056 A Wizard?

"Metis, where are you?" Erebus asked as he ran.

"Right around Seventh Avenue. Winnie is in the car, too." Metis answered.

"Put her on." Erebus's voice was cold.

"She can hear you." Metis said.

"Tell me what’s going on, and be aware that your answer decides whether you get to live till tomorrow." Erebus's voice was calm, but there was a shred of danger in there, not even hiding.

"I don't know." Winnie said with anger. But she didn't complain because she DID hide things from them, and obviously, Kitty won't trust to bringing her in now, "I thought they might exclude supernatural beings to enter the spell, so I knew there was a chance that Kitty might need to do that."

"Not that." Erebus said coldly, "You told her something that you are not telling us, which is how she figured it out that you planned her to go in all along."

"I told her to bring me in when she gets there. I hid that from you because I knew you won't let her go. That's all. She has a very powerful protection spell, and I will be there to help her. She wasn't supposed to be hurt in any way!" Winnie protested finally.

"But she IS in danger." Erebus simply said.

"I..." Winnie was speechless.

They all didn't know what was going on because they couldn't find Kitty anywhere. It was as if she disappeared into thin air.

"You asked that of her, because you don't want us to have Emma. You want to take her for yourself." Erebus said.

Metis turned in shock to look at Winnie. That was a huge betrayal coming from inside the house.

"I asked her to bring me in once she located Emma." Winnie said, "I gave her a locate spell."

"Why didn't you ask her to bring you in once she's in? You don't care about her safety at all." Metis said.

"I DO! I... I just..." Winnie lowered her voice into a mumble. There wasn't any good explanation. She WAS only thinking about Emma.

"Dionysus." Erebus deep voice came through.

He was already there?! Metis was a bit surprised. Evev for the silver lightening, it was the hasty emotion that got Erebus there faster than ever.

"We've found this." Dionysus handed over an ear piece, "Guess she WAS here after all. But there was no trace other than this whatsoever, not even a trace of smell. It was like someone wiped out every trace of whoever was here and left everything else untouched. It was--"

"It was like magic. Their witch was here." Erebus finished his sentence.

"But how could they even locate her so fast?" Dionysus asked. "We got here pretty fast, but it soulded like she ran into someone the second she got here."

"What do you think?" Erebus asked in a calm voice.

"What... what do you mean, my Lord?" Dionysus paused a bit and yelled: "A mole!"

Someone tipped the witch off. They were waiting for Kitty, or, someone to come through the spell.

But who?

"But who, my Lord?!" Dionysus exclaimed, "Who would do such a thing?! And who COULD? There's only a handful of people who even knew about this!"

"I have some ideas, but that's for later." Erebus shook his head and closed his eyes, as if making a hard choice.

"What now, my Lord?" Dionysus said. There was really little they can do when they face magic like this.

"I'll deal with this." Erebus said with an unusual firmness in his tone. But before he could do anything, there was a shrill voice breaking the air, as if the space was ripped apart--

"Ahhh--" Kitty appeared in the middle of the air coming out of nowhere, and was screaming and falling towards the ground, fast!

"Kitty!" Erebus ran over and jumped so Kitty fell on his back instead, and he landed on the ground softly without even much of a jounce.

"What happened?!--" Dionysus asked but he turned and growled the next second--

Kitty was not the only one appeared from thin air!

"Who are you?!" Dionysus growled.

"I think you are on my turf, no?" The man answered in a very sissy voice, and that might shock the young wolf more than his appearance.

"Why are you talking like this?" Dionysus asked without thinking too much.

"W-what do you mean?! How rude!" The man stomped his one of his feet on the ground, "Who are you?!"

"Emma!" Kitty yelled.

There was a young woman in her twenties, following the man, with a baby in her arms, who had soft short blue hair!

Emma.

"What's that?" Erebus asked.

"It's the paint brush Winnie gave me, the protection spell." Kitty said.

When looked closely, Erebus saw that Emma was actually not really in the woman's arms. She was in a almost not visible crystal bubble and the woman was actually holding that bubble.

There was a paint brush, small like a twig hanging over Emma's head. Looked like the little twig was the source of the bubble.

"When I came here, he was already waiting for me here." Kitty whispered to Erebus, "And he attacked me without a word, but then the protection spell was triggered so I was covered in the bubble. But he dragged me AND the bubble together into a crack in the air."

"Are you hurt?" Erebus cut her off.

"No, I'm alright." Kitty laughed and patted him on the arm -- she was not tall enough to pat him on the head when the huge wolf was on his feet, "He took me to a huge room, and that woman was right in there, holding Emma in her arms. I think she wasn't supposed to be there either, because the man in front of her, the wizard, was really surprised when he saw her."

"She's the third daughter of our new queen, Princess Arya." Erebus slightly nodded.

"He held the bubble around me in the air so I couldn't move, but she said something like Emma was crying and she came to calm her down, so she took Emma and was heading out of the door," Kitty said, "So I took the paint brush over my head and threw at Emma. And it worked!"

Erebus: "... Did you just commit suicide?"

"No! Of course not! I broke the twig Winnie gave me, thinking she would come and save us!" Kitty got nervous at Erebus's murderous tone and explained in a hurry.

"Well?" Erebus said.

"Well, she didn't come..." Kitty lowered her head with a wronged face. Erebus looked really mad, and she dared not joking around anymore.

Looking at her wronged face, Erebus sighed and rose a paw to take her into his arms: "I'm not mad at you. I know Emma means a lot to you. But never make me risk losing you like that. Your life matters too."

"I'm sorry..." Kitty mumbled with automatic reflex, when her whole brain was shocked shut down.

What was the fear and care in Erebus's tone? It was almost like he was scared thinking of the possibility of losing her.

He cared about her that much?

"We are here under the instruction of Lord Perses." The wizard suddenly said, "If you leave now, there will be no trouble."

The two young wolves started to growl.

"And if we don't?" Kitty asked.

"Werewolves are not a match for a wizard." The wizard said with the same sissy voice, "Nor would a human be. Know your place, little girl."

"I do remember someone failed on cursing me." Kitty replied with a smirk.

"You--" The man stomped his foot again.

"What happened?" Even though Erebus knew Kitty was the daughter, he also knew she couldn't use any spell. It was surprising to him also that Kitty could fend off a wizard.

"He put a spell on me after I gave the bubble to Emma. But when the spell reached me, there was a light coming off my body and the space was ripped open, which is why I fell out and landed on you." Kitty explained and added when she saw Erebus's surprised face: "I don't know what happened either. But I think it has something to do with the stone Winnie gave me."

"What stone?" Erebus sighed. It seemed as if his questions could only get him more questions.

"I'll fill you in later." Kitty said, "Let's get Emma first."

"Give us the little girl, and we will leave." Erebus didn't argue. He turned to the wizard and said calmly.

"You don't give orders here, wolf!" The wizard looked offended, "I can have your life in a snap--"

"You cannot." Kitty said, stepping up a little.

"..." The wizard was NOT happy to be threatened.

"You cannot expel the spell on Emma anyways. Give up the girl, and you may leave." Erebus said, still in a calm voice, but this time with stateliness of an alpha in there.

"You cannot order me, wolf--" The wizard said and rose his hand, but the next second he suddenly dropped his hand and looked shocked.

"What's going on?!" He yelled at Erebus in a shrill voice.

Erebus didn't answer. He just stood there, looking at the wizard calmly.

"You... you cannot use magic... can you?" Kitty suddenly realized something, and turned to look at Erebus.