"Susanne?" No answer. She must be asleep. Good, she needed rest. When they left, she'd have little of it. He silently opened the door. She could only have been asleep for about fifteen minutes, and he wanted to be nearby if she started having another nightmare.

He stood for a moment, looking at the empty bed. Reaching out with his mind, he realized that she wasn't there at all. "Goddammit!" he yelled. She'd figured it out. In truth, he was surprised that it had taken her so long. Of course, if she'd been at full capacity, she'd have figured out long ago to just leave through HammerSpace. But she wasn't at full capacity, that was what had him worried.

He jumped into HammerSpace and took off, following her thought trail, finally reaching Celly's castle.

"Damn it all to hell," he muttered. "Of all the places to go." He remembered seeing her glaive when he'd jumped into HammerSpace. This could get bad. He really didn't want to go in the front door, but he didn't see any other choice. There was no way for him to find a hidden entrance unless he went around feeling every inch of the walls. He started to head for the front but turned to the side. "I'll try at a secret door for a few minutes," he said to himself.

After fifteen minutes, he had the feeling that he was running out of time. He leaned a hand on the wall, mentally steeling himself to go through the front --

And he fell through.

He got up and saw the secret door close behind him. What a stroke of luck!

Or not, he thought, looking around. He was in an empty corridor, and he had no idea where to go. He started walking, trying to get a connection with Susanne. He found her, somewhere behind him. He quickly turned to head the other way.

And almost ran into Dionysus.

"Well, Roger, nice to see you again."

"You know, I'd like to say the same to you, I really would... but I'm sure you can understand my reluctance."

"You know, after the last time you two tried to break into here, I was sure you'd avoid this place like the plague."

"So was I."

Dionysus raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"

"Yeah. The smell, y'know..."

"I could sound the alarm right now, and bring an entire army on you."

"That won't be necessary."

"Won't it."

"No, it won't. Just give me a few minutes to grab my Otaku, and we'll be out of here before you know it."

"Yeah, right. And why should I trust you?"

"Hey, what quarrel do *you* have with us? I know Celly's pissed at us. She's also pissed at you, isn't she? Shouldn't that make you our ally?"

"Don't even try it. My loyalty has not changed. But I will give you a couple more tries to try and convince me."