Shakily Matt closed the door, still watching outside in case the rats decided to take a run at them after all. Behind him, Carry fell into Alan's arms and held him tight, as the five newcomers stood awkwardly, closely bunched in the small hallway. Arlee could be heard whispering through the slightly ajar living room door, which was flung open as Kira and Lara exploded out into the crowded hallway and somehow managed to worm their way through to grab Sarah in a joyful hug. They paid zero attention to the others as they dragged Sarah through to the living room, excited voices mingling in a chaotic melee of words.

  Carry eventually released Alan from her grip and turned to their new guests, smiling apologetically. "Sorry, it sounds like it was a more eventful trip than we hoped. I'm Carry, this big lug…" She laid a hand on Alan's shoulder "…is my hubby. Welcome to the street! Take your coats off and hang them on the bannisters. We can get you settled once we're sure the coast is clear, but for now come through to the kitchen and have a drink."

  Sarah's family were recovering from the fear of the encounter, Belinda hugging the two boys tightly to her while Frank took deep breaths as he leaned against the wall. As Carry's words sunk in, they silently did as she said, divesting themselves of coats and bike helmets, before following her through to the kitchen. She herded them into chairs around the table and brought over a big jug of chilled water from the fridge, several glasses and a box of chocolate biscuits.

  Muffled conversation could be heard from the front room, with plenty of 'oohs' and 'aahs', as Sarah likely got introduced to some of the house's more magical inhabitants. While the boys attacked the biscuits with gusto, Belinda turned to Matt as he entered the room. "Thank you Matt, that was very brave – what you and Alan did. Were they the things you mentioned before?"

  Matt nodded as he sat, gulping down some water before speaking. "Yup, the first night they swarmed the area, one of them broke in through our back door. I only just managed to… beat it, before Alan came to bring us over here. He took out another one on the way with that big stick of his, and the cats have been keeping an eye on the street since then."

  Frank spoke up. "You've mentioned 'the cats' before, what is so special about them?"

  Alan butted in. "They're our sentries, keeping watch over the place. Some mornings we find them cleaning blood off their paws, and signs of scuffles around the place. I'll show you, just don't freak out, okay?" Frank looked more concerned now after Alan's incomplete explanation, but said nothing as he banged on the wall and called out. "Kira! Can you bring one of the cats through please?"

  After a few seconds, there was a burst of muffled giggles before the living room door opened and the three girls hurried through to stand opposite the table. Kira hissed back through the door and Nala walked in followed by Dragon – the two of them curling around Kira's legs. Belinda and Frank looked on with goggle-eyes as the waist-high felines regarded them, long white fangs displayed as Dragon yawned. The boys froze - biscuits forgotten mid-chew – before leaning into Belinda in an attempt to conceal themselves from sight.

  Sarah was bouncing in excitement. "Aren't they wonderful! They're so soft, and Kira says they are fantastic guard cats. They stay up at night watching out the window, and can hide in shadows, and love playing games. I wish we had a cat like this!"

  Lara appeared to remember something and hustled back through to the living room, returning a moment later with Oswald cradled in her arms. The visitors were stunned again moments later, as the small dragon raised a sleepy head and waved a plushy paw at them, a tiny wisp of smoke curling up from his nostrils.

  "That's a dragon. A dragon. How did… where… Lara, dear, how do you have a dragon?!" Belinda was struggling to keep a grip on everything that was happening, Frank just stared.

  Before Lara could reply, Arlee walked in and herded the girls and cats back toward the living room. Turning to the shell-shocked family, she saw that there were no more chairs and sat down on Matt's lap. "Sorry, this must be a total overload. Magic, dragons, giant rats and everything. We will answer all your questions and help you get settled in. As soon as it's safe, why don't we head next door? You can put down your things, set the place up as you want and we can take you through how to work everything."

  She got up and patted Matt's knee. "Can you and Alan sort out some home defence while we get them settled in?"

  The two men looked at each other and grinned, nodding agreement. Alan thought for a moment and then clapped Frank on the shoulder and pulled a silly face at the boys, getting a nervous smile in return. "A couple of spears for the moment, and Matt can sort out one or two flame-tubes for emergencies. We need to do a 'welcome to the street' induction, so give us a few hours and we can go through that once you're all settled in."

  In the front room, Sarah was revelling in the feel of the soft black fur under her fingers, as she gave Dragon some close attention. Getting over her initial shock as the two felines had emerged from the shadows, it only took a few seconds of watching Kira romp with Nala before she was eagerly joining in. Lara watched from the sofa, giggling at each new antic as she stroked Oswald. The girls spent some time catching up, although Sarah had been warned about Lara's recent loss and was careful to avoid all mention of this. The conversation was around the cats, Oswald, the lack of homework and speculation about other friends, until something occurred to Sarah.

  "So, Kira, what is your special item? Lara has the super cute Oswald, and I've got my drawing stuff – I have to draw a picture of us, by the way – what magical thing did you get?"

  Kira squirmed slightly, remembering the conversation she had had with Matt and Alan. But these are my friends she thought. I can trust them, can't I? "It's kind of a secret, I'm not supposed to tell anyone about it really."

  Sarah and Lara were intrigued, the former moving closer and speaking in a conspiratorial whisper. "But we're not anyone, are we? We're your best friends and you can trust us with anything!"

  Kira wrestled with her conscience for a moment, but this was a losing battle from the opening verbal salvo – and she knew it. This was a secret begging to be told, to be shared. Her dad's voice and the promise she had made faded into the background, as she reached to the side of the armchair and pulled the thick encyclopaedia onto her lap.

  Sarah deflated, though Lara had an interested look. The new arrival looked disappointed and in true Sarah form was not afraid to give an honest opinion. "You got a boring old book, oh no! That's really bad luck Kira - especially with all your plushies! You could have got a red panda, or a bear, or…"

  Lara had started at her friend's casual rudeness, but was well-used to Sarah's bluntness and headed it off quickly. "Don't be rude Sarah, we don't know what it does – it might be really fantastic!" She turned to Kira, who had shrunk back at Sarah's response. "What does it do 'Ra?"

  Kira fumbled for a moment, before replying. "It's not boring at all – it's fascinating! I can find out anything I want from this – and not just normal, real stuff either! I found out a load of things about Dad's magic, and about the animals – I just have to think about something and the book shows me what I want to know." She trailed off, worrying that the adults might hear her talking.

  Sarah looked a bit less dismissive, but Lara was hooked by the time Kira had finished speaking. "Tell us something 'Ra! Tell us something magical, about… about…" she looked around the room, before inspiration struck. "What does it say about Oswald?" She waited, eyes sparkling in wonderous expectation.

  Kira took a deep breath, fixed the image of Oswald in her mind and opened the book, taking a random place as her friends watched like hawks. Looking down at the page, she started to read. "Plush entities and their equivalents in other materials are a common result of the Overlay event, resulting from the infusion of Arcanic energy. Sentience is achieved by those with a significant emotional connection from their bearers, while others without such a connection become unthinking animations, able to respond to simple direction, but lacking both true awareness and agency."

  She paused for a breath before continuing. "Sentient entities are capable of growth and learning, developing personalities in line with the pre-awakening activities shared with their bearer. Advancement can be achieved symbiotically with their bearers by attunement to loci, with a number of effects being observed. These include but are not limited to the following: growth, knowledge expansion, combat capability, flight, Arcanic competence, colour-change, longevity…" She looked between her friends rapt faces. "Then there's a huge list of stuff that looks like things that might happen if Oswald…" she looked back down, before continuing. "…advances? Does that mean 'get better'? Get older? Dad asked me to find information on one of those things – loci – before. They are, like, places you have a connection to, I think. Dad found a couple and they made his magical patches more powerful."

  Sarah was looking impressed, in spite of her earlier opinion. Lara was enthralled, looking down into Oswald's tiny eyes as she whispered to him. "Did you hear that Oswald? I don't know what it all meant, do you? Maybe Mr T and 'Ra can help us find out." She turned back to Kira, her eyes glittering with tears, a small smile on her lips.

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  Kira put down the book and scooted over next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders. "What's the matter La'? Why are you crying?"

  Lara wiped her eyes, snuffling slightly. "I'm not, not really. It's just that, after… after… what happened, Oswald was the only thing I had left – until Mr T turned up and saved us. I thought that thing would get us as well, and I'd never see you all again." She bowed her head. "I miss them all, so much, it really hurts!" The tears were flowing in earnest now, and Sarah joined them in a small cocoon of comfort. They stayed like that, occasional curls of smoke from Oswald tickling their noses, as Lara's grief played itself out.

  She cleared her throat, wiping her face again, turning to face her friends. "But now I have a new family to take care of me, and for me to take care of. And with Oswald, I have part of my old family – to help me remember Mum, Dad and David."

  The others were silent, not knowing what words the right thing would be to say in that moment of bared emotion. Instead, they wrapped their arms around their friend and her dragon, and that was enough.

  Sometime later, Sarah's family was taking the tour of their new home, next door to the Brands' house. An unused property awaiting sale, there was enough furniture for comfort, and the lack of white goods was no particular problem with electricity no longer a fact of life. The girls were there, mainly so that Kira's black-furred escort would provide some security in case of unexpected visitors, as Arlee and Matt talked them through how to use the patches. Heat on the kitchen table, light on a random plastic cup that could be easily carried around, water in a clean bucket that Carry had provided. They were a bit non-plussed as to where to put the cold patch with no fridge in the house, but then Alan surprised them, struggling to lug a fridge in through the door which he had liberated from one of the other empty houses in the street.

  He returned with Matt a couple of hours later, carrying a pair of freshly sharpened curtain pole spears. Taking inspiration from Gerard Butler's Spartan movie, the two men demonstrated a side-by-side defensive formation, ideal for discouraging any invaders that tried to enter the property. Matt carefully laid down two new flame-tubes and they spent several minutes taking Frank and Belinda through their use, including a demonstration in the back garden. The children were vociferous in their objection to being excluded from this, but watched in wide-eyed amazement as first Frank, then Belinda lit up the garden with a plume of raging flame. Oven mitts were provided.

  "Remember, probably the most important thing is to not be noticed at night, so keep the light low down if it needs to be on. Don't leave the house at night unless you have no other choice, and don't go out to meet anything in the garden, just get yourself ready for if they try to get in. The cats will be about at night, usually a couple of them prowl around and they seem to be scaring away most things." Alan was passing on a few last thoughts on the end of the orientation. They had gone over the recharge times for the various patches, so the family could start building up a supply of water, keep their fridge cold – with food provided from the shrinking stash of tins and boxes - and get heat building up to fight back the early Spring chill.

  Finally, there were no more questions to answer, no more nuggets of societal-breakdown wisdom that could be jammed into the thoroughly frazzled newcomers' brains. They said goodbye to the Neals as they settled into their new home, promising to return in the morning to get the vegetable patch started, and headed back to their respective homes. Matt was going to spend some time weaving patches, while Arlee, Kira and Lara were planning a cushion fort with Oswald. Alan… had a twinkle in his eye, a distinctly naughty smile and didn't go into any great detail about his plans with Carry for the evening.

  Matt devoted time to creating some better light patches for their house and the Brands', as the current patches were both created before he had attuned to his second locus. The light they provided was fine but didn't last as long as those he had woven for the 'welcome packs'. Lastly, with the earlier nerve-wracking encounter in mind, he also donned a rubber glove for an experimental weaving, one he hoped would not be needed. Feeling the coil of energy within himself depleted, he put down his loom and spent the rest of the evening enjoying being around his expanded family group.

  Arlee and he did not distinguish at all in how they treated the girls, trying to give Lara as normal an environment as possible. Kira's room had been switched around, the desk and wardrobe moved out to provide space for a smaller air mattress, enabling the close friends to enjoy a sleepover for as long as they wanted.

  Matt was shaken awake by a small hand, coming to consciousness quickly after an early bedtime. In the dim light from the moon he made out Kira, shaking his shoulder. He sat up, shaking the clouds from his head. "What's up?"

  The response from her shadowy form was tense, worried. "Nala's acting really weird. She woke us up and keeps pawing at the window. I had a look but can't see anything out there."

  "Animals have better senses than we do, there may be something." Matt levered himself out of bed and dragged on his hoodie and joggers. "Get Lara up and into here with your mother, just in case."

  Arlee came awake, Matt passing her as he left the room and went to the front of the house, raising a blind to look out over the road. Whisps of cloud scudded across the sky as the moon shone down brightly, but without any street or house lights, all he could see was a mass of shadows. A low rumble startled him, as Nala paced up to his side and reared up, putting paws on the window sill as she stared out into the night. Her attention was focused toward the right, the turning into the road. This wasn't their normal scanning – something was there.

  Cursing the darkness, Matt wracked his brain for anything that might give them some light to work with. He had light patches, but the idea of going outside to look around was supremely untempting, and there was no way to…

  Yes there was! He hurried downstairs, passing a restless Oli in the front room, staring out the same way as Nala. Moving through to the playroom and working by touch in the familiar surroundings, he carefully made his way to a crate containing a bunch of garden games. Feeling around for a few moments, he located the object of his search and hurried back upstairs, transferring a patch onto it as he went. Pausing by the bedroom door, he saw that Arlee had lit a small candle. She and the girls were huddled on the bed, with Oswald perched on the headboard.

  "Oswald, I need to ask you a favour please. I don't think it should be dangerous for you, but I can't promise it either. The cats have sensed something out in the road, but I can't see anything out there. How would you feel about flying up and down the road with one of my light patches? You don't need to be low, just flying at roof level and holding the patch beneath you on this frisbee, so I can see what's out there."

  Lara looked ready to protest, but Oswald responded with his familiar formality. "I would be honoured to lend my aid in this endeavour, Mr T." He dropped down onto the bed and faced Lara, who reached for him. Accepting her embrace, Oswald quietly continued. "Fear not Mistress, for my wings shall bear me above any danger. We must not shy away from partaking in any risk, when others might bear that burden in our stead."

  Lara did not look happy but reluctantly nodded her head. Taking her hand in thanks briefly, Matt held out an arm for Oswald to climb on and moved back to the front of the house. Pointing out the route he needed Oswald to fly, as well as some handy places to land out of reach of the ground if necessary, Matt finished with an admonishment to not take unnecessary risks.

  He opened the window wide and supported the small dragon as he set himself, before powerful back legs launched him outwards, wings spreading to catch the night air. Flapping powerfully, he soared up and out over the street. The night air was still, the breeze of daylight hours had died down and he easily climbed to roof level, turning along his route.

  Clutching the frisbee between his front claws, Oswald dextrously turned his tail underneath and tickled the patch, one of Matt's more powerful recent creations. A bright glow emerged and swiftly grew, bathing the tarmac surface below the dragon's flight path in radiance. Even as the light first appeared though, Matt's heart sprang into his mouth as it reflected back from eyes. Many glittering eyes, which heralded the front line of a horde of rats, creeping along between, over and around the parked cars. As the light grew, the mass of swollen flesh flinched, revealed in their creeping advance. Some scurried for cover, but an even larger rat in the centre of the pack reared on hind legs, chittering viciously. Extending as high as possible, its snapping jaws were nowhere close to Oswald's swooping form, but the sound could be clearly heard, filling Matt's heard with dread.

  As Oswald's path took him further down the road and the light moved into the distance, darkness fell once again over the pack and the last Matt saw of them was their creeping advance beginning again. Their eyes were clearly fixed on the other side of the road though. Where they saw us go into Al and Carry's house! Matt suddenly realised. The group who had trailed them along the road had somehow communicated to the… nest? Chief rat? Whatever, doesn't matter now Matt thought to himself, as he got ready for the battle of his life.

  Matt was no stranger to the 'gearing up' movie montage, and action heroes would have been proud at the prep that Matt went through at lightning speed. Checking that his hoodie and joggers had their armour patches attached, he laced up the thickest pair of walking boots he could find. Two of the three flame-tubes he had in the house went over his shoulder, on the cord thongs he had tied through drilled holes in the pipe. They would hang down to about waist level, ready to be grabbed and activated. Mindful of the heat, a thick oven glove went onto his right hand. Gathering the latest homemade curtain rod spear, he hurried back to the bedroom.

  "The rats are back – a lot of them – I think they're going for Al and Carry's place, after they saw us go in there yesterday." As fear grew in the eyes facing him, he handed over the last flame-tube and a spare oven mitt. "If they try to break in, I'm going to help, see if we can send them packing."

  Turning to his daughter, Matt fixed her with a look. "Get the cats to stay with the three of you, and stay upstairs. Arlee – if anything breaks in here while I'm out, you barricade the door and save the flame-tube for last resort. Stay quiet, stay still and you should be fine." He stood and turned to leave, but was restrained by a number of arms all at once. Ready to protest, Matt was silenced as Arlee kissed him passionately before speaking.

  "You be careful out there my love. Don't do anything stupid and come back to us in one piece." She looked fiercely at him, but Matt could see the terror behind the bravado. Neither of them were prepared for what this new reality required of them, but neither would they abandon their closest friends in the face of danger. Though they wanted nothing other than to huddle together and wait until morning, they both knew that to do so might doom their friends, and any hope of community they were trying to build. Some things had to be worth the risk.