Bryson Coldwater laid on his bed staring up at the ceiling waiting impatiently. What is taking them so long? If it hits nightfall, mother and father will find out about this and if they find out, I’m going to be in trouble. Bryson thought. Relax Bryson, she probably just snuck out for a bit of fun. Bryson tried to assure himself.

A knock on the door woke him up from his inner thoughts. Getting up from the bed he quicky yanked open the door. Standing before Bryson was Nico Reese.

“News.” Bryson commanded.

“Well…” Nico began, giving a small grimace he continued, “Looking through the room, it seemed like she prepared a small trip to the city and had been doing so for a bit, she seemed to have a few clothes akin to commoners hidden in a compartment of her closet.”

“Where is she now.” Bryson demanded.

“I don’t know.” Nico said.

“But I might.” A voice interrupted.

Nico leapt back, grasping at his sword defensively. Before realizing that the person who had approached them was the senior butler, Phillip.

“There you are Phillip. I thought your job was being a butler, not scaring people.” Bryson said calmly.

“I apologize if I startled either of you.” Phillip said with a smile behind his gray mustache.

Rolling his eyes, Bryson asked, “Alright, now that you’ve amused yourself, mind telling me what you found?”

“Why yes, Young Master Bryson. I believe I found a trail.” Phillip said.

“Alright, where?”

Pulling out a piece of paper, Phillip handed it over to Bryson. Bryson took it and quickly read what was written.

“She was last seen on Lily Street and bought a pair of sunglasses?” Bryson said aloud, looking towards Phillip, “How did you find this out.”

“I have my ways.” Phillip replied coolly.

“Right.” Bryson said, calling to Nico, “Reese, we’re going.”

“Alright sir.” Nico said, recovering from his shock.

“Oh right, make sure mother and father doesn’t know.” Bryson reminded.

“Of course, I would never want to cause unneeded distress to the family. Just don’t forget to keep up your reading afterwards.” Phillip said with a bow.

“Right.” Bryson said turning to leave.

As Nico and Bryson walked towards entrance of the mansion Nico asked Bryson, “You asked Phillip to help?”

“Yeah, now that Frost is going back home I thought that he would be able to gather information.” Bryson said.

“I’ve only worked here for less than a year, what is Phillips background?”

“No idea.” Bryson replied with a shrug.

“Ah.”

***

Lottie and Sable crept through a back alley and peered through the back windows of the Warrington Sprite. Carefully watching the place, Lottie noticed a cellar door that connected to the store.

“Look, an entrance.” Lottie said pointing at it.

“I see it.” Sable said and the two of them snuck towards the cellar door.

“Hey.” Lottie asked.

“What?”

“Why do you want to investigate the place?” Lottie whispered.

“Why do you want to investigate?” Sable shot back.

“Because it’s suspicious.” Lottie said immediately, “What about you?”

“Well… it piqued my interest.” Sable said after thinking for a moment.

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t think I believe you.”

“Shut up.” Sable said as they reached the cellar door. Looking at cellar door, they could see the latch was locked with a padlock.

“Oh, how are we going to get past this?” Lottie wondered.

“Easily.” Sable said, pulling out a small penknife, gilded with gold and with strange symbols etched in on the hilt and blade.

“Oooh, are going to pick the lock like in the movies?” Lottie asked excited.

Sable gave no reply as she pressed the blade onto the padlock, immediately the knife passed through the steel padlock like warm butter. Quickly cutting the lock, Sable threw the pieces into a nearby trash can. Sable gave a cocky smile to Lottie.

“Easier than picking it.”

“A bit boring though.” Lottie said, slightly disappointed.

“Shut up and go in.” Sable snapped and opened up the latch. The two descended down to the basement, shutting the door behind them.

Reaching the bottom of the steps of the basement the two of them squinted through the darkness.

“I can’t see anything.” Lottie complained.

“Well, find a light!” Sable said annoyed.

Stumbling around for a bit the two found a light source, turning it on the room was immediately illuminated and the two were able to finally get a good look of the place.

Scanning around they noticed just how cluttered the place really was. Several boxes and parcels were neatly stacked across walls, tables, and floors. Various books and carefully packaged items were neatly stored and still in their packaging.

“Wow, this place is huge.” Lottie whistled.

Sable, ignoring her began to explore the basement room, taking off her sunglasses in order to look around better, looking at the various boxes for something that would be interesting. She then stopped when she reached a certain crate. It was nearly as large as her but what interested her was the symbol on it.

The symbol was the exact same symbol she had seen on the mailbox earlier. Found it. She thought. As she moved in to open the crate, only to find it locked.

“Damn.” She cussed.

“Wow! Look at this!” Lottie shouted out.

Sable glanced over to Lottie and saw that she had opened up a box of weapons. That’s not locked but this is? She thought in disbelief. Just what is in here? She wondered.

“Stop fooling around and get over here.” Sable snapped.

“Alright, alright.” Lottie said and walked over to Sable, “What is it?” She asked as she looked down at the box, “Ah.” She said noticing the symbol.

Sable pulled out her pen knife and quickly sliced the lock in two. Falling to the floor with a small clang the box was now unlocked. The two quickly shared a glance before opening up the crate.

Moving the lid aside, the interior of the crate was filled with packaging that carefully held several small boxes in place. Sable grabbed one of the boxes and ripped it open revealing a crystal.

It was roughly the size of her hand and was extremely smooth. The crystal was a deep violet shade and seemed to be slightly illuminated. Turning the crystal around in her hand she kept staring at it.

“What is it.” Lottie asked, also staring at the crystal in wonder.

“Something that you two kids shouldn’t be looking at.” A voice from behind called to them.

Whipping around they saw at the bottom of the stairs that lead down to the basement from the front of the store the source of the voice. Edvard Bo, paired alongside him were two others and none of them looked happy seeing the two there.

“Now, how did you two get here?” Edvard asked, voice dripping with malice.