The Catalyst

Noir Avis stretched out his hand and reached for the skies. He closed his hand as though he were grabbing at the clouds. Laying under a giant oak tree in the plaza, Noir thought about how peaceful the South Wind Islands were. It was a piece of the world isolated from all the rest, surrounded for miles around by nothing but water. The natives that lived there were nice and there was no such thing as starvation or homelessness. It was a paradise.

The South Wind Islands were discovered fifty years ago by a large country across the sea known as Magullan. Instead of claiming South Wind Island like most countries would do, the king of Magullan, Koran Seoul, declared that South Wind Island would remain independent and free. Many nobles send their children to South Wind Academy, a school founded shortly after the discovery of the small island, to build relationships with noble children from other countries in order to build positive relations with other nations. It was also a very popular get-away place for the rich with it's beautiful beaches and fabulous scenery. In essence, it had become a melting pot of different cultures living together in total peace and harmony.

Noir attended South Wind Academy with the natives and the nobles but fit in with neither groups. He wasn't a noble and he technically wasn't a native since he hadn't been born on the island. Eight years ago, he woke up in a small cabin on the shore of Undine Island, the largest island out of all the South Wind Islands. The couple that lived in the cabin had found him lying unconscious on the beach with no memories. They agreed to take care of them as if he were their son and for that, Noir was very grateful.

“Noir! What are you doing here? Why are you not in school!” His adoptive mother, Maya Avis, asked. Immediately Noir jumped to his feet and turned to run away in a panic. He was supposed to be in class right about now. Just as he was about to make his get away, there was a sharp tug on the hood of his cloak and he realized he'd been captured.

“Y- Yes Mother?” asked Noir, looking back at her with the most innocent smile he could manage.

“Why... are you not in school?” repeated Maya. Noir could sense a slight hint of annoyance in her voice.

“Oh! I'm not in school? How did I get here? I was just in class five seconds ago, I swear!” said Noir. “Someone must have knocked me out and carried me here!”

“Totally,” said his mother. She tugged harder, dragging him down a marble walkway back in the direction of his school. Noir struggled, making a hopeless attempt to free himself from his guardian's grasp.

“M- Mother! I'll walk! I'll walk!” Noir gasped. “So please stop dragging me!”

Maya stopped for a second, looked back at Noir, and then kept on dragging him. “No,” she answered simply.

“N- No! This is child abuse! Child abuse, I say!” shouted Noir while he was being dragged through the market area. He stared into the eyes of the merchants as he passed them, begging for help. Most of them laughed at him and waved at his mother.

“Noir causing you trouble again Maya?” asked Renton Williams, a middle-aged man running a small fruit shop. Baskets of bananas, strawberries, and other delicious fruits sat on his front counter.

Maya stopped at the shop and glared down at Noir. “Yes, he thought it would be funny to try and ditch school today,” said Maya.

“But I hate it there! I don't fit in at all!” admitted Noir.

Maya sighed and released Noir. “Honestly Noir,” She crossed her arms. “That's no reason to skip out on school, even if you don't have any friends there. You know when I was your age I was always alone too, that is, until I met Judas,” said Maya, blushing a little at the end. Judas was Maya's husband and Noir's adoptive father. He had a rather magnetic personality that often attracted others to him. It always seemed to Noir that Judas got along easily with just about anybody, the exact opposite of Noir.

“Maybe I should introduce you to my daughter sometime...” said Renton. “She should be around your age, her name's Morgana Williams. Maybe you've met her...”

Noir thought for a second. The name sounded familiar but that was it. He couldn't remember if he'd met her or what she looked like. “Sorry, I don't think I have,” said Noir.

“Ah, well look for her. I'm sure you two could become great friends because after all, you two have something in common,” said Renton, grinning at Noir. The boy was debating on whether or not to ask what is was they shared but then he figured it was nothing good.

“We'd better be on our way now,” said Maya, placing a hand on Noir's shoulder. “I still have to bring this one back to school,” She then waved a quick goodbye to Renton before leaving with Noir following close behind.

Yawning as she descends down the stairs to the first floor, Fay reads the clock to find it was almost seven in the morning. Only an hour before school starts and it was a half hour walk there meaning she had half an hour to spare.

Fay sits down at the table and finds the newspaper. Curious, Fay looked inside for the horoscope. Fay jumps for joy as her horoscope states that she will be super lucky today and decided that if she was going to be super lucky, she wouldn't need to head off to school in such a rush and thus took her time to eat her breakfast.

Contrary to her thoughts, during her walk to school she encountered several difficulties. Flying water basins, and people conveniently throwing water out their windows, and angry dogs. It was absolutely horrible, and she wasn't even a quarter of the way there yet.

Since she was super lucky today and still had half an hour to spare, she decided to head back home for a change of clothes. By the time she got back, the time was already half past 8. She was already late to school by half an hour. Fay wondered how this was possible as she ran up the stairs to change her clothes. By the time she was done changing, it was almost 9. At the rate this was going, she would be an hour and a half late to school. But even so, she must persevere! As she opened the door to go outside, the same group of dogs from before were waiting outside. She stared at the group with unbelieving eyes and the dogs looked at hers with malice and mouths drooling. She quickly closed the door behind her and then looked outside through the eye hole in the door. They were waiting for her...

But why? Fay decided check her belongings if she had meat or something on her that attracted the dogs. As she kneel down to look in her bag, she smelled a sweet smell. It was the smell of a seasoned meat. How did that get on her. Of course, the water splashed on her made her smell like meat... Why the heck was that water thrown out the window!? Clearly, she herself smelled like meat so all she had to do was remove it and the smell would disappear. Thus a bath is the most logical choice but there's their family was conserving hot water because hot water plumbing doesn't exist. So she decided to wait until the dogs went away.

It took a few hours but the dogs finally gave up and left. It was almost noon, if she goes now, she would only be four hours late to school. She can still make it! So she rushed out and began to head towards the school. As she was running through the marketplace, she heard a cry for help so she decided to go check it out. It was one of her seniors, a notable trouble maker at her school and with the merchants laughing she assumed he was just joking. Almost forgetting she was four hours late, she believed that Noir was also late but he was walking. At noon, the marketplace was full of housewives to buy groceries and thus clog up the street. Noir was right in front of her and was walking very slowly. Fay believed Noir didn't know how late he was so she said "If you don't hurry, you're going to be even more than four hours late to school!"

Noir heard the voice behind him but before he could turn around and respond Noir tripped over his own feet and fell face first into the walkway, nearly knocking down his mother who was still walking right in front of him. The boy laid on the ground unmoving for a couple of seconds before he finally lifted his head out of the cobblestone. "Ow... What the hell..." He moaned quietly, getting to his knees.

Maya noticed her son on the ground and immediately rushed back to him. "Are you alright Noir?" asked Noir's mother, helping Noir to his feet.

"Yea," he said, rubbing his face before he turned around to face the voice. The girl behind him was a dirty blonde with a pony tail hold together by a red scrunchy. He didn't recognize the girl but judging by what she said, she attended South Wind Academy as well. Did he try to avoid an awkward situation by pretending he knew her or should he just ask who she was?

Just then, his mother pushed Noir to the side causing him to nearly fall into a basket of carrots. "I know you!" said Maya, pointing at the girl. "You're the Lucetta's little girl aren't you? Fay Lucetta, last time I saw you you were just a baby! Now, you've grown into such a fine young lady!" Maya grabbed Noir and pulled him closer. "I know you don't remember me but I'm Maya Avis, I used to be friends with your parents when they fo-" Immediately, Maya stopped herself and tried to correct herself. "I mean, gave birth to you! Ha ha!" Maya laughed rubbing the back of her head. "Anyways, this is my son, Noir Avis. It's nice to see you again," she said with an extended hand.

Fay stared at Maya during her explanation with a quizzical expression as she wondered who she was. Even though she wanted to hurry to school, she had no choice but to accept her greeting so she extended out her right hand to shake with Maya's. From her explanation, she appeared to be friends with her parents so, she decided to make sure she does not notice that she is late. "Right! Okay!" she said as she wonders how long she will keep her here.

Maya smiled at Fay and then gasped. "Oh no! Noir's even later now and I've made you later now too!" Immediately she grabbed Noir by the hood of his cloak and grabbed Fay by the hand. "Come on, I'll give you a ride to school." Suddenly, a little wing on Maya's ankle began glowing and she got lower as if she were about to sprint. Noir's face immediately turned pale. He knew what was about to happen. Suddenly, the whole world began morphing around them making Noir feel very nauseous. One second they were standing in the market place and then the next second they were in the hallway of South Wind Academy outside of the head master's room.

"Please mother..." Noir gasped as he knelt on the floor trying not to throw up. "For the love of all the spirits in the world... Never do that again...."

Fay looked at her surroundings not sure what had happened. But she believes she is inside of the school based on the appearance of the walls. She then looks at Maya and asks "How did you do that!?"

Maya smiled at Fay and pointed down to the mark on her left ankle. "This is my mark of jumping, it allows me to warp short to medium distances!" exclaimed Maya. Noir's mother was what people would call a Magus, a person with a special mark that allows them to use certain abilities.

A split second later, a chubby old man with glasses pushed open the door. "Excuse me but what-" He saw Noir on his knees looking nearly dead. "Oh," he said with a sigh. The principal knew what was going on just by looking at Noir. Obviously the boy had tried skipping again and had been caught like usual. Then, he noticed the Lucetta girl standing outside his office too. She had a bit of a record of being late too but it wasn't anywhere close to being as bad as Noir's. The principal opened the door for Noir and Fay. "Come inside and take a seat," he ordered. Noir reluctantly did as he said. "Thank you for bringing them back Mrs. Avis," the principal said with a nod.

Maya Avis nodded back and then warped away.

"Eeeeh..." Fay complained as she was lumped in with the delinquent. She didn't like that she only had to go to the principal's office because the only reason she was here was because Noir's mother teleported her here. She began to sulk as she walked into the principal'a office.

Noir was surprised to see another boy like him sitting in the principle's office. He had short neatly combed brown hair and sat with upright with his head raised high. The boy was holding a worn out leather book in his hands. Noir figured that he had to be a noble just by looking at the boy's poise. Then, he saw what looked like a phoenix on the back of the boy's right hand and realized that he just wasn't any noble. There was only one person with the Mark of the Phoenix and that was the prince of Magullan, Anka Seoul.

Noir and Anka stared into each other's eyes for a couple of seconds and then Noir looked away in distaste. He looked like such a freaking stick in the mud.

"Sorry for the distraction Mr. Seoul," said the principal as he sat behind his desk. "You said something about needing a place to store that book?"

Anka nodded. "Yes, my father would appreciate it very much if you could hold onto this book for us for safe keeping. It's very important to us after all."

"I suppose I could have it kept in the library," suggested the principal.

"That's not good enough," said Anka, quickly shooting down the principal's idea. "Somewhere where it can not be stolen."

"How about we put it in the vault?" asked the principal.

"That works..."

The principal extended an arm. "Now if you'll give me the book I'll have someone bring it down there as soon as possible," said the principal.

Immediately, Anka turned away from the principal. "Sorry but I must ensure with my own eyes that this gets inside safely."

The principal sighed. "You don't even know how to get to the vaults so how can you-" Just then he remembered that there were two of his students in his room. He looked past Anka and at Noir and Fay. "You two know where the vault is don't you?"

Noir nodded, seeing where this was going and figuring out how he could use it to his advantage. "I would love to escort the prince to the vaults. That is, as long as you let us two off the hook," said Noir with a smirk.

"This guy... is a genius!" Fay comments in her mind as she looks at Noir with sparkling eyes. Although she doesn't know what she could do to make sure the principal will accept his condition so she decided to stay quiet so the principal could consider what he wants to do.

"Well if that's the case then I'll just ask one of the teachers to-"

"No, no," said Noir quickly. "You wouldn't want to interrupt one of their classes, would you? Think about how it would affect my classmates, having to miss out on ten minutes of their wonderful lessons."

The principal clearly was not buying into what Noir was saying. "I'll just wait until passing period or lunch," the principal said.

"We can't wait that long," Anka Seoul interjected. "I must have this book locked away as soon as possible."

The book was beginning to make Noir a little but curious. Why did the Seoul prince want it to be locked away so badly? That had to mean that it was something dangerous. Then, he did a mental shrug. Oh well, it wasn't as though that mattered. That book was the key to getting him out of one of the principal's lectures. The principal sighed. "Fine," said the principal. "If the prince is properly escorted to and from the vaults then I will overlook the tardiness of you two just this once..."

Noir did a slightly sarcastic bow. "Why thank you sir, I promise you will not be disappointed."

"Now both of you wait outside while I finish talking with the prince..." said the principal. Noir was already out the door before he could finish speaking.

"Hm..." hummed Fay as she wondered if she really needed to go too. Seeing as how the guy with the book only needed one guide, there was no need for her to be there too. Although she was curious what was he was planning to put inside the vault that needed an incredible amount of protection so she decided to follow along. So she skipped to the door and said "We'll be sure to get him safely to the vault!" before closing the door. She then began to run after Noir saying "Wait up!"

"Are you sure this is alright?" asked the principal just as Anka was about to leave the office. "What if something happens? Only one of them is a Magus and even then her powers aren't battle oriented like yours as far as we know. If something happens then you're on your own."

Anka looked back at the principal. "I'm strong enough to take care of myself," said Anka before exiting the room and following after Noir and Fay.

As soon as the principal was sure Anka was away from the door he started laughing. Thing's are going better then expected milord, said the principal, using his mind to communicate with some far off human. I knew the boy would be too stubborn to accept regular guards but I'd never expect him to allow a couple of kids as his escort.

Excellent, responded a man with a deep voice. I shall tell Verdandi to initiate the plan.

The principal smiled and leaned back in his chair. Once they obtain the tome of sages the world would belong to them. Effigia would be unstoppable.

***

Noir stepped outside of the academy and into what was known as the left yard. It was, as the name suggested, the yard to the left of the academy. It was also where there was a shed with stairs inside that led down to a dungeon where the vault was. As soon as he took a step outside, a tiny drop of water landed on his head. Immediately he looked up and noticed how extremely dark it had gotten. Weird... he thought to himself. Actually weird was an understatement, it was impossible. The fastest way to get to the dungeons was by cutting through the main building. When they had left the administration building to take one of the side entrances to the main building the sky had been completely clear. Now it took about two to three minutes to cross the entire building so that had to mean this accumulated in less then a minute. Since this obviously wasn't natural, Noir figured it had to be a Magus' doing. But then why would a Magus want to make it rain all of a sudden? It was all very suspicious.

He felt like the responsible thing to do would be to tell the prince about his suspicions but then he figured that if he alarmed the prince that might be enough reason for him to want to go back to the administration office which means he would've failed his mission. He could absolutely not let that happen. "Ha ha, what bad luck it was such a nice day," he said trying to play off the rain as bad luck which was entirely possible. "Well you know what they say, if you don't like the weather on Undine Island just wait a few minutes."

"Yea..." Anka Seoul said quietly. He could also feel that something was amiss but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Fay gets depressed as she could get wet again making her have to change clothes again. Although she doesn't have a change of clothes this time. "So how long do you think it will keep raining?" asked Fay as she didn't want to stay here for too long.

Noir figured that there was a magus out there that was responsible for this, so the rain would end whenever that magus got tired or decided to stop. Obviously Noir couldn't say that because then Anka would become suspicious and not want to complete the mission. "It's probably just a quick spring shower," lied Noir.

All of a sudden Anka looked up into a nearby tree. "I know you're there," said Anka as he passed by Noir and Fay. There was a rustle in the branches and then a blonde man jumped out. He was dressed in bright blue suit that gripped his body firmly, pieces or glitter lined his clothing. It was then that Noir realized that he'd just seen the weirdest man to ever walk the planet.

"Oh my, oh my~" He said holding his hands to his lips in a very feminine fashion. "It seems I've been spotted, what ever shall I do~?"

"You can leave," answered Anka. "I know who you are and you're not getting this book."

"Daw~ The little birdie is threatening me~!" squealed the man, clasping his hands together and squirming. He made Noir want to barf. "Listen, hon, I don't think there's anything you can do to stop me in this situation~" He finished, winking at Anka.

"Why not?"

"Because sweetie~ You're a fire birdie~ This isn't quite your domain~" said the man. Anka's mark of the phoenix began glowing in the rain but when he tried to summon fire it was immediately doused by the pouring rain.

Anka cursed under his breath. His plan was to lure the bandits out by walking around with the book and then once he found them, destroy them. Rain, however, hadn't quite been in his calculations. "You bastards!" shouted Anka, surprising even Noir. "Do you not know how to fight fairly!"

The man laughed at Anka's outburst. "You're cute when you're angry~" He said as he was practically dying of laughter. "But seriously, hon, the rain wasn't a part of our plan either, it was merely a stroke of good luck~"

Noir had absolutely no idea what was going. He did however, figure that it was a good time to run. The boy had no desire to get involved with whatever was about to go down. "Come on," he whispered to Fay, grabbing her arm. "I don't think we want to be involved in this."

Looking at the situation, the guy by tree while it was raining. Fay suddenly pointed towards the man and said "Don't worry guys, lighting will strike him down!" A few seconds passed and nothing happened. "Maybe!" she corrected herself. "Well, maybe he won't come at us or else he'll ruin his suit," commented Fay as he shrugged.

"Fine then," said Noir releasing Fay's hand. "I'll be leaving then, I don't want to be involved in this..." Noir marched over to the door and was about to open it when it began to free over. The boy removed his hand from the door immediately, and nearly a split second afterword ice covered the door knob as well. "Well... Never mind then," he muttered to himself.

"No running hon~!" said the man wiggling a finger at Noir. "Just stand there like good little children and accept your fates. 'Kay?" ordered the man as he winked again. Noir had the urge to punch the man in the face but he knew the end would be unfavorable to him so that was out of the question. Clearly the guy was a Magus with the ability to create and manipulate ice. What made it even worse was that they were now soaked in rain which meant the guy could easily just freeze the water on them and that would be the end. So then... Why hadn't he? Noir began to develop a theory about the man's power. What if the man couldn't freeze them?

Noir smirked as he had an idea to test if his theory was true or not. Slowly he picked a pebble off the ground and prepared to throw it. "What are you doing?" asked Anka. The man seemed curious too as to what Noir was going to do with the rock and therefore stood still with his arms crossed. Noir threw the rock as hard as he could towards the man and it bounced off his forehead leaving a little red mark.

"Score!" exclaimed Noir as he realized he hit his target. Anka and the man stood in disbelief for a couple of seconds, until the man froze a tiny shard of ice in his hand and stared at his reflection in it.

"My beautiful face..." said the man as he looked at the tiny mark on his forehead. "Y-You ruined it..." he started to growl.

Fay looked at the doorknob and then back at the man. Marks have limits and because of that, it restricts the effectiveness of certain marks. Fay's mark grants her and people nearby great luck but only at random intervals while draining luck from everyone within the surrounding area. His problem wasn't that he was out of range because he could clearly freeze water behind them.

From the looks of things, he can only create ice but cannot manipulate it. If he could manipulate it, he could have froze the pebble mid-air before it hit him and threw it back at them. It would also enable him to conduct ranged attacks from various angles where the three of them cannot dodge and he would never have to move through the rain to do so. But to simply assume he can create ice is bad judgment.

Heat manipulation, elemental creation, or possibly manipulation of water are all reasonable abilities he could have. By removing the heat from the water, he can freeze the water but the heat has to go somewhere to follow the law of conservation of energy. Elemental creation would allow him to create multiple forms of elements like lightning and the sort but if he could do that he would've attacked with it from afar. Manipulating water would allow him to stand out in the rain nut he would need to be able to move the water and since he didn't he must not have it.

Although a more logical conclusion would be that he cannot freeze anything that is absorbing heat. The human body is always generating heat to maintain metabolism so he might not be able freeze people. As the pebble flew through the air, it collided with air particles which caused friction to which heat to be transferred. As the rain was falling, it collected the heat in the air as it collided with air particles. The doorknob wasn't moving at all so it could be frozen using his abilities.

So two possible restriction to his power has been discovered! He can either not change the water absorbing heat and/or that he cannot manipulate the ice he creates! Although there wasn't really way to confirm that. The most logical choice would be to anger him to make him expose everything he has about his ability.

That would be nice if someone was actually thinking all of that. But on Fay's mind was nothing other than the fact that the red mark on his forehead made him look like has a pimple which made her giggle a bit.

"I see... So that's how you want to play things..." said the man as the ice mirror melted in his hand. "I would just love to play with you, hon~!" There was an odd angry smile on the man's face as he forced a happy tone. Just then, eight blocks of ice shot diagonally and locked each of Noir's feet into place. He struggled to pull his feet out but the ice wouldn't allow it. If there were one good thing about this at least he proved his theory. The man could not form ice on another person's body.

The man raised an arm up into the air and suddenly ice began forming around the man's arm until it was virtually a spear. "I hope you're having fun hon~ I know I'm about to~!" Instinctively, Noir raised his arms defensively as soon as the man charged at him. He then waited for his death to come. One second, two seconds, three seconds passed and nothing had happened. Slowly he put down his arms and opened his eyes. Immediately he regretted everything he'd done.

Anka stood in front of him. The ice spear pierced had pierced a hole through Anka's chest and blood tainted the tip of the icicle spear. Another thing that Noir noticed was the dagger that Anka had stabbed into the man's side. He gasped as he realized that his actions had just killed the prince of Magullan. Why did the prince rush in to protect him? Why couldn't the prince of just let him die, after all he was a nobody. Nobody would have missed him. It was then that Noir decided that he had to do something. Luckily for him, the ice around his feet began to crack and he was able to break free from his prison.

Immediately, he ran towards the shed that contained the passageway to the dungeon, grabbing Fay's hand and the book that Anka had dropped on the ground. Noticing what Noir was attempting to do, the man tried to pull away but Anka refused to let go. By the time he got away from him, Noir and Fay were already in the dungeons. "I'll deal with you later, hon~" said the man as he walked away from Anka, who was laying motionless on the ground.

***

Noir led Fay down the stairs as fast as he could and through the dark corridors looking for someone who could help them. "Where are they dammit?" he asked himself. There should be people down here and not just normal people, teachers. This was where the Magus teachers held their classes after all, yet no one was in sight. The only possible explanation was that someone had canceled the Magus classes and the only one who could do that was the principal. "That rat bastard principal! He's the one behind all this! He set us up, that's why he agreed to send us as escorts!" shouted Noir, punching the brick wall as hard as he could. Blood trickled down from his knuckle and off onto the floor.

"Dammit, I'm so stupid!" he shouted as he squatted to the ground, holding the book to his chest. "Not only did I get you and I involved I also got the only one who could stop him killed..."

"Not everyone! His luck will run out and the walls will collapse and crush him!" Fay explained. After a brief pause she added "Maybe!" she wasn't entirely sure what she could do at the moment since she could only rely on their luck to get through all of this. "But why was he after the book anyway? Is there some secret information written inside?" she asked wondering what was inside the book Noir was holding.

"I don't know..." answered Noir. Why did these people want the book so much? It was then he got an idea. What if there were something in there that could save them? Slowly he opened the front cover and immediately something burned his hand causing him to drop it. When the book hit the floor it fell open to a glowing page which seemed to draw Noir into it. Noir blinked and all of a sudden he found himself standing in a dark room.

"Where is this?" Noir asked to the open air. A large raven flew out of the darkness and landed on Noir's shoulder, surprising Noir.

"This is the void," cawed the bird. "My home."

"W- Why can you t- talk!?"

The bird looked slightly irritated. "I'm a spirit, not some uncivilized animal."

Noir took the raven off of his shoulder and held him in his hands and closely examined the bird. "You look like a normal bird to me..."

The bird screeched at Noir, causing Noir to jump and drop him. "I am no normal bird! I am the Raven, one of the legendary bird spirits!"

Noir had no idea what the legendary bird spirits were, he only understood that they must be some really powerful type of mark spirit. "Okay then, why am I here... In this... place?"

"You're the one who opened the book and broke my seal," answered the Raven.

"Yea but I was looking for a way to get out of the mess I'm in... Not for some bird."

The Raven looked extremely irritated but was holding in his anger towards Noir. "Well, I can let you borrow my power for a bit... That is if you'll let me inside of you."

Noir stared at the Raven blankly for a little bit. "You want me to what?"

"I need you to become my host."

"Oh," said Noir feeling slightly relieved that he misunderstood what the bird had said. "If I become your host will I be able to stop that man that's chasing me?"

The Raven simply nodded.

Noir thought for a second. "Fine," Noir agreed just as the man was turning into the correct corridor.

Fay simply watched as the book pulled Noir into it. Wondering what happened, she began to pace around wondering what had happened to Noir. As she was about to pick up the book, she refrained from touching it because of what she had witness happen to Noir. Did he completely vaporize into thin air or did he get imprisoned in the magic book?

As Fay heard the man turn into their corridor, she quickly thought of a plan. If the book could imprison people by looking into the contents, then if the man looks into the book, he would get imprisoned inside as well!

"Ah! Just take the book, don't hurt anyone anymore!" said Fay while showing him where the was.

"Mm, Sorry hon, but I don't make promises that I can't keep," said the man. "But I will be taking the book." He walked by Fay and bent down. The second he noticed the book had been opened and her friend was gone he immediate turned around and faced her. "Where's your friend?" He asked, faking a smile.

"We split up along the way here hoping to throw you off," Fay replied with a fake smile of her own.

"Oh well that's too bad, hon... Perhaps if he hears me kill you he'll come back, no?" said the man as he examined his long girlish blue fingernails. Suddenly, ice formed around the man's arm much like last time except this time it was in the form a giant claw. The man inspected the claw for any imperfections and then faced Fay, preparing for an attack.