It was one o'clock in the morning when Charlie was suddenly being awakened by Stolas. He just sat on her bed and started shaking her rapidly.
"Where is she?!" He shouted.
"What?" Charlie droned, not yet fully awake. "What's going on?"
As her sleepy vision cleared, she could see panic written all over his face. It was so white and completely drenched in sweat. In an instant she knew that something was wrong.
"Where is she?!" He repeated.
"Where's who?" Charlie asked.
"Octavia! Where is she?"
"She's in her room."
"No she's not! She's gone!"
"Gone? Gone?!" Now she was wide awake. "What do you mean she's gone?!"
"I mean she's nowhere in the house!"
The two ran all throughout the apartment, searching in every place that a small girl could possibly fit into. They checked under the beds, behind the curtains, in the closets, under the sinks and tables, all the while desperately calling out her name.
"Octavia! Octavia! Octavia where are you?"
But they found no trace of her and not once did they hear her voice answer their calls. Stolas had a complete meltdown. He was screaming, shaking, ranting, getting more desperate. At one point he demanded that Octavia answer him or he would spank her. Of course he'd never actually do such a thing but he was literally doing everything possible to get her to reply. When all else failed he called the police and through the entire conversation, he couldn't stop stuttering his words and dropping the phone. He couldn't help himself, it was his worst nightmare come alive. His little girl was gone and he had no idea where she was or what had happened to her.
Charlie immediately raced to the other apartments and reported Octavia's disappearance to the neighbors, they were on it in mere seconds, not at all caring that it was still dark out. Charlie chose not to come to school and Stolas ignored all calls from work and his lawyer, choosing to spend the day either searching or talking to the police.
"Is it possible she could have run away?" The police chief asked Stolas.
"No! She's only six years old!"
"With all due respect Mr. Goetia, it's not impossible for a child that young to run off. It's rare but not impossible."
"Well I know my daughter! She wouldn't run away!"
"Alright then, could this be a parental kidnapping? You mentioned that you and your ex wife have had difficulties with each other and that she suspects you of trying to cheat her out of alimony, could she have taken your daughter out of spite? Or maybe even for ransom?"
"No. Stella wouldn't do that."
"Are you sure? Numerous people we've questioned have informed us that your ex wife is quite vindictive and spiteful toward you. One even said that you claimed that she would do anything to ruin your life."
"Ruin my life yes, but not Octavia's. Don't get me wrong, she's insane beyond all reason but she loves our daughter too much to put her through something like that."
"If you say so, still we'll run an investigation on your ex wife just to be on the safe side, we'll also be investigating the neighbors as well."
"Officer, I can assure you that no one in that building would ever harm my child."
"Maybe, maybe not, but when a child's disappearance is involved we can't leave anything to chance. Everyone is a suspect, including you sir I'm afraid."
"Excuse me?!"
"I mean no disrespect, it's mandatory for the search. So if you don't mind, could you tell me where you were last night?"
"I was in a meeting discussing my bank account getting hacked." He answered, his temper spiking.
"Can anyone confirm this meeting?"
"My ex wife and my lawyer."
He handed the policeman a card.
"Here's his number! Call me when you find something!"
The search party went on all day and into the night, each hour became more desperate than the last, exhaustion started to take its toll on them but they willed themselves to stay awake and keep looking. No stone was to be left un-turned and not one person they saw, was to be left un-asked about if they had seen her or not. Unfortunately the results were always the same. No hair or no hide of Octavia and not one person knew where she cold be.
"I just don't understand what could have happened!" He told Charlie as he searched Octavia's backpack for any clues. "The doors and the windows were locked, there's no way someone could have gotten in and taken her! But I also know that she'd never just up and run away!"
"You don't think she might have left to go see Stella, do you?" Charlie asked.
"No. No she knows better than that. She would have told me if she wanted to see her mother. Did she say anything to you that night? Or did you see anyone around the house? Anyone strange looking?"
"No. Not at all. Everything was perfectly normal with her."
"Are you sure? Think hard! Any little detail could help."
Charlie thought back to every interaction she had with Octavia the last time she saw her. She made her dinner, entertained her, they didn't fight, and then she put her to bed. Nothing different.
"Nothing. She was fine."
"Are you really, sure? Absolutely positive? You were with her all night after all."
Suddenly it finally dawned on her. She hadn't of been with Octavia all night. She had gone out of the house to look for Vaggie and she didn't lock the door when she left. The color drained from her face as guilt and horror seized hold of her, as the realization of her mistake set in.
"What?" Stolas said, noticing the change in her demeanor. "What is it? Charlie if you know something, you better tell me right now!"
"Oh God!" She choked out. "Oh God what did I do?! Oh Stolas I'm so sorry!"
"What do you mean you're sorry?! What did you do?!"
"Last night I..." She was already tearing up. "I...After I put Octavia to bed I...I thought I knew where Vaggie was and I...I left the house to look for her and I didn't lock the door when I left."
"You left her alone?!"
His face was blood red with rage, an anger so great and terrible, one that she never thought she'd see in him.
"You left my six year old daughter home alone at night with the door unlocked?! Charlie how could you?!"
"I'm sorry!" She sobbed. "I'm so sorry!"
"Sorry? Sorry?! Sorry! What good is sorry?! I don't care how sorry you are! Because of you my daughter is missing and God knows where going through God knows what kind of horror! Anything could happen to her! She could end up trafficked, assaulted, or even dead because of you! My God Charlie, what the hell were you thinking?!"
"I just wanted to find Vaggie. I was trying to be quick, I didn't think she'd-"
"Exactly! You didn't think! That is your problem! You never once stop to think about other people! About me or about Octavia! You're always focused on your own problems and your own wants! Just like your father! God! Lucifer was the most irresponsible, unreliable, and most selfish human being I have ever met and you know what? You're just like him!"
Each word Stolas spoke was like a slap in the face to Charlie. He had never ever spoken to her that way before. But she couldn't blame him for it.
"I can't even look at you right now!" He turned away from her. "Go to your room! Go to your room and pray that nothing happens to my daughter! Because if anything happens to her it'll be your fault!"
Charlie ran upstairs to her room as fast as she could and threw herself on to the bed. Burying her face deep into her pillow, she broke down into a sob. She had never felt so awful and so ashamed of herself in her entire life. How could she let this happen? She was supposed to be taking care of Octavia, Stolas trusted her, and she had betrayed that trust. Octavia was somewhere out there, alone, frightened, and if she had been hurt...
"Oh God I'll never forgive myself!" Charlie vowed in her weeping. "Never! Never! Never!"
She cried and cried and cried. It was probably the longest she had ever cried in her whole life. For a moment, she felt like she was going to cry forever. But once again, this act proved to be very exhausting and eventually she fell asleep with tear stains of her face. She slept alone in the flat that night, Stolas had gone out to keep searching and at the time being, he didn't want to be anywhere near Charlie. Now please understand, Stolas did not mean to be so cruel but when a parent faces the dreadful fear that something evil or dangerous may befall their child, such a terror can drive them to make many mistakes.
Poor Charlie's sleep was not a peaceful one. Stolas's words echoed in her mind and she could feel the guilt eating her up inside even as she slept. It was unbearable. However at midnight, her guilt-ridden slumber was interrupted by the sensation of feathers tickling her nose. She opened her eyes and perched in front of her was the owl Louis.
"Hello." She said blinking. "How did you get in?"
Of course Louis didn't answer. He couldn't speak in this world, all he could do was just stare.
"Do you know where Octavia is?"
She didn't know why but for someone reason she suspected he might know something, and her suspicions were correct because he nodded.
"Where?"
The owl jumped from her bed and fluttered his wings, ushering to the door of her room. Charlie opened the door and she followed Louis into the hall. He led her to the very end where a full-length mirror hung. Stolas tended to have a vanity streak, so he often hung mirrors around the house. Not to the point of it being obsessive mind you, but basically there was a mirror in every room in the flat.
As Charlie and the owl approached the mirror, she at first could only see herself, the bird, and the hallway being reflected back in the glass. Then the reflections slowly changed into an images. Images of people. They were divided up in halves. One half showed a girl standing in a dark room, looking alone and frightened, with a hand over the place where her right eye used to be.
"Vaggie!" Charlie called out.
The other half showed a red, antlered, being with his lower face covered, holding a small child who was unconscious.
"Octavia!" She screamed. "Alastor what did you do?! What's going on?!"
No one said anything. But Vaggie breathed on her side of the glass and with her free hand, she used the tip of her finger to write two words before the fog disappeared.
HELP US
"How?!" Charlie asked, desperately. "What do I do?!"
Alastor carefully lifted his scarf, though not enough to reveal what it hid, and he breathed on the glass too. Next he wrote something on the fog.
USE THE CRYSTAL
With those words given, the fog faded, as did the images of those three.
"Oh no don't go away! Vaggie! Octavia! Come back! Please come back!"
"Come back! Come back!" She heard someone's voice cruelly mocking her.
To Charlie's horror, the image changed into that of Levana, looking at her with eyes that one would only see on a predator.
"Yes Charlie come back! Come back to Mother!"
She let out a wicked, taunting laugh and Charlie let out a scream before shattering the mirror to pieces with her fist. She then slowly dropped to the ground shaking. Louis sadly perched himself on to her shoulder and nuzzled his head against her. She could almost hear his voice saying,
"I'm sorry."
She turned to look at Louis.
"What am I going to do now?"
However it didn't take long for her to realize that there was only one thing to do.