Classic Horse Face: you are given zero time to argue, only to watch as Horse Face raises a... thingy? A totem?... and snaps it in half. BOOM! A shockwave of rainbowy-oilslicky water, directed upwards, catches Ramsey square in the cloak— which billows, revealing nothing but blackness inside. Ramsey curses. Ten seconds. You scream [OPEN] and sprint full-tilt at the temple, kick off its wall, exhale, and pray— and pray for— yes! You are swept off your feet by a cloud of beetles, who propel your lightened body over and above the roof. The launch angle isn't quite right, though. "EARL!" you holler, and a two-ton shark leaps and collides with your back. Thank God for the armor! You ricochet, yelling, Sword bright as anything, and sail through the cloak, which twists and vanishes behind you. You are gone. So is Ramsey. The Fen, for the first time in days, is absolutely silent.

Gil, collapsing to his knees, stares up at the point where you were. He stares over at the double sharks. Down at Lucky, who's fallen to the ground, and Garvin, who is stashing the halves of the totem in a baggie. And directly at Teddy, who has crouched to join him. "She'll be fine," Teddy says.

"I know." And he does know. "I-I-I just... I-I don't really know what I expected."

Teddy laughs.

>[END THREAD]