I head downstairs to see Charles and Tai locked in a heated argument. "You are not coming with us!." Charles yells as he stuffs the last of the arsenal weaponry into a liminal space bag. "I can't just walk away from this!." Tai shouts at Charles, thoroughly infuriated by his refusal. Tai catches sight of me as I reach the bottom of the stairs and flashes me a relieved smile. "Ah Tanya, I am delighted to inform you, I'll be joining you all on your journey." I quirk my eyebrow at him. "What happened to this not being your problem?." I sneer.
Tai flinches at my mocking tone "I've… had a change of heart, I mean I technically caused all of this, I'd never forgive myself if I turned back now." The remorse that flashes across their face is almost enough to convince me they're being honest, almost. I carefully examine the anxious tension in Tai's shoulders and the slightly embarrassed flush on his ears as he evades my piercing gaze.
I look over at Charles, who is giving me a look that clearly says 'Don't you dare.' I look back at Tai. They were immune to my needles and they can clearly use magic… My eyes flick to the golden locket hanging from Tai's neck, only for him to pull his cloak closer in order to hide it from my inquisitive gaze. I look at Fireball and Carina, both of whom are pretending to ignore the conversation happening but who I know will differ to my judgement.
Let's see… leave the potentially dangerous weirdo who knows where we live to their own devices. Or bring a potential threat along on a dangerous cross country journey from which we may not return. Hmmmmm. "They can come." I announce. Charles immediately looks to contest my judgement. I slap a hand over his mouth and drag him away.
I shove Charles into the store room and close the door behind us. Charles rips my hand off and turns to glare at me. "What the hell are you thinking? They can't come with us!." "Would you rather they just leave and potentially tell people that the shop's completely unattended, or that our best security measure just disappeared in a flash of light?." Charles tenses before looking away.
He unsurprisingly hadn't thought that far ahead. I sigh. "As it stands Tai is simply too dangerous for us to let go. We're vulnerable right now but the only one who knows that is currently asking to stay close to us, I'll be sure to find out why as soon as possible but for now he comes with us. Clear?." I watch as Charles takes a deep breath and considers my words before facing me again, a slight frown still tugging at his features. "Crystal."
We return to the shop's lobby to see everything fully packed, and Carina delegating the bags. "Nice of you to rejoin us, you sure you have everything?." I head over to help Fireball lift a bag half as big as they are onto their shoulders. "Yeah and I'm assuming my clothes are…" Carina nods towards a black sack lined with enchantment runes perched in the corner. I sling the bag over my shoulders and rejoin the group. "We'll need to be careful heading out of town, no one can know Morgana is gone." Carina announces.
Tai pipes up "I wouldn't worry too much about being spotted, this place is practically a ghost town anyways." We all turn to look at him. "What do you mean by that?." I ask, forcing my voice to remain steady even as a foreboding feeling creeps at the edge of my senses. Tai shrugs, seemingly confused by the sudden interest in his words. "I haven't seen a single person outside of you lot since I got in yesterday." The room goes dead quiet. Tai got here in the middle of the day, peak business hours, the town should've been bursting with activity… I look around the room and see the same thought process cross the faces of my coworkers, their faces contorting with confusion and concern.
I hurry out of the shop, followed by my coworkers as Charles shoves Tai out of the door before locking up the shop. I run just ahead of the others leading us into town as Charles and Tai bicker about the shove in the back. We rush into the town square only to find it completely empty. "This doesn't make any sense." I mutter as I look around. It's only a little after 6 o'clock but the shops that would normally be opening their doors are all boarded up, the early risers typically out on their morning walks are nowhere to be found. The town is completely empty, just as Tai had said.
"ANYBODY HE-" I slap my hand over Fireball's mouth and drag them into a nearby alleyway. They struggle in my grasp as the others crowd into the alley. "What the hells do you think you're doing?!" I hiss, whispering fiercely at the squirming child. "Nobody can know we're here!." Fireball twists in my arms so I can see their glare but fortunately stops thrashing. I sigh in relief as I let them go. I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn to see Charles pointing at the alley wall. The wall is covered in dried, bloody streaks. "Well that's… comforting." I quip, but the sarcasm in my voice fails to fully hide the creeping sense of dread I feel as I walk over to inspect the wall.
There's enough dried blood to cover most of the face of the wall, I run my hand over the splatter, noting the formation of the streaks. "The blood is obviously old, but what bothers me is that there's so much of it." I turn to look at the other wall, although basked in early morning shadow I can see similar streaks on the opposing wall. I kneel down and see where dried pools of blood mix with the filth and dirt of the alleyway.
"This is way too much blood for one person, whatever happened here killed a lot of people." I turn to go deeper down the alley only to feel a hand grip my forearm. I turn to see Carina's concerned glare staring back at me. "We don't have time for this. I'm not sure if you've forgotten, but Morgana is missing. We can't stick around and play detective over people who are most likely already dead." Carina's words snap through the air with a cold sharpness that makes everyone tense up.
"GET OVER IT!. All you ever talk about is your family! Quit obsessing over people that are already dead!."
I shove the old memory back down and glare at Carina. "...Not the empathetic type I see." Tai jokes, likely hoping to break the ice. I let out a mocking laugh. "HA. No she isn't." I easily pry her hand off of my arm and turn to face the group. "Before she disappeared Morgana mentioned an issue of some sort, she didn't give me any details but I'm sure it has something to do with why the town is empty." Carina's frown deepens at my words but before she can say anything Fireball tugs on desperately at my sleeve.
"Look, somebody is here!" They whisper fiercely at me, pointing at a cloaked figure running through the town square desperately clutching a bag to their chest. "What are they running from?" Charles asks, turning to look in the direction the figure came from. "Well that's a stupid question." Snarks Tai. Charles glares at him and I interject before the two can start bickering "One we don't want an answer to, let's tail 'em." I slip out of the alleyway, sticking to the shadows and moving swiftly after the retreating figure.