Hawk Point *ON HOLD*

Chapter Six: It's in the Air

The heavy scent of dark roast hits Cif the second she walks through the doors of the Judgment Day Café, Aven trailing behind her like an unwanted but needed shadow. It takes her a second to scan the busy room and find her brother.

Even from where she is, Cif could see that Luke is sunk deep into a chair at an empty table at the back of the Café. His face is startlingly pale and tear-stained, his cheeks; dark red splotches. Mildred is hovering over him anxiously, trying to get him to drink from a tall, crystalline glass of water and he is constantly shaking his head, refusing to take what is offered to him. Cif has to restrain herself from running over and scooping him up in her arms, but unwanted attention is the last thing she needs right now. Instead, she sucks in a breath and slowly makes her way through the maze of tables.

With each step, a deep and sinking feeling settles in the pit of her stomach; with each step Cif gets closer to the reality of what happened during the phone call. Upon seeing her, Luke launches himself off his chair and flies at her in a blur of madras. His arms lock around her with a steel grip.

"They....they....him..." The small boy's voice is muffled, his face buried deep into Cif's shirt. A shudder rakes his frail figure and he pulls away from Cif. "They took him." His voice is only a quivering whisper.

"Who took him?" Aven inquires. He has been so silent on the way here that Cif temporarily forgot his chilling presence. Luke slews his gaze away from his sister, his brows furrowing when his eyes land on Aven.

"I don't know." Cif's heart goes out to her brother and she pulls him into a tighter embrace.

"Maybe we should call the police. Or mom." She says, rubbing a hand across the small of Luke's back, "The police will check it out and mom can take us away from here." 

"The police will find nothing." Aven says briskly, "Do you think that the police will meddle with the Underworld just because Christopher went missing? I highly doubt that."

"The...Underworld?" Cif echoes dimly. Aven's lip twitches upwards and a lopsided grin forms.

"There are a lot of things you have yet to discover." He says, "That is, if you are alive to discover it." A whimper escapes Luke and Cif shoots Aven a glare dripping with venom.

"Stop saying stuff like that!" she hisses through her teeth, "You're going to scare him!"

"He's already scared." Aven replies, inclining his head in Luke's direction, "And it is the reality that is inescapable. You are too caught up in this to think that if you just forget about everything it will be alright. It won't be. As you can clearly see, nothing is alright."

"I'm going back." Cif says, untangling herself from Luke. She takes a second to enjoy the startled look that crosses Aven's features.

"No!" Luke attempts to grab onto Cif but she steps back, guilt stabbing her heart at his terrified expression.

"Look, there could be clues." She says and Aven makes a choked sound, like something between a groan and a stiffled laugh.

"What is this? Scooby Doo?" He asks. "And you're not Sherlock Holmes you know."

"No kidding Watson." Cif says in retort. And to her brother she says, "Luke, you stay here. Promise me that okay?" he nods and Cif mirrors his action.

"And I suppose you want me to stay as well?" Aven asks and Cif gives him a dubious look.

"Are you kidding me? We have a mystery to solve Watson." at this, Aven craks a grin.

~~~~~~~

The door is hanging off it's hinges. In all the mystery books Cif has read, that is never a good sign. Aven lets out a long whistle as he pushes past the door and into the house, Cif following in his steed.

"Looks like someone was pretty angry." He says, guesturing to the sight of a wreaked living room and Cif cringes at what she sees: the sofa has long slashes across the cloth; the insides spilling out like blood from a wound, the windows are open; the curtains moving soundlessly like pale ghosts. All of Christopher's books are scattered across the floor with pages torn out and crumpled. "Also looks like whoever has done this was looking for something." Aven adds as an afterthought.

"But for what?" The words fall past Cif's lips like a choked whisper. "There is nothing here that's worth stealing. And who would break into a house just to rip up books?" Aven kneels over and gingerly takes a book into his hands, running his fingers across the laminated cover.

"No, whoever was here didn't rip these books for the sake of it. There must be a reason."

"Oh look who thinks he's Sherlock Holmes now." Cif's joke is as empty as the book covers lying at her feet. With a sigh, she struts over to Aven and peers at the book in his hands: Demons Angels and The Underworld: a Guide to the Unknown. "I've never seen that book before." she says, "And I read about every book here already." Aven flips to one of the only remaining pages left and begins to read.

"'These creatures of hell feed off the souls of the innocent...They are forever bound by the seal of Death...' " He chuckles darkly, "Sounds pleasant enough." Discarding the book, Aven brings himself to his feet, wincing at the sound of his joints popping into place. "Do you smell that?"

"Smell what?" Cif asks, taking in a deep breath of air. "I smell nothing out of the ordinary."

"Of course you don't smell it." Aven mutters, "It smells like someone from the Underworld was here."

"Again with the Underworld!" Cif exclaims in a high pitched voice, "What is that? Who was here? Who has Chris?" There is a tense silence, broken only when Aven clears his throat.

"The Underworld is something I can't really explain. It'll probably be too much for that dense head of yours." he kicks a few crumpled pages out of the way. "As for who was here, I believe an old 'friend' has returned."  

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 OHMYGOSH I AM SO SORRY GUYS!!!!! I HAVEN"T UPDATED IN FOREVER!!!!!!!!!! I am so so so so so sorry!!!!!!! It just, with finals (That I just finished) and teaching I just didn't get the chance to update. I AM SO SORRY!

well, since exams are now done, hopefully I'll be able to return to my normal updating schedule. I also apologize for this chapter being so short but I feel as if I need to leave it there for today. again, I am sorry for not updating in a while.

The picture is of Luke. Oh, and check out GRIM.

Zuzanna Miron