William Truman May 16th, 20XX

A muffled thump emerged from the bathroom of my sister’s supposedly empty studio and awful retching sounds echoed out afterwards. The door had been locked when I came and the place was as stuffy as a place that hadn’t been used for a week would be. The windows were lined with dust and the doors had creaked when I opened them, a testament to the cheapness of the place she rented.

I’d gotten her the place when she was sixteen but had repeatedly tried to offer her money to get a better place or to at least commission a cleaning crew but she’d always vehemently refused, insisting that it would be unfair for her to get any help from a big company that she didn’t even work for. And then when I’d offered her a job in the company she’d once again rejected and had scorned the idea of getting a job based on her connections.

That dull headed brat.

She’d only been gone a week so I knew I shouldn’t have been so concerned. After all, she was already eighteen and didn’t need to report her every action to me, but at the same time, none of her friends knew where she was either and it was unlike her to disappear in the middle of such a big project like the showcase. I also wasn’t as concerned as I might have been because Finn, yet another dull headed brat under my care had disappeared at the same time. It was illogical but I’d guessed that they had probably run off together. Although why was another question that had to be answered.

I knew Finn had a crush on her at one point but he seemed to have outgrown it so I didn’t think they’d eloped or anything but with all the evidence against them I had to keep the possibility in mind. But even if they had I also had to wonder why. It wasn’t like anyone around would have objected to them getting together, heck I’d probably be thrilled to marry him off to my younger sister. He wasn’t that bad of a guy either.

The useless documents that Jake had given me rotated through my mind, as I tried to tie them to any theories I already had but the only solutions I came up with ranged from impossible to downright ridiculous and I gave up on the trail.

Footsteps echoed from the bathroom and a low moan reverberated towards the living room, where I stood. Or should I have called it the main working area? Mannequin after abandoned mannequin littered the room, looking like a twisted display of corpses in the dim light.

At first, I was just going to wait for the person in the bathroom to come out and introduce themselves but then I remembered that buildings like this usually had windows in their bathrooms and it may have been an intruder.

I grabbed a long, metal measuring ruler and balanced it by my side, loosening my grip enough to not be threatening but keeping it steady enough that I could use it if the intruder decided to attack.

The door creaked as it swung open and my eyes were assaulted by a head full of unnaturally golden hair that looked more like thinly shredded metal than hair. The second thing that caught my eyes was the large wings that twitched and waved as he walked much too naturally to be fake.

It was a bloody fairy.

No. wait. That was ridiculous. There was no way a real fairy would be hanging around my sister’s studio, never mind have taken the time to break into it.

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The stranger lifted his overly feminine but vaguely familiar eyes to meet mine and we stared each other down, trying to decide an appropriate reaction to show the other. But at that time I’d made a decision and pulled my cellphone from my pocket.

The stranger’s eyes, closer to gold than green, followed my hands from my pocket to my ear and began to panic as he watched my fingers dial the number. He began to panic and yelled,

“Wait! what are you doing?!”

The voice was familiar as well but just as soon as the theory popped into my mind I dismissed it. After all, there was no way that kid had decided to hide out in my sister's abandoned studio and dress like a circus performer for a week.

" I'm calling the cops”

Maybe it was because of how calmly I responded, or how lax my body language was but he loosened his stance as well and asked me why without much thought. He was a little too calm to be a house robber or a squatter but it was better safe than sorry and it wasn’t like my younger sister was around to ask.

" Why would you do that??"

Even though I knew it was a bad idea to aggravate the stranger that had broken into my sister’s workroom I couldn't resist giving a sarcastic look and responding in kind.

" I suppose if you found a stranger wearing a fairy costume in your property you wouldn't call the cops? It’s not like I’ve gotten an introduction out of you either."

A conflicted expression stretched across his face as he thought over my answer and a small self-deprecating smile blossomed onto his overly handsome face.

I clicked my tongue as I realized he somehow managed to look decent despite the blinding outfit he had on.

A dull golden top and pants set that looked right out of the middle ages, Multiple thin straps of a brighter gold wrapped around him like an intricate harness, and a thin piece of fabric wrapped around his forehead. All in various shades of gold.

If we hadn’t met in the circumstances of intruder and owner, I’d have tried my best to scout him into the company. Looks aside, it took a lot of confidence to walk around in an outfit like that.

“I suppose that is the logical thing to do.”

I nodded and went back to the phone, but before I made the call I looked back at him and decided to offer him a deal. I guess the idea of scouting him had tickled my fancy more than I’d thought. And the commission fee for introducing new talent to the company wasn’t anything to scoff at either.

" I don't suppose you could just promise me not to do this again and leave now. It’d save us both the trouble of dealing with the police."

Once again a conflicted expression splayed across his face as he thought about it but in the end, he shook his head, golden threads bouncing across his forehead as he did so.

“Ah, I'm Cai by the way. A pleasure to meet you.”

His wings slightly flared as he swept down into a bow and his odd eyes twinkled up at me from between his bangs.

Danggit. Stop trying to charm a man whose place you broke into.

“Ah yeah. I'm Will. Nice to meet you too. Don’t suppose you have any plausible reason why you’re here do ya?”

It was a thin hope that maybe my sister had made plans to meet with the dude but to my surprise, he nodded and straightened himself out.

“I wanted to meet with Sparrow. We’d made plans before.”

I dropped the long ruler in my hand and rushed towards him, grabbing his shoulders, and ignoring how his wings moved in synchronization to his shoulders. They weren’t important right now.

“Do you know where she is? It's been a week since I last saw her.”

He blinked in surprise my sudden proximity and in a single move removed my hands from his shoulder and returned them to me.

“She’s been gone for a week?”

For a moment I could have sworn that his eyes sharpened before they softened back to their friendly demeanour. He looked around the room and took a deep breath, grimacing and gagging as he did so. I took a breath as well but didn’t find anything particularly revolting, except the mustiness of the room.

Not knowing what else to do I ignored the niggling suspicions in my mind, refusing to put two and two together and invited the fair- the young man to have a seat. I needed information and in the whole city, it seemed like he was the only one who had so much as a clue on where my younger sister had disappeared too.