Parking the car at the parking lot at the Warrington Sprite; Bryson, Lila and Nico got out of the vehicle and headed toward the store.

“Your sister is probably just hiding somewhere inside the shop, we’ll find her and get out.” Bryson assured.

“I’m not worried, Lottie can take care of herself you know.” Lila said.

“Right well, hopefully this will be quick, I have a sister to find.” Bryson said as he opened the door to the store.

Glancing around the store he saw nothing out of the ordinary, customers milling about the store, staff running the shop. However, Bryson wasn’t able to locate Edvard anywhere in the shop.

“I’ll go look for Lottie.” Lila said as she walked off.

Bryson gave a small nod as he began to wander around the store himself, concentrating a bit. Looking over to the main counter he found it rather odd Edvard was nowhere to be found.

“Huh.” Bryson mumbled.

“Is there a problem?” Nico asked.

“I don’t see the owner.”

“Maybe he’s in the back.”

“No he’s not.”

Nico blinked in surprise, “Come again?”

“The guy always walks around with something magic on him. I can see magic, even behind walls and I see nothing.” Bryson said staring at the counter before looking away.

“That’s not concerning at all.” Nico mumbled.

Bryson chose to ignore that comment as he kept looking around the place. He noted how much magic was in the place. Every major object that was inside the place had some sort of magic held within it. The back offices, the bathrooms, above and around. Everywhere except for the ground.

“Reese.” Bryson said.

“Yes?”

“This place has a basement correct?”

“Um, yes. All these types of buildings do, it’s where they store things.”

“So how come I can’t see it?” Bryson wondered aloud.

“Huh?”

“It just looks like the floor to me.” Bryson said, his brow furrowing.

“Well… that’s because it’s the floor.” Nico said confused.

“Wha-? I can see magic through walls and floors you idiot.” Bryson said with an eye roll, “Yet I can’t see through to the basement that is suppose to be there. The basement that’s suppose to contain a load of magic.”

“Ohhh, that is weird.” Nico said nodding.

“Hey, I can’t seem to find Lottie anywhere, you think she left?” Lila said as she returned to the two of them.

Nico and Bryson shared a glance with one another.

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“You don’t think…” Nico said, and Bryson gave a shrug in response.

“What?” Lila asked.

“She might be in the basement.” Bryson said.

“How do you know that?”

“I can see magic everywhere but inside the basement, it’s as if it was boarded up.” Bryson explained, “Specifically to stop people from noticing it.”

“Then let’s go check.” Lila said as she walked over to the counter. Giving a small shrug Bryson followed her along and Nico followed suit.

Stopping before they reached the counter, they noticed a line of customers queued up.

“How are we suppose to sneak through?” Lila asked.

Bryson paused and pondered for a moment before asking, “Frost, where did your sister find that dancing owl?”

“Over there.” She said pointing to an aisle.

Quickly scanning through the aisle, he saw remote control cars, talking dolls, windup toys and other toys that ran on power. Interesting. He thought.

Glancing around he made sure that no one was paying any attention to him before waving his hand, allowing magic to flow through him and wash through all the toys.

All of a sudden the toys came to life and began to run on their own. The vehicles launched off the shelves and began to drive and fly around the store. The figures and dolls began to dance, move, crawl and just simply began to emit noises.

The commotion attracted the attention of everyone in the store. Customers watching on in confusion as staff try their best to keep the mess contained. Looking back at the store counter the staff member there had left to help clean the mess.

“That’s one way to sneak through.” Lila said.

“Come on.” Bryson said, moving forward.

The three reached the now empty store counter and moved toward the back. Finding the door to the basement Bryson turned toward the other two.

“Frost, keep watch. Reese take the front.” Bryson ordered. The two nodded in understanding.

Nico took charge and opened the door and he along with Bryson moved down the winding stairs down to the basement. As they moved down the stairway they suddenly heard a loud crashing noise.

“What was that?” Nico said aloud.

“Get down there now Reese!” Bryson snapped.

The two of them quickened their pace as they moved down the stairs, they reached the end of the stairs when they witnessed the mayhem going on inside the basement.

They saw the smoke suddenly dissipate from the room and into Edvard Bo’s wand who stood at the bottom of the steps. They saw a thin older gentleman clutching at his back leg in pain on one side of the room. They saw another large man wielding a spear on the other side of the room.

In between the three were two kids, Lottie and Sable. How did they get into this mess?

“Alright girls, playtime’s over.” Edvard scowled still not noticing Nico and Bryson.

“Yeah, it’s time for my sister to return home.” Bryson called out.

Immediately turning around, Edvard glared at Bryson in disbelief, “Why are you here?”

“Was looking for the brat, didn’t expect to find my sister here and you trying to kill her though.” Bryson said crossing his arms, “Now what’s this about?”

“None of your business boy.” Edvard spat, “You made a mistake coming down here.”

“Did I now?” Bryson said uncrossing his arms.

“Yes. You did.” Edvard scowled as he raised his wand, suddenly Nico was upon him.

Thrusting his sword out, Nico attempted to pierce through Edvard. Forced to abandon his attack on Bryson, Edvard quickly created a small, warded shield in front of him for protection.

The tip of Nico’s blade successfully passed the shield, unfortunately the rest sword was stuck and unable to go any deeper.

“Daren! Help!” Edvard screamed as he was pushed backwards.

The large spearman charged forward at Nico trying to pierce his head. Nico quickly retracted his blade to defend himself. As the spear was deflected to the side, the large spearman continued to press his attack and Nico began to backpedal as he exchanged.

Edvard briefing a sigh of relief quickly had to bring up another ward up to absorb a blast of energy sent by Bryson.

“Huh, thought that would get you.” Bryson said slightly disappointed.

“Damn you kid!” Edvard yelled out.

“What? I saw an oppor- Woah!” Bryson said as he was forced to duck down as a blast was sent toward his direction.

Looking up, Bryson saw the elderly man had cast a magic circle and was currently firing mana blasts at him. Okay, almost ate my own words with that one. He thought as another blast was shot at him.

Bryson quickly moved down the stairs and hurriedly went to hide behind a table. In the corner of his eye, he saw Edvard about to blast him again. However before he could, Lottie threw another smoke grenade at Edvard.

“Oh come on!” Edvard screamed as it exploded again and purple smoke filled the room once more.

As smoke filled the room once more Bryson began to creep around the basement. Okay, if I get out of this alive, I am going to throttle those two. He thought as he tried to formulate a plan.