Unlike his not-so relaxing lunchtime walk, the rest of the day passed without disruptions. Frederick cleaned and patched up his injuries, referencing what Amara did after the first attack. Compared to last time, these wounds cut wider but not as deep. Hopefully, that would reduce the chance of infection and negate the need for stitches.

Fortunately, his goal of sending a message to the interdimensional monsters seemed to have worked. 

None approached the house or stepped foot in the area. Frederick made sure of that when bringing his kids home from school, grabbing the mail, and picking up Amara from the hospital.

Night arrived. Frederick was lying in bed with Amara, talking about his meetings with the retreat center employees and how he hoped to bring them on as a repeat client. He was pulling up one of their emails to show when a notification from Lian Hai appeared at the top of the screen.

Amara leaned over and squinted. “Is that one of the employees?”

Frederick froze before replying, “I talked with her while on my trip. She’s one of the people I exchanged contact information with.”

“I see,” she replied. “I’m surprised you gave her your cell number. Usually, you have clients contact you by email.”

He shrugged, hoping the gesture came off as casual. “Normally, I do, but I wanted to give her an easier way to contact me.”

“And why is that?”

Although she didn’t say, Frederick suspected what she was hinting at. He wanted to assure her that wasn’t the case, but he feared that he’d have to come clean with the truth, which could lead to an even worse reaction. Recent memories combined with the news articles Lian Hai had shared, and a plausible explanation came to mind.

“I can explain. I didn’t want to say it at first to not scare you, but you deserve to know the truth.” Frederick took a deep breath. “Do you remember what happened this previous Sunday?”

“The animal attack at the church lake? Of course. What does that have to do with this?”

“Turns out, there have been similar ones in other parts of the country.” Frederick noticed how Amara tensed and continued, “While I was walking on the trails during the morning meeting, I wondered how safe it was in those woods. Apparently, I’m not the only one who is concerned about wild animal maulings. Lian Hai has been keeping tabs on them and has found relevant news articles. We exchanged contact information so we could keep each other in the loop.”

Technically, his statements were all true. He had wondered about the safety of the trails while walking through the woods, and Lian Hai was keeping tabs on specific attacks in the news. Despite that, he couldn’t ignore the tightness in his gut as he omitted critical information.

Eventually, Amara said, “I haven’t heard about that in the news. Where did they happen?”

“Unfortunately, the local news stations haven’t been covering them.” Frederick sat up. “I can send you the links I got. Be warned that some of them get disturbing.”

“Disturbing is part of working in the medical field,” she replied. “I can handle it.”

He nodded and stood. “I’ll send them over. I just need to get them from my laptop”

“Great. Don’t take too long. It’s getting late, and you need to sleep.”

Frederick entered his office and checked Lian Hai’s message. As he dreaded, she’d sent more news reports of mysterious animal attacks. Pictures and videos showed dark animals stalking their prey moments before striking.

Even without close ups, he could imagine what initiated these maulings. He also suspected why people either didn’t take pictures or failed to upload any of the culprits.

First, he sent some news articles to Amara. Then, he asked Lian Hai if she wanted to learn to use her astral-based powers in the physical world. Responses from both arrived soon.

Amara said, “That’s awful. I’ll pass the word along to my outdoorsy friends so they stay alert. Thanks for keeping an eye on this. It shouldn’t be a problem when you take Caleb and Debby to the park, but it pays to be careful.”

In contrast, Lian Hai said, “I’d appreciate that. You can travel over here tonight or whenever it’s convenient.”

Frederick packed his laptop away and prepared himself to sleep. Soon, he was lying in bed with his eyes shut and his focus inward. The sensation of his comforter and mattress faded as a faint tingling filled him. At the same time, mental images flew past in his mind, and he waited for them to fade before opening his eyes.

As he expected, he found himself on the edge of a familiar woodland lake.

To his surprise, Lian Hai was standing next to him.

Frederick scanned her, then himself, and said, “I think this is the first time where I started out next to you rather than traveling in your mind.”

“I’m not surprised. You’ve learned a lot since you last projected here.” Lian Hai waved and smiled, but her eyes looked tired. “How was your work trip? Did you have fun?”

“It went well. I enjoyed touring the facilities. The paperwork, not so much.” He would’ve continued, but he didn’t want to get sidetracked. “What about you? Have you dealt with any problems?”

She shrugged. “It’s been going well. Work’s been getting extra busy as of late, but I’m used to that. You don’t exactly work a regular nine to five when you’re in the wilderness. At least, there haven't been any recent attacks, if that’s what you’re asking about.”

Her initial response made Frederick realize that in all their interactions, they spent more time focusing on the astral plane and related powers than getting to know each other.

Admittedly, they’d known each other for a week, and their meetings hadn’t occurred in typical circumstances. Despite that, he found it strange that he knew so little about someone he’d been through such strange ordeals with.

Then, he processed her last statement and said, “That’s great to hear. Recent attacks have also stopped on my end, which is good. It seems I made my message clear.”

“What do you mean?” Lian Hai asked. “Did you set a giant sign outside your house saying no interdimensional monsters allowed?”

“More like I killed a few that were stalking the neighborhood.”

“You what?” Her eyes widened, and she covered her mouth. “Explain.”

Frederick recounted what he’d done during his lunchtime walk. Outside of the gorier details, he explained as much as he could. Lian Hai listened without speaking or moving, and he wondered whether his story was that shocking, especially since she’d taught him how to fight them first. Then, she started shaking her head, and his stomach sank.

Although he dreaded the response, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

After a pause, she said, “Please tell me you didn’t kill these things right outside your home. Ideally, this didn’t happen anywhere in your town, but at least, tell me it wasn’t close to where you live.”

“Of course, not. The park I went to was around a ten-minute walk away,” Frederick replied. “Why?”

Her eyebrows furrowing didn’t reassure him. “Alright. That’s not ideal, but it’s better than nothing. Have you used your powers ever since then?”

“Aside from traveling here, no.” He also frowned. “You still haven’t answered my question. What’s wrong?”

“There’s no nice way to put it, so I’ll just say it. You may have put an even bigger target on your back.”

Her words sent a jolt through Frederick, and the blue light surrounding him started to intensify. He took several deep breaths and forced himself to remain calm, which reduced his aura to normal levels. Despite the grim news, he needed to stay in control.

Once he calmed himself, he said, “What? Now, you need to explain.”

“Remember when I said that these things seek out targets with more power to strengthen themselves?” She didn’t wait for a response before continuing, “Now that you’ve killed them, you may have incentivized them to hunt you down more.”

Frederick’s blood ran cold at the mental image of more shadowy beasts circling his home, seeking to kill him or even his family members. 

With effort, he pushed it aside and said, “In that case, wouldn’t I have already put myself at risk through my training?”

“There’s a big difference in power usage between cracking a rock and killing an interdimensional monster,” Lian Hai shot back. “Plus, I should mention that when we did the training, we were in a completely different level of the astral plane.”

He was about to argue back but stopped when he realized she had a point. Since he didn’t want to dig himself into a deeper hole, he stayed quiet.

She took a breath, and her posture loosened somewhat. “I’ll admit, I should’ve explained the purpose of me training you more clearly. I’d imagined that you would only pull out that power in an emergency, like if a monster were about to kill you and you couldn’t escape or evade it. I’d also imagined that you’d use just enough force to drive monsters away and not kill them. I certainly didn’t think you’d hunt them down.”

Part of Frederick agreed that she should’ve explained that before. Despite that, he couldn’t blame her for not anticipating his plans. After all, he didn’t know for sure if he’d hunt the shadowy beasts down himself.

A thought hit him, and he asked, “Didn’t you kill some monsters, too? You ended up fine, right?”

Unfortunately, she replied, “I didn’t kill them. I banished them to a different layer, and it didn’t stop more from returning. I can only imagine how many may seek you out now because of this.”

Frederick’s blood chilled again, and an icy hand squeezed his gut with enough force that even in his astral form, it made him freeze. 

Then, he grabbed his head and paced in place. In his attempts to protect his family and community, he may have sentenced them to even worse danger. He scrambled for a way to fix the situation, but he didn’t know if any new ideas would worsen the situation. 

“What can I do?” he said eventually. “I don’t want my family to be in danger because of this.”

A hand on his shoulder made him flinch and spin. Fortunately, it was just Lian Hai, who watched him with knitted eyebrows.

When she spoke, her voice had softened. “I know the situation looks bad, but it’s not too late. There are things you can do.”

“Like what?”

“Go back now,” she replied without missing a beat. “Lay low. Don’t use any of your astral-based powers, not even to visit me or pick up a pencil.” 

Frederick nodded. 

“If you want to be extra safe, stay as relaxed as you can. This will keep your aura reduced and make you harder to track.” She glanced up and snapped her fingers. “Additionally, avoid all large water bodies, especially natural ones. That’s where they like to travel between layers. If you do all this, they might dismiss the recent deaths as a fluke and move on.”

“I will. Thanks for the advice.” Frederick lay down and prepared to go back, but a question made him pause. “Wait, what about teaching you to use your astral powers in the physical world?”

Lian Hai waved him off. “I’ll figure that out myself. If I can’t, I’ll just have to deal with it. It’s not worth putting you in more danger than you’re already in.”

Although she had a point, he didn’t feel right not helping at all, especially when she’d given him advice to assist him with his own mistake. As he considered what tips helped him that he could pass along, one came to mind.

“Before I go, one tip about that,” Frederick said. “Remember how you said we’re connected to our spirits in our astral forms? It’s the same with our physical bodies. It’ll take a lot more focus and mental strain, not to mention the physical toll will add up more quickly. However, if you give it enough time, you can harness that power in the real world, too.”

Lian Hai smiled. “I’ll make sure to try that. Thanks for the tip.”

“Thank you for giving me advice,” Frederick replied before setting his jaw. “I messed this up, but I’m determined to make this right. I won’t let those shadowy beasts hurt anyone else.”

Her eyebrows knitted together again, turning her smile sad. “Hey, it’s nothing that I haven’t seen or done before, and I can tell your heart’s in the right place. At least, I can give you the advice that I would’ve benefitted from hearing back then.”

Despite icy dread gripping him, Frederick closed his eyes and relaxed enough that the grass and dirt began fading away. The faint tingling returned, and as his surroundings disappeared, he barely caught Lian Hai’s last words.

“Besides, I fear there may be much worse forces out there than just those beasts.”