Love for Reimbursement

Chapter Four: Suspicions from a Spector

All throughout the afternoon, the girls stealthily hid and assisted HK with some of her chores if they proved to be too risky. Meanwhile Snatcher did his routine appearances and finally decided to send the kid to the Manor. But not because he was supposed to but he had a hunch about something. So he called the kid over to his tree home to talk about the mission and other things.

“I’ve got a lonely old friend who’s living all by herself in a dusty old house.” Snatcher was saying to Harriet. “You should pay her a visit.” He brought out a contract for her to sign. "Her cookies are absolutely to DIE for~." He said with emphasis on the DIE part.

She wasn't too sure about the mission but she reluctantly signed it anyway. As soon as she was out of ear and eye shot, he started to investigate. He followed HK from afar, only to see footprints on the thin layer of snow but no one was there. Or so it seemed. As soon as Harriet parkoured across the broken off bridge, he focused his magic and swiped at the space he was able to detect. And as soon as he scooped up the little weight on his hand, it let out a loud "Eep!"

With his magic he decloaked Wren and stared intently at her shivering form.

“O-oh G-god… p-please! D-don’t h-hurt m-me!”

Snatcher merely grinned maliciously at her words. “Well then, you best tell me what I want to know then, shouldn’t you?”

Wren gulped.

But before she could say anything, a golden ball of light slammed right into him. Knocking Wren out of his grip.

"RUN!!!!" Lydia yelled as she reapplied the cloaking spell on her cousin. She grabbed her hand and booked it.

Wren was stumbling behind her. “H-how d-did he kn-know?!”

"I don't know! But I'm not going to find out!" They made their way deeper in the forest and finally made it to their hideout.

"D-did… we l-lose h-him?" Lydia huffed and puffed in exhaustion.

“Y-yeah… I.. I th-think s-so..” She huffed in reply. She looked behind them, just to be sure.

To their luck, he wasn't there. But that didn't mean that they weren't alone. A crescent shaped entity peered down at them secretly.

“Are you ladies quite alright?” He asked, looking forward to having some fun with them.

Both of them practically jumped out of their skin.

"W-who's there?!" Lydia ordered as she lit up her hands with magic. Wren took a defensive stance but was still scared. She could fight still though.

“Well you won’t find me there.” The voice mused. “I am Moon Jumper, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He hummed and called Snatcher over. “Oh Jack-O-Lantern! Your prey is in these woods! All you have to do is find them.”

Lydia found the voice and gasped. 'Moonjumper?! B-but I-I only thought that he was only mentioned in the attic of Vanessa's! Why is he here as an official character?!' But she had no time to think. She and Wren had to get out of there with their belongings before Snatcher arrived. She snapped her fingers and mumbled a packing spell. The cabin was gone and everything was packed in their backpacks. She cloaked both of them and their things, grabbed Wren and left like the Devil was on their heels, which in retrospect, he was.