There was an explosion of rambunctious energy from across the plaza as Brue tried to wrangle some trouble makers. Supposedly, Ho Plaza was an area of Cornell’s campus for students to congregate and was the occasional site of protests. Today, however, the only people making any noise were a group of religious zealots. Noelle was familiar with the type from her time at Princeton. Every so often religious groups would show up on campus with some signs and a megaphone and prophetize on how all the students would be going to hell once they died. Noelle viewed it as wasted effort on their parts. The religious students already attended services while the non-religious milled about doing their thing and committing undoubtedly countless acts of sodomy. The whole dog and pony show was a collective waste of time for all parties involved.

Today was no different. Campus security was having trouble convincing these self-styled preachers to leave and had called in some Ithaca police to scare them straight.

“You really need to leave! It’s your right to protest, but that doesn’t mean you can harass the student body!” Brue argued.

“These kids aren’t safe! Angels walk amongst us friend! It can’t be long until the end now! This world is done for by the end of the year, mark the Lord’s words!”

And so it went on and on. The group wasn’t willing to leave without a fight and Brue wasn’t willing to go through with charging them with anything, his harassment threats a paper tiger act. This would take awhile.

Noelle had no energy for policing today. While she was feeling lethargic in general there was a much larger reason.

That being, she didn’t deserve to be an officer in the first place.

Just the night before she had come face to face with the beast and the people threatening the town and done nothing. They went about their business as if she was a rock with no power to affect anything. The only halfway useful thing she had accomplished was escorting the university girl home after everything was said and done (to her, the entire encounter had been nothing more than an alcohol induced blackout).

She wasn’t good for anything so she wouldn’t do anything. Noelle stood by as Brue argued with the group. She’d leave the police work for the police officers.

As for Noelle, she didn’t know what she should be doing.

The argument between Brue and the protestors carried on.

“What’s up? You’re unexpectedly meek today,” said Brue.

They were in his squad car now. It had taken a while to get the group to disperse but even they had to eat it seems.

“I’m the same as always,” Noelle replied.

“So curt…”

“See? That means everything’s normal.”

“No. Before you were mean. Now you just seem depressed,” said Brue, “I’ve seen a lot of different people during my time on the force, I know how to read folks by now. More importantly, I’m married. I know when a lady is down in the dumps but won’t admit it.”

“So what? Looking to get promoted to detective?”

“Hahaha! Not for the pay those guys get! I have a mortgage you know?”

Brue’s laughter died down, but he refused to grant Noelle the gift of silence. “So what’s up? Having reservations about the job?”

“How did y-“

“It’s written all over your face. Policing is never what rookies make it out to be. Some think they’ll do nothing but write parking tickets while others think they’ll just grow a new personality and become John McClaine overnight. Reality’s somewhere in the middle.”

“…”

He had her dead to rights. Seen through by such a goofy guy…Noelle wasn’t as cool as she thought herself to be.

“I came here to run away. Policing…it was just a half-assed attempt to shake my life up,” she admitted to Brue, “I was supposed to be an attorney. That’s what my parents wanted anyways.”

“So why’d you change your path?” Brue’s voice was almost nurturing.

“My boyfriend cheated on me. Stupid, right? But I didn’t know what to do after that. I did everything with him for years, y’know? When we broke up and all I had in front of me was years of law school…I couldn’t take it. I was qualified to be a cop and I thought…I thought maybe it’d be dynamic or something. That every day could be different and have something to show me.”

“…”

“I’m a fraud.”

Brue scratched his head. “There’s something you should know…nobody knows what they’re getting into when they start a job. Whether or not you’re a fraud…that can’t be decided so quickly.”

“How would you know? Stop trying to cheer me up.”

“I’m not trying to cheer you up, I just want you to gain some perspective.”

The car hit a pothole. Brue was cut off by his own yelp in surprise.

“Whoa…scary! Look, I didn’t always work in Ithaca. About four years back I was doing the beat in Philadelphia. I don’t think I have to say any more about that, do I?”

He didn’t.

A little over four years ago there was a horrible bioterror incident in Philadelphia, everyone knew that. An unknown pathogen with a crazy transmission rate was released in central Philadelphia and wreaked havoc. Apparently, everyone who was infected went positively mad as if they were rabid and attacked their fellow man. There were even some photos and videos of some totally twisted mutated looking people, but they were later dismissed as a hoax taking advantage of the situation to gain attention.

The military was quick to step in and quarantine the city until the virus burned itself out, but the cost in lives was extraordinary. 9/11 looked like a warm up compared to what happened in Philly, it was more like a natural disaster than a terror attack. Worse yet, nobody ever took credit for the incident. The only thing the US could do in response was heavily militarize metro police forces, filling them to the brim with ex-military and mercenaries. Hell, the whole reason Noelle was in Ithaca in the first place was because the rapid change in policing made it too hard to get a job in the city.

“It was terrifying,” said Brue in reminiscence, “Even now my memory’s a haze. I think I blocked it out because it was too traumatic.”

“Sounds horrible…”

“I couldn’t stay in Philadelphia after that. My friends were all desperate to find out who did it, but I went job hunting instead. Eventually I moved up to Ithaca with my family.” Brue sighed. “I did that because I knew I didn’t have what it takes to handle situations like that. But up here…up here I do all sorts of things. Solving robberies, breaking up fights, and sorting out all kinds of miscellaneous trouble. I like to think that I’m still helping out in my own, little way.”

Noelle looked at him. His face was solemn but there was a strength there she hadn’t realized before.

“Don’t quit just yet. Maybe you’ll find somewhere you can make a difference. That’s all I’m saying.”

Noelle relaxed into her seat. “I’ll think about it. No promises.”

“That’s all I need to hear.”

The radio crackled to life, no doubt their next order of business was coming through.

“Noise complaint and possible break in reported on Dryden Road. All units in the Cornell area proceed there. Household name: Bismarck. Address is as follows...”

“Brue…”

“What is it?”

“Step on it.” Noelle clenched her hands until it felt like blood would squeeze out. Bismarck on Dryden Road, that was where Lorelei and Beth lived.

She wasn’t quitting yet.

Noelle and Brue were the first on the scene. Everything looked in order except for a kicked in front door and a fading tinge of cold. According to Levi, that was from the Jotunheim boundary Adrian used. Those mercenaries had been here.

Noelle charged into the house. She heard Brue yell “Wait!” but she didn’t listen. She wasn’t about to spend another second standing outside scoping the place out.

The inside was neat sans some disorder. A lamp knocked from an end table here, a broken cup there. Noelle heard footsteps behind her as Brue entered the house as well. She continued to scan the room, not looking back to acknowledge her partner’s entrance.

There was somebody slumped over on the ground. A white-haired girl in her early teens.

“Lorelei!” Noelle burst over to the girl. She was completely out of it, sleeping in a position that was totally unnatural. As Noelle ran her hands over the girl’s body she found the probable cause: a dart sticking out of Lorelei’s neck.

“Holy shit! Is that a tranquilizer?!” yelled Brue.

Noelle ripped the dart from Lorelei. No doubt that wasn’t the correct medical procedure, but she was in no mood to spend time looking it up on her phone. Lorelei stirred almost immediately, red eyes peeking out from her white bangs.

“W…where…”

“It’s okay,” said Brue, “just stay calm.”

“Where…where is…where’s Beth?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find her.”

“WHERE’S MY FUCKING SISTER!” An invisible force blew Noelle and Brue backwards. Lorelei had lashed out at them with her magic.

Noelle was thrown onto the couch while Brue was caught off center and collapsed in a heap at her feet.

Lorelei pushed herself up, but the dart had taken its toll on her. She stumbled and fell again, motor function clearly impaired.

“N..nooo,” she cried, “I can’t…get stuck here…they took her…they fucking took her!” She pushed herself up again and braced against an armchair. “They took her…but I’m strong…I’ll get her back.”

“You’re not doing anything. Just stay calm,” pleaded Brue, “Just let us take care of this.” He got back to his feet and began to inch towards Lorelei.

Noelle followed suit.

Lorelei threw a lightning bolt in response. It was way off mark, skewing wildly and crashing into a vase.

“What was that?!” Brue balked at the flagrantly supernatural display he had just witnessed.

“Lorelei, stay calm. You’re in no shape to do anything,” said Noelle.

“That guy from before took her! The one your bookshop friend was fighting. He was here, but somebody else snuck up behind me before I could do anything!” Lorelei pushed off the armchair. “So stay out of my way! I’ll find whoever took her and smash their fucking balls in! I don’t need you holding me back!”

“What a mess,” lamented a male voice from behind.

Noelle and Brue spun around. Brue was met with a hand holding a ring in front of his face. There was a flash and Brue collapsed to the floor.

“Oscar?! What the hell?!” yelled Noelle.

“Relax,” said Oscar, “that was my filter. Big guy saw Lorelei shoot off a spell. I had to erase the memory while it was fresh before it could set in.”

He placed the ring back on his finger and walked forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Noelle. “I have a silent alarm in this place in case of trouble. There’s plenty of people who want their hands on a witch, and plenty of witches who make messes and muck things up.”

“I didn’t do shit! And neither did Beth!” Lorelei screamed.

“Then tell me what happened.”

“Those guys running around town did this,” said Noelle.

“Beth…,” said Lorelei, “she’s not here. I can feel that she’s gone.”

“Shit!” yelled Oscar. He ripped his phone from his pocket and placed a call. “Talise! They took the girl! Get your damn animals in gear and look for her!”

Oscar continued to snipe away on the phone. Even if Talise had the resources to find Beth, it would surely take time.

It would take too long.

Where could she be?

Noelle felt helpless. She wanted to find Beth, but all she had to go on was a loopy girl who had been tranquilized and the lingering cold of a magical barrier.

The same cold she had felt the night Adrian fought with Levi.

The same cold she had felt under the streetlight when Adrian and Caleb mocked her.

Cold.

The cold on campus.

The cold in the science building. Could it be that it wasn’t the HVAC but instead…

“I think I know where their base is,” said Noelle.

She pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed a number she had found on Google. Nobody picked up and she was sent to voicemail. Noelle left her message and hung up.

Oscar and Lorelei were looking at her expectantly.

“Let’s go. I’ll explain on the way.”