Chapter 5

Whit walked through the hall of the government building that housed Wisty's and his office. He paid no mind to the jumbles of people, mostly adults shouting and waving large packs of proposals at him to get his attention. He was too fixated on the newspaper in his hand, on the front page there pictures of his sister smiling and following around a short court jester looking thing. Whit dared not look down at the actual story written about i her though. Even when the media praised them more than any celebrity before, they twisted him and his sisters into exuberantly exaggerated portrayals of who they really were. His eyes drifted through the pages of text until, he saw a picture of his sister face full over concern standing in a dirt floor arena. On the other end the picture stood two men the taller dark hair one stared off into the distant, but the other stared at Wisty with a lopsided almost drunken smile.

Don't get your hopes up Superman. Blurted a large caption at the bottom of picture.

"Indeed." Whit thought in agreement. Wisty had made a half-hearted vow as leader that she would be a good example to all young girls that 'true love doesn't exist in some man, but in friends and family'. In short, she was going to stay independent and unmarried despite everyone perusing her to do the opposite. Whit wasn't sure how long she could keep that declaration, but he knew it came out of pain. Wisty never had the best luck in love as well as Byron and Pearce leaving deep scars on her heart.

The sound of his sister's shrieks and screams transported him out of his thoughts. He opened the door causing three housewives to fall back first on floor, the woman looked up at him with respectful but nervous smiles. Whit glanced up to see Wisty tips of her hair curling with flame, her eyes wide with dark circles under them as if from lack of sleep one finger pointed at the three prone woman.

"Hey Wist, how was the circus." Whit walked into the room calmly giving the woman time to scurry away.

"It was fine." Wisty sat down with a huff flames dissipating. As she calmed Whit noticed that wrapped his sister's neck and draped over her shoulder, was a pale yellow scarf.

"So figured out which proposals we should present to the council?" He asked not thinking much of his sister's choice in clothing.

"I know that we're not presenting" Wisty said tearing at three proposals.

Whit noticed she was distressed "do you want fake another Excision ban proposal?" he offered.

Wisty rolled her eyes then plopped her head on the desk "I would but, I think Terence will be specious after three times in a row."

"Well we need to pick something." Whit said shifting through the pile of papers on the desk "Okay, how about this one."

Wisty looked uninterested as he began to read through the proposal to summarize it for her.

"Okay, this one is actually good." He began Wisty still not believing him. "It's pretty much asking for the government to sell the lands what was abandon or damaged during the reigns of The One to Darrius."

"Sure let them build on unmarked graves and places that used to be portals to Shadow Land." She grouched

Whit scratched his hair "I'm sure that not the writer intend."

Wisty just stared at him so tired, her hand reaching under the yellow scarf scratching her neck.

"Why don't we give the council a choice they vote for this, or they can vote to make a memorial to all who died during those time." He said trying compromise with her.

She continued to mess with her neck from under the scarf, before noticing her brother was waiting for an answer "Sure." She said yanking her hand down.

Whit nodded "So I'll get the meeting set up the meeting do y-."

His words where cut off by the door to the office flying open.

Emmet stood in the doorway panting hair and shirt drench with sweat "Guys… hospital…. Freaky stuff…. Cops news."

"What's going on?! What's happening at the hospital?!" Whit ran to him knowing that Janine was current at work in the emergency room. Emmett just panting trying to wheeze out an answer.

"Whit let him breathe!" Wisty stood up helping Emmet into the chair, the young man continue to pant and wheeze.

Whit summoned up a large glass of water holding it out to Emmet. With shaky hands Emmett took the glass swallowing the water with massive gulps.

"Okay, slowly tell us what's going on." Wisty said trying to stay calm.

"The hospital…is under a massive security lock down." Emmet gasped trying to put thoughts into words.

"What's happening?" Whit asked worry still plastered on his face.

"Don't know Janine called me to get you guys."

Whit looked at him wondering why Janine wouldn't call him first. "Emmet you stay and rest, Wisty we need to get to the hospital. Now!" he stood up his worry overpowering his curiosity.

With quick and stealthily movements the duo snuck out a side entrance to avoid the mods of people waiting to present their proposals. Outside Wisty quickly jumped on her motorcycle zipping off leaving Whitford to get in his car and pull out the parking lot.

The city streets were crowed, more so than average. By the time the two arrived several squads of police cars lined the perimeter of the hospitals, News vans stationed a couple of feet away cameras crews and live reporter soaking up the scene.

Wisty managed to pull up to the barricade "What's going on here?" she shouted to a group police on the other side.

"There is unauthorized person administering unknown treatments to patients." The leader of the group said back to her, then walked up to the barricade.

"Can't the hospital's security do something about it?" Whit asked running up behind his sister.

"They would if they could find the culprit."

"What do you mean?" Wisty asked then looked at her brothers the two for a moment the two must have had the same thought.

"Beside the descriptions we have mange to receive from the known patients currently given illegal treatment by the intruder." They got their secret answers from the leaders mouth "Neither security nor staff have seen this intruder."

"But everyone is sure that this person doesn't belong?" Whit asked sounding calm and authoritative.

"Yes, we plan to raid the hospital and question everyone in the building until the intruder is found." The police man explained with a socking coldness.

"Let us go in first, give us a half hour to investigate." Wisty spoke up and almost every one turned their heads, looking at her as if shocked. She wondered what she had said or how she said it to deserve such a look. "If we find nothing your team my proceeded with that plan." She gave squeaking compromise, the group and her brother relaxed. Her fingers twitched trying to stop her hand from going up to the scarf.

"Okay, an hour thirty." The leader of the group said, and Wisty relaxed.

"I'll go through the ER you take the front entrance." Whit looked at her with his own plan, he wanted to see Janine. Wisty could understand his worry even though, she no longer wanted to love anyone outside of her family and friends. She understands him and worries about Janine as much as anyone else.

Wisteria and Whitford went on their separate paths around the hospital building, each losing sight of each other in moments. Wisty didn't know what to if she found the intruder.

Attack them? For what? Question them? About what?

As she stared at her reflection in the dark glass of the sliding doors, she slowly slid her hand under the yellow scarf and ran her fingers along the spot she had been scratching at. She gave a sigh of relief the sensation that had made claw at that spot before finally subsiding, she readjusted the scarf and put on a straight face then bravely walked in.

A gust of cold wind greeted her as she entered the darkened main lobby of the hospital. Two receptionists siting behind the front desk, acting more they were on break than on lock down straightened up seeing her enter. "Lady Allgood." One of them said in a sweat voice said that stopped unsure what to say.

"What can we." The other receptionist picked up in the others place, pausing short not sure what to say either. "Help you with?"

"Dose this hospital have a security room? A place where all the camera feed goes?" The words fell out of her mouth, before thinking to say "I'm her to help with the lock down issue."

"Yes." The one closer to the edge of the desk spoke up "I'll take you there."

The woman walked her to a medium-sized room, ice-cold and dark and for a brief moment Wisty had one more reason to be thankful for wearing the scarf. The receptionist left her saying something about not being allowed to leave designated areas during lock down. Wisty kept going in one wall aglow with almost a hundred screens showing the inside of rooms and down hallways a slightly plump man hunched over playing and rewinding cretin screens.

"Fond anything." She asked the guard moving beside him trying to pinpoint something out in the blurry flood of images.

The guard rubbed his face, his voice muffled. Wisty could see the man was under stress, yet at the same time wasn't on her side with this.

"Nothing?"

He just shook his head cheeks red visible in the light of the screens, and she wondered how long had this man been stuck in the chill of the room.

Then she got an idea staring at the screen almost praying for the mystery person to pop out from around corner, Arms raised in perfect surrender. Then with a quick glance at the exasperated guard she had an idea. "Got a walkie-talkie? My brothers in the building he can help."

The man nodded pulling out a large black rectangle, he spoke into it the changed the channel. Relaying the same gruff message over and over for several minute before everything going silent.

"Wisty." Whit's voice crackled across the speaker of the device.

She gave a dramatic sight and with a flash of her hand had taken the walkie-talkie from the guard. "Whit? Where are you?" she practically breathed into the device.

"I'm with Janine." His voice popped in and out "What do you need?"

"I'm in the security room." She answered trying to articulate her idea to her brother and the guard with as little words as possible "Can you get the room number that, this mystery visitor was in?"

There were long pause between each response Whit going on the worlds hardest scavenger hunt to give them the right room numbers. The guard scrambling to pull up the closet cameras creating a path through the hospital, starting at ER going up into the ICU the to the pediatric unit than looping down to the small mental ward ending right back in the ER. The guard narrowed down the time frame examining the mass of screens like a hawk.

"There." Wisty almost jumped up from the set the guard had offered her. Her finger trained on one of the screen viewing as side hall out of the pediatric unit.

"How did I..." The guard mumbled trying to zoom into the footage.

Out of the farthest corner of the screen, a vaguely female silhouette blipped out of existences before getting close enough to the camera. Wisty tightened her scarf nails digging into her palm her brother and her shared worry confirmed. The intruder had used magic to get around, teleportation or invisibility she couldn't tell. A heavy coldness formed in her stomach in that moment. The realization that once anyone outside the hospital heard the culprit was magic the City's paranoid hate for the thing that was supposed to save them, would growth out of control.

Wisty reached for the walkie-talkie, to tell Whit, to ask for help, so he could tell her that there was still time. She gripped the black rectangle like a vice, the speaker crackling in her palm. She could hear her brother on the other end, though she didn't know what to say anymore. Staring up at the screens at the men and woman dress in black and blue marching in from every door it was plain to see that they were out of time.

(AN: Hello and thank you for reading! Also BIG shout out to Light of the Rising Sun for leaving those amazing Reviews. If you interested go check out their profile they are currently writing a wonderful crossover of Frozen and Witch and Wizard. If you liked my work go check my profile for my other Fic's or use the link to my Fictionpress where I'm writing an original fantasy story. )