Multiverse of Magic & Mistakes (Completed)

1.3.18 Chapter 18

Bath, UK, Earth, September 2019.

Middy had not been having a good few weeks. Firstly, his last-ditch attempt at breaking all the rules, of speaking to Vi and desperately trying to persuade her that nothing unusual was occurring had resulted in using up all of his power and being stuck in human form. Next, his ward had disappeared. And that was absolutely not a good sign, given that she had spotted some Runes lately. Not a good sign at all.

Initially, he had taken to scoping out the Talloway's house, watching the building where he had spent the past eleven years living as a cat. Perhaps Vi was simply unwell and not leaving the house for a few days? But he quickly gave up on that idea. He watched Edward and Harriet through the windows, eating meals, watching TV in the living room, Vi nowhere to be seen.

He had already broken all the rules by speaking to Vi herself. Knocking on the door, posing as a school friend, and asking for Vi had only been one small step further. The way that Edward and Harriet's familiar faces - that after eleven years of being their pet cat, he was finally able to speak to – glazed over and they said Vi had gone away for work over the summer, that was very worrying indeed. Had the Guardians lost?

Next, Middy encountered Vi's best friend Lily, and after having broken the rules in speaking to Vi and her parents, was also speaking to Lily much worse? Besides, the short red-headed girl was as worried as he was with Vi's disappearance. Whatever those damn Mages had done to Edward and Harriet, clearly had not worked upon Lily. This time Middy had broken every rule of the Guardian's Code. He revealed his identity and the existence of the Guardians to the worried girl who begged him to tell her where her friend had suddenly gone too. He had not told her, where he thought Vi has. Even if he did, she would not have believed him. But, instead, Lily Hale proved herself to be truly a good friend to Vi, and by extension, to Middy, and helped him find a place to rest, in her families unused garden shed. And there Middy had planned, and plotted and waited for his power to slowly, very slowly regenerate.

Middy had his suspicions of where Vi was, and however much he did not want to admit it to himself, it was becoming more and more likely with each passing day that a Mage had taken Vi to Verdyn. Or rather, Vi had passed their tests and had agreed to go with a Mage to Verdyn, as was there way. Middy had known since his ward was very, very young that she had a strong affinity. He had known and gone out of his way to keep it hidden from Vi herself and everyone around her. But somewhere he had messed up, and now Vi, it appeared was with the Mages. He knew her well enough to know that if approached by a Mage, she would have passed their tests, and she would have agreed, without a moment if hesitation to go with them into the magical world.

Middy missed his scheduled meeting with the Harmonizer. Being stuck in human form, not having enough power to transform back to the cat-form he was supposed to be keeping, he could not face heading to Ashein in this form, to stand in front of the Harmonizer and the other high-level Guardians and admit to all of his failings.

Instead, the Harmonizer came to him. In the form of a tall and regal dalmatian, the leader of the Guardians deigned to visit Middy on Earth, and Middy was forced to relay the current situation and all his failings. Starting with why he was currently stuck in human form. And hiding in a garden shed. And so, Middy had sat, head in this hands amongst the Hale's disused rakes, and watering cans, and empty flower pots, and had explained how he had let his Ward do something that must have caused a spike, how she had noticed some Runes, and now, worst of all, that he suspected all may be lost, that Violet Olivia Talloway had most likely been taken to Verdyn.

The Harmonizer was not pleased. Despite the limitations of her form she bared her white teeth at Middy and launched into a long tirade of the cat-Guardians failings. How Middy had been so close, how the girl was so nearly eighteen, how desperate their situation globally was becoming, what with a nasty incident in Prague, and how he needed Middy to confirm that his Ward was lost. There was a small chance remaining, that Vi could be saved.