Disclaimer: I own the haunted district, the evil people, Yalat, Dami and the nurse.

A/N: He, almost done. There's one more chapter after this, though this is probably where you all will stop reading, huh?



"What?!" Pasco exclaimed, not at all believing what they were telling him.

"Lady Sandraline fa Toren is missing," Halmeady repeated patiently to her still-wounded little brother. "Her guards, Oama and Kwaben, were found unconscious in that little girl's house on Quilter's street by a merchant and she was nowhere in sight. They're both being questioned."

"Why question?! We already know it was them Dihanurs who've come back to finish the Rokat job! And if they done it on Quilter's street, then they was probably on some sort of drug."

Halmeady looked worriedly to her brother as he sank into thought. He had only awoken the previous day and he looked as though he were plotting trouble already. She shook her head, hoping that whatever he was planning he would forget and leave this matter to the harriers and harrier mages.

"Have you even figured out where the might be?" Pasco asked.

"We figure it's that large abandoned district behind Harbor street. It's the only place where somethin' could happen without anyone noticin'. The rumors 'bout the place bein' haunted kept people away for so long." She paused a moment, considering what she had said. "Don't you go getting any ideas, now," she warned him.

Pasco put on a shocked expression. "Why would you even suspect anything of your poor bedridden brother? You however, Halmy, might be in trouble if you were late for your shift."

Halmeady looked to see that it was indeed growing late and if she did not hurry and leave now she would be late for her shift. With a hurried goodbye, she left Pasco with a warning. "Don't even think of leaving, a couple of Lady Sandry's mage friends arrived yesterday and agreed to watch your room to keep you out of trouble."

He stared incredulously after his sister. Him try heroics? He was certainly going to do more than simply try. He got out of bed on cat's feet so as not to attract any attention from outside, cringing at the pain in his side. He had spent the day trying to think of a step that would rid him of the pain in his sides and he had finally come up with one.

Pasco crossed his right foot behind his left, leaving it to rest on the toes. Gently, cringing at the pain in his side, he brought his arms up above his head, crossing them at the wrist. He turned counterclockwise, his arms coming down crossed before his chest and sweeping out at the sides, brushing the pain with them.

Following that, he did the flirt that came so natural now to him and from common sight. Pasco quickly rearranged his pillows beneath his blankets so that it would appear as though he were still resting in his bed. Taking a spot right beside the door, he listened as his guards spoke about their concerns for Sandry and what own students were like while he waited for the nurse to come in to check on him.

Right on the fifteen minute mark, the nurse came bustling in and Pasco quickly stepped out as the door swung closed, careful not to bump into any of those watching the door. He ghosted past them, recognizing them all from Sandry's descriptions of them The flaming red hair belonged to Tris, the dark skinned girl was Daja and the boy with the two tattoos marking his next misfortune as punishable by death was Briar. The three of them were all absorbed in their conversation that he easily slipped past them and made his way down the hall.

Pasco was at the exit when he heard the scream from the nurse, realizing that he wasn't still in bed. He broke into a run and made his way to the stables. He found a horse quickly, dropping his invisibility and mounting it, he took off and left a few coins on the stall door as payment for the horse. They then set off for Harbor street.

It wasn't until he had tied the reins in front of Osa's house and he had begun his trek though the haunted district on foot that he realized he had no plan. Indeed, he was not even sure which house in this large district held the Dihanurs and their captives. Not allowing these details to discourage him, he let his feet guide him as his mind went to work on a plan.

Pasco became quickly irritated with this method and decided to figure out how to get there rather than trying to figure out what to do once he did. His mind immediately began to settle on one of the earliest dances that Yazmìn had taught him, "Gathering Flowers." He knew that Sandry kept a cord of magic tied to him at all times, so perhaps if he altered the dance slightly so that it was as though he were gathering string, he could trace the cord back to her.

Once he had begun, he let his body flow into the movements that he had grown so very familiar with and let the magic guide his steps to a building that was missing a wall on the top floor. A small figure he recognized as Dami was leaning against it, shoulders slumped and looking quite worse for wear.

As he did a flirt to make himself unseen once more, he mad a silent promise to somehow get Dami and Sandry out of this mess that they had gotten themselves into. He slipped easily into the building, unguarded as it was, and stepped lightly in search of the two responsible for this entire ordeal.

"Nurhar 'n Alzena couldn't have finished this whole thing," a bitter and drunken voice said from an adjoining room. "They had to go and get themselves killed by that little stitch witch. Now we're stuck waiting for some mage brat 'cause that damn Rokat's got his guard up!"

"She'll break, Krana," a slightly more sober voice insisted. "It's just one more day-"

"Two," Krana spat. "Two days, Calar! We should just use the dragonsalt and get it done. Kill the brat and the noble and get on with it. I can't stand this waiting."

"They know what I look like, Krana. I can't do anything."

"It's not my fault you botched the job," Krana snapped.

Pasco allowed them to continue as he silently crept into the room. It held no furnishings except for a square table in the corner which both captors were huddles around, sitting on boxes instead of chairs. There was plenty of room for him to execute the feeble plan he had come up with and he silently beseeched to the gods to help him in this as he dropped his invisibility.

Raising his arms into the air and holding his hands palm to palm, he took three light steps to the right. He lowered his arms so that they were parallel to the ground and took three light steps to the left. Finishing with a graceful deer leap, the drunken pair were vaulted into the air.

Jolted out of their seats, the Dihanurs spun around to see him, staring at him murderously from their spot in midair. Their hands went to their throwing knives and they heaved them at him, half expecting that if they killed the mage that did this they would fall lightly back to the ground.

Upon landing, Pasco went into a turn with both of his arms and one leg outstretched. The shield came up almost too late as one knife flew past his head and landed in the back portion of the shield. Another one was lodged in the front of it, right before his face. His eyes went wide at just how close this had come to not working and saw a venomous green on the tip of the knife that had almost hit him between the eyes.

Knowing full well that this spell would last for a while, he backed out of the room and closed the door before dropping the shield. The knives clattered against the wooden floor, though one was silenced from it's echoes. Turning slowly around, he came to face the three who had been watching his room, the three that were close friends of Sandry. He had heard many stories about them and, though Sandry had try to convince him otherwise, the looks on their faces now told him that they should be feared.

"Insane little bleater, aren't you?" Briar asked him critically. "Were you even thinking at all?"

Pasco felt the pain of his wound in his side begin to flood back twice as painful as before. It was almost as though it were making up for all the time he was up and moving about. "Them Dihanurs don't think twice 'bout killin' people," Pasco said, trying desperately to ignore the pain. "Only reason I know Dami ain't dead is 'cause I saw her. I still haven't found Lady Sandry."

Tris helped him to sit against the wall once she noticed he was in pain. "I'll make sure the harriers find this place, since you two are better with locks," she said and headed out the door.

"I'll get that girl upstairs," Briar offered, taking a small lock pick out from a pocket in his vest. "Find Sandry." Briar headed for the stairs as Daja went to the opposite end of the house and began a search of doors, one by one.

Briar reached the door to the section of the house with the invisible wall and looked at the lock on the door. He nearly laughed at how feeble it was and how easy it was to break through as he heard the click of it unlocking and gently pushed it open.

As soon as he took one step in he jumped back, seeing a large hole in front of the door. A little girl leaning over it, her hands placed on an empty section and watching the scene below. "No! Stop!" she cried to the person below, who he now recognized as Daja. She was approaching the sleeping girl, Sandry. The little girl looked up at him with tears brimming her eyes. "Stop her," she pleaded.

Daja, stop! Briar mind-spoke to her, half surprising himself.

Daja's hand was about to take a piece of cloth off of Sandry's face when she stopped dead. Puzzled, she withdrew her hand and sent a message back to him. What?

Look up, he said, waving down at the surprised Daja. We'll come down, then this one- he indicated Dami -can tell us.

Dami was ushered downstairs, jumping at the sound of multiple thunderclaps outside. Even though Briar assured her that it was just Tris throwing her temper again, she still ghosted a wall through so that she could see the girl with her red hair swirling uncontrollably around her from the force of the wind and lightning in her hair. Inhaling deeply, she put the wall back to normal and continued.

Turning to into the hall, she noticed a familiar figure sitting against the wall. "Pasco!" she cried, running to him and giving him a hug. "I thought you were dead!"

"I'm not yet," he assured her, groaning in pain. "But I might be if you don't let go of me." As she withdrew, his hand went to his aching side and Briar once more ushered her to where Daja was now awaiting them.

"Briar, I'm not sure if she should come in here," Daja said hesitantly as Dami appeared in the doorway.

Because of the two dead men in the corner?" she asked in a small voice. "I know. I saw them-" her voice caught in her throat. "I know. But you can't touch those pieces of cloth of Lady Sandry."

"Why?" Daja asked, eyeing her carefully to discern any trace of wrong information gathered on her part.

"I heard them talking and I saw," she replied. "They said they found the solution at an apothecary and it puts mages to sleep once they touch it. It also stops mages from using magic somehow. They didn't know how, though."

People coming, Tris warned. Looks like Niko, Lark, Frostpine, Rosethorn and some younger ones-what is Trana doing here?!

They had only to wait a moment before eight people came through the door. Tris was already in an argument with her student over why he was here and how he should have stayed at the citadel while Niko tried to quell the argument. Daja and Briar soon vaulted into heated discussion with their own students and their respective teachers tried to stop them. Lark was slowly making her way through them all to Sandry.

Dami grew agitated and unsure of how to restore order to the room. There was a sick person here that needed their help, but no one seemed concerned except for her teacher. "Quiet!" she yelled over them all, letting her power make everyone but herself invisible. She pointed at Lark who had finally reached Sandry's side and was about to lift the cloth off of Sandry's face. "Do not touch that!"

Lark withdrew her had sharply and looked to the little girl who was now taking charge. "No more arguing," Dami said authoritatively. "Who has gloves?"

"I do," Rosethorn offered. Dami made everyone visible once more and Rosethorn came forward, putting on her gloves. Carefully lifting the cloth from Sandry's peaceful face, she brought it to her nose and smelled it carefully. Her head immediately spin and she held it away. "Frostpine? I'd like to burn this immediately."

As Frostpine went to work, many worried eyes fell on Rosethorn for her diagnosis, two of which belonging to her concerned student leaning on the door frame in the hall with a hand clamped tightly to his side. He said nothing but, like the others, waited on baited breath for the results.

"She'll be fine in a few days," Rosethorn announced. "She just needs time to rest and allow some of the narcotics on the cloth to pass through her system. The dragonsalt may take an exceptionally long time in her case, however." A shock went across the room and quiet murmurings broke out.

"You, on the other hand," she continued, eyes fixed on Pasco and slowly advancing on him. "You have to be hung upside-down by your ankles in a well! You are supposed to be in bed letting that poison pass through you systems, not letting it get back into them."

"I'll let the harriers know where we are," Briar's student, Yalat, offered as she took out writing materials and began to write something down.

"Yalat, I thought I told you, no writing on this trip," Briar said to her sternly. "Who gave her that? Who gave you that? What are you writing?"

"Calm down," she said. "Just making a big sign over this place so that the harries can find it. I won't meddle in any of the forces of nature or the natural order or anything ever again. Why can't you just leave me alone about that?"

Tris and Daja, despite the seriousness of the situation, found themselves trying to surpress giggles at the new, authoritative Briar. He had always had a problem with authority that was being given to him and now seemed to be having problems giving it out as well. Even Rosethorn adorned a rare smile at the spectacle.

The harriers arrived half an hour later to help them transport the criminals, Pasco and Sandry. Briar and Yalat had yet to cease their arguing.