Martha didn't recognize this part of the forest, even though she thought she'd explored nearly everything in the fourteen years since she'd been adopted by her family in Wagstaf. Carefully, she stepped over gnarled tree roots, and ducked beneath damp, low-hung tree branches.

Every time the squirrel stopped, she felt sure she wouldn't need to travel any further into the tangled greenery. As soon as she got close, it would just dart away from her again.

"Where are we going?!" she shouted after it, but the only response it would give her was a chittered, "Come, doggie!"

"How much further?" she huffed.

"Not far!" came a distant reply from beyond the thickening mist. "Come doggie!"

Come to think of it, when did all this fog roll in? How long had she been traveling this way? She could barely see the nose in front of her face, this stuff was so thick. She stopped. Which way had she come from? Her normally excellent sense of direction didn't seem to be giving her any clues.

Was it still morning time? The light here was... wrong for morning. Wisps of fog coiled around her, so substantial, they almost seemed to embrace her as they swirled past. It couldn't be later than mid-afternoon, but the dim light that oozed down through the fog seemed to tell her it was closer to sunset now.

"Are we there yet? I'm not playing! If this is some kind of squirrely trick, I'll..."

"Here!" cried the squirrel suddenly, a tinge of triumph in his voice.

"Where is... here?" said Martha as she scanned the featureless scene. "I can't see a thing, except for this fog..."

"We are at the magic place!" said the squirrel, as it finally broke through the fog in front of her.

"I don't see anything."

"Wait," it said, and sat upon its midnight-colored haunches.

"Wait for what?"

"We wait. The master comes soon."

"Master?"

"Quiet!"

Martha could smell something earthy coming toward her through the mist, now, but she still couldn't see anything. The scent grew stronger, but there was no sound except the fluttering of her own heart, the ragged sucking of her own lungs. She couldn't even hear he squirrel breathing.

Martha glanced over, just to make sure the little creature was still with her. She didnt want to be abandoned here, wherever here was supposed to be. She wouldn't put it past a squirrel to pull a trick like this, although something this elaborate was usually beyond them.

It looked up at her with tiny, intelligent eyes, then gasped and stared past her.

"The Master is back!" it said, before it bent itself into what could only be described as a bow.

Martha turned. Behind her was what seemed to be another dog, although it still smelled all wrong. It was as black as the squirrel, but much bigger. Somehow, it seemed to blur at the edges, almost as if it was one with the mist.

"I thought you would be most comfortable with this form," he said, and shook himself to get the droplets of fog out of his fur.

"Um... sir... I'm sorry but I'm not really sure what I'm doing here."

"You need magic, right?"

"Yes, but..."

"I have magic."

"Okay. Um..."

"I want to make a deal with you."

"What's that? What..."

"It's really that simple."

"What do you want?"

"You are about to die, Martha," it said, too calm for Martha's liking.

Martha gasped, and tried to back away from him. Was he going to...

"No. I'm not ready yet! I want... I want to see Helen one more time! Dont hurt me!"

"I'm not going to hurt you, but still, your life will be over very soon. There is no escape."

"H... how soon?"

"Minutes."

"How do you know? Maybe this is just a horrible dream. I... I need to wake up!"

"I know these things, and no, this is not a dream."

"Then what's the point of talking to me if the only thing you know about me is that I'm about to die? What use am I to anyone?" she said.

Martha always thought of herself as a brave sort of creature, but the idea that she was about to die, to really die for good and forever, it made her weak at the knees. She wasn't ready! Despite all her misgivings about being able to survive until Helen's return at Winter Break, she had hoped she could hold out for at least that long.

"The deal I am about to offer you will not save you from fate. It is after the fates have finished their work that concerns me, anyways."

"I want to go back! Let me go! You have to let me go back!" cried Martha.

"It is too late," said the creature, and hung his head. "You felt it? That was your very last moment. You can only move forward now."

"Mister... dog?! Help me! Send me back! I just want to see Helen again!" Martha shouted, prancing and pacing before him in her terror.

"Calm yourself. You knew this was coming. Now that it has, it is my job to guide you forward."

Martha backed away from him into the swirling mist. She had to get home. She had to wake up!

"Martha," the creature's voice floated toward her. "You have yet to hear what I have to offer you. You would do well to listen before brushing me off."

Martha darted to the right, then the left. There didn't seem to be anywhere she could go, though. Every place she went was the same. Mist swirled as she passed, but otherwise, the landscape was formless and flat.

Finally, she stopped, huffing.

"Are you ready to listen?" said the voice, as his dark shape coalesced before her.

"Who are you!?" she growled, backing away from it now that she had something to back away from.

"After physical death, souls require a guide to take them on, or else they will dissipate and be gone forever."

"That's not an answer to my question!"

"I am the guide."

"What do you want?!"

"Certain souls are difficult, simply because they have managed to gather or create some small magic of their own. You are one such soul, but you aren't the only one."

"Magic? I have... magic?"

"Rather more than you know. How else do you think you could communicate so freely with the humans?"

"It was the alphabet soup! They said it made me talk... even though... I always talked..." she trailed off.

"Magic is fickle. Unstable. It swarms around some souls, and trickles through others. It hides itself from others, still. It makes it's own rules. There is no knowing where it will gather, or what it will do, because while it is conscious, it lacks any form of reason."

"Just tell me what you want. I can't stand any more philosophy talk right now."

"What you want more than anything is see your Helen once more before you move on."

"Yes."

"In order to do this, you would need to live on past your time. The magic needed for such a feat would be massive. Only one creature on your world has ever had so much: a man. It was a disaster for one soul to hold so much power, a violation of the natural order. Millions of souls have come to me too early because of the choices of this one man. No sane creature would desire to posses this much magic. I know that no matter what you desire, you wouldn't want to get it like that."

"So... so... I'm never going to see her again, am I?" Martha howled.

"There is another path, one that would eventually bring the two of you together again."

"What is it?!"

"The seed of magic inside you would allow you to stay here with me for a time before moving on. You wouldn't just sit, though."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Tiki!" he barked, startling Martha.

The squirrel from before stepped out of the swirling mist. It bowed again, but did not speak.

"This is Tiki. Or rather, it was Tiki. He helps me gather the souls, like yours, that need a little convincing before they come along. He is one of many."

"You want me to..."

"I want you to help me save other magically-occluded souls from oblivion."

"How does that get me back to Helen?"

"She doesn't know it yet, but the magical spring below your town has affected her, too, though, in different way than it did you."

"Wait... what spring?"

"It is the source of the magic. It is an underground river that feeds into the town of Wagstaf's water supply. The factory that makes Granny's Alphabet Soup, amongst many other products, has been taking water from this source since it was established."

"Why didn't all the dogs start talking?"

"Like I said, magic is fickle. It picks some souls, and not others. It makes its own rules."

"Great. What's it going to do to Helen?"

"Maybe something amazing. Maybe nothing. Even I can't see the future. Except..."

"What?!"

"I know that all creatures must die. One day, Helen will die. When she does, she will need you one more time. Her essence will need your guidance to find its way here, or she will disappear forever."

"So... so, are you saying that if I help you, you will let me see Helen again?"

Martha's tail shot up and began to wag. She pawed the ground, almost dancing.

"You can still refuse. It is not within my capacity to be displeased, to punish you. Whether you do this work or not, you will still have died. You can't fully return now, no matter what you desire. You can move on immediately or choose to wait, and your results will be the same. You may change your mind at any time. I cannot force you."

"Except, if I do this, then I get to move on with Helen, instead of alone, right?"

"Right."

"I want to do it."

"The wait will could be long."

"I don't care."

"The work isn't always easy."

"When do I start?"

"Today. Now."

. . . . .

"Honey, I think we better call Helen."

Helen's mother leaned against the wall. She pressed the receiver to her lips. She didn't want Jake to hear this next part.

"I... I just went outside to check. Martha had been in the same spot in the yard for hours. And... she wasn't breathing anymore. I didn't even bother calling the vet. She was already cold when I got there."

"Okay. I'll call Helen. She's going to be a mess when she hears the news."

"I know. I hope she doesn't think this is her fault. Martha was already sick."

"Well, I'll try to break it to her gently."

"You don't think she'll want to come home when she hears?"

"Probably. Maybe she isn't even on the plane yet. We can get her a new flight out in a couple of days, though. Classes don't start until Monday, so she'll still make it in time."

"I know how important Martha was to her, though. Martha was the reason she chose veterinary school in the first place."

"Well, I'm going to get off the line with you, so I can catch her before she's on the plane."

"Okay, Honey. Talk to you later."

"Bye."