The coachman was still without a fare when we found him. I hailed him and he was more than willing to pick us up. The long horse drawn carriage was built to hold about six people in a tight squeeze. It would be doable but understandable if the three victims didn't want to be anywhere near their kidnapper.

"I've got a friend who could use a bit of work tonight as well, miss."

So Loke and the still nameless man, though not by lack of trying on my part, would ride with the friend while the elderly coachman would bring us back. I didn't feel the need to explain he had been complicit in a kidnapping though I did consciously memorize his face to trace later for a report for the Rune Knights. Mest would be a big help in pushing it through, now that he was mostly returned to their ranks. Makarov had used his Key to get Mest Gryder back and in control, though he admitted Mest Doranbolt was fairly renowned as a Fairy Tail sympathizer at this point. So some benefits of the undercover work were history.

I pulled some jewel from my spellbook to pay the cabbie, drawing on my emergency funds.

"The Thain estate please." I realized I had automatically calculated his fare before he had the chance to tell me what it would cost.

"900 Jewel even, miss." I didn't want to try and shuffle the money and pretend I hadn't already gleaned what the price would be. He either didn't notice, or was tactful enough to not remark on it. I ushered Izaak and Tara into the carriage, with Umir lending Tara a hand to get her since with her skirts hampering her. Then he glanced at me and his hand came up to do the same for me. Confident and steady, determined to not second guess his showing good manners.

Janimis Za'far raised a very good son.

I accepted his hand into the carriage as a courtesy, settling in quickly so he could enter as well. He settled in the open seat across from me with Izaak scooting a little closer to him. Tara was huddled in on herself in the corner, arms folded tightly and trying not to cry.

She's decompressing and the situation is hitting her now.

I turned my thoughts towards Loke and our prisoner. They had climbed into a smaller two person buggy and were on the road ahead of us. I rapped on the back wall of the carriage and it started moving with a groan of harness and a light click of a whip.

"What will happen upon our return, Miss Celeste?"

Umir wasted no time in asking.

He remembers that you said you were not here under anything but goodwill. He wants to know how far that goodwill will go, and if they need to be on the alert for another attempt.

Morgana's very helpful translation did make me consider the options carefully.

With the immediate danger having passed, thanks to our capture of the perpetrator, I could bow out and leave the investigation to the Rune Knights and hardly anyone would blame me for it. At this point, it was just a stroke of good luck that I had arrived when I had. Though I supposed I would need to admit how I had known something was happening.

I need to check on Kellye.

I had written a section of my spellbook to include what I had done for Kellye. Seelie Arts: Childhood Days. To take warm memories and a memento of a loved one and turn it into something tangible and real to hold back nightmares. I had been planning on gifting Ricky, the heir apparent of Iceberg, a similarly enchanted toy for his next birthday. And his sister, Celes as well once she was old enough to have established memories to contribute.

But since Pooh had accidentally been a safety failsafe as well, it would take some more review and refining before I tried to replicate that. Though I now wondered if I could deliberately replicate what had been a much more meaningful enchantment than I had realized. It had been a moment in time, when my mindset and intent had been very different than they were now. It might not be something I could do again.

And beyond my personal reason for being involved in this, there was that sinking feeling that I was only standing at the beginning of a trail while also feeling as though I had arrived and the matter was concluded. The urgency to find the solution had abated somewhat, but a lot of it was still there, still humming just under my skin.

I needed to talk to the kidnapper. Privately. Which meant staying at the manor until the Rune Knights came to take him into custody. But I also had to answer Umir's question.

"The Rune Knights will have been notified by now. So they will come and take over the investigation of the aftermath of this evening's events. Interviewing the perpetrator, discerning motive, and if there were any co-conspirators."

"And what will you be doing?"

That was an excellent question. Really Umir was impressing me more and more the longer I spent in his company.

"That depends on what the Rune Knights uncover."

And what I find before they take custody of the prisoner.

I wasn't going to be letting this just drop. But I wasn't going to verbally commit to submitting myself to the parents of the abducted children. That would put down the restriction of client and service provider and mean that part of my job today would be smoothing ruffled feathers and offering assurances instead of actually resolving the problem.

I would be here under my own power today, working my own angle.

Whoever had orchestrated this had terrified a child that I had taken partial responsibility for. And likely mentally scarred a number of other young people for life with whatever means had been used to lure these three from the estate.

That was unacceptable. And the longer this went unanswered, the colder the trail would get.

Whoever this man really was, he had obscured his own identity so much that I couldn't locate it with Story Magic. There wasn't even a hint to be found. I was here and focusing on it, I had spoken with him, I had people here who had spoken with him. There should at the very least be a lead that I could divine. But there was only silence. There were only a few scenarios where someone had that much secrecy in their history: Either they were a consummate professional with no life other than their work.

Or they had something to hide and someone with a very specific skill set was making sure it stayed hidden. There was something else still afoot about tonight's events. And I wasn't going to stop until I sniffed it out.

Disembarking from the carriage once we arrived at Thain Manor, I had my next moves planned out.

I had drawn on my hand as the carriage rattled up the front drive to the doorway where parents were already waiting anxiously, my best bet at preserving evidence. Like wet plaster could hold shoe prints, the spell was meant to hold and preserve the impressions of whatever energy it touched. It would be assigned my runic scripts symbol for unknown and allow me to use a number of calculations to solve for the unknown as it were. And it could help me tease out the blatant unknowns that were involved in some situations. It was a blank slate, waiting for a hint of a story. As the spell would have settled in each person in a slightly different way, I could hopefully assemble a sufficiently comprehensive picture of what had come over them.

It has to be a new type of Charm magic or a curse of some kind. The long game would have been too risky, getting access to the different places that they all interacted and were together.

My Story Magic: Blank Slate capture mechanic itself was not something I had found in Morgana's database with any degree of strength to make a good story out of. But thankfully the mystery genre had a plethora of resources for me to make use of.

I got Tara's imprint first by handing her a handkerchief to allow her to cry with some sense of privacy in the carriage. Izaak was politely averting his eyes from it, and Umir was still watching me as he had been since he woke up from the thrall that the kidnapper had had him in. Morgana memorized the details as the small coin sized circular seal mark on my palm vanished, leaving two remaining.

We arrived without much further incident, Umir got out first, turning back to help myself and Tara out. The coachman had gotten down, apparently having had the same idea. The young man's shoulders went tight as he approached and he respectfully took a step back, giving him and us space. Another seal on my hand took in the impression of the remains of the power on Umir as our hands touched. Our eyes met for a second and I got the distinct impression that he was onto me. Or on that I was doing something that I had not shared. Maybe he had felt the light tickle of the seal brushing up against him.

Izaak's parents were at the door, so Izaak ran off before I could get an imprint of whatever had been influencing him. And the relieved tears on his and his family's faces would wash away the evidence.

The two data points will have to be enough.

I wasn't going to ask for much more right now when the children were out of immediate danger. People got defensive once the emergency had passed and you still wanted to invade their privacy.

But as soon as I walked down the hallway with Tara and Umir in tow, I saw a shadowy afterimage of Kellye huddled down behind the large potted plant I had first found her by. Morgana dissipated the memory quickly but the reminder was helpful.

Kelly might not have been ensnared by the magic that had taken her sister and older companions, but she had been exposed to it. In fact, she had, thanks to Pooh, been able to resist it. Which would provide a contrasting image on Blank Slate and allow for a more complete image.

The doors opened with a gesture from me. I then stepped aside to let Janamis seize her son and shatter completely in relief. Umir's composure cracked as well when his stepmother got her arms around him. The release of his tension and nerves was palpable.

Tara edged around their reunion to see her parents. Her mother had her younger daughter wrapped tightly in her arms and while she did sob upon seeing Tara, she didn't let go of her younger child. Her father was the one to go to her. Exhausted, relieved and emotional, Tara melted into her family, buried her face in her mothers shoulder and began to sob. A loud ugly thing that was an expression of pain rather than healing. My brusque manner with her aside, I felt a twinge of sympathy.

What's the psychic damage that's been done to her?

Tara's confidence that the kidnapper was a Thain employee is at odds with her trusting him. The discord and the evidence she has to demonstrate that he was not to be trusted is causing severe emotional damage and undercutting her confidence in herself.

If it wouldn't be taking a massive risk on my friends safety, I would love to loop in Meredy, whose magic made processing these kinds of changes and traumas, not necessarily easier, but a bit more manageable. Likely the best thing would be to subtly recommend to her parents that some form of counseling or talk would be beneficial. And making sure whoever she did get was enough of a professional to not disclose anything but what was entirely relevant to her parents. She was still raw. It would take time before she could overcome this new, terrible vulnerability.

"I am in your debt, Miss Faerun. All of us are."

"Lord Thain." I turned towards the relieved host as he approached, speaking quietly to not disrupt the families.

"Loke and I have captured the man who took them off of the premises. Where can he be held for questioning until the Rune Knights arrive?"

"There will certainly be space for that. Marc."

One of Lord Thain's aides seemed to materialize at his side. "Please escort Pagemaster to a secure location where she can converse with her prisoner."

-vVv-

The room Marc took us to was a small one, interior with no windows. Clearly mostly made for storage. There were shelves and narrow passages between them holding linens and cleaning supplies, and materials for small household repairs. It was a bit cramped and dark, but it was secure and had only one door for him to try and escape out of. It would suit me just fine.

"Command the Room."

I intoned, visualizing what I wanted with a sweep of my hand. An orange circle the size of my fingertip flashed out of the lacrima in the binding of my book and quickly grew larger than my two hands. It spun once then shattered into twisting lines of script that flew around the room, latching onto everything. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, and all the stored goods and their storage space.

Once the spell was laid down, I took the threads of magic and manipulated them with a gesture and a sharp mental image of what I wanted.

The various shelves slid to the back of the room, lining up so close that you couldn't hope to access all the linens, dishes and stacks of other dining room accouterments stored there. But the room suddenly seemed to get very much bigger. We had a space large enough for us to stand in. And even sit as I tapped some stored runes to draw up some chairs.

"I shall be right outside, Miss." Marc said, nodding slightly taking in my alterations of the room without batting an eye.

"Thank you."

Loke remained standing, but the man slouched into a chair. Or tried to. I jerked it away just as he sat down and he stumbled a bit before catching his balance. He gave me a glower of annoyance. And I held his gaze without blinking.

That felt extraordinarily petty, please tell me it worked.

You have his attention and have established the room is yours. The passive ability has engaged. His attention will primarily remain on you and his mood will be subtly influenced by you.

I had borrowed an imprint of Rogue's power to write this enchantment and thus connect with the shadowy emotions more readily.

After a moment, I nodded to the chair.

"You may sit."

He pulled a face, but obeyed, settling more slowly and carefully. My fingers ran over the pages of my book, pausing on the Harry Potter section. Chains grew out of the chair and bound him to it around his legs and torso. Weaving through the manacles I had written for his arms for a more secure hold. He tested these for a second, a grimace of discomfort flashing before he stilled once again.

"You know why you are here."

"Cause I led those kids out of their playground." He had a medium tenor voice, almost a drawl. He might have been more on the alert now, but he was still extremely confident. There was next to no tension or worry in his posture. Just the alert focus on me.

Why? He's about to be charged with three charges of attempted kidnapping, and three actual charges, as well as unlawful entry. But he isn't worried at all.

"They call that kidnapping. I don't know if you have heard, but people tend to frown on that. Especially when minors are involved."

He actually chuckled. Loke's aura pulsed with anger, but he restrained himself from acting out. He did however start to drift to the side, intending on coming up behind the man and pouncing on him.

"You're not more than a kid yourself."

Command the Room kept his eyes on me, and let Loke stalk into his blind spot and then behind him altogether.

"Which means that 'a kid' is all that got between you and a perfect crime."

I was trying to needle his pride. It worked fairly often against people who focused on my age, or lack thereof in these sorts of situations.

He was opening his mouth to reply when a hand came down on his shoulder with a thump. Loke's fingers dug in, and for a second I saw long claw-like nails dig into his faux house servant outfit and saw the menace of a stalking lion. When there was no holes left behind, I assumed this was my magic making me interpret how Loke was feeling.

"This 'kid' is also all that is keeping you from getting torn apart."

The man's eyes snapped up suddenly to Loke with a flash of instinctive terror. Loke's blue tinted glasses were catching the light just so to be clear, glassy reflections and not reveal his eyes. And his words, coupled with a barely there snarl, had the intended effect of making the man break out in goosebumps and shrink away from the hostile contact.

"What is your name?"

I cut through his moment of distraction, drawing his now rattled attention back towards me. Loke let go and stepped back. I pulled on the enchantment in the room again, subtly encouraging him to forget about Loke's interruption and focus on the Story I was presenting.

"Hector."

I handed the name off to Morgana and she barely held it for more than a few seconds before it resonated as true.

"What made you target these families and these children?"

He looked at me and gave a small grin. And again, I couldn't identity what he was presenting as anything but calm, casual resignation. Not guilt or shame. He wasn't acting like he was going to get jail time or face the wrath of all these families, plus Lord Thain for the threat he presented to his guests. He was acting like...he had lost a game.

"Because you were protecting them, Pagemaster."

Not wholly true, but largely so.

"Why did that make them appealing targets?"

I kept my face neutral, ready to signal Loke to come back in.

Hector chuckled. Looking a little incredulous.

"Seriously? Your work is the gold standard for runes and wards. When Fairy Tail is hired to protect something, it's you that people really want."

True.

Flattering, but off topic.

"And you couldn't resist that?"

Hector threw back his head and laughed. Or he started to. A line of razor sharp light crossed his throat, held between Loke's two hands as he looked down impassively. The sound choked off abruptly as the stinging light touched one of the vulnerable places on a human body and kicked off his adrenaline.

"I suggest you answer honestly and without the attitude."

I said mildly. Hector's throat worked as he swallowed, trapped in an uncomfortable position where he could no longer look at me.

"Yes, you were my reason for taking this on."

He said tightly, straining to try to keep his neck from touching the garrotte Loke had him in.

"You got the attention of powerful people. People who don't give praise lightly. Beating you would make me legendary in my field." His eyes rolled up to the man threatening him. "You really are the Lion Tamer, aren't you. Never thought I'd see Leo himself act like some eager to please dog."

I pounced on that connection. He was trying to throw us off by dropping that information. Loke was not in his usual human guise, and had longer hair than he had in his last appearance. A cross between the Zodiac form and the human form he used when with the guild. The people who could recognize him as the former consisted of a very short list.

Morgana fixed that knowledge next to his name, which was a confirmed Truth. That was already enough to start spinning a net to catch more information.

Powerful people could refer to a wide range of beings that I had interacted with. I needed to hone in on which connection. It was certainly a matter of pride, but pride in what? What was he trying to prove by challenging me like this? My need to answer that question was at war with my anger however. It was infuriating that this man's choice to try and best me in some way had caused this. The abduction and lifelong trauma of six young people. They would never feel fully safe ever again.

All for this one man's stupid, thoughtless, pride.

I made a small beckoning gesture, and the chair Hector was seated in leaned forward on its front legs, bringing his neck more tightly against Loke's manifested light. This cut off his air. His eyes widened in shock and rolled down to find me as I spoke evenly, tonelessly.

"You went after people under my protection because you wanted my attention. Do not be rude now that you have it and keep your focus on me. Do I make myself clear?"

He gave a groan and an aborted gesture that might have been a nod. I let the chair slam back onto the ground and he gasped as he could suddenly breathe again.

"You used me as an excuse for this. For profit or pleasure?"

"Those were my orders." His voice was a little raspy now. "Get the kids out-"

The door opened behind me without a knock.

Marc would have knocked.

This man did not.

I didn't look back but I let Morgana build me the image of a very confused young man servant carrying the table linens from supper.

"Milady, what are you- who-?"

Have the Rune Knights arrived?

They are coming into the house right now.

A hand reached out and seized the young man's ear, hauling him back to reveal Marc, the elderly aide frowning at the youngster.

"Manners." He chastised, delivering hours of scolding in a single word. "I specifically told you to wait."

The younger man, little more than a boy, flinched and tried not to drop the folded tablecloths he was holding.

"M'sorry sir, won't happen again! I'm sorry milady!"

Part of the control Command the Room was relying on was slipping away as Hector got ahold of himself again. The bit of physical intimidation Loke and I had done to get him to talk was losing impact.

But we were getting somewhere now. So I wouldn't want to hand over this discussion to the Rune Knights just yet. I tied off the runes for Command the Room to seal the space.

"Mr Marc, please take me to see the Rune Knights. Loke, no one in or out."

"You got it." He remained where he was, standing behind Hector.

Marc nodded, and stepped along briskly towing the hapless youth who had first interrupted us along.

"Go about your work, and remember, that room is off limits. The linens should be taken to the laundry first, not put away, even if they are still clean."

"Yessir."

"Very good. Go on."

The boy scurried off, relief clinging to his aura as he went that he hadn't gotten a worse chastisement.

-vVv-

The Rune Knights who had been sent were two partnerships. And of the four of them, I only knew the senior Knight, Gerald Mattson. He did good work so the investigation would most likely go smoothly. And he probably wouldn't object to my involvement. Probably.

"They said you were first on scene and that you've retrieved the kidnapper." He said by way of a greeting, dark eyes lucid and alert in spite of the late hour.

"Yes. He is being held in a storage room with Loke as guard."

"Your promptness will likely make this go a lot faster. Has he said anything?"

"He was starting to as you arrived. I can set it up so you can listen in, but Loke and I have already established a rapport with him. I would rather not see wasted."

We were in the hallway outside of the room with the newly reunited families. Two of the Rune Knights were inside collecting statements, per Morgana. Mattson's partner, a tall, slender woman with russet brown hair, a very, very new white cloak bearing the symbol of the international organization, a white ankh on a teal background. She was looking at me sidelong, clearly trying to take her cues from Mattson on how to interact with me.

"Neither would I. You will stay on point for the interrogation. Set it up for us to observe, and we'll stay clear for now. The rest will be worked out later."

We headed back to our temporary interrogation room and I was surprised to see Kellye outside the door, clutching her inanimate Pooh doll and looking scared but determined.

"Kelly, what's wrong?"

My first thought was Tara, reacting to her fear and newly acquired trauma, had said something hurtful again to drive Kellye from her parents arms. But she seemed to be trying to steel herself. She had Pooh in a death grip, but her chin was set in a stubborn line and she met everyone's eye.

"You caught the guy who took them?"

She wants confirmation that we got the same guy that she saw.

I flipped my spellbook to the Crime section of the story and put down the tale of a one way mirror. Letting the inside continue to look like a door, but the outside become transparent to allow people to look in.

"Yeah. This is who my spell led me to." I gestured as the door became transparent, the magic circle spiraling out from my palm.

Whatever Loke had been doing inside, there Hector was not looking so great. His face was pale and he was visibly sweating now, sagging against his bonds. Now he looked nervous. Afraid for what might happen to him.

What did Loke say to him to make this big of a difference?

I laid my hand down on the door to place the circle there permanently and allow my companions access as well. Morgana tried to answer my query, but her voice glitched for a moment. I heard an unpleasant squeal, like microphone feedback in my ear and a dull ache bloomed in the back of my head.

Gana, are you ok? What was that?

That was an attempted falsehood. Loke did not cause his reaction.

She said firmly, pulsing her magic in a way that we had worked out could lessen the impact of minor curses. She held the thing at bay that was trying to befuddle me. Kelly made a pained sound and buried her face in Pooh.

What happened?

Morgana replayed the brief minutes that I had been gone from the room. I felt the impression of light footsteps sneaking up to the door. The door opening, someone entering and leaving something behind on the inside. Someone had been here. And the footsteps came again.

Correction, someone is here.

I looked to the side and saw the coachman from before walking towards us like he owned the place.

"Sir, your fare has been paid. What are you doing here?"

His eyes fixed on me, eyes widening in surprise. He looked like a distinguished older gentleman in this light, hair just graying at the temples, rail thin, and standing very tall.

What is he doing here?

"Miss Celeste. Just the person I was looking for! The young lady forgot your handkerchief-"

Truth.

Mattson shifted to intercept him.

"If this is not urgent, Miss Celeste is consulting on the Rune Knights on a delicate matter."

With that handled for the time being, I turned back to Kelly.

"Can you make it back to your parents? I need to talk to the man inside and find out why he did this."

She shook her head.

"I wanna stay."

I wanted to tell her to leave and not have to witness what could be an ugly interrogation. Men said all kinds of things when they were afraid. She had just barely avoided being kidnapped, I would not have been surprised if she would rather distance herself from the matter.

"Kelly." Shy green eyes looked up at me. "I know what happened today was very frightening. And I do not want you to be more frightened." I pointed at Hector in the room behind me. "That man took Tara, Umir and Izaak. I need to find out why and if he was paid by anyone else to do it. I will probably have to be a little mean to make that happen."

Her eyes had barely cleared the redness from her earlier crying.

"He broke Pooh." She said, a vehement venom in her voice that only a hurting child could muster. "He hasn't talked at all since he was here. I tried- He's gone Fae. He broke him and I want him back!"

I drew her in, letting her sob anew, clutching me as she did.

Once the directive was fulfilled, the spell couldn't keep him connected to Kellye's belief anymore.

I stroked her hair, knowing she was grieving a friend. Squished between us, I could see that Pooh had been well loved. The seams were still holding for the most part. I could see clumsy, loving stitches reattaching one of his ears. One of his embroidered black eyes had a frayed thread that made him look a little lopsided. I could have fixed him with a touch and a word, but that felt as if it would be a cheap replacement.

It wouldn't bring back what Kellye really wanted. The story, and the character who had been given life as a result, had very definitely ended.

I could try. I had never tried to remake this spell. But I didn't know if I wanted to make her that promise and disappoint her if it didn't work.

I'll let her cry. I'll take care of this. And then I'll see what I can do for her.

Kelly's sniffling slowed and quieted. Mattson had returned after sending off the coachman, and was politely not looking too closely at us. His partner was looking in on Loke and Hector, and frowning slightly.

"Miss Celeste, can the perpetrator withstand further questioning? He looks like he's about to be ill."

I looked up and in.

Hector's lips were turning blue and he was swaying in his seat. Loke was catching on that something was wrong, checking his mouth for poison and hurriedly scanning for injuries.

"The only thing we have done to him is restrain him." I squeezed Kellye's shoulder. "Kelly, please wait for me. I don't know how long this will take."

She sniffed and nodded, stepping to the side. The junior Rune Knight knelt to talk to her, her face softening and shifting to put herself between Kellye and the see-through door.

I hurried to get inside the door. And as soon as I touched it-

Someone went into this room while you were gone.

I held onto that thought as I entered and went right up to Hector. I laid a hand on his forehead, his eyes rolling towards me in panic.

"Pagemast-" He choked, coughing, a deep wracking sound. A concerning one at that.

"Loke, what happened? Who was in here?"

"What are you talking about? He just collapsed on his own!"

False, but Loke believes it is true.

Scary and important, but right now, 'Gana, I need a diagnosis!

Magic Deficiency.

There was a faint aura to my eyes around Hector. He was now actively burning through magic power whereas before he had not been.

"Hector, you're losing too much power you need to pull back."

"I can't-" He bit out, "-feels wrong."

He will die if he stops.

"He needs magic." I told Mattson. "He's bleeding power at an uncontrolled rate. Someone must have found a way to access him."

I wouldn't accuse Loke of being careless. Morgana said that someone had entered this room. But Loke wouldn't have allowed anyone to interact with Hector unless they were a Rune Knight, and even then they wouldn't have gotten by without him challenging them. But someone had done something to our detained perpetrator.

Did someone manage to curse-

Yes.

Morgana's answer came very tersely and quickly. My head was throbbing now, a migraine that ringed the back of my head. She was fighting something.

Who's cursed? Hector? Loke? Me?

Yes.

"Release him from the chair, get him lying down."

I Vanished the chains and levitated him to rest on the ground with some hastily muttered words. He wasn't seizing, which was a good thing. Loke turned his head to the side to prevent his tongue from choking him should he lose consciousness. Mattson knelt, placing his hands over Hector's midsection. Trying to transfer some magic power into his system to sustain him until we could stop his rapid decline. Or at least sustain him.

But the energy wasn't meshing right. It repelled one another like oil and water. I could see the power Mattson was offering the desperate, dying man was being rejected.

"Hector. You have to open your Origin." I was reaching for some X-balls. Something to buy him some time. "Let us save your life!"

He gave a panicked moan, limbs falling still, a horrible, lifeless color spreading through his face.

He is trying to accept it. He does not want to die.

I had never before seen someone so afraid as Hector right then.

It wasn't poison, and the loss of power wasn't like rapid onset Magic Deficiency. It was like pulling the plug in a fast draining bathtub. We had all been cursed. And I needed answers.

"Seelie Arts: Soulgaze!"

My book slammed open on my command to a specific page and floated up above my head, light projecting down from the embedded lacrima. The Rune circle that I had made to see Kinana's true self and find her true Name had undergone a generalization and expansion. I was still wearing the Dresden coat totem, and there was something that would let me see things as they really were.

And I used that to make and open my Third Eye, the one that let me see things truly.

The rush of information was overwhelming.

The spell didn't last more than a second. Morgana and I both came together a little more closely to share the incoming information. My sense receptors took in everything, sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and magic. Morgana recorded all of it like a mental photograph to peruse later and recall in exact detail. Everything I would see with Soulgaze while using this totem would be cemented in my mind forever. Good and bad. So it had to be used with caution.

Mattson showed himself as a Warrior in White. His clothing was pale and subtly radiant with torn, ragged hems and scuffed boots. A good man who had been torn at and torn down by the world but persevered nonetheless and held his ideals.

Loke, or perhaps this image of him should be called Leo, was a radiant sight. His hair literally crowned by a halo of sunlight, eyes burning yellow, pupilless and immortal. There was an edge of the totem that people had assigned to his chain of stars. A fierce, proud predator, admired as a being of strength and protection. There was the memory of shadow from his slow march towards death seven years ago. Scars from when he had fought poor masters on behalf of his pride. His people. Behind him was a gate made of golden stars with a magnificent roaring lion emblazoned on it. Pouncing forward into the viewers gaze.

Mattson had been seen by me. But even in this instant that the spell engaged, the Golden Zodiac Spirit detected my gaze and looked back at me.

And then it was just Loke again. Kneeling before me when he first met me as a child. He said something silly and theatrical, stylizing himself as my knight. My protector. It made me laugh back then.

But you meant that, didn't you? Back then, first sight, before I did anything to help you.

At the same moment, I saw him before the Celestial Spirit King after his banishment was lifted. The impending doom he had been lamenting was suddenly gone and the new lease on life was before him. And it was a life filled with beings who burned in his vision. Brief. Bright. Unforgettable.

You decided that we would change your life. Let us influence you.

And while that was assaulting my feelings, I was also taking in the sight of Hector.

He was...half there. Literally half of the body that I could see was missing.

Missing? No...

Hidden.

A dark Curse energy was shrouding Hector from my sight. But behind him...

There was a Celestial Gate. Made of silver light, with a man bearing a bow at draw. A man stalking through valleys, plains, snowy terrain, beaches and sand. Spearing fish from water.

I've seen that gate.

Morgana took that image and flashed back through our recent past. As Loke and I had run towards his Gate to make our way here in time.

It's the gate of the Hunter!

Hector was not human, he was a Silver Celestial Spirit. One who had been abandoned by his master the same as Loke had been by Karen. Left to die in the mortal realm without a summoner sustaining him, he would not have lasted long. There was a massive disparity among the various Celestial Spir8ts in what they could take without a mortal summoner's support. Even among the Golden Zodiac. Loke, foremost among them, had survived for years without taking in new power. Whereas Aries wouldn't even have lasted a week.

Hector had minutes until he imploded, hollowed out by the lack of sustaining power.

All this information and conclusions came to me at the same time it took me to look around the room. Maybe four or five seconds. Soulgaze's effect ended, this version was not meant to last long for my own sake. My headache was even worse now after the forcible download.

The projected Rune Circle vanished and my spellbook dropped to the ground.

"Loke, you have to do the transfer!"

"Fae, that would kill him even faster!"

"No it wouldn't, he's a Hunter Spirit who has been cut off by his summoner!"

And while Loke viewed the Zodiac as his special responsibility, all Celestial Spirits were his to protect from abusive masters. His hands seized Hector's face and he hurriedly poured his tremendous energy reserves into him. A bit more recklessly than a mortal magic user could have managed. But it seemed to work. Almost instantly, Hector gasped and color returned to his face. He lay motionless save for his harried breathing, turning to look at me. Looking lost, rootless, confused.

Empty.

"What did you call him?" Mattson asked, puzzled. And I completely ignored the question.

Who was in here? Who is Hector's summoner? Are they the same person?

The cold seething anger I had felt towards him as a kidnapper had expanded. He was still guilty of being an accomplice in kidnapping, but there was now someone else involved.

He said I had gotten the attention of powerful people. He wasn't talking about the noblemen I work for, or the royalty in Iceberg. He was talking about the Celestial Spirit King and Loke.

Yes.

He never wanted to hurt the kids. He just wanted to prove that he could get by me. That what I am protecting is still prey to him.

Yes.

Loke had said that Hunter Spirits had different ideas of what consisted of a good hunt. And Hector had tried to make me his quarry. But this still left his summoner unaccounted for.

I need his name. I need the name of who put him up to this.

I moved over to the barely conscious Hector, and grabbed his shirt front, still dressed to blend in among the staff of Lord Tahin's manor.

"Give me the name of your contracted summoner."

He looked over at me, chest still rising and falling rapidly, I could feel his heart racing against my fist.

"Summoner?"

Speaking as someone who was pretty good at reading people...he didn't look like this was ringing any bells whatsoever. The kind of reaction was very difficult to fake.

"Yes. Summoner. You are a Silver Celestial Spirit from the Clan of the Hunter. Your gate was forcibly closed, separating you from the Celestial Realm, and they withdrew the energy that was keeping you here. You were left to die."

Orange sparks crawled out of my fist as I remembered the sight. Hector going through the first stages of Magic Deficiency in rapid succession. In my memory, Loke was going through all of that again. First he had gotten pale and listless l, but it would have progressed, he would have slowly suffocated. Turning red and then blue as he ran out of energy rather like a human losing oxygen.

If that is what he would have looked like, I understand why he wanted to seclude himself in order to die.

It was a miserable way to go. And that told me that Hector had enough valuable information that someone had felt the need to silence him as quickly and efficiently as possible.

"I need a name."

The man's head shook slowly.

"I don't...I don't know."

I growled, coating my hand with magic and snatching at the black cowl of Curse that was overlaying him.

That memory has been erased. The contract and the name of the summoner will be stored in his key. The key was destroyed to sunder the contract. The name could be read from the pieces if they are located.

But the contract holder wouldn't need to break the physical key. He could just do what Karen did and shut him out. He would hold the contract...but the key was broken. Someone else did that.

Golden Celestial Spirit keys were nigh indestructible. Silver keys were hardy things, but not nearly as long lasting. They could be broken, cut or otherwise destroyed with sufficient application of force. And if that happened, the Gate they connected to would immediately be forced shut, cutting off any Spirit still in this world.

I realized that there were more layers to this abruptly.

"It wasn't your summoner that did this...it was someone who took the key from him." I looked at Loke. "Can contracts be written that have a primary and a secondary summoner? Or someone who can 'summon with permission'?"

"It is not exactly common, but it could be put in the contract language during the negotiations." he affirmed, rubbing his head, brow furrowed. "How did I not notice his gate? Or when it closed?"

"I suspect someone managed to use Memory Magic to erase their presence. They could have walked right in, done whatever they wanted to either of you, and walked out with no one being the wiser." I looked back down at Hector. "Including making a Celestial Spirit forget who they are."

"From what I know about Spirits, mortal magic can't affect them." Mattson observed, rising slowly.

"Curses can." I replied tersely, one hand pressed flat to the ground to try and get some idea of who had come into this room. Any points which I could use to narrow my search. It was blurred and hard to pin down, but not everything had been erased. The Curse seemed to be clinging to the living beings in the room. I could sense it on Mattson, Loke and Hector.

Mattson. When did he get hit by it? There were dregs of it on me as well, but it didn't seem to be affecting me. Morgana was not flagging any gaps or undue lapses in memory or attention. This whole affair had started out so simple, but was getting more convoluted by the second. But I had a place to start.

"We need to find Hector's summoner."