The next huge fight between father and daughter came a week later. Julia unreasonably accused her father of not being home enough, of being too distant and dragging her all over the world. She said some very harsh words to him and again went to bed crying. Trusty neighbour Geoff was there for Julia to confide in when he helped her gather plums in their orchard tomorrow. Homemade jam was to be a pleasant surprise for her dad and their little secret as he helped her make it and inappropriately touched her. Then domestic life went on, with John the ornithologist none the wiser.

After a month and day since the mission started, John brought a wounded bird of prey in a cage. Julia named him Bitey and promised that she will help her dad care for it, though what she really wanted was a puppy. A few days later, John had to fly away for a 5 day conference. There was some shouting and John left his daughter sad and in a dark mood. In truth, Matt has simply joined us in the safe house.

On the third day after John left, Geoff the friendly neighbour offered her to spend time in his house, so she wouldn't be alone whole day, and have a sleep over. Julia gratefully accepted, but she was a responsible little girl and had an injured bird to take care of. She said she will come that afternoon after talking with dad. Geoff said her dad won't mind.

"But, but… Bitey is still injured. He is a bird in a cage and he can't take care of himself. Do you invite him as well? Like… officially?" Julia innocently asked Geoff that day.

"Of course I do." Geoff said gently.

"Are you sure he is welcome? He is a handful but he is a good boy. He would never go where he is not invited." Julia asked.

"Yes, he is welcome. And I officially invite him." Geoff said.

"And may I invite my friends too? And Bitey… Can he invite his friends over too, like Mr Hedgehog and Miss Badger and Miss Tortoise, if someone comes to visit him?" Julia asked innocently.

"Yes, you may invite any friend you want, and so may Bitey."

Julia looked bubbly with excitement.

"I'm so happy. I'll finally enter your home. And we will do those special things proper grown up ladies do. Just like in the photos you've shown me. Thank you so much, Uncle Geoff. This means a lot to me!" Julia said excitedly.

They talked for a little while longer, until it was agreed that Julia would come to his house with Bitey after 6 pm, after talking with her dad. The mission was officially starting.

"We need him alive. And she has to invite us from inside the house. And dark energy thickness and harmonics have to be just right." Key reminded us dourly, as we prepared our equipment.

"I know, I know. " Matt said, looking more nervous than I ever saw him before.

At 6:15 pm, after a short inconspicuous Skype talk with her dad, Julia locked her house and crossed the street, with a caged bird in her arms. She rang the doorbell.

"Julia, I am so happy you came." Geoff said.

"I am happy to be here. May I and Bitey come in, Uncle Geoff?" Julia asked innocently.

"Yes, you may come in." Geoff said. "And you and Bitey can invite your friends. See, I haven't forgotten." He added, once she entered and he locked the door behind her. He turned to her and gave her a kiss on the forehead. We could see and hear it all due to magical hairpin on Jill's bangs and the snowflake earrings.

"Welcome, Julia." He said

"Thank you, Uncle Geoff. It's good to be here." Julia said, then childishly kissed him on the cheek. Then she frowned.

"Bitey is heavy. Where do you want me to put him?" she asked.

"Well, is he likely to make a mess?" Geoff frowned in return.

"I cleaned his cage before coming here. He is about to fall asleep. But he has bad dreams and I have to comfort him at night. Maybe in the bedroom where I'll sleep over?" Julia asked.

"That's a good idea. I'll show you where you'll sleep." Geoff said and took her to the second floor, into a room with double bed.

"You can put him on the night table here." He said. Julia did just that.

"Thank you, Uncle Geoff. He really is heavy. Like, really heavy."

"Now, shall I show you my house?" Geoff said.

"Oh, I'd love that. I'd love that very much, Uncle Geoff." Julia said. He led her on a tour, before letting her remove her sandals in the living room. We watched and remembered how the house was built and positions of the rooms. We especially took a good look in the basement and covered well.

Then Geoff and Julia had supper and watched cartoons together for an hour and half. He put a hand around her shoulder and playfully tickled her after the last cartoon was over. Julia laughed and struggled to fight him back. Then she slapped his hand after he tried to tickle her again. "Oh my, that's naughty, Uncle Geoff. Stop." She said.

"What you did is much naughtier. That slap hurt, you know. My hand is all red." Geoff said.

"Oh, I am so sorry, Uncle Geoff." Julia quickly apologized.

"You hurt me bad. But I know what would make that better." Geoff said.

"Oh, I'll do anything to make it up to you, uncle. Like, anything." Julia said, worried for his health.

"Even adult stuff, sweetie?" he asked.

"Well, if it will help…"

"We will sleep together in the same bed. Just like that lady and gentleman in the movie I have shown you." Geoff said. Far too soon, we watched them go to the second floor. The lights were turned off in the rest of the house. They entered the bedroom.

"You hurt me a lot. So I am going to hurt you." He said then thrown Jill on the bed. He quickly climbed over her. There was a ripping sound. And then sounds of struggle.

"Go! Go! Go!" yelled Mel at us and we ran those 50 meters of air line (but farther on the ground) in full equipment, sounds of struggle and cursing in our ears, with Key locking the door behind us. We have reached the target house in slightly less than a minute. It seemed much longer.

"We're here. Front door." Mel said to the fairy radio. The doors were unlocked and opened.

"You may come in, friends. Please enter." Jill said, in somewhat shaky voice, tears running down her pale face.

We crossed the threshold (it was surprisingly strong for a man living alone) and closed the door behind us. Jill was almost naked, wearing only her panties, the white summer dress ripped from her. There were huge bruises on her forearms and dark handprints on the front of her thighs. Her lip was bleeding and swollen from the slap Geoff gave her. She was shaking.

"Go. I'll handle this. We don't have much time." Key said. Matt left a bag with Jill's things on the floor. Key gave Jill a hug and took her to a different room. We all ran through the hallway.

"There, there, it's all over honey. It's all over, little bird. You are alright, you are alright… Things went according to plan and you are alright..." We heard Key say on the radio, before she and Jill broke the connection. As I and Matt climbed the stairs and Mel and Krom went straight to the basement, we heard Lue's voice, poisonous and sweet.

"Don't worry sweetie, I need you alive. Unfortunately for you, alive doesn't mean in one piece. We are going to have so much fun together, my dear." He said, in pompous British accent. We heard a crack and muffled screams.

"Those were the rest of your fingers, so you can't untie yourself. Now for your ankles. We can't have you running away, right, honeypot?"

There was another muffled scream, this one much louder.

"There, there, sweetie. It's all over. For now. You may pass out, Uncle Geoff. You have my permission." Lou was saying as we entered the room. There was blood on the bed, there was ripped white dress and blood on the floor, and there was a bleeding monster tied on the floor, drifting into unconsciousness from shock. Lue was sitting on his back.

"Things under control?" Matt asked.

"Completely." Lou said, smiling a bloody smile. "After I have bitten half of his fingers at least. How's Julia?"

"Veronica is taking care of her." Matt said, just in case somebody was eavesdropping. Lou grinned and kicked Geoff in the ribs as he got up. He closed the door behind himself and led us to the stairs.

"Kid did good. He threw her on the bed, tore her dress off and tried to spread her legs. She spit at his face then froze her spit on his forehead. Once he slapped her and tried to wipe the spit off, the ice cut him, there was blood everywhere and he couldn't see. Then she bit him on the face, kicked him and he fell down. I think she broke a rib; any punch that would bruise a snow troll should break a human rib, or at least I hope it should. Krom taught her well. When Geoff tried to furiously get up, that's when I brought him down." Lou said so only we could hear, once out of the room.

"As planned, I'll keep him alive until morning. 7 full hours. That's how long you have. Then he goes down the well, just like his victims did, for rusalke to have their revenge. Good luck. And thank Julia in my name again, for letting me be the one inside."

We went into the basement. I could feel the oppressive dark aura in that place of horrors. I wouldn't have used the Sight in there for all the money in the world.

When the two of us entered, the wooden cover of the well was already removed and summoning circle painted around the mouth of the well, to allow rusalka to get out of it. Part of it stretched to the farther wall of the basement. The different circle was painted on the wall, this one for portal purposes and Mel was calibrating it so it would lead us to Fomor base where the necklace was kept. It was a very precise work.

I have seen rusalka before and even fought Jenny Greenteeth, who could be called rusalka on steroids. They are usually in the form of pretty women, if a little eerie if they don't pay careful attention to their glamour. Voluptuous breasts, handsome legs, sex appeal personified. You know the type, good looking, sometimes even hot, to better inflame the passions of men and ensnare them long enough to pull them into the watery grave. Basically, the shape of the victim decides the shape of rusalka, with some extra magic mojo to make them irresistible and hide their ghostly nature.

The two who got out of the well to help Mel with portal adjustments didn't look like your average rusalka or even how you'd imagine rusalka to look. They were short and skinny and… childlike, all knees and elbows. One had short black hair in a bob haircut and ghostly braces. The other had shoulder length chestnut hair and necklace made of letters. Both wore long white dresses which clung to their bodies. They also had wet sheen to their look, with their clothes and hair constantly moving like they were floating in the water and seemed to glow with eerie greenish light as they walked in the circle.

While we were getting closer to the rest of the team, Mel finished the final adjustments of the portal circle and opened it. Long-haired rusalka went in then came back, shaking her head no. Mel nodded and adjusted the symbol on the circle again. Rusalka again moved through the portal then back, shook her head no and whispered something into Mel's ear. She sighed, erased three symbols and drawn four other, and reopened the portal. Rusalka got in again and was back a minute later. It repeated, again and again.

As we got near, I realized something. The rusalka who was going in and out of the portal was the spitting image of Julia, Jill's glamoured character. Geoff had a type, alright. And because of that fact part of me that I didn't like to look at for too long or too close was glad he was left alone with Lue.

The other rusalka looked at us and respectfully bowed.
"That's Katie. The other one is Jennifer. They came to help us, as agreed. Katie will be our guide to the entrance to Fomor base, so she needs to save her strength. They don't talk much." Matt said.

"Thank you." I said to Katie. She gave me a serious nod in return.

We watched Mel adjust the portal. It went on for a while. Key and Jill entered the cellar before it was done. Jill's face was healed and she was wearing full body armor and black ops uniform, like the rest of the team. Her Julia glamour was gone.

"It is alright now. Catfish bait here got a bit nervous and jittery, but she is okay to continue." Key said.

"Cracked rib? Nice." Krom gave thumbs up. Jill gave him a bashful smile in return.

"Medi packs ready?" Matt asked. Jill and Key pointed at their backs. "Good." He said, then focused his attention back on the portal.

Jill helped Krom put the rest of his armor on, as was her job, and double checked everything.

Mel made another adjustment. Jennifer finally got out and gave thumbs up. Katie went in first. We followed her into the enemy territory.