Even though Gabriel escaped from the wizard’s academia, he didn’t waste the rest of the day. In fact, while on his way back home he was already thinking of the fastest way to gain access in the library and how to ensure an entrance in the magician’s manor, in case he wasn’t accepted.

But these turned out to be mindless worries, as a letter of welcoming had been left in his humble abode. It had just turned two PM and Gabriel could return to his study or the magical nail. Or that is what he thought until his door was knocked on. Not with the secret pattern he had given Kupi, though.

Alarms rung in his head as he prepared for a possible attack. Was it the owner of the nail? Maybe the person controlling Arabelle’s mind. Had Grumbonk really gotten better and managed to find a way to stay away of the mana crystal for longer periods of time?

These thoughts raced through his mind while he activated the defense mechanisms he had prepared beforehand, for situations such as these. But just as he was going to set off the final and main trap a voice came from the other side of the door.

- Hey… Gabriel? It’s me, Ted…From the restaurant, you know? Is Arabelle inside? She left a few hours ago saying that she needed to go meet someone important, but she still hasn’t come back… If… If she isn’t there…, can you help us find her?

The man gave an explanation as to why he was here, which calmed Gabriel down a notch, but he was still on guard. Arabelle was gone! Why was he so foolish and didn’t mark her with a location spell to know where she was at every point? She wasn’t being herself, so she wouldn’t mind it! But maybe the man controlling her could find him with that… It was all too complicated for Gabriel to solve alone.

- Gabriel, are you there? – Ted asked once more, as the teen hadn’t answered yet. He was now disabling everything he had just enabled, which took a little more time.

- I’m tidying up, it’ll take just a moment. – Gabriel replied with a half-truth and when he finished, he finally let Ted in, who had leaned on the wall of the alley, tired both mentally and physically. He wasn’t a very fit man, after all. And the worries that his star chef had brough to him had also impacted him greatly.

- I…Where could she have gone? She’ll come back, right? I need her! She works for ME!!! – Ted was really emotional, although this didn’t affect Gabriel in his favor, it might have actually decreased his chances of getting help. But Gabriel wasn’t heartless and actually cared about his sister.

- I cannot confirm or deny your suspicions, but if we don’t do anything we increase the chances of something bad happening to her. – Ted started sweating nervously, which wasn’t helpful at all… – Now I need you to calm down and tell me what happened today before she left. Anything out of… No, it’s better if you tell me everything. Every little detail that you have about Arabelle’s experience inside the restaurant today.

- Ok, ok. – Ted said as he breathed heavily and deeply to calm himself down. – So first thing she does is enter the restaurant through the main entrance and go to the kitchen, where she starts wearing a uniform as soon as she enters. – Ted continued to give a quite boring explanation on Arabelle’s workday that day. It seemed quite normal, working a bit, resting a bit. Only when she left for the bathroom and stopped working for the day did Ted pay more attention to her and then she said that she had to leave to meet someone important. – What can I do now that the star chef is gone?!

From the whole telltale Gabriel understood three main things. First of all, Ted didn’t really care about Arabelle, instead he cared about his business above all else. Secondly, he learned that his sister had actually been doing pretty well… well before the mind control stuff, of course.

Finally, Gabriel realized that the mind control had the ability to push thoughts into the brain from afar, but changing the spell probably required contact, which was the reason for Arabelle’s transport towards the bathroom. The person controlling her was probably hiding there and changed or upgraded the spell in a way that would affect her enough for Ted to notice.

It was now a race of time, they – and ‘they’ meant only Gabriel. Ted had nothing to help yet and was only good for whining and asking for help. Gabriel was surprised that this man owned at some point a large restaurant. Was he always like this or had Arabelle’s superior skill changed him? That was a question for another time…

- I will get to work, then. – Gabriel supported the motion of investigating more about the person who had kidnapped his sister. – Meanwhile you should go back to the restaurant to see whether she comes back and if she does, capture her! – He knew that they’d only get a chance to save her if she sticked to one place and although the chances of her returning now were slim, they still existed.

Ted sighed and left his home. He would now be able to study the nail better, had the door not be knocked on again. Gabriel didn’t bother preparing the traps once more, believing that it was Ted who had something else to say, but on the door, he found no one.

He looked around and found a letter on the floor, so he took it inside after taking one more look around, not too weirded out by the situation but suspicious of the content of the letter. Not in the textual sense, but maybe some hidden spell was inside.

Going to his private workplace, observing the letter he realized that it came from the magician’s manor – or at least it had its stamp, which should, in theory, be only used by them. Still careful, Gabriel opened the letter from afar, controlling the opening knife to access the contents of the letter.

Nothing happened, so Gabriel started reading it. It wasn’t a work of art, but it conveyed its message efficiently. Furthermore, inside the letter was his all-new student card which magically filled in the spaces, although it was probably prepared beforehand to showcase them when it was affected by light.

Now he had somewhere else to study about his sister’s situation and also about the magical nail. About the fingernail, Gabriel had managed to damage it and separate it, having now two different nails, which were comparatively warmer.

Interestingly, the chills they gave didn’t halve, instead each kept about 75% of their original power, which Gabriel would’ve liked to test more if he had more resources to experiment on. But with he had to be careful with the remnants of what he had.

With this thought in mind Gabriel prepared the security measures in his house as he was going to leave to study on the magician’s manor, immediately utilizing this chance he was given. While preparing the final contraptions the door was knocked on once more.

- What now?! – Questioned Gabriel ironically while making his way towards the entrance of his house. He didn’t get an answer once more, but as he was already mentally exhausted, he didn’t check the identity of the person outside, which he should’ve done, as he realized when he opened the door.

But it was already too late. Gabriel was knocked out instantly and a man wearing rags started carrying Gabriel out of his house, street and section of the city. He’d stay knocked out for over 24 hours.