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VIOLET

W hile my mind struggled to process what was happening, my body had already reacted: I crossed the cobblestone path in three strides, jumped up the porch steps, rang the doorbell repeatedly until long fingers closed around my wrist.

“We don’t know what we might find in there” Quinn said, carefully measuring his words. “It would be wise to discuss first—”

“Daisy!” I pounded on the door, heart thrumming wildly. “Daisy, please, open up!”

It couldn’t be true. Nothing had happened in there. The horrible images coursing through my mind weren’t real. It was simple: there had been a mistake. Whoever had perceived the magic had got the wrong house, because any second now Daisy would open the door and curse me out for making so much noise.

Somebody did, in fact, open the door. Somebody who definitely wasn't Daisy. Cedrick stood in the doorway, almost unrecognizable from when I'd last seen him: clean-shaven face, washed hair, his gaze present and focused. Even a little suspicious.

“Can I help you?” he asked, keeping the door only halfway open. “Who are you?”

“Are you guys okay? Where’s Daisy?” I tried looking past his shoulder, but he moved to the right, blocking my view. “It’s me, Cedrick” I sighed, trying to infuse my voice with a calmness I didn’t feel. “Violet. Daisy’s best friend.”

He frowned, deep lines appearing on his forehead. “How do you know my name?”

“Because I’m your daughter’s best friend” I repeated, urgency creeping through my words despite my effort to maintain a cool facade. “Can I talk to her? Is she here?”

Cedrick shook his head. “I think you got the wrong house. I don’t have kids.”

My first thought was that his condition had worsened terribly over the past month. He’d never, not once, forgot that he had a daughter. Daisy was his whole world, especially since she’d started caring for him. But something felt off about him. He looked lucid, aware in a way I’d lost familiarity with.

“Sir, we apologize for dropping by unannounced.” Quinn stepped forward, extending his hand. “Quinn Mathews, part of the local Coven’s Alpha Team.” He nodded back toward Kenji and Nicholas. “A surge of foreign magic has been detected in your home. With your permission, we’d like to evaluate the situation and determine if everything’s alright.”

Cedrick’s expression loosened up a bit. He even shook Quinn’s hand. “Again, I think you got the wrong house. I’m mortal. There is no magic happening here.”

“Sir, the Coven has a Team specifically designed to monitor unregistered magic” Quinn explained, patient—too patient. We were wasting time: Daisy was in there, and despite my hopes, she probably needed help. “I assure you it will only take a minute. We want to make sure you’re safe.”

He looked uncertain for a moment, maybe trying to establish if he could trust us, then he finally opened the door all the way. “Make it quick. I’ll gladly escort you to any room you want, but don’t roam around my house on your own.”

Before the boys could agree, I slipped past him and into the house, eyes darting around in search of Daisy. I knew immediately something was off. The place was tidy, clean; there were no framed pictures of my best friend with her parents on the coffee table or hanging above the fireplace; the basket of yarn who usually sat by the armchair was gone. I was so busy looking for traces of my best friend I didn’t immediately notice the uncomfortable prickle on my nape that made my hairs stand up.

“Something definitely happened here” Nicholas said, looking around the room. “Have you seen or felt anything?”

Have you seen Daisy? That’s the only thing that mattered to me. I shut my mouth before I could speak, though. He’d looked genuinely confused when I’d mentioned her, and I didn’t want to make the situation worse.

Cedrick crossed his arms, standing at the edge of the living room like a lone spectator. “As I already told you, no.”

Kenji gave him a quick nod. "We're performing a revelation spell to assess the situation. Do we have your permission?"

“Is this going to have consequences on my house? Or me?”

“A trace of magic will be left behind” Quinn explained. “We’ll cleanse the space after we’re done.”

After a moment of indecision, Cedrick nodded with a sigh. “Do what you have to do.”

Kenji looked at me, silently asking for my consent. It took me a moment to understand the meaning of that soundless question. He wanted to use my Nucleus power.

"It's not like you need it, anyway" I mumbled, but held back from arguing. I simply let his magic pour into me, its usually controlled nature now restless, fraying at the edges, and made it resound throughout my body.

Right then, he muttered something that sounded a lot like revelatio, and something started glinting in the middle of the room. It came and went, feeble, almost transparent, but it was there: a gate of glimmering, pastel gems leading to thick darkness.

A wave of fear paralyzed my brain long enough for me to lose control of my magic, making the evanescent image disappear completely. “What was that?” I asked, turning toward the boys.

All of them were staring at where the gate had been, Cedrick included. Quinn peeled his eyes away with difficulty to look at me. "A portal, it would appear. Quite probably fae. Quite probably recent."

“They tried scrubbing their traces” Kenji added. “Poorly.”

A lot of new information swarmed in my head. Questions, doubts. Most of all, fears. Where the hell was Daisy? “I need to see one of your rooms” I blurted out. “Upstairs, first door to the left.”

Cedrick looked at me with that same suspicion that had morphed his expression earlier. “Why?”

I found myself at a loss for words. I didn't want to bring Daisy up again: for some reason, he didn't remember her, and whether it was due to his sickness or whatever had happened in the house, I had a feeling insisting would be counterproductive.

"We sense magic coming from up there. It's better to give it a look and cleanse the space."

I looked up at Nicholas. Luckily, he was facing Cedrick, so he didn't see the gratitude that had probably lit my face up. I didn't want to give him—or any of them, for that matter—the satisfaction. He was supporting me, so what? It was the bare minimum.

After a moment, Daisy’s father agreed and led us upstairs, forgetting I’d been there a million times and knew the way like the back of my hand. It had to be the sickness. But why did he look fine? A totally different man from the one I’d learned to know?

Daisy's door was bare. The photos and notes she'd pinned on the surface were nowhere to be found, tiny pinholes scattered across the shiny wood as the only trace to testify they'd been there. The last confirmation I needed came when Cedrick let us into the room. Boxes upon boxes occupied the space that had once accommodated a bed, a desk, a closet, and countless memories.

“I’ve just moved here” he offered as an explanation. “I’m still unpacking.”

Untrue. All of it. The principle of a scream was blooming at the bottom of my throat, so I turned around, forcing myself to breathe. Where was she? What had happened? How had she disappeared without leaving a single trace? Why couldn’t her own father remember her?

I barely noticed the boys performing a cleansing ritual, too focused on sifting through my phone. Her contact wasn’t there anymore. Our photos? Gone or corrupted. Not a single text or call was left, not even in the recently deleted folder. It was as if she’d never even existed.

“Come on, love.” Quinn’s soft voice barely broke through the storm in my mind. “The gentleman has already been so lovely. Let’s not overstay our welcome.”

“We can’t go” I mouthed. “I can’t go. I need to find her.”

“We can discuss the matter in a far more appropriate place.”

But she’d disappeared from that very house! “I’m not leaving until—”

“Violet.” There was a distinct warning edge to Kenji’s voice. “Out. Quickly, if you want to find your friend.”

I stood still for a long moment before giving in: without even saying goodbye to Cedrick, who I wasn't even sure was still the same Cedrick anyway, I stormed out of the house, tears turning my vision blurry. "What's going on? The house—It's like she was never here" I exclaimed, my voice on the verge of cracking. "I can't find her pictures, her contact, nothing. Everything's gone." I blinked rapidly. "Where is she?"

“If I had to guess, I’d say the fae realm” Nicholas replied, leaning against the fence. “Maybe kidnapped, given by the enchantments used to erase her from collective memory.”

“But I still remember her.” I wiped a tear streaming down my cheek, heart beating faster and faster. “What does it mean?”

“Probably that you’re more powerful than whoever placed the enchantments.” There was a proud undertone hiding in Nicholas’s words, but I didn’t stop to acknowledge it. “Or the spell was intended to work just on mortals.”

"This is our new mission, then" I murmured, rubbing my right eye. "Finding her. We report back to the Coven and they assign the mission to us, right? Or another Team, maybe, but I think it'll be us. Is that how it works?"

Heavy silence settled over us, thick, prolonged, filled with unspoken truths. They weren’t telling me something. The way the boys were looking at each other confirmed as much.

“What?” I asked, trying to suppress the surge of fear and anxiety that threatened to swallow me.

With a long sigh, Quinn turned to me, carefulness in his eyes. “We don’t interfere with the fae unless a witch or warlock is involved.”

“I don’t… I don’t get it.” I did, in fact, get it. I was just too scared to admit it.

“We are at peace with the fae” Nicholas explained, and I could tell he was trying to keep his voice measured. “Barely. It’s more of a tolerance treaty, really. They mind their business, and we do the same.”

“The Coven won’t allow a rescue mission in the fae realm” Quinn went on, his voice carefully measured. “Not for a mortal. The fae could declare war on us.”

I shook my head, letting an army of tears roll down my face. “But they took Daisy! They took my friend. They took my friend.” My voice got lower, weaker. Even saying it felt surreal. “They can’t do that. It’s our territory.”

"It doesn't work that way." Kenji's stare was alert, observing. "Not with the fae. As long as they don't harm us, they can do as they please."

“But that’s ridiculous. Unacceptable. What happens if a mortal is harmed?”

"Nothing" he replied. "We can't report any of this to the Coven. There are agreements between the fae and the warlocks we cannot interfere with."

I sniffled, wiping off tears and curling my hands into fists. “No. No, you don’t get it. She’s my best friend. I’m not leaving her god knows where because of a selfish, pointless rule.” I pointed a finger toward them. “I’m going to find her, whether you like it or not.”

“No, Princess.” Nicholas grabbed my finger to pull me closer. “You don’t get it. We can’t report shit because then it’d be obvious what we’re doing when we disappear for days without an explanation. You’re not going to find her.” A smirk pulled his lips up. “We are.”