Remember what I said about how the bad guys seemed to be gathering for something?

The Red Circle putting a tighter squeeze on Zana's and probably other businesses too, is another of these hints.

Arkhan's scary. All the best torturers have daddy issues.

Katherine made a tactical error. After giving her friends the brush-off, then going through a whole "I-Trust-You" dialogue with Arkhan, she immediately turns around and blasts this tormentor-in-triaining and makes the same warning "Stay away from me!" Plus, Arkhan suddenly is a person you dont want to cross. And she's now got dirt on our three amigos.

Kath, you tell everyone who disagrees with you to keep walking, pretty soon you'll be the only one left, and when you get to know that person the way the others around you do...

But I'm not picking on her, in her defence, we spent about five minutes detailing all the ways that Katherine and Arkhan are alike (They dont wear dresses, they dont wear make-up, they dont shop), and how their stories are the same, (Overbearing parents, school friends left school before me, gotta get out of this place) then we see what Arkhan is capable of as a result. Katherine's not being mean to Arkhan because of what she did, as much as the fact that Katherine was starting to see this woman as too much of a sister.

Plus the "I was doing some chores for my parents" has been used more than once over the last two episodes, Gotta wonder if Arkhan was doing things like this those times too.

Now then, BIG picture:

What I said about how someone who could do Shift would be interested in Shauna because she could do it too, what if it's not just an interest, what if he sees her as a threat? He'd use everything he could to get her, the Undying is one weapon, the Legion another, the Red Circle a third.

Legion can do what they like beyond the city, University personnel wont come off campus for anything less than a full scale undying invasion, and the Red Circle owns the law enforcement anyway.

Breaking up the Londi Mafia seems to be the first Quest. You take the bad-guys grunts, you build a posse, you take out the sub-bosses, then you move up the food-chain till you take the last boss. At least, that's what Mike would say. When Mike finds out about this, he's gonna be spewing that he missed it.

Problem is, our three aren't ready to do anything about it yet, particulalry while they keep fighting with themselves like this. The flip side of that is that the bad guys are also keeping quiet, at least overtly. Nobody talks about the Red Circle, nobody moves against the Legion. Until the bad guys are done building whatver their timetable requires, they'll stick with covert tactics.

But now we have something that might upset the stalemate.

Arkhan has become an issue. She's got frustration, she's got justification, she's got motivation, she's got means.

The fact that she was right has almost nothing to do with it.

The fact that she just pain-sticked the wife of A Red Circle Enforcer, who comes personally to Zana's shop every month will cause more problems. Just think, a serious complication not caused by Mike or Shauna.

Enforcer calls his boss and says that someone from Zana's shop is asking questions and causing problems and hurting his wife, then the Red Circle Mafia start putting the squeeze on an already overdrawn Zana, and if Shauna's magi-flare has them looking that way anyhow then we've got a problem.

The good news is, if they do have to abandon Zana's and run for their lives, Katherine can probably get them a new hideout at the Baker's house now. ;D

You can read more of Matt's work at mattstephens.me