If Sean's father could see him now, he'd be furious. No doubt he would be later. Sean had never gotten in trouble this serious before; he had never been to the principals office. Of course Sean wasn't naive. He knew that there weren't brimstone, torture or horror behind the rather unique and neatly carved door, but he hated the thought of disappointing his father.

As The Grinch opened the door by its equally impressive handle, Sean had reverted to his usual apathetic self, but just as soon as he had calmed himself down, he was filled with surprise and awe. Sean did not know what this room was, but it most certainly didn't look like a principals office. The entire room, which seemed a lot larger on the inside, was filled from left to right and top to bottom with statues, plaques, paintings, figures and other ornaments. It looked like a small, but very very exciting museum. At the end of the room, a man sat behind a wooden desk, carved in the same creative style as the door. He was wearing a blue suit with a black tie and had a thick dark mustache to go with his fancy slick haircut. Sean recognized him as the principal, although seeing him was a rare thing, as he spent most of his time in his office, doing paperwork and conveying tasks to his secretaries via a telecom.

The Grinch marched over and exchanged some hasty words with him, to which he nodded with a stern and serious expression on his face and Sean couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated by him, even from a distance. The Grinch then hurried out of the room, but took her time to fire off her own version of a serious look straight at Sean, before closing the door behind her, leaving him with the principal. The principal looked at Sean and nodded towards the "guest chair" at his desk. Sean understood the cue and made his way over there, after which he sat down and looked at the principal who made his way to his own chair, still not breaking eye contact with Sean. Scary.

"So, Sean... Do you know my name?" He asked.
"No, sir!"
"It's Principal Charles LaVey. Now, remember that."
"Yes, sir!"
"So I hear you've had some poor behavior. Acting out; correcting miss Gretchen; lying to get out of class; bullying a boy; playing around with a cellular telephone. Did I cover everything?"

Sean nodded and realized that the boy from the bathroom was the one who had told on him. Normally he wouldn't mind an adult telling him off, but Principal LaVey had a strange and very powerful "aura" of authority that Sean just couldn't shake off. He merely sat and listened, now staring downwards, as the principal went on:

"I think the best thing now would be to call your father..." Sean immediately directed his highest level of attention towards the principal "... and to give you detention for at least a month." Principal LaVey got up and went over to his window, staring outside.

"But then again...It must be hard for you to sit and listen in a class where you already know all the answers, so I think I'm gonna let you go this time. Out of... Sympathy." Principal LaVey now smarted smiling, as if the stern look he had displayed up until now had merely been a mask. Sean was surprised. Was he joking? Would he let him go, just like that? And how did he know how well Sean did in class?

"Sir, how do you know that..."

"Your situation in class? Whilst old teachers like miss Gretchen – you didn't here me say that – may be ignorant of it, I am well aware what this pattern of behavior means. You're way too good for this level of education. Am I wrong?"

"Well..." Sean was baffled at the thought of an adult actually taking him seriously "... Yeah."

"Sean, Sean, Sean... I know very well what it is like. I was like that too. But of course no one will ever take a child seriously..."

Sean was positively amazed! Not only did the principal understand how Sean felt, but he was practically reading his mind. He felt a bond being established between the two of them and felt actively excited. He gathered his courage and asked:

"Excuse me, principal LaVey, what are all these thing you have standing around in the office?"

"Please, Sean, call me Charles. No need for the formality" Principal LaVey chuckled.

"Well, okay... Charles" Sean said, feeling slightly stupid and out of place.

Charles guided Sean towards a glass display case by the window. Inside the display case, was a rock with a strange footprint on it. It was massive and had only four toes.

"This is a rock found in a cave in the Himalayas. The footprint on it is unlike anything anyone have ever seen. It has a shape somewhat similar to that of a Homo Sapiens, a human, but it is far too large and there are only four toes on it. No doubt something really heavy had been standing really still for a really long time. As a matter of fact, I believe this is the footprint of the notorious Big Foot." Charles eagerly explained. No doubt this was a hobby of his, seeing how enthused he became. Still, Sean could not help but sending him a funny look.

"Now now, Sean" Charles went on "Don't give me that look. I believe there is a truth to many myths that people take for granted. Myths many people have forgotten. I am somewhat of a collector and enthusiast. If you will take a look around the office..." Charles went on as he guided Sean around with hand gestures so elegant that they had to have been practiced beforehand "… you will see an egg I believe was once the potential offspring of The Loch Ness Monster; a staff once used by the Aztecs during sacrificial rituals; a knife used by Jack the Ripper, along with a copy of a code he left behind that's never been cracked, imported straight from England. A so far not successfully translated scroll that Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, left behind..."

Sean listened intensely. He had never heard anyone speak of something with such pleasure and enthusiasm as Charles spoke of his collection. Furthermore, Sean felt an interest growing for this topic as well. It was hard not to develop one, with all the cool stuff lying around. There was ancient figures, dishes and vases; there were things from Greece, Egypt, England, Rome, Denmark, Australia, Ireland, Central Africa, Japan, China and even the North Pole. And almost all of these objects were tied to forgotten stories, rituals, mysteries, myths and miracles. Some were grim and dark, while others were light-hearted and breath-taking. All of them were intriguing and fascinating.

Charles could no doubt sense Sean's fascination rising, as he only got more and more thrilled. Finally he led him to the end of the tour: a tall bookcase standing up against the wall, right behind his desk chair. There were paintings by Leonardo Da Vinci, hanging on the wall on both sides of the bookcase.

"This, Sean, is my ultimate collection of knowledge. Anything you can find in this room, can be found in these books. Now, I don't wanna brag, but... Well, actually I do. I may have written – and published – a couple of these myself."

"That's quite impressive" Sean added

"I should hope so; I've dedicated my entire life to this. I dare say it is more than just a simple hobby." Charles replied "but I think that is enough for today, don't you?"

Sean felt bad that their time was already up, nor did he feel all that great about going right back to the unforgiving grim dungeon of the ever-grumpy Grinch.

"Do I really have to go back?" he asked.

"Oh, don't worry Sean. I am sending you home for the day. I fear that sending you back to class before your teacher has cooled off may be unwise, so I think it would be best if you returned tomorrow" Charles replied and went to open the door "feel free to come and visit me up here anytime, okay?"

A smile came over Sean's lips as he went out the door "Okay, Charles."

森

Time: 11:02

The mysterious man was growing impatient. It wasn't stalking the school building hour upon hour for a decent opportunity that drove him tired of waiting, but the measure of which he had had to wait overall. Just waiting for an opportunity with this kid had taken months. He didn't make the decision to start calling his father until a few weeks ago. In reality, he had had plenty of time to train his patience over the years.

But now there was no time to reminisce about the past – an activity for the weak-minded and regular people – and now it looked to him as if his labor would finally bear fruit. It was time. The boy, Sean Bowman, was emerging from the front door of the elementary school with no escort. Nor did it seem like anyone was around, either. Absolutely perfect. The mysterious man was sitting on a bench with a newspaper, watching his target passing by on the opposite side of the street. On his way home, no doubt. It was definitely in that direction.

Yes, it was perfect. The mysterious man walked down the street as well, but stayed on his own side of the road, as to not arouse suspicion. He most certainly wasn't going to miss a rare opportunity such as this. He maintained that strategy, walking across from and slightly behind the kid, with a distant look and newspaper in hand, until a pedestrian crossing finally came along. Of course he already knew it would; he had memorized the entire area inside out. He probably even knew it better than the people who lived here. Normal people were always so... unaware of their surroundings.

He crossed the street and was now in the blind spot of the boy, who hadn't even seemed to notice him at all. He began walking slightly faster, but increased his speed at a slow space to be safe. Finally he was getting close. Closer. Closer. Even Closer. The kid was finally within his physical reach. The mysterious man looked at his watch.

11:15

He had been following that kid for thirteen minutes now. Looks like patience do indeed pay off. He was slowly reaching out towards the Bowman kid as he heard someone calling. It came from down the opposite side of the street. A man had just emerged from around the corner. Blue uniform. Cop? Possibly – no – probably.

"Hey kid, are you Sean Bowman?" The man yelled.

Hell no, was the mysterious man going let this opportunity go. As the kid diverted his attention to the yelling meddler, he grabbed him and put him in an advanced sleeper hold, as he ran off with him under his arm.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?! Get back here or I'll shoot!" The stranger, who with the gun comment revealed that he was definitely a cop, yelled after him. No matter. He couldn't possibly know the town as well as the mysterious man could. He ran and ran, with the cop in pursuit. He wasn't afraid of getting shot. He didn't believe the cop would even dare do so, as long as he had the kid.

32.3 meters straight ahead and then turn right. Then jump up to the stabled trash cans on the right in the alleyway and jump over the fence. He had it all pictured in his head, although he pondered over how successful and elegant his jump would be whilst carrying around a dozed off kid. As he entered the alleyway, he did exactly as planned and ran out to the street on the other side. What he hadn't accounted for was his pursuers athletic abilities matching his own. As he looked back towards his pursuer, he saw how he effortlessly made the same jump as him, without as much as flinching. But lets see how he fared in the Princeton neighborhood; a neighborhood consisting off several small apartment buildings placed in a huge square, with countless pathways in between them.

The mysterious man ran inside the maze of buildings, hedges and dirt pathways, already knowing the exact route he wanted to take. There was no way that cop could follow him through there.

森

Lux was in hot pursuit of Sean's kidnapper. About hour earlier he had met up with Sean Bowman's father, Thomas, and they went to his school together to find the him, but were told that he had gone home for the day. After that they split up to look for him. Mr. Bowman went home and Lux decided to scout the city out to be on the safe side, which had proven to be a good idea, for only 10 minutes later he was witness to the child's kidnapping. And this was no ordinary kidnapper.

This perp knew what he was doing. The way he jumped those trash cans could not have been improvised and still he seemed incredibly determined as he ran towards a massive collection of apartment buildings. Not only that, but he was fast too, and even while carrying a child to boot. But Lux was just as determined to catch him, as he was to get away.

The guy had gone in through an alley and Lux reached it just in time to see the guy turn left. He ran after him, but the pathway then split off into three. He was most definitely not going to find him by searching randomly and he had the notion that the kidnapper already planned a route through this horribly difficult maze. An impressive feat, indeed. One thing was for sure: Lux did not know the city half as well as the kidnapper. He had to think this through before pursuing him.