Chapter 2

England, London, Scotland yard, 2016

It wasn't that Rachel Hill didn't like Maxfeild, it's just that she could do without his constant, childish need to not only be right, but to prove that he was right. Firing was one of the many things she was always thinking about. But she knew she couldn't. He was just too good at his job, unfortunately.

So, as she sat in her office, drinking her afternoon coffee an hour early, she wondered how different her job would have been if she'd never offered Maxfeild a place at the department.

Probably wouldn't have a job she thought as she leaned back in her chair, enjoying the few moments of peace before she had to go to head office and explain why the department needed more research money. She was wondering how she was going to do this when she noticed something. She nearly missed it, but she didn't. On her desk the coffee in her cup had shook.

And again.

And again.

And again.

The third time her office shook as well. Rachel got up and walked quickly towards the door. Then the room shook again. The cup of coffee and a pile of paperwork fell of her desk, as well as her now broken computer. She cursed, and then opened the door.

Everyone outside her office had stopped what they were doing and were looking outside. Scotland Yard was originally an 8 storey building, but back in 2012 they had 4 more built making it a now 12 storey building, with the department of Irregularities on the top floor. This meant that Rachel and the over detectives had a near perfect view….

…of the several buildings across London that had just exploded.

Fires were beginning to spread and the rising smoke could be seen from miles around. Rachel stood there looking calm as she started to give orders to the other detectives.

"Get our people down there and start pushing back the fires" ordered Rachel, her voice calm and full of authority. "Divide into two groups. Group A will extinguish the fires while group B will rescue and evacuate the citizens, ill orchestrate everything from here. Understood." They nodded, and walk quickly from the room. She watched them go then turned too looked back at the rising smoke.

"This better have nothing to do with your case Maxie." She muttered as she turned and headed for the control room.

In fact the explosions in London had everything to do with Maxfield's new case, he just didn't know it yet.

England, 1 mile from Newcastle, 2016

Maxfeild Boxlaw had three hobbies that he dedicated nearly all of his free time too. Practicing magic, collecting books, and maintaining his beloved car. The vertical in question was an S2 Bentley saloon made in 1962. It was fitted some modern equipment, a sat nav and a better air conditioner. But he had done everything he could to make sure that it had as many of its original parts and components as possible. And so, as Maxfeild drove along the small side road to Newcastle, the sound of the engine kept him alert and the smooth ride made him feel relaxed and at peace.

Dr Victor Martin had disappeared from the department of Irregularities research facility in Newcastle and it had taken Maxfeild over 5 hours to get there. He had been driving through Great Tom wood for nearly 15 minutes and had finally reached the main gate to the research facility. The facility was built around the ruins of an old fort built by the raven king in the early 11th century and through the trees you could see the tops of the ruined towers. Maxfeild pulled up to the gate, scanned his ID card, and the gate opened to allow him access. He drove on for another 5 minutes before the trees parted and the building came into view. At first glance it appeared that the ruins of the old fort was being eaten by the new building, but in fact the facility had been built inside and around the fort, meaning it was nearly completely surrounded by the new buildings.

Maxfeild parked the Bentley, picked up the files that he left in the back of the car, and walked into the main reception where he was greeted by an elderly woman. This woman reminded him of a former high school teacher, there was, however one big difference between this woman and his former teacher, and that was that this woman had no eyebrows. He wondered if it was because of a medical condition however he was later informed that it was a faction statement. What that statement was, however, is a different story entirely.

No eyebrows lady directed him to the office of the head of security, a man named Markus Clark, he 57 years old and a former Special Forces officer. When he and Maxfeild met in his office they exchanged a few word then Markus began to confirm what Maxfeild had already read in the file.

"Dr Victor Martin was working on a special project code named BLACKHOLE. The objective of the project was to gain the Fairy ability of traveling to any location anywhere at any time. In order so that he could achieve this, Dr Martin hoped to combine the scientific theory of wormholes and the magical practice of teleportation. The machine looked like a circular gate surrounded by small caulomes that gave of a faint glow and on the far side of the lab sat a large super computer that controlled the devise. All of this was connected by thick, heavy wires that transferred magic like blood through veins. He had been working on the prototype for nearly two years now and had nearly made a breakthrough. In the last 3 months he had tested the prototype 6 times. During the first two experiments nothing happened, but on the third time a small "black hole" the size of a football opened in the middle of the gate. During this the metal instruments and the glass tubes inched closer towards the gate. However, not one of the scientists present felt any kind of force pulling them towards to hole. It was also noted later on that fabric, water, paper and organic material was also unaffected by the hole. On the forth experiment the hole tripled in size and the results pretty much remained the same as the last time. On the fifth attempted the hole nearly filled the gate, and the scientists sent in a camera attached to a winch in order to see what was on the other side. When they pulled it back the camera revealed a deserted and desolate part of Faerie. During the sixth experiment was when Dr Victor Martin disappeared. Everything was running smoothly and the testing on the gate was proceeding without any problems, until Dr Martin approached the hole and examined the way it reacted to electrical shocks. At first nothing happened, however a minuet after he started a long, pale, bony hand reached out and grabbed the doctor by his collar and pulled him in. at that moment the black hole began to shimmer and twist. Sparks flew from the machinery and a strong force erupted from the gate and pushed the scientists off their feet. The black hole began to become more unstable and threatened to destroy the facility. Eventually the scientists were able to shut down the gate and the black hole closed on itself. Leaving Dr Victor Martin trapped on the other side."

Finishing his statement, Markus offered Maxfeild a drink.

"I'll have a cup of tea please." He replied, leaning back in his chair, absorbing this information.

"Ok, I'll be back in a moment." Markus go up from behind his desk and left the room.

Crap thought Maxfeild. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. If they had successfully opened a portal into Faerie and something had pulled the good doctor through, it could only mean one thing, the wild fairies were on the move again.

No one has seen a wild fairy in over a hundred years. Then the fairy king known as the gentleman was killed, fairies were divided into two factions who came to be known as noble fairies and wild fairies. Noble fairies wanted to live privately alongside humanity, whilst wild fairies wanted to move against English magicians and chain English magic to their wills. Back in 1904, noble fairies and English magicians joined together and pushed back the wild fairies into the Faerie wastelands. Since then they haven't been seen or heard of ever since.

He was now rhythmically tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair. If he was right, then things were going to get tricky. He pulled out his phone and looked at the screen, 8 missed messages, all from Rachel Hill whom Maxfeild had registered in his phone as "the yeti." He sighed and put his phone back in his pocket. Whatever she wanted, he was sure it could wait.