Jake Addams May 16th,20XX

I’d left the document with Will and left to school intending to talk to Sparrow’s friends in the hopes that they might know anything that could help us locate her but eventually turned around and started to drive towards her studio to look for some clues. The group had moved preparation to a bigger studio so the place hadn’t been opened since the last time she was there.

I wasn't as worried about Finn because of his track record. This was far from being the first time he had gone MIA, but he would usually give notice. The sudden disappearance was worrying and with the showcase less than a month away, each day seemed to pass by on a knife.

To avoid making everyone worry Will had emailed the school saying that the two of them had been called away on family-related business, having somewhat convinced himself that they had run away together, and the group seemed to be running with that explanation. A couple of others had taken over leadership of the project and had been working hard on creating the material for the showcase so it wasn’t like everything fell apart, but as a friend I couldn’t help but worry.

I’d heard from Will that the last day Finn had come to work was the day he’d fired Alice’s uncle but Nikolas was already following that trail.

I pulled into the driveway and quickly ran up to the studio, feeling more and more anxious with every step. In my haste I hadn’t brought my keys to the studio with me but I knew where Sparrow usually kept the spare keys. I reached to the top of the door frame and ripped the thin tape off the key and then let myself into the apartment.

Two voices filtered into my ear as the door swung open and the momentum I’d built up escalated into stress. I grabbed my bat; the one Finn had randomly given to me one day even though I didn’t play baseball from the closet where I’d left it and hooked it over my shoulder as I approached the voices.

The first thing that I saw was a head of golden hair that looked more like thin strands of gold than actual hair moving animatedly as it spoke with the other person. The next thing I saw was Will with a stressed expression talking to the stranger.

The stranger slightly turned in my direction and a disconcertingly familiar face was revealed to me. I tried to pin down the sense of familiarity but it escaped before I could pin it down. All I was left was an uncomfortable feeling of Deja Vu.

The voice ranged in the same field as his face, familiar enough to make me uncomfortable but unfamiliar enough to stay in my subconscious.

He and Will sat across from one another with a set of cups between them. The stranger looked strangely relaxed as he perched on the chair with a single long leg crossed atop on the other, Will on the other hand looked tired. Stress had deepened the colour of his brown eyes until they neared the colour black and his hair was distressed by how many times he ran his hands through it.

All of that was normal. What wasn't was how comfortable he looked with the man he sat with.

I began to approach them but for some reason I couldn’t put my bat down, and felt my muscles tense, almost against my will as I prepared for some form of combat. I didn’t know why I was automatically so on guard against the guy but I did know that I didn’t want myself or Will around him.

“Will?”

The older guy startled at my sudden appearance but the stranger didn’t even flinch as he’d already known I was there. That wasn’t too weird though since the door had creaked a bit as it opened and I hadn’t taken any particular steps to lighten my footsteps.

He glanced up to the bat I had hoisted above my shoulder and his lips curled into a slight smile but otherwise stayed silent. I should have assumed that it was a mocking smile, or even a nervous one but for some reason he looked pleased. Will on the other hand stood up and extended a hand towards me, indicating that I should come closer.

“What are you doing Jake? Put the bat down and let’s talk. I think this guy might know where sparrow went. I was just filling him in on what we know.”

He went on to tell me how he’d met him and the stranger stayed silent as he listened but interjected once or twice when he felt Will’s version of the story wasn’t quite right. But the whole thing felt weird.

For one, the dude had wings on his back.

I’d tried my best to dismiss them as fake, a prop to the weird costume he had on but something in me, call it a gut feeling told me that they were real. There was no way that those wings were only a costume but Will was in the dark and seemed incredibly determined to stay there.

The second thing that weirded me out was how familiar Will looked with him. If they'd met how they said then there was no reason for Will to be so friendly, never mind to immediately enlist him to our efforts in finding Sparrow.

I felt like I was missing an important part of the puzzle and the feeling made me uncomfortable.

“Will. What are you doing? Who is this guy?”

“Calm down Jake. He may dress like a psycho but he’s harmless. It seems like he and Sparrow are a part of a… club was it?”

The stranger looked down at his clothes and frowned but quickly looked back up and beamed a bright smile at me. He was a pretty guy for sure, but the comparison to a sharp knife floated into my mind and cemented itself as the reason I was so on edge. He was dangerous, I wasn’t sure why I was so sure of it but I knew I didn’t want to find out.

“Miss Sparrow and Mister Hall were kind enough to help me and my troupe with one of the plays we were planning to put on. I was concerned since we were supposed to meet up a few days ago and she didn’t show. Her cell phone was off as well.”

Will nodded along with the explanation, showing that he’d heard it before and then tossed me a cell phone, where a voice mail notification was displayed. I ended up dropping the bat as I reached for and caught the phone.

“This is...”

I pressed play and listened to Finn’s voice filter through the low-quality speakers as he explained his absence and asked the stranger, whose name was Cai Regalis, to let us know. He’d spat out the name like a dirty word but had kept a pleasant smile on, creating a bizarre contrast. The familiar name echoed in my mind and intensified the feeling of familiarity but I wasn’t given the time to puzzle it out as Cai stood from his seat and began to fill in the blanks.

“I was actually about to head over to the company before I ran into Mr. Truman here.”

Will coughed and Cai quickly revised his statement.

“Ah. Till I ran into Will here.”

I nodded in response and finally took a seat but I still kept the bat close to me. Will and I began to think about where she could be now that Finn’s location was confirmed.

Cai on the other hand began to wander around the studio, taking deep breaths like he was sniffing out something and flashing the occasional nauseous expression. He eventually stood in front of her computer desk, where the old monitor blinked on and off and ducked under it. He fished out a bag full of hair and with a reluctant but somehow resolute expression muttered something under his breath and took a deep sniff of it. He froze for a moment and a malicious expression flashed past his face before it crumbled and he began to dry heave. Using his whole body to express how revolted he was, his shoulders trembled and his wings twitched.

“Woah dude. What are you doing?”

Will jumped out of his chair and approached him, intending to make sure he was okay but Cai waved him off and straightened up. He still looked like he could puke his guts out any second but the angry expression on his face made if hard to worry about it.

“Cai? Did you remember something? Does that bag of hair have anything to do with it?”

He started to nod his head but then quickly switched to shaking his head.

“It's just a lead... I wouldn’t want to get your hopes up. Mr- No William. I know you don’t know me and this is a ridiculous request to make but do you think you could trust me a little bit?”

Green eyes that more resembled gold twinkled as he made eye contact with Will and a soft glow emitted from his irises. It was so soft that I was sure I’d have missed it if I weren’t already paying such close attention to him.

Reality seemed to shift a bit as I started to put things together or tried to anyway. Something like a mental block forcibly blocked my thoughts and a faint pressure began to build upon my brow the more deeply I thought about it. One thing that was for sure though, was that this guy was the real deal.

There was a real-life fairy in front of me, and he was casting a spell on my friend or boss or whatever Will was to me.

“Trust you?”

Will’s eyes blurred a bit as he was confronted by the fairy and he repeated his words, almost like he was hypnotized.

“Just give me a month. I promise that I’ll have your sister back to you. Nod if you agree and I’ll seal the Deal.”

A weird verbal fluctuation happened on the word Deal and put a weight on the word to show its significance. But the now puppet-like Will didn’t seem to notice and raised his head to nod when he suddenly raised his arms and clasped them around Cai’s shoulders in an iron grip. His previously dull eyes sharpened and the fabric on the fairy’s shirt crumpled in his grip.

“I don’t know what you aren’t telling me, and something tells me won't be able to force it out of you but if you got my little sister involved in anything dangerous, or if she returns with even a hair missing on her head I promise you ill make sure you don’t have a place on this earth anymore. Did you say a month? I’m giving you a fortnight. If my little sister isn’t at home, safe and sound in fourteen days then I’m taking matters into my own hands. Got it?”

He let go of Cai’s shoulders, took a step back and extended an arm.

“Do we have a deal.”

Cai looked stunned, much as I was but still grabbed will’s hand and shook it. It would have been an admirable scene if he didn’t look like he was about to cry as he did so.

“A fortnight then… If I fail… I promise you’ll never see me again.”

Will softened a bit at Cai’s expression but kept his resolve and stepped back. As of now all traces of the former easy-going Will were gone and in his place was simply a worried older brother. He seemed to have resolved himself to leave things in the fairy’s hands but I was hardly so convinced. Cai nodded once again and stormed out of the apartment with intent.

After a few milliseconds of thought and a questioning look at Will, I grabbed my bat off the floor and I ran after him.

Cai had stopped outside the door and was fiddling with a device on his belt so I caught up to him rather quickly. I tried to grab onto him and demand that he let me come too, after all, I didn’t know him as well as Will seemed too but I was just as invested in Sparrow’s return as anyone but as soon as my hands wrapped around his arm a bright light surrounded us and a horrified expression contorted his face.

I suddenly felt like I was dislocated from my body and felt my throat go hoarse from a scream before I blacked out.