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it required to think out such a thing. Rather her head was very muddled, and very heavy. It felt almost as if it were weighing her down, and trying to flop to either one side or the other, as she walked out of the room.
    She passed the day as she would any other. But always there was lurking in the back of her mind, the thought that things were not quite right, not quite as they should be; and she had considerable difficulty humouring Greyson, in his many different desires for activity. She caught him looking at her, several times, in that same odd manner he had adopted the previous evening at table. But it was far beyond his power to see into Anna’s thoughts; and therefore he was silent on the subject.
    Yet they were both distracted, that afternoon, by an order from Ephram to go hunting. It was a large pack, this time, and all of the house would have to take part. They were to shift at eight o’clock.
    “Where are we going?” Anna asked Ephram, in the short time that they sat together in his study that evening.
    “First we will go to the house of Adrian Ilo,” answered Ephram. “He knows where the pack is hidden. It is nearly three hundred strong! We will merge with Adrian’s people, and attack together.”
    “Adrian Ilo!” exclaimed Anna. “Why – I never thought I should meet him.”
    “Probably you wouldn’t have, my dear, if it were not for the Narken.”
    “Where does his house lie?”
    “In Maine, directly upon the coast. The pack, he says, hides only about thirty miles from him. They have been planning a siege, he thinks – and he wishes to strike before they do. He has requested our assistance.”
    “How large is his house?”
    “Nearly fifty.”
    “Well! Together, then, nearly eighty.” She smiled. “Did you say only three hundred wolves? No doubt we’ll be back before midnight.”
    “Ha!” shouted Ephram, as he rose to place his hand on Anna’s shoulder. “That’s my girl!”
    Less than an hour later, the house was gathered together in the entrance hall, armed to the teeth, and waiting for Ephram’s signal to depart. He stood at the head of the group, with Anna and Valo behind him, and Greyson and Ari on their left-and-right flanks. These were the five who, as always, headed the battle crowd; the dining table; and quite everything else. Anna and Valo had earned their places by way of their superior fighting skills, with weapons and without. Anna herself presently stood with her sword in its scabbard, and a bolt-gun (further details about those little gadgets will be given later) holstered opposite. Ari’s acrid temperament, disagreeable in every other circumstance, played a large hand in rendering her strong and fearless in times of conflict; but it must be said that Greyson, whose skills were indeed no more marked than those of any of the others (were even, perhaps, somewhat deficient), had gained his place mostly on account of Anna’s particular fondness for him (and partly on account of something, which you will hear about at a later time).
    Finally, Ephram held up his fist; and the house shifted together from the room. Mere seconds later, they looked about them, surveying the location to which they had been directed by Ephram’s thoughts.
    They stood grouped into a handsome, sizable apartment, which was no doubt meant to serve as a main drawing-room; but which was, indeed, nowhere near so grand as the great cherry-panelled drawing-room at Thayer Street. Still everyone smiled, and nodded approvingly – for they saw that Adrian Ilo stood directly before them. Ephram stepped forward to take his hand, and the room was silent, staring rather in awe at those two indescribably regal and noble individuals.
    Adrian Ilo stood at what seemed a whole two inches higher than Ephram (an accomplishment few could claim). His shaggy black hair reached down to his shoulders, and his thick beard touched nearly to his collar. He looked a fierce warrior in his rumpled uniform, with a long sword