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The clean up of the church was too much for the sheriff’s department to handle. Such a gruesome massacre, and in a church of all places, would have brought far too much attention to the area, and possibly the protectorate.

But their deaths couldn’t be covered up entirely. Dane's pack were too well known in Alamo’s community. So their deaths were attributed to a carbon monoxide leak during the night after a drinking party, and told the Protectorate the actual truth. Or at least, the partial truth. When Morrison informed the Protectorate of the pack’s slaughter and the territory's subsequent abandonment, so that a new Protectorate affiliated pack could claim it before the Pure could, he left out Jessica’s unwilling involvement. Blame for the slaughter and the Wound’s creation was placed solely on the coyote spirit that had elluded them constantly and ultimately escaped into the Spirit World.

They spent most of the night disposing of the corpses and preparing the funeral rite for the pack. As the only Bone Shadow Ithaeur in the pack, and being Matt’s apprentice, David conducted the rite. He wanted to have them buried in their Den but Morrison shot the suggestion down before David could even finish speaking. It was far too dangerous a risk to spend any amount of time in the presence of Wound, let alone conduct a rite near one. They already risked enough going back there to claim all of Matt’s lore on fetish crafting, his pack’s fetishes, and his unfinished ones he was creating for other packs in the area so that David could finish them before any of it could be tainted by the Wound.

Conducting the funeral rite came unexpectedly easily to David, as if it were natural to him. Though he supposed it was natural to him. He was a follower of Kamduis-Ur, Death Wolf, after all, and had two aspects of the Gift of Death. Death had been part of his life ever since that fateful day sixteen years ago.

Since he couldn’t have them buried in their den, he had them in the church so they could overlook the locus, which was still usable unlike Mount Irish’s, and act as guardians of it in death. It was a purely symbolic gesture since, unlike humans, Uratha didn’t leave ghosts after death nor went to the Underworld after death. It wasn’t known what happens to an Uratha after death but it was Dane’s belief that, after death, all the spirits used in the creation of an Uratha’s fetishes would guide the deceased Uratha to their afterlife. Which was why he always stressed to David to always use a willing spirit in a fetish’s creation. He had one pack member buried at each corner of the church, with their proof as graves being hidden and only carvings in the First Tongue showing that anyone was buried there. Which would look like incomprehensible graffiti to any humans who may have seen it.

He couldn’t bring himself to look at Jessica during the rite, who was stone-faced for the entire rite. But her miscoloured eyes betrayed a profound sorrow, one that David was painfully familiar with. He had been right about her being the cause of Matt’s death but was also so very wrong. He had been so close to ripping out her heart. He hadn’t even stopped to think why she did it, just that she did. Being near her also hurt, the closer he was to her during the rite the worse of a headache he formed.

He ended the rite by slicing his hand with a knife and dripping blood on the graves of each slain pack member, an offering of Essence to the departed. Another purely symbolic gesture. But that didn’t stop him from giving far more to Matt’s grave than all the others.

With nowhere else to go, Jessica went with David and the others back to their den. It wasn’t easy for them to sleep while she was there, with David’s headache getting worse the entire time she was near in the accompanying cabin closest to the den. It even started affecting Lucas as well.

It came to a head in the morning, her grief and trauma finally became too much for her to bottle up and she started having a breakdown in the pack’s bedroom.

Tsu’mara and Gabby were in there with her trying to console her while everyone else tried to get ready for the morning. Morrison was tearing through the library ransacking it for something he wouldn’t explain to the others. Lucas and David sat at the dining table trying to nurse their headaches in their own ways. Kaiden was with them too, throwing himself into his coursework with bags under his eyes. Jesse was in the cabin streaming.

Lucas was sipping a coffee to try and help his headache while David sat across from him, lying over the table stewing in his own pain from the headache and misery over losing his mentor and failing to stop the coyote spirit from escaping.

Colin set down a cup of iced tea next to David before putting a hand on his shoulder, “Drink something, please.”

David ignored the offered drink.

“I saw some hare tracks the other day,” said Colin. “We could go and hunt them down. You always like our hunts.”

Lucas scoffed, “Yeah, your ‘hunts’”

Colin narrowed his eyes at Lucas.

“I don’t doubt you two actually hunt some animals during those hunts,” said Lucas, taking another sip from his coffee. “But they always end with us getting woken up in the middle of the night from him doing the walk of shame and you proudly strutting in after him.”

Lucas waited for a moment, clearly expecting an angered retort from David like he usually did. A look of confusion flickered on his face when it never came before he looked at David with both sadness and pity.

He said, “Maybe you should go on that hunt after all, David.”

The slam of a book on the library’s desk made the both of them flinch in pain.

“FUCK!” Morrison yelled in frustration.

Tsu’mara came out of the bedroom to investigate and found the library in complete disarray.

The library was already a mess when they returned from Alamo with all of Matt’s fetish lore and just left it all in stacks for Lucas to find room in the already overstuffed library. But now that Morrison had torn it apart for whatever he was trying to find, it was even worse. Large swathes of the shelves were empty with their respective books stacked everywhere and many of them open. There were even opened scrolls rolling on the floor.

Lucas came in after Tsu’mara and, upon seeing the mess, yelled, “What the fuck?! My library!”

Morrison ignored Lucas, muttering to himself, “It doesn’t make sense. Why doesn’t it make sense?”

“What doesn’t make sense?” asked Tsu’mara.

“The Wound!” answered Morrison. “It shouldn’t be there. It doesn’t make sense why the Wound opened like it did.”

“I don’t understand why your research has to destroy the library,” said Lucas, picking up books and trying to return them to their proper spot. “David said that it was caused by Jessica’s patricide.”

“The idiot’s fucking wrong,” said Morrison before storming out of the library. “It takes prolonged suffering to open a wound. One death isn’t enough. Not even patricide is enough to do that. If every murder did that, the whole world would be fucked. It flies in the face of decades of the Protectorate’s studies on the Vegas wounds, and centuries of Uratha lore. Not even the patricide of an Uratha could cause a Wound. Something just isn’t adding up.”

“Why does it have to be a death?” asked Tsu’mara.

“What else could it have been?” asked Morrison, turning to look back at her. “Jessica’s grief?”

“I have an idea,” said Tsu’mara. “Why not call Father Albert?”

Morrison shrugged and got out his phone, “An outside perspective could work.”

“He felt the Pure’s serpent spirit pack totem after all,” added Tsu’mara

The bedroom door opened and Gabby came out, followed by Jessica. Gabby asked, “What’s all the yelling for?”

Morrison turned to the nurse, holding the phone to his ear, and answered, “Calling my priest friend to talk to Jessica.”

“No,” shouted Jessica, making both David and Lucas flinch and rub their heads. “I don’t want to talk to anyone new.”

She then stormed back into the bedroom and slammed the door. The moment the door slammed, both David and Lucas grabbed their heads, yelled out in pain, and collapsed.

Colin caught David and he looked towards the bedroom as Gabby went inside after the teenager, realising something.

“Elder Morrison,” he said, getting the elder’s attention, “When my mother pretended to be psychic, she had contacts in the psychic community. They were all frauds, of course.”

“Of course,” agreed Morrison.

Colin continued, “But there was one contact of hers. A son of a friend’s friend identified an actual, real psychic. Whenever Ithaeur were around him, they would have strange reactions whenever the psychic used their abilities. As if their use would interfere with the Ithaeur’s link to the Hisil. Like a ripple of sorts.”

“So you think she may be psychic?” asked Morrison

Colin shrugged. “Could she have developed a second Tell? I heard that that’s possible.”

Morrison shook his head, “No, that’s very rare and we’d notice very quickly.”

He started pacing, thinking outloud, “This isn’t a normal Wolf-blood thing. But I’ve heard of Wolf-bloods developing different abilities. But it’s still fairly rare. It’s possible she developed some sort of ability.”

They waited until Father Albert arrived where Morrison filled him in on the recent deaths. Though he left out the exact details about the supernatural.

Father Albert nodded as he processed the information, “Based on the circumstances, it’s clear that she was compelled somehow against her will. She’s extraordinarily self loathing about it and you have reason to suspect that she has some sort of powers?”

“Possibly ESP,” clarified Morrison.

Father Albert raised his eyebrows in surprise, “Oh, okay.”

He turned to Gabby, who had come out of the bedroom again. He offered her his hand, “I don’t believe we’ve met before. I’m Father Albert.”

Gabby meekly shook his hand, “Gabriella Martinez.”

“Yet another grandchild, Morrison?” Father Albert asked Morrison. “That son of yours really got around.”

Morrison quickly shook his head. “No no, just an old friend of David’s that he’s helping out of a rough patch.”

“That’s nice of him,” Father Albert said in surprise.

“It’s the least he could do,” Gabby said with an overly stiff smile.

Father Albert briefly gave her a questioning look before asking, “What do you do for work, Ms Martinez?”

“I’m a nurse,” answered Gabby.

“Oh?” exclaimed Father Albert. “Are you the new nurse that I heard was hired at the clinic on Hinman and Main?”

She nodded, “I start next week. Before that I used to work at an asylum off of Green Valley down in Henderson.

“That asylum?” asked Father Albert. He nodded in understanding, “I see why you were in some hard times.”

“Before I get too off topic,” said Father Albert. “I’m here to see young Jessica. How’s she doing?”

“She’s well into the stages of grief,” answered Gabby. “She’s reacting how a teenager would react over such a traumatic experience. Nothing atypical, anger mixed with sadness and self loathing.”

“She’s not taking any of that out on you I hope,” said Father Albert, concerned.

Gabby waved his concerns off, “I’m used to it at this point.”

“You shouldn’t be,” stated Father Albert.

“I work in-” Gabby started to say before sighing and correcting herself, “I used to work in an asylum. I’ve seen what happens to people when they don’t vent and end up taking it out on themselves. I’d rather they vent on me than go down that road.”

Father Albert nodded as he took in what she said before giving a soft smile, “You’re a saint.”

Gabby blushed at the priest’s remark and stammered, “Thank you, that means a lot coming from you, Padre.”

“Has she given you any off feelings?” asked Father Albert. “Like knowing things she shouldn’t?”

Gabby’s face hardened, she glanced briefly towards David who was still lying across the table, enduring his headache. She muttered a prayer to herself in Spanish before answering, “She always seems to know how someone’s feeling. Even when she’s not looking at them. When she does look at them, it’s more like she’s looking around them rather than directly at them when she does it. She also seems to know who’s going to go into the bedroom before the person even makes their way there.”

Father Albert nodded, “If you think that she has some sort of ability, I have some testing material for that.”

He pulled some large cards out of his jacket and handed them to Morrison. “These are Rorschach tests. Have one of your grandchildren go to a room and say what they see on the cards, and I’ll have Jessica in another room outside of earshot and ask her what she sees in a matching set of cards.”

He turned back to Gabby, “Calm her down first so we can determine.”

Gabby returned to the bedroom, alongside Tsu’mara, to do as the priest asked.

Colin got up excitedly, “I’ll go make her some hot cocoa.”

He darted into the kitchen before anyone could stop him. There was a clattering of a pot being put on a stove and after a few minutes the smell of something burning wafted out into the den. Soon after there was a loud woomf, and a gasp of shock from Colin.

Lucas ran into the kitchen to help put out the fire Colin started.

“What the fuck, Colin?” exclaimed Lucas as he slapped a lid onto the saucepan to extinguish the flame. “How do you fuck up hot cocoa?”

He peeked into the ruined saucepan before putting the lid back on.

“Colin…” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You put the powder in after the milk. Not before.”

“How was I supposed to know that?” Colin said with a pout.

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you to cook?” asked Lucas.

“She wouldn’t let anyone use the kitchen but her,” answered Colin.

Lucas only let out another sigh before shooing him out of the kitchen to make the hot chocolate himself. Colin sat back down next to David with a pout.

Morrison handed off the Rorschach cards to Kaiden, who then retrieved Jesse from the cabin and dragged them into the library with him to conduct his side of the test while Father Albert conducted his side with Jessica in the bedroom.

Kaiden held up the first ink blot to Jesse and asked, “What’s this look like?”

“A four eyed mask,” answered Jesse.

Kaiden looked at the card, “Yeah, I see it.”

He wrote down Jesse’s answer and then showed the second card.

“Two decapitated men high fiving,” answered Jesse.

“Looks like two bears high fiving to me,” said Kaiden before writing down Jesse’s answer.

He showed Jesse the third card, but Jesse didn’t answer. Though they did have a slight, coy smirk. Kaiden looked at it and groaned.

“I think we both know what I see,” giggled Jesse.

“Then just say it so we can move on,” begged Kaiden.

“No,” Jesse said coyly. “You say it.”

“No,“ said Kaiden.

“Say it,” demanded Jesse.

“No,” said Kaiden.

“Say it,” Jesse demanded again.

“No,” said Kaiden.

“Say,” Jesse demanded yet again, leaning forward.

“Fine!” snapped Kaiden. “It’s two chicks with dicks bending over something.”

“Was that so hard?” asked Jesse triumphantly.

“Just shut up and look at the next card,” said Kaiden, holding up the fourth card.

Jesse rolled his eyes and answered, “A guy standing before a demon.”

“I see a wolf’s skull,” said Kaiden as he wrote down Jesse’s answer. He held up the fifth card.

“A moth,” answered Jesse. Kaiden nodded and wrote down the answer.

He held up the sixth card and Jesse answered, “A tree.”

“Looks like a sword buried in something,” said Kaiden as he noted Jesse’s answer.

Jesse leaned forward with a mischievous smile, “What kind of sword?”

“For crying out loud,” groaned Kaiden. “Get your head out of the gutter.”

He held up the seventh card, ignoring Jesse’s jabbing questions and waited for them to answer.

Jesse eventually gave up and answered, “A heavily withered pelvic bone.”

“Looks like two thumbs up to me,” said Kaiden before writing down the answer and holding up the eighth card.

“Two chameleons pulling someone's face apart,” answered Jesse.

“What an Irraka thing to see,” said Kaiden, writing down the answer. “Looks like two people conducting a rite.”

“And that’s a Cahalith thing to say,” said Jesse.

“More of an Ithaeur thing I think,” said Kaiden, holding up the ninth card.

“Two deer having a nose kiss,” answered Jesse.

Kaiden looked at it and nodded, “Yeah, I see it.”

He held up the tenth and final card.

“A coral reef,” answered Jesse.

Kaiden wrote down the answer, saying, “Looks like two space marines fighting eldar.”

“That is such a weirdly specific answer,” said Jesse.

“Oh, that’s real rich coming from you,” said Kaiden as he got up and went into the living room to meet Father Albert.

Jesse followed him out, saying, “Well that was a fun little game.”

Kaiden handed the answers to Father Albert when he came out of the bedroom. The priest read and compared the answers he had got from Jessica.

He nodded, “That makes sense.”

Morrison leaned over to look at the list and Father Albert handed them the list.

“Well that confirms that,” he said, looking the list over.

Jessica came barging out of the bedroom, “What’s this confirm? What’s this about?”

“Jessica, dear,” Morrison said in a gentle voice which made David perk up, confused. “Have you ever experienced any thoughts that weren’t your own? Heard other people’s thoughts? Known things before they happened?”

David didn’t understand what The Old Man was doing. They had never been that overtly caring and gentle sounding to any of them. He only put that voice on as an act for people in Pioche’s community when the two were on patrol.

“Yeah,” responded Jessica. “I never heard people’s thoughts but when I zone out, or when I’m tired, I see colors around people. I thought it was a Wolf-Blood thing and was seeing their scent but Dad said that wasn’t how scent worked.”

She squinted and looked around which made David and Lucas grab their heads and groan in pain. She added, “Right now, I can see ten different colors in the room and just kinda floating around people.”

Morrison looked around, pointing at everyone in the room as he counted them.

“So you see your own?” He asked.

“No,” said Jessica. “How would I see my own? I don’t have eyes outside my head.”

Morrison nodded and muttered to himself, “That makes sense for something else.”

“Never mind that,” he said, waving off Jessica’s confused look. “Anything else strange like that that you thought might be Wolf-Blood related?”

Jessica shook her head, “Nothing that I noticed. If I do notice, I’ll tell you. I didn’t think that was abnormal for Wolf-Bloods.”

“A lot of weird stuff happens to Wolf-Bloods,” said Morrison with an understanding nod. “It’s good to tell us cause it helps us know if something’s taking too much interest in you or something else might be happening. I’m sure your father told you how you’d be a target to get to him.”

“Which they did,” grumbled David.

Jessica closed her eyes, tears forming in them. “Yeah, he told me that.”

“I know, Sweety, we live a dangerous life,” said Morrison with a sigh. “But you helped us a lot in this mystery and we will avenge your father and get that bastard coyote spirit. Make it pay for what he did. It was his fault, not yours.”

“Can I be excused?” asked Jessica. Morrison gave an affirming nod. She left for the bedroom and closed the door behind her. The sound of crying followed soon after.

Trying to divert people’s attention, and give Jessica privacy, Father Albert asked Morrison, “You have other questions for me?”

Morrison nodded, “You’re aware that I come across things of an unholy nature in my line of work.”

Father Albert nodded, “Many times in the past.”

“Something of that disposition took over Mount Irish in Alamo,” informed Morrison. “It might be a prudent idea to suggest people to stay away from the summit. If you could, we could suggest a mountain lion rumour. It’d give me the ability to close the hiking trail in an official capacity.”

“I killed a mountain lion there last week, remember,” said David from the table.

“That’s right,” said Morrison. “We can use that and say that it’s its mate. Give us multiple sightings from credible people in the community.”

Father Albert nodded before saying, “I can’t break the Seal of Confession, but if I hear anything I’ll let you know without giving details.”

Morrison’s face hardened, “If anyone confesses about anything weird happening, it could be dangerous to interact with anyone who’s been there. It’d be prudent to let me know that someone needs to be watched for their own, and everyone else’s safety. There are things on that mountain that can possess people.”

“I’ll check my wards at the chapel,” said Father Albert, “Again.”

“I’ll send you some additional glyphs tied to these foul spirits that might cross your threshold,” said Morrison.

“Try not to get too overzealous with them though,” he warned. “I don’t want a repeat of when one of your wards accidentally locked me in the house.”

Father Albert laughed, “Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t know that the wards would think you were a foul spirit.”

“No,” denied Morrison. “I just had too many foul spirits to drink.”

“I have a list of people that I’d prefer you do that to,” said Morrison, “But I know you look down on using such tactics offensively.”

“That’s true,” agreed Father Albert.

“Speaking of spirits,” Father Albert said as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a bottle of scotch whiskey.

“Oh, thank you,” said Morrison, taking the offered bottle. “Good vintage.”

He got some glasses from the kitchen and the two friends retired to the couch to start drinking it.

While the two older men were socialising a ping came from Lucas’ phone. He looked at it and remarked, “Oh, this might be something we need to take care of soon.”

“Oh?” asked Jesse, leaning over to try and look at the phone.

Lucas held his phone to his chest and looked over to Morrison and Father Albert, who were laughing about something only the two of them understood.

“Can’t do it right now,” he said.

He waited for several more minutes before telling anyone what the text was about, long after Father Albert took his leave.

“Alice is asking for a meeting with her and the rest of her cabal at the Historic Silver Diner,” he told everyone. “They made progress in how to appease Keeper-of-Boots.”