The flashlight's beam quavered as Anna slowly approached the skeleton. For once, her friends were not brave enough to move up with her, standing frozen in place as she moved up to investigate. Her mind whispered thoughts about cursed treasures, dark magic, and undead creatures taking their vengeance on the living. The entire thing reminded her far too much about scary stories, one in which a monster would appear under her bed the next night.

Yet, despite the chaos in her mind, she couldn't help but reach out towards one of the bills on the ground. It stuck a bit to the ground, but with a small amount of force it came free with a slight squelch. Blowing the dust off of it, she adjusted her flashlight in order to view its face.

"How much money is that...?" Jeremy's voice suddenly came from over her shoulder, making her jump.

While her back was turned, the rest of her friends had worked up the courage to move forward as well. They all crouched behind her, wide eyed and hands on their knees. With a shake of her head, she looked back to the bill with a scrunch in her muzzle, "Something about this isn't right."

"Lemme see..." Tommy said, reaching out and snatching the note from her. Holding it out in front of Jeremy's flashlight, he squinted, then frowned, "Hey! This is a bum note!"

Anna took another bill from the ground, this one being less dirty. Instead of the face of a president on it, it simply had a circle stamped in the middle with the value '5$' on it. Along the margins was the text: "HADLEY MINING COMPANY - NON-TRANSFERRABLE. Redeemable only at the Company Store".

"This is fake money or something!" Tommy cried, crumpling up his note and throwing it to the floor.

"The loggers out west of Bedford use something like this," Bob said, picking up the crumpled note, "It's called company script, or something. Dad says sometimes they try and trick the tellers by including it in with real notes in bundles."

"You know what they say about stuff that glitters," Jeremy muttered, "Come on, let's get out of here."

Anna gave an annoyed look over her shoulder, "Just wait a minute, will you?" she demanded, causing her friends to pause.

With the front of her flashlight, Anna slowly turned over the skeleton. Cobwebs broke and bones snapped as the skeleton rolled over. A smashed set of facial bones looked up at Anna, along with hollow, haunting eyes. The front of his coat, the part that had been facing away from exposure to the elements, was in much better state than the rags that covered his back, legs, and arms.

"Guys, I'm really scared," Bob said.

"I am too, Bob," Jeremy assured.

Tommy simply coughed, his feet shuffling as he turned away.

Anna's eyes widened as she saw something. A glint of gold in one of his front pockets. Cautiously, she reached out towards it, gingerly tugging at it until she revealed what was tucked inside. It was a golden chain, connected to a sparkling pocket watch, not a single mark of corrosion or dirt on it.

"Whoah..." Bob suddenly said, "Is that gold?"

There was a scratch on the ground as Tommy's shoes scraped against the tunnel floor, turning around to see the item. Two more sets of shuffling shoes came up as the other two moved to loom over behind her. There was a distant murmur, more shoes on the tunnel floor.

Anna's ears perked up and rotated towards the source of the noise. Distant voices, all adult-sounding. Definitely not echoes, and definitely not coming from her friends.

"Shh..." Anna said, dropping the pocket watch and stepping back. The sounds of footsteps grew closer, and eventually the boys raised their heads as the sound settled on their ears as well. Hurriedly, they moved backwards until they reached the alcove in the tunnel, the same alcove that the diagonal shaft had emptied out into.

"-I'm cold, and dirty, and wet, and cold-"

"Give it a rest, will ya?"

"I thought you was trained by the best of the best, Roscoe," a different voice from the first two said.

"Garth was the best of the best!" the second voice argued back, its sound growing louder as the shuffling of feet grew alongside it, "We'd be set for life if he didn't give that damn hat away."

"What the fuck does a lucky hat have to do anything?" the first voice complained.

"That hat was real lucky. You wouldn't understand!" the second said.

"We wouldn't! We haven't had good luck ever since we signed up with your sorry ass!" the third said.

"Wait! What's that over there?" the apparent leader said, hushing the other two.

Three flashlight beams cut through the darkness up ahead. Eventually, three figures moved around the corner, the four huddled children peeking around the side of the alcove. The light reflecting off the walls from their flashlights splashed back on the three, revealing them all to be adult men. One of them seemed to be about the age of Anna's father, while the others seemed much younger.

Anna's blood chilled as she laid eyes on the silhouette of a long, pair of tubes and a stock held in one of the men's hands. The bulge of a holster protruded from another's side and a with a bandolier of shiny brass-jacketed bullets went across his back as he turned towards the skeleton.

"Holy shit! We found it!" the oldest said after a pause.

"WHEW! YEEWOO!" Another shouted, reaching out for a high-five for the other.

The other man in question, the one with the holster, looked down at the bills beneath their feet, dumbfounded. After being ignored, the one with the shotgun lowered his high five and instead bumped shoulders with him, their cheers echoing down the chasm. At such close range, with the acoustics of the tunnel, none of the children dared to speak as they watched, wide-eyed.

"We're rich! Look at these! Fives! Fifties! Quick! Start stuffing them in the bag!" the leader instructed, jabbing a finger out at Holster, who quickly got to work scooping the false bills into a large duffel bag.

"Look at that watch too! That's a nice watch!" Shotgun pointed out, his face turning slightly into the light to reveal a big, dumb grin as he pointed his shotgun towards the skeleton's chest.

Anna's teeth clenched as she watched the leader grab the watch and rip it, chain and all, out of the man's shirt. Something like that was old, golden, and- and it-

It belonged in a museum!

Something like this required a very carefully thought out plan. Anna's forehead creased as she continued to watch the treasure hunters, no, grave robbers continue to loot the corpse. Turning around, she looked up towards Tommy, lowering her voice as low as possible as she gripped his collar and pulled his ear close.

"Listen. We can't let them steal that thing. Tommy, you're gonna go back to the camp and rouse the counsellors. Tell them that there are strange people in the abandoned mines and bring them back here," Anna whispered, her voice thankfully overridden by the sounds of the robber's whooping and hollering, "You're the fastest and the lightest, you can make it back up the ladder and back over the gate."

Tommy nodded, looking back up the diagonal shaft towards the ladder leading out. Visibly setting his jaw, he began to clamber back up the slope and towards the ladder.

"What's going on?" Jeremy asked, whispering loudly enough to be heard across the small amount of space in the alcove, and just loudly enough to risk being heard by the adults just down the tunnel.

"Shh..." Anna said, drawing the other two close, "You two are gonna help me stop them from stealing that thing. It's a priceless artefact, it belongs in a museum!"

Bob's eyebrows knitted together, "It's just a watch, what do you mean-?"

"Bob, Jeremy. I'm going to go and try and get them from a different direction, via a different shaft. Once I leave, count to twenty then step out and attract their attention," Anna instructed carefully.

"What if they hurt us?" Jeremy hissed.

"They won't..." Anna said, voice quavering as doubts immediately appeared in her mind. Certain adults in her past hadn't hesitated much in trying to hurt her. Still, she shook her head, "Just act like you're lost and need help. If they look like they're gonna shoot you or something, just run and don't look back."

"Oh boy, ohh boy oh man..." Bob muttered, reaching up to cover his eyes.

"Then what're you gonna do?" Jeremy asked, poking Anna in the shoulder.

"Steal the watch back, fly out from one of the shafts and lead them on a chase away from you," Anna said, "Once I snatch the thing, run and look for another way out. Once Tommy's back with the counsellors, they'll find you if you get lost."

Bob and Jeremy looked at each other, uncertain. Anna didn't give them much of a chance to argue, though, as she clambered up the slope after Tommy. She reached the top of the shaft just in time to see Tommy sprinting across the clearing towards the gate and towards the railroad leading back to the camp. He was always the best batter because of how fast he ran, even beating out Anna on land speed.

Sighting another shaft leading down to the lower levels of the mine she began to descend down it, the sounds of the adult's voices fading in as she lowered her altitude. It lowered her into another T-junction, down one path of which was Hadley's corpse, and the sounds of the treasure hunter's conversations.

The three men had turned to look towards one of the tunnels. Shotgun's namesake was fortunately lowered, not aimed in the direction of two boyish voices. Licking her lips, she stalked forward, trying to keep to her tip-hooves as much as possible as she moved towards the backs of the men. Their leader held the watch, gleaming in the light of Jeremy's flashlight. The chain was clenched in his right hand, the watch itself dangling back and forth like a pendulum.

"You boy scouts or something?" the leader asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion as he regarded the two boys, still out of Anna's sight as she crawled closer.

"Uh, no sir! We're from Camp Hadley! Just down the rails!" Jeremy said, voice shaking.

"Please don't shoot us, sirs!" Bob insisted.

Shotgun looked between his two comrades, "We uh, we aren't shooting 'em, right?"

"Of course not, stupid," Holster said, "Right boss?"

"I don't trust no boy scouts sneaking up behind me when I'm about to make a score!" the leader sneered, "How'd you find your way down here? Don't they got guides to watch you snot-nosed kids?"

"We uh, got lost?" Jeremy said, "Like we've been telling you?"

"Come on, boss, they just been lost. Like they keep tellin' us," Holster said.

Anna bit her lip as she approached, low and slow. They were no more than around 10 feet away now, and she was about to be able to see around the corner towards her two friends. She caught a single glance at them, and saw Jeremy's eyes glance towards her before he moved his flashlight beam away from her position. Her heart leapt, though, as the leader suddenly turned around. The fact his flashlight was still aimed at the ground prevented her immediate detection, and she scrambled to hide behind one of the beams holding up the ceiling as the flashlight beam shot right past her.

"You can find your own way out," the man said, "There's a bunch of shafts that lead up. They got ladders."

"The ladders kept breaking," Jeremy said hurriedly, "We're scared, sir! We don't want any trouble, honest!"

"Fine!" the leader said, whirling around, "But no funny business! Archie, if they do anything weird, pump 'em full of lead!"

"They're kids, boss!" Shotgun said.

With the leader's back to her and the prize closer than ever, Anna slowly slunk back around the corner towards the golden watch, swinging back and forth from his hand. Shotgun, however, moved his light to illuminate his boss, forcing her back around the corner.

"We've been waiting for this break for years!" the leader insisted, "Watch the stupid brats!"

Shotgun sighed, "Fine, fine! Come on kids, this way..." he said, turning back towards the two boys.

Heart thundering and coat practically tingling with adrenaline, she thrust forward from her hiding place. Seizing the chain holding the watch with her teeth, she gave it a hearty tug as she got her hooves under her to sprint for a corner. Despite the man's superior grip, the chain slipped free, and soon her hoofbeats rang through the tunnel as she galloped away.

"NOT AGAIN!" the leader cried.

"She's got our thing! Get her!" Holster said.

The corner was inches away. Anna's hooves scrambled against the stones as she barely made the turn. Now with only the occasional sliver of light coming out of the nearby air shafts, she continued to bowl forward through the tunnel. The scrambles of feet came after her along with, eventually, the beams of flashlights.

"Shoot it! Shoot it!"

"But-"

"Give me that!!"

Anna's eyes bugged as she approached the tunnel she had used to flank the hunters. At the last second, she was forced to dive for another passage as orange light filled the tunnel and the floor just behind her exploded, sending shards of stone flying and nicking her flanks. Tripping up and sliding a few feet on her face, she quickly put her hooves back under her as she ran for another tunnel, narrowly avoiding another blast as she went around a corner.

Dead ahead, the tunnel ended with nothing but a pool of moonlight and a ladder leading up towards the surface. Spreading her wings, Anna leapt into the air and began to fly for the exit. A flashlight aimed at her back, filling her vision with bright light as she went for her escape.

Too late did she realize the passage was far too narrow - narrower than many of the others. Her wingtips banged into the sides of the walls, and she awkwardly tumbled back down to the base of the ladder. The breath was knocked out of her lungs as the flashlights aimed at her.

For a second, she looked up to see the hunters halfway down the tunnel, running towards her. Their leader aimed the shotgun right at her, but all that resounded from the gun was a hollow 'click'.

Taking her chance, Anna threw herself onto the ladder. It was exceedingly hard to keep a grip on the rungs, but she began to scale them as quickly as possible as the other two hunters closed the gap. They both rushed to grab the ladder as quickly as possible, only for their bodies to slam into each other with a meaty thunk.

"Give me shells!" the leader's voice demanded from down below as he pulled away Shotgun. Holster, free to begin climbing, did so, reaching down towards his belt as he did so.

Anna's teeth bit down into the chain in her mouth in panic as she saw Holster grab a revolver from his namesake. She had little time to think of a solution, though, as a rung cracked underhoof, sending her falling down a few steps and right onto the face of her pursuer. His gun went off right next to her ear, sending it ringing as he cried out in shock.

Grunting, she resecured her forehooves' grip to the rungs and pulled herself up, giving the man a hearty kick in the face. A kick that got him right in the eye. His gun clattered to the floor below as he clamped his right hand over his eye, his other being used to keep his grip onto the ladder.

Rocketed on by adrenaline, Anna continued to scale until her head finally burst to the top. Huffing and puffing, she hauled the rest of her body out of the hole just as she felt Holster's hand brush through her tail. With no time to lose, Anna scrambled back onto all fours and continued to flee, running out towards the gate and beginning to spread her wings.

An orange explosion filled the air and once again she felt the wind of several projectiles moving past her. Something nicked her flank, leaving behind a band of red hot, searing pain in its wake. Immediately recognizing the foolishness of taking flight, Anna folded her wings and dove down the bank towards the creek, just before another blast filled the air behind her.

Rolling head over flank, she tumbled down into the water with a splash, immediately becoming soaked in chilly, murky water. Bursting from the surface, chain thankfully still clenched in her teeth, she shook her head vigorously to get the water out of her eyes. Something brushed against her, and she stared down into the water to see black, wriggling forms brushing up against her and squirming around her hooves.

She let out a muffled scream around the sides of the watch chain in her mouth, clambering towards the far bank as fast as she could. Once in shallower water, away from the horrid water creatures, she gave a glance over her shoulder up towards the bank, where the three men had arrived. The leader had his shotgun open, pulling out two shells as its barrels smoked. His two cronies began to stumble down the bank towards her.

Mind screaming in panic as he reloaded, she immediately threw her weight into a sprint, this time towards the ruins of the bridge that once crossed the river. Once again, she spread her wings to fly over the obstructions, only for her waterlogged feathers to flap clumsily and uselessly against the air.

Eyes widening, Anna put as much power as she could into her legs and leapt towards a collapsed section of planks, barely clearing it and falling straight onto her face on the other side. Another bang echoed through the forest as a blast of pellets chewed a hole in the planks just behind her. Head down, she continued to sprint down the bank of the creek and into the forest.

Holster and Shotgun began to clamber over the debris as the leader fired off another shot, hitting a tree just as Anna ducked into the bush lining the mine clearing. All three met up and chased down the bank.

The creek continued to run northwards. It began to widen as other streams began to join in, the brush and forest around the sides continuing to close in as Anna ran, the thugs only ever being a few steps behind. The creek had turned into a proper river now, and up ahead her eyes lay upon a small, red brick bridge crossing over it. The railroad! Of course!

Scrambling up the bank and towards the railroad, she dove over the tracks and behind the gravel bed just as another shotgun blast chewed on the stones. Smaller and faster, Anna was hard to hit. But, she couldn't fly, not until her wings air-dried. Now, though, as she once again scrambled to her hooves, her heart was thundering at a frantic pace. Her breathing was hard and fast. Her ears were ringing, not from loud noises, but from exhaustion instead as rings closed around her vision.

There was no option to simply stop, though. She ducked again as another blast hit the gravel bed that she used as cover. Now, though, the thugs had stepped over the railway bed onto her side again. Assumedly, they were reloading their shotgun again, but now they were outpacing her.

Pushing the last of her energy into her legs, she frantically sought a way out as Shotgun began to close the distance behind her. Then, as if in answer to her, up ahead she saw the trees peel away from the left side of the tracks. Part of the dirt embankment built around the rails had fallen away into a slip, leading down towards another river.

She dove for it, flapping her wings for whatever lift they might give her as she tumbled down the slope and, once again, into the water. A pillar of water shot up from the river ahead as a shotgun blast was emptied into it, the three men taking the much less painful and ankle-wrenching way down via the gentler slope, giving Anna just enough time to splash into the river.

She was no swimmer. In the Pacific, she had avoided water by flying. Bedford was not a coastal town either, and neither of the nearby coastal cities had beaches too pleasant to swim in. Thus, she flailed and splashed in the water as she endeavoured towards the other side, mostly just being carried downstream. With a rush of hope, however, she realized the current was going to wash her onto the opposite shore, and she ceased her struggling and stretched her legs underwater, scrambling to find purchase on the bottom.

Her head submerged as she ceased to work to keep herself afloat. Lungs already burning from exhaustion, the amount of time she had underwater couldn't be short enough. When her hooves finally found the silt of the bank and her head finally burst from the water, she gasped greedy lungfuls of air, inhaling a few drops of water from her own emergence and coughing.

Flashlights frantically swept the water behind her, and another shotgun blast tossed a column of water into the air. This time, though, it was nowhere close to her.

With the last of her strength, Anna dragged herself under a fallen branch, draping its still-green leaves over the water. Up to her neck in water, but shielded from sight by the branch, she took wheezing, long gasps of breath. Stars were filling her vision as her body seemingly ran out of adrenaline. Scores of pain ran all across her body, sharp stings mixed in with dull, thudding aches from her legs and barrel.

"DAMNIT!" the leader shouted from somewhere upriver, "Where'd that little bitch run off to?"

"Come on, Roscoe, what if those twerps ran off and called the cops?" Shotgun's voice said.

"We've been shootin' up the forest as well. What if someone up at the camp heard us?" Holster added.

There was a long pause, the lights of the hunter's flashlights sweeping back and forth a few times, piercing the leaves of Anna's hiding spot and lighting her face with star-like specks between the twigs and brush. She stared out towards the three silhouettes on her side of the shore as they slowly scanned the forest and riverbank.

Something brushed against her hoof in the dark, unknown water below her. She held back a yelp as she felt it squirm around, the feeling of slimey, rough scales rubbing against one of her legs as it finally left her.

"...Dangit, you're right. Come on, let's get back to the truck, quick!" the leader growled, turning around.

The flashlights faded, leaving Anna in darkness as the hunters splashed against the riverwater. Lungs already occupied with the arduous task of slowly rejuvenating her stamina, she could not find it within herself to breathe a sigh of relief. Instead, she sluggishly raised a forehoof and grabbed onto the chain in her mouth, raising the prize on the end out of the water.

By the low light of the moon, she could see its features. Safe and sound.

For a moment, the arguing of the treasure hunters, the sounds of the nighttime woods, and all other distractions in general faded away. She stared into her reflection in the golden watch. Bloodied from scratching her face up on gravel and stone, clothes ripped and dirtied, mane tousled about. Despite how much pain she felt, despite how much trouble she was in, despite how exhausted she was... she was victorious.

The world began to glow around her, the pale reflection from the moonlight turning into a more colorful relief as Anna looked around, confused. Suddenly, she realized it was not the world around her that was glowing, but herself. Her coat was covered in sparkles as something surged within her. There was no pain, or great relief from her previous ills, just the mysterious glow.

A glow that put her in bright contrast to the world around her. A flashlight immediately centered on her.

"...Hey! That's her! Holy- get her!" the leader's voice suddenly shouted.

Looking at her glowing forehooves, Anna swore for the very first time, "Fuck."

The glow had faded as quickly as it had appeared. Despite the short time she had rested, her body was in no state to continue fleeing. The tiny spike of adrenaline that tried to renew her was nowhere near the load that had been dumped upon her as soon as she grabbed the watch. She managed to clamber out from under the branch, only to hear a mechanical noise from behind her as the leader levelled his shotgun at her.

"Nowhere to run now, stupid little brat-" he hissed, finger tensing on the trigger.

WHOOT-CRACK! BOOM!

Anna flinched as the shotgun went off. The shot went completely wide as the shotgun was sent barreling end over end into the bushes by the river, propelled by an unseen force.

The force, however, did not remain unseen for long. A figure advanced from out of the bushes, slowly coiling back up his whip. A flashlight was raised towards him, revealing a leather jacket, fedora, and a stubble-covered, clenched jaw. Indiana Jones stared at the three men with a fire in his eyes that Anna had never once seen in her entire life. It was enough to freeze the men in place.

"...Garth!?" the lead man suddenly said.

"Wrong, kid," Indiana muttered.

"Wait... that hat... he gave it to..." the leader's eyes suddenly widened.

A fist blasted forward, smashing right across his jaw. The leader's head was wrenched to the side, blood pooling immediately around his teeth as he stared blankly, slack-jawed. His knees wobbled before he fell straight to the ground, limp.

The other two men came at Indiana. One drew a knife from his belt while the other picked up a nearby tree branch. Indiana deftly stepped back as the knife swung for his throat, catching its handle on the back-swing. With a single tense of his arm, the knife-wielding man (who was Shotgun) screamed in pain as his wrist popped and the knife clattered to the floor. Indiana threw him to the side as he grabbed the incoming swing from the branch-wielding man with both hands.

The branch-man went to kick Indy, but went wide as Indiana side-stepped and threw his weight into the branch, forcing it back to hit its owner in the face. The branch fell to the ground as its wielder stumbled, momentarily stunned. Indiana took full advantage, grabbing his collar and thundering three consecutive right-hooks into his nose. Nose bleeding profusely and the same distant look in branch-man's eyes as his leader's, he limply fell back into the bushes behind him.

Shotgun, gripping his wrist and looking up from shore, looked up to Indiana with a terrified face. In the moment of hesitation he had, Indiana simply reached into his holster and brought out his revolver. Aiming it casually down at him, he pulled back the hammer and said, "How do we feel about helping me tie your friends up and waiting for the police?"

Shotgun gulped, nodding rapidly as he stared directly down the barrel of the gun.

Anna and Indiana sat side by side in the car, in complete silence as they followed the police car down the gravel road, back towards Bedford. Behind theirs were the cars of the Morrisons, McAllister's, and Shepherd's as they drove their kids to town as well. All had been safe and sound. Tommy had arrived to camp to find the place already aroused and searching for them, the camp having been Indiana's first stop before heading out into the woods towards the sounds of gunshots. Once the counsellors reached the abandoned mine, Jeremy and Bob successfully called them to one of the shafts to fish them out, after having run away and hidden from the hunters.

They weren't heading home, though. None of them were. They were heading towards the Bedford Police Station, to answer a few questions. Indiana assured Anna they weren't going to prison, but instructed her strictly not to answer their questions until he said so.

Anna slumped into her seat like a crumbling piece of moist toast, too exhausted to do anything but try to relieve the strain on her lungs and in too much pain to get truly comfortable. One of the counsellors had applied a bandage to the scrape where a piece of buckshot had nicked her. She still felt as if the cut ran a bit farther up her flank and was still bleeding - they hadn't bothered to take off her pants to apply aid. Still, she was too embarrassed to bring it up to her father as she stared out over the windshield at the police car ahead.

Indiana suddenly reached back from the gearshift towards the small basket placed between the seats. From it, he fished out the gold pocket-watch, grabbed from the muddy riverside where Anna had dropped it after the three hunters had been dealt with.

"Anna. You risked your life for this?" He said, voice unnaturally cold as he gripped its chain, letting it pendulum back and forth.

"It belongs in a museum..." Anna mumbled quietly.

"What?" Indy asked, voice rising in what seemed to be honest confusion.

"It belongs in a museum," Anna said, enunciating a bit more clearly, drawing the towel she had been given to dry herself with a bit closer.

"Anna, this..." Indiana gave a side-glance away from the road towards it, "This is- you... why'd you risk your life for this?"

"Cause it's what you would do," Anna muttered. She herself knew that it had been dumb. Risking life and limb for a shiny relic was obviously an adult thing to do, not something for a child to do.

She was not met with scolding, however. Instead, Indiana was dead silent for a moment, staring out to the road, face twisted with an almost dumbfounded expression of confusion. Eventually, he gave a soft chuckle, "Anna... that thing can't be more than forty years old... it's maybe a collector's item, not something that goes in a museum."

While Anna's ears had gone limp atop her head already, that statement made them actively flatten themselves against her skull. She lowered her head as a thick, red flush crossed her cheeks, "Sorry..."

Indiana, however, didn't raise his voice. Instead, he softly, simply asked, "You knew that was a very naughty thing to do, Anna. Not only did you run away, but you put yourself and your friends in danger."

"I know that now, sorry..." Anna repeated, looking away as tears began to fill her eyes.

"Will you do it again?" Indiana asked.

"No..." Anna automatically answered.

After a moment, Indiana eventually said, "I believe you."

Anna's eyes widened in shock, and she gave a glance up towards her father.

"The fact that those guys were willing to kill innocent children over a dusty old watch means that it's probably good that they're going to go behind bars," Indiana muttered, "You've got heart, kid."

Anna blinked as Indiana took his eyes off the road for a moment and gave him an earnest, warm smile. For a moment, she beamed back up at him.

Indiana's expression lingered but for just one moment, before he dropped the watch and placed his hand back on the gearshift, "You can say goodbye to ice cream for the rest of the summer. If you do that again, Anna, I'll kill you myself. Got that?"

Anna sighed, smile immediately falling into a bitter frown as she huddled back in on herself, "Got it..."

The same man who had sat with Indiana and her in the Supreme Court sat with her in an uncomfortable, bland room as a policeman asked her questions. He asked the same questions in multiple different ways, asked her to recount events over and over again until she felt like her head was going to explode. Randomly, the lawyer would stop her from talking, while for some reason other times he would shout at the policeman - who only seemed like he was trying to be nice.

Eventually, though, they were let out. Despite the fact that Anna was falling asleep on her hooves and indeed snoozed the entire drive back to their house despite it being the middle of the day, she still needed to change out of her tattered clothes and take a shower before going to bed.

With a sigh, she turned on the shower's hot water faucet and began to strip down. A special hygiene kit, devised by Uncle Johan, sat by the sink with brushes for her coat and hair. She grabbed them both as she stepped into the shower and allowed the warm water to soothe her bumps and scratches.

Something green caught her eye when looking down towards her flank. She ran her brush across it, but it still remained there. She scrubbed the area vigorously with soap, but the mark, looking an awful lot like the compass rose from a map, refused to budge. Her eyes bugged out as she realized it was far too detailed and precise to be a smudge of dirt. Apparently, at some point, she had decided to go on and do the most rebellious thing any good, civilized girl could go and do:

She'd gotten a tattoo!

Anna's screams filled the house soon afterwards.

Author's Note

The boring setup part of the story is officially done

We are so back