---

---

"Well you know, I do try," he said with a slight laugh, giving Megan a slight smirk. To him it was funny, even if she didn't see it that way, and that was all that really mattered. He went up with her out of the Morgue to the main station, figuring that they should probably hurry up already and head for the orphanage. He heard Isabella before he actually saw her, and looked over at her, giving her a bit of a smile. "Now why would we want to do that?"

Hearing Megan's words made him wonder a bit, since technically they probably shouldn't leave Isabella behind, she was his partner and this was a homicide investigation or something like that, meaning technically she should come along. Even if it was something that was a bit of a family issue or something. Jack didn't care if Megan got mad at him over it. "...We're heading out to the orphanage where a dead body was found, see if they can answer a few questions," he told her with a shrug.

---

---

At first, she didn't really notice the car that was coming up alongside her. Rosalia wasn't exactly one to stick around, and usually paying any sort of attention to anyone else wasn't exactly something she cared to do. The type of people who typically wanted to talk to her were cops, and that was usually to have her spend a few days in jail or something. Talking to people wasn't something she typically did, since she usually kept her head down after she had stolen something.

Hearing the man's voice, she couldn't help but turn to look over at him, stopping somewhat in her tracks. She didn't tend to use her real name, ever, choosing to go by her alias more of. "Whose asking? And what could you possibly know about that?" she asked him, a little hesitant about it. No matter what happened here, she was going to constantly be on guard, she never trusted anyone, especially someone who just drove up to her and started talking. A part of her was curious as to what it was that he was talking about, and how he knew about her parents. That was the only reason she decided to talk to him.

---

---

---

---

Pandora had wondered why she was still standing there speaking to the girl. She couldn't care less really. "Well whatever. Good luck kid." She made her way down the street, eager to get inside her home and put her feet up for a spell. Today started off so good and ended so sourly. If she ever saw goggle girl again...well that would wait until then. She had managed to get back home. Her eyes wandered over to people who were eyeing her. She was used to being ogled on occasion, but this was something else.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," she said as she made her way up the steps into her building and then up to her apartment. She locked the door, flung her belongings on her bed, and crashed on the couch with a thud and a sigh. Sometimes she hated this city. She often had dreams of other places. Castles and forests and such. Wouldn't that be nice? Or other times she thought about moving to somewhere like Los Angeles or New York. The bigger the city, the more people so more likely to hide in a crowd. Plus, she could make it as an actor. Or a model.

These thoughts raced in her head as she let herself fall into a small slumber.

---

---

Cassiopeia made an undistinguished grunt in assent before she rolled over and stared at her floor a moment. She flexed her fingers, feeling the muscles stretch and roll over bone before she threw back the covers and walked to the window. She peeked around the curtain to see dark grey clouds and smiled a little. A bit of a chilly day was always the best for a hunt. She let the curtain fall away and went to her closet to dig out her hunting gear. As Cassiopeia dressed, she reminded herself to feed the cats before leaving. Cassiopeia had left her bow and archery gear in the jeep but she did grab a set of knives as well. Most of the time she left that job to her sister though. She was an artist with knife use of any kind.
”Come on kitties, time to eat,” Cassiopeia called as she walked out of her room. She was dressed in camo with a dark grey sweater underneath her jacket and her hair had been secured under a hat with a bright orange stripe all the way around it. It wasn’t a fashion statement but it would make other hunters think twice before shooting. Cassiopeia went to the pantry and grabbed the cat food before filling the two dishes for them and topped off the water. ”Should we bring sandwiches or something?” Cassiopeia wasn’t sure how long Layla would want to be out there.

---

---

Willow smiled, happy that she would be getting her food. One more thing to postpone studying. Willow didn’t think much about Sierra having received a letter as people received letters all the time. She finished off her cup of coffee and pushed her text away just in time for her food to arrive. ”Thank you,” Willow said pleasantly. She took her napkin and placed it in her lap. The food smelled delicious and her stomach grumbled happily.
Willow cleared her throat and looked back at Sierra. ”Always nice to just chill out and watch Netflix. I have to head back to school after this for an afternoon class,” Willow said and shrugged. She took a bite from her food and smiled, it tasted decent for a diner. Willow’s tastes were definitely more refined from her upbringing but sometimes you could find the most amazing things in the unlikeliest of places.

---

---

---

---

"I'm glad to have a friend like you Mab." Rose really was thankful. She heard the bell ding alerting her that Mab's food was ready. Excused herself and stepped over to collect it and bring it back. "When do you want to go? I have a shift at the bar starting at eight, but I've got a couple hour gap after this. I have more free time tomorrow if you'd rather go tomorrow. Or do you want to wait the three days?"

Rose had spent so much of her life trying to put these pieces together and now she had a chance. It was weird that Mab had gotten the same letter. She glanced over at Sierra, she wanted to ask her friend to join them. Sierra had been told she could go home though and Rose didn't want to bring her over unless Mab was okay with it. "Do you mind if I tell Sierra? I was thinking of telling her before I knew you had gotten the same letter."

---

---

---

---

"It is a mystery we should unravel. Going home will just drive me crazy, besides the power might still be off." Colby was impressed with Mathew's sudden boldness directed at the woman. This woman, he supposed he should think of her as such if she was as old as she said she was, was strange and claimed she knew their letter writer. What were the odds? Unless she worked for the mysterious letter writer. Colby followed Mathew to the bench and took a seat on the far side of him from the woman.

"And who are you?" Colby added his question after Mathew spoke. He wanted to know more who the woman was to him, and Mathew he supposed. It was at that moment he wondered the same thing as Mathew but for different reasons. Were they blood? He had blood out there and he didn't know them and this woman was now his link to them. Half of him was drawn to it. It pulled him. Inticed him. Begged him. The other half of him just wanted to lay on the floor and forget. But what he had said to Mathew was true, his curiosity required to be satiated.

---

---

---

---

Wichita Kansas Streets:

The man looked towards Rosalia he could understand her hesitation, and kept the car on as he started to think of a way to try and convince her. "I was the one who wrote the letter to you this morning." He said, as he then went to park the car next to her but didn't leave the car just yet. "I do know who your parents are. Do you remember anything, like dreams and the like?" He said, as he leaned back in the car just a little bit. Rosalia would remember a little bit and see his face briefly when he had dropped her off when she was younger, he then thought for a moment. "I could help you jog some memories as well and I can answer all of your questions, that you may have."

The girl looked up at Annabelle for a moment giving her a little bit of an annoyed look, she didn't really have parents or go to school for that matter either. She did sometimes crash at Andy's place at night, but none of Andy's parents did know that she snuck in and slept for the night. "That's none of your business really." She said crossing her arms over her chest, while Andy looked towards his friend and then over at Annabelle. "School's canceled for the day, and mom and dad are out right now." He told her.

Wichita Kansas Police Station:

Isabelle crossed her arms over and gave Megan a little bit of an annoyed look and shook her head slightly, she didn't know what kind of family business it was that they had going on. "Yeah well, sadly it fell on my desk to so it's kinda my case to right now." She said, to her it was just another usual job for her and working for the city, and then looked towards Jack at least he was on her side right now. "Awesome then, we can take my car if that works for ya?" Isabelle said before turning and starting to leave and make her way over towards her car and waited for both Jack and Megan to get in the car as she started up the engine.

Wichita Kansas Oak Park:

The woman looked at the two boys for a moment and smirked a little bit as she leaned back and looked up at the cloudy sky for a moment, as she started to think. She of course wasn't going to say her name just yet, as she wanted to see how they both would react to her information. "Well, first tell me what do you remember? And do you happen to know any kind of fairytales growing up?" The woman asked, she didn't want to spill everything just yet, whether they both decided to leave as well or not. "And as who wrote the letters it was a friend of mine I didn't write them I just sent them out, he has more information than I do."

Wichita Kansas Pandora's Apartment:

The group of men looked at one another and then took out a file and started to look at the picture, and then at Pandora again before she entered the apartment. They started to nod to one another before making their way into the apartment building itself, catching the door closing and locking behind her. Then the men started to walk down the hallway, once at the door one of them started to bang on the door rather harshly. Followed by another several hard bangs which would wake up Pandora rather quickly from her nap, the banging started to loosen the hinges on the doors as well. "We need to have a talk to you ma'am." One of the men said.

---

---

---

---

Sierra smiled towards Willow and nodded towards her. "Of course anytime." She said as she leaned back and looked over towards the nearby table seeing both Mab and Rose talking to each other. She knew her coworker pretty well, Mab not so much other than being a regular by the looks of it. She turned her attention back over towards Willow as she started to speak and nodded she did have an occasional afternoon class as well before her night shift started. Sierra started to think for a moment, she didn't mind getting to know her a little bit more if she wanted to.

"If you need help studying or something I could i'm here most days which are pretty slow sometimes as well, or uhm hangout to I could give you my number that is if you want it anyway?" Sierra offered, giving her a slight smile, she was free as well on her days off whenever she didn't work at all which were days she kind of just hung out at the diner as well.

---

---

---

---

Layla poked her head out of her bedroom while her sister went to feed their cats as Fuzzy came trotting over towards Cassiopeia and started to meow towards her demanding some food or attention maybe both. "I was actually thinking of Chinese or some fast food on the way out or something if you'd like anyway my treat?" Layla offered before going back into her room putting on a jacket and made sure she had some of her usual gear she had on her.

"But i'm totally fine with sandwiches if you are dead set on making some." Layla said smirking a little bit at her sister, she didn't mind sandwiches at all either but since the day was kind of cold she wanted to have something that was pretty warm to eat as well. Layla then reached over and tossed the car keys over to her sister whenever she was ready.

Annabelle frowned. "Well, it may be none of my business, but I still think kids should go to school. My mom's a teacher and she didn't mention anything about a holiday." She said, leaning her weight onto one leg. Doug began to walk around idly behind her, sniffing the grass.

"I don't know why you're parents are letting you run around by yourself on a school day, but..." She didn't want to kick up a fuss, but this was really bugging her. Were these kids throwing away their future? Or was it just them playing hooky? Maybe this wasn't a big deal after all. Kids played hooky, right? Personally, Annie never skipped school like these kids were doing. Maybe she was just being a nerd. Wait a minute. Was she seriously worried about being judged by these kids? She was the adult here!

"You kids really should be in school," She said, puffing up. "It's not good to skip. It, well, it might become a habit. The more you skip, the less you learn, and the less you learn...the less you earn!" She managed after a moment, somehow proud of her lame rhyme. She put a hand on her hip and tried to look- wise? Mentorly? Cool? Yeesh. This whole thing was feeling awkward. It was hard to try and reach out to random kids on the street while holding a dog leash in one hand. Still, she'd rather look stupid than say nothing to these children skipping out on the most important part of their childhoods. Right?

---

---

---

---

He sat there silently for a breath. What did he remember? Too much if you asked him. Countless things he wished to have blocked out, yet his mind could recount them as if it were merely memories of that afternoon. His hands tightened into little fists as he grabbed onto the jean fabric of his pants and looked down at the ground. She asked what they knew of fairytales and his mind could only spiral in wonders as how that had anything to do with their current subject. Finally there was mention of another person, a separate entity that had written the letters and knew about the situation than she, yet here she was instead of him, playing games with the hearts of two young boys who only wished to have answers and yet they received more questions. Think, think, think. What could this all have in common? What threads held all of them together aside from the orphanage? There was a sharp sigh before a quivering voice, one who didn't wish to recount a tale they hoped lost.

"What do I remember? I recall all the years of torment and torture that I had to endure. Years of knowing how I wasn't good enough not only for one of my parents but also for any of those who came to adopt a child out. It only grew grimmer and grimmer the longer the years went by, knowing no one wanted a damaged child, a kid too old to grow yet too young to fend for himself. I remember the countless years I spent searching for my parents in the eyes of every stranger I met and wondering when my life would begin. I remember...I remember..." The idea of fairytales popped back into his mind, a thought running through his head as he recalled a dream hes had so many nights. "A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory... a far-off memory that's like a scattered dream...an old room, octagonal, covered in doors of various sizes, all locked except for one, I remember mushrooms and rocking horses, all so very out of reach." At this moment Maddy was staring off, straight into the ground but almost as of he wasnt there, fully envisioning the nightmare he had had so often growing up. "Who are you? Who wrote these letters?"

---

---

Megan was definitely a bit irritated with her brother. Yes, this was a police investigation and Isabella was Jack's partner, but her intuition was telling her that this was something bigger than that. The mysterious letters they had received couldn't have just been a coincidence - somehow, this had to do with their birth parents. Had it not been for the soft, almost completely faded away British accent she spoke with (one of her few clues as to her parents) and the fact that she never remembered having a biological sibling, she might have suspected that she and Jack were actually related. A portion of her wanted to punch Isabella, finding her smug and exasperating, but she couldn't do that.

"I'm going to take my car, actually - I have something else I need to do afterwards," Megan answered, her voice steel. If Jack was going to let Isabella in on this investigation, that was fine - that was his choice. But if Megan wanted to go investigate this on her own, outside of her capacity as the Junior Medical Examiner, then there was nothing that said she had to let Isabella come along anyways. If the mysterious letter and the corpse had something to do with her birth parents, Megan only wanted to have people she trusted by her side.

And she didn't trust Isabella.

Pulling her keys out, Megan headed over to her car - a black Volkswagen beetle - and got into the driver's seat, starting up the engine. She figured that her brother would ride with Isabella. She got music going in her car, one of her favorite songs even - Walking on Air by Kerli and she waited to pull out of the parking lot, figuring she would just follow Isabella's car to the orphanage.

---

---

Mab smiled at Rose. If they had to pick, showing up earlier seemed like the better move; catch whoever wrote these letters off guard. They didn't trust people by nature, especially when they had material information that they didn't. "I'd rather go sooner than later, I'm not sure I totally trust these people, and whatever these people want from us, I'd like to have the element of surprise. Just in case." They knew that could make them sound crazy, but hopefully Rose knew Mab well enough to understand their paranoia.

Speaking of paranoia, they didn't like the idea of looping other people into this, but they weren't about to stop Rose from sharing anything. "I guess that's fine, she's somebody you trust?" Rose wasn't stupid, so Mab doubted she'd share anything with somebody she wasn't particularly close with. "You have your job to do, I could move over their and fill her in for you if you'd like." They offered. This served two purposes. For one thing, it would be a favor to Rose, and for another, it would like Mab control the flow of information.

---

---

Artemis wound himself around Cassiopeia’s legs, making her shuffle over to the food dish so she didn’t take out the cat or herself while walking. ”Ooo Chinese,” she said with a nod. The cat food dropped into the two dishes, filling the apartment with the sound of kibble hitting metal before the cats moved forward to discover the new addition to their food dish. Cassiopeia also topped up the water dishes before getting the keys from Layla. She scratched Artemis's head and ran her fingers over Fluffy’s tail before double checking she had everything she needed.
”Let’s get going,” she said and headed for the door. The thought of delicious Chinese food was making her a bit hungrier and therefore a bit more impatient. It would be a lot better of a meal than cold cut sandwiches would have been. Maybe some hot chocolate too or they could save that treat for after the hunt to help them both warm up. Those were the moments Cassiopeia loved after a successful hunt.

---

---

Willow ate some more before chasing her food with a splash of orange juice. She set her fork down and dabbed her mouth with her napkin before nodding. ”I could always use help studying,” Willow admitted with a laugh. She pulled out her phone and cued up the new contact tag before handing it over to Sierra. She wondered how many other people Sierra had met by working in this diner and possibly befriended. ”You must meet a lot of interesting people working here,” she noted.
Willow returned to eating her food while Sierra typed on her phone. Her break from school wasn’t going to be much longer and Willow still had to drive herself back to school. Originally, she had been hoping for a more productive break but this hadn’t been so bad either. She had made a new friend and that was always a good thing for Willow. ”I’ll text you once I have your number and then if you need help with anything, you can just ask me.” Willow loved being able to extend her helping hand to people as well.

---

---

Jack let out a bit of a sigh, looking over at his sister and her words. He knew that she didn't care too much for Isabella, but it wasn't like he could just ignore her at all. She was his partner, so no matter what sort of situation they ended up in, he generally had to have her tag along for the most part. It all depended on how things went over all. Jack knew that they needed to figure out what all was going on at the orphanage, and if Isabella had to tag along for the entire thing, then she had to tag along. It was just what happened with his job.

Looking over at Isabella, he nodded his head slightly. "Alright Meg, if you want to drive yourself go for it then... We'll meet you there, come on Isabella, let's get going," he said, heading to her car and getting into the passenger seat. Now he was just waiting for her to get into the car and have them start driving off towards the orphanage. Hopefully they'd find out something useful at the orphanage, anything at all would help them out he felt like.

---

---

"Okay, that's really weird... Why would you write me a letter about my parents?" she asked him, taking a step back away from him, and just staring somewhat. He looked oddly familiar to her, and after a few moments, she realized where she had seen his face before. He had been the one who had dropped her off at the orphanage all those years ago, meaning he probably ]did know something about her parents, and whoever they truly were. None of this was making too much sense to her, but she knew that at the moment she just had to go along with it.

"Alright, how do you know my parents? Who are they? And why did you drop me off at the orphanage all those years ago? Since I'm going to be honest, the fact that I ended up stuck there doesn't bode well for you, since after all my life hasn't exactly been a picnic. Yeah, so what I've had weird dreams about stuff, most of it fuzzy and I don't remember them, but most people are like that, so how does that equal anything weird? What I find weird is that you would show up right now asking questions about all of that."

---

---

---

---

"I trust Sierra." Rose said with a firm nod. "You can tell her. Let her know you're my friend, but she just got let go for the day so I'll call her over I don't want her to leave before we can talk." Rose stepped away from Mab's table and over to Sierra and the college-age-girl that were talking.

"Before you leave Sierra can my friend and I talk to you." She gave her a bright smile while gesturing back toward Mab. "I would appreciate your help with something big." Rose then smiled at Willow. "Hello I'm Rose, also a waitress here if you didn't guess that already. Are you friends?" She pointed between the two of them. Rose didn't want to make assumptions and she couldn't vouch for this college student so she didn't want to bring her into the weird letter situation. But she knew Mab wouldn't appreciate a complete stranger in the mix, and that wouldn't be fair to them.

---

---

---

---

Colby's face twisted as the woman didn't answer his or Mathew's questions but instead asked some of her own. What did fairytales have anything to do with them and their birth parents? He let Mathew talk though. He put his hand on his shoulder as Mathew talked about his years in the orphanage. Okay, as bitter as Colby was about everything he had gotten lucky. His adoptive parents were mostly decent. There had just always been something inside him looking for something they didn't offer. Colby's hand dropped as he thought about what he remembered.

There wasn't much. His life before the Jacksons was...vague. Of course, he had been a toddler so it wasn't like many people remembered their lives when they were a year old. What Colby did remember was the sensation of falling. An endless fall. And a cat purring. But those memories meant nothing. The fall was easily explained as a bad dream and a cat purring was such a simple event who the heck cared? Mathew was done talking and had asked the woman again who she was. Colby sighed and shrugged at her.

"I remember falling and a cat purring. I know fairytales like any other American. You know Disney." Colby shrugged again. "But it is your turn to answer our questions." He was annoyed with her.

---

---

---

---

As soon as she heard the banging on her door, Pandora was up on her feet. Whoever was outside the door, they were strong. She noted her hinges were basically coming off. It had to be the people watching her below. It meant her place was live now, which was a pity. She liked it here. She'd have to burn traces of her here later, but for now, she needed to get out.

The apartment itself was medium-sized. One-bedroom, but had a bathroom, a kitchen, a living area. She made her way towards the window, grabbing a few essentials on the way (such as a new bag to hold her stuff in). She opened it and cursed the landlord for not having a proper fire escape. But beggars couldn't be choosers as she climbed up on the ledge and outside. She carefully maneuvered her way along the ledge, careful not to look down. She reached the ladder and descended into the alleyway next to her apartment.

She ran to the gate, taking out her lockpick and started to work on the gate door. She cursed when it didn't open immediately (what the hell was with these stupid locks?) and braced herself as she grabbed the fence and began to climb. It was hard going up, but eventually, she managed to get up and over to the other side. She checked to see if she was alone and, when she saw no one was there, she made her way to the streets. Now all that was left was getting the hell away from here and someplace else. Someplace she wasn't well known.

---

---

---

---

Wichita Kansas Streets:

The two kids looked at one another for a moment as Annabelle talked about going to school and how important it was, the girl shook her head slightly. "Yeah, no school is for nerds and losers." She said as she looked over the way that Pandora had left, sadly she had lost where the girl had gone off to and sighed slightly. She looked at Annabelle's dog for a moment and started to pat him on the head before looking over at her. "Anyway gonna go, so see you later." She said before turning off and started to run off, leaving Andy there who gave a slight shrug. "She's homeless so she doesn't really have anyone to stay with." He told her.

The man could understand Rosalia's hesitation and not trusting him right away either, before finally speaking while looking up at her. "My name is Merlin and I have known your parents for awhile, I was tasked in watching you and the others from a distance it was for your safety as well. You are all in danger right now." He said sighing a little bit, knowing it'd be a lot harder to describe. A small fireball in his hand appeared in front of him, while looking up at Rosalia before he extinguished it very quickly. "You and a few others along with your parents are from a different world, and all of the fairytales you seen are real."

Wichita Kansas Road to the Orphanage:

Isabella looked towards Jack as he climbed into her car and started to pull out of the parking lot of the police station making sure that Megan was still behind her. She had a feeling that Megan didn't like her at all, as she looked over towards her partner for a moment. "I get the feeling that she doesn't like me all that much huh?" She said looking at him, Isabella was pretty used to it at this point as well, the orphanage wasn't to far from where they were right now. "So whats new with you Jackie?" She asked, him Jack would notice a corner of what looked like some paper sticking just outside of the glove compartment.

Wichita Kansas Oak Park:

The woman listened to Mathew and Colby, though she could understand Mathew getting a little bit annoyed as she shook her head slightly and smirked a little bit when Colby mentioned Disney. She looked around there weren't to many people who were close by right now and weren't paying attention either. "Alright you can just call me Tinker if you'd like totally up to you. And Disney their interpterion of it anyway isn't that accurate really." Tinker said as she leaned forward slightly they both would see a pair of wings sprout out before they went back. "And the guy who sent the letters out is named Merlin, and yes fairytales are real." She told them and looked at both of the boys.

Wichita Kansas Outside of Pandora's Apartment:

As soon as Pandora climbed out of the window the door busted open, and they started to search around her room for Pandora as the leader of the group made it to the window. "The queen wants her specifically the most." He said, as he looked down and saw the alleyway down below and Pandora barely managing to climb over the fencing. "She's back outside you idiots forgot to block the exits!" He yelled Pandora could hear the man's words clearly as well. There was a public bus that just drove past, and making it's way to the closest bus stop which was on the other end of the block.

---

---

---

---

Sierra smiled slightly when Willow handed over her phone and started to add in her cellphone number in as well, while looking up at her for a moment when she mentioned about some customers and shook her head slightly and laughed. "Oh god no, I mostly deal with the entitled people here worthy for reddit posts sometimes." Sierra said, as she could remember last weak she had to deal with a customer who ended up splashing her with coffee. "But yeah i'll totally text you later and ask you out or something later." Sierra said jokingly when she looked up at her friend Rose.

Sierra looked over at Mab for a moment who was sitting on the other side of the restaurant, she was usually one of her friend's customers to tend to but she had seen her before. Then she mentioned Willow while looking over at her for a moment, they had just met after all as well. She was cute to but Sierra didn't know her that well yet other than what they had been talking about. "We were just getting to know each other." Sierra said. "Sure but whats up though?" She asked as she went to get up.

---

---

---

---

Layla leaned herself up against the wall waiting for her sister to get the cats set up for their food, Fuzzy ran off after her sister petted her and went to the food bowl. "Chinese it is then." Layla said as she made her way out of their apartment and made sure that it was locked once Cassiopeia had gotten out of their apartment. The hallway was pretty dark still as she took out her phone and then turned on the phone's flash light.

Since the power was still out they would have to go down the stairs, as she made her way towards it opening the door letting her sister in as well. "Lunch is on me, just pick the Chinese place you want to go to." She said as they made it out of the building and waited for her sister to lead the way to where she had parked her car in the first place.

---

---

The drive to the orphanage was relatively uneventful. Her brother had decided to ride with Isabella and that was fine by her. If he wanted to breathe the same air as the irritating woman, then he could do so - it was a free country. When she arrived outside the brick building, Megan parked her car and took a deep breath. She wasn't scared of anything - she was fearless - but returning to this place brought certain emotions up to the surface. She remembered the agonizing process of adoption, and even then, she had been one of the lucky ones to be placed with a family - not everyone had been. Stepping out of the car, she couldn't help but notice how little things had changed.

Megan walked into the orphanage proper, instantly coming face to face with a cork board. It was decorated with the photographs of children who had been successfully adopted and she spotted her own face with blonde braids, long before she had access to dye to camouflage her natural locks. Her brother's picture was there too, along with tons of photos of other children who had been adopted around the same time that they had been. Witchita was a relatively small town, but apparently it had been a great year for orphans. She stepped forward, scanning through the photographs, wondering if she would spot some sort of a pattern. One photo in particular caught her eye and she stepped forward, removing it from the board - Isabella's photo.

Annie bit her lip and watched as the little girl walked away. That made her feel sick. The mistakes of a child can ruin the life of the adult they will grow into being. It was unfair. The world shouldn't work that way, but it does. Maybe it'll get better someday. Doug was always happy to get pet, though. That was one constant. As Andy spoke she looked down toward him.

"That's so sad..." She said, trailing off. "There's...there's places she can go, you know. I'm going to call someone tonight. It's not right for a kid to be all by themselves like that. School or no school." The empathetic girl coughed and surpressed the urge to tear up. Pulling and adjusting her coat, Annabelle gave a brief little wave to Andy.

"What's her name, Andy? That'll help me help her." She asked, as her dog sniffed at the grass. Annie knew that once upon a time, she didn't have any parents. She was taken in by the system, though, and given to a loving family. No child lacked that opportunity, all they had to do was reach out. Or in this case, have someone reach out to them. Hopefully Annie could make a difference here.

---

---

---

---

Maddy felt the warmth of Colbys hand on his shoulder, a comforting feeling after the events of today. His reaction to it was however slow, not feeling it till after it was pulled away, too enraptured in his own thoughts as he was speaking. This was the very definition of you don't know what you have till it's gone. As Colby spoke, Matthew looked at him with great intrigue, getting to learn more about the mysterious magician who at times seemed quite aloof. He reached up, feeling the area where Colbys hand was previously placed, looking down at the ground as his legs swung slightly and he thought about what this all meant, why this woman seemed content with playing games with two orphans.

As Maddy looked up slowly, the mystery woman began to speak. She said her name was Tinker, no; she said they could call her Tinker. Why was everyone being so secretive? What was wrong with giving a straight answer from time to time. She rattled on about fairytales, their existence, and Disneys inaccuracy towards them. Maddy couldn't help but chuckle at the comment. "Everyone knows they're inaccurate. They couldn't exactly come forward and make movies based off of Grimms or their audience would be far too small." His comment however was cut off as he watched wings sprout from her back and then quickly vanish as if they were never there. Further explanation revealed Merlin was the source of the letters and Maddys mind began to race as to which version, the old man from Disney? The cute teen from Merlin, or perhaps some incarnation that hasnt been done yet, either way the real Merlin may soon be revealed to them. " I wanna meet him. If he knows more I want to meet him."

---

---

”Oo lucky me,” Cassiopeia teased when her sister informed her that she could pick the lucky restaurant. There was only one really good Chinese place in this town and so Cassiopeia would be taking them to that establishment. She adjusted her pack full of hunting supplies and opened up the door to the stairwell with the help of Layla’s cell phone flashlight. Her bow and another set of arrows were in the back of her jeep downstairs, always ready to go hunting. ”I was thinking of picking up some supplies to make more arrows and sell them. Everyone always seemed to like when I did that. Even if it was more of a souvenir type thing for the touring hunting groups,” she informed her sister while they walked down the stairs.
Cassiopeia had first learned to be crafty and resourceful like that in her more recent years. They learned to make a lot of their own things, including traps for smaller game animals. It was all thanks to their last adoptive family and Cassiopeia would be forever grateful to them. She always made sure to send them some of the meat they would hunt down. Of course they had plenty of their own it was just the principle of the matter. A forever thank you on Cassiopeia’s part.

---

---

Willow took her phone back from Sierra and laughed a little when she mentioned asking Willow out. She decided to take it as a friendly term than more than something else but she still couldn’t help the warming of her cheeks. Odd. ”Certainly. I’ll need all the help studying with midterms and finals. There, sent you a text,” Willow said. She had simply sent a text with her name and a happy face emoji as her first message.
Willow put her phone away and looked over at the newcomer. Another waitress but her name was Rose. ”Oh that’s a pretty name. Willow is mine, nice to meet you,” she said and held her hand to Rose. Willow had a fondness for roses. She had many clothing items as well as jewelry that had roses present on them. Her earrings were one thing and an old pocket watch she had inherited was the other. "Are you in university as well?"

---

---

"Eh, I haven't been up to too much... My sister and I are just more or less interested in the orphanage all things considering that's how we ended up as a family more or less," he said with a shrug to Isabella as they rode along in the car ride. That was just about all that he wanted to really talk about the whole thing, and the reason that Megan actually was tagging along with them to the orphanage. Figured it was best to leave that talk to later when they figured out what the hell even was going on really.

Then he noticed the piece of paper sticking out of the glove compartment, and didn't even really think to try to look at it without Isabella noticing. It was as if for a moment, he didn't even remember she was there as he pulled out the paper, and saw a very familiar letter on it, the same one that he and Megan had gotten. Jack was silent for a moment, before he turned to look at Isabella, "...You got one of these letters too..." he said, before turning to look back at the note. None of this was really making any sense.

---

---

"Okay, telling someone that you've been watching them for a while just sounds creepy, especially considering I'm not exactly that old. It just sounds weird," she said to him with a bit of an eye roll. It did sound creepy to her, why would someone be watching her, or keeping an eye on her? It just sounded ridiculous. "Not to mention not really too keen on meeting any friends of my parents considering the fact that you know, kind of got left in an orphanage and unlike others who were there I never actually got adopted, so kind of used to being alone, and not having to deal with any of this crap. Not to mention what kind of name is Merlin? That's the name of the old wizard guy in the stories of King Arthur and Camelot right? Honestly, how dumb of a name is that?"

Rosalia was about ready to just walk away from this guy, when she saw him essentially create a ball of fire in his hands. Her eyes grew wide as she took a step back and away from him. "Ok, how the hell did you do that? That's not possible... So what, are you saying that you actually are the great wizard Merlin or whatever? Since that is impossible, and there is literally no way in hell that the fairy tales in books to little kids and that constantly get made into Disney movies are real, like at all."

---

---

Mab nodded at Sierra; Rose's trust was enough for them, at least for a sit down. Quietly, they watched as Rose approached her friend, wanting to gauge what they could about her. Straining their ears to listen to her speak, she seemed friendly enough, but then again, so did mab when they were putting on a face. Still, Mab liked to think they had a good bullshit detector, and didn't pick much up from Sierra. Drumming their fingers on the table, they waited patiently for Sierra to get over here. They did notice, however, that Sierra wasn't alone, and that set Mab off immediately. Rose hadn't said anything about her.

The other girl, Mab was immediately distrustful of, since they didn't have Rose's backing. This didn't mean they were going to act like a freak if she joined Sierra when she made he way over to Mab, but it meant their guard would have to stay a bit up. This was the closest thing to a personal issue that Mab had dealt with in a while, and they didn't appreciate the notion on strangers being privy to the details of it. They had always rationalized this kind of behavior by the fact that they'd been ripped away from their parents at such a young age, finding it difficult to let people in in any capacity, for fear that they'd either abandon them, or hurt them.