AN: "pallium, a facie mea:" means "cloak my presence" in latin, at least according to Google.
Harry stared unseeing at the space the Warriors had just been standing. He wondered if that Incubus had been the reason Ash had been gone so long, and if so, what he could possibly have wanted with the Lady of the Air's daughter. The way he had arrived, certainly was flashy and mysterious enough for Ash to have done it. And the words written on his forehead fit Ash as well. He hoped she would return soon, he actually missed her antics a little bit...
Meanwhile, Five Days Ago...
Ash was sleeping soundly, dreaming about all she was going to show Harry and his friends for their first Festival. An annoying buzzing sound intruded on her happy dream, and she ignored it, trying to go back to the sights and sounds of the Festival. The buzzing sound grew louder, and she felt herself losing her hold on the dream. Something seemed to be buzzing around her face, brushing her nose and cheeks lightly with a faint feel of magic. Plotting gruesome torture ideas for whatever was taking her from her dreams, she cracked one eye open and froze a moment. Closing her eye and rubbing both of them to try to wake herself up a bit, she opened her eyes again. The light blue message light was still there, bobbing and buzzing just in front of her face.
Well, she wasn't going to take any jobs during the Festival. So whomever had sent her one in the drop box would just have to deal with a refusal. She held out a hand and the message light settled into her palm. Having expected the usual "You have a job offer" automatic message she had set up to alert her when anything was put into her drop box, she was surprised to hear Mikhail's voice instead.
He sounded worried, which was highly unusual for him. And then what he was saying actually sank in as the message light faded, its message over. Ash sat stunned for a few seconds, and then she was leaping out of bed ignoring the pillow falling off of it, and the covers that nearly followed the pillow to the floor. Yanking open her dresser, she pulled out clean clothes and changed quickly. Then she grabbed a sack from under the bed, and started throwing things inside. Anything she didn't think she would need was tossed onto the top of her dresser, or left to spill over the drawers themselves. Slinging the sack over her shoulder she strode to her bedroom door and then paused halfway into the hallway.
Harry. Fionn. Fred and George. She couldn't just leave them, they still needed her. But the message she had received... If she didn't go and find the one trying to frame her... She didn't even want to think about what might happen to poor little Valara, the child was barely 6 years old. She shook her head, if she didn't go and stop this, it was possible that she would be found out as the Shadow. The fact that she hadn't actually done anything to Valara wouldn't matter, she could be tried for it regardless. She had to go. Harry and the rest still had Gideon and Laric to turn to, and if they were as smart as she thought they were, someone would remember to go to Pepper. Closing her eyes a moment, she concentrated, letting the power she was calling build up. A bright light started glowing in the area of her chest, and then it expanded slowly to cover her entire body. "pallium, a facie mea:" She whispered, and the light sank into her skin and vanished.
Present Time
Laric came back towards the group, a small worry line between his brows that he quickly smoothed back out. "Shall we try having lunch again?"
Harry's tummy gave a quiet rumble and Fred laughed. "Harry's tummy has spoken! Onto the food!"
Harry felt himself blushing as the rest of the group laughed or smiled. He was still curious about how that Incubus had gotten there, but knew he wouldn't get any answers about it at the moment. After all, Laric didn't know anything more than the rest of them did right now. Sliding an arm around Fionn's waist, he allowed himself to be herded towards the food stalls. It certainly smelled good, and he wondered what kind of Festival foods there would be. If he would recognize any of them from previous outings or the Wizarding/Muggle realm.
Early That Morning...
Ash was beyond pissed. She had followed this idiot around for over 3 days now, and she had no idea how he had managed to not get caught before. He didn't seem to have noticed the fact that he was being followed. He didn't know where all the guards were posted, he had almost walked right into a patrol on more than one occasion! And this was supposed to be pretending to be her?
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. She would make an example, that was all. The idiot would never work another day, and hopefully the rest of the incompetents would get it through their thick skulls not to ever try anything like this again. Opening her eyes, she focused immediately on her target. He was actually going to try to open the child's window with a crowbar?! If she hadn't been following him around so closely, she would be starting to think the idiot was being set up by someone. But she had found no evidence of that so far, he was just that stupid.
Narrowing her eyes, she called up Air and crooked a finger in his direction before pulling it back towards herself. A moment later, the Incubus was snatched off the wall and was sailing her direction with a muffled yelp. Ash quickly called Air again as he was in transit to her, and the moment he landed at her feet, she was grabbing his arm and invoked Air. By the time the guards were swarming the area, there was nothing left to be seen but a few leaves skittering along the street.
They appeared in a dimly lit stone room. There were no windows, and only one door, a set of manacles dangled from the wall across from the door. Ash dragged the Incubus to the wall and chained him there before he had time to orient himself. Then she stepped back into the shadows a bit. She had covered her wings and face with soot to hide their coloring, her silver-blonde hair was wrapped securely in a black cap so none showed. And in the dim light, she appeared to be little more than a shadow herself. Or perhaps a Wraith, with bright green eyes.
The Incubus gaped and then began to tremble slightly. "Wh-what do you want?"
Ash laughed, and it sounded strangely distorted. She had used a spell to conceal her voice, combined with the soot, she was genderless, hard to see clearly, and altogether terrifying. "Who hired you to kidnap Valara?" She whispered.
"N-no one. It was m-my idea."
"Come now. We both know you are too stupid to have come up with this on your own. You didn't even realize I was trailing you for days!" She laughed again as he shrank back against the wall. "Who paid you?"
"N-no one. P-please! Let me g-go!"
Shaking her head in disgust, Ash moved to a small table near the door and pulled the cloth off the tray on top of it. Gleaming silver instruments lay in neat rows, as well as a few bottles of variously colored liquids. She lifted one and turned it so what little light was in the room gleamed from the wickedly sharp point on the end.
"I guess we are doing this the hard way then..." Ash smiled brightly as the Incubus whimpered.
After Lunch With Harry And The Rest...
Feeling pleasantly full, Harry was content to stroll around the vendors again with the others. Some of the booths he had seen before, others were new to him. They wandered by one that was selling shining knives and swords, each one laid out on a black cloth. Another was selling brightly colored scarves, some of which had little bells or flat pieces of metal stitched to them so they chimed softly. Pausing to laugh at Fred and George's antics, he almost missed Laric talking to the owner of a third booth. This one seemed to sell mostly jewelry, but also had a few metal gauntlets and other things Harry didn't know the names of. Deciding either Laric was getting something for Gideon or Herne, or was just friends with the vendor, Harry turned back to his friends. Shaking his head, he had to laugh. Fred was decked out in a few of the scarves and was doing a dance around George, who was pretending to ignore him with his nose in the air.
Early That Afternoon...
Ash examined the tattoo on the forehead of the Incubus. It read "Incompetent Idiot" in block letters. The ink she had used was permanent, infused with spells so it could neither be removed nor concealed. Her prisoner had been a blubbering mess before even the first letter had been completed, willing to tell her anything and everything. Except that which she most wished to know. The name of his employer. Whomever it was, had covered their tracks well. The Incubus didn't know his or her name, had never seen their face. All he knew was that he had been hired to deliver Valara at a specific time and place. He had also been spelled in such a way that the person behind it all would know the moment he had been caught. Ash growled in frustration. All this work, and she still had no answers and no way of getting them. But perhaps Gideon might know of a way to track down the employer? She knew Warriors were out in force for the Festival, every Lord and Lady had been informed of the kidnapping threat. So all she had to do was get their attention...
Wrapping the Incubus tightly from his toes to halfway up his face in rope, she made sure to leave him a little hole to breathe through. Then paced around him checking both her work, and the fact that she had left nothing of herself behind. Once she was finally satisfied that she could not be traced through him, she lifted a hand and called Air. Twisting the currents tightly, she wove a small tornado and centered it on the Incubus, then she focused her thoughts on the open area around the Festival Games and willed him to be dumped there. The wind picked up, making a howling and shrieking noise, buzzing along the walls and snapping his hair in all directions. As the noise rose, so did the body before her, spinning end over end it hung suspended in the air in front of her a long moment, and then seemingly was sucked through nothingness and was gone.
Ash swayed slightly on her feet, it had been a long hunt, and she had expelled a lot of magic. All she wanted was a shower and sleep, but she also didn't wish to miss out on any more of the Festival than she had to. And Harry and the others were out there somewhere, it would be amusing to appear as though nothing had happened... A smile curled her lips as she invoked Air again to go home and clean up. A little fun was exactly what she needed right now.
Present Time
As Harry laughed, he felt someone come up behind him and then a pair of hands were clapped over his eyes. Tensing he twisted quickly trying to get away from whomever was grabbing him. And then he heard a musical giggle and froze again. "Ash?"
"Awww... You spoiled my fun! I was hoping it would take you longer than that!" The hands fell away and he turned to see Ash pouting at him, hands on her hips as her eyes sparkled with laughter. "You aren't sick of the Festival yet I hope, I haven't gotten to drag you to all my favorite places yet!" As she finished speaking, she suddenly had an armful of Harry as he hugged her tightly. And then Fionn, Fred and George were surrounding her as well, calling out her name in happy voices.
"We missed you. You could at least have left us a note Ash! I think you worried Pepper as well." Harry frowned slightly, but did not release his hold on Ash.
"I know, I'm sorry. It was a last minute job and I was going to refuse it, but then it turned out to be a bit of an emergency and I couldn't say no. Didn't have time to do more than grab my stuff and leave. And I knew you lot were smart enough to go to Pepper or one of the Guides." She nodded in Laric's direction.
Harry sighed. "Did you at least finish? Or will you have to go back to work again soon?" He couldn't ask too much in front of Laric, but he wanted some answers if he could get any.
"I did all I could for the moment. I may have to go back to work later, but I won't know for a while yet." Ruffling Harry's hair she looked at Fred and George. "Is my house still standing? Windows intact? Nothing burnt or flooded?"
"Hey! We aren't that bad!" Fred pretended outrage, a hand clutching his chest.
"You blew up your room. Twice. Flooded the kitchen, and I don't want to know how the mark on the hallway ceiling happened." Ash said drily.
"Well, you never use the kitchen. I still think it would be wicked to have an indoor swimming pool..." George snickered.
"And to think I was missing all of you. Maybe I'll just keep Harry and Fionn, and the two of you can stay with Laric."
"M'lady! Why am I being punished?!" Laric gasped, though his ice blue eyes sparkled with amusement.
"Oi! That hurt Ash! I can't believe you would say such a thing about us." Fred turned puppy eyes on her, and George rested his chin on Fred's shoulder from behind to give her the exact same look.
"Oh very well! I suppose you two can keep living with me. If you must."
The air was filled with whoops of joy from Fred and George, as well as Harry and Ash's laughter. Fionn smiled brightly to have everyone back together again, and Laric watched over them all.
AN: Thanks as always to my wonderful beta, Nicky Noodle. Review responses can be found in the forum, which is linked on my profile.