The sound of the town warning bell woke Hugh. The merchant in the bed next to him flailed as he woke up, accidentally smacking Hugh in the face.

  Buying bed space instead of a room was undoubtedly cheaper, but there were drawbacks. Unfortunately, the organization wasn't footing the bill for this excursion. Arnold asked him to check the place out before talking to their boss, so this was out of Hugh's pocket. Next time he'd have to remember to ask for money before leaving.

  Hugh threw his blanket at the merchant, an older man in his sixties but still fit enough for long journeys, and held back a snort of laughter as the man tangled in the blanket and fell to the floor.

  On the other bed one of the others asked, "You think it's a wyvern?" as he got to his feet.

  "It's the right time of year," Hugh answered. "If it is, it'll probably just keep going up to Rosia."

  "Then what are they ringing that damn bell for!" Hugh's bedmate demanded from the floor.

  Hugh didn't bother to answer. Instead he quickly pulled his clothes on, stepped into his boots, and opened the door. Before he could step into the hallway a guests from another room ran past and leaped down the stairs. Hugh followed more slowly.

  He glanced into the rooms of the other students. Both were empty. Disappointed, he trotted down the stairs. He wanted to talk to the girls, but they hadn't been available. He was sure they were being manipulated; he just didn't know how yet.

  The first floor was nearly empty. The innkeeper was probably outside already. Pleased at the opportunity, he headed towards the kitchen. The innkeeper's rooms were beyond it, and Hugh wouldn't get a better chance to look around.

  He didn't make it further than the kitchen before he found what he was here for. A hidden door had been left open and right in front of it were a few broken spell stones.

  Did one of their victims escape? Was that what the bell was about? Who was it? Hugh hoped nothing had happened to the shadow summoner.

  He took a few steps down the stairs. He didn't want to get trapped down there, so only went far enough to see below. There was a lightstone on the floor and a couple more spell stone pieces. Manacles hung from the ceiling.

  Proof positive, in Hugh's mind. As he turned to head back upstairs there was a loud bellow and a crash from outside.

  Hugh noticed another spell stone fragment on the floor in the common room. This one he left alone

  One of the merchants from his room was standing in the front doorway. He was gripping the door with one hand and the door jamb with the other and appeared frozen in place.

  "Hey," Hugh said. "In, out, or get out of the way." When the merchant didn't respond, Hugh grabbed his shoulder and jerked him inside. Hugh stepped outside and froze himself.

  Sitting on the ground right outside the inn was a massive ogre. The ogre was gnawing on the headless body of a man. As Hugh watched the ogre bite into the poor soul's torso, he was dimly aware that the warning bell had stopped ringing.

  Hugh raised his hands and started a spell before realizing there was a crowd forming behind the ogre. His attack spells would have collateral damage.

  Then he realized none of the onlookers were attacking. The blacksmith was staring at it with his arms crossed, looking pissed. His wife was behind him, wringing her hands. Two teenagers were clutching farming tools and trying to get the other to attack the ogre. The tanner and his family were just arriving.

  The ogre glanced at Hugh and the inn, then to the forming crowd on the other side, and ignored both. It took another big bite, smacking its lips greedily.

  Why wasn't everyone running away? Why was it ignoring everyone? Was it tame?

  "Well? What are you just standing there for? Get in there and kill it!" a farmer's wife shouted at her husband.

  "I'm not getting near that thing! If you want it dead, you go kill it!" The farmer pushed his wife and then kicked her forward, sending her sprawling. She shrieked.

  Hugh watched as the ogre didn't react at all and just took another gruesome bite.

  "I don't know what you're playing at girl," the innkeeper was saying as he pushed outside. He had his granddaughter's arm in a grip so tight there were tears in her eyes.

  "I didn't do anything," she cried.

  The innkeeper got a look at the scene and let go of the girl's arm. "Oh, shit."

  The girl scrambled past Hugh and skirted the ogre to join the crowd on the other side. Hugh looked at the innkeeper. He wasn't the slightest bit scared. Instead, he looked angry. Hugh glanced at the spell stone he was holding and back at the innkeeper.

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  The innkeeper saw it and grabbed Hugh's wrist. "What did you do?" he demanded.

  "You fucking thief," Hugh said and shoved the innkeeper.

  Tonight was turning into such a lovely debacle for the townsfolk. I didn't have an assigned job–I love being a cat–so I got to watch the show from the front row.

  Duvessa had summoned two tarantulas to carry the illusion remote along the wall of a building down the street. It took us some trial and error to find the right height and distance. I could have carried it along a roof, but the ogre would be walking about three feet off the ground.

  Now, that would've been hilarious, but not the effect we were going for.

  My climbing wasn't steady enough and made the ogre look like it was wading up and down in the dirt. So Duvessa's summons carried the magic snowflake thing along. I never thought I'd be thinking about the smoothness of a spider's gait but here we are. So creepy.

  Owen, Duvessa, and Booth left breadcrumbs for the inn guests to find and would be running cover.

  When we were ready for showtime, Seth started out with the shouty smashy illusion, followed by some standing, and finally eating. The eating illusion was the longest, and visually grossest, and cycled the most cleanly.

  Reginald the Second rang the warning bell right on time. I knew he wasn't quite as stupid as he pretended. Seth kept the illusion going from his hiding spot in a bush by the paddock fence. Blaise was beside the barn giving him hand signs of what to do next.

  One of Duvessa's babysitters was the first on the scene, unsurprisingly. The guy didn't pause a moment and fired arrows at the ogre. I was concerned that they would disrupt or end the illusion, but they didn't.

  So. Illusions are non-interactive. At least these ones were. I did wonder if actively cast ones could do more. That made me wonder if illusions were hallucinations, light shows like holograms, or what. Whatever. They were all magic bullshit.

  Now that we had a decent audience, Mr. Babysitter was just watching. No more wasted arrows from him. He stood across the street with an arrow nocked observing the scene carefully. Clever boy had it figured out already.

  Like Mr. Babysitter, I watched the townsfolk as they gathered. Some were panicked and ran away. Most stood around in frightened confusion. But many were angry or upset.

  I was pleasantly surprised that the whole town wasn't in on it. But too many were. And the ones that were had a lot of influence on the others.

  I saw the innkeeper's granddaughter scramble away from the inn front door. The girl was in tears and ran straight to the kid that had warned Seth. A woman with a leather tunic thrown over a nightdress watched their interaction with an angry scowl. She jabbed her finger at them and then at the ogre, who was still calmly munching on his human body snack.

  I wondered if that was the kid's mom. Either way, she was complicit. Her husband looked to be too. And the blacksmith. They were forming a clique right in the center of what was turning into a town mob.

  Mobs were dangerous things.

  The innkeeper was now shoving Hugh, who was shoving back. Heh. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Keep him busy, Hugh!

  At this point the second babysitter showed up. She had a quick conversation with her partner, and then walked right up to the ogre, and then right through it.

  "Anyone want to explain this?" She said loudly to the crowd.

  "It's fake!" Someone in the back said.

  "Fake? This is an illusion?" one of the merchants said. "You all know about this? What is this for? Are you just trying to scare off travelers?"

  "We don't talk about inn business," someone else said.

  The babysitter with the bow looked hard at that guy. An unfortunate number of people near the guy nodded their heads.

  "Shut your mouth!" the blacksmith snapped.

  "But I didn't say anything about it!"

  "Shut up!" someone else yelled.

  I felt it more than heard it. A hostile susurrus rippled through the mob, and its attention moved from the ogre to the merchants and babysitters.

  Well that was fucking scary.

  The guy babysitter marched right across the street to the kids and whispered urgently to them. He sent Owen into the barn, and Booth and Duvessa into the inn. He then headed to Blaise.

  I was thinking the same thing. We might not be allowed to leave and would need to make a break for it. I scooted up to the nearest roof.

  "I found spell stones inside," Hugh announced.

  Yikes, dude, read the room.

  He didn't. Instead he continued. "This illusion is being cast from a hidden room through a secret door in the kitchen."

  "Shut him up," someone said.

  The other babysitter followed the kids inside and the innkeeper followed her.

  "This is not what it looks like! I don't know anything about that thing!" the innkeeper was saying.

  Seth dropped the illusion about a minute later at the end of its cycle. Once the ogre vanished, it was like a floodgate opened. Everyone was screaming at each other, and there was a fair bit of grabbing and shoving.

  Blaise and Seth snuck into the barn from the paddock side. I knew we'd be leaving in a second so I went to get the gate open.

  And I discovered that my magic ring that can unlock anything, can't move a bar as long as the road is wide. I had to move that sucker myself. I considered slicing it in half since I was not strong enough to lift it. But sliding it proved to be pretty easy. I think I left claw holes in the bar. Oh well. I got that moved and then hopped down to get the drop rods lifted and push the gate open.

  I got it done just in time too, as the kids came barreling down the street. Once the babysitters saw the gate was open they sent the shadow horses into a gallop.

  Of course I timed my jump perfectly and landed in the lap of the woman riding shotgun. I scared the bejeebies out of her too. Bonus points.

  No one was chasing us, but there was a lot of commotion back there.

  The babysitters let the shadow horses gallop for half an hour, daring and terrifying in my mind, but the shadows could see in the dark. They followed the road just fine without assistance. The woman dug out a lantern and lit it once we were far enough away that no one would see it.

  When they slowed the horses to a fast trot, the woman climbed down and into the carriage with the kids.

  They were all still awake despite it being the wee hours of the morning.

  "All right. I want a full explanation," she said as she plunked down next to Blaise.

  And she got it. The kids didn't hold anything back. She didn't interrupt either and waited til the end to ask clarifying questions.

  "All right then. Your grandmother suspected something like this after what you'd told her," she said to Duvessa. "Once we drop you off at school, you are not to leave school grounds without explicit permission from your grandmother."

  "What! You're grounding me? How dare you! I haven't done anything wrong!"

  "We still need to find the artifact they're using," Blaise said.

  "Explicit permission is not grounding," the woman said. "But if you prefer, I'm sure we can ground you instead."

  "That doesn't apply to the rest of us," Booth said.

  The woman turned to him. "It does not. I have no authority over you. But if you have even the slightest bit of sense, you'll stay on school grounds, too. Stay out of this mess."

  Heh. Like any of these brats would do that.