“So what are we doing today?” Fae asked, turning another page in her book and pulling her robe tighter around her small figure.

“We’re going to see an old friend of mine,” Cuts said casually, sipping some more tea from the wooden mug, eyes glued to the window next to him.

“Are they as happy and lively as you?” Fae joked, looking up momentarily and peering over her glasses at him.

He didn’t reply, he just carried on with what he was doing as if he hadn’t heard her at all.

For a while they both carried on silently, until Fae noticed he was still staring out of the window.

“Expecting somebody?” she asked, closing her book and going over to the window to see what was so interesting.

“No,” he muttered, “But there’s someone on the hill.”

“Huh?” She strained her eyes to see into the darkness, and she could just make out a figure at the top of it, “Yeah, there is… It’s probably one of the neighbours.”

“Probably…” he replied cautiously, returning to drinking his tea.

***

About three hours later, around midnight and a couple of chapters away from the end of her book, Fae felt a sudden wave of heat pass over her.

“We’re going out,” Cuts said rather unexpectedly, breaking the silence and lowering his wand.

“But -” Fae began to protest, but cut short by a wave of Cuts’ hands.

After eating a quick snack and leaving quickly out of the house, he closed the door behind them and magically sealed it, before walking down the snow-covered path. The heat coming off of the two of them was obvious as the snow around their feet melted as they walked through it.

“Where are we going?” Fae asked after a few minutes of walking, pulling the robe tighter around herself, teeth chattering as the heat spell began to wear off.

“You’ll see,” Cuts replied without breaking pace, not seeming to be affected by the cold.

“You should be a travel guide with that attitude,” she snapped sarcastically.

He looked down at her momentarily and cast another heat spell, which seemed to cheer her up, if only for a short while. She brushed her shoulder-length brown hair from out of her eyes and put her glasses on, pulling the book out from under her robes and turning to the page she was on.

***

“Who wants to lead the Way?” Bill asked, hoping it wasn’t to be him.

“We’ve all agreed,” the God of Intelligence replied, looking to the others for reassurance, “That it is to be you. You are the most rational, though not the most intellectual,” she coughed, “Of us all, and you could do with the experience, being one of the youngest of the Gods.”

Bill nodded, knowing better than to argue with them. He closed his eyes in concentration, and whispered a word into the air to summon the first piece to be played.

“Lycan.”

***

It was almost midday by the time they arrived at their destination, but around here it seemed to still be rather dark.

Fae literally fell through the gates of the village (which had gold plated words reading “Vatisa” along the top), while Cuts seemed in the same state as when they left the house. She had given up reading the last few chapters of her book hours ago, as the wind had kept blowing the pages away and getting stuff in her eyes, making it impossible to read.

“Where is it then?” Fae managed to spit out – along with half a mouth full of dirt.

“In there,” Cuts replied, looking to a building made of what appeared to be thick wood on the outside, and on top of it was a cross the size of a full-grown man – with a man on it.

“A Church?!” Fae gasped, standing up and backing away from the village, “You have got to be kidding me! You know what they think of us, don’t you?!”

“Relax,” he snapped, grabbing her by the collar and up the road, “I know a vicar here. I have business with him that shall lead to our next lesson – if we can get through it without interruptions?” He glanced at her questioningly.

“Yeah, whatever,” she replied, pulling away from him. She felt disturbed by the area now she knew a church was nearby – a village with a church meant a village of religious adults and children, all of which would attempt to capture them and take them in for burning if they knew what they were.

A short walks way up the path lead to the large wooden doors of the church, made with a light coloured wood and surrounded by a thin strip of gold. Cuts knocked once, twice, three times on the door, in a way that sounded musical. The door creaked open slightly and within the darkness you could just make out a nose and a mouth.

“Who is it?” came a hoarse voice, seeming to echo around the entire building, as if the church itself were speaking.

“Me,” Cuts replied, Fae slightly annoyed at this – she had hoped she would find out his real name.

“Of course.”

The door creaked further open and more of the man was revealed as the moonlight spread through the doorway and onto the dark-marble floor and walls – marble?

“Why’s the floor -” Fae was cut off before she could finish her question.

“It’s nice to see you again old friend,” the man said, now with his own voice which was – though still rough – less menacing.

“And you too,” Cuts replied, grinning.

They sat down and talked for a while, Fae reading the last few pages of her book, and by the time she had finished it, they had appeared to have also finished their conversation.

“I hate it when the bad guys lose,” Fae said, sitting up properly and placing the book back within her robe, “It’s always the ‘orphan boy with powers’ that survives. He didn’t even learn that many spells, and only used one in his fight against Lo-”

“Stop ranting,” Cuts said, cutting off her speech.

She frowned and placed the book back into her robe, standing up and stretching out – before falling over and erupting in laughter as the ‘pins and needles’ took over her legs.

“Are we leaving now then?” she asked, holding onto the edge of the sofa and dragging herself up to standing position.

“No, not yet,” Cuts replied, giving a quick glance towards his friend, “It’s late and we need our sleep for what is to come.”

“What do you mean?”

He acted as if he didn’t hear her and indicated towards the stairs, “Second door on the right.”