"So how are we gonna do it this time?" the younger boy, Danny asked as he studied the curled up sleeping jade cat which was safely placed behind its glass casing. Cass had seen this particular cat sculpture with Barbara a month ago. The 'Nemutte iru shi neko'. They both looked it up and read about its history online. It was supposedly some old Japanese artifact used to chase the dead. However, other sources said its actual use had not been verified and was probably just valuable due to it being centuries old. Cass wondered about what the pair could have need of it, apart from selling it of course.

The younger girl, in response to the boy's question, gave him a disbelieving look before shaking her head.

"You wanna ask me about our plans right now? Why not broadcast our intentions to the whole museum while you're at it," the younger girl replied with a harsh whisper, hands on her hips to emphasize her displeasure at his behavior.

Although the pair did try to keep the volume of their conversation low, Cass, who stood close by to the kids while pretending to be interested in a nearby piece, was able to hear them just fine. Dick was stationed a few feet away, standing as backup in case anything came up. With these two however, they might need more than the two of them. Still, she wondered how much of a threat they could be. They were in casual clothing and appeared to not be carrying anything in hand. Not even the handouts they were given and the library. Perhaps they threw them away but Cass had not seen them do such while she and Dick tailed them. It makes her wonder where they took the paintings too. Maybe they were already on the black market for sale.

"I'm sorry," Danny said, tone low before he gave the younger girl a shy smile. After a while Ellie's shoulders slumped then she let out a huff in a failed attempt to hide her little smile.

"I think we have all the time in the world for this one," Ellie said while she placed a finger under her chin. Her other hand was wrapped around her middle, attention wholy on the cat sculpture. Cass noticed the furrow in the girl's brow, indicating that she was deep in thought, formulating some plan of sorts. She could tell who the brains of their little operation was. Still, she wondered what more the boy could offer. He gave off the vibe that he was concealing something much more grand than she could ever imagine.

"You're right," Danny replied with a nod.

"Well as long as we don't get beat to the punch or anything. It's afternoon and this place is lit naturally from the outside so my light trick won't work as effectively this time," Ellie said with a downturn to her lips.

"Do you think we should've asked the nearby ghosts for some help before entering here?" Danny asked as he also turned his attention to the feline artifact.

Wait.

Ghosts?

Maybe this had to do with the search Babs sent to them earlier.

Ectoplasm

People who come back from the dead

Could their interest be more in the occult or maybe something specific with the dead. If so, why steal those paintings? What did that have to do with anything? Maybe the death of the artist had something to do with it. Considering what she knows about the sleeping cat, that could also help set the case in the right direction when added to the equation. Cass made a note to share her findings and concern with Tim. The case was very interesting and she was glad it's one that got the whole family together in a tizzy. A warm smile graced her lips at the thought of it. The pieces were slowly coming together and she couldn't wait to figure out its whole entirety.

"Maybe we should've done that before I warded them away," Ellie replied to Danny's earlier suggestion.

"Ah. I wonder who's fault that is," Danny said dryly before being gifted with a slap to his elbow. 'Warded them away' huh? This sounded more like magic to Cass. Maybe she and the family would have reconsider their stance on the pair being metas. They could still be metas though, just ones with knowledge in the supernatural or maybe even magic.

"What!? They were being more annoying than usual. 'Help me'. 'You can see me right. Yes you can. I know you can see me'. Honestly, I was this close to exercising that particular ghost," Ellie said with a pout.

"I could tell. I still feel bad for ignoring them though," Danny said with guilt laced in his voice.

"Well, don't. Especially the one at the front door. You could tell his soul was rotten to the core," Ellie said coldly. Danny's Expression went sullen and they both lapsed into silence, their attention on the sleepy cat. Cass took this as a chance to go closer to the pair, pretending that the cat sculpture had grabbed her attention. Luckily, she wasn't the only one to flock closer to the object, a few other visitors had also gained interest in the artifact and started taking pictures once they got close enough. Cass made sure to not be in the view of their phone cameras. She didn't mind if they caught her form in any of the pics anyway, she was not as popular as the other Wayne kids, so it wouldn't cause a fuss or anything, neither would it cause her any trouble of any sort.

"Where do you think they got it?" Danny said after a while. Ellie tilted her head to the side before replying.

"Would I like to know. It's so adorable," Ellie said with a small smile. Cass knew this was her chance. She pulled her phone and sent a quick message to the chat.

Engaging with the suspects.

She put her phone on silent before stopping even closer to the pair.

"It's an artifact from Japan. It was found by an archeologist from Gotham who was there on an expedition there," Cass said, her voice calm and soothing in an attempt not to spook the pair. Her position to the side of the older boy. Danny looked at her curiously, a small smile appearing on his lips. Good, seems like he was more intrigued in what she had to say rather than troubled at her intrusion into their conversation.

"Japan, huh?" Ellie said as she gave her full attention to Cass. She seemed to be studying her as if she saw something Cass couldn't see. Cass also studied the girl too and noticed that both her and the boy had slow breathing rates and she could bet that if she could check their pulse, their heart rate would be slow as well. Another thing to add to her notes.

"Yes. I heard that it took a lot of influence to get this piece shopped here from Japan," Cass said smoothly. Both kids nodded at that.

"Do you know what it's for?" Danny asked and before Cass answered she thought about that for a bit. Could he be asking her because he did not know or did he know more than he was letting on and just wanted to know what she knew about the object.

"From my research it appears to have something to do with the dead. The actual use, I am not aware of," Cass replied diplomatically. She had a few ideas but didn't want to come off as too knowledgeable on the piece. Her reply had Ellie nodding with a smile.

"I figured," the young girl said softly and turned her attention back to the piece.

"Honestly, if I didn't know any better, I would've thought it was just a piece of fancy decoration," Danny said with a shake of his head.

"An expensive piece of fancy decoration," Ellie retorted.

"Yes. Two million dollars," Cass stated. A sharp whistle escaped Danny's lips.

"How long has it been out?" Danny asked his question to Cass.

"I'm not sure but I did come to see it a month ago with a friend," Cass replied.

"A month? Don't you guys have that cat burglar around here that's always stealing expensive stuff?" Danny asked.

"You mean Catwoman?"

"Yes. Sorry, we're new here," Danny said while rubbing an arm. A nervous gesture. He did that a lot. Seems this boy was way more anxious than the younger girl. Another thing in their dynamic to note.

"I see. Welcome to Gotham. I'm Cassandra but you can call me Cass," she introduced herself with a palm out to shake. The boy took it quickly and shook with a smile.

"I'm Daniel but I prefer Danny. This is my little sister, Danielle but she prefers Ellie. Yes, I know, our parents weren't very creative," he said then released her hand and gestured to Ellie. The younger girl snickered like there was some kind of inside joke and waved at her with a hello. Cass greeted back with a smile. She knew now was the time to get a little more information from them. Not too much though, she didn't want to be seen as suspicious or interrogative. Even the littlest of crumbs could take you to the whole treat.

Just before she was about to ask them why they came to Gotham, a very reasonable question to ask due to Gotham's reputation, both kids' heads snapped to the side. They faced one of the entrances, leaving the back of their raven haired head to Cass.

"Is something wrong?" Cass asked worriedly. They both appeared to not be able to hear her. She took the chance to touch Danny's shoulder lightly but nearly snatched it away due to it being so cold. The boy's head turned to her slowly and just for a second she noticed a green tint to his eyes before they flashed by to their original light blues.

"I think…," Ellie started. She also turned her head but to Danny this time. He reciprocated the action. "...something's about to happen,"

Cass released the boy's shoulder and gestured over her shoulder to Dick with hand signs. She could tell, even without looking, that he was making his way closer to her.

"Yes. But what if this interferes with our plans?" Danny asked, nervously.

"Then I guess, you're up next," Ellie said with a sardonic smile.

Cass tilted her head to that. This was going to be trouble.

"What I'm trying to say is, go out with me?"

Charlie's full attention was finally grabbed away from her phone from the last statement that just escaped the lips of the boy standing directly in front of her.

At this point, she had stopped playing around with the emerald necklace she'd gotten from a clubmate at school, around her neck. She looked around the museum to see if he was talking to someone else because there was no way in hell that Alex Manson, the most popular boy in her class, was actually asking her out. He was captain of their school's football team and also had the best grades in class. He also volunteered at several child sports centers in Gotham, making him look like a walking messiah to the kids that surrounded him at school. Who was Charlie? A nobody, just some goth with a fascination with the occult. Part of her supernatural club back at school which she wasn't even the leader of. She wasn't even part of the top members, just a mob member who managed to get in by presenting an old spellbound her grandmother had passed onto her from her will.

Making sure that the other classmates were actually here for the field trip, most were forced into going on, ensuring that this was not a dream, she looked back to her screen and stared at it. The bright colors of the candy crush level greeted her eyes with a wiggling icon begging to be swapped. Well, it could still be a dream, a well rendered one if so.

She quickly closed the app, she wasn't gonna pass that level with the kind of distraction before her at the moment, then locked her phone before looking up at the green-eyed blonde of a boy. Upon her scrutiny, he began to squirm in place but didn't leave or make any other movement to suggest he wanted to do so.

Impressive.

Most people tend to stay far away from her when she gave as much as a glance at them. Something about being an up and coming rogue, she really couldn't give a damn. After taking in a deep breath, she released it and gave the guy a hard look.

"Is this a prank?" Charlie finally asked, looking behind the boy to see if his buddies were watching them and snickering due to some nefarious scheme (none could be observed at the moment). Instead, Alex frowned at that like he couldn't believe what he just heard. Good, not like she could believe what he asked her earlier. It looked like he was about to say something but before the boy could answer, suddenly, the sound of smashing glass could be heard echoing across the building. Not stopping with more, more glass displays exploded, showering people nearby with sharp little pieces. Charlie just knew this was another rogue attack (Gosh, didn't they have one at that new fancy gallery yesterday?) and decided to lay low while she ducked her head, grabbing the gaping boy to the ground with her. Now it was time to wait and analyze what exactly was going on this time.

She didn't have to wait long because a loud voice echoed across the room for all to hear.

"Alright! You know the drill, Gothamites. Huddle up and get on the ground. Hands on your laps please!" The voice said without even introducing themselves first. That was odd for the common villain but Charlie guessed common courtesy would normally not be considered by one who was planning a heist or so at a museum. The man was kind enough to pick up the glass shards with his powers, however said shards of glass levitated behind the newcomer and Charlie knew she was in some deep shit if she didn't cooperate quickly. She was already on the ground with Alex so she just adjusted her sitting for maximum comfortability while Alex followed suit with an annoyed look on his face. Ah, a true Gothamite indeed. At times, these villain attacks can get on one's nerves rather than put the fear of God in 'em. She turned to study the villain of the day and was not surprised at the gaudy attire that greeted her eyeballs. The man was dressed in a full bodysuit patterned with black and red vertical stripes with a light gray cape to finish off the look. His head was covered, including his ears, only leaving his face put for full view. He failed to hide some loose red strands of his hair that were poking at the sides of his face from where the 'costume' was covered.

Eventually, everyone took their places on the ground quickly and huddled together just as the villain wanted. She looked to her sides to see she was next to Alex to her right and on her left were a pair of kids who looked very similar, siblings perhaps and some Asian girl who was sitting closely at their side. She looked around again, she could see a few of her classmates were close together. Some in their usual cliques, others next to the most random combination of people anyone could think of.

"Ah! I failed to introduce myself. My real name is kinda basic but you can all call me Spell Devil!" The man said excitedly. Oh boy. Still, her interest was piqued. Spell Devil, huh? Maybe if she lived through this encounter, she could talk about this with her clubmates. Get a few extra social points there and climb the ladder. She was tired of doing grunt work for the higher ups. Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed her phone started flying away from her pocket and so did many others from the people around her. Strangely, the kids to her side had no devices on them. Weird.

"Now now," Spell Devil said as the devices floated behind him in a clump. "I'll return these when I'm done. Well, as long as all of you behave, that is," he finished with a condescending smile that Charlie wanted to wipe off immediately. "I'm only here for a special magical relic. So no more trouble. I might take a few others with me though. Those could sell well for a good price," the rogue said before he began to float around the nearby exhibits, followed by his magical floating gunk of electronics and glass shards.

He floated around for a bit before arriving at a broken glass case which housed some sort of golden ball, bedazzled with jewelry and the like. The man picked it up with a smile.

"Ah, yes. Exactly what I came for. The Egg of Juno or Hera, if you wanna get technical," he said as he picked up the object, smiling even wider at the object. He added it to the pile of things floating behind him and began to look around the museum again. Probably in search of what he was planning to sell like he stated before. He added a few odd trinkets and artifacts to the levitating pile that followed him until his attention was caught on an object which was way closer to Charlie than she would've liked it to be. Spell Devil floated till he was right next to the object and began his inspection of it.

"What is it?" Alex asked in a whisper to her as he tried to see what exactly the villain was focused on. Charlie was able to see what he was looking at, she'd seen that figurine an hour ago when they first came into the museum. It was a small light greenish sleeping cat sculpture which she'd found so adorable and had taken several pictures of it.

"It's a small cat sculpture," she told the joy next to her and he nodded in understanding.

"I see. The one you couldn't stop taking pictures of when we first got here," he said, still whispering. Now that she thought of it, she didn't even know she was being perceived at all. And for him to have seen her fawn over the object…. A slight blush came over her face and she turned away to face the villain and hide her embarrassment from the boy beside her.

"This. This is magnificent. I've really hit the jackpot today huh," Spell Devil said with an even more sinister smile. He levitated the objects more delicately than the others, put some kind of dark grey barrier over it and then added it to his floating spoils. She'd take a pic but then she recalled her phone was among the stolen junk. Whelp. In a flash, a translucent and distorted like portal appeared behind the man and Charlie guessed this was how the man planned to get away from the scene.

"Sometimes, these things can be finicky. I'm just going to get this portal up and running and then you can get back to your miserable lives," Spell Devil explained before he began chanting something incomprehensible. This seemed to affect the portal next to him as it grew bigger and bigger to accommodate his size and that of this stolen goods. She wondered if the man would remember to return their devices like he promised but she wouldn't dare to voice that inquiry at the moment.

"I can't believe this is happening right now," she heard Alex mumble, disgruntledly. She almost laughed at that before her attention was caught by a chill that came from her other side.

"We can't let him take that," the younger girl to her side said in a harsh whisper.

"I know! But how do we go about it this time?" the boy replied in the same tone as her.

"You're up next. Don't worry. I got your back. I'll cover our tracks," the girl replied. She placed both hands on the ground and closed her eyes. White streaks began to appear on the girl's hair as a low humming sound could be heard from her direction. The boy, for his part, his hair went fully white as he stretched his hand out in the direction of their captor.

Suddenly, the temperature of the room dropped substantially low and the people around her and herself began to shiver vigorously. However, no one seemed to notice the strange pair and their activities, most especially the boy who was making his way closer and closer to Spell Devil. The people on the ground made way for him but didn't seem to notice that he was passing through. That was strange. Strange indeed. Even Spell Devil didn't seem to notice the kid coming closer to him. The man was shivering and looking around for the cause of the chill until the younger guy grabbed the man by the neck, causing the man to panic. Spell Devil raised a hand and some of the glass shards he'd been floating around began to take the shape of a large spike. The boy, impressively, didn't flinch, just grabbed the older man's hand and encased it in what looked like ice. It seemed like that made Spell Devil completely lose concentration and the portal next to him completely vanished. The glass shards fell too, along with the phones and other devices that were seized by the villain during the event.

"Oops," the boy said, innocently then he snapped his attention back to the poor villain who was now cradling his cryo-encased hand.

"What is this? Why won't it melt? What are you?" The man screamed at the kid who just looked at him unphased. She looked around and it seemed, again, no one was seven aware of the interaction going on in front of them.

"Dead tired. Now let's make sure you stay still till the cops come here," the kid said. Suddenly, a bright blue beam came from his eyes and Spell Devil was completely encased in ice with a terrified look on his face. "Don't look at me like that. You'll be fine in a few hours," the boy said with amusement while he tapped lightly on the ice with his knuckles. He turned to the pile of objects which had crashed on the ground and began searching for something.

"That's a nice necklace," the girl beside her said to her, causing Charlie to turn and meet the girls now glowing green eyes. Her eyes went to her necklace which was now glowing a bright green just like the girl's eyes. Just as she was about to ask what was going on, a loud scream could be heard from the direction of where the now new and installed Spell Devil ice figure was. Apparently, people finally started to notice their surroundings and the ice statue appearing out of nowhere for them was a bit of a shocker. Strangely, or maybe not for this was Gotham after all, the boy was nowhere to be seen.

She turned her head back to the girl and she too was gone. Her eyes met the curious look of the asian girl she'd seen before who was now staring at the spot at where the younger girl was. Eventually, the girl looked back at her, tilting her head with a blank look plastered on her face. Charlie looked at her necklace and the glow seemed to have faded so she wondered what exactly the other girl could've seen.

"Come on, Charlie. Let's get out of here," Alex said, grabbing her attention and offering a hand to help her stand up. She took it and stood up to his level. She looked around and everyone else seemed to be getting up too. Some of her classmates, she could spot, were even taking pictures with the ice statue. Others were looking for their phones in the pile left behind. She looked back to where the asian girl was and she too was gone. She felt Alex tug her and this time she allowed herself to be pulled along in the direction of her classmates.

Barbara sat across her computer at the watch tower as she recalled the conversation she had with her dad an hour and a half ago.

"Barbie, we have a problem,"

"What is it? What's happening, dad?" She asked with a hushed but worried tone.

"It's those kids from the gallery," he replied, sounding so done with it. Barbara wondered what it could be this time.

"Did they do something else?" She asked.

"I don't even fucking…. I don't know, sweetie. I was conducting interviews with some of the evidence collected and it seems that no one can really seem to identify what the kids even look like at this time of the investigation," he replied, sounding even more tired than before. That gave Barbara pause. What exactly did that mean?

"I don't understand," she said.

"Me neither. It's like no one can seem to properly identify the kids at the scene. And another thing our star witness, Felicia Kitcher, seems to have fallen into a sleep-like coma and is not responding to any attempts to wake up at Gotham General," her father explained further. Babs put her phone on speaker, placed it on the table then pulled out a spare laptop she kept in the office and began to hack into Felicia's medical records. It was true. From the medical notes, the woman appeared to be sleeping but unable to wake up in spite of all attempts by medical professionals. It was at that moment that Barbara began to realize, these kids were probably more dangerous than was initially suspected. She wouldn't say she was surprised but still, it broke her heart a little thinking about how innocent the duo looked to her.

"Dad. I'll call you back with more information after I investigate this further," Barbara finally said after a little while. She could hear the man sigh heavily in frustration from the other end.

"Alright, sweetheart. Stay safe and make sure to keep me informed on any new developments. I'll make sure to do the same," the commissioner said.

"I will. Love you dad,"

"Love you too," and with that, the man ended the call.

Now, Barbara gave out a huge sigh and relaxed into her chair. Not only that was on her mind but the report Cass had sent in totally disrupted her day. She had to leave her desk job early. At least there were now more competent librarians that could handle work in her absence and she was eternally grateful to them for covering her shift.

But seriously, the report received was crazy. The occult? Magic? The dead? What next, ghosts? What in the world were those kids and what exactly were they capable of? The whole gallery debacle was already a headache to figure out but now the museum? At least, it could be determined that the kids or at least one held the ability to alter memories so they've got that working out for them. She tried working with the names and information given to her by the kids at the library but couldn't get any hits on their identities. Even though they claimed they were emancipated, there was no information on kids matching their description or names in the system or anywhere she'd checked. Maybe she'd have to access Canada's systems or something. Maybe there was something she was missing.

She focused on the information she received on the museum. Cass was able to provide the lost information while Dick had been far away from Cass, once the new villain, Spell Devil ordered them to Huddle up together. He wasn't affected by whatever spell the kids had cast over everyone's memories at the time but since he was far away in the back, he didn't get to see much of the action. So his information was little and scanty. Cass had mentioned that some other girl didn't seem to be affected by whatever was done and she'd seen the young girl's necklace glow bright green for a couple seconds before fading off to a normal dull green. Barbara pulled the girl's information up

Charlie Ramírez.

Age 16.

Goes to Manson Prep High.

11th Grade.

Member of their school's 'Occult club'.

Average student with no known special qualities.

There it was. Occult. She hoped they wouldn't have to call Constantine. Maybe Zatanna would actually be able to help them this time. Hopefully, Bruce could cash in more favors with his childhood friend. She really didn't want to work with the drunk brit any time soon. He acts like he's about to die when asked for help and even when he 'helps', he gives the most incomprehensible explanation about the case making everyone who doesn't understand stuff about the supernatural even more confused than they were before.

She sighed again then decided to put the case on the back burner for now and look up any other cases which were being neglected at the moment. There was a weapon smuggling case which Red Hood had just taken this morning. Seems like he'd be working on that tonight, so she decided to look at something else. There was the weird power surge case which everyone seemed to have forgotten about. She clicked on its tab and read through the reports and updates on it. It seemed like not too long ago, Bruce put in an update stating that The Question had gained interest in the case and was now working on it with Huntress for some reason. Whatever brought about that partnership, Barbara didn't want to know. At least that case was being looked into so now she could look into something else. She skimmed through the tabs of open cases, soon lost interest and exited out of the open cases window. She was tempted into opening the closed cases tabs for a little reviewing but then a strange feeling came over her and she scrolled to the cold cases section and opened it. She couldn't describe the feeling, like a cold touch to the back of her neck and her hands. Before she knew it, she was scrolling through some old unsolved cases. Opening and closing tabs on the ones that seemed interesting until one particular one completely caught her interest.

It was a case about missing kids from rich and well off families from Gotham. She scrolled through the information as she gave it a thorough read through. She thought she remembered her dad telling her about this case a long time ago. She wasn't too sure. She looked at the reports and found her dad's name as one of the detectives on the case and clicked on his profile. There, she saw his young face from the Id on file looking back at her and she would've smiled if she didn't notice that the man's already well known eyebags on his face. Gosh, this was almost forty years ago but her dad already looked like he had one foot into the grave. No wonder he was, maybe still is, a chronic smoker when she was younger. She thought about it again. Maybe he did really tell her about this case. She thought she remembered his sullen look while telling it to her. Maybe she should ask him about it later or maybe not. It wouldn't be too great to dredge up old and painful memories especially if it wasn't important at the time right now.

She clicked out of his profile and then looked at the list of twenty eight missing kids. One particular one caught her eye and she clicked on the kids profile. His picture was that of the young boy smiling at the camera with his dog, she assumed that was his pet. The picture was followed by some information gathered about him by detectives at the time.

William Pace.

Dark Haired.

Hazel eyes.

Missing at age seven.

Went to Gotham Kids Elementary.

Last seen: at school.

Barbara squinted at the text. Then again, she felt the cold feeling pressing on the back of her neck stretch into her spine before eyes stammered at the name of the school again.

Gotham Kids Elementary.

Bruce went there a while ago, didn't he? She opened up a new window, searched for Bruce's profile, skimming through it until she confirmed that yes, he did in fact go to that school. In fact, he was there in the same year and grade as William. What a coincidence. She closed this window and went back to the other kid's profile. After clicking out of the boy's profile, she scrolled down the list of missing kids and began to wonder. What if Bruce was one of the kids that went missing just like all the rest? Made her wonder if there would still be a Batman today or even any vigilantes in Gotham at present. There'd probably be, she concluded. It's not like rogues would seize to exist so vigilantes too would always find a way to keep their city safe.

She slid back into her chair. The cold feeling seemed to be getting worse. Was she cold or something? She rubbed the back of her neck and closed all the tabs related to the cold cases. No need to focus on the past now. They had a serious case to deal with now at the moment. She remembered Cass's note which was corroborated by the police report stating that the 'Nemutte iru shi neko', the sleeping cat figurine, was missing from the pile of nearly stolen items by Spell Devil. Barbara decided to look more into the cat artifact. She hoped more information about the kids' plans would come into play if focused on that. She couldn't afford to get distracted by anything else, even if that cold feeling at the back of her neck made her feel like doing anything else.

"Do you think we'll be able to stop him this time?" the little boy beside her said worriedly. His big round Hazel eyes looked up at her expectantly and she couldn't resist the urge to pick him up and hold him close to her chest.

"Yes. Yes I think we can," she replied assuredly. The boy nuzzled his face into her neck and she responded with a little kiss to just cheek. "However, getting one of my knights to aid in our quest seems to be getting quite complicated"

"Why can't you ask the King and the princess for help?" he said, voice muffled due to his face still listening in the crook of her neck.

"I am sorry, my child. I'm still not ready to officially meet them. I think I need more time to be prepared and reveal myself," she replied softly. He pulled his face up from her neck and gave her a bright smile.

"I can go. I can go!" he said to her excitedly. She quirked a brow up and gave him a small amused smile.

"Really? Are you sure?" she asked and was met with an excited nod.

"Uh huh! I can do it," he said with even more excitement. She had to let him down because he was getting even more jittery than she could handle at the moment.

"Alright," she said and his smile grew wider. She held up a hand causing the little boy to give her a curious look plus a pout for extra cuteness. She chuckled at the look and continued speaking. "Remember you can't stay on the mainland for too long. So pick a correct time to come over and make sure to prepare what you want to say to them quickly. Hopefully, they can follow you back to where you stay and help you out even better from there. Alright?"

"Yes! Yes!" he exclaimed happily before giving her a hug. She bent over to return the gesture. Once he released her, he waved goodbye, skipped away and finally disappeared back to where he usually resides for the last couple of years.

Still, the smile on her face didn't fade even after he left. She turned too and disappeared into the shadows. There were still a few other things she wanted to do. She hoped the little kid knew what he was doing. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to intervene too much with his meeting with the king and his quarry. Still, she herself should get ready to meet the ghostly pair. It wouldn't be nice if they didn't get to meet the city spirit, it would be seen as rude and she didn't want to be seen as anything such as that.

Charlie looked up at her ceiling at night, recalling gathered events that went down during her class trip to the museum. Her phone screen was cracked but fortunately nothing else was damaged and the crack was manageable for the time being. She had lost her win streak on Candy crush but that too can be dealt with later when she had the time to get another one thousand level win streak. Her fingers wrapped around her emerald necklace. What exactly was this thing? She had also inherited it from her grandmother, well she got it from her mom who had inherited it but wanted nothing to do with her mother's 'occultism nonsense'. Her mom's words, not Charlie's. She let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes to reground herself.

"Now," an unexpected voice said from her side, causing Charlie to snap her eyes open and look up, in surprise, at the young girl who was beside her at the museum. The girl's eyes were glowing a bright green just like before and she had a devious grin planted on her face as she tasted into Charlie's soul. Charlie could feel her body going cold before she noticed her necklace was shining a bright green like it did at the museum. She looked back up at the girl beside her bed and now the girl's head was tilted, eyes focused completely on the necklace around her neck.

"About that necklace,"

Charlie gulped.