Morning was usually his favorite time of the day. A cup of tea and a drive through the city just waking up always seemed like a beautiful begaining. Something about the way morning always felt made him think that no matter what happened the day before this day was new. Maybe it was because with dawn all magic would reset unless it was a really strong spell. Pulling into his usual café he tried to force the mile into his eyes.

Walking into the Café Lewis looked around seeing if there was anyone new in the shop. Walking up to the lady behind the counter she smiled without looking up. “what will it be today sir?” her voice faltered as she looked up at him. “oh dear looks like this case is dragging you down. Don’t worry I know what you need.” Turning back to the coffee and tea makes she set out working. Sitting down he looked out into the city trying to get rid of the melancholy that just did not want to give up. When the cup of Tea appeared at his table he sighed. “don’t worry, its on the house.” She said as he started to reach for his wallet.

Ina was silent as she watched the scenery fly by. Her mind firmly entrenched in what they had seen. It was really more of what she hadn't seen. Something was protecting it from being fully in their sight. The outline was clear but details were missing. There were very few people in any realm that was able to stop the sight that the girls had together. Yet, there it was they could clearly see the body after the creature was gone but the moment it was there finishing what was left of the childs existence the image was blurred so much that details couldn't be made out. However there was a sense of sorrow and frustration emanating from the creature. Was the creature being used? Did it regret the killing of the children? More questions now plagued her mind then answers. So far however they hadn't drawn unwanted attention with the use of power. As the car pulled to a stop she simply nodded at the driver and climbed out and headed into the building.

The tea had help, whatever she had put into the tea had helped Lewis even more then he would have thought possible. Maybe it was possible that he would be able to face the day and all those at his work. Now really was not the time to be debating this as he was sitting in the parking lot of the station. He saw a few of the men pass by his car. Getting out he smiled as the front desk sergeant passed by his car. “good morning Barbra, and how is your day going so far?” his voice sounded rather chipper and he was glad that it did. Smiling she looked up at the sky and then back at him.

“it is a good morning Detective Lewis, today everything seems to be going quite well.” She walked on towards the station, not really seeing the pain that Lewis tried to hide. He sighed, glad that she did not see it. Walking quickly he caught up with her.

“would you know if the out of town detective has arrived here yet?” shaking her head he sighed. It would have been nice to know if he should stop for something in the brake room for Ina or if he should just go straight to the office. Not really knowing what she liked finely answered that thought for him. In his office he found that a pile of reports had been building up on his desk over the last day. Getting down to them he waited for her to arrive.

Ina simply nodded at the officers she passed as she made her way to Lewis' office. The noise made her skin itch with the need to be somewhere with quiet. As she reached the office she looked into the room for a moment and watched Lewis.
"If you need time today...I can handle things." She said making her presence known. Standing in the door way she took in his appearance.

The monotony of the work drowned out all other thoughts from the day before. He did not even realize when a few new files were added to his desk. Only when she said words did he realize that over an hour seemed to have passed. “I do not need to take a day, a single moment from this case.” Setting his pen aside he smiled up at her. There was sadness in his eyes but there also was a determination that would not be put out. “and what might your siblings and you have found out while I was dealing with the sidhe?”

Turning her head to the side she watched him for a moment before answering. "I am not sure yet..." She said as she entered the room fully taking care to close the door behind her. As she looked at him she seemed to be searching for something in his face. "We have some doubts as to why the creature is hunting children... is it nature, or someones will?" walking over to a chair that was in the room she slowly sank into it. "there are some anomalies that my sisters were able to pick up. Lina is concerned about what is happening to the essence of these children..." There was some powerful dark magic that could be created with the souls of these children and if the creature was harvesting them there was a good chance that could be what was driving the monster to find children. Some deep dark works could use the souls of the Sidhe. These was a concern for all three sisters. "There are more questions then there are answers at this time."

“I think at this time it would be best if we just thought of the creatures as being under someone else’s rule. If the evident later makes it clear that it is acting on its own then we can revise it. But for now I do believe that it may have been summoned and sent not just acting on its own. I think it would have been active for much longer if it had been on it own.” Lewis said as he shifted papers and wanted her sit down. Making his desk look a bit cleaner he waited till she was done talking then went on. “so your sister is afraid that someone is taking the souls of the kids and is planning on using them in some way? Of all the Sidhe creatures I know of none of them would try to use the souls for something. Do you know of any creature outside of the European myths that would do that?”

"there are few that come to mind... the problem is that this is out of their nature..." Ina said with a sigh. "I am worried that we don't know where in the process this person is...when it comes to harvesting the souls. How many more do they need? What are they trying to cast?" taking a deep breath Ina tried to not get frustrated with how little the knew about the case. It seemed every time they gained a little bit of information the ended up with twice the amount of questions and a growing sense that this was going to be far more dangerous than they had thought. "human children souls aren't really useful in big spells but sidhe children..." she allowed her words to drifted off " if you could try and find out how many children are missing from that side it would give us an idea of what sort of time frame we are working with." Rolling her shoulders she tried to get rid of the growing tension.

Looking around his office and out beyond into the bullpen as they called it Lewis sighed. This case needed to be up on white boards but this place was not the right place to be doing something like that. They would think that he had lost his mind if they went about it here. “I think it is time that your bosses pay for an office for us to work in away from prying eyes.” He nodded to the sergeants and other detectives outside the glass walls of his office. “I would like to see this mapped and all our could be suspects listed on boards. I think if we could just see the bigger picture we might be able to narrow it down a bit.” Standing up he walked over to the door and opened it. “I have already asked if they would look into it on their side of the border and tell me what they find but you know them, they don’t realize three weeks have passed let alone a year.” He said as he walked out into the main room towards the elevators.

Ina nodded "I will give them a call... it may take a bit before they get us a place." Truth was her boss was still taking out his dislike of her sisters on her. He was never quick to give her the things that she needed. "We can work from My hotel room if you'd like.... I have the space to spread everything out." Following him to the elevators "I also have some text that may help us narrow down what is doing this."

"Una..." Lina said groggily as she walked to where her sister was laying on the couch. "Do you think we should call mother?" Despite being the eldest she looked more like a child standing there with an over sized shirt falling past her hands and pj pants that barely seemed to stay up. "I think.... i think we need to get Ina to walk away from this case.." She said slowly.
"You know that won't happen." Una said without opening her eyes "The best we can do is stay here and help.... She will be angry if we call mother."
"But this could be..." Lina's voice dropped off. Her sisters had never really touched the darker side of magic but Lina could remember her mothers short trip to that side before Una had been born. Una opened her eyes and watched her sister carefully.
"Lina, we can protect Ina." Sitting up she grabbed her sisters hand and pulled her down on to the couch next to her. "Look it is us three there is nothing we can't handle and you know that we will do whatever we have to in order to insure Ina's safety. Plus I haven't seen anything bad happening yet so for today we are fine."
Nodding her agreement the two girls fell silent.

Children were never something that she had planned yet now she had three daughters with gifts that any mage would get jealous of. They had somehow become the one thing in the world that could make her decided to turn her back on her own mother. Shuffling the deck again she focused on her mother and began to deal the cards in hopes that she would be able to see something of what the woman had planned. There was a dark cloud over her heart as she flipped one card after another. Turning the last card she gasped at what she had in front of her. The old hag was making a move something to ensure her power, something with revenge. While she didn't have the gift of sight like her daughters She had never been wrong when making a reading. Now however she prayed that she was completely wrong.

“oh no they are going to pay for the place I find. I am not going to put up with what they think we need.” Opening the elevator door he held it as she walked on. “I am going to make sure we get the space we need and then I will send the bill to them.” Shaking his head he pushed the button to go down. “ I don’t want to take over your hotel room, you need a place to relax away form this case. I know of a building that I can get access to one of the floor without trouble. If you would like to go to your hotel and get both that text and your sisters I will send the address to your driver when I have it secured.”

"That sounds good to me." Ina said with a nod. Once they reached the ground level she walked in the direction of the hotel. Fresh air was what she needed right now. Many people ignored that weight in their stomach that always ended up coming before something life changing happened, but Ina had learned long ago to pay attention to all of her instincts. As she walked her mind went over all the details that they had collected so far. She was beginning to dread that they would have to start looking into powerful mages. Mages were never easy people to get to talk, or to get in the same room with when you worked for SI. As she contemplated the situation they were all in she reached the hotel. The journey to the room was relatively short.
Una opened the door and ushered a still sleep Lina out before Ina could even get her room key out.
"I saw you coming... Let us get some food together." Una said with a smile. "And for a little bit lets not think about what is happening okay" Ina just smiled. She really shouldn't have been surprised that her sisters were already ready to leave but she was. Sometimes she forgot just how in tune with each other that they were.
"that sounds like a wonderful idea." With that the three girls turned and headed to the elevator. As they stood there the doors began to slowly close when it felt as though all three had been punched in the gut by some metaphysical force.

Over and over she had read the cards. For her mother, for her daughters, then finally she read them for herself. Each time she nearly wept for what she read in them. It was terrifying that all she had worked for was coming to a screeching halt. Cradling a cup of tea in her hands she stared out the window. What could be done? No it wasn't what could be done but rather what should she do. It would be so easy to just slip away, but could she leave her daughters. No, it was finally time to stop running away from challenges it was time to accept what fate seemed to want to give to her. At that moment there was a pounding on the door.
"Come in." She called from her place in the kitchen. Three sets of footsteps could be heard. "I didn't expect you to come here mother....not yourself at least." Without turning she knew that her mother had come.
"Didn't you? You have been reading again." The woman's voice was as cold as ice. Pulling out a chair it scrapped along the floor before she sat down. "Tell me what do the cards say? what have you seen?"
"I don't understand why you are doing this mother? Why?"
"You never did understand the larger picture..."At that she could feel her mothers power filling the air. It was suffocating, exactly what she remembered as a child. "Tell me what you have seen...and what those girls of yours know."
For the first time in her life She did something she had never done before. "I will not" Gathering her power she lashed out at her mother. There was no telling if the old hag would kill her or not, but she wasn't going to betray her own children.