Spellcaster series #1: The Neophyte

Instinct

TRISTAN

Her jacket and boots were missing. Her painkillers were still on the side table. Vicky scanned the room, her red eyes glowing.

"I thought you said she was here?"

"She was," I said, dumbfounded. Where could she have possibly gone off to?

Vicky closed her eyes. "I don't feel too good about this."

I recalled our conversations. "Perhaps we could try your apartment in the Worldly Realm. My instincts are telling me that she must've gone back to feed her cat."

She nodded and I immediately opened a portal. We stepped through it and arrived at her apartment.

The fat cat ran to Vicky's feet and greeted her. It meowed very loudly.

"Her heartbeat is faint," Vicky said, bending down and petting the feline.

Anxiety was starting to inch its way up my throat. I sighed, "Then she has to be here, somewhere in this realm."

"We should split up," Vicky suggested. "Come back here in twenty-four hours if she still isn't found."

Soon after, she hopped out the window and I made my way out the door. I contacted Jesse and Wynona before continuing the search.

I walked down the streets of Orchidville, autumn settling her presence in the amber-coloured trees and crispy winds. Some heads turned as I walked past them, hands in my red coat. A man tipped his hat at me and a woman eyed me head to toe, neither of whom were Spellcasters. I looked inside every shop and cafe in the centre of the town, all the restaurants that I could find.

"She is this tall, black hair with a fringe?" I explained to a barista working in a nearby cafe, my palm levelling with my shoulder. "She might be wearing a black leather jacket and boots as well." The barista shook his head and went back to the other customers.

I exited the cafe, my anxiety peaking. I was running out of places to go to and wanted to ask for my parents' help. And then a thought struck me. The Lucky Orphan orphanage.

I didn't teleport myself there, in case I met her in the streets. I walked to the two-storey building beside the sheriff's department that had its name written in bold on its facade. I went up to the front door, straightened my coat and knocked.

A pair of soft, round eyes greeted me. She looked barely twenty. And curious.

"I'm Tristan Embers, from the Academy. I'm looking for a former resident of yours."

Her brown eyes read me before she tilted her head. "Mr Embers, yes, we know who you are. But which former resident are you referring to? If you're referring to a child that had grown up and left, we have plenty."

"Heidi Danielson," I replied and proceeded to describe her physical attributes.

"I'm not sure if I know where she is," she shook her head. Then she widened the door, "Please come in, maybe you can speak to Mrs Tabitha."

I stepped through the threshold and felt like a hundred pairs of eyes bore on me. Some stopped what they were doing. I cleared my throat and my movements became quite...awkward.

"Move on, now, children, nothing interesting to see," the girl said. Then she turned to me. "I'm Dora, by the way."

I nodded. "Nice to meet you, Dora. Is Mrs Tabitha...?"

"Right this way," she said and walked in front of me.

Dora had a fair complexion and dark brown hair, parted in the middle. She tied it in a bun and had a white apron around her waist. Her small frame reminded me a little bit of Heidi.