"Alright, God, what's the plan?"

I was talking aloud - or, rather, praying aloud. It helped to keep me from getting bored as I descended the mountain through a seemingly endless forest of pine trees.

"Got to admit, I'm not following You right now."

My bare feet were constantly being cut by the rough, stony ground, and I knew the chill in the air would only get worse when night fell.

"That sounded bad. I am following You, in the sense that I'm following Your lead. I'm not following Your thought process, though." I sighed. "Not that I ever could, anyway."

I'd already decided that I wasn't stopping for the night. These trees weren't conducive to treetop travel, so I'd have to stay on the ground for the most part, which meant I'd have to be extra vigilant for demons.

"Hey, if You wanted to send Masen my way, I wouldn't complain. Or Tsuki. I don't have anything to write with, but I wouldn't mind reading a letter right about now."

Hiama was likely still out in the western mountains, near Diane, and I knew where Rath and Char were. That meant Eric and Belle were the ones to watch out for. And Eric may very well be heading this way, looking for me. I had no idea where Belle was. She was the most mysterious of the sara to me, and she also seemed to be the most concerning to Diane.

"Belle-sare. The dwarf. Very dark complexion, black eyes, black hair cropped short. The shortest of the sara, and the quietest, but the most cunning. Never let your guard down around her," I recited.

And also the cruelest, I gathered. Diane never said anything specific, but I read between the lines. Belle was a real piece of work. She was the sara most similar to Lucifer.

"I'm talking too much again."

I sighed again, watching the shadows of the trees lengthen. The trees were too tall for me to see the sunset. There was nothing more beautiful than a plains sunset. The way the massive sky became aflame with color, yellows, oranges, reds, purples, pinks, painted from the horizon to almost the center of the sky above. And if there were a few clouds near the horizon - not a lot, just a few - they soaked up the colors and gave them new depth.

I wondered if Ivetta had come to see Rath yet. Maybe she didn't even know she'd had a brother. What kind of cover story did she have, to live among the mer for hundreds of years, never growing old? And she'd stayed under the radar of the sara, too. She had to be really smart, to pull all of that off. Maybe that was her thing, like healing was mine. Maybe she was Belle's counterpart.

What about the dwarven boy, the one Diane was looking for? I was guessing he was a teenager, as I had been when Diane wandered into my life. But I also got the sense that he wouldn't have as much time for training as I'd had. The sara were moving in now. I wasn't sure why Lucifer had waited, but the wait was over. And it was a fair bet that he'd try to steal my kind to his side. After all, his sara were dropping fast. Like Rath. Like Char.

I'd been way too reckless with them, but it seemed to have paid off. At the very least, they had a grudging respect for me. Rath and I were almost friends now. And Char - well, he was still an issue, but it seemed like he was heading in the right direction. Diane had always said my carefree attitude was contagious - dangerous, but contagious. There had been some close calls, but here I was, heading back home after escaping three sara. Not that it was all me, of course. It wouldn't have been possible if God hadn't been working behind the scenes. There had been something going on with Rath and Char before they ever met me, something that had them in the right place to hear me. I hoped they'd keep looking for the truth. They could both be really great guys if they weren't such sleazeballs.

The forest was eerily quiet in the darkness of night. I would have expected to hear night animals rustling through the undergrowth, owls hooting from the trees, some signs of life, but there were none. I hadn't heard any during the day, either. Demons were definitely on the prowl here. And I didn't have any weapons with me. Oh, well, I'd have to improvise. I kind of preferred it that way, actually. Diane didn't. She always wanted a plan, wanted to know what was coming and when. That was another thing that drove her nuts about me.

I really missed her.

The telltale sign of a twig snapping nearby brought me to a stop. I listened, honing in on their position, the soft flapping of their wide, flat feet. There, to the left. They didn't know I was here. Their steps were lazy and directionless. I crept quietly toward them, edging my way across the side of the mountain to work my way behind them. It was a big group. I'd never seen so many all at once, actually. There were probably twenty of them. No wonder there weren't any animals here. This would be tricky.

I launched into action, taking three of them out before they even knew I was there. As expected, the rest didn't stop to think or come up with some sort of formation. They all attacked me, all at once. I ducked down and grabbed a branch, swinging it around as a makeshift sword, using enough force to kill a couple more as I smashed them into tree trunks. Before the swing was through, I dropped my weapon and leaped into the tree above me, scaling the prickly branches quickly. A couple more demons tried to follow, but their feet weren't made for climbing, their claws not suited for gripping. I slid down quickly, smashing my foot down on a head, the corpse knocking the other climber back to the ground. It stumbled back to its feet as I landed, surrounded now by the remaining thirteen.

I hadn't had a good fight in a few days now. This was fun.

They attacked again, and I suddenly crouched down, putting my hands on the ground to stabilize me as I did a low spinning kick to get a few off their feet. A pair actually collided above me, the sickening thud as their skulls met doing the job for me. I grabbed the wrist of one as it fell, lifting the limp body and swinging it around me in a complete circle, its claws slashing several more. Two more fell. Down to nine now. This was going better than I expected, actually.

Until I felt teeth latch onto my calf. They drove deep, the demon's claws digging in around my ankle and my knee. I ignored the pain and did a backflip, sending the offending demon flying but also slamming my back into a tree trunk when I landed. The smell of my blood drove the remaining eight into a frenzy. I kicked out as they closed in, smashing another one's chest cavity in, but claws were digging into my arms now as two more pinned me to the tree. This was getting bad. Luckily they were stupid. Another kick aimed more sideways took out one more in the same manner as before, and I used the momentum to dislocate my shoulder and pull one arm free. I headbutted the demon who held my other arm hard, and it collapsed. Five more. I could do this. I just needed to-

A demon leaped on my back, pushing me down to the ground. I rolled over, downhill, smashing it beneath me and putting some distance between me and the remaining four. The tree trunk that stopped me wasn't the most forgiving, but I somehow hit it just right to pop my shoulder back into place. I stood up, breathing hard, as the last four barreled down the mountain toward me. Well, how very helpful of them. I stepped aside at the last minute, and one collided with the tree and dropped to the ground, tripping a second who lost its footing and tumbled downhill. I grabbed the heads of the last two, smashing them together.

Silence again. I counted, examining each body to make sure they were all dead. Nineteen. The one that took a tumble downhill was still missing. No, there it was, clambering back up to me. I grabbed a branch and gave it a solid whack on the head. Now it was dead.

Well, that was that, but now I had a new problem. The bodies would ignite when sunlight hit them. I dragged them all into a pile, as far away from any trees as possible, but the flames would probably ignite any low-hanging branches. And then there was the blood. It was smeared all over tree trunks, and me. I needed to find water so I could clean up.

Demons are disgusting enough without being covered in their slimy black blood for hours.

I reached a small waterfall just before dawn. It was part of a little mountain stream, hurrying downhill to join its friends. I stood under the freezing shower, my teeth chattering as the icy water washed the blood away. My wounds had all healed by now, of course. I'd eaten well the past couple of days. I could probably take another beating like that one or two more times before food and sleep would become necessities again.

The sun rose, and the fire began. Smoke filled the air as the crackling flames advanced through the dry forest. I was running now, running downhill with very little regard for any particular direction, just trying to get away. The mountain stream would meet with another, I knew, and eventually enough would join to become a river. If I just followed the water, I should be okay.

Unless the stream just suddenly vanished into the ground. That wasn't a good sign. No time to worry about it, though - keep running.

My back was getting hot, and not just from sweat. The flames were closing in fast. Don't think about it, just run. Just keep moving. The smoke was stinging my eyes, making it hard to see.

Suddenly, the ground dropped out from under me, and I fell through the air, landing hard on a stone floor far below. The hole of light in the ceiling above me was obscured by flames almost immediately. I'd landed in a cave. I scooted back against the cavern wall, tucking my knees up to my chest as I looked around.

"We meet again."

"Char?" I asked in disbelief.

He came into view, his cocky smirk and laughing blue eyes saying it all as he came to a stop above me.

"This must connect to an underwater cave, then," I said, my eyes leaving him to scan the area again. There was nothing I could see that would have led me to that conclusion, but how else could he have found me?

He sat down beside me and put an arm around my shoulder. "You travel fast."

I didn't try to push him away. The cold cavern air, combined with the sweat evaporating off my skin, was making me shiver.

"Yeah, well, I've got a lot of ground to cover. You didn't go back to find Rath, I take it."

"Of course not. You're so much more fun," he smirked, pulling me closer to his side. "So what have you been up to? Besides starting forest fires. That was you, wasn't it?"

"More or less. I had a run-in with some demons last night." I lay my head on his shoulder and sighed, suddenly tired from all the stress of trying to escape that fire. "Is that the only way out, or is there another exit further along?"

"Now why should I tell you that?"

"Because you're going to help me."

"You really are naive."

"Probably, but I'm also right."

He was silent for a moment, and then, "Supposing I do help you. What's in it for me?" His finger traced a circle on my bare knee. I pushed his hand away and stood up.

"I guess you're just going to have to wait and see. Come on." I started walking in the opposite direction from whence he came. He quickly caught up to me, shortening his long strides to match my pace.

"You really are crazy."