The rain fell hard as Rahne ran, but she never felt it. There was only one thought playing through her head like a demented song: Her mother was dead, her mother was dead. And the way she had been killed only pointed to one thing: It had been death by creature. The very creature she could turn into. A wolf.

Rahne sprinted up the gangplank of the Nautilus numbly, not stopping until she reached Tom's room. She knocked on the door frantically, calling out his name. No answer.

"Rahne? What's wrong?" Mina appeared from her cabin nearby, and blinked at Rahne's appearance. "What happened?" Rahne's breathing was labored, and she felt like she was going to be sick.

"My-my-my…" Was all Rahne said. Mina moved forward and put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.

"Rahne- look at me Rahne- you need to calm down. Take a deep breath, and tell me what happned," Mina said firmly. Rahne did as she was instructed, and then whispered:

"My mother's dead," Mina's eyes widened.

"What?" Rahne shook her head, growing frantic again.

"P-p-p-please d-d-don't make me s-s-say it again!" She choked, going into a complete breakdown. Tears spilled down her face and she shuddered painfully through her tears as Mina took in that information.

"Where?" She then asked.

"M-m-my house," Rahne gasped. "It's a few miles up t-t-the coast. OhmyGomymother'sdeadMinawhatdoIdo?" Rahne finally broke down into sobbing, wiping her eyes on her sweater sleeve.

"Go into your cabin and wait there. I'm going to pull the League together and then come get you, all right?" Mina asked, looking Rahne in the eye.

Rahne nodded, and staggered into her cabin.

A few minutes later, Rahne found herself repeating the story of finding her mother's body in the kitchen, and breaking down towards the end of it. Her shoulders heaved with silent sobs, and she was a mess. The League listened quietly, and didn't interrupt. Partly from respect, and partly because if they did, Rahne might not be convinced to continue again.

When she was finished, Rahne sat down low in her chair, and covered her eyes so that the adults wouldn't see her cry.

"All right then. Rahne, I know it's hard for you to talk about this now, but is there anyone you know that might have a reason for killing your mother?" Alan asked gently. Rahne paused, thinking.

"No. We were kind of isolated from the rest of town, so we didn't see a lot of people." She said shakily. Alan thought about that for a moment.

"You may go back to your cabin now Rahne," He said. Tom stood up.

"I'll go with you," He said. A small smile crept onto Rahne's face.

"Thnk ye." They we're just about to walk out when Rahne remembered something important. "Wait- I dunno if it helps but… I think a wolf killed my mother." She said.

"You do?" Jekyll said. Rahne nodded.

"I think so. There were bite wounds, and some scratches too… Maybe a dog or something." She explained.

"Okay. Thank you Rahne." Alan said. Rahne nodded, and then left with Tom. Rahne sniffled occasionally, and her crying had been reduced to silent tears, but she was still shaking like a leaf.

"Are you going to be all right?" Tom asked when they got to her room. Rahne nodded.

"Jus' not anytime soon. Thank ye Tom." She said. Tom smiled at her. Without thinking, Rahne threw her arms around Tom and hugged him. She felt like she needed one right then. She pulled away, and wiped her eyes again.

"Feel better?" Tom asked.

"Much betta," Rahne replied. She waved a little, and sunk into her room. The teenager flopped onto the bed and sighed. She still felt cruddy. She was tired, and desperately wanted to sleep, but was afraid to. Rahne had a feeling she knew what would be in her dreams tonight: Her mother's dead body.

Too tired to bother fighting it, she allowed sleep to overtake her.

"Why?"

"Why what Mina?" Alan asked. Mina looked like she was in serious thought.

"Why did Rahne's mother die? Who did it, and who would want to?" She explained.

"'Who' is probably some drunk nut case who gets his sick kicks by killing ladies," Skinner said. Nemo narrowed his eyes in disapproval.

"This is serious Skinner. A woman is dead, and her daughter isn't taking it easily." The captain scolded.

"You think I don't know that? Look, I know about murderers. I've traded with a few in my time," This earned several cold glares, so Skinner quickly rephrased his words. "I've traded with them, not aided them. I assume they were murderers anyway. Some of 'em had bloody weapons with them, so I just assumed…"

"You know what you do when you assume, don't you?" Jekyll asked. "It's only a guess. You're never sure. But I think we're straying from the topic."

"Henry's right," Mina said. "We are straying." Suddenly, Skinner went on sharp alert.

"Wait a minute- didn't Rahne say she was attacked when we found her?" He asked. Alan thought about this for a moment. When he thought on it, he did recall Rahne saying something about being attacked.

It was so organized, ye would have thought they'd planned it all, She had said.

"Yes… she did…" Alan said. "Are you all thinking what I'm thinking?" He asked.

"If you're thinking that Rahne's being targeted for something, then yes. I'd say we're all on the same page," Nemo replied. Alan got up and started to pace.

"But what? What would somebody want with a fourteen year old girl?" He thought out loud.

"You're forgetting Alan. Rahne's not ordinary. She's, like Skinner said, one of us. Extraordinary." Jekyll said. Alan nodded. Extraordinary indeed… Suddenly, Alan's mind snapped back to when they had been fighting "M". Dorian had collected things from all of them. Skin from Skinner, blood from Mina, Jekyll's potion, and a picture of Nemo's technology.

They had all played an important role in "M"'s plan. Maybe Rahne had something that, whoever the mastermind was, wanted or needed. Maybe it was her-

"MR. QUATERMAIN! MINA! SKINNER! COME QUICK!" Tom came plowing into the room. He was pale and out of breath. "Rahne's gone, and there's a whole lot of blood in her room."

Rahne yawned, and awoke from her sleep. No nightmares yet. She sighed and sat up. Pulling out her hair brush again, she moved in front of the mirror in the corner of the room. She brushed through her hair a few times, and realized that she couldn't have been asleep for long- she was still as tired as when she had gone to sleep.

Rahne saw the door open in the reflection of the mirror. She could see the top half of the door, but not the bottom. It had opened up enough for someone to slip in, though she didn't see anyone enter. Thinking that it was Skinner, she sighed and went to turn around.

"Skinner, do you ever kn-" Rahne didn't finish her sentence. A large, gray wolf stood in the doorway, baring its fangs at her. Rahne was about to scream, but the wolf leapt at her, sinking its sharpened teeth into her arm. Rahne let out a little cry, and tried to pull away, when the wolf stopped. It reared onto its back legs, and turned into a human.

It was a male around Mina's age, with silver hair and burning silver eyes. He started to advance, and Rahne did the only thing she could think of: She reached out and scratched the mans arm hard enough to draw blood.

He hissed and picked up a candleholder of the bedside table, and swung it like a bat. The last thing Rahne saw was the candleholder hitting her in the side of the head, hard. Without a fight, Rahne felt darkness envelope her.