They found Lechi and Milla inside the tower’s lobby, with Pangs and members of his staff. Bodyguards were spread out, still each on high alert.

  “We came down as soon as we heard,” Milla said calmly. “They evacuated the higher floors.”

  “Damn thing attacked the stadium,” Garder replied. “Was it here?”

  “No, but we saw it in the distance. Flying away,” Lechi answered, her dog asleep on the floor nearby. “It looked scary… worse than I imagined.”

  “We shouldn’t waste any time getting to its nest,” Jeryn said to Pangs. “Do you have lamps?”

  “Yes,” Pangs said and signaled to one of his guards. “The new kind.”

  “You two ready?”

  “Yeah, we’ve gathered everything,” Milla replied.

  “What should I do?” Simon asked.

  “Um… take care of the dog in the apartment, alright? We may be gone a while,” Garder answered. “It’s not that great of a first job, but you’ll work your ways up,” he added, trying to lighten the mood.

  “Okay. Be careful, you guys. Tanesh… um, wake up, boy.”

  The dog twitched his ears but didn’t budge. Simon attempted to lift him, but he only growled, so Lechi bent down and whispered some words into his ears. Immediately, Tanesh changed his mind about Simon and followed him back to the elevator.

  “Here you are. These don’t break easily like the older ones,” Pangs said and handed everyone a sunlamp. “Do be careful… As you can see, it’s a very dangerous beast, but if you go now, you should be able to avoid it.”

  Jeryn, Milla, and Garder tied their lamps securely around their belts. Lechi had to swing it over her shoulders and wear it as a backpack of sorts, but it functioned just the same.

  “Guard—take these four to the northern gate,” Pangs ordered the man near him. “Use a chariot to get there. Hurry.”

  “Yes sir,” he replied. “Follow me, you three.”

  He guided them to a service elevator that provided direct access to the chariot parking garage on the fiftieth floor.

  The escort opened the door of one of the chariots for the group and took off after they piled in. The vehicle pulled out of the building and flew gracefully through traffic, its pilot operating it from the rear. Garder got a quick glimpse at the stadium, to see that it was still being evacuated.

  The City’s massive sprawl made the ride to the northern gate a long one, but the traffic thinned considerably the closer they got to the border. Soon, there were only emptied buildings. The entire northern sector of the City had been abandoned and rested in a gray, dormant state.

  The chariot landed with a heavy thud. The four opened their doors and stepped out onto the broken stone streets, its potholes filled with stagnant water. Beyond the barely-functioning iron gates, far in the distance of the derelict landscape, was a tall rock spire.

  “This is as close as I can get,” their driver said. “With the demon about, no vehicles are permitted to leave the City—they draw too much attention. It’s on foot from here, but you shouldn’t have any trouble getting there. It’s all pretty flat until the nasty thing’s nest.”

  “You sure you can’t bring us closer?” Jeryn questioned.

  “Yes. We have a limiter in place for vehicles right now. I won’t be able to get through the bubble.”

  “Okay, we understand,” Milla said. “Thanks for bringing us out.”

  The four hurried off through the gate, their sunlamps each creating mobile protective bubbles about ten feet across.

  They ran over the desolate plains with all of their strength. Even Lechi had no trouble keeping up as she kept hold of her lamp’s straps.

  The southern wastes were even more lifeless than most of outer Aurra. Surrounded by miles and miles of jagged landscape on all sides, it seemed like one of the worst places to make a City. But C was among the original nine, and it had a perfect legacy until just recently. Everyone who was born out here was isolated almost completely from the rest of Aurra, but they were each stronger, and more independent for it.

  One keeping an eye out for the demon in the sky above at all times, they eventually made it to the rock spire. It was just as tall as Earth’s highest buildings, and happened to be surrounded by a putrid lake of acidic water.

  “How?” Garder asked simply.

  “Hold on…” Jeryn took a deep breath. “This will take a lot out of me, but there isn’t any other way.”

  He raised three fingers and concentrated on a long spell. He opened his eyes and used all of his might to alter the spire’s structure. Chipping away at it with an invisible force, he created a spiraling stairway in its sides.

  Jeryn clenched his jaw and stressfully muttered, “More…”

  The entire monument trembled from the energy being unleashed upon it, and every rock torn off fell into the acidic lake below. Some of the water splashed onto the group, but it was instantly purified and made harmless upon entering their small suns’ protective space.

  Jeryn had to stop twice and rest briefly, but after exerting himself completely, his work was complete. He knelt down and breathed heavily.

  “Amazing work,” Milla said, marveling at the stairway.

  “Yeah… thanks. That’s it for me, though… If my alignment was earth, I might’ve had some left, but…”

  “Don’t sweat it. Milla can protect us,” Garder assured.

  “Yeah…” He picked himself up. “Okay, time for a hike.”

  They prepared themselves for the trek, and then rushed across the rocks that had fallen and formed a bridge to the stairway. Pushing their legs to their limits, they went upwards as quickly as they could. The suppression kept them from knowingly getting too close to the edge, and they’d often have to hug the spire tightly and waste valuable seconds.

  “I hadn’t considered the work it’d take to get up here,” Milla panted.

  “We have to hurry…” Garder replied, carrying Lechi on his shoulders a third time. “It could come back any moment.”

  A shriek erupted in the distance. The group stopped and looked around the dark, windy landscape, but couldn’t see the demon. They continued upward, Garder making Lechi walk once more after her brief rest. Eventually, they started turning around the spire much more quickly, and they soon after reached the large cave at the top.

  Too worn to continue, they plopped down at the mouth of the cave and gave their aching legs a break. They knew they were vulnerable, but they couldn’t push their bodies further without at least a moment to relax.

  After a dangerous ten minutes, the four got up again and looked around the cave, illuminated enough by their sunlamps alone. There was no uncertainty that this was the place the demon called home. Wild claw marks covered the walls, and a nest of rocks had been built in the center. They couldn’t tell what the creature ate—or if it did at all, due to the lack of any bones that would have dissolved in the atmosphere.

  Another cry from somewhere far off, but closer this time. They forced themselves to move once more and began scouring the nest site for loose claws, keeping on alert for any sound or movement in the air as they did so. But the nest was so empty of the demon’s influence that finding even just one claw inside it seemed like it would be a lucky discovery.

  “Hey—I found one!” Milla suddenly called out from behind a boulder torn to shreds. “It’s a red one! Looks like it’s in good condition.”

  “Good!” Garder called back. “We got it, so let’s leave. Right now.”

  “Wait—” Lechi added, noticing something buried under some rocks at the edge of the cave. “I got one, too—also red.”

  “Okay, put it in your bag, then. The more, the better, right?”

  She examined her claw as the others gathered and prepared to leave.

  “Too bad it’s not blue, huh?” Lechi commented and put the claw into her bag. “Could’ve tried it out and… Hey, what is it?” She noticed the fearful expressions on her friends’ faces. “Guys? What’s wrong?”

  “Lechi! Get back!” Garder yelled out. “Get back!”

  She felt a tingle go down her spine, and then noticed that she was covered in a shadow. She turned around and saw the demon staring directly at her, its two dozen claws gripping either side of the cave. It growled angrily, but Lechi remained calm and signaled everyone to stay back.

  “I’m going to talk to it,” she said, not taking her eyes off the beast.

  “But, Lechi—”

  “Let me handle this, okay? Rivia wanted me to try, right?”

  “But… look at that thing…”

  “I’ll be all right. Just give me a moment…” She cleared her throat and looked at the demon directly. “Um, hello Mr. DemiDemon… We’re sorry for intruding on your nest… We’ll leave right away, and tell the others to let you be in peace… So please, let us go, and we can make everything okay for all of us… Mr. Demon? Can you hear me?”

  It snorted hot air and remained still.

  “Lechi? What’s it saying?” Jeryn asked cautiously.

  She waited for another few seconds before answering, “It… It’s not saying anything. I don’t get it. It’s like it doesn’t understand or something… I-I can’t talk to it…”

  “Then get out of its face!” Garder called out. “Get back here, we’ll protect you!”

  “But… I need to talk to it…”

  Suddenly, the demon let out an ear-piercing howl that filled the cavern. Before anyone could recover, it grabbed Lechi tightly with its right hand, roared again, and started drifting away from the cave.

  “Lechi!” Garder screamed and went charging out before he gave it a second thought.

  Upon seeing Garder, the demon snarled and launched itself backwards with its free hand. Without any kind of plan, Garder continued his mad dash at the serpent. Just as the creature took off into the sky, he leapt and struck its tail hard with his sword. The beast cried out in pain and writhed before soaring into the air at breakneck speed.

  “Garder!” Milla’s worried shouts faded.

  He realized that he was just barely hanging onto his sword, now plunged deeply into the demon’s backside. Black smoke poured out from the beast’s wound as if it were a damaged aircraft, and its incessant howling continued as it took him above the clouds.

  Garder made sure his dangling lamp was secured before thinking about what to do next. He had to get up to Lechi, all the way in the demon’s front hand. It certainly had the ability to kill both of them, but it wouldn’t be as easy as it would on Earth.

  Suppression ensured that both humans would do everything it’d take to survive, whether consciously or not. Making a bad decision or misstep would be difficult, but it’d still be no easy task getting Lechi back and somehow down on the ground again safely.

  He remembered one of the old iron spells he had been taught and brought two fingers to his mouth. He felt as if he could be torn away at any moment, and the speed at which he was going was causing pain throughout his body. But he managed to get enough of the spell out to work, and before long, four metal grips materialized on his hands and feet.

  He took his sword out, soothing the demon’s rage just slightly, and holstered it with some difficulty. The cleats he struggled to maintain were covered in tiny needles—enough to allow a grip similar to that of a lizard’s. He began struggling forward on its body, making sure to only lift one hand or foot at a time as he worked his way up to the head.

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  The landscape below was hidden under thick clouds reflecting the moon’s light, obscuring most of the spires with exception to the tallest of them. He checked his sunlamp again to make sure it was still holding. It could easily break off, with or without the suppression’s influence, and he would dissolve in the poisonous atmosphere almost immediately.

  He kept his trek slow but steady. His steed’s twisting and turning had stopped, giving it a more manageable streamlined shape. By the time Garder was behind the neck, however, he could feel his control over his grips slipping. He put on an extra burst of energy and climbed down to the beast’s underside where its two arms rested.

  Gripped tightly yet safely and securely in its blue-clawed laden hand was Lechi. She was unusually calm, but fully conscious.

  “Garder?” she exclaimed when she saw him. “You actually came after me? You’re crazy. Look, I’m a goner. There’s no way I’ll survive this.”

  “I came here to save you.”

  “Yeah, so what’s your brilliant plan to make him open his grip and politely put us down? You’re going to get yourself killed too.”

  “Will you shut up? I’m a knight. I have enough alchemagi to create something to break our fall. Now just hold on.”

  Garder took out his sword and studied the demon’s arm closely, looking for a place to slice or dig it into.

  “You really are crazy, you know that?!” Lechi continued.

  “I might be… And I might regret this…”

  Garder took a breath, grimaced at what he was about to do, and then stabbed its lower wrist. He quickly took the sword out as it let out a howl and opened its hand. He had expected to go diving after Lechi right away, but she had held on moments before the demon’s grip on her was lost.

  “Give me your hand, quick,” Garder shouted.

  She reached out. Their hands barely touched. Garder strained and managed to grab her and swing her over. The added weight took effect immediately, and he felt his right hand lose its grip. Lechi let out a cry as she dangled helplessly under the demon, now writhing about again in pain.

  With nothing keeping his feet securely locked, Garder’s hold on his alchemagi gave out moments later. The instant the cleats vanished, the two began a free fall.

  Lechi yelled, “Idiot! Don’t you think anything out?”

  “I just saved you from being dinner! A little gratitude would be nice.”

  “Yeah, well, now what?”

  Garder grumbled and took out one of the seeds in his side pack. He was never good at plant spells, but he had nothing else to work with. He held the seed firm in his palm and used two fingers and the rest of his energy to materialize a crude parachute from the seed. It exploded outward, forming a giant viney leaf that slowed them down immediately.

  But the parachute was barely inside the protective bubbles, and every time it skimmed the atmosphere, part of it burnt off into the haze.

  “Organic matter!” Lechi chided. “Great idea!”

  “Would you shut up already? Crap… I don’t know what else to do,” he said, watching the parachute as it continued to burn off. “Iron’s too heavy… Can’t make something out of ice…”

  “Make a jet pack, then.”

  “Uh, I don’t know how. Is that even possible?”

  “Really? You have to ask? Okay—got anymore seeds?”

  “I had one leaf seed. We’re screwed if we don’t touch down soon.”

  “Great deduction.”

  They fell under the clouds. Below, Garder could see a long mountain range. Endless rock spires jutted out from them—the famous stone barriers of the wastes. The heavy winds would often smash airships against the spires, and was a major reason that travel was nearly impossible in the area.

  “Oh… hang on, this is going to be bad,” Garder warned, seeing that the parachute was little more than shreds by now.

  “Do something, Garder!”

  “Not good. Not good! Hang on, Lechi!”

  The parachute broke apart, and Garder did the only thing he could think of, forming a metal sled beneath them using the iron dust from the mountain. He held Lechi tightly to offer her the most possible protection.

  “Get off of me, you creep!”

  “I’m trying to save you, brat! If you hadn’t noticed, you’re still a nine-year-old. I might die on impact covering you like this!”

  “I… um… I know. Sorry.”

  He noticed a mountain peak on his right. “Just shut up and brace…”

  He clenched and tightened himself against his metal sled.

  Bang. The first impact was bad. Garder nearly lost grip on Lechi, and he could hear his sunlamp shatter—and the newer models were almost unbreakable. On the second impact, one of his arms was torn loose. He had no control as it hit the ground near him. He felt a great deal of pain and didn’t want to question whether or not he had just heard a snap.

  By the sixth bounce, the sled steadied and began to slide down the rest of the way. Garder, barely alert, felt it come to an eventual stop, and then disappear under him. He soon blacked out from the lingering pain.

  “Faster!” Milla urged. “We have to get back!”

  She and Jeryn were tearing down the stair spiral, desperate to return to the City and give Pangs the claw.

  “Milla… D-do you really think they’re alive?”

  “If Garder is anything, he’s resilient. I know they’re still alive.”

  “If they fell, there’s no way we’d find them.”

  “We’ll use these claws to open portals until we do. We can find them, Jeryn! Or they’ll find us. Garder’s too crafty. He’ll think of some—” she was cut off by another inhuman screech that stopped them in their tracks.

  “Oh, God… it’s back…” Jeryn said, looking above.

  The demon was frenzied. It had obviously spotted Milla and Jeryn, but was struggling to keep itself calm enough to pursue them. The two continued down the spire, hoping to get away—but couldn’t make it.

  It caught up with them and smashed its body against the spire in anger. Milla turned to counter, forming a vector mandala to shove outwards, possibly cutting the creature to bits.

  But the demon was too fast and easily dodged the atomic lines. Jeryn tried to send a vortex of flame out to protect them, but found he was still too weakened to use alchemagi properly.

  Their pursuer stared them down, snarled, and then grabbed the two within seconds and before they could react.

  “Jeryn!” Milla called out. “D-do something!”

  He struggled as the demon tightened its grip. “Can’t move…”

  Keeping two digits securely around its captives, the demon opened its other eight and extended them outwards. The tips of each claw glowed vibrantly and proceeded to tear a hole in space. It had crossed dimensions plenty of times; it knew exactly what it was doing.

  They suddenly felt the warm rays of Earth’s sun. Down below was the vast Sahara Desert. They were above the clouds, and neither could comprehend why it had brought them here, why it captured people, or why it traveled between worlds at all. What was it trying to accomplish?

  Jeryn quickly yelled out to Milla, “Do you think you have enough energy to make something to break our fall?”

  “If you can free us, maybe. But I can’t move my hands. Can you?”

  Jeryn slipped an arm through the tight grip and using three fingers and some effort, he said out loud, “Flame—Burn—Burn—Flare—Heat”.

  Two flame rings appeared and attacked either of the demon’s wrists with a searing heat that it couldn’t stand. It yowled in pain and dropped the two before worming through a dense cloud.

  “It’s up to you…” Jeryn said, now close to passing out.

  He and Milla drifted closer to one another and looked at the oncoming ground below. Milla reached into her side pack and took out three seeds. She carefully gave two to Jeryn, holding the last tightly in her right hand. She raised her left and verbally summoned the same level two spell Garder had used—only more efficiently.

  Vines came out of either tiny seed, wrapping around the two protectively. A canopy of leaves designed and positioned to act as a parachute erupted over their heads, slowing their fall considerably.

  “Good work, Milla…” Jeryn sighed.

  Milla pointed with her eyes. “I see the plateau—over there.”

  Jeryn turned and noticed the airstrip and its small hangar. A formed dune was still in position and could be used as a way up.

  “I can’t really guide us over there,” Milla explained. “It’s going to be quite a walk…”

  “That’s fine… I can recover as long as I don’t use alchemagi… But if C doesn’t reactivate their portal, we’ll be stuck.”

  “They’ll realize what happened and open it again.”

  “You really think so?”

  “I… I don’t know. One thing at a time.”

  Another howl erupted from the air above. Jeryn and Milla held on more tightly, unsure whether or not the demon would come out again. But there was only peacefulness until they hit the sandy dunes below.

  Garder awoke minutes later. He immediately noticed a source of light, and turned his head to see Lechi, keeping a small but bright fire going with the iron dust she was pulling from the surrounding rock. Then he noticed his arm—it was wrapped very tightly in his outer uniform that had been removed completely. He tried to move it, but the pain was too great.

  “Don’t,” Lechi said and looked over at him. “You broke it pretty good out there.”

  “Damn it…” he mumbled and sat up.

  “Hey—watch it! Keep close to the sunlamp.”

  He looked over and noticed his hand—it was just inches away from the atmosphere. The lamp was under Lechi’s fire and was powerful enough to cover most of the cave.

  “Did you pull me in here?”

  “Yes,” she said simply. “If you have food seeds, now would be the time to use them. Maybe form some water, too.”

  “I would, but my good hand is on the broken arm…”

  “Can’t you cast with the other?”

  “N-no… I’m not ambidextrous.”

  “Garder…” she sighed and scooted over.

  She carefully undid the “cast” on his right arm just enough to expose his hand. Painfully, he raised it. His fingers wouldn’t even move properly—so he had to pull them out with his other hand. After two were out, forcefully, he reached in and grabbed a couple of food seeds while Lechi kept the fire going with one hand.

  He laid them on the ground, summoned a spell, and made them sprout. But only halfway. Three small stalks from each seed held a baby corncob, a tiny carrot, and a spear of broccoli. Now that they were sprouted, there was no way to try a second time; they’d only dry up and go rotten if Garder forced them to grow.

  “Damn it…” Garder mumbled again. “I’m sorry, Lechi. Here…”

  Without much effort, he condensed the surrounding moisture into two floating orbs of pure water. Lechi reached over and sipped hers down, while Garder took his drink more slowly.

  “Careful with the fire, I only had one match. So, what are we going to do?” Lechi asked as she ate one of the puny carrots in a single bite.

  “What can we do? Wait to be rescued. That’s it.”

  “Um… I’m sorry I yelled at you… A few times… You did a really brave thing. I think I’ve misjudged you.”

  “Doubt it, because it was more like a really stupid thing. Why wouldn’t the demon listen to you?”

  “I don’t know. But I could tell that it didn’t understand anything I said. Maybe it was trying to listen, but it didn’t understand.”

  Garder wrapped his hand back up after finishing his water. The piercing pain going through his arm made him wince every time he spoke.

  “We’re in a bad spot here,” Garder said quietly. “Damn, this hurts… We can only hope someone comes after us.”

  “What if the demon comes back?”

  “Do you think it can get inside the cave? The opening’s pretty small.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You good with earth? Can you work with calcium and fix my arm?”

  “I could try, but bone might explode out of your skin… Since I’ve, you know, never done that before.”

  “Yeah, never mind. I’ll wait.”

  For another hour they didn’t speak. Garder couldn’t think of anything worse than being trapped in a cave, with almost no food, a broken arm, a monster searching for them, and such limited space. And all of that combined with being stuck with Lechi. But suddenly, she began speaking to him more compassionately than ever before. It was a little strange at first.

  “Garder?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Um… So, you have anyone you miss in your past life?”

  “Why?”

  “I’m just curious. We may as well talk about something while we’re here now that I don’t think you’re as big a jerk.”

  Garder turned to watch the moon setting outside and replied, “I don’t know. We always meet a lot of people on Earth. We come back to Aurra and meet some of them again some times. But… well, yeah, there was one person I don’t think I’ll forget in any lifetime.”

  “Who?”

  “Nah… I can’t tell you.”

  “You already partly answered my question. You know I won’t stop bugging you until you finish the answer.”

  Garder realized this and decided to prevent any further agony.

  “I did something… really stupid in my past life.”

  “Any worse than flying around with a demon? What’d you do?”

  “I, well…” he sighed and shook his head. He couldn’t imagine telling Lechi about it, but now he pretty much had to. “I liked motorcycles. Guess it carried over from the life before that, back when they were new. That was in Germany—they produced a lot of the early models. I got myself killed in a motorcycle accident back then. But it didn’t bother me so much.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “I was an enlisted kid in the German military. During the God damn Second World War of all times. But before America got involved.”

  “Oh, my…”

  “Yeah,” Garder replied gruffly. “Like that was a war that I really wanted to be in—on either side for that matter… Anyway, I got in a wreck hauling around some German officer. One of those dorky sidecars, you know? Said a lot about the officer—making a foot soldier drive him around in a stupid-looking bike pod. But a lot of them did that from what I heard. Luckily, he was killed as well. Hated that guy.”

  Lechi smiled a bit. “You ever shoot anyone in the war?”

  “Never got the chance. Died long before it reached the border. Anyway, I lived a short, pretty much unimportant Aurrian life. Born sickly, died a bit young, returned to Earth again. Bikes had evolved, and I still had hotshot blood in me. I went from being a Kraut to a purebred New Jersey boy. Not much changed. I was quite a punk across lives in those days.”

  “And you got killed again, huh?”

  “Yep… even wore a helmet.”

  “And this one you miss?”

  “My fiancé… Three days from the wedding…”

  “Oh, Garder…” Lechi said, almost mournfully.

  “One last wild night with the guys. A little drunk. Driving a tad fast. Damn, I was stupid. I could’ve been happy for once. Happiness is scarce in my Earth lives—you know, the life they say is more important.”

  “I’m sorry… You’re not quite as insensitive as I thought you were.”

  “Aw, warming up to me some?” He laughed. “Well… hopefully she forgot about me. Found someone better. But you know what? If I hadn’t died at exactly that moment, I probably wouldn’t have been born with Milla. And she’s pretty cool… I look up to her a bit. Or a lot. I mean, my sister is Queen Seriph. The monarch who stopped Z’s prisons from being seized by the worst of humanity. That’s just so… What are the odds?”

  Lechi kept a small, sympathetic smile on her face and watched the moon set with Garder. For a few minutes, neither spoke.

  “What about you?” Garder asked.

  “I usually end up being a great-grandmother. I’m used to children, so maybe it explains my personality. I still miss a few of my kids—the less annoying or greedy ones, at least. That’s about it… really. I’ve lived some fulfilled but rather dull lives. I hope you will someday, too.”

  “Yeah, I could use a nice, slow, long one. Thanks… Lechi.”

  Garder settled in as much as possible on the cold floor as Lechi let her flame puff out. The sun was just beginning to rise in the distance, and there was little more to do but take the time to sleep.

  “They have to open it again…” Milla said in desperation as she poked the air with the key repeatedly, right at the spot where the portal was supposed to be. “Come on…”

  They had spent the day making their way all the way back up to the mesa, and now the sun was setting and the desert night beginning.

  “I don’t believe this,” Milla continued. “Wouldn’t someone have figured out what happened? Oh, if only Garder had the other claw.”

  The boy with the wild hair listened closely from behind the hangar.

  “Claw?” he thought. “What’s so special about a claw?”

  “Milla, we may have to spend the night here. We could use Simon’s plane… I’m sure that they’ll reopen the portal once they realize what—”

  “I got it!” Milla said in excitement, the key having activated on the correct spot after an hour of attempts.

  “They must’ve just reopened it,” Jeryn replied, relieved.

  Milla quickly tore open the portal completely and leapt in with Jeryn. Within a second’s time, they were gone, leaving the boy by himself on the mesa. But they weren’t the ones he needed—they could go.

  “Garder…” he sighed and stepped out from the shadows. “My, my. Where have you gone? I hope we find each other soon. I suppose I can wait here—you’ve got to come out of hiding eventually, right?”

  Before night enveloped the desert, the boy returned to his small single engine plane, secured in the back corner of the hangar. It wasn’t much to sleep in, but he couldn’t complain seeing as it was stolen.

  Despite his unlimited energy and animalistic behavior, he had no problem finding sleep. And he would need it, after all. Tomorrow could be an especially busy day.