The Eight Amulets, Vol. 1

Chapter XXVI - A Lead

"So you're saying you found absolutely nothing?"Hannah sighed. They've run into another dead end. Last time they'd gotten lucky with the dollar bill, but now they had truly run out of the immense luck encountered beforehand.

"Oh great. Everywhere we go leads us with more questions than answers." Rob faced the window, the hot sun blasting down onto them through the clear windows.

"How are your eyes, Rob?" Hannah asked, staring into his red eyes. He had recovered immensely from yesterday

"Better." Rob announced.

"Well, i mean i do have one small lead. It's not much but it's something. There was a guy, his name was uh.. Bradshaw." As William announced the information, he reached into his luggage, pushing past the shotgun and clothes to a cold, copper plated name tag with 'Bradshaw' on it, tossing it to Rob.

"This is useful." Rob sarcastically mocked, tossing it to Hannah, but she had extremely different reaction.

"Bradshaw? As in Francis Bradshaw, the author?" Hannah checked the name tag, turning it around and back to the front, scanning it for any features.

"Author?" Rob and William both looked in confusion at Hannah, speaking at the same time, Rob standing up from his seat.

"Author of what?" Rob spoke, looking at William because he had just possibly made a major breakthrough in there investigation.

"The amulets book? He created that. I should've known the entire time. It leads back to him." Hannah realized, standing up and pacing back and forth.

"That's great but what are we going to do?" William suggested, thinking what there next step should be. Obviously find this old guy with whatever he has to hide, but how do we find him? All we know is his last name.

"I know a person. We can be on the road in no time, just give me a few minutes." Rob blurted, grabbing his money and a key, pushing past the bed and to the door. "I'll be back."

*

Rob sat in the same seat as yesterday, in the same cafe. The same green cafe that he had met with Daisy, and was praying that she would show up sometime soon. He needed her more than ever, cause this would be the perfect time that she'd just show up.

Then he heard the jingle of the door ring, and a somewhat angry Daisy pop out from the doorframe, looking around the room.

"Daisy!" But she didn't look happy to see him, instead she looked furious. Her engagement seem to lie in her eyes, as she placed her backpack next to the table and sat across from Rob, grabbing his collar and pulling him close.

"You tell me what's happening right now or it's over." Daisy demanded, her grip around Robs collar tightening as she pulled it up a bit to make him choke nearly.

"About what?" Rob acted foolish, hoping she would just forget about it, or maybe reconsider herself that she was just imagining stuff.

"You know. I saw something on the news today that piqued my interest. Three hooligans accused of storming the Opera House. Sound familiar?" Hannah laid back in her booth, not feeling hungry.

"Keep it down. And who knows? Maybe they falsely accused us. It's never impossible." Rob looked stressed, seeing if anyone had noticed around him.

"So you're not even gonna admit it, huh?" Daisy prepared to leave, sitting up and grabbing her bags.

"What?" Suddenly he felt the tight pull of her and started to speak, grabbing her hand and pulling her back down. "Ok fine, we're hear for a secret mission to collect 7- no 8 amulets in order to end a curse wiping an entire town with bad luck. Oh and also, there's magic." Rob said, and obviously Daisy didn't buy it.

"Was that a joke?" Daisy asked, slightly aggressive yet concerned for Rob's health. Nothing had been adding up, and she had more questions than ever. Once Rob didn't answer, she realized it was her cue.

"I don't get it, am i missing something?" Daisy looked around like this was a prank, completely confused and bewildered.

"Everything you've ever known, you might as well forget it. You've lived under a lie your entire life. I know it sounds impossible, but there's magic and stuff. A whole life you've never experienced." Rob made sure no one was listening, keeping his voice down low.

"Rob enough playing around, my dads a police chief and he will take you in." Daisy threatened even though she wanted to ask a lot of questions.

"Daisy, trust me, I understand. Just let me prove it to you, trust me." Rob grabbed her shoulder and tried to make her sit down as she stood, up bags in her hands. Rob reached out, but she swatted his hands away in retaliation.

"Rob I don't know what you're thinking and if you're not going to tell me the truth I will leave."Daisy showed her concern, her hair glistening in the shine of the windows. She backed up a bit more.

"Do you have any idea who this is?" Rob ignored her, and slipped his backpack off his shoulder, reaching out for a golden nameplate that was inside his backpack. He threw it out onto the table, and she looked at it.

"Bradshaw? You mean Nicholas Bradshaw? The old man? She checked the plate, and looked up at Rob with a feeling of anger and disappointment. "What did you do to him?"

"He's involved in some conspiracy, and apparently he's involved with a special book." Rob couldn't even process this himself, so it wasn't a surprise when Daisy wasn't convinced.

"I want to believe you, but you sound insane right now. I can't deal with you." She started to walk out the door, by Rob made one final attempt to sway her.

"If you don't go, I will die trying." Rob defiantly stated, as she prepared to leave and turned around too him.

"One last time, tell me." She didn't want to leave, but didn't enjoy Rob lying to her.

"I'll explain on the walk there, no lying. But we don't have much time. Your dads not the only one who wants us dead." Rob then grabbed her hand and they walked out the door, everyone in the cafe glad they could stop interrupting them.