(( I'm baa-aack... Quickie, I'll have the next one up soon. I just didn't think it'd look right if I merged this with 6 or 8. ))

Trucy stretched out a little on the couch where she had been laying down. Getting to her feet, she checked the window again and saw her dad was still there. Mr. Gavin was supposed to be there a while ago, wasn't he? Deciding it was her daughterly duty to keep her father company in a time of need, the magician straightened out her skirt and headed towards the door. Oh, who am I kidding? The house is empty and it's lonely.

She loped down the spiral shaft of stairs as fast as she could. She was fifteen and old enough to stay on her own, but that didn't mean she had to like it. Trucy had run the apartment over with a fine-toothed comb and found no trace of her older brother. He had vanished, totally and completely without a sound or anything. She couldn't help feeling envious. She could never get that right…

Making a mental note to grill Polly on how he did his disappearing act when or if she found him, Trucy reached the bottom of the staircase and swung open the doors to find the stoop empty. She sighed heavily, a sinking sad feeling grabbing onto her lungs and pulling it down with her spirits. "Bye, Daddy…"

Shaking off the feeling, she glanced around. It was a real nice day, kind of warm with a chilly breeze stirring the leaves around and making rain-stick sounds. Pretty. "I should save reading like a dork for rainy days." She said to herself. The pink tassels of her bike caught her eye, and she figured Polly wouldn't panic if she left the apartment for a bit. Not that he'd notice… He'd been acting funny since Vera had been proven innocent. Maybe it was prep for the disappearing thing?

Lifting the helmet off the seat where she had left it, something caught the corner of Trucy's eye. The bushes around the building were gnarly and dead, as usual, but this one in particular looked even more depressing. It was crunched down where it met the wall, making it all the more unattractive. But why? Had something pushed it down? She tightened the straps and walked in for a closer look.

Yeah, it was definitely off. The twigs were broken and ripped up around where it caved in, but she couldn't see what the reason was, as the bottom of the bush was too far down to see at that angle. Had some pirates or gnomes or something hidden treasure here? was obviously the first conclusion to come to mind. Standing on the tips of her boots, she peered in and almost fell back in shock.

"Oh my god!"