The Crescent Man had forgotten how many times his neck had been broken. He was pretty sure it was never this crooked. He would have loved to reach up and twist his head a few times…to see if it made it feel any better…but he couldn’t.
     You couldn’t either if you found yourself chained to the ground and Fear glaring at you. The Crescent Man glared back at George, but he knew that if he tried anything funny he would just beat him to a pulp again.
     Great…just great…and Sebastian was no help either. Once Shanika and Nell got their hands on him he was beating to an inch to his afterlife. It always amused the Crescent Man how Sebastian could still get a bloody nose and bruises despite already being dead. He too was scowling out at George.

     George was playing bodyguard….Shannon had gone to help Akurei and Nell get little Claire home…how sweet…how sickening…Chitty and Shanika had decided to stay in Shannon’s mind…I guess they had enough fun for one day.

   Once again…Once AGAIN he was that close to getting what he wanted!! And what happened? Little things went wrong! Why was it always the little things that went wrong!?! Was he cursed or something!?! He let out a little bellow of curses, it made him feel a little bit better…but not by much. He looked up at George again.

     At least he actually injured the guy. He had gotten his hands on him…ungloved…almost ripped his arms clean off…but he was healing now…pulses of darkness were swirling around the wounds…giving the man of fear an even more ominous presence…The Crescent Man really REALLY hated that guy.

     “When are you three going to learn that your plans won’t work?” George suddenly said grinning, The Crescent Man scowled at him.
    “My plans WILL work…someday…just you wait buddy!” he snapped back. George just chuckled.

    Suddenly there was the sound of small feet running towards them, George turned and soon little Verena…the Piper’s little assistant, came running up. She sported a black eye and a few cuts and bruises…It took George and the rest of Shannon’s gang a while to actually starting to hurt the kid…once they realized how sadistic the little twerp could be…Chitty still didn’t have the guts to hurt a kid so she spent her bombs on the other three. Verena stood panting for a moment, then she looked around at the beaten demi-god and ghost on the floor…something was missing.

      “I…I wanted to say goodbye to Herr Piper before I went back to Claire’s mind.” Verena said looking up at George. George’s eyes suddenly flashed with realization and he leapt up from where he was sitting.
     “Where is he?!” he barked towards the Crescent Man and Sebastian.
     “How the hell should we know!?!” Sebastian snapped
     “Some guard!” snickered Crescent Man at George and receiving a swift kick to the chest. He groaned and stayed quiet. Verena seemed upset.
     “Where is he!?” She demanded
     “Verena, I think it’s best if you went back to Claire’s mind” George said quietly.
     “But I wanna see him!”
     “…I’ll help you look for him.” George and Verena turned, and Shannon walked towards them. She smiled down at the girl, who just glared in return, not really trusting the older girl.
     “I’ll help you get back to Claire’s mind…and while we do that we can look for the Piper, okay?” At that Shannon reached out a hand for the small girl. Verena stared at the hand for a long time, then up at the girl, trying to see if there was anything fake about her kindness…she didn’t see any, so she reluctantly took the girls hand and allowed herself to be walked away. Of course she stopped every few spaces to look for the Piper in a door or something, and the older girl was patient and let her do so. Soon they both disappeared and left the Crescent Man and Sebastian alone once again with George….
     “Life sucks…” muttered the Crescent Man
     “Get used to it.” George replied, he had a wicked grin on his face when he said it.