Tom Dowd - Burning Bright

When they finally made it back to the Knight Errant safehouse, Vathoss introduced them to three "new" team members-Knight Errant security guards caught inside when the Containment Zone was established. Kyle questioned them, but neither had been at the Truman Tower or knew where any of its occupants might have gone.

Anne Ravenheart was gone too. According to Vathoss, she and some of the other troopers were out investigating a surveillance post near a gathering point that had reported some activity. Kyle tried to get more information, but the sergeant wasn't talking. No one was, and Kyle sensed a growing unease among the troopers. Time was passing and nothing was happening.

As twilight came, one of the troopers that had gone out with Captain Ravenheart returned with the message that she wanted Kyle to join her at the surveillance post-the people at the garnering point seemed to be preparing to move to another location.

The trooper, a rookie named Canelli, was driving an "appropriated" Honda Viking heavy motorcycle, which could carry one additional person. Seeks-the-Moon reluctantly suggested he follow the cycle in astral space, despite his continuing concern about attracting the attention of the bugs.

Kyle had a better idea. Seeks-the-Moon would climb on behind Canelli, while Kyle, held aloft by a levitation spell, held on for dear life. The three of them set off like that, Kyle hoping he understood the properties of the spell as good as he thought he did.

The cycle made its way west, and then south, heading so far in that direction that Kyle thought they were going to the Cicero area where his sister-in-law's apartment was located. But Canelli turned the bike east before they got that far, coming to a stop near Chicago and Kedzie. After hiding the bike behind an overturned garbage dumpster and under the watchful eye of a nearby half-hidden Knight Errant trooper, Canelli led them through the back entrance of what looked like an old warehouse or storage building. Kyle dropped his levitation spell, not wanting to attract astral attention.

Inside, they found Ravenheart, Lim, and two other troopers clustered around a small closed-circuit video monitor. The image showed another building similar to this one, with a crisscross of train tracks and uncoupled railroad cars in the background. From what he'd seen on approach Kyle suspected the area was almost directly across the street. He could see movement on the screen, some figures clustered around one of the doors, given away by the telltale glow of cigarettes. Beyond them, Kyle could just barely make out the front end of what seemed to be a Chicago Transit Authority bus.

"What's going on?" he asked, squatting down next to Ravenheart.

"About an hour ago two men arrived in a car and I popped up and risked a peek at them astrally," she said. "Let's just say they were looking a little fuzzy around the edges."

Kyle nodded. He knew that the use of electronic surveillance was common when watching potentially magically active targets since a human observer could be detected by his aura, which was how he'd spotted the woman in the house across from Ellen's. It was safer to pop up, astrally active, for a quick, hopefully detailed look, than risk detection

They went inside, and soon after there was a lot of activity," she continued. "It looked to me like they were starting to pack up. About a half-hour later two buses arrived. The first one loaded up pretty quick and headed out. We weren't in position to follow it, so we let it go. When this one leaves, we're going to tail it."

"How many guards or people do you think might be possessed, or whatever it is they are," Kyle asked, squinting at the monitor.

She shrugged. "Can't tell. We've seen six different people with wrong auras. So there are at least that many."

"Any idea how many more are inside?"

"No. Maybe forty or so, but that's a real out of my butt guess," she said with a shrug. "Any luck with your wife?"

"No. They've been to the apartment, but according to a neighbor they went off to some 'relief camp'. The neighbor didn't know where."

"Sorry," Ravenheart said, touching his arm for a moment.

Kyle looked toward the monitor. "Is this the closest gathering spot you know to the Cicero area?" he asked.

Her eyes widened slightly. “That we know of. Cicero-I assume you mean the township-is only a couple of kilometers to the southeast."

"So this might be where they ended up," Kyle said slowly.

"Possible."

There is one very powerful out there," Seeks-the-Moon said suddenly.

Kyle and Ravenheart both turned toward him. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"There is a very powerful spirit out there," he said, looking away as he seemed to stare through the wall. "I can smell him."

"Can he sense you?" Kyle asked.

Seeks-the-Moon shrugged. "I don't know, but I hope I do not smell as bad as it does."

Ravenheart turned to Kyle. "Makes sense that they'd send a powerful one to guard the buses if they were transferring the people."

Kyle nodded. "I know you've got to follow them, but first I've got to find out if Beth and Natalie are in there."

Ravenheart looked away. "I can't let you do that. I can't let you jeopardize our chances of finding the main nest." She turned back and stared at him. "If they were here, they may have already left in the other bus."

"I have to find out, Anne," Kyle said, matching her stare.

She frowned. "There's only one way I'll let you do it. Take yourself a couple of blocks from here and astrally project. Check out the bus that way. If anything chases you, get me frag out of there and lose it. If they only see one idiot human, they might not panic."

"Gee, thanks," he said.

"Better get a move on it. That bus'll be loaded soon."

Kyle stood up and shook out the cramps in his legs. He turned toward Seeks-the-Moon. "Watch my body?"

The spirit simply nodded and followed him out the back door.

Enveloped in the warm flow of astral space, Kyle watched the bus from two blocks to the south. He could tell that it was almost full-the glow emanating from the auras of the people packed into it almost flowed out into the street.

Waiting until he no longer saw anyone outside the building, he shot forward, gliding a few millimeters off the ground, and slipped through the sheet-metal and plastic walls of the building. As he passed through, he immediately willed himself upward, hoping to get lost in the rafters of the building, assuming mere were any.

There were, barely, a meter or two of clearance filled with pipes and support beams. Below him, seemingly unaware of his presence, were a dozen or so men and women, the auras of two-thirds of them rife with dark streaks and bursts of confusion. They all stood around a figure lying on one of the many cots in the room. He could hear the conversation, and gathered from it that her family-the four other normal-seeming auras-feared that she was too weak to travel. Some otthers were attempting to explain to the family that the bus was waiting. The family wasn't listening.

He recognized none of them by their auras or what he could make out of their physical forms, and willed himself upward, hoping to pass through the roof. His astral body couldn't, though. There were planks of wood across the roof, and he couldn't pass astrally through that once-living material. Staying as close to the ceiling as possible, Kyle began to drift forward toward the far wall, hoping to slip out there. As he went he noticed that three of the insect-possessed humans had moved off and were having a hushed argument. He also noticed that the old woman seemed to be watching him. Her head, at least, turned as he drifted forward, seemingly tracking his movement. He thought about pausing to get a better look at her, but decided against it, and instead accelerated his motion.