The Brave

"Maybe she smelled something really nice, and that convinced her to run?" Kara suggests. "What were you guys cooking this morning, do you know?" She asks the girl. I know I know her, I just can't place her face.

"Sorry, I wasn't serving the morning shift." She answers regretfully.

"I'm Erin, by the way. We live just a ways down that way." Kara says, pointing in the direction of the Amour's cottage.

"I'm Phoebe. I live pretty far away, in Ponsonby." She checks her watch. "In fact, I really do need to be going home soon, if I'm going to get the bus on time"

"We can drive you?" Kara offers.

"Oh no, I think I'll have to catch the late bus. I do still have to clean up and all!" She says, smiling. "Thank you though!"

"It's no problem- we can't be making you late! How about this- you and me can go clean up this place together, and Joe can check the cameras for Sheila. And then you won't be late!"

She looks nervously at me, but decides to accept it. "Thank you, that would be great"

"Of course! Should I finish the sweeping you were supposed to be doing before?" Kara says, heading for the door.

"That would be really helpful" Phoebe says warmly, walking out the door.

And so I quickly switch cameras, looking for the Amours and Ranger and Noir. Once I find them sitting outside, I go through the cameras, looking at them throughout their meal. I can't find anything happening there- so I go back through the footage, following their meals. Here we go- I can see the family's meals being made by a tall, rather slim chef. When they turn to the camera, I recognise them as none other than Lila Rossi, the lady in orange from the ball. This comes as something of a shock to me- what kind of millionaire would be working as a chef in a small town cafe? Maybe a kind hearted millionaire- but those are rare. Very rare. Much more likely that Lila isn't a millionaire at all.

The plot thickens...

When I see that she puts down the food and leaves the room, still busy with other chefs, I remain watching the food. It looks almost like an accident- until someone crosses my field of the camera, so I can't see the kid's plates. But then I see them look right at the camera... or more accurately, I don't see them look right at the camera. Their face is covered by a deep cowl, and red eyes glow beneath their hood. That's the person who hurt the kids, I'd bet my cat on it. And I love Lolita very much. I zoom the footage in and go over it three times, making sure I didn't miss anything. I've almost given up- then I see the reflection in a pan, hanging from a rack. It's fuzzy, really fuzzy. But I can just about get the very distinctive colour of the green bottle of soju. I hate the stuff- but it's terribly alcoholic. It's possible that in large enough quantities it would poison children as little as them. I think that might be why they're so ill. Soju is very, very alcoholic.

Must tell the team, as fast as possible. I would message them- but I still don't know where my phone is. Kara might have hers though- I can ask her. I lever myself up, and holding the wall for support, hop out of the area.

"I think I found Sheila!" I yell, hopping out the door. Once I can see through the doorway, I see that Phoebe and Kara are being held tightly by two people- one of them seems to be the devil, the red eyed creature I've seen before. The other one is the exact opposite- she looks like an angel, complete with a halo floating above her long blonde hair.

They're both in the same position- standing behind Phoebe and Kara, with a metal staff across the waitress and the assassin's throats. For about a second, I think about trying to fight them, but then my logical brain kicks in, and the protective instinct goes away. I'm injured, they aren't, I'm unarmed, they aren't, and I'm unwilling to hurt my friends, they aren't. All in all, not at all a fight we can win. So I'm left with two options- run away, or negotiate. Given run away means leaving Phoebe and Kara, plus I have one nonfunctional leg, it's not a good choice. Maybe if I run out of other options I can try it- but for now I need to try negotiating.

"What do you want?" I ask them, slowly stepping forward, keeping my free arm raised.

"I would put both my hands up, but then I think I'll need one of you to scoop me off the ground." I say, trying for a joking tone of voice.

Neither of them reply to me. Not even a shake of the head.

"If I sit down and put my hands up, is that ok?" I try asking.

Still no answer. Not a muscle twitches from either of them. Phoebe, poor girl, looks terrified. Kara looks as cool as ever, as if being held hostage is a regular occurrence for her. Maybe it is? Her life is such a mystery to me. As she says though- a lady has to have some secrets, right?

I slide down the wall, sitting down on the floor uncomfortably. My leg jolts, and I hiss with pain, my eyes going foggy from tears rising. I blink it away and raise both hands in a gesture of surrender.

They both begin to speak, with the demon speaking first and the angel copies everything they say, just a second behind.

"For Scylla and Charybdis, she of the skies and she of the ground." They mumble in a perfectly flat monotone.

Both of them remove their staves from my friends, and in one smooth movement slap both of them on the head, knocking them both to the floor. They fall face-first, hitting their heads surely painfully, and neither of them move to get up. I start to get up to help them- but I don't even make it off the floor before I'm hit in the head, and my vision goes black.