Kellye had been a surprise.

The Cear family was an old business partner of Jude Heartfilia's. Escorting him to their eldest daughter's 8th birthday had been our first commissioned work from him. And it had been pivotal in our continued survival. Tara Cear had been a happy, but bratty eight year old. And the mental distance between us was profound. Kellye, her younger sister, had been an unexpected point of tenderness in the face of tremendous grief.

After I had met her, and left her with an enchanted stuffed animal in the form of Winnie the Pooh to help her have some companionship, she had started to write to me. Persistently and faithfully. She had a fresh, innocent perspective on life that felt too precious to waste by brushing off or being busy. After all, I had been a very nosy child who questioned everything not so long ago myself.

I looked up from where I had fallen into the Celestial Spirit King's hand.

"I don't mean to be rude, but there is somewhere I have to be. Now."

He nodded gravely, his white, seeming all seeing eyes on mine. I felt like he knew my urgency and why without even asking it.

"Old friend." I don't know how Loke managed to materialize in that instance, but he was there. "There is an emergency in the mortal realm. You have permission to take Celeste D Faerun there and return by way of your gate until the matter is settled."

Loke's eyes widened for a split second before he became deadly serious.

"Understood. Fae, where are we going?"

Gana?

She showed me an overhead image of a building I knew.

I had been a guest there several times before.

"Lord Tobias Thain's home. In Juniper."

Loke grimaced.

"Ok, I know Juniper. You'll have to get me the rest of the way there."

I let my spellbook flip open to a blank page and I quickly word dumped all the relative information to where we were running off to on it as quickly as I could.

Alarm tripped. Kellye's in trouble. I'll be back for you all.

I ripped it out with a short jerk, fixing on Wendy as the best possible recipient for the brief warning. She knew of Kellye and would understand why I was acting so hastily. The torn sheet of paper folded itself into a paper airplane with a gesture and few murmured words and darted off to find its intended recipient. Then I started running.

I was a bookworm. A nerd in every sense of the word, by necessity and choice. But Kagura had been the one to insist that we, Wendy and I, both at least be fighting fit should the need arise. Or at the very least, that we know how to move quickly when the need arose.

I reached a hand out to Loke briefly and he took it, knowledge flowing into my mind about what would need to happen.

Since Loke wasn't being summoned with his key, there would be some manual travel involved. Meaning we had to physically go to his gate in the Celestial Spirit Realm.

Once there, the King's permission would allow him to take me through his gate. And a Celestial Spirit was, as I had observed before, not held back or restricted by most any mortal barrier. I could have asked Loke to take me inside the wards of my own design on a high security bank vault and he could get me in there, hardly batting an eye.

Which was a good thing since I had also worked on Lord Thain's personal security wards. But they had apparently not been good enough since something that was considered enough of a threat could get inside and attempt something like this.

We reached Loke's gate, and he lifted his hand, his energy mingling with the personalized portal to direct it to where he wished.

"I need directions, Fae."

"It's a three story Gothic style manor house with light gray exterior stonework. A large extensive garden with a small private stage near the annex building." Those were fairly unique features and I could tell when Loke found it right away.

I was focusing on the anchor spell I had left behind. Hand flat on the lodestone pages that contained the three way rune relay I had made combining my, Ultear and Meredy's magic. It was a lot like reaching through gossamer mists to find something familiar, cool breezes making them play around me. The line my mental hand settled on was firm, glowing rosy and alive with life and feeling. Meredy's power linking me to the woman she considered as both mother and sister.

I pressed my power into the runes that described Ultear's Arc of Time magic. They passed through it like a dough through an extruder, taking on the distinctive shape and characteristics. Enough to harmonize with Ultear's magic that resided in my spell book and plot our course through the currents of Time that separated the mortal and Celestial planes. I took the memory of Pooh's last sacrifice and wove it in.

Find the trigger. What made him feel so threatened that he would do that.

There was a knot of lifelines, my sense of the stories of the people involved combining with Meredy's supernatural empathy, and Ultear's awareness of Time.

For a second, I swore I saw the lines of Fate extending out from this singular moment. I shook off the thought and focused on Morgana, who was also handling part of this spell. The troubleshooting of everything that could possibly go wrong.

Revisiting that later. Are we good to go?

98% of success.

"Got it." I informed my escort. I could hear voices back towards the party that sounded confused.

"Alright, Princess. Time to go for a ride."

Loke's hand was in mine, and my other hand gripped the connection of thought and feeling back to the right time. Both Loke and I were focused on guiding us to the proper place, but we were operating in different dimensions, allowing a seamless transition instead of a chaotic mess as we both tried to go in different directions. But for this, we were singularly focused on getting to one place and one place alone.

I felt the threads of familiar magic try to catch me and hold me out. But Loke spearheaded his way through my carefully constructed wards in spite of their best efforts. We landed in a tastefully decorated front hall, with impressive grand doors open to a cool spring evening.

My gaze zeroed in on a small figure in a pretty rose colored dress who was huddled behind a large decorative plant, hugging something close to her. Someone was moving away languidly, unhurried and not suspicious in the least.

He is the one who triggered Pooh's primary directive.

"That's him!"

Loke bounded after the fleeing perpetrator, breaking into a run with harsh glaring light beaming from his hands. I matched him only for a few paces, falling to my knees in front of the child that I could now recognize by her gingery hair, even with her face buried in a worn, yellow stuffed bear.

"Kelly?"

She squeaked and looked up suddenly, trembling. For a split second, I pictured her as a rabbit, ready to flee for her life. Then she recognized me.

"F-Fae...?"

"Yeah, I'm here. You're-" I didn't get any more words out as she threw herself at me, knocking me onto my butt in an undignified sprawl. Adjusting for comfort would have to come later as she clutched my dress and her lifeless toy and bawled.

Yeah, I've been there.

I wrapped my arms around the distraught ten year old and rocked her. I wasn't fully in control of what I said, I just tried to keep my tone soft and even.

"You're gonna be ok, Kelly. I promise. Everything'll be alright."

I stayed like that for several minutes, murmuring soothing words to the crying girl in my arms. I turned my attention outwards.

The hallway was undisturbed, there were no signs of a struggle, or any hostile magic save for the faint wisps of Loke's power. But I would need to do a more thorough sweep once Kellye was calm enough to let me move and work. Maybe a clone would work...? Nothing here looked like it could have been frightening enough to make Pooh decide something was a threat to Kellye's safety.

Unless it was a predator.

Tobias Thain was rigorous in screening his staff, but people could always slip by. They could even slip by me if they buried those kinds of secrets deeply enough. And most of the time, they were far enough down that I wouldn't catch it on a cursory scan.

If she was scared, she would have screamed. Did no one hear her?

Someone did.

The man who had scared her had heard her. Morgana was running through the entire manor house, locating an intimate party of Lord Thain and some of his fellows in the ground floor dining room. He had invited me to this type of event before. It had been awkward since most of the children my age were not in the same room as the adults and usually had a different activity or location prepared for them to spend time while the adults networked or talked business.

Where are the other children?

She was silent. Damningly so.

Gana...?

They are gone.

That...that would be something that would scare even a brave little girl like Kellye.

Did she see it?

Yes. Pooh engaged your directive to prevent her from being taken as well.

I closed my eyes, focusing on the relief I felt that one child, the one I was closest to, was safe. The gift I had given her to stave off loneliness had done its job, going above and beyond my original thought behind the gift. That was something to be grateful for even if it wasn't entirely happy.

"Expecto Patronum."

The silver owl formed from the streak of light that emerged from my hand.

"Tobias Thain: There has been a kidnapping. Lock down the estate. I am in the front hall with a witness."

As with most cases where kids were involved, people were getting noisy very quickly as the thoughtless terror of the event started to set in and tempers began to rise. To his credit, Thain complied instantly before he even came outside to the hall, sealing the borders of his estate to prevent anyone from leaving his property, or entering it.

Parents were racing to the upper story where the children had apparently been sent to the billiard and game room to entertain themselves while the adults talked. Voices raised in panic and volume growing steadily. Kellye had adjusted herself to be held securely in one arm as my pen dipped and guided runes around. Time was of the essence. The kidnapper had been leaving the building just as Loke and I arrived. Not even five minutes after Pooh's emergency message. And the wards would forbid every type of teleportation magic that was known in half a dozen countries, so the other children had to be close too.

I ran through the list of those who were missing as parents called their names.

Tara Cear, Kellye's sister, age 14. Izzak Glint, age 12. Umir Za'far, age 16. Jakobo Farsight., age 10. (What is it with some of these names?) Lumaria Farsight, age 8.

I noted their names and brought my spellbook before me, already inputting their names and the information I could glean about them into my Tracking Section. I would need my Harry Dresden totem for that, the five pointed star necklace, supplemented by the Badass Long Coat that he had turned into the magical equivalent of kevlar armor. The man may be an evocationist, who slung fire and ice with almost ludicrous comfort, but tracking and investigation were some of his most practiced skills. His story would be the best thing to help me. Besides, nothing riled the man up nearly as much as targeting children.

Did the wards catch anyone?

The kidnapper managed to bring Izzak, Umir and Tara through. Lumaria and Jakobo have been halted by the wards.

Three safe of the six potential targets that had been nearby. It was a good start but it was not nearly enough. One of Thain's staff was trying to calm a distressed, furious set of parents who were screaming at him.

"How could this happen here!? Was everyone simply asleep when someone broke in and stole our children!?"

"Get out there and find my daughters! And someone-"

He's about to send someone to contact you.

Well let's skip a few steps then.

I recognized Lord and Lady Cear. I put my fingers to my lips and whistled sharply, putting a touch of magic in it that I called 'Camera Shift'. Just a little trick to highlight and draw more attention.

"Sir, madame, I am already here and working on your case. Ackles, if you will send someone to the main gate, Jakob and Lumaria are safe."

Loke has found them. He lost the trail of the kidnappers.

Because two distressed, scared kids would be given priority in the face of no other good leads to follow. So finding the perp would be left to me. I mentally increased the kidnapper's potential intelligence and strategic thinking and started a clock.

He could have left the younger two behind since they could not travel as quickly.

The first few hours of this would be crucial to finding Tara, Umir and Izzak safely.

The Farsight family were rising in the ranks. Their mother was charismatic and charming with large groups, while her husband was the kind of person who was so likable it was near impossible to hate him.

Are there any enemies they have that would target their children? Statistically speaking, they world not be the ideal target for abduction.

None personally.

Is the kidnapper related to any of the children?

They are not.

And Umir's mother?

Not involved.

I drew up and dismissed the most likely motivations for stranger abduction. Umir Za'far was not actually the son of his fathers wife. His biological mother was a plausible suspect, but Morgana coulnd't find any link from her to the actual kidnapper out to five degrees of separation.

The children were all in one location, and there is no sign of a struggle. Charm magic involved? A new kind that isn't warded against?

All signs were that the children had simply up and walked out without fighting their kidnapper, and something about that had made Kellye feel unsafe. Had they been coerced in some way?

Forget methods, rule out motivations.

It was a stranger abduction. The range of demographics made it unlikely that it was a sexual predator of some kind. Their ages, genders and appearances were all over the place. And with Jakob and Lumaria being brought back, and Kellye left behind, that meant the youngest three children had been left. So it was less likely that they were specific targets and more convenient ones.

But a common trait that all of these children did have was that they were from wealthy families, making money a possible motivation. We would need to keep an eye on any ransom demands that came in.

And they are all families you have worked with before.

That too, but there is no evidence yet that that is a deciding factor.

There came some more shouting and the sound of hurried footsteps. The man who rushed to me was not a runner or a trackstar, but he didn't let that stop him.

"Miss Celeste, I've had my staff sweep the building and called for the Rune Knights to notify them about what has happened. What can I do now?"

Tobias Thain was a genuine person. And I could feel his guilt and anger that some of his guests had been snatched while enjoying his hospitality.

"The best means I have of tracking Tara, Izzak and Umir is through their hair or blood. Like attracts like and I can make a spell and run down the kidnapper before he has the chance to get too far." Responding to the immediate threat was more important than determining why at this moment. But that part would come too.

"Writing up the tracking spell will take about 12 minutes. Persuading them all to help may take a bit longer with what I intend to ask them." I squeezed Kellye gently on one arm. "I'll get them all back." She looked up at me, now present and alert but still terrified.

How am I supposed to peel her off of me? I would normally let her do anything if it made her feel better, or leave her a clone. But the Naruto totem and the one I'll need do not overlay each other well.

She still had a death grip on myself and Pooh. who I could sense had lost all the magic to him and was literally just an inanimate doll now.

Inanimate, but alive to her.

Pooh recorded the last moments for you.

I closed my eyes.

Show me.

-vVv-

The Game was important. Pooh did not move unless Kelly said so or unless The Directive mandated it.

Tara was watching Umir in a way that made Pooh think there were Woozles in her feet. Always shifting slightly towards him. Lumi was arranging a small tea set for the game she and Kelly were going to play with a long-suffering Jake having been pulled in as well, since they had found five cups and saucers. Izaak was trying to talk to Tara, but she was determined to hold Umir's attention. Kelly adjusted him on his little stool, placing his paws on the table, one near the cookie plate and the other near his cup.

"Ok, Pooh. Careful with the tea, it's hot. And try not to get crumbs everywhere."

He winked at Kelly to tell her that he understood. Being partly Make Believe himself, Make Believe food could be very real to him.

"Kelly, how long have you had Pooh Bear?"

Umir asked, making Pooh freeze for real. The Game. Play the Game. No one could know. No one but Kellye and his Creator, Miss Fae.

"Four years." His girl answered the older boy with a smile. "He's my best friend."

Pooh told her silently that she was his best friend too. And he knew from the warm glow of her happiness in his stuffing that she understood.

"I don't get how Mom and Dad haven't made you throw that old thing away." Tara said, eyeing him like he was an empty pot of honey. "It's ugly."

Kelly scowled at her sister, covering Pooh's ears. Though he had already heard her unkind words, he appreciated the care.

"Mom says to not be mean. And she likes Pooh."

His girl's mother had almost, almost joined the Game. Mr Gerard, the Cear family butler, and Mrs Creedy, the cook, had joined the Game when they saw Pooh and Kelly enjoying some snacks a few years ago.

"She said that about you. She didn't say anything about your stupid bear."

"Tara." Umir spoke reproachfully, making his girl's sister jerk. Kelly picked Pooh up and hugged him.

"Sorry she's always mean." She whispered to Pooh, who subtly returned the embrace with understanding. She was not seeking to comfort him, but herself. After all, Tara was being rude to him, and he was important to her so Kelly also felt attacked.

The door opened, he could not see but there was a strange scent in the air. Something sour and rotten. Like the underside of an old log Kelly had lifted once in the woods. The ones outside her house, not the sunny Hundred Acre woods he took her too.

"It's a lovely night. And the festival has promised prizes to random attendees. You've all talked it over and are going to try your luck."

Pooh saw Tara's eyes glaze over. Lumaria, Lumi, and Jake's did too. Izaak hesitated but soon he succumbed as well to the strange mist in the air. Only Umir and Kelly remained unmoving. Pooh could glance around, but the Game was still being played. He couldn't move yet. Couldn't turn his head to see the stranger.

Another wash of foul scent blanketed the air, Pooh barely held in a sneeze, holding his nose against Kellye's shoulder.

Kelly began to move, as did Umir. She trailed behind, hesitant. Tara latched onto Umir's arm with a vacant smile.

"You need not bring that, dove. We shan't be going far."

Kelly's grip loosened and Pooh fell slack in her arms, paws dangling over his head as he looked at the man.

And something bright woke up in him.

He was a guardian. A companion made by story magic to accompany a little girl throughout her childhood. And he could feel that tenuous thread rapidly coming to an end.

The Directive Awoke.

Pooh sat up in Kellye's arms and wrapped his arms around her neck, snuggling her tightly.

"Miss Fae made me a bear of very little brain. But Miss Kellye made me a bear of very big heart."

He squeezed her tightly, reaching for the innermost part of himself. Kelly was there. She had been placed there from the beginning and had grown bigger and brighter as she laughed and smiled.

He didn't want to see that smile disappear. And he would make sure it lived to grow more beautiful. But neither would he be able to see it again. Only in Make Believe. And Kelly would one day grow too old to visit him in the Hundred Acre woods. She would forget the way there in time.

But he would never forget her. The center of his brief life.

A tear borrowed a lifetime ago forced out of his eye. It sparked and swirled with power, the love of a child returning to its source with a single intent.

To make her safe again.

He felt a little tired after that, he leaned into her shoulder again and sighed quietly. The story of Winnie the Pooh leaving his frame.

"How lucky I am. To have something that makes saying goodbye so difficult."

Kellye stopped in her tracks, he could feel her heart racing wildly.

"Pooh bear?"

And then he was not with her anymore. He was in a quiet sunny forest. And Pooh sat down on his Thotful spot. And waited. He knew he would be waiting for a long time, but he could be patient.

-vVv-

I shook off a pang of sadness and the bittersweet divergence of two closely entwined stories and pushed a little more magic into my limbs to be able to shift Kellye into my arms. She was still holding her motionless friend.

She knows something had changed.

"I'll need to speak to all the parents and it would be easier if I didn't have to repeat myself."

-vVv-

45 minutes.

And we had only progressed to having all of the parents in the same room. Kellye had been yanked off of me by her frazzled mother who was now weeping in relief that her youngest daughter was safe. Umir's father was arguing with Izzak's parents over whose child had led the other into trouble. Umir's stepmother was ash faced and nearly catatonic with shock and fear. Kellye's father was trying to demand answers from Loke as to why he had not brought back all of the children instead of only securing Jakob and Lumaria, who were both crying at the noise and clinging to their parents. Lord Thain was trying to get everyone to shut up and pay attention but emotions were still running too high.

It was a disaster, all things said.

What could have been solved in less than a quarter of an hour was now taking four times as long.

I took the time to switch into a totem and a mindset.

Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden had a thing about punching outside of his weight class in a once a year city threatening or world ending event. Or such was the pattern of his story. But other cases, smaller ones, were handled off screen. And he had found missing children before. The long dark duster coat had a heavy, satisfying weight. I couldn't pair it with Mystogan's cloak, but it had its own unique array of abilities and items.

In this case, I needed its ability to create tracking spells.

And the noise level was still rising as tempers flared and energy snapped off of everyone into my senses.

Time is of the essence.

To my horror, the 48 hour timer that I had running, the critical retrieval time period for abducted children, had just dropped to 2 hours with no explanation. An appeal to Morgana got a soft apology in answer. We did not have enough information to go off of.

The timer is for?

Disposal of the hostages.

Frik. Well, Dresden has always worked best under pressure. Are all the kids still together?

For now.

Good enough.

I gripped the pentacle around my neck, the five pointed star representing five elements bound by human will, and spoke:

"Silencio."

Now, it was a different Harry that I normally used this spell in conjunction with. But since Harry Dresden's spells were also bastardized Latin, it worked just as well. My word was carried around the room on an invisible current of air that slapped over all the shouters with a firm hand.

"Eyes on me." The words were imbued with a command that was obeyed as a dozen different people stared at me.

"I know you are distraught and fearful for your children. But right now, our focus is on getting them back. As quickly as possible. And I will need all of your cooperation to do so. They were taken together so they are still all together with the perpetrator at this point. But one man will not be able to control three for very long."

My book opened and a page tore itself out of the binding with a sharp rip that made Tara's mother flinch.

"We do not have time right now, otherwise I would approach this more gently. Tara, Umir and Izzak's lives depend on you getting your acts together for five minutes. The longer I am delayed, the further away someone gets with your children. Now, do I have your attention?"

I got a number of stiff nods around the room and I didn't let myself cringe or grimace. This was not how I wanted to handle people Jude did business with. This would almost certainly come back to haunt him and he was still hospitalized and unable to smooth ruffled feathers as readily.

But that sudden drop in the three kids' time worried me more than their parents' reactions if I got a bit forceful.

I'll apologize later.

I lifted the silencing spell with another word. 'Finite' this time.

"The most accurate way I have to find your children will require a few drops of your blood. I'd normally ask for their hair, but we are not in a position where that is readily available."

"Why b-blood?" Umir's stepmother, Janimis, asked shakily.

Kellye spoke up then, looking at the woman, still holding Pooh and being held by her mother.

"Because you're our parents..."

"Shh, sweetheart." Her mother hushed her, rocking gently.

"Good instinct, Kellye. She is correct. Because you are their parents. Households and families are full of strong magical energy. Blood, sweat and tears go into the rearing of your children. Everything in their physical makeup comes from you. With that as a sample, I can track them anywhere."

Loke drifted over to my side, giving Lumaria's hand a squeeze as she had not let go of his blazer.

"And I can take her anywhere."

I pulled some pins from my book, the torn page multiplying with a gesture as the Gemino spell I had written into it made it multiply from one into six. I strode forward, handing each parent the paper and a pin. Or in cases where one of them had their hands full, I gave both to the spouse.

"Prick one of your fingers enough to bleed and press it onto the page."

With directions given, they were a bit more cooperative about doing as I had asked. The pages glowed amber as bloody fingertips were tentatively applied to the blank spaces. Thin lines of runes spidering out as each separate component of the larger tracking spell came alive. I saw Janimis hesitate.

The woman was from Desier, with red black hair and golden brown skin even in the Fioran winter. Her grip on the paper was tight, wrinkling it with her stress and nerves. And in her eyes I saw doubt. I saw terror and fear for a child she had wholeheartedly embraced as her son. I also happened to be closer to her. I spoke in a quieter tone, meant just for her as the pages all started to bloom. The written magic Circles I had placed on them taking the offering of blood and sealing it as a steady anchor point to locate the children.

"Of all the parts of being a parent that really matter, blood relation is at the bottom of the list."

Her amber eyes flicked over to mine. I saw her mouth compress into a thin line before she jabbed the pin at her finger with a ferocity that would have worried me.

I felt her circle, and its accompanying Mother-love, take the spell and set the whole thing ablaze to my senses.

I had given her the one altered page to account for her not actually being related to her missing child. Family relationships were a powerful force for magic. Desire and intent were tied into the various familiar roles and it was common for a child to model their behavior after their parents. And Umir had done so for Janimis just as she had taken the role of being a mother to him to heart. And as some very well known stories would attest: There was no truer love than that of a mother for her children.

And as a result, there was no stronger magic than what could be derived from it.

I felt all six of the pages activate with Janimis' contribution. They had not given a lot of blood, so the potency of the spell would already be fading quickly. I had a few minutes to get everything assembled and get underway.

"Ventas Servitas." The air moved under my command, a gentle breeze that whisked the pages out of the parents hands and gathered them back to me. I organized all six pages so that each piece of rune work formed a part of a larger circle. Layering spells like this was sometimes easier than creating a larger, more impressive looking spell.

I let my spell book drift up and project a map of Fiore down across the table. Accurate to the absolutely best of my ability to make. Nami from One Piece might have gotten started drawing sea charts, but her skills were readily applicable to land maps as well. And with her canon goal being to draw a map of the whole world, it seemed as though her skill had been eager to recreate a new landscape.

"Duo et unum."

The completed tracking spell burned into embers in my hands, three specifically. They circled the table three times before darting unerringly for a specific spot on the map. And staying there.

He hasn't even gotten them out of town yet.

Lord Thain's house was in the outskirts, large enough for there to be sufficient grounds and landscaping for the theater shows he sometimes hosted in his backyard. Instead of going into the wilderness, the kidnapper had taken Tara, Umir and Izzak into the heart of the city of Juniper.

And wasn't moving even now.

That...makes no sense.

For him to have successfully absconded with five children, there was no way this was his first time doing something like this. He had left behind the smaller children, and taken only the older ones. So keeping control of his captives must not be an issue. So why were they not being taken anywhere even now?

"Proximus Visum."

The map was good for a more precise extraction. It wouldn't show people, but it would give enough landmarks for Loke to take me there. Provided he could do so. He was already at my elbow, eyes fixed on the map and the three, small burning orange stars.

"Can you get me there?"

"Right away." He offered a hand, palm up and energy already gathering as he reached for his Gate. The Gate the King had allowed me to pass through as often as was needed to resolve this situation.

"Then we won't waste any more time."

I took Loke's hand. The familiar chime that I always heard when a Celestial Spirit accessed their gate sounded. And I was swallowed up by stars.

I only saw the Celestial Spirit Realm for a few seconds before I needed to hone in on Ultear and Meredy's beacon. Once again letting Loke guide 'where' we ended up while I focused on the 'when'.

We landed in Juniper's main square, Loke's arm bracing me as I somehow managed to trip passing through. He might have made a joke about me getting used to my height. But now wasn't the time or place.

When my feet settled firmly on the ground, I could have pointed right to the three missing children. And I did.

"There." I was pointing just to my left and behind our current position. Loke and I both started to run. The timer was still ticking down...

Then it vanished entirely. The time constraint was lifted.

Someone changed their plan again.

There were a few people out and about tonight. Juniper was the home of one of the most influential people in sponsoring the arts in the country. There were a few fire mages performing for an audience, drawing a crowd with the spectacle and keeping them warm at the same time. There was a lively group of dancers in a dance hall whose windows allowed golden light to mingle with the multi colored fire. Some stalls were selling warm snacks and hot drinks.

Loke and I ran past them all. Faces blurring out of the corners of my eyes. Morgana noting them, but focused, as I was, on our goal.

The three youngsters were being chastised by what looked to be a man in the livery of Lord Thain's household. He had sent out additional runners for the city, and it seemed one of them had made it here before we did thanks to the delay we had suffered with the terrified parents.

He looked up as we approached, a severe face opening in relief.

"Ah, here we have those from the house. Young masters, young lady, you should not have left in such a hurry! And leaving no word?"

There was a pause. It felt like a track skipping for a second before Tara spoke, a deep scowl on her face.

"We just wanted to go out! It's not like we're babies who have to be shut up in a room!"

Now, there was something in my head that was hurting now listening to this. I could taste the story that was being presented even just from the few lines that had been offered.

Bored with being confined to the game room in the Thain estate, the children had decided to sneak out to spend some time out on the town. (Partially true, Umir certainly had wanted to be somewhere other than where he was from the glimpses of the past that I could see.) They had not taken the younger children to avoid being caught or slowed. (Izaak was determined to keep up with his older peers and had been actively trying to integrate himself with them. Eager to be seen as an adult) The man here had thought about what young teenagers would likely do and found them here.

This was not what Tara relayed. She spun the whole thing as if it were wholly unreasonable that underage children were not included in adult conversations, nor permitted to go exploring without their parents' knowledge. Juniper was renowned as being a safe area, nothing would have gone wrong. They would have returned within a few hours while their parents kept discussing business and visiting and no one would have been the wiser. And it was odd that Tara was the only one speaking. From my glimpses of the quiet socializing that had been taking place prior to this debacle, Umir was the focal point of the small group. Tara was just the more outspoken one thanks to her parents' titles.

The story that was spun for us was entirely plausible.

And felt about as reliable as tissue paper.

And there was something about this man that I did not like. That I did not believe. It was like he had handed me a raspberry flavored candy and tried to convince me it was actually a fruit. That didn't sit well with me. Some people could come off like that, as they showed a persona to the world that might not be who they actually were. A confidence that they projected to make up for insecurities. But this felt much more menacing. That and my inability to focus precisely on his face convinced me that he was trouble and I was not going to allow him out of my sight.

I leaned into the Harry Dresden totem, and his wizarding senses. And I met his eyes as I did so, glaring straight at him.

"A very nice story. Top marks in the short fiction short fiction category."

I lifted my hand and imagined hooked claws on my fingers sinking into the illusion he was weaving. The faint threads shimmered into view where I made contact with it. And I tore the fabric of his lie apart with a short gesture, frayed threads of an alibi quickly fading as my magic cut through them. The chagrined, or shamefaced children suddenly lost their bravado, lost their confidence. Like an actor suddenly breaking character, the rebellious young teen spirit melted off of their face as goosebumps overtook them from head to toe. Izzak swayed slightly before he caught his balance. Tara jumped looking around herself with wide, confused eyes. Umir met my eyes and his brow furrowed.

He recognizes you.

We haven't officially met, have we?

Reputation only.

And now the questions began.

"How did we get here?"

"Why is it so cold?"

The reaction from the liveried man was what clinched it for me. There was the distinctive feeling in the air of another plan abruptly going up in smoke. Leaving only shambles and a chaotic whirl of possibilities. I could feel him weighing a dozen different options, various routes that this story could take.

The greatest odds are on him making a run for it.

Hell no.

Before he could completely abandon his character and bolt, I called power into the pentacle around my neck.

"Lacques!"

The thin cord of glowing amber energy snapped from my fingertips as I brought my hand around in a short circle. It wound around the kidnapper's throat, sealing itself into a solid loop. The garrotte didn't tighten to fatality, but it was definitely secure enough to hinder him as I yanked back on it to throw him off balance. And as I did that, Loke closed in. With a few swift, brutal motions, Loke had kicked the man to the ground and disabled one of his hands in a tight lock. Tara let out a short scream of alarm at the sight, all three of the youth scrambling back, away from us. I watched as the man's clothes remained the same. That had not been an illusion. And it gave me a means of discerning how he had gotten into Thain's house.

He walked through the door. He had brought the story with him and people hadn't known to be suspicious of it. A snake in the grass that had waltzed by every countermeasure and protective ward I had written around the place.

Who terrified a little girl so badly that her life would have been destroyed if he had managed to get his hands on her.

I had to fight the spell that I had around the man's neck, putting him in a very precarious position. The slightest bit of anger could affect the spells in the Dresden universe. Even just that brief lapse in my control had tightened the noose and made him gag and gasp for air.

" Let's see what everyone back in the manor thinks of your performance, shall we?"

He still had a weave of falsehoods around his face. Obscuring his identity. But I could wait to rip through that until we were back in a secure area. Something kept me from wanting to make a public spectacle of this affair. And the uneasy certainty...that this had been too easy. Morgana and I both felt the lingering scraps of discarded plans around us. They were unrecognizable at this point. But there could still be other contingency plans hiding in the scraps. This man could be a mastermind, or a pawn. I had no good way of knowing that right now.

"Let's return to the Thain estate."

It took us an hour to get back. I kept my 'leash' on the kidnapper only as long as was necessary. Creating some cuffs to restrain him took seconds. The runes I had memorized to negate magical effects took maybe a minute to think into existence on him. Loke was wrangling the prisoner, I was herding the kids.

'Kids' They aren't that much younger than me. Heck, Umir is my age.

Umir seemed to have collected himself the fastest, the olive skinned young man shaking off whatever had enchanted him. He was walking level with me, tall, straight and determined to not show discomfort. Izzak was blatantly shivering, rose colored hair and pretty green eyes making me think of a shivering flower. And Tara was only keeping her teeth from chattering through sheer force of will, her lace and cream colored dress making her red hair stand out all the more. They had left the house without coats. I conjured some with a few words just to keep them warm just until we got back.

"Thank you." Umir said, nodding to me respectfully and glancing at Loke as well who was escorting our captive. "Both of you. For your intervention."

Manners are nice. Manners are important.

"I am pleased we found you before he took you too far." I replied sincerely.

"What about the others? Jake, Lumi and Kelly?"

"They're all safe." Umir was rising in my estimation by several points by him expressing this concern. "Right now our priority is getting you back to your families."

"Make a carriage for us, or something." Tara demanded moodily, hunkered down in her conjured coat. "My feet are killing me."

I would give her that. The short heels she was wearing were not as awkward as they could be, but they certainly weren't meant for walking any great distances. But she hadn't asked, she had demanded. And now that I was certain they were all safe, the pettiness was coming out in me.

"I'm not your fairy godmother, Miss Cear. I'm not a member of your staff. Nor am I under any contract but my own goodwill to retrieve you. You do not get to give me orders."

I do not owe you jack, girl. Don't test me.

Maybe I was heavily biased against her after years of reading between the lines of how she treated her younger sister. But I had no patience for this girl now that she was out of immediate danger. She gave an affronted huff and glared at me anew. A futile attempt to stare me into submission. I had a standard protection up to prevent the totem's natural, and most potent ability, Soulgaze, from being triggered without my express will. But I was theatrical enough to make my eyes glow a little bit.

My eyes were a bit weird normally. But if there was light behind them? I had been told they were downright unsettling. And Tara was nowhere near experienced enough to withstand it.

The totem for a Harry Potter Wix style wand and the Harry Dresden duster coat was similar enough that I could pull out the wand and cast a Patronus charm to inform the families their children were safe.

A magi-mobile would be the most efficient way to get them back. Or a carriage.

They used one to come to town. Hired.

Another person to have a chat with and inspect for cock and bull illusions and stories. Where did they get dropped off?

Morgana highlighted the route to my eyes and my eyes only, placing a marker in my mental map of the city of Juniper. The coachman was still there. A hireling as far as I could tell. An older fellow with a bad leg but a skilled hand on the reigns.

"Follow me. Let's get you home, and figure out who that is."