The Professors Memory

Chapter 23

Phabel returned to his office, a small window in his schedule allowed for him to attend to his morning duties. After clearing out his pigeon hole he returned to his office, encasing himself into the room. Gone were the days of the darkened room, now the light poured through the windows regularly. It seemed that with Olive in his life, he could see the light. Phabel went through the notes that had been left for him, messages and meetings. The last was a large envelope, he slipped his finger under the flap, disregarding the words on the front. Private and confidential, Professor P Deltrith. He pushed the two sides of the envelope apart, taking a peek into it. Phabel frowned as he pulled what looked like large photos out of the envelope, tossing it onto the desk in front of him. He sank into his chair, stunned at the photos in his hands. Someone had been watching him for a very long time. Someone had connected Olive to him, there were photos of her shopping with Danika and his mother. Photos outside her old apartment the night he drove her home. Whoever took these had gotten closer, taking a photo through the window panel by the front door. The picture showed them kissing. There were photos of his apartment, Olive's old apartment, Lucian's castle. Numerous pictures of Olive and Danika, some of Lucian and Danika. Picture upon picture of his family and his love. Someone was threatening her education and his job. Angrily he tossed the photos onto the desk and leaned back into his chair, thinking about his next move. A note was still tucked into the envelope, Phabel pulled it out.

Professors that play with fire will get burned. Silence is golden, didn't you know? How gold it is can be discussed in person today, without any guards or friends. Be at The Cat and the Cauldron at noon.

He growled as he screwed up the note and tossed it onto the table, watching it skip over the photos. There wasn't many that knew of the true location of the cat and the cauldron, it was a shop that was for witches. In its beginning days, it was a place for witches to buy their supplies, before mid jump was around. Now it was a place of socialisation without actually venturing into the limbo land that was mid jump. But to find the cat and the cauldron, you had to know what to look for. It wasn't a sign on the door that displayed the words nor was it advertised. To find the cat and the cauldron, a dark being would enter a shop called The Sweet Treat, it was a lolly shop. The shop entrance was a blue door that had cracked paint and glass windows. It sat beside a large shop window that had lots of colourful lollies in it. Past the main door was a glass door to the left that led to the shop, to the right was another blue door that said staff only. Phabel knew that beyond that door was a lonely path between the lolly shop and the next shop along. At the end of the path was the door to the cat and the cauldron. To Phabel it seemed stupid, he wondered how it had never been found out after all these years. The amount of people that would walk into the main door and walk through the staff only door, it seemed unrealistic to think that they weren't seen. He figured that there was some kind of spell over it, ensuring that the shop and all who entered remained hidden from the world.

Phabel sighed as he looked at the photos, wondering what he was going to do. Walking into the cat and the cauldron was a trap, he knew it. It was foolish to walk into a meeting place for witches unguarded, at the very least he knew he should be prepared. He was not going to risk Olive's love or her career for some greedy witch. Phabel sat and thought about it, formulating a plan.

He had locked the door to his office and opened the window slightly. It was enough for one little fly to escape the locked room without anyone noticing. He flew all the way to the street where the lolly shop sat, with it's bright and bold colours it could be seen for some distance. Phabel flew around to the alley behind the shops, knowing which windows led to which shops. All he had to do was pass through the window of the kitchen for the cat and the cauldron and he was in there without being seen. It was easy, the window was open, he avoided the fly strips and continued into the main part of the shop. He settled on the edge of the door frame to the kitchen, watching the darkened room. The cook was busy in the kitchen, preparing for what looked like an abysmal lunch rush. There was a disinterested young woman behind the counter, too busy reading a magazine to notice anything. The clock had ticked over, already twelve by the time he settled yet there was only the two in here. Phabel knew these weren't the witches he was looking for. Neither of them would be so stupid to threaten a shifter prince in their workplace and they seemed far too disinterested and busy to be worrying about things like that. Noon would be a lunch rush, or at least, he assumed it would be. It wouldn't make sense to be doing any form of blackmailing when they would have orders piling up around them. It resolved it in his mind that these two were definitely not the ones he was looking for. The clock ticked relentlessly as he waited, yet no one showed. Phabel thought it was odd that no one was coming in, the cook seemed like he was expecting it yet the place was like a ghost town. He knew that something was amiss here.