“I think I've forgotten why I'm still doing this,” Vanessa said. She dropped the last of the boxes into the truck and sat down on the bumper.

“Kuda!” Palen shouted. He slammed open the outer door to the cell. His words were nearly washed out by the echo of ceramic on stone. The Mizenish prisoner jolted upright in his bed. It only took a moment for his expression to return to the detached demeanor Palen found so obnoxious.

“How can I help you, Lieutenant?” Kuda said.

“Iron?” Palen asked. “What's that?”

“An extremely rare metal,” Corvair said. “Well, rare in Seracet, anyway. As it happens, Mizenmir has uncovered a deposit of... considerable size.” The wizard set aside the time he had pulled from the shelf.

I was hiding behind the couch when Dad answered the door. I heard a slight whisper beside me and was surprised to see Maddy there, hiding alongside. She held up a finger to her lips.

“She's back!” Haley cried from the stairs.

“Oh?” Dad said. “What does she want this time?” He began hefting himself from the recliner by the fire. I scrambled up from the carpet, eager to follow him.

Joey was passed out on the couch an hour later. Modern medicine could work miracles. Including getting the kid to stop whining. It gave me some time to think.

“Being sick sucks!” Joey cried. He curled the thermal blanket tightly around himself and stared out the porthole.

“Maybe you should have thought of that before you went swimming naked in the Jezrak, kid,” I said.

A thought. A whisper. A distance voice. One that sounded like one of her own.

How was it that she heard it, down here in the flaming depths?

Burning. Screaming. The stench of sulfur and molten stone.

She had been trapped for longer than she could remember. In this wretched pit, surrounded by fire and darkness and the horrific ugliness of demon-kind. At first, they had made sport of her. Then they became bored and simply left her to wander.

Wendy startled awake at the sound of crunching leaves nearby. She bolted upright, grabbing the thick branch she kept nearby. Everyone else was still asleep, well anesthetized by last night's celebration. The man that stood among them was nobody she knew. And he wore a uniform. He turned to her with a quiet smile.

“Looks like quite the party you all had,” he said.

“Another new year,” Eddie said. “Wonder how it'll go.” He threw another branch on the fire.

“I'm optimistic,” George replied. “The bombs stopped falling weeks ago.”

“Maybe they just ran out,” Wendy said.

“Um. Hello?” Fin replied. He looks back at Juliet, who was similarly frozen in place.

“I say,” said the fog. “Do you happen to know where we are? I seem to have gotten terribly lost.”

“Are you sure this is the right way?” Juliet asked. The sun was settings behind the sparse trees. The path was clearly leading them up a small mountain, winding this way and that. The higher they went, the denser the fog.

“Absolutely,” Fin replied. “It's a well-known shortcut.”

Thump thump thump. The Iceman's heavy bootsteps echoed down the stairs just as the preparations were complete. The children ran down excitedly after. They did not leave the stairwell, though. They were too young for the rites.

“Mommy!” Zelda called. “The Iceman is here!”

Already? Drat! They'd barely started up the ritual. It would be another half hour before they were ready for him.

The great stone doors boomed shut behind him as Peter was left alone with the Holy. He was a small man, shrouded in robes, kneeling in a circle of simple candles. Not a word had been spoken to Peter since he had entered the hallway nearly half an hour earlier. There had been no doors or signs of other foot traffic the entire time. No signs of vaults or wealth of any sort. Discounting the fine marble, which was hardly something Peter could walk off with. Nothing for it to continue the ruse until more opportunity arose.

“Welcome to the Temple of Ciala Sancta,” whispered the monk. He bowed low and offered his hand, palm up, as a greeting. Peter returned both gestures.

“I come with a petition to the Holy,” Peter lied.

I won't go into exhaustive detail about the next few months. There was a lot to do. Various little things. Pokes here and there. Keeping someone important alive. Providing an important scientific insight or military intelligence. Every change I made I would jump forward a day, a month, a year, and a century to see the progress.