Time's Tragedies- The Books Of Beginning [2]

6. The Investigation

Though Abigail was a very old woman, old even by witches standards, the soul inside of her never seemed to age. She was still both empathetic and courageous, and thus let her friends into her home as soon as she answered the door.

Age has definitely taken its toll on her body. Her hair was thin and wispy gray, her hands fragile and wrinkled. She spent most of her time in a wheelchair so as not to exhaust herself. But she still spoke loud and clear, and her mind was as sharp as ever. So she obviously knew something was wrong almost immediately. The surprise visit and the clear anxiety radiating off the Wibberly family were enough to clue her in.

"Alright, usually I would be delighted to see you, but I have a feeling this is more than a social call. What's going on?" She asked.

Rafe and Kate began to explain to the old woman, while the frightened children looked around the house. It was a very old fashioned building, they all noted. Partly because Abigail had grown up in a different time, but also because the magical world stayed so separate from the human world they closed themselves off to modern technology. Well, most of them. Lili and her siblings had always had their mother, who grew up in the human world, to incorporate modern society into their lives. 

Abigail's home was cozy despite its age, and filled to the brim with interesting items, which was what had caught the children's eye. Abby and Jake studied and old scrying bowl resting on the shelf, and Lili scanned the titles of the books in the room, just to give her something calming and ordinary to do.

When Kate and Rafe were done explaining the whole situation, Abigail was also worried, not for herself, but for her friends and their children. She said, "what do you need my help with?"

"You have extensive records, contacts, and knowledge of the magical world, including the shadier parts. We were wondering if we could look through them and investigate for any signs of Robert, how he escaped, and how he did this," Rafe  answered.

"Well of course you can," Abigail declared, "and when you find out what happened, what are you going to do?"

"Take it to the magical council if we can. To get help, hopefully, or to at least warn everyone including Michael and Emma," Kate replied. 

Abigail nodded, "I see. A smart choice, but do you really think the magical council is going to do anything?"

"We'll see," Kate said, though she wasn't optimistic. Beside her, Rafe frowned, still not a fan of the magical council as a whole. 

Abigail tilted her head and wondered, "what will you do if they don't agree to do anything?"

Rafe shot a glance around at his children, then lowered his voice so as not to worry them, "then I guess it'll be up to us to fix it."

Like always, he added mentally, but didn't say aloud.

"How?"

Kate shrugged, "I guess we'll figure that out."

Silence fell over the three adults then. A few tense moments passed, before Abigail looked up at her friends and said, "well, I suppose you'll want to get right to your investigation then."

Across the room, the word investigation caught Abby's interest, "you're going to look through the files now?"

"Yes," Kate replied, "do you want to help?"

A tentative smile crossed Abby's face. If there was one thing that she never passed up, it was the chance to play the role of a detective. There was nothing greater than the feeling of figuring something out, in her mind. 

"Definitely. Let me ask Jake to come too," Abby declared.

Minutes later they were gathered in Abigail's office, everyone except for Lili that was, who was still tense from her encounter with wicked magic earlier. Abigail had managed to get Abby and Jake's spirits up by telling them how her two idiot friends were off in Florida, on what they called an expedition and Abigail called another useless treasure hunt.