Disclaimer: I don't own a thing besides the ideas that come from the maze that could complete with the third task of the Triwizard Tournament otherwise known as my brain and imagination. I also make no profit besides the muse food. Om nom nom!

Chapter 2

"What do you think?" Derek asked. The two knights were driving after stopping for coffee and breakfast for the road. Hotch suggested they take the same route that David and Fran took, to understand better what had been going on in their heads. David explained it as best as he could but Hotch wanted to experience it as close as he could. Derek didn't care one way or another, as long as they got there

"About what?" Hotch asked. He won the coin toss and was driving for the first leg of the journey.

"This." Derek gestured out the window at the landscape. They had since left the city behind and the further they drove away from it, the houses became fewer and farther between. The area surrounding Quantico had suffered terribly from the war and nearly every other house had been burned down. Derek was pleased to see that at least half the houses that had been burned had already been rebuilt and just as many were in the process of being rebuilt. He admired the craftsmanship and made several mental notes for his own properties. During his downtime he refurbished houses that were damaged by the war or simple neglect. "This mission," he clarified.

Hotch glanced at his fellow knight out of his peripheral vision. The younger man was staring out the window. "Dave's right. This is going to be the most important mission of our careers."

"I can't believe they kept her a secret all these years," Derek said.

"I can. Parents will do anything to keep their children safe," Hotch said, void of emotion.

"I'm sorry, man," Derek apologized. "I didn't think..."

"It's alright, Morgan." Hotch reassured and changed the subject. "Have you ever met Jason Gideon?"

"Once. I was pretty young and don't remember much. I do remember Dave talking about him and his cabin in the middle of nowhere before my family left Quantico."

"I met him a few times. He's very intense, like someone who's seen too much," Hotch mused.

"He wasn't an active participant in the war, was he?" Derek raised an eyebrow.

"I used to think so. Now I know that he had the most important job during the war. Keeping the princess safe from the rebels, especially after the deaths of the king and queen... they had complete trust in him. That's admirable."

The two men lapsed into silence. They took turns behind the wheel. When he wasn't driving, Derek listened to music on his phone whole ignoring texts and calls from Savannah. He reminded her again before he left that morning that he wouldn't be able to stay in touch regularly during the mission but as usual she didn't listen.

"Trouble in paradise?" Hotch asked as they stopped at a rest area for the night. It was the same rest stop that Fran and David had stopped at. Derek had just looked at his phone again and rolled his eyes. Savannah just sent him another text, this time gossiping about someone at the hospital he didn't even know.

"She doesn't get it, man," Derek vented. "I always tell her that I'll be unavailable while I'm gone and she still calls and texts and when I get home she complains about it. I mean, she knew all about my job when we got together."

"I know. Believe me, I know. There's a reason why most knights are divorced or stay single. Haley left me because of the job."

"Savannah's been bugging me a lot about making a commitment but..." Derek paused. "She wants a baby."

"You'll be a good father," Hotch said. He opened the bag of takeout and passed a burger and pod of fries to Derek before fishing out his own food.

"I do want kids but not right now." And not with her, he thought to himself. "We're still trying to get back to normal after the war."

The two men discussed the mission in detail and mapped their itinerary for the next day while they ate. Derek used the facilities while Hotch called Jack. He decided against calling Savannah back. He didn't have the patience or stomach to hear her mindless prattles. They slept in the car, grateful that they had it instead of a thin tent like they had often used between battles.

The next day dawned crystal clear and sunny as the knights continued their journey. They reached the cabin in the late afternoon and hid the SUV in the woods, in the very clearing that David had described to them.

The first thing they noticed as they walked to the cabin was that the grass surrounding it was overgrown and random weeds grew everywhere. Hotch and Derek drew their weapons at the same time. Their years of training and relying on instincts taught them to approach any unknown location with an overabundance of caution. Derek opened the cabin's front door slowly before entering. The knights surveyed the rooms as they cleared them. Every horizontal surface had a thick layer of dust and cobwebs were forming in the corners. It was obvious the cabin hadn't been lived in for some time.

The two knights left and scouted the treeline until the sound of an old clunking car approached the cabin. They froze, hidden among the trees, while the car stopped and a tall and lanky young man alighted from it. The man ran and threw open the cabin's partially open front door. "Penny? Penny, are you here?" he yelled as he ran inside. The young man's voice cracked as he called for "Penny" one more time before sitting heavily In a stuffed armchair that rested next to a handsome, antique-looking chessboard. Hotch and Derek approached the cabin and with their guns out and entered.

"I don't have much money. Take it; it's all I have." The young man reached into his back pocket and tossed his wallet in the knights' general direction. The leather landed with a soft thud a foot away from Hotch. Hotch reached down, picked it up and opened it.

"Spencer Reid," he read out loud as he looked at the ID. "What's your business here, Reid?" he demanded.

"I should ask you two the same thing," Reid replied. He never took his eyes away from the chess pieces.

Hotch and Derek holstered their weapons, then pulled out their respective credentials. "We're here behalf of Evan Jones. I'm Sir Aaron Hotchner and my colleague is Sir Derek Morgan. We're..."

"Two of King David's top knights and advisors," Reid finished. He finally tore his eyes away from the chessboard.

"We're looking for Robin Jackson," Derek added.

"I'm sorry, but there had never been anyone living here with that name," Reid said. "This owner is... was... Jason Gideon."

"Your turn," Hotch growled. "Who are you and why are you here?"

"Dr. Spencer Reid. Jason Gideon was my foster father. He raised me as if I was his son," Reid explained. "His daughter Penny was like a sister to me. We grew very close after Gideon's wife left him."

"'Was?'" Derek repeated.

"Gideon was murdered almost a year ago," Reid explained.

"Damn," Derek swore. "Is... Penny... OK?"

"That's why I'm here," Reid explained. "After Gideon's funeral Penny wanted to travel some while I went back to teaching. We promised to write or call each other. She called and wrote regularly and then the calls stopped, then the letters. When I got a backlog of my letters returned to me dating back over two months I came home."

"Do you think something could've happened to her?" Derek asked.

"Something..." Reid screwed up his eyes for a moment. He looked up at the two knights thoughtfully before bolting from the room. He ran to one of the closed doors and swung it open, revealing a cluttered but colorfully-decorated bedroom that obviously belonged to a woman. He grabbed an empty wire hanger and straightened it before searching the desk. He ripped off a strip of scotch tape and wound it around one of the hanger's ends, then walked over the bed and popped open the top of the bottom right bed post. Derek and Hotch watched in amazement as Reid stuck the sticky end down the post, then drew it back out.

"What the hell?" Derek asked when they saw a small silver key stuck to the tape. If Reid heard him he didn't acknowledge it. He took the key and ran past them and out the door. He grabbed a shovel from the shed and ran to the treeline. The two knights followed until Reid stopped in front of a blooming tulip tree. He surveyed the land around it before shoving the blade into the earth. He dug about two feet down before the shovel hit something solid. He then got on his hands and knees and brushed the remaining dirt away before pulling up a small waterproof ammunition box. He used the key to unlock it and pulled out a small journal. He flipped through the pages quickly.

"Can you actually read that fast, kid?" Derek asked.

"Our conscious mind can process sixteen bits of information per second; our unconscious, however, can process eleven million," Reid said as he scanned the last two pages. He looked up to see Derek staring him, his eyebrows almost reaching his hairline. "Yes, I can actually read this fast." He passed the book to Hotch, who skimmed over it.

"What's it say, Hotch?" Derek asked.

"Basically everything Dave told us," Hotch replied.

"Gideon told me a long time ago that if something were to happen to Penny to find this book." He gestured to the tall tree with its white and yellow flowers. "He told me he planted that tree the day Penny was born. I helped him bury that box my first week living here."

"How old were you?" Hotch asked.

"Four years, seven months, and twelve days."

"And you remember all that?" Derek did nothing to hide his skepticism.

"I have an eidetic memory."

Derek drove away until he picked up a signal, then called Dave. "Gideon died over a year ago, Sir," he explained. He went on to tell the king everything Reid had told him and Hotch. He had walked all over the area, then drove the SUV several miles away before picking up a signal on his phone.

"I didn't even know he was divorced, let alone dead." David's voice was thick with emotion over the loss of his friend.

"We have some leads from Gideon's foster son so we're going to split up and try and find her that way," Derek said. "We're starting fresh in the morning."

"Do you trust this... Dr. Reid?" David asked.

"Gideon did. You and King Hector trusted Gideon. Besides, he seems genuinely upset that she's missing. The pictures show how close they were," Derek replied.

"Good. Gideon had good instincts. If he trusted Dr. Reid, I do, too. There will be another vehicle ready for you in the village in the morning. Good luck, Derek. Bring her home safe," Dave ordered.

"Yes, Sir."

A/N: Look for us on TV this Sunday. We'll be little ants like everyone else in the huge crowd for the big race. We were given tickets and passes and were invited to stay with friends who live a block away from the track who also work there, so instead of the usual 20 mile walk to get anywhere, we got ourselves a golf cart to use. So stoked because I almost said no because I can't walk that far for that long yet.

Thanks for reading,

Pita(feels the need... the need... for speed!)Cake