"I don't like this," Eknie said.
They were sitting around the fireplace in the space designated for the Society. Not all could fit into the room, but the cultists circulated so that everyone got warm on their own turns.
"Me neither," Ted said. "They want us out of the way, even though we are supposed to play a key role in their future. How can we help them if they don't even let us mourn their leader?"
He was intentionally speaking loud enough that Lumpy could hear him. The fellow shook his head and put his hands closer to the fire.
"I guess they ain't what I thought they'd be," Lumpy sighed. "Faulty. Human. That's what they seem to be right now."
"Let's focus on solutions," Eknie said, and Ted had to agree with the message.
"So…" The cult leader looked around in the warm room, where the tall shadows of his cultists danced on the walls in synchronicity with the flickering in the fireplace.
