Author Note: Even though NaNo is over, I'm going to maintain the update schedule for this fic.
By Friday, Edric was almost used to maintaining the mask spell all the time. He was getting better at keeping it activated when he lost focus, which was often. He still didn't put the mask on until he arrived at the jail though; he still hated it and it would be silly to wear it even a minute longer than he had to.
He was also getting used to meeting Frederick at the locker room, which was where Frederick asked him to go in the mornings. It seemed like Frederick liked to stow some of his belongings in there during the day, though Edric still hadn't seen him out of uniform. He hadn't seen his face either, which felt strange.
Today Edric arrived on time, and he walked slowly through the building towards the locker room. He passed a few other coven members on the way, but of course he couldn't identify who they were. There wasn't any point in trying to talk to them.
When he reached the locker room, Frederick was already waiting outside it. Edric was starting to be able to identify him on sight, even without hearing his voice, since he had broader shoulders than most of the other members.
The two exchanged a greeting, then went to the dispatcher's office. He was alone inside when they arrived, shuffling through his papers as usual. Edric wondered how he possibly kept everything organized, since it always looked like such a mess.
"You two are patrolling the park today." The dispatcher said, after finding the right sheet. "There's been a string of robberies in the area, mostly from children. They're worried about potential kidnappings, so extra patrol witches will be in the area." He handed the paper to Frederick.
"We'll make sure to catch that thief." Frederick sounded so sure of it. "Are there any descriptions of the suspect?" He asked after examining the page.
The dispatcher shook his head. "Only vague ones. Male, tall, that's all we've got."
"It could be me then." Edrick chuckled, but stopped when he felt the temperature in the room drop. Both the dispatcher and Frederick both had turned to stare at him. He couldn't see their eyes, but he could feel the chill. "That was a joke." The comedic timing on that was way too late.
The two witches slowly turned back to each other, and then continued speaking as if it hadn't happened.
"I have a palisman staff for you, to rent out." The dispatcher stood and walked over to a closet, opening it and reaching inside. He took out a staff with a palisman bird on top, Edric couldn't tell what type from this distance. "To get you there faster and for if things get dicey."
"I hope it doesn't." Fredrick said as he accepted the staff. Edric shared the sentiment; he wasn't itching to fight someone or chase them down. Running just wasn't for him.
The two exchanged a few more words of small talk, before Fredrick and Edric left to go on their patrol. When they got outside, Fredrick called the palisman staff to action. It spread its tiny wings and hovered in the air. Fredrick climbed on the front, and Edric quickly hopped on behind him.
A minute later and they had taken off the ground, flying towards the park. It was always exhilarating, to fly on a palisman like that. "Be on the lookout today." Fredrick called back as they flew. "This could get dangerous, so stay with me and be careful."
It wouldn't be appropriate to say that he would do just about anything to avoid danger, so Edric just said, "I will."
Within five minutes they arrived at the park and landed nearby it. The palisman let them down to the ground, with Fredrick bringing it upright in his hand. There were a few kids playing at the park already, despite how early it was in the morning. Edric didn't see anything suspicious, though he only bothere to look in one direction.
Frederick led them on their patrol, walking the perimeter of the park and moving through the area around it.
For a while, nothing interesting happened. Frederick stopped a couple tall males to ask them questions, but none of them turned out to be the suspect. Or if they were, then they were excellent liars. Edric would know, being a seasoned liar himself.
That changed when Fredrick and Edric went back into the park to look around again. Most of the witches had been there since earlier, but there was someone new. A tall man, one who didn't have a child with him, was standing inside the park near the fence. He could've come to pick up one of the kids, but where he was standing was unusual for that.
Edric noticed him for simply being interesting and outside the norm. He turned to Frederick to point him out, but he had already spotted him. Fredrick signaled for Edric to stay quiet, then he started to approach the out of place witch.
"Excuse me," Frederick said in a tone far more amiable than he usually used. "May I ask what you are doing at this park?" Though his tone was cordial, the question carried a hint of a threat.
The witch kept a neutral expression, but his hands twitching gave away his nerves. "Just watching my child play, sir." He kept looking between Edric and Frederick, as if he couldn't decide where to place his eyes. This witch was almost certainly their suspect.
Frederick looked over towards the group of kids playing, all of whom had been there before the suspect arrived. "Which one is yours?" He asked as he turned back towards the suspect, who was now grimacing.
Instead of responding, the suspect quickly drew a small spell circle, which erupted into a plume of smoke. Frederick lunged forward to grab him, but it was too late. The suspect had popped out of the other side of the smoke and was scurrying towards the park exit. Edric would've sighed if he had time to.
"After him." Fredric said, much calmer sounding than Edric expected him to be, before taking off running after the witch. If there had been time Edric would've protested that he hated running, but there wasn't and he didn't have a choice. He sprinted after Frederick, trying to keep up.
In the distance, about 100 feet ahead, they could still see the suspect. He was running towards the market, probably to try and lose them between the stands. Too bad for him, since Edric knew the market quite well.
As expected, the suspect turned into the market. When the pair reached the entrance, they could see him disappearing around a left corner.
That was it.
Edric knew that there was only one exit that way, and he knew that because he and Em had once blocked off the exit to make a closed loop instead and trapped unsuspecting shoppers inside. The whole thing was closed except that one exit, so the suspect only had one place to go.
Edric knew a faster way there. If he cut around the side of the market, then over a couple stands, he should be able to beat the suspect there. There wasn't any time to debate the merits of the plan, only to act. He skidded to a halt and turned to run back out of the market. "I'll meet you on the other side!" He called to Frederick, who called his name as he ran away.
There was no time to explain. Hopefully Frederick would keep pushing the suspect through, so he didn't backtrack and go to a different exit.
As he ran around the side of the market, Edric was already out of breath. He barely did any walking before this internship, let alone running. He was really out of shape, but he couldn't stop. If he was too slow, then the suspect would get away.
Edric tried to control his breathing as he reached the outside stands to climb over. This was how he and Em would get into the market unnoticed, by scaling this particular stand. It had wood slats on the outside, which made it easy to climb. Edric used these to lift himself to the top, where he shuffled quickly across the stand.
He crossed a few more, before leaping down to the path below. A few witches who were there stopped turned to stare at him, but he ignored them. Harder to ignore was the pain in his legs from jumping from that height.
He was exactly where he intended to be, right near the other exit. If he had moved fast enough, the suspect would run through at any moment. If he was too slow, it would be Frederick instead.
Edric knew he would lose in a fight, so he couldn't just rush in. In order to catch the suspect, he was going to use illusions. If he could stall the suspect for just a minute, Frederick would catch up and finish the arrest.
With that thought in mind, Edric jogged over to the exit. He looked in the direction he expected the suspect to come from, but didn't see him yet. That was good, since it gave him a moment to cast the spell. Edric quickly drew a spell circle, popping an illusion version of Fredrick into existence.
It appeared just in time, since a moment later the suspect turned the corner. He was still running at full speed, rushing towards the exit. Unluckily for him, Edric was there to stop him.
Edric summoned an illusion rope and had the illusion Frederick raise its hands. They were blocking the exit, so the suspect would turn back.
Unfortunately, Edric didn't account for desperation. Instead of stopping or turning away, the suspect continued running at full speed towards the exit. He ducked his shoulder as he ran.
Edric didn't even have a moment to react before the suspect slammed into him, jamming his elbow into his chest. That was enough to send Edric tumbling backwards, knocking the wind out of him. The illusion popped as Edric lost his focus on it, along with rope and the spell that helped him see through the mask. As Edric collapsed to the ground the suspect ran past, so he wasn't able to see where he went. Each breath came with a wave of pain, though that started to fade after a few seconds.
A moment later, during which Edric could only try to gather himself, Frederick appeared in front of him.
"Are you hurt?" Fredrick asked, sounding concerned. "What happened?" He had leaned over to be closer to Edric's level.
"I can't believe he ran into me." Edric felt like he was balanced on the edge between bursting out crying or laughing maniacally. He settled for laughing, he wasn't quite sure why.
"Did you hit your head?" Frederick was still focused. He took his own mask off, which he had never done in front of Edric before, and then reached forward to removed Edric's. He did so gently, and then pushed Edric's hood off his head. Both masks hit the dirt. He then knelt down next to Edric, looking intently at the back of his head. As this happened Edric's laughter faded, his mania being replaced with a sudden wave of exhaustion.
"I don't think so." Edric was able to respond as Frederick stood back up. He got his first look at his face, a normal looking face. His blue eyes carried concern.
Frederick reached down to him with one hand. "Let's stand you up then."
Edric accepted the hand, starting the process of rising to his feet. Midway up though, he again felt pain in his chest. It had faded as he sat, but spiked when tried to stand. He sank back to the ground, one hand over the spot.
Frederick was frowning, a deep unhappy look. He knelt back down, this time in front of Edric, and drew a magic circle in the air. It was a healing spell, and when it activated the pain Edric felt again faded away.
"You've got some bruising." Fredrick commented after a moment, casting a second healing spell to layer it in. "Tell me what happened."
"I cast an illusion to stop him." Edric said, finding breathing coming even easier the longer the spell was cast. "Didn't work though, he smashed right through me."
"You're lucky it's only bruises." Frederick said in a low tone as he finished the healing spell. "Up now, you should be able to stand." He again offered a hand, which Edric accepted.
He was right; Edric was able to rise to his feet. He felt a slight twang of pain, but it was no worse than a small bruise would've been. There did seem to be merit to learning a healing spell, not that he had doubted it before.
Both of their masks were still lying on the ground.
Frederick's expression, which was already sour, hardened even more. "I told you to stay with me today, but you chose to run off on your own. You could've been seriously hurt." He spoke crisply and shortly. The concern from earlier had vanished. "I'm disappointed, and I expect better. You must follow my directions from now on, do you understand?"
Edric had come so close to catching the suspect, even if he got bruised he still thought it was worth it. Compared to how he normally engaged in the internship, today had been a big boost. To hear that Frederick was disappointed in him, well, it hurt. He had only known the witch for less than a week and seen his face for the first time today, but still he would rather have his approval.
Besides, if he had stuck with Frederick then they wouldn't have come even close to catching the suspect. Splitting up and thinking outside the box had worked. If Edric was better at fighting, he could've even made the arrest. It felt unfair to be scolded for that.
"I understand." Edric replied simply, not wanting to make things worse with Frederick. There was no point in arguing with him.
"I hope you do." Frederick replied, bending over to pick the two masks up off the ground. He handed one back to Edric, then put his on. Edric did the same, casting the spell to make it so he could see. "C'mon, let's get back to our route."
Frederick turned to walk back through the market, expecting Edric to follow.
He did.