A Human’s Guide to Surviving Magical Mishaps

An hour later we have all the files organised... Sort of. In an attempt to look for patterns we ended up sorting them by the types of items taken.

"There are a lot of jewellery stores, as you mentioned earlier. But also a few clothing stores and grocery stores. If this is the fae, then it would be reasonable to assume that she's basically living off of all this." I conclude.

"That would make sense, but while the items she has taken would provide her with food and clothing, it does not tell us where she is sleeping nor does it give us any ideas of where she may go next." Ashton says with a frustrated sigh. Fin nod in agreement and is staring at the piles of paper contemplatively. Dad has been mostly sitting quietly in the corner watching us discuss everything.

"I don't think most of the people involved were interviewed very well. They confessed or were caught taking items or giving them away and individually the cases all seemed very open and closed. It might be worth trying to talk to a few of them again. A couple of the ones who took really expensive items were arrested but they should be out on bail and a lot of them were just fired and made arrangements to pay back the losses. Their information should be in the files." He comments.

"That is a good idea. Kat, will you take us to speak with them tomorrow?" Ashton requests.

"Sure, but there are a lot here. Maybe we should try and prioritise who we think is most likely to be helpful since I doubt we will be able to see all of them." I suggest.

"That is wise. Perhaps we should start with the jewellery store thefts? They appear to be the ones that are the most unnecessary and the fae woman appears to spend more time with them. In the reports you read us it stated that she spent time shopping for items and trying different things on." Ashton reasons.

"Sounds good to me. Let me grab their files and we can track them down in the morning. I'm pretty sure they all got fired so it's likely that they'll be at home. We can start by visiting them there and if we can't find them we can rethink our plan." I decide.

"Very well." Ashton agrees. I glance at Fin but he doesn't seem to think that his opinion is necessary. He does smile at me though so I doubt that he's unhappy with the plan.

"Well, if you kids have made your plan, I'm going to bed. It's not often I get a chance for an early night and I'm going to take it. Don't make too much noise.” He warns, a grumble in his voice. I fight the urge to roll my eyes. Dad is a heavy sleeper. I bet we could set off the fire alarm and he wouldn't wake up until his blankets caught fire.

I'm going through the files looking for addresses and working out the most logical order to visit them in when I notice something that should have been obvious, but somehow no one has actually pointed it out.

"Uh, guys. Has anyone else realised that every single one of these 'thieves' is male? Not a single woman has been arrested or reported for stealing." I comment. Ashton and Fin both stare at me with wide eyes and dumbstruck expressions. "You are right. I am starting to think that we are all very foolish." Ashton says, looking super embarrassed.

"It's not a big deal, it's not like there are pictures or anything. I just realised that all the names are male names. It's not like you guys are directly reading the files either. Do you think that it means anything?"

"It suggests that the fae is only capable of using her magic on men." Fin starts.

"Or that women are simply better at not getting caught." Ashton adds with a grin.

“Is that a thing? Magic that only works on some people and not others?” I ask curiously.

"It is not uncommon for some types of magic to only target specific people. Or for certain groups to be more susceptible to it. For example an imp like the assassin we caught previously would be unlikely to be vulnerable to other varieties of fire magic. A particularly stubborn or determined person would be less likely to be influenced by compulsion magic and an observant person would likely do well resisting illusions and glamors." Ashton smiles at me and I smile proudly. I've looked through three different glamours now, although I still don't think that Ashton's really counts because he practically told me how to do it.

"So is it biology or personality that affects how magic influences people. Nature versus nurture is a pretty common debate here.” I ask. I'm not sure it's actually relevant to finding the assassins but it's interesting and I want to know. "Both. In some cases biology is relevant. If magic affects a person's ability to fly it is not going to be effective on fae who do not fly. However resistances can be learned and many are learned naturally and tend to appear more commonly in certain groups. For example dwarves tend to be resistant to mental magics, not because of any biological influence but because they as a community are stubborn and stubborn parents raise stubborn children. A dwarf who was raised by imps would not have the same resistance, but nor would they inherit a resistance to fire. Does this still make sense?" Ashton tries to explain.novelbin

"I think so. That implies that in the case we are looking at now, either women are biologically resistant to the magic which suggests it won't work on any women OR that the way women are treated and raised here has taught us to be more resistant to her type of magic." I sum up.

"Or potentially both." Fin chimes in.

"Yes. Of course there is always the possibility that the magic DOES work on women and we have not found any reports of it, or that it does work but that the fae herself chooses to target men rather than women due to some kind of personal preference or vendetta" Ashton says with a grimace. It seems like we won't be learning much about this fae woman until she is captured, or at the very least, found. Still, I make a mental note to be extra cautious around this fae until we have determined whether her magic works on women. Not that I'm planning to hang out with the assassin. If we track down the fae assassin I will be doing my best to stay out of the way. I'm not a fighter and I need to stay safe after all. Now that Ashton has Fin here, I'm nor nearly so worried about leaving him behind. He has backup and someone to help him should he be injured.

Once we have a list of where we are going and in what order, we decide to finish off the evening with something fun. We end up attempting to play monopoly. While Ashton and Fin understand the rules, I am not sure that they really understood the goal of the game. Still, at the end Fin was the clear winner despite the fact that he kept offering to 'help' me play by offering me some of his monopoly money. He is so nice about winning and somehow it makes everything so much more infuriating.

"Well, I know when i've been beat, so I'm going to bed too. I'll see you both in the morning."I head off to bed, dragging my feet. I'm so tired, but overall I'm still satisfied with my day.