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Walter was so often over at Xana and Annie's house that he was mainly welcomed as an extension of the family - a sort of third brother, just another tousled head in the general mayhem that went on the Aristipossos group from day to day. He was no unusual sight throughout the small flat; which was probably a good thing that Leon himself was planning to move away, which would mean a lot more leg room for two children and all their little friends plus the same amount of daemons for each.

Currently, Walter had been given a plate of biscuits; he had previously been playing some kind of game with Annie, who still enjoyed Walter's company very much as a toddler, only Annie had exhausted herself through excitement and was having a quiet nap on the nap-mat. Her thumb was stuck squarely on her mouth, webbing over her lips, and Walter had the privilege of being able to eat her cookies as well as his own. (Wheaten chocolate chip. Cressida was a careful parent.)

Leon was, in fact, the greatest babysitter toddlers could have, because he was awful at it; currently he was sitting on the far side of the room reading a Wall Street Journal and drinking black coffee, and would rise only if there was a really terrible sound - shrieking bloody death and a toddler falling out a window - but otherwise would let them do as they wished. This meant that playtime was excellent.

He did so, munching away happily as he glanced over at the sleeping girl. A dark urge rose over him and he reached into his pocket, fingering the key that he had gotten a week before.

This was his chance to see if it worked.

'You sure it's a good idea?' Oblivion asked even as she made herself comfortable on the floor a bit of a distance from Terror. She still hated that daemon with a passion.

"Probably not," Walter replied as he laid down a little bit away from Annie, falling to sleep easily, his hand still wrapped around the key.

It probably had never been a good idea in the first place.

Annie dreamed of places. The first thing he saw was a large grey castle by the sea; it was surrounded with odd monoliths, which in turn had unsettling sculptures on them, all below on a precarious path down a sea-cliff to the ocean. The ocean itself was all around - it stretched on to the horizon, and to both sides, with the only thing barring it was an equally unending sea-cliff and a rocky little beach below. The wind was howling and pounding him against the rocks; and on the path, pinned there by a multitude of arrows, were a very many dead bodies. There was also something written in fresh blood, but wasn't recognisable. He couldn't read. Annie couldn't either, considering, past both of their babyhood A For Apple and B For Ball.

The reek of dead things was very real. Suddenly the mountain shifted, changed, and the path crackled out in front of him to stairs that lead down to a little outcrop in front of the beach.

Terror was there; but Terror was larger than he ever could have imagined, as huge as a dump truck with unblinking red eyes. Annie was beside him as he slumbered, walking in and out of the shadows, but she seemed to shift often in front of his eyes; as though she had long, trailing things from her wrists and ankles that weren't quite easy to look at.

And there he was, too, tied to one of the nursery chairs and sitting in the surf, but there was something wrong with his skin. He could see right through it, and underneath was a sort of - mess - the type of thing Annie drew in her pictures, a sort of gobbledygook of red and purple.

For a long moment Walter looked at himself, wondering why he was tied up with a childish innocence. The dead bodies earlier, surprisingly, wasn't such a problem. He had seen several of Silva's dreams lately, and more often than not there was at least one murder that Silva himself committed. The smell had made his nost twitch though.

He looked at Annie, wondering why she was changing so much. He didn't even notice the affect he was having on the dream. The sky was getting darker, and cloudy.

Anemone turned and looked out to the sea; large grey stormclouds were starting to gather, and the waves looked unfriendlier than ever. They had gone a dull, grey, leaden colour, and there was a slow sort of roar from far-off. Terror made a noise deep in his massive throat: a sort of gnnnnnng that rattled both their feet.

Dhonas's dholas ort, agus leat-sa, said Terror. Ungl unl... rrlh ... chchch.

The Walter who was tied up squirmed terribly. Some of the purple scribbles fell out into his lap.

This dream was weird, Walter admitted as he started down the steps. The purple that was coming out of his other form, it looked kinda creepy, like a fake impression of the blood he had seen in other dreams.

Annie had a strange dream world, he decided, thinking that the lightening that flashed was because of her, and not him.

Suddenly, the sea started to boil. A great waft of steam rose up from the waters; and then Anemone was beside him, as though she'd suddenly disappeared from the shoreline, and she put one hand over Walter's eyes.

There was the noise and impression of something so big and so large that it parted the sea itself with the heaviness of it. There was the high-pitched squealing of something that sounded a lot like a piglet, and when Anemone removed her hand from Walter's eyes again, it was gone.

His dream-self, who had been sitting in his chair, had lost his top half. He was jagged now, as if he had been a broken piece of a jug or something, and there were moving red and purple splotches everywhere. The sea was still steaming with whatever had been there, and Anemone looked righteously annoyed.

"No!" she said. "Mine!"

"Annie?" he asked, feeling a bit sick to his stomach even with all the dreams he had seen. "Where'd I go?"

"Took you!" Annie shrilled, and he noticed that her teeth were little points. There was a roiling abyss in the sea now, almost unbelievably wide. "Mine! Mine! Is mine!"

More purple and red stuff was boiling out; there were also things that looked a little like white grain cereal, as if they had been mixed with Rice Krispies. "Ate," she said bitterly. "Too slow."

"It ate me?" he asked. The thunder crashed in the background, angrily. "Did I taste good?" he asked finally.

The lightning struck the sea, but to not much effect. Terror's abominably long tongue had slowly curled out and was dabbling delicately at the edge of the sea of purple-and-red, which wasn't sifting into the ocean. It just sat there, in stationary clumps.

"No," Annie said vindictively, sitting down squarely on her thin backside to hug her knees. "Not to Him."

Walter did the only thing he could think of. He patted her shoulder in a consoling manner. "Sorry," he said.

Anemone made one of her terrible whining noises in the back of her throat. When she looked at him, it wasn't quite with the childish adoration and excitement that she usually did, not of before; it was nearly sly, a little calculating, and she stuck out her tongue as Terror had to lick the back of his hand. Then she did it again, even slyer, watching Walter's face all the while. It wasn't an expression a toddler should have; more as though Dora the Explorer had turned mass-murderer.

He blinked, then grinned. "And guts don't look like that," he added. "Silva has dreams about them all the time, and they're red and slimy."

"Don't look at them," she said diffidently. "Is different. I's got it with fish but not mor-tals."

And that was a big big word for Annie, but she said it sing-song, and touched her tongue to the tip of Walter's ring finger again. Terror's tongue finally latched out around the chair and put the whole thing in his mouth, Walter's bottom half, chair and all. There was a momentary crunching before it was swallowed.

"Terror!" she said. "Don't want that. Stupid. Spit out." (Terror lumbered around and started attempting to vomit, with great racking noises.) "Not got nothything in it."

Walter nodded, finally figuring out a few things about Annie. She was definitely not like Kitsumai, he decided. She was weird. And he still felt a little creeped out by his part in her dreams. "I should go," he said, noticing she had been distracted from him. "Bye, Annie!" he added, taking a step back and reaching for the handle of the invisible door.

Annie turned around, and the look on her face was immediately grim; obviously, her plans for Walter hadn't ended, and she was scuffling towards him with a great deal more speed and grace than she had ever crawled out of dreams. It was a bit like a spider coated in bits of seaweed. "Not this time," she said, and grasped for his ankle -

He yanked the door open and pulled at her grasp, intent on getting out while the getting was good.

He liked Annie, but her dreams kind of scared him.

The sea trembled in rage behind them and the wind kicked up, hitting hard. It worked - Anemone fell back, growling in the same deep and unnatural way that Terror was, a hungry snarl deep in her throat - the sea howled with her, creaking and roaring in a slow riptide, but his ankle was free and he could tumble through the doorway.

Which he did, falling onto his bottom and staring at the now closed doorway. His footprints of blood were still there, he noticed, glancing down at the floor. With that thought he reached down, smearing the closest print and standing. His bloodied finger reached up, drawing slowly, but surely, a large X on the door.

Annie's dreams were too scary for him, he thought with a nod before he turned and walked away.

Chilling on Monkey Bars: Walter and Xana hang out together and play a game of save the princess, with Walter and Oblivion as the bad guys^^

There were often open windows in Ice's house, even in the dead of the night. Although in winter and fall there tended only to be a crack, and they were often covered with thick curtains. This was for various reasons, named Silva, Ruby Soho, and Aleric, to be precise. But we'll get to the window part soon enough.

The steady ticking of the clock was the only sound in the front room. It was stingy with the seconds that it gave, snapping each one off with a sharp noise, as if regretting letting the world have them. The room itself, a simple place with a couch and a love seat keeping company with a large chair, was fighting for the darkness that it was so accustomed to. Their visitors didn't seem to like the dark.

Eerie shadows cast over the room, flickering with every movement of the little daemon invading their territory.

The shadows kept creeping up whenever you closed your eyes and gave you the feeling of something about to grab you. Madison didn't like it. How was she supposed to sleep in a place like this? These were not like the shadows that moved in her own room. They were not the shadows that she and Melodious defeated every night. They weren't even allowed to use fire here! (Really, they weren't allowed to use it at home, either, but things at home didn't burn like things here did.)

The little girl was to be sleeping on the love seat, with a candle for Melo to perch on. He was like a constant night light, a constant protection against the shadows. But this... this was starting to become too much. Maddy sat up and held the blanket around her closer, like a shield to protect her from the night.

It started out small, barely noticeable, the tiny twine of smoke creeping through the open window. It twisted and writhed, slipping over the edge of the windowsill and trickling down to the floor where it formed into a cloud.

At first it was shapeless, a dark blob of shadow that even Melo's light couldn't tame. Then it started to twist, shuddering and wavering until it took the form the caterpillar had given it. A little foot tall lizard creature. Only its tail retained the smoke like nature from before.

Its eyes opened, blinking at the light as its head twisted around. It let out a tiny chirrup, much like a bird, then started hopping forward as it explored.

When the blob of shadow started to form, the little girl on the couch couldn't move. The shadows were going to come for her! Her daemon left his candle as well, going into the blanket to hide and cast the room into further darkness. It didn't last long, as Maddy took him in her hands, holding him where the blanket parted. This allowed them to watch as the blobbed turned into a shape.

Then it chirruped. Shadows went chirrup? Shouldn't they make noises that were more scary, like growls and bumps and such? Maddy watched it start to explore the room. It wasn't coming near here and seemed more interested in the place around her, thus making it less scary. She wanted to touch it.

Letting go of Melo, she started to slip off the couch to go to it, relieving the coat that she never seemed to part from. It seemed too big for her, and could have been the blanket she had been wrapped up in. But that wasn't what was important. The shadow-blob-creature was, however.

It sniffed the air a bit as it looked around, then started bouncing down the hallway, much like a kangaroo. There it stopped, right outside of Walter's door, and took the form of smoke again, slipping through the cracks around the door and disappearing inside.

It had found the caterpillar's new playmate. It would be rewarded. Or, at least, not destroyed.

She followed it unsteadily down the hall, the flame daemon following her less eagerly. Her legs carried her in whatever direction worked best for balance, even if that meant walls and furniture had to be used to stop on. The zigzag path stopped when she saw the blob going under the door. This time, seeing that happen wasn't as creepy as before.

Maddy looked up at the door handle, and then started to reach for it, going on her tip toes. Her small hands grabbed the handle and she started to try and open it. This wasn't an easy task, as the handle didn't seem to want to turn.

Inside the room Walter wasn't asleep yet. He had been up all night watching horror movies on TV, and wasn't that surprised to see a shadow turn into a demon before his very eyes. Had he been a normal teenager, he might have been, but as it was he merely cocked his head.

'I don't think we're asleep yet,' Oblivion muttered as she read his mind.

"Well how else do you explain this?" he asked. His eyes widened as the monster hopped onto the pallet he called a bed, chirping urgently. "What is it boy, has little Timmy fallen in the well again?"

The voice talking and the chirruping from the inside told her that she was missing all the action! Maddy pulled and twisted more on the door knob, getting frustrated at it and unknowingly heating it up under her hands. It was being annoying and she wanted to get into the room! This was much more interesting than waiting for the shadows to form up and grab you.

It the door knob gave it with a click, opening up for her. With her weight having been on the door, the sudden opening caused her to lose her balance and fall on the ground. She stayed lying on the floor on her stomach a moment, looking around. Melo bobbed in the air above her.

"Whoooa, whoa, sweetheart, you're gonna wake the whole house!" Walter said, rushing over to pick Maddy up. "We can't have that, now can we? Then they'll yell at me for watching movies I shouldn't be watching."

The little monster let out a frustrated chirp, bouncing twice before unhinging his jaw so the top of his head dropped open, his mouth like a pool of gaping vastness. Walter blinked. "What the hell?"

Oblivion wheeled over to the monster, looking down into the mouth. 'There's something in here,' she said, sticking her nose in its mouth and pulling something out. A key hung from her metallic lips, black as pitch.

"Don't eat it!" Walter said.

Maddy smiled up at Walter, who now had her picked up. She could see so much better when someone else had her in the air. A hand, still warm from her frustration, held on to his shirt for balance and she looked down at the shadow-blob. She pointed at it with the other hand, and spoke: "T'at," as in 'That's what I followed', for the simplest of explanations.

Melo bobbed over to Oblivion and the key, braver now that there was another daemon around. He still gave the blob some hesitant glances.

'It tastes funny,' Oblivion said, her eyes blinking from red to blue and back again. She swayed slightly, as if drunk, and let the key drop. 'But there's something else in there, as well. A card.'

Walter walked over, Maddy on his hip, and reached into the monster's mouth, pulling out the card. "We're... here..." he flipped it a few times. "Mad. All," he read. The monster's head snapped back into place, and would have taken his hand if it was still there. Then it let out an urgent chirp.

When the head snapped back into place, Melo fled from where it was, going back behind her only to peek out again as it started to chirp. Maddy had given a small jump, moving just a bit closer to Walter as she stared it with wide, blue eyes. Then she looked up at her cousin. "W'at mean?" she asked him.

"Maybe he's hungry?" Walter said as the monster hopped forward, latching onto his shirt and tugging. "Hey, don't eat my shirt!" he complained.

The monster tugged again, hopping towards the door, trying to pull him out. "Fine, okay, I'll come with you," Walter said with a sigh. "Although I have no idea why. You want to go back to bed, Maddy?"

"No," she shook her head vigorously, sending blonde locks of hair swishing around. She wanted to see what was going on and wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. Not when shadows were creeping around, and especially when something she wanted to know about was happening.

He hesitated for the barest of seconds, then grinned. "Alright!" he said cheerfully. "Let's do a little Halloween partying, shall we?" He patted the monster on the head, ignoring how hot it felt, and headed out the door, Oblivion following behind them. The monster, once it realized what was happening, started hopping as fast as it could to the front door.

Then it stood there, waiting to be let out.

Walter opened the door, locking it behind them and following the monster down the street, straight to the House.

Maddy smiled, pleased with herself for getting in on this adventure. She had never been out of the house this late at night. It was just as dark outside as it was inside. Well, almost. There were street lamps that provided some light, and some windows in other far off houses had lights still on.

Melo followed along, sticking close and lighting up where he passed. He didn't like the idea of leaving the house and following this... thing... But everyone else was leaving, so he had to follow.

"We should have put some shoes on," Walter said belatedly as the cold ground sunk through his socks. "Maybe a jacket." But he wasn't used to thinking such things, so he shrugged it off soon enough. The little monster was hopping along gleefully, leaving them to chase after his dark form.

When they pulled to a stop in front of the house Walter felt a bit disappointed, to be honest. He paused, shoving his empty hand in his pocket and stopping. "I don't remember putting the key in my pocket, Bliv."

'Is it there now?'

"Yeah," he said. That... was weird.

Maddy looked up at him once stopped. The jacket and shoes comments were that big of a deal for her. For one, she always had her jacket with her, and for another, Walter was carrying her. And the key being in his pocket? Better his than hers!

But then she looked at the creature again and how it was leaving them behind. she gave a tug to his shirt and pointed. "'Ouse," which meant that he should keep going. She wanted to know where it was going!

He looked at her, then at the house, then shrugged, watching as the door swung open on its own, inviting them in. "Then let's go in," he said, heading up the steps and through the door.

It closed behind them, slamming as if it would never let them out again. He sighed. "So overdramatic," he drawled before heading in.

Maddy gave a little yelp, looking at the door which was clearly visible in the light Melo gave off. Then she glared at it. What was with all these things and slamming? It was really starting to get annoying! She looked up at Walter, as if he would scold the thing for her.

"It's okay, sweetpea," he said, patting her on the cheek. "The house is just full of hot air. It closes the doors for it," he added as they walked through the foyer. It was odd, he thought, how normal it seemed inside.

Something was going to happen any moment, he knew. He turned slightly, looking at the little monster and following it down a hall.

It stopped in front of the door at the end. The door that couldn't possibly be there, but was. He didn't remember the house being this long from the outside.

Now that the house, in a round about way, had been scolded, she looked satisfied. Now that everything was safe, she started to look around. The monster was leading them to one of the doors here and the concept of 'the house is bigger on the in side than on the outside' hadn't hit her yet.

So, where was this thing taking them now? As long as it was interesting, she didn't care. If it was something boring, she was going to be upset. Maybe.

The monster sat there, looking at Walter expectantly, and Walter sighed, digging out the key that was in his pocket. He slipped it into the lock, barely managing to turn it before the entire house shuddered in response. The door fell open and Walter stepped forward a bit too quickly, thrown by the still shaking floor.

There was no floor on the other side of the door. Mere emptiness. And he fell, bellowing in shock and surprise as the world disappeared around them.

Meddy now gave a real cry of shock as they fell, closing her eyes tightly. She clung tightly with one hand to Walter, since he was the one carrying her, then other hand had grabbed for Melo. They weren't supposed to fall in rooms! That law was something she knew. And this room had nothing in it! Would they fall forever?

Well, that wouldn't be so bad. It was always the landing that hurt when she fell.

He landed. It wasn't a nice landing, but at least he didn't break anything, or fall on Maddy, he thought as he let out a groan. It was hard to get his breath back to say anything else. One leg was folded under the other and both arms were wrapped around the--

"Did you grow?" he asked finally, looking at Maddy, or he would have, had it not been so bloody dark. He couldn't see his hand in front of his face!

"Ow..." Maddy said, suddenly taking note that her voice didn't sound like a baby. Walter broke her fall, but having landed still hurt. Now that he asked if she grew, she lifted her head and pulled an arm up. The darkness hid everything, but she could tell by feel that her hand was bigger and the feather plume on her forearms seemed to have gotten more feathers, making it thicker almost. That annoyed her.

She then tested her legs, moving them and noting the differences. She grinned up at him. "Yep! I've grown!" And she was proud of this. So proud, she didn't even think to ask if he was okay.

"Okay big girl," he said, sitting up so he could rub his butt. "Off. You weigh a ton."

The lights turned on. At least, that's the only way he could explain it. A breeze ran over them, a foul smelling one that made him cough loudly and wish he had a mask. It was gray. Everything was gray. They were outside, with grass underneath them--

He reached down, feeling the grass. It was dead and gray. Just like the sky. The sun was gray as well, just a lighter shade. They had been dropped into a black and white movie, he thought. Great.

Then there was the ticking noise. It was just like the one in the front room, yet oh so louder, snapping out the seconds like a teacher with a naughty child. He looked up, blinking at the sight of the egg timer perching in the sky, the little arrow clacking its way around the circle. Underneath there was a glowing sign that said 23 HRS in fluorescent white.

"Where are we?" Maddy asked now that she was off of Walter. Her voice was muffled by the jacket since had brought that up to cover her nose. The egg timer in the sky was also a bit annoying considering how loud it was. Could people even sleep with that thing being so loud?? What did the numbers mean, anyway?

She didn't like the gray either. It was everywhere, and it was suffocating, lifeless. It made her want to get box of crayons and color everything. Much like she tried to do to the walls in the hall at home. Her mommy didn’t let that one happen.

"I... don't know," he said, looking around. "But what I do know is..." It was hard to even say, he admitted silently. It stuck in his throat like a dry sandwich. "Oblivion isn't here."