“Where in the world do you even hear these idiotic things?” Bryson said to Lottie as he was busy practising spellcasting with only hand symbols and gestures. Bryson honestly felt it to be a bit ridiculous doing so.

It was difficult to make some of the complicated hand symbols especially when doing so in sequence with one after another. Plus to add to the embarrassment if one of the steps for the spell went wrong then nothing would happen aside from the random hand gestures made.

Still, those who mastered this form of spellcasting while often slower than their counterparts often cast stronger spells. Which was why Bryson was forced into this farce to begin with. His mother and teacher both made the decision long ago that they wanted him to at least have an advanced level of all forms of magic and styles of casting.

“The other kids around the neighbourhood say.” Lottie said doing kick-ups with a ball, “Two hundred-eight, two hundred-nine.” She said quietly counting.

“You believe in ghost stories other kids tell? Also who’s telling you? The noble kids?” Bryson said looking unimpressed.

“No the squires and merchants! They even have proof that it’s demons.”

“What proof?” Bryson said glancing back to Lottie who was now kicking the ball with her heels behind her back.

“They know people who went missing!”

“I’m sure they do.” Bryson said rolling his eyes as he focused on the target in front of him. Very far away barely peaking out of the horizon was a target that had been erected up. Firing a small shot, pebble-sized in diameter, he watched as the tiny bolt of magic shot its way over to the target making a loud ringing sound as it made contact.

“Hmm.” Bryson grunted as he pulled out a pair of binoculars to see where he hit. He had hit near the center of the target but still no bullseye, “Tsk.” Bryson said clicking his tongue as he marked down where he hit on a piece of paper.

“One of my friends said their classmate disappeared!” Lottie added.

“Disappeared or sick?”

“Disappeared, I checked. Their parents even filed a missing report to the police.”

This gave Bryson pause, “How long ago was this?”

“Two seventy-four, two seventy-five, about a week ago I think.” Lottie said now bouncing the ball atop her head.

“Any reason why they think it’s a cult?” Bryson said as he read through the accuracy of his shots.

“People mentioned how there have been gatherings around that part of the city. Vandalism and stuff.”

“Is this just hearsay or is there anything of substance?”

“They mentioned how this is where all the disappearances are.”

“Which part of the city is this?”

“The poor place.” Lottie said balancing the ball on a knee now.

“Ah, I can see why there was no report of children's disappearances.” Bryson said as he put his notes away and looked back at the target, “No bullseye… Frost.” Bryson said turning back to Lottie.

“Yes?” Lotties said stopping her play with the ball and looked at Bryson.

“Why tell me this?” Bryson said narrowing his eyes.

“Because it’s something important and you should know.” Lottie said innocently.

“Really?” Bryson said staring at Lottie unconvinced.

“Well… Lila told me that I needed permission first.” She admitted.

“There we go.” Bryson said nodding her head, “Alright, I’ll see if I can get someone to investigate it. If there is validity, I’ll take you there.” He promised.

“Hooray!” Lottie cheered as she followed Bryson back to the Coldwater manner.

***

“Well… this is the slums alright.” Bryson said as he walked through the slums of Darlington. He was currently dressed in a cheap shabby coat and old muddy boots. He adjusted his torn-up paddy cap on his head and looked over to Lottie.

“Yup! Come on I know the way!” Lottie said excitedly as she led the group. She was dressed in much more shabbier garbs than she normally wore.

“Slow down.” Bryson ordered, “How do you even know this area, you weren’t that poor when I found you.”

“I like exploring the place, beat up bad guys and stuff.”

“You what? You come down here to fight criminals?” Bryson said staring at Lottie incredulously.

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“Yup! Mister Phillip told me to do it for training.”

“That is so irresponsible.” Bryson said shaking his head.

“Don’t worry, Mister Phillip always watches over me when I did so.” Lottie said showing her a thumbs up.

“Please tell me Reese isn’t as stupid when it comes to your training.” Bryson said turning to another member of the group, Kristel who had a layer of chainmail hidden beneath an oversized hoodie that she wore over it.

“Uh, no. Sir Nico tends to have me train in more controlled circumstances.” Kristel said.

“Mister Phillip said it was important for me to do so.” Lottie said.

“Normally I wouldn’t condone this, but Mister Phillip does know what he’s doing.” Florence the last member of the group said. She too wore an old dirty jacket as a disguise and a toque to cover her pink hair.

“This is ridiculous.” Bryson said shaking his head in disbelief. He couldn’t believe that he was actually here investigating a potential demon-worshipping cult that had been kidnapping children here for the last few months. Annoyingly enough, it made sense, there were little reports when it came to areas of the slums, were not worth the manpower.

“It was Mister Phillips that first told me that we should find them around here.” Lottie said ignoring Bryson’s reaction.

“It makes sense that he knew what’s going on here.” Bryson said as he looked around the dirty place, it was the middle of the day and the streets were mostly empty save for the occasional disheveled kid running about, “Still I doubt we’ll find anything in a single day.”

“Don’t worry Bryson, I made sure we came here today because I know the bad guys are on the move!” Lottie said proudly.

“How so?”

“Mister Phillip helped me figure out the pattern of when they try and kidnap people and where they’ll do it.” Lottie said, “I even know the kids, I think.”

“You seem awfully excited for this.” Bryson grunted.

“Of course, the other kids kidnapped are probably dead and they’ve lived a hard life already. If we can stop them, then at least the other kids can worry about one less thing here.” Lottie said looking seriously over to Bryson.

“At least you’ve got a good heart.” Bryson said as he began to follow Lottie, “Alright, where are we hiding?”

***

“You have everything?” Bryson asked Florence who was doing one last check through her bag. The group was currently hiding in an old, abandoned building. The floor tiles had been ripped apart and there was garbage everywhere. Bryson hoped that they wouldn’t need to stay here to long.

“Yes Lord Bryson. All supplies are accounted for.” The scarlet-eyed medical trainee said nodding her head.

“Okay, so are you sure this is the family?” Bryson said asking Lottie who was spying through an old dirty window looking into the inhabitants inside.

“Pretty sure.” She said staring through the window with a set of binoculars watching as a woman was slaving away over a metal pot of stew.

“Pretty sure?” Bryson asked unimpressed.

“Yup!” Lottie said with an enthusiastic nod.

“Okay. Explain to me again why we’re watching them?” Bryson said rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“The cultist victims all come from a candy store where they get a free sample.” Lottie explained.

“A free sample of what?”

“I don’t know. I never been in before. Some kind of candy.” Lottie said shrugging.

“And you know this because?”

“They brag about it to the other kids in the area. I sneak into the groups sometimes.”

“How long has this candy store been open?”

“A few months ago.”

“Are they hidden at the store?”

“Well it’s more of a cart.”

“Have you been able to follow them?”

“No, I was always by myself, so I thought you might worry about it being dangerous.” Lottie replied, which caused Bryson to scowl.

“You make me sound like a concerned parent.” He muttered before he decided to ask Florence, “What could this candy be?”

“I do not know. I would need to analyze it, but it could be some type of drug that either sedates or changes something in the children. Or it could just be symbolic.” Florence replied.

“Lord Bryson.” Kristel quietly said, “We are to stop the children of the family from being kidnapped correct?”

“No, well yes. But not immediately.” Bryson said, “Explain.” Bryson ordered Lottie noting Kristel’s visible confusion.

“I’ve noticed a couple of adults have been following the two kids for the last few days and are likely to take them when they head home to their parents.” Lottie explained.

“Explain that train of thought, you need to get better at that.” Bryson said.

“Oh yeah, what little witness reports that were gathered said that they were taken on the way home, so we’re watching the street where no one is usually around.” Lottie pointed at the barren cracked streets.

“Oh, so we’re waiting for both the children and the kidnappers to arrive?” Kristel said looking down at the street.

“No, Bryson said that we should follow them after they kidnap the kids and then we follow them to wherever they’re hiding and take out the group.” Lottie said.

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous for you Lord Bryson?” Krisel asked in concern.

“You don’t need to worry about me, besides if I’m involved and we bite off more than we can chew then my parents will send people after me.” Bryson said as he flashed his Communicator, “We are being tracked.”

“You joined Lottie because you knew that if something goes wrong the Coldwaters would do everything they could to help you and subsequently us.” Florence observed.

“Well I doubt child nappers will be too dangerous, even a group of them, but you can never be too careful.” Bryson grunted.

“Guys, there's someone coming.” Lottie said in a hushed tone.

Peering out the window Bryson saw two hooded figures holding ropes, bags, rags and a bottle sneak across the street and hid around a corner. A moment later two other kids walked their way down the street, one around the age of Bryson and the other a couple years younger.

They were cheery and talking to one another, neither seemed to notice their impending doom. As they rounded a corner the hooded figures attacked. It was quick and ended in seconds, rags being used to cover their mouths they were quickly subdued and thrown into bags.

Bryson noticed Kristel getting angsty watching this, wanting to go down and help them immediately. Bryson put a calming hand on her shoulder, “We’ll get them. Just need to be patient. We’ll get them soon.” He promised.

Nodding Kristel stayed by Bryson biting her lip as she watched the two hooded figures about to move. Lottie then turned to the rest.

“Let’s follow them. I’ll take lead.” She whispered.

“Hang on. Let me try out this spell. Should make us a bit harder to see and hear.” Bryson said as he began to mentally incant it before realizing that this would be an opportune moment to try casting the spell through somatic methods.

With an exhale of annoyance, he began to move his hands around, creating symbols and gestures. It all happened in a manner of seconds, but they were agonizing seconds for Bryson. But once done the four could see, or rather feel a blanket surrounding them and hiding them from the outside world.

“We’ll still need to be cautious, but it should improve our stealth.” Bryson said.

“Wow, you do look silly.” Lottie commented.

“Shut up Frost, lead the way already.” Bryson ordered in a huff.

“I think it’s cute.” Lottie whispered to herself too quiet for Bryson to hear as she led the group.