12:5
A soft knock was heard at the door and Caroline popped her head out of the kitchen. “Did you want…”

“Yes dear,” the beaver said almost kindly, “if you;d please.”

Edward, knowing the beaver better than most, turned his attention abruptly from the far side of the room and stared at the beaver. There was… something…. in the beavers voice. Something, not sinister, but not entirely pleasant. Edward had gotten the sense that the beaver didn’t really care for the lady making the drinks. Her role as menial in this little soiree was evidence enough. The beaver was not usually one for having servants; an odd shade of egalitarian.

While Edward looked intently at the beaver wrapped in his comforter, everyone else, including the beaver was peering down the badly lit hallway to see who the final guest was. And no one else saw the beaver shrink minutely into his little cocoon just as the the door was opened.

Edward failed to see what else the beaver did as, at that moment an ear-splitting shriek came from the doorway and he instinctively started to move towards the sound, all his attention not directed on the sudden tableau at the apartment’s only entrance or exit.

“What, what are you doing here?” Caroline screamed at the figure outlined in the doorway, her voice filled with an admixture of fear and loathing. “You… you can’t make me go! I won’t go!” She tried to slam the door closed again and turned to escape down the hallway and realized that the malevolent gleam of the beaver’s gaze stood between her and the window that was the only other way out of this now hellish trap.

“YOU!” she spat at the beaver. “I thought … I thought I should trust you! You’re just a fucking animal! Disgusting beast!” Caroline backed up until her back was against the wall and the tears that had been leaking from her angry eyes started to pour down her reddened cheeks. “You’re all against me! I should never had tried to help.” Caroline’s words were slowly becoming a soliloquy as she turned her attention inwards and slumped down to the the ground mumbling in an increasingly incoherent manner.

Gareth and Rowan moved almost simultaneously to the now quivering woman while Edward interposed his body between the figure in the doorway and the helpless woman. “Beaver. What have you done this time?”

From over his shoulder, the beaver replied with relish in his voice, “Ah, my good Edward, may I introduce…”