37

The Darkness, that supreme enitity of the essence of dark, had inhabited a young, angry girl seven years ago, and had tricked her into allowing it to remain with her after our deal had finished. The girl had been close to being driven mad and I lost track after her mother had cut off contact, angry at what had happened, and I couldn't blame her in the slightest. Now I had to find her, so that I could find the entity and ask it a favor. I'm afraid I knew what it would ask for in return. Another conduit to this world, this time mine. I shuddered at the thought. I think I'd almost rather take my chances with Anolyn's barrier.
I went over to where Anne Maystack resided. For a while she stayed well hidden, fearing reprisals from those that her husband turned evidence against. Her husband, before he went to the state with the evidence of the smuggling, had hire myself and Zhirk, a troll, to kidnap his wife and daughter, and keep them safe when all hell broke loose. We managed to do that, but it took calling the entity of darkness and borrowing some of it's power for a while to do it. Once the ringleaders had been caught and the smuggling operation dismantled, she was able to come out of hiding. But her daughter had made her own pact with the Darkness, and she wasn't do careful and it took her over.
I tried to find out the details after we'd stopped Ahiah, but the mother refused to talk to me then, and she and her daughter disappeared for four years, when she surfaced again and got a small house near Dayning. I'd heard through the professional grapevine that she'd hired a investigator to find her daughter, who was supposedly here in Dayning somewhere. She was, and mother and daughter were reunited, but I'd heard the daughter had been changed by the Darkness, and not for the better. I wasn't sure what I'd find, but in lieu of calling the entity up, I decided to talk to Megan. But first I had to find her.
I went to talk to Anne. She opened the door when I rang, and I saw her eyes go flat and ugly when she saw me. This didn't seem all that promising. “Mrs Maystack, I'm Fern” I started to say but she interrupted me. “ I know who you are, now leave or I'll call the police.” “Mrs Maystack, I need to talk to Megan, could you tell me where she is.” The statement made her even more hostile. “You do not need to talk to my daughter, you do need leave right now however.” She shut the door in my face and I heard her loudly start talking. “Mrs Maystack please, I need to talk to Megan. It's very important.” I paused. “I know of a way to get rid of the entity.”
The door jerked open and she was there, angry eyes flashing. “I'm listening. Explain to me how you're going to do that, get rid of that darkness in her.” “I'll take it. I'll offer myself in trade to the entity to make it let her go.” I spoke the words and knew that there was no other way. The entity wanted it's time on earth and Megan, the angry child she was, was a perfect choice for the entity. The one thing I had over Megan was experience, and the huge magick that had been linked to me. The creature wanted me the last time because it thought it could tap that magick. Why I didn't, and probably didn't want to, know.
Why offer myself? For starters, Megan was under my protection when she was possessed, and I felt responsible for what happened. I know that she made her own choice, but still, it was a uninformed one and she had paid for it for a long time now. Plus, with Cobb and trying to open the Way, I wanted something big in my corner so that if push came shove, I had serious firepower. But mostly it was because she had been hurt when I was supposed to be protecting her. That darn maternal instinct. What else can I say?
I got an address from Anne where Megan might be found. She told me Megan had changed locations often due to the entity, and this was the most recent address for her. But the implication was that she might no longer be there. Only way to find out was check it out.