[Circle of Sirens] Missing

[bewitchinghaze]

 To say it had been a long day would be an understatement. Val has been hard at work in the back rooms of Avant Garden preparing spelled plants by the dozen all day. By the time she closes up for the day and finishes tidying, it's well past eight in the evening. Stretching out the kinks in her back, she gives a soft sigh as she hauls her phone out of her pocket and sends her sister a quick text:

[txt] Long ass day, unnie. Sales low again. On the way home now though. Chinese for dinner? xo

Finally satisfied that everything's in order, Val steps out and locks up. Turning around, she tuts at the fog that seems to have rolled into town despite the chill. Its thick as pea soup but she's never really needed her sight to make her way home anyway, not with the mixture of her sister's magic and her plants calling to her. But... Something seems odd. A soft melody slowly winds its way through the air and into her ears and something about it makes her want to hear more. To get closer.

Val steps into the fog, which, by all means, should be cold and clammy but somehow feels warm and soothing, and blinks in mild surprise as it seems to part to reveal a beautiful garden. Its absolutely gorgeous, full of plants she could never dream of working with and...

"Val! Over here!"

She turns her head as Grant's voice beckons her and she spots him, sitting on the porch of her cottage, waving her over. She bounds over happily and feels his arms wrap around her and his lips press against her own. "Welcome home," he murmurs with a grin that momentarily stuns her. "Riley's inside making dinner. She said to remind you to wash up before you go in."

It feels like her heart's going to burst, she's so happy right now. This is everything she could ever want and she's more than content to live like this forever. But then it starts to fade. Slowly, at first, she gets glimpses of a cave and her head feels... fuzzy, to say the least. Then the vision disintegrates faster and its all she can do not to yell at it to stay. Then it's gone and she's standing in a cave, blinking around at the walls as her mind wraps around her loss.

"Fuck."

Comments

[jamesthorn]

Eventually James hangs up with Grant and he turns back to Riley. "Grant has not seen your sister all day," he tells her, not wanting to lie to her. He has a feeling Riley would know if he wasn't giving her all the information anyway.

That's when he admits, "I don't see anything out of place out here either."

[jiyunnies]

She's not really surprised by that answers, but Riley's shoulders still fall. She was hoping. "I see."

Riley looks around. "So now what?"

[jamesthorn]

James hangs up the phone with Grant. He figures it will be a good thing when he gets here since he knows Riley. It is probably going to be a long night.

"Before we can get the full support of the station, we'll have to wait. I understand the circumstances, but she hasn't been missing long enough. I want you to continue to making phone calls to anyone you can think of that might have seen her," James says. "Grant is on his way."

[jiyunnies]

Riley nods. She understands the law and it's not going to change just because her sister is the one missing this time. "I can do that."

Pulling out her phone, Riley turns and starts going through her contacts.