At long last, the ship docked in India. All of the passengers slowly made their way off the boat. Some surely missed the merriment and the fun experienced during the trip, but all seemed relieved that they were at their destination and on land.

Lily almost fell backwards as she walked off the ship, but Sebastian caught her before she could do so. Julia looked behind her and asked, "Emma, are you alright?"

Julia had become a friend, thus she was allowed to call Lily and Sebastian by their false first names. Shakily, Lily replied, "Yes. I'm just trying to get used to being off a boat."

"I'm sure walking on solid ground will become natural again soon," stated Sebastian.

At the bottom of the ramp, a very finely dressed man stood by, examining all of the passengers. A very tall man was beside him. Lily didn't think anything of it until the finely dressed man stopped Sebastian and asked, "Excuse me, but have you seen this woman?" He held up a child's drawing of a woman.

Sebastian replied with a serious expression, "No. I'm sorry."

Before the demon and Lily went very far, Lily stopped and spoke to the gentlemen. "We are looking for someone, as well. Two people, in fact." She showed them a photograph of her parents. "We believe they were on the previous ship here."

Both of the men examined the picture. The tall one said, "They look familiar."

"Yes, I remember them. They were traveling with two other men."

"Could you describe them? Did they happen to say anything at all?" Sebastian asked.

"Nothing, only that they talked about going to a home around here." Then they gave a brief description of the two men.

Lily looked at Sebastian, then walked to Julia, who was staring at the finely-dressed man. As soon as she saw Lily, she stopped staring and blushed. Smiling a little, Lily said, "Julia-"

She was cut off by the sound of a large crowd of men shouting. They ran to the passengers of the ship and began attacking. Screams of terror filled the air. "Uncle Oscar, fight them!" Lily yelled, grabbing a suitcase and hitting one of the men with it.

At the same time, the finely-dressed man ordered the tall one to do the same, and in a few seconds, all of the attackers lay on the ground, unconscious. Sebastian and the tall man faced each other. "You fight well," Sebastian stated.

"As do you," the tall man said.

Lily had an odd feeling that the tall man wasn't human, but she had no time to think about that. The finely-dressed man addressed the crowd. "Please forgive my countrymen. There is unrest amongst the citizens, and I'm afraid the streets are unsafe for now. I invite you all to my palace, for I am Prince Soma, and I welcome you to India."

There were murmurs throughout the crowd as the tourists were recovering from the scare from the attack. None of them trusted the finely-dressed man, but it was obvious he was royalty.

Julia said, "If he is a prince, he will be able to protect us."

Some argued that it would be safer to stay on the ship. Others stated that a palace would provide more protection. In the end, all of the passengers, including Lily and Sebastian, followed the prince and the tall man.

There were scowls and angry shouts from more of the locals, but there were no more violent incidents.

As the visitors approached Prince Soma's palace, Lily whispered to Sebastian, "We don't have time for this; we have to search for my parents and the people they were with."

"Patience, my niece," Sebastian whispered back. "We will have our chance."

When they all arrived at Prince Soma's home, the visitors awed at how lavish it was. The prince welcomed them and announced that a feast would be held in their honor. The tall man bowed and praised him for his kindness, to which Prince Soma responded, "Nonsense, Agni. These are my guests."

Though Lily was impressed with how opulent the palace was and how kind Prince Soma was, her mind kept going back to the task she was set out to complete. After an extraordinary dinner and a tour of the palace, her patience was rewarded when the prince bade them all good night.

Lily was careful not to awaken anyone as she carefully and quietly exited the palace. As soon as she was outside, she heard Sebastian's voice near her whisper, "Emma, to your right."

Lily looked in that direction and saw the demon's familiar outline close to the building. She walked to him and whispered, "We have to get away from here, but where shall we start? We don't even know if they're still in the city."

Before she could say any more, Sebastian put his hand over her mouth. A few moments later, he picked her up and began running. He didn't stop until they were away from the palace, and he put the young woman down. "There were guards nearby," he explained.

Lily nodded, and Sebastian spoke again. "My lady, I know the names of the two men who were with your parents. They are Simon and Frederick Peck, brothers who own a timber company. They supplied the wood for your family's ships."

"Why would they be here? And why would they have taken my parents?"

"That, I do not know, but I assure you, we will find out."

"If we can find them."

"I don't know why they would leave. This is a large city, and they are businessmen. We must look for them and find them, quickly."

Again, Sebastian picked Lily up and ran. On one hand, she wasn't sure if this was just going to be a fruitless search, but on the other hand, what Sebastian said made sense. The Peck brothers surely valued money, and the best place to obtain it was in a densely populated area. They had to be there, and so would her parents. She just didn't know where exactly, but she had faith in Sebastian and trusted that he knew what he was doing.

After what seemed like forever, Sebastian stopped running. They were by a building. "Here," he whispered.

"Are you certain?" Lily asked as the demon put her down.

"Positive."

They tried looking through windows, but Lily was unable to see anything. Sebastian stated, "It's a storehouse. There are crates everywhere."

"Do you see anyone?"

"No, but we nevertheless need to exercise caution." He opened a window. "I shall go in first, my lady."

Lily nodded, and Sebastian effortlessly slipped through the opening. A minute later, he held out his hand, motioning the young lady to come inside, and he helped her into the storehouse.

There wasn't a shroud of light save for the moonlight that shone through the open window. Lily could see the crates the demon had spoken of, and she wondered what was in them.

"Stay close to me," Sebastian said.

Lily did so, and the two carefully walked across the room. She accidentally bumped into a crate, which moved rather easily. They both froze, and Lily's heart started pounding when a voice was heard from another room. The two looked around for a place to hide until Lily spotted a handle on the floor where the crate had been. Was it a trap door?

Lily pulled on the handle, and a piece of the floor rose up. Underneath was a ladder, and she and Sebastian climbed down, and Sebastian lowered the piece back down. When they reached the bottom of the ladder, they stood still, listening for any more noise. When there was none, they relaxed and looked around. They were in a basement. It was also full of crates. Lily went to one and was easily able to open it. Perplexed, she said, "Is this?..."

"Opium? Yes, my lady."

Lily removed the lid off of another crate. There was more opium in it. "They must be having this imported, then selling it," she said.

Lily stopped when a voice spoke nearby. Though they couldn't see anyone, the young lady's heart began pounding. She ran toward the voice before Sebastian could stop her. As soon as she turned a corner, she immediately froze, and her heart felt like it had stopped.

A man and a woman, thin and wearing clothes that had at one time been finery but were now torn and dirty, sat on the floor against a wall in another part of the basement. They looked at Lily as she trembled. Her voice shook. "Mother...Father..."