But then what would be gained from taking her away? Sure, he had power in his home world. But it was an unsteady power, his stability and strength were being threatened by the rebels and by the disloyal followers of his brother all the time.
It was a hard choice to make--A decision split between the world he knew, and the world he didn't, and the problems of them both. He sighed and set up a locator spell to track where the girl was. In the end with such a choice, it was clear the only option was to keep her safe the only way he had any experience in the matter, and hope she wouldn't loathe him forever for doing his best to care for her.
The spell whizzed about the town and checked every inhabitant before it finally zeroed in on its goal. Once it had found her, it scryed the image to its master so they both had a clear visual on the target.
Alyss was at the front of the school yard talking to her teacher, Mr. Yates. He'd obviously noticed he'd had a few missing pupils. Jackie had now been out of school for more than a week, as well as Aeron. Darien hadn't been seen for several days. Alyss was the only person who regularly spent most of her time with all of the missing students, but she was as much at a lost as to their whereabouts as the teacher was. When she told him as much, of course, he became very upset. She wasn't sure if it was out of concern for the wellbeing of his students or merely because he thought she was hiding that they'd all gone on a joyride to Vegas together or some other silly adventure, but it did no good trying to tell him she honestly knew nothing about the situation. The crowd of students slowly filed out of the school until the campus was empty. She started to get antsy about how long she'd been kept after. Finally Yates seemed to realize all of the students had gone home before them and he consented to let her leave as well. He left her with a stern reminder to give the missing students a stern talking to if she knew where they were, or to call the police as soon as she got home if she still hadn't heard or seen from her brother after so many days. She started walking away from him. She was eager to leave before he could think up something else to say and hold her there longer, but she also had a weird feeling of being watched somehow and she was eager to leave.
The tracker followed all of her movements from its spot resting on the roof of the closest building. It reported that at first she stood in place, talking to someone out of view, and it soon revealed she was walking away from the school. The tracker followed her along the way, and she kept twitching at the feeling of eyes on her back.
He sent out another spell that solidified into the form of a shadowy green spirit dog that soon took to casting about on the streets. The creature ran as quickly as the wind and could gather scents more accurately than a pack of bloodhounds combined, so he was sure it would be able to guide him in the right direction. He followed the path she took every day to get to and from school, and she caught several glimpses of the moose-sized canine around corners. She pinched her arm the first time she saw him. The second time she saw him, she slapped her face to try to bring herself back to her senses. She kept seeing him again and again around the city no matter how hard she tried to wake up, though, so eventually she started to just run faster to home, as the creature seemed to be following behind her.
Soon it barked to let him know it was finished. He crouched low to give the creature a friendly pat on the head and followed it to the point on the other end of the park. The spirit dog started pawing at a spot on the ground, then walked back and forth on a small loop of forest trail that led from the neighborhood to dip briefly into the trees and then emptied out in front of houses. "This is the route she takes each day, you are certain," he asked. The creature looked at him with drooped ears. He laughed and tousled them. I do not mean to doubt your abilities, Wengyar, I just want to double check. This is very important to get right, you know.
The canine tossed its head and panted at him. The message was clear--this was the best spot, the right spot, the only spot for the job. He gave the creature a pet and it returned a lick to him, once more giving a doggy grin and, obviously, very happy to be helping his master. He gave it a last hug around its ruff before sending it away to return to the spirit realm he had summoned it from.
The spot his friend had chosen for him was poorly kept up and lined with mud, thanks to the melted snow left after unseasonably warm weather they'd had that week that was in the high sixties. It looked more like an animal track than a proper path like the other ones in the park that were paved in asphalt, but he supposed it would make sense for a shortcut made by people passing through to not have been planned and maintained by the park authority like the official ones were.
He was inching his way around a poorly maintained corner that seemed to have a cheerful mosquito and mud population. He
