Fun fact about the Silence trait. It didn’t prevent all noise. The kid grasped his throat and choked as he looked up at me in terror. I put a finger over his lips and whispered, “You need to be quiet.”

He continued to squirm and cough as he writhed on the floor under me. I inspected the kid just to make sure that he hadn’t leveled up.

Name

Eddison Thompson III

Class

Warlock

Level

5

Affection Level

Terrified

He was just barely low enough for my plan to work. I sighed dejectedly and whispered, “Sorry kid. I’m going to have to ghost you again.”

He shook his head violently and thrashed around. I made the edit the same way I recalled Lavender having done it.

Name

Eddison Thompson III

Class

Banished (Warlock) (Edited)

Level

1 (5) (Edited)

Affection Level

Frustrated

When the deed was done, I climbed off of him and whispered, “Now, tell me why your family took Kalliphae.”

He huffed for a minute, making a display of catching his breath, “You nearly killed me, you jerk.”

I angrily whispered back, “Once again, you kidnapped Kalli. Give her back.”

He sighed. There was no need for him to be quiet when he barked, “I didn’t kidnap anyone. My dad’s crazy. He’s got more people hidden down there in the dungeon.”

I paused, “Wait. Kalli isn’t the only one?”

Eddie huffed and folded his arms, “Why should I help you? When I heard she was taken, I came all the way home to get her out of here and then you come and ghost me again.”

“How am I supposed to believe you?”, I groaned, “This is your father we’re talking about.”

He pulled himself to his feet, “Fine. I’ll show you. It’s not like he even wants her. He’s after something called a manipulator.”

I frowned as I followed the kid to the door, “Why do you say that?”

Eddie whispered over his shoulder as if this part of the conversation were some grand secret, “I’m not supposed to know about it, but I overheard him talking. Lavender told me to go home for the weekend. That’s when I found out that he has some normals locked up in the basement. Then earlier today, one of our bounty hunters turned up with Kalli. I pretended not to know her and was going to sneak her out once everyone fell asleep.”

I glared down at the kid. I wanted to believe him. It was Kalliphae’s life on the line though.

What do you think Kalli? Should we trust him?

Kalliphae felt just as apprehensive about Eddie as I did. I don’t know, Mel. He might lead you into a trap.

I took out the M-Phone and tried to contact Shara again. It went straight to voicemail. I sighed, “You said they are keeping them in the basement? How do I know you aren’t leading me into a trap?”

Eddie pulled out a parchment and offered it to me. I unfolded the small sheet of paper.

Trust the runt - Lavender

I glared at the kid, “How do I know you didn’t write it?”

He glared right back, “She said you’d be able to tell.”

I took a closer look at it.

Item:

Note from Lavender (It’s Real)

Components

Parchment, Magic

Item Rank:

A

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Lavender

I blinked at the description. Was Lavender a manipulator too? At the very least, the kid wasn’t up to making an item like that.

I think I’m going to let him take me to you

Kalli’s emotions flared and her voice in my head sounded astounded. How are you doing that? What are those things you keep seeing?

This was the downside of broadcasting everything. Kalli was going to know all of my secrets. The truth was, I wanted her to know. I just hoped she would accept me. She reassured me. You can tell me. Whatever it is.

I took a deep breath.

Kalli. I am the manipulator.

She paused. I felt her suck in some air as if preparing to say something she didn’t want to. Melvin. You know those are bad right? I mean really bad. Manipulators are ‘ender-of-world’ bad. There are legends about them.

I noticed that she used my full name.

I don’t think the class is bad by itself. Bad people have done bad things with it in the past. I’m not going to be evil or end the world or anything like that.

The girl's panic was creeping back into her gut. Her voice was frantic when she sent me her next thought. Mel, it’s a trap. They mean to catch you. I’m the bait. You need to get out of here now. Forget about me.

I am NOT leaving here without you.

Eddie stood in front of me with his arms folded over his chest, “What are we going to do? If you don’t want my help then I’m going back to bed. I’ll just let Lavender sort me out later.”

I wanted to grab the kid by the scruff of his neck and drag him along with me, but I took a deep breath to calm myself and whispered, “Let’s just do this. Show me where she is.”

Eddie snuck through the house with purpose. He knew the most direct way to the basement without passing by any of the bedrooms. He even pointed out a few hidden cameras for me to disable.

We worked our way down to the basement which looked more like a dungeon than an actual basement. A long hall was lined with barricaded doors. Eddie informed me, “It’s a good thing that Nestor isn’t here. He would kick your butt.”

I glanced at him, “Who?”

He grinned, “Oh, he’s just a bounty hunter that we sometimes employ.”

I informed Eddie, “You need to find Kalli’s dress. They took it from her.”

The kid looked far too excited, “You mean she’s naked in there?”

I smacked him in the back of the head, “No! Focus. Go find the dress.”

Eddie ran off to look for it as I made my way down the hall. This close to her, I had no problem finding the room she was in.

Item:

Locked Door

Components

Wood, Metal

Item Rank:

F

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Thompson

With a quick edit, the door was unlocked. I twisted the handle and opened the door. Kalliphae flew out of the room and wrapped herself around me in a hug. I held onto her tight. I wanted to say that I would never let her go again. Instead, I just held her in silence.

Finally, she pulled herself away from me, careful to keep her robe closed, “Let’s get out of here.”

“Found ‘em”, Eddie called from the other end of the hall.

He bounded down to us holding the phoenix dress and Kalli’s bag. When he handed them to me, Kalliphae’s eyes lit up. She grabbed them and suddenly she was holding the pink robe with the dress re-equipped.

She sighed contentedly. Now I feel much better.

I invited her back to the group because I was unsure if I could buff her at my mate.

KALLIPHAE HELLQUIST HAS JOINED THE GROUP

I quickly shared all of my traits that I could with the pyromancer. I gave her True Sight, God Eye, Enhanced Regeneration, and Enhanced Mana Regeneration. She tugged my wrist toward the exit, but I hesitated.

I think we need to save whoever else they have locked up down here.

Kalli felt very nervous. Oh. Right.

I worked my way over to the first door. It was locked. After a quick edit, I pushed the door open. A girl dressed in even less clothing than Kalli was huddled on a bed with no blankets. She cowered in front of us and said, “Please, don’t hurt me. I’ll cooperate.”

Kalliphae rushed to her side and covered her with the pink robe she was still holding. The girl looked to be older than us, possibly a senior. I inspected her

Name

Sarah Sargento

Class

College Student

Level

1

Affection Level

Scared

I was close. She’s in college. Not awakened though.

Kalli reached out a hand to help the girl to her feet, “We won’t hurt you. We’re here to rescue you.”

I could feel her shuddering through Kalli’s arms. The mate connection was unreal. Especially when we were this close together. I moved to the next door. My eyes widened when I pulled it open.

A familiar face paced back and forth inside the room. I stammered, “Kevin…?”

He turned to look at me, shock in his eyes, “Melvin? What are you doing here? Did they get you too?”

I shook my head, “No. I’m here to rescue you.”

He ran for the door, “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

Kalli touched my mind as she joined us with Sarah. Do you know this boy?

Yes. He goes to our school. He’s the kid that was missing.

I felt the girl piecing together the clues. That means they also kidnapped him trying to get to you.

Most likely. We need to check the rest of these rooms and get out of here.

I already knew from a glance at my map that the remaining rooms were empty. I opened them all just in case. I whispered to Kevin, ”Who kidnapped you anyway?”

He turned back to me, “The whole thing is a little foggy. There was a guy wearing a red suit. It was an old-fashioned suit. He kept asking me about shoes.”

“Shoes?”, I asked.

He nodded emphatically, “I had these weird shoes and we sold them. They were worth a lot of money. I still don’t know where they came from.”

I gaped at my friend, “Tap shoes?”

“Yeah”, he stared at me, “How did you know?”

I could have slapped myself. I set the whole thing in motion with a moment of carelessness.

“We need to get out of here”, I informed everybody.

We almost made it. Eddie led us out of a door at the side of the house. I was about to delete the wall again when a pair of security guards armed with strange-looking sticks barred our path.

Are those wands?

Kalliphae nodded, drawing her own wand. I drew mine as well, pointing it at the guards as I inspected them.

Name

Frank Delmigo

Class

Shield Mage

Level

10

Affection Level

Determined Indifference

Name

Severence Page

Class

Celestial Mage

Level

8

Affection Level

Dutiful

We had a standoff for a minute before Eddie yelled at me, “Un-ghost me now.”

I dropped my gaze for a second to pull up the kid’s menu and remove the edit. The kid tried to get their attention, but my moment of distraction was all it took. Both of the mages attacked me at the same time.

“Mzreteortz”

“Pzrotexz”

A blue shimmer erupted from the shield mage’s wand, surrounding the bodyguards while the other cast a spell which caused a shadow to appear above my head. I looked up in time to see mana coalesce into a ball, gathering all of the dust from the air around it until it formed into a large porous rock.

The newly formed celestial body proceeded to plummet directly toward my head. I raised my arms to brace myself from the impact, but I needn’t have worried. My shirt dematerialized, reforming as a giant hand above my head. The celestial meteor plummeted right into its grip which closed around it.

The hand then dissipated and reformed around my chest. I could feel the mana from the spell absorbed into my armor. Kalliphae retaliated by pointing her wand at the celestial mage.

“Bvoomzt”

She was getting better with the magic. The fireball formed almost instantly and closed the distance between them before smashing into the blue haze, causing it to flicker. I aimed my wand at the pair of mages again, but this time I pulled up the menu on their wands.

Item:

Standard Issue Company Wand

Components

Wood, Mana

Item Rank:

D

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Thompson

I smiled at the ownership tag. If the wand didn’t recognize them as owners, I might just be able to edit it. I changed them both into Flowers. Frank stared dumbly at the rosebud in his hands while Severance channeled her mana through hers, causing it to blossom.

I took advantage of the distraction sent the signal. A button pressed on my M-Phone sent a text message to Lou.

Do it now!

Everyone froze when a loud roaring filled the air. Before the guards had a chance to react, the gate behind them exploded inwards, blown off its hinges as a vehicle that was too big to be allowed burst into the driveway.

Lou stuck his head out of the window and hollered, “Come on you’s. Let’s blow this joint.”

Kalli and I held our wands trained on the guards as we edged past them. I heard sounds of commotion coming from the house. I pulled the door open and Kalli led Kevin and Sarah toward the back seat, flashing the driver a smile and saying, “Hi, Lou.”

Lou grinned at her and said, “Big Lou to the rescue. Pile in kids.”

Eddie tried to follow but I blocked his path, apologizing, “Sorry kid. I appreciate your help, but your parents probably have some way of tracking you. I can’t let you come with us right now.”

The kid looked dejected but didn’t try to force his way past me. I squeezed in behind Kalli and pulled the door shut, looking at the lights flashing to life in the house. Lou wasted no time backing out of the driveway and turning the cab around for our getaway. Only, it wasn’t a cab anymore. I inspected my handiwork.

Item:

High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Cab (Edited)

Components

Metal, Mana

Item Rank:

B

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Crobb

I knew that the military called them a humvee. This was a humcab. Whatever it was, Lou loved it. He put the pedal to the metal and the vehicle lurched into motion and we started to make our way down the hill away from the Thompson house.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the house

Nestor sat in a small servant’s quarters stirring a cup of coffee. He was well aware of the fiasco going on in the house at that very moment. However, he was not paid to guard the house. He wouldn’t lower himself to that level even if they asked him to.

As far as Nestor was concerned, he had done his job. He smiled to himself as he observed his crisp red suit in the mirror. He was no longer forced to debase himself with trashy unawakened suits.

He yawned while watching the dots on the map making a daring escape. The man didn’t even flinch when the building shuttered as something exploded onto the property.

He looked up when a balding man hunched over a gaudy-looking cane stumbled into the room. The red-faced man pointed the cane at Nestor and squealed, “Why aren’t you out there catching them?”

Nestor set the cup of coffee down, “Do you have another job for me, sir?”

The man lowered the cane, slamming it to the ground, “Yes. Collect the manipulator and bring him to me at once.”