Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThirdWizard" data-source="post: 5581229" data-attributes="member: 12037">The gibbous moon peered out from behind rain clouds as they drove up the street. A light rain splashed on the windshield for a few minutes before subsiding. The two practitioners hoped they wouldn't have to deal with any rain tonight. Running water has a dampening effect on magic. It's like a threshold that way, when there's water around you, especially moving water, it becomes harder to hold onto the energy needed to cast and maintain a spell. Looking out the window and up at the moon, Emerald could tell that the clouds were fairly sparse now, but more were coming in from the sea. If they wanted to beat the incoming rain, they'd have to move quickly.Max cursed as he pulled into a metered parking spot. He scowled at the others. "If you wanna pay, go ahead. If we get a ticket, its on you guys." Nobody took him up on his offer. It was late, and there probably wouldn't be any meter maids coming around. They hustled the rest of the way, about a block, to the apartment complex. The phone had cut out, and the woman on the other end of the line could be in trouble. It was late, almost midnight at this point, and nobody was on the street, although they did notice a few curtains quickly closing when they looked up. About half the street lamps were out, and it smelled like urine.Making it to the apartment, they headed up quickly. There were no rails on the stairs, and the lights flickered, but that could have been caused by the two practitioners. At the room, they stopped. If there was much of a threshold, that could hinder Emerald and Jack. It wouldn't stop them cold like it would some other creatures, but it would make it more difficult. The stronger the sense of home, the more of a threshold. It didn't look like the kind of place you would call home, but you never knew. Max didn't care as much, and he was about to simply kick in the door when it opened.A woman, perhaps fifty years old, dark circles under her eyes, in an evening gown looked back at them. The skin around her eyes was red and swollen, and she had a handkerchief in her hand."I was so worried you wouldn't come... Come in, come in. Have a seat..." She fumbled the door closed after them and tried to slide the chain lock on the door back, but it fell and she ignored it. Her hands were shaking. "Can I get you anything?"Emerald frowned. "It's okay," she said quietly. "Tell us what happened.""I'm sorry about the mess..." She looked pale. In shock. "I must have messed up the phone. It happens sometimes-""Never mind that," Max interrupted. "Your husband."The woman looked as if she were about to break down again, and Jack helped her to her seat. "We had a fight. He wanted to go out to clear his head. I told him it was a bad idea, that people like us had been disappearing, but he didn't listen, just grabbed his coat and went out the door. I watched him from the window, and that's when it happened." Tears started pouring from her eyes. The clear, quiet ones that once they start just keep coming. "They were in a black van. Took them maybe ten seconds to drive up, jump out, and pull him in. I couldn't do anything. Nothing at all..." She looked down. "Can you find him?"The trail was fresh. Maybe they wouldn't be able to do it with mundane means, but Jack knew a thing or two about divination spells, and in this particular place one that could help him find her husband."Do you have anything I could use to track him?" he asked quietly.She nodded and went to her bedroom. She was a practitioner, a minor one in the grand scheme of things, but there were a few things that Paranet helped its members understand. One was how dangerous bits and pieces of you could be. Someone with those could do anything from find you to kill you, depending on how strong they were and what they wanted. So, its members were careful about that kind of thing, cleaning hair of brushes and burning used Band-Aids. Sometimes, though, it was worth it to keep maybe a few bits hidden away. This one of those times when it paid off. She returned with several hairs in a Ziplock baggie."Thanks," he said, taking the bag."Do you have anywhere you could go? Someone you could be with?" asked Emerald.She just shook her head. "No one. All I have is my husband."There was an awkward silence. No one said anything for a few moments, then the three of them filed out of the room and back down toward the street without looking back.</blockquote>

Verification