Bethany turns to run, bolting again down the bank of the lake. The Crone screeches behind her, "No, run no further. It is not safe in these wilds." There is the smell of ozone, and again a clap of thunder. Bethany's feet continue to whirl, but suddenly she finds herself lifted up off the ground, as if grabbed around the waist by an invisible giant.

She is spun around, till she again faces The Crone, now floating no more than a few feet off the ground. "Now listen to me! There is not time for such foolishness. I can only hold this Ward for so long, and my patience wears thin in delivering my message." The wolves are howling louder now, and the moon's light reflects off of many shifting pairs of eyes, that peer out from between the many trees. "You are not safe while you stay in the city of the New Dutch. And the danger that you attract, for it will find you, shall threaten your little friends all the greater. Try as you must to hide What you are from them, it is your Powers that will protect you and them. You have been warned. Stay alive, for I shall need your flesh when next we meet in person."

The Crone slams her staff down into the dirt, and the sky erupts in thunder. The wolves yip and howl, their moans getting louder and louder. Bethany drops the few feet to the ground, her legs folding under her as she lands on her knees and hands. She looks up at the Crone who again has taken the form of an Owl, taking flight off into the starless night. The wolves howls grow even louder, surrounding Bethany as she struggles to her feet. Like out of a nightmare the canines that emerge from the woods are terrifically large, their shoulders nearly four four feet off the ground. They begin padding towards Bethany, some lolling and some galloping to surround her.

Bethany screams, and screams, and screams.

************************************************** *******

Bolting up out of her bed, Bethany turns her head to see her door is open. It takes her a moment to realize that she is back in her room, and that Jean is peering in through the door. She looks nervously at Bethany, "B., B., are you okay? Are you having another nightmare?"