Mattie was filled with excitement as Jean parked the car across from the bus stop. Spending the week at the Blake residence while her parents went to a conference was exciting enough but Jean letting her ride along to pick up Lucien was almost more than she could handle. Weeks had turned into months while he went to visit his daughter and Mattie was itching to see him again and load him with questions. She practically squealed when he lifted her up into his embrace. She could tell Jean was excited too. She could see it in her smile and in the way she greeted Lucien when he stepped off the bus. A demeanor that quickly fell when she spotted Joy McDonald walk around the bus and place her hand on Lucien's arm.
Mattie didn't like the way Joy looked at Lucien, like she was going to devour him. She didn't like the way she felt Jean tense beside her. Mattie instinctively took a step closer to Jean when Joy's eyes landed on her. Her gaze felt so… intense, like she was trying to pull some sort of secret out of them that they wished would stay hidden. It made her wonder about how much time Lucien had spent with Joy and how much he had told her.
Once they ventured away from the bus and Joy, Jean leaned in to whisper to Lucien, looking around as she did.
"The superintendent needs to see you, he says there's been some suspicious activity around to hall. Something leaning towards the mystic if you catch my drift."
He grinned back at her conspiratorially.
"Well I guess you better drop me off then and explain on the way."
Mattie listened intently as Jean recounted what Superintendent Lawson had told her. There was some form of camouflage being that was being hunted by a poacher.
"Wait a poacher?" Mattie interrupted, "you mean like the people who who kill animals? But we're going to the town hall."
"You see, Mattie, mystic poachers are a bit more challenging. They follow the creatures wherever they go which as you know, sometimes means into a city or crowded place. It's our job to keep them safe and try to stop the problem." Lucien explained, turning his torso to face her in the back seat as he spoke.
She thought she heard Jean murmur something to Lucien about someone already getting killed over it but her voice was too low to truly make out what she said.
Mattie tried not to pout as she and Jean made their way back home, both adults agreeing that Mattie couldn't accompany him to the scene. Sometimes she forgot that the exhilarating world she had been immersed in was dangerous as well.
Mattie had awoken in the middle of the night to voices coming from the study which were fairly audible in her room.
"Lucien you can't just carelessly throw out bits of information to her. This isn't her world. She doesn't understand the kind of repercussions that come with it."
"Jean, Joy just wants to help us track down the man who's doing this."
She had fallen back asleep before she could hear anything else.
Mattie had grown worried when Lucien didn't come home after checking out a lead on the case a few days later. She could tell Jean was weary as well. She felt the atmosphere change after Lucien had gotten that call. The one that told him Ms. McDonald was dead and Mattie felt a bit of a shiver. The world of myths and magic was dangerous when the wrong people were involved, people that were still out there. She had waited out in the hall of the police station when Jean brought Lucien lunch. She didn't think she would be allowed in the main office and she wasn't ready to see Lucien grieving. When he finally arrived home she wrapped her arms around him, letting him know it was okay to be upset and that she was glad he was back. As requested, he told her about some of the native beings he had crossed paths with while on his trip. Even in his low mood he managed to make his stories exciting and fascinating as they usually were. She begged him to tell her more even as her eyes drooped. With Jean's insistence, she dragged herself to bed, quickly settling in. She was just about to sleep when she heard voices through the wall again.
"I'm just not quite sure what I should do. Everything has changed. Danny's left, Joy's gone, Mattie's getting older and my own daughter doesn't want to see me."
Mattie thought she heard the floor creak and Jean's voice sounded closer to the spot where Lucien's had just been.
"I'm sure that's not true and not everything has changed Lucien. Mattie still adores you, your work is still here," she thought she heard another shift, "I'm still here."
"Yes I suppose you're right," there was a pause, "on that note I should go down and check on everyone before I head to bed."
"Goodnight Lucien."
"Goodnight Jean."