Adelaide

Act I Scene III: A Charm's Charm

Kadin had an iron will, trying to make conversation with the mysterious detective he saved just hours ago.

The young women made no attention to him, focused on her current chemical works. She was using a strange red powder, mixing it with a shimmering moon gray liquid. Alchemy was her specialty, no doubt about it. The strange mysteries of the magical chemistry always amazed Kadin. He, until now, had yet to see it in action.

Penelope had grown a liking to the stranger. He seemed reliable. He hadn't given them a reason to not trust him. Yet she knew her intelligent friend isn't thinking the same way.

Rhea had been feeling conflicted the minute she took Kadin's offer. She didn't know why she felt gratitude, or why she even said yes in the first place. It infuriated her to not be able to get a clear answer to her questions.

Some might call her behavior as being trust issues. For Rhea, they are techniques for survival. She's made her way to this point in her life with her own game plan. She never bothered to change it after all this time.

"Rhea... Why don't we ask the SSA for help?" Penelope asked, causing Kadin to look up.

Rhea grumbled. "The Secret Sorcery Act? You want to ask help from a bunch of low class wizards that are too scared to use their own power?"

"Don't be so harsh Rey. You now they aren't that bad." Penelope began. "Rhea... How are we going to tell Steven about Lydia?"

Rhea grabbed a blue gray stone off of her lab table and started to grind it, creating a blue powder, contrast to the red one she put in earlier. She turned towards Penelope and frowned, "We tell him she was kidnapped and that he could help."

Kadin mumbled, "Pretty straight forward."

Rhea turned towards Kadin, hands on her hips. "What else are we going to say? That she's on a holiday?"

"But Rhea! He'll be so upset!" Penelope countered.

Rhea folded her arms. "He'll be even more upset when he finds out that Lydia wasn't on a holiday this entire time. There isn't even a guarantee we'll find her. By telling him now, we'll give him hope that we'll maybe find her. What? You're going to break him the news when its almost certain that she's either gone forever or dead?"

Penelope stuttered. "T-true, but-"

"Then no buts. We need to first find this guy named Carl Toga." Rhea said.

Kadin's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, how do you know Toga?"

Rhea turned to him and arched an eyebrow. "You know Carl Toga?"

Kadin nodded. "Of course. We go back since grade school. But, why do we need to find him?"

"First of all, I need to find him. Neither of you are going. Second of all, its because according to his history, he was business partners with Martin Tylerson. Tylerson had died about six months ago. Car accident. I had searched up a file under the guy earlier and found him to be the very same gentleman whom you assisted in beating up earlier, Mr. Crescent." Rhea finished, frowning. "Shouldn't you have known that, as you are good friends with Toga."

Kadin smirked. "Not bad, Miss Shard. And I had heard of Tylerson from Toga. He said they were really good friends with each other. They had done many projects together. In fact, when Tylerson died, he was talking to Toga on the phone. He was very upset when he passed. I had to visit him back in Exter to calm him down. Personally, I was never close with Mr. Tylerson."

Kadin could have sworn he saw the slightest grin on Rhea Shard's face. Yet it only lasted for a blink of an eye. She cleared her throat and spoke, "Thank you, Mr. Crescent, for this wonderful information. It will do me good in finding my friend and your brother."