0:01

It will be worth it. It

0:06

will be worth it.

0:10

It will be worth it.

0:15

It is not for myself, Dreamer.

0:18

I need you to know that. It

0:21

is for you and a trillion

0:24

lives like yours. For

0:28

all life, describable and

0:30

otherwise. For a

0:33

forest of black pines and

0:35

watching trees. For

0:37

star wolves and demons

0:39

and vampires. For

0:42

ravens and rats and

0:44

frogs and fastidious rottwelds.

0:48

For nightgaunts and meetletooth

0:50

hares. I

0:52

must do this. I have no choice. No. Oh

0:54

well, I do have a choice. But

0:56

for all your sakes,

0:58

this is the one I must

1:00

make. And

1:10

what is the loss of a few eyes? I still

1:13

behold the universe. A fraction less than I

1:15

did before. I am only now a little

1:17

short of

1:19

countless. I

1:37

am only now a little short of countless. Clementine

2:00

liked to think of

2:03

herself as someone with

2:05

nothing to lose. And

2:15

yet, with death closing in on

2:17

four sides, she could not

2:19

help but think of all the things that

2:21

she was about to. Shelby,

2:25

and the little apartment on Fisher Lane

2:27

with her good desk in it. A

2:30

three-legged beagle, her

2:33

mother against all odds. Riot,

2:37

out there, somewhere, somehow,

2:40

someday. A mess

2:42

of red string and notes and pictures on

2:44

the wall of her office. Red

2:46

strings that stretched all the way

2:49

across Scout City, wound

2:51

through homes and branches and all

2:53

led to the four strangers that

2:55

surrounded her. She glanced

2:57

from one to the next. Fiddle,

3:00

drum, horn, and piano.

3:03

Their masks were more art than

3:05

function. A mask for

3:07

a robbery was supposed to be as

3:09

ubiquitous as possible. These were

3:11

one of a kind. Unmistakable.

3:15

A value either to send a

3:17

message or of a more ritual

3:19

nature known only to the wearers.

3:22

Each of the four strangers closing

3:24

in around her with their black

3:27

clothing and cloaks and gaudy music

3:29

masks carried a dagger. Thin,

3:31

curved, long. But in the remaining

3:34

four of their hands, thin lines

3:36

of moonlight flashed in the air

3:38

as wires stretched out from fiddle

3:41

to horn and drum to piano.

3:43

And she was caught between the lines

3:46

as the quartet yanked them taut. Her

3:48

crumpled hand caught on one of the

3:50

wires and contorted with the tension of

3:53

the line. It opened her skin where

3:55

it touched, but she was out of

3:57

blood to bleed. The other wire caught

3:59

on the wire. in a fold of

4:01

her jacket, and she tried to bow

4:03

out of the cable's grasp, but there

4:05

was a snap and twist, and a

4:07

loop trailed around her arm, the other

4:10

around her leg, and as she kicked

4:12

for space, her neck. Four

4:14

sets of hands like a great

4:16

spider ensnared her with a sharp

4:18

pull, and a seam opened in

4:21

her wherever the wire touched, and

4:23

she flipped face first into the

4:25

ground. You feel

4:27

good about this? she said,

4:29

spitting fluid and teeth into the

4:32

dirt. Real fair

4:34

fight. There was

4:36

a sharp kick in the back of her neck, one

4:39

that broke something and made her whole

4:41

world spin in points of white light,

4:44

the world she could see with her

4:46

remaining eye, that was. Keep

4:49

her quiet, said the drum,

4:51

hoist her up. The

4:53

wire was tight around her neck then,

4:55

and the sound of metal rattling as

4:58

the wire was flipped up over a

5:00

top of a branch that crossed her

5:02

alley. She had four stage

5:04

hands hastening to their orchestrated parts,

5:06

and she was about to be

5:09

Scout City's next big show, and

5:11

there was no strength left in her,

5:14

almost none. She bit someone's gloved hand,

5:16

she kicked out as she was dragged

5:18

up from the forest floor to her

5:20

knees. It didn't matter.

5:23

They were strong, and her body was

5:25

collapsing with every blow now. The

5:28

rush of her dying circulation filled

5:30

her ears, drowned out all other

5:32

noise. Her heart was

5:34

a drum itself, tapping out a

5:36

strange tune for a finale. If

5:39

she screamed, she could not hear

5:42

it, and neither could Scout City.

5:44

There was a sound then that

5:46

wasn't musical at all. It

5:48

was a ferocious roar that she had

5:51

not often heard, the grinding

5:53

wheeze of the Arvolution, or

5:55

the hum of the stone-made

5:57

helicopter, or the cantankerous buzz

5:59

of the root crawlers, a

6:01

mechanical engine of some kind,

6:04

small but vicious, and a light

6:06

illuminated the end of the alleyway.

6:09

Shelby Allen stood at the end

6:12

of the alley, trench coat torn

6:14

and spattered black with blood, hair

6:16

pushed back in the night wind.

6:19

Her eyes were wide, she

6:21

neither smiled nor grimaced. She

6:24

held in one hand a flashlight, which

6:26

was the kind of thing Shelby always

6:28

remembered to bring, and had no other

6:30

hand at all. Where

6:32

a graceful, cold, surprisingly strong hand

6:35

had been, there was a wrist

6:37

wrapped in strips of her coat,

6:40

and leather belts that bounced to her

6:42

forearm the source of the noise. An

6:44

electric saw. Fourteen inches

6:47

of serrated metal teeth reciprocated

6:49

along a sword-like edge, yellow

6:51

paint had flaked from the

6:53

housing and battery, and a

6:55

silver handle that looped around

6:57

Shelby's arm. It was built

6:59

a lifetime ago for turning

7:02

a carcass into neat, manageable

7:04

pieces, and Shelby used it

7:06

for work, and she used it for

7:08

work now. Shelby

7:10

lowered the winding saw into one of

7:12

the wires stretched across the alley, and

7:14

the blade chewed through it instantly, and

7:17

Clem felt the air rush into her

7:19

again as the tension around her neck

7:21

released. The quartet member with the mask

7:23

of saxophone brass made a kind of

7:26

stifled grunt as the wire snapped into

7:28

them and left a cut in a

7:30

wrist above the black glove. And

7:33

then Shelby stepped forward, saw flickering

7:35

with violence, and the quartet

7:37

was suddenly in motion. Four

7:40

ghosts in black cloaks flowing to

7:42

the back of the alley, and

7:44

as swiftly as they had appeared,

7:47

they were scaling from the ledges

7:49

between the two gigantic stump buildings

7:51

to the rooftops. Even

7:53

through the grimy haze of her

7:55

vision, Clem noticed that one of

7:57

them made the 30 foot jump

7:59

in a single hefty leap. And

8:01

then the last of their cloaks

8:03

passed over the edge of the rooftop

8:06

above, and Shelby was beside her,

8:08

the only light in this foul

8:10

night. The saw Shelby had affixed to

8:12

her arm bit through the remaining

8:14

wire, and Clem fell free and

8:16

landed on her knees again. And

8:19

there were a thousand things Clem wanted to

8:21

say. Hey, what's up with

8:23

the hand? Guess why we're never

8:25

having mushroom stew for dinner again? Guess

8:28

why else. Where have you been all

8:30

day? Wish we had stayed together.

8:33

But there was not time for any of

8:35

it, because there was only the case and

8:37

it was slipping away. Come

8:41

on, Clem grunted. Help me

8:43

up. We're going after

8:45

them. What

8:59

does it look like, Buck? Rick

9:02

rounds was close, and

9:04

his voice sent a shiver down Buck's

9:06

spine that was difficult to interpret. Closeness

9:09

could mean tenderness with Rick, or

9:11

it could mean pain, and often

9:13

both together. He

9:15

loomed behind where Buck sat in

9:17

the tent, transgressively close. What

9:21

does what look like, Rick? Buck

9:23

said. For freedom,

9:26

said Rick. And Buck felt Rick's hands

9:28

lean on the back of his chair,

9:30

and it creaked under the weight of

9:32

both of them. Don't

9:35

act like you don't know. What

9:37

do you do all day if it ain't

9:39

listening in to what people are saying? Well,

9:43

it's fine, Rick. It's

9:45

fine, said Buck. Rick

9:48

swallowed and Buck felt he was not going

9:50

to escape so easily. I get

9:53

the sense it ain't, said

9:56

Rick. I reckon,

9:59

Mrs. Wicker is up to something,

10:02

but conceded. Suddenly, safety

10:04

lay in honesty. Talking

10:07

to the wives while you and the

10:09

boys are out on patrol?

10:12

One of her Bible studies. Far

10:15

as I'm aware, she ain't saying

10:17

anything out loud exactly, but she

10:20

casts you and your leadership in

10:22

a life that ain't too pleasant.

10:26

Wives, said Rick Rounds.

10:30

I'm not worried about what

10:32

the wives at Fort Freedom

10:34

think, Buck. Well,

10:37

the thing about them is that

10:40

what they tend to think ends

10:42

up being what their husbands end

10:44

up Buck, I do not give

10:46

a damn, said Rick, and

10:48

Buck felt Rick's grip tighten on the head

10:51

of the chair, and the man's voice behind

10:53

him lowered nearly to his neck. Fort

10:56

Freedom is mine. It's

10:59

gonna take more than the nagging of

11:01

old housewives to shake things up around

11:04

here. No one

11:06

takes what's mine. As

11:09

it turned out, sometimes people did,

11:11

in fact, take what was Rick

11:13

Rounds. Satan took Rick's hand,

11:15

and Mrs. Wicker took his title, and

11:18

Buck took his leave, and that was

11:20

the end of Rick Rounds. And

11:23

Buck had, through all the storms

11:25

of the latter days that buffeted

11:27

him, taken step after step out

11:29

of Fort Freedom, and into a

11:31

life that was free. Plans back

11:34

then had been simple, studying

11:36

the elaborate social hierarchy of

11:38

righteousness and violence that made

11:41

up Fort Freedom and its

11:43

people. Even within the

11:45

rows of people seated in the

11:47

pews listening to the sermons of Bob

11:49

Wicker, there had been nuances. People

11:52

motivated by fear or reward, who

11:54

felt the world was an enemy

11:57

or a tribulation. Mrs. Wicker,

12:00

or had a keen eye for it,

12:02

and by the time Rick Rounds left

12:04

on his final mission, she already had

12:07

instilled herself in half of the community's

12:09

subconscious, and Buck, who

12:11

had not necessarily known words like

12:13

hierarchy or subconscious at the time,

12:16

had been keen too. And

12:18

he was a decade and a half

12:21

and half an ocean away from

12:23

Fort Freedom and the memory of

12:25

Rick Rounds. He was

12:28

holding a tiny pair of binoculars and

12:30

looking out on a rain-streaked window halfway

12:32

up a cargo ship control tower, watching

12:34

a man that he did not have

12:37

to hide loving pretend to be a

12:39

night watchman. Marco paced

12:41

the hundreds of feet of deck below,

12:44

lantern waving in the billowing clouds

12:46

of rain, and then reversed course,

12:49

conspicuous only by his isolation on

12:51

the empty and rain-swept portion of

12:53

the deck. He

12:55

passed the binoculars silently to

12:57

Brooklyn, and she took Vigil at the

12:59

window. "'With

13:01

respect, I still can't

13:04

believe you agreed to let him do this,'

13:06

said Brooklyn. "'Frankly,

13:09

neither can I,' said Buck,

13:12

but he was dead set on it. You

13:16

trust these nights to keep him

13:18

safe?' Brooklyn said, not

13:21

wavering from the lenses. "'No,

13:24

not exactly,' said Buck,

13:26

and that did merit a sharp look

13:28

up from Brooklyn. Her clothes

13:30

were neat even despite the rainstorm, the

13:33

dark braids of her hair up in

13:35

a bun, and her hand clung to

13:37

a pen and paper pad perched against

13:39

the window sill, even when she wasn't

13:41

paying attention. There was

13:43

a thumping of footsteps somewhere in

13:45

the metal stairways beyond that made

13:48

Buck nervous. "'Although,' they did give

13:50

their word, "'I'm betting on

13:52

their drive to hurt this thing

13:54

above all else,' Buck continued. "'Right

13:58

now, though, it's delicate.' Captain

14:00

Branston doesn't know what we're up to

14:03

as far as I'm aware. I

14:05

have yet to uncover the exact

14:07

nature of his relationship with this

14:09

night predator, but I

14:11

suspect it to be a complicated thing and

14:13

I am not sure if he would intervene.

14:16

As for the humble boot and Captain

14:19

Shaw, I know they have

14:21

a vested interest in seeing this beast

14:23

destroyed, but I do not

14:25

trust them to do it reliably. And

14:30

Mr. Spade said Brooklyn, studying

14:32

him. I

14:34

worry Mr. Spade is caught up

14:36

in playing a game he cannot

14:38

win, said Buck, and

14:41

that makes him dangerous. There

14:44

was a wrap on the door then and

14:46

a rattle of the rebar that Buck and

14:48

Brooklyn had used to bar the door to

14:50

the hall. Mr. Silver,

14:53

said Dashill Spade on the other side.

14:56

Buck and Brooklyn were silent for a moment

14:58

and Buck took his cane in both hands.

15:01

Brooklyn pushed back the fold of her long

15:03

coat and her hand moved to the device

15:05

at her hip, a makeshift

15:07

taser built from the husk of

15:09

a botco-enforcing drone. Mr. Silver, I

15:11

know you're in there. Mr.

15:14

Spade continued. Open the door.

15:17

Last time we spoke, you said

15:19

you would offer me no more

15:21

help, Buck said, although he

15:24

guessed Brooklyn would have had him stay quiet.

15:27

Forgive me if I am skeptical

15:29

to oblige you. I

15:31

was mistaken, said Dashill. There

15:34

is a game being played, and

15:36

there's no way to win. Something is

15:38

beginning. Buck, Brooklyn

15:41

said, standing up suddenly from the

15:43

window. I can't see Marco.

15:46

Buck took the binoculars and looked out,

15:48

but could not see Marco, or for

15:50

that matter, half the deck. The

15:52

spotlights that usually illuminated the deck flickered

15:54

and were smothered with dark clouds, and

15:57

he could not even hear the sound

15:59

of the light. of the thunder

16:01

or rainfall outside. I've

16:04

met the creature, said Dashiel, from

16:06

the other side of the door. The

16:09

game, the notes, it's

16:11

been a distraction for us. Tonight

16:14

she goes on the warpath. When

16:17

it all falls apart, I

16:19

don't know what to do when that happens. I

16:22

see it coming, I'm like a man

16:24

eating deer in headlights, and the future is rushing

16:26

towards me, and I can't get out of its way.

16:29

I think you'll find bits and pieces of me, smeared

16:32

across the front bumper, buried in

16:34

the glass of the windshield. I'm

16:37

going to leave a mess. Buck

16:39

stepped from the control tower onto the

16:42

deck with Brooklyn and a frenzied Mr.

16:44

Spade at his back, and

16:46

it was shocking how quickly they

16:48

disappeared. There was no

16:50

moonlight, and the rain and wind were felt,

16:52

but not heard or seen. His

16:55

cane mapped out the grate of the deck

16:57

beneath his feet, but otherwise the veil of

16:59

shadow that had descended on the ship

17:01

was complete. He turned

17:04

back, reaching out for either Brooklyn

17:06

or Mr. Spade, and felt neither.

17:08

Perhaps they had passed him in the black

17:11

fog already. There were

17:13

muted flashes of sound, whispers that

17:15

should have been Roar's hints of

17:18

distant grinding metal. He

17:20

felt for the rail of the ship,

17:22

nearly slipped as the deck shifted angles

17:24

beneath him, and clung to it

17:26

for dear life, and when he had a good

17:28

grip, begin inching forward into

17:30

the darkness. He called for Marco or

17:32

for Brooklyn, although he could not hear

17:35

his own voice in the shadow. He

17:38

hoped the Knights of New England had

17:40

come better prepared to fight this darkness

17:42

than he had. Dattles'

17:44

words weighed on him, the

17:47

Countess, the Duchess, the

17:49

Game. It was unclear

17:52

now if the second note mattered.

17:54

If it was a promise, their

17:57

opponent would still uphold. The

17:59

winning... rise, your daughter

18:02

lives." But the immediate

18:04

priority was finding Marco and making sure

18:06

that he had not been mauled. In

18:09

truth, Buck was a bit frightened of what

18:11

he might find. He felt

18:13

sometimes a breeze pass him in the

18:15

shadow, was unsure if it was the

18:18

rising storm or nights or fell creatures

18:20

passing in the night. He

18:22

continued along the railing for what seemed

18:24

like an hour, although it must have

18:26

been only minutes, and resisted as he

18:29

felt several heavier swells of the boat

18:31

that leaned him against the edge of

18:33

the rail. He felt

18:35

then a small frigid hand

18:38

grab his and pull. He

18:41

stumbled on his feet a moment,

18:43

coughing silently in the infernal smog.

18:45

The hand was hopes, he was fairly

18:48

sure, and so he followed it, although

18:50

if it was not hers, but the

18:52

vampire's, it was to his end. Then

18:55

the ground suddenly disappeared and he

18:57

was falling, collided shoulder and head

18:59

with metal stairs as he came

19:02

to land in a crawlspace beneath

19:04

the deck, and the trapdoor swung

19:06

shut on rusted hinges above. Hope

19:09

sat up there, drenched by the rain

19:11

and shivering on the steps. Sorry,

19:15

she said. Are you okay? I

19:18

wasn't trying to trip you, but I couldn't see.

19:22

Hope, said Buck. The

19:25

deathly silent fog did not penetrate

19:27

here, and there was a dull

19:29

orange-like flickering in the metal hall.

19:31

He sat up, rubbed at the cut

19:33

on his forehead, came away with blood on

19:36

his fingers. I'm

19:38

quite alright, but you were

19:40

supposed to stay in your room. I met

19:44

her, Hope said, eyes wide and

19:46

her chin on her knees. The

19:49

Duchess is the vampire. I had

19:53

been informed as much by

19:55

Mr. Spade, Buck said. You

19:58

should not have been talking with me. this

20:00

woman. She tried

20:02

to swoop me into the air, but then I

20:04

fell into the ocean." Hope continued.

20:07

Buck blinked in hopes that he had

20:09

been too concussed to understand her correctly.

20:13

But then her friends rescued me. And

20:15

I think we've got it backwards. They're

20:19

being hunted by the knights and

20:21

by the captains. We

20:23

did not board this ship to

20:25

shed blood, but to

20:28

escape violence. Said a voice,

20:30

and Buck looked up to find a woman

20:32

at the end of the rusted hall. She

20:35

wore an elaborate black dress as the

20:37

duchess had, but her veil was lifted.

20:40

Her face was brown and round and

20:42

framed by dark hair and golden beads,

20:44

and he knew immediately that he had

20:46

seen her before, a lifetime ago. Roaring

20:49

at the knives and chains of

20:52

Fort Freedom, cast into a fighting

20:54

pit, rising to confront the great

20:57

heron frog sticker amidst the froglin

20:59

bones, a wolf in the

21:01

shape of a woman. That

21:03

was the day the devil had come to

21:05

Fort Freedom, and the beginning

21:08

of the end for Rick Rounds,

21:10

and the beginning of a change for

21:12

everything in Buck Silver's life. Escape

21:15

violence, indeed. If

21:18

she recognized him, she gave no sign of it. If

21:23

you know what is happening out there,

21:25

said Buck, I would

21:27

be keen to hear it. Hope's

21:30

parents are up there. There

21:32

are knights waiting to ambush whoever has been killing

21:34

night watches.

21:38

I cannot guarantee that anyone will be safe

21:40

in the violence that is beginning, said

21:43

the wolf. Neither your

21:46

loved ones nor mine. I only know

21:48

that by the dawn, much

21:51

blood will have been shed aboard this

21:53

ship. Thank you

21:56

for returning hope safely, Buck said.

22:00

cautiously, although felt his weight

22:02

shift to put himself more between the wolf

22:04

at the end of the hall and hope

22:06

on the stairs. Of

22:08

course, said the wolf, I

22:11

am not a monster. No.

22:16

But am I, Buck wondered, and

22:18

am I still? Only

22:21

this night will tell. Shelby

22:35

was only a little cold, and she

22:37

wondered if this was how Shank had

22:39

felt when he butchered her parents. She

22:43

had awoken in a basement in an empty

22:45

warehouse in the shipping district in the lower

22:47

trunk, no names or owners

22:49

that she could identify immediately. Her

22:52

things had been set neatly, almost

22:54

carefully, on a table, and only

22:56

footprints and the trail of her

22:58

own dragged body disturbed the dust.

23:01

The immediate thing had been how to

23:03

stay conscious to spike the pain, gather

23:06

her things, and rise through the doors

23:08

into the dim twilight. Scarcely

23:10

a thought had passed through her. She

23:13

moved like a weapon, unfeeling

23:15

and calculated. The pain

23:17

was present, her hand was not. The

23:20

electric bonesaw was hastily adapted to her

23:22

arm, but it was something that could

23:24

harm, that she would not need to

23:27

manage once she locked it on. Burns'

23:30

crossbow she had loaded, but would

23:32

not be able to reload easily. And

23:35

then she had begun to search. The

23:38

search led her to Clementine, who

23:40

was one eye short, skin cut

23:43

in a dozen places, one

23:45

arm and hand a crumpled heap,

23:47

barely able to stand. Purging

23:50

her to help her rise, to

23:52

chase the black cloaks escaping over

23:54

the rooftops of the stumps. Somehow

23:57

they made it to the roof. Really

24:00

with Shelby hauling all of Clementine along

24:03

with one hand, and then they both

24:05

had their footing on one of the

24:07

rusted roofs that stretched out across the

24:09

lower neighborhoods of Scout City. And she

24:11

could see the four strangers in the

24:14

distance, leaping from rooftop to rooftop as

24:16

they made their getaway. She

24:18

knelt, pulled out the crossbow with

24:20

her free hand, loaded for one

24:22

shot only, and braced it against

24:24

her chest and knee and fired.

24:27

A silver tipped bolt whistled through

24:29

the moonlight and sunk into

24:32

a leg four rooftops away, and

24:34

one of the black cloaks went

24:36

down, rolled across the roof, and

24:38

then the hunt was on. Clem

24:41

hustled ahead, clutching her side, and Shelby

24:43

was right behind her, and for a

24:45

moment it was just like it had

24:47

been for years, side by

24:50

side again and the end of a

24:52

case ahead of them, so close that

24:54

she could taste it like blood in

24:56

the air. The

24:58

other three members of the quartet gathered

25:00

around their fallen member, who

25:02

screamed something fierce, and Shelby

25:05

and Clementine, Scout City detectives,

25:07

closed in not to kill

25:09

but to unmask the truth,

25:12

and Shelby looked over. Caught

25:15

Clementine's gaze in the moonlight,

25:17

the boss smiled. And

25:20

then the boss's eyes closed, and

25:23

Clementine fell to a heap, slid

25:26

across the large flat roof of one

25:28

of the great stump buildings. Shelby

25:31

came to a halt a few feet

25:33

later and stood against the night sky.

25:36

She watched the quartet four roofs

25:38

away, helping the fourth member to

25:41

their feet. They

25:43

watched her back, masks glinting

25:45

in the starlight. They

25:47

stood like that for a moment, hunter

25:50

and prey, although neither quite sure

25:52

who was who. And

25:56

then, one by one, the quartet

25:58

vanished over the next two weeks. the

26:00

edge of their roof and were gone.

26:04

And Shelby knelt next to Clementine,

26:06

sat down beside her on the

26:08

roof, and took Clem's head

26:10

into her lap with the single hand

26:12

that she had. Darkness was

26:14

beginning to wash over her own self

26:17

too now, thrumming waves of

26:19

her body catching up with her brain.

26:22

Clementine was still breathing, and

26:25

that quiet whimpering sound was a

26:27

music to Shelby's ears. This

26:30

was not how she had expected their

26:32

final case together to go. And

26:35

she wondered, as she ran her fingers

26:37

through Clem's hair, how

26:39

would she write the ending of this

26:41

one in the report for the newspapers

26:44

and magazines and casebooks later, if

26:47

it would get an ending at all? Perhaps

26:50

it was best if this one stayed

26:52

unwritten. If the end never

26:54

came, perhaps she would never

26:56

have to leave this final moment where

26:59

she and Clementine still lived,

27:02

still bled, still breathed

27:05

together. How

27:10

could I ever forgive myself?

27:13

Think of the universe ahead of you, one

27:16

that will be forever grateful. Think

27:18

of the next ones like you and

27:20

I. They might be out there, even

27:22

now, listening to these dreams of yours,

27:24

too afraid to take a step out

27:26

in the starlight for fear of what

27:29

might happen. A

27:31

better universe for them. For

27:34

us once. The

27:45

voice of Clementine Maidstone is

27:48

Libby Wellman. They can be

27:50

found at atits.raving.sunlight on Instagram.

27:52

The voice of Meryl Marr, reborn and

27:55

reborn, is Evan Michael Lee. He can

27:57

be found on social media at at

27:59

EvanMichaelLee. Hello from the

28:01

Hallowoods is written and produced by William A.

28:03

Wellman. Hello, that's me. If you enjoyed this

28:06

show, please don't forget to follow it and

28:08

share it with a friend. The

28:10

bonus story that goes with this

28:12

episode is called File 9, The

28:15

Clementine Cases, and is available on

28:17

the show's Patreon at patreon.com/hallowoods. Because

28:20

we operate without ads or sponsors, our

28:22

supporters are all that keeps this show

28:24

going. Plus, supporters get weekly bonus stories,

28:27

access to our weekly Q&A livestream, behind

28:29

the scenes content, exclusive merch,

28:31

and even more. Merchandise and

28:34

episode transcripts are available at

28:36

hellofromthehallowoods.com. You can even

28:38

find us on social media at atthehallowoods.

28:40

Music is used under license from artlist.io.

28:44

Until next time, dreamers, the greatest plans

28:46

of mice and men are very dependent

28:48

on whether it was the mice or

28:50

the men doing the planning. The

28:53

men don't always think ahead, but those

28:55

mice can't even write.