Chapter 2:

I watch unamused as the rabbit falls off of the chair laughing, and reach for the bag of muffins to remove the blueberry. I take a sip of my coffee before biting into the muffin itself. It's everything a muffin should be: moist and delicious. Honestly, buying muffins this morning was a splurge on my part. It's not as if I have a lot of disposable income with the money I received from Mrs. Otterton.

The laughing is starting to be more than mildly annoying, but I really shouldn't have expected her to take me seriously. I bet the first thing she did was go read whatever amounts to the file that the ZPD has on me. I highly doubt that there's much in it. It's not as if I spent a lifetime living on the streets as a hustler, like many of my species end up or worse. Maybe a demonstration is in order?

Chewing on a mouthful of muffin, I open up one of the drawers of my desk and take out a box of salt. I don't know if my movements have drawn her attention or not, but the laughing has died down a little bit. I pop the spout of the box open with the claw tip of my thumb and slowly pour a perfect circle of salt on my desk. Carving the circle would have been better, but I really don't want to ruin my desk. Salt makes a decent medium in pinch; so does caulk. Both, thankfully, are relatively cheap. I reach into the bag and pull out the carrot muffin, placing it inside the circle.

I close my eyes and take a breath. I really hope she turned off her phone. Oh well, she'd been warned. Magic is 90% intent, 2% knowledge, 2% power, and 6% will. I envision an impenetrable shield around the muffin, shaping it in my mind as I draw upon the energy around us. Extending the fore finger of my right paw, I touch it to the salt as I push a small amount of my annoyance and will into it; the shield snaps into place.

The air snaps with the sudden expenditure of energy, and so does her phone. The shield glows blue for a moment, but fades; all that's left is a very faint hum. At the same time she lets out a startled squeak. I open my eyes and see a faint blue cloud of smoke waft to the ceiling from the edge of my desk, presumably from where the now startled rabbit is sitting on the floor. "Muffin?" I ask smugly.

She rises up from the floor slowly. Her eyes peek just over the edge of the desk; her nose is twitching rapidly. I take another sip of my coffee and another bite of my muffin. Her ears are laid flat down her back and I partially wonder if I might have overdone it. I can tell she's battling with fight or flight; since I am not making any sudden movements I'm hoping that she doesn't see me as a threat. Her eyes track from me to the muffin and back again.

I watch as her eyes harden; she can tell that she's being tested. I can see it in the set of her eyes, the way her body language changes. This is a rabbit that has never backed down from a challenge; how hard can getting a muffin be, after all? I watch and take a sip of my coffee as her paw reaches for the muffin and is stopped. The shield glows blue where her fingers come in contact with it, much the same way as a plasma ball reacts to a child's paw touching it. She cocks her head to one side as she tries to understand what's happening. Her eyes track back to me, then to the muffin.

"How?" she asks as she places her entire paw on the shield. The shield flares blue but holds strong, I can tell she's putting more effort into it; she's standing fully now and her ears are upright. She was projecting more curiosity than fear at the moment.

I smile at her and lean forward. "Isn't this Zootopia?" I ask as I reach toward the shield with my will, modifying my spell. "The city where anyone can be anything?" I had read the silly travel brochures at the corner convenience store. The city really does need to work on its marketing a bit more.

I reach forward with my paw, the shield allowing my finger to pass through as I slowly pull out the muffin. "Well, I be a wizard," I say as I hold the muffin out to her.

She took the muffin and sat back down in the chair. She took a bite out of it as I dismissed the shield. All that left was some blackened salt and the faint smell of ozone. The ozone could have been from her phone, which I'm sure I will hear about shortly. Her eyes narrowed as she came to some realization.

"You said machinery and electronics don't fare well around you," shestates, and I nod. "What kind of machinery?" she asks.

"All kinds; prewar stuff lasts the longest but anything after around 1980 fails pretty fast," I state.

"It was you…" she starts to say. Her eyes harden and seem to bore holes into me. "YOU made the brakes fail!" She throws her muffin at me, hitting me in the face. "YOU JERK!" she yells at me. "You cost me $250! Do you know how little first year officers make?" she yells as she starts to pace in front of my desk. "I have to work my tail off just to keep my job, even if Bogo only sees me as a meter maid, and you go off and cause the brakes to fail on the cart! I had to pay out of pocket to repaint that zebra's mirror!"

I open the top drawer of my desk, pull out a napkin, and start to wipe the muffin off of my face. I sigh; maybe the demonstration hadn't been such a good idea. "I should arrest you for tampering with city property." That causes me to raise an eyebrow.

"Oh?" I ask. "Just how are you going to prove that I did it?"

"It will be your word against…" Her eyes go wide as she pulls out her cell phone. I look over the edge of my desk.

"No, no, no," she says as she presses one of the buttons on the side in a frantic attempt to turn on the device. She sighs and slumps her shoulders as she looks up at me.

I'm tempted to look her in the eyes and send her running for the hills, but Karma's voice keeps ringing in my ears. "Be nice to the bunny." I throw the napkin with bits of muffin into the trash can beside my desk and stand up.

She tenses, ready to spring into action at any moment, as I walk around my desk and back over to the coffee pot. I can feel her eyes on me as I pour another cup of coffee. I shake my head as I take a sip. My parking ticket was around $250, I think to myself. I weigh my options carefully. On one paw I could rub her speciesism in her face, call her a liar, and throw her out of my office, maybe even lodge a complaint with the ZPD. On the other, I could extend an olive branch.

I sigh as I sit back down into my chair. "I'm sorry Officer Hopps. I believe we have gotten off on the wrong paw." I extend my right paw over my desk to her. "Nick Wilde, professional wizard," I introduce myself. Trust me when I say that going for the first option was tempting as hell. But this rabbit has the attention of a deity that has been in and out of my life personally, one that I know for a fact would make me suffer for not heading her warning. So the olive branch it is.

She looks from my muzzle to my paw then back again. I can see the incredulity on her face. Finally she reaches out and to shake my paw. "Officer Judy Hopps, ZPD, pleasure to meet you Mr. Wilde."

"Likewise Officer Hopps. Now, I hear thatyou're Mr. Otterton's goddaughter, correct?" I ask, giving her a way out if she lied to me.

Much to my surprise, she nods. "I am; my family has had a business relationship with the Ottertons since before I was born."

"Now Officer, what can you tell me about the other missing mammals?" I ask. I don't think she will or can tell me much, but it's worth a try.

She looks to me then to the blackened salt ring on my desk. "I'm not supposed to comment on ongoing investigations," she tells me, and then smiles. "But I don't see why I can't tell you what's already been published in the news."

I pick up my pen and flip open my notebook. "Up until just recently, it's mostly been large mammals that have been disapppearing. Polar bears, caribou even an elephant," she tells me. I pause in taking my notes and look up at her to check for deception Seeing none, I go back to my notebook.

"Anything connecting them?" I ask, hopeful that she'll share something she's heard.

"Not that any of the other officers are saying." She looks away for a moment before adding, "I've been on meter maid duty since graduation." I don't think she was supposed to tell me that, but I make note of it anyway.

"Have any more smaller mammals gone missing?" I ask.

"A few," she admits.

I look across my desk at her. "I take it that's not public knowledge yet?"

She shook her head at my question. I can see her tense up. I have a bad feeling about this.

"Do you think they're all connected?" she asks.

"Maybe," I answer truthfully. I'm honestly not sure what to share with the rabbit. I've already proven the existence of magic to her, but is she ready to learn about the reality behind bedtime stories? That the things that parents use to scare their kits into behaving actually exist?

"Have any bodies turned up?" I ask, not really expecting an answer.

"Not that I've heard about," she answers. My sense of dread increases.

My job was supposed to be simple. Find Mr. Otterton and find what has been hunting Mrs. Otterton and, I presume, stop it. I had more questions for Ben, but that could wait until later; I really don't want to take the bunny cop into my home let alone my lab.

I close my notebook and stand up. I could feel the rabbit's eyes looking at me like I might spring at her . She isn't afraid, that much I can tell; maybe just wary. After all, I did just turn her world upside down. I walk over to my coffee station and turn off the coffee pot. then open the cabinet underneath and pull out a backpack.

Into the backpack I place a small silver bowl, a bottle of water, a wine cork, and a silver needle. Zipping up the backpack I turn and head for the door. "You coming?" I ask.

"You're still going to let me help?" she asks as I turn and look at her.

"I don't see why not," I say. What I don't say is, this makes keeping her safe a little easier. A mundane threat I'm sure she would be more than capable of handling herself, but a vampire? Besides, staying in Karma's good graces is a goal I strive for.

We walk out of my office door and I take a minute to make sure the sign is turned to say "The Wizard is Out'". I honestly don't know when I'll be back in the office but that's why I have an answering service.

We exit the building and I sling the backpack over my right shoulder. We head up the street toward the downtown district as the city for the most part hustles and bustles around us with neither a thought nor a care about what might be happening around them. That's the way of most of these things; most mammal stick their heads in the sand and prefer to think of the world's problems as someone else's.

"How…" Judy starts to say, pulling me out of my thoughts. She seems uncertain how to ask her question.

"How what?" I ask.

"Well, how did you learn magic?" Judy asks. I look down at her; I can see that she is clearly curious about the power that I wield. I think for a moment about what to tell her. The truth of the matter is far from pleasant, but I really don't want to weigh her down with the weight of that knowledge. Does she deserve the truth of the matter? Maybe someday, but it's not really something I want to talk about at the moment.

"My grandfather taught me how to wield it," I answer It's the truth, but not all of it.

She nods and looks up at me; something about her features told me that she knew there was something I wasn't saying. For now though, she doesn't press me on the issue.

"I'm sorry about your phone, by the way," I say, changing the subject.

She sighs. "You did warn me. But that's why I have insurance on it. If we can stop by a Pawizon I can get it replaced."

"We just so happen to be heading downtown, so that shouldn't be much of a problem." I think for a moment. "What did you tell your chief to let you have the time off?"

"I told him I needed a few days off to help my godmother," she says.

I'm kind of impressed. I didn't think a bunny of all creatures had that level of sly in them. If she was telling the truth about how she got the time off, then I'm impressed. "Why did you try to record our conversation this morning?" I ask.

I see the sudden slump in her shoulders as she looks down at her feet. "I hoped to catch you doing something illegal so that maybe Chief Bogo would finally see me as a real cop."

We walk the rest of the way to her godmother's apartment building in silence. I'm not fully sure what to think. I had asked a question and got a straightforward and honest answer. To be fair, I'm not even sure I would do anything different in her shoes, and a part of me can respect that. Another part of me wants to rail at the rabbit in self righteous anger, but I can't really bring myself to do it. The fact that she admitted to it outright tells me she's not one to normally go around trying to stab mammals in the back. Besides, she sucks at it.

We enter the building and are greeted by two security guards. Grey wolves in blue rent a cop uniforms. The most telling thing to me is the fact that either their employer or the city doesn't thing these two are worth arming.

"How are you today, Larry and Garry?" Judy asks them politely.

"We're fine, Miss Hopps," one of the wolves answers.

"Do you need us to get rid of the pelt for you ma'am?" the other asks.

Much to my surprise Judy stops and stares down the wolf. "Garry," she says to the wolf almost menacingly. "What have I told you about slurs?"

The wolf swallows nervously and glances my way before turning his attention back on the rabbit. "That the next time you would use us as a sparring partner."

I turn my attention from the wolf to the bunny in question. I've been around the block a time or two;the stance of her feet, the set of her shoulders, and the look of cold confidence in her eye told me she was ready for a fight. Something else told me that there are more than strong odds that she could win against the wolves, even at two to one.

"I'm, uh, sorry Mr….." the wolf starts to say to me, pulling me out of my thoughts. I assume this chuckle-head is Garry.

"Wilde," I grin at them. "Nick Wilde."

"Oh, ummm, sorry sir, Mrs. Otterton told us you would be by. Please go right on up," the other wolf, who I will assume is Larry, said. I could tell he was obviously trying to diffuse the situation.

I nod and start walking away, hoping to see signs for the stairs. Judy lingers for a moment before walking away and catching up to me.

"You idiot!" I hear Larry somewhat quietly exclaim to Garry. "I'm still sore from the last time she mopped the floor with us!"

I take a minute to reassess the rabbit beside me. Maybe there's more to her than I originally thought. More than just a cute fluffy bunny that wears a fur tight uniform. I still have my doubts about how well prepared she is to face a vampire, but she might be less of a liability than I'd initially assumed..

I spot the door marked stairs and start to head for it.

"Uhh….Nick." She pauses a moment as if weighing her words carefully. "Do you think we can take the elevator? My godmother lives on the 45th floor…."

I eye the elevator the same way she eyed the wolves a few moments before. The building looks well maintained so maybe, just maybe, it won't malfunction and trap us for a day in it. I don't mind taking the stairs, but she's right, the 45th floor is a lot of stairs.

I walk with her over to the elevators.

She looks up at me as she presses the call button. "Relax," she says.

"Oh, and how many times have you been trapped inside an elevator that malfunctioned just because you stepped inside of it?" I ask.

"None," she freely admits. "But in the past, the more I stressed about a bad thing happening the more likely it was to happen."

Optimism, hopeless boundless optimism. Maybe it's like a superpower for her, but oddly enough her words ring true. I've known elder wizards on the council that have had less wisdom than this younger rabbit. What? Just because I'm the only wizard in Zootopia doesn't mean I'm the only wizard in the world. What kind of lonely existence do you think I have?

The elevator dings just seconds before the doors open and we step inside. I let her press the floor button as I lean my shoulder against the wall as far from the control panel as I can. I concentrate on my breathing, in and out, and don't worry about the ever growing chasm developing under us should the elevator catastrophically fail.

The elevator's door are highly polished stainless steel, and I use that to surreptitiously study the rabbit's reflection. Her fur is a light silvery grey with a white underbelly, but her most striking feature is her eyes. They are truly wondrous things. I have watched them darken to the color of deep amethyst or lighten to a pale purple depending on her mood. I look away before she catches me staring, or worse, locks gazes with me.

The elevator slowed to a stop with minimal fuss and the doors groaned open. But at least we didn't get stuck for hours on end in the blasted contraption, so for that I am eternally grateful. The hallway that we enter is fairly lavish in accommodation, with thick plush carpet and clean walls.

I follow Officer Hopps down the hall. She knows where we're going, so it's not that big of a deal. I try to keep the surprise off of my face when we stop in front of a fairly lavish set of double doors at the end of the hall and she presses a button for a doorbell instead of knocking. Honestly, how big of an apartment is it if it needs a doorbell?

The door is opened by a female skunk in a pinstripe skirt and white blouse. Her long black and white tail stood proudly behind her with just the slightest bit of curl to the end of it. Her half lidded, almost bored grey eyes first look to Judy. There is something off about the skunk either in her stance or the set of her eyes, I cannot quiet put my finger on what yet. "Ah, Miss Hopps, an unexpected surprise, and I see you brought a…" Her eyes turn to me and narrow ever so slightly. "Guest," she finishes. I start to get the impression that if I had showed up here without Carrots I wouldn't have even made it through the building's entrance.

"Good morning, Fifi," Judy greeted the skunk. "Is Olivia in?"

"She is in the sun room," Fifi says as she takes a step aside. "You may come in,, but your…." She eyes me again. "Friend will have to stay outside; we do not wish for our silverware to disappear, no?"

"Ah, Judy, so pleasant of you to drop by…" I heard Mrs. Otterton's voice say just as the door was shut in my face after Judy stepped into the apartment. I blink at the door and its sudden appearance before my muzzle. While I can hear some raised voices on the other side of the door, I cannot make out what is being said.

My father had long ago attempted to prepare me for the hate the world would throw my way for having the fortunate luck of being born a fox. His sagest advice had been: "Never let them see they get to you, Nicky." He told me this more than once throughout my life. It probably would have been the last words he said to me. While I'm generally able to mask my emotions, there is one facet of my life that reacts no matter what I choose to do: my magic. As such, the lights in the hall flicker as three sets of bulbs in the hallway wink out in response to my irritation.

A moment later a much less haughty Fifi opens the door. "I'm sorry for my rudeness Mr. WIlde please come in." As I step into the apartment I brush past Fifi, I catch my first whiff of her scent. It's not quite what I had expected, not repugnant but also not quite right. It could be a perfume or a musk mask she uses after all she's a skunk but still….

What greets me is honestly the most luxurious place I have ever seen. The floors are a highly polish rich dark wood. With thick area throw rugs places strategically here and there to break up the place. The ceilings are high enough that I'm pretty sure an elephant or maybe a giraffe would feel comfortable in the space. Honestly stepping into the space felt like being teleported into one of those Better Dens and Gardens rags at the supermarket. The kind us poor mammals try our hardest to ignore for how it makes us feel about our own living conditions. I mean I bet she doesn't sleep in no lower drawer of a fifth paw dresser.

"Mr. Wilde, I apologize for Fifi's rudeness," Mrs. Otterton says to me with Judy at her side. "I'll be honest, I'm quite surprised to see you working with my goddaughter."

"Think nothing of it Mrs. Otterton; I'm used to it," I reply. "As for working with Officer Hopps, she can be quite persuasive."

"You shouldn't need to be used to it Mr. Wilde; one would think with the stigma she herself has faced that she would be above such nonsense." Mrs. Otterton shook her head. "I suppose you're here for Emmitt's brush."

"Yes ma'am; it will help speed up the process of finding your husband," I answer.

"Judy dear, you know where it is at." Mrs Otterton said.

"I do," Judy replies as she starts to move deeper into the apartment.

"Just a moment, Officer Hopps," I say as I reach into the outer pocket of my backpack and pull out a large ziplock bag and hand it to her. "Please put it in this."

Judy nods and takes the bag with her, leaving me alone with Mrs. Otterton and Fifi.

"So tell me, how is it that you came to be working with my goddaughter?" Mrs. Otterton asks as soon as Judy leaves the room.

I shrug nonchalantly. "She asked, and I thought she could be of value to the investigation." I don't think that telling her a fox deity told me to be nicer to the bunny would garner me any more favor with my employer.

The smile Mrs. Otterton gives me borderlines on smug, as if she has a piece of information that I do not have. I'm certain it has nothing to do with her missing husband either. It mildly vexes me. I was about to ask a question when Carrots returned.

"Got it!" she says, holding up the baggie with a fur brush inside and handing it to me.

"Excellent," Mrs Otterton says. "If there is nothing else, I am a very busy otter Mr. Wilde."

"Certainly Mrs. Otterton," I say as I stuff the baggie into my backpack and step back out the door.

"Judith dear, please be careful," Mrs Otterton says as she joins me in the hall.

"I will Mrs. Otterton!" Judy calls as she walksbeside me. "So you're going to use magic to find Emmett?" she asks. I can hear the curiosity in her voice.

"Not quite yet," I answer her as she presses the call button for the elevator once again. "There are a couple of things we need to do first."

"What's that?"

"Well you need a new phone, and I need to file a bit of paperwork with the ZPD," I tell her as we step into the blasted elevator.

"Paperwork?" I smirk at her confused tone.

"The ZPD requires that I file paperwork regarding any private investigations that I undertake. Especially any time when my case might overlap one of theirs; and this, Carrots, overlaps," I tell her, watching her expression in the polished metal of the elevator.

Other than the lights flickering a few times, the ride down to the lobby passes without any problems. But the elevator car did groan ominously when we step out into the lobby.

"I hate those things," I mumble as we head out of the lobby and onto the street once again.

"So you need to file paperwork with the ZPD?" Judy asks me as we walk down a bustling downtown sidewalk.

"Yep, ZPD Form 10-100," I answer. There's a slight twitch of her right ear as we near Precinct One. "There's a Pawizon just across the street," I point out. "Shouldn't take me more than 30 minutes to file my paperwork." What I don't mention is part of that will be spent in the doughnut shop just a building down from Precinct One. I know the receptionist there, and that tubby cheetah has a thing for doughnuts. While the doughnuts might not be necessary to file my paperwork, it does make him a bit more chatty, and I need some information.

She nods as she looks across the street at the store. I can see the wheels turning in her head. I suspect she knows that I'm trying to ditch her for a small period of time, and she's weighing the risks of calling my bluff and walking into her station with me when she's supposed to be helping her godmother.

She nods and walks with me to end of the block. "Thirty minutes, then," She says at the corner as she steps into the queue to cross to the other side of the street.

I'm sure there's some angle that I am not seeing from this rabbit. I know she was trying earlier to catch me doing something illegal. Now I need to find out if that was because her boss put her on my tail or because she just sees a shifty fox.

We part ways as the lights change and I head toward Precinct One. After a quick stop into the local doughnut shop for a baker's dozen of assorted doughnuts with sprinkles, I walk into the atrium of Precinct One.

I hate coming here; if there was ever a thicker hive of bigotry and self importance, I have yet to step into it. Most of the mammals employed by the city are on the larger side of the size scale. That honestly doesn't surprise me; Chief Bogo has always had a stance that larger, more intimidating mammals make for better officers. It's sad though, as most of the city's populace is made up of medium sized mammals and below.

The architecture of the building is grand in its layout; most of the first floor is vast and open, with a small stage to one side backed by windows. In the center sits an overweight cheetah in police blues behind a mostly curved desk. There is no small amount of Gazelle memorabilia on the desk, but the main work area is mostly clean, with the exception of what looks like an empty box of doughnuts.

The tubby cheetah himself is personable; honestly, I have yet to have a bad interaction with him. Sometimes he speaks before he thinks, but I can't really hold that against him. I just wish the city would employ more like him, which might possibly make the world a better place.

"Hey Spots," I greet the cheetah as I walk up to his desk with the box of doughnuts in my paws. "You need a refill?" I ask as I hold them up.

"Ohhh my goodness! How do you always manage to do that?" he asks me. I see the true glee in his eyes and I smile slightly. "You always seem to show up when I run out," he says as he throws the empty box away and puts the new box in its place. "So, what can I do for you?"

"I need to file a Form 10-100 and maybe get the low down on a mammal," I say.

"Certainly, but you do know you can fill out the 10-100 online, right?" He never has believed that I'm a wizard, but my credentials are good. He should know, since he filed them himself.

"Then I couldn't come down here and see you, Spots." I smile as I take the clipboard from him and start to fill in the information with the provided pen. The form itself is relatively simple: name, credential number, what the case is, and who I'm working for.

"So what's the case this time?" Clawhauser asks me. "Poltergeists in the pipes? Oh I know, a sudden infestation of vampires?"

"No, not this time. Missing mammal Emmitt Otterton," I say as I finish filling out the clip board.

"Really?" Clawhauser asks me as he bends forward. "You know the Chief hasn't taken that one overly seriously."

"I can tell, otherwise she wouldn't have come to me." Why did Mrs Otterton come to me, I ask myself. There are other more high profile PIs that are not labeled as wizards under the yellow pages.

"She has been in here everyday for three weeks," Clawhauser tells me just before he stuffs a doughnut into his mouth.

"Really?" I ask, and the chubby cheetah nods ecstatically.

"Just between us," Clawhauser starts as he picks up another doughnut. "He hasn't even assigned out the case."

"What about Officer Hopps?"

"What about her?" Clawhauser asked as he stuffs the doughnut into his mouth.

"Isn't she an available officer?"

Clawhauser looks around to make sure no one is listening in on our conversation. "Look, you didn't hear it from me, but she's only technically an officer."

"What's that supposed to mean? Did she pass the academy or not?"

"Well she did, but…." He looks around nervously. "Chief don't want her. He's afraid that he's going to have to add her to the Wall of Heroes. Plus, we have no one her size class to partner her up with."

"So why doesn't he move her?" I ask.

"He can't; she's Mayor Lionheart's pet project." Clawhauser picked up a doughnut and stuffed it into his maw. "But if he could, she'd be transferred permanently to Parking Enforcement with Marabell."

I frown at this as Clawhauser continues. "I heard she tried to take the Emmitt Otterton case, but as soon as Mrs. Otterton said she knew she could rely on her goddaughter, she was immediately removed from the case for being too close to it. She's lucky to still have her job at this point."

I look at the time on the wall clock above Clawhauser. "Thanks Spots!" I say as I start moving toward the door.

"Wait!" he calls. "Didn't you need the 411 on some mammal?"

"You gave me all I needed; besides, if I don't get moving now I'll be late," I call back to him. I can't help but smile as I hear him say. "Cripes, my computer locked up again!" while banging the mouse on the desk space.

I stuff my paws into my pockets as I walk down the street toward where we'd separated. My conversation with Clawhauser explains a few things about my rabbit companion. While it gave me some insight into what she's facing at work, it gave me next to no insight into what kind of mammal she is.

"Hey Nick, get your paperwork filed?" she asks as I approach.

"Yep. Now if we stumble into a crime scene I won't end up in jail," I tell her.

She nods at me. "So now what?" she asks. I can tell she's getting a little impatient.

"Did you get your phone sorted out?" I ask.

"Yes, and I've even left it off." I smile at her. I can say one thing about this rabbit; at least she learns from her mistakes.

"Ok, now we need a ride," I tell her as we cross the street and head back toward my office.

"If you knew we were going to need a car, why didn't we bring yours instead of walk?" she asks, I can hear more than a little bit of minor annoyance creep into her voice.

I look down at her and smile. "And risk getting another parking ticket?"

Her eyes turn up at me before she looks away, embarrassed. "Sorry," she mumbles.

I weigh her reaction against what Clawhauser told me. "It's okay," I tell her after a moment. The rest of the walk to the parking garage just down the street from my office is made in silence.

My car is probably older than the pair of us combined. It's a Volkspawgen Beetle that I have named Blueberry, as at one point in its life it was blue. Now it's a hodge podge collection of mismatched panels and parts. The drivers side door is yellow, the passenger side is green, the hood and trunk came off of the same white car. The roof panel has been replaced so many times that my mechanic just leaves it primer grey now. But, say what you will, it works most of the time and is relatively cheap for him to keep running.

"Can you drive?" I ask.

"Top of my class at the academy; of course I can drive," she says proudly. I roll my eyes and dig my paw into my pocket for my car keys. I toss them to her just before kneeling behind the car and unzipping my backpack.

Taking out the silver bowl, I sit it on the cool concrete of the garage and then take out the needle and wine cork. I press the needle through the cork and place it into bowl. Next, I reach into the backpack and take out the bottle of water, pouring just enough into the bowl to make the cork float. Taking out the plastic bag with the fur brush, I pull off several strands of fur and drop them into the bowl.

I can feel her eyes on me as I close mine and start to draw on my innate power. I start to mumble a bit of quasi Latin to help shape the spell. Fur is a great way to track another mammal; you can use it and a somewhat simple spell to locate its owner. I open my eyes as I press my finger to the rim of the bowl and mutter. "Seek." I watch the needle and cork spin in circles a few times before pointing in a solid direction to the east.

The problem with this spell vs the shield I had done earlier is this spell requires an almost constant trickle of energy and concentration to maintain. The shield would have maintained itself until the energy placed into it was used up. Since Carrots didn't put any real strain on it, it would have maintained itself for some time. This involves asking the fibers of fur to point the direction to their owner, and in order to find said owner I have to keep asking them to find him.

"You're going to need to drive," I say, handing her the backpack just before picking up the bowl.

"That's pointing to Emmitt?" she asks.

"Yes," I answer as I walk toward the car, the needle still pointing solidly to the east. She quickly walks over and unlocks the door for me and opens it.

"So could you use it to, say, find a lost kit?" she asks before closing the door.

"I could if said kit is within 50 miles of where I cast the spell," I explain after she climbs into the driver seat.

"If they were beyond 50 miles?" she asks.

"Then the needle would just spin in circles," I explain. "It's even harder if the kit is being moved."

She looks over at me as she backs out of my parking spot. "So which way?" she asks.

"Leave the garage and turn right." Making a right turn out of the garage is easier than cutting across the flow of traffic. Besides, the Blueberry might run but it's not going to be winning any races anytime in the foreseeable future.

She floors the gas as she turns out into traffic and the engine coughs and sputters as it attempts to obey. "Ummm, when was the last time you did any maintenance on this thing?" she asks, shooting a glance over at me.

"Be gentle; it's older than both of us," I tell her as I watch the needle in the water. "Make a right at this light, then another right at the next one."

"So we need to turn around?" she asks.

"We do." I would love to tell you that the tires scream as she turns the car around. But they don't; I scream. The suddenness of her cutting across three lanes of traffic to make that U-turn was a bit much.

Thankfully the water remains inside the bowl and not all over my lap. I shot a look over at my lapine driver and ask, "Are all rabbits horrible drivers or just you?"

"Sorry, I just don't see any need to drive around like my grandma when we need to be going the other way," she shoots back. "Besides, listening to you scream like one of my little sisters was kind of funny."

"Har, har, har," I say, looking back down at the needle as the water settles. "Yes, I'm sure your younger sister would be quiet amused."

"Yes, I'm sure all 143 of my sisters would be amused to hear that the big bad fox that our father has been telling us about screams like a little doe," she quips.

My ears pin back to my head and I look over at her from the corner of my eye. "You're joking, right?"

"Nope, not one bit. I have 143 sisters and 132 brothers." She glances over at me with a smirk. "What? Rabbits are good at multiplying."

I concede the point. I mean, there's a reason that in many cultures the fertility god, or in most cases goddess, is a rabbit. But I've never had it just blatantly shoved in my face before. Then again, a lot of rabbits avoid me like I have mange.

The rest of the ride passes quietly as the city thins around us and we start to cross one of the bay bridges. Not that I notice, since I'm keeping a close watch on the needle and my concentration on my spell.

"Nick?" she asks as we near the city limits and tall pine trees start to tower over us.

"Mmmm?" I ask, not looking up from the needle. It looks like it's starting to veer to the right.

"Unless this rust bucket of yours has a four wheel drive setting that I'm not aware of, we're going to have to walk," she says as she slows the car to a stop.

For the first time in a while I look up. The forest and the hills outside of the city loom over us far more than they should for the middle of the afternoon. I frown as I look down at the needle , which is pointing into the forest. I look over at my companion, whose curiosity appears to have been replaced with thinly veiled disbelief and possibly suspicion.

A chill shoots up my spine as I look back through the passenger side window and into the forest. I feel as if Karma herself has just stepped on my grave. I slowly open the car door and step out, still holding the bowl, and shut it with a push of my shoulder.

I turn and face the forest, a sudden sense of uneasiness settling over me as I hear the driver side door open and close. As we walk into the forest the sense of uneasiness deepens to straight foreboding, as if the forest itself is warning us away from some grotesque and unseen evil, but still we push on. Judy starts to lag behind me.

We come to a blackened clearing in the trees and I step on a mound of dirt just as I hear the needle tink against the bottom of the bowl. My paws start to shake. The vileness that I feel in this clearing cannot be understated; it's like walking into a room full of sewage and rot with the crisp clean smell of pine needles.

"Nick?" Judy asks, her voice hardening. "Why are we here?"

I start to take stock of the clearing, the mounds of dirt laid out in circles. I see seven circles of thirteen mounds with what would have been one large mound in the center, but was now a gaping hole in the ground. The ground itself is blackened along the edges of the circles; the power that had been wielded here had to have been enormous.

I take a step back off of the mound out of respect as I close my eyes and prepare to open my third eye, or true sight as some would call it. True sight lets you see things for what they really are. If you're an evil bastard it'll show. It'll cut through the most elaborate of fey designs that they use to walk among us. It'll show you what a walking corpse of a vampire really looks like. But there is a down side: there is no amount of brain bleach or substances on the face of this planet that will ever let me forget what I see with my sight.

When I open my eyes, they glow a deep vibrant green. The landscape before me might as well have been a scene straight from the deepest dimension of hell. Souls of the fallen scream in agony as dark tendrils of corruption and rot wind their way across the ground and up the trees, strangling the life out of them. I take a quick count of the souls before falling to my knees, tears streaming down my face as I throw up into the bowl.

"Nick?" Judy asks; I feel her paw on my back.

"92 souls," I croak, and throw up again. "Something big was summoned here…"

"Summoned?" I hear a hard bite added to her voice. I nod; it angers me, this perversion. The tortured souls are still screaming loudly in my ears; it will be a weight on my own soul that I shall carry for the rest of my days.

"Nick, where is Emmitt?"

I look to the small mound in front me. It's easily the smallest of all them, but he, or at least his body, is there.

"Nick, did you do this?" I hear the steel in her voice as her paw tightens on the back of my shirt.

I shake my head, not trusting my voice.

"Not good enough. Look at me Nick; if I'm going to put my neck on the line for you…" She starts.

My eyes snap open. " How dare you…" It's all too much: the sickness of it all, the screaming of souls in my ears, and now, now she blames me? I know anger pours into my voice.

"Nick?" she asks; her paw suddenly pulls away as I slowly and deliberately stand.

My voice is low and threatening, bordering on a growl. "You're worse than a rent-a-cop. You're a wanna-be that jumps to conclusions before she has all the facts!" I glare down at her as she starts to back away. "This…." My lips pull back into a snarl as I toss the bowl of puke. It made a metallic ringing sound as it bounced off of a tree, and the air became putrid with the smell of it "This…perversion…isn't what magic is for." I sweep my paw to the field of mounds behind me. "It's not for the use of senseless killing, it's not for the torturing of souls just to gain power, it's not to bring something into this world that doesn't fucking belong here!" I walk past her and head for my car.

"Nick…wait." I can hear the pain and loss in her voice. My anger starts to peter out.

I pause as I look over my shoulder at her. Her eyes are cast down as she rubs one of her shoulders with her paws. "I'm sorry…" she says, her voice just over a whisper.

I take a deep breath and let it out. I had originally thought of just leaving her out here, but that plan crumbles as I watch her world crumble with it. I watch as the weight of the reality of her loss starts to erode the fearlessness she's displayed up to this point.

"Judy," I say softly, the last of my anger now long spent. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Watching her break is like a punch in the gut. It's not pretty, it's not cute, and I can remember a day when that was me. "Why?" she asks between sobs and hiccups. "Why would anyone do anything like this?"

"I don't know," I say honestly.

"He has a family, he's kind, and…" She started to slump forward, and somehow I caught her. This wasn't the Officer Hopps, the meter maid, the force of nature that had been thrust in my path since giving me a ticket months ago. "He was kind. He didn't deserve this."

"None of them did," I say softly as I look back over the field. I shudder slightly as my mind overlays the peaceful landscape with the vision of screaming souls and corruption.

"I'm sorry," she says shortly after her sobs die down. I can tell she's emotionally spent.

"Me too."

I hear her sudden intake of breath and feel her tense. She doesn't pull away, but I can feel some of the steel return to her slowly. "Nick?"

"Mmmm," I say as I look away from the field again.

"Will you help me find who did this?"

I look back out at the field. Half of the job I was originally hired to do had been done. I found Emmitt Otterton. His wife could bury him and he would be at rest. But the other part, finding the thing that was hunting her, that still needed to be done. Helping Carrots wouldn't necessarily mean finding the thing hunting Mrs. Otterton; hell more than likely I wouldn't even get paid for it. But this needs to be stopped. Will I help her?

"Yes. Yes, I will."