Just the Beginning

Part 3

The next day, Soleil sat in her tall chair behind the display case in Writer's Block, a large volume of Ancient Creatures: Habits, Homes, and History lay sprawled out on the counter. After calming Miki down, they had talked about Murn, what he looks like, where he was last seen, where he would have gone if he were scared. Then Soleil had ushered the little sprite out the window. She had promised to investigate and he had promised to keep her apprised of any more disappearances. While Dai was skeptical about the whole situation, she couldn't help remembering the lack of fae on the street as they had walked home last night.

Now, in the spirit of keeping her promise, she was doing research while the shop was empty. Dai sat on the rim of the pothos vine's pot next to the cash register and watched quizzically.

"You know you could just ask me about all this stuff, right?"

"I didn't think that you were going to help since it involves a wood sprite," she said peering at him through the hair that had fallen loosely out of her ponytail. "I know how you are about wood sprites."

Dai grunted and avoided her gaze. His past with a wood sprite was a delicate subject. She had been a pretty little thing, but being half gurgrul, some of the greediest fae alive, she was never satisfied. Soon after she began a "serious" relationship with Dai he had found out that she was letting other sprites and fae court her too. Dai had felt so betrayed that he had sworn to never trust another wood sprite. Though, he probably should have blamed the gurgrul side of her.

Soleil jotted some notes down about where wood sprites liked to frequent.

"Just cause she broke my heart doesn't mean I'll let some other wood sprite break another guys heart," Dai spouted into the silence.

"Alright. What's your theory, then?" Soleil asked as she turned the page.

"Well, I still don't think that this Murk..."

"Murn," Soleil corrected.

"...Murn was taken. That's just ridiculous. But maybe..." the sound of Dai's voice trailed off as Soleil's focus zeroed in on the bottom left-hand corner of the page.

"What is this?"

Glaring at her, Dai slid down off the terra cotta and walked across the pages of the book to the fancy text box she pointed to. The heading read, "Potion to Make Ancient Creatures visible." Dai gasped and backed away quickly, tripping over her hand and falling back onto the counter.

"That is dark magick, and beyond cruel! I thought all of the books containing that recipe were destroyed years ago," his voice trembles.

"This is a Blackbird volume. Passed down through the generations of my family."

"If anyone got their hands on this then they could make fae visible without their consent. The effects wear off eventually but still, it could be disasturous."

At that moment a customer burst into the shop, shattering the delicate atmosphere. "Miss Blackbird!! I need an idea, quick!"