Strings of Fate

192-Numb and nervous The drive back to my old his quiet. We're all kind of anxious. Bellamy, Darrien, Megan and | all ride together.

Apparently sof the others are going to meet us there. No one even bothered arguing that Megan or | shouldn't cthis time. | have to use the spell and Megan used the sargument as last time. | think with all the security coming with us, with the team is probably the safest place either of us could possibly be. We pull up to park and unsurprisingly, there is a large group of Shifters all sitting around while Maggie moves between them all offering what looks like cake and cookies. It seems she has already distributed cups of tea to everyone as well. I hop out of the car and she beams at me.

“Ryann! It’s lovely to see you. | hear you're going on a bit of a magical scavenger hunt looking for that missing girl. I'm sure you'll do well, but there’s no harm in making sure that everyone is well fed before you go.” She cheerfully offeringthe plate. | take a cookie and ugh wow have | missed these. This might be the biggest downside in moving, more distance between myself and Maggie's amazing baking. While she gives everyone snacks I look around to see who else is here. Shaun and Aaron of course, a few other male Shifters that | have seen around but don’t know by name. I'll have to learn them. I'm happy to see that is here. She waves atenthusiastically, although I'm saved from talking because her mouth is stuffed full of cake. I like Rio, but I'm not sure I'm prepared for a long conversation right now. | have to focus on Kiara. Shaun wanders over to us.

“Good morning Alpha Kane, Miss Gale. You know, that Maggie really is a miracle worker. This cake is amazing.

We're all free to assist you for as long as it takes today. It's tthat we find that little girl. | hope you don’t mind that Rio. tagged along. She volunteered to help when she heard that Miss Gale was coming. Apparently she is quite fond of you.” He grins atand | can’t help but smile back. I'm glad that she likes me.

“Of course, more help can’t hurt.” | respond and Bellamy nods his approval. Aaron catches my eyes and givesa short nod as a greeting. As quiet as ever.

Once we're all fed, Bellamy gathers everyone around and gives an explanation as to what the plan is. Basically, | use the spell and, assuming it works, we all get in the cars and detve around until | find something. Like a gof hotter and colder from what Cam told me. We answer a few questions about how we want everyone to split up, (Even between the cars) Are we expecting multiple people wherever Kiara is being held? (Probably not but we can’t be totally sure.) Should we be prepared to be attacked magically? (Yes probably) and other than Kiara, do we know who we are looking for? (Nope, only that it’s a woman.) Maggie also volunteers to operate as a sort of hbase for everyone and promises to keep food and drinks handy for anyone who needs to pause for a break. With all the questions out of the way, | grab the tracking spell from where I've stashed it in the car, wrapped up in a towel just in case. | don’t want to risk breaking it, although | might not have to worry, | know Cam spells a lot of her glassware to be unbreakable. Still, I'm not willing to take that chance. In the daylight, the purple potion is actually almost pink. It swirls around in the bottle and sort of looks like it’s glittering, but that could just be that the glass bottle is really shiny. | take a deep breath as | prepare to follow Cam's directions. All the Shifters as well as Maggie are standing around us in a wonky kind of circle as they watch on curiously.

Bellamy hovers anxiously over my shoulder. He's a little nervous aboutdumping a spell over myself and is fiddling with his red string bracelet. I'm not worried about it. | trust Cam’s skills and | know that she wouldn't hurt me. I'm more nervous that it won't work, that Kiara doesn’t feel a strong enough connection withforto track hef. | already told her that we're coming for her today. | don’t want to be a liar.

| hold my right hand up, palm towards the sky. Bellamy uncorks the potion bottle and gives it back to me. | hold my breath as | pour it slowly over my hand. It’s so quiet in our circle that | suspect | am not the only person holding my breath. The spell looks pink on my hand and it is a much thicker consistency than I thought. More like custard than water. | was almost right about it glittering, but it’s not glitter, it’s more like tiny sparks. | pour the entire bottle over my hand, strangely none of it ends up on the floor, even though there is far more in the bottle than | should be able to reasonably hold in my single hand. When the bottle is empty, Bellamy reclaims it fromand we all stare and wait. Is 1/2 192- Numb and nervous something supposed to be happening? This is like when we removed the spell sticking the bottle to Harry’s hand all over again. Everyone is all worked up and then nothing. But does that mean it hasn’t worked or not? | experimentally close my fist and when | reopen it, my hand is empty. Uhm what? Shouldn't | be able to tell if this is working or not? I'm about half a second from bursting into tears when | feel something. My hand feels... sort of numb? | turn around and at first nothing changes, but in the general northern direction, | feel a sort of prickling feeling in my fingertips.

“I... | think it's worked? It’s really weird. But I'm fairly sure we need to go that way.” | point north.

That's a strange spell. Most Witch magic is more flashy. | was expecting flashing lights or a puff of smoke or something.” She observes. | shrug in response.

“Yeah, the friend that made it forseems to prefer keeping her spells subtle. | guess she isn’t trying to draw.

attention to herself the way a lot of Witches seem to like doing.” | agree. It does make sense. Cam likes to hide spells in her drinks and apparently is willing to give away illegal tracking spells toand controlled healing spells to doctor Dae. She is talented and powerful, but it suits her to be underestimated. She isn’t trying to draw attention. Most Witches try to show off how powerful they are in order to get more business and to push up the prices of their products. Cam uses magic and it is clearly a large part of her life, but it's not her whole life. If she suddenly lost the ability to use magic she would get by just fine. I've met plenty of Witches who probably couldn't even get dressed in the morning without smagical assistance. Okay, that might be an exaggeration. But most powerful Witches use magic to make a living and they rarely have other marketable skills. A lot of Witches don’t even send their children to regular school, choosing to homeschool their kids with a focus on magic related skills.

| spend a couple more minutes moving around the car park and getting a feel for the magic in my hand. It seems like the prickling-feeling in my fingers means ‘go that way‘ and the numbness means there is nothing there.

Once I'm confident, we all load ourselves into the cars and begin to head north.