"I'm sorry. I just thought —-"

"Don't think," Heda said.

“Just . . . just leave me alone."

Madison's eyes teared up. ‘What did I do?' she thought. Heda was trembling with anger, so Madison just scooted away and said nothing.

“As you are probably all aware by now," Reichert started, reclaiming the room and everyone's attention, “the second victim of our mysterious kidnapper has been found, and the perpetrator has escalated the violence. So additional precautions must be taken. The humans have become involved, and I have already been informed that the FBI will be on scene if they are not already. This means that our shifter activities must be further curtailed. There are eyes everywhere, so be very careful what you say or do in public." He suffered through the first grumblings of discontent, knowing that these animals did not want to be caged.

"The humans will be providing increased patrols and security, which makes some of our job easier. Unfortunately, we will also have to stifle their investigation somewhat to prevent our true natures from being revealed." He looked around, his eyes settling on one Madison Sloan.

"Miss Sloan, you and Mister Forester are the only shifters at the radio station, correct?"

She nodded.

“Yes, though someone told me that one of the new day shift guys is a necromancer."

"Excellent. Do you know his name?"

"No. I haven't met him yet."

"Well I will fill him in later." Reichert grabbed some notes.

"I have developed some code phrases for you to use that will also be distributed to the shifter student body. Basic instructions on where to go for future meetings and status updates, sort of like Homeland Security Notifications, but hopefully they'll actually make sense.

Miss Sloan," he continued formally, "I am afraid the favor that I am going to ask of you is serious.”

Madison turned paler than normal.

"Yes?"

"I would like for you to increase your hours at the station. You will of course be compensated for your trouble, but we need someone who can transmit to everyone," he added, glancing at Heda.

“Miss Adler was right. Your broadcasts would be much more efficient than trying to make thousands of phone calls. All shifters will be required to stay tuned to the station when in the dorms or other domiciles."

"Wait, you mean I'm on every night?"

"For the time being," Reichert replied, “at least until I can get others more aware of the situation to assist you. The spell caster will help during the day, but two of you cannot be on twenty-four seven. If it affects your class schedule, let me know and we shall make arrangements."

Madison just let out an “eep" noise while she nodded. This was a lot more responsibility than she had expected.

“Excellent. Because you are going to be a bit more public of a target, I want you to make sure that you always have a friend or two around."

Madison actively avoided looking over at Heda. When she was there, Billy was there. Hopefully that would be enough. It seems that she had outlived her welcome with Heda, and she had no idea what she had done wrong.

At the moment, Edgar Adler walked into the gymnasium and was quickly summoned up to the podium.

“Hello everyone. I can't stay Long, but you should all be informed of what is going on. My name is Edgar Adler, and I'm a Paranormal Private Investigator who has been brought in by the FCU Shifter Council and the North American Shifter Council to investigate these crimes. I have been given full investigative authority by both councils. Let me get to the big questions. Yes, the second victim has been found, and is in bad shape. All we know so far is that he was freezing to the touch when he was found, he had been tortured even beyond what the first victim endured, and had a device wrapped around his neck. It was identified as a Heretic's Fork."