“They were the ones who doubled-down on our lie. Why are they putting so much pressure on us now?” Phon grumbled. Discontent didn’t begin to describe her mood. If the CP didn’t lay off soon, she was going to teleport there and start kicking everyone she could find in the shin.
Another meeting that no one wanted to have. Several news outlets had been contacting them incessantly, requesting that they divulge information on whatever device had made everyone hear a voice in their head. It seemed the issue wasn’t going to be quietly swept under the rug, for a while at least.
To make matters worse, someone from the Central Peace had put out a statement demanding that the Fiends For Hire be amenable to these requests, or they’d be sanctioned or whatever—something that really wouldn’t actually affect them, but they still had the headache of dealing with anyways.
Somewhere along the way, the fear of Fiends had dwindled, and now common folk and the CP felt they could make demands—even if they were disingenuine. As far as Phon was concerned, a new show of force was needed to put humans back in their place. But unfortunately, Drim had rejected all of her ideas thus far.
It was quickly decided that Nathym would draw up some fake schematics—making it look real but purposefully leaving out any actual scientific detail. The big discussion, which had and still was talking up the bulk of the time, was how to best release these blueprints—what news program or to send them to the CP directly, and so on.
Maybe a blessing to break the tedium, or maybe a burden since it would only prolong the meeting, but someone’s phone started ringing. Phon’s eyes immediately drifted to Kada, the usual cause of such disturbances, but only found eyes looking back at her.
“Who the heck would be calling your personal number that isn’t already in this room?” Drim shared her surprise since it was obvious now that it was Phon’s own phone that was ringing. “Our uncle, perhaps?”
Phon fished the phone out of her pocket, her eyes widening at the caller ID. “Bray Pozin…”
◆◆◆
“So I don’t know where she is!” Bray’s sobbing continued in person.
When Phon had answered the phone, she had only been met with hysterics. It had caught her off guard to say the least. Their one-time babysitting business had been dead in the water after Bray had cut off all contact for her and Mazie. The Drazahs had never expected to hear from them again.
“Sorry, we’re not really understanding you, Bray,” Drim found it difficult to console the woman who hadn’t stopped rambling since they walked in the door. “Why don’t you take a deep breath and start at the beginning.” He’d accompanied Phon across the continent—her teleporting them while speeding on the back of his hoverbike so they could get there as quickly as possible.
“Okay, okay, okay, okay,” Bray at least took the advice on taking a deep breath, but whether it actually calmed her down at all was debatable. “So Mazie started school this year.” She really was starting at the beginning.
“And she loves it, really loves it. I’ve never actually seen a child so excited for school before. She loves her friends, her teachers, and hell, even loves to learn. It’s baffling to me since I hated school. Then, over the winter break, over the winter break…”
“Mazie and I were walking home from the Boon Day Parade. I was tired, so I made us stop and rest, resting up against one of the shops. A man snuck up from behind and pulled me into the alley.”
“He wanted... I don’t know what he wanted. It all happened too fast. He had a gun, I knew that, and his attention was on me. That’s what mattered, I glanced and didn’t see Mazie, so I thought she’d run. I prayed she’d run but…”
“Where did Mazie even get a knife?” This part was what seemed to confuse Bray the most. Drim glared over to Phon who glanced away, but luckily Bray didn’t notice either of them.
“Next thing I knew, he was on the ground. Mazie had stabbed him in the back of the knee. Then she didn’t even hesitate. She pulled it back out of him and then stabbed him in the neck.”
“He was dead immediately. And then when Mazie looked at me, I couldn’t… She looked so worried for me, not herself, me, her mother, who’s supposed to protect her. And I couldn’t even look back at her! Not while she was holding that blood covered knife, not while she had that look of pity, not with those damned blood red eyes!”
Bray had to take a break to sob for a while longer, muttering about what kind of mother she was, before she was able to continue the story. “It didn’t take long for the police to arrive and figure out what happened. Her eyes were all telling.”
“They took us down to the station, took our statements, and quickly ruled it as self-defense, so they didn’t press any charges. After that, I was called in for a few follow ups, but they never spoke to Mazie again.”
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“It seems word got around, though, because a few days before Mazie was supposed to go back to school, I got a call from the superintendent. They refused to let her go back.”
“That broke her heart. She just didn’t understand, and she wanted nothing more than to go back to school. I took it up with the school board, the mayor, and the Domister Department of Education. They all kept saying how sorry they were for our circumstances, but none of them would lift a finger.”
“Eventually, they did give us a private tutor since I didn’t have the time to homeschool Mazie myself. She’s nice and all, and Mazie likes her, but she’s little more than a glorified babysitter at that level. Mazie is still alone, and she’s not getting the social and life developments she needs.”
“To make matters worse, I stopped taking her out to places with me. I am not ashamed that Mazie is a Lesser Fiend now. I love and will always love my daughter. But those stares, those Cosdamned judgmental stares from anyone who saw her. Some people would even shout and jeer at her. She didn’t understand, but I just couldn’t take it anymore.”
“A few weeks ago, Mazie started sneaking out at night. She wasn’t exactly discreet about it, so I noticed right away. Obviously, I wanted to scold and ground her, what little good that’d do, but she was so refreshed and happy afterwards.”
“That first night, she didn’t leave sight of our house, but she got more bold each time. I gave her a phone that probably seemed to her like it was out of nowhere, but it was so I could track her and she could call me for help if needed. She took it with her every night, even two nights ago when she went missing.”
“After she didn’t come home, I raced to the location marked in the app and found her phone, but she was nowhere in sight. It was just left alone on the sidewalk. I went to the police right away, but I guess I was too hysterical and they told me it hadn’t been long enough, and to come back in the morning if she was still missing.”
“I never slept, so I was banging on their door the moment their office hours started until they let me in. They were very helpful… at first… They took my statement, but when giving Mazie’s description, the moment I mentioned her red eyes it was like their own eyes glazed over. All interest and desire to help me was gone, like they didn’t even see her as human anymore.”
“Of course, they still said they’d look for her and gave me their assurances, but that was yesterday and they haven’t even called me once to check in. So, I had no choice. Please find my daughter!”
Bray collapsed to the ground—her legs tucked under her body, groveling with all of her might. “I understand that I’ve failed her as a mother. I understand that I don’t deserve to look after her anymore. If you won’t let her stay with me, that’s fine, it doesn’t matter right now. She doesn’t deserve this. Just please, find Mazie! I need to know if she’s safe!”
“Of course we’ll help you find her, don’t worry,” Drim reassured her as he helped her back up.
After he nodded over to her, Phon sat on a nearby chair and covered her eyes. 『Mazie Pozin』Phontext pulled up the profile for her. She quickly scrolled down to Mazie’s location. 『Constead』 Well that’s not exactly helpful. There was still a learning curve to this new system and getting it to obey how she liked without having to fuss with it.
Phon decided to switch to direct inquiries instead for now. “Where is Mazie Pozin?”
『She is in Constead』
“Okay, like inside the city or in the suburbs or outskirts?”
『She is located at the outskirts』
“Is she in a building?”
『She is in an inhabited location.』Well, since it didn’t exactly answer yes, then Phon had to assume she wasn’t in a building proper.
“Is she above ground or below ground?”
『She is below ground in a burrow or cave. It depends on your perspective and definitions of the word as to where she is located.』Semantics, really?! That was the hold up? Phon really hated dealing with herself sometimes.
“Finally, we’re getting somewhere at least. Can I get some coordinates?”
『Certainly』A set of numbers flashed before Phon’s eyes. I should have just led with that, huh?
“How is she doing?” Phon wanted an idea of what was happening before they got there.
『Mood: Scared, Confused, Amused』Well that didn’t quite add up. What exactly was going on?
“What’s her physical condition? Like is she starving?”
『Condition: Sated, Does not need to use the bathroom, Somewhat Tired』 Some extra information that Phon hadn’t asked for, but it seemed Mazie wasn’t in dire straits. That was good. They could properly examine the situation before rushing in.
Phon returned back to reality and found Drim guiding Bray through some breathing exercises. This was something he had a bit of experience with, often finding lost travelers in duress. It was more than Phon knew at least, only ever coming across women in labor and the breathing exercise they had to endure. A weird situation—weirder that it happened more than once.
“Mazie is in a cave on the outskirts of town,” Phon informed them. “Drim and I will go pick her up and be right back.”
“No!” Bray leapt from her seat and rushed over to Phon, grabbing and pulling on her blouse. “No, you have to take me with you! I need to see her safe. I need her to see that her mother is there for her. She has to know that her mother will always come for her!”
Phon leaned backwards to get as far away from the face of the worked up woman as she could. She glanced over at Drim, who merely shrugged in confirmation. “Okay fine. But stand back and leave any problem solving to us.” Phon pulled out her ribbon and wrapped it around her eyes, and the three vanished.