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It didn’t take long for Lena to finish ushering the kids off the ice, and chatting briefly with the occasional parent. When they’d left, she skated over, then hopped out of the door in the boards, clattering across to sit with them and put the guards on her skates.

“You must be Tam,” she said warmly. “Sahil’s told me so much about you.”

Tam was taken slightly aback by how friendly a greeting it was—let alone by the idea that Sahil had been talking about him beyond the situation with his brother. “Yeah,” he said. “He, uh, said he explained the situation?”

She nodded, leaning her arms on her thighs. “I’m so sorry to hear about your brother. I’ve heard so much about him from Sahil too, although I wish the breakup had been a little more—”

“Lena, please,” Sahil said in a tone of horror. “We’re both adults, it was a mutual decision.”

“I know, I know.” Lena sighed with a hint of irritation, then straightened again, spreading her empty palms to Tam. “So, how can I help you out?”

He nodded awkwardly. No need to throw in anything complex, he decided, just stick to the plan he’d already run past Sahil. “Mostly, I need to make sure I know where my brother is,” he said. “I’ve got a map that shows where his phone went, and I’ve got pictures he took along the way. If any of your group could use that to sniff around,  narrow it down to an exact building, and maybe figure out if he were still in there, that’d be amazing. Other than that, the only thing I’d ask for is… if I end up rescuing him during the day, would it be possible to have a sentry around to bark and alert me if the witch who took him is coming back?” He was fidgeting, and tried to hold himself still. “I don’t want to put any of your friends in danger, but… any help you can offer would be immeasurable. And, of course, if there’s anything I can do for you in return, I’d be happy to.”

“I don’t mind being the sentry,” Sahil put in.

“I’ve only got his phone and computer cord with me,” Tam continued apologetically. “But I can go home and get something to get his scent—”

“I, uh, have one of Ash’s shirts,” Sahil said awkwardly. “So it’s fine, you don’t need to.”

Tam looked at Sahil askance; Sahil hadn’t told him that. He wasn’t able to make eye contact, though, not with Sahil staring at Lena instead of him.

She tapped the back end of her skate guard against the floor thoughtfully. “I can at least ask who’d be willing to go track this guy down,” she said. “That seems harmless enough. You ever dog-sat before?”

“Yeah, I’ve dog-sat for friends,” Tam said, confused. “I mean, I love dogs, so…”

Lena seemed to roll her eyes briefly. “Well, some of our newer members have problems sometimes where they get confused and scared to find themselves alone at home on their first few full moons. They wake up the next day to find they’ve torn the place up in a case of separation anxiety from themselves, pretty much. If you’re willing to meet up with them and won’t get weird at them about joining them for an overnight, they’ll have an easier time adjusting. It’s hard to find people to do that who know what they’re getting into but aren’t worried about getting bitten.”

“Oh, no, I don’t… particularly mind,” Tam said, flustered and pleased. “I’d be happy to help out.”

“It’s a trade, then. I’ll get back to you on that and I’ll talk to my folks. Sahil, do you mind being the point of contact if you’re going to go along on the search?”

“No, it makes sense,” Sahil said. “Be happy to.”

She grinned, then held out a hand to Tam. Tam shook it, startled and pleased.

“Then, if that’s all, my next class will be coming in fifteen and I’ve got to get a snack first or I’ll die. Text Sahil if you need anything from me.”

“I’ll do so,” Tam said, rising. “Thank you again.”

“Sure, don’t mention it. Hope we find him.”

They headed out together for the bus stop. Tam wrestled with the idea about asking about the shirt, but wasn’t sure how to bring it up, so he eventually decided against it.

Sahil dug around in his bag for a moment, then held his house keys out. “Here,” he said.

Tam looked at him in confusion, though he took them anyway. “Uh, sure. What’s this about?”

“I was thinking, um.” Sahil waved a hand. “You’re going to be out late with the vampires, and maybe you’ve got plans already, but if you need a place to crash tonight after, my bed’s going to be free anyway. You can give them back to me tomorrow if you end up not coming by.”

“Thanks,” Tam said, pleased and feeling a bit shy at the offer. Sahil really was too nice. He put the keys into his bag. “How’ll you get in, though?”

Sahil wrinkled his nose. “I got out the window one night,” he said dryly. “Woke up naked in the back yard. Ever since then I’ve kept spares buried in my yard.”

“Oh wow,” Tam said. The less said about that the better. “Okay, cool. If I don’t come by I’ll text you so you don’t worry in the morning.”

“Great,” Sahil said, fidgeting. “Do you mind handing Ash’s phone off, also? I’ll want to get together with folks to match the map up to the pictures before we take off to try to track him down.”

Tam dug it out. “No problem. I don’t think it’s going to be much more use to me right now, and if anyone texts him you can just let me know.” He showed Sahil how to unlock it.

Thus prepared, they headed their separate ways when they arrived back downtown in the Valley; Tam stayed on the bus another few stops to get that much closer to Loaf Portions. By the time he got off, he could see the writing on the sign, the painted steam over the rolls curling into hearts.

The door jingled as he went in, and Antoine came out of the back at once. “Hey, wel—Tam! Good to see you. How’s it going?”

“Pretty good, I hope,” Tam said. There weren’t any other customers in the shop, which made this easier. Trying not to eye the cakes in the display—he could feel the lurking depression over how the lack of cake the day before had been tied to his brother’s loss—he leaned on the counter. “A plan’s coming together, anyway.”

“Any way I can help, I will,” Antoine said. “All previous offers open. Hang on one moment.”

He vanished into the back room again, then emerged with two things—a bag with three cinnamon rolls inside, and a slice of cake on a plate, an unlit candle sticking out of it.

Tam blinked. He was pretty sure Antoine wasn’t reading his mind, but it was still a bit uncanny. “Uh…”

“The cinnamon rolls contain the anti-ward spells,” Antoine said, handing him the bag. “Don’t worry about them getting smushed in your bag, it’s all in the flavor, not the look. You and whoever you’re going with will want to eat some before heading in—it should make you invisible to her wards. You don’t have to eat a whole one if you need to split it between more than three people, but the more a single person eats, the longer it’ll last. I’d advise not eating them until you’re gonna head in, just in case.”

Hopefully Lithway could eat them, but then, Lithway might not even trigger wards. They were a shadow, the monster’s monster. “Thanks,” he said. “Does that mean the cake’s the, uh, geas?”

“Right,” Antoine said. “I’ll light the candle, you’ll say aloud what you want geased—in this case, that you can’t say that person’s secret. Then, you’ll blow the candle out and eat the cake. It’ll take effect once you’ve started eating.”

“Thanks. But Antoine,” Tam said, frowning down at the slice. “If she’s got that protection on me, will it backlash on you if you place the geas?”

Antoine sighed. The question didn’t seem to surprise him—rather, he seemed like he’d been hoping Tam wouldn’t ask. “It might,” he said. “I’m willing to take that risk. I’ve got enough counterspells on me that it won’t outright kill me and, seriously, I want to help you with this.”

Tam bit his lower lip. “So if it doesn’t hit you with backlash, will that mean I’m not protected by her magic?”

Antoine’s eyes widened. “Shit, do you think she cut corners? I mean, that’d be just like her, she’ll always save her own energy when she can, and I guess most people who fail to get protected in an attack out here aren’t usually alive to come back and complain that she didn’t hold up her end…”

“I think it’s possible,” Tam admitted. “If she’s got protections up, they’re ones nobody has been able to sense so far. Is that even possible?”

“Sure. Usually people make it a big Keep Your Hands Off mark because it’s easier to warn people off than spare the energy every time someone’s attacked. But that doesn’t mean they have to warn that someone’s protected. A real sadist might want to keep it subtle so they’d have to excuse to harm others.” Antoine gently pushed the plate of cake closer, then pulled out a box of matches. “Anyway, it’s a risk I’m willing to take. But if you have any other questions for me, you might want to ask them first because, if you are protected, I’m not gonna be in great shape after.”

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[Completed Parts: Instructions | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17 | Day 18 | Day 19 | Day 20 | Day 21 | Day 22 | Day 23 | Day 24 | Day 25 | Day 26 | Day 27 | Day 28 | Day 29 | Day 30 | Epilogue | Author’s Notes]

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The urge to ask Sahil more about weredogs in general rose, but Tam quashed it quickly. He knew he wouldn’t be entirely selfish if he did ask—anything he could know at all might contribute to finalizing his plan—but he’d already embarrassed himself a little in front of Sahil, and Sahil was, he hoped, a friend. He didn’t want to get too invasive about things.

“I guess I could use a second opinion on my plan so far,” he said, and was a little dazzled by Sahil’s answering smile. “A lot of it’s pretty up in the air, but…”

He ran over it in all its vagueness: using the weredogs to confirm the location, getting information from the vampires and seeing what more they could do or what they’d offer tonight, and taking Lithway along for help on the actual rescue mission. “I’m expecting a call from a contracts lawyer Lithway got in contact with, so I’m hoping some element of whatever comes up can tie her up in business,” he admitted. “And I guess we’d need to lie low after I get him out, but I might ask the vampires about that too. They’ve probably got some pretty strong protections, and I’d be worried about who else might get hurt if I laid low elsewhere. I can’t decide that until I meet them tonight, though.”

“Probably,” Sahil agreed. “It sounds like a pretty solid plan for something where none of the key details are worked out yet.” His lips quirked in a small smile. “I guess whatever you think Lithway can help with involves that secret?”

“Probably,” Tam said, as vaguely as possible—half because he didn’t want to say more, and half because he hadn’t quite decided yet how that shape-shifting skill could fit in, if at all. “Actually, relatedly, do you know if there’s any way I could keep a secret from the vampires if they tried to compel me that’s not a geas?”

“Sorry,” Sahil said. “I don’t think anything else would work except being forced to forget it, and that’d make it pretty useless as part of a plan.” He considered, swallowing the last of his coffee. “I can’t speak too much to the plan except the dogs part, but it sounds pretty good to me. It’s a really small way to make use of us—keeps us out of the danger zone. I was expecting, like, you wanting a gang of angry dogs to make her give Ash up and withdraw the contract.”

“Do you think that’d work?”

“I mean, most people don’t want to face down a gang of angry dogs,” Sahil said. “But Lena would probably be harder to convince for something like that.”

Tam nodded. “Right. Any suggestion on how I talk to her?”

“Just keep in mind that the safety of our group is her main concern,” Sahil said. “She doesn’t want us to get a bad reputation, and she doesn’t want to lead us to be hurt. I mean, we’re still lycanthropes, though, so us getting hurt  is not… easy. And… don’t mention the vampires to her.”

Not quite able to keep from raising his brows, Tam asked, “Not at all?”

“They hate each other, Tam. If the vampires are in on the plan, she’ll want to be out. If she’s in, Dupré will probably want to be out. Or they’ll ask way higher payment.” Sahil made a face. “As far as I’m concerned, make use of us both, just don’t go around telling people. They may suspect you’ve been in contact with the other from the smell, but it’s not like they’re going to confirm with each other. I suggest you just avoid mentioning it, or say that you’re looking into your options but would rather work with… whichever one you’re talking to.”

“Fair enough,” Tam said. “I guess it’s not a lie until I’ve actually decided to go with both.”

Sahil put a hand on Tam’s knee. “Exactly,” he said, squeezing encouragingly. “I don’t really care one way or another about the vampires, so I’ll just… not say anything myself. That kind of alliance is really a need-to-know basis anyway; neither group will particularly want to be known for messing around in witches’ affairs, I bet.” He patted Tam’s knee one more time, then got up. “Ready to head out? I got us lunch reservations at Hell’s Kitchen.”

Despite the tongue-in-cheek name, Hell’s Kitchen was a pretty popular, sort of hipster-chic restaurant. “Sounds great.”

The lunch they had together was tasty and quiet and Tam kept the conversation off the situation with his brother for a while—he remembered how overwhelmed he’d gotten the day before and didn’t want to put himself through that again. It felt quiet, intimate, and he was almost disappointed when, toward the end of the email, his phone rang. He didn’t recognize the name, but figured it might be the lawyer, and was proven right when she greeted him with her name (Michella Alver) and firm (Alver and Stant).

He made eye contact with Sahil, pointing to the cell and nodding toward the door. Sahil gave him a thumb’s up, so he excused himself from the table, heading outside where he could hear better. After he confirmed his identity, she launched right in. “I’m given to understand that Lithway requested services on your behalf. Please understand this is a consultation on the situation and not a declaration of intent to act until you come into the office and we discuss that specifically. I’ve read over the contract you sent, and the request he made. Your older twin brother was taken by a witch, who had promised protection in return for ownership over him on his twenty-first birthday, correct?”

“Yeah,” he said, mouth dry. “His name’s Ashton Lynes.”

“The contract’s short and simple,” she said. “There’s only a few places to look at as weak clauses. In terms of a long-term approach, it’s possible that since you’re twins, the ‘firstborn’ part may be up in the air even if your brother was technically the first arrival. I couldn’t find any immediate precedent on that situation, so it would likely be a case that would have to establish precedent. If it’s ruled that neither of you are technically firstborn, the magical hold over your brother would be removed.”

“I’m just worried about time,” he said. The anxiety was starting to settle back in again. “She’s likely to leave town tomorrow. If it’s a debate over terms, we’d be looking at a lawsuit, right? Can’t those take place years after being filed? Even if she’s supposed to suspend any work with him until it’s resolved or whatever gets declared, that wouldn’t mean much if she bails with him him through the Gate.”

“Yes,” she said, a wince in her voice. “That’s why witches like her are often so successful. In terms of a quicker resolution, the best option would be if you can prove in some way that she has violated the contract. If you find a specific breach, and tell her what the breach is, the contract itself should react—she would then have no magical hold over your brother. Otherwise, you are likely going to have to look into a legal unbinding via an official ruling.”

“And if I got him away from her without managing to undo the contract?”

“Legally, he’d still belong to her. Practically, that might not matter much if she had no way to get to him until the standard seven years of indenture was up, though she could herself bring a suit against your family for breaking the terms. Also, technically theft. I don’t know how likely she’d be to follow up on legal options herself, of course, but I cannot give you the legal advice to pursue that course of action.”

Tam asked her a few more questions that didn’t amount to much, then thanked her and said he’d call her back if he needed anything further clarified. Hanging up felt dissatisfying; he was hoping for more, though he supposed he could only take what he got.

Sahil came out a moment later, carrying both his and Tam’s bags. “I got the check,” he said. “My treat. Any luck?”

“Oh—jeez, thank you,” Tam stammered, a little awkward. “No, nothing much.” He summarized quickly.

Sahil winced and nodded. “Well… I guess if we can’t break the bond we can put the two of you on a bus and have you go live somewhere else for seven years,” he said wryly. “Ready to go meet Lena? Her class should be letting out soon.”

“Class?” Tam followed Sahil as he began to head down the sidewalk.

Class, it turned out, was skating class; Sahil led him to the #4 bus, which they rode out of the valley to a small indoor skating arena about a half hour’s ride away. Inside, the air was chill, raising the hair on Tam’s arms as he and Sahil headed around to the rink-side seats where a short, energetic-looking woman in her thirties with curly black hair and olive skin was gesturing a horde of grade-schoolers off the rink.

“Be with you in a minute!” she called over to them, brightly.

“That’s Lena,” Sahil told Tam. “I gave her a basic rundown of who you were and why you would want help, but I’ll mostly stay out of this except to back you up, okay? So, now’s the time to think of what you want to say to her.”

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[Completed Parts: Instructions | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17 | Day 18 | Day 19 | Day 20 | Day 21 | Day 22 | Day 23 | Day 24 | Day 25 | Day 26 | Day 27 | Day 28 | Day 29 | Day 30 | Epilogue | Author’s Notes]

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“Sure, I’ll come in,” Tam said, trying not to seem too eager as he stepped past Sahil to try to get a closer peek at that dog bed. It was really small, actually, only a bit bigger than a cat bed would be. “I mean, a lot of today is going to be a waiting game between appointments, so… it’s a good chance to catch a breather.”

“Well, I’m glad to help you with that,” Sahil said, sounding strangely shy as he padded past Tam and to the left, heading toward the kitchen. “Feel free to make yourself comfortable. The coffee’ll take a few moments—how do you like yours?”

“Milk or cream, please.” Tam waited until Sahil was in the kitchen, then scooted closer to the dog bed, desperate to investigate. There was a mix of differently colored fur in it, tan and black.

“No problem,” Sahil called back.

Tam didn’t go so far as to take any toys out of the basket, but he did crouch to look at them, noticing that most of them were on the smaller side. The tennis ball sitting on the top looked more like it had been gnawed at from the side, too, rather than chewed on directly with strong jaws.

There was no doubt, Sahil was some kind of small dog with long fur. But what kind?

“Do you want—” Sahil cut himself off as he took in the scene.

Tam jumped up, then tried to act casual, even as he knew he was super obvious. It took him two tries to hook his thumbs in his pocket. “Uh?”

“I have some muffins,” Sahil said, something between laughter and embarrassment in his voice. “Do you want one? I know we’re having lunch soon, but I’m going to expire before we get there if I don’t have a little something now.”

“No, I, uh, ate before I came.” Tam gave him a wincing smile as he turned. “Sorry for prying…. I’ve just super been trying to guess about, well. Everything?”

“I can see that,” Sahil said. He took a bite out of the muffin in his hand. “You probably shouldn’t do that to Lena later.”

“That’s different,” Tam said. “Just, I know you, so I know you have to be super cute, but I don’t know what kinda pup to imagine, so the whole thing is a big question mark in my mind, and you don’t have to tell me, it’s your business, but I can’t keep myself from wondering! Sorry. Sorry.”

Sahil wavered another moment, then settled on amused. “You’re making way too big a deal of it,” he said. “Pomeranian. Not the most elegant or fearsome of beasts, I’m afraid.”

“Oh my God,” Tam said. “Black and tan?”

“With lil tan eyebrows. Yeah,” Sahil said. The coffee made a horrific sound, and he shrugged a shoulder shyly. “The beast calls. I’ll be right out.”

“Thanks.” Tam forced himself to move away from the dog bed and sit on the couch. He tried very hard not to imagine Sahil, whose personality was already basically the cutest, padding around on the tiniest, fluffiest paws.

There was silence from the kitchen—and then his vision became a reality as a miniature brown-and-black bundle of fur with the smallest pointy face came tumbling out of the kitchen, galloping over to him. Sahil let out a little bark and a tiny hop, rearing up and putting his front paws on Tam’s knees.  

The noise that came out of Tam’s chest wasn’t even human, some sort of weird bird-like trill-screech. He carefully put hands down on Sahil’s sides—this was still a person, not a puppy, he reminded himself with a desperate show of control to keep from petting him frantically—and sank his fingers into what felt like three miles of fur.

Sahil barked again, and held up one paw. It stayed there, and after a confused moment of thinking he was trying to shake, Tam realized what he was being offered.  

“You are the best,” he wheezed softly and squeezed that little paw pad gently.

The giant puff of fur at Sahil’s backside that was his tail gave a little waggle. He tugged his paw away gently a moment later, then trotted back into the kitchen.

Tam sat and tried not to transcend to a higher plane of reality while Sahil transformed back and redressed out there. He came trotting back in a few moments later in his human form, grinning madly.

“Blessed,” Tam wheezed. “I’ve been blessed by a soft angel.”

“Soft angel,” Sahil repeated with an incredulous laugh. He handed Tam his coffee mug, then sat with him on the sofa, listing toward him a little. “So tell me what you’ve been up to.”

Tam sipped the coffee to try to pull himself together, then caught Sahil up on things. He went over the basics of both the meeting with Antoine and with Lithway—though he skipped the specifics of the more personal matters, since that didn’t seem relevant to the situation with Ash. And, of course, he didn’t share Lithway’s secret, though he did mention that Lithway had sworn him to secrecy about something they could do to help, and that he was considering getting geased to protect that.

“Hmm,” Sahil said, when Tam was done. “Didn’t the contract say you were under some kind of protection magic? Would a geas even work?”

Tam frowned. “I didn’t think of that,” he admitted. “I’ll ask Antoine when I see him to be sure it doesn’t have any nasty backlash. Did you sense anything on me when you were transformed?”

“Not at all,” Sahil said. “But I wasn’t trying to bite you, so maybe that’s why.”

“Speaking of which,” Tam said, “I figure I should ask you some questions before we go to meet your leader after lunch. You said originally that you couldn’t do anything at night because you’d have to be transformed, but you also said you didn’t go berserk or anything. Does the full moon have any other effect, or if I planned around help in dog form, would that be fine?”

Sahil shook his head. “It’s no good,” he said. “We don’t go berserk, but dog instincts overwhelm us entirely. It’s not like a normal transformation where we choose what to do. Any other night will be fine, but since this is during the full moon, you’ll have to make use of us during the day.”

“All right—good to know going into it,” Tam said.

“Anything else you want to know? At least, that you don’t want to bring up when we’re having lunch in public, and all that?” Sahil asked.

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[Completed Parts: Instructions | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17 | Day 18 | Day 19 | Day 20 | Day 21 | Day 22 | Day 23 | Day 24 | Day 25 | Day 26 | Day 27 | Day 28 | Day 29 | Day 30 | Epilogue | Author’s Notes]

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Closing his eyes, Tam thought through the offer carefully.

Although Lithway did love their dramatics, this seemed to very genuinely be an incredibly serious issue to them. Tam believed that Lithway wouldn’t want to hunt him down, but that they would if he gave his word and then broke it. He couldn’t help but remember Sahil saying that nobody knew a thing about the shadowfolk—that he, a monster librarian who lived in the Valley, could find no reliable resources on them.

That Lithway was offering up this secret was something beyond an honor.

Could he do it? Without knowing what the secret was, could he promise that? If Ash wanted to know how he had been rescued, could Tam keep it from him?

He’d have to. He’d not kept many secrets from Ash before, but maybe it was time to start. And if he didn’t accept this offer now, he might not get Ash back to have to keep it a secret from him.

In some ways, his allies were a bigger issue. He couldn’t anticipate how it would affect his plans until he knew what the option even was. And what if the people he met tonight refused to go without knowing everything that was happening?

—Well, he thought, that was an issue he might have to face anyway, with the weredogs vs vampires issue. If he did plan to make use of both of them in some capacity, even if he did his best to keep them apart, that might not matter if they insisted on knowing all details of the plan. He’d either have to lie to them anyway or lose their help.

That said, the stories did have vampires be able to compel people. If he said that the information would kill him, and they still compelled him… well. Then he’d have made a very bad call, he supposed.

He let out a slow breath, opening his eyes again. Lithway hadn’t moved at all, expression not changing in the slightest.

“Lithway,” Tam said, hearing his voice come out a little rough. He was strangely moved by the offer, and was surprised he wasn’t actually feeling any fear. “I really, genuinely appreciate this. I know what a huge deal it must be, and I absolutely respect why you’d need to chase me down if I took that lightly.”

Lithway let out an agreeable hum, not interrupting—waiting for Tam to come to his conclusion.

“I would very much like to know how you can help,” Tam said. “I promise that I won’t tell, and if… if something makes me tell, I’ll understand when you come after me.” A thought occurred. “I’m—meeting with Antoine again sometime later today, and I’ll see if it’s possible to get geased to prevent me from saying anything about it. I won’t do it if I have to tell him the secret to get it to work, of course.”

A distinct look of pleasure crossed Lithway’s face. “Now, are you sure about that?” they asked. “A geas is a very strong magic, and not a pleasant one. It robs you of your free will.”

“I mean, so would death,” Tam said lightly. “And anyway, it’s not my secret to tell, so I don’t see why I’d need to make a big deal about losing the ability to do so.”

Lithway nodded, then flickered out of sight. They reappeared sitting on the desk next to Tam’s food, then put their indistinct feet on Tam’s thighs, turning the chair to face them.  “I told you I wanted to experience you. You breathed me in; I became part of your body, you breathed me out.”

Tam could feel himself blushing. “Yeah, it was good?”

“And I’m very glad of that!” Lithway said, laughing.

And then they changed—shadows firming up, changing shape, color bleeding into them all over like paint had been poured into water. They tossed their head and—Tam was sitting on the desk, feet on Tam’s legs.

The real Tam stared. “You can—”

“I can become anyone who I’ve experienced,” Lithway said, in Tam’s voice. Like this, they spoke with far more inflection than they usually had. “Not sex, per se—though that was lovely, darling, and I’d be delighted to do it again. But whatever body I have, in whatever way, understood enough to recreate.”

They seemed to let out a breath and Tam’s form dissolved around Lithway, turning back into the black smoke that always trailed off them. “It’s not something we advertise being able to do. We’re already feared, and some people truly believe we’d kill them and take their place. Perhaps some of us have; that may be more reason to not let it be known. …And ugh, can you imagine what people would say if they didn’t think my acting skills were actual talent but something I absorbed from others?”

“Did you?” Tam asked, a bit wide-eyed. “Absorb something from me, I mean.”

“I wouldn’t do that without permission, darling, but I could. I could taste your memories and feelings also.” They paused, then added, in a lewd tone, “The only feelings I experienced from you were the ones you definitely wanted me to feel.”

Tam laughed shakily. “Nice,” he said. “Okay, good, great. That’s… this might be super helpful, honestly, and that you’re willing to not just tell me but use it to help me, I’m. I’m really moved, Lithway. And I absolutely do believe you’ve worked for your skills, by the way.”

“Well, now, don’t go making a big deal over it,” Lithway said, waving a hand in the air. They seemed abruptly embarrassed. “Kiss me and go on your adventure, now! But come back to me later and tell me what you’ll use me for, hm? I’m at your service; I can’t imagine anything nicer than seeing this through to the end.”

As requested, Tam leaned up and gave them a quick kiss. “Break a leg this evening,” he said, a little shyly. “I don’t know if I’ll be back tonight, since I’m going to be doing things until really late, but would it be all right if I did?”

“Of course. Let me be your safe haven,” Lithway said. The words were romantic but the tone, again, was somehow lewd.

Tam grabbed his stuff and gave Lithway another kiss before wandering out of the apartment area, down into the theatre. His phone buzzed as he went, and he checked it to see that Sahil had texted Tam his address to meet up there before lunch.

He wrote back a quick on my way, and then, while he had his cell out, phoned Antoine.

It was answered after a ring and a half. “Tam?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” Tam said. “I’ll probably swing by late afternoon, if that works for you for having the charms ready?”

“No problem,” Antoine said. “Should be cool by then. Hope it’s going well since I saw you?”

Tam blushed. “Yeah, it’s been great,” he said. “Can I ask another magic question?”

“Go for it.”

“Is it possible to be geased to be prevented from saying something, but not tell the spellcaster what it is when setting the spell up?”

Antoine paused for a moment. When he answered, there was audible curiosity in his voice. “Sure, but the vaguer you get, the more you can get tied up in the spell. Can I ask the sort of thing you’re thinking of?”

“Someone told me a secret. I promised not to tell on pain of death.”

“Ah.” Antoine considered. “You can phrase it like, ‘I may never speak about so-and-so’s secret with anybody but so-and-so’, but if they tell you other secrets in the future, those’ll count too.”

That didn’t seem like a problem. “I mean, sure. If someone tells me something’s a secret, I’m not gonna want to go telling anyone anyway.”

“Right, but for example, if you needed to testify in a murder or whatever, you might get in trouble for colluding.”

“That escalated quickly,” Tam complained with a laugh. “I’m sure it’s fine. And if something’s no longer a secret is it still under geas?”

“Not if you phrased it that way, no. It’d only qualify while it was secret.”

“Thanks,” Tam said. “What’ll I owe you for it?”

“I kidnapped your brother; it’s on the house.” Antoine hesitated, then added, “I don’t usually do geasing work, so it might not be the nicest spell I’ve ever put together, but I do know how. Thanks for trusting me with your, uh, free will.”

“Thanks for not charging me for doing so,” Tam said wryly. “I’ll see you later?”

“Sure thing.”

He hung up and slid his phone in his pocket, then headed off to Sahil’s address.

It didn’t take him long to get there, and given how recently he’d texted he was on his way, he waited outside the small duplex’s door a few moments before losing patience and knocking. Hopefully Sahil wouldn’t be too rushed.

Sahil opened the door pretty quickly despite Tam’s worries. He looked tired, with darker circles under his eyes and his hair all mussed up, but he was fully dressed.

“Good morning,” Sahil said, a bit flustered. He stepped aside, holding the door. “Do you want to come in? It’s a little early for lunch, but we can go now if you’d rather go out right away, or… I mean, you can come in and I can give you a cup of coffee if you haven’t had one yet. I’m really interested to hear more of what happened, and that may be better in private than outside? Though, I mean… I don’t know all of what you’re going to want me to help you propose to Lena, and I know you’re tight on time.”

Tam peeked past him; the living room beyond was pretty cute, with a couch facing a TV, linen curtains in front of a big bay window, and old radiator heating. A small dog bed was tucked between the radiator and the couch, with a little box of dog toys beside it.

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[Completed Parts: Instructions | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17 | Day 18 | Day 19 | Day 20 | Day 21 | Day 22 | Day 23 | Day 24 | Day 25 | Day 26 | Day 27 | Day 28 | Day 29 | Day 30 | Epilogue | Author’s Notes]

[Please read the instructions before jumping in!]

Tam needed to eat breakfast anyway, since today was going to be pretty busy. And it would be pretty rude to just run out on Lithway after the night they’d shared.

“Sure,” he said. “If you’re ordering from a deli or diner, just…some kind of eggs and meat mix? I’ll probably need the protein. I’ll be out there in a minute, I just need to email some people about brother things.”

Lithway blew him a kiss. “Certainly, dear,” they said, and vanished back around the bookshelf, just a shadow drifting between them.

Tam dug his computer out of his bag and wrote some notes to himself as he tried to plan the day. It’d probably be good to have some idea of what he could ask from his potential allies, if he was going to start to pull an action plan together.

At breakfast, he could discuss a little more what Lithway might be able or willing to help him with, he figured. They were close enough now that maybe Lithway had a way of getting him in and out—if nothing else, they could manipulate their own shadows pretty efficiently. Though, of course, that would require an infiltration plan sometime outside of the early evening hours of their performance.

When he met with the weredogs, he’d have to assume that their keen noses might help him track his brother’s exact location. Their ability to transform at will might help there. Sahil had said the weredogs weren’t available at night since they couldn’t control the transformation then, but Tam wondered if needing them in dog form rather than human might help there. Then again, it was possible the full moon had other effects that might make them unavailable at night entirely.

The building itself, when he found it, would probably be under some kind of magical warding, whether to keep people out, or to alert Istem when people entered. Maybe he could ask Antoine if there were any charms he could get to keep them from going off. He figured Antoine likely knew Istem’s spells better than anyone, and there was no reason to think that he’d be geased to keep from helping this way. They could probably be designed to get through anyone’s charms.

Although he had yet to talk to the lawyer, ideally, some sort of legal summons could be a way to get her out of her house. Maybe the vampires could do something about that too, if he acted at night instead of the day—hard to say. Either way, he knew he had to look for opportunities to get her out of the house. Getting to his brother would be significantly easier if Istem herself wasn’t there. Though, on the other hand, he knew he couldn’t postpone a confrontation indefinitely, since she knew where his family lived. But anything that bought him more time would be good, too.

Then there were the vampires… Tam wasn’t sure yet what to do with them, if anything, which sort of stalled out his planning. They sounded a little volatile, but he knew they were one of the most powerful forces in the area. If nothing else, they might have information, and at best, they could be an incredible power to bring to bear against her. But if he did decide to get the weredogs involved in the extraction, things might get unpleasant. Worst case scenario, his allies might start fighting when he needed them the most.

Tam shook himself. He’d planned as much as he could this far in advance, he decided. He sent Sahil and Jared emails that he’d meet for lunch and dinner respectively and would like to arrange the meetings, and sent Antoine a message asking about the charms.

As he got dressed, Antoine replied pretty much at once—it seemed like he’d been waiting for something like this. No problem, I should be able to whip something up. I can’t guarantee she’s not changed the specifics on me, but I know the generalities really well. I’ll be in my shop until 5 (though I can close up if you need me to) so stop by there any time today. I also live over it but I’ll need to know in advance if you wanna come to my place after hours!

Tam finished dressing just as he heard Lithway at the room’s door, receiving the order. The lady running the delivery sounded starstruck, and Tam couldn’t blame her. He still couldn’t entirely believe he’d found himself in this situation.

He waited behind the shelves until the door closed—no point in ending up in the tabloids for this—then headed out to join Lithway. They had cleared a spot at their desk for Tam and handed him the delivery bag as he approached.

“It’s nothing fancy,” Lithway said with a false modesty, as though they’d cooked it themself. “But enjoy.”

Tam did, digging into it with voracious hunger. In between bites, he ran his thoughts past Lithway, who was resting their chin on their hand and watching Tam with an intensely curious gaze.

“Oh, certainly, like a spy? I think I could get you in and out if you wished,” Lithway said. “I could do more than that, even.”

“You did mention fisticuffs,” Tam admitted. “But I’d rather not get into a confrontation with her if I can avoid it.”

Lithway waved a hand dismissively, trailing smoke. “It’s something else. Can you keep a secret?”

“Of course I—”

“Because,” Lithway said, leaning in close, “it truly is one. I try to be very close to the chest about my abilities, you know. Many of the things I can do would, if it got out, make things more difficult for my kind, and also damage my reputation as an actor.”

Tam blinked. “Damage your reputation? Listen, Lithway, I promise, that’s the last thing I want to do. And… if it can help my brother, I’ll swear on anything you want me to swear on.”

“Swear on your life,” Lithway said. “If you’re not willing to do so, I understand, and won’t hold it against you in the slightest, because that’s a very deep oath to make. But I’m very serious about this. I care for you quite a bit already, dear boy, but if you told anyone, however close you think you are to that person, accidentally or deliberately, it would be the worst betrayal of my trust to you, and I would come for that life. So: will you swear on it?”

Tam looked at Lithway, wide-eyed. Although they’d said something so dire, the warmer smoke of their eyes was churning with an apparent excitement, and a grin lingered around the corners of their lips.

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[Completed Parts: Instructions | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17 | Day 18 | Day 19 | Day 20 | Day 21 | Day 22 | Day 23 | Day 24 | Day 25 | Day 26 | Day 27 | Day 28 | Day 29 | Day 30 | Epilogue | Author’s Notes]