[A]She couldn’t find the moose monster.

  At first she didn’t think it was a problem. She had checked the rain room and the food pce, but while she had found some disks in the food pce they had both been empty of anything else. Checking each of the wall words had also not found the monster. The only other pce she could think to look was its ir but the wall was closed. If the monster was in its ir than there was nothing she could do and would just have to wait.

  That waiting began to turn into panic after she had woken from a sleep. A quick check of the food pce and a ck of disks pointed out that the monster had not returned to the food pce while she slept. It also had not woken her if it had come out of its ir. She tried to think of a time she had seen the moose monster after it had eaten the magic inside her but she couldn't.

  Had she taken more magic than she realized?

  She had no idea just how much magic she could hold or how much magic was in her trinket. She had thought that after eating the magic in both herself and in her trinket the monster would be full. Had she been wrong?

  She had to admit to herself that she just didn’t understand anything about magic. Perhaps there was another step in eating magic that she didn’t know about and she had taken too much before she fled its ir. If she had left the moose monster vulnerable and it had been defeated by other monsters….

  She didn’t want to think about that anymore.

  The moose monster was still the only source of magic that she knew of. It was easy to avoid if she needed to and its danger was understood. The moose monster represented the only real path forward for her that she could think of. Trying the same things with any other monster was likely to be the end of her.

  She wanted to go back and look through the Pages again but she couldn't. She knew that the moose monster did things much longer than she could so she would need to spend more time watching its ir. Though the end of the second sleep seeing no sign of the moose monster made the panic that much worse.

  A combination of her angry belly and a need for more knowledge sent her back to her home. Though that journey was far more dangerous than she could have possibly known.

  As she was padding through the tunnels, trying to think of reasons the moose monster may not appear or what she could do if it didn’t, the darkness attacked her. It was only for a heartbeat and her trinket protected her, but it was something that had never happened before. To have the trinket she trusted her life to tested so thoroughly scared her more than the moose monster.

  She sped up and worried less about being quiet. If the darkness was getting that bold she wanted to be in her home before it tried again. She did manage to return to her home without further attacks. Her heart was still beating faster than normal at the encounter so she made sure the wall crack was as closed as possible before she set her trinket down and moved to start checking the pages.

  She was thoroughly unprepared to be attacked again, which is likely why the darkness tried. She had thought her home safe from the darkness and her trinket able to fight it off. A double yer of protection. When the darkness invaded she panicked badly. It sted longer this time, no more than a few breaths but still longer than the blink that had happened before.

  Clearly something had changed.

  Could the reason that the moose monster was missing be because the darkness had become more aggressive?

  She had thought she fixed her trinket with the magic she had stolen from the moose monster, perhaps she had been wrong. Maybe she just hadn’t taken enough magic and her trinket was struggling now. The darkness had certainly never been bold enough to invade her home before.

  If her trinket failed now and left her to the darkness when she had no idea where the moose monster had disappeared to she would be easy prey to the other monsters.

  As her new reality settled in, she realized that it didn’t matter what she wanted. If the magic of her trinket was damaged or lessened because of the moose monster then she needed the moose monster more than she needed to be in control. She simply couldn’t face the darkness without its magic, regardless of the emptiness slowly growing inside her.

  Her breath hitched as she realized how little magic she had left inside. Was that why the darkness was attacking? Always before she had been either empty and protected by the trinket or full of the moose monsters magic and still protected. Either not worth the effort or too well protected.

  She had been hasty. Too hasty. She never should have left the moose monsters ir. Not until she had made sure she was full of magic and her trinket was working properly.

  With her trinkets power waning and the magic inside her draining away, she desperately needed to find the moose monster again.

  Find it and never let it leave her sight again.

  She didn’t know what she felt anymore.

  Terrified was a good start, as it took two more attacks and a fitful sleep near the moose monsters ir before she found it again.

  Strange was also a good way to say it, as she found the moose monster outside of the rain room. While her body desperately wanted to experience that again, her mind understood that it was how she had gotten into this situation in the first pce and warned about the danger of her body being eaten as well.

  Desperate was also in the mix, as the magic inside her was nearly gone and she feared what the darkness would do if her trinket failed before then.

  All of that on top of the relief she felt to finally find the moose monster again. It had held out its hand, likely to start some kind of magic on her, though she didn’t give it the chance. She rushed up to it and grabbed its hand, pressing it to her chest.

  Instantly the emptiness fled and the tingles began to radiate from the contact. She could feel the magic filling her once again. It was surprising how much comfort the monster’s rge hand gave her when it was enveloping her like that.

  Realizing that she was draining the moose monsters magic again and she didn’t know how much it was willing to give, she desperately tried to find a compromise. If the monster stopped giving her magic she didn’t know how it would affect her, but she never wanted to be empty again. The attempts by the darkness were more than enough to convince her she would do anything to avoid that fate.

  In a desperate attempt to continue receiving magic and to distract the monster she offered up her trinket. If the darkness was close to defeating it and she couldn’t fix it with her meager knowledge anyways, she would rather offer its remaining magic to entice the moose monster. She didn’t want to know what it was going to do with her trinket though, so she looked away. So long as it wasn’t destroyed there would always be another chance to fix it.

  When it started to rumble and still hadn’t taken her trinket she grew nervous. She was still wary of looking into its eyes, as they seemed to hold the most potent magic, but she looked up to see what was happening. When she noticed that its other hand was full she grew confused. Could it not take her trinket with magic, or simply eat it on the spot?

  As things continued, the monster rumbling and her holding out her trinket, she started to get a bad feeling. Something that was confirmed when the monster started to pull away. Desperate as she was to not lose the contact, she very nearly spoke, though she realized quickly and it came out as more of an ‘eep’ than any kind of word as she tried to hold its hand in pce.

  It seemed to mean something to the moose monster though, as it breathed out noisily and turned toward her. She looked towards the floor as the monster came to loom over her, not wanting to get caught in its magic or see what it did to her trinket. That didn’t st long though.

  She had known that the moose monster was unstoppable and beyond strong. She was given a good example of that strength when it swept her legs from under her and lifted her into the air. She was so stunned by the quickness and ease that she didn’t even think to try and escape. Not that she wanted to once the warmth and tingles started in earnest. If she had thought touching its hand had filled her, she saw now how empty she had been.

  The heat coming off the monster’s chest was much warmer than its hand. So warm she started to worry about being burned. It was even better than the warmth from the rain room. Not to mention that it was accompanied by the tingles racing around her body.

  Her body that wanted nothing more than to curl up and embrace the heat and tingles. Her mind raced trying to figure out what was happening, but the warmth was fogging her mind again and she was having trouble thinking about anything other than how to get more.

  Maybe… Maybe giving in to the moose monster wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

  [B]He really wished his new responsibility could converse.

  He had given her a bit to calm down, but they couldn’t sit there in the hallway doing nothing all night. Once she had a chance to breathe, he had started back towards his room so he could drop off the important bits he was carrying. He didn’t wait long enough it seemed, as she chirped at him and tried to hold him in pce when he went to leave.

  At that point all he could do was sigh and pick her up.

  While he was more than happy to work with the girl to get her interested in survival, her own specifically, things weren’t cozy enough that he could just let her do as she pleased. So long as she was off doing her own thing and not blocking him it didn’t matter much, but once she started to slow down progress on finding food and water he had to make some hard decisions.

  While he understood that bodily moving her around like he was would just scare her more, he needed to start work on the second level he had found. Work that would need food considering how long he had been down there. He didn’t know how long she would need him to sit there to calm down, but it was longer than he was willing to spend if his first pause wasn’t enough.

  So here he was, fighting a headache from ck of food and a crisis waiting to happen huddled in his arms. He didn’t know what had spooked her so badly that she needed to stay right there, but whatever it was would get a pan to the face if it showed up again.

  Seeing as how she didn’t make a peep during the entire trip to the mess hall things weren’t looking good. If he had managed to scare her as much as whatever it had been, then she wasn’t going to tell him squat. That was even considering she could get any information across at all. He hoped he could coax her out of the fear coma she seemed to be in with a choco-stick.

  …. Maybe not a fear coma then.

  He had gone to put her down on a bench in the mess hall but she had clung to his chest like a monkey, refusing to let go. Maybe she really was a cat? She certainly demanded attention like one. Now he really had no idea what was going on.

  She had clearly been wary of him in the hall, as she had refused to get closer even while she was grabbing his hand. Now that he had her attached to his chest though he had to reevaluate that entire exchange.

  Had she refused to move from a spot, rather than be afraid of getting closer to him? It would expin why she had changed so drastically.

  Fuck it, he needed calories and miss clingy kitty wasn’t letting go. He set his notebook and pan down on the table and went into the back with the rest of his baggage. At least he had hands to work with again. Not enough dexterity to make food, but it was enough to grab several choco-sticks. He stuffed two into his mouth right there to start with and had a handful more set for ter.

  Drinking as much water as he could stomach, he grabbed the rest of his stuff and headed for his room. If his hangers on wanted water she would just have to let go and get some. Though she didn’t make a peep on the way to his room either.

  He didn’t get his first clue until he got into the room. After he had closed the door, which he was sure would get a reaction since it made noise, he set the lights to something less eye searing. While he did that both to conserve power and because he liked things less bright, it seemed to be quite terrifying to his guest. She very much went from ‘I’m not moving’ to ‘bear hug until you can’t breathe’.

  ‘Ah, she’s afraid of the dark. I imagine the auto lights are the worst thing ever for her’

  Well then, how to deal with this little dilemma. The fastest way was to show he had control of the lights, though considering that wasn’t entirely true it probably wasn’t the best choice, but it would probably stop her from being clingy.

  Did…did he need her to stop though?

  Sure, it was inconvenient to have her attached to his front, but if he could get her moved around to cling to his back it wouldn’t matter much. She was incredibly light, so while he would certainly work more to haul her around, she would work less, a kind of canceling out of work. If being there helped her to not panic and kept her calm it would be a net gain on calories in the end.

  Huh, clearly his brain was frazzled and not thinking of everything since it was sounding more and more like a good idea. No, it would be best to show how the lights were controlled…

  When they didn’t flicker like that at least.

  Seems like his stroll on the other level had powered something up. Could be what had spooked the poor girl as well, since her grip had just gotten tighter.

  This did not bode well for their power sting. He would need to find whatever had booted up and shut it back down. Or at least determine if there was a main power pnt to start up. It seemed that exploring that level had suddenly become more important. He sighed again, so much to get done.

  First things first though, he needed to convince a skittish kitty that lights didn’t need to be bright. Flickering lights aside, if he could have her overcome her fear of the dark it would go a long way to get things started.

  Seeing as how he had manhandled her up to this point and she was already scared out of her mind, he turned the lights down dim enough that his eyes would need time to adjust. Doing so seemed to spook the girl worse, but he just pushed on and covered her eyes with his hand. With her thoroughly blind and attempting to crush the air out of his chest, he went and sat on his bed with the girl on his p. Putting the pan down and opening his notebook, not that he could really see it at the moment, he spent the time contempting what he had found down there.

  The girl tried to squirm a bit, but considering she never let go he wasn’t sure what her pn was. After his eyes had adjusted enough to see his notes better, he let his hand covering the girl’s eyes fall away.

  Considering the only lights in the room were dim night lights and the overhead was dimmed enough to see them, he expected the girl to need some coaxing and treats to gather her courage.

  She didn’t need them, but he wasn’t exactly sure she had gathered anything resembling courage either.

  Her stance on his continued breathing didn’t change for a bit, but slowly she loosened up. When she had let go enough to look around, he figured things were on the right track and got ready to start the coaxing. When she jammed the stuffed cat into his chest and tossed it towards the door he got a bit derailed. When she started to talk a bit in her rumbly voice he recognized some of the words, though it seemed she was just spitting them out at random. Suffice to say he was thoroughly confused at this point.

  He was not to be deterred though. Once she stopped, he stuffed an unwrapped choco-stick into her hand in an attempt to get her to fully release her grip. This seemed to derail the girl a bit, as she seemed just as confused about the treat as he was about her randomized speech. Didn’t stop her from eating the treat though.

  After it was devoured, she huffed a bit and looked around. He wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but as he was trying to get her used to the dark he decided that head rubs and a good night’s sleep would do her good.

  He would need to be careful of course, he didn’t want to leave the door open in case whatever had spooked her wasn’t light-based and she had just spent the st little bit cursing it out. That unfortunately required that the girl have a door between her and freedom. She seemed fine now, but once the fright had worn off and she realized where she was that would probably change quite fast. He wasn’t looking forward to a night with one eye open to keep watch on the girl.

  She didn’t seem to consider any of that though, leaning into the head rubs like she was an addict. His pn in the process of backfiring on him, since he was trying to get her to let go and she was doing the opposite, he really had no choice but to double down until she passed out.

  ‘I really hope that whatever turned on won’t end us before I get the chance to go back down there’