74: Trip to the Dentist – Pt. 2

“Mike? Hey! I was just about to call you. I heard from CSU. They left the key for the Sinclair house at PD. We’ll have to go and fill out a requisition form first though.”

“That’s fine, Vik. But that’s not why I’m here.”

“Oh? OK…” she said as he stepped inside. He was followed by an elderly woman dressed in a cropped top and skinny jeans. “Who’s your friend?” Victoria asked after following the two into the living room.

“Vik! It’s Tina.”

“Um, what do you mean? Tina as in…”

“My niece! This is my 12-year-old niece!”

“Hi, Miss Victoria,” the elderly woman smiled and waved as she moved toward the couch and slowly sat down.

“Holy shit!”

“VIK!” Mike scolded her bad language.

“What? I’m sorry, she’s older than both of us, I’m sure she doesn’t mind hearing a swear, Michael. What the hell happened?”

“I have no idea. And she can’t remember! Her memory’s…patchy!” Mike yelled, throwing his hands up in frustration. “All I know for sure is that she was supposed to be coming in today but what happened along the way…”

“Wow, Mike.”

“I know! What do we do? This has to be something witchy, right?”

“It must but, I have no idea where to start, Mike. I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Victoria replied, just as lost for thought. Grabbing her phone, she dialed her grandmother’s number and waited.

“What are you doing?”

“If anyone can help, it’ll be Nana.”

“Victoria, dear, I was just thinking about you.”

“Hi, Nana. I’m sorry to skip the small talk but, I really need your help. How quickly can you get to Avondale?”

“This fast enough?” Loretta asked, appearing beside Mike in Victoria’s living room.

“Oh, Jesus!” Mike jumped and shouted, staring at the Carson matriarch in shock.

“One of these days, you’ll have to teach me that trick,” Victoria laughed, hanging up her phone and placing it on the coffee table.

“And one of these days, you’ll have learned all of my tricks. Hello, Michael. It’s nice to see you again.”

“Loretta,” Mike nodded his greeting. “Nice of you to pop in.”

“I’m sorry for the little scare, Michael,” Loretta laughed and gently patted his arm. “Now, favorite grandchild, how can I help you?” Victoria pointed toward Tina and Loretta’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“This 70-year-old woman is actually a 12-year-old girl.”

“Oh, Victoria! You never call for something easy, do you?” Victoria shrugged as Loretta visually inspected the woman again. “Well, I don’t see any outwardly signs of magic but if what you’re saying is true there is definitely some sort of enchantment at play. What was the last thing you did today, Dear?”

“You’ll have to speak up, Loretta, she’s hard of hearing,” Mike said with a sigh.

The front door opened and Derrick walked in with a take-out box and bottle of wine. “Dinner has arrived, oh!” He stopped in his tracks noticing everyone in Victoria’s living room. “I didn’t know we had company. I’m gonna have to stop leaving you alone, Victoria. Loretta?”

“Derrick! Perfect timing!” she said, motioning toward Tina. “Do you know of anything that could cause rapid aging?”

“Whew,” he exclaimed, shaking his head as he placed the food on the dining table and started over. “There are a few things; enchantments, curses, potions; some higher-level demons also have that ability. Why? Who’s this?”

“Mike’s pre-teen niece,” Victoria replied. “She was just about to tell us what she remembered about her day.”

Tina leaned forward and slowly shook her head as she tried thinking about her day. Smacking her lips, she sighed as she tried to think of everything she could remember. “I packed. Oh, I was so excited. I was going to see my favorite uncle today,” her weakened voice shook as she spoke. Her eyes lit up when she looked over at Mike as though a lifetime of memories had come flooding back. “Aunt Georgia took me to the dentist that morning. Afterwards, I landed and felt—tired, so very tired. So, I took a nap and when I woke up, I was at Uncle’s house.”

“Could something have happened to her on the plane?” Mike asked. “Or maybe the Uber? I should look for the person that dropped her off.”

“We don’t know at what point this happened, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions, Mike.”

“Still, maybe he can tell us something like if she was a child or senior citizen when he first approached her.”

“Good point,” Victoria agreed. “We should do the same for anyone else who may have encountered her today, at least anyone we can find. Mike, that may mean an awkward conversation for you with your sister.”

“If it’s ok, I’m just gonna—rest my eyes,” Tina announced, “Wake me if you need me.” Moments later she was out and snoring and the group looked over at her with pity.

“I’ll call Cole and see if he would be able to get us the flight’s manifest. We can track addresses and phone numbers from there.”

“Surveillance footage!” Mike replied excitedly, “there has to be some from the airport we can look at—maybe we can see if anyone was following her or if she was a child then.”

“She smells,” Derrick blurted.

“Dude!” Mike exclaimed. “Come on, she’s an old lady. They all have a smell.”

“No, that’s not what I mean,” Derrick furrowed his brows. “She smells—sweet.” Moving closer, he gave her another good whiff and nodded. “Yeah, that’s—not right. Victoria, do you remember when we were looking for creatures who love sweets?”

Victoria thought a moment and nodded. “The compendium mentioned Tricksters, like we found out with Devereux.”

“Wait, is that why he’s always shoveling candy in his mouth?” Mike asked.

“Yes. Apparently, it’s a major part of his diet,” Victoria answered.  

“And it also mentioned the tooth fairy,” Derrick added.

“Whoa, Tina said that she went to the dentist today. Could that be connected?” Victoria asked.

“Guess I’d better make that call now; find out the name of Tina’s dentist,” Mike said, excusing himself.

A few moments later, he rejoined the group. “Dr. Henry Marshall D.D.S., she gave me his address and phone number but wanted to know why I wanted it.”

“What did you tell her?”

“Tina was complaining about a little pain on her gums and I wanted to know what he would recommend using on them,” he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t like lying to her.”

“Well, you can’t very well tell her the truth.”

“I know. It just still feels…cruddy.”

“Ok, well, we have a place to start. If Nana is willing to part with some of her trade secrets, we can pop over there and investigate while the place is closed. Meanwhile, Mike, why don’t you hop on the Nexus and see what you can find out about Dr. Marshall.”

“Research can wait, I want to come with.”

“And leave Tina here alone? Old people have tendencies to wander off, you know?” Victoria joked.

“Well, Derrick can…”

“I need Derrick’s nose, Mikey. Sorry. You’ll have to sit this one out but, you know I’ll fill you in on anything we find.”

As expected, Dr. Marshall’s practice was closed and dark. Loretta teleported Victoria and Derrick into the back room of the clinic and the duo instantly went to work searching for anything out of place. “Well, he’s certainly organized,” Loretta commented, noting the multitude of filing cabinets and perfectly labeled and well-ordered boxes. His desk was even efficiently manicured without a single sticky note out of place.

“Yeah, this guy definitely has something to hide,” Derrick replied. “No one is this neat!”

“Says the guy whose closet is color coded and arranged by decade?” Victoria giggled.

“Hey! There’s a difference between nice and organized and anally methodical.”

“Just a hair. Besides, this is a doctor’s office. It should be tidy,” Victoria added. “What is your nose telling you?”

“That they sterilize everything.”

“Is that stopping you from smelling anything else?”

“No.” Derrick picked up a small figurine and turned it around in his hands for a moment. “But, there is another room,” he turned and pointed. “Through there.”

The place in the room where he pointed was a wall where a large library held a multitude of books. Victoria watched as he started toward it, pressed on it once and then pulled out a handful of books until there was a click. A hidden door opened and he looked back at Victoria. “Now, we’re getting somewhere.”

Following behind Derrick, Victoria and Loretta walked the winding staircase through to a dark basement. “Hold on.” Loretta closed her eyes briefly and chanted, producing a lighted orb to guide their way.

The trio found themselves in front of a large metal door which was slightly ajar with an eerie red glow emanating through the crack. “I think we may have found our missing doctor,” Derrick whispered, pushing open the door to take a look inside.

Just ahead, a figure rested on its knees near a pile of bones. As the group entered, an old woman looked up at them with a weary look in her eyes. “May I go to sleep now?” she asked, leaning her head against the wall behind her. “I am very tired.”

“What is this place? Who are you?” Victoria asked, moving forward with growing concern.

“I’m Nova.”

“NOVA!” Loretta exclaimed, taking another, careful look at the aged woman perched on the bone pile. “It can’t be!”

“Grams, you know her?”

“Yes. She’s an old friend…well, not that old. At least she didn’t used to be. What happened to you?”

“Henry.”

“Wait, the dentist who works from this office is YOUR Henry?” Loretta questioned; Nova nodded.

“He tricked me, Loretta. All this time. I thought he loved me, but he was just using me. He’s been siphoning off my magic, doing the most awful things to people.”

“What do you mean? What is he doing to them?”

“He’s stealing their ambitions. It started out slow. He would only take very little from each of his patients but then, he became consumed by greed. Now, he’s draining them so much, all that’s left,” Nova motioned around at the pile beneath her. “He keeps me trapped here, using me like a battery to replenish his magic so he can keep going.”

“Oh, Nova. I’m so sorry. When you left, I thought it was because you wanted to. I had no idea.”

“I know. And originally, I did want it. I wanted to be with him. But, Loretta, I had no idea what he really was; what he really wanted.”

“What are those markings on you?” Victoria asked, noticing the lines and lines of tattooed runes on Nova’s skin. Taking out her phone, she took quick shots of the visible runes. Something about them seemed very familiar and she wanted to research them further.

“Henry gave them to me. He said they were his gift to me. That they would make me a very powerful witch. And for a while, it was true. But slowly, it seems all they’ve done was weaken me, make it so he could more easily control me,” Nova sobbed, looking away from her friend as memories of Henry’s betrayal resurfaced.

“You’ll be fine now. We’ll get you out of here and we’ll take care of Henry.”

“Oh, you must be careful. He has amassed a wealth of capabilities. He is very powerful.”

“He’s a tooth fairy. How powerful can he be?”

“No!” Nova turned as fast as her frail body would allow. “No, Loretta. He’s not a fairy. He’s an imp.”

Loretta’s eyes widened with the confession, prompting Victoria to question why. “It’ll be harder to get rid of him without his enchanted vessel.”

“Enchanted vessel?” Victoria asked.

“Imps are bound beings. They are traditionally kept ensconced within a magical urn. It’s sacred and unique to them. Meaning if we want to entrap Henry, we’ll need to find his original container.”

“You mean like genies?”

“Exactly like genies,” Derrick answered.

Loretta knelt to eye-level with Nova, and placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Do you have any idea where he could be keeping it?” she asked with as soft a voice as she could muster, quietly urging her friend for help. Loretta gently stroked a hand through her friend’s hair, freeing a few strands in the process.

“I—I…” A loud crash sounded above them and Nova instantly shrank back into her pile of bones. “It’s him. He’s back. You need to go. He can’t find you here. PLEASE!”

Grabbing Victoria by the hand, Loretta drew a crude circle and spoke a few words under her breath. Just as before, the trio became enshrouded in a bright glow. “We’ll be back for you, Nova, I promise,” Loretta said, taking one last look at her friend before teleporting the group back to safety.

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