An old, dirty musk hung steady in the air. The room was smallish and seemingly abandoned, and everything appeared to be covered in a thin layer of dust. It was cold; Kora could see her breath dance away from her lips every time she emptied her lungs. Her eyes narrowed as she focused carefully on the room around her. Everything was in place, exactly as it had been left.<br/><br/>She squeezed her way through the barely open door, trying not to disturb anything on her way to the large, polished oak desk that sat opposite of the door to the study. The old piece of furniture had once belonged to Mikhail Kordon, a major political player and her former comrade. The news of his death had surprised and saddened her. But now was not the time to give up the fight. Rather, the fight had only just begun.<br/><br/>Kora was no expert in the area, but she strongly suspected foul play. She did not believe Mike had just had a heart attack and died. He had made far too many enemies for his death to be a mere coincidence. If Kora was right (and unfortunately, as it turns out, she was), she knew she must take some precautionary measures.<br/><br/>From her pocket she extracted a single, ordinary looking key. She bent down behind the desk, shoved it into the keyhole of the bottom drawer, twisted, and pulled it open. Relief flooded over her when she saw the contents were still in place. Carefully she removed paper by paper, plan by plan, record by record, gently placing them all in her smallish backpack. When she got to the very bottom, she found something that nearly brought her to tears.<br/><br/>An old photograph, obviously something Mikhail had cherished deeply, was lying perfectly preserved on the bottom of the drawer. It showed not only a young Kora, her horns barely nubs on her head and her still too-long tail extended awkwardly behind her, but also some of her old friends. Sasha, the tiger girl, had a smug grin on her face. She had been praised by Mikhail himself just moments before the picture had been taken. And sweet Alice, her little sideways wolfy grin always warmed Kora's heart. Daniel was in the background, stretching his wings that he had only just started to grow into.<br/><br/>Kora was captivated by the old picture for a while, but her trip down memory lane was cut short when she heard the clang of a mobile chugging up the driveway. She swore under her breath and quickly snagged the photo and jammed it into the bag, zipping it up and locking the drawer. She had planned on going out the way she came in, but it seemed that was no longer an option. Instead, she crept quietly out of the room and into the hallway, turning silently down the stairs to the basement. A closing door behind her told her that they were already inside.<br/><br/>Quickly she crawled through the cobwebs and junk littering the basement until she reached the small window at the back. It was stuck in place, so having no other option, she gripped the sides of the window rammed her tough horns into the glass, squeezing her eyes shut to avoid getting cut. Luckily for her, it shattered somewhat softly, but not completely without noise. A terrible, eerie silence took over for the slightest moment, then she heard them shuffling around upstairs. Kora carefully climbed out the window, knowing she needed to be quick but steady. She could not afford to leave them any way to trace her. Once outside, she made a mad dash for the shadows of the forest that lied just past the small white fence surrounding the property. One leap and she was over it, and after regaining her balance, she was on the move once again. She would go straight to the safe house on the east side of Torrance. The others would be waiting for her there.