I retreated outside the shop the moment the six people of Victor's B team returned to the shop—the presence of so many people made me feel trapped.

  The plaza was half deserted. Other than the missing people who went out on a hunt or relocated somewhere like Officer Douglas's crew, there were the sick.

  By now, around two hundred people were suffering from the same ailment. Exhaustion. It was physical, mental, and emotional. The most afflicted would respond to nothing, not even pain. They would sit motionless on the ground, profoundly uninterested in anything around them.

  Their numbers stopped growing since the mass drive to hunt and Drain the ghouls began. So it was safe to assume that most of the sick hadn't been fortunate to enjoy a boost in energy since their arrival.

  They were moved to the colonnades to make the place a little less bleak. Concentrated and barely hidden from view, their passive presence had less of an impact on morale.

  If I didn't intend to join their ranks, I'd have to get back to hunting sooner rather than later. And this time I'll have to go alone.

  I returned to my exercises, weaving between the remaining people training my ability to hide in plain sight. I tried to get familiar with the sensation of resistance and feedback while being observed. Lowering the power when I could and bringing it back up when I noticed a higher drain.

  Always having it active would be a smart move, even if only on its lowest power output, just to know if I am being watched. Sometimes I misjudged the required minimum or didn't react in time to a new observer, and the spell failed only for me to flare it stronger and vanish after appearing for a single glance.

  With the number of scares I gave people, if they thought of a nickname for me, it wouldn't be something to repeat in polite company. The nicest reference I heard about me was the freak in the Halloween mask.

  Deciding on a course of action wasn't easy, especially with so many pieces of the puzzle missing. Whenever I discovered something new about this place, it raised more questions.

  I walked next to the line of the sick, noticing how little effect they had on the mask's performance.

  I lowered the power further, standing close by, right in the face of one of them, his droopy eyes open in an apathetic look, looking through me.

  Unexpectedly, the spell failed, but the man didn't flinch. He didn't even focus on me.

  "H-Hey!" A young feminine voice called out. "Step back from him."

  I turned around and noticed Claire's helper, the short, redheaded girl approaching me. Her white robes marked her belonging to the coven.

  'Maggie'— I remembered her name. A metal dagger glinted in her hand as she brought it halfway up, as if unsure what to do with it.

  "Red," I greeted her conversely, turning to face her fully.

  She flinched at my movement, or was it the terror my mask still hadn't stopped exuding?

  I lifted the mask to my head and feigned an unconcerned smile. "What's with the aggression?" I asked, glancing at the dagger. "If you don't like the nickname, you can just ask me to call you something else. No need to poke extra holes. I was born just with the right amount."

  A look of recognition passed her face, and she returned the blade to her belt.

  "It's not that," she flushed, but she didn't remain flustered by my tongue-in-cheek comment for long. "What are you doing with them?" She asked in an accusatory tone.

  I looked at the lethargic man next to me and back at her.

  "Looking, trying to understand what's going on," I stated the obvious. "Why? What are you doing with them?"

  She huffed.

  "I'm protecting them."

  I looked again, not noticing any apparent danger.

  "What are you protecting them from?"

  "They've been going missing," She explained. "I'm standing watch so nobody mistreats them."

  I gave her a once-over. But, unfortunately, the meek demeanor and amateurish handling of the dagger didn't instill a lot of confidence in me.

  She noticed my doubtful look and crossed her arms protectively.

  "That's a good initiative on your coven's part, but shouldn't you have some backup?" I asked. "Or even better, leave it for the cop to handle?"

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "I'm doing it on my own," she said. "And I don't trust Douglas or his men. He's not looking to keep order anymore. Not since they started hunting. And when I asked around, it was his people that were messing with them," she waved at the line of impassive people.

  "Messing how?" I asked.

  She looked around, checking for eavesdroppers.

  "They carried a couple of people off to their base," Maggie said in a lower voice. "And nobody had seen them since."

  I stepped closer.

  "Did you see it happen?" I asked in a whisper.

  "I have a source." she shook her head.

  A source? What is she, a detective now?

  "Who?" I urged.

  "They asked to not be brought into this," the redhead replied.

  "Did they see it happen, or do they also have a source?" I asked.

  She frowned at me.

  "You don't believe me." She stated.

  "I can believe in anything right now." I raised my hand placatingly.

  If a new danger snatched people, I had to know about it. And the same reasoning held for Douglas and his men. I had to know if the largest faction here was up to something.

  But maybe the real reason for my interest was that if I didn't have anything to do here anymore, I would have to go out to hunt, and I had been putting that off for several days now.

  "Say you caught a kidnapping. What would you do?" I asked. "Do you know some crazy magic that would help?"

  Maggie shook her head.

  "I'd scream for help," She stated proudly. "That would be enough to make them stop."

  "What about magic?" I fished again.

  "I wasn't taught anything yet," she admitted. "I only know the Sight and the Life spells that everyone else knows."

  Those spells didn't come from Claire. Kenny and his big mouth made it available for everyone for free. How long will it take her to grow disillusioned with the coven?

  "I'm going to look into it," I promised Maggie. "But I don't want to do it for free."

  "But I don't have anything to pay you with," the redhead argued. "We don't have any use for pentacles at the coven. The high priestess Blesses us every morning."

  "A favor then," I allowed. "Something we'll both agree to," I allowed, conveniently ignoring the fact that Maggie didn't even intend to ask me for help in the first place.

  ***

  Some things never change.

  I sat in the middle of one row of the feeble and faint and observed the others across the plaza.

  It was so easy to stay hidden among them it barely took any effort.

  My fellow row mates didn't react to anything, and the wakeful people going about their day at the city square abstained from looking in their direction whenever they could.

  I imagined they felt similar when going by a bunch of homeless people. A mix of guilt and fear to find themselves in the same situation.

  Stalking the sick was very much like stalking a ghoul. Uncountable hours of zero movements on both my and my targets' part and a battle with my inner desire to do something, else I'd give myself away.

  I settled into the rhythm of making intentional breaths and keeping a diffused focus on my surroundings. Time crawled by, and the only noticeable change was Maggie leaving her post for the temple.

  The difference in the energy levels of my wards was very noticeable from the start. When the ghoul didn't move, it was hibernating. Its power relaxed and sleeping, but still very much there. The sick, on the other hand, felt extinguished, like they burned out and didn't have enough to move even if they wanted. By the looks of it, they didn't even have enough to think or want.

  A flash of power garnered my attention.

  Two men near the tail of the colonnade just used Victor's variation of the Sight spell. It wasn't saying much on its own as it was the most widely used one, but it still could be important.

  Their eyes glowed in golden light as they looked over the listless people.

  That rang an alarm bell in my mind.

  They walked along their part of the row several times, looking around, then casually walked up, picked one up under the arms, and walked away.

  If I had missed the snatching, I would think they were supporting a wounded friend.

  I trailed them, closing the distance across the plaza.

  Both were topped off and as bright as folk could get without the use of additional storage seals. They were also armed with long bone spikes, so I decided to keep watch and gather any information I could.

  Another oddity was the state of the captive. Out of the available targets, he was on the higher end of brightness. Still, his inner light was just below the minimum requirement I intuited to remain coherent and active. A recent addition, then.

  I followed them out of the plaza, and instead of going farther into the city, they turned around and circled the Pillar, going on a slight jog when they assumed they were out of sight.

  The jog ended on the other side of the Pillar. We passed the ruined building that was used as a source of the building material for the ramp on our first days, and I found myself in front of a large, guarded building—Douglas's base.

  It was too late to act now. Other than the guards outside, I could sense close to two dozen bright signatures inside, their glow strong enough to partially seep through the walls.

  I looked for a way inside, but all the windows had people nearby. Although I didn't think they were intentionally guarding the windows, the diffused glow of the mists was the only source of light when not using a spell, so people tended to congregate in the better-lit places.

  After staying for more time, I had only noted the comings and goings of the crew. It was apparent that I wasn't going to discover anything like this.

  Without any more options, I decided to return and discuss my findings with Maggie.