"Alright," I said, doing a final mental headcount. "Kristi and the glider are in the bag carried by Marlena. Me, Marlena, Addie and Nessy are the 'traumatized' group. Fern and the Elementals are on standby… I think that's everyone that I…" I paused, a sudden realization dousing my strategic enthusiasm. "...wait. Shit."

"Forget something or think of some other contingency, Alpha?" Adelle asked, tilting her head at me.

"TurboFluff," I let out. "I completely forgot about her. She could have probably helped us too."

Instantly, I could see the same realization dawn on Nessy and Addie. In the unending whirlwind where every step seemed heavier starting with the dungeon sim, the Omnids and the infected monks… I managed to completely overlook the scrappy lynx who'd lost her bike and declared her loyalty to me at the edge of Highway 69.

"Ah," Adelle bit her lower lip. "Right. Turbo. Yep. I spaced out too, don't look at me, I'm not Captain anymore. Lots of whack shit went down recently."

"I didn't even think to check if she was okay," I sighed.

"It's not your fault," Nessy said, emphatically placing a paw on my arm.. "We've all been running on adrenaline. But a good pack doesn't leave anyone behind. We should call her."

"My phone got fried with my bike," Addie shrugged. "No idea what her number is. Candace?"

"I... I remember her number," Nessy-Candace nodded. She pulled out her sleek Ipaws, tapping out a number. "There. Putting her on speaker."

The phone rang three times before it was answered with a gruff, slurred, "Who-aree-ya-n-whad-daya want?"

"Turbo! Hey! It's... Candace," she began. "And also Nessy. We're sort of... sharing a body right now. It's a long story."

There was a pause on the other end, followed by a dry, humorless chuckle. "Sharin'... a body? The fuck? How much Topaz are you on, Loops? And who the hell is Nessy?"

"Nessy is the husky Bard girl from school," Addie cut in. "Our age. Loops bound their souls together and now they're like twice as Bard and Binder."

"That husky? With a fox and bird chums? Right-o." There was the sound of a bottle clinking against something hard. "So what? You called to rub it in? 'O-la-la, we're all having a grand old French time sharin' souls n' sheet while your bike is a pile of slag!'"

"No," I said, taking the phone. "Terry, it's Alec. I... I'm sorry I didn't call sooner. Things have been crazy."

"Crazy," she scoffed. "Yeah. Tell me about it. My bike's gone, man. Every credit, every night shift... gone. Just like that. Faster than I could blink. Fucking Highway Sixtiee Ninine maaan. Pretty sure I have Lynx PTSD now and I'm a fucking lynx. Can't look at myself in the mirro without flinching."

The raw misery in her voice had a lot of weight to it.

"I know," I said quietly. "Sorry I didn't contact you sooner. I promise you, we'll get you a new bike. A better one. That's an Alpha's word."

"Pffffsh." She huff-laughed. "What're you gonna do, build me one out of junk from your grandpa's farm, dawg?"

"If I have to," I said. "I will."

"Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever," she slurred. "Anything else?"

"Turbs, how drunk are you?" Adelle asked.

"Very," the lynx replied. "Absolutely sloshed. Can't move. Been awake for two days. About to pass out. Just need to tequila it up."

"She sounds... really down," Nessy sighed. "Her voice... smells like hopelessness. We need to do more than just buy her a bike. She needs pack management. Maybe an intervention."

"I don't need no invervesnhhh, buzz off, whoever uuu are," Turbo replied.

"Terry," I said into the phone, "We're about to go on a mission right now. But after it's done, tomorrow, we're going to hang out. All of us."

There was a long silence. "Why?" she finally asked.

"Because I'm your Alpha," I replied. "You're part of this pack. And we don't leave our packmates behind to drink themselves into a stupor."

"Hmph," she grunted, though it sounded less angry now. "Aight. Have fun... with your thing. I'm gonna go... find wherrr my tequila rolled under. And there it is! Mkay. Peace."

The line went dead. I stared at the phone, my chest feeling heavy. I had another person to save, another broken prad to try and pull back from the edge.

"She just needs a good smack or two." Adelle said. "Looks like our to-do list just got longer."

"We can worry about her after we deal with the soul-sucking well," Kristi said. "Clock's ticking."

She was right. I took a deep breath, pushing down the guilt and worry, mentally focusing on the immediate threat. This mission wasn't just about Nessy's memories. It was about proving that this pack, this strange, dysfunctional family I'd somehow assembled, could actually do great things. That we could save each other, starting with the husky girl.

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"Alright," I said. "Let's move out."

Our team of four departed from the flying tugboat and arrived at the serene, white-stone medieval facade of the Krishna temple.

The sun started setting, and the temple was bathed in the soft glow of magitek lanterns, the air thick with the scent of incense and blooming night flowers.

From the outside, it was a picture of tranquility.

We approached the main entrance, where a lone male wolf monk stood guard. He smiled serenely as we drew near.

"Namaste, friends. The temple will soon be closing for the evening, but if you seek urgent spiritual counsel—"

Marlena, channeling the energy of a deeply concerned but slightly frazzled teacher, rushed forward, her hands waving with dramatic anxiety. "Oh, thank goodness! Please, you have to help us! My students... they've witnessed something just awful!"

She launched into the fabricated story with a performance worthy of an award, about the untimely demise of my grandfather via ceramic wyvern consumption.

Adelle, Nessy-Candace and I played our parts, looking suitably shell-shocked and traumatized, although I could tell that Adelle was trying very hard not to break out into snickers. Nessy had to step hard on her foot so that the cheetah would let out an appropriate sob-noise at the right time.

The monk's serene expression shifted to one of deep sympathy after he absorbed our TA's tale. "The poor dears. Of course. Come in, come in! The Well can offer your students solace tonight. We will guide you."

"Ah! Novitiate Whitepaw," He spotted Nessy. "How did the book sale go today?"

"As good as always," Nesys said, keeping a serious face on. "I left early because I ran out of mana, but the others are still there, doing their part, helping take down the booths. I… also would like the use of the well tonight, as I am struggling to mentally deal with my friend's grandfather's death. Old Daniel really should have taken better care of his farm's monster-repelling barrier."

"Of course, novitiate," the monk nodded. "I understand."

We were led through the quiet temple, our footsteps echoing on the polished stone floors. As we passed below the main prayer hall, I could feel the low thrum of the ward magic, a palpable sense of arcane power held in reserve. The monk led us to a small, windowless waiting room beneath the hall.

"Please, make yourselves comfortable," he said. "You must change into temple robes to enter the sacred space. And please, leave your bags and phones here. No worldly possessions are permitted in the presence of the Well of Severance."

He gestured to a row of lockers. We complied, undressing and changing into the simple orange robes. Marlena placed the oversized dimensional bag—containing Kristi, a submachine gun, and a high-tech assault glider—beside a locker with a soft thud. Nessy grabbed my phone and whispered something softly. My phone vanished out of existence. I guessed that she dipped it into the Astral like Candace did with her long hair.

With a final, compassionate smile, the monk led us through a heavy stone door and down a flight of spiraling stairs. The air grew colder, damper. As we descended, the walls slowly changed.

The serene carvings of deities gave way to older, more primal symbols etched into the rough-hewn stone—spirals, geometric patterns, and arcane runes that pulsed with a faint, cold light.

The stairs eventually opened into a vast, circular cavern lit by blue lanterns.

In the center, surrounded by a ring of glowing massive, jagged, blue-black crystals, was the Well of Severance. From this subterranean vantage point, it looked nothing like the peaceful garden feature I'd seen from above. It was a wide, gaping maw in the floor, a vortex of swirling, silver and dark energy.

A shimmering, transparent barrier surrounded the entire maw, humming with power. Two other monks were present, sitting in silent meditation in front of the well.

"The cleansing is performed with the Chalice of Absolution," our guide explained, gesturing to a simple obsidian chalice resting on a pedestal just outside the ward barrier. "One must drink from it to attune to the Well's energy, allowing it to draw forth the memories and attachments you wish to release."

"I see," Marlena nodded. "What a fascinating process! May I have a closer look at that lovely Chalice?"

As she waddled toward the pedestal, she "accidentally" tripped, her massive form careening toward two of the meditating monks.

"Whoopsie-doodle!" she cried out.

That was our signal.

Nessy sprang into action. She darted toward our confused-looking guide.

"Unbind Astral connection!" she commanded, her paws slapping against his back.

I saw it again—that horrifying, split-second glimpse of something fungal and alien writhing above the monk's head. The connection severed and the wolf swayed.

"Pow!" Adelle snarled, flashing toward the wolf with shadowstep and knocking him out with an uppercut. The wolf flew backwards and rolled across the floor, his body going slack.

Marlena didn't just stumble. She rolled, a blur of gray-and-black hexamesh, knocking the two monks off their feet with a sound like bowling pins being scattered. "Sorry! So clumsy of me!" she chirped, slamming her fists into the monk heads.

The head-boops didn't seem to work on the monks.

They slowly scrambled back up, their expressions looking lopsided and unnatural, movements jerky as if they were sleepwalking, eyes half lidded.

Marlena met them head on with a joyful bark, her fists raised. "Tag! You're it!"

Her tail sent the monks flying into the distant walls. Their bodies slamming into the wall seemed to have little effect, as they slid down and then stood up, wobbling.

The two invincible monks advanced with jerky motions. They were puppets, their strings pulled by something eldritch and unseen. Adelle tensed, ready to spring, but Nessy held up a paw, stopping her. "Punching them only knocks out the host body. Let me disrupt their threads first."

She took a deep breath, and a low, resonant hum began to build in her throat. It wasn't a song, just a single, pure note of Riffweld that vibrated through the stone floor, a focused pulse that seemed to disrupt something vital within the puppeteered prads.

The advancing monks faltered, their coordination suddenly failing them. One stumbled sideways into a support pillar, the other staggered back, its head lolling as if some strings controlling it had gone slack.

That was the opening.

Nessy rushed as an orange robed, black-white blur past the disoriented monks. She reached the nearest one. "Unbind Astral connection!"

Then performed the same unbinding magic on the second monk, with Adelle following right behind Nessy with knockout punches.

"Impressive!" Marlena smiled. "A+ work!"

"Thanks," Nessy winked, then turned her attention to the shimmering barrier around the Well. She approached it cautiously, her paw extended, the dragonheart laurel on her head pulsing with radial shimmers.

"Unbind Ward," she commanded, pressing her paws against the invisible wall.

The barrier did not yield. Instead, it flared with brilliant, cold light, repelling her touch with a jolt that sent her stumbling back.

"Whoa! Okay, that's… potent. Hrmmm. An outside source? Clever, clever. Let me sniff where you are "

She didn't try breaching the ward again. Instead, she sat cross-legged on the stone floor.

The one silver-gray iris glowed with an inner light as she began to scan the barrier, her head tilting as she traced invisible lines of power through the air.

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