Will woke to a pounding in his head.

He groaned as he shifted into a sitting position, his eyes snapping open as the movement caused the surface he was sitting on to shift, and dumped him flat on his back.

He bit his tongue as he tried not to inhale the clouds of dust and wood shavings rose around him.

His eyes fluttered open after a few seconds, and he pulled himself shakily to his feet.

Holding a hand to his throbbing head, he allowed his eyes to adjust to the dimness around him. He seemed to be in a wood shed of sorts.

With a muffled sigh he leaned against one of the walls, running his fingers through his tousled hair.

He had been sleeping off his first real hangover, and needed a safe place to stay the night, or at least until he was fully sober.

He had no idea how his drinking would have affected his actions, so he had collapsed in this shed, letting the smell of wood, dust, and coal invade his senses.

Eventually, Will had managed to find sleep. But it was anything but peaceful.

The same gray eyes he would be forced to see when he returned to the Institute plagued his dreams.

The eyes he wanted to desperately to avoid.

Tessa...

The thought of her made his head pound even harder.

He grit his teeth, forcing his mind to think of something...anything else.

But it was Charlotte that pushed Tessa to the side momentarily.

He had ruined the happy atmosphere at the Institute to buy himself some time to think. But, it's not like this was the first time he'd done something that selfish.

Now he had to act like he was making progress, or Charlotte would have Jem accompany him.

By the Angel, he wouldn't be able to stand it. All the talk of the wedding plans, and how great Jem thought Tessa would look in gold.

He'd be ready to pitch himself off the roof of the Institute after an hour of it.

His thoughts were interrupted as the door of the shed creaked open. He cast a quick glamor over himself before peering over the piles of wood.

Three small girls entered the dark musty room.

"Hurry up girls!" a stern voice yelled from somewhere outside. "Some of us would actually like to eat sometime soon!"

The girls scurried to different parts of the shed and began piling as many of the thick logs as they could carry in their thin arms.

This must have been the shed belonging to one of the orphanages.

The girls worked in silence, until a soft sniffle broke through the dimness, along with the sound of logs clattering on the floor.

"What's wrong Nettie?"

One of the taller girls broke away from the stack of logs and kneeled down next to a small girl who looked around seven or eight.

Will shifted his position, and saw she was the smallest of the three, with a slight frame, pale skin, and dirty blond curls.

"She used to help Cia bring in the fire wood," the other girl said as she stepped up to the two crouched on the floor.

"But it's been months since she was adopted Nettie," the other girl whispered.

"Marie!" the other girl scolded. "Here, you go back inside Nettie, we'll take care of this."

Nettie got to her feet slowly before dashing out of the shed in a whirl of pale pink skirts.

"Poor girl," Marie sighed. "She hasn't said a word since Cia left."

"But they were really close," the other girl replied. "Nettie idolized Cia, she can't just forget about her."

"You know," Marie trailed off. "I'm surprised that woman adopted Cia instead of Nettie. Her kind don't usually adopt fifteen year olds."

"That's true," the other girl said as she crouched down to pick up the logs Nettie had dropped. "And Cia was so odd too. You saw her eyes right?"

Marie nodded.

"But that lady looked quite odd as well. Did you see her eyes?"

The other girl nodded as she got to her feet.

"I almost died of fright! I could have sworn they were pitch black!"

Will's head snapped up, and his head reeled hard in response.

A woman with that description sounded like a warlock. But why would a warlock adopt a mundane girl? And one that was fifteen above it all.

Unless...By the Angel.

"Oh well," Marie sighed as she made her way out of the shed. "Cia is with her own kind then. Birds of a feather flock together after all."

Maybe by some fluke he had been right.

XXX

Cia sighed as she let the warm rose water seep into her aching muscles.

If there was one thing she actually liked about Miss White's mansion, it was that she could have a nice warm bath whenever she wanted.

She ran her fingers through her tangled hair, doing her best to work out the knots.

Miss White had been particularly brutal today and shot a ball of purple flames at her that singed a good three inches off of her hair on the left side of her head.

This wasn't really what she had in mind when she said she would like a haircut.

It was bothering her, but since she wasn't allowed any sharp objects, there was no way to even it out.

She had tried using her abilities to turn her finger into a knife of sorts, but it seemed her gift wouldn't allow her to make the metal on her body sharp.

It just allowed her to pack one hell of a punch.

But it was pretty much useless if she couldn't keep up with her opponent.

She grit her teeth as she felt a dull throb in her head.

In her last training session Miss White had given her a shocking blow to the head with one of the pipes she had scattered around the training room.

Something like that should have killed a normal person. But Cia had managed to shield her temple with a thick coat of lead before the pipe made contact.

But the force of it had knocked her out for several hours, and she had woken up to a rather nasty headache.

She honestly wondered why Miss White was being so brutal with her. Surely her life meant something to someone...otherwise why would Miss White have bothered to track her to the orphanage and train her like this?

Cia sighed and sank lower into the water, letting it rise up so that only her nose and mouth were above the surface.

It still bothered her, knowing she was something less than human. But that would explain why no one had ever wanted to adopt her.

She had always thought it was because of her eyes.

On record they were dark brown, but in reality they may as well have been all pupil. Her irises were almost completely black, and whenever they lined up the children to be inspected by a couple, nine times out of ten the woman would faint when they saw her eyes.

Now, knowing she could be part demon it made sense.

But now she disliked them more than ever. She hated anything that could be seen as a similarity between her and her captor.

While she at least had whites to her own eyes, Miss White's were, ironically, completely black. But whenever she looked too long in a mirror, or any reflective surface, Cia couldn't help but imagine they were the same. Endless pools of black emptiness.

She eventually pulled the plug and changed into one of the excessively laced white nightgowns that lay in her wardrobe.

She began to plait her hair but gave up halfway through and collapsed face down on her bed, not even bothering to get under the covers.

XXX

Once Will was sure there was no one around he slipped out of the wood shed, keeping his glamour up just in case.

The back of the orphanage was shabby and gray, littered with broken toys and dead tuffs of grass. But it was empty of any people.

He walked soundlessly across the yard, looking around until he found the back door. He pushed lightly on it, and it's hinges cried out loudly, making him flinch.

But it seemed that the door swinging open on its own was a normal occurrence, because none of the children passing by at the other end of the hall seemed to notice or care.

Once the chatter died down and the last of them passed by, he stepped into the hall, closing the door silently behind him.

Just as the latch clicked in place Will got that irritating feeling he usually associated with someone looking right through him.

And when he turned, sure enough, there was a little girl standing at the end of the hall. The same girl he saw earlier.

Nettie, he thought her name was.

Her large brown eyes were locked on him, but in a different way than normal. Almost as if...

She could see him.

"Come on Nettie!"

An older girl came back up the hall, taking the small girl's hand when she reached her.

"If you don't hurry up all that will be left are the burnt bits!" she exclaimed as she tugged on Nettie's arm.

But Nettie wouldn't budge.

"What's the matter with you Nettie?" the girl asked, putting more force into her tugs. "There's nothing there! Now come on!"

"What's happening?" another girl asked as she approached the two girls.

"I haven't the faintest," the girl holding onto Nettie's hand replied. "She just freezes up like this at the oddest times."

"Then leave her be," the other girl said as she turned to leave. "It's not our fault if the Mute doesn't get any breakfast."

As the girl's footsteps faded down the hall, the other girl finally let go of Nettie.

"If you keep staring at nothing the Sisters are going to think there's something wrong with you," she spat before turning on her heel and stalking off.

Once Will was sure it was just the little girl in the hall, he began walking up to her.

He went slowly, as not to frighten her. But with every step her eyes, which were locked on his, grew wider, and she was visibly trembling.

"You can see me?" he asked as he crouched down to her level.

Through her terror she managed a nod.

"Your name is Nettie right?" he asked, and again she nodded.

He sighed mentally; the girl wouldn't open her mouth.

"I'm looking for someone Nettie," he said softly. "Perhaps you can help me."

The girl swallowed hard as she looked him straight in the eye.

"You had a friend here right? A girl named Cia?"

The girl nodded and dropped her hands to her sides, playing nervously with the folds of her ratty pink dress.

"She was adopted a few months ago," Will continued. "Do you remember anything about the woman who took her away?"

There was a moment of silence before the girl took a deep breath.

"I tried to tell her not to go."

Will felt a small surge of pride as the words left her mouth. They were soft, and he had to strain to hear them, but he had gotten her to talk.

"There was something strange about the woman wasn't there?" he urged her on. "Something only you seemed to notice."

"Her eyes were pitch black," Nettie whispered. "No whites at all. She had pointed teeth and a forked tongue too. Like a snake."

"But no one seemed to see them did they? Not even Cia?"

"No," Nettie whimpered. "She said not to be silly, that the woman's eyes were brown like mine. That she was just a normal lady."

"And you've seen other things as well," he prodded. "The other kids here make fun of you because they think you might be...different."

She nodded, and he saw tears running down her pale cheeks.

"I'm looking for her Nettie," Will said quickly, trying to get her to stop crying. "Do you have anything of hers that I can borrow?"

The girl's head snapped up, her tears ceasing momentarily.

"Why do you want to find her?" she asked in a cracked voice.

"It's my job to keep people safe from things they can't normally see," he explained. "And I think Cia might need help right now."

Nettie's eyes widened as her hand slipped into a pocket in her dress.

"You can save her?" she asked, a small glimmer of hope sparking in her eyes.

"I need to find her first," Will said. "But yes, I can."

Nettie pulled her hand out of her pocket, holding out a frayed black ribbon.

"You promise you'll find her?" she asked in a shaky voice as he took the ribbon from her.

"And when I do I'll bring her back here to see you," he said as he stood.

Her face lit up as he smiled down on her.

"And don't worry about the things you see," he said as he ruffled her blond hair. "Having the Sight is a gift. You are not a freak. So do your best to hold up on your own for a few days."

The girl nodded and he turned to leave. But right as he reached the end of the hall and went to open the door, he felt a pair of arms wrap around him.

He almost jumped, but looked down and was shocked to see the little girl hugging his leg.

"Thank you Mr. Angel," she said with a sunny smile.

Will almost laughed as she detached herself from him and stepped back.

"You can just call me Will," he said before he stepped back outside.

She nodded and waved to him until he closed the door.

Will took a deep breath of the brisk morning air before tucking the black ribbon into his coat pocket.

He turned away from the building towards the tree he needed to climb to get over the fence.

He had no idea what possessed him to say all those things to that little girl. There was no guarantee that this Cia girl was still alive, or that she was still in the mortal world.

But then again, his own family was so screwed to hell, that it only made sense to him to try and help as many others as he could.

Now he could actually afford to care, why not show that little girl some hope?

But before he did anything, he'd need to report back to Charlotte and stock up on some weapons.

He sighed as he touched down on the other side of the fence.

Charlotte was going to love this.

~Author's Notes~

Hi there! so sorry it's been so long...and i haven't updated in ages. I didn't mean to, I just didn't know how to continue this. But now that I've finished Clockwork Princess I have a better understanding of the story line I want to create, so hopefully updates will be quicker. ^^

Thanks for reading!

~Jade