"…and right then, this bloody huge bird swoops down and goes all 'Lord of the Rings eagles' on the rats! It went through the pack like a hot knife through butter, grabbing and dropping them. They all did a runner, and after the bird grabbed a bundle of the bodies and flew off, we got our bikes and raced back here."

  Alan had just finished recounting their harrowing experience, playing down the dire nature of their circumstances to avoid traumatising the rest of the group. In his retelling, they weren't really trapped, and it had been more of a delay to their return, rather than the reality of owing their lives to an inordinate amount of luck.

  The group had gathered at the Brands' house for a catch-up, before heading next door to the new arrivals, to help them get a vegetable patch setup and growing. Carry had reported some good progress on their patch, and with some careful rationing (and maybe a few more pigeons), the group were confident that they could make their existing stocks last until the various plants were ready for harvest. Conversation then turned to the outcome of their mission against the nest.

  "We managed to scatter the food all around the entrance, as well as deep into the access tunnel, so there is no way they can miss it." Matt reported. "Hopefully it didn't get trampled and dispersed too much when they chased us – maybe we can head back there with the binoculars over the next day or so and see what good it has done?"

  The general consensus to this idea was not positive, including from the ever adventuresome Alan. There hadn't been any sign of waste disposal outside the nest, so to gather any evidence of their success they would likely need to risk going right down into the nest proper. Their recent experience clearly demonstrated that they were not prepared for that yet. Although guidance on the poison packaging was that it could take up to a week to effectively kill a nest, that was before nature went crazy and animals became massively overgrown killing machines. There was no telling whether it would be effective at all, or whether the dosage they had prepared would be appropriate.

  Matt was less inclined to worry about the poison's efficacy, having seen the effect that his poison spear tip had on its victims. He was heading back over the road to prepare as many new patches as he could, while the rest of the group were next door digging up the garden. They would need patches to poison their spears, light the darkness, power their flame-tubes, and provide some form of breathable air. He had a lot of work and experimentation lined up in front of him.

  Despite the ongoing challenges, Matt's weaving had evolved from being a stress-relieving hobby into a endless delight of magical discovery. He was literally living out a fantasy, very different from but just as incredible as many of the stories he had read relentlessly over the years. Despite the horrors he had witnessed and even been a part of, his natural optimism and practicality helped him to continue moving forward, and get the most out of the wondrous components of their new reality as well.

  He bid the others farewell, checked the outside carefully and then hurried over the road back to their house. Grabbing a drink and some snacks, he set out a number of items he was hoping to experiment with in his weaving. His spear leant on a wall within reach and he briefly considered the incongruity of this habit, compared with what life had been like less than two weeks before. No longer were phone and wallet the priority, days dominated by meetings and spreadsheets. He wasn't sure whether it made him a bad person that he was genuinely happier, with the world's natural order turned upside down and life-or-death struggles now far more frequent.

  So many others had paid the ultimate price after being thrust into circumstances which modern society was totally unprepared for. He wondered how many other survivors were gradually wasting away, food and water supplies exhausted. How many were huddled behind barricades in fear, and how many were thriving such as they were?

  Lion's loss had hit them hard, but even the near-death situations they had managed to escape or defeat hadn't set them back significantly. The power they had managed to achieve through the items they bonded with, combined with the solid relationships they already had in place, had given them the perfect foundation to build from. He struggled to imagine how others could be doing better, but with magic now an undeniable part of the world there were likely a near-infinite array of possibilities for the extent of human potential.

  Foremost in his realisation was the incredible luck they had found in Kira's bonded item. While he doubted that his daughter was unique amongst the eight billion souls on the planet, she presented possibly the ideal confluence of circumstances to give their group the greatest possible benefit from an incredible information resource. Studious, curious and determined, her personality made the academic pursuit exciting, instead of a boring necessity that many children her age would treat it as.

  She had taken to the changes after the weirdness with confidence, diving in to the possibilities rather than vainly clinging to what had been. The instrument of her abilities was a battered, old, leather-bound book – totally divorced from the now-useless technological devices that many of her peers seemed to have been surgically attached to.

  To compound this unlikely series of fortunate circumstances, Kira's reciprocated adoration of a group of cute, playful kittens had developed into incredible personal security. The sight of the tiger-sized felines pacing by her side, keeping watch over her as she slept, or playing together in a moment of careless joy, gave Matt the reassurance necessary to be able to focus on other projects and necessities.

  Determined to fully explore and push his own limits, Matt focused his mind back on the task in hand. While sitting with the loom, the connection to it felt newly empowered – the effect of the third attunement he assumed. With each new locus he connected to, Matt had felt a growing clarity to his thoughts – and not just while weaving. His decision at the mouth of the rat's nest – to turn and spring an ambush with his flame-tube – had been conceived and executed in a matter of seconds. Breaking the momentum of the approaching pack and causing them to get so tangled with each other in fear of the stabbing flames, had given Alan and himself just enough time to reach relative safety. While a part of his mind had screamed to just keep running, he had been able to plan out and action the right steps to give them the chance they needed.

  Whilst weaving, Matt's movements were precise and assured, threads packed tightly together and the streams of essence drawn into the patch as it took shape. Gone was the need for breath-held precision that had been required so often in his early efforts. As he began the process of his afternoon's work, each thread was positioned in just the right place to pack tightly with those around it, causing the quality of his work to improve.

  Matt had been considering a number of ideas for patches to experiment with, and his first was to increase the protection available to the group. He was glad they had salvaged sets of stainless steel cutlery from other houses, otherwise Arlee would definitely be having words with him about the disappearance of her knives and forks. Preparing the reels of thread and grabbing a large fork from a pile of utensils, he got to work. He hummed a favourite tune to himself quietly, the gently repeating sound helping him focus on the back and forth movements, laying the basis for the patch's shape. Next, he continued winding the thread as his left hand started gently brushing the shiny surface of the fork's handle.

  Matt watched as with each of his stroking movements shining particles started to detach from the fork, following the direction of his fingertips into the threads as they were steadily laid down on the loom. He could see the tiny motes, glistening in the air as they flowed in a steady, gentle stream into the surface and edges of the slowly forming patch. They settled on the threads and merged with them as he kept his focus on the protective shell envisaged in his mind's eye. He saw the shining points of metallic dust as they flowed gradually onto and over the surface of the patch, spreading uniformly just as the effect of his current armour patch did when activated.

  As his work progressed, Matt smoothly changed his motions around the fork at the same time as he mentally shifted his intent for the patch. His fingers no longer brushed the surface of the much eroded metal utensil. Now, they pinched together and dragged along the sharp tines before smoothly transferring the feel of the needle-like point onto the surface of the patch. He repeated this motion again and again, each time dropping an ephemeral spike in a precise pattern across the length and growing breadth of the cloth.

  Minutes passed in this repetitive flowing movement, all the while the square of cloth crawled toward completion. Matt switched back and forth between brushing the essence of the steel over the surface, and plucking fine points from the shrinking tines before placing them in a miniature forest of spikes, barely visible to his enhanced senses for a moment before fading away. As Matt sealed off the final threads and removed the patch from the loom, he could see the quality of his work, feel the power contained within. Standing stiffly, he stretched some complaining muscles before carefully placing the new patch on the front of his t-shirt and tapping it.

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  The familiar faint radiance began to spread from the now shining patch, growing to encompass his whole body at a much faster speed than his previous examples. Once it was complete, there was a discernible sheen across his every part, including bare skin like hands and face. This is a serious upgrade! Matt thought to himself, holding his arms wide to admire the effect. With a hand in front of his face, he could see the personal forcefield conforming to every movement as his fingers stretched and clenched – an almost mesmeric effect.

  Wondering how this would affect being able to hold and manipulate stuff, he grabbed the spear and held it up to his eyes, squinting to see a narrow gap between his skin and the smooth wooden surface. The sensation felt slightly different as well, as though feeling through a pair of thin gloves, but his grip was still steady and there wasn't any slippage, so laying it aside Matt next picked up some needles from his box of random weaving supplies.

  If general physical manipulation was not significantly affected, then the 'fiddly little stuff' was an abject failure. The reduction in tactile awareness and precision was obvious, as time and again he fumbled the small needles with a lack of precision reminiscent of drunkenness. It wasn't that he had become any clumsier, just that the new coating of his skin did not afford the same level of precise control.

  Running hands over his arms and body, he could feel a rough texture that had not been present in the last version of the armour patch. Unable to discern any detail with the protective coating, he grabbed a page from his "Patch Ideas" notebook and dragged it over the surface of his arm, eyes widening as clean tears were ripped through the page like a razor blade!

  "Holy crap." Matt said to an empty house. "I'm going to have to be REALLY careful about hugging anyone with this thing on!"

  Despite this slightly gruesome thought, Matt was ecstatic that his first experiment had turned out so well. Combining two different effects into the same patch had felt like a natural progression, but the expectation of success was not a guarantee. Seeing and feeling the result of this effort drove his excitement to new levels as he sat back down and started on his other ideas. Already he was bursting with the need to show off his latest invention, as well as – hopefully! – the others to come.

  The afternoon light was fading and shadows were lengthening as a trio of laughing voices hailed him from outside the window, breaking into his thoughts as he rested. His fingers ached and the coil of energy within him felt depleted, poured out through his hands into the new creations. Matt stiffly levered himself off the sofa and opened the door, chuckling at the generally muddy state of Arlee, Kira and Lara.

  "You look like you've been having fun!" He said, standing aside to let them through after kicking off mud-caked boots on the porch. Kira instantly dove in to clasp him in a muddy hug, laughing at his groan of mock anger as she shared her bounty of earth with his clothes. He smiled and tussled her hair as Arlee looked on.

  "Don't worry Matt, I'm sure our beloved daughter is going to volunteer to do the laundry." She smirked at Kira's chagrined look of realisation, as she swiftly released her grip on Matt and stepped back. Her hand rested instinctively on Nala's shoulder as the feline protector licked at a spot of dirt on her paw.

  "I didn't expect you to be gone so long." Matt said as he helped Arlee out of her coat and did the same for Lara. "Did you get the Neal's veg patch all done?"

  "Yes, and then we all headed along the road to the Peters' house and helped them enlarge theirs as well. They were very appreciative and said to pass on their thanks for the patches again." She replied as they moved through to the kitchen and started heating water, placing a big bowl on top of the heat patch. "It was a good thing we did as well – Scott managed to give himself a nasty gash trying to deal with some dead tree branches. Carry fixed him up and is going to pop back tomorrow to make sure that she's still got the healing touch."

  "I introduced Sarah to them, and Mrs Neal brought the two boys over to meet Alex as well. They didn't help much with the digging, but they were having fun with whatever they were doing." Kira added.

  Lara joined in the report of the day's activities. "They were a bit surprised at Oswald, but they love him now, of course! We need to open a window for him – he said he wanted to have a fly around before coming in. "

  "Not a problem darling, we'll get the water warmed up and then you two can head upstairs, get washed and open a window for him." Arlee looked over at Matt and smiled. "It felt almost normal once again, getting jobs done while the children played together."

  "Did you…" Matt started.

  "Yes Dad, we kept looking at the sky, and we had Nala and Oli with us the whole time as well. I promise we were careful." Kira butted in, now used to the new level of parental protectiveness. Filling a bowl with warm water, she grabbed a flannel from the pile Arlee always had ready and carefully followed Lara up the stairs to the bathroom.

  "Good girl." Matt muttered to himself, before turning to his wife. "Was there any discussion about plans for tomorrow?"

  Arlee nodded, bustling around to close blinds and turn on the light patch, still mounted on the frisbee and sat on the kitchen table. The girls were getting cleaned up in the bathroom, muffled chatter and laughter audible through the ceiling, and Arlee had a small smile on her face as she stripped off dirty clothes and started wiping herself down with a warm, soapy flannel. Standing in only her underwear as she washed, she teased Matt with a shake of her bottom.

  "Mrs Tapper, you temptress. It's a good thing the girls aren't here, to be led astray by such wanton behaviour." Matt said quietly as he moved forward to gather a damp Arlee in his arms, lips joining with hers in a slow and sensuous kiss. As they broke apart, Arlee looked up into her husband's face lovingly, before tapping him on the nose and backing away slightly.

  "Well Mr Tapper, we shall see whether you are deserving of a greater reward later on…" She held up a finger at his eager smile. "…if the girls get to sleep early! I cannot deal with the comments we would get if they were awake listening to the bed springs!"

  "I hope you made sure they were well and truly worn out from gardening then, my Lovely." Matt said, as he turned to start preparing some simple dinner. Forcibly steering his mind away from some tantalising mental images, he got back on track. "So, plans for tomorrow?"

  Arlee pouted dramatically and grabbed a towel to dry herself. "Alan wanted to get to the petrol station and see if we can stock up. The girls were adamant about going to the Chens' house and trying to recruit them for our little community. I think that would be a good idea."

  "They live not too far away from the Wrens' place, don't they?"

  "A couple of roads over, why?"

  Matt sighed. "Lara asked me to take her back there, to pick up some things and to see if there was a locus there which she could attune to. I don't know if it is just her feeling left out, but she's pretty set on it." Matt saw the fear growing in his wife's eyes at the suggestion, so hurriedly continued.

  "I'm not suggesting that we even risk meeting the snake again, or taking Lara back there without being certain… well, as certain as we can be about safety. My thought was to take Oswald back and ask him to fly around, scout it out from high up. Then if it's clear dive in and out quickly."

  Arlee gripped both his hands and locked eyes with him. "You listen to me Matt. We have enough danger around us the whole time without going looking for more. We are not going to court danger when we don't have to. We…" Matt felt the trembling hands even as the voice caught in her throat. She took a few deep breaths before continuing.

  "We've been so lucky so far, with how we've landed on our feet, with friends, with amazing magical powers. We've been lucky to get through monster attacks without… with only losing Lion. I almost broke that first night, seeing how badly hurt you were after that rat got in. We've been lucky, and Lion's death was really the first sign that luck can't last forever. Promise me… promise me that you won't take risks that you don't need to!" Arlee's breaths came fast, and Matt folded her in his arms to still her fears.

  "I promise love. You know me, Mr Risk Averse. You're right, we don't need to go looking for trouble."

  They stood holding each other for a while, until a giggling avalanche spilled out of the bathroom and into the girl's bedroom upstairs. Arlee wrapped the towel around herself and was moving out of the kitchen when she paused and turned back.

  "There was something else. Not that we spoke about today, but one of the things that Kira found in her book sounded interesting, so I asked her about it. I don't think she has researched it further, but tomorrow we should definitely get her to find out about 'the Overlay'."

  "What's that?" Matt asked curiously. “It has come up before, but I don’t remember any details.”

  "I don't know, but the way it was included in Kira's reading made it sound like an event of some kind, which has something to do with the locuses…"

  "Loci."

  "Don't interrupt, smartarse. It sounds like it has something to do with the magical things that we've seen since all this started. Maybe it can tell us why all this is happening."

  Matt nodded in agreement. "We can task the girls with that tomorrow, maybe while we go to the petrol station." He handed Arlee a plate of simple tuna pasta salad. "I'll let the girls know that dinner is ready."

  After the others had finished getting dressed, the four of them sat together, talking quietly as they ate dinner. Matt and Arlee were happy to see Lara laughing at some of Kira's impressions of Alan. The young girl still had a long way to go in her recovery, but the familiarity of having her friends around seemed to be working wonders. The big dose of normality in the form of enthusiastic fellow twelve-year-olds was proving enough of a distraction, at least for now. Carry was still keeping a close eye on her and was swift to nudge Kira or Sarah if she felt that Lara was sinking once again.

  After dinner was finished, the girls made their excuses and raced back upstairs, leaving Matt and Arlee to clear up and Nala to forensically lick the scraps of tuna from the large serving bowl. As the last traces of light disappeared behind the trees, they bid the girls goodnight and settled into bed with a couple of books under the bright radiance of a glowing frisbee.

  Some time later, Arlee put down her book and took Matt's from his hands. Reaching up to tap the glowing patch, she spoke in a husky whisper as darkness shrouded the room.

  "Now Mr Tapper, about that reward…."