19 Moons- Hunt For The Stolen Child (3rd Night)

--- Jon ---

(Alright, school ‘s out. Now I have to figure out what I’m doing next.) He had a few options, though most of them involved preparing for when he had to…

(Bone snapped beneath his boot.)

(Meat tore open and blood poured free as his blade pierced flesh.)

(The man crawled away terror filling his eyes as Jon’s grip tightened on the axe in his hand.)

“Jon!”

He blinked, his eyes jumping to Aliyah as he snapped out of his memories. “Uh, Aliyah, did you need something?”

“Um, I… Sort of?” The other teen admitted nervously. “Or no, I don’t need anything but… Something came up at my dad’s work and he’s not picking me up today.”

“Okay?” He wasn’t entirely sure what that had to do with him.

“No, I…” Aliyah trailed off in a nervous sort of frustration he’d come to associate with the timid teen. “Have you, have you heard about what happened to, to Sarah?”

(The blood on his hands had just begun to dry as he stepped back, letting the medics take care of an injury he could have Pix heal in seconds if he wasn’t so selfishly trying to hide his magic.)

“Yeah… It’s awful.”

“Mhm.” Aliyah agreed. “A-Anyway, s-since my dad can’t pick me up, I was kind of thinking we could walk back to the uh, apartments… Together… For safety!”

(Ah, since Ms. Valentine was attacked, she’s worried she could be attacked.) That was a perfectly reasonable response to what happened.

“Sure.” He nodded before starting to walk. “Though there’s a couple errands I have to take care of later, so we should probably get going.”

“R-right!” Aliyah smiled in relief as she fell into step with him.

(It’s not like I’d leave someone alone when they’re scared.)

“You do know that we’re just as safe as we ever were.” He told her after a moment, hoping to reassure her while pointedly avoiding the fact that given what he knew went bump in the night be it mundane or magical that wasn’t particularly safe.

“Bu- W-what do you mean?” Aliyah asked with some confusion.

“The person who stabbed Ms. Valentine was probably Kenneth’s father.” He explained. “Meaning that aside from taking Kenneth, he isn’t going to hurt anyone else.”

“Oh…” Aliyah said, seemingly more upset by this information than not.

He couldn’t keep himself from frowning in concern. “Is… something wrong?”

“Oh, no, it’s just… I hope Kenneth’s okay…” Aliyah told him. “We babysat him every now and then, and I know my little sister adored him. So it’s… I don’t know.”

“You’re just worried about him, and that’s perfectly understandable.” He assured her. “That said, I don’t think you have to be too worried.”

Aliyah gave him a curious look. “Why’s that?”

“Well, his dad went to a lot of trouble to get a hold of him, so that means he’s probably taking pretty good care of Kennth.” (And if he’s not I’ll feed him to the wolves.)

He idly wondered if Wolf liked the taste of rats.

“Still, that doesn’t change the fact that I’m worried about him you know.” Aliyah admitted, unaware of his personal musings.

“That’s fine.” He wouldn't say it out loud, but he was worried about the toddler too. (But this isn’t about me.) “And while I’m not sure how comforting it’ll be, know that my Ma’s working as hard as she can to find him.”

Aliyah blinked for a moment, giving him enough time to notice something that was bothering him. “Oh, right. Your mom’s a cop isn’t she?”

He nodded before glancing over his shoulder. “Yeah, she had to pull a few strings, but she managed to keep herself on the case despite being so close the Ms. Valentine.”

“That’s good,” Aliyah smiled, not having noticed their follower. (She really should work on her awareness a little more.) “I-I’m sure she’ll be able to find him.”

“I don’t doubt it for a second.” (Though I might be the one handing him over.) He admitted to himself if not her.

“Glad you’ve got such confidence in me kid.”

Aliyah jumped in that way she tended to whenever he tried to start a conversation with her, earning an amused smirk from his Ma as the teen turned to face her.

“Ms. Whitaker!”

“Ms. Jefferson.” His Ma greeted with a touch of amusement.

“What are you doing here?” Aliyah asked as she got over her surprise.

“Was heading to the apartment to wait for Jon, when I saw you two walking and figured I’d give you two a lift the rest of the way.” His Ma explained, gesturing to a car parked further down the street.

Aliyah glanced at the car curiously. “But why’d you park down there instead of pulling up to us?”

“Reasons.” His mother answered with even more amusement, though he doubted Aliyah picked up on it.

His eyes narrowed, and he saw the corner of his Ma’s mouth twitch.

(She was trying to jump me!) He thought indignantly. (She promised she wouldn’t do that while I’m trying to help people!)

“You said you were going to wait for me?” He asked, letting just enough annoyance seep into his voice that while Aliyah would miss it his ma would still catch it.

Rather than giving another sign of her amusement like he’d been expecting, his ma immediately sobered up. “Sarah’s finally woken up at the hospital.”

Scene Consequences

-Reputation has increased amongst neighbors.

-Grown a bit closer to Aliyah.

---

His Ma knocked on the hospital door, drawing the attention of the only resident of the room as Ms. Valentine turned towards them with a tired smile that didn’t quite reach her red eyes.

“Hey…” Ms. Valentine greeted with what little enthusiasm she could muster.

“Hey.” His Ma greeted with a matching excitement. “Heard you were up and figured we’d come and see how you’re holding up.”

“I’m alive.” Ms. Valentine laughed just a bit bitterly, though her face softened as he followed his mom into the room. “Which I hear I have you to thank for.”

“Oh, um, it was…” He didn’t feel right saying it was nothing, given how it was Ms. Valentine’s life at stake, but at the same time he didn’t feel right accepting praise for something he felt anyone would do if able. “A thing…”

Ms. Valentine gave him another one of those bitter laughs. “Yeah, it was…”

An awkward silence fell over them for a moment, at least until his ma cleared her throat. “Since you just woke up today, I don’t think you’ve talked to the police yet, right?”

“You’re my first visitors.” Ms. Valentine nodded.

“Alright, well, I’ve managed to get myself on your case. So if you don’t mind talking about it with me, we can make sure you don’t have to explain everything to a stranger.” His ma offered Ms. Valentine.

“Yeah… that sounds… better?” Ms. Valentine admitted a little nervously. “What exactly did you need to know?”

“Well, do you remember who attacked you?” His ma asked, going straight for the big issue.

Ms. Valentine’s face lost whatever passive kindness she had as it took on a bitter if nervous edge. “An-Antonio Ramirez… Tony for short. He’s my ex… and Kenneth’s father I guess…”

“Figured it was him.” His ma admitted. “Either way, we’ve already got an APB out on him, but he seems to be laying low after what happened to you, so it might take a day or two to track him down.”

Ms. Valentine gave a bitter chuckle. “You know I alway knew if I stayed with him, it was going to escalate like this. Honestly, I was hoping that once I got away from him… and you helped me with that restraining order, that he’d… I don’t know, calm down a bit…”

“Some assholes only get worse.” His ma sighed, likely thinking of her own ex-husband.

“Yeah… Should’ve known he was that type, when he hit Kenneth-”

(He WhAt?!)

“-that’s how I finally worked up the courage to leave him you know.” Ms. Valentine continued, unaware of the beast howling inside his mind.

“Well, you left him and that was a big step.” His ma assured Ms. Valentine in that awkward sort of kindness, that reminded him that comforting people was never her specialty.

“Yeah, but apparently it wasn’t big enough.” Ms. Valentine told them with another sad and bitter laugh.

(Right, that won’t do.) He decided, as the beast knew to wait for its time and place.

“Maybe, but you won’t have to worry about that anymore, because with Detective Whitaker on the case, he’ll be behind bars soon enough.” He promised her with an enthusiasm he knew his ma couldn’t work up on her own, hoping it was infectious enough to cheer Ms. Valentine up if only a little.

“I’m sure she will.” Ms. Valentine gave him a soft smile, before deflating into her hospital bed once more. “I’m sure she will…”

He met his Ma’s eyes out of the corner of his own, and she gave him a half nod as if saying, ‘nice try, kiddo’.

“Well, I’ll let you know as the case develops.” His ma eventually told Ms. Valentine, as the ensuing silence began to wear on everyone in the room.

“I’d appreciate that.” Ms. Valentine admitted with another half-hearted smile. “Though maybe the next time you come by, you can bring Kenneth? I want him to know mommy’s okay.”

(Oh no.)

Scene Consequences

-Unknown Target has been named, granting a small bonus when investigating this target.

-Grown a bit closer to Ms. Valentine.

---

As he sat in his room, he debated what to do.

Or rather he procrastinated doing what he knew he had to do.

He was fully aware of the fact that if he wanted to find Kenneth he’d have to go out and track him down himself. Something he’d already determined he’d do no matter what, after his hospital visit to Ms. Valentine.

(He could see the exact moment the young mother parsed his own mother’s words, realized what they meant, and realized the true depths of what was taken from her.

And already hurting young woman broke.)

No, there was no doubt in what he had to do.

What was slowing him down however was instead, the knowledge of what that course of action would entail, and what it would mean for him and the peaceful life he’d been hoping to return to ever since leaving Blackwell.

He ran a hand down his face. (I can’t put this off forever…)

The majority of his kit was already stashed away in his backpack and ready to be brought out once he was far enough from home that no one he knew would be asking him why he had an axe in his hand, making it a quick matter to slide the backpack on as that previous thought led him to another.

(Should I bother hiding my face?)

It hadn’t been a true priority back in Blackwell, not when most of his enemies were the Corrupted and the few others were in situations where he couldn’t afford to stop and think about maintaining anonymity while Rosalind had been in danger. But now he did have the time, and he was facing people who might be able to identify him despite the darkness of night.

(If I do put a mask on there’d be nothing differentiating me from an actual Mask.) He realized with a grimace.

Unlike the other teens his age, he’d never been all to into the whole Mask craze -something he blamed on his mother- and while he knew most teens would jump at the chance to become a mask, he himself was more than reluctant to be mistaken for, let alone become a Mask.

(I’m just saving Kenneth and that’s it.) He reminded himself. (Once he’s safe I’m putting my stuff away and not touching it until next Summer.)

(Sure you won’t.)

He shook his head, before evaluating his somewhat limited options as far as facial wear went. In fact now that he thought about it he only had one thing that could be considered a ‘mask’ and that was an old enchanted scarf miss Endna had sent him the christmas past.

As far as he knew the scarf was enchanted with just a temperature regulation that would make it viable to wear at any time, even the hottest of summers would feel like room temperature with the scarf on. That said, he wouldn’t put it past her to slip something extra in to keep him safe.

(Afterall, she’s always been worried about me outside of camp, even before everything in Blackwell.)

If he wanted to wear something else he’d have to buy it, which if he were to get the right kind of helmet would admittedly offer him a bit of physical protection that he was actually aware of. Or if he swung by the right store, he could get a mask that would have a bit more of a conceptual weight if he got around to enchanting it.

Then again he could still go without the mask entirely. Since he was only going to be doing this for the next week or so, he doubted that the Dealers would be able to piece together who he was with the shadows obscuring his face. What’s more without a mask it’d be a lot easier for him to emote, which would make it easier for Kenneth to recognize him and -based on lessons from both De Sade and Quartermaster Rogers- would make his… talks significantly easier.

Either way, it was something he was going to have to figure out before he left for the night.