People and Places Unknown

Daniel sprinkled capsicum over the omelettes, bopping his head along to the radio while he cooked. Cooking was a lot like alchemy, really, just with less magic and more yum.

From their kitchen window Daniel could see half the city they were so high up. He couldn't go out into the world, but at least living in a penthouse apartment meant he had a good view of it. He folded the omelettes and then found two plates for him and his dad.

It had been when Daniel was only nine that he'd started cooking their meals. His dad was just so busy, so it only made sense that Daniel should take on what jobs he could. Daniel cooked, Daniel cleaned, Daniel made things that his dad needed for work or that they could sell, Daniel studied both magical and more mundane topics. He was never without something to occupy himself.

Daniel's dad glanced up from his laptop when the plate was placed next to him and gave Daniel a grateful smile before returning his attention to whatever he had been reading. He'd been like that a lot lately, distracted and distant. Daniel could guess well enough at why. He sat down across from his dad at their small kitchen table and ate, glad to at least have his dad’s company.

A knock on the door made them both freeze.

Nobody ever knocked on their front door. Ever ever. It didn't happen. In the entire time Daniel had lived here it had never... Nobody could even get up there without Daniel and his dad allowing them up, not unless...

"Take your plate to your room," his dad said, voice quiet and determinedly calm. "There's nothing else of yours laying around that would suggest more than one person lives here."

Daniel managed to force himself to swallow the food in his mouth rather than spit it out, but he couldn't speak, couldn't move from where he sat stiffly in his chair.

There was another knock on the door, this one more demanding. Daniel's dad pulled him to his feet and placed a hand on his back, urging him towards his room.

"We could fight them," Daniel hissed quietly, despite that idea being contrary to everything they had ever discussed.

His dad prodded him in the direction of his room. "They're not stupid, Daniel. They will have taken precautions against magic."

Daniel strangled the rest of his objections, causing them to come out as a low whine rather than words. It was much too late to start changing their plans.

There was another particularly loud thump on the door as they started down the hallway, followed by a voice through the wood. "Mr Gresham! Open up!"

"One moment, please!" Daniel's dad called out before turning his attention back to Daniel. "I know you're afraid. So am I. Not for myself, though — this is annoying and will probably be unpleasant, but I have no reason to believe they'd hurt me. It's you I'm worried about. Can you do what you have to?"

"Call Harper and tell him what happened, go with him and stay with your coworkers," Daniel said to solidify their plans in his mind. "Yes, I can. Don't worry about me."

His dad pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket and pressed it into Daniel's hand. "Then go."

Daniel put the phone in his own pocket and then paused with his hand on the knob of his bedroom door. Looking back, he saw his dad press his hand to a scratch on the wall, the only marker of the spell hidden beneath. It was Daniel's work, drawn with invisible ink only visible under ultraviolet light. Goosebumps ran down Daniel's spine as the shockwave of magic brushed against him on its way to knock out every security camera within a block's radius of their apartment.

It felt wrong, so wrong, going into his bedroom and hiding away while his dad was left to face the enforcers on his own. If his dad hadn't announced his presence before, couldn't they have both simply hidden? It might have deterred the enforcers long enough for him and his dad to get away.

And was there really no way they could fight? Surely there was a way around anti-magic. Well, yes, there was one — bullets. Even if they had been in possession of firearms and the skills to use them, though, Daniel's dad wasn't exactly in favour of violence against humans. In truth, Daniel would probably be no more violently inclined than his dad if it came down to it.

After placing the plate on his dresser, Daniel pressed his hand against the spell etched on the inside of his bedroom door. The wood rippled and then there was a wall where the door had been a moment before. He pressed his ear against it and listened.

"So nice of you to answer your door, Mr Gresham," the same male voice Daniel had heard before said. "I hope you aren't thinking of attempting to trick us."

"I've always abided by the law," Daniel's dad said, his voice tight but outwardly calm. "You have nothing to worry about from me."

The man gave an unconvinced grunt. "Well, be that as it may, we prefer to take precautions. You understand."

"Better than I'd like to."

“Hold out your arm, please,” a female voice said in a tone that undermined any good manners her words might have suggested.

Daniel heard his dad give a grunt of pain. “Who taught you to give injections? Stabbing isn't the usual method.”

“Quiet.”

“I'm guessing you just dosed me with that new compound that counteracts magical abilities.”

“And a tracking chip, so don't even bother trying to run,” the male voice said.

“Why would I possibly want to do that?”

“Oh yes, I forgot,” said the female voice. “You're a law abiding citizen. Tell me, will your cooperation extend to letting us search your apartment?”

“Let's not pretend you actually care about whether or not you have my permission.”

“Yes, let's not,” the male voice agreed.

To Daniel's relief, the search didn't last long. They had been careful not to leave any signs of Daniel's presence lying around, but it was hard not to be nervous when this had been what they had feared for so long.

Daniel heard the front door slam as they left, but he stayed listening for another ten minutes just to be sure everyone was truly gone. It was only then that he pulled his dad's mobile out of his pocket and scrolled through the stored numbers for the 'H' that represented Harper.

This should have been the easiest part, but nerves strangled Daniel's gut as he stared down at the 'call' button. What could he possibly say? He had talked to nobody but his father since he was six, and this... He had no idea what the right words were in a situation like this. It had to be done, though, and sooner was better in case someone came back to do a proper search of the apartment. Daniel took a deep breath and pressed 'call'.

#

Harper sipped at his morning coffee at their small kitchen table. Soon Orion would arrive and their work day would begin. At that moment this place would become his office, but for now it was his home. He had to keep things separated in his head like that, to have a clear start and end to work. Not like Spooks, who never seemed to stop working when he wasn't in cat form. Or like Kate, currently sitting across from him eating toast, who was still in her pyjamas and was unlikely to get out of them unless they had to leave the house or Arlyn groused at her enough.

Harper heard his mobile ring from where he'd left it in his bedroom. He stretched and yawned as he stood, and then went to retrieve it.

A glance at the screen revealed the caller to be Orion, not someone who Harper would have expected so soon before work. If he had been running late for some reason, Arlyn would have been the most logical person to call.

“Sup, Ry?” The only sound on the other end of the phone was breathing. “Orion?”

“They took him,” said a voice that was most definitely not Orion's. Male, but younger. Softer and more afraid than Harper had ever heard Orion sound.

“Daniel?”

“Yes, sorry,” Daniel said. “He's okay, I think, but they came — the enforcers — they came and took him. They injected him with that thing that suppresses magic and a tracking device so he can't escape.”

Harper took a couple of deep breaths. Daniel was scared, so he needed to stay calm. “Don't worry, we'll deal with it. Are you okay?”

“Yes, I'm fine. I hid.”

Harper made a face at the guilt he heard in Daniel's voice. He could understand feeling that way, but Daniel was sixteen and not, as far as Harper knew, at all trained for combat. If Orion hadn't been able to do anything to resist them, Daniel only would have made things worse if he'd gotten involved.

“I'll come and get you, okay?” Harper said. “Get your things packed. I'll be there in fifteen minutes.”

“Thank you,” Daniel said before hanging up.

Harper let out a long sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. He had a lot to process and not much time to do it in.

Orion had been taken and now they had to find some way to get him back. They had to take care of Daniel, who the other's didn't even know about yet. They had to—

"Who are you going to get?"

Harper jumped and dropped his mobile at the sound of Arlyn's voice. He turned to see him standing at his bedroom door. "Don't do that. Fuck."

Arlyn folded his arms across his broad chest. He was a solid, intimidating force. Not what the word 'fae' brought to most people's minds. "Is someone in trouble?"

Harper ran his hand through his hair. It was getting long. He needed a haircut. "This is kind of time sensitive, so to summarise: Orion has been taken by the enforcers. He has a sixteen year old son who lives with him who I now need to go pick up."

Arlyn's brow wrinkled and a frown tugged at his lips, but he didn't move out of the doorway. "He has a son that he just happens to never have mentioned. Ever. Doesn't that sound just a bit suspicious to you?"

"Orion told me about him a few months back. No, don't look at me like that. He was just worried about them taking his kid away. I'm the least likely to ever get taken in for the more convincing style of questioning the enforcers make use of. Plus I saw the kid. Remember when I had that curse on me and Orion took me up to his apartment? It was just a glimpse, but I saw him."

Arlyn rubbed his chin. "And he's a wizard?"

"Yes. Can I go and get him now, please?"

Arlyn leaned out of the room. "Kate? Have you been eavesdropping?"

"What do you take me for?" Kate called back from the kitchen. "Of course I have."

"Good," Arlyn said. "You can drive Harper. Stay in the car and keep lookout while Harper goes in and gets the kid."

"Daniel," Harper said. "That's his name."

"Fine. Go." Arlyn stepped back from the doorway to let Harper past.

"Give me a minute!" Kate said as she dashed into her bedroom. When she emerged a short while later she was fully dressed and had her car keys in hand. "Guess we're starting work early today."

Harper glanced at his watch as they headed for the front door. "Ten minutes early. I think we'll survive."

"I think we should file for overtime."

Despite everything, Harper managed a huff of laughter. "If overtime was a thing for us, Spooks would be rich."

"We really need some kind of union representation."

"I'd settle for pizza nights once a week," Harper said as he pushed open the front door. "Do you know the way to Orion's place?"

"I drove you guys there when you were all cursed up, so yeah," Kate said. "Guess now I know why he was so determined not to let me up even though he could barely carry you on his own. I knew the whole thing about me disrupting his focus was bullshit, I just thought his real reason was something stupid. Like thinking I'd track mud on his carpet or something."

"I'm surprised you put up with that."

Kate opened the door to the car they shared. "Clearly you've never seen Orion angry."

"No, I have. Once. I guess I understand."

It wasn't until they were in the car and headed towards Orion's place that Kate spoke again. "So... what's he like?"

That was a difficult question considering Harper's minimal exposure to Daniel. "Polite?"

A smile quirked Kate's lips as she shot Harper a look. "Polite? That's it?"

"I just spoke to him for the first time. The conversation lastest, like, a minute. What do you want from me? He has dark hair. Happy?"

Kate laughed. "Well, I guess we'll see. Orion seems like he'd make a good dad, so any kid of his can't be too bad."

"He's been in that apartment with nobody but Orion for company since he was six. Expect social defects."

"I'm a walking social defect. I think I can deal."

Harper stared out the window at the passing buildings. They lived on the very edge of the inner city, the last of the suburban houses before everything became multistory. Within five minutes their surroundings had changed from low income detached houses to buildings that towered above them. Kate had to drive around for a while to find somewhere to park, but they ended up not far from the building she pointed out.

Harper looked up at the tall apartment building as he walked towards it. Orion lived here? It did not look cheap at all. It was no secret that Orion wasn't quite as broke as the rest of them, but Harper had no idea he could afford to live in a place like this. He definitely wasn't relying on the salary they paid him to make rent.

Harper scanned the area in search of anyone who might be monitoring the building and, spotting nothing suspicious, stepped up to the intercom. He pressed the button next to 'Gresham' and waited. A few moments later there was a click and a light came on the intercom, but there was silence on the other end of the line.

"Daniel?" Harper spoke into the intercom. "It's Harper. I'm here to pick you up. You ready?"

A relieved sigh crackled through the intercom. "Yes. I have too many things to carry on my own, though. Can you come up?"

"Yeah, sure."

There was a rustle on the other end of the line, and then the electronic door to the building slid open.

"We're right up the top," Daniel said before the light on the intercom went out.

Walking into the building, Harper felt exposed. Not so much like enforcers were going to leap out and arrest him at any moment. More like someone was going to come along and point out that he clearly didn't belong in a place like this and ask him to leave. The elevator doors slid open as soon as Harper pressed the button and he was relieved to find it empty. He stepped in and pressed the button for the top floor.

There was a small hallway leading out from the elevator to the front door of Orion's apartment. The hallway was completely, obviously empty, but Harper still felt uncomfortable walking down it. He pressed the doorbell and, a couple of seconds later, the door opened.

When not viewed through blurry vision, Daniel looked a lot more like his dad. Darker hair, yes, but the same soft features and light blue eyes. Daniel chewed his lip and scanned the hallway anxiously as he stepped aside to let Harper in.

Orion's living room was large and open, a wide screened television mounted on one wall surrounded by a sofa and two armchairs, which seemed excessive for only two people. Between the seating and the television was a large glass coffee table. Bookshelves took up almost all of the rest of the space along the walls of the room, but other than that it was mostly just empty space. Large windows along the far wall gave an amazing view of the city and packed bags sat in the middle of the room.

"Sorry, it's a lot of stuff," Daniel said, drawing Harper's attention back to him. "We've kind of been keeping it all packed up for a while, just in case. We have some things that can't really be replaced, and then some basic supplies. I wish we could take everything, but I guess we can just buy whatever else I need."

Harper scratched the back of his neck. "Well, maybe. Wizard stuff can be pretty expensive, though, and our budget's a lot tighter than yours looks to be. We'll see what we can do."

"Oh, no, sorry. I wouldn't ask you to pay for my things." Daniel picked up a backpack and handed it to Harper. "We have our own money."

Harper unzipped the backpack and discovered that, oh yes, they did indeed have their own money.

"It's not as much as it looks," Daniel said when all Harper could do was stare down at the backpack full of tightly rolled notes. "It's not all in hundreds or anything. Most of it's smaller notes. But it's most of the money we have, so... it'll be enough."

"How are you guys rich? We do not pay Ry anywhere near backpack full of cash amounts."

Daniel shrugged self consciously. "Like you said, wizard stuff is expensive. I mean, not so much basic supplies — you can buy a box of candles or some herbs for a few dollars. If you know how to make things that take a bit of skill or knowledge, though, it's not too hard to make a good profit."

"Clearly my dad should have put more effort into wizardy things. He sure didn't get rich being a plumber. Of course, he was kind of a shit wizard."

Daniel picked up a backpack and tested its weight before slinging it over his shoulder. "Sorry. I always forget your parents weren't human."

"You apologise a lot."

Daniel rubbed his palms on his jeans and mustered up a smile. "Only when I'm nervous."

"Nervousness is understandable."

"Yeah, I guess." Daniel tried to lift the largest of the bags, a duffel bag, but found he could barely get it off of the ground. "Can you carry this? Sorry. I should have put a spell on it to counter the weight, but I forgot. I had to drag it to get it out here."

Harper's attempt at lifting the bag was much more successful, but it wasn't surprising Daniel had struggled. The thing weighed a ton. "Is this full of bricks? Be honest."

"Close. Books. Rare ones we'd prefer not to lose if someone comes to raid this place later."

"Fair enough. Here, you take the money bag back, that one's light. Is there another sort of heavy one?" Harper lifted the bag of books along with a second bag Daniel gave him before nodding decisively. "That's my limit. Can you carry the rest?"

The muscles in Daniel's arms strained as he hefted the rest of the bags, but the nod he gave was firm. "Yes. Let's go."

With Daniel straining under the weight of the bags, it was hard to tell whether or not leaving the apartment added any tension to his body. It wasn't until they stepped outside of the apartment building and Daniel squinted and twisted his face away from the sunlight that it truly sunk in for Harper just how long Daniel had been shut away. The windows in their apartment were tinted; Daniel hadn't seen unfiltered sunlight in ten years.

Harper nudged Daniel's arm. "Come on. Kate's parked down here."

"Oh... you brought her?"

"Shouldn't I have?"

It was kind of adorable how easily Daniel flustered. "No, I just mean... did you explain things? Does she know what's going on?"

"I summarised for her and Arlyn. By the time we get back, I'm sure Arlyn will have told Spooks too."

Daniel watched nervously as a woman passed them on the street, but she didn't even spare them a glance. Every sound and movement drew Daniel's attention, and Harper wondered if it was because his dad had just been taken and he was afraid or simply because he wasn't used to being outside. Maybe both.

It was a relief when they finally reached the car, both for their muscles and for Daniel's nerves. Kate climbed out and handed the keys over to Harper so that he could open the trunk.

Once Daniel had dropped his bags near the back of the car, Kate held out her hand for him to shake. "Hey, I'm Kate."

"Daniel... um, Orion's my dad."

"Yeah, I figured that was who you were since that was who this doofus went to get. We can usually rely on him for basic tasks. Not nabbing some random kid in place of the one we're after probably falls within his capabilities."

Harper tossed the last of the bags in the trunk and then slammed it shut. "Don't call me a doofus. It's rude."

"Oh no, not rude."

Harper gave her a disparaging shake of his head before opening the back door of the car for Daniel, who had been standing around looking uncertain of the next step in the whole 'car' process. By the time Harper climbed in on the other side, Kate was already in the driver's seat.

"It's not far," Harper assured Daniel as Kate started up the car and received a stiff nod in response. Harper's lips tightened and his eyes skimmed Daniel's form for a topic of conversation. His gaze stopped on Daniel's hand where it was fiddling with the beads around his neck. "Are those magic?"

"Huh? Oh, yes. Pre-prepared spells. I guess you've seen my dad use his plenty of times before."

"Ha. Yeah."

Almost all of the battle magic Harper had seen Orion do used the beads. Unlike fae magic, most wizard magic required some kind of ritual. If it weren't for those spells Orion could carry around within the beads ready to activate at any time, he would have been practically useless in a fight. Harper suspected Daniel wasn't entirely the helpless lamb be appeared.