"How many guards or people do you think might be possessed, or whatever it is they are," Kyle asked, squinting at the monitor.

She shrugged. "Can't tell. We've seen six different people with wrong auras. So there are at least that many."

"Any idea how many more are inside?"

"No. Maybe forty or so, but that's a real out of my butt guess," she said with a shrug. "Any luck with your wife?"

"No. They've been to the apartment, but according to a neighbor they went off to some 'relief camp'. The neighbor didn't know where."

"Sorry," Ravenheart said, touching his arm for a moment.

Kyle looked toward the monitor. "Is this the closest gathering spot you know to the Cicero area?" he asked.

Her eyes widened slightly. “That we know of. Cicero-I assume you mean the township-is only a couple of kilometers to the southeast."

"So this might be where they ended up," Kyle said slowly.

"Possible."

There is one very powerful out there," Seeks-the-Moon said suddenly.

Kyle and Ravenheart both turned toward him. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"There is a very powerful spirit out there," he said, looking away as he seemed to stare through the wall. "I can smell him."

"Can he sense you?" Kyle asked.

Seeks-the-Moon shrugged. "I don't know, but I hope I do not smell as bad as it does."

Ravenheart turned to Kyle. "Makes sense that they'd send a powerful one to guard the buses if they were transferring the people."

Kyle nodded. "I know you've got to follow them, but first I've got to find out if Beth and Natalie are in there."

Ravenheart looked away. "I can't let you do that. I can't let you jeopardize our chances of finding the main nest." She turned back and stared at him. "If they were here, they may have already left in the other bus."

"I have to find out, Anne," Kyle said, matching her stare.

She frowned. "There's only one way I'll let you do it. Take yourself a couple of blocks from here and astrally project. Check out the bus that way. If anything chases you, get me frag out of there and lose it. If they only see one idiot human, they might not panic."

"Gee, thanks," he said.

"Better get a move on it. That bus'll be loaded soon."

Kyle stood up and shook out the cramps in his legs. He turned toward Seeks-the-Moon. "Watch my body?"

The spirit simply nodded and followed him out the back door.

Enveloped in the warm flow of astral space, Kyle watched the bus from two blocks to the south. He could tell that it was almost full-the glow emanating from the auras of the people packed into it almost flowed out into the street.

Waiting until he no longer saw anyone outside the building, he shot forward, gliding a few millimeters off the ground, and slipped through the sheet-metal and plastic walls of the building. As he passed through, he immediately willed himself upward, hoping to get lost in the rafters of the building, assuming mere were any.

There were, barely, a meter or two of clearance filled with pipes and support beams. Below him, seemingly unaware of his presence, were a dozen or so men and women, the auras of two-thirds of them rife with dark streaks and bursts of confusion. They all stood around a figure lying on one of the many cots in the room. He could hear the conversation, and gathered from it that her family-the four other normal-seeming auras-feared that she was too weak to travel. Some otthers were attempting to explain to the family that the bus was waiting. The family wasn't listening.

He recognized none of them by their auras or what he could make out of their physical forms, and willed himself upward, hoping to pass through the roof. His astral body couldn't, though. There were planks of wood across the roof, and he couldn't pass astrally through that once-living material. Staying as close to the ceiling as possible, Kyle began to drift forward toward the far wall, hoping to slip out there. As he went he noticed that three of the insect-possessed humans had moved off and were having a hushed argument. He also noticed that the old woman seemed to be watching him. Her head, at least, turned as he drifted forward, seemingly tracking his movement. He thought about pausing to get a better look at her, but decided against it, and instead accelerated his motion.

He reached the wall, and easily slipped his head through the inorganic metal there. Talking quietly among themselves near the door of the bus were three of what Kyle took to be guards. From the bus streamed some light, but Kyle saw no one inside it. Nor did he sense any sign of the powerful spirit that Seeks-the-Moon had detected.

He was concerned about reaching the bus without detection, but could think of no simple way of creating a diversion while in astral form. He watched them for a moment, and when they all seemed to glance down or look away, he shot over to the roof of the bus with the speed of thought.

Just as he brought himself to a stop flush against the metal roof, Kyle heard a door of the warehouse slam shut and a pair of voices begin an indiscernible conversation. More voices quickly joined in. Kyle took that as his chance to shift position to where his head dropped down through the roof of the bus.

There were dozens of people inside, men, women, and children. Propelling himself forward he looked quickly at each of their auras, hoping to recognize one. All were unfamiliar.

As he came to the last one at the front of the bus, a tall man with short dark hair and a crumpled long coat stepped into the bus, his aura bearing no resemblance to anything human. He immediately stopped, surprised, and then lunged up at Kyle's head, his face and aura instantly turning dark.

Unrestrained by the confines of the flesh, Kyle was far faster. Before the newcomer could move even two steps, let alone try to seize his astral head, Kyle was gone, moving at the speed of thought toward the railway yard. He shot between cars, keeping himself a meter or two off the ground to use them as cover. He turned quickly, once, twice, and then back toward the bus. From cover inside one of the freight cars he could see the bus pulling away quickly.

Staying out of its view, he crossed between more cars and then accelerated back to where his body was. He reached it, slipped back inside, and almost leaped to his feet in one motion. Seeks-the-Moon, seated in an old wooden chair in the back room they'd broken into, eyed him expectantly.

"They weren't there," Kyle said, picking up the Ares assault rifle he'd been carrying. "But I did see your spirit buddy."

The spirit raised an eyebrow.

"I think he was like the others, an insect spirit possessing a human body, but he was a powerful fragger," Kyle told him, "and I think he could mask his aura."

The spirit seemed surprised. "How well?"

"Don't know," Kyle said as they left the building, "but I think I caught him with his guard down. He could see me in astral space, even took a swipe at me, but he didn't pursue. I think he was stuck in the flesh." They began jogging toward where the Knight Errant troopers had been. Kyle could hear engines beginning to recede in the distance.

"How distasteful," Seeks-the-Moon said

Kyle didn't answer, but as the two reached the alley behind the building Ravenheart and the others had been using for surveillance of the gathering site, he could see that the guard and Canelli's motorcycle were missing.

"Drek!" Kyle cursed. “They better not have moved out already."

The two dashed into the building and up the short flight of stairs to the room where the trooper had been. It was empty.

Kyle slammed his fist into empty air. "God-frag-it!"

"The bus can't have gotten far," Seeks-the-Moon said. "I can still almost hear the motor."