Kyle walked home by himself at some unknown hour and saw a few other guards on the way. He told them about already meeting a guard and them taking Beth home. It was very strange that none of the guards wanted to escort him home though, they just walked off when he told them Beth was safe.

'Such is the privilege of a merchant's daughter.' Kyle sighed and continued home. When he arrived, Elena was on the couch. It was very late, so Dave was probably asleep, and Fred was probably out helping with the search.

"Kyle!" Elena quickly got up when she saw Kyle enter the house and she hugged him. She was extremely worried and several things were going through her head. Either Kyle collapsed like he did so many other times and had just not come home from Beth's home or was on the street somewhere, or he was taken away by the Legion of Holy Swords for using magic while being under 8 years old. Elena did think about him being kidnapped, but then he mind went foggy and she dropped the idea.

"I'm fine mom." Kyle said, trying to push Elena away. He still had a little dirt on him from the sewer room.

"What happened? Where is your friend? Are they fine?" Elena asked many question, so Kyle went down the list to answer them.

"Some people stopped us and wanted to talk about something and it took longer than we expected. Beth went home with a guard. They are fine." It was a lie about what happened, but Elena was foolish and might believe him.

"There is no way that you were only stopped for a conversation!" Elena was not falling for it. She knew something big happened.

"Okay, me and Beth were almost out of the 2nd district towards the 3rd when some people grabbed us, but we got away before they did anything." Kyle came clean. He could not think of anything to say, and it wasn't like it would have any long lasting consequences. Those people were criminals, even they could not report someone for using magic under age.

"Grabbed you? You mean like.... kidnappers?" Elena was frightened at the thought of her baby boy being taken by kidnappers. Fred did not tell Elena about the movements of criminals in the town, and Elena did not leave the house when she was young, but she knew what kidnappers were.

"They were just thugs, but we are fine mom!" Kyle was unsuccessful at calming Elena down.

"Okay okay, change out of those clothes and we can talk in the morning Kyle." Elena held it in and set a fuse for when she would burst. In the morning, they would be able to talk with Fred.

"Yes mom." Kyle left the living room and got the bucket to take a bath. After filling it from the well behind the house, Kyle looked up at the moon. It was a very tiny moon, and Kyle could not tell if it was far away or just small.

'I really fucked up.'

The next morning, Kyle had a hard time waking up, but for Elena it was important that he went to school, so he got up anyways. Dave was still asleep like he always was, and was needed to be woken up by Kyle.

"Wake up Dave." Kyle said as he pushed Dave a little bit.

"Big brother? When did you get home?" Dave was asleep before Kyle got home, even though he waited for a while for Kyle. It just took too long.

"I got home late last night, everything was fine though."

"Oh, that's good." Dave got up from his bed and went with Kyle into the living room. Fred was not awake yet, and was probably not informed about Kyle coming home for a while later. Elena was laying on the couch, mostly asleep.

"Morning mom." Kyle said as he stood next to her. Dave sat at the table like he did every day.

"Uhhh, go back to sleep Kyle. You don't have to go to school today." Elena said in a groggy voice and did not open her eyes.

"I need to see if Beth is fine." Kyle said as he went to the door.

"I don't think Beth will be going to school either." Elena shifted on the couch and looked at Kyle making is way to the door.

"Then I will go to her house." Kyle turned to look at Elena and stopped before the door.

"I don't think you should go to Beth's house Kyle. How do you think her parents feel?"

"What do you mean?" Kyle knew that he messed up, but he also fixed everything. He should be fine with the Valheart's.

"Well, " Elena sat up straight on the couch and rubbed her eyes. "Well, Beth was walking home with you when the ki-kidnappers took you, so they might think it was your fault." Elena rested her arms on her legs and looked at Kyle.

"Yeah, I'll just stay here." Kyle was not sure about that, but the Valhearts were eccentric people and would probably have something to say to him about putting Beth in danger. There was also the case of Berry who would absolutely not let Kyle go without punishment. Berry had become less protective of Beth now that Kyle had been coming over every day, but he still sometimes stopped Kyle and questioned him about his intentions.

"Just go back to sleep Kyle and i'll wake you up when he eat. You too Dave." Elena went back to sleeping on the couch and both Kyle and Dave went into their room.

POV: Berry Valheart

I always knew he was a bad guy! That Kyle Mercer! I have to split him and Beth up... I know exactly how to do it too.

"Beth, did you see the kidnappers?" It's just me Beth and Beth home right now. Mom and Dad had work and Cory has school. I usually get Cory from the school when it is time to come home, so I only have a few hours to talk with Beth.

"Yeah, I saw them..." Beth is such a wimp, I have to protect her.

"You know what I hear kidnappers do Beth? I heard that they kidnap two kids so that they can kill one to show the parents of the other that they mean business." Haha, Beth is putting her hand over her mouth, it's working!

"Yeah that's right. So that friend of yours was probably there to show mom and dad that they were serious." Aw, Beth just ran away crying.

But... it's not entirely false. I heard it from someone at the blacksmith shop that something like that happened in Drunkroot. Two kids disappeared one night, and the next day the poor kid's body was found outside the rich kid's parent's house. Those parents paid big money to get their kid back too.

POV: Beth Valheart

Was it my fault? Was Kyle almost killed because of me? I could hear the kidnappers in the other room, and they sounded so sure of their plan.

Berry was just so accurate too. Why did he have to say such things? Ah! I can never show myself around Kyle again!