Relying on you isn't terrible.

- I mean earlier you were really pretty miserable about it!

Yeah, but only because -

- OK. Look. Azalea, she's not, like, the most reliable person ever, right, she won't always do a hundred percent of the things you need her to do, and sometimes we both need different things and they clash together and it's not the greatest, and it hurts. But it's OK, see, because Azalea and me are on a team together, and we're not gonna stop being on a team just because we both suck as people a little sometimes. And Zeke - I have literally no idea how me and Zeke got to be on a team together, but we are, and there are some things you can't ever ask him to do, but there are other things he'll definitely do, and when he won't he'll be upfront about it for you. If you're on his team. 

And like, when you have to rely really hard on people who aren't on your team, that's - that's not great. Especially not if you have to do it for a long time and the person knows you really well. So like, my parents, when I had parents, I loved them and they did a lot for me and they were kind of objectively better at raising kids than Azalea is in some ways, but they were not on my team? And that made it really hard to do stuff and live with them, because you'd always have to think about whether they were gonna use different parts of you against yourself, and what were their goals, and what did they want from you, and were they being upfront about what they expected, and -

- I was really bad at not being like this, all worried and twisted up and stuff, when I was living with my parents. And I'm almost never like that now. Because I have, like, a really weirdly good team here? I have Azalea and I have Connor and I have Wishbone and I have you and I have Zeke, and sometimes I have Dennis, and sometimes I have Trace? And it makes everything way easier and more OK, because when you have a team you get to have help and support without constantly worrying about what it's going to cost you and whether the other person is actually working against you. Or something. And it's really good. And you're sort of like the core person on my fighting the forces of darkness team.

But my brain is a little bad at remembering which people I'm definitely on teams with, right, because it's not used to having one, and it's bad at figuring out which people will stop being on my team under which circumstances, or sometimes I worry that maybe I just imagined being on a team with someone in the first place - that's how a bunch of the nightmares were shaped back when we dealt with the nightmares - and so sometimes it worries that maybe I actually can't work with people even though I thought I could. And at that point my life's all set up based on the assumption that I can rely on them, but I'm not sure I can, so it hurts all the time, see, and the sensible thing to do then is to go up to people and be like 'hey, are we still on a team', only once you've really gotten to worrying about it you worry that maybe something horrible will happen if they know that you know that you're maybe not on a team after all, and then everything is terrible. But I'm usually wrong about it, see, mostly the people who I think are on my team actually are on my team, I think, probably, and so -

So I don't think you should be all 'I'm really sorry you need to have me on your team right now, that sounds like the worst thing ever', because the thing that's terrible isn't having you on my team, it's that sometimes my brain forgets that you are, and that you're not always gonna want the same things as me but you're also not gonna have been secretly using me for nefarious purposes the whole time we've known each other, and, like, if I get to worrying for some reason that our goals are in fundamental opposition to each other and that I actually can't rely on you for anything ever again, then, like - I could see that ever happening but I think you'd probably, like, tell me if I asked? And so I think that probably I should just. Ask.

And I don't want you to stop being on my team just because I forgot that you were for a bit, when I was really tired and scared and I'd almost died and I felt really generally disappointing and was just generally bad at, like, having thoughts.

OK?

- sorry that's so many words. And that they probably all didn't make sense. I'm bad at making sense and I might still have head trauma.

I'm not going to stop looking out for you. I just - don't want to tell you to do stuff if you're going to be not sure if they're things you should be doing.

Are you gonna tell me to do stuff if you're sure that if I had full information I'd be like 'that was terrible and awful and how could you ask me to do that'?

Never.

OK. Then we're good.

Okay. 

Cool.

So. We have a precog vampire serial killer with mind control powers, and we're not sure how to counter that and we're also not sure whether I'm secretly under some kind of really subtle vampire thrall thing. Also we have a mummy who can leech people's life force, or something, but who mostly seems to just be super scared and traumatized, and we have a swordsman trying to kill the mummy. 

You've got it.

OK. Well. I still think we could maybe track Drusilla if we had a dog that was really really good at tracking, and - maybe if we found her and then immediately shot her from really far away, or something? I don't think we should try it until Wishbone is more sure that I'm not gonna suddenly turn evil, or at least has any information about what to do about it if I am. - I think I'm OK with you reading me now, for safety reasons, if you're not gonna be weirded out by, I dunno, the fact that I occasionally have stupid thoughts. If I'm gonna stay home from school today then I will probably mostly just be, like, sleeping. Ampata will have to go to school but I can call Dennis or Mercy and ask if either one of them is OK with being shadowed today instead.

The mummy situation seems like something we can maybe do something about right now, although I guess by 'we' I mean 'Father Michael' if you're gonna be hanging around here and I'm gonna be waiting for my head to stop hurting. But we need to get the mummy to a safe place, and - I bet he'll come after her again, if he was OK breaking into Father Michael's house, so we might just have to wait for him to come to us. Or, well, to the mummy.

Yeah. Maybe Michael will swordfight him, that'll cheer him up.

Maybe!

I'm gonna - call Dennis and if necessary Mercy and, uh, apologize to Ampata and get Azalea to drive him to school. And then sleep. 

Thanks for - being cool about stuff.

Just - tell me not to do stuff if it'll make you sad, okay?

OK. I'll try to do that.

You're way more important to me than - uh, most reasons I've had for most stuff I've done. 

OK. 

- I really am sorry about the almost dying.

Man, if I got mad at people for almost dying I'd be mad at everyone all the time.

...this is true.

Anyway. Night. Standing permission to read my mind while we suspect me of being under possible vampire mind control, unless I go back to thinking that's a terrible idea, I guess.

She hugs her sister, calls Dennis, and explains to Ampata that she's sick and can't go to school today. And then she sleeps.

He goes to school. He's maybe a bit on edge all day. He keeps attention out for any signs Karen is going to walk off to meet Drusilla, or invite her in, or something, and he worries about the mummy girl. 

Two more people are missing. Security guard at a nursing home near Michael's place, high school student at a private prep school just outside the city. He loses his temper at a kid in class for saying rude things about a classmate too quietly for her to hear. 

Karen wakes up feeling significantly less terrible!

OK, Wishbone says he can't find any references to anyone who isn't Dracula doing the long-term thrall thing; he's inclined to say it's more a Dracula thing than a vampire thing. So, like, have it as a hypothesis but it's probably not actually happening, I guess.

Head's feeling better. We have any leads?

He sends what's known about the missing people. Security guard didn't hand off at the end of his shift; girl snuck out - her friends thought maybe to a party - and never came back.

Security guard first, I think, we have a better idea where he would've been when he was killed. If he was killed.

Yeah, I agree. You want to head out there - with backup - Michael will only be a couple blocks away, but still -

Yeah, not eager to have another near-death experience this week. Ready when you are.