Chapter Text
“Fabian wasn’t in bard class today,” Fig said, sliding into her seat beside Riz. She scraped her tuna onto his plate wordlessly. She was not eating that. Her stomach was already doing summersaults, that smelly fish would truly be the last straw.
“It’s strange that he didn’t say anything,” Kristen mused.
“He’s probably just sick,” Gorgug said through mouthfuls.
“Still, I’d feel a lot better if we knew. He’s not answering his crystal,” Fig protested.
“Maybe he’s sleeping?” Adaine suggested, setting down her book.
“We better head over there just to check on him,” Riz said.
“Good plan! I didn’t want to go to class anyway,” Kristen stood up without a second thought and carried her tray away. Fig followed, and Gorgug scarfed down as much food as he could before standing up too.
None of them had any qualms about skipping school, and none of the teachers would even give them a second glance. You gained certain privileges by saving the world twice.
As the five of them left the bustling cafeteria, Fig turned to her friends.
“I’m sorry to get you all so worked up, I just, after everything that happened with the Nightmare King, with Riz and Adaine getting captured…”
“It’s okay,” Adaine put a hand on Fig’s shoulder. “It’s okay, and I’m sure Fabian is just sleeping off a hangover or something.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
But Adaine didn’t sound so sure, and Fig couldn’t shake the sinking feeling in her stomach. The feeling only continued to grow when they parked the van in front of Seacaster Manor. Adaine politely knocked on the door, and after a moment, Cathilda answered.
“Well hello there! Why, it’s the middle of the day. Shouldn’t you be in school?” Cathilda teased with a conspiratorial wink. “Come in, come in! I just pulled the cookies out of the oven.”
“You never cease to amaze, Cathilda,” Adaine said, following Cathilda inside.
“Have you seen Fabian?” Riz asked when she came back with a tray of steaming cookies.
“Not since this morning. He’s always been an early riser, but he and the Hangman went for a ride before school. What makes you ask? Was he not at school?”
They all glanced at each other.
“No, we haven’t seen him,” Fig said.
Cathilda furrowed her brows. “It’s unlike Master Fabian to not at least check in.”
“What’s going on? Shouldn’t you all be in school or something?” Hallarial said, sweeping down the stairs in a deep blue robe, even though it was well past noon.
“Fabian wasn’t at school today, we just came to check on him,” Fig explained.
The colour drained from Hallarial’s face and she looked uncharacteristically worried. “None of you know where he is?” she asked.
“No, but we’re going to go look for him,” Fig assured. Her friends nodded, and Hallarial’s shoulders relaxed slightly.
“I’m terribly sorry. A teenage boy wandering off and missing school really isn’t that unusual, but I know the six of you like to encounter, ah, shenanigans,” Hallarial said, and Fig had to hide a smile. Shenanigans was one word for it.
“Could we just check his room?” Adaine asked.
“Of course, please do,” Cathilda said, gesturing for them to enter. They filed in, and Riz and Adaine opened the door. Riz pulled his magnifying glass out and Adaine’s eyes flashed blue. Fig had no idea what they were looking for. The room was immaculate as always, clearly no sign of any kind of struggle. Fabian’s absolutely massive bed as perfectly made, not a speck of dust on the floor.
“His sword is gone, so is his backpack,” Riz noted.
“He was probably on his way to school. So whatever happened was between then and Bard class. Was that first period?” Adaine asked Fig.
“Yeah.”
“Okay. We should get moving then.”
“Let us know if he comes home,” Riz said to Cathilda as they stepped out the front door. Cathilda nodded, holding out the tray of cookies once more, though no one seemed to have much of an appetite anymore. The pit in Fig’s stomach was growing by the second.
Cathilda nodded. “You tell me as soon as you find anything.”
“Of course,” Adaine said, taking Cathilda’s hand, who smiled at her warmly before they left, the massive door of Seacaster Manor clanging shut behind them.
“Should we just drive around and see if we can find them?” Gorgug suggested.
“I can cast locate creature, but it only reaches one thousand feet,” Adaine offered, pulling out her spell book as they walked back to the van.
The weather was beautiful. The sun was shining, the birds were singing. It made Fig sick. How could the whole world be so chipper right now?
“Could you cast it while I drive around?” Gorgug asked.
“Yeah, we could do that. I don’t think we’ll be able to cover the whole town, but it’s worth a try.”
They all piled in, Gorgug at the wheel and Adaine in the passenger seat, and peeled out. Riz’s claws clacked as he typed frantically on his crystal.
“Okay, I talked to my contact with the police…”
“You texted your mom?” Kristen interrupted.
“Yes, I texted my mom,” he sighed. “She’s going to keep her eyes open and let us know if anything weird happens in town.”
“Yeah, when weird stuff happens, it’s usually connected to whatever we’re dealing with.” Fig undid her seatbelt and pulled her knees up to her chest. She felt useless.
Kristen wrapped an arm around Fig’s shoulder. No one said anything as she drove for fear of interrupting Adaine. Her eyes glowed blue as she leaned her head out the open window. Warm autumn air came through the window, tossing the loose strands of Fig’s braid around her face.
“Stop, stop, stop Gorgug stop the van,” Riz shouted, unbuckling his seatbelt. Gorgug hastily signaled and shoulder-checked to pull over, but Riz had already jumped out and took off in a sprint. For such a small guy, he was incredibly fast. Adaine tumbled out next, followed by Fig, Kristen, and Gorgug, who had to actually park the van. He caught up quickly, and they all saw what Riz had noticed, though how he spotted it from the road, Fig had no idea. Mostly obscured behind a bush next to a park bench, was the Hangman.
He didn’t respond as they approached, and there was no fire in his engine. Fig could feel it in her gut. He was gone. Unlike when Fabian had stabbed his engine with the sword of Seacaster, Hangman looked beat up. His handlebars were bent, the seat was in the nearby bush, and the headlights were completely smashed. Fig’s breath hitched, and she saw Kristen put a hand to her mouth.
Gorgug knelt beside the bike immediately and pulled out his tinker tools. With Adaine’s use of mending, they managed to fix the worst of the damage. Gorgug sat back, and pushed his hair out of his face, contemplating.
“It’s going to take me a while, and I need more tools. We could take him to my house, but even then, it’ll probably take me three or four hours to fix all the damage.”
“Something bad happened. I don’t want to stop looking,” Riz said.
“Me too. If someone got a jump on the Hangman, Fabian’s in trouble,” Fig said.
“I could leave the Hangman and come back for him,” Gorgug suggested, but Fig could tell he didn’t like that idea.
“No, I think we need to help the Hangman. He probably knows what happened to Fabian, if not, he can communicate with him,” Kristen said, but she sounded distracted. “Sorry, I’m trying to remember if any of my healing spells will work, but they’re pretty creature-specific.”
“I don’t want to complicate things, but I got a text from my mom. She said the mall was just robbed by,” Riz’s eyes went wide and he leaned towards the screen of his crystal, “skeletons? The mall was just robbed by skeletons. It’s not much, but it’s something.”
Gorgug stood up. “I’ll take the Hangman home, Fig, you can take the van. You can go to the mall and investigate. I’ll call when the Hangman is fixed.”
“Fig, we could keep casting locate creature,” Adaine suggested.
“Great idea Adaine. I’ll go with Riz to the mall,” Kristen said.
“Okay, sounds like a plan.”
Gorgug pulled the Hangman up and wheeled it over to the van. Fig and Adaine opened the back doors and Gorgug hefted it inside.
“Woah,” Zaphriel said from the radio. “What happened?”
“We don’t know yet,” Gorgug conceded. “But we’re going to figure it out.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gorgug parked the van in front of his house and wheeled the Hangman out. Wilma and Digby rushed from the house, immediately assessing the damage, though they let Gorgug move it.
“Bring it into the shop, Gorgug,” Digby said, wiping greasy hands on his duster.
“Are you kids okay? Where’s Fabian?” Wilma asked.
“We don’t know where Fabian is, but if you can fix the Hangman, we can ask him,” Riz explained.
Digby and Wilma nodded, understanding the situation. “We’ll have him fixed up in no time,” Digby said.
“You all stay safe, okay?” Wilma said as they went to the workshop.
“Call me if anything happens,” Gorgug said as he followed his parents with the Hangman. He was pushing the Hangman across the grass, his axels were totally bent.
“Good luck,” and Fig winked at Gorgug.
Fig got behind the wheel and they sped off towards the mall. Riz stared out the window intently, looking for anything that could lead them to Fabian. He had spotted the Hangman in a stroke of pure luck, and it was a good thing he did. He knew Gorgug and his parents had it under control. They’d find Fabian by the end of the day.
Riz’s heart was pounding regardless. Is this how everyone felt when he and Fig went missing? Of course, of course they did, they were friends, they were a team. Still, a voice whispered from the corner of Riz’s mind, a voice that had somehow survived from his years growing up with only mysteries to keep him company, why would they?
Riz shook his head. Now was not the time. Fabian needed them. Fabian needed him.
They pulled up in front of the mall and Riz and Kristen jumped out of the van. Adaine rolled down the window, actually rolled it down. Despite the incredible amount of technology incorporated in this van by Gorgug and his parents, it still had roll down windows. Incredible.
“If it isn’t broken, why would we change it?” Digby had said when they pointed it out.
“We’ll let you know as soon as we find anything,” Adaine promised. Fig nodded.
“Be careful,” Kristen said.
“Take care of them, Zaphrial,” Riz said.
“No problem dude! You guys are safe with me,” the radio sang.
Kristen pat the side of the van once before they tore out of the parking lot. Riz felt a twang of guilt for Gorgug’s tires, but he was the one who trusted Fig to drive.
“Riz! Kristen!” Riz heard his mom’s voice. He turned around to see her walking towards them. There was a handful of squad cars parked in front of Hig’s General Magic, in the corner of the mall, one of few stores with an outside entrance. The storefront was taped off, but officers ducked under and were moving in and out. The windows were completely smashed, and it looked like the door had been torn off its hinges.
“What happened here,” Riz asked his mom as they walked towards the building.
“Hig says his windows were smashed by a bunch of skeletons who took a ton of spell components.”
“Do you have a list?” Kristen asked.
“Yes. Diggins,” Sklonda waved down a young officer. “Get us the list of what was taken.”
Diggins nodded and walked away.
The three of them ducked under the tape. None of the other officers even blinked at them. Riz began walking around while Kristen poured over the list from Officer Diggins.
The shop was an even bigger mess inside than it was outside. Shelves had been smashed, boxes of spell components were missing, and it looked like anything that wasn’t taken was smashed. Riz was impressed they were able to figure out exactly what had been taken. Hig must’ve taken incredible care with his inventory.
After walking around and picking through the rubble, Riz wanted to talk to Hig. He left the shop, treading lightly over the broken glass and other obstacles. He found Hig sitting in the back of an ambulance with a blanket around his shoulders. A scrawny elven man, he was trembling as he pulled the blanket tighter around himself. His wide rimmed spectacles were shattered, and one of the lenses was missing, and he had dried blood on the side of this face.
“Mr. Hig?” Riz asked, speaking softly.
Hig nodded, straightening his posture. “I promise I’m not crazy, I know what I saw…”
“I believe you, it’s okay. I’ve seen some crazy things too,” Riz said.
Hig relaxed. “It was a skeleton, mister. It was made of a bunch of little skeletons. It just started ripping my shop apart. I tried to stop it, but I just…”
“It’s okay. You did everything you could. We’re going to figure out what happened. Can you tell me anything else? Where did it come from?”
“I don’t know. I just finished ringing a customer through when it comes tearing through my front door. Tore my shop to shreds. I shot a bolt of fire at it but it didn’t seem to do much good. It hit me real good, knocked me out cold. Woke up, it was gone. I didn’t see which way it went, I’m sorry young man.”
“Thank you for your help, Hig.”
Hig nodded and buried himself in his blanket. Riz left him in the care of the paramedics and walked back to Kristen, who was sitting in the parking lot with the list on one leg, and her book of world religions on the other. She didn’t even look up as Riz approached.
“Do you want to find a table?” Riz offered.
“Yeah. Let’s do that.”
Riz helped Kristen to her feet and they walked to the mall food court. Riz prevented Kristen from running into anyone. Kristen sat down without looking up, and Riz grabbed both of them a soft pretzel. He sat beside Kristen and peaked over at the list, though he wasn’t much good with spells.
They sat in silence for a while, Riz writing down everything Hig told him and what he saw in the shop. They wouldn’t really know what was going on here until Kristen figured out what kind of spell the components were needed for. Eventually, Kristen looked up.
“I think I figured it out. It’s for some kind of resurrection spell, but I’ve never seen one this powerful.”
“That would explain why the shop was attacked by skeletons.”
“Yeah. I’m pretty sure they’re missing two components though.”
“What are they?”
“Okay, so I think the reason this spell is so powerful is because it’s specific to someone who was killed in combat. It needs the blood of the one who killed you, and a phoenix feather.”
“Ayda is at Compass Point though, there’s no way they could find that here,” Riz started, but as soon as he said it, he and Kristen came to the same realization.
“Fig,” they said at the same time, shooting out of their seats and racing out of the mall.
Riz pulled his crystal out and called Fig. She answered right away.
“What’s up? How’s it going with you guys?”
“Fig you need to get to the mall right now. Something’s coming after Ayda’s feather. Where are you right now?”
“Just about to drive past the school. I’m turning around now…”
There was a crash, and Riz heard Fig’s scream blend with the sound of screeching metal.
“Fig! Fig!” Riz shouted into his crystal, but the call had disconnected.
Riz felt like his heart was going to beat right out of his chest.
Riz and Kristen ran to Sklonda, who was standing beside her cruiser talking to Diggins.
“Mom! Mom start the car!” Riz shouted as they ran.
Sklonda’s eyes widened and she jumped into the driver’s seat turned the lights on. Riz and Kristen were barely in the backseat when Sklonda peeled out, sirens blaring.
“The school. Fig and Adaine are in trouble.”
“What happened, what’s going on?”
“We don’t know. We think they were attacked.”
“Okay. Hold on,” Sklonda said, accelerating and weaving through traffic.
“Your mom is so cool,” Kristen whispered to Riz.
“Hell yeah.”
Riz just hoped they wouldn’t be too late.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zaphriel had some relaxing music playing over the speaker as Fig and Adaine cruised around town. Adaine was focusing on the spell, but she could see Fig tapping her fingers anxiously on the steering wheel to the beat of the music as they drove. Adaine mentally told Boggy to sit with Fig. He hopped over from her lap to Fig’s, who laughed. Adaine smiled as she closed her eyes.
When she opened them, they were nearing the school.
“I know we didn’t see him, but do you want to drive by the school?”
“Yeah, we might as well.”
Fig nodded and turned right to head towards Augefort. As Fig drove closer, Adaine began to feel a tug in her stomach.
Fig’s crystal rang, and she removed the hand that was resting on Boggy to answer. Adaine heard Riz’s panicked voice on the other side, and cold dread began to worm its way into her gut.
“I’m turning around now…”
The van was lifted of the ground and hurled into the air. Adaine was weightless for a moment, and just before the van smashed into the ground, the fear in Adaine’s body was replaced by another presence. Fabian’s.
Adaine didn’t have anytime to process what that meant as her vision went white as pain shot through her body. She heard the metal of the van being crushed around them. She opened her eyes, to find herself upside down, strapped to the seat. She undid the seatbelt and fell to the roof of the van on her hands and knees. Everything hurt, but she could still move.
She helped Fig down, and the two of them peered out of the window lying on their stomachs.
“Are you okay?” Adaine asked.
“I’m okay. How are you?”
“I’ve been better.”
Fig smiled.
“What just happened?”
“I have no idea.”
The van spun around as something large kicked it. Adaine caught a glimpse of a massive, bony foot. Literally made of bones. Adaine and Fig scrambled out of the broken windows of the van as soon as it stopped moving. Fig reached in and grabbed her bass, which was miraculously not smashed to pieces. Magic.
They both crouched behind the van. Lightning crackled across Adaine’s fingertips, filling her body with power. She nodded to Fig, and the two of them shot up from their positions. Adaine threw a bolt of lightning at the creature, which she was seeing for the first time.
It was twenty feet tall, a massive skeleton creature that seemed to be made up of the dozens of smaller skeletons. The bones cracked and splintered as Adaine’s bolt connected. It stumbled back once before being hit by a wave of sound from Fig’s bass. It braced itself, the bones making a crunching noise on the pavement. It turned to look at Adaine and Fig with eyeless sockets and charged forward. It smacked the van out of the way, sending it flying above their heads as Adaine and Fig hit the deck. Adaine put her arms over her head, managing to avoid the van. Fig was not so lucky, and when Adaine looked over, she was motionless, blood running down the side of her face. Adaine scrambled to her feet and stood over Fig, staring down the skeletal monster.
Adaine could hear students rushing out of the school, but they were too far away to help. The monster raised its hand, and Adaine summoned a glowing magic shield, but the monster smashed through it and knocked Adaine away from Fig. Adaine summoned a chomatic orb and hurled it at the monster as it grabbed Fig with its skeletal hand.
“Hey bone head!” Adaine heard Zelda’s voice as she leaped gracefully over her and smashed the monster. Adaine felt firm hands on her back as Ostentatia helped her up, and she felt warmth flood through her as her wounds began to magically heal.
“What’s going on?” Ostentatia asked.
“I don’t know, we have to help Fig.”
Ostentatia nodded and she charged forward, Penny behind her. As they approached the monster, Penny leaped out from behind Ostentatia and climbed up the monster’s spine, slamming her dagger into one of its joints. The monster spun, trying to knock Penny and Zelda off, but they both continued to cling on for their lives. Katja charged forward, axe gleaming on her back, and caught Fig as the monster finally dropped her. Adaine charged forward with Sam, and the two of them launched blasts of fire at the monster, and they watched as it began to crumble into dozens of smaller, human-sized skeletons that began to retreat down the road. Penny landed without a sound, Zelda beside her. Six or seven of the skeletons swarmed Fig like spiders as Katja tried to fight them off, struggling to keep her grip on Fig.
Without warning, the skeletons let go and retreated as Antiope showered them with arrows. Ostentatia and Adaine ran to Fig. Katja placed Fig on the ground. Ostenatia placed a hand on Fig’s shoulder, and her hand began to glow. Fig’s eyes snapped open, and she looked around frantically before checking her pockets, eyes wide with fear.
Adaine put her hands on Fig’s shoulders. “Are you okay?”
“They took it. Ayda’s feather. They took it.”
Adaine looked up to see if she could spot the skeletons.
She didn’t see them anywhere.
They’d vanished.
The sound of wailing sirens filled the air as a squad car screeched to a halt, and Skonlda and Riz leaped out, guns drawn, Kristen behind them. The three of them ran to Fig and Adaine.
“What happened?” Riz asked, eyes darting around, taking in the mangled van and the students standing outside.
“A giant skeleton monster, it attacked us, and it took Ayda’s feather, but Fabain’s here.”
“What?” Riz, Kristen, and Fig said at the same time.
“He’s here, he’s at the school.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Master!” the Hangman roared as he came back to life. Wilma and Digby squeaked and leaped back, hiding behind Gorgug, who stood up and held his hands out to try calming the Hangman down. Gorgug gently put his hands on the handle bars as the Haangman tried to drive around the workshop, preventing him from smashing into one of the various tool benches.
“You’re okay Hangman. It’s me, Gorgug.”
The Hangman calmed down at those words. “Gorgug, you’ve saved me again. Truly there are none more powerful than you.”
“Well, I mean, my parents helped.”
Wilma and Digby peered out from behind Gorgug and waved.
“I owe all of you a great debt, but we must find my master. I was not fast enough, I was not powerful enough, and they cut me down, I am a failure,” The Hangman cried.
“No, no you’re not a failure. We’re looking for Fabian too. Can you tell me what happened?”
“We went for a ride in the morning, and when Master Fabian asked me to stop, we were attacked by a swarm of skeletons and I watched them take him away. I was too weak.”
If motorcycles could cry, Gorgug was sure the Hangman was.
“It’s okay. We’re going to find him. Can you try to talk to him?”
“Yes! I will try to contact him.”
The Hangman was silent for a second.
“I-I cannot reach him.”
Gorgug pat the Hangman’s handlebar. “It’s okay, we’re still going to find him.”
Gorgug pulled out his crystal to find several frantic texts from his friends.
“Hangman, can you take me to the school?” Gorgug asked.
“Without hesitation. Thank you for your help, Gorgug’s parents.”
“It was our pleasure,” Wilma said.
“You two stay safe,” Digby shouted after them as they sped off towards Augefort.
Nothing could’ve prepared Gorgug for what he saw when he and the Hangman arrived at the school.
“Hangvan!” Gorogug leaped off the Hangman and ran to his friends who were standing outside the school in front of his destroyed van. “What happened? Is everyone okay?”
Fig and Adaine looked a little beat up, but they were both standing and didn’t seem to be in any pain.
“We’re fine, Gorgug, I’m so sorry about the van,” Fig said.
When Gorgug was sure they were okay, he laid on his stomach and poked his head into the shattered, crushed window.
“Hangvan, are you okay?”
“I’m gonna be honest, not having a great time right now, but I’m okay,” Zaphriel replied.
“I’m so sorry Hangvan. I’m sure Mom and Dad can fix you.”
“I’m sure they can my man. I’m sorry I didn’t do more.”
“It’s not you fault. I’m just glad you’re okay. Would it help if I took the crystal out?”
“Honestly? Yeah. It’s not great in here right now.”
Gorgug squeezed his way in, and in the upside-down van, reached up and popped the crystal out, slipping it into his pocket. He squeezed out of the van and walked around once to inspect the damage. He didn’t know if even his Mom and Dad could fix it. It was pretty well beyond repair.
It didn’t matter, his friends were safe.
“Okay, what happened?” Gorgug asked.
Riz and Kristen filled them in on everything they learned, Adaine and Fig told them about the attack, and the Hangman told them what happened.
“Fabian’s at the school. I don’t know where, but he’s nearby,” Adaine said.
“We need to start looking then,” Riz said, turning to Penny, who was standing beside him. “Can you help us search the school ground?”
“Absolutely. Let’s go.” Penny and the other maidens took off, Zelda stopping just long enough to reach up and plant a kiss on Gorgug’s cheek.
“Where do we even start?” Kristen asked.
“Maybe a map of the school would be useful?” Riz suggested.
“That’s a great idea. Let’s check the library,” Adaine said as the five of them made their way inside.
None of the teachers bothered them. Porter asked if they needed a hand.
“Keep your eyes open for anything suspicious or dangerous,” Fig said. Porter nodded and ran off.
They made it to the library, and Adaine pulled blueprints of the school down and laid them out on the table.
“Is there any record of the building history?” Gorgug asked. The school probably underwent renovations as time went on.
“I’ll check.”
After a moment, Adaine found some spreadsheets and building plans and laid them beside the blueprints.
“Is it weird this is all public knowledge?” Fig asked, eyes scanning the pages.
“It’s a public school, I imagine they have to be transparent,” Adaine said.
Gorgug looked at the budget for the current building and the amount of material ordered. Something wasn’t lining up.
“Hey, I’m not very good with numbers, but something’s not right.”
“What do you mean?” Riz asked, moving beside Gorgug and looking at the same papers.
“They ordered way more stuff than it should’ve taken to build the school.”
Adaine’s brow furrowed as she and Riz started to add numbers up on the back of spreadsheets.
“Gorgug’s right,” Riz said after a minute.
“Yeah, something’s off with these numbers.” Adaine agreed.
“What does that mean?” Kristen asked.
“Either Augefort’s been laundering money…”
“Or they built something that isn’t in the blueprints,” Adaine finished for Riz.
“So if there’s a part of the school that isn’t in the blueprints, how do we find it?” Fig asked.
“We could talk to Principal Augefort?”
The library went silent at Kristen’s suggestion. They had absolutely no idea what to expect from Augefort. The idea of asking him for help was terrifying.
“For Fabian?” Gorgug said.
“For Fabian,” everyone agreed as they marched from the library to Principal Augefort’s office.