The Second Salem [Book One]

Chapter 4

Graves once again found himself stood next to the rubble of a house that had been destroyed; the second that day. He was vaguely aware that a No-Maj was stood close by, explaining his account of events to a journalist.

His attention was suddenly caught when the man mentioned the words "black mass".

That reminded him of a rare phenomenon that he had heard of a long time ago.

The word- the name of the thing- played around in his head as he tried to think of a different explanation.

Just as he was talking himself out of his ridiculous half-theory, something suddenly burst out of the ground with immense force and flew through the streets, away from the scene. People and cars were thrown out of the way and screams could be heard, following its path of destruction. And Graves understood- he knew what it was.

An Obscurus.

- - - - -

Credence found himself walking through the headquarters of a media empire, a step or two behind his mother and Chastity, with Modesty's hand clutched in his.

An excitable man was leading them past rows of desks, jumping around and trying to show off.

Credence kept his eyes trained to the floor, willing himself to become invisible.

The man pushed two big double doors open and they all marched into the room behind them. There sat two other men, who sighed and glared at the excitable one.

"Langdon! What do you think you are doing? Your brother and I are talking about strategies for his campaign!" The older man said, standing up in anger.

"You don't understand father!" Langdon said, pouring himself a glass of whiskey, "Mary Lou Barebone here has a great story, front page news actually!"

"Oh really? Well what's that then?"

"The existence of witches right here in New York! You've heard about the strange occurrences right? Well Ms Barebone has definite proof of magical causes!"

The other man, who had been silent up to that point, stood up and started laughing.

"Oh, little brother... Don't you think it's time that you grew up and forgot about your fantasies?"

Langdon blushed in embarrassment, glaring at his brother.

"But Mr Shaw," Mary Lou began, "these aren't fantasies, it's the complete truth. We need your paper to spread the news, warn people about the danger they are in and spread the idea of a second Salem."

Credence flinched at the word, thinking of Graves and hoping that he would never be hurt in the way that his mother was suggesting.

Langdon's brother ignored her and simply said, "Father, I think it is time you told little Langdon here to leave, along with the freaks he's brought in."

"We hope that you'll reconsider, Mr Shaw. And when you do, we'll be waiting; we're not hard to find." And with that all five of them (Langdon, Mary Lou, Chastity, Credence and Modesty) all turned and began to walk back through the double doors.

"Oi you, boy!" Credence heard the young man call him. "You've dropped something!"

Credence paused for a second before he let go of Modesty's hand, turned and walked back to him.

"Now take this," he said, shoving the leaflet Credence must've dropped by accident into his chest and hissed, "and put it in the trash, where you all belong... Freak."

Credence stood there for a second, thinking back to what Graves said about him being different. He had thought (well, hoped) at the time that he meant different in a good way. But what the man said made him feel a flicker of anger flare up in his stomach, growing like a fire with the same ferocity and danger of one.

He turned on his heel and took Modesty's hand again, storming out of the room, breathing deeply.

- - - - -

Credence stood there, shivering as he clung to the edges of the thin coat he had on. He had been waiting for over two hours, still seething in anger and worry over what that man had called him.

How dare he.

"Credence?" He whipped his head to the right and saw Graves walking closer to him. He stood close to him before speaking again, "You're upset, I can tell. Was it your mother?"

Credence shook his head.

"No? Then... Someone's said something, haven't they? Tell me, what was it?"

"Do you think I'm a freak?" Credence choked out, swallowing back the feeling of tears in his throat.

Graves' face softened. "Dear God no Credence, of course I don't."

"But what you said before... About me being different-" He was suddenly cut off as Graves wrapped his arms around him in a hug.

He was shocked at first but after a minute relaxed into him, resting his head on his shoulder and breathing in deeply, finally calming down.

Eventually Graves took a step back and held Credence at arm's length. "Listen to me, Credence. You are different, yes. But you are better, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Graves placed a hand on his cheek and Credence nuzzled his face into it, stopping himself from kissing the palm, thinking that would be a bad idea.

"Now... I need to go... I would invite you to spend the night with me but Goldstein and I are on a case at the minute; a man has let a number of magical creatures loose in the city and we need to get them under control and back in his suitcase. But I have a special task for you, alright? I wouldn't trust you with it unless I knew that you were capable."

Credence nodded.

"The thing that has been destroying buildings, it's called an Obscurus. It occurs when magical children suppress their magic and they develop a parasitic dark force that forms in them. These children are known as Obscurials and don't live past the age of ten. You come across so many children everyday, and I'm almost certain that your mother has something to do with it, so I want you to look out for this child Credence. They need help, just like you do. Can I trust you to do this?"

Credence nodded again and Graves placed a kiss on his forehead.

"Good boy."