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Grace sat down on the bed, tucking her legs under herself and leaning into Fin.  “I don’t know.  The Soulless are everywhere.  We’re not sure how they’re organized, if they are at all, or what they’re trying to do.  So far, they just seem to be randomly swarming sections of the city, bringing down the Fields.”

Fin slid his hand over hers and squeezed gently.  “I guess General Matthias is getting what he wanted.”

“What’s that?”

“Bringing the Fields down.  He seemed to think the Soulless would use them as bases of operation.”

Grace held onto Fin’s hand.  “It doesn’t seem that they think that way.  The Soulless are just a swarm.  They appear and destroy and move on.”

“I just hope we can find something in the archives.  We didn’t seem to find a whole lot last night.”

“Yeah.  So far it’s just been records on lost battles and brief descriptions about the different creatures the Soulless created.”

“There has to be something,” Fin said.

“You know, I’ve been thinking.  What if they didn’t find a good way to kill the Soulless?  You almost burned killing the few you did.”

Fin looked into Grace’s eyes.  “What are you saying?”

“I think the Damp Fields were created to be prisons.  To keep the Soulless contained in places where they couldn’t use magic.  And the Soulless just kind of went into a hibernation or something.”

“So why are they back?”  Fin stretched, yawing, and his hand slid away from Grace’s.  “Is Xander awake yet?”

“I’m sure he is, but, “ Grace slid closer to Fin, “there’s something I need to ask you.”

“What?”

“Why do you keep throwing yourself at them?  And don’t give me any more of that oath crap.  That’s no reason to try and get yourself killed.”

Fin leaned back against the wall.  “Before I was chosen to become a Conduit.  My best friend in school, he died.”

Grace touched Fin’s hand.  “I’m sorry…”

Fin pulled away.  “No.  It was my fault.  They were giving the trials, to see if anyone was magically adept.  A spell got out of hand.  I froze.”

A knock at the door stopped Fin.  “Xander’s looking for you, Fin.  He’s getting grumpy going through all those books by himself.”

Fin stood up and got dressed.  “I’ll be right there.”