Balthazar had to admit that he was getting slightly agitated that the girl didn't tell him her name. The girl started to talk around noon that day and they only made small conversation. All he got out of her was that she belonged to a working family. She had another sibling who was dying of TB and her mother and father couldn't keep two. The girl overheard them one night about putting her brother down in his sleep so the girl took a daring move and ran away with her ill brother. They snuck onto the ferry to Victoria and hid in the car hold underneath the ship. Her brother died there after he puked up blood for about a full two minutes. The passengers and crew got quite the shock when they came down the stairs to the cars. They saw two siblings, one dead and the other one cradling him gently while crying out for help; both covered in blood. The girl was taken to the police station that day and put down as a runaway and placed in a orphanage which she escaped from that very night. Since then the girl had learned to pickpocket, fight and survive on the bitter streets of Victoria. It wasn't difficult for her to play the poor child but at times she wished that she hadn't.

That night Balthazar led the girl outside into the lamp-lit streets and down a couple of blocks before coming to a halt. Balthazar closed his eyes and spread his sub-conscious around a small perimeter of the area before moving on. The girl shuffled along behind him and occasionally looked around before looking back to the ground. Every time a noise echoed, Balthazar would turned quickly and spread his sub-conscious in the direction of where the noise came from. Sometimes it would be a stray and other times it would be a homeless person stumbling around aimlessly with no where to go. Balthazar stopped once again but before he spread his sub-conscious around, he felt a small tug at his coat. He looked down to see the girl. It was about the tenth time today that the girl tugged at his coat. The girl seemed to like it, she like how old-fashioned it looked and rough material in her hand. Also she liked it because she didn't like his name so she decided that tugging his coat would be best.

"Yes?" Balthazar said kindly.

"How do you do that?" the girl said in a soft voice.

"What?"

"When you stop you close you eyes and then do something."

"I spread my sub-conscious."

"What's that?"

Balthazar tried to reach for the right words to explain what a sub-conscious was to a ten year old.

"It's sort of like your mind. I'm spreading my mental ability to the near surroundings."

"To find the bad man?"

Balthazar gave her a look, "Bad man?"

The girl pressed her two hands together and opened it as if she were reading.

"The Incantus?"

The girl nodded and Balthazar opened it to the page with Drake's picture.

"Him?"

The girl nodded, "The bad man."

"Oh...," Balthazar hesitated, "He's not a bad man."

The girl frowned, "Then why are we after him?"

Balthazar thought and sighed, "Because he's lost."

"So he's a lost man."

Balthazar smiled, "That's right, he is lost and we're going to find him."

"Okay!"

The girl skipped ahead of Balthazar who walked along smiling. The girl was so young, she reminded Balthazar of Veronica at a young age too when she first arrived at Merlin's castle. Her dirty long red hair bounced on her back and her arms swung in the air as she continued to skip. Balthazar watched the girl. The girl suddenly stopped and then turned to Balthazar.

"So where do we look?"

Suddenly, thin dark tendrils emerged from the shadows and wrapped around the girl's wrist. The girl shrieked as more tendrils quickly emerged and wrapped around her ankles, waist and neck. The girl fought back hard but the shadowed tendrils gave a sharp tug and the girl went flying into the dark. Balthazar rushed after the girl and then a sudden energy presence caught his attention. The presence came from the shadows and Balthazar cautiously walked forward but then ducked as a shadow tendril snapped above his head. Balthazar raised his hand towards a lamp light and the electric charge escaped from the lamp in a wisp and into Balthazar's hand. The sorcerer pushed his palm towards the shadowed alleyway and saw a boy of fifteen with the girl in front of him. Balthazar didn't hesitate as he made a fist in mid-air and jerked it back. Both the boy and the girl went tumbling forward into the light. The boy had wild black hair, a dark top on, jeans and a trench coat over top. He quickly rose to his feet and raised his hands ready to cast. The girl was in the middle and Balthazar slowly moved his hand backward and an invisible force pushed the girl towards him. The girl scampered up and looked at the boy with a wild look.

"Found him."

Balthazar nodded and pushed his hand out to the boy and a lightning bolt pushed out of the man's palm and towards the boy in a jagged path. The girl watched memorized as the boy dodged it easily just as the lightning struck the ground where he stood. Drake raised his hands and an invisible force slammed into Balthazar, the girl screamed. Drake raised his hands and the energy of all the lamps on the street went out and raced to his palms in wisps. The girl fumbled around in the dark until she found Balthazar who got up.

"It's dark."

Balthazar held out his palm and a small blue flame danced in mid-air about an inch from his skin. Balthazar motioned the girl to be quiet but just as the flame rose, a sudden stream of charged energy slammed into Balthazar. The girl shrieked and watched as Balthazar tried to get up with a painful groan only to be forced back down by another charged attack. Balthazar got up just in time as another charged light attack came down and struck just an inch from where the girl was standing. Balthazar raised his hands and the tops of the lamps burst into dust and blue flames shot from his hands and took its place. A sudden blue light lit the street and both Balthazar and the girl turned to see a tall young man stalking towards them. The blue light behind the boy made him look ten times as dangerous as before. Drake raised his hand and Balthazar was knocked off his feet but he got up quickly and shot a column of ice towards Drake. Drake responded quickly and returned fire; literally. Steam gushed out as both attacks connected in middle and the two sorcerers stopped.

As the steam disappeared Drake sent the first attack and sent a column of red fire towards Balthazar who sent a large plasma bolt. Both attacks connected and created a large explosion in mid-air. The girl raced out of the way as a large chunk of concrete slammed into the ground where she once stood.

"Stop!" the girl screamed but no one listened to her.

Drake and Balthazar were now in a full out battle. Drake attacked with mostly fire attacks while Balthazar dodged and returned fire with razor sharp sheets of ice that could cut through metal easily.

"Stop!"

The girl knelt down and picked up a stone and chucked it into battle. The stone soared and struck Drake in the hand, his attack went way off and Balthazar took his chance and sent an invisible force. Drake was blasted a good twenty feet and then laid motionless. Balthazar turned to the girl who threw the stone and nodded with approval.

Back at the abandoned restaurant Balthazar laid Drake down on the examination table he had placed Purity on the day before and placed commanded strips of metal from the table to tie Drake down. Once making sure that the binds would hold, Balthazar went into the dining room to see Purity sitting patiently by herself. His coat draped around her thin shoulders, Purity practically drowned in the coat. She looked up as she saw him walk in. He sat across from her and they both went into silence. Occasional gusts of wind made its way inside but far more than that, everything stayed quiet.

"Can I get your name?" Balthazar asked hopefully.

"Purity," the girl said softly.

"So what kind of name if Purity?" Balthazar asked.

Purity looked up at Balthazar, "What kinda name is Balthazar?"

"I asked first."

"I asked second."

Balthazar looked down at the girl and grinned.

"It was a nickname my mother gave me," Purity said, "She said it fit me because I liked to know nothing but the pure truth. I'd always ask for it; the truth"

"What's your real name?"

"Nessa Crell."

Another silence engulfed the two for a while when Purity piped up: "What are you going to do with him?"

Balthazar looked at the kitchen doors, "Drake is from New York, so I think I'll take him home."

"Are you from New York?"

Balthazar ignored the question and said, "Why don't you get some rest?"

Purity looked at Balthazar but the sorcerer waved his hand over the girl's eyes and Purity went into an instant deep sleep still sitting in the chair. Balthazar lifted the girl up and summoned another table over and made somewhat of a bed for the girl out of two tables. The sorcerer gently placed the girl down and was ready to leave when he glanced back. He reached into his pocket and took out the bag of coins and placed them beside the girl. Balthazar placed his hand over her and whispered strange words into the girl's ear. A sudden silver line appeared on the nap of her neck, the line twisted and turned into what looked like a claw. Balthazar stood to his full height and headed back to the kitchen when he stopped. He shrugged of his coat and draped it over the small girl's body.

"Good-bye Purity," Balthazar said quietly.

Purity gave a small moan and then turned in her sleep.

Balthazar went back to the kitchen and undid Drake's binds. He managed to get a firm hold of the boy and was ready for transportation. Balthazar let the air solidify around them and then within a flash, they were gone.

At the restaurant Purity woke with a start as a sharp pain ran through her body. She gasped for breath and moaned and squeezed her eyes shut as the pain grew until an unbearable point. Then without warning, she let out a blood-curling scream.