From The Desk of Madam Odette III

I wake up to someone banging on my door with a heavy fist. I roll over to look at my bedside clock. It's 10:27 at night. I just got to sleep about half an hour ago. I roll over onto my back arms out just trying to get my eyes to work when the banging turns into hammering. This time I'm scared awake. The door opens with Doris, my overnight assistant and John, my bedroom door attendant . Doris has a phone clutched to her while John must have knocked, "What is it?" Doris answered, "Phone for you Madam Odette. It's urgent." It can't be that urgent but I take the phone, "Hello, Lady Odette speaking."

"This is Nurse Harwood from the hospital."

"I'm not supposed to pick Red up till tomorrow morning."

"That's the thing. Red is gone."

I stop to collect myself before doing something rash, "What do you mean by gone?"

"One of our nurses went to give him a bath. He scared the nurse and escaped out of the window in his room."

Again, I have to stop myself, "…what…?"

"We've already called the police and they are looking for him. We request that you come down and talk to them so they may have better luck finding him."

"Yea, it'll be a couple hours."

John ended up driving me to the hospital. Between trying to figure out why Red ran and falling asleep it was a short ride for me. The German Shepherd officer greeted me at the door, "Lady Odette?"

"Yes, that's me."

"Follow me please."

He leads me to the third floor to Red's room. Inside there is a robin sitting on the bed with another nurse like her sitting beside her. The officer explains, "She's the nurse who was with him when he ran."

"How deep are you into this?"

"No worries, I know he's a magic user."

"Good, then know this. He's not 100% in control of his abilities so he's not a threat. He can barely do anything yet." I turn to the nurse on the bed, "Honey, can you tell me what happened?"

She doesn't seem to shaken up, "I came in to help him clean himself up and when he stood up I said, 'Oh! I've never seen anyone with two tails' and he paused for a bit then just seemed to lose it."

"Two tails?"

"Yea, he has two tails. I don't know how he lived his whole life without knowing. But he grabbed his clothes and jumped out the window."

The split was… permanent?

Looking in the corner I see that his bloody shirt is still in the bag. "He needs help and a shirt. I think I may know where he's going." The officer caught my words, "Do you want us to meet him there?"

"No, I'll make a call and I'll see if I can't get him. He's not dangerous, he's obviously fine if he's moving. I'll sign his release and find him."

Another half hour later and I am back in the car finally. I grab my phone skimming through my contacts finding the person I need. I get impatient while the phone rings, "C'mon, c'mon, pick up. Pick up!" I'm trying to make sure that I'm a head of the curve but it went to voice message. I call again this time he answers, "It's rather late to be calling Lady Odette."

"Armani, has Red come by?"

"He was here but he seemed to be in a hurry."

"What happened while he was there?"

"He bought a plain shirt, said he needed it because his old one was ruined and then asked about places that would have old books on myths, legends, and magic theory."

"So he's on the move again…"

"I told him Dover is closest but Capital City will have more available resources."

"Did he seem odd to you?"

"He seemed to be in a rush and it's ungodly late, but otherwise no."

"Nothing peculiar about him?"

"No, just stressed."

"Well thank you Armani, go back to bed."

"You should get some sleep too. You seem on edge."

"I'll try."

The phone call ends but my night is now beginning. "How long of a drive is it to Dover again?" My driver thinks for a second, "About 5 hours. Is that where you wish to go?"

"Yes and I hope he's there."

I tried to get as much sleep as I could during the ride but I was too worried. I had to try and analyze everything to validate that I was going to find Red. The only thing that really bothers me is that he has about a quarter of a million dollars from all his poker winnings and work. He has access to the entire world and all I can do is hope that I catch up to him.

When we hit the Dover city limits the sun begins to come up. It's another 30 minutes before we arrive at the library. It took less than five minutes for me to find that Red wasn't there. The librarian showed me their back room where they keep the mystical and magical separate. The other option that was given to Red was Capital City which is the opposite direction. It'll be another 16 hours before we arrive by car. Right now I have no choice. The plan is to drive home, switch drivers so they can sleep, then continue another 10-12 hours to Capital City.

Unlike Dover, Capital City's library has an entire wing dedicated to our world that is kept under lock and key. You have to prove who you are and what you can do before they will allow you to enter. There are a lot of rare books that are kept there that date back to the dark ages when magic really began to get its foothold in secret. But still, Red has a 24 hour head start so he may be long gone and onto some new place. "Madam Odette." Danny grabs my attention as he looks back at me through the rearview mirror, "Don't worry. Try and get some sleep."

It's easy to say that but hard to actually do. With 16 hours I do what I can to try to keep my mind occupied till eventually the lack of sleep gets me. 9 hours pass before I finally wake up as the sun begins to hit just right to where it beams into the car. Danny is still driving strong with his mind focused on the road. "How are you feeling Danny?"

"Feeling well Madam Odette. I stopped to get gas and some coffee for me while you were asleep."

"Did you get any for me?"

"I did get one but I'm pretty sure it's cold."

"I'll take it."

I scoot up to the front where he hands me the cup behind his head. Its room temperature but right now I don't care. "How much longer?"

"I predict another three hours. We hit an open stretch of road where I was able to cut some time."

"Excellent."

With all this time invested I'm going to either be furious or depressed if we don't find Red in this place. If he's not there I have no idea where I'll find him or if I will ever again. It's going to be a long three hours.

We hit the city limits and 20 minutes later we pull up to the library. I step out and don't even wait for Danny. I'm inside before he's even out of his seat. The inside of the place was designed by one of the prestigious architects 200 and some years ago. It's one of the largest in the state and fairly empty right now. I approach the lady at the counter, "I'm looking for someone who I believe would be in the private collection." She looks at me over her half-glasses, "We don't have anything like that. Every book we have is out on a shelf or checked out."

The laziness in this grey crow's voice is almost like sandpaper. "I said he would be in the 'private' collection." I spin my finger in the air releasing a small flame. She looks at me with a kind of disgust that I have never seen before. With a sigh she says to me, "Follow me please." She stands up and I follow her though the main foyer through the history section to a staircase to the second floor. There's a locked door protected by a mechanical keypad. She enters 5 numbers and the lock releases. She opens the door for me, "Check out with me when you leave."

I nodded and walked in. It was isolated from the rest of the library. There was no outside access to the rest of the library. The smell of the old books was trapped and to anyone who loved to read it was the closest place to heaven they could find. I slowly walk around looking between the shelves and all the ends of books scattered everywhere. Walking though it's very quiet with the paper absorbing sounds but something catches my ear. It sounds like mumbling and rustling paper.

I keep walking, taking light steps, keeping my sounds light while I listen for others. I hear it; I'm getting closer. There is someone else here and I'm pretty sure I can guess who it is. A few more shelves down and I see movement. Someone is looking through books and they are still mumbling to no one. I turn the corner and there he is. He's got his nose in a book with his hand on the shelf either marking or grabbing the next one. He's in semi-nice clothes. He must have gotten them from Armani.

"So, what are you reading?" I tried to use a soft voice but he jumped at the sound. He dropped the book almost falling back. "Oh god!" He quickly saw that it was me before calming down. He leans against the bookcase covering his eyes. I can tell he thinks he's in trouble. "Come on Red, let's find a seat."

I walk over to a small table I saw in the middle hall. The small clearing for this space is littered with books. I pull out a chair for him and sit down on my own across from him. With a quick glance I look at the piles of books that are still stacked on the table. There are a couple that are old enough where I can't read the titles. The few I can are about old myths and legends. There are magic theory books scattered in and about, both old and new. I look over to him. He has his head down looking at his hands. They're cupped together with his fingers intertwined. He expects a stern talking to.

"Which book were you reading when I came in?"

"Davin's Theory of the Advancement of Stages."

"That's pretty hard stuff. What did you learn?"

"Through concentration of elements and density of power one can manipulate the state of the element or elements on control. Through the manipulation you can change it through the stages of solid, liquid, gas, and plasma pending on the mix, focus, application, and medium it passes and is manifested in. The basic use is changing water elements from ice, to water, to vapor. Plasma is typically worked with fire and can be condensed to create lightning."

"You've learned a lot."

"I've been reading a lot. What time is it? I left my watch at the hospital."

"It's about 3:30."

"AM or PM?"

"PM."

"Ok, so it's only been a few hours."

"Try a few days. We went to Dover to try and find you. How did you get here?"

"I managed to get a taxi."

"Have you slept or eaten since you got here?"

"I guess not. It didn't seem like it was that long."

"Ok, what happened?"

"Hm?"

"What happened? Why did you run off?"

"Ah, that." He leans back in his chair, "The nurse came in and she was going to help me change the dressing. She had me stand up since I was able and she chuckled a bit. I asked what was funny and she mentioned that it was neat that I had two tails. I questioned it and panicked."

"So you jumped from the 3rd floor window?"

"I panicked." I give him a slight scowl, "OK, I really panicked. It all happened really fast and I just didn't think."

"OK, OK. I understand you were scared. But of what?"

He released a deep sigh, "Now that I think about it I don't really know. But when I had time to think I remembered a story my dad told me about the nine-tailed fox and how there was always one in the world at all times so I started looking into it. Turns out it's commonly believed to be a very real being but typically hides. The creature is constantly hunted because it's always been associated with destruction and demise."

"Commonly believed doesn't mean actually. Most of those stories of the fall of countries and empires can be explained and have been by real events with factual evidence."

"I'm still very afraid, Madam Odette."

"Then look at it this way; you control yourself and the decisions you make. If you are truly a nine-tailed fox then you can decide what to do with that power. Hurt or help, it's your call to make."

"That… that makes me feel a lot better."

"Good, are you ready to go home?"

He ponders looking at the stacks of books everywhere, "Once I clean up, yes."

The next two hours I helped him carry books and put them back on the shelves. He must have pulled over 200 books ranging from basic to advanced magic theory, alchemy and transmutation, physics, chemistry, legends and lore, and various other fields. I don't know how many he read but any amount would vastly increase from what I assigned him. He has a hunger for knowledge and is willing to work to get it. He may quickly surpass me.

With the books cleaned we both check out. The car is waiting by the front door. Once we hit the main stretch of road back home Red leans over in his seat closing his eyes. Now that he has calmed down he can sleep. The entire ride home is quiet as he peacefully enjoys some solid sleep.