The Things I Didn't Know

[Ze]

"what hyroglyphs?" they didn't see any, just some scribbled writing.

((and what the hell should it say... will think of that soon.))

[-Axael-]

His hand went up and slapped his forehead then he shook his head in disbelief. Somehow he just figured out that these two had no exposure to magic at all.

"Are they even capable of using it?" he asked himself silently. "Might explain why even now these two dont know anything."

He turned his eyes back towards the map and bent down and gently blew the dust away. A dust cloud rose and spun around his head which made him cough and choke and ultimately forced him backwards and into another table from which a piece of paper fell.

Looking down at the sheet he realised that he could read the language. He picked it up and read aloud but only random words could be seen on the paper due to dust build-up.

"Disturbance....Investigate....Isolated....crud, the rest is all gibberish."

He held the small sheet out to Ben and kept looking around the dimly lit room for more signs of their possible location.

[Ze]

"what are you talking about gibberish? it's just some stupid little notes in my dad's bad handwriting." he shrugged.

"and I still wanna see those hyroglyphs you were talking about. There's just my moms handwriting on the wall." Sandy shrugged.

[-Axael-]

Andrew laughed loudly at the sound of that and collapsed onto a table. Thats had been the best one he heard so far! Well at least now he understood why he always saw them use that basic spell to make records...their writing skills were abhorent.

He forced himself up from the table and looked up at Sandy and smiled. "And you guys cant read it? Thats bad, really bad."

He stood up and dusted himself off then took one last look around the room and making for the stairs.

"If you can understand your parent's own handwriting then theres no hope for me. I'm going up to see if those three words have anything in common."

[Ze]

"We never said we couldn't read it. It just looks rushed so it's harder to understand." Sandy shrugged and Ben nodded, agreeing with her.

[-Axael-]

"Well if you gathher anything else, I'll be up here waiting."

He ran up the stairs as fast as he could and and searched a small table in the living room for some newspaper but none could be found.

"Hey!" he called out. "Wheres last month's newspaper?"

[Ze]

"CHECK THE RECYCLE BIN!" Sandy yelled as she looked at the wall. Her and Ben walked upstairs, Ben still having the paper he was reading.

[-Axael-]

He walked around the room casually until he found the bin put aside in a corner. he pulled it out and dug through all the waste paper inside until he found the paper with the corresponding date.

"Perfect!" he exclaimed and pulled it out and sat on the ground.

He pulled his legs up to himself and folded them then started to skip through the pages until an article caught his eye. A clue? Most likely. There on page eight was a story outlining an incident where several people in a secluded town went missing and the town ended up being evacuated. No signs were ever found of the missing persons' whereabouts and the police suspected that a serial killer was on the loose. The small area was subsequently quarantined pending a full investigation which was slated to begin three days after the quarantine was ordered.

"That was three weeks ago..." he said to himself, getting lost in thought.

What could have happened? A serial killer? Impossible. Maybe he could take out normal people but these were mages that could hear a pin drop from a mile away. And on top of that, both knew several very powerful offensive and regenerative spells. Whatever was keeping them from returning, it definitely wasnt a serial killer, it would most likely make a killer wet himself.

A serious look moved across Andrew's face as he rose to his feet and crushed the paper in his hand. This had to be it. He waited for the two to climb the stairs patiently, somethign he hadnt done since he arrived, and tossed the paper towards Ben then turned and walked towards the door.

"I'm going." he said in a serious voice, his hair finally changing back to black after all this time. "I'll do the investigation thats on that paper."

He knew of that incident but hadn't known how serious it was until now. His cousin was one of the officers who was supposed to be investigating the dissapearance and he also dissapeared. This was not just about his teachers now, he had to find out the truth. The lie about his cousin falling prey to the killer just didnt hold any ground now that he knew who else was missing.

[Ze]

"people missing from a village...?" Ben looked at him skeptically.

"Well... mom mentioned it on the walls." Sandy pointed out.

"you're kidding me. This is just stupid. You're going to go after a serial killer?" he looked at the guy.

[-Axael-]

Just before vanishing out the doors he stopped and placed a hand against the wall. Once again the bright circles appeared against the wall, spreading out from his palm and vanishing after 5 inches.

"You want to know what happened to them dont you? Well so do I."

His palm lifted from the wall to reveal yet another message written with his magic. The words 'STAY HERE!' remained, glowing brightly as if to indicate the seriousness of the situation, but were clearly not a product o fhis work. The letters were neatly formed on the wall and the glowing effect was somethign he had not mastered yet. Apparently a message left for him just incase he came looking. His hands fell to his side and the long sleeves of his lavender robe covered over them completely and he lifted his head to the ceiling.

"This might be dangerous, but I'm willing to risk it to get them back. I also have something personnal to gain from this apart from their safe return so its a good thing for me. And by the way, I know for a fact that a killer couldnt have gotten your parents."

[Ze]

"I don't think so." Sandy shook her head.
"these are our parents... we're going to." she ordered.

"what?" Ben looked at her as if she was crazy.

"let this guy handle it. he's got the... whatever the hell it is..." he pointed at the guy.

"no. We're going. They're OUR parents... and besides... if something did happen to mom and dad... I'd feel really bad for not talking to mom before she left, so I gotta go." Sandy chuckled nervously and looked at her brother.

"you're insane." he looked at her.

For a bit they just looked at eachother. Even though no words were exchanged they looked as if they could understand eachothers thoughts. Just looking into eachothers eyes with an unwavering gaze.

Then Ben just shook his head, "fine, we'll go with. God, stubborn..." he crossed his arms over his chest.

[-Axael-]

Andy stopped and turned around quickly. This wasnt what he expected.

"Are you two nuts? I cant have you come along! Its too dangerous!"

The young man panted for a minute after all that screaming. Even if he did manage to get their parents back, it would be all for nothing if they died in the process. He really didnt want to risk it.

[Ze]

"sorry bub, but we're going with!" Sandy put her hands on her hips.

"and there's no way you can stop us. Besides, only we can read our parents handwriting, and there's some pretty interesting stuff on this map." Sandy smirked at the guy.

[-Axael-]

"d**n!" he shouted and sent a fist into the wall. "Thats blackmail!"

He took a deep breath and exhaled to try and calm himself down.

"Why are you so insistent? One of you could end up seriously hurt or worse. Are you really willing to risk your lives on just a hunch?"

[Ze]

"What hunch? I have no hunch. I'm just saying. Our parents, we're going with." She nodded.

Ben just sighed, "don't fight her on this please, she really won't stop..." he rubbed his temples.