People and Places Unknown

Daniel felt like he probably should have tried to make conversation during the car ride, but he couldn't focus with so much going on outside the vehicle. Had the word changed, or was it simply that his mind had matured? The world wasn't the way he remembered it. Had it always been this intense?

They entered the suburbs and, minutes later, pulled up in front of a slightly ramshackle looking house. Daniel took in the chipped paint on the house’s outside walls and the loose bricks on the driveway, nothing at all like the clean, well repaired apartment he shared with his dad. Not unfriendly, though, just... different. It brought vague, long since set aside memories of his mother to mind.

Arlyn was standing in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, ready to greet them. Daniel's gut clenched painfully. His dad had always said Arlyn was ridiculously large for a fae, and he was right. If it weren't for his pointed ears, frosty blue hair, and extremely pale skin, Daniel never would have guessed the broad shouldered, generously muscled man standing in the doorway was fae.

It was the look on his face, not his size, that made him intimidating, though. Daniel tried to remind himself that his dad had always said Arlyn was perpetually grumpy, never pleased, but he couldn't help feel like he was in trouble. Daniel was sure that as soon as he approached the door Arlyn would chew him out for letting his dad be taken, for hiding when he should have helped. Daniel kept his eyes on the ground as he walked towards the house with Harper at his side.

"Your dad's an idiot," was the first thing Arlyn said.

"Don't, Arlyn," Harper warned.

Arlyn huffed and Daniel flicked his eyes up to see him shake his head. "I told him he should go into hiding. I warned him! I knew this would happen. And this is why, isn't it? He honestly thought... He is an idiot."

"Sorry," Daniel murmured at the ground.

"Don't take credit for other people's flaws," Arlyn said before turning and heading back inside the house. Daniel kept one step behind Harper as they followed.

There were two black cats sitting on the sofa, one of them licking the other, and Daniel knew instantly that one of them was Spooks. He could feel it in the air, compressed space, hidden matter.

The victim of the licking stood, stretched, and jumped off the sofa. It was interesting, watching the presence move. The cat began to grow, black fur replaced by black hair and black fabric until a man stood in its place.

"Sorry," Spooks said to Daniel as he straightened his clothes. "We're all a bit upset right now. I'm sure you are too." He held his hand and then shook Daniel's hand when Daniel offered it. "I'm Spencer, but someone renamed me Spooks at some point and it seems to have stuck. I'm in charge of research and book work."

"And cuddles," Kate supplied as she dropped two of Daniel's bags next to the sofa.

Spooks' cheeks flushed but his lips curled up at the corners. "Yes, and cuddles, for those who don't mind indulging my other form."

Daniel nodded. "My dad told me a lot about you guys."

"Wish I could say the same!" Arlyn called from a nearby room.

Harper sighed. "Don't let him bother you. He just gets grumpy when he doesn't feel like he's in control of things."

Kate flopped down on the sofa and scratched the fully feline cat behind its ear. "Actually, I think you'll find he exists in a constant state of grump. It's really unhealthy."

Arlyn stuck his head through the doorway. "I can hear you, you know."

Kate gave him a sly grin. "I figured those pointy ears were good for something."

Arlyn levelled her with a glare before turning his attention to Daniel. "I've been making some calls, trying to figure out where they intend to take your father. Not much luck so far. I know a psychic who might be able to help, but I'd have to go down to see her and she's not answering her phone. Who doesn't have a mobile in this day and age?"

Daniel dropped the bag he was carrying and pulled the pyramid shaped glass pendant out from where it had been hanging down beneath his shirt. "I don't know of any way to find out where he's going, but I can find his current location and which direction he's heading in... Would that help?"

Kate looked up from where she was scratching the cat's tummy. "I vote we not bother and just keep Daniel. He seems to know some shit and, let's face it, Orion was nowhere near as cute."

Harper kicked her leg where it dangled off the sofa. "You're ten years older than him. Don't be a creep."

She kicked him back. "And I didn't mean that kind of cute. Who's the creep now? It's you, you're the creep."

Arlyn sighed. "And they wonder why I'm perpetually in a bad mood. Daniel, find your father."

"The refidex is in the car." Harper waggled his fingers in Kate's direction. "Keys?"

"Oh, uh, wait." Daniel sunk to his knees and unzipped the bag at his feet, the one containing his personal belongings. "I've got my tablet here. It's better."

"Hear that, Arlyn?" Kate asked. "Tablets are better than refidexes. You should totally buy me one. You know, for work purposes."

When Arlyn crossed his arms over his chest his muscles bulged. "No. If you want one, buy it yourself."

"With what money?"

"Exactly. We can't afford to get frivolous. None of us are rich."

I'm rich, Daniel thought but didn't say at the same time as Harper glanced in his direction. There was a part of him, a large part of him, that just wanted to say okay, I'll buy you the tablet. I'll buy you whatever you want, if you just... And that was why he didn't say it, because it got sad after that point, pathetic. Daniel didn't have a lot of social experience, but he'd seen enough movies to know trying to make people like you using money didn't work out well.

"Is there somewhere quiet I can go to do this?" Daniel asked instead. "I'm not used to such an active environment."

"My room. Come on," Harper said.

"Careful, Daniel!" Kate called after them as they left the room. "It's Harper! He's the creep!"

Harper's room was far smaller than Daniel's, but no less cluttered. Of course, the kind of clutter was very different. Daniel had books and magical supplies everywhere, while Harper's belongings were far more human. An outdated computer on a desk covered in scraps of paper, CDs, and other random junk. An overflowing waste paper basket, a few unmarked cardboard boxes in one corner, and an acoustic guitar leaning against an unmade single bed.

Harper ushered Daniel into the room in front of him, then hovered in the doorway. "Want me to leave you to it?"

"No, you can stay. Unless you don't want to. Can I sit on your bed?" At Harper's nod, Daniel went and sat cross legged on the small bed and set his tablet down in front of him. Daniel heard the door shut, and looked up to see Harper approach.

Harper looked at the bed uncertainly, then went to lean against the wall at the end of it while Daniel started up his tablet. "I wonder why your dad never uses a digital map. That's got to be better, right? A map you can zoom in on?"

"He doesn't because he can't. I mean, he never learnt. It's more difficult than a conventional map because the... because the pathways aren't there. That's the point of tradition and ritual, they wear paths, make doing things in that particular way easier. I didn't know that when I was ten, though. I thought, you know, why not just lay my laptop down on my bed and do it that way? When it took ages for me to learn I assumed I just wasn't very good at magic. Turns out I'd just been playing on hard without realising it."

"Worth it?"

His tablet started up, Daniel tapped the 'maps' app. "Only because it's a spell I use so often. Checking where my dad is has been something I've done multiple times a day for years, so yeah... worth it. Do you want to sit, or...?"

Harper climbed onto the bed and sat across from Daniel. "I thought Kate might have, uh... made you a bit uncomfortable with my proximity. On my bed and all."

When it had just been comments from Kate, Daniel had been able to ignore it just as Harper had been. Now, though, acknowledged between them, Daniel couldn't help but flush. "Well, no, I mean... that would just be silly. You're not... you're just..."

Daniel let out a long sigh. Abandon topic. Focus on his task before he flustered himself to death. Daniel unfastened the necklace holding the pyramid-shaped glass pendant around his neck. He let the pendant slide down until it hung at the end of the chain.

"What's in it?" Harper asked, his voice quiet.

Daniel held it up to illuminate the rust coloured sludge inside. "Various DNA containing cells from my dad's body. Blood, a wisdom tooth he wasn't using, skin, semen... Most cells contain all of someone's DNA, but it works better with a variety."

"You wear a necklace with your dad's jizz in it around your neck?"

Daniel flushed again. "It's a wizard thing? Stop embarrassing me for a moment, I need to focus. Don't talk unless I speak to you and don't touch me."

"See, that you think I would randomly touch you is a little concerning to me. Sounds like the kind of thing that might be concerning to you, too."

Daniel shot him a convictionless glare. "Shush. The rules aren't based on what I think you're likely to do on this occasion."

"You think I'm likely to touch you on other occasions?"

"I said shush."

Daniel's attention was on the pendant, but he could hear the smile in Harper's voice. "Fine, fine. I'll let you focus."

Daniel zoomed the map out so that it displayed half the country surrounding their area and began to swing the pendant in a slow circle above it. It was more difficult than usual to get his focus right, but after a few seconds he managed to relax into thoughts of his dad. The pendant connected with the tablet with a click as though magnetised. One day he was going to crack the screen doing this.

The spot the pendant had landed on was further out than Daniel had expected, and his brow furrowed in confusion. He zoomed in closer on the point and repeated the action. As he narrowed the spot down, Daniel realised his dad wasn't located on a road and that his position was moving faster than any vehicle would, even on a highway. Any land-based vehicle, anyway.

Daniel let out a groan. "He's in a plane.” He pointed on the map. “Here, headed southwest."

"No chance of catching up, then."

Daniel made a sound of agreement. "Let me check if he's okay."

Finding someone's location was relatively easy once you knew what you were doing and had the proper materials, but getting closer, determining their condition... that was a lot more difficult. It was also something that could be distracting for the one being checked on, so it wasn't something Daniel had much practise at. He found his dad's location again, and then let out a deep breath and relaxed his mind.

His dad was okay. Not injured, not distressed. He felt dampened, though, muted, and it took Daniel a moment to realise that that must have been due to the suppression of his magic. Daniel felt his dad respond, awaken as Daniel's mind brushed his. He got the vague sense of others with his dad, allies, but as they were strangers to Daniel that was the limit of what his dad could communicate about them. Daniel reached his hand out, brushed it against Harper's knee, sharing his own company with his dad. He felt his dad's approval, then Harper shifted and the connection abruptly cut off.

It didn't matter, though. Daniel had gotten enough, about all he was going to just then. "He's okay. There are others with him, probably wizards."

"Okay. We'd better tell the others."