Was this a great idea? Absolutely not. Were they going to do it, anyway? Rhetorical question, everyone and their grandmother had the answer to that.

Laothoe lived in a trim house for a Mitec: two stories, stone floors, and a vast, open courtyard. Hallie expected a run-down apartment building associated with unspeakable actions and dissected human carcasses. Like 'The Diamérisma'. But at least 'The Diamérisma' crammed itself between two other busy buildings; Laothoe lived in utter solitude.

"Are you certain this is the correct house?" Nikas whispered, lingering behind Hallie and peering over her.

"Yes, I'm certain," Taryn said, not bothering to keep her voice down. "I have way too much free time."

"And that is related how?"

"You don't want to know."

Before anyone voiced their protest, Taryn marched out of the bushes, walked to the door, and knocked. Loudly. Then she dove back into the bushes.

"What are you doing?" Kirphis hissed.

She rolled her eyes and brushed herself off. "Making sure no one's home."

"That's actually kinda smart," Miscenus said. "We wouldn't want to bump into anyone."

Kirphis looked at him incredulously. "Who's side are you on?"

"Dude, you should know by now that doesn't matter."

"It was your idea, anyway!" Semele chirped.

"Fair enough, but please." He turned to Taryn and grasped her hand in his. "Can we please not do this?"

Taryn sent him a pity-filled smile and ripped her hand free. "No one's home!" she announced.

Hallie walked over to stand by her, glad to be out of reach of the plant's prickly stems. "Are you sure?"

Taryn flashed her the foxiest grin. "Nope! Let's go!" She opened the door.

Miscenus gave an indignant shriek when Semele dashed past him and into the house, Taryn not blinking twice.

"Ele! You are not coming with us!" He said, striding in after her and grabbing her wrist.

Semele shook him off and glared at him. "Am too! You never let me do anything. But that's never stopped me before," she said with a satisfied smirk.

"Ele-"

"They're not even home! What's the worst that could happen, anyway?"

"Gods, let me think..." He stroked his chin in mock concentration. "You could die!"

She waved him off. "You could die, too. You're not immortal, Cenus. Let's go!"

Kirphis patted Miscenus sympathetically on the shoulder, while Nikas and Perialla gave their regards from afar. He seemed to appreciate it.

"I'll lead the way," Taryn said, taking her first step into the house.

"Wait, Taryn. I... I have a better plan."

She turned around and raised an eyebrow at Kiprhis. "And what would that be? Turning around? Fantastic 'plan,' Phis. Ten-out-of-ten."

Annoyance flashed across his face before he built back up his unreadable walls. "Actually, I was going to suggest we split up. We'd cover more ground."

Semele clapped her hands. "I can be with Taryn!"

Miscenus glanced at Kirphis, and Hallie recognized it as the classic will-you-be-my-partner-please maneuver. Too bad Kirphis wasn't paying attention and instead was having a stare-off with Taryn. Poor guy, at least Kiprhis appeared to win for once.

Perialla rested a palm on his shoulder. "We can go together. That way, we won't be responsible for whatever trouble those idiots get into."

Nikas cocked his head. "Am I an idiot?"

"Only when surrounded by other idiots," she answered, but she was smiling. A rare sight. Usually, her resting face portrayed no emotion.

"Alright, let's get going!" Taryn said, her commanding voice holding more snap than normal. She snatched Semele's wrist and dragged her into the courtyard. The girl giggled and allowed herself to get taken away.

Perialla jerked her head toward the staircase, a signal to Miscenus for him to follow. And he did.

That left Hallie, Nikas, and Kirphis standing alone at the house's threshold. Alone with their commonality: no one wanted to be their partner. Except for Hallie. She was well aware of Nikas staying within a three-foot radius of her.

"So..." Kirphis coughed into his fist. "I guess we start looking?"

Nikas shrugged and opened a drawer. Nothing. "What are we even looking for? This 'drug'?"

"Yeah," Hallie said, running her hand across a tapestry. Nikas inched closer. "It's white and dusty."

"So descriptive."

They searched the room for a few more minutes, Kirphis growing antsier and antsier with each passing second. Once they - mostly Hallie, Kirphis and Nikas were too distracted by their various issues - deemed the room "white-dust free", they moved into the kitchen. Hallie really hoped they didn't find any in there.

And they didn't. But neither did they find any in the next room or the next or the next. Eventually, they arrived right where they started.

"What do we do now?" Nikas asked, surprisingly far away. The house must have met his safety requirements. "Wait for the others to get back?"

"I guess," Hallie said, examining the floor. Deeming it a good place to sit, she lowered herself down.

She tried not to be too dissatisfied. The less of the drug in existence and Laothoe's possession, the better. Even so, Hallie couldn't deny the urge inside of her to hold this situation above Laothoe's head to distract herself. From what, she didn't know.

The house made her uneasy. It was too quiet, too empty, too remote. The sun was dipping below the horizon, giving the sky a light pink hue, but no one was arriving at the house. Hallie couldn't help but feel like a mouse hiding in its den, waiting for a cat to whip out a chainsaw and start swinging.

"You okay?" Nikas asked softly, sitting next to her. "You got this dark look in your eye."

"I'm fine," Hallie answered. She hesitated. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Kirphis put a hand to his heart and sniffed back fake tears. "This is so wholesome."

Nikas's face turned red. "Oh, can it, will you?"

Hallie shrugged. "I thought it was wholesome. And sweet. I can't remember the last time someone checked in on me- what? Did I say something wrong?"

Nikas was a mixing pot of conflicting emotions dancing across his face: affinity, ire, and sorrow. Ornate words, but Hallie found them quite fitting.

On the other hand, Kirphis was trying too hard to appear impassive and apathetic. His true feelings were seeping through his mask, like water dripping from someone's hair. But that wasn't the point. Why conceal his concern? Not that it mattered, of course.

Hallie's train of thought skidded to a halt as she watched Kirphis's eyes flickered over to a door. A door she hadn't noticed before.

She stood and wandered to the door. It couldn't lead to anything larger or more important than a closet or latrine, but it couldn't hurt to peek inside. They found nothing worth mentioning yet, anyway.

Her fingers closed around the cold handle and tugged, only for it to shoot outward and smack her in the face.

Hallie was faintly aware of rough hands grabbing her and pulling her away, hands that didn't belong to anyone she recognized. Nikas was shouting, but his voice was quickly muffled. Her ears rang as she lifted her head.

Kirphis faced away from her, standing in the center of the room, shaking, fists clenching and unclenching. A lot of "ing"s. Four Purities stood in the room with him; a pair held Nikas to the floor and another with Hallie. The other Purity stood with Kirphis but wasn't making any moves to restrain him.

Hallie snaked her eyes up their body, taking in every detail but stopping when she accidentally created eye contact and her blood ran cold.

That was the Taktikós with the knife. That was the Taktikós who tried to kill her. That was the Taktikós who was breaking the straight line between her and Nikas.

The Purity pinning her to the floor scooped her into their arms. Hallie didn't resist; she couldn't. She felt like a ghost screaming at her body to move, just to realize they had no control over the living mortal.

Nikas, however, was pitching a fit. And Hallie meant that in the most dignified way possible.

"Listen here, kid," one of his captors snarled. "Shut up and cooperate!"

Nikas glared and twisted his wrist in an ungodsly angle to pinch them.

They howled like there was no tomorrow and raised a fist. Then they froze and shifted to the Taktikós with the knife.

"You can knock him out, just don't hurt him. Orcus specifically said not to."

Captor One wilted, clearly disappointed. Then they narrowed their eyes at their boss. "That doesn't sound like Orcus."

The Taktikós with the knife narrowed their eyes right back. "Does that matter? You're following my orders right now. Besides, they can't be useful if they're injured. Or dead."

Captor Two rolled their eyes and forced Nikas's arms behind his back. "Grab his legs."

Captor One did so, allowing Nikas to follow Hallie out the door as their captor dragged them off to who knows where.

---

Nikas struggled the entire time, wiggling and lashing out in clever attempts to goad Captor One into snapping and letting go. It was kind of admirable how he refused to relent.

A few seconds later, Hallie could move again, but a harsh snarl from Captor Three, the one holding her, gave her the confidence to abandon the idea of joining Nikas in his fight for freedom. Yay...

"Hey, Pytheas, we got 'em," Captor Three shouted.

"Cool."

Stepping into the courtyard and rounding a corner brought them to a narrow nook in the house's architecture, ending with a door guarded by yet another Purity.

This Purity, who Hallie'll call "Most-Likely-Pytheas," had their hair cut short and their nose in a book - "Cephalus and Procris".

"Are you going to move?" Captor One asked. "I have stuff to do."

Most-Likely-Pytheas didn't respond. They only set their book aside and opened the door. Into which Hallie was thrown.

She heard laughing and pancaked when Nikas landed on top of her, knocking the air out of both of them.

"Oh my gods, Apseudes, that was awesome!"

"Shut up."

"You know, I never-"

The door slammed shut, cutting off the conversation and their only source of light.

"Are you guys okay?"

Nikas pushed himself off Hallie. "I-I think so," he wheezed. "Who... Who are you?"

"Wow. What a warm welcome, Nikas."

Hallie blinked and heaved herself off the stone floor. Two silhouettes slowly came into focus, specifically Perialla and Miscenus's.

Hallie blinked again. "Oh. Hi. We're fine."

"Oh, no, you're not!" Nikas said, crossing his arms. "You took a door to the face. You could have a concussion!"

"I-"

"Does your head hurt? Are you nauseous? How's your vision? It's dark, but are you seeing double? Blurry? I really hate these mortals right now, but at least they didn't bring in bright lights-"

"Nikas, I'm fine." Hallie insisted. "'No' to all those questions."

"Dang," Miscenus said, impressed. "You sure know your stuff. But aren't you supposed to be quiet around concussions? Also, Hallie." He raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Are you sure you're good?"

"I'm sure," Hallie said.

"Good." Perialla slapped a hand over Nikas's mouth to repress any objections. "Where's Kirphis, by the way? I thought he was with you?"

Before she could stop it, Nikas ripped Perialla's hand off his mouth. "Oh, that-" His victory was short-lived.

"Um..." Hallie shifted uncomfortably on the floor. "They didn't take him?"

Miscenus inched closer, his eyes darkening. "What do you mean 'they didn't take him?'" he growled.

She gulped. "He-He kind of stood there? And they didn't touch him? I mean, Kirphis didn't fight them or anything. But then again, neither did I. B-But it's still weird, right? How he didn't even try to stop them? H-he's been acting weird for a while now, but- oh."

Perialla's hand and expression slackened. It was enough for Nikas to free himself and join the fray.

"He stood there. Like we weren't part of his own little world. Just figures floating in his conscious with zero consequences to hand out for hurting them." Nikas was shaking now, fury brimming in his eyes. "Like we were nothing."

"M-Maybe it's all a misunderstanding?" Hallie offered a weak smile. "Maybe he didn't mean it?"

Nikas's head snapped up. "He didn't mean it? Hallie, they could've killed us, any of us, You, Perialla, Taryn, and he wouldn't have batted an eyelash-"

"Wait a minute," Hallie said, waving her hands around her head. "Where are Taryn and Semele?"

"They'll bring them in eventually," Perialla said, regaining her composure. "If the logic worked for you two, it'll work for them."

"Okay..."

And so they dropped both subjects. They stayed silent, watching, waiting. Every second that ticked past was a spread of hope going through the wringer. Every ticking second was a growing asseveration that they were alone.

It was hours before the door finally opened. But neither Taryn nor Semele greeted them on the other side.