The next few weeks passed quickly, though not uneventfully. During that time, Keryan had begun to settle in. Prior to moving away from The Burrow, she had always spent two weeks at the nightclub, then two weeks at the twin's house, alternating between the two. That was the custody arrangement and it had always worked well. So for the first fortnight, it was as though nothing had really changed, at least for Keryan. She still had her usual bedroom, with everything in the usual places. However, once the first two weeks had passed, it all began to seem far more real and at times it proved difficult consoling her over the fact that she wouldn't be returning home to live with her mother for an unknown length of time.

Eliki knew the situation would have been less harsh if Ailee had done as suggested and visited her daughter now and again. It was fortunate that she kept to her promise regarding phone calls, so Keryan was at least able to speak to her mother over the phone each night, usually just before the little snowkitten went to bed. Even though she knew it already, it never hurt to be reassured that Ailee missed her and loved her dearly, and that she was convinced they'd be together properly again soon. It also helped Ailee, as she knew her daughter was safe and well, and it gave her something to look forward to each day, even if she couldn't face visiting and then having to leave again without her daughter.

As soon as Ailee had left the twin's house that first day, Eliki had given Keryan the blood-red pendant as promised, ensuring she knew how vitally important it was to keep it with her at all times. Jarret had been adamant about that fact, so Keryan vowed it would always be in her possession, and she even slept with it under her pillow.

A few days later, Loganberry contacted Eliki with important news about the pendant, which he'd been researching. As Eliki had suspected for a while, Loganberry confirmed that the stone in the pendant was a Kiera stone, but not one of the five stolen by the Elysia. This one looked nothing like they normally did, so Loganberry assumed it had been altered or adapted somehow. It deepened the mystery as to where Jarret had found it, but two things were certain.

First, the stone contained a tiny amount of Keryan's blood. Eliki made a mental note to ask Jarret precisely how he had obtained it, of course, but whatever the case, the blood linked the stone directly to Keryan - presumably done by Jarret as a way of preventing it being used by anyone else. However, it seemed he hadn't been able to activate the stone in the same way the Elysia had done, so that it would still work "by remote." That was evidently why he was so determined that Keryan needed to be in close contact with the stone at all times.

Secondly, the stone's purpose therefore was to protect Keryan from just about all forms of harm - hence Jarret's slightly cryptic claim that it would keep her safe "when she most needs it." It meant Eliki was considerably happier about his daughter's safety, as well as Jarret's own determination to keep her safe. He could just as easily have kept the stone for himself, and ordinarily this was exactly what would have been expected from Jarret.

As soon as Eliki had been told the news by Loganberry, he decided Ailee should know as soon as possible. The resulting phone call had been unsurprisingly emotional. Ailee was happy knowing her daughter's safety was less of a worry now, but she vowed to also have some seriously strong words with Jarret for keeping her in the dark about the Kiera stone. They did briefly wonder if it was still vital for Keryan to stay away from The Burrow, if the pendant could keep her safe. But as Ailee pointed out herself, neither of them wanted their daughter to be there if - or perhaps more likely when - any trouble started. Even if she was safe from harm, she wasn't safe from seeing what happened, and there were always other dangers. Also, with his usual unswerving pessimism, Jarret then informed them that Kiera stones were usually extremely reliable, but this particular one had been damaged over the centuries. He had repaired it as best he could, but there was a slim - but nevertheless existent - chance that the stone could fail at a critical moment. They conceded that it simply wasn't worth taking any unnecessary risks. Even though it was doubtful the pendant would fail, that little nugget of information from Jarret had evaporated some of Eliki and Ailee's newfound hope for their daughter's safety. But then that was something they were used to when dealing with Jarret.

So Leana's shielding spell became all the more important, and was put in place as soon as possible. In theory, it would act as a boost or backup for the pendant, doing whatever it could to prevent Keryan being harmed if, somehow, the Elysia reached her. The spell also made it impossible, in theory, for anyone to intercept or listen in on any phone calls connected to the twin's house, making it harder for the Elysia to find out she was there. It stood to reason that they'd figure it out anyway, so the spell also boosted the security at the twin's house tenfold. As far as Leana was concerned, nobody would force their way into that house with anything less than a nuclear missile.

In an ideal world, Keryan would have stayed in that house, safe and sound, but they knew it was impractical and impossible for her to stay indoors at all times. That meant the combined protection from the spell and the pendant made them all far more comfortable about Keryan being outdoors. While at The Burrow, Keryan rarely had chance to visit the Phoenixbrook market, which was a place she loved, so she jumped at the opportunity of occasionally helping Eliki and Andrina on the jewellery stall. Since she enjoyed trying on the jewellery and playing around with the beads, not to mention the fact she got on extremely well with Andrina, she was well and truly in her element.

It also didn't do any harm for Andrina's sales, as Keryan's bright and bubbly personality tended to attract more people to the stall, who would sometimes stay longer than planned while Keryan nattered away to them non-stop. By then, escape was impossible and the combination of that and Andrina's sales technique meant a sale was pretty much guaranteed. Keryan also had a knack for dreaming up weird and wonderful ideas for new jewellery, and although Andrina was never stuck for creative ideas herself, there was no denying that the little snowkitten's ideas were bright and cheerful, and the ones that Andrina tried out seemed to sell more often than not - which made Keryan almost glow with pride.

Naturally, Andrina asked her if she planned to do something like making jewellery for a living when she was older. Keryan shook her head vigorously and told her, "No, I want to be a dancer and do theatre stuff." However, she promised Andrina that when she wasn't doing 'theatre stuff' she would help Andrina to make "huge, big oodlies of new jewellery and then we'll sell them for a whole heap of money." Andrina seemed happy enough with those carefully laid career plans, while Eliki stood nearby and grinned knowingly, thinking to himself that whatever Keryan planned to do in the future, her personality and determination would ensure she would manage to achieve it.

Where their work shifts allowed, Eliki and Leana tried to ensure that at least one of them was at home for part of the day, so Keryan wasn't outdoors among the crowds for too long. Now and again, she also took the chance to go with Leana to The Bookshelf, where Leana worked, and there was certainly no shortage of books for her to look through and mix up.

One book in particular fascinated her. It had no title on the cover or inside, and was way beyond Keryan's reading abilities, evidently aimed at older children. The book smelled old and dusty, and from what she and Leana could tell, it involved two raccoon children, who could cross over to a strange parallel dream world at night, inhabited by bizarre door knockers that came to life. Though the story, fascinating as it seemed, was too complex for Keryan at that time, she found the various colour prints which were scattered among the pages, illustrating key points of the plot, to be far more intriguing. The surreal living door knockers occupied many of the prints and Keryan seemed to find them hypnotic. Leana decided to buy it for her as a gift, and the mysterious untitled book took pride of place on the small bookshelf in Keryan's bedroom.

At some point while Keryan was helping and hindering at the book shop, Eliki had taken the chance to follow up on some of his earlier thoughts. He took the mask, given to them by Koreen, heading to a quiet, secluded part of the river, using the mask's strange abilities to view the river and its surroundings as it had looked several centuries earlier. His initial experiment, placing his camera pen in front of the mask to capture the bygone images, failed totally. It seemed the mask relied on more than just itself to make the visual connection. So instead, he settled for making sketches as best he could, using them as a basis for a new series of paintings.

And then of course, there was another visit from the Skiryks...

The day started simply enough. The early May weather was far sunnier than usual, so Eliki and Leana decided to take Keryan on a picnic, as it seemed the ideal day. They opted for the peaceful little meadow which they often visited on their way to the special clearing. Andrina had decided against tagging along this time, as she needed to run the jewellery stall and had a set of new pendants to piece together, and though they asked Ailee, it was no surprise that she politely declined - a minor relief to Leana.

The snowkittens took the usual bus out of the city, to Listore and then headed the rest of the way on foot, through the fields, at a leisurely pace. Fortunately Keryan wasn't the sort to tire too quickly. They made short work of the picnic, and then the twins sat on an old bench below a huge oak tree, spending the next hour keeping Keryan away from the decidedly dodgy old rope swings that still hung from various branches, and watching her playing around by the shallow stream.

Eliki looked up at the sunlight shimmering and twinkling through the leaves and branches of the oak tree overhead. "It's hard to believe we were here only a month ago, and so much has already changed since then."

Leana nodded. "It's a shame Andrina wasn't here this time. Keryan could have avenged you by floating a few water bubbles onto her head."

Eliki grinned. "After the mayhem last week when Keryan knocked over Andrina's beads at the stall and then floated them all over the market, I don't think anyone would wish for further chaos."

"Actually, that's something I hadn't really thought of much till now," Leana mused. "Usually a snowkitten's powers tend to 'specialise' in one particular thing. Andrina's powers seem to be stronger if she does anything involving water."

Eliki commented, "And mum seems to have a knack for telekinesis."

"Exactly. Whereas in our cases, as well as Ailee and Jarret, our powers don't really lie in any specific area. And from everything I've seen so far, Keryan seems to have the same ability - she can turn her paw to all manner of things. That must have been passed on genetically. But if that's the case..."

Eliki finished the sentence. "Then you have to wonder just how powerful her abilities will eventually become."

Leana smiled. "Yeah... So we'd all better hope Jarret doesn't gain as much influence over her as I'm sure he'd like to."

Keryan, busy watching a worm burrowing into the ground and contemplating whether or not to pounce it, suddenly looked up, her ears perked as if she'd heard something nearby. She stood up, looking towards the northern fields just beyond the meadow.

Eliki looked puzzled. "What?"

Leana stood too. "Didn't you hear it?" Eliki shook his head, but followed the other two snowkittens as they headed over to the wooden fence ahead. "It was a strange sound, like nothing I've ever heard before, and I sensed something really weird."

She leapt the fence, and Keryan followed with a little help, while Eliki stopped suddenly. "Yeah, but then again you know just what is disturbingly near here. Are you sure this is a good idea? I think we should just head back."

"Uh oh..." Leana murmured. "Look at this."

Eliki reluctantly climbed the fence, joining the two snowkittens. The field, which had been nothing but soil a month ago, was now half covered with the strange, spiky plants that covered the western field and surrounded the farmhouse they feared so much. The plants here were far taller than the twins, blocking all view of the building itself.

Leana spoke more quietly. "I know there were rumours that the forces in that building were spreading, but they can't have reached this far so quickly. This is really bad news."

Keryan shivered, looking decidedly unhappy. "I don't like it here."

"C'mon, let's go," Eliki whispered, as though the plants were listening to every word they said.

Leana froze. They all heard it this time. From far off in the distance, there was a chilling, rumbling sound. Something was approaching, smashing the plants aside and moving rapidly in their direction.

"Get down!" Leana yelled. Eliki and Keryan leapt to the ground as a demonic 'something' burst from among the plants, heading straight towards them at breakneck speed. As soon as it appeared, Leana flung her arms wide. A massive, golden globe of crackling energy formed around the snowkittens, freezing the creature less than twenty metres away, preventing it from finding a way to reach them, around or above. Eliki, covering Keryan's eyes, looked wide eyed as he saw the entity. It hung in the air, staring at them with dead eyes. It was a tattered mess that was almost impossible to describe, its arms hanging lifelessly at its side, and whatever remained of its face, the jaw hung down as though badly broken, sharp teeth visible in its lolling mouth. In its wake, a huge trail lay where the plants had been violently forced aside, leading all the way back to the distant farmhouse.

Leana bit back her fear. Arms still held wide to keep the shield in place, she stepped a little nearer to the being, and glared. "What are you?" It didn't respond, looking balefully back. She snapped, "Answer me!"

It pointed, painfully slowly, back towards the farmhouse and then towards Keryan, who Eliki still shielded. And then, it placed its withered, burned hand on the protective energy globe surrounding the snowkittens. Leana's ears went flat as the creature's hand pushed through the shield, and then it began to gradually force its way through,

"Damn you!" Leana snarled. "Eliki, get Keryan back to the meadow. Now!" He picked Keryan up, running with her back to the fence and lifting her over quickly. He looked back at Leana, but she gestured at him to keep moving. As the creature finally managed to break entirely through the shield, drifting towards Leana, she closed her eyes and defiantly hissed, "Got you."

A vast fireball, momentarily surrounding just Leana, burst forward in a huge, roaring arc, obliterating everything in front of her and spreading outwards, destroying swathes of the deformed, spiky plants for hundreds of metres around. Leana opened her eyes. As she'd expected, the creature had vanished, and all that remained in the field was herself and charred soil.

Eliki called out from the fence. "Are you okay? What was that thing?"

Leana surveyed the scorched soil and replied, "I'm okay. Just shook up at the moment. I don't know what that thing was, but at a guess, I'd say it was a manifestation of the forces trapped in that farmhouse. Almost like some sort of weird representative. Those plants only grow where that creature has influence, so it must have spread far further and faster than anyone expected. And with that field under its influence, that was the only reason the creature could reach that far away from the building. I've pushed it back as far as I could, so its influence won't be able to spread this far again for quite a while. Not till it can shred the protection I've surrounded this field with. But that won't last forever. Either way, normally it can't reach this far. The spectre is probably still there, but it can't reach us now."

"But they can," Eliki told her, pointing worriedly towards the distant barn.

Leana's eyes widened. The tell tale signs were beginning already, as the air began to fill with a deeply unsettling atmosphere, and the clouds above the farmhouse darkened, forming a vague, but definite, spiralling vortex. Though they were a long way off, a mass of figures could be seen forming around the farmhouse.

Leana's response was instant. "The Skiryks! We need to get away from here right now."

As she hurried over to the fence, Eliki said, "We'd never be able to make it back to Phoenixbrook. It's too far. Surely we'd be safe at the clearing? That isn't far from here at all."

Leana climbed the fence swiftly. "I don't know. I'm not convinced that even the clearing would be secure from something like the Skiryks. We can't risk it. We'll have to head for Listore as fast as we can. We should be able to find shelter there, but..."

Her sentence didn't need completing. The Skiryks could move fast, probably faster than the snowkittens could run, and it was impossible to hide from them. Leana's spell had forced back the creature in the farmhouse and it couldn't reach them, so it had evidently summoned the Skiryks specifically to track down the snowkittens in revenge, and the Skiryks had no such limits on the distances they could travel. The snowkittens had never been this near to the farmhouse before when the Skiryks had manifested in the past, so they had no idea just how fast the spectral figures could move. All they could do was move away as fast as possible.

The snowkittens ran to the bottom of the meadow, into the fields beyond, but the growing crops and the soil made it difficult to maintain a decent speed. And it was hardly a short journey. Added to that, Keryan was terrified, unsurprisingly, and tiring rapidly.

Eliki knelt down to her. "Sweetheart, we have to keep moving. We need to find shelter fast."

"But my feet are hurting," she sobbed.

Eliki picked her up on his shoulders as best he could manage, but he lacked the strength to carry Keryan and move quickly, especially on such awkward terrain. "We'll be okay, I promise," he reassured his daughter, but he knew they were moving nowhere near quickly enough.

Leana, stopping as Eliki caught his breath, looked at the distant clouds to the north. "They're not following the route we took. They're simply cutting across the fields directly towards us. We'd never make it if we follow this path, but I've got an idea. We can take a shortcut from here."

Eliki looked round frantically. "Well if you know of one, I'd love to see it!"

Behind them, along the southern edge of the field and path on which they stood, were lines of dense trees and bushes. Leana began moving along the bushes, searching for something. She called back, "Remember the huge rope swing we used to see every time we went along this path all those years ago? The one that looked too rotten to risk using?"

Eliki remembered it well, putting Keryan gently down and joining the search. Moments later he called out, "Here!" Pulling aside two large bushes, he revealed a thin, muddy trail heading down a steep bank, with a stream visible at the bottom. There, on a tree branch high above the stream, were the tattered remains of an old blue rope, far too short to be of any use, but it was the only proof Eliki needed to see. He knew they had found the correct place among the bushes. Years ago, the track had been easily visible from the fields, but over time it had become overgrown and hidden. Until now.

Keryan shouted in fear as a mass of misty, silent figures appeared at the top of the field, and the twins knew there was no other option. Eliki took Keryan's paw, and they scrambled through the gap in the bushes, down the slippery bank, just about making it to the stream without falling over - though Leana was less than impressed when her foot landed in the stream. They leapt over the water, climbing awkwardly up the track on the opposite side. There, to their immense relief, was the old, abandoned shed they remembered from years ago, still intact. Why a shed had been left standing, when almost every other trace of the houses that used to be here decades earlier had long gone, was a mystery but they had no plans to complain. It was shelter.

As Eliki helped Keryan up the last part of the slippery bank, Leana pulled at the shed door. It had no lock, and took a fair amount of effort to actually open, but she managed it and they hurried inside. Eliki pushed the door shut, just as the Skiryks appeared at the bottom of the track. They shimmered, blinking out of sight, before reappearing on the side of the stream nearest the shed.

The shed was almost completely empty, aside from a very rusty shovel in the corner, next to a large box of empty wine bottles. The only window was covered in cobwebs and was far too grimy to see out of - not that the twins especially wanted to. Outside, the Skiryks surrounded the shed completely. Visible or not, the blood chilling, anguished cries and surreal whispers they made reverberated round the dark shed. Eliki held Keryan close to him, covering her ears. She shook with fear, and even Leana had backed up against the far wall.

The twins knew that the Skiryks would never enter a building, so people were safe so long as they found shelter, in a house, shop or even a dilapidated shed. Just in case though, Leana had sealed the lockless door with a strong spell. Of course, the twins had always believed the story that the Skiryks couldn't enter any buildings, but they evidently hadn't heard about Jarret's experience with the creatures in January, at The Burrow, when doors had proved no problem to them at all. So the snowkittens were somewhat shocked when the shed door exploded outwards, defying Leana's powerful spell completely.

Eliki pressed Keryan tighter against him as several of the Skiryks drifted to the entrance of the shed, staring in - if indeed creatures without any distinct features could really stare. They floated there, now silent and unmoving, apparently unable or unwilling to cross the threshold to actually enter the shed.

One of the Skiryks, in its near-shapeless form, lifted an arm. It was like watching steam rising, the shape forming and dissipating, then forming again, over and over. And then it spoke. Its voice little more than a scratchy whisper, it seemed to come from all directions at once. It gestured towards Keryan. "The child. We just want her."

Despite her fear, Leana snarled, "Over my dead body."

The reply was deafening. "As you wish." Though the others remained outside, the 'leader' began to drift forward towards Leana, its shape changing and becoming increasingly vague, apart from long, razor-sharp talons that appeared on its outstretched hand.

At that point, Keryan looked up, wide eyed in terror, and yelled, "Keep away from her! Just go away! All of you just go away!"

The twins stared as she gripped the red pendant round her neck tightly. Almost instantly, it glowed, then a vivid red light burst from it, spreading outwards rapidly in all directions, accompanied by a loud rumble that shook the shed walls. The light became too bright and the three snowkittens had to close their eyes tight. Just as suddenly it faded again, leaving behind silence and the darkness of the shed. Blinking, Leana cautiously went to the doorway. The Skiryks were nowhere to be seen. The only trace was the swirling mass of clouds, heading rapidly into the distance back towards the farmhouse.

She turned back to Keryan. "It's okay. They've gone for now. They won't be back any time soon, I promise." She and Eliki sat by her in the shed, and there they stayed trying to calm her, and themselves, down and reassure her they were safe now, thanks somehow to Keryan's pendant.

The few weeks that followed that eventful day, leading towards late May, had been difficult. Eliki and Leana had crossed paths with the Skiryks before, though never at such close range, but at least it meant they'd been able to recover from the fright fairly quickly. Keryan also seemed to be okay after a few days, possibly helped by being so young. Maybe a child's perspective somehow helped. The nightmares she suffered for the next few weeks proved it wasn't quite so simple to just forget what had happened. In time they became far less frequent, but now and again the bad dreams would surface, almost like they were one last trick the Skiryks were playing. For her own reasons, Keryan chose not to talk about what happened in the nightmares, and the twins didn't push for her to tell them about it.

Unsurprisingly, once Ailee had been told about that day in the fields, she had plenty to say on the subject, and Eliki's ears were ringing by the time she'd calmed down on the other end of the phone. They both agreed Keryan shouldn't go anywhere near those fields again, not with such immense danger hiding there, waiting to pounce, and Eliki was more than happy to oblige with that, after all that had happened. It didn't alter the fact that somewhere so special to them had become a place of danger, but that was something they decided to tackle another time.

And then, towards the end of the month, Leana proudly read out an email received from their mother, Koreen. "They've done it!" she told Eliki. "Mum has written to say Nightlights have won the Best 2027 album award for 'Watch Words.' She says they decided not to attend the actual award ceremony though."

Eliki nodded. He knew that Koreen and the rest of Nightlights were unhappy about taking part in the award ceremonies, as they strongly disagreed with what they considered to be a charade and nothing but point scoring and backslapping. Nonetheless they were still very grateful for the publicity such an award could bring, and the fact they'd won it, and naturally Eliki and Leana were very proud of that fact too. So, seeing as the band were avoiding the actual award ceremony itself, Nightlights planned to do a small "thank you" live show just for the fans, over in the country of Ritore. Koreen had emailed the twins two tickets, which included air travel, in the form of authorisation codes. (The codes, when entered correctly at the relevant airport, would be rewarded with the real tickets, at which point Koreen's bank account would be billed.) Eliki knew his immense fear of flying would prevent him from going, as much as he would have loved to, but Koreen understood that totally, making the offer anyway.

The gig was planned for next month, a fortnight's time, and though Leana was reluctant to leave Eliki and Keryan behind, not to mention Andrina who was unable to go for a myriad of reasons, they persuaded her that they'd be okay and that it would be perfectly alright if she went. So Leana replied by email (since Koreen had a phobia of phones and never used them) to let her mother know her decision, booking the time off work the next day. Kalia had made a big show of grumbling about it but as ever, that was just a wind-up, and he relented, knowing that when Leana asked for time off, it was fairly pointless arguing it.

The twins could never have known that the email from Koreen was an extremely elaborate fake, and certainly hadn't originated from her. It managed to deftly go through every layer of security and double-checking that the twins had in place, and everything about it appeared genuine - a fact even more surprising since the tickets would also eventually prove to be perfectly valid. The consequences of not spotting the fake email would be very far-reaching. But then they would all find that out soon enough...