
I ran into Mira’s home calling her name, desperately hoping that she would be there, but all I got in return was silence. I searched, carefully going from room to room, with the feeble hope that maybe there might be a clue as to where Alcander might have taken her. Unfortunately, whoever had been here before me had left everything in such disarray that any feeble hope of finding anything still intact was gone in an instant.
Each room looked like it had been demolished by a tornado. Everything was a disheveled mess. Books were torn apart with their ripped out pages scattered about. Broken elixir bottles littered the floor. So much so that I had to take special precaution where I walked to ensure that I would not to step on any broken glass. Then I saw the piano. It looked like someone took a sledgehammer to it.
I stepped back outside to plan my next move. Not sure of what else to do I started to call Camilla. Maybe she could talk to Thera and try to get more information. But as I was reaching for my phone something caught my ear.
It was a faint cry. Too soft for the average person to hear, but my beastly supersonic hearing could tell that it was coming from Euclid’s workshop in the basement. At first I thought that it might be one of Mira’s cats, but the cry sounded too human.
When I got down to the basement I saw Renatta huddled in the corner, hiding behind some boxes, crying softly.

“Are you hurt?” I gently asked as I approached the poor girl. I spoke calmly and moved very slowly as to not startle her. She didn’t look physically beaten up, just swollen from crying.
Before I could ask her what had happened Renatta told me, “At first I was not really surprised when Mira didn’t come over. I just assumed that she was running late because she was busy taking care of her dad. But after an hour with no word I started to get nervous. Called but no answer. This is how I found Mira’s home. I didn’t know what to do, so I sat down here and cried. Don’t know for how long. And just a few minutes ago I was sent this,”
Renatta handed me her phone and continued her sobbing. The text from Mira read:
By the time you read this I will have decided to give in and submit to Alcander’s demands. Don’t attempt to stop me or seek to find me. It is already too late.

“This is so unbelievably unexpected, and completely out of nowhere. I don’t understand why, now after all this time, she would just give in to that Neanderthal!” Renatta asked. “And then why would they be so cruel and still destroy her home if Mira went so willingly?”
There was no time to lose, so I quickly explained the gist of all that was going on, “Alcander has Euclid, and he is most likely holding him with the vampires. But don’t worry. Ryker and a bunch of other werewolf packs know where the vampire nest is and plan on attacking at dawn. The fairies are helping. But right now what we need to do is find where Alcander has taken Mira.”
“Flint has been working on that, but with no success. Alcander must have her under some sort of spell, because nothing Flint has tried could locate her.”
So, Alcander knew to cast a spell that blocks fairy magic, because he knew that Flint would try to find her. But would his spell still block gypsy magic? It was worth a try.
“Come with me,” I said as I carefully helped Renatta to her feet, “I have a plan!”

“I don’t understand what is going on here?” Renatta wondered as I brought her to speak with Bert (although at this moment he was just an ordinary mirror). “We need to stop wasting time, and start trying to find Mira.”
“That is why we are here.” I explained. “This is a Magic Mirror. It can find almost anyone, and it might be able to find Mira. All you have to do is say ‘Bert, find Mira’”.
But before Renatta could say anything, Bert’s mirror started to fog. It took some time, but eventually Mira’s face appeared.
“At least we know that she is still alive,” Renatta breathed a sigh of relief, “but where exactly is she?”
“I believe that she is at the summit of Mt Pulchritudo.” Bert explained as he replaced Mira’s reflection with a map showing her exact location.
“I will go after Mira.” I spoke with a sense of urgency. “Renatta, you need to find Flint.”
“You can’t go alone.” Renatta was a ball of panic and anxiety. “I’ll get Flint and we can all go together.”
“No, there’s not enough time. It will be dawn soon. You need to find Flint then get to the safe location. Mira and I will meet you there.”

The sun had been up for a few hours, meaning that the attack on the vampires was well underway. Yet, I was still no where close to reaching the summit. For a brief moment I let my mind wander to Ryker and the rest of the pack. I had hoped that the fairy dust was proving to be useful and that the wolf packs were winning the fight. I said a prayer to the powers above, my first prayer in a very very long time, that they keep the packs safe during the battle.
Then I put the rest of my energy into to climbing the mountain to rescue Mira.
I knew when I was getting close to the summit, because I started to feel a change. It wasn’t the high altitude or the lack of oxygen in the air. This was a supernatural feeling of intense energy. And the further I climbed the stronger the energy became. As a result, the further that I climbed up the mountain I could feel myself starting to change. I was getting stronger. It was the exact same way that I feel during a full moon. Except it was daylight. It was the first time that I transformed when it wasn’t a full moon. After transforming I was able to run, jump, and climb faster. I quickly reached the summit in no time.

At the summit I noticed that there were bright lights coming from behind a wall of bushes and trees. Fireworks of red and yellow shot out into the air. As I cautiously made my way through the wall of tress and large shrubs, I could hear Alcander talking, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I guess the ceremony must still going on.
I was going to crash this wedding like Benjamin Braddock had done in The Graduate.
Without waiting for the minister to ask, I leapt through the trees screaming, “I object!!!”
