I looked back at Trip and signaled for him to leapfrog forward. I pointed Abomination at the shop as Trip ran past and slid behind a concrete planter. I waited for him to get his KRISS pointed at the shop, then I moved up and past him to crouch behind a bench, ready to blast whatever scaly horror showed its hideous face.

A tense minute passed. If this was our mysterious entity, would it work the same way as it had in 1613? Was it spreading while we hesitated? Should we rush it? But the decision was made for me. There was a clank of metal on metal, and a black shape moved inside the shop. “Hold your fire,” Trip shouted. There was a gleam of reflected light as something glinted off of mirrored goggles. “Ed? Is that you?”

Edward the orc cheerfully waved one gloved hand when he saw me aiming Abomination at him. He walked through the mess, hopped down from the display stage, and walked through the broken window. He had a small painting tucked under one arm.

Befuddled, I put Abomination’s safety back on and stood up. “What’re you doing here?”

He proudly held up the painting. It was Elvis Presley on black velvet.

“Ed! There you are!” A high-pitched female voice came from the other direction. “What’ve you done?” Tanya ran down the hall toward Ed. The orc presented the painting of Elvis to her. “Oh, you big dork! We’re gonna get busted.”

“What’re you both doing here?”

“We were on patrol!” Tanya exclaimed. “I told Ed I really thought that painting looked totally rad and how it would look awesome hanging in my room. Oh, we’re now gonna get arrested. Way to go, Ed.” It was hard to tell with the mask, but I think that hurt his feelings. “We’ve got to run for it before the cops get here. Ed don’t understand human ways and I’m too pretty to go to prison!”

I rubbed my face in my hands. Trip began to laugh. Tanya was starting to panic and Ed was just confused. “Okay, okay, everybody relax. Tanya, chill. Ed, put that picture back. I knew I shouldn’t have let you take that chicken. It was like your gateway drug…And who in the hell thought it was a good idea to send an untrained Newbie and an orc out on patrol?” Tanya wouldn’t make eye contact and seemed intent on studying her shoes. “Tanya?”

“Nobody…Cody said the Smart Team needed to take a break from all that thinking, but I kinda still wanted to help the regular Hunters. Everybody else is pitching in. So me and Ed, we went out looking for the monster.”

I looked at Ed. “And you went along with this brilliant plan?” Ed shrugged. If these two were hanging out together, Skippy was going to lose his freaking mind.