with a shrug and a shake of his head. Uzi at last gave in, and not seeing any other options (and not wanting the situation to escalate), she cautiously held the apple out to the boy.

At last, the child lowered its arm and its gaze, took the remaining apple from Uzi’s hand (with Uzi glad it avoided touching her in the process), looked up at her one more time, and then turned away and walked a few paces before vanishing into thin air.

Both Uzi and N let out breaths of relief as it disappeared. “What was that?” Uzi asked shakily.

“A myling,” N answered sadly. “It’s a child’s spirit that…well, they met a very tragic end and have yet to find rest. I’ve heard they can find rest if they’re given a name, and/or if their remains are given a proper burial. We’ve tried giving him a name – Beau, we’ve taken to calling him – but that didn’t seem to do much for him, and he won’t show us where his remains are.”

Uzi felt a rock of dread settle in her stomach at N’s description. “Couldn’t your healing magic help him at all?” she asked.

N shook his head. “Unfortunately not. There are many different healing spells, and the ones meant for healing the soul are the most difficult to pull off. In fact, I haven’t yet been able to- Oh! That reminds me! You wanted me to show you the spell I used to heal you yesterday!”

“Oh, uh, right!” exclaimed Uzi, actually feeling a tingle of excitement run through her at the idea. While N had told her not to expect anything spectacular, and while she knew it was against her better judgement, Uzi couldn’t help but feel it would be cool to see N do some magic again.

“Ok then…” muttered N, scanning the area around him with his eyes. “Hmm, like I said, I don’t think there’s anything in the immediate area I could really show you the spell working on, but maybe I could…” N’s gaze finally settled on an old tree nearby. It still had some life in it, though it was clearly not doing well; nearing the end of its life.

“Oh! I guess that’ll do for now. Here, c’mon,” N gestured to Uzi as he walked up to the tree. Uzi followed tentatively a few feet behind. As he came up to the tree, N hovered his hands over it…and then appeared to get a bit bashful now that a stranger was watching him. “U-um, just to warn you, this might look a bit weird.”

Uzi raised an eyebrow playfully. “Given what I’ve been through in the last twenty-four hours, and after just seeing a ghost, I think I can handle this for a bit,” she replied, and gave him an encouraging smile in spite of herself.

“Ah, yeah, sure, ok!” N stammered, then cleared his throat as he closed his eyes in concentration and began to sing.

Uzi could both hear and feel N’s voice vibrate through the forest around them. She didn’t understand all of the words he was saying, but it was surprisingly beautiful nonetheless. Her eyes then widened a little as glowing trails of lights and swirling patterns appeared on the trunk of the sickly tree, and extended down into the ground below and up onto N’s forearms. As Uzi watched, she could see life begin to return to the tree, and the branches that had been barren began to sprout with leaves again. Uzi couldn’t help but have her mouth open in awe at the sight. While she’d seen similar things in movies and video games, it felt super unreal to see it…well, for real now.

The tree was nearly back to its healthy state, but before N could finish his song -

“Aaah!”

Uzi flinched and reached for her hatchet out of reflex as N suddenly started back, stumbling away from the tree as if he’d been shocked.

“N?” Uzi asked in alarm. “Are you ok?”

“I…I think so?” N replied, turning to face Uzi.

“N!” Uzi exclaimed. “Your nose, it’s-!”

“Oh!” N cried, his hand flying up to quickly cover his nose bleed. “S-sorry!” he stammered, and whipping out a handkerchief from his back. “I guess the healing spell I used on you before took a bit more out of me than I thought, heh heh! Sorry about that.”

“No no, that’s ok dude,” said Uzi. “I’m…sorry that just happened. Though what you did manage to do was pretty cool by the way.”

N paused, though still turned away a bit, trying to hide his bleeding nose. (Also, unbeknownst to Uzi, N did feel his face heating up a bit in tandem, both from embarrassment and admittedly feeling flattered at the human’s praise.) “Oh, um, th-thank you,” he managed to say, then muttered a very minor spell that caused the bleeding to stop.

Feeling like she ought to do something to help N in return, Uzi came up to him and offered him her other water bottle, breaking the seal as she held it out for him. “Um, y-you might need it to wash up,” she said.

“Thanks, Uzi,” N said, and proceeded to wash his face as Uzi turned away to further study the tree N had cast his spell on (and to allow N a bit of privacy as he cleaned himself up). After a couple minutes, N was ready to continue, and they set out again for the trails.

…But now another feeling began to creep in on Uzi as they continued walking…and Uzi wasn’t sure what it was. It felt a bit like disappointment, but also not just that. It was hard to identify, but Uzi knew she didn’t like it. Before she could let herself dwell on it much longer, Uzi shook her head at it. “I’m sure it’s nothing,” she told herself. “I just need to get home, give it a bit of time, and I’m sure things will feel better and I can move on from all this. …Granted, there’s still the issue of Mom and the others being missing, so that hasn’t gotten closure. And the fact that N could still somehow be connected to it all… That might be a problem if I can’t find him again, right?”

…Perhaps this would all be more complicated than Uzi thought.

“Ah! Here we are!”

Uzi was snapped back to reality as the two of them emerged from the foliage and onto a dirt path. It took a few seconds, but Uzi soon recognized the trail as being one near Iversen’s Mill.

“So,” N sighed, giving a casual stretch, “I take it you can find your way back from here?”

“Oh, um, y-yeah,” replied Uzi, then biting her bottom lip.

“…Uzi? Is something wrong?” N asked, surprised that Uzi didn’t seem as enthusiastic about getting back to the trails as he’d expected. “Are you ok?”

“It’s just…” Uzi began, seemingly to wrestle with something. “Oh, bite me!” she hissed, though more to herself this time it seemed. She turned to N with determined eyes. “Listen, N, if you’ve really been on the level with me, could you promise to keep a lookout for any signs of those who’ve gone missing and let me know if you find anything?”

N blinked at Uzi, then shifted nervously, glancing around to avoid her eyes. “W-well, I don’t know how I would do that? I mean, you’d be in the town, and I’d be out here, and I’m not sure how we could- Wait! What’s that?”

The two of them were interrupted as the sounds of people and a dog could be heard coming up the trail. Uzi’s head whipped around in their direction, both hope and dread wrestling inside of her. She quickly turned toward N to tell him to hide…but there was no need.

N was gone.

Uzi’s eyes darted around frantically, but she saw no sign of the huldrekall. Then again, N could still be quite close without her realizing it. Heck, he could be one of the rocks or trees nearby, or perhaps even still standing there but was now invisible. Uzi almost tried calling out for him, but before she could, she heard her own name being called out instead.

“UNNIIII!”

Uzi felt her heart both lift and sink as she recognized the voice of her dad. On the one hand, Uzi knew she would be in SO much trouble once he found her. But on the other…

“D-DAD!?” Uzi found herself calling in reply. There was a brief pause before there were multiple shouts and the sounds of running footsteps. At last, Khan and several search-and-rescue officers and their tracking dog rounded the bend, and the next thing Uzi knew she was being pulled into a tight hug by Khan.

“Oh, Unni!” Khan choked out. “Where have you been!? I thought you might’ve-! I didn’t know-!”

“Yeesh Dad, calm down, I’m fine,” Uzi replied, trying to keep her usual casual tone, but even Khan could hear her voice shaking a bit underneath, and was grateful to feel her manage to bring her own arms around him in return.

…Khan was also grateful to find that the charm in his hand didn’t repel her. It really was his daughter, and now they could go home.

As the officers began to radio back with the news that Uzi had been found, Khan at last pulled away enough to hold Uzi by the shoulders as he gave her a look over. “Are you hurt? What happened?”

“I-I’m fine,” Uzi said, trying to look annoyed at her dad’s questions (but failing). “I just…went a bit too far down the trail yesterday and had to shelter in a cave for the night with the storm going on, that’s all.”

…The moment was very brief, but Uzi was certain she then saw doubt cross Khan’s face before he had to turn to attend to an officer who began asking questions for their police report. Uzi did her best to put it out of her mind as they began to make their way back to the main road, but she felt an underlying panic begin to grow as she knew from his face that her father didn’t believe her explanation.

Then again, she had lied to him yesterday, and of course he would’ve known that. She supposed then it wasn’t exactly a surprise that he didn’t believe this latest anecdote. But if he didn’t believe this story, what would she tell him later?

…Would she tell him the truth? What would happen if she did? Would her dad go looking for N and the others himself? Or would he think she lost her mind and bring her in for treatment somewhere?

Even now, Uzi herself began to wonder if her encounter with N had been some kind of hallucination or something. Had she in fact imagined the whole thing? Did she indeed get lost in the woods and have an episode of some kind? Perhaps it really had all been a dream.

“But that’s ok, right?” Uzi tried to tell herself. “I mean, isn’t that what I wanted before? And even if it was somehow all just in my head, I can recover from that. It doesn’t mean something’s deeply wrong with me. Everything will be fine, and I’ll be ok. I’m ok. I’m ok…”

The walk back to the main road had been a blur for Uzi, and by the time she climbed into one of the cars waiting for them, Uzi began to feel herself breaking into a cold sweat, and generally just feeling plain awful.

“Unni?” Khan asked gently beside her. “Are you alright?”

“…N-no,” Uzi replied…and then quickly tumbled back out of the car as she proceeded to throw up onto the pavement.

[A few minutes earlier…]

Deep in the forest upon the mountain, two huldras ran through the wood, gracefully sprinting and leaping over the foliage and between the trees. Both of them also sported white hair like N, though one had hers cut to about chin-length, while the other had hers pulled back into two pigtails. Each of the females also had their hairstyle accented with small braids and hair jewelry, and wore forest-green tunics and leggings that allowed them to parkour around freely. As for their tails, the one with the short hair had a cat-like tail, while the other had a fox tail.

“This way,” the one with the fox tail said as they came nearer to the river, and then slid down a slope to the base of one of the cliffs. The fox-tailed one then signaled for them to stop, and knelt down to the ground as she hovered a hand over where she could feel the traces of powerful magical energy. She then muttered a spell, and a trail of swirling patterns illuminated in the ground.

“A healing spell…” the other muttered behind her as the patterns showed themselves. “Can you tell who cast it, J?”

J frowned, her eyebrows knitting together in both puzzlement and anger. “I can feel the idiot’s magic here, but he shouldn’t be powerful enough let alone smart enough to pull off something of this magnitude.”

The other huldra frowned at J, but didn’t say anything as she stepped around, and hovered her own hand over it to scan as well. “Yeah, seems like N was here alright.” The huldra’s eyes then widened in some alarm as she could smell traces of blood in the area. As she began to scan the area with her eyes, the huldra then noticed some debris that had recently fallen from the cliff face. “J, look at this.”

“What’ve you got, V?” J asked as the two of them went up to the soil and stones that had collected at the bottom of the cliff.

“Looks like someone or something had a fall,” V said, earning a scoffing noise from J. “Figures, the clumsy oaf probably fell and hurt himself.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that…” said V, who began looking around the area again. She then went back to where the patterns of the healing spell in the ground were still visible, and she took another whiff of the blood scent in the air. Some of it she knew to be N’s, but there was another’s scent mixed in with it to.

She felt her own blood run cold as it hit her.

“A human,” V whispered. “J, a human’s been here.”

“What?! Are you sure?” J asked.

“No doubt about it,” V replied, and J too analyzed the scent.

“…Then where is the human now?” J growled under her breath, earning a troubled look from V. “Oh, brilliant! Just what we need!” J exclaimed angrily. “C’mon, we better go find the moron and figure out what’s happened before things get any worse!”

Quickly, the two of them set out to find their fellow teammate, but before they could go far the both of them were suddenly stopped by a myling standing in their path. The two huldras came to an abrupt halt, with J addressing the ghost child in Impish. “What do you want, myling?” she asked, hating being interrupted in their task, but also not daring to ignore the apparition. For whenever a myling showed up, they knew something of importance was afoot; albeit something not good.

J only felt her ill feelings increase as the ghost actually gave a brief, mischievous smirk, like a child who was about to tattle on someone. He then walked to a small, shallow pool nearby. As the huldras watched, the ghost child dropped a half-eaten apple into the pool, and then pointed at the rippling water. Cautiously, the huldras looked into the pool, seeing a scrying image appear among the ripples the apple created on the surface. As the image cleared, the two of them could make out the image of N, walking through the forest.

…And he was with a human girl.

“…Bride…” the myling said, pointing to the image.

“…Wait, WHAT!??” came J’s reply, echoing through the trees, causing several birds to scatter in response to the absolute fury behind the sound.

Something was wrong.

N could sense it, but he couldn’t quite place it.

He should be fine. Everything should be fine. He’d saved the human girl’s life, brought her back to her people, and it may be that J, V and the Elders need not even know about what he’d done. He should feel great!

…But he didn’t. He felt awful.

Perhaps he was still just troubled by the story Uzi had told him. Yes, that must be it. The idea of so many people going missing must be sinking in now, and it was making N feel ill. Or perhaps he truly did overexert himself between healing Uzi and healing that tree.

Yes, that must be it. That’s all it was.

N kept trying to tell himself these things over and over as he brewed himself some peppermint tea. Since he dared not try another healing spell for a while, N had hoped the herbal tea would help ease the feeling of nausea growing in his gut, but so far it didn’t seem to help him much. He also wiped away again at his brow, feeling himself breaking into a cold sweat, and did his best to swallow down some bland crispbread. Had he somehow caught a type of bug?

The minutes ticked by, and N didn’t feel himself getting any better. With a groan, N at last gave in and curled up at the base of the tree he’d parked himself under, hoping that maybe if he managed to drop off for a while, he could wake up feeling a little bit better. But as he closed his eyes…

“N!”

N’s eyes snapped back open as he heard his name being called. In a panic, N tried to sit up, thinking that V and/or J must’ve found him. As his mind raced for what he might say to explain himself to them, N felt another sick jolt in his gut as his head swam, and he again curled in on himself, willing the nausea back down as he groaned.

“N!”

N gingerly lifted his head to look around again, but there was no sign of anyone nearby.

“H-hello?” he managed to call softly through another groan. “Who’s there?”

“N!”

It then struck N like a bolt of lightning that he wasn’t in fact hearing the voice with his ears, but in his head!

“N! Help!”

…And the voice was Uzi’s!

“Uzi?!” N couldn’t help but ask aloud. “Uzi, is that you? What’s going on? Where are you?”

Then, against all expectations, N saw it.

Well, technically, he didn’t see it with his eyes, but he saw it in his head. While it was a bit blurry, N saw the inside of one of the humans’ motorized vehicles as the door was being opened. N was then being helped out of the vehicle by a couple of humans who seemed to be making a fuss about him, and they approached a building with a sign that said, “EMERGENCY.”

“Wait, no…,” N thought to himself. “They're not fussing over me…It’s Uzi!”

N started as the vision in his head faded away…and as understanding began to sink in.

“…Oh no…” N breathed, as he now felt a pull inside of himself, and instinctively realized what it was. “Oh no… oh no oh no oh no! What’ve I done?!”

And with that, N staggered to his feet, and began to head for the town as fast as he could.

Chapter Text

To say that Uzi was uncomfortable would’ve been an understatement. Physically, Uzi felt weak, feverish, and still a bit nauseous. She also felt uncomfortable regarding all of the questions she had been asked after being brought to the emergency room. Even at the best of times, Uzi preferred to be in the background as opposed to the center of attention, and if she were to say anything about how she had been magically rescued by a huldrekall she found in the woods, well, there’s no telling where the attention around her would end after that. Even if none of the doctors believed her story, they’d still probably want to analyze her for data and for treatment, etc. The best Uzi could do at present was to reiterate the tale she’d told her dad about sheltering in a cave after getting lost in the woods, and hope that would be enough to quell any further questions.

“And anyway, it wasn’t a complete lie,” Uzi tried to tell herself. She did technically shelter in a cave until the storm passed, and she did sort of get lost. As for her present illness, well, Uzi figured it could just be chalked up to having gotten a bit too cold at some point while being out in the wilderness for all those hours.

The only thing Uzi really struggled to offer an explanation for was how she got a few small blood stains on her shirt, which were discovered after she was changed out of her civilian clothes and put on a hospital gown. Ordinarily, this may not have been a problem as Uzi could’ve just said she got some abrasions while out hiking and climbing about in the woods…but she didn’t have any abrasions. While Uzi still felt a slight achiness, she had no open wounds or scabs, thus leaving everyone puzzled over how she got blood on her shirt underneath her sweater without having such injuries.

Uzi frowned up at the ceiling as she lay in her recovery bed. A part of her was worried about how she got the blood stains on her shirt if the fall from the cliff had just been her imagination. But if it had been real…? If N was real, and she didn't have the wounds because he'd healed her…?

Uzi groaned and rolled onto her side, shutting her eyes, and hoping her brain would shut up long enough for her to drop off to sleep for a while. But both the discomfort and the sound of her father coming in to check on her jolted her away from any chance of sleep.

“Hey there kiddo,” Khan cooed gently to Uzi as he pulled up a chair beside her bed. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m…fine,” Uzi lied, and she could tell by the look on Khan’s face that he knew she wasn’t being honest. Uzi dropped her gaze to her lap.

“I just spoke with the doctors,” Khan said, “and they want to keep you here overnight for observation.”

“…Whatever,” Uzi replied, earning a frown from Khan.

“Look, Uzi,” he began. “Um, I have to ask... Did you happen to run into anyone or anything unusual while you were out in the woods yesterday?”

“No,” Uzi responded in haste, and cringed internally as she realized she may have responded a bit too quickly. “Um, why?”

“Well,” Khan continued tentatively, “as we were pulling up to the hospital, I thought I heard you trying to call out for someone. Is that right?”

Uzi paused. The ride to the hospital had honestly been a bit of a blur for her, but she did remember feeling afraid and unsure of what was happening to her. “Wh-what did I say, exactly?” Uzi asked, trying to keep the shakiness out of her voice.

“Well, you kept on saying, ‘En, en.’” And, ‘Help.’ Can you tell me what that was about?”

Uzi felt a cold rock settle in her stomach, and a small blush of embarrassment threatened to spread across her face at the thought of calling out to N for help. Whether or not N had been real, the idea of him at least seemed to imprint itself into her mind, and Uzi dreaded to think what that might mean. Now that Khan mentioned it, Uzi thought she had some recollection of calling for N. She also thought she had a dim memory of hearing him ask where she was in response, but of course that couldn’t be right. Even if N had been real, he hadn’t been anywhere near her at the time. There’s no way she could’ve heard him say anything. Perhaps something had gone wrong with her brain.

“Well…I was probably just stuttering some random shit,” Uzi responded at last, trying to convince herself as much as Khan now. “I mean, I wasn’t feeling well, and it’s not exactly unusual to call out for help when you feel like crap, is it?”

Khan paused, scanning Uzi’s face. Uzi could tell he wasn’t fully convinced, but it appeared he was giving up the questioning (for now anyway) as he let out a sigh. “I suppose you have a point. Sorry Unni, I just…want to make sure everything’s ok with you.”

Uzi felt her demeanor soften a little as a brief, melancholy smile flashed across her face at these words. “I-I know Dad,” she said, almost opting to try telling him about her experience in the woods as she remembered it…but quickly returned to her original resolve. She would keep it to herself, for now at least.

“Besides,” she thought to herself yet again, “I’m back now. I just need to rest, get some more food in me, and I’ll be ok. Everything will be ok. …Well, except for Mom still missing, but I’m sure I can try again later when I feel better.”

Khan offered his own melancholy smile in return, then had a look of remembering pass over his face. “Oh! I just remembered, I wanted to give you something. A bit of a ‘get well’ present I guess.”

Uzi watched as Khan fished out of his jacket pocket a rhinestone necklace, holding it out for Uzi. Uzi’s eyes narrowed at it for a moment, then widened with recognition. “Wait, isn’t this Mom’s necklace?” Uzi asked in surprise.

“Yeah, it is,” said Khan with an undertone of forlornness, and also noting the wondering look in Uzi’s eyes. “She…she’d left it in her jewelry box the day she disappeared, and, well, I just thought maybe you’d like to hang onto it for now.”

Uzi didn’t know what to think of her dad offering her Nori’s necklace. On the one hand, Uzi felt a stirring of emotion at the gesture, while the other part of her felt conflicted; borderline angry. “If Dad really cared about Mom so much,” Uzi thought, “then why hasn’t he been making more of an effort to look for her? Maybe if he did, none of this would’ve happened to me in the first place.”

“…Unni?” Khan asked cautiously at Uzi’s silence. At last, with a sigh, Uzi took the necklace from Khan’s hand and clasped it around her neck. “Thanks, or, whatever,” Uzi managed to mumble, Khan sensing Uzi’s conflicted feelings in her tone, but also not wanting to risk any further questioning at the moment. And besides…it was also a relief to see once again that the charm didn’t harm Uzi, and Khan rather hoped that perhaps it could also protect her should she try to do anything else reckless.

“You’re welcome Unni,” Khan managed to reply…then allowed himself just a bit more seriousness as he went on to say, “Though don’t think this gets you out of trouble young lady.”

“Uuughh!” Uzi groaned as she lay back on the pillows, and pulled the covers over her head.

“Ok ok, I’ll let you get some rest,” said Khan as Uzi heard him stand back up. “But we’ll definitely talk about this later, and I don’t want you going out into the woods again without my permission, is that clear?”

Uzi didn’t respond, and only kept silent under the covers.

“Unni?” Khan asked sternly. “Is that clear?”

But Uzi only groaned under the covers in response, promising nothing. Khan frowned, but at last gave in with a sigh. “We’ll talk about it later,” he repeated. “Get some rest kiddo. I’ll be back in a couple hours. Call me if you need anything before then, ok?” And with that, Khan left Uzi alone in her recovery room.

Once she was alone, Uzi poked her head back out from under the sheets, and stared up again at the ceiling. As she did so, her mind wandered back to the earthen ceiling of N’s shelter, and the muffled sound of rain pattering against it, and the crackle of the fire in the stove, and the gold in N’s elf-like eyes as he conversed with her, peering over a cup of tea.

“N…” Uzi found herself whispering, her tone exasperated, and wrestling between wanting him to be real, and dreading the thought that he might've been real. “N…”

Meanwhile, N paused to catch his breath as he’d been making his way through the wood towards Kobberfjord. He could feel himself gradually regaining strength as he got closer to the town. The nausea he had felt before was gone, though he still felt a bit feverish and weak. As N mopped his brow, his ears caught the sound of someone calling through the wood.

N felt his heart nearly stop as he recognized the sound as J’s voice, with her call basically saying, “N, get your butt over here right now!” N also heard V’s voice call out for him, carrying a tone of, “Where are you N? You’re in so much trouble!” Knowing things would likely only get worse if he was found by J and V, N made no effort to answer, and instead resumed his race towards the human town, hoping he could get there before he was found.

A few moments later, N heard V and J repeat their calls somewhere behind him, and he quickened his pace as panic began to build in his chest. They were getting closer!

As they called for him a third time, N broke through a line of trees and shrubbery to find himself overlooking a large field, with Kobberfjord sitting about a mile away. Letting out a breath of relief, N began to stagger his way towards it. Until-

“Aaah!” N cried out as several vines suddenly shot out from the ground, coiling themselves around N’s ankles and making him fall to the ground.

“Oh no oh no oh no!” N’s mind screamed in alarm as he felt them begin to pull him back towards the forest. N then dug the fingers of one of his hands into the ground, summoning a vine of his own and coiling it around his arm, briefly stopping the other vines from pulling him back. With his free hand, N summoned a sharp knife from his back, and with a couple swift motions managed to cut the vines coiled around his limbs. He then had his own vine loosen from around his arm, and again resumed scrambling towards the village. A second later, another wave of vines began to shoot out towards him, but N was ready this time. In a few quick leaps, N had dodged the first few that tried to grab at him, and managed to slash one away from him with his knife.

As he did so, N glanced back at the line of trees he’d come from, and caught a glimpse of a figure leaping down from one of the trees and into the tall grass of the field. He could then see the grass moving as the figure scurried through it towards him. N let out another cry as he now went on the offensive, summoning a set of vines of his own towards his pursuer, but not stopping to see if they’d caught their target as he turned tail and sprinted as fast as he could toward Kobberfjord.

“Almost there!” N told himself as he now began hurrying on all-fours for the edge of town. N knew it was harder for hulder to use their magic while in a man-made environment. He figured that once he was within the town, he could probably lose V and J among the buildings, and from there make his way to where Uzi was. However…

“Aaah!” N gasped as he felt his pursuer suddenly leap onto his back, tackling him to the grassy ground. N tried to roll over and kick off his attacker, but before he could do so, he felt one of his arms get pulled roughly behind him and pinned against his back. He then froze as he also felt the steel of a blade pressed against his cheek, feeling the cold burn of the metal on his skin as V hissed into his ear.

“N, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

N struggled to respond as he tried to catch his breath. “Wh-what do you mean?” he asked with a feigned chuckle. “I was just, er, I was just out for-”

“Save it, N,” V spat at him. “J and I both know already. Now where’s the human?”

N felt his heart turn cold inside of him. “H-human? What human? I don’t-”

“The myling told us, N,” V said angrily. “So stop playing dumb already!”

V could feel N growl from underneath her at these words, and a second later she and N both heard the sound of a child-like giggle coming from nearby. They both looked to see Beau peeking out at them from behind one of the boulders in the field, looking very pleased with himself as he watched them with amusement. It then dawned on N that the myling – being in a kind of soul form himself – must’ve seen what had transpired between N and Uzi before N himself had even realized it.

“Traitor,” N muttered under his breath at him, earning only another giggle from the myling.

“Never mind him,” V said, bringing things back to the topic at hand. “Now, what’s going on N? Why the heck would you take a human bride?? You know the Elders forbade such things of us decades ago!”

“What!??” N exclaimed in alarm. “N-no, V! She’s not my bride!”

“Oh really?” asked V. “Then what were you doing with her?”

“I-I-I was just trying to help her!” N exclaimed. “That’s part of our job, right? She was hurt and, well, I just healed her and guided her back to where she could be found, that’s all.”

V frowned down at him. “‘That’s all,’ huh? Then tell me, why did Beau show you both walking and talking together, hmm? Could she not clearly see you??”

N swallowed. “U-uh, well, er, y-yes. Yes, she could- But I can explain! I can explain!” N quickly said as he could feel V’s grip tighten in anger. “She-she couldn’t go home in the storm, so I took her to one of our shelters for the night. Though I had no intention of making her my bride! I just couldn’t leave her on her own like that!”

N felt V dig her fingers further into his arm, and there was an uncomfortable silence between them. “…So, she’s back home now?” V asked.

“Y-yes! Yes!” N cried, starting to feel some hope that he could get V off his back (both figuratively and literally). “I-I know I messed things up a bit here, but she’s home now. And I’m sure she’ll move on from it all soon and things will be fine, right?”

V’s eyes narrowed. “Then why were you heading to the town just now?” V asked. “If she’s not your ‘bride,’ what other business do you have with her or her kind?”

N felt his hope sink the bottom of his stomach. “W-well, that might be because… er, I may have accidentally, um… bonded…our souls together.”

N braced himself as he had expected V to start going off on him right then and there.

“…What?” V asked after a pause. Her tone was cold, but she didn’t shout.

“U-um, I may have accidently bonded our souls together,” N repeated. “And I…I can feel Uzi’s sick because, um, we’re too far away from each other now.”

“Uzi?” V repeated.

“Yeah. Th-that’s the name she told me,” N clarified. “So, um, yeah. That’s why I’ve been, um, absent.”

There was another long pause after N’s words. At last, V let N go, and N let out a breath as he sat up and began rubbing at his sore arm. Sheepishly, N looked up at V, who stared down at him with a cold gaze.

“How?” she asked at last.

N blinked up at her. “S-sorry, what?”

“How did you bond your souls together?” V asked with impatience.

N paused, looking both embarrassed and lost and rather tired as he replied. “I…I don’t know.”

V raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“I mean, I think it had something to do with when I healed her,” N explained. “Something happened while I was doing it, and…well, I got a bit hurt myself. I definitely overexerted my magic in some way, but I don’t know how I bonded our souls together. I was just using standard healing magic, but somehow it resulted in…”

N’s voice trailed off, and he curled his tail around himself as he felt V’s eyes looking down at him in hard appraisal.

“Where did this happen?” V suddenly asked.

“Um, by one of the cliffs near the old mill,” N answered, puzzled at the question. “Why?”

Something about V’s countenance softened just a bit with this answer. “J and I found traces of powerful healing magic there. We thought we detected your magic energy, but we also sensed something more powerful at work there, too – something beyond what any of us could ordinarily do, including yourself.”

“Oh,” replied N. “…So, what does that mean exactly?”

V shrugged. “I don’t know, but something suspicious is definitely going on around here for sure.”

“Oh! Um, that reminds me,” N interjected. “When I was talking with Uzi, she said fifteen people had gone missing from the village in the last few months. So, that’s why the police have been around, I guess.”

“What?!” V cried. “Are you sure?”

“Well, that’s what Uzi told me anyway,” N said.

“And you’re only relaying this information to us now?!” exclaimed V.

“Well, I have been a little busy!” N now snapped back. “And besides, I was going to tell you as soon as I could. I’ve just had some emergencies spring up.”

“Uugghh!” V groaned as she ran her hands through her hair and began pacing. N frowned, feeling that old, horrible feeling come back to him again at her actions.

[“You’re worthless and terrible.”]

N also remembered…

[“That’s ok dude…What you did manage to do was pretty cool…”]

Now he really wanted to be with Uzi…

Just then, V and N’s little meeting was interrupted by the sound of J calling again in the forest. Not wanting to face her right now, and knowing that Uzi needed him, N sprang back up. “I-I have to go,” he stammered. “Tell J about the missing humans for me, yeah? We’ll regroup later.”

“Oh no you don’t!” V snarled, reaching out to grab him again. “You can tell her yoursel- Hey!”

Before V could close her grip around N, his form suddenly changed, and V found herself scrambling to catch hold of an ivory gull that flitted past her and glided towards the town.

“Get back here!” N heard V shout after him, but he didn’t dare look back as he beelined it for the town.

“I’m coming Uzi!” N said in his head, wondering if Uzi could sense his words somehow. “Just hang on, I’m coming…”

Chapter Text

This story is a Fairy Tale…

“Once upon a time, in ancient Scandinavia, a farmer named Adam came running home one day to tell his wife, Eve, that God was coming for a sudden visit that evening. In haste, Adam, Eve and their many children began preparing for God’s arrival by corralling and grooming the livestock, laying fresh hay in the barns, pulling up weeds in the flower beds, and tidying up the house. Once all this was done, Adam and Eve began bathing their many children, who had become quite dirty after helping work around the homestead. Though as the hour of God’s arrival drew near, the parents began to panic as they only managed to bathe about half their children.

As they heard God knock at the front door of their house, the parents quickly shoved their unwashed children into the back room of the farmhouse, for they did not want God to see any of their children dirty. They also told the children in the back room to stay very quiet behind the door, and to not open it until after God had left.  

But the parents’ actions were ill-done, for as Adam and Eve opened the door and presented their washed children to God, the Lord asked them, ‘Where are the other children?’

‘Other children?’ Adam asked in feigned confusion.

‘There are no other children,’ said Eve, trying hard not to glance at the door leading to the back room of their house.

God, however, was not amused, though he did allow the parents another chance to tell the truth. ‘I know I gave you more children,’ he said. ‘Now, where are they? Let them come to me.’

‘These are the only children you gave us,’ the couple insisted, choosing to continue to cling to their lies instead of admit their folly.

But God shook his head at their pride. ‘Because you have chosen to lie to me and to keep your children from coming to me, I will now keep your children from you. I will take the children you have hidden behind that door and I will raise them in the open, wild places of the world apart from you. Because you attempted to hide them from me, now they shall remain hidden from you.’

And so, God took the unwashed children up in his arms, and carried them away to live in the wilderness. These children became the first of the Hidden Folk, and since then they have haunted the periphery of the lives of their human cousins..."

Uzi didn’t know what to think exactly as she reviewed the latest photos saved to her phone. At first, Uzi felt some relief as she found her phone was working more or less normally again, but this relief did not last long as she finally dared to open the photo app and have a look at the pictures she had taken earlier. They all looked like they were taken with a potato; all blurry with pixels and glitch lines running up and down them. Uzi thought she could make out some familiar shapes within them, but nothing was one hundred percent definitive.

It made Uzi feel conflicted again about whether or not the whole experience had been real. One moment, Uzi thought she could make out the shapes of the earthen shelter’s front door, or the stove, or the table and chairs in the middle of the room, or (most haunting of all) N’s face next to hers in the last photo. But the next moment, though the pictures themselves did not shift nor change, it was as if her eyes kept feeling the need to recalibrate, and the shapes looked like they could’ve just as easily have been a simple rock formation, or a mound, or a tangle of branches instead of furniture (or the face of a huldrekall). It made Uzi think of all of those pictures of cryptids she’d seen online before, and that she had believed to be fakes…

“Some evidence this is,” Uzi thought to herself in frustration as she closed out of the app on her phone, and at last opted to get up from her recovery bed. It had been several hours now since she was admitted to the hospital, and Uzi finally began to feel better. By now, it was 19:23, and Uzi went to open the thick curtains covering the window of her recovery room. As it didn’t get dark in their part of Norway until around 21:00 at this time of year, Uzi could still see some daylight peeping out from along the edges of the drawn curtains. As Uzi pulled them aside, she blinked in the sunlight that came streaming in. After her eyes adjusted, Uzi found herself jumping back a little as she caught sight of the unexpected form of an ivory gull roosting on the ledge right outside her window. The bird appeared to be asleep, with its head nestled under one of its wings.

This surprised Uzi, as the gulls didn’t usually venture this far into town. Was the bird perhaps injured or sick?

Hating to disturb the creature, but also wanting to make sure it was alright, Uzi gave a soft tap on her window. At first, the bird made no response, with its chest still rising and falling with slow, sleepy breaths. Uzi tried tapping a bit harder, and at last the bird flinched awake, looking around until its eyes at last settled on Uzi. Uzi expected the bird to flail in fright upon seeing her, and then immediately dive off the building and take off back towards the coastline…But the bird didn’t do that. Instead, it stayed there on the window sill, frozen, save for blinking at Uzi. Was it somehow not able to see her through the glass? Perhaps there was too much of a glare?

“Um, hey there little guy,” Uzi muttered to it, and gently waving a hand, thinking now it must surely have seen her movements and know she was there. But still, the bird stayed. Uzi’s brow furrowed in puzzlement. Perhaps it really wasn’t well after all. Uzi’s eyes scanned up and down the creature, and looked again at its face, but nothing seemed to be obviously wrong with it. Uzi cocked her head a little pensively, and the bird mirrored her movements.

…Wait-

Uzi stopped, feeling as if she detected an uncharacteristic intelligence and deliberation in the bird’s movement just then. Trying hard not to allow her expression to shift and give away her thoughts, Uzi tilted her head the other way. A moment passed, then the bird copied her again.

…Wait… No… No it couldn’t be. …Was it-?!

“N?!” Uzi gasped.

Now, at last, the bird reacted to Uzi as it leapt onto its feet at her words, as if it too were startled, its wings fluttering to keep itself aloft as it balanced on the narrow windowsill.

“N, i-is that you?” Uzi asked in a shaky voice, both hoping for an answer and afraid of getting an answer. The bird was still for a moment, as if hesitating. Then…

“Uzi?”

Uzi stumbled back, nearly tripping over her recovery bed as she backed into it, alarmed at hearing the unexpected voice in her head.

“Sorry! Sorry!” Uzi heard the voice say again, now in tandem with the gull letting off a few cries and fluttering again as it struggled to keep its balance outside. “Oh biscuits, are you ok? I didn’t mean to scare you! I was just-! I was hoping I could-! I didn’t mean to-!”

“I-I wasn’t scared!” Uzi retorted, hoping her voice was steady enough to uphold her lie. She came back to the window. “But what the heck are you doing here N?! You-?” Uzi gulped. “Y-you are here, right? I mean, you’re real and everything?”

“Oh, uh, y-yeah! Yeah, I’m here,” the voice – N’s voice – replied. “Just…lookin’ a bit different right now. Heh heh! Trying to keep a low profile, you know? But yeah, it’s me!”

Uzi stared at the gull – at N – for a moment. After a few seconds ticked by, N started to feel nervous, wondering if Uzi was going to get angry with him. And he hadn’t even told her the worst part yet. “Uzi?” N asked worriedly.

At last, Uzi let out a breath, and sat back down onto her recovery bed. “Oh, thank God!” she sighed as she ran her hands through her hair.

N felt his heart lift a little at these words, in-part because he was relieved Uzi wasn’t angry with him (well, not yet anyway), and also because he wondered if maybe, just maybe… Well, was Uzi actually happy to see him?

“I was so worried I was going freakin’ insane over here.”

“Oh, r-right,” N replied, trying to hide the slight drop in his gut at Uzi’s clarification. “Um, sorry about that.”

Uzi now turned her gaze back to N. “How are you doing that by the way? The telepathy thing I mean.” Uzi’s face then began to turn a little red as a thought came to her. “C-can you read my thoughts or something?”

“Oh, uh, n-not exactly,” N replied. “I mean, I was able to hear you calling for me earlier, and I could see the sign for the emergency building you showed me, but that was it. Well, aside from just now too when you asked for me to talk to you again, so…yeah. Here I am. Talking to you. Again.”

“When I…? Wait, you were able to pick up on all that?”

N shifted awkwardly and he felt his heart begin to pound harder as the conversation began to steer close to the topic he dreaded. “Um, yes, yes I did. Though, how exactly I could do that, well…”

Uzi frowned as N’s eyes darted around frantically, clearly apprehensive about something. “N? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing! Nothing!” N replied, then immediately back-peddled. “Well, ok, maybe something is wrong. But don’t panic! I’m sure there’s a way to fix it.”

“‘Fix it?’ Fix what?” Uzi asked…and finding she was starting to sense N’s feelings of fear. “N, what’s going on?” Uzi questioned again sternly.

N looked for a moment like he was debating between staying or flying away…but no. He couldn’t do that. Uzi deserved to know. He owed her that much. N took a deep breath to steel himself.

“I…I may have accidentally… Um, I may have accidentally, er, bonded…o-our souls together. Wh-when I healed you.”

As he said this, N had been looking down at the windowsill between his feet, and braced himself as he anticipated Uzi going off on him, or slamming her hands against the window in anger…but none of that came. While N could sense Uzi’s uncertainty about what he’d just said, and also a bit of anger and confusion too, N could also sense something from Uzi that he couldn’t quite place. Hesitatingly, N glanced up at Uzi’s face, her expression hard to read.

“What?” Uzi asked, her tone carrying a slight edge, but not the all-out fury or panic he’d been expecting.

“Um, I accidentally bonded our souls together,” N repeated, and feeling a wave of guilt come over him. “And I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to, really! I was just trying to save you, but something went wrong, and now-!”

Knock Knock

Uzi and N both jumped as someone began knocking at the door to Uzi’s recovery room. Whipping her head round, Uzi saw the door begin to open. Forgetting for a moment that N was in a bird form, Uzi turned back to him to shoo him away to hide. But once again, there was no need. N was already gone, with his bird form just passing by the window as he flew towards the hospital’s rooftop.

“Oh good, you’re up!” the person behind the door said as she strode in, speaking in a distinct Australian accent. “Unni, yes?”

“Oh, um, y-yeah?” Uzi replied, trying to act as natural as she could as she willed her mind to stop racing after what N had just told her. Uzi set herself back down on her recovery bed as the doctor came up to her.

“Hello Unni!” the doctor said, extending a friendly hand. “I’m Tessa. Nice to meet you!”

N let out a long breath as he landed behind several air conditioning units on the rooftop of the hospital. Once he was pretty certain he was out of sight of anyone, N let his bird form fall from him, and he shifted back into his default huldrekall form. N rested his back against one of the AC units as he sunk down into a sitting position, just now realizing how much magic energy it had taken for him to keep his avian shape this whole time, especially when this far into human territory. At least now he was well within range of the bond he had with Uzi, so neither of them would be feeling ill from that at least.

N frowned, chastising himself for not being more careful. Initially, N had meant to simply be near Uzi without her noticing him until he could figure out how to undo what he’d done to bind their souls together. Granted, the idea of following Uzi around without her knowing did sound rather creepy, but N didn’t want to trouble her more than necessary, and he thought that if he could fix things before she noticed he was around, he could just leave her as if none of this had happened and things could go back to normal. But now…?

N put a hand to his chest, clutching at the fabric of his shirt. He could tell Uzi was distressed. Yes, she wasn’t weak or feverish anymore, but he could sense she was still a bit scared (despite her attempted lies). He wondered what he should do. He certainly couldn’t hide from her now.

…And honestly? A large part of him didn’t want to. Perhaps it was a side effect of their souls being bonded together, but N found himself wanting to talk to Uzi again, to be seen by her again. N had spent his whole life being hidden from humans; knowing about their existence, but they being all but ignorant of his. It felt…good, to have one know he was there. It shouldn’t be a big deal for him, but it somehow was.

Even so, N also felt guilty for getting Uzi into this mess. She didn’t ask for any of this. She had just wanted to find her people that day in the woods when he found her. Granted, N had only wanted to save her life. He didn’t ask for all of this either. But still, it happened, and as far as anyone knew, N had done it. Or, at least, he had been a conduit for it.

N turned his head to gaze out over the waters of the fjord, the sun getting lower in the sky as night approached.

“I’m sorry Uzi,” N whispered under his breath, feeling guilt pierce his heart as he closed his eyes against the breeze sweeping across the rooftop. “I’m so sorry…”

Meanwhile, in the Kobberfjord offices of JC Jenson, Dr. James Elliot was looking over the report that had just come across his desk.

“And these are from Doorman’s device, correct?” he asked, looking over the photos that had been printed from the cloud.

“His daughter’s device, sir,” the secretary replied. “She was the one that had been reported missing last night. Though, unlike the others, she was found within a matter of hours.”

“Hmm…” Dr. Elliot hummed to himself as he looked the photographs over again, pausing on the one that appeared to have a second figure in the image. “And where is she now?”

“She’s at the hospital, sir,” the secretary replied. “In the care of your daughter, as a matter of fact.”

Dr. Elliot frowned at these words, but otherwise gave no other reaction. “Make sure to keep an eye on her,” he replied as he handed the documents back to his secretary. “And let me know immediately if she exhibits any… ‘symptoms.’”

“Of course, sir,” the secretary said as he turned and left the office.

Dr. Elliot then stood, going to the window and looking out over the fjord. In the distance, he could see the dark silhouette of the mountain across the way; the one that housed the company’s mine shafts.

Including Mine Saft 9…

 “You better hope your daughter’s in the clear, Doorman,” Dr. Elliot muttered to himself as he poured himself a whiskey from the nearby table. “Because if not, well… The company won’t risk a second disaster.” To this, Dr. Elliot raised his glass casually, and took a swig as the sun began to sink below the horizon.

Chapter Text

“Now, if I could just have you take a deep breath for me…”

As Tessa pressed the stethoscope to her heart, Uzi hoped her pulse didn’t accelerate and her breath didn’t quiver with the nervousness she now felt, given N’s news from moments ago.

“Good! Now one more… Ok! Sounds good.”

As Tessa jotted down a few quick notes onto her clipboard, Uzi tried hard to act natural as she sat there on her recovery bed.

Her soul was now bonded to N’s… To a huldrekall’s…

Uzi wondered what that even meant. Like, what it really meant for her. Was this whole thing permanent?? Would she and N be stuck together forever?? Uzi didn’t like that idea at all. Plus, Uzi found herself beginning to doubt N’s (apparently) good intentions. Was this whole thing truly an accident, or did N want her to believethat it was? Was he trying to trick her somehow so he could spirit her away back into the forest with him, like in the old stories? Then again, if he was, he was going about it very inefficiently. It made no sense that he would let her go just to bring her back a few hours later.

Perhaps he was simply toying with her sanity for his own amusement then? That seemed like a very fae thing to do, to be honest. Or maybe… Maybe it really was an accident. And he was trying to make things right and it wasn’t his fault that-

“…-iss? Miss?”

“Huh? Oh, uh, s-sorry, what?” Uzi stammered as she snapped out of her anxious thoughts at Tessa’s voice.

“I’m gonna need to take a look at your back really quick,” Tessa said as she began to undo the ties of Uzi’s hospital gown. “The reports said you had some bruising there.”

“Oh, um, ok,” Uzi said as Tessa untied the strings of the gown. While Tessa was gentle in her examination of Uzi’s back, the girl still winced at the feeling of Tessa’s fingers touching near her tender bruises.

“Hmm…” Tessa hummed pensively behind her. “The report says you got these bruises from a fall, yes?”

“Uh, yeah,” Uzi replied. “I was… just being stupid and climbed up onto some rocks and then slipped and fell down.”

“I see…” Tessa said, then began to close up Uzi’s hospital gown. “Well, nothing is broken or fractured, but I’d definitely recommend you put some ice on it a few times a day for the next couple of days, and then also a bit of heat. Some standard pain relievers will help too. I’ll send for both once we’re done.”

Tessa turned back to her clipboard to make some more notes, then looked back up at Uzi, meeting her eyes for a second. …And then paused. It was very brief, but Uzi could’ve sworn she saw a glint of surprise in Tessa’s own eyes for a split second as their gazes met. “…Do you wear contacts at all?” Tessa suddenly asked.

Uzi blinked in puzzlement at the question. “Er, noooo. Why?”

“Oh, just making sure it wasn’t a factor in your fall,” Tessa stated with a shrug and placative smile. “Not seeing properly and all, I mean.” Tessa then quickly changed the subject as her eyes settled on the necklace around Uzi’s neck. “Nice bit of bling you got there!”

“Oh, eh, it’s whatever,” Uzi replied. “Do you need me to take it off?”

“Nope, you’re good!” said Tessa. “In fact, I think that does it for now! Your temperature has been coming back down to normal, and the color has been returning to your face. All your other signs look good too, so I see no reason why you shouldn’t be able to go home tomorrow!”

“Um, cool, thanks,” Uzi replied, feeling relief as Tessa now turned to leave the room.

“Oh, one more thing!” Tessa exclaimed, quickly writing something onto a sticky note before handing it to Uzi. “In case you have any questions, here is a number where you can get a hold of me.”

“Er, thanks,” said Uzi as she took the piece of paper.

“No prob! Have a good night then! Oh, and I’ll have the compresses and pain relievers sent over promptly.” And with that, Tessa gave a small, two-finger salute over her shoulder as she closed the door softly behind her.

Uzi sighed, then looked down at Tessa’s note. Tessa did seem like a… peculiar sort of individual. “Maybe also a bit of a nerd,” Uzi thought to herself, for she saw Tessa’s sticky notes were decorated with a pattern of runes and Viking knots. Perhaps, being from Australia, Tessa found the Nordic pattern to be something of a fun novelty? Or perhaps she was a fan of Lord of the Rings or Norse mythology or something.

In any case, Uzi stuck Tessa’s sticky note to her bedside table, and a short time later one of the nurses came in to give her the hot/cold compresses and some pain reliever pills. After taking some of the pills and doing her best to get comfortable for the night, Uzi’s thoughts went back to the situation at hand.

To N. …Where was he anyway?

“…Oh, bite me!” Uzi growled, and then thought she would try something.

“N?” Uzi tried projecting with her thoughts. Or, at least, what she thought projection would feel like.

…No response…

“N?” Uzi tried again, this time also audibly saying his name, albeit quietly.

“Ah! Um, y-yes?” N exclaimed, a note of surprise in his voice, like one suddenly hearing themselves being called over the intercom.

Uzi flinched at the sound of N’s voice in her head. She still wasn’t used to this whole thing.

“…Uzi? Is that you? Are you there?”

“Yes, unfortunately,” Uzi grumbled. “Where are you right now?”

“Oh, I’m still on the roof of the infirmary! Not too far.”

“Ah...”

“…Do you want me to come down, or…?”

“No no!” Uzi said in haste. “Just…wondering where you were.”

“Ah, ok!”

…Yet again, awkward silence came between them.

“Soooo, you good? What did the healers say? I-if you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

Uzi frowned, but complied with an answer. “They say things seem to be going back to normal. Physically at least.”

“Oh! That’s a relief!” N sighed.

“Sure. But about the, uh… spiritual things,” Uzi prompted with a slight hint of ice in her tone. N’s anxiety was evident in his voice as he responded.

“R-right, of course. Y-you must have questions.”  

“You think?” Uzi winced again as she shifted into a more comfortable position on her recovery bed, a compress against her back. “First of all, I wanna know exactly what you meant by our souls being bonded together. What does that mean for me? For us?”

N swallowed. “W-well, I don’t know entirely, but as you’ve noticed, it means at the very least that we can’t be very far from each other without getting sick. I don’t know exactly what radius for us is stable, though maybe somewhere within a mile or so, if I had to guess? Anyway, whatever the distance, anywhere beyond that and our bodies will begin to fail. Too far and…well, I think we may risk falling into a coma, or…um, worse.”

“Ugh, terrific,” Uzi growled. “So, how do we fix this? You said there was a way?”

“Well, I don’t know of a way for certain, b-but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was one! The Elders would definitely know at least.”

“Alright then,” Uzi said with a sigh. “Is there a way to, um, contact them? Do we need to set up an appointment or… something?”

“That may not be so easy,” replied N. “I mean, it’s very rare that anyone can just waltz up and talk to them. And in our situation… well, they may get really mad. And they don’t always just help out for free, especially when it comes to humans. It could be risky, and some sort of, um… ‘payment’ may have to be involved.”

Uzi let out a growl again as she buried her face into her pillow. “What sort of payment?” she asked in a muffled voice.

“I…don’t know,” said N. “To be honest, I’ve only talked with them directly a handful of times, and it was only during my training to be a warden. J talks with them more often though. She’s the one in our group who has the ability to speak to them from afar, so that’s how we’re given our orders.”

“Terrific. So, we have to go through her then?” Uzi asked.

Now, Uzi could faintly feel as well as hear N’s worry as he said, “Um, maybe. I-I’d rather not if we can help it, but… I’m not sure what else to do.”

Uzi fell into a thoughtful silence. It seemed her hunch about N not getting along well with his colleagues had been right, and he seemed to be afraid of whoever these Elders were. Uzi had no idea what N’s teammates or the Elders might do to them, but if there was no other way…

“Well, I guess we’ll have to risk it,” Uzi said, sensing N’s dread at her words.

“I’m sorry…” he said, yet again.

Uzi’s eyes narrowed, feeling her doubts about him being chipped away at once again. She could practically feel the sincerity in his words.

…Also, his self-loathing…

“Look, dude, it’s… it’s ok.”

Uzi thought she could feel N prick up a little at these words, but he remained quiet, waiting for her to continue. Uzi was never very good at being diplomatic, but she tried to make an attempt as she ran a hand down her face, trying to find the right words. “Well, alright, maybe it’s not ok, but… Listen, I… I think I believe you when you said you didn’t want this any more than I do. But whether we wanted this or not, this is the situation, and if we’re going to undo this we’ll have to-”

Suddenly, Uzi stopped as another thought came to her.

…And she started giggling. A slightly crazy gremlin sort of giggle.

“U-um, Uzi?” N asked with some alarm; worried he may have accidentally also broken Uzi’s sanity somewhere in this whole mess. “Are…you ok?”

“Oh, hell yeah!” she exclaimed, though her enthusiasm was curved slightly by another jab of pain in her back. Uzi hissed through her teeth at it, but managed to continue with a grin as she said. “We’ll have to return to the forest, won’t we?”

“Um, y-yeah?” N replied.

“Perfect,” Uzi said, her fingers touching her mom’s choker around her neck. “Once I get the chance to slip away, you and I are going to find J, have her contact the Elders, and we’re gonna figure out how to fix this, andfigure out what’s happened to all the people who’ve gone missing.”

“Uzi, I… I’m not sure about this,” N began. “This is all really dangerous and-”

“You got another plan?” Uzi interrupted.

N paused. “…Um…no?”

“Well then, N,” Uzi said with a mischievous grin. “Looks like you’re going to help me figure out what’s going on around here after all.”

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the hospital, Tessa plopped herself down on a chair as she took a quick break, taking a long sip of hot coffee. This was going to be a long shift. She had so many questions, but Tessa knew was going to have to be patient. For now, she could only report that Unni Doorman’s condition was normal for someone in her situation, and hope things went as smoothly as possible from there.

“So, one of them managed to come back, eh?”

Tessa glanced over at the little vette that shuffled out from the corner of the break room, sweeping up a few dust bunnies with her little broom and dustpan as she went. One may have thought it was bold of the little mouse-like creature to come out into the open with humans coming and going out of the room so much, but as Tessa was the only one who could see her, the vette was unafraid as it went about its cleaning.

“Seems so,” Tessa replied, pausing as a fellow coworker quickly came to grab a bottle of water and went.

“You may also like to know that there’s a huldrekall on the roof right now,” the vette continued. “Knoss said he saw it a few minutes ago while making his rounds.”

“Strewth! You don’t say?” Tessa said with a slightly smug glint in her eye as she took another sip of coffee.

The vette shook her head at Tessa’s cheekiness. “Alright then missy, how did you know about it first then?”

“Well, I didn’t know per se, though I had a hunch,” Tessa said, her demeanor now becoming uncharacteristically serious. “She… was starting to exhibit signs you know. The girl I mean.”

“Oh dear…” the vette replied, halting in her cleaning briefly as she leaned on her broom. “Do you think he’s dangerous then? Should we run him out of town?”

“No, better not,” Tessa said. “If things have gone this far, either she or the both of them will fall ill if too far apart from one another. Besides, as I recall, it’s been ages since any of you have dealt with a huldrekall before. They aren’t so easily driven away.”

“Hey, don’t underestimate us!” the vette retorted, shifting her broom to hold it like a weapon.

“Oh, I wouldn’t dare,” Tessa replied with a smile as she took another sip of coffee.

The vette growled grumpily, but conceded the point. The huldrefolk were a strong species indeed. Even with the number of vetter they had here at the hospital, it wouldn’t be easy to drive off one of their kind.

“So, what are we to do then?” the vette asked.

“I’m afraid it’s going to be a bit of ‘hurry up and wait’ for a while,” Tessa said, now getting up from her seat. “For now, we wait. Just keep on eye on our ‘friend’ up there. I’ve already passed a message along to him through the girl. He’ll know it when he sees it. We’ll make our move from there.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” the vette said as Tessa took one more swig from her cup and turned to leave.

“Me too,” Tessa said under her breath as she left the room. This was indeed going to be a long shift.

Chapter Text

Early the next morning, after examining her one more time, the doctors agreed that Uzi was well enough to be released that day. As Khan went to get his car, Uzi gingerly changed back into her civilian clothes and gathered her things from around her recovery room. Fortunately, there wasn’t a lot Uzi needed to collect. Unfortunately, as she was doing one more sweep of the room, Uzi was unable to find one of the compresses the nurses had given her for her back.

“Hopefully they don’t notice until I’m gone,” she thought as she finally gave up her search and left the room. “It probably just slipped to the floor at some point anyway, or got tangled up the bedsheets. Whatever, not my problem.”

After checking out at the front desk, Uzi made her way to where Khan waited with the car outside the hospital. As the car began to pull out of the parking lot, Uzi thought again about what N had said regarding the two of them needing to be near each other now that their souls were bonded together. For a few moments, Uzi’s eyes scanned around the car, looking for a white gull that may now be following them home.

“Soooo,” Khan then began, attempting to break the silence as Uzi glanced over at him. “Um, I know you didn’t eat much for breakfast at the hospital this morning. You wanna have something when we get home?”

“…Sure, whatever,” Uzi said with a shrug, trying to keep her casual tone. At that moment, however, her stomach betrayed her as it growled loudly at the mention of food, causing Uzi to sink lower into her seat in embarrassment. Khan chuckled with amusement. “Alright, waffles it is then!” he chimed as Uzi groaned and leaned away to resume looking out the window. As she did so, she thought she managed to catch a glimpse of a white gull soar passed some trees to the side of the road.

“Could that be N?” Uzi wondered, feeling that now-familiar and confusing mixture of dread and excitement settle in her stomach. Uzi shook her head slightly at the sensation, and tried to calm herself by putting in her earphones and playing some music on her smartphone the rest of the ride home.

A few minutes later, as they pulled into the driveway, Khan told Uzi he would start making the waffles if she wanted to go put her things in her room. Relieved to be able to have a moment to herself to breathe, Uzi trudged to her room, plopped her bag down onto the floor, and collapsed onto her bed with all the angsty teen energy should could muster.

However, Uzi’s time to herself didn’t last very long, as soon after she heard a tapping sound on her window. Uzi looked up to then see a white gull sitting on her windowsill like before, peering at her through the glass.

“Uzi? You good?” N’s voice asked in her head. Uzi still wasn’t used to this mode of communication, but she did comply to answer, albeit in her usual dry way.

“Ugh, I’m good, stop asking,” she said, and walked over to the window and opened it. N flinched a little as Uzi unlatched the window, but otherwise remained still as Uzi sat down on the sill next to him, one of her legs propped on the sill and the other hanging inside her room. “So, how are you holding up? You hungry?”

N paused and blinked up at Uzi, thrown for a moment by her question. Despite her rather terse demeanor, it was…nice of Uzi to ask him. “Oh, uh, I guess so,” N managed to reply. “Honestly…being this far into human territory really takes a lot out of my magic energy to keep my bird form. I do think having something to eat could help!”

Uzi frowned pensively at this new information. Despite N’s attempt at cheerfulness, Uzi could see even in his avian form that there was a weariness to him. “But being in your huldrekall form is ok?” she thought aloud.

“Oh yeah!” N chirped. “I guess you could say it’s my ‘natural’ form. I don’t have to use any magic to take on that one.”

“What about your rock form?”

“Ah, now that one doesn’t take as much magic since I’m pretty much dormant for a time,” N explained. “Like I said, it works well in a pinch for sleeping or for hiding quickly and stuff, but… well, I don’t want to have to be a rock more than I need to if I can help it. Doing that too much without a good break in between can make it harder and harder to wake back up from it.”

“Hmm…” Uzi hummed to herself, and gave a quick glance over her shoulder, making sure her dad was still out of earshot and didn’t see her talking to a bird. Uzi then appeared to think for a bit more before sighing and turning again to N. “Ok, listen, I’ve got an idea,” she said. “Above my room is the guest room. We haven’t used it for ages, so if you wanna hide out there until we can get back to the woods, that will at least make it so you can be in your normal form without anyone seeing you.”

“Oh! That is a good idea!” N concurred, fluttering his wings in excitement. “Thank you, Uzi!”

“Yeah, whatever,” Uzi said with a dismissive wave of her hand, trying hard to ignore the puppy-like glow in N’s eyes. “Just hold out a bit longer, and when I can I’ll go up there to let you in and bring some food. You like waffles?”

“Never had ‘em!”

“Oh. Well, they’re a bit like pancakes. You ever had those?”

“Oh yes, of course! I LOVE pancakes!!” N exclaimed, and flapped around with even more excitement.

“Ok ok, dude, keep it down!” Uzi shushed, glancing again earnestly over her shoulder to make sure her dad still couldn’t hear them. She also began to wonder how someone as excitable as N could’ve kept his existence from humans hidden for so long. “Just… stay hidden in the bushes or something until I can let you in, ok?”

“Right, ok! Will do! See you in a bit!” N ‘whispered,’ and then hopped off the windowsill and tucked himself away behind some bushes by the neighbors’ fence. As Uzi watched N disappear into the foliage, she let out an exasperated sigh, closed the window back up, and went to the kitchen to wait for the waffles to be ready.

As Uzi sat down at the kitchen table, she saw Khan had already set a place for each of them, and had put some berries, whipped cream and maple syrup on the table; the maple syrup being Khan’s American contribution to the dish. Imported from Vermont of course. After a few more minutes, Khan had finished making the last few in the waffle iron, and he too sat down as they both began to dig in. As they ate, Khan told Uzi how he’d spoken with her teachers, and how they’d emailed her new homework assignments and arranged for new due dates for the work due today, as Uzi wouldn’t be in class that day.

“And I hate to do this kiddo, but aside from going to school, you’re grounded for the next two weeks.”

“Uuuuggh!” Uzi groaned as she shoveled another mouthful of waffle into her mouth. Of course, Uzi knew she wouldn’t actually be staying put, but she figured she had to make a show of her displeasure to make it sound like she would be.

“Let it be a lesson to not lie to your old man and go out on your own like that.” Here Khan paused. “Besides, the forest can be dangerous you know.”

“I know Dad,” Uzi growled, keeping her eyes fixed on her plate.

“Well, then behave like you know that,” Khan said, earning a glare from Uzi from across the table, but before she could make a retort, Khan’s phone went off.

“Oh, excuse me a sec. Go ahead and keep eating,” he said as he took the call and got up from the table and headed to his office. As he closed the door behind him, Uzi took the opportunity to slip over to the counter, grab a fresh plate and utensils, hastily dish up a couple waffles and some toppings, and hustle up the stairs towards the guest room of the house. As quietly as she could, Uzi closed the door to the guest room behind her, and went to unlatch the window. As she did so, Uzi called out in a half-whisper, “N? N, you out there?”

“Coming!”

Uzi stepped back as N came flying in through the window, and then couldn’t help but watch in amazement as N shifted out of his bird form and resumed is huldrekall one. Despite having expected the change, Uzi found it was still surreal to see N shapeshift before her eyes in real life.

“Whew, thanks for letting me in,” N whispered as he flopped down onto one of the twin beds in the room. “I’m exhausted.”

“U-uh, right,” Uzi stammered, trying to get a grip as she handed N the plate with the food. “Here, these are waffles.”

“Oh wow, they smell great!” N whisper-exclaimed, and immediately began to scarf them down, a smile spreading across his face as he did so. “Mmmm! And they taste great too!”

“Yay, glad you like ‘em,” Uzi replied dryly as she glanced back at the guest room door. “Well, I better get back before Dad comes looking for me.”

“Oh, sure,” N said through a mouthful, and almost went back to resuming his meal.

But just then, N appeared to do a double take and pause as he looked at Uzi, his fork frozen above his plate and the smile vanishing from his face.

“Um, what?” Uzi asked, perplexed by his expression.

N didn’t respond right away, but instead looked down at his plate, and then back to Uzi again. “Um, what’re these waffles made out of?”

“Um, just some eggs, flour, milk, butter…that sort of thing. Plus, some berries, whipped cream and syrup. Why? You allergic to anything?”

Again, N didn’t respond right away, but studied the waffles again and poked at them with his fork. “Are there any hallucinogens in here?”

Uzi was taken aback by the question. “Wha-?! No, of course not! Why?”

N looked again to Uzi, back down to his plate, then to her again, causing Uzi to start to feel even more confused.

“Dude, you’re freaking me out! What’s wrong?”

“Um, it’s your eyes,” said N in a low voice. “They’re purple.”

Now it was Uzi’s turn to do a double take as her brain processed N’s words. Surly she must’ve misheard him. “…Um, what?”

“Your eyes,” N repeated. “They’re purple.”

Uzi almost wanted to laugh. Clearly, N was just messing with her, but something about the earnestness in his expression made Uzi second-guess herself. As her heart began to pound in her chest, Uzi swiftly went to the mirror hanging above the dresser in the room, and looked in. She froze as she saw what N said was true.

Her eyes were purple!

“What-?!” Uzi yelped, quickly covering her mouth with her hands to stop herself from calling out too loudly. “How-? What is-?”

…Wait-…

 A sudden thought striking her, Uzi whipped off her beanie, and pulled back her locks of purple hair that had been covering her ears. Uzi then stared in increased horror as she saw her ears had now also taken on a pointy appearance.

“Oh no-!” she cried, turning back to face N who watched her with wide eyes from the bed.

“N-!”

“O-ok, don’t panic!” N said as he nearly dropped his plate of waffles; quickly setting it on the nightstand. “Let’s just calm down and-”

N’s voice then caught in his throat as he saw something twitching and fidgeting behind Uzi. Slowly, Uzi followed his gaze and turned her head around to look behind her. There she saw a cow-like tail with a purple tuft of fur on the end protruding out from under the hem of her sweater. Now it really took all that Uzi had in her not to scream.

“Oh-oh no-!” N stammered as they both looked at it.

It seemed they had two hulders to hide in the house now…

Chapter Text

For several seconds, Uzi’s mind froze. All she could do was stare at the tail arching around from behind her, and her breath began to come fast and shallow. She could hear N continuing to stammer frantically, but Uzi couldn’t understand his words as his voice began to sound like it was coming from further and further away; muffled and deepening in pitch. She also began to feel oddly light…

“Whoa whoa, Uzi!”

Uzi gasped in a long breath as she felt N catch her, her legs giving out from underneath her. “Dammit!” she chastised to herself with embarrassment, realizing she had nearly fainted.

“It’s ok, it’s ok! Just breathe! I-I got y-!”

“Shhh!” Uzi suddenly hissed, holding up a finger for N to be quiet. The huldrekall flinched at the motion, but but still gave Uzi a small nod, acknowledging he understood to be silent. Gingerly, Uzi shifted out of N’s hold and sat up on her own, taking deep breaths as her mind began to clear again. She knew she only had moments to act. Uzi didn’t know how long her dad would be on the phone, but he could be done any second, and the last thing Uzi wanted was for him to come looking for her.

“But he also can’t see me like this!” her thoughts exclaimed. “What should I do?”

Thinking quickly, Uzi got an idea and shakily staggered to the door. N reached forward to help her, but Uzi waved him away. Briefly, as she turned back to close the door behind her, Uzi saw the deep concern and bewilderment in N’s eyes (and perhaps even a bit of hurt). Again, somehow, Uzi knew that N was just as much out of his depth as she was, and he hadn’t intended for this to happen. Uzi began to feel kinda bad for him, and also began to feel in her own gut the traces of guilt he was currently feeling. Man, having your soul tied to another could be really awkward at times.

“Don’t worry, just…stay here, I’ll deal with this,” Uzi whispered, trying to be as reassuring as she could (which, granted, given her present condition wasn’t a lot, but it’s the thought that counts or whatever), and quietly closed the door as she made her way back towards the kitchen as quickly as she could. In haste, Uzi ducked into the bathroom in the hall, feeling the hair on the back of her neck stand on end as she heard the door to Khan’s office open right as she latched the door.

“Unni?” Uzi heard Khan ask as he stepped into the hallway. “Unni, are you alright?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” Uzi replied, and swallowed as she fought to keep the shakiness out of her voice. “Just…needed the bathroom and stuff.”

“Oh, right, sorry,” Khan said through the door as Uzi cringed from the other side. “But, um, listen kiddo, that was a call from work, and something urgent has come up that I need to help with. Could take me a couple hours. Are you going to be ok here by yourself?”

Uzi almost couldn’t believe her luck. She answered as casually as she could, “Y-yeah, sure, whatever.”

“Alright. But message me if you need anything, ok? And if I can’t be reached, you have Mrs. Nilson’s number to call her from next door. And don’t leave the house, understand?”

“Yeesh, alright already!” Uzi snapped, and then added under her breath as she glared at her tail twitching beside her, “Like I’m gonna go anywhere like this anyway.”

“What was that Unni?”

“Nothing,” Uzi grumbled.

“Ok,” Khan finally relented…though Uzi detected a hint of disquiet in her dad’s voice. “Just take it easy today, ok?”

Uzi didn’t reply, but instead remained silent. Eventually, Uzi heard Khan walk towards the front door and leave the house.

Uzi let out a long breath and slid down towards the floor, feeling utterly spent. She was still shaking from the shock of it all. Then, quite unexpectedly, Uzi both heard and felt a soft thud from behind her. Startled, Uzi flinched back, and looked down at the floor.

Lying there was the compression pack she thought she lost at the hospital.

…But, how did it-?

“Oh no!” Uzi yelped aloud and sprang up, hastily pulling off her sweater, turning her back to the bathroom mirror, and lifting up the back of her shirt, her neck twisting around so she could look at the reflection over her shoulder.

It…actually didn’t look as bad as Uzi had expected. Not that it looked great either, because of course having a large divot in your back lined with tree bark would make a shiver run up anyone’s spine (…or, where their spine ought to be anyway), but at least the hole in Uzi’s back didn’t have an endless black void or rows of sharp teeth like she had feared. Tentatively, Uzi touched where some of her human skin merged with the tree bark, and flinched as it tingled tenderly under her fingers, like an incision from a surgery that hadn’t quite healed yet.

“Well crap, that explains the compress,” Unni thought, now certain that it had somehow gone into the hammer space in her back while she had slept last night. The thought also made a shock of cold run through her, as Uzi realized she could’ve transformed at any time since yesterday, and she wondered how close she came to any of the doctors or nurses noticing and-

…Wait…!

[“I’m gonna need to take a look at your back really quick.”

“…Do you wear contacts at all?”]

“My eyes- and my back! Tessa! Did she-?!”

Uzi practically flew out of the bathroom as she scrambled for her bag in the kitchen, whipping out Tessa’s note with her phone number on it from one of the pockets. Quickly, Uzi dialed Tessa’s number, not sure what she would say if Tessa picked up, but Uzi knew she had to at least try to say something that would test to see if Tessa had picked up on anything.

“And if she did, why didn’t she say anything to me? Or did she say anything to anyone else?! Aaaauuugh!!”

After a couple rings, Uzi’s call was disconnected, as if someone had declined her call…but also no voicemail prompt came after.

“What the-?” Uzi said, then dialed again. Same thing happened. Uzi stared at her phone for a second, wondering if she should try texting Tessa instead, but now a sinking feeling settled in her stomach. Something wasn’t right. Something was off.

“Uzi?”

Uzi jumped a little as N’s voice was heard in her head. “You good? Can I come out now?”

“Sure, I’m in the kitchen,” Uzi replied in a less-than-calm tone as she ran a hand through her hair, setting her phone down on the table and pacing around, trying to think of what to do next. Uzi was still mulling about with nervous energy when N came into the kitchen.

“So, um…what’s going on now?” N asked, noticing Uzi’s phone on the table. “Were you trying to scry with someone?”

Uzi sighed (and also made a mental note to clarify phones to N sometime soon, though for now she’d let it be; there were more urgent matters at hand). “N, my doctor…she may have found us out.”

N’s face went pale. “What? Are you sure?”

“Well, I don’t know if she knows about you, but I think she may know something’s wrong with me. I just tried calling her with the number she left me, but I can’t get through. Aaauuggh, freakin’ jerk!”

As Uzi rand her hands through her hair again, N glanced at the note with Tessa’s number on it. Uzi then saw out of the corner of her eye that N appeared to do a double-take, and then hastily picked up the note to look closer at it.

“What is it?” Uzi asked as N frowned gravely.

“…She definitely knows,” N said in a low, serious voice. His shift in tone caught Uzi off-guard.

“How do you know that?”

N brought the note over to Uzi and pointed at the runic pattern on the page. “Look. It says, ‘They’re listening. Lay low until Wednesday. Meet me at the stave churchyard at 22:30. I’ll help you.’”

Uzi stared at the note, then looked back at N. “Wait, you can read that?”

“Of course I can!” said N with a bright smile, almost as if forgetting for a second all the trouble they were in. “Almost all fae can read runes.”

“Oh,” said Uzi, looking at the runes herself, though they remained inscrutable to her.

“…Wait…you can’t read them?” N asked with surprise as he noticed Uzi’s brow furrow in puzzlement.

“No,” Uzi replied. “People don’t use runes anymore, dude. Well, except for historians and nerds and stuff. Most people don’t though.”

“Oh…”

“…How many languages do you know anyway?” Uzi asked. While she and N had been conversing only in Norwegian up to this point, Uzi suddenly found herself wondering if N knew any other languages. If he could read runes, did he then know Old Norse? She had heard him singing in Swedish back in the forest. Did he know all the Nordic languages then? What about English?

At Uzi’s question N scratched the back of his neck bashfully. “Heh heh! Oh, um, ‘fraid I only know about a dozen or so.”

“Only a dozen?” Uzi thought to herself as her eyes went wide. “Oh, yeah, you’re a real slacker aren’t you,” Uzi stated sarcastically out loud, earning a soft chuckle from N who thankfully picked up on her tone.

“So, what now?” Uzi asked as she moved the conversation on.

“I don’t know,” admitted N. “I mean, we’d talked about going to the forest and finding J as soon as possible, but would we even be able to make it out of town without anyone noticing you’re gone?”

Uzi frowned. “Probably not with my dad being all paranoid now. And if I skipped school-”

Uzi’s eyes then went wide again and she gripped her head with both hands in a panic. “Oh shit! School! How am I supposed to lay low at school tomorrow if I look like this!?”

“Ah…” N concurred. “Yeeaaah, that’s gonna be a problem, isn’t it?”

"Aaaauuuggghh!" Uzi growled as she put her head in her arms on the table like someone who was just done with it all. Her pointed ears were also pinned back, and her tail continuing to swish around like an angry cat.

This was going to be a long couple of days.

Chapter Text

N felt terrible.

Far from helping Uzi after reuniting with her, N felt like he’d only messed things up for her even more. Sure, it wasn’t like N had any choice on whether or not to stay away from Uzi, but now with her unexpected transformation into a huldra (clearly another side effect from his spell again), things only seemed to get more complicated, and N felt bad for causing them.

One step forward, two steps back.

While N was ignorant about some of aspects of the humans’ way of life, he was a bit familiar with the idea of school. It was where human children went to learn about the world and about how to, well, be human he supposed. It was their testing ground. A bit like N’s own experience with his training, he knew some things could go really well at school, while others could go really bad. And judging by Uzi’s reaction to being seen by her peers in her present condition, N got the feeling that going there with a tail, pointed ears and purple eyes may not be appropriate. He knew humans would wear costumes from time to time, but it seemed this wasn’t the time of year for that.

How would they get around this dilemma?

Feeling he ought to at least try to help Uzi out, N began to mull over ways they could disguise Uzi’s new features. He began to think about the stories he’d heard about the old days, when his kind would attempt to mingle with human society (for better or for worse). In those stories, some of the hulder women figured out that if they kept their tails concealed under large skirts, they could pass off as human women.

“Uzi, do you have any skirts?” N asked out loud.

Uzi snapped out of her stressed little bubble long enough to turn her face up to look at N. “What?” she asked.

 “Um, do you have any skirts?” N repeated. “It’s just, I figured you could hide your tail underneath one, right? Plus, if you wore your hat, that would cover your ears too.”

Uzi blinked up at N, the gears beginning to turn again in her head, and her expression softening a little as she realized he was trying to help. To be honest, Uzi wasn’t too fond of long skirts, but what other choice did she have right now? Letting out a sigh, Uzi sat up in her chair and rubbed at her tired eyes. “The hat could work,” she said, “though I don’t have any long skirts. Except for my bunad, but I can’t just wear that to school.”

“Oh,” said N, thinking again. “Do you have any fabric or sewing supplies?”

“We’ve got some sewing supplies around here somewhere,” said Uzi, “but I suck at sewing, and we wouldn’t have time to make anything before tomorrow.”

“Oh! But I could help you!” chimed N. “I’ve sewn all of my own clothes, and I can make something in an afternoon easily!”

“Oh…really?” asked Uzi, N nodding eagerly in reply. Uzi’s eyes then went from looking at N’s face to his attire. It did have a real homemade look to it. Uzi supposed it made sense that the fae wouldn’t have factory-produced clothes, and she’d heard stories about certain species being quite adept at handcrafting things. She’d also heard they could make things quite quickly, either due to hours of practice or magic she supposed.

“Not sure where we’ll find any fabric though…,” she thought aloud, her tail and ears twitching pensively. After a moment of thinking, an idea then occurred to her, and Uzi went over to her bedroom and pulled out from her closet a set of black sheets. “Can you work with this?” she asked N.

N picked up some of the fabric in one hand and gave it a look over. It wasn’t nearly as fine as the textiles he was used to working with, but he couldn’t afford to be picky right now. “Yeah, I think I can work with this,” he said. “Now, where do you keep the sewing supplies?”

Uzi led N to her parents’ room, where there was an antique trunk at the foot of their bed. From inside Uzi pulled out a sewing kit and handed it to N.

“Great!” he exclaimed. “Let’s get started!”

After N had set up his sewing station in Uzi’s room, the two of them took Uzi’s measurements and N began to get to work. Uzi watched as he cut the pieces of the skirt from the fabric, and made a few markings with some tailor’s chalk from the sewing kit. Though, instead of taking a needle from the sewing kit, N summoned one from the inventory in his back. Nothing seemed particularly extraordinary about it at first, but after N had threaded it, he chanted a spell and the needle began sewing on its own. While Uzi had been expecting to see some sort of magic, it was still surreal even now to see the needle sewing on its own in such fluid motions.

“Alrighty!” said N, now standing and giving a stretch. “We’ll give that a few minutes to do its work.”

Just then, N’s stomach gave a loud growl, and he clutched at it as he turned to Uzi bashfully.

Uzi couldn’t help but smirk. “Took that much out of you, huh?”

“Er, something like that,” N said with a shy chuckle. “I uh, also didn’t get to finish those waffles from earlier either.”

Uzi nodded. “C’mon then. Guess I owe you some more for the skirt or whatever.”

“Oh, no really, you don’t have to-”

But Uzi was already heading for the kitchen, and opened up the fridge to grab some fresh milk and eggs.

…Meanwhile, a large raven looked down from where it was perched on Mrs. Nilsen’s roof. It hardly blinked as it watched the two hulder milling about inside the Doormans’ house. If one looked hard enough, they would’ve seen a yellow symbol glowing in each of the raven’s eyes as it watched them.

Suddenly, the raven took flight as a second one came swooping down, its beak only managing to snag a few feathers from the first before it escaped. The second raven quickly spat out the feathers, which had some sort of oily coating on them and tasted like bile. The second raven then looked to where the first raven had been peering, and it saw the two hulder in the house.

The raven’s eyes narrowed at the sight, and it sat still for a moment as if memorizing their faces. It then gave a quick scan over the rooftops for any other rival ravens with its keen eyes. Having sighted none, the second raven spread its wings and flew back from where it came from further in town.

Chapter Text

After N had eaten his fill of waffles, he and Uzi went to her room to see if the enchanted needle had made any more progress on the skirt. Seeing that the needle was lying dormant in a nearby pincushion, N pocketed it back into his inventory and handed Uzi the finished skirt.

“Hope it works alright for you!” N said as Uzi held it up to examine it. She had to admit, despite the impromptu fabric source, the garment was fairly well made. The end design was a long, layered, ruffled skirt, with stripes of embroidered patterns spaced throughout the piece. Again, Uzi didn’t like long skirts all that much, but at least this one was rather fashionable. And sure, she may still get some odd looks at school for deviating from her usual jeans or the occasional leggings with a short skirt, but at least it still fit with her usual emo/goth aesthetic.

Uzi gave a small nod. “Should work as well as anything. Thanks N.”

“You’re welcome!” said N with bright eyes, clearly feeling much better now that he had been able to help.

“Now, there’s just this,” said Uzi as she looked at her eyes again in her bedroom mirror. “I could say I was just wearing colored contacts, but it could be a problem if I was asked to take them out.”

“What’re contacts?” N asked.

“They’re these little curved lenses people put onto their eyes to see better,” Uzi explained. “Kinda like glasses. Though they also make ones you can get that just change the color of your eyes.”

“Oooh, that sounds neat!” said N, then looked thoughtful. “You know, we don’t have lenses that change our eye colors, but sometimes our eye colors will change if we’re using a particular spell, or if we have certain charms active. Like, there was this one time we went to a festival hosted by some leprechauns, and J insisted we use charms that change our eye color to green to fit the whole theme.”

“Wait, leprechauns?” Uzi asked aloud. “Aren’t they in Ireland though?”

“Ordinarily, sure, but we fae can travel to one another’s places. With permission of course! Not gonna lie, we can get pretty territorial, even with each other. We can also meet each other in the fae realm itself, so…yeah! Quite a few options there.”

“Huh…” Uzi replied, starting to wonder just how complex the world of the vaesen and their interaction were. “Anyway,” she continued, bringing the conversation back around to the matter at hand. “How did you guys change your eyes color for the, um, occasion?”

“Well, J did craft emerald rings for us for that. Here, lemme see if I’ve got mine…”

N then reached behind his back, but when no small flash of light came in response he hissed, “Oh biscuits! Must’ve left it at home.”

“Wait, hold on, how does that work?” Uzi asked curiously. “It’s just, um…” Here it was Uzi’s turn to look nervous. “I have one of those freakin’ holes in my back now, too, and I don’t know how it works.”

“Oh, I see,” said N. “Well, whenever I store anything in my inventory there, I just think of it clearly in my mind, and if it’s there in my inventory it appears. If it doesn’t, it means it’s not there.”

“Ah,” Uzi said. “Do you have to use your inventory?”

“No, only if you want to. It does come in handy, but we sometimes also use ordinary bags and baskets and things.”

Uzi then remembered N gathering mushrooms in a basket a couple days ago. “Ok,” she continued. “So, is there anything else you can think of that I could have on me that could alter my eye color?”

“Hmm…” N hummed pensively. He then seemed to get an idea and took off one of the silver bracelets he’d been wearing. “I could try to put a spell on this. I think I know one that could do the trick, but, um, it might be a little weird again.”

Uzi’s brow furrowed. “How weird are we talking?”

“Not too bad,” said N. “I’ll just need to keep eye contact with you while I cast the spell.”

“Oh…” said Uzi, and paused. “…That’s it?”

“Yeah, sorry! I just know that direct eye contact can be really intimidating to some people. I didn’t want to freak you out.”

Despite herself, Uzi managed a small smile at that. “Thanks for the warning. I think I should be ok though. Er, unless blinking is an issue.”

“Oh, yeah, it kinda is. But don’t worry! The spell doesn’t take long to cast.”

Uzi rolled her eyes. Terrific. “Ok, let’s get this over with then.”

N nodded, and then he and Uzi set across from each other on the floor. N then gestured for Uzi to hold out her hand and Uzi did so. N put the bracelet onto Uzi’s wrist and then covered it with both hands.

“Um, this isn’t gonna hurt, is it?” Uzi asked.

“No. Your eyes may feel a little watery, but nothing worse than that.”

“Ah. Ok.”

“So, ready to get started?”

Uzi paused for a second as unease began to grow in her stomach. She began to have second thoughts about the idea of having a spell cast on her. Well, ok, technically it was a spell being cast on the bracelet, but still, N said she would feel something in the process. And what if something went wrong? What if she blinked at the wrong time, or what if N messed something up? He seemed to do ok at magic, but he did say V and J were better at it, and something clearly went badly wrong with his healing spell on her before. What if-?

“…Uzi?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah, sure, go ahead!” Uzi yelped, though she also had to bite her lip to keep from immediately withdrawing her permission. They had to try something, and this was all they had going for them. Plus, she didn’t want N to think she was afraid. (Which in turn caused her to hope N couldn’t feel her wrist beginning to quiver under his touch.

N gave a serious nod, then took a deep breath. “Ok. Here we go.”

Both Uzi and N gave a few rapid blinks to prepare themselves, then locked eyes as N began saying his spell. Uzi felt her eyes begin to tingle and water at the sensation of magic pricking at them, but she fought to keep them open as she tried to focus on N’s amber ones.

However…

The spell itself probably lasted about five seconds, but it felt longer to Uzi as she got a better look at N’s eyes. Something…felt off about them. Like, sure, they were the eyes of a huldrekall chanting a spell, so of course they were “off” from a normal human gaze. But…Uzi thought she detected traces of something else going on behind them too. She couldn’t place exactly what it was, and it came and went so fast she almost missed it, but whatever it was, it left the impression of something ancient, wild, feral and dangerous. Up till this point, Uzi had only been frightened of N once, and that was when she’d first met him and didn’t know who he was. Since getting to know him more though, Uzi almost began to see him as being like another normal person, at least as far as temperament went.

But now…it was like Uzi got a glimpse of something that used to hunt in the forest of the old world…Something from the old tales that frightened men, women and children alike...Something-

“There! All done!”

Uzi snapped out of her brief trance as N’s cheerful voice cut through her mind like a beam of sunlight, and his gaze was back to its normal softness. “You did great Uzi, and I think it worked! Your eyes are back to brown again.”

“O-oh, um, good,” said Uzi as she rubbed at her watering eyes, and got up to look at herself again in the mirror. Sure enough, as her eyes cleared, she saw that her eyes were indeed brown again. Thank goodness! Now like this she could hold out through the next couple days of school. Despite whatever troubling sensation she’d gotten during her staring contest with N just now, she also felt a wave of relief come over her.

…Good grief, she was tired.

“Hey, N? I think I’m gonna, um, take a nap for a while. I’m…feeling wiped out.”

“Oh, uh, sure! Of course!” N went to the door to leave Uzi’s room, but paused long enough to turn back and say, “Um, guess I’ll see you later then,” and Uzi heard his light footfalls fade away as he went back to the guest room upstairs.

Now alone at last, Uzi did flop down onto her bed, and pulled the covers over her. Curled up in the dark, it wasn’t long before Uzi’s exhaustion overtook her, and she fell asleep.

Meanwhile, at JC Jensen’s safety and security offices, Khan Doorman looked over the week’s seismic reports from the copper mines. Within the last few days, spikes in seismic activity had been recorded in the mines, and no one knew why it was happening. Thus, Khan had been called in to help inspect the infrastructure of the mines, to make sure everything was sound and nothing was prone to collapsing. So far, everything seemed to be in order, though the random tremors were concerning. Some of the miners had also reported hearing growling or shrieking noises in the mines, though their source was also unknown.

Khan frowned, hoping that this was all just some sort of fluke, but also worried that…well, that certain things may not have remained buried in the past.

“And what about the door?” he wondered to himself. “It should’ve been impenetrable. Was it failing?”

Khan let out a deep sigh and rubbed his eyes. He had hoped all of this could’ve been put behind them. But with the recent disappearances, and now the mines behaving oddly? This did not look good.

After closing out of the company computer, Khan closed up his office and headed for the mine’s elevators. As nonchalantly as he could, Khan went to the lift for Mine Shaft 8. Going to Mine Shaft 9 itself would’ve been too suspicious, but 8 was close enough that perhaps he could do some good from there. After going down several flights, Khan stepped out into a deep tunnel lit by trails of dim bulbs. After making sure he wasn’t followed, Khan took out a rune stone from his pocket and tucked it at the base of one of the support beams near the wall. After placing the last rune, Khan stopped to listen. After hearing nothing, he walked back to the elevator and hit the button for the surface level. As the lift ascended, Khan could only hope and pray that the barrier would be enough, at least for now.

“Oh Nori,” Khan thought to himself, biting the inside of his cheek. “Nori, what are we gonna do?”