Splinterbark: Chaos of the Coyote Crew

Chapter 14: The Series Finale Part I: Star Chasser

Silver Guardian knew he should have said something before leaving. No, this was something he had to do on his own. Splinterbark would have just slowed him down and gotten in his way. He then thought about when they had blown up that hardware store. They could have killed someone and they didn't care. As aggravating as Shelly could get, he'd never forgive himself if he couldn't protect her from them. Besides, he just had to be smart when dealing with those three. It was the rabbit he was worried about. If Crocodile Rock would harm him, who knows what the bunny was capable of.

He knew where the Cadric City Planetarium was. His brother had often taken him along on his school field trips and a couple summer camps. That and his father was a notable donator; even if Marco claimed it was just to outdo the Dougal's donations. The building was towards the outer circles of the city. A stone's throw from Cadric City Lake and a straight shot from downtown. He the place was surrounded by a thick crown of oak trees. Aside from leaves and fallen branches lying strewn about on the roof and grounds, the place looked mostly pristine.

The Guardian landed carefully on the domed roof and trying to flap away the twigs under his feet. He had some trouble moving along the slick and slimy surface trying to find a way in. The windows were shut tight and most were too large to not sneak in. The only stealthiest way to get inside was through the air duct and there was no possible way his ginormous body was fitting inside there. At least-not as the Silver Guardian.

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Lynn had tried to convince the chauffeur to get her home quicker. She knew she had to get home in time to try and follow the ransom. Sure she was not very fond of her stepbrother, but she would never wish this upon him. How did they even capture him in the first place? It was a well-kept family secret but the Dougal castle walls had been enchanted since its construction-unless he had been lured out? What could possibly lure her academic obsessed stepbrother outside at night? When she finally got in, the only person she saw was her stepmother, Irene, pacing the parlor back and forth. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and her normally perfectly kept hair was frazzled. Of course she would be worried, Lynn reasoned, it was her son who was kidnapped. If Lynn had been the hostage she would not be as worried.

"I'm home, Irene", she said quietly. Normally Irene would flinch slightly from not being called 'mother', but she was preoccupied wiping her nose. She had even wrapped her burly arms around Lynn and hugged her tightly. Both must have realized how awkward this was because they clumsily pushed themselves away from each other.

"Oh...welcome home, Lynn. Did you have a good day at school?" She was obviously forcing the pleasantness, but after the hug even Lynn couldn't muster her usual mild malice.

"It was okay. Where's dad?"

"A drone came in while you were at school with the instructions. Your father went to the lakeside park to drop off the money. You just missed him by five minutes." Five minutes, Lynn mused. It took at least a half hour to drive to the lake. She could get there in half the time on her staff.

"It's been a long day, Irene. I'm going to do my homework and sleep a little." Irene muttered a 'sure' without much protest but definitely disappointment. Lynn practically wanted to tell her that she was going to follow the pickup money and rescue her stepbrother, but she could not exactly tell her stepmother she was a witch. That was one of the biggest rules in the family and the last thing they needed was the Council knocking on their door.

Lynn used her staff to transform her uniform into her Jinn outfit. Clothes transmutation was one of the spells she had learned on her own and had taken almost an entire year, trial and error, and a lot of dollar store shirts to master it. If it would not obviously tell her father she was Jinn, she would have been more than happy to show her self-taught skill. Riding her staff she flew a little higher than normal to keep out of sight from day view public. Flying to the lake took less time than she expected. The lakeside park was a large place. Finding her father was going to take a little extra focus and a lot of luck. Floating among a clump of trees, Jinn rotated the front rung until the large spikes made an 'X' and then traced her fingers along the spines. She focused hard on her father, conjuring up the clearest image of him she could think of and putting a strong desire to find him. She had tried to use this spell once on Alucard before when she caught him taking the car out on a Sunday night, but her tracking spell always seemed to fizzle out. The spines flashed red and then one point began to glow brighter than the others. Jinn turned her staff to the left and the right, but the spire remained on point. Good, that meant the spell was focused on her father and was pointing to the eastside area of the park.