Dresden nodded, glancing around. "How did this start? Do you now?" Because she seemed nice enough and newspapers weren't informative enough anymore.

"We're trying to figure that out ourselves," Kali admitted. "It just kind of... started when nobody was looking."

"And then spread like crazy," Dresden mused. "Like a hyped-up flu or something." And really there was no way that rapid spread had been normal, there had to have been some kind of magic involved.

Kali nodded. That sounded about the same as what Christine had thought.

"Why would you come looking for it?" she asked. She knew any sane person would be at least leaving the issue alone.

"Because it's not right," Dresden said with a shrug. "I sort of deal with things that don't make sense a lot." He fished out one of his few remaining business cards, handing it over to her.

Kali looked at the card, and she could feel the incredulity from her sisters. It wasn't disbelief, however.

"A P.I. wizard?" she asked. "Alright, I'll buy that. You're a ways from home, though, if you're from Chicago."

Dresden nodded. "Yeah, it was a long drive." He perched on the hood of the bug. "So have you noticed anything else odd?"

"It's a city, there's always a little something odd in the city," Kali replied. Although, really, that was more Tamara. Tamara's words, Kali's voice. "You may have to be a bit more specific."

"Anything odd involving this virus, besides how fast it spread and how many people it hit." There, that was more specific.

Kali thought back to a few days before.

"It's... changing people," she said. "Turning them into things. Like into animals."

Dresden's eyebrows shot up. Okay, that was unusual. "I don't think I've ever heard of that before," he said cautiously. "That's... pretty damn weird."

"Yeah," Kali said, nodding. "My sisters and I saw it happening a few days ago, and it's just getting worse."

"That's not good." Dresden sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I need to go see if I can figure this out. Thanks. If you think of or see anything else, I'm staying in the motel off that way." He pointed. "No cell phone, sorry."

Kali paused for a moment, inwardly echoing her sisters' sentiments of 'Who doesn't have a cell phone?', before nodding.

"Alright," she said. "Oh, before I forget, I'm Kali."

"Harry Dresden." He held out a hand and shot her a quick smile. "Stay safe, okay? We don't need any more people getting infected."

Kali nodded.

"My sisters and I are making sure not to get infected," she said. More like the sickness only hit humans, so it wouldn't affect the Tryad, but still.

"Good." Dresden glanced around quickly. "I'll see you later, Kali." He moved off the hood of his car and pulled the door open, folding himself inside so he could get going.

Kali retreated, going back over to Christine.

"Apparently he's investigating the sickness," she said.

"Yeah, I heard." Christine blinked. "And he knows about other stuff, too, he's not just a normal human."

"He's apparently a wizard," Kali said. She handed Christine the business card. "And you know, I'll believe it. We've seen stranger before."

"Yeah, we have," Christine agreed. "Huh. A wizard. Well, he might be able to find out what's going on. Maybe."

"Maybe," Kali agreed. "He said he was staying at the Super 8 a few blocks down, if we find anything out or something."

Christine nodded. "Well, that's good to keep in mind." She shook herself briefly. "Right, I'm getting the willies standing here now, let's move along."

Kali nodded and moved aside for Bahiti so her sister could take control. Bahiti flexed her fingers a bit, checked her knives, and then nodded to Christine to keep moving.

Christine kept walking, glancing around uneasily a few times. More than half the stores in the area had put up signs saying "Closed until further notice", and the entire place was eerily quiet.